The Thirteenth Century 1200-1299
Return to home
1200 Jul 1,
Sunglasses were invented in China.
(MC, 7/1/02)
c1200 In China the painting
“Reading the I Ching in the Pine Shade” was made.
(NH, 9/97, p.)
c1200 Condesa de Dia was a
female troubadour of this time. Her songs included “Of things I’d
rather keep in silence I must sing.”
(WSJ, 5/14/97, p.A20)
1200 Bishop Albert, the
head of a group of pilgrim knights, led 23 ships of armed soldiers
up the Baltic to Livonian lands at the mouth of the Dauguva River.
(Ist. L.H., 1948, p.39-40)
c1200 Buttons were invented as
a decoration to embellish hemlines, collars and the sides of
sleeves.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R40)
1200 The Anasazi in southwest
Colorado began building their cliff dwellings. Population was
thriving. They were making corrugated pottery and handsomely
decorated black and white pot-tery.
(HN, 2/11/97)
c1200 A drought hit the
southwest (USA) around the Coso Mountains about this time.
Shaman-ism and rain-making grew in importance and helped men
counterbalance the importance of women engaged in food gathering
when hunting declined.
(PacDis, Summer ’97, p.15)
1200 In Germany “The
Nibelungenlied” (the Song of the Nibelungs) was written about this
time. The epic poem of some 10,000 lines was based on tales that
reached back to the 5th cen-tury destruction of the Burgundian
kingdom by the Huns. In 2006 Burton Raffel wrote an Eng-lish
translation “Das Nibelungenlied.”
(WSJ, 10/28/06, p.P13)
1200 The Inca Empire conquered
the area of Bolivia around this time and remained in control until
arrival of Spaniards.
(AP, 12/17/05)
1200 In 2007 Mexican
archeologists discovered the ruins of an Aztec pyramid in the heart
of Mexico City that dated to about this time.
(Reuters, 12/27/07)
c1200 Polynesians settled the
14 Cook Islands that included Rarotonga.
(SFEC, 1/5/97, p.T5)
c1200 The Sorbs, a Slavic
people, settled in areas that later became Germany. They spoke a
language similar to Czech.
(SFC, 11/8/00, p.B2)
c1200 In Tibet the Rakhor
nunnery was established. In 1997 Chinese authorities ordered the
nuns to leave and everything except the main assembly hall was
destroyed.
(SFC, 1/29/99, p.E9)
1200s Persia introduced polo to
Arabia, China and India.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34)
1200-1250 The Longbow was developed from a Welsh
bow that had been used against the Eng-lish. During the numerous
skirmishes with the Welsh, the English had witnessed the power of
this weapon. An arrow from this weapon had a maximum range of
400 yards, could penetrate four inches of wood at closer range, and
could kill an armored knight at 200 yards. The British would use it
to destroy a French army at Crecy in 1346. This would be the
world's premiere weapon until the development of cannon (artillery)
circa 1450.
(www.archers.org/default.asp?section=History&page=longbow)
1200-1258 Jean Buridan, a scholar whose theory of
the earth was absorbed and defended by Leo-nardo da Vinci.
(NH, 5/97, p.59)
1200-1280 Albertus Magnus, the teacher of Thomas
Aquinas. He wrote extensively on the form and behavior of the earth.
“The Book of Secrets of Albertus Magnus” was edited by Michael R.
Best and Frank H. Brightman in 1974. He and Aquinas created a
synthesis of Aristotelian thought and Catholic theology.
(NH, 5/97, p.59)(AM, 5-6/97, p.10)(NH, 10/98,
p.4)
c1200-1300 A mural at Massa Marittima, Italy,
dating to the 13th century, depicts a spidery tree with 25 penises
and testicles hanging in the branches. "It's a message from the
Guelphs, telling people that if the Ghibellines are allowed power
they will bring with them heresy, sexual perver-sion, civic strife
and witchcraft."
(Reuters, 12/7/04)
1200-1300 Moses de Leon, a Spanish Jewish mystic,
wrote the "Zohar," in Aramaic. It was a mysti-cal interpretation of
the Torah disguised as a novel. The Zohar consists of mystical
interpreta-tions and commentaries of the Pentateuch, the first 5
books of the Old Testament. It became the major text of Jewish
mysticism that came to be called the Kabbalah, as developed a few
centuries later by Isaac Luria in Palestine. In 2003 a new
translation was made by Daniel C. Matt, as part of a 12-volume new
edition of the Kabbalah.
(WUD, 1994, p.1662)(WSJ, 5/22/98, p.W11)(SFC,
12/16/03, p.D1)
c1200-1300 Nichiren was 13th-century Japanese monk
and reformer. He founded a Buddhist school and wrote: “When great
evil occurs, great good will follow.”
(WSJ, 3/28/02, p.A20)
c1200-1300 Cesky Krumlov, 100 miles south of
Prague, was founded on the Vltava River on the main trading route
between Bavaria and Italy.
(SSFC, 7/21/02, p.C5)
1200-1300 The Danes built a castle at Narva,
Estonia.
(WSJ, 1/25/99, p.A1)
1200-1300 The Mont Orgueil Castle on the east
coast of island of Jersey in the English Channel was built to
withstand any French attack.
(Sky, 4/97, p.28)
c1200-1300 In France the Abbey of Royaumont was
established.
(SFC, 9/8/97, p.D5)
1200-1300 In France the abbey on Mont St. Michel
was established. In 1998 it was planned to re-move the sand around
the rocky island off the Normandy coast and re-establish its
maritime character.
(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.T3)
1200-1330 A Mayan city in Peten state (Guatemala),
the “El Pajaral” site, dated to the post-classic period of this
time. The ruins were found in 2000.
(SFC, 5/15/00, p.A13)
1200-1300 In Germany the Mauseturm, Tower of Mice,
was built downriver from Rudesheim on an islet on the Rhine in the
13th century. It was named after the plight of the 9th century
Arch-bishop Hatto of Mainz.
(SFEC, 3/15/98, p.T4)
1200-1300 Burg Reichenstein, downstream from
Assmannshausen on the Rhine, was the strong-hold of the 13th century
robber-knight Philip von Hohenfels who “robbed ladies, imprisoned
the clergy, mistreated vassals and plundered merchants.”
(SFEC, 3/15/98, p.T4)
c1200-1300 St. Gertrude, a German nun, was an
important Catholic mystic.
(WSJ, 12/26/97, p.A9)
1200-1300 In Limerick, Ireland, a 13th century
castle was built overlooking the Shannon River.
(SFEC, 3/15/98, p.T11)
1200-1300 Rival Italian political factions and
families collided in the 13th century at Montaperti, the "hill of
death".
(HN, 5/14/98)
1200-1300 On the coast of Kenya the great palace
and main mosque at Gede (Gedi) were built.
(NH, 6/97, p.41)
1200-1300 In Thailand the site at Prang Ku was
probably one of 108 hospital sites built by the Khmer king
Jayavarman VII.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.G)
c1200-1300 Sidi Bou Said was a 13th century Sufi
holy man. A town 12 miles from Tunis was named after him. It was
closed to non-Muslims until the 1820s.
(SSFC, 8/4/02, p.C12)
1200-1400 Timbuktu, a major trading center in the
Malian Empire, reached a population of some 100,000 during this
period.
(WSJ, 2/1/06, p.D12)
1200-1400 Stone birds from Great Zimbabwe were
made in this period and later displayed as part of an African Art
exhibit by the London Royal Academy 1995.
(WSJ, 11/16/95, p.A-18)
1200-1450 As many as 18,000 people in the iron-age
center of Great Zimbabwe.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.72)
1200-1500 Bhaktapur, Nepal, rose to dominate the
entire Kathmandu Valley region culturally and politically.
(SSFC, 9/21/03, p.C8)
c1200-1500 In 2005 researchers using
mitochondrial DNA estimated that 3-6 individuals founded the Mlabri
hunter gatherers of Northern Thailand about this time.
(Econ, 4/16/05, p.71)
1201 Jul 5, An earthquake in
Syria and upper Egypt killed some 1.1 million people.
(www.geohaz.org/member/news/signif.htm)
1201 Oct 9, Robert de Sorbon,
founder of Sorbonne University, Paris, was born.
(MC, 10/9/01)
1201 The Germans founded
the city of Riga in Livonia, now Latvia, and built a castle
under the direction of Bishop Albert.
(Ist. L.H., 1948, p.39-40)
1202 Apr 28, King Philip II
threw out John-without-Country, from France.
(MC, 4/28/02)
1202 Nov, The Fourth Crusade
sacked Zara. The leaders of the Fourth Crusade agreed to sack Zara
(present-day Zadar, Croatia)--a rival of Venice--as payment for
transportation the Venetians supplied the crusaders. Zara,
previously part of the Venetian republic, had rebelled against
Venice in 1186 and since allied itself with Hungary, posing
competition to Venice’s mari-time trade. Unable to raise enough
funds to pay to their Venetian contractors, the crusaders agreed to
lay siege to the city despite letters from Pope Innocent III
forbidding such an action and threatening excommunication. The fleet
set sail in October of 1202, reaching Zara in Nov. Zara--the first
Christian city to be assaulted by crusaders--surrendered after just
two weeks. The army then wintered in the city and planned an attack
on the Byzantine capital of Constan-tinople the following year.
(HNQ, 1/23/01)
1202 King John of England
proclaimed the 1st food law, the Assize of Bread. It prohibited the
adulteration of bread with ground peas.
(Econ Sp, 12/13/03, p.15)
1202 The English again attacked
the Irish town and monastery at Clonmacnoise.
(SFEC, 8/1/99, p.T8)
1202 Assisi fought against
Perugia in the Battle of Collestrada. St. Francis faced his first
test in life as a soldier in this battle.
(SSFC, 3/25/01, BR p.6)
1202 The Hindu-Arabic numbering
system was introduced to the West by Italian mathemati-cian
Fibonacci (Leonardo of Pisa). The Fibonacci series is a sequence of
numbers where each new number is the sum of the previous two.
Fibonacci wrote “Liber abaci” describing how alge-braic methods
developed in India and how they could be used in business and
commerce.
(WSJ, 10/21/96, p.A18)(WSJ, 12/9/96, p.B8)(Econ,
5/15/04, p.80)(SFC, 8/25/08, p.A10)
1202 Court jesters made their
debut in Europe. [see 1549]
(WSJ, 9/2/99, p.A12)
1203 The Fourth Crusade
murdered 100,000 Orthodox Christians.
(WSJ, 7/16/97, p.A23)
1203 Arthur of Brittany, a
political rival of King John of England, died while being held
prisoner in one of John’s dungeons.
(ON, 7/04, p.1)
1203 King Sumanguru, ruler of a
break-away Ghanian kingdom, overthrew the Soninke king and took over
Koumbi. At about the same time a new kingdom to the east called Mali
and ruled by Mandinke, was gaining power.
(ATC, p.113)
1204 Apr 1, Eleanor of
Aquitaine (81), wife of Louis VII and Henry II, died. In 1950 Amy
Kelly authored “Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings.”
(www.britannica.com/eb/article-9032256/Eleanor-of-Aquitaine)(WSJ,
5/12/07, p.P10)
1204 Apr 9, The Venetians began
their assault on Constantinople.
(www.ellopos.net/elpenor/greek-texts/fathers/pears-constantinople-1204.asp)
1204 Apr 12, The Fourth
Crusade, led by Boniface of Montferrat, sacked Constantinople.
Constantinople fell to a combined force of Franks and Venetians. The
4th Crusade failed to reach Palestine but sacked the Byzantine
Christian capital of Constantinople.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.)(NH, 9/96, p.22)(HN, 4/12/98)
1204 Dec 13, Maimonides
(b.1135), Spanish-born Jewish scholar, died in Cairo. His books
included the “Mishnah Torah,” the single most important Jewish book
after the Bible and Tal-mud, and “Guide for the Perplexed.” In 2005
Sherwin B. Nuland authored “Maimonides.”
(www.newadvent.org/cathen/09540b.htm)(SSFC,
10/23/05, p.M1)
1204 Frankish knights
established the principality of Achaia in southern Greece.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.54)
1204 France won back Normandy
but the people of the isle of Jersey chose to remain loyal to
England. The Chateau Gaillard of Richard the Lionhearted was
defeated and partly dismantled as punishment.
(Sky, 4/97, p.28)(AMNH, DT, 1998)
1204 Venice won control over
most of Albania, but Byzantines regained control of the south-ern
portion and established the Despotate of Epirus.
(www, Albania, 1998)
1204 The rule of Venice over
Crete dates to this year, when the Republic was awarded 3/8 of the
Eastern Roman Empire for its role in supporting the Fourth Crusade.
(http://romeartlover.tripod.com/Creta.html)
1204-1205 Georgia’s Queen Tamara marched with her
men to the rousing victory over the Turks at the Battle of Basiani
where she is hailed with the cry, "Our King Tamara."
(www.undelete.org/woa/woa01-18.html)
1205 Jun 19, Pope Innocent III
fired Adolf I as archbishop of Cologne.
(MC, 6/19/02)
1205 Jul 15, Pope Innocent III
decreed that the Jews were doomed to perpetual servitude and
subjugation due to crucifixion of Jesus.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1206 The city of Dresden,
Germany, was founded.
(SFEC, 7/27/97, p.T6)
1206 Francesco di Pietro di
Bernardone, later Francis of Assisi, renounced his worldly
pos-sessions.
(SFC, 10/4/99, p.A21)
1206 Genghis Khan declared
himself “the ruler of those who live in felt tents.”
(SFEM, 10/12/97, p.27)
1206-1226 Genghis Khan unified the Mongols and
over the next twenty years conquered northern China and all of Asia
west to the Caucasus. The Mongols numbered about 2 million and his
army about 130,000.
(V.D.-H.K.p.169)(SFEM, 10/12/97, p.27)
1207 Sep 4, Boniface of
Montferrat, leader of the 4th Crusade, was ambushed and killed by
the Bulgarians.
(Nationmaster.com)
1207 Sep 8, Sancho II, king of
Portugal, was born.
(MC, 9/8/01)
1207 Sep 30, Jalal ud-din Rumi
(Jelaluddin Rumi, d.1273), Persian poet and mystic was born in the
area of Balkh, Afghanistan. He later fled the Mongol invasions with
his family to Konya (Iconium), Anatolia. His work “Mathwani”
(Spiritual Couplets) filled 6 volumes and had a great impact on
Islamic civilization. He founded the Mevlevi order of Sufis, later
known as the “whirl-ing dervishes.” In 1998 a film was made about
the Sufi poet’s influence on the 20th century. In 1998 Kabir
Helminski edited “The Rumi Collection” with translation by Robert
Bly and others. His work also included the “Shams I-Tabriz” in which
he dismissed the terminology of Jew, Christian and Muslim as “false
distinctions.” The poet Rumi was also known as Mowlana.
(SFC, 7/9/96, p.B5)(SFEC, 9/20/98, DB p.50)(SFEC,
10/25/98, BR p.6)(WSJ, 9/7/01, p.A14)(SSFC, 10/28/01, p.B7)(SSFC,
4/1/07, p.E3)
1207 Oct 1, Henry III, king of
England (1216-72), was born.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1207)
1208 Feb 24, Francis of Assisi
(26) decided to become a priest in Portiuncula, Italy.
(MC, 2/24/02)
1208 Mar 24, King John of
England opposed Innocent III on his nomination for archbishop of
Canterbury.
(HN, 3/24/99)
1209 King John of England was
excommunicated by Pope Innocent III.
(HN, 10/19/98)
1209 England’s Cambridge
University was established.
(AFP, 10/11/06)
1209 The Delhi Sultanate
established Muslim rule in northern India.
(AM, 7/04, p.51)
1209 In Kinnitty, Ireland, the
Kinnitty Castle was built. It was later converted to a hotel.
(WSJ, 2/27/98, p.B8)
1209 Pope Innocent III urged a
crusade against the Albigensians. They were ascetic commu-nitarians
of southern France who viewed the clergy and secular rulers as
corrupt. A war re-sulted that effectively destroyed the Provencal
civilization of southern France.
(NH, 9/96, p.20)
1209 The Franciscan brotherhood
received papal approval.
(SFC, 7/23/99, p.C8)
1210 Oct 18, Pope Innocent III
excommunicated German emperor Otto IV.
(MC, 10/18/01)
1210 Nov 1, King John of
England began imprisoning Jews.
(MC, 11/1/01)
1210 Francis founded the
Franciscans, and demanded that his followers subsist entirely on
what they can beg while preaching.
(V.D.-H.K.p.108)
1211 St. Francis reportedly
landed on the Isola Maggiore, an island on Lake Trasimeno.
(SFEM, 10/12/97, p.48)
1211 In Latvia construction
began on Riga’s Lutheran Cathedral.
(SSFC, 7/22/07, p.G5)
1211-1228 Vaulted halls called “La Marveille” were
added to the abbey of Mont St. Michel off the coast of Normandy,
France.
(WSJ, 10/7/06, p.P18)
1212 Jan 18, Queen Tamara of
Georgia in Transcaucasia died after a 24-year reign during which her
soldiers proclaim her "our King."
(www.undelete.org/woa/woa01-18.html)
1212 Jul 16, Battle of Las
Navas de Tolosa marked the end of Muslim power in Spain.
(MC, 7/16/02)
1212 Jul 17, Moslems were
crushed in the Spanish crusade.
(HN, 7/17/98)
1212 Aug 25, Children's
crusaders under Nicolas (10) reached Genoa.
(MC, 8/25/02)
1212 Stephen, a shepherd boy
from Cloyes-sur-le-Loir, France, had a vision of Jesus and set out
to deliver a letter to the King of France. He gathered 30,000
children who went to Marseilles with plans to ship to the Holy Land
and conquer the Muslims with love instead of arms. They got shipped
to North Africa and were sold in the Muslim slave markets.
(V.D.-H.K.p.110)
1213 May 15, King John
submitted to the Pope, offering to make England and Ireland papal
fiefs. Pope Innocent III lifted the interdict of 1208. He named
Stephen Langton Archbishop of Canterbury.
(HN, 5/15/99)(MC, 5/15/02)
1213 Sep 12, Simon de Montfort
defeated Raymond of Toulouse and Peter II of Aragon at Muret,
France.
(HN, 9/12/98)
1214 Apr 25, Louis IX, king of
France (1226-1270), was born.
(HN, 4/25/02)
1214 Jul 27, At the Battle of
Bouvines in France, Philip Augustus of France defeated John of
England.
(HN, 7/27/98)
1214?-1294? Roger Bacon, English philosopher and
scientist. He was imprisoned for alchemy in 1284.
(WUD, 1994, p.109)(HC, 1/9/98)
1215 Jan 6, King John met with
disgruntled barons of northern England who demanded that taxes be
lowered.
(ON, 7/04, p.1)
1215 Apr 19-26, During Easter
week English barons assembled an army of some 2,000 men near London
and demanded that King John address their call for tax relief.
(ON, 7/04, p.1)
1215 May 3, English barons led
their forces on an attack of Northampton Castle. Loyalists to King
John successfully defended the castle and the rebels returned to
London.
(ON, 7/04, p.2)
1215 May 12, English barons
served an ultimatum on King John (known as "Lack land").
(MC, 5/12/02)
1215 June 15, The Magna Carta
("the Great Charter") was adopted and sealed by King John, son of
Henry II, at Runnymede, England, granting his barons more liberty.
King John signed the Magna Carta, which asserted the supremacy of
the law over the king, at Runnymede, England. Commercial clauses
protected merchants from unjust tolls.
(CFA, '96, p.48)(HFA, '96, p.32)(AP, 6/15/97)(HN,
6/15/98)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R49)
1215 Aug 24, Pope Innocent III,
following a request from King John, declared the Magna Carta
invalid. The barons of England soon retaliated by inviting King
Philip of France to come to England. Philip accepted the offer.
(MC, 8/24/02)(ON, 7/04, p.2)
1215-1216 King John avoided rebel forces in the
south but marched his army across the country-side subduing
adversaries in the north, east and west. Scottish and Welsh armies
raided the English borders.
(ON, 7/04, p.2)
1215-1250 Frederick II became emperor and renewed
conflicts with the papacy. [see Nov 22, 1220, 1250]
(V.D.-H.K. p.111)
1215-1294 Kublai Khan founded the Yuan dynasty and
reunited China for the first time since the fall of the T’angs in
907. He was the grandson of Genghis Khan and established the Yuan
dynasty in China. He built a court of gilded cane at Tatu (later
Beijing) that inspired Marco Polo and Col-eridge. He enforced the
use of paper money and had ships built to carry 1,000 men.
(V.D.-H.K.p.169)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R6)
1216 Jun 16, Pope Innocent III
died. In 2003 John C. Moore authored “Pope Innocent III.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Innocent_III)(WSJ, 4/12/08, p.W8)
1216 Jul 11, Hendrik of
Constantinople, emperor of Constantinople (1206-16), died.
(MC, 7/11/02)
1216 Oct 19, John, King of
England (1199-1216) died at Newark at age 49. He signed the Magna
Carta and was excommunicated in 1209. King John was succeeded by his
nine-year-old son Henry. The Royal Menagerie was begun during the
reign of King John.
(HN, 10/19/98)(SFEC, 10/10/99, p.T3)
1216 Oct 28, Henry III of
England (9) was crowned. Regents led him to agree to the demands
made by the barons at Runnymede. Prince Louis, repudiated by the
barons, returned to France.
(HN, 10/28/98)(ON, 7/04, p.2)
1217 Feb 18, Alexander Neckum
de Sancto Albano (59), English encyclopedist, died.
(MC, 2/18/02)
1217 Aug 24, Eustace "the
Monk", French buccaneer, was killed in battle.
(MC, 8/24/02)
1218 May 19, Otto IV (36), Holy
Roman Emperor, died.
(PC, 1992, p.106)
1218 Aug 31, Al-Malik ab-Adil,
Saphadin, Saif al-Din, brother of Saladin, died.
(MC, 8/31/01)
1218 The university at
Salamanca, Spain, was founded by King Alfonso IX.
(SSFC, 6/8/03, p.C8)
1218 Simon IV de Montfort
(b.1160), Norman knight and leader of the crusade against the
Albigenses (1202-1204), died at the siege of Toulouse.
(WUD, 1994, p.928)
1219 Jan 16, Floods followed a
storm in Northern Netherlands and thousands were killed.
(MC, 1/16/02)
1219 Nov 5, The port of
Damietta (in the Nile delta of Egypt) fell to the Crusaders after a
siege.
(WUD, 1994, p.365)(HN, 11/5/98)
1219 St. Francis d’Assisi
journeyed to Egypt and met with the sultan to work for peace.
(SSFC, 9/29/02, p.D2)
1219-1221 Genghis Khan invaded Afghanistan.
Destruction of irrigation systems by Genghis Khan turned fertile
soil into permanent deserts.
(www.afghan, 5/25/98)
1220 Apr 15, Adolf I,
archbishop of Cologne, died.
(MC, 4/15/02)
1220 May 30, Alexander
Nevski, Russian ruler (1252-63), was born.
(MC, 5/30/02)
1220 Nov 22, After promising to
go to the aid of the Fifth Crusade within nine months, Ger-man King
Frederick II was crowned emperor by Pope Honorius III.
(HN, 11/22/98)(PCh, 1992, p.106)
1220 Construction began on the
English Cathedral of Salisbury. It was inaugurated in 1258.
(MC, 9/20/01)(Econ, 12/20/03, p.29)
1220 In France the main
structure of Chartres cathedral was completed. In 2008 Philip Ball
authored “Universe of Stone: A Biography of Chartres Cathedral.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathedral_of_Chartres)(WSJ, 7/5/08,
p.W9)
c1220 Genghis Khan made
Karakorum his capital.
(SSFC, 3/27/05, p.F4)
1220 Klosters, Switzerland, a
future ski center, has roots to this date.
(Hem, Dec. 94, p.76)
1221 Aug 6, St. Dominic,
Italian founder of the Dominicans religious order, died.
(MC, 8/6/02)
1221 Nov 23, Alfonso X (the
Wise, d.1284), king of Castile & Leon (1252-84), was born. Also
known as Alfonso the Wise, he served as king of Castile from
1252-1284. His manuscript “Can-tigas de Santa Maria” is one of the
most important of the period.
(WUD, 1994, p.36)(WSJ, 5/14/97, p.A20)(MC,
11/23/01)
1221 In France the Chateau de
Bagnols castle was built. Guichard, Lord of Oingt, built the first
three of its 5 round towers. It was restored in the 1990s by English
publishing mogul Paul Hamlyn and his wife Helen.
(SFEM, 10/4/98, p.6)
1221 Emperor Frederick II
issued a law that declared that violence could be committed against
jesters without punishment.
(SFC,12/897, p.A17)
1221 In Russia Nizhny Novgorod
was founded.
(USAT, 10/9/98, p.12A)
1221 Genghis Khan razed the
city of Bamiyan, Afghanistan, and exterminated its inhabitants.
(WSJ, 11/16/01, p.W12)
1221 Genghis Khan is said to
have killed 1,748,000 people at Nishapur in just one hour.
(SFC, 5/25/96, p.B4)
1222 A group of professors
broke free from the Univ. of Bologna, under the control of the
Catholic Church, and created the Univ. of Padua, independent of
Catholic constraints.
(SSFC, 3/25/07, p.G3)
1223 Jul 14, Philip II Augustus
(57), King of France (1180-1223), died. Louis VIII succeeded his
father.
(HN, 7/14/98)(MC, 7/14/02)
1223 Dec 25, St. Francis of
Assisi assembled one of the first Nativity scenes, in Greccio,
Italy.
(AP, 12/25/97)
c1224/25-1274 Thomas Aquinas born in Aquino
between Rome and Naples. He was a pupil of the Benedictines in the
monastery of Monte Cassino. After nine years Emperor Frederic II
tem-porarily disbanded the monks at Cassino and Thomas went to
Naples to study and joined the Dominicans. He tried to reconcile
theology with the emerging economic conditions of his time.
(V.D.-H.K.p.119)(NH, 10/98, p.4)(WSJ, 1/11/99,
p.R20)
1225 Nov 7, Engelbert I (40),
the Saint, archbishop of Cologne, was murdered.
(MC, 11/7/01)
1226 Oct 3, St. Francis of
Assisi (b.1182), founder of the Franciscan order, died. He was
can-onized in 1228 and entombed in the St. Francis Basilica in 1230.
In 1983 Olivier Messiaen pre-miered his opera “Saint Francis
d’Assise.” In 2001 Adrian House authored “Francis of Assisi: A
Revolutionary Life;” Valerie Martin authored “Salvation: Scenes From
the Life of St. Francis.” In 2002 Donald Spoto authored “Reluctant
Saint: The Life of Francis of Assisi.” [see Oct 4]
(AP, 10/3/97)(SFEC, 7/25/99, DB p.32)(SSFC,
3/25/01, BR p.1,6)(SSFC, 9/29/02, p.D2)(SFC, 10/3/02, p.A19)
1226 Oct 4, St. Francis of
Assisi, founder of the Franciscans and one of history's most fa-mous
nature lovers, died. [see Oct 3]
(MC, 10/4/01)
1226 Nov 8, Louis VIII (39),
the Lion, King of France (1223-26), died. He was succeeded by Louis
IX.
(HN, 11/6/98)(MC, 11/8/01)
1226 Following Prussian attacks
on Polish lands, the Catholic Poles invited German
religious-military orders to attack Prussia.
(H of L, 1931, p.25)(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1226 The last mega hurricane
struck the gulf coast of Alabama. The mega hurricane seems to happen
on average every 600 years.
(SFEC, 9/15/96, p.A10)
1226-1270 Era of King Louis IX. In France, the
urban middle-class became a new, economic factor, and King Louis IX
tried to control his vassals through his policy of increased
centralization. It was the era in which the crusades were winding
down, and the embassies of Franciscans and Dominicans to the courts
of Mongolian princes were beginning.
(http://www.let.ruu.nl/C+L/voorbij/vincent/txt/albrecht.htm)
1227 In Spain construction of
the Gothic Cathedral in Toledo was begun.
(SFEC, 3/22/98, p.T11)
1227 Aug 18, Genghis Khan
(Chinggis), Mongol conqueror, died in his sleep at his camp, dur-ing
his siege of Ningxia, the capital of the rebellious Chinese kingdom
of Xi Xia. Subotai was one of Genghis Khan's ablest lieutenants, and
went on to distinguish himself after the khan's death. In Khan's
lifetime he and his warriors had conquered the majority of the
civilized world, ruling an empire that stretched from Poland down to
Iran in the west, and from Russia's Arctic shores down to Vietnam in
the east. Russian archaeologist Peter Kozloff uncovered the
tomb of Genghis Khan in the Gobi Desert in 1927. In 2006 Zhu
Yaoting, a Beijing academic, au-thored a biography of Genghis Khan.
(AP, 8/18/97)(HN, 10/29/98)(Econ, 12/23/06, p.61)
1227 In the Polish Kulm region
there was a struggle with Prussia over land. The Poles called in the
German Knights of the Cross (aka Teutonic Knights) for help in
exchange for the lands of Kulm. The Knights arrived and began to
fight Prussia in wars that lasted some 60 years.
(Ist. L.H., 1948, p. 41)
1227 Roman Emperor Frederick II
was first excommunicated by the Catholic Pope because his growing
empire threatened the independence of the papal states. [see 1239]
(AP, 5/5/06)
1227-1234 The Madrassa al Mustansirija was
constructed in Baghdad by the Caliph al Mustansir. It became world
epicenter of medical sciences and also taught theology, mathematics,
jurispru-dence, astrology and other subjects.
(WSJ, 9/20/08, p.W14)
1228 The Basilica di San
Francesco was constructed in Assisi, Italy.
(WSJ, 3/25/99, p.A24)
1228 St. Francis of Assisi,
founder of the Franciscan order, was canonized.
(AP, 10/3/97)
1229 Mar 18, German emperor
Frederick II crowned himself king of Jerusalem.
(MC, 3/18/02)
1229 Apr 14, A scribe name John
completed a religious text that overwrote a manuscript at-tributed
to Archimedes that had been copied by a scribe in the 10th century.
In 2006 scientists attempted to read the final pages of the
Archimedes palimpsest, which contained text from his “Method of
Mechanical Theorems.”
(Econ, 7/22/06, p.76)
1229-1241 Ugoodei, Genghis’ successor, reigned
Mongolia over this period.
(www.gobiexpeditions.com)
1230 Mindaugas began to rule
over Lithuania. Mindaugas found resistance amongst some local rulers
who called in German military orders for assistance. Mindaugas
hosted the German magistrate who said that the only way to save
Lithuania would be to convert to Catholicism and pass western
territory over to the German Order.
(H of L, 1931, p.29)
1230-1253 King Wenceslas I reigned over Bohemia.
His sister, St. Agnes, was canonized in 1989. Both are buried in the
Convent of St. Agnes in Prague.
(SFC, 4/14/96, T-12)
1231 Guo Shoujing (d.1314),
Chinese astronomer, was born. He developed water clocks with
temperature compensation and escapements to provide high resolution
time accuracy for as-tronomical observations, a “pinhole camera” to
sharpen shadows cast by the sun and moon, mathematical tools for
polynomial generation and interpolation, and other inventions for
meas-urements.
(www.1421.tv/pages/evidence/content.asp?EvidenceID=420)
1231-1322 The illustrated text of the Chinese
Dharani Sutra of Great Splendor was created.
(SFC, 8/21/03, p.E2)
1232-1316 Ramon Llull proposed an artificial
language that used 4 figures and 9 letters called his Ars magna. It
was proposed as the perfect tool for Christian missionaries.
(Wired, 8/96, p.84)
1233 The Inquisition began and
lasted into the 19th century.
(SFC, 10/30/98, p.A16)
1233 The Japanese royal family
began to stain their teeth black in a fashion statement.
(WSJ, 9/2/99, p.A12)
1234 Ugoodei attacked and
overcame the Chin (Juchen) dynasty of China.
(www.gobiexpeditions.com)
1235 Jan 2, Emperor Joseph II
ordered the Jews of Galicia, Austria, to adopt family names.
(MC, 1/2/02)
1235 Sep 5, Henry I, duke of
Brabant, died. Brabant was a duchy later divided between
Neth-erlands and Belgium.
(WUD, 1994 p.177)(MC, 9/5/01)
1235 Henry III received 3
leopards from Frederick II, the Holy Roman Emperor. They became part
of the Royal Menagerie housed in the Tower of London.
(SFEC, 10/10/99, p.T3)
1235 In China a murder was
solved when field men were told to lay down their rice sickles and
flies landed on only one.
(SFEC, 9/28/97, Z1 p.2)
1235 The king of Mali,
Sundiata, defeated Sumanguru at the battle of Kirina. From then on
Mali replaced Ghana as the major power in West Africa. Sundiata
established his capital at Ni-ana on the upper Niger.
(ATC, p.113,118)
1235-1315 Raimon Llull, a Mallorcan Catholic
Franciscan poet. He declared that his ecstatic Chris-tian
spirituality drew from the example of Sufis like Rumi.
(SFEC, 10/25/98, BR p.6)
1236 Jan 14, Henry III married
Eleanor of Provence.
(HN, 1/14/99)
1236 Jun 29, Ferdinand III of
Castile and Leon took Cordoba in Spain. Cordoba, Spain, fell to
Christian forces. The last Islamic kingdom left in Spain is that of
the Berbers in Granada.
(ATC, p.100)(HN, 6/29/98)
1236 Aug 22, The German
Master Volkwin of Riga had prepared a large force of his Knights of
the Sword to attack Lithuania. The Lithuanians learned of the
planned attack and called for forces across the land to repulse the
Germans. The Germans were lured to a marsh near the town of Siauliai
and were severely beaten. Only a tenth of their forces were said to
escape back to Riga.
(Ist. L.H., 1948, p. 41)(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1236 Dec 23, Philippus
Cancellarius, French theologian and poet (Summa Cum Laude), died.
(MC, 12/23/01)
1236 Queen Rusudani (41), the
daughter of Queen Tamara, fled Georgia as the unstoppable Mongol
hordes ravished the area. She had been proclaimed "King" at the
death of her brother.
(www.undelete.org/woa/woa01-18.html)
1237 Feb 13, Jordanus of Saxon,
2nd father-general of Dominicans, drowned.
(MC, 2/13/02)
1237 Mar 23, Jan of Brienne,
King of Jerusalem, Emperor of Constantinople, died.
(SS, 3/23/02)
1237 The Bishop of Riga sent a
request to Rome that the Pope unite the German Knights of the Sword
and Knights of the Cross into one order. The Pope agreed and the two
orders agreed to fight under one magistrate.
(Ist. L.H., 1948, p. 41)
1237
The Knights of the Sword ended their activities in Livonia.
(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1237-1238 Batu Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan,
invaded Russia.
(AM, Jul/Aug ‘97 p.28)
1237-1240 Mongols conquered Russian lands.
(DVD, Criterion, 1998)
1238 Feb 3, The Mongols took
over Vladimir, Russia.
(HN, 2/3/99)
1238 Sep 28, James of Aragon
retook Valencia, Spain, from the Arabs.
(HN, 9/28/98)
1238 The Knights of the Sword
merged with the German Knights of the Cross.
(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1238
Mindaugas is mentioned for the 1st time. He ruled to 1263.
(H of L, 1931, p.29)(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1239 Jun 17, Edward I
(Longshanks), king of England (1272-1307), was born. He became king
of England following the death of his father Henry III. Edward I has
been called "the Eng-lish Justinian" because of his legal reforms,
but is usually known as one of the foremost military men of the
medieval world. His rule strengthened the authority of the crown and
England’s in-fluence over her neighbors. While successfully subduing
Wales he died while attempting to conquer Scotland.
(HN, 6/17/00)(HNQ, 2/1/01)
1239 Roman Emperor Frederick II
was excommunicated a 2nd time because his growing em-pire threatened
the independence of the papal states.
(AP, 5/5/06)
1240 Apr 11, Llywelyn ab
Iorwerth the Great, monarch of Wales (1194-1240), died.
(MC, 4/11/02)
1240 Nov 26, Edmund Van
Abingdon, archbishop of Canterbury and Saint, died.
(MC, 11/26/01)
1240 Dec 6, Mongols under Batu
Khan occupied and destroyed Kiev.
(MC, 12/6/01)
1240 A chronicle of the life of
Genghis Khan and his successors: “The Secret Life of the Mon-gols,”
was written about this time. A Chinese version was discovered by a
Russian diplomat in the early 1800s. In 1982 Francis Woodman Cleaves
produced a modern version.
(www.ezlink.com/~culturev/secret.html)(SSFC,
5/22/05, p.C3)
1240 Henry III ordered the
Tower of London to be whitewashed.
(Hem, 9/04, p.28)
c1240-1302 Giovanni Cimabue, Italian painter and
mosaicist. In 1998 a collection of his work was published with text
by Luciano Bellosi. Cimabue was a teacher of Giotto. Many of his
creations were damaged by a 1966 flood in the Church of Santa Croce
in Florence.
(WUD, 1994, p.266)(WSJ, 12/3/98, p.W4)
1240-1630 The site of Thulamela in Kruger Nat’l.
Park in northeastern South Africa had graves con-taining people with
gold ornaments.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.71)
1241 Apr 9, In the Battle of
Liegnitz, Silesia, Mongol armies defeated the Poles and Germans. In
this year the Mongols defeated the Germans and invaded Poland and
Hungary. The death of their leader Ughetai (Ogedei) forced them to
withdraw from Europe.
(HN, 4/9/98)(TOH)
1241 May 25, 1st attack on
Jewish community of Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1241 A trumpeter in Krakow,
Poland, was shot through the throat by an archer as he warned the
city of a fast-approaching Mongol army.
(SSFC, 12/28/03, p.C6)
1241 The Great Khan Ogedei died
after completing the Mongol conquest of China and Korea. In April
the Mongols routed the armies of Poles, Germans, and Hungarians, at
Liegnitz and Mohi, within easy distance of Vienna. Only the death of
Ogedei stopped their advance into Europe.
(V.D.-H.K.p.169)
1242 Feb 12, Henry VII, Roman
Catholic German king (1220-35), committed suicide.
(MC, 2/12/02)
1242 Apr 5, Russian troops
repelled an invasion attempt by Teutonic Knights. Alexander Nev-sky
of Novgorod defeated Teutonic Knights
(HN, 4/5/99)(MC, 4/5/02)
1242 Jun 6, 24 wagonloads of
Talmudic books were burned in Paris.
(MC, 6/6/02)
1242 In Italy the city wall of
Montagnana were built.
(AMNHDT, 5/98)
1242 Batu, the grandson of
Genghis Khan, established his “Golden Horde” at Sarai on the Lower
Volga.
(TOH)
1243 Jun 26, The Seljuk Turkish
army in Asia Minor was wiped out by the Mongols.
(HN, 6/26/98)
1243 A Charter granted
permission for a fair at the monastery of St. Michael at Glastonbury
Tor.
(Local Inscription, 2000)
1243-1254 Pope Innocent IV. He established canon
law that recognized communities such as ca-thedral chapters and
monasteries as legal individuals.
(WSJ, 12/23/99, p.A18)
1244 Aug 23, Turks expelled the
crusaders under Frederick II from Jerusalem.
(HN, 8/23/98)
1244 Oct 17, The Sixth Crusade
ended when an Egyptian-Khwarismian force almost annihi-lated the
Frankish army at Gaza.
(HN, 10/17/98)
1244 The Cathars, a group of
Catholic heretics, settled at Montsegur, France, in the Ariege
region. They were besieged for more than a year and chose to burn at
the stake rather than submit. Occitania was the ancient name for
this region.
(SFEC, 12/8/96, p.T1)
1244 Sheikh Abu el Haggag,
Tunisian born Sufi, died in Luxor, Egypt. His family was from Mecca
and traced its lineage to Mohammed. He founded a Sufi mosque in
Luxor and is buried there. An annual celebration in Luxor, called
the moulid, celebrates his birthday. Egyptologists believe this
event is related to the ancient Opet Festival from the 18th Dynasty.
(Arch, 7/02, p.36)
1244-1248 Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi met Shams of
Tabriz, a wandering dervish, and the two be-came mystical companions
for 4 years until Shams disappeared. Rumi called his own writings
“The Works of Shams of Tabriz.”
(SFEC, 10/25/98, BR p.6)
1245 Jul 27, Frederick II of
France was deposed by a council at Lyons, which found him guilty of
sacrilege.
(HN, 7/27/98)
1245 Thomas Aquinas was sent to
Paris where he enrolled as a student of Albertus Magnus to study
theology, philosophy, and history. In 1974 Michael R. Best and Frank
H. Brightman ed-ited “The Book of secrets of Albertus Magnus,” which
contained a recipe for Greek Fire.
(V.D.-H.K.p.119)(AM, May/Jun 97 p.10)
1245 John of Plano Carpini was
a Franciscan monk who set out on the instructions of Pope Innocent
IV to gather intelligence. He was met by Mongol horseman and was
brought to wit-ness the enthronement of Guyuk Khan. He experienced a
sudden hailstorm followed by a flash flood that killed 160 people.
(SFC, 4/14/96, T-10)(SFEM, 10/12/97, p.22)
1245 The Rheinfels Castle above
St. Goar was erected by Count Diether III of Katzenelbogen to
enforce a new toll on the Rhine. His family was responsible for many
of the Rhine castles.
(SFEC, 3/15/98, p.T5)
1245 In Flanders cottage
weavers went on strike against cloth merchants.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R25)
1246 May 22, Henry Raspe was
elected anti-king by the Rhenish prelates in France.
(HN, 5/22/98)
1246 The Spanish island of
Mallorca was occupied by the Arabs and reconquered by the Catalans
750 years ago.
(SFC, Z-1, 4/28/96, p.6)
1247 Nov 22, Robin Hood died
according to the 1400 ballad "A Lytell Geste of Robyn Hode." The
legend of Robin Hood is believed to extend into antiquity.
(MC, 11/22/01)(SFC, 2/17/04, p.A2)
1247 Zen monk Yishan Yining
(d.1317), calligrapher and poet, was born in China.
(WSJ, 1/8/02, p.A16)
1248 May 15, Archbishop Konrad
von Hochstaden laid the cornerstone for Köln (Cologne)
cathedral. [see Aug 14]
(MC, 5/15/02)
1248 Aug 14, Construction of
Cologne Cathedral began. [see May 15]
(MC, 8/14/02)
1248 Nov 23, Seville, France
surrendered to Ferdinand III of Castile after a two-year siege.
(HN, 11/23/98)
1248 Sainte Chapelle in Paris
was completed and commissioned by Louis IX to contain what was
believed to be Christ’s crown of thorns.
(Hem. 1/95, p. 78)
1248 In Wales Carreg Cennen, a
castle on a hilltop above Trapp, was built as a Welsh stronghold.
(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.T4)
1249 Feb 7, The Christburg
Peace Treaty forced the Prussians to recognize the rule of the
Teutonic Knights. Within about 50 years the Teutonic Knights and
Knights of the Cross had overcome most of Prussia and established
German as the dominant culture and language. The German orders then
turned to Lithuania.
(H of L, 1931, p.25)(LHC, 2/7/03)
1249 Oxford’s first college,
University College, was founded by William of Durham. (The old-est
part of the existing buildings dates from 1634).
(Econ, 5/21/05, p.16)(http://tinyurl.com/c6eny)
1249-1254 A civil war was fought in
Lithuania. Mindaugas, the feudal ruler of Lithuania found
resis-tance amongst some local rulers who called in German military
orders for assistance. Mindau-gas hosted the German magistrate who
said that the only way to save Lithuania would be to convert to
Catholicism and pass western territory over to the German Order.
(H of L, 1931, p.29)(TB-Com,
10/11/00)(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1250 Feb 8-1250 Feb 11, The
Battle of Al Mansurah was fought between crusaders led by Louis IX,
King of France, and Ayyubid forces led by Emir Fakhr-ad-Din Yussuf,
Faris ad-Din Ak-tai and Baibars al-Bunduqdari.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Al_Mansurah)
1250 Apr 6, Louis IX
(1214-1270), King of France, lost the Battle of Fariskur, Egypt, and
was captured by Muslim forces .
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Al_Mansurah)
1250 Apr 15, Pope Innocent III
refused Jews of Cordova, Spain, permission to build a syna-gogue.
(MC, 4/15/02)
1250 Apr 30, King Louis IX of
France was ransomed for one million dollars. The Mamluk dy-nasty
exacted 240 tons of silver for his release.
(HN, 4/30/98)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R4)
1250 May 2, Toeransa, sultan of
Egypt, was murdered.
(MC, 5/2/02)
1250 Dec 13, Frederick II (55),
German Emperor (1212-1250), died.
(MC, 12/13/01)
1250 Nicolo and Mafeo Polo
embarked on their own cargo ship for Constantinople.
(TMPV, P.4)(This date is questionable and is
given as 1260 in other versions)
1250 China began manufacturing
guns.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)
1250 The Mamelukes, a military
class initially composed of slaves, seized control of the Egyp-tian
Sultanate and ruled until 1517.
(WUD, 1994, p.869)
1250 The Anasazi in southwest
Colorado fought a battle against unknown enemies. Number of kivas
built greatly increased. Quality of workmanship in building
decreased. People began to leave.
(HN, 2/11/97)
c1250 The Tsama Pueblo in New
Mexico contained 1100 rooms and was occupied to the mid-1500s.
(AM, adv. circular, p.2)
1250 Florence, Italy, became a
major center for commerce and industry.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R49)
c1250 A supernova 650
light-years away should have been visible to observers on Earth
ac-cording to scientists who analyzed evidence in 1998.
(SFC, 11/12/98, p.A12)
1250-1350 The 1999 book by Lauren Arnold:
"Princely Gifts and Papal Treasures: The Franciscan Mission to China
and Its Influence on the Art of the West 1250-1350" covered this
period.
(WSJ, 12/16/99, p.A20)
1250-1382 The Bahri Mamluks ruled Egypt.
(SSFC, 7/24/11, p.F7)
1250-1400 In the Upper Xingu region of Brazil's
Mato Grosso state thousands of people occupied 19 settlements in 2
clusters over this period according to archeological findings in
2003.
(Econ, 9/20/03, p.76)
1250-1540 Late postclassic period of the Maya.
(AM, May/Jun 97 suppl. p.B)
1251 The Polo brothers resided
for a year in the dominions of the Western Tartar chief Berca, who
dwelt in the cities of Bolgara and Assara. A war soon developed
between Berca and Alau, chief of the Eastern Tartars. This war was
won by Alau and the brothers were forced to travel east in order to
skirt unsafe roads.
(TMPV, P.5)(This date is questionable and is
given as 1261 in other versions)
1251 In Lithuania Mindaugas
accepted Christianity with his wife, 2 sons, about 600 of his
no-bility and many of his people. An envoy was then sent to Rome to
request the Pope’s formal approval for coronation which was granted.
The German Order then worked closely with Min-daugas in establishing
the first Bishopric in Lithuania and were in turn granted lands in
western Lithuania (Zemaiciuose). Pope Innocent IV authorized
Mindaugas to be crowned King.
(H of L, 1931, p.30,32)(XXIA, 7/21/99)
c1251-1254 The Polo brothers traveled to Persia
and arrived at the province of Bokhara ruled by Prince Barak. They
remained there for three years. (This date is questionable and is
given as 1261-64 in other versions).
(TMPV, P.6)
1252 Apr 6, Peter of Verona
(45), [Peter Martyr], Italian inquisitor died.
(MC, 4/6/02)
1252 The new "Round Table"
jousting tournament appeared in England.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34)
1253 Jul 6, Mindaugas was
crowned as King of Lithuania.
(www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=12845046&PageNum=0)
1253 Jul 23, Jews were expelled
from Vienne, France, by order of Pope Innocent III.
(MC, 7/23/02)
1253 A Franciscan friar
journeyed to China to see the Great Khan.
(WSJ, 9/4/98, p.W12)
1253-1260 Ata-Malik Juvaini (b.1226) authored
“The History of the World Conqueror,” an account of the life of
Genghis Khan and his successors. Juvaini, in service to the Mongol
governors, drew on the recollections of his father and grandfather.
In 1997 J.A. Boyle published an English translation.
(www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2082/is_3_61/ai_55426809)
1254 Mar 12, Mindaugas
granted Christian, Lithuania’s 1st Bishop, lands in Samogitia.
(LHC, 3/12/03)
1254-1324 Marco Polo was born in Venice.
(V.D.-H.K.p.169)
1255 Mar 6, Pope
Alexander IV permitted Mindaugas to crown his son as king of
Lithuania.
(LHC, 3/6/03)
c1255 Duccio di Buoninsegna
(d.1319), Sienese painter, was born.
(Econ, 1/17/04, p.75)
1255 Konigsberg (Kaliningrad)
was founded on the Baltic Sea by the Bohemian King Otakar II, who
came to help Teutonic Knights during their conquest of Prussia
disguised as the Christi-anization effort called the Northern
Crusades. It was annexed by Russia in 1945.
(Econ, 5/14/05,
p.55)(www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Konigsberg)
c1255 The Polo brothers met an
ambassador of Alau on his way to see the supreme chief of the
Tartars, Kublai. The ambassador offered to take the brothers to meet
the grand khan and the Polo’s accepted. (This date is questionable
and is given as 1265 in other versions).
(TMPV, P.7)
1256 Thomas Aquinas received
his license to teach. He became involved in the current ques-tions
of doctrine on two basic issues. He sided with the Nominalists as
opposed to the Realists on the question of "universals". The second
issue was based on Aristotle's notion of nature. Aquinas saw a
distinction between spirit and nature but also a unity.
(V.D.-H.K.p.121)
1256 Kublai-khan began his
reign as the sixth grand khan, ruler of the Tartars. [see 1259]
(TMPV, p.108)
1256 France banned gambling
with dice.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34)
1258 Feb 10, Huegu (Hulega
Khan), a Mongol leader and grandson of Genghis Khan, seized Baghdad
following a 4-day assault. Mongol invaders from Central Asia took
over Baghdad and ended the Abbasid-Seljuk Empire. They included
Uzbeks, Kazaks, Georgians and other groups. Some 200 to 800 thousand
people were killed and looting lasted 17 days.
(ATC, p.91)(AP, 2/10/99)(SFC, 4/12/03, p.A1)
1258 Mar 26, Floris the
Guardian, count-regent of Holland, died.
(SS, 3/26/02)
1258 Sep 20, The Cathedral of
Salisbury, begun in 1220, was inaugurated.
(MC, 9/20/01)(Econ, 12/20/03, p.29)
1259 Aug 11, Mongke, Mongol
great-khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, died.
(MC, 8/11/02)
1259 Sep 27, Ezzeline III da
Romano, gentleman of Verona, "cruel monster", died.
(MC, 9/27/01)
1259-1282 Michael VIII Palaeologus governed over
Byzantium from Constantinople. [see 330AD]
(WSJ, 11/14/95, p. A-12)
1259-1294 The great Kublai Khan, a grandson of
Genghis, reigned.
(www.gobiexpeditions.com)
1260 Mar 1, Hulagu Khan,
grandson of Genghis, conquered Damascus.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1260 Sep 3, Mamelukes under
Sultan Qutuz defeated Mongols and Crusaders at Ain Jalut.
(HN, 9/3/98)
1260 Sep 4, At the Battle of
Montaperto in Italy, the Tuscan Ghibellines, who supported the
emperor, defeated the Florentine Guelfs, who supported papal power.
(HN, 9/4/98)
1260 Oct 23,Koetoez, Turkish
sultan of Egypt, was murdered.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1260 The people of
western Lithuania (Zemaiciai) attacked the German Order of the Cross
at a battle near Durbe Lake. This forced Mindaugas to turn against
the Germans but he was not able to gain the full trust of the
western Lithuanians.
(H of L, 1931, p.32)(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1260-1274 A large scale Prussian uprising took
place against the Knights of the Cross.
(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1260-1294 The Mongol Empire under Kublai Khan
reached its height.
(ATC, p.160)
1260-1348 Siena flourished as a univ. town and
center for banking, trading, and art.
(SFEC, 6/29/97, p.T11)
1260-1368 The Yuan Dynasty ruled in China. The
Yuan Dynasty was founded by Kublai Khan.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)(SFC, 6/25/98, p.A8)
1260-1368 In China musical productions known as
Zaju became popular during the Yuan Dynasty. Zaju, an early form of
opera, combined music, dance, song and speech into 4-act dramas with
complex plots and characters.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34)
1260-1390 Carbon-14 dating techniques in 1988
determined that the cloth of the Shroud of Turin dated to this
period. E.T. Hall (d.2001 at 77) of Oxford Univ. led the testing,
which was later held in question. In 1978 Walter C. McCrone
(d.2002), chemical analyst, determined that the image was painted on
the cloth some 1300 years after the crucifixion of Christ.
(SFEC, 2/1/98, p.A24)(SFC, 8/22/01, p.D2)(SFC,
7/29/02, p.B5)(www.tqnyc.org/NYC063363/)
1260-1555 In 2004 Diana Norman covered this period
in her book: "Painting in the Late Medieval and Renaissance Siena."
(Econ, 1/17/04, p.75)
1261 Feb 3, Samogitian fighters
defeated the Livonian Knights of the Cross at Lielvarde.
(LHC, 2/3/03)
1261 May 25, Alexander IV
[Rinaldo dei conti di Segni], Pope (1254-61), died.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1261 Aug 15, Constantinople
fell to Michael VIII of Nicea and his army.
(HN, 8/15/98)
1261 Oct 9, Dionysius, the
Justified, king of Portugal (1279-1325), was born.
(MC, 10/9/01)
1261 A great quarrel arose
between king Alau, lord of the Tartars of the East, and Berca, king
of the Tartars of the West based on a border dispute. A great battle
was waged in which Alau was the victor.
(TMPV, pp. 336-340)
1262 After a long and bloody
conflict between the various families and clans, the Icelanders
accepted the rule of the Norwegian kingdom.
(DrEE, 1/4/97, p.4)
1263 Feb 9, A Lithuania army
under Treniota defeated the Livonian Knights of the Cross.
(LHC, 2/9/03)
1263 Aug 19, King James I of
Aragon censored Hebrew writing.
(MC, 8/19/02)
1263 Oct 2, At Largs, King
Alexander III of Scotland repelled an amphibious invasion by King
Haakon IV of Norway.
(HN, 10/2/98)
1263 Nov 14, Alexander Nevski
(43), Russian ruler (1252-63), died.
(MC, 11/14/01)
1263 In Lithuania King
Mindaugas was assassinated along with his 2 sons by Duke Treniota.
(H of L, 1931, p.32)(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1263 In a Spanish court Rabbi
Moses ben Nachman defended the legitimacy of Judaism against Pablo
Christiani, a converted Jew, who argued for Christianity. The trial
was set up by King James I of Aragon to please the pope. In 1982
Hyam Maccoby wrote "Judaism on Trial" and turned in into a play,
"The Disputation" in 1999.
(WSJ, 3/23/99, p.A20)
1263-1264 In Lithuania Treniota served as Grand
Duke.
(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1264 May 14, The Baron's War
was fought in England. King Henry III was captured by his brother in
law Earl of Leicester Simon de Montfort at the Battle of Lewes in
England.
(HN, 5/14/99)(PC, 1992, p.113)
1264 Aug 5, Anti-Jewish riots
broke out in Arnstadt, Germany.
(MC, 8/5/02)
c1264 Vincent of Beauvais and
the Speculum Maius: the compiling and adapting techniques of a
thirteenth-century Dominican.
(http://www.let.ruu.nl/C+L/voorbij/vincent/txt/albrecht.htm)
1264 Kublai Khan, grandson of
Genghis Khan, moved his capital from Karakorum to what later became
Beijing. Karakorum was all but abandoned and eventually destroyed by
Manchu-rian invaders over the next century.
(SSFC, 3/27/05, p.F4)
1264 According to Marco Polo,
Kublai Khan in this year sent a large body of troops to attack
Japan, then known as the island of Zipangu. The two officers in
charge, named Abbacatan and Vonsancin, failed to cooperate and the
adventure failed.
(TMPV, P.255)
1264-1267 In Lithuania Vaisalgas (Vaiselga) served
as Grand Duke.
(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1265 Jan 20, The 1st English
Parliament was called into session by Earl of Leicester.
(MC, 1/20/02)
1265 Jan 23, The 1st English
Parliament formally convened.
(MC, 1/23/02)
1265 May 9, Dante Alighieri,
Italian poet (Divine Comedy), was born.
(WUD, 1994 p.367)(MC, 5/9/02)
1265 Aug 4, King Henry III in
the Battle at Evesham put down a revolt of English barons lead by
Simon de Montfort. Montfort, the English earl of Leicester, died in
the battle.
(HN, 8/4/98)(MC, 8/4/02)
1265 The coastal settlement of
Caesarea (Palestine) was razed to the ground.
(Econ, 4/24/04, p.83)
1265-1308 Duns Scotus, the Franciscan "subtle
doctor." He stated that God is absolutely free, and absolute freedom
means being free of reason's necessity, as well as of all else. This
was in op-position to Aquinas' statement that what is logically
necessary must necessarily be so.
(V.D.-H.K.p.123)
1265-1321 Dante Alighieri, author of the Divine
Comedy. His original surname was Durante. He died on Sept. 14.
(V.D.-H.K.p.124)(AHD, 1971, p.335)
1266 Feb 26, Charles d’Anjou,
king of the two Sicilies, defeated Manfred (33), in the Battle of
Benevento. Manfred, the bastard son of Emperor Frederik II, king of
Sicily, was killed.
(PCh, 1992, p.114)(SC, 2/26/02)
1266 St. Thomas Aquinas penned
his "Summa Theologica," in which he attempted to recon-cile theology
with economic conditions. He argued that reason could operate within
faith.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)(WSJ, 6/22/99, p.A22)
1266 King Kaidu of Great
Turkey, a nephew of the grand khan, rebelled against the grand Kahn
and numerous battles were fought. Kaidu eventually withdrew to
Samarkand. Kaidu is also said to have had a very strong and valiant
daughter, Aigiarm, who declared not to marry until she met a man who
could conquer her by force.
(TMPV, pp. 317-323)
1267 Feb 9, Synod of Breslau
ordered Jews of Silesia to wear special caps.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1267 May 10, Vienna's Catholic
church ordered all Jews to wear distinctive garb.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1267 Jul 26, The Inquisition
formed in Rome under Pope Clement IV.
(MC, 7/26/02)
1267 Sep 1, Ramban
(Nachmanides) arrived in Jerusalem to establish a Jewish community.
(SC, 9/1/02)
1267 Nov 26, Gozzolini
Silvester, Italian hermit and Saint, died.
(MC, 11/26/01)
1267 Giotto (d.1337), Italian
painter, was born about this time.
(V.D.-H.K.p.128)(WSJ, 11/113/00,
p.A24)(www.mediacult.com/art/giotto/chrono.html)
1267-1269 In Lithuania Shvarno served as Grand
Duke.
(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1268 Jan 21, Pope Clement IV
gave permission to Poland’s King Premislus II to take over Lithuania
and establish Catholicism.
(LHC, 1/18/03)
1268 Oct 19, Konradin von
Hohenstaufen, duke of Zwaben, was beheaded. [see Oct 20]
(MC, 10/19/01)
1268 Oct 20, Konradijn
Hohenstaufen, son of Koenraad IV, was beheaded in Naples. [see Oct
19]
(MC, 10/20/01)
1268 According to Marco Polo,
Kublai Khan in this year sent a large force of infantry and cav-alry
to conquer the country named Ziamba, (Viet-Nam). His forces were
under the leadership of general Sogatu. The king of Ziamba,
Accambale, was advanced in years but resisted from his strongholds.
The Tartars laid waste to the open country and then accepted to
withdraw in return for a yearly tribute of elephants and
sweet-scented wood.
(TMPV, P.260)
1269 Apr, The Polo brothers
arrived at Acre.
(TMPV, P.10)
1269 Jun 19, King Louis IX of
France decreed all Jews must wear a badge of shame.
(MC, 6/19/02)
1269 The capital of Morocco was
moved north to Fez after the Almohad dynasty fell.
(SFEC, 7/25/99, p.T11)
1269 Nicolo Polo returned to
Venice from Asia and his visit with Kublai Khan at Shang-tu,
Coleridge’s Xanadu. He carried letters from the Khan asking that the
pope provide 100 intelli-gent men, “acquainted with the seven arts.”
Pope Clement IV had recently died and Nicolo waited for a successor.
(V.D.-H.K.p.170)
1269 The Prince Facfur ruled
the province of Manji in a peaceful and prosperous manner. He
maintained at his court a thousand beautiful women, in whose society
he took delight.
(TMPV, P.10)
1269-1281 In Lithuania Traidenis served as Grand
Duke.
(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1269-1271 The Polo brothers waited two years in
Venice for a new pope and then departed for Acre and then to
Jerusalem with the young Marco Polo. The Polos continue their
journey and reach Armenia. The legate of Jerusalem was elected Pope
and assumed the name Gregory X.
(TMPV, P.12)
1269-1354 Huang Kung-Wang, Chinese artist. He
painted the 20-foot-long hand-scroll "Dwelling in the Fu-Ch'un
Mountains." The work is part of the traveling exhibit from the
National Palace Mu-seum, Taipei in 1995.
(WSJ, 12/29/95, p.A-11)
1270 Feb 16, In the Karusa Ice
war in Estonia, Lithuanian forces defeated the Livonian Knights of
the Cross.
(LHC, 2/16/03)
1270 Aug 25, King Louis IX
(56), King of France (1226-70), died on The Eighth Crusade, which
was decimated by the Plague.
(PCh, 1992, p.114)(V.D.-H.K.p.110)(MC, 8/25/02)
1270 Oct 30, The seventh
crusade was ended by the treaty of Barbary.
(HN, 10/30/98)
1270 Mongol hordes sacked
Babylon and ended 1,500 years of rule over Eastern Jewry by the high
Mesopotamian priest known as the Exxilarch.
(WSJ, 6/30/03, p.A1)
1271 Aug, Jacob d’Ancona, an
Italian-Jewish trader, arrived at the harbor of Zaitun in south-east
China, 4-years before Marco Polo arrived. He wrote a manuscript that
surfaced in 1997, translated by David Selbourne, a British scholar.
Jacob described printing with movable wooden type, paper money, free
daily newspapers, mass-circulation booklets, use of gunpowder, the
practice of foot-binding, and tea-drinking. He also noted a lot of
pornography and a liberated female sexuality. He described a foreign
community with some 2,000 Jews and a great number of Muslims as well
as Africans and Europeans and the oncoming threat of a Mongol
invasion. The book was titled “The City of Light” and covered
Jacob’s travels from 1270-1273 through China, Syria, the Persian
Gulf and India.
(SFEC, 9/21/97, p.A23)(SFC, 10/1/97, p.A12)
1271 Sep 17, Wenceslas II, king
of Bohemia & Poland (1278-1305), was born.
(www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Wenceslas-II-of-Bohemia)
1271 Nov 16, Henry III
(b.1207), king of England (1216-71), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_III_of_England)
1271 Nicolo and Marco Polo
obtained letters from the papal legate in Palestine, who was soon
elected as Gregory X. The Khan’s request for 100 intelligent men
could not be filled and the Polos departed Acre with two friars who
soon turned back. The Polos continued on their own.
(V.D.-H.K.p.171)
1271 The Polos were called back
to Acre where the new Pope assigned two friars, Fra Nicolo da
Vicenza and Fra Guielmo da Tripoli, to accompany them to visit the
grand khan. They reached Armenia and heard that the soldan of
Babylonia, named Bundokdari, had invaded Ar-menian territory. The
friars feared for their lives and returned home.
(TMPV, P.12)
1271-1274 The Polos spent three and a half years
traveling to the residence of the grand khan at Cle-men-fu. The
grand khan was pleased with Marco Polo and employed him for the next
sev-enteen years as a personal representative of the khan in state
matters.
(TMPV, P.12)
1271-1368 “The Yuan Dynasty” by James Cahill is
the 2nd section of Wu Hung’s 1997 “The Origins of Chinese Painting.”
The period is marked by the emergence of the literati-amateur
movement.
(WSJ, 1/2/98, p.6)
1272 Feb 24, Jacob, an
Italian-Jewish trader, departed in haste from Zaitun, China. [see
1271]
(SFEC, 9/21/97, p.A23)
1272 Apr 17, Zita (Cita),
Italian maid, saint, died at about age 59.
(MC, 4/17/02)
1272 Nov 21, Edward I was
proclaimed King of England.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_I_of_England)
1272 Kublai-khan sent an army
to the countries of Vochang and Karazan. The King of Mien and
Bangala, in India, opposed the advance of the Tartars and a major
battle was fought, wherein the Tartars were victorious.
(TMPV, P.192)(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)
1272 Forces of the King of
Naples occupied Durrës and established the Kingdom of
Arbëria, the first Albanian kingdom since the fall of Illyria.
(www, Albania, 1998)
1273 Oct 1, Rudolf of Hapsburg
was elected emperor in Germany.
(HN, 10/1/98)
1273 Marco Polo crossed Afghan
Turkistan.
(www.afghan, 5/25/98)
1273 Kublai-khan assigned his
general, Chin-san Bay-an, the “Hundred-eyed,” to invade the province
of Manji under Prince Facfur. Facfur fled under attack and his queen
was sent to Ku-blai-khan, who supported her in dignity.
(TMPV, P.211)
1273-1291 Rudolf I, King of Germany and emperor of
the Holy Roman Empire. He founded the Hapsburg dynasty.
(WUD, 1994, p.1251)
1274 Mar 7, Thomas Aquinas
(48), Italian theologian, saint, died.
(MC, 3/7/02)
1274 May 7, The Second Council
of Lyons opened in France to regulate the election of the pope.
(HN, 5/7/99)
1274 Jul 11, Robert the Bruce,
King of Scotland (1306-1329), was born in Turnberry, Scot-land.
(HN, 7/11/01)(MC, 7/11/02)
1274 Upon Edward‘s succession
to the English throne, he demanded Llywelyn ap Gruffydd pay homage
to him before he recognized him as Prince of Wales.
(HNQ, 7/14/00)
1274 Thomas Aquinas was
summoned before a council at Lyons to answer for his opinions. He
was publicly chastised but not condemned.
(V.D.-H.K.p.122)
1274 The first Mongol invasion
of Japan. [see 1264]
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)
1274 Lal Shahbaz Qalandar
(b.1177), born as Seyyed Shah Hussain Marandi in Marand (near the
city of Tabriz) in Azerbaijan (then part of Iran), died. He had
migrated to Sindh and settled in Sehwan and was buried there. He is
also known as Shaikh Hussain Marandi. He was a Sufi in the regions
that lie in the Sindh province of Pakistan.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shahbaz_Qalander)
c1274 Nadruva, Prussia, was the home
of the pagan spiritual leader Krivis, who was dear to the Baltic
people.
(H of L, 1931, p.25)(TB-Com, 10/11/00)(Petras
Dusburgietis. Prusijos zemes kronika. Vilnius, 1985, p. 87)
1274-1277 The Knights of the Cross overcame the
Prussian towns of Nadruva and Skalva.
(Petras Dusburgietis. Prusijos zemes kronika
(Chronicle of the Prussian Lands). Vilnius, 1985, p. 189-196)
1275 May 23, King Edward I of
England ordered a cessation to the persecution of French Jews.
(MC, 5/23/02)
1275 In England there was an
earthquake at Glastonbury.
(Local Inscription, 2000)
1275-1292 Marco Polo left Italy for China. He
lived there during the reign of Kubla Khan and learned about pasta,
sherbet, and paper currency.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)
1275-1325 The Henderson Site in New Mexico, USA,
was occupied by about a 100 people in a vil-lage with about 50 large
rooms. The Indians occupying the site were in between the Plains
hunters and the Pueblo farmers and showed evidence of both cultures.
They grew corn and regularly ate dog. After the corn harvest they
abandoned their village each year to hunt bison. The site is being
excavated by a team from the Univ. of Mich.
(MT, 12/94, p.2-3)
1276 Nov, Edward decided to
force Llywelyn ap Gruffydd into submission in November of 1276.
Edward was aided by Llywelyn‘s brother Daffydd ap Gruffydd and
Prince Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn of Powys—both of whom Llywelyn had
expelled for plotting his assassination.
(HNQ, 7/14/00)
1276 A 25-year drought began in
the Four Corner region.
(HN, 2/11/97)(AM, 9/01, p.44)
1276-1299 Tree growth rings revealed that another
drought occurred in the southwest US. This pe-riod corresponded with
the abandonment of Anasazi dwelling sites in Arizona.
(Hem., 5/97, p.79)
1277 King Edward of England
invaded Wales. Edward was aided by Llywelyn ap Gruffydd’s brother
Daffydd ap Gruffydd and Prince Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn of Powys—both
of whom Llywelyn had expelled for plotting his assassination.
(HN, 2/17/99)(HNQ, 7/14/00)
c1277 Invaders from central
Asia conquered China.
(ATC, p.73)
1278 May 10, Jews of England
were imprisoned on charges of coining. [see Nov 17]
(MC, 5/10/02)
1278 Nov 17, In England 680
Jews were arrested for counterfeiting coins. 293 were hanged. [see
May 10]
(MC, 11/17/01)
1278 Work resumed on the
Leaning Tower of Pisa, whose tilt had shifted from north to south.
By 1995 it was 5.5 degrees off plumb.
(SSFC, 10/19/03, p.C3)
1278 Nestorian Christians under
the governor, Mar-sachis, appointed by the grand-khan for three
years, built three Nestorian Churches in the city of Chan-ghian-fu,
in the province of Manji.
(TMPV, P.220)
1278 The co-principality of
Andorra was created after long-running ownership disputes be-tween
the Bishops of Seu and the Counts of Foix. They agreed to recognize
each other as co-princes of Andorra.
(Hem., 3/97, p.74)
1278 In Wales Carreg Cennen, a
castle on a hilltop above Trapp, fell to English hands.
(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.T4)
1278-1477 In 2004 Tim Hyman covered this period in
his book: "Sienese Painting: "The Art of a City-Republic."
(Econ, 1/17/04, p.75)
1279 Mar 5, Lithuanians
overcame Livonian forces at Aizkraukle.
(LHC, 3/5/03)
1279 In Germany the castle
across the Rhine from Assmannshausen was first mentioned. It was
restored by architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel in the 19th century
and named Rheinstein.
(SFEC, 3/15/98, p.T4)
1279-1368 The Yuan, or Mongol, dynasty in China
(1279-1368) was established by the great Kublai Khan (reigned
1259-94), a grandson of Genghis.
(www.gobiexpeditions.com)
1280 Nov 15, Albertus Magnus
(87), German leader and bishop Regensburg, died.
(MC, 11/15/01)
1280 Liu Guandao, court
painter, depicted the Mongol ruler Kubilai Khan hunting on a sandy,
windswept landscape.
(SFEC, 10/6/96, DB p.37)
1280 Marco Polo visited the
country of Ziamba (Viet-Nam). He noted that the king had 326
children, and that it was the custom for all young women to be
proved by the king before being given in marriage. Marco noted the
bounty of elephants, lignum-aloes, and black ebony.
(TMPV, P.261)
1280 St. Julien-le-Pauvre was
built in Paris. It became a barn during the French revolution and is
now a Greek Orthodox church.
(SFC, 9/1/96, T8)
1280 German merchants formed
the Hanseatic League to facilitate trade.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R49)
1280 In Germany a spinning
wheel invented in China was demonstrated in Speyer.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)
1280 About this time someone
near Pisa, Italy, riveted 2 small magnifying lenses to form the 1st
optical device that could be worn on the bridge of the nose.
(WSJ, 4/6/06, p.A12)(www.antiquespectacles.com)
1280 In the Netherlands Muiden
Castle, 10 miles east of Amsterdam, dates to this time.
(SFEC, 1/31/99, p.T13)
1280-1354 Wu Chen, Chinese painter and master of
calligraphy. He also mastered the play of void and presence at the
heart of Chinese ink painting.
(SFC, 10/14/96, p.B3)
1281 Aug 14, During the second
Mongol attempt to conquer Japan, Kublai Khan's invading fleet
disappeared in typhoon off of Japan. A Mongol army of 45,000 from
Korea had joined an armada with 120,000 men from southern China
landing at Hakozaki Bay. The typhoon de-stroyed their fleet leaving
them to death or slavery.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)(EWH, 4th ed.,
p.369)(MC, 8/14/02)
1281 Osman I came to
power at the age of 23 and began a steady campaign against the
By-zantines until his death in 1324. He managed to capture many
Byzantine fortresses, most nota-bly Bursa, consolidating Ottoman
power in the region. Generally regarded as the founder of the
Ottoman Turkish state, Osman I (also known as Osman Gazi) led
ongoing campaigns against the Byzantines in the 13th and early 14th
centuries AD. Part of the migration of Turkic tribes into Anatolia,
Osman was the son of Ertugrul, who had established a principality in
present-day Sögüt, Turkey.
(HNQ, 2/19/01)
1281-1285 In Lithuania Daumantas served as Grand
Duke.
(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1282 Mar 30, Furious
inhabitants of Palermo attacked French occupation force in the
"Sicilian Vespers." The Mafia appeared in Sicily to revolt against
French rule after a drunken soldier at-tacked a young woman on her
wedding day.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)(MC, 3/30/02)
1282 Mar 31, The great massacre
of the French in Sicily, "The Sicilian Vespers," came to an end.
[see Aug 31,1303]
(HN, 3/31/99)
1282 Apr 28, Villagers in
Palermo led a revolt against French rule in Sicily.
(HN, 4/28/98)
1282 Andronicus II Papaeologus
became ruler over Byzantium. [see 330AD]
(WSJ, 11/14/95, p. A-12)
1283 In Germany the Marksburg
Castle was built by the Katzenelbogans to defend the silver and lead
mines of Braubach.
(SFEC, 3/15/98, p.T5)
1284 Apr 25, Edward II, king of
England (1307-1327), was born.
(HN, 4/25/02)
1284 Jun 26, The Pied Piper
lured away 130 children of Hamelin (Hameln, Germany). Robert
Browning used this event for his poem "The Pied Piper of
Hamelin" (1842).
(MC, 6/26/02)
1284 In England the eldest son
of Edward I became the Prince of Wales.
(SFC, 7/23/97, p.A10)
1285 Mar 24, Lithuanian Grand
Duke Daumantas (1281-1285) died.
(LHC, 3/24/03)
1285 May 10, Philip IV (Fair)
succeeded Philip III as King of Spain.
(HN, 5/10/99)
1285 Oct 5, Philippe III, the
Stout, King of France (1270-85), died.
(MC, 10/5/01)
1285 Oct 12, 180 Jews refused
baptism in Munich, Germany, and were set on fire.
(MC, 10/12/01)
1286 Nov 22, Erik V Klipping
(b.1249), king of Denmark, was murdered.
(Internet)
1286 Emperor Rudolph I
abrogated the political freedom of Jews and imposed on them spe-cial
taxes. Rabbi Meir Ben Baruch (aka Maharam), head of the Jewish
community in Rothen-burg, tried to lead group of Jews to Palestine
but was arrested and confined in an Alsatian for-tress. He refused
to be freed for ransom and died in prison. The Jews of Rothenburg
were then re-expelled to a ghetto beyond the city walls.
(NH, 9/96, p.24)
1286 Tartar Chief Nayan,
kinsman of Kublai, attempted to gain independence from the
grand-khan, and a war ensued.
(TMPV, P.108)
1286 Arghun, son of Abaga -
lord of the east, engaged and defeated the army of Kaidu under
Kaidu’s brother, Barac, in the plain of the Arbor Secco by the river
Ion. Abaga died shortly after and Arghun was force to fight his
uncle, the Acomat Soldan, who claimed succession. Arghun was
initially defeated and captured, but escaped with the help of the
Tartar baron Boga. They gathered forces and slew the melik Soldan,
who was in charge of Acomat’s army. Later Acomat was captured and
slain.
(TMPV, pp.325-334)
1287 Dec 14, The Zuider Zee
seawall collapsed with the loss of 50,000 lives.
(MC, 12/14/01)
1287 The forces of Kublai Khan
overran Burma. The royal city of Bagan was abandoned un-der threat
from Kublai Khan in the 13th century. The brick temple of Ananda
Pahto is in Bagan. More than 4,400 pagodas and 3,000 other religious
structures of bricks and stones were built in Bagan, Myanmar's
former capital, during a 243-year period from the 11th to 13th
centuries, the result of extraordinary Buddhist fervor.
(SFEC, 10/22/00, p.T9)(DC, 10/10/98)(AP, 12/1/03)
1288 Feb 29, Scotland made it
legal for women to propose to men. The Scottish Parliament passed a
Leap Year Act whereby women could propose to men. The tradition had
begun in 5th century Ireland.
(SFEC, 6/8/97, Z1 p.6)(SFC, 2/29/00, p.A1)
1288 Apr 24, Jews of Yroyes
France were accused of ritual murder.
(MC, 4/24/02)
1288 Sep 29, Maud de Brabant
(b.1224) died in Belgium.
(www.peterwestern.f9.co.uk/maximilia/pafg60.htm)
1288 Kublai Khan was described
by Marco Polo as being 85 years old and having reigned for 42 years.
This would put his rule to begin in 1246.
(TMPV, P.108)
1288 Marco Polo related that
the Christian King of Abascia (or Abyssinia) in Middle India
de-cided to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem but was dissuaded by his
advisors. In his place he sent a bishop, who upon returning through
Aden was picked up by the soldan of Aden and urged to become a
Mohametan. The bishop refused and was forcefully circumcised. This
later led to a war in which the Abyssinian king took the city of
Aden and gave it up to pillage.
(TMPV, P.255)
1288 In Sweden a charter
recognized the sale of a stake in the Stora Kopparberg copper mine
to Bishop Petrus of Vasteras for his parish. In the 1970's Stora
sold its mining operations to focus on forest products and power. In
1998 it merged to become Stora Enso, a paper-packaging and timber
firm.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)(Econ, 12/18/04, p.105)
1289 Apr 29, Qala'un, the
Sultan of Egypt, captured Tripoli.
(HN, 4/29/98)
1289 Oct 4, Louis X, the
Stubborn, king of France (1314-16), was born.
(MC, 10/4/01)
1289 Eyeglasses were first
recorded in Florence by a man named di Popozo.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R21)
1290 Jul 12, Jews were expelled
from England by order of King Edward I.
(MC, 7/12/02)
1290 Aug 16, Charles of Valois
married Margaret of Anjou.
(MC, 8/16/02)
1290 Oct 9, Last of 16,000
English Jews, expelled by King Edward I, left. The country was on
the verge of bankruptcy. The debt to Jewish bankers was written off
and all Jews were expelled from England. The Medicis and other
northern Italian bankers were invited as a replacement.
(SFEC, 6/22/97, BR p.3)(MC, 10/9/01)
1290 William of Ockham
(d.1349), English Franciscan scholastic philosopher, was born. He
became known for the maxim called Occam’s Razor (Ockham’s razor):
"Entia non sunt multipli-canda praeter necessitatem." (Entries
should not be multiplied unnecessarily). A modern ver-sion of this
principle of logic might be: "The simpler, the better." [see 1349]
(V.D.-H.K.p.123)(WUD, 1994 p.996)(AP,
2/4/99)
1290 The Ottoman Empire began.
(SSFC, 10/14/01, p.A3)
c1290-1361 Philippe de Vitry, French music
theorist, composer and poet.
(WUD, 1994, p.1598)(SFC, 2/15/99, p.E7)
1291 Feb 8, Afonso IV, King of
Portugal (1325-57), was born.
(MC, 2/8/02)
1291 Mar 5, Sa'ad al'Da'ulah,
Jewish grand vizier of Persia, was assassinated.
(MC, 3/5/02)
1291 May 10, Scottish nobles
grudgingly recognized the authority of English king Edward I.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1291 May 18, Acre, the last
major stronghold of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem, fell to the
hands of Al-Ashraf Khalil and his forces from Egypt and Syria after
a siege of 43 days. It had been in the hands of the Franks for 100
years. Egyptian Mamelukes (Mamluks) occupied Akko (Acre). The
crusaders were driven out of Palestine. Khalil, al-Ashraf Salah
ad-Din, the Mamluk King, conquered Akko and put an end to the
Crusader’s rule in the Holy Land.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Acre_%281291%29)(Arch, 7/02,
p.19)
1291 Aug 1, The Everlasting
League formed and became the basis of Swiss Confederation. The
people of the 3 small cantons (Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden) formed a
co-operative pact called the Bundesbrief following the death of
Habsburg Emp. Rudolf I.
(Econ, 2/14/04, Survey p.6)
1291 The Catholic Franciscan
order arrived in Bosnia.
(SFC, 4/15/97, p.A10)
1291 A law made by the Doge
ordered that all glass furnaces be moved from Venice to Mu-rano.
(www.henokiens.com/index_barovier_gb.php)
1291-1295 In Lithuania Butvydas served as Grand
Duke.
(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1292 Dec 9, Sa'di, great
Persian poet (Orchard, Rose Garden), died.
(MC, 12/9/01)
1292 The Polos began their
return journey to Europe. They accompanied a Mongol princess who was
to marry Arghun Khan, ruler of Persia. The Polos arrived at the
island of Java and then sailed for eighteen months in the Indian
Seas to reach king Arghun. They learned that Ar-ghun’s kingdom was
being administered by Ki-akato, and that the Mongol princess should
be delivered to Kasan, son of Arghun, then on the borders of Persia
at the arbor secco.
(V.D.-H.K.p.171)(TMPV, P.12)
c1292 A “No Loitering” sign was
engraved on rock at an ancient cemetery near Mill River, Mass., in
the Phoenician language called Iberian Punic some 200 years before
Columbus made his 1492 trip.
(SFC, 10/17/98, p.E5)
1293 The Polos arrived in
Persia and found that Arghun Khan had died. His son Mahmud Ghazan
now ruled Persia and married the princess. The Polos soon reached
Trebizond on the southern coast of the Black Sea and were welcomed
by a band of robbers who stripped them of most of their riches.
Years later (1298) Marco Polo published in Venice “Il Milione,” The
Travels of Marco Polo.
(V.D.-H.K.p.171)(WSJ, 9/4/98, p.W12)
1294 Feb 12, Kublai Khan, the
conqueror of Asia, died at the age of 80.
(HN, 2/12/99)
1294 May 3, Jan I, duke of
Brabant, Limburg, poet, died.
(MC, 5/3/02)
1294 Jun 30, Jews were expelled
from Bern, Switzerland.
(MC, 6/30/02)
1294 Jul 5, Pietro di Murrone,
a pious hermit, was elected as Pope Celestine V. He was so besieged
by the political, social and religious challenges of the position
that just five months later, on December 13, he became the first
pope to resign, for which he was imprisoned by his successor,
Boniface VIII. He died in the castle of Fumone, May 19, 1296.
(SFEC, 10/22/00,
p.A20)(www.newadvent.org/cathen/03479b.htm)
1294 When Arghun died by
probable poisoning after six years of rule, he was succeeded by his
uncle, Ki-akato, who was able to seize power because the son of
Arghun, Kasan, was far away. After two years Ki-akato was poisoned
and his uncle, Baidu, a Christian, seized power. Kasan then
assembled an army and marched against Baidu. Kasan was victorious
and gained control over the Eastern Tartars.
(TMPV, pp. 334-336)
1294 The Polos received news of
the death of Kublai, the grand khan.
(TMPV, P.19)
1294 The Great Geysir was
discovered in Iceland and gave rise to the community named Geysir.
Geyser became the generic name for all water spouts.
(SSFC, 7/17/05, p.D6)
1294 In Bologna two-thirds of
the citizens were listed as guild members or their relatives.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R25)
1295 Marco Polo narrated his
travels to master Rustigielo, a citizen of Pisa, from a prison in
Genoa.
(TMPV, P.4)
1295 Jacobellus Barovier,
founder of a glass-making family, was born. His sons, Antonio and
Bartolomeo in 1348 registered as "fioliare" (glassmakers) in Murano,
across the lagoon from Venice, Italy. The Barovier firm merged with
the Murano-based Toso firm in the 1930s.
(www.henokiens.com/index_barovier_gb.php)(www.artglas.org/html/body_barovier.html)(Econ,
11/24/07, p.73)
1295 Vytenis began to
rule over Lithuania. In response to German castle construction along
the shores of the Nemunas River, Vytenis began constructing castles
of wood in addition to those at: Junigeda, Bisena, Kolainis,
Medvegalis, and Putenikis. He also reorganized the army and ruled to
1316.
(H of L, 1931, p.32)(Ist. L.H., 1948, p.
41)(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1295 Trieste became a Free
Imperial City.
(www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Rotunda/2209/Trieste.html)
1296 Apr 27, England’s King
Edward I defeated the Scots at the Battle of Dunbar. He de-posed
King John and exiled him to France.
(HN, 4/27/99)
1296 May 19, Pietro di Murrone,
former Pope Celestine V, died in the castle of Fumone, where he was
imprisoned by his successor, Boniface VIII.
(SFEC, 10/22/00,
p.A20)(www.newadvent.org/cathen/03479b.htm)
1296 Aug 10, John the Blind,
King of Bohemia, Count of Luxembourg, was born.
(MC, 8/10/02)
1296 King Edward I of England
stole the 458-pound Stone at Scone from Scotland. It was re-turned
to Scotland in 1996.
(SFC, 11/16/96, p.A11)
1297 Jan 7, Francois Grimaldi
(Francois the Crafty) of Genoa disguised himself as a monk and
appeared at the fortress on the Rock of Monaco. Once inside he
called his reinforcements and seized the place.
(SFC, 1/8/97, p.C1)(Econ, 12/24/05, p.84)
1297 Sep 11, Scots under
William Wallace “Braveheart” defeated the English army at Stirling
Bridge, Scotland. The 1995 epic film Braveheart dramatized the life
of 13th-century Scot Wil-liam Wallace. While many Scots and others
praised the film for reviving the legend of the Scot-tish hero, just
as many people criticized the film for its numerous historical
inaccuracies. For in-stance, the Battle of Stirling Bridge is an
excellent example of Wallace’s military genius and what led him to
being knighted in the film and real life. However, in the film, the
battle takes place on an open field. (Reportedly, when a local asked
actor/director Mel Gibson why the bat-tle was being filmed with such
an obvious discrepancy, Gibson explained that the bridge got in the
way. The local responded, "Aye. That’s what the English found!") In
addition, one of the film’s most intriguing twists is pure Hollywood
invention. A calendar puts the lie to the tale of Wallace’s affair
with Princess Isabella, wife of Prince Edward II, and his fathering
of her child. Isabella and Edward II married in 1307, two years
after Wallace’s execution. Her son, Edward III, was born in the
years that followed.
(WSJ, 9/9/97, p.A1)(HN, 9/11/98)(HNQ, 3/19/01)
1297 Sep 11, Hugh de
Cressingham, English treasurer, died in battle.
(MC, 9/11/01)
c1297 In Hawaii a temple was
built near the Kilauea Volcano that is believed to have been used
for human sacrifice. The Waha’ula Heiau temple near Volcanoes
National Park was one of the first temples built on the islands,
supposedly by a foreigner, who brought brutal religious rituals to
the islands.
(SFC, 8/12/97, p.A3)(SFEC, 9/7/97, p.T8)
1297 The people of Riga rose
against the Teutonic Knights. The local Bishop asked Vytenis to help
and the Knights were pushed back. This opened a northern trade route
for Vytenis for weapons and supplies.
(Ist. L.H., 1948, p. 50)
1298 Mar 30, Duke Vytenis
joined with Riga and its archbishop against the Livonian order.
(LHC, 3/30/03)
1298 Jun 24, Rindfleish
Persecutions: Jews of Ifhauben, Austria, were massacred.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1298 Jul 2, An army under
Albert of Austria defeated and killed Adolf of Nassua near Worms,
Germany.
(HN, 7/2/98)
1298 Jul 22, King Edward I
combined bowmen and cavalry to defeat William Wallace's Scots at
Falkirk.
(HN, 7/22/98)
1298 Jul 23, Jews were
massacred at Wurzburg, Germany.
(MC, 7/23/02)
1298 Oct 19, Rindfleish: 140
Jews of Heilbron Germany were murdered.
(MC, 10/19/01)
1298 Tamerlane plundered Delhi,
India.
(SFEC, 5/21/00, p.T8)
1298 The “Travels of Marco
Polo” was published.
(WSJ, 9/4/98, p.W12)
1299 The Count of Holland
gained control of the County of Zeeland, which had been under
contention between Holland and Flanders.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeeland)
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