Rochester Castle, the garrison is starved out and surrenders to him. December – First Barons' War: John (Lackland) campaigns successfully in the Midlands and captures Nottingham Castle, on December 24. King Alexander II of Scotland joins the Barons and invades Northern England. Europe January 8 – Simon de Montfort (the Elder) is elected lord of Languedoc in a council at Montpellier (Southern France), after his campaign against the Cathar heretics during the Albigensian Crusade. The Crusaders capture Castelnaud Castle and enter Toulouse (the town pays an indemnity of 30,000 marks), and is gifted to Montfort. Summer – Emperor Otto IV is excommunicated and forced to abdicate as ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. The German nobles, supported by Innocent III, again elect the 20-year-old Frederick II as King of the Romans who is crowned in Aachen, on July 25. The same day, Frederick takes the Cross and promises to go on Crusade. Asia June 1 – Mongol conquest of Jin China: After the long Battle of Zhongdu, the Mongol forces capture Zhongdu (modern-day Beijing). Meanwhile, Genghis Khan has decamped to the edge of the grasslands and is on his way back to the Kherlen River. Without his restraining influence, the Mongols run wild. They devastate and ransack the city, killing thousands. The royal palace goes up in flames, and a part of the capital burns for a month. King Kalinga Magha, from Kalinga Province in India, lands in Sri Lanka with a force of 24,000 men, to capture the city of Polonnaruwa and depose its king, Parakrama Pandya. By topic Art and Science 1215–1216 – The Macy Jug, from Iran, is made. It is now kept at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Literature Bhiksu Ananda of Kapitanagar completes writing the Buddhist book Arya Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita (Sutra), in gold ink in Ranjana script. Religion August 24 – Pope Innocent annuls the Magna Carta freeing John (Lackland) from its limitations. He annuls the charter on the grounds that John signed it because he is forced and that the document is illegal. November 11–30 – The Fourth Council of the Lateran (or "Great Council") convened by Innocent III ends at Rome and approves the papal proposal for a Fifth Crusade in Palestine. Births September 23 – Kublai Khan, Mongol emperor (d. 1294) Agnes of Merania, German noblewoman (d. 1263) Beatrice d'Este, queen consort of Hungary (d. 1245) Catherine Sunesdotter, queen of