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Edward I Plantagenet regains power over Scotland with the victory of Falkirk

Laiazzo, Syria. The Genoese inflict a heavy defeat on the Venetians, capturing almost all of their merchandise and ships.

Modena. Obizzo d’Este dies. The new ruler is Azzo VIII, who engages in several skirmishes with Parma and Bologna.

Kingdom of Java (present-day Indonesia). The Mongols now turn to Java and set sail with 20,000 soldiers carrying a year’s supply of grain. After several vicissitudes and despite initial success, thanks in part to agreements, they are in turn deceived and defeated and forced to

Venice. Glassmaking was moved by decree to the island of Murano to reduce the risk of fire in Venice, which at the time was largely built of wood. Chioggia specialized in salt production. The glassmakers’ guild split into glassmakers and crystal workers, as the latter

Baghche in Arran, Middle East. Arghun, lord of the Ilkhanids, dies after several months of madness. He had sought medical attention from a Buddhist doctor who prescribed a mixture of sulfur and mercury, which did not improve his condition. His brother Geikhatu ascends the throne.

Ilkhanid Ulus, Middle East. Arghun is officially named lord of the Ilkhanids, with the approval of Khan Qubilai.

Venice mints the ducat. Florence had already minted the widely used florin. Florence and Genoa are the first Western cities to mint gold coins. Venice, in addition to the gold ducat or gold zecchino, also mints coins of lesser value, such as the silver grosso

Ilkhanid Ulus, Middle East. Teguder Ahmad is captured and put on trial by the rival faction. He will be sentenced to death and his back will be broken so as not to spill his noble blood. He is succeeded by his brother’s son, Arghun.

Ilkhanid Ulus, Middle East. Upon the death of Abaqa (son of Hulegu and descendant of Genghis Khan), he was succeeded by his brother Teguder, who converted to Islam and took the name Ahmad.

The Sicilian Vespers: the bells call the people of Palermo to insurrection against the French of Charles of Anjou.

The Vivaldi brothers leave Italy to reach the Indies, sailing along the western coast of Africa: they will not return

Hims, Syria. The Egyptian army defeats the Ilkhanids led by Mengutimur, a brother of Abaqa, supported by the Franks, Georgians, and Armenians.

Japan: Samurai repel a second Mongol attack

England mints silver groschen, following in the footsteps of Venice and Florence.

Fifteen thousand Mongol, Chinese, and Jurchen soldiers, joined by 8,000 Koreans, set sail on 900 junks and landed in Japan at Hakata on the island of Kyushu. A terrible storm broke out, catching the invaders by surprise. Most of the ships sank, and the few

London. The Fishmongers’ Guild is founded.

Marco Polo continues his father’s journey to China. At the age of twenty, he is welcomed into the court of the Mongol emperor, making a favorable impression. He will spend the next twenty years in his service, traveling throughout China. He will then return to

The Genoese continued their extraordinary economic and naval expansion. In the western Mediterranean, they definitively crushed Pisa, which would never recover from the naval defeat of Meloria in 1284, and thus achieved undisputed dominance of the Tyrrhenian Sea, both navally and in trade. Beyond Gibraltar,

Venetians and Genoese sign a peace treaty, but only because King Louis IX of France needs a powerful united fleet for the crusade he is planning. For the Venetians and Genoese, it is actually only a brief truce between bitter enemies.

Japan. The Mongol delegation, including the Minister of War and the Minister of Rites, is sent back without a response by shogun Hojo Tokimune.

Modena. The statue of Bonissima is erected in honor of a lady named Bona, famous in the city for lending money without charging interest during a severe drought.

Venice. The complete form of stable government of the Republic of Venice is as follows: 30 members of the May Council are chosen by lot: the 30 are reduced by lot to 9, the 9 elect 40, the 40 are reduced by lot to 12,

Giotto Bondone, a pupil of Cimabue

Middle East. Abaqa, son of Khan Hulegu and his successor as leader of the Ilkhanids, attacks Berke, also a grandson of Genghis Khan and leader of the Golden Horde, who awaits him on the Kur River with 300,000 soldiers. Berke is defeated in the terrible

Mongolia. Boge’s sudden death indirectly confirms the troubled confirmation of his brother Qubilai as Khan.

Maraghe, Azerbaijan, capital of the Ilkhanid ulus. Khan Huleghu, son of Tolui and grandson of Genghis Khan, dies. He is buried like his grandfather, with several sacrificed princesses. He is succeeded by his son Abaqa.

Documented transit of a bright comet. Pope Urban IV falls ill the day the comet appears in the sky and dies the exact day it disappears. Coincidence? Yes.

The Genoese admiral Grillo traps the Venetian admiral protecting the caravan headed for Acre. Through subterfuge and carefully spread false rumors, he surprises the Venetians at Durazzo. An entire year of Venetian overseas trade is lost. The Venetians are now willing to make peace, but

Modena. The Campionesi Masters (craftsmen from Campione d’Italia, now in Switzerland) completed the sixth pseudo-tier in 1261 and in the following years added the characteristic octagonal tip to the Ghirlandina.

Ayn Jalut (The Springs of Goliath, present-day Israel). The Qipchaq army, using warfare techniques very similar to those of the Mongols, defeats the Mongols overwhelmingly. They number 120,000 Mamluks against 20,000 Mongols. The Mongol Ketbogha is captured and executed on the battlefield. This is the

Syria. The Mongol Hulegu conquers Aleppo, captures the Ayyubid lord of Aleppo, an-Nasir Yusuf, and takes him with him. He will have him killed a few months later.

Baghdad. The Mongol Hulegu massacres the population of Kermashah during his march toward Baghdad. Baiju, meanwhile, descends from Mosul and then reaches Hulegu on the banks of the Dujayl River, where they clash and defeat the army of Caliph al-Mustafa’sim’bi’llah, opening a dam, flooding the

Foundation of the Order of Augustinian Friars. Organized as an order in 1256, they are the union of many groups of hermits who followed the rule of St. Augustine, who in the 4th century had founded a monastery near Hippo, his hometown.

Lincoln, Northern England. The body of a nine-year-old boy, Hugh, is found at the bottom of a well. Rumors spread through the village that the boy may have been sacrificed by the Jews during one of their dark rites. The story spread by word of

Marco Polo was born in Korcula, Dalmatia, a Venetian protectorate, with the name Marko Pilic.

Middle East. The Genoese are firmly established in Acre and Tyre and in northern Syria (the Crusaders granted them extensive privileges in exchange for their assistance).

Mongolia. Giovanni da Pian del Carpine visits the Mongolian capital of Karakorum.

Construction begins on the Church of San Francesco in Modena. The saint had been dead for only 18 years.

Estonia. The Battle of the Ice Lake, also called the Battle of the Ice, Battle on the Ice (Estonian: Jäälahing; Russian: Ледовое побоище, transliterated: Ledovoje poboišče), fought on Lake Chud, near the present-day border between Russia and Estonia, by troops of the Principality of Novgorod

Paris. At the culmination of a decade of indictments against the Jews, a public burning of the Talmud was carried out, a work deemed heretical and an instrument of anti-Christian hatred. Two years earlier, Louis IX had ordered the confiscation of copies of the Talmud,

Lower Volga. The Mongol Batu receives a formal act of submission from the Grand Duke of Vladimir, Yaroslav I, beginning a relationship of vassalage that will last for several centuries, until the mid-16th century, when Ivan the Terrible will end it by reconquering the various

After the Battle of Liegnitz, the Mongols push further south, storming and sacking the city of Pest. The Mongols will not continue their incredible westward advance: the Great Khan, Ogodey, dies in Mongolia. Batu returns home for the funeral, bringing his army with him. Europe

Mongolia. Khan Ogodei, son of Genghis Khan and administrator of the Yuan ulus (northern China, Mongolia, Korea, and eastern Siberia), dies.

The Mongol vanguard, chasing after the Hungarian King Bela, reached Croatia, Dalmatia, as far as Split.

Mohi, Hungary. After the victory at Liegnitz (Poland), the Mongol contingent reunites with the bulk of the forces commanded by Batu himself and defeats the Hungarian army at Mohi, in a battle that remains etched in Western memory as the breakthrough. From there, they will

Poland. The Mongol army crosses the Vistula and reaches Krakow.

The lord of Ferrara sides with Emperor Frederick II, but the Pope claims the city as his own. Venice comes to the pope’s aid and lays siege to the city (which was on the sea) with its fleet. But more than the siege, the battle

Paris. Louis IX orders the confiscation of copies of the Talmud, and appoints the Dominicans, recently appointed to manage the anti-heretical Inquisition, to do so. In 1242, at the culmination of a decade of indictments against the Jews, a public burning of the Talmud is

The Mongol Batu coordinates an army composed of three of the four uluses of the Mongol Empire. With Ogodei’s sons, Chagtai and Tolui, he attacks the Volga Bulgars and destroys all the Cuman principalities he encounters.

Florence mints the silver grosso, following in the footsteps of Venice.

In Italy, national unification was unsuccessful. The temporal power of the popes in the center of the peninsula and imperial authority in the North prevented the consolidation of the territories. The interplay of factions, of parties, from one city to another, even within the same

In the Benedictine monastery of Podlazice in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic), a monk created the Codex Gigas, also known as the Devil’s Bible for its large illustration of the devil opposing paradise. It is the largest medieval volume ever discovered: 92 x 50 x

The Mongols also arrive in Hungary

Western Indian border. Jalaloddin Mangburni, son of Ala’oddin Mohammed (killed by the Mongols), is heavily defeated by the Mongols in a fierce battle at Gardiz, and is forced to flee across the Indus River. His son is captured and executed on the spot by Genghis

Herat: The Mongols kill 1,600,000 people; Mongol prince Tuli learns that some have survived by hiding among the corpses and gives the order to behead everyone from now on. This gruesome operation lasts several days.

Nishapur: Prince Tuli’s Mongols kill 1,747,000 people (1,747,000). At the end of the massacre, the remains of the city are inspected for any survivors. Only 400 artisans are spared and deported to Mongolia. Huge piles of heads and human remains are erected. Then the city

Florence. A series of vendettas pits two families, two factions, against each other: the Fifanti-Amidei and the Buondelmonte. After a marriage collapses, in which the fiancé Buondelmonte fails to appear at the altar to marry a Fifanti-Amidei woman dressed for a wedding on the Ponte

The English barons forced the King to sign the Magna Carta, a limitation of royal power in favor of lay and ecclesiastical feudal lords; it was the cornerstone of Britain’s unwritten constitution and the foundation of the constitutions of the United States of America and

Fourth Lateran Council. Monastic education is organized and compulsory Easter communion is instituted.

The Venetians occupy the island of Crete

Genghis Khan attacks China

The Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars begins in southwestern France. The Cathars maintain that the God of the Old Testament is actually the Devil. They also reject all forms of killing and food derived from any sexual act, such as meat, eggs, and milk. Arnaud,

The Order of Franciscan Friars is born. The Order of Friars Minor, also known as the First Order, was born around Francis of Assisi who gathered (1208) a small group of disciples to share experiences of poverty and chastity. He chose to place himself as

Northwest China. One of Genghis Khan’s first enemies was the XiXia people, who had an army of 150,000 soldiers. He besieged their capital, Wulahai, with high walls. The Mongols, lacking effective siege weapons, proposed a truce on the condition that the besieged surrender all their

France. To counter the Albigensian heretics in southern France, Saint Dominic de Guzmán founded a convent in Notre-Dame-de-Prouille for Cathar girls who converted to Catholicism. In 1215, based on the Rule of Saint Augustine, Dominic gave his followers a religious order, formally recognized in 1216

Mongolia. Genghis Khan dictated (he was illiterate) a rudimentary code of laws called yasa. It was preserved in scrolls and was accessible only to the highest government officials. In reality, this code was probably not a structured body of laws as we understand it. Indeed,

Year of the Tiger. Genghis Khan unites the nomadic tribes in Mongolia and is definitively recognized as their sole leader.

The Venetians played a key role in the conquest of Constantinople by the Crusaders.

Fourth Crusade. Second assault on Constantinople. This time the Greeks resist the Crusader assault with greater tenacity. But the Venetians also deploy their forces with greater skill, such as placing the fighting platforms on the mainmasts so as to be higher than the tops of

Mongolia. Death of To’oril, chief of the Kerait clan. This will lead to the definitive rise of Temujin – Genghis Khan.

Venice mints the silver grosso.

The Crusaders sack Constantinople, on the way to the Crusades

Maritime Republics: Genoa, Pisa, Venice

Beginning of the Inca civilization in Peru

Until the 13th century, Christian cartography was inspired by theological concepts: the navel, or center, was Jerusalem, the East (placed at the top) culminated with the Takt-i-Sulayman mountain in Azerbaijan, where the earthly paradise is located and from which flow four paradisiacal rivers: the Tigris,

The Mongols finally defeat the neighboring Tatars

Modena. The Baggiovara Gate (later Porta San Francesco) is built between Via Canalchiaro and Rua Muro. The work is paid for by the lords of Sassuolo.

Richard I Lionheart king of England

In the Mediterranean, particularly in the Ionian and Aegean, piracy was rife, not only among professional pirate gangs, but also among Genoese, Sicilians, Pisans, Ancona natives, Saracens, and Greeks, as well as Venetians, all seeking booty and slaves. This led to the arming of commercial