1198

By place

Asia

• Emperor Tsuchimikado succeeds Emperor Go-Toba, on the throne of Japan.

  Europe

• March - Philip of Swabia is elected King of Germany by his supporters.
• July - Otto of Brunswick is crowned King of Germany by the House of Welf.
• Frederick II, infant son of German King Henry VI, is crowned King of Sicily.
• John of England captures a party of eighteen French knights & many men-at-arms, in the ongoing conflict against France. King Richard I of England introduces a new Great Seal, in an attempt to keep the war against France funded. The government proclaims that charters previously struck with the old seal are no longer valid, and must be renewed with a fresh payment. The office of Lord Warden of the Stannaries is also introduced, to tax the produce of tin mines in Cornwall and Devon.

  By topic

Religion

• January 8 - Pope Innocent III succeeds Pope Celestine III, to become the 176th pope. He immediately lays an interdict on Laon, in an attempt to stamp out independent beliefs there. This will be followed by interdicts against France in 1199, and Normandy in 1203.