The Thirteenth Century 1200-1299
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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 pottery.
(HN, 2/11/97)
c1200 A drought hit the southwest (USA) around the Coso Mountains about this time. Shamanism 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 century destruction of the Burgundian kingdom by the Huns. In 2006 Burton Raffel wrote an English 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 The Pacajes formed part of the Aymara kingdom and developed around this time after the decline of the Tiwanacu people in the Andean highlands. In 2018 archaeologists found tombs at a Bolivian quarry containing remains from more than 500 years ago at a cemetery carved into limestone, which appeared to have been built by the Pacajes people. Their cities were conquered by the Incas toward the end of the 15th century.
(AP, 11/17/18)
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 English. 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 Leonardo 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)
1200-1300 Cesky Krumlov, 100 miles south of Prague, was founded about this time on the Vltava River on the main trading route between Bavaria and Italy.
(SSFC, 7/21/02, p.C5)
1200-1300 In England one farthing (a quarter penny) bought four cups of ale. The average daily wage was a penny or two.
(Econ, 2/14/15, p.74)
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)
1200-1300 In France the Abbey of Royaumont was established about this time.
(SFC, 9/8/97, p.D5)
1200-1300 In France the abbey on Mont St. Michel was established. In 1998 it was planned to remove the sand around the rocky island off the Normandy coast and re-establish its maritime character.
(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.T3)
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 Archbishop Hatto of Mainz.
(SFEC, 3/15/98, p.T4)
1200-1300 Burg Reichenstein, downstream from Assmannshausen on the Rhine, was the stronghold 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)
1200-1300 St. Gertrude, a German nun of this period, 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 A mural at Massa Marittima, Italy, dating to this period, 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 perversion, civic strife and witchcraft."
(Reuters, 12/7/04)
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 Nichiren, a Japanese monk and reformer, founded a Buddhist school during this period. “When great evil occurs, great good will follow."
(WSJ, 3/28/02, p.A20)
1200-1300 On the coast of Kenya the great palace and main mosque at Gede (Gedi) were built.
(NH, 6/97, p.41)
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 The Csango people of Romania's remote eastern Carpathian mountains began settling around this time, dispatched by Hungarian rulers to defend the kingdom's easternmost frontier.
(AP, 3/21/12)
1200-1300 Moses de Leon, a Spanish Jewish mystic, wrote the "Zohar," in Aramaic. It was a mystical interpretation of the Torah disguised as a novel. The Zohar consists of mystical interpretations 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)
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)
1201 Mongol leader Temujin (Genghis Khan) defeated Jamuka and an alliance of aristocratic clans that included the Tayichuid clan, which had enslaved him years earlier.
(ON, 8/12, p.8)
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 maritime 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 Constantinople 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 mathematician 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 algebraic 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)
1203 Mongol leader Temujin (Genghis Khan) succeeded in assimilating the Tatars under his command. His forces defeated Toghrul, head of the Kereyid tribe, to whom he had been a vassal. Toghrul fled west to find sanctuary among the Naiman, where he was apparently slain after not being recognized.
(ON, 8/12, p.9)
1204 Apr 1, Eleanor of Aquitaine (81), wife of Louis VII and Henry II, died in Poitiers. In 1950 Amy Kelly authored “Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor,_Duchess_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 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. Crusaders plundered the Hagia Sophia cathedral, making off with its gold, silver and relics.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.)(NH, 9/96, p.22)(HN, 4/12/98)(Econ., 7/11/20, p.39)
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 Talmud, 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 Mongol leader Temujin (Genghis Khan) led his forces against the Naiman, a group of Turkic tribes dwelling on the steppe of Central Asia, and the last remaining independent steppe tribe.
(ON, 8/12, p.9)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naimans)
1204 Venice won control over most of Albania, but Byzantines regained control of the southern 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 possessions.
(SFC, 10/4/99, p.A21)
71206 Mongol leader Temujin (Genghis Khan) summoned the largest kuriltai in the history of his people. He handed down a codification of his laws and reforms, the Yasa, and named his people the Great Mongol Nation. He took the title of Chinggis Khan (Genghis Khan) 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.
(ON, 8/12, p.10)(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 “whirling 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)
1208-1231 Tree ring data later showed that Mongolia enjoyed a string of wetter-than-usual years during this period.
(Econ, 12/8/12, p.82)
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 communitarians of southern France who viewed the clergy and secular rulers as corrupt. A war resulted 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 William de Braose fled Wales disguised as a beggar, to France. His wife and eldest son were captured and left to die in Corfe Castle.
(Econ, 12/20/14, p.34)(http://tinyurl.com/m5t6tvs)
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 In France construction began on the Reims Cathedral about this time and continued for 60 years.
(SSFC, 4/27/14, p.Q6)
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.
(ON, 7/04, p.2)(Econ, 12/20/14, p.34)
1215-1216 King John avoided rebel forces in the south but marched his army across the countryside 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 Coleridge. 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. Regent William Marshal 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)(Econ, 12/20/14, p.35)
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)
1217 Nov 6, The Charter of the Forest was sealed in England by the young King Henry III, acting under the regency of William Marshall, 1st Earl of Pembroke, as a complementary charter to the Magna Carta (1215) from which it had evolved.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_of_the_Forest)
1217 Nov 29, Arab traveler Ibn Jubayr (b.1145) died in Alexandria. His travel chronicle describes the pilgrimage he made to Mecca from 1183 to 1185, in the years preceding the Third Crusade.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Jubayr)
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.
(https://www.afghan-web.com/history/chronology/)
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, Hohenstaufen King Frederick II was crowned Holy Roman Emperor and King of Italy by Pope Honorius III.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_II,_Holy_Roman_Emperor)
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 Construction began on England’s York Minster Cathedral. It was completed in 1472.
(SSFC, 4/13/14, p.Q5)
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 Sep, Rambertino di Guido Buvalelli (b.~1170/1180), a Bolognese judge, statesman, diplomat, and poet, died. He was the earliest of the podestà-troubadours of thirteenth-century Lombardy. He served at one time or other as podestà of Brescia, Milan, Parma, Mantua, Genoa, and Verona. Ten of his Occitan poems survive, but none with an accompanying melody. He is usually regarded as the first native Italian troubadour, though Cossezen and Peire de la Caravana may precede him. His reputation has secured a street named in his honor in his birthplace: the Via Buvalelli Rambertino in Bologna.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rambertino_Buvalelli)
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 “Cantigas 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 temporarily 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)
1225 Henry III came of age and reissued the Magna Carta and the Charter of the Forest (1217).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta)(Econ, 1/10/15, p.14)
1226 Mar 4, Jupiter and Saturn appeared as one bright planet in the night sky. This did not happen again until Dec 21, 2020.
(https://tinyurl.com/y74xupnv) (NY Times, 12/20/20)
1226 Oct 3, St. Francis of Assisi (b.1182), founder of the Franciscan order, died. He was canonized in 1228 and entombed in the St. Francis Basilica in 1230. In 1983 Olivier Messiaen premiered 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 famous 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, during 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, authored 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, jurisprudence, 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 attributed 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 astronomical observations, a “pinhole camera" to sharpen shadows cast by the sun and moon, mathematical tools for polynomial generation and interpolation, and other inventions for measurements.
(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 Netherlands 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 Niana on the upper Niger.
(ATC, p.113,118)
1235-1315 Raimon Llull, a Mallorcan Catholic Franciscan poet. He declared that his ecstatic Christian 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 Lithuanians first made contact with the Mongols about this time, though for the next decade or two the Mongols did not consider Lithuanian-held territories a priority.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasions_of_Lithuania)
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)
1238-1263 The Byzantine Hagia Sophia church in Trebizond was built during the reign of Manuel I during this period. It was converted to a mosque in the 16th century.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia,_Trabzon)
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 English 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 influence 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 empire 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 Mongols," 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 containing 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 Apr 11, Mongol armies defeated the Hungarian army at the Battle of Mohi. The devastating Mongol invasion killed half of Hungary's population.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasion_of_Europe#Invasion_of_Poland)
1241 May 25, 1st attack on Jewish community of Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1241 Sep 23, Snorri Sturluson (b.1179), Icelandic historian, poet, and politician, died. He was the author of the Prose Edda or Younger Edda, which consists of Gylfaginning ("the fooling of Gylfi"), a narrative of Norse mythology, the Skáldskaparmál, a book of poetic language, and the Háttatal, a list of verse forms. He was also the author of the Heimskringla, a history of the Norwegian kings.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snorri_Sturluson)
1241 Dec, 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.
(http://tinyurl.com/yxd5o9vj)(V.D.-H.K.p.169)
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 Of the 150,000-strong horde that invaded Europe, only around a third were ethnic Mongols.
(Econ., 9/12/20, p.71)
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 Nevsky 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 cathedral 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 annihilated 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 became 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 edited “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 witness 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 In Germany the Rheinfels castle was built by Count Diether V von Katzenelnbogen to protect the St. Goar tax collectors. It soon developed into one of the mightiest fortresses in the Middle Rhine region. His family was responsible for many of the Rhine castles.
(http://www.st-goar.de/734-1-geschichte-burg-rheinfels-1.html)(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 In London the Priory of St. Mary of Bethlehem was founded. It survived centuries of religious turmoil and eventually became an insane asylum. The word “bedlam" is a contraction of its name.
(Econ, 8/27/16, p.65)
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)
1248 Subutai (b.~1175), an Uriankhai general and the primary military strategist of Genghis Khan and Ogedei Khan, died. He directed more than 20 campaigns in which he conquered 32 nations and won 65 pitched battles, during which he conquered or overran more territory than any other commander in history. He gained victory by means of imaginative and sophisticated strategies and routinely coordinated movements of armies that were hundreds of kilometers away from each other. He is also remembered for devising the campaign that destroyed the armies of Hungary and Poland within two days of each other, by forces over 500 kilometers apart. By any metric, he is one of the most successful commanders in history.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subutai)
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 oldest 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 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)(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 Aktai 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 synagogue.
(MC, 4/15/02)
1250 Apr 30, King Louis IX of France was ransomed for one million dollars. The Mamluk dynasty 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 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 according to scientists who analyzed evidence in 1998.
(SFC, 11/12/98, p.A12)
1250-1300 Maori ancestors arrived in New Zealand. By 2013 the country had lost 51 species of birds, 3 of frogs, 3 of lizards and one of a freshwater fish.
(Econ, 9/14/13, SR p.5)
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)
1250-1517 The Mamelukes (aka Mamluks - Arabic for chattel), a military class initially composed of slaves, seized control of the Egyptian Sultanate and ruled until 1517.
(WUD, 1994, p.869)(Econ, 8/22/15, p.50)
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 nobility 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 Mindaugas 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 Aug, Pope Innocent IV, after much worry about the order's insistence on absolute poverty, finally approved the rule of the 2nd Order of the Franciscans, the Poor Clares, founded by St. Clare of Assisi, the great friend of St Francis.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Innocent_IV)
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 Christianization 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 questions 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)
1257 In Nepal an earthquake destroyed almost all of the Kathmandu Valley. A Newar architect named Araniko (1245-1306) emerged during the reconstruction of palaces, temples and pagodas. He was later summoned by Kublai Khan to work in Beijing, where his work included the White Stupa of Miaoying Temple, completed in 1288.
(SSFC, 5/1/16, p.F4)(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Araniko)
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)
1258 The Abbasids fled from Baghdad to Egypt following the Mongol invasion that ended the Abbasid-Seljuk Empire.
(Econ, 10/4/14, p.55)
1258 The first major incursion of Mongols from the Golden Horde under Burundai on the Lithuanian territories took place in winter of 1258. It was likely a reaction to Lithuanian incursions into Mongol-held territories. After raiding Lithuania and the Yotvingians, the next year, two tumens (20,000 men), under the leadership of Berke, attacked Poland (in what is known as the second Mongol invasion of Poland).
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasions_of_Lithuania)
1258-1259 The Mongol invasion of Lithuania in the years 1258–1259 is generally seen as a Mongol victory, as Lithuanian territories have been described as "devastated" following the Mongol incursion, in what was "possibly the most horrible event of the thirteenth century" for Lithuania.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasions_of_Lithuania)
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 24, Saif ad-Din Qutuz (aka Koetoez), Turkish sultan of Egypt, was murdered.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qutuz)
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 Greenland formally came under the Norwegian crown.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland)
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 Manchurian 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 opposition 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 reconcile 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 cavalry 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 intelligent 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 Museum, 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 southeast 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 Armenian 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 seventeen 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.
(https://www.afghan-web.com/history/chronology/)
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 Kublai-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, Scotland.
(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. During this time Marco Polo visited Hangzhou, called Kinsay in his writings, and described it as the finest and noblest city in the world.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)(SSFC, 5/7/17, p.F4)
1275-1325 The Henderson Site in New Mexico, USA, was occupied by about a 100 people in a village 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 period 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 between 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 By this time the Anasazi Indian culture of the American southwest, 15 to 20 thousand people, disappeared from the Four Corners region. All the Anasazi were gone from Mesa Verde. They probably moved south and broke up into present-day Pueblo tribes. Anasazi means enemy ancestors in Navajo. In 2017 DNA evidence revealed that the cliff-dwelling people had raised turkeys and migrated with them to the Rio Grande valley of northern New Mexico during a devastating drought.
(SFC, 5/19/96, T-1)(HN, 2/11/97)(AM, 9/01, p.44)(SFC, 3/17/17, p.A8)
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 destroyed 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 Byzantines until his death in 1324. He managed to capture many Byzantine fortresses, most notably 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 attacked 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 Dec 11, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd (b.~1223), the last prince of an independent Wales, died after he was lured into a trap and killed at the Battle of Orewin Bridge by forces under Edward I.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llywelyn_the_Last)(Econ, 11/24/12, p.63)
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)
1283-1289 Conwy Castle was built by Edward I during his conquest of Wales. It was constructed as part of a wider project to create the walled town of Conwy.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conwy_Castle)(SSFC, 1/27/13, p.N6)
1284 Apr 25, Edward II, king of England (1307-1327), was born.
(www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/plantagenet_6.htm)
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 special taxes. Rabbi Meir Ben Baruch (aka Maharam), head of the Jewish community in Rothenburg, tried to lead group of Jews to Palestine but was arrested and confined in an Alsatian fortress. 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 China’s government issued IOUs with a face value of a fixed number of silver coins.
(Econ., 4/25/15, p.70)
1287 The forces of Kublai Khan overran Burma. The royal city of Bagan was abandoned under 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 decided 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 multiplicanda praeter necessitatem." (Entries should not be multiplied unnecessarily). A modern version 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 Murano.
(www.henokiens.com/index_barovier_gb.php)
1291-1295 In Lithuania Butvydas served as Grand Duke.
(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1291-1340 In Sweden a Gothic-style cathedral was built in the heart of Strangnas.
(AP, 8/1/18)
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 Arghun’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 Historical records first mentioned the German town of Atterwasch. German plans to eliminate nuclear power by 2022 led to xxpansion of lignite coal mining in the region and called for the removal of Atterwasch and two nearby towns by 2025.
(SSFC, 11/30/14, p.A22)
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 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 The Polos received news of the death of Kublai, the grand khan.
(TMPV, P.19)
1294 In Bologna two-thirds of the citizens were listed as guild members or their relatives.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R25)
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 deposed 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 Marco Polo was probably captured by the Genoans in a skirmish off the Anatolian coast between Adana and the Gulf of Alexandretta. While in prison he narrated his travels to master Rustigielo (Rustichello), a citizen of Pisa.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Polo)(Econ., 5/23/20, p.74)
1296 England's King Edward I invaded Scotland but his army was defeated by Scotsman William Wallace. After a series of battles England regains some control over Scotland.
(Reuters, 2/16/12)
1296 King Edward I of England stole the 458-pound Stone at Scone from Scotland. It was returned 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 William Wallace. While many Scots and others praised the film for reviving the legend of the Scottish hero, just as many people criticized the film for its numerous historical inaccuracies. For instance, 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 battle 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)
1297 Sep 12, The town of Olivenza (Olivença) came under Portuguese sovereignty with the Treaty of Alcanices. In 1801 it was ceded to Spain under the Treaty of Badajoz. In the 1815 Vienna convention Spain agreed to return it to Portugal, but this never happened.
(Econ, 8/31/13, p.14)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivenza)
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)
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 pottery.
(HN, 2/11/97)
c1200 A drought hit the southwest (USA) around the Coso Mountains about this time. Shamanism 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 century destruction of the Burgundian kingdom by the Huns. In 2006 Burton Raffel wrote an English 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 The Pacajes formed part of the Aymara kingdom and developed around this time after the decline of the Tiwanacu people in the Andean highlands. In 2018 archaeologists found tombs at a Bolivian quarry containing remains from more than 500 years ago at a cemetery carved into limestone, which appeared to have been built by the Pacajes people. Their cities were conquered by the Incas toward the end of the 15th century.
(AP, 11/17/18)
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 English. 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 Leonardo 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)
1200-1300 Cesky Krumlov, 100 miles south of Prague, was founded about this time on the Vltava River on the main trading route between Bavaria and Italy.
(SSFC, 7/21/02, p.C5)
1200-1300 In England one farthing (a quarter penny) bought four cups of ale. The average daily wage was a penny or two.
(Econ, 2/14/15, p.74)
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)
1200-1300 In France the Abbey of Royaumont was established about this time.
(SFC, 9/8/97, p.D5)
1200-1300 In France the abbey on Mont St. Michel was established. In 1998 it was planned to remove the sand around the rocky island off the Normandy coast and re-establish its maritime character.
(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.T3)
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 Archbishop Hatto of Mainz.
(SFEC, 3/15/98, p.T4)
1200-1300 Burg Reichenstein, downstream from Assmannshausen on the Rhine, was the stronghold 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)
1200-1300 St. Gertrude, a German nun of this period, 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 A mural at Massa Marittima, Italy, dating to this period, 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 perversion, civic strife and witchcraft."
(Reuters, 12/7/04)
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 Nichiren, a Japanese monk and reformer, founded a Buddhist school during this period. “When great evil occurs, great good will follow."
(WSJ, 3/28/02, p.A20)
1200-1300 On the coast of Kenya the great palace and main mosque at Gede (Gedi) were built.
(NH, 6/97, p.41)
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 The Csango people of Romania's remote eastern Carpathian mountains began settling around this time, dispatched by Hungarian rulers to defend the kingdom's easternmost frontier.
(AP, 3/21/12)
1200-1300 Moses de Leon, a Spanish Jewish mystic, wrote the "Zohar," in Aramaic. It was a mystical interpretation of the Torah disguised as a novel. The Zohar consists of mystical interpretations 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)
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)
1201 Mongol leader Temujin (Genghis Khan) defeated Jamuka and an alliance of aristocratic clans that included the Tayichuid clan, which had enslaved him years earlier.
(ON, 8/12, p.8)
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 maritime 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 Constantinople 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 mathematician 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 algebraic 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)
1203 Mongol leader Temujin (Genghis Khan) succeeded in assimilating the Tatars under his command. His forces defeated Toghrul, head of the Kereyid tribe, to whom he had been a vassal. Toghrul fled west to find sanctuary among the Naiman, where he was apparently slain after not being recognized.
(ON, 8/12, p.9)
1204 Apr 1, Eleanor of Aquitaine (81), wife of Louis VII and Henry II, died in Poitiers. In 1950 Amy Kelly authored “Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Four Kings."
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor,_Duchess_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 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. Crusaders plundered the Hagia Sophia cathedral, making off with its gold, silver and relics.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.)(NH, 9/96, p.22)(HN, 4/12/98)(Econ., 7/11/20, p.39)
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 Talmud, 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 Mongol leader Temujin (Genghis Khan) led his forces against the Naiman, a group of Turkic tribes dwelling on the steppe of Central Asia, and the last remaining independent steppe tribe.
(ON, 8/12, p.9)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naimans)
1204 Venice won control over most of Albania, but Byzantines regained control of the southern 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 possessions.
(SFC, 10/4/99, p.A21)
71206 Mongol leader Temujin (Genghis Khan) summoned the largest kuriltai in the history of his people. He handed down a codification of his laws and reforms, the Yasa, and named his people the Great Mongol Nation. He took the title of Chinggis Khan (Genghis Khan) 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.
(ON, 8/12, p.10)(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 “whirling 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)
1208-1231 Tree ring data later showed that Mongolia enjoyed a string of wetter-than-usual years during this period.
(Econ, 12/8/12, p.82)
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 communitarians of southern France who viewed the clergy and secular rulers as corrupt. A war resulted 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 William de Braose fled Wales disguised as a beggar, to France. His wife and eldest son were captured and left to die in Corfe Castle.
(Econ, 12/20/14, p.34)(http://tinyurl.com/m5t6tvs)
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 In France construction began on the Reims Cathedral about this time and continued for 60 years.
(SSFC, 4/27/14, p.Q6)
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.
(ON, 7/04, p.2)(Econ, 12/20/14, p.34)
1215-1216 King John avoided rebel forces in the south but marched his army across the countryside 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 Coleridge. 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. Regent William Marshal 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)(Econ, 12/20/14, p.35)
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)
1217 Nov 6, The Charter of the Forest was sealed in England by the young King Henry III, acting under the regency of William Marshall, 1st Earl of Pembroke, as a complementary charter to the Magna Carta (1215) from which it had evolved.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_of_the_Forest)
1217 Nov 29, Arab traveler Ibn Jubayr (b.1145) died in Alexandria. His travel chronicle describes the pilgrimage he made to Mecca from 1183 to 1185, in the years preceding the Third Crusade.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Jubayr)
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.
(https://www.afghan-web.com/history/chronology/)
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, Hohenstaufen King Frederick II was crowned Holy Roman Emperor and King of Italy by Pope Honorius III.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_II,_Holy_Roman_Emperor)
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 Construction began on England’s York Minster Cathedral. It was completed in 1472.
(SSFC, 4/13/14, p.Q5)
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 Sep, Rambertino di Guido Buvalelli (b.~1170/1180), a Bolognese judge, statesman, diplomat, and poet, died. He was the earliest of the podestà-troubadours of thirteenth-century Lombardy. He served at one time or other as podestà of Brescia, Milan, Parma, Mantua, Genoa, and Verona. Ten of his Occitan poems survive, but none with an accompanying melody. He is usually regarded as the first native Italian troubadour, though Cossezen and Peire de la Caravana may precede him. His reputation has secured a street named in his honor in his birthplace: the Via Buvalelli Rambertino in Bologna.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rambertino_Buvalelli)
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 “Cantigas 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 temporarily 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)
1225 Henry III came of age and reissued the Magna Carta and the Charter of the Forest (1217).
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta)(Econ, 1/10/15, p.14)
1226 Mar 4, Jupiter and Saturn appeared as one bright planet in the night sky. This did not happen again until Dec 21, 2020.
(https://tinyurl.com/y74xupnv) (NY Times, 12/20/20)
1226 Oct 3, St. Francis of Assisi (b.1182), founder of the Franciscan order, died. He was canonized in 1228 and entombed in the St. Francis Basilica in 1230. In 1983 Olivier Messiaen premiered 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 famous 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, during 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, authored 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, jurisprudence, 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 attributed 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 astronomical observations, a “pinhole camera" to sharpen shadows cast by the sun and moon, mathematical tools for polynomial generation and interpolation, and other inventions for measurements.
(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 Netherlands 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 Niana on the upper Niger.
(ATC, p.113,118)
1235-1315 Raimon Llull, a Mallorcan Catholic Franciscan poet. He declared that his ecstatic Christian 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 Lithuanians first made contact with the Mongols about this time, though for the next decade or two the Mongols did not consider Lithuanian-held territories a priority.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasions_of_Lithuania)
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)
1238-1263 The Byzantine Hagia Sophia church in Trebizond was built during the reign of Manuel I during this period. It was converted to a mosque in the 16th century.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia,_Trabzon)
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 English 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 influence 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 empire 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 Mongols," 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 containing 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 Apr 11, Mongol armies defeated the Hungarian army at the Battle of Mohi. The devastating Mongol invasion killed half of Hungary's population.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasion_of_Europe#Invasion_of_Poland)
1241 May 25, 1st attack on Jewish community of Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1241 Sep 23, Snorri Sturluson (b.1179), Icelandic historian, poet, and politician, died. He was the author of the Prose Edda or Younger Edda, which consists of Gylfaginning ("the fooling of Gylfi"), a narrative of Norse mythology, the Skáldskaparmál, a book of poetic language, and the Háttatal, a list of verse forms. He was also the author of the Heimskringla, a history of the Norwegian kings.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snorri_Sturluson)
1241 Dec, 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.
(http://tinyurl.com/yxd5o9vj)(V.D.-H.K.p.169)
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 Of the 150,000-strong horde that invaded Europe, only around a third were ethnic Mongols.
(Econ., 9/12/20, p.71)
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 Nevsky 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 cathedral 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 annihilated 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 became 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 edited “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 witness 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 In Germany the Rheinfels castle was built by Count Diether V von Katzenelnbogen to protect the St. Goar tax collectors. It soon developed into one of the mightiest fortresses in the Middle Rhine region. His family was responsible for many of the Rhine castles.
(http://www.st-goar.de/734-1-geschichte-burg-rheinfels-1.html)(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 In London the Priory of St. Mary of Bethlehem was founded. It survived centuries of religious turmoil and eventually became an insane asylum. The word “bedlam" is a contraction of its name.
(Econ, 8/27/16, p.65)
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)
1248 Subutai (b.~1175), an Uriankhai general and the primary military strategist of Genghis Khan and Ogedei Khan, died. He directed more than 20 campaigns in which he conquered 32 nations and won 65 pitched battles, during which he conquered or overran more territory than any other commander in history. He gained victory by means of imaginative and sophisticated strategies and routinely coordinated movements of armies that were hundreds of kilometers away from each other. He is also remembered for devising the campaign that destroyed the armies of Hungary and Poland within two days of each other, by forces over 500 kilometers apart. By any metric, he is one of the most successful commanders in history.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subutai)
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 oldest 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 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)(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 Aktai 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 synagogue.
(MC, 4/15/02)
1250 Apr 30, King Louis IX of France was ransomed for one million dollars. The Mamluk dynasty 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 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 according to scientists who analyzed evidence in 1998.
(SFC, 11/12/98, p.A12)
1250-1300 Maori ancestors arrived in New Zealand. By 2013 the country had lost 51 species of birds, 3 of frogs, 3 of lizards and one of a freshwater fish.
(Econ, 9/14/13, SR p.5)
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)
1250-1517 The Mamelukes (aka Mamluks - Arabic for chattel), a military class initially composed of slaves, seized control of the Egyptian Sultanate and ruled until 1517.
(WUD, 1994, p.869)(Econ, 8/22/15, p.50)
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 nobility 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 Mindaugas 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 Aug, Pope Innocent IV, after much worry about the order's insistence on absolute poverty, finally approved the rule of the 2nd Order of the Franciscans, the Poor Clares, founded by St. Clare of Assisi, the great friend of St Francis.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Innocent_IV)
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 Christianization 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 questions 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)
1257 In Nepal an earthquake destroyed almost all of the Kathmandu Valley. A Newar architect named Araniko (1245-1306) emerged during the reconstruction of palaces, temples and pagodas. He was later summoned by Kublai Khan to work in Beijing, where his work included the White Stupa of Miaoying Temple, completed in 1288.
(SSFC, 5/1/16, p.F4)(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Araniko)
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)
1258 The Abbasids fled from Baghdad to Egypt following the Mongol invasion that ended the Abbasid-Seljuk Empire.
(Econ, 10/4/14, p.55)
1258 The first major incursion of Mongols from the Golden Horde under Burundai on the Lithuanian territories took place in winter of 1258. It was likely a reaction to Lithuanian incursions into Mongol-held territories. After raiding Lithuania and the Yotvingians, the next year, two tumens (20,000 men), under the leadership of Berke, attacked Poland (in what is known as the second Mongol invasion of Poland).
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasions_of_Lithuania)
1258-1259 The Mongol invasion of Lithuania in the years 1258–1259 is generally seen as a Mongol victory, as Lithuanian territories have been described as "devastated" following the Mongol incursion, in what was "possibly the most horrible event of the thirteenth century" for Lithuania.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasions_of_Lithuania)
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 24, Saif ad-Din Qutuz (aka Koetoez), Turkish sultan of Egypt, was murdered.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qutuz)
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 Greenland formally came under the Norwegian crown.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenland)
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 Manchurian 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 opposition 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 reconcile 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 cavalry 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 intelligent 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 Museum, 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 southeast 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 Armenian 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 seventeen 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.
(https://www.afghan-web.com/history/chronology/)
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 Kublai-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, Scotland.
(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. During this time Marco Polo visited Hangzhou, called Kinsay in his writings, and described it as the finest and noblest city in the world.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)(SSFC, 5/7/17, p.F4)
1275-1325 The Henderson Site in New Mexico, USA, was occupied by about a 100 people in a village 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 period 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 between 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 By this time the Anasazi Indian culture of the American southwest, 15 to 20 thousand people, disappeared from the Four Corners region. All the Anasazi were gone from Mesa Verde. They probably moved south and broke up into present-day Pueblo tribes. Anasazi means enemy ancestors in Navajo. In 2017 DNA evidence revealed that the cliff-dwelling people had raised turkeys and migrated with them to the Rio Grande valley of northern New Mexico during a devastating drought.
(SFC, 5/19/96, T-1)(HN, 2/11/97)(AM, 9/01, p.44)(SFC, 3/17/17, p.A8)
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 destroyed 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 Byzantines until his death in 1324. He managed to capture many Byzantine fortresses, most notably 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 attacked 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 Dec 11, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd (b.~1223), the last prince of an independent Wales, died after he was lured into a trap and killed at the Battle of Orewin Bridge by forces under Edward I.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Llywelyn_the_Last)(Econ, 11/24/12, p.63)
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)
1283-1289 Conwy Castle was built by Edward I during his conquest of Wales. It was constructed as part of a wider project to create the walled town of Conwy.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conwy_Castle)(SSFC, 1/27/13, p.N6)
1284 Apr 25, Edward II, king of England (1307-1327), was born.
(www.englishmonarchs.co.uk/plantagenet_6.htm)
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 special taxes. Rabbi Meir Ben Baruch (aka Maharam), head of the Jewish community in Rothenburg, tried to lead group of Jews to Palestine but was arrested and confined in an Alsatian fortress. 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 China’s government issued IOUs with a face value of a fixed number of silver coins.
(Econ., 4/25/15, p.70)
1287 The forces of Kublai Khan overran Burma. The royal city of Bagan was abandoned under 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 decided 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 multiplicanda praeter necessitatem." (Entries should not be multiplied unnecessarily). A modern version 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 Murano.
(www.henokiens.com/index_barovier_gb.php)
1291-1295 In Lithuania Butvydas served as Grand Duke.
(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1291-1340 In Sweden a Gothic-style cathedral was built in the heart of Strangnas.
(AP, 8/1/18)
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 Arghun’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 Historical records first mentioned the German town of Atterwasch. German plans to eliminate nuclear power by 2022 led to xxpansion of lignite coal mining in the region and called for the removal of Atterwasch and two nearby towns by 2025.
(SSFC, 11/30/14, p.A22)
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 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 The Polos received news of the death of Kublai, the grand khan.
(TMPV, P.19)
1294 In Bologna two-thirds of the citizens were listed as guild members or their relatives.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R25)
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 deposed 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 Marco Polo was probably captured by the Genoans in a skirmish off the Anatolian coast between Adana and the Gulf of Alexandretta. While in prison he narrated his travels to master Rustigielo (Rustichello), a citizen of Pisa.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Polo)(Econ., 5/23/20, p.74)
1296 England's King Edward I invaded Scotland but his army was defeated by Scotsman William Wallace. After a series of battles England regains some control over Scotland.
(Reuters, 2/16/12)
1296 King Edward I of England stole the 458-pound Stone at Scone from Scotland. It was returned 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 William Wallace. While many Scots and others praised the film for reviving the legend of the Scottish hero, just as many people criticized the film for its numerous historical inaccuracies. For instance, 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 battle 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)
1297 Sep 12, The town of Olivenza (Olivença) came under Portuguese sovereignty with the Treaty of Alcanices. In 1801 it was ceded to Spain under the Treaty of Badajoz. In the 1815 Vienna convention Spain agreed to return it to Portugal, but this never happened.
(Econ, 8/31/13, p.14)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivenza)
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)
