1218

By area

Africa

• August 31 - Al-Kamil becomes the new Egyptian Sultan, on the death of his father Al-Adil.

  Asia

• May 24 - The Fifth Crusade leaves Acre for Egypt.
• May 30 - Damietta is besieged by the knights of the Fifth Crusade.
• Minamoto no Sanetomo becomes Udaijin of Japan.
• The Kara-Khitan Khanate is destroyed by Genghis Khan's Mongolian cavalry.
• Genghis Khan's Mongols, under the leadership of his eldest son Jochi, conduct a second campaign against the Kyrgyz.
• Genghis Khan proposes to the Khwarazm shah of Persia that he accept Mongol overlordship, and establish trade relations.

  Europe

• March - The Treaty of Worcester recognises Llywelyn the Great as regent of south Wales.
• July - Spain: In order to facilitate the movement of Reconquista, Pope Honorius III reverses Innocent III’s earlier judgement, and declares Ferdinand III of Castile legitimate heir to the Kingdom of Leon.

  By topic

Education

• Alfonso IX of León grants a royal charter to the University of Salamanca.

  Markets

• The northern French city of Rheims emits the first recorded public life annuity in medieval Europe. Theretofore, this type of instrument had been mostly issued by religious institutions. The emission by Rheims is the first evidence of a consolidation of public debt that is to become common in the Langue d'Oïl, the Low Countries and Germany.

  Religion

• Saint Pedro Nolasco founds the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy in Barcelona, Spain.