1203

By area

Asia

• Minamoto no Sanetomo becomes shōgun of the Kamakura shogunate.

  Europe

• April 16 – Philip II of France enters Rouen, leading to the eventual unification of Normandy and France.
• William de Braose, 4th Lord of Bramber, becomes the guardian at Rouen of the imprisoned Arthur I, Duke of Brittany, designated heir to the throne of England, who is not known to be alive after April and is probably murdered by or at the orders of his uncle, Richard I of England.
• The troops of the Fourth Crusade reach the Byzantine heartland:
• * June 23 – The Fleet of the crusaders enters the Bosphorus.
• * July 17 – The armies of the Fourth Crusade capture Constantinople by assault; the Byzantine emperor Alexios III Angelos flees from his capital into exile.
• * August 1 – The Fourth Crusade elevates Alexios IV Angelos as Byzantine emperor, after the citizens of Constantinople proclaim as emperor Isaac II Angelos.
• The House of Burke is founded in Ireland.
• Battle of Basiani: The Georgians defeat a Muslim coalition.
• The Almohads begin the conquest of the Balearic Islands.
• The Oeselians ravage Danish Scania. The returning pirates later skirmish with the German settlers of Riga, near Visby in Gotland.

  By topic

Markets

• First evidence that the Temple in London is extending loans to the king of England. The sums remain relatively small, but are often used for critical operations, such as the ransoming of the king’s soldiers captured by the French.

  Religion

• April 8 – Congress of Bilino Polje: Ban Kulin officially declares his allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church and denounces heresy.
• The Temple of Nataraja is completed, at Chidambaram in India.
• The Benedictine abbey of Iona is founded by Ragnall mac Somairle, on a previous Columban site.

  Births

• Peter II, Count of Savoy
• Eva Marshal, Norman noble
• Ibn Abi Usaibia, Syrian Arab medical historian

  Deaths

• January 21 – Agnes II, Abbess of Quedlinburg
• April 6 – William of Æbelholt, Danish churchman
• November 4 – Dirk VII, Count of Holland
• May – Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd, King of Gwynedd
• date unknown – Alexios Palaiologos, Byzantine heir apparent
• probable – Arthur I, Duke of Brittany