Year 1204

Encyclopedia

Year 1204 (MCCIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events

  • January – Four-year-old Guttorm is proclaimed King of Norway; his “reign” ends with his death a few months later.
  • January 28 – Byzantine emperor Alexios IV Angelos is overthrown in a revolution.
  • February 5 – Alexios V Doukas is proclaimed Byzantine emperor.

    Conquest of Constantinople by the Crusaders

  • April 13 – Fourth Crusade: The Crusaders take Constantinople by storm, and pillage the city for 3 days. Forces of the Republic of Venice seize the antique statues that will become the horses of Saint Mark.
  • May 16 – Baldwin, Count of Flanders is crowned emperor of the Latin Empire a week after his election, by the members of the Fourth Crusade.
  • Theodore I Laskaris flees to Nicaea after the capture of Constantinople, and establishes the Empire of Nicaea; Byzantine successor states are also established in Epirus and Trebizond.
  • Boniface I, Marquess of Montferrat, a leader of the Fourth Crusade, founds the Kingdom of Thessalonica.
  • The writings of French theologian Amalric of Bena are condemned by the University of Paris, and Pope Innocent III.
  • Tsar Kaloyan is recognized as king of Bulgaria by Pope Innocent III, after the creation of the Bulgarian Uniate church.
  • Valdemar II of Denmark is recognized as king in Norway.
  • Angers and Normandy are captured by Philip II of France.
  • The Cistercian convent of Port-Royal-des-Champs is established.
  • The district of Cham becomes subject to Bavaria.
  • Hermann I, Landgrave of Thuringia submits to Philip of Swabia.
  • Beaulieu Abbey is founded.
  • The Channel Islands of Guernsey and Jersey decide, after a plebiscite of wealthy land owners, to remain with the English crown, after Normandy is recaptured by Philip II of France.

Births

  • April 14 – Henry I, king of Castile (d. 1217)
  • Haakon IV of Norway (d. 1263)
  • Henry Raspe, Landgrave of Thuringia (d. 1247)
  • Maria of Courtenay, Empress regent of Nicaea (d. 1228)
  • Alice of Schaerbeek (d. 1250)

Deaths

  • January 1 – King Haakon III of Norway
  • January – Isaac II Angelos, Byzantine emperor
  • February 8 – Alexios IV Angelos, Byzantine emperor
  • April 1 – Eleanor of Aquitaine, Sovereign Duchess Regnant of Aquitaine, queen of France and England
  • August 11 – King Guttorm of Norway
  • August 14 – Minamoto no Yoriie, Japanese shōgun (b. 1182)
  • September 30 or November 30 – Emeric, King of Hungary (b. 1174)
  • c. October 21 – Robert de Beaumont, 4th Earl of Leicester, English nobleman
  • November – Ban Kulin, ruler of Bosnia (b. 1163)
  • December 12 (or December 13) – Maimonides, Spanish rabbi and philosopher (b. 1135)
  • December 22 – Fujiwara no Shunzei, Japanese waka poet (b. 1114)
  • date unknown – Suleiman II, Sultan of Rûm
  • probable – Amalric of Bena, French theologian