In this chronology, I have tried to present this remarkable stretch of history in all its enormous diversity, covering events from England and France in the west to the northern fringes of the Indian subcontinent and all the way to Mongolia and China in the east. (I would appreciate hearing about anything significant that I may have missed.) Significant events in Byzantium during a given year are listed first in each entry, followed by events elsewhere.

1180: Death of Manuel I Comnenus (September 24). He is succeeded by his eleven-year-old son Alexius II, with his second wife, the Empress Maria of Antioch, serving as Regent. The government is under the direction of the protosebastus Alexius Comnenus, who is Maria's lover. Accession of Philip II Augustus to the throne of France.

1181: Kilij Arslan II takes advantage of Manuel I's death to launch attacks on imperial territory, seizing Sozopolis and Kotyaion, and ravaging the Little Meander (Kayster) Valley. However, he is repulsed when he attacks Attaleia.

Reynald de Chatillon, lord of Oultrejourdain, breaks the truce between the Kingdom of Jerusalem and Saladin by launching attacks on caravans bound for Mecca from Damascus.

1182: Unsuccessful conspiracy of Manuel's daughter Maria and her husband Rainer of Montferrat against the protosebastus Alexius Comnenus (February). Bela III of Hungary seizes Byzantine Dalmatia, Bosnia, and Sirmium (Belgrade). The Serbian prince Stephen Nemanja renounces Byzantine suzerainty; the Seljuk Sultan Kilij Arslan II seizes part of the southern coast of Asia Minor, cutting off Byzantine Cilicia from Attalia; and the Armenian Prince Roupen III invades Byzantine Cilicia.

Manuel's cousin Andronicus Comnenus marches on Constantinople. Maria sends an army against him under Andronicus Angelus, but he goes over to the rebels. When Andronicus reaches Chalcedon, the urban populace massacres many of the Latins in the merchant quarters along the Golden Horn. Andronicus reaches Constantinople and seizes power, replacing Maria as Regent (April). Andronicus has Alexius recrowned (May 16) and bears him on his shoulders during the procession. Manuel's daughter Princess Maria and her husband Rainer both die mysteriously are believed to have been poisoned by Andronicus; the protosebastus Alexius Comnenus is blinded; and the Empress-mother Maria is imprisoned in a convent.

The choir of the cathedral of Notre Dame is completed in Paris. In this year or the previous year, a son named Francis is born to Pietro Bernardone, a cloth merchant of Assisi. King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and Saladin fight a drawn battle at Belvoir (July). Saladin then unsuccessfully besieges Beirut (August). Reynald de Chatillon takes Ayila, at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba, and sends a fleet of corsairs to attack merchantmen and even pilgrim's ships in the Red Sea. His fleet is eventually cut off and destroyed by the Governor of Egypt (autumn/winter). Saladin campaigns against the Moslem emirs of Aleppo (Imad ed-din) and Mosul (Izz ed-din) and conquers Edessa, Sinjar, and Diyarbakir (September 1182-May 1183). Muizz al-Din conquers Sind from the Ghazanvid sultans on behalf of his brother, Ghiyas al-Din, Ghurid sultan of Ghazni in Afghanistan.

1183: Andronicus Angelus plots unsuccessfully against Andronicus Comnenus; he and his sons flee to the Kingdom of Jerusalem (winter). At the age of 65, Andronicus is crowned co-emperor with Alexius II (late summer). Maria of Antioch is executed (September); Alexius II is executed (November).

Saladin exchanges Sinjar for Aleppo (June 12) and establishes his capital at Damascus (August). His domain now stretches from Cyrenaica to the Tigris. Saladin raids the Kingdom of Jerusalem (August-September). He then besieges Reynald's citadel of Kerak, but is forced to lift the siege by Baldwin IV (November-December).

Prince Henry, the designated heir of Henry II of England, dies (summer). King Henry, his (imprisoned) wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, and their three surviving sons hold Christmas court at Chinon – an episode that served as the basis for James Goldman's play "The Lion in Winter."

1184: Andronicus marries Agnes of France, the eleven-year-old widow of Alexius II (and a sister of King Philip Augustus of France). Andronicus energetically attacks corruption and extortion in the provincial administration and seeks to curb the autonomy of the great landowners. Isaac and Theodore Angelus lead a revolt in Bithynia, but it is suppressed by Andronicus. Theodore is blinded, but Isaac is pardoned.

Marriage of Constance, sister and heiress of William II of Sicily, to Henry VI, eldest son of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (August). Saladin unsuccessfully besieges Kerak a second time (September).

In the double land and naval battle of Dannoura, fought at the western exit to the Inland Sea, the Minamato clan crushes and virtually annihilates the Taira, bringing an end to a four-year civil war and establishing Minamoto Yoritomo as the first shogun of Japan.

1185: Isaac Comnenus, Governor of Cilicia and Cyprus, revolts against Andronicus and declares the island's independence (winter). Andronicus suppresses a palace conspiracy centered around his son-in-law, another Alexius Comnenus (a bastard son of Manuel II) (spring). William II of Sicily launches an attack against Byzantium (June 11). His army seizes Durazzo (June 24) and then advances up the Via Egnatia. Thessalonica falls to the Normans after a siege of ten days (August 24). A revolution at Constantinople inspired by Isaac Angelus results in the deposition, public torture, and execution of Andronicus (September 12). Isaac II promptly concludes a treaty of alliance with Venice, whereby the Venetians agree to provide a fleet against the Normans in return for the restoration of the commercial privileges they enjoyed within the Empire prior to their expulsion by Manuel I in 1171. Isaac also agrees to establish a commission to fix compensation for the Venetians' losses in 1171.

The Normans are first checked at Mosynopolis in Thrace by the Byzantine general Alexius Branas (September), and then their army is completely routed on the River Strymon (November 7), where the leaders of the Norman expedition, Richard of Acerra and Baldwin, are captured. Thessalonica rises in revolt against the Normans, and the survivors withdraw from the Empire. Isaac II, in his early thirties, subsequently takes as his second wife Margaret (who takes the Greek name Maria), the nine-year-old daughter of Bela III of Hungary (winter 1185-86).

The "leper king," Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, dies at the age of 24 (March). His heir Baldwin V, son of his sister Sibylla and her first husband William of Montferrat, is only 8 years old, so Raymond of Tripoli becomes Regent. Raymond and Saladin reach agreement on a new four year-truce.

1186: Isaac appoints Nicetas Moutanes as Patriarch in place of Basil II Kamateros (February). Revolt of the Bulgarians and the Vlachs against Byzantine rule (established by Basil the Great in 1018) under the leadership of the brothers Peter and Asen. The Second Bulgarian Kingdom is established with its capital at Trnovo; Asen is crowned Tsar by Basil, archbishop of Trnovo. An expedition sent by Isaac II against the rebel Isaac Comnenus on Cyprus fails disastrously (spring). Isaac II marches against the Bulgarian rebels. After winning an initial battle (April 21), he returns with his army to Constantinople, leaving the country ungarrisoned and allowing the rebellion to spring to life once again.

The Emir of Mosul (Izz ed-din) agrees to become a vassal of Saladin's, whose realm now stretches to the borders of Persia (March). King Baldwin V of Jerusalem dies at the age of 8 (August). Sibylla, sister of Baldwin IV, and her second husband Guy de Lusignan seize power at Jerusalem. Reynald of Chatillon attacks a caravan from Cairo to Damascus, breaking the truce (December). Guy is unable to force Reynald to pay compensation for his attack. Saladin prepares for war. Leo II succeeds his brother Roupen III as Prince of Cilician Armenia.

Muizz al-Din conquers Lahore and the Punjab on behalf of the Ghurid sultan Ghiyas al-Din and captures the last of the Ghaznavid sultans.

1187: Isaac II makes an alliance with the Venetians and further seeks to improve his ties with the West by marrying his sister Theodora to Conrad, son of William, Marquis of Montferrat (and Count of Jaffa in the Kingdom of Jerusalem). [Conrad was the brother of Rainer of Montferrat, who had married Manuel II's daughter, the Princess Maria. One of his other brothers, William of Montferrat, was the first husband of Queen Sibylla of Jerusalem and the father of King Baldwin V. A fourth brother, Boniface of Montferrat, would be the military leader of the Fourth Crusade.] Conrad sails to Constantinople (March 22). Alexius Branas, the hero of the Norman war, is sent against the Bulgarian rebels, but he revolts, declares himself Emperor, and marches on Constantinople (April). Isaac and Conrad lead a sortie from the city, and Branas is killed (May). Conrad is involved in a murder and departs on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in late June or early July. Isaac campaigns against the Bulgars (September-October), defeating them at a hard-fought battle near Beroe, but he has difficulty coping effectively with the hit-and-run raiding tactics of Asen.

Saladin sends an advance force against the Kingdom of Jerusalem (April). The Crusaders lose an initial battle at the Springs of Cresson (April 30). Saladin completes the massing of his forces and crosses the Jordan River (July 1) and besieges Tiberias. Three days later, the Crusader army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem is annihilated at the Horns of Hattin, on the hills overlooking the Sea of Galilee (July 4). Guy de Lusignan is captured; Reynald of Chatillon is executed by Saladin. Acre falls to Saladin on July 10; Sidon on July 29; Beirut on August 6; Ascalon on September 4; Gaza in mid-September; Jerusalem on October 2. However, Conrad of Montferrat reaches Tyre in the nick of time on July 14 and rallies its discouraged defenders against Saladin. He then withstands another siege by Saladin late in the year (November-December). Archbishop Josias of Tyre is sent to the west (late July) carrying news of the disaster and travels through Sicily, Italy, Germany and France within the next six months urging the monarchs of the west to come to the aid of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.

1188: Isaac replaces Nicetas Moutanes as Patriarch with the monk Leontius, claiming that Moutanes is senile (February). Isaac campaigns against the Bulgar rebels, but he fails after a siege to take the fortress of Lovitzos (spring).

Josias, Archbishop of Tyre, reaches Gisors, in France, where he persuades Henry II Plantagenet and Philip II Augustus to put aside their war against each other and to rally to the defense of the Holy Land (January). The Emperor Frederick Barbarossa agrees to take the cross at Mainz (March 27). Henry II and Philip Augustus renew their conflict (June). Saladin raises the siege of Krak des Chevaliers after a fleet and a party of knights reach the Holy Land from Sicily (July). Saladin releases Guy de Lusignan, William, Marquis of Montferrat, and other high-ranking Christian captives taken at Hattin (July); however, Conrad of Montferrat and his supporters refuse to recognize Guy as King.

After his siege of Krak des Chevaliers fails, Saladin marches on the County of Tripoli and the Principality of Antioch. He takes the town of Tortosa, but cannot capture its castle. As he continues north, the Crusader towns and castles fall like a row of dominoes: Jabala (July 15), Latakia (July 22), Saone (July 29), Bourzey (August 23), Trapesac –Baghras (September 16), and Gaston (September 26). He then agrees to a truce with Bohemond III of Antioch that preserves the remainder of the latter's now much-diminished principality (little more than Antioch itself and its port of St. Symeon). er Henry II's cause and goes over to the side of Philip Augustus (November).

1189: Isaac II negotiates with Saladin, seeking his support against the Seljuk Sultanate of Iconium in return for Isaac's agreement to prevent western crusaders from crossing the Empire's lands (winter/spring); he ultimately renews a treaty with Saladin concluded four years earlier by Andronicus (early summer). Isaac replaces Leontius as Patriarch with Dositheus, a Venetian who was a monk at the monastery of Stoudion before Isaac appointed him Patriarch of Jerusalem (February). The bishops refuse to accept Dositheus, and he steps down (spring); Isaac insists on reinstating him (June). enetians whereby they are given a new commercial quarter in Constantinople; the Empire also agrees to begin paying compensation in annual installments for the Venetians' losses when they were expelled by Manuel I in 1171.

Theodore Mangaphas, a citizen of Philadelphia, revolts against Isaac II (winter). Isaac marches against Mangaphas and besieges him in Philadelphia, but is unable to take the city. Concerned about the approach of the German crusader army of Frederick Barbarossa from the west, Isaac accepts a negotiated resolution whereby Mangaphas and the citizens of Philadelphia are granted immunity in return for their submission (summer). Basil Vatatzes, the Grand Domestic of the Empire, subsequently bribes several of Mangaphas's followers and plans to seize and imprison him. However, Mangaphas learns of the plot in time to escape to the court of the Seljuk Sultan of Iconium, Kilij Arslan II. This same year, a youth claiming to be Alexius II appears in the Maeander Valley and then presents himself at the court of the septuagenarian Seljuk Sultan Kilij Arslan II, whom he persuades of his declared identity.

Richard the Lion-Hearted allies himself with Philip Augustus against his father Henry II (January). Frederick Barbarossa and his army set out for the Holy Land (May). Henry II Plantagenet, having agree to meet Philip's terms, learns that his remaining son John has also joined Philip against him and dies at Chinon (July 6). He is succeeded as King of England by Richard (September). Richard and Philip agree to a peace treaty so they can fulfill the crusading vows they took at Gisors. Guy de Lusignan marches south from Tripoli along the coast of Palestine and besieges Moslem-held Acre (August); the siege will last for nearly two years. Frederick Barbarossa's army crosses into imperial territory (July) and occupies the city of Philoppolis in Thrace (late August) after Isaac orders the passes over the Haemus range to be held against him. Death of William II "the Good" of Sicily, leaving no male heir (November 18).

1190: Isaac reaches an agreement with Frederick Barbarossa whereby he agrees to permit Barbarossa and his army to cross imperial territory and to assist them in crossing to Asia (February 14). The Germans cross at Gallipoli (late March), march down the coast, then swing inland up the Maeander Valley past Philadelphia (April 21) and the site of Manuel II's defeat at Myriocephalum. The Germans defeat the Turks in two battles (late April and May 3). The German army briefly occupies the Seljuk capital of Iconium (May 18). Barbarossa subsequently dies while crossing the Calycadnus River at Seleucia in Asia Minor (June 10). Afterwards, his army rapidly falls apart, and reaches Antioch a much reduced and disorganized shadow of its original strength (June 21). Richard and Philip Augustus join forces at Vezelay in Burgundy and set out for the Holy Land (July 4). They spend the fall and winter at Messina in Sicily as guests of King Tancred; Richard seizes and sacks Messina after a dispute between his troops and the townspeople (October).

The remnant of Barbarossa's army reaches Acre under the command of his son, Frederick of Swabia (October). Death of Queen Sibylla of Jerusalem and her daughters (autumn). Conrad of Montferrat marries Princess Isabella, the new heiress of the Kingdom of Jerusalem (November 24), notwithstanding the apparent survival of his Byzantine bride Theodora (sister of Isaac II) back in Constantinople.

1191: Isaac II campaigns against the Bulgars, but finds their towns and cities strongly fortified. As he is returning to Constantinople, he is ambushed in a defile while crossing the Haemus mountains near Beroe. His army is destroyed and Isaac barely escapes with his life (summer). During the next year, the Bulgarians for the first time successfully attack a number of substantial cities, including Anchialos, Varna, Serdica, and Nis. The Patriarch Dositheus is again forced to resign by the opposition of the bishops (September 10). He is replaced by George Xiphilinos. Death of Frederick of Swabia in the siege lines outside Acre (January 20). Eleanor of Aquitaine and Richard's fiance, Bereng aria of Navarre, arrive at Messina (late March). Philip Augustus sails from Messina for Acre (March 30). Richard sails for Cyprus , accompanied by his sister Joan, widow of William II, and his fiance Berengaria (April 10).

Death of Pope Clement III at Rome (April 10). Celestine III, having been consecrated as Pope one day earlier, crowns Henry VI Hohenstaufen as Holy Roman Emperor (April 15). King Philip Augustus reaches the Crusader camp outside Acre with his forces (April 20). Richard the Lion-Hearted lands in Cyprus, where he marries Berengaria at Limassol (May 12). Fighting then breaks out between Richard and his Crusader allies in the Lusignan party and Isaac Comnenus, the island's rebel Byzantine Governor. Richard conquers the island by the end of May, then arrives with his army at Acre (June 8).

The Moslem garrison of Acre capitulates to the Crusaders (July 12). Contending that Saladin had not kept certain clauses of the agreement governing the surrender of Acre, Richard orders the massacre of 2,700 Saracen prisoners remaining in his custody, along with their wives and children (August 20). Richard marches south along the coast and defeats Saladin at Arsuf (September 7). Saladin and his brother al-Adil (Saphadin) open inconclusive negotiations with the rival Crusader parties (Richard and Guy de Lusignan's supporters vs. Philip and Conrad of Montferrat's supporters) (October-November). The Crusader army marches on Jerusalem (December).

Muizz al-Din (Muhammad of Ghor) is defeated by a coalition of the Rajput clans, led by Prithviraja, King of Delhi, on the plain of Tarai.

1192: As a result of negotiations conducted by Demetrius Tornikes, the logothete of the drome, Isaac II issues chrysobulls to the Pisans and the Genoese whereby their old privileges are confirmed; they receive additions to their quarters in Constantinople; and customs duties are set at the old level of 4 percent. The Pseudo-Alexius, with the support of Kilij Arslan II and the Turkish border leader Arsan, invades imperial territory and seizes many cities in the Maeander Valley. Death of the Seljuk Sultan Kilij Arslan II at the age of seventy-seven (August); he is succeeded by Kay-Khusraw I. Isaac marches against the Serbians, who have attacked and destroyed Skopje, and defeats them on the Morava River (autumn); he continues on to the Sava River for a summit meeting with his father-in-law Bela III (October), then returns to Constantinople. The Genoese pirate William Grasso attacks and plunders the harbor quarter on Rhodes, then attacks a Venetian convoy bearing an envoy from Saladin, murdering the crews and the Greek and Syrian merchants found on board (November). Isaac manages to dissuade the people of Constantinople from attacking the Genoese quarter by securing pledges of 20,000 hyperpyra as compensation.

Richard and the Crusader army reach the village of Beit Nuba, twelve miles from Jerusalem (January 3), but then withdraw after the local Crusader leaders persuade him that he will have too few men to hold the city if he does take it. He retires to the coast and rebuilds the great fortress of Ascalon. A council of Palestinian knights and barons votes to offer the crown of the Kingdom of Jerusalem to Conrad of Montferrat (April 5). Shortly before his coronation, however, Conrad is assassinated in Tyre by two agents sent by Sinan, "the Old Man of the Mountains," leader of the Nosairi sect of the Assassins of Alamut (April 28). His widow, Princess Isabella, is then married to Henry of Troyes, Count of Champagne (May 5), and they are recognized as King and Queen of the Kingdom of Acre. Richard again advances to within twelve miles of Jerusalem, glimpses the city, then retires (July 4). Richard defeats Saladin in two battles at Jaffa (July 31 & August 5). After further negotiations, Saladin agrees that the Crusaders can keep the coastal cities as far south as Jaffa, but he requires that Ascalon be dismantled and abandoned. Each side agrees to permit free passage of merchants and pilgrims through one another's lands (September 2). Richard sails from the Holy Land (October 9). Forced by storms to land at Corfu, he continues his journey incognito with a few companions. He is recognized at an inn near Vienna and imprisoned by Duke Leopold of Austria, who accuses him of complicity in the murder of Conrad of Montferrat (December 11).

Muizz al-Din (Muhammad of Ghor) destroys the army of the Rajput clans and kills Prithviraja, King of Delhi, in a rematch on the plain of Tarai. Prithviraja's son agrees to pay tribute to Ghiyas al-Din. Over the course of the next ten years, the armies of the Ghurid sultans of Afghanistan overrun the entire Ganges basin as far east as Bengal, resulting in the conversion of much of northern India to Islam.

1193: While sleeping off the effects of a drinking party in the town of Harmala, the Pseudo-Alexius is murdered by a priest (January 6). Isaac suspects Andronicus Comnenos, the Governor of Thessaloniki (and grandson of Anna Comnena) and the former sebastokrator Alexius, bastard son of the Emperor Manuel, of plotting against him. He imprisons and blinds Andronikos and forces Alexius to become a monk on Mount Papykios. Three months later, he restores Alexius to favor, "Proving once again that he acted out of caprice and was subject to sudden changes like the backward flow of the straits at Aulis" (Nicetas Choniates).

On learning that Peter and Asen of Bulgaria have quarreled with each other and divided their forces, Isaac sends his young cousin, the Grand Duke Constantine Angelus, against them with an army. Constantine melds his army into an effective force and wins a number of successes, but then decides to march on Constantinople and seize the throne. His brother-in-law, the Grand Domestic Basil Vatatzes, seizes him by trickery and Isaac has him blinded.

The Seljuk Sultan Kay-Khusraw surrenders the Philadelphian rebel Theodore Mangaphas to Isaac in return for a payment of gold.

Death of Saladin at the age of 54 (March 3). His empire fragments, with his eldest son al-Afdal ruling Syria, his second son (al-Aziz) ruling Egypt, another son (az-Zahir) ruling Aleppo, and his wily brother al-Adil Saif-ad-Din (Saphadin) ruling Oultrejourdain and the Jezireh (the area around Edessa).

Leo II of Armenia seizes Bohemond III of Antioch when he travels to the disputed castle of Baghras on a diplomatic mission (October). Leo forces Bohemond to acknowledge his suzerainty over Antioch, but Leo's troops are driven out by the populace when they attempt to take control of the city. Bohemond's son Raymond is recognized as temporary ruler of Antioch. Sinan, the Old Man of the Mountains (head of the Nosairi sect of the Assassins), dies.

Duke Leopold surrenders Richard to the custody of Henry VI (March).

1194: An army under the command of Alexius Ghidos and the Grand Domestic Basil Vatatzes is defeated by the Bulgars near Arcadiopolis, and Vatatzes is slain.

Following the death of Tancred of Lecce on February 20, the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI seizes the Kingdom of Sicily (to which he has a claim through his wife Constance, daughter of William I of Sicily). He is subsequently crowned King of Sicily in Palermo (Christmas Day). Richard the Lion-Hearted is ransomed and released from prison (March).

Henry of Champagne, King of Acre, travels north in an attempt to resolve the dispute between Cilicia and Antioch. On the way, an embassy from the Assassins invites him to visit their castle at al-Kahf. Henry agrees and attends a sumptuous banquet with the new sheikh of the Order. The evening is a great social and diplomatic success, although Henry eventually feels constrained to suggest that further demonstrations of the willingness of the sect's members to kill themselves at their master's order are unnecessary. The Assassins send him on his way with costly gifts and a friendly promise to assassinate any of his enemies on request. Arriving in Cilicia, Henry brokers a settlement whereby Leo agrees to release Bohemond; Leo's possession of the castle of Baghras is confirmed; and it is established that neither ruler shall be the vassal of the other.

Al-Aziz, Sultan of Egypt, marches on Damascus, where al-Afdal's neglect of his duties had made him unpopular (March); however, his uncle al-Adil travels to Damascus and brokers a new agreement between the brothers, whereby some of al-Afdal's territories in Palestine are transferred to al-Aziz. Death of Guy de Lusignan, former King of Jerusalem and now ruler of Cyprus (May).

1195: Stefan Nemanja, Grand Zupan of Serbia, retires to the Serbian monastery of Chilandari on Mount Athos, where he dies five years later (March 25). He is succeeded by his son Stefan I Nemanja, who is crowned King of Serbia in 1217 and rules until 1227.

Isaac II marches against the Bulgars, intent on avenging the defeat of Ghidos and Vatatzes the previous year (March). However, Isaac is deposed and blinded as a result of a coup carried out at Cypsela in Thrace by his older brother, who takes the throne as Alexius III (April 8). Alexius abandons the campaign against the Bulgars and returns to Constantinople. He refuses to continue paying to the Venetians the compensation agreed upon by Isaac for their losses during Manuel I's expropriation of 1171, although only 28,800 hyperpyra remains outstanding. War breaks out with the Turkish ruler of Ankara (Muhyi al-Din) after Alexius refuses to continue paying him tribute.

Al-Aziz again marches on Damascus; al-Adil again marches to al-Afdal's assistance, and drives al-Aziz back to Egypt.

Qutb al-Din, viceroy of the Ghurid sultans in Delhi, begins construction of Delhi's Quhat al-Islam mosque.

1196: The Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI makes arrogant demands upon Alexius (February). Alexius sends his son-in-law, the sebastokrator Isaac, with a substantial force against the Bulgarians. Isaac falls into an ambush near Serrai on the River Strymon and is captured; he later dies in prison. The Bulgarian leader Asen is murdered in a domestic quarrel with his nephew Ivanko, the commander of the garrison at Trnovo. Ivanko, fearing the wrath of Asen's brother Peter, then goes over to the Byzantines and surrenders Trnovo to them. The Seljuk Sultan Kay-Khusraw I ravages the Maeander Valley, carrying off 5,000 captives. Muhyi al-Din, accompanied by another pseudo-Alexius, besieges the Anatolian city of Dadibra; Alexius sends a relief force under several of his principal lieutenants, including Theodore Branas, but it is surprised and destroyed on Mount Babas. The Dadibrenians then come to terms with Muhyi al-Din and evacuate their city. Alexius makes peace by agreeing to renew the tribute to Muhyi al-Din (December). Alexius III agrees to pay 115,000 hyperpyra as tribute to envoys of the Emperor Henry VI (December 25).

Al-Adil determines that al-Afdal is unfit to rule, so he transfers his support to al-Aziz of Egypt. Al-Aziz then drives al-Afdal out of Damascus, forcing him to retire to private life at a retreat in the Hauran. Al-Adil takes over the rule of Syria, nominally as the viceroy of al-Aziz, who is now recognized as supreme Sultan.

1197: Alexius unsuccessfully besieges the fortress of Prosakos on the Axios River, held by a Wallachian named Dobromir Chrysos who had previously been an officer in the Byzantine army. After the Bulgarians sortie from the fortress and rout the imperial army, Alexios agrees to a peace whereby he cedes the lands around Prosakos and Strummitsa to Chrysos and agrees to give him one of his kinswomen as a bride. Ivanko (now given the Byzantine name Alexius) is appointed commander of Philippolis; he raises Wallachian troops to fight against the Bulgars and strongly fortifies the passes across the Haemus range. Alexius rewards him by betrothing him to his grand-daughter Theodora. The Empress Euphrosyne is accused of adultery by Alexius III and banished from the palace (October 1197-March 1198).

Peter, the Bulgarian Tsar, is murdered and succeeded by Kalojan, a younger brother of Peter and Asen. Kay-Khusraw I loses a civil war in Iconium against his half-brother Rukn al-Din and takes refuge at the court of Alexius III, where he marries a daughter of Manuel Maurozomes and may have accepted Christian baptism.

Leo II of Armenia wins the agreement of Pope Celestine III and Henry VI to be recognized as a king (spring-summer). The Pope and Henry also agree to recognize Aimery of Cyprus as a king, and he is crowned in September.

Henry VI dies at Messina (of malaria?) while preparing to leave on a crusade to the Holy Land (September 28). Alexius thereby escapes having to pay the tribute promised a year earlier. Henry is succeeded as King of Germany by his younger brother Philip of Swabia, who is married to Irene, Isaac II's daughter. German crusaders who have already arrived in the Holy Land renew the war with Moslems. Al-Adil marches from Damascus and captures Jaffa (September 5). However, the Crusaders take Beirut and then besiege Toron (late November).

1198: Alexius renews his alliance with Venice. John Kamateros succeeds George Xiphilinos as Patriarch (July 7).

Al-Adil raises the Crusader siege of Toron (February 2), and Henry VI's now-leaderless crusade in the Holy Land falls apart. In June, al-Adil negotiates a new five-year truce with the Crusaders. Al-Aziz of Egypt is killed in a fall from his horse while hunting near the Pyramids (November 29). Since his son is only twelve, his ministers invite al-Afdal to come to Egypt as Regent.

Death of Pope Celestine III (January 8); accession of Lothar dei Conti, the youngest member of the College of Cardinals, as Innocent III (February 22). An assembly in Thuringia declares Philip of Swabia, surviving son of Frederick Barbarossa and son-in-law of Isaac II, King of Germany (March). The Welf Otto IV, second son of Henry the Lion, nephew of Richard the Lion-Hearted, and Count of Poitou, is proclaimed King of Germany by a rump assembly and crowned at Aachen (July). Civil war follows between Philip and Otto IV.

Death of Constance, Queen of the Kingdom of Sicily, widow of Henry VI, and mother of the future Emperor Frederick II (November). For the next decade, Frederick's realm of southern Italy and Sicily will be subject to various regents, while he himself is under the guardianship of Innocent III.

Leo II is crowned King of Armenia at Sis, in a ceremony attended by Conrad of Hildesheim, Chancellor of Henry VI, and the papal legate Conrad, Archbishop of Mainz (January). The Armenian kingdom thus established will long outlast the Crusader principalities, enduring until 1375.

1199: Alexius marries his daughter Irene to Alexius Palaeologus and Anna to Theodore Lascaris, "a daring youth and a fierce warrior" (Choniates) (February). Ivanko-Alexius rebels at Philippolis. Alexius sends a force against him under the leadership of the protostrator Manuel Kamytzes; however, Ivanko ambushes Kamytzes when he and his staff were separated from the main body of their troops and captures him. He sells his prisoner to Kalojan.

Death of Richard the Lion-Hearted, killed by an arrow while besieging the castle of a vassal in the Limousin who had refused to turn over to his King a hoard of gold discovered on his lands (March 26).

Al-Afdal arrives in Cairo and becomes Regent (January). He then marches on Damascus, in alliance with az-Zahir of Aleppo. Al-Adil hurries south from Mardin, where he has been besieging its Ortoqid ruler. He reaches Damascus just before al-Afdal (June 8) and then withstands a siege of six months until his son Al-Kamil arrives to rescue him with the troops who have been besieging Mardin (December).

1200: Despairing of defeating Ivanko-Alexius in the field, Alexius agrees to come to terms with him. When Ivanko comes to the Byzantine camp to sign the treaty after receiving assurances of safe conduct from Alexius Palaeologus, however, Alexius III violates these guarantees and seizes and imprisons Ivanko. His rebellion then quickly dies out. John "the Fat" Comnenus revolts against Alexius III and seizes the palace before it is retaken by loyal troops; John is killed and his supporter Alexius Ducas Mourtzophlos is imprisoned (July 31). Alexius hires an assassin to kill the Seljuk Sultan Rukn al-Din, but the man is captured before he can execute the plan while carrying a letter in red ink from the Emperor (August); Rukn al-Din then launches attacks against many Byzantine cities in Asia Minor. A Byzantine renegade named Michael, who is allied to Rukn al-Din, ravages the Maeander Valley.

Bishop Albert of Buxtehude leads 500 warriors in 23 ships from Bremen to the mouth of the Dvina in Livonia, where he founds Riga and thus begins the Baltic Crusades.

After al-Kamil raises the siege of Damascus, al-Adil chases al-Afdal back to Egypt, defeats him in battle, and enters Cairo (February 6). Al-Afdal agrees to retire again to the Hauran, and al-Adil is recognized as sultan of Egypt and Syria (August 4).