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The gunpowder formula is introduced in Europe

Perpignan, southern France. Peasants’ debts were mostly to Jews. This was a typical situation in the rest of medieval Western Europe. Sixty-five percent of urban loan sharks’ debtors were peasants, 40% of whom took out loans in the autumn, when they married and paid their

At the beginning of the 14th century, very few cities had populations exceeding 100,000, and even then, only slightly. These cities are Milan and Venice. Paris has less than 80,000. London, Hamburg, Lübeck, Bruges, Ghent, and Toulouse have populations between 20,000 and 40,000.

Syria. Ilkhanid troops reach Damascus, now abandoned by the Mamluks.

Genoa suffers an incursion by the Venetian fleet, which only the previous year had been severely defeated at Curzola in Dalmatia. Domenico Schiavo, a Venetian pirate who had just survived the Curzola disaster, revives Venetian pride by boasting of having minted coins bearing the emblem

William Wallace leads the Scottish revolt against the English and defeats King Edward I at Stirling

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

Middle East. The Ilkhanid state, one of the four uluses of the Mongol Empire, officially adopts Islam.

The Swiss Confederation is born.

The people of the Uri Valley, the free community of the Schwyz Valley, and the association of the people of the lower Nidwalden Valley formed a perpetual league against the threat of the Habsburgs. At the time, it was difficult to foresee in this event

The entire Jewish community was expelled from England. The spark had been ignited in Lincoln a few years earlier, when Jews were blamed for the death of a nine-year-old boy. The story was then exaggerated by word of mouth. Nineteen Jews were tried and executed

England. An order is issued to expel the entire Jewish community from England. It will be implemented starting October 12 of the same year. The spark had been ignited in Lincoln, a few years earlier, when Jews were blamed for the death of a 9-year-old

Obizzo d’Este was invited to Modena by the Modena magnates to put an end to the long-standing conflicts and wars between the intrines (families within the walls) and the extrinsics (families driven out into the countryside where they had often built fortifications). On January 23,

Modena governed by the Empire, the Pope, the Este family, the Medici, the Este family, the Spanish, the French, the Austrians

In 1288, the free commune of Modena, due to internal strife among local noble families, renounced its municipal freedom and surrendered to Obizzo II d’Este, Marquis of Ferrara. A year later, Reggio also offered itself to Obizzo II, who thus became lord of these two

Kingdom of Pagan (present-day Myanmar/Burma). On their third attempt, the Mongols, under the command of Esen Temur, managed to conquer the kingdom of Pagan and occupy its capital.

Kingdom of Annam (present-day Vietnam). Even at their second attempt, the Mongols failed to overpower the kingdom of Annam, which nevertheless decided to accept formal Mongol suzerainty and pay tribute.

Middle East, Mamluk Kingdom. Qalawun succeeds Sultan Baybars and continues his fierce policy against the Mongols and Crusaders.

Marco Polo’s First Voyage

Crusader Knights recover the Holy Shroud stolen by traitors at the court of King Louis IX of France, the Holy King

Mongolia. Kublai Khan commissions the guoshi ‘Phags pa to develop a Mongolian script. He develops a quadrangular alphabet called guozi. Despite all the efforts of the imperial administration, it never becomes widely used.

China. The Mongols built the capital of the Yuan ulus: Dadu. It is considered the actual original nucleus of present-day Beijing. In fact, the previously razed Beijing (Zhongdu) was located further south. It was designed with three concentric city walls.

Trapani. The Genoese fleet is attacked by the Venetian fleet. At the sight of the rapidly approaching Venetian ships, the Genoese sailors panic and throw themselves into the sea, trying to reach shore, thousands of whom die in the process. The Genoese will later blame

Monemvasia (Malvasia), a Greek stronghold in the Morea. Battle of Settepozzi. A Genoese fleet of 38 galleys encounters 32 Venetian galleys heading for Negroponte. The ensuing battle ends with a clear Venetian victory. After this defeat, the Genoese will repeatedly deliberately avoid engaging the Venetians.

The Venetians Nicolo’ and Matteo Polo reached Crimea, the easternmost Venetian possession, and from there continued to Sarai on the Volga, near present-day Saratov, the capital of the Mongol Golden Horde. They continued eastward, but the journey would be completed by Nicolo’s son, Marco Polo.

In commercial or military vessels, approximately one sailor is needed for every five tons of displacement. For example, a lateen-rigged ship, which weighs 240 tons and carries 50 men, requires one man for every ten tons. In the 14th century, Venetian cocche (ships) required one

In Italy, the first forms of public debt were invented and tested

Mongolia. After the death of Khan Mongke, son of Tolui, grandson of Genghis Khan, his brother Kublai is proclaimed Khan. He will reign over the Yuan ulus for 34 years. At the same time, however, in a different assembly, his brother Boge is also proclaimed

The ruler Bohemond VI of Christian Antioch explicitly declares himself tributary to the Mongol Hulegu, through the intercession of the Armenian ruler Hetum.

First Venetian-Genoese War. The Genoese fleet also arrived at Acre, but Tiepolo had fortified himself and received reinforcements from Venice and Crete. When the Genoese arrived, he set sail to battle with 39 galleys, 4 large round ships, and 10 tarettes. He faced 50 galleys

With the devastating Mongol invasion and the conquest of Baghdad, the early Islam, the classical era, came to a violent end.

Mongolia. The Flemish Friar Minor William of Rubruk visits the Mongolian capital of Qaraqorum, but is unimpressed: he claims to have seen the Khan’s tent set up outside the walls, and compares the city to the village of Saint-Denis outside Paris, which he considers much

Egypt is a Mamluk sultanate. Then another group of Turks will arrive: the Ottomans.

Pisa is largely Ghibelline (that is, on the side of the Holy Roman Emperor), Genoa is predominantly Guelph (that is, on the side of the Pope). Venice is Guelph until the mid-13th century.

The Maya independently invented the wheel. It was used in wheeled toys. Its use for agricultural purposes and for traction is probably known, but uncommon, as draft animals were completely absent, unlike in Eurasia. One evidence of this independent invention is the fact that the

Wu Cheng. Chinese philosopher who developed some fundamental concepts such as the idea of the mind as a lens through which all things are measured.

The Bolognese besiege Modena. As a show of affront to the besieged, they catapult a donkey with silver hooves inside the walls. The offended Modenese storm outside the walls and smash the catapult to pieces. In 1324, they exacted even more “atrocious” revenge on the

Mongolia. Khan Guyug, son of Ogodei, grandson of Genghis Khan, and governor of the Yuan ulus, dies. After three years of internal struggle, Mongke, son of Tolui, Ogodei’s brother, is elected.

Sempad, brother of the powerful Armenian ruler Hethum I, travels to Qaraqorum where he meets Guyug. From this moment on, the alliance between the Armenians and the Mongols is officially sealed.

Pope Innocent IV sent the Dominican friar Ascellino from Cremona to Mongolia. He met Baiju at Sisian, north of the Araxes River, and refused the order to prostrate himself. He risked death, but the Mongol then sent him back with an edict from Guyug, the

Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, on the orders of Pope Innocent IV, reaches the court of Genghis Khan in Karakorum

Pope Innocent IV’s mission to the Mongols. The dream was of an alliance between Westerners and Mongols that, by encircling Islam, would destroy or convert it. In this case, they were two Franciscan nuns and two Dominican nuns. The mission, however, came to nothing. Further

The powerful Armenian ruler Hethum I declares himself a subject of the Mongol Baiju.

Anatolia. The fortified border city of Erzurum is quickly captured by the Mongols, who are sweeping into Anatolia. Key Khosrow summons his army and also asks the Franks for help.

strong contingent of Germans, Poles, Templars and Teutonic Knights marches out of Liegnitz (Poland) to attack the inferior Mongol forces; the two sides meet on the Wahlstadt plain: Duke Henry’s forces are annihilated almost to the last man; the Mongol forces are merely a diversionary

The Kingdom of Hungary was founded by the Magyars only three centuries ago. In 1241, another nomadic people of the steppe, the Mongols, wiped it out in a single day at the Battle of Liegnitz, at Mohi, on the banks of the Sajo River. The

The Este family of Ferrara accept a treaty giving Venice control of Ferrara’s trade with the Adriatic. All goods bound for Ferrara must pass through Venice.

Kiev and Chernigov are attacked and destroyed by Batu’s Mongol cavalry. All of Ukraine is subjugated by the Mongols.

The friar Roger Bacon (who is not Francis Bacon, who lived, instead, in the 17th century) studies rainbow, human eye, gunpowder, new calendar (which will be Gregorian) and predicts telescope, glasses, airplanes, motor ships, machines and engines indicating in experiments the only source of truth.

Hungary. The Cuman (or qipchaq) prince Koten (Kotony in Hungarian, Kotjan in Russian), who fled to Hungary from the Mongols with 40,000 Cuman soldiers, was baptized by Bela IV.

Batu’s Mongols cross the frozen Volga and ride westward.

Mongolia. The capital city of Qaraqorum is founded.

Caizhou, Northern China. The Jin Emperor, Aizong, commits suicide in the final stages of the Mongol siege. The Jin city of Caizhou, after Kaifeng, is also sacked by the Mongols.

The Zen monk Mumon (literally “no door”) compiled 48 koans, each followed by a commentary and a short poem; the work is called “The Doorless Door” or “Mumonkan.”

The Order of Carmelite Friars is founded. The Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, or simply the Carmelites, appears to derive from a hermit community that arose in Palestine near the cave of the prophet Elijah on Mount Carmel (Aramaic for “garden”),

The Mongol generals Subedei and Jebe detach themselves from the main army at Samarkand, bypass the Caspian Sea passing through Persia, the Caucasus, Ukraine, Kiev, the Volga, Kazakhstan, annihilating everything in their path.

Genghis Khan’s army razed major cities in Afghanistan, killing hundreds of thousands.

Khwarezm, Central Asia. The ruler Ala’oddin Mohammad (also called Shah) is captured and killed by the Mongols in Qarun Castle. One of his wives is also captured and dies in Mongolia in 1232.

Termez, Central Asia. The city is occupied by Genghis Khan’s Mongols, who resort to unprecedented violence, cold-bloodedly executing the entire population in a monstrous massacre just outside the city. Each corpse is then disemboweled to search their entrails for pearls and precious stones they may

Khwarezm, Central Asia. The ruler Ala’oddin Mohammad flees again from Nishapur to the shores of the Caspian Sea.

A German collection of sermons lists 28 states (or social classes): I the Pope, II cardinals, III patriarchs, IV bishops, V prelates, VI monks, VII crusaders, VIII lay brothers, IX wandering monks, X secular priests, XI jurists and doctors, XII students, XIII wandering students, XIV

The Mongols sack Samarkand

The University of Salamanca is founded

Korea. The Kingdom of Koryo pays an annual tribute to the Mongols to ward off aggression.

Norway. Haakon V the Old breaks up the secular and ecclesiastical aristocracy and makes the monarchy hereditary. In Sweden, however, it becomes elective.

San Lazzaro Asylum in Reggio Emilia: the origins of San Lazzaro date back to the second half of the 12th century; the hospital began as a leper colony and was located in a place known as “alla braida del vescovo,” between Porta Castello and Porta

The Order of Dominican Friars is born. Founded by St. Dominic de Guzman, a skilled orator and great theologian, the Order was approved (1216), according to the rule of St. Augustine, by Honorius III (Cencio Savelli, 1216-1227) and combined contemplative life with an intense work

Carpi dominated by the Savoys, Bonacolosi of Mantua, Estensi of Ferrara, Spanish

China. Beijing (Zhongdu) is razed to the ground by the Mongols.

Stephen Langton (later cardinal) divides the Bible into chapters in Paris

China overwhelmed by the Mongols

China. Beijing is conquered by Genghis Khan’s Mongols. After a violent sack of the city, he demands from the Jin ruler, in exchange for his withdrawal, a huge quantity of gold, silver, and precious stones, as well as 1,000 maidens and a princess renowned for

Finale Emilia, Bassa Modenese. The Clock Tower is being built. It’s the same one that would be destroyed by the 2012 earthquake and which would become its symbol when, for a few hours, half of it remained standing, its clock broken.

Las Navas de Tolosa. The Spanish kings of Castile, Aragon, and Navarre win a great victory over the Caliph of Cordoba.

Jin Kingdom. The city of Liaoyang is conquered by Genghis Khan’s Mongols.

Genghis Khan continues his military campaign: now he turns to the Kingdom of Jin.

Fourth Crusade. After the fall of Constantinople to the Crusaders and the Venetians and the partition of the Byzantine Empire, Venice seized the entire island of Crete for a sum of money. To gain full control, however, they had to rid themselves of a Genoese

Fourth Crusade. Constantinople has fallen to the Crusaders. The Venetians realized that Alexius the Younger could not keep his promises and agreed to the establishment of a new imperial government, elected by a council of six Venetians and six barons. Boniface was confident in his

Fourth Crusade. First assault on Constantinople. The French crusaders request to land above the Golden Horn so they can attack from land, as befits their rank as knights, and fight in a manner that makes them invincible. Doge Enrico Dandolo, however, insists on attacking the

The English incorporate Wales