Why do you single out the XIII century? In Western/Southern Europe and much of Asia, it was in many respects a golden age. The XIV century was worse, most notably due to the plague.
(I may have been echoing an old SF story where a XXX century displaced person was telling a friend about his punishment for trying a ruthless power grab, which was being dumped in Warsaw in September 1939. However, he had bounced back, remaking a good life. But the "friend" was an agent who then proceeded to continue the punishment by dumping him in Baghdad before Genghis hit it ...).
Anyways, pick a century, any century ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusades
C13 is 1200-1299