The '1260s' is the decade starting January 1, 1260 and ending December 31, 1269.
In the
Mongol Empire,
Kublai Khan became the supreme leader and moved his capital to
Beijing; while he fought the southern
Chinese Song Dynasty, the empire saw its first significant military defeats — first in
Palestine at the hands of the
Mamluks of
Egypt, and later in the
Caucasus. The Mamluks, led by their new sultan
Baibars, quickly became a regional power in the
Middle East by capturing a number of
crusader states and repulsing Mongol attacks. The
Empire of Nicaea succeeded in capturing
Constantinople and the rest of the
Latin Empire, thus re-establishing the
Byzantine Empire.
In Europe, political strife and territorial disputes led to widespread warfare around the continent.
England witnessed the
Second Barons' War, a
civil war fought over the aristocracy's disillusionment with King
Henry III's attempts to maintain an
absolute monarchy. The
pope of the
Catholic Church, aligned against the
Hohenstaufen dynasty of the
Holy Roman Emperor, succeeded in eliminating the line when the last male heir,
Conradin, was killed by papal ally
Charles I of Sicily, a
Frenchman. Meanwhile, King
Otakar II of Bohemia became the most powerful prince in Europe, expanding his territories through both warfare and inheritance. In other developments, both
Iceland and
Greenland accepted the overlordship of
Norway, but
Scotland was able to repulse a Norse invasion and broker a favorable peace settlement. In
Spain, the
Reconquista continued as several important cities were recaptured from the
Moors. Political reforms were instituted in the election procedures of the
pope and the
doges of Venice, and the parliaments of
Ireland and England met for the first time.
Several important cultural achievements were made in the decade, including publication of
Roger Bacon's important scientific work ''Opus Majus'' and
Thomas Aquinas' ''
Summa contra Gentiles''. Masterpieces of architecture and sculpture were completed at
cathedrals around Europe, including the
Cathedral of Chartres and
Nicola Pisano's
pulpits for the
Duomo di Siena and
Pisa's
Baptistery. In religion, the
Sukhothai kingdom in
Thailand adopted
Buddhism as its official religion. In Europe
anti-Semitism intensified, as several authorities promulgated laws requiring Jews to wear identifying
yellow badges, Jews were massacred in England, and the
Talmud was attacked and censored by the Catholic Church.
War and politics
Europe
War and peace
North and West Europe
★ 1260 - The
Baltic Samogatians and
Curonians defeat the
Teutonic knights in the
Battle of Durbe.
★ 1263 - October - King
Alexander III of Scotland defeats the Viking armada of King
Haakon IV of Norway in the
Battle of Largs.
★ 1263 - The chieftains of the eastern part of Iceland become the last to pledge fealty to the Norwegian king, bringing a more complete end to the
Icelandic Commonwealth and the
Icelandic civil war.
★ 1266 - The war between
Scotland and
Norway ends as King
Alexander III of Scotland and King
Magnus VI of Norway agree to the
Treaty of Perth, which cedes the
Western Isles and
Isle of Man to Scotland in exchange for a large monetary payment.
Central and South Europe
★ 1260 -
September 4 - The forces of King
Manfred of Sicily, in league with the
Ghibellines, defeat the
Guelphs at
Monte Aperto.
★ 1260 - War breaks out in the
Valais (today in
Switzerland) as the
Bishopry of Sion defends against an invasion by the
County of Savoy.
★ 1263 -
Genoa captures the city of
Chania on
Crete from the
Venetians.
★ 1264 - The
Thuringian War of Succession ends.
★ 1266 -
February 26 - In the
Battle of Benevento, an army led by
Charles, Count of
Anjou, defeats a combined
German and
Sicilian force led by King
Manfred of Sicily. Manfred is killed in the battle and
Pope Clement IV invests Charles as king of
Sicily and
Naples.
Iberian Peninsula
★ 1263 - King
James I of Aragon conquers
Crevillente,
Spain from the
Moors during the
Reconquista.
★ 1264 - In
Spain, King
James I of Aragon reconquers the cities of
Orihuela in
Alicante and
Elx in
Valencia from the
Moors, ending over 500 years of
Islamic rule.
★ 1265 - King
Alfonso X of Castile captures the city of
Alicante,
Spain from the
Moors during the
Reconquista.
★ 1267 - King
Afonso III of Portugal and King
Alfonso X of Castile sign a treaty determining the southern border between
Portugal and
Spain as the
Guadiana River, a border that remains to this day.
Southeast Europe
★ 1260 - King
Otakar II of Bohemia captures
Styria from King
Bela IV of Hungary in the
Battle of Kressenbrunn.
★ 1261 -
Bela IV of
Hungary repels a
Tatar invasion.
★ 1268 - King
Stephen V of Hungary launches a war against
Bulgaria.
England: The Second Barons' War
★ 1261 - King
Henry III of England obtains a
papal bull releasing him from the
Provisions of Oxford, setting the stage for a civil war over the power struggle between the crown and the aristocracy of
England.
★ 1264 - Before May -
Second Barons' War, an
English civil war, begins.
★ 1264 -
May 12 to
May 14 - The
Battle of Lewes is fought between
Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester and King
Henry III of England in
Sussex. By the end of the battle, de Montfort's forces capture both King Henry and his brother, future King
Edward I, making de Montfort the "uncrowned king of
England".
★ 1265 -
January 20 - In
Westminster, the first
English parliament conducts its first meeting in the
Palace of Westminster, now also known as the Houses of Parliament.
★ 1265 - Before August - Future King Edward I escapes captivity in the hands of Simon de Montfort.
★ 1265 -
August 4 - The
Battle of Evesham is fought in
Worcestershire, with the army of Edward defeating the forces of rebellious barons led by Simon de Montfort and killing de Montfort and many of his allies. This is sometimes considered the death of
chivalry in
England.
★ 1266 - October - The war winds down as supporters of the slain rebel leader Simon de Montfort make an offer of peace to the king in the
Dictum of Kenilworth.
★ 1267 - The Second Barons' War ends, as the rebels and King
Henry III of England agree to peace terms as laid out in the Dictum of Kenilworth.
Political entities
★ 1260 - The
Duchy of Saxony is divided into
Saxony-Lauenberg and
Saxony-Wittenberg, marking the end of the first Saxon state.
★ 1261 - The population of
Greenland accepts the overlordship of the
King of Norway.
★ 1262 -
Strasbourg becomes an
Imperial Free City of the
Holy Roman Empire.
★ 1262 - The
Icelandic Commonwealth enters into a treaty establishing a union with
Norway and acknowledges Norwegian King
Haakon IV as its ruler.
★ 1264 - The state of
Hesse gains its independence from
Thuringia and becomes a free state of the
Holy Roman Empire.
★ 1265 - The
Isle of Man comes under
Scottish rule for a brief period of 10 years.
★ 1267 - Emperor
Baldwin II of Constantinople gifts the
Principality of Achaea to King
Charles I of Sicily in the
Treaty of Viterbo in the hopes that Charles could help him restore the
Latin Empire.
★ 1268 - The county of
Wernigerode become a vassal state of the
margrave of
Brandenburg.
Political reform
★ 1264 -
June 18 - The
Parliament of Ireland meets at
Castledermot in
County Kildare, the first definitively known meeting of this
Irish legislature.
★ 1264 to 1267 - The
civil war in
England known as the
Second Barons' War marks a high point of struggle for political power between the landed aristocracy of England and the King.
★ 1268 -
New election procedures for the election of the
doge are established in
Venice in order to reduce the influence of powerful individual families.
★ 1268 -
Pope Clement IV dies; the following
papal election fails to choose a new
pope for almost three years, precipitating the later creation of stringent rules governing the electoral procedures.
People
★ 1262 - King
Mindaugas of
Lithuania renounces
Christianity, returning to his
pagan roots and reverting to Grand Duke of Lithuania.
★ 1263 -
Mindaugas, the first and only
Christian king of
Lithuania, is assassinated by his cousin
Treniota.
★ 1264 - In the
Peerage of England, the title
Baron de Ros, the oldest continuously held peerage title in England, is created by
writ of summons.
★ 1267 - King
Henry III of England acknowledges
Llywelyn ap Gruffudd's title of
Prince of Wales in the
Treaty of Montgomery.
★ 1268 -
October 29 -
Conradin, the last legitimate male heir of the
Hohenstaufen dynasty of
Kings of Germany and
Holy Roman Emperors, is executed along with his companion
Frederick I, Margrave of Baden by
Charles I of Sicily, a political rival and ally to the hostile ''Catholic church''.
★ 1268 - The
House of Bourbon first rises to prominence with the marriage of
Robert, Count of Clermont to King
Louis IX of France's daughter,
Beatrice of Burgundy, heiress to the lordship of Bourbon.
★ 1269 - King
Otakar II of Bohemia inherits
Carinthia and part of
Carniola, making him the most powerful prince within the
Holy Roman Empire.
Asia and Africa
Mongol Empire
★ 1260 -
May 5 -
Kublai Khan becomes ruler of the
Mongol Empire.
★ 1260 -
September 3 - The
Mongols are defeated by the
Mamluks at the
Battle of Ain Jalut in Palestine, marking the first decisive defeat of the Mongols and the point of maximum expansion of the Mongol Empire.
★ 1263 -
Hulagu Khan is defeated in an attempted invasion north of the
Caucasus.
★ 1265 - Mongol raid against
Thrace and
Byzantium, led by
Nogai Khan.
★ 1266 -
Niccolo and Maffeo Polo, brother and uncle of
Marco Polo reach
Kublai Khan's capital
Khanbaliq (now
Beijing) in
China, setting the stage for Marco's famous expedition starting five years later. Kublai Khan sends the Polos back with a message requesting the
pope dispatch western scholars to teach in the
Mongol Empire; however, this request is largely ignored.
★ 1268 - The
Battle of Xiangyang, a six-year battle between the
Chinese Song Dynasty and the
Mongol forces of
Kublai Khan, begins in what is today
Hubei.
★ 1268 -
Kublai Khan sends an emissary to the
Kamakura Shogunate of
Japan demanding an acknowledgment of souzerainty and payment of
tribute; the Japanese refuse, starting a diplomatic back-and-forth lasting until the
Mongols attempt to invade in
1274.
Mamluk sultanate of Egypt
★ 1260 -
September 3 - The Mamluks defeat the Mongols at the
Battle of Ain Jalut in Palestine.
★ 1260 -
October 24 -
Saif ad-Din Qutuz, Mamluk sultan of
Egypt, is
assassinated by
Baibars, who seizes power for himself.
★ 1261 - Baibars establishes a
puppet Caliphate in
Cairo.
★ 1266 - Baibars expands his domain, capturing the city of
Byblos (in present-day
Lebanon) and the important castle of
Toron from
crusader states, and defeating the
Armenians at
Cilicia.
★ 1268 -
May 18 - The
Principality of Antioch, a
crusader state, falls to Baibars after the
Siege of Antioch; Baibars' destruction of the city of
Antioch was so great as to permanently negate the city's importance.
Byzantine Empire
★ 1261 -
July 25 - The city of
Constantinople is recaptured by
Nicaean forces under the command of
Michael VIII Palaeologus, thus re-establishing the
Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines also succeed in capturing
Thessalonica and the rest of the
Latin Empire.
North Africa
★ The
Almohad dynasty of
caliphs (not universally accepted) that once ruled most of
North Africa and
Al-Andalus (
Moorish Spain) is extinguished when
Idris II is murdered in the dynasty's last remaining possession,
Marrakesh.
★ The
Berber Marinid completes the conquest of
Morocco, replacing the Almohad dynasty which it defeated in Marrakesh.
South Asia
★ 1260 - The
Sena Dynasty of
Bengal falls.
★ 1260 - The
Hindu Silharya Dynasty, which ruled an area around
Mumbai, ends.
★ 1267 -
Malik ul Salih establishes
Samudra Pasai, the first
Muslim state in
Indonesia.
Culture
Science, literature, and industry
★ 1260 -
Jacobus de Varagine compiles his work, the ''
Golden Legend'', a late
medieval best-seller.
★ 1265 - The
Book of Aneirin, a
Welsh manuscript of
poetry, is penned.
★ 1265 - The
brewing of
Budweiser Budvar beer begins in
Bohemia (now part of the
Czech Republic); Budweiser Budvar has been produced continuously there to this day.
★ 1266 - In
France, the
gold écu and
silver grosh coins are minted for the first time.
★ 1267 -
Roger Bacon completes his work ''Opus Majus'' and sends it to
Pope Clement IV, who had requested it be written; the work contains wide-ranging discussion of
mathematics,
optics,
alchemy,
astronomy,
astrology, and other topics, and includes what some believe to be the first description of a
magnifying glass. Bacon also completes ''Opus Minus'', a summary of ''Opus Majus'', later in the same year.
★ 1268 - In
France, the use of
hops as the exclusive flavoring agent used in the manufacture of
beer is made compulsory.
★ 1269 -
Pélerin de Maricourt first describes
magnetic poles and remarks on the nonexistence of
isolated magnetic poles.
Art, architecture, and music
★ 1260 -
October 24 - The spectacular
Cathedral of Chartres is dedicated in the presence of King
Louis IX of France; the cathedral is now a
UNESCO World Heritage Site.
★ 1260 - Construction on the
Dunkeld Cathedral begins in
Perthshire,
Scotland, as well as other important cathedrals in
Meißen and
Schwerin.
★ 1260 -
Nicola Pisano sculpts the pulpit of the
Pisa Baptistery.
★ 1260 - The
mosaic ''Christ between the Virgin and St Minias'' is made on the facade of
Florence's
Basilica di San Miniato al Monte.
★ 1260 -
German musical theorist Franco of Cologne publishes ''Ars Cantus Mensurabilis'', in which he advances a new theory of musical notation in which the length of a musical note is denoted by the shape of that note, a system still used today.
★ 1262 -
Adam de la Halle writes the first
operetta, "Le Jeu de la Feuillee".
★ 1263 - The
Savoy Palace is constructed in
London by Count
Peter II of Savoy.
★ 1267 - The "Grand Capital" is constructed in
Khanbaliq (present-day
Beijing by
Kublai Khan, having moved the capital of the
Mongol Empire there three years prior.
★ 1268 -
Nicola Pisano completes the famous
octagonal
Gothic-style
pulpit at the
Duomo di Siena.
★ The construction of
Blair Castle in
Scotland is begun by
John Comyn.
Cities and institutions
★ 1262 - King
Mengrai of the
Lannathai kingdom in present day
Thailand founds the city of
Chiang Rai as the kingdom's first capital.
★ 1263 -
Balliol College, Oxford is founded by
John de Balliol.
★ 1264 -
Merton College is founded at the
University of Oxford by
Walter de Merton.
★ 1264 -
Kublai Khan, supreme leader of the
Mongol Empire, moves the empire's capital from
Karakorum in
Mongolia to the
Chinese city of
Khanbaliq (now
Beijing).
★ 1265 - Fire destroys parts of
Old Cairo.
★ 1268 - An
earthquake in
Cilicia kills an estimated 60,000 people.
Religion
Christianity
★ 1261 - January - Pope bans the movement of
Flagellants.
★ 1261 -
August 29 -
Urban IV becomes
Pope, the last man to do so without being a
Cardinal first.
★ 1261 -
Wurmsbach Abbey is established in
Switzerland.
★ 1262 -
Richard of Chichester is
canonized as a
saint; he is best known for authoring the prayer later adapted into the song ''Day by Day'' in the musical
Godspell.
★ 1263 - The doctrines of
theologian Joachim of Fiore are condemned as
heresy by the
Roman Catholic Church at a
synod in
Arles.
★ 1264 -
Thomas Aquinas completes his
theological work ''
Summa contra Gentiles''.
★ 1265 - Correspondence from
Pope Clement IV contains the first known mention of the
ring of the Fisherman, an item of papal
regalia then used to seal personal correspondence from the pope and later for
papal bulls.
★ 1268 - The
carnival in
Venice is first recorded.
★ 1269 - The
Eastern Orthodox Patriarchy of Antioch returns to
Antioch after a 171-year exile, during which it had been replaced by the
Latin Patriarch of Antioch.
Judaism
★ 1263 -
Nahmanides, chief
rabbi of
Catalonia, defends the
Talmud in an important
disputation against
Pablo Christiani before King
James I of Aragon.
★ 1264 - April -
Gilbert de Clare, 7th Earl of Hertford leads a massacre of the
Jews at
Canterbury.
★ 1264 - King
Boleslaus V of Poland promulgates legal protection for his
Jewish subjects, including protection from the kidnapping and forcible
baptism of Jewish children.
★ 1264 - In
Barcelona, a commission of
Dominicans censors portions of the
Talmud for the first time by ordering the cancellation of passages found reprehensible from a
Christian point of view.
★ 1267 - The leadership of
Vienna forces
Jews to wear ''Pileum cornutum'',a cone-shaped head dress, in addition to the
yellow badges Jews were already forced to wear.
★ 1269 -
June 19 - King
Louis IX of France orders all
Jews found in public without an identifying
yellow badge to be fined ten
livres of
silver.
Buddhism
★ 1260 - The newly formed
Sukhothai kingdom of
Thailand adopts
Theravada Buddhism.
Births
★ 1264 -
Pope Clement V (d.
1314)
★ 1265 -
May 14 -
Dante Alighieri, Italian poet (d.
1321)
Deaths
★ 1263 -
November 14 -
Alexander Nevsky,
Grand Prince of
Novgorod and
Vladimir
★ 1264 -
October 2 -
Pope Urban IV
★ 1265 -
February 8 -
Hulagu Khan,
Mongol khan (b.
1217)
★ 1265 -
August 4 -
Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester
★ 1266 -
Berke,
khan of the
Golden Horde of the
Mongol Empire
★ 1266 -
Birger Jarl,
Swedish regent and founder of
Stockholm
★ 1268 -
October 29 -
Conradin, duke of
Swabia and
King of Jerusalem and
Sicily (b.
1252)
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