13th Century

Events 1270s – Battle of Yamen (1279)

The Battle of Yamen 1279  Events King Louis IX of France launches the Eighth Crusade The 17-year-old Marco Polo departs from Venice with his father and uncle Niccolò and Maffeo Polo, to set off for Asia to meet the Mongolian emperor Kublai Khan (the grandson of Genghis Khan) at his court in Beijing in China. They sail across the Mediterranean Sea and travel overland, crossing Armenia, Persia and the Pamir Mountains Floris V, count of Holland, grants the city of Amsterdam freedom from taxes (called a road toll). 1271: Edward I of England and Charles of Anjou arrive in Acre, starting the Ninth Crusade against Baibars. 1274: The Mongols launch their first invasion of Japan, but they are repelled by the Samurai and the Kamikaze winds. Religion The Summa Theologica, a work by Thomas Aquinas that is considered within the […]

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Events 1250s – Baghdad captured by Mongols

1258 Baghdad captured by the Mongols  Events The world population is estimated at between 400 and 416 million individuals. World climate transitions from the Medieval Warm Period to the Little Ice Age. The consequences of the volcanic 1257 Samalas eruption in Indonesia include the following anecdotal accounts: very dry fog in France; lunar eclipses in England; severe winter in Europe; a harsh spring in Iceland; famine in England, Germany, France and Italy; and pestilence in London, parts of France, Austria, Iraq, Syria, and southeast Turkey 1258: Baghdad captured and destroyed by the Mongols, effective conclusion of the Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad. Music Medieval music: The Notre Dame school of polyphony ends. Literature The earliest known manuscript of The Proverbs of Alfred, a collection of sayings of England‘s Alfred the Great, is […]

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Events 1240s – End of 7th Crusade

1254 End of the 7th Crusade Events 1240: Russians defeat the Swedish army at the Battle of the Neva. 1241: Mongol Empire defeats Hungary at the Battle of Mohi and defeats Poland at the Battle of Legnica. Hungary and Poland ravaged. 1242: Russians defeat the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of Lake Peipus. 1243–1250: Second Holy Roman Empire–Papacy War. 1244: Ayyubids and Khwarezmians defeat the Crusaders and their Arab allies at the Battle of La Forbie. 1249: End of the Portuguese Reconquista against the Moors, when King Afonso III of Portugal reconquers the Algarve. Arts Robert Grosseteste translates Aristotle‘s Nicomachean Ethics from Greek into Latin, which marks the true start of the rediscovery of the philosopher by Medieval Europe Science Roger Bacon publishes a major scientific work, including writings of convex […]

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Events 1280s – Mongols invasion Japan

1281 Mongols launch 2nd invasion of Japan Events 1281: The Mongols launch their second invasion of Japan, but like their first invasion they are repelled by the Samurai and the Kamikaze winds. The ancestors of the Māori people from eastern Polynesia become the first human settlers of New Zealand. The events giving rise to the story of the Pied Piper of Hamelin take place in Lower Saxony Technology The technology of watermarks is introduced by paper manufacturers of Bologna, Italy. Literature The English romantic poem The Lay of Havelok the Dane is written

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Events 1290s – Ottoman Empire established

1299 Ottoman Empire is established  Events 1290- “Year without winter” – An exceptionally rare instance of uninterrupted transition, from autumn to the following spring, in England and the mainland of Western Europe William Wallace, Scottish rebel leader, leads an uprising against the English at Lanark and kills Sheriff William Hesselrig. He joins with William Douglas the Hardy, the first Scottish nobleman in rebellion – combining forces at Sanquhar, Durisdeer and Scone Abbey (known as the Raid on Scone) in June. Later, Wallace captures the English treasury at Scone to finance the rebellion against Edward I of England The spinning wheel is now in widespread use in England for manufacturing woolen yarn 1292: Marco Polo, on his voyage […]

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Events 1230s – Music: Theobald I of Navarre

Music: Theobald I of Navarre  Events 1231: Emperor Frederick II promulgates the Constitutions of Melfi, a far-reaching legal code influential in the development of continental European statehood. Siege of Moscow: The Mongols under Batu Khan and Subutai campaign across the northern heartland of the Kievan Rus’, committing numerous atrocities across multiple settlements, including the sacking of an insignificant town known as Moscow. According to the Chronicle of Novgorod, Moscow is a fortified village, a trading post “on a crossroads of four rivers”. The village is taken by the Mongols after 5 days of siege. 1239–1250: Third conflict between the Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy. 1237–1240: Mongol Empire conquers Kievan Rus. Literature c. 1230 La […]

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Events 1220s – Genghis Khan dies

1227 Genghis Khan dies Events c. 1220: The Kingdom of Mapungubwe was established Dordrecht is granted city rights by William I, Count of Holland, making it the oldest city in present-day Netherlands. Gothic architecture becomes increasingly popular in Europe: The rebuilding of Cathedral of Chartres, which had been destroyed by a fire in 1194, is completed. Early part of Toulouse Cathedral is completed. The rebuilding of Amiens Cathedral begins.[11] The rebuilding of Oxford Cathedral begins. The building of Salisbury Cathedral begins.[11] The rebuilding of York Minster begins. Genghis Khan’s armies were said to have killed approximately 1.6 million people in the city of Herat, in Northwestern Afghanistan 1221: Merv, Herat and Nishapur are destroyed in the Mongol conquest of the Khwarazmian Empire. 1223: The Mongol Empire defeats various Russian principalities […]

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1215 The Magna Carta

Magna Carta Libertatum (Medieval Latin for “Great Charter of Freedoms”), commonly called Magna Carta (also Magna Charta; “Great Charter”), is a royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215.  First drafted by Archbishop of Canterbury, Cardinal Stephen Langton, to make peace between the unpopular king and a group of rebel barons, it promised the protection of church rights, protection for the barons from illegal imprisonment, access to swift justice, and limitations on feudal payments to the Crown, to be implemented through a council of 25 barons. Neither side stood behind their commitments, and the charter was annulled by Pope Innocent III, leading to the First Barons’ War.    

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Lost African cities

Once, Sorotomo was a vast metropolis, a political centre of the Mali empire. Later, the city was abandoned in the wake of a violent attack.  THE LONG-LOST metropolis at the heart of west Africa’s biggest-ever empire has been discovered by a British archaeologist. Investigations 200 miles south of the Sahara have revealed the existence of a vast city, which appears to have had a population of approximately 50,000 people and to have covered an area of 90 hectares. Researchers, led by Professor Kevin MacDonald of University College London’s Institute of Archaeology, believe that the archaeological site known as Sorotomo […]

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