1214
year
Year 1214 (MCCXIV) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar, the 1214th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 214th year of the 2nd millennium, the 14th year of the 13th century, and the 5th year of the 1210s decade.
Events
By place
Byzantine Empire
November 1 – Siege of Sinope: The Seljuk Turks under Sultan Kaykaus I capture the strategic Black Sea port city of Sinope – at the time held by the Empire of Trebizond (one of the Byzantine successor states formed after the Fourth Crusade). Emperor Alexios I of Trebizond leads an army to break the siege, but he is defeated and captured. His capture forces the Byzantines to accept tributary status to Kaykaus.
Europe
February 15 – John, King of England ("Lackland") lands with an invasion force (accompanied by mercenaries) at La Rochelle; many barons of England refuse to join him in the campaign. John sends his half-brother William Longespée ("Long Sword") to Flanders, with money to assemble a mercenary army there. John pushes the French forces northeast from Poitou towards Paris, while Emperor Otto IV marches southwest from Flanders. King Philip II of France (Augustus) decides to defend his territories by leaving a third of his army under his son, Prince Louis to confront John in the Loire Valley – while Philip heads for Flanders to raid the region. On July 2, John's forces are confronted by a French relief force while they besiege the castle of Roche-au-Moine. John retreats to La Rochelle, but his rearguard suffers immensely by the French army.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “1214” as year. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as year. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 26, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q5358. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1214.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
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The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “1214”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow 1214 primary sources, 1214 archive and year research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “1214” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.