1203

This article is about the year 1203.

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	12th century – 13th century – 14th century
Decades:	1170s  1180s  1190s  – 1200s –  1210s  1220s  1230s
Years:	1200 1201 1202 – 1203 – 1204 1205 1206

1203 by topic

Politics

State leaders – Sovereign states

Birth and death categories

Births – Deaths

Establishments and disestablishments categories

Establishments – Disestablishments

Art and literature

1203 in poetry

1203 in other calendars

Gregorian calendar	1203 MCCIII
Ab urbe condita	1956
Armenian calendar	652 ԹՎ ՈԾԲ
Assyrian calendar	5953
Bengali calendar	610
Berber calendar	2153
English Regnal year	4 Joh. 1 – 5 Joh. 1
Buddhist calendar	1747
Burmese calendar	565
Byzantine calendar	6711–6712
Chinese calendar	壬戌年 (Water Dog) 3899 or 3839     — to — 癸亥年 (Water Pig) 3900 or 3840
Coptic calendar	919–920
Discordian calendar	2369
Ethiopian calendar	1195–1196
Hebrew calendar	4963–4964
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1259–1260
- Shaka Samvat	1125–1126
- Kali Yuga	4304–4305
Holocene calendar	11203
Igbo calendar	203–204
Iranian calendar	581–582
Islamic calendar	599–600
Japanese calendar	Kennin 3 (建仁３年)
Julian calendar	1203 MCCIII
Korean calendar	3536
Minguo calendar	709 before ROC 民前709年
Thai solar calendar	1745–1746

Year 1203 (MCCIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. It was also the first year to have all digits different from each other since 1098.

Events

By area

Asia

• Minamoto no Sanetomo becomes shogun 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 of Arthur I, Duke of Brittany, and is possibly responsible for his death.
• Battle of Basiani: The Georgians defeat a Muslim coalition.
• The Almohads begin the conquest of the Balearic Islands.
• 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 (Alexius IV's father).

By topic

Markets

• First evidence that the Temple in London is extending loans to the king of England. The sums remained relatively small but were 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.
• Foundation of the Benedictine abbey of Iona by Ragnall mac Somairle on previous Columban site.

Births

• Peter II, Count of Savoy (d. 1268)

Deaths

• May - Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd, King of Gwynedd
• date unknown - Alexios Palaiologos, Byzantine heir apparent
• probable - Arthur I, Duke of Brittany (b. 1187)