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 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)
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)
1200-1258 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 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. 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.
(WUD, 1994, p.1662)(WSJ, 5/22/98, p.W11)
c1200-1300 Nichiren was 13th-century Japanese monk and reformer. He
founded a Buddhist school and wrote: “When great evil occurs, great good
will follow.”
(WSJ, 3/28/02, p.A20)
c1200-1300 Cesky Krumlov, 100 miles south of Prague, was founded on
the Vltava River on the main trading route between Bavaria and Italy.
(SSFC, 7/21/02, p.C5)
1200-1300 The Danes built a castle at Narva, Estonia.
(WSJ, 1/25/99, p.A1)
1200-1300 The Mont Orgueil Castle on the east coast of island of Jersey
in the English Channel was built to withstand any French attack.
(Sky, 4/97, p.28)
c1200-1300 In France the Abbey of Royaumont was established.
(SFC, 9/8/97, p.D5)
1200-1300 In France the abbey on Mont St. Michel was established. In
1998 it was planned to remove the sand around the rocky island off the
Normandy coast and re-establish its maritime character.
(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.T3)
1200-1330 A Mayan city in Peten state (Guatemala), the “El Pajaral”
site, dated to the post-classic period of this time. The ruins were found
in 2000.
(SFC, 5/15/00, p.A13)
1200-1300 In Germany the Mauseturm, Tower of Mice, was built downriver
from Rudesheim on an islet on the Rhine in the 13th century. It was named
after the plight of the 9th century 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)
c1200-1300 St. Gertrude, a German nun, was an important Catholic mystic.
(WSJ, 12/26/97, p.A9)
1200-1300 In Limerick, Ireland, a 13th century castle was built overlooking
the Shannon River.
(SFEC, 3/15/98, p.T11)
1200-1300 Rival Italian political factions and families collided in
the 13th century at Montaperti, the "hill of death".
(HN, 5/14/98)
1200-1300 On the coast of Kenya the great palace and main mosque at
Gede (Gedi) were built.
(NH, 6/97, p.41)
1200-1300 In Thailand the site at Prang Ku was probably one of 108 hospital
sites built by the Khmer king Jayavarman VII.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.G)
c1200-1300 Sidi Bou Said was a 13th century Sufi holy man. A town 12
miles from Tunis was named after him. It was closed to non-Muslims until
the 1820s.
(SSFC, 8/4/02, p.C12)
1200-1400 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)
1201 Oct 9, Robert de Sorbon, founder of Sorbonne University,
Paris, was born.
(MC, 10/9/01)
1201 The Germans founded the city of Riga in Livonia,
now Latvia, and built a castle under the direction of Bishop Albert.
(Ist. L.H., 1948, p.39-40)
1202 Apr 28, King Philip II threw out John-without-Country, from
France.
(MC, 4/28/02)
1202 Nov, The Fourth Crusade sacked Zara. The leaders of the Fourth
Crusade agreed to sack Zara (present-day Zadar, Croatia)--a rival of Venice--as
payment for transportation the Venetians supplied the crusaders. Zara,
previously part of the Venetian republic, had rebelled against Venice in
1186 and since allied itself with Hungary, posing competition to Venice’s
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 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 the Italian mathematician Fibonacci. The Fibonacci series is a sequence
of numbers where each new number is the sum of the previous two.
(WSJ, 10/21/96, p.A18)(WSJ, 12/9/96, p.B8)
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 King Sumanguru, ruler of a break-away Ghanian kingdom, overthrew
the Soninke king and took over Koumbi. At about the same time a new kingdom
to the east called Mali and ruled by Mandinke, was gaining power.
(ATC, p.113)
1204 Apr 1, Eleanor of Aquitaine (81), wife of Louis VII and Henry
II, died.
(MC, 4/1/02)
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.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.)(NH, 9/96, p.22)(HN, 4/12/98)
1204 Frankish knights established the principality of Achaia in
southern Greece.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.54)
1204 France won back Normandy but the people of the isle of Jersey
chose to remain loyal to England. The Chateau Gaillard of Richard the Lionhearted
was defeated and partly dismantled as punishment.
(Sky, 4/97, p.28)(AMNH, DT, 1998)
1204 Venice won control over most of Albania, but Byzantines
regained control of the southern portion and established the Despotate
of Epirus.
(www, Albania, 1998)
1205 Jun 19, Pope Innocent III fired Adolf I as archbishop of
Cologne.
(MC, 6/19/02)
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)
1206 Genghis Khan declared himself “the ruler of those who live
in felt tents.”
(SFEM, 10/12/97, p.27)
1206-1226 Genghis Khan unified the Mongols and over the next twenty
years conquered northern China and all of Asia west to the Caucasus. The
Mongols numbered about 2 million and his army about 130,000.
(V.D.-H.K.p.169)(SFEM, 10/12/97, p.27)
1207 Sep 8, Sancho II, king of Portugal, was born.
(MC, 9/8/01)
1207 Oct 1, Henry III, king of England (1216-72), was born.
(MC, 10/1/01)
1207 Jalal ud-din Rumi (Jelaluddin Rumi, d.1273), Persian poet
and mystic was born in 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.
(WUD, 1994, p.762)(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)
1208 Feb 24, Francis of Assisi (26) decided to become a priest
in Portiuncula, Italy.
(MC, 2/24/02)
1208 Mar 24, King John of England opposed Innocent III on his
nomination for archbishop of Canterbury.
(HN, 3/24/99)
1209 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 Francis founded the Franciscans, and demanded that his followers
subsist entirely on what they can beg while preaching.
(V.D.-H.K.p.108)
1211 St. Francis reportedly landed on the Isola Maggiore, an island
on Lake Trasimeno.
(SFEM, 10/12/97, p.48)
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 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)
1215-1250 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 Oct 18, John, king of England (1199-1216, signer of Magna
Carta), died. [see Oct 19]
(MC, 10/18/01)
1216 Oct 19, King John of England, excommunicated in 1209, died
at Newark. He was succeeded by his nine-year-old son Henry. The Royal Menagerie
was begun during the reign of King John. [see Oct 18]
(HN, 10/19/98)(SFEC, 10/10/99, p.T3)(MC, 10/19/01)
1216 Oct 28, Henry III of England was crowned.
(HN, 10/28/98)
1217 Feb 18, Alexander Neckum de Sancto Albano (59), English encyclopedist,
died.
(MC, 2/18/02)
1218 May 19, Otto IV (36), Holy Roman Emperor, died.
(PC, 1992, p.106)
1218 Aug 31, Al-Malik ab-Adil, Saphadin, Saif al-Din, brother
of Saladin, died.
(MC, 8/31/01)
1218 The university at Salamanca, Spain, was founded by King Alfonso
IX.
(SSFC, 6/8/03, p.C8)
1218 Simon IV de Montfort (b.1160), Norman knight and leader of
the crusade against the Albigenses (1202-1204), died at the siege of Toulouse.
(WUD, 1994, p.928)
1219 Jan 16, Floods followed a storm in Northern Netherlands and
thousands were killed.
(MC, 1/16/02)
1219 Nov 5, The port of Damietta (in the Nile delta of Egypt)
fell to the Crusaders after a siege.
(WUD, 1994, p.365)(HN, 11/5/98)
1219 St. Francis d’Assisi journeyed to Egypt and met with the
sultan to work for peace.
(SSFC, 9/29/02, p.D2)
1219-1221 Genghis Khan invaded Afghanistan. Destruction of irrigation
systems by Genghis Khan turned fertile soil into permanent deserts.
(www.afghan, 5/25/98)
1220 Apr 15, Adolf I, archbishop of Cologne, died.
(MC, 4/15/02)
1220 May 30, Alexander Nevski, Russian ruler (1252-63),
was born.
(MC, 5/30/02)
1220 Nov 22, After promising to go to the aid of the Fifth Crusade
within nine months, German King Frederick II was crowned emperor by Pope
Honorius III.
(HN, 11/22/98)(PCh, 1992, p.106)
1220 Klosters, Switzerland, a future ski center, has roots to
this date.
(Hem, Dec. 94, p.76)
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)
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)
1223 In France Chartres cathedral in its present form was completed.
(Hem., 10/97, p.83)
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)
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 megahurricane struck the gulf coast of Alabama.
The megahurricane 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, 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.
(AP, 8/18/97)(HN, 10/29/98)(MC, 8/18/02)
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)
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)
1229-1241 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)
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)
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)
1238 Feb 3, The Mongols took over Vladimir, Russia.
(HN, 2/3/99)
1238 Sep 28, James of Aragon retook Valencia, Spain, from the
Arabs.
(HN, 9/28/98)
1238 The Knights of the Sword merged with the German Knights of
the Cross.
(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1238 Mindaugas is mentioned
for the 1st time. He ruled to 1263.
(H of L, 1931, p.29)(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1239 Jun 17, Edward I (Longshanks), king of England (1272-1307),
was born. He became king of England following the death of his father Henry
III. Edward I has been called "the 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)
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)
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 May 25, 1st attack on Jewish community of Frankfort-on-the-Main,
Germany.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1241 The Great Khan Ogedei died after completing the Mongol conquest
of China and Korea. In April the Mongols routed the armies of Poles, Germans,
and Hungarians, at Liegnitz and Mohi, within easy distance of Vienna. Only
the death of Ogedei stopped their advance into Europe.
(V.D.-H.K.p.169)
1242 Feb 12, Henry VII, Roman Catholic German king (1220-35),
committed suicide.
(MC, 2/12/02)
1242 Apr 5, Russian troops repelled an invasion attempt by Teutonic
Knights. Alexander 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)
1244-1248 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 The Rheinfels Castle above St. Goar was erected by Count
Diether III of Katzenelbogen to enforce a new toll on the Rhine. His family
was responsible for many of the Rhine castles.
(SFEC, 3/15/98, p.T5)
1245 In Flanders cottage weavers went on strike against cloth
merchants.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R25)
1246 May 22, Henry Raspe was elected anti-king by the Rhenish
prelates in France.
(HN, 5/22/98)
1246 The Spanish island of Mallorca was occupied by the Arabs
and reconquered by the Catalans 750 years ago.
(SFC, Z-1, 4/28/96, p.6)
1247 Nov 22, Robin Hood, died (from "A Lytell Geste of Robyn Hood")-
the legend of Robin Hood is believed to extend into antiquity.
(MC, 11/22/01)
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.
(MC, 5/15/02)
1248 Nov 23, Seville, France surrendered to Ferdinand III of Castile
after a two-year siege.
(HN, 11/23/98)
1248 Sainte Chapelle in Paris was completed and commissioned by
Louis IX to contain what was believed to be Christ’s crown of thorns.
(Hem. 1/95, p. 78)
1248 In Wales Carreg Cennen, a castle on a hilltop above Trapp,
was built as a Welsh stronghold.
(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.T4)
1249 Feb 7, The Christburg Peace Treaty forced the Prussians to
recognize the rule of the Teutonic Knights. Within about 50 years the Teutonic
Knights and Knights of the Cross had overcome most of Prussia and established
German as the dominant culture and language. The German orders then turned
to Lithuania.
(H of L, 1931, p.25)(LHC, 2/7/03)
1249-1254 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 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 Mamelukes, a military class initially composed of slaves,
seized control of the Egyptian Sultanate and ruled until 1517.
(WUD, 1994, p.869)
1250 The Anasazi in southwest Colorado fought a battle against
unknown enemies. Number of kivas built greatly increased. Quality of workmanship
in building decreased. People began to leave.
(HN, 2/11/97)
c1250 The Tsama Pueblo in New Mexico contained 1100 rooms
and was occupied to the mid-1500s.
(AM, adv. circular, p.2)
1250 Florence, Italy, became a major center for commerce and industry.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R49)
c1250 A supernova 650 light-years away should have been visible
to observers on Earth according to scientists who analyzed evidence in
1998.
(SFC, 11/12/98, p.A12)
1250-1350 The 1999 book by Lauren Arnold: "Princely Gifts and Papal
Treasures: The Franciscan Mission to China and Its Influence on the Art
of the West 1250-1350" covered this period.
(WSJ, 12/16/99, p.A20)
1250-1540 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 A Franciscan friar journeyed to China to see the Great Khan.
(WSJ, 9/4/98, p.W12)
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 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 Kublia-khan began his reign as the sixth grand khan, ruler
of the Tartars. [see 1259]
(TMPV, p.108)
1256 France banned gambling with dice.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34)
1258 Feb 10, Huegu (Hulega Khan), a Mongol leader and grandson
of Genghis Khan, seized Baghdad following a 4-day assault. Mongol invaders
from Central Asia took over Baghdad and ended the Abbasid-Seljuk Empire.
They included Uzbeks, Kazaks, Georgians and other groups. Some 200 to 800
thousand people were killed and looting lasted 17 days.
(ATC, p.91)(AP, 2/10/99)(SFC, 4/12/03, p.A1)
1258 Mar 26, Floris the Guardian, count-regent of Holland, died.
(SS, 3/26/02)
1258 Sep 20, The Cathedral of Salisbury was inaugurated.
(MC, 9/20/01)
1259 Sep 27, Ezzeline III da Romano, gentleman of Verona, "cruel
monster", died.
(MC, 9/27/01)
1259-1282 Michael VIII Palaeologus governed over Byzantium from Constantinople.
[see 330AD]
(WSJ, 11/14/95, p. A-12)
1259-1294 The great Kublai Khan, a grandson of Genghis, reigned.
(www.gobiexpeditions.com)
1260 Mar 1, Hulagu Khan, grandson of Genghis, conquered Damascus.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1260 Sep 3, Mamelukes under Sultan Qutuz defeated Mongols and
Crusaders at Ain Jalut.
(HN, 9/3/98)
1260 Sep 4, At the Battle of Montaperto in Italy, the Tuscan Ghibellines,
who supported the emperor, defeated the Florentine Guelfs, who supported
papal power.
(HN, 9/4/98)
1260 Oct 23,Koetoez, Turkish sultan of Egypt, was murdered.
(MC, 10/23/01)
1260 The people of western Lithuania (Zemaiciai)
attacked the German Order of the Cross at a battle near Durbe Lake. This
forced Mindaugas to turn against the Germans but he was not able to gain
the full trust of the western Lithuanians.
(H of L, 1931, p.32)(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1260-1274 A large scale Prussian uprising took place against the Knights
of the Cross.
(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1260-1294 The Mongol Empire under Kublai Khan reached its height.
(ATC, p.160)
1260-1348 Siena flourished as a univ. town and center for banking, trading,
and art.
(SFEC, 6/29/97, p.T11)
1260-1368 The Yuan Dynasty ruled in China. The Yuan Dynasty was founded
by Kublai Khan.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)(SFC, 6/25/98, p.A8)
1260-1368 In China musical productions known as Zaju became popular
during the Yuan Dynasty. Zaju, an early form of opera, combined music,
dance, song and speech into 4-act dramas with complex plots and characters.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34)
1260-1390 Carbon-14 dating techniques in 1988 determined that the cloth
of the Shroud of Turin dated to this period. E.T. Hall (d.2001 at 77) of
Oxford Univ. led the testing, which was later held in question. In 1978
Walter C. McCrone (d.2002), chemical analyst, determined that the image
was painted on the cloth some 1300 years after the crucifixion of Christ.
(SFEC, 2/1/98, p.A24)(SFC, 8/22/01, p.D2)(SFC, 7/29/02, p.B5)
1261 Feb 3, Samogitian fighters defeated the Livonian Knights
of the Cross at Lielvarde.
(LHC, 2/3/03)
1261 May 25, Alexander IV [Rinaldo dei conti di Segni], Pope (1254-61),
died.
(SC, 5/25/02)
1261 Aug 15, Constantinople fell to Michael VIII of Nicea and
his army.
(HN, 8/15/98)
1261 Oct 9, Dionysius, the Justified, king of Portugal (1279-1325),
was born.
(MC, 10/9/01)
1261 A great quarrel arose between king Alau, lord of the Tartars
of the East, and Berca, king of the Tartars of the West based on a border
dispute. A great battle was waged in which Alau was the victor.
(TMPV, pp. 336-340)
1262 After a long and bloody conflict between the various families
and clans, the Icelanders accepted the rule of the Norwegian kingdom.
(DrEE, 1/4/97, p.4)
1263 Feb 9, A Lithuania army under Treniota defeated the Livonian
Knights of the Cross.
(LHC, 2/9/03)
1263 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)
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 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)
1265-1308 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 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)
1267-1269 In Lithuania Shvarno served as Grand Duke.
(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1267-1337 Giotto, Italian painter. His frescoes showed a new realism
and vitality. Art historians later held that the Renaissance dawned in
Florence with Giotto's paintings. He cracked the formal stylization of
Byzantine painting and reinvented the ancient art of creating depth on
a flat surface. In 2000 art historians found evidence that Pietro Cavallini
re-introduced depth in his paintings in Rome around 1190.
(V.D.-H.K.p.128)(WSJ, 11/113/00, p.A24)
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.
(MC, 9/17/01)
1271 Nov 16, Henry III, king of England (1216-71), died.
(MC, 11/16/01)
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 20, Edward I was proclaimed King of England.
(MC, 11/20/01)
1272 Kublai-khan sent an army to the countries of Vochang and
Karazan. The King of Mien and Bangala, in India, opposed the advance of
the Tartars and a major battle was fought, wherein the Tartars were victorious.
(TMPV, P.192)(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)
1272 Forces of the King of Naples occupied Durrës and
established the Kingdom of Arbëria, the first Albanian kingdom since
the fall of Illyria.
(www, Albania, 1998)
1273 Oct 1, Rudolf of Hapsburg was elected emperor in Germany.
(HN, 10/1/98)
1273 Marco Polo crossed Afghan Turkistan.
(www.afghan, 5/25/98)
1273 Kublai-khan assigned his general, Chin-san Bay-an, the “Hundred-eyed,”
to invade the province of Manji under Prince Facfur. Facfur fled under
attack and his queen was sent to 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.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)
c1274 Nadruva, Prussia, was the home of the pagan
spiritual leader Krivis, who was dear to the Baltic people.
(H of L, 1931, p.25)(TB-Com, 10/11/00)(Petras Dusburgietis. Prusijos
zemes kronika. Vilnius, 1985, p. 87)
1274-1277 The Knights of the Cross overcame the Prussian towns of Nadruva
and Skalva.
(Petras Dusburgietis. Prusijos zemes kronika (Chronicle of the
Prussian Lands). Vilnius, 1985, p. 189-196)
1275 May 23, King Edward I of England ordered a cessation to the
persecution of French Jews.
(MC, 5/23/02)
1275 In England there was an earthquake at Glastonbury.
(Local Inscription, 2000)
1275-1292 Marco Polo left Italy for China. He lived there during the
reign of Kubla Khan and learned about pasta, sherbet, and paper currency.
(Jap. Enc., BLDM, p. 214)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)
1275-1325 The Henderson Site in New Mexico, USA, was occupied by about
a 100 people in a 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 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)
1279 Mar 5, Lithuanians overcame Livonian forces at Aizkraukle.
(LHC, 3/5/03)
1279 In Germany the castle across the Rhine from Assmannshausen
was first mentioned. It was restored by architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel
in the 19th century and named Rheinstein.
(SFEC, 3/15/98, p.T4)
1279-1368 The Yuan, or Mongol, dynasty in China (1279-1368) was established
by the great Kublai Khan (reigned 1259-94), a grandson of Genghis.
(www.gobiexpeditions.com)
1280 Nov 15, Albertus Magnus (87), German leader and bishop Regensburg,
died.
(MC, 11/15/01)
1280 Liu Guandao, court painter, depicted the Mongol ruler Kubilai
Khan hunting on a sandy, windswept landscape.
(SFEC, 10/6/96, DB p.37)
1280 Marco Polo visited the country of Ziamba (Viet-Nam). He noted
that the king had 326 children, and that it was the custom for all young
women to be proved by the king before being given in marriage. Marco noted
the bounty of elephants, lignum-aloes, and black ebony.
(TMPV, P.261)
1280 St. Julien-le-Pauvre was built in Paris. It became a barn
during the French revolution and is now a Greek Orthodox church.
(SFC, 9/1/96, T8)
1280 German merchants formed the Hanseatic League to facilitate
trade.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R49)
1280 In Germany a spinning wheel invented in China was demonstrated
in Speyer.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)
1280 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 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 The second Mongol attempt to conquer Japan.
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 Andronicus II Papaeologus became ruler over Byzantium. [see
330AD]
(WSJ, 11/14/95, p. A-12)
1283 In Germany the Marksburg Castle was built by the Katzenelbogans
to defend the silver and lead mines of Braubach.
(SFEC, 3/15/98, p.T5)
1284 Apr 25, Edward II, king of England (1307-1327), was born.
(HN, 4/25/02)
1284 Jun 26, The Pied Piper lured away 130 children of Hamelin
(Hameln, Germany). Robert Browning used this event for his poem "The Pied
Piper of Hamelin" (1842).
(MC, 6/26/02)
1284 In England the eldest son of Edward I became the Prince of
Wales.
(SFC, 7/23/97, p.A10)
1285 Mar 24, Lithuanian Grand Duke Daumantas (1281-1285) died.
(LHC, 3/24/03)
1285 May 10, Philip IV (Fair) succeeded Philip III as King of
Spain.
(HN, 5/10/99)
1285 Oct 5, Philippe III, the Stout, King of France (1270-85),
died.
(MC, 10/5/01)
1285 Oct 12, 180 Jews refused baptism in Munich, Germany, and
were set on fire.
(MC, 10/12/01)
1286 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 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.
(SFEC, 10/22/00, p.T9)(DC, 10/10/98)
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 The Mausoleum of Beatrice of Brabant was made in Kortrijk,
Belgium. It was re-discovered in 1989.
(MC, 9/8/01)
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.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)
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 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, Sultan of Egypt and his son took the last Christian
stronghold of Acre.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1291 The Catholic Franciscan order arrived in Bosnia.
(SFC, 4/15/97, p.A10)
1291-1295 In Lithuania Butvydas served as Grand Duke.
(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1292 Dec 9, Sa'di, great Persian poet (Orchard, Rose Garden),
died.
(MC, 12/9/01)
1292 The Polos began their return journey to Europe. They accompanied
a Mongol princess who was to marry Arghun Khan, ruler of Persia. The Polos
arrived at the island of Java and then sailed for eighteen months in the
Indian Seas to reach king Arghun. They learned that 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 Pope Celestine V resigned voluntarily.
(SFEC, 10/22/00, p.A20)
1294 When Arghun died by probable poisoning after six years of
rule, he was succeeded by his uncle, Ki-akato, who was able to seize power
because the son of Arghun, Kasan, was far away. After two years Ki-akato
was poisoned and his uncle, Baidu, a Christian, seized power. Kasan then
assembled an army and marched against Baidu. Kasan was victorious and gained
control over the Eastern Tartars.
(TMPV, pp. 334-336)
1294 The Polos received news of the death of Kublai, the grand
khan.
(TMPV, P.19)
1294 In Bologna two-thirds of the citizens were listed as guild
members or their relatives.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R25)
1295 Marco Polo narrated his travels to master Rustigielo, a citizen
of Pisa, from a prison in Genoa.
(TMPV, P.4)
1295 Barovier & Toso began making glass in Italy.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R46)
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)
1296 Apr 27, Edward I defeated the Scots at the Battle of Dunbar.
(HN, 4/27/99)
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) 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)
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)
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 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)