1240s

This is a list of events occurring in the 1240s, ordered by year.

1240

By area

Asia

• Batu Khan and the Golden Horde sack the Ruthenian city of Kiev.
• Tuan Mash'ika, an Arab, travels and introduces Islam to Sulu.

Europe

• July 15 – Battle of the Neva: Russian prince Alexander Nevsky defeats the Swedes, saving the Novgorod Republic from a full-scale enemy invasion from the North.
• The civil war era in Norway ends.
• The Flemish village Kaprijke is recognized as a city.
• Sancho II of Portugal conquers the cities of Ayamonte and Cacella over the Muslims as part of the Reconquista.^[1]

By topic

Religion

• Saint Maurice starts to be portrayed as a Moor.

1241

• March 18 – Battle of Chmielnik (Mongol invasion of Poland): The Mongols overwhelm the feudal Polish armies of Sandomierz and Kraków provinces and plunder the abandoned city of Kraków.
• April 9 – Battle of Legnica: The Mongols under the command of Baidar, Kadan and Orda Khan, defeat the feudal Polish nobility, including the Knights Templar.
• April 11 – Battle of Mohi: Batu Khan and Subutai defeat Béla IV of Hungary. The battle is the last major event in the Mongol Invasion of Europe.
• April 27 – Battle of Sajo: The Mongols defeat Bela IV of Hungary.
• May 10 – Battle of Cameirge in Ulster: The Milesian Irish septs of the Ó Dónaills from Donegal, the Ó Néills from Armagh and the Ó Dochartaighs of Connacht defeat the last Tuatha Dé Danann sept, the Meic Lochlainn of Tír Eoghain and Inishowen under Domhnall mac Muirchertaigh Mac Lochlainn. From now on the Kings of Tír Eoghain will all be of the Ó Néill dynasty, Brian Ua Néill becoming sole ruler.
• Early summer – A succession crises or other priorities results in the Mongols withdrawing behind their river barrier into the Ukraine and the Russia's, leaving Central Asian and far Eastern Europe peoples tributary to the Khanates, but leaving Poland and Hungary to begin recovery and reorganization.
• August 29 – After Henry III of England's invasion of Wales, the Treaty of Gwerneigron is signed by him and Dafydd ap Llywelyn, curbing the latter's authority and denying him royal title.
• September 23 – Snorri Sturluson, Icelandic saga writer, is murdered by Gissur Þorvaldsson, an emissary of King Haakon IV of Norway.
• October 25 – Pope Celestine IV succeeds Pope Gregory IX as the 179th pope.
• Emperor Lizong of Song China accepts the Neo-Confucian teachings of the late Zhu Xi, including his commentary on the Four Books. This will have an impact upon the philosophical schools of surrounding countries as well, including Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.
• Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, issues a decree (Edict of Salerno) by which the physician's and the apothecary's professions are separated.
• Livonian Crusade: The Estonian rebellion of 1237 is forced down on Saaremaa island by the Livonian Order.

1242

By area

Africa

• In Maghrib, after a string of successes against the fast declining Almohads, Abu Zakariya, the first Hafsid ruler of Ifriqiya conquers the Kingdom of Tlemcen.^[2]

Asia

• Emperor Go-Saga ascends to the throne of Japan.
• Batu Khan establishes the Golden Horde at Sarai.
• The Mongols invade the Seljuk sultanate.

Europe

• April 5 – During a battle on the ice of Lake Peipus, Russian forces, led by Alexander Nevsky, rebuff an invasion attempt by the Teutonic Knights.
• Cleves, Germany is chartered as a city.
• Kiel, Germany is chartered as a town.
• The archbishop of Mainz conquers the city of Wiesbaden from the House of Nassau.
• The king Sancho II of Portugal conquers the cities of Tavira, Alvor and Paderne in his continuing effort against the Muslims, known as Reconquista.^[1]

• Mongol invasions
  • German colonists arrive in Bratislava after the Mongols failed to conquer the city.
  • The Mongols of the Golden Horde devastate Volga Bulgaria, and force the nation to pay tribute.
  • A French goldsmith working in Budapest named Guillaume Boucher is captured by the Mongols and taken to Karakorum.
  • The Golden Bull is issued by King Béla IV to inhabitants of Gradec (today's Zagreb) and Samobor in Croatia, during the Mongol invasion of Europe. By this golden bull King Bela IV proclaim a free royal city.
  • Croats stop the Mongolian invasion after the battle of Grobnicko Polje

By topic

Science

• Timeline of medicine and medical technology: Ibn Nafis suggests that the right and left ventricles of the heart are separate and describes the lesser circulation of blood.

Religion

• The diocese of Warmia, Poland is created.

1243

• March – Treaty of Alcaraz, the king of Castile turns the independent Muslim kingdom of Murcia into a protectorate and initiates the process of colonization and christianization of the region. The Castillan troops are garrisoned in Murcia to support the Huddite dynasty (May 1).^[3]
• June 25 – Pope Innocent IV succeeds Pope Celestine IV as the 180th pope.
• June 26 – Battle of Köse Dag: The Mongols defeat the Seljuk Turks of Rum.
• The city of Brno is founded in what will become the Czech Republic.

1244

• The Christian Reconquista in Iberia enjoys a string of successes:
  • March 26 – By the treaty of Almirra, the king of Aragon and prince of Castile come to an agreement on the attribution of Muslim lands to still to be conquered.^[4]
  • May 22 – James I of Aragon takes the Muslim-held city of Janita after several months of siege.^[5] This success is followed by the capture of Biar later that year.^[6]
  • James I of Aragon reconquers Altea, Spain.
  • The heir prince of Castile conduct a series of military operations to support the Muslim Huddite rulers of Murcia against rebel strongholds.^[3]

1245

• April 16 – Pope Innocent IV sends Giovanni da Pian del Carpine to the Mongol court, suggesting (amongst other things) that the Mongols convert to Christianity and join the Crusades.
• June 28 – Opening of the First Council of Lyon, in the course of which Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, is excommunicated and deposed, and the Seventh Crusade is proclaimed.
• August 1 – The second of two papal bulls refers to the marriage of King Sancho II of Portugal to Mécia Lopes de Haro and decrees the deposition of the king.
• date unknown
  • Witness of the toll taken by war and fiscal pressure in the kingdom of Castile, the region of Segovia is described this year as depopulated and sterile.^[7]
  • The rebuilding of Westminster Abbey is started.

1246

By area

Americas

• The Mexicans settle Chapultepec, a former Toltec stronghold.

Asia

• Emperor Go-Fukakusa succeeds Emperor Go-Saga on the throne of Japan.
• Güyük Khan is enthroned as the 3rd Great Khan of the Mongol Empire (an event also witnessed by a papal mission under Giovanni da Pian del Carpine) at Karakorum.

Europe

• With the death of Duke Frederick the Quarrelsome, the Babenberg dynasty ends in Austria.
• Spain: After two unsuccessful sieges in 1225 and 1230, the Castillans manage to take the city of Jaén from the Andalucians at the Siege of Jaen.^[7]

By topic

Arts

• The Gothic chapel of Sainte-Chapelle is built.
• Robert Grosseteste translates Aristotle's Nichomachean Ethics from Greek into Latin, which marks the true start of the rediscovery of the philosopher by Medieval Europe.^[8]

Nature

• The perihelion of the Earth's orbit coincided with the December solstice.

Religion

• Beaulieu Abbey is dedicated.

1247

• December 1 – A rebellion arises among the Muslim subjects of the Crown of Aragon in the region of Valencia. As a punishment, the king issues an order of expulsion of the Muslims from his realm leading numerous people into exile in Andalusia and North Africa in the subsequent year.^[9]
• Shams Tabrizi disappears, resulting in Jalal Uddin Rumi writing 30,000 verses of poetry about his disappearance.
• Romford, London, England is chartered as a market town.
• The future Bethlem Royal Hospital, bedlam, founded in London.
• The Thuringian War of Succession begins.
• Qin Jiushao publishes the original form of the Chinese remainder theorem.
• Egypt takes control of Jerusalem from the Kharezmians.
• Nijmegen becomes part of Gelderland.
• The Romanesque cathedral of St. Pierre is begun in Beauvais.
• Afonso III succeeds Sancho II as King of Portugal.
• Saint Louis massacres the last remaining Catharists at Montségur.
• Song Ci publishes the Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified, a book considered to be the first monographic work on forensic medicine.

1248

• April 26 – The Gothic chapel Sainte-Chapelle is consecrated in Paris, France.
• August 15 – The foundation stone of Cologne Cathedral is laid after an older cathedral on the site burns down on April 30. Construction is completed 632 years later, in 1880.
• August 25 – The Dutch city of Ommen receives city rights and fortification rights from Otto III, Archbishop of Utrecht, after it has been pillaged at least twice by a local robber baron.
• November 23 – Reconquista: King Ferdinand III of Castile recaptures the city of Seville from the Moors, ending the Siege of Seville; this year also Prince Alfonso X of Castile takes the city of Alicante.
• November 24 – In the middle of the night a mass on the north side of Mont Granier suddenly collapsed, in one of the largest historical rock slope failures known in Europe.^[10]
• King Louis IX of France launches the Seventh Crusade, setting sail with an army of 20,000 toward Egypt.
• Pope Innocent IV grants the Croats permission to use their own language and script in liturgy (see Glagolitic alphabet).
• Tallinn (Reval) converts from Riga law to Lübeck law.
• Roger Bacon publishes the formula for black powder in Europe.
• Construction on the Alhambra palace in Granada, Spain, is begun by the Nasrid dynasty.
• The University of Piacenza is founded in Italy.
• Approximate date – History of the Aztecs: The Mexica tribe, predecessors of the Aztec people, arrive at Chapultepec (in modern-day Mexico City).

1249

By place

Africa

• King Louis IX of France captures Damietta in Egypt, the first major military engagement of the Seventh Crusade.

Asia

• Pho Khun Si Indrathit becomes the first king of the Sukhothai kingdom, marking the founding of the modern Thai nation.
• The Hikitsuke, a judicial organ of the Kamakura and Muromachi shogunates of Japan, is established.
• The Japanese Hōji era ends, and the Kenchō era begins.

Europe

• February 16 – Andrew of Longjumeau is dispatched by King Louis IX of France as an ambassador to meet with the Khan of the Mongols.
• May 26 – The Battle of Fossalta is fought between the Holy Roman Empire and the Lombard League. The Italians capture the German commander.
• June 13 – coronation of Alexander III as King of Scots.
• August 15 – The First Battle of Athenry is fought in Galway, Ireland.
• The city of Stralsund (in present-day Germany) is burned to the ground by forces from the rival city of Lübeck.
• Swedish statesman Birger Jarl subjugates the province of Tavastia in Finland, securing Swedish power in Finland.
• Alphonse of Toulouse orders the expulsion of Jews from Poitou, France.
• The Hungarian capital is moved from Esztergom to Buda.

Mediterranean

• The Moors lose possession of Alicante in Al-Andalus (Islamic Spain).
• King Afonso III of Portugal recaptures Faro and Silves in the Algarve from the Moors, thus ending the Portuguese Reconquista.^[1]
• The city of Mystras, Greece is fortified and a palace is constructed there by William II Villehardouin.

By topic

Education

• Spring – University College, the first College at Oxford, is founded with money from the estate of William of Durham.

Microhistory

• Jean Mouflet makes an agreement with the abbot of Saint-Pierre-le-Vif in the Senonais region in France: in return for an annual payment, the monastery will recognize Jean as a "citizen of Sens". He is a leather merchant, has a leather shop that he leases for the rent of 50 shillings a year. The agreement is witnessed by Jean's wife, Douce, daughter of a wealthy and prominent citizen of Sens, Felis Charpentier.

Science

• Roger Bacon publishes a major scientific work, including writings of convex lens spectacles for treating long-sightedness and the first publication of the formula for gunpowder in the western world.

Significant people

Births

Deaths

References