1207
Year 1207 was a common year starting on Monday under the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
- Spring - Siege of Attalia: Seljuk forces led by Sultan Kaykhusraw I besiege the city port of Attalia with siege machines. After a siege of more than 2 months, the city is captured, Kaykhusraw allows his forces 3 days of looting and slaughtering. The capture of the port gives the Seljuk Turks a major path into the Mediterranean.
- September 4 - Battle of Messinopolis: Latin forces under Boniface of Montferrat are ambushed and defeated at Messinopolis. Boniface is killed and his head is sent to Kaloyan, ruler of the Bulgarian Empire. Seeking to take advantage of the situation, Kaloyan besieges Thessalonica. In October, he dies under mysterious circumstances.
Europe
- February 2 - Terra Mariana, comprising modern-day Estonia and Latvia, is established as a principality of the Holy Roman Empire. During its existence there is a constant struggle over supremacy between the lands ruled by the Teutonic Order, the secular German nobility, and the citizens of the Hanseatic towns of Riga and Reval.
- Prince Mstislav Mstislavich clashes with his uncle Rurik Rostislavich, Grand Prince of Kiev, and is forced to surrender the town of Torchesk.
- Pope Innocent III declares for King Philip of Swabia as Holy Roman Emperor, a reversal of his previous support for Philip's rival Otto IV.
England
- John, King of England introduces the first income tax. One-thirteenth of income from rents and moveable property has to be paid. Collected locally by sheriffs and administered by the Exchequer, the tax is unpopular with the English nobility and especially in the churches and monasteries, but does raise a lot of money for John, doubling his annual income for the year.
- May 24 - John still refuses to accept Stephen Langton as archbishop; Innocent III threatens to place England under an Interdict. In response, John confiscates church property. Many of the English bishops of the great churches in the country flee abroad to the Continent.
- November - Leeds, a market town in West Yorkshire, receives its first charter.
Asia
- Jochi, eldest son of Genghis Khan, subjugates people of the Siberian forest ; the Uriankhai, the Oirats, the Barga, the Khakas, the Buryats, and the Tuvans, extending the northern border of the Mongol Empire.
- Hōnen and his followers of the Pure Land sect are persecuted and exiled to remote parts of Japan, while a few are executed, for what the government considers heretical Buddhist teachings.
- In Vietnam, the Lý dynasty witnessed the political crisis under king Lý Cao Tông. The barbarians in Tản Viên mountain rebelled against the emperor. They continued to rule Tản Viên mountain independently until the beginning of the Trần dynasty. In March, two chieftains Đoàn Thượng, Đoàn Chủ in Hồng Châu rebelled and declared themselves kings. Their rebellions lasted for 2 years, contributing to the fall of the Ly dynasty.
- Before 1207 - Kosho writes Kuya Preaching, during the Kamakura period.
- October 7 - The Indramayu Regency in Nusantara is established.
By topic
Economy
- The first documentary evidence of forced loans in Venice. This technique becomes the staple of public finance in Europe, until the 16th century.
Religion
- June 17 - Stephen Langton is consecrated as archbishop of Canterbury in England by Innocent III at Viterbo.