The '1270s' is the decade starting
January 1,
1270, and ending
December 31,
1279.
In
Europe, power struggles within the
Holy Roman Empire escalated into civil war as the 23-year
interregnum without an emperor came to an end. Election of
Rudolph I of Germany as
King of Germany over
Otakar II of Bohemia in 1273 led to open war in 1276 and Otakar's death in 1278 at the climactic
Battle of Marchfeld. The resultant power structure in central Europe firmly established the
Habsburg dynasty's rule, one that would continue
Austria and other reginal territories until the end of
World War I in
1918. On the
British Isles, King
Edward I of England returned from the
Eighth Crusade to take the throne and was able to subjugate
Wales by the end of the decade; Scotland quelled an uprising on the
Isle of Man, in doing so confirming the concession of that territory made in
1266 by
Norway in the
Treaty of Perth. The
Statutes of Westminster established a series of individuals' rights in
England. Both the
Eighth Crusade and
Ninth Crusade were brief efforts that quickly ended in failure, with King
Louis IX of France dying during the former.
The
Mongol Empire continued its expansion to the east, conquering the
Song Dynasty of
China by the end of the decade and subjugating most of continental
Asia. The conquest of China witnessed the first use of
firearms in war.
Kublai Khan moved his capital to present-day
Beijing and renamed his empire the
Yuan Dynasty, reflecting the new eastward focus of the empire. The western
Ilkhanate established a capital at
Tabriz, in present-day
Iran. The Mongols were able to quell the
Sambyeolcho Rebellion in
Korea and defeat the
Nakhi and
Pagan Empires, but failed an attempted invasion of
Japan in 1274.
Marco Polo reached Kublai Khan's summer court by 1275, and stayed with the court for over 20 years.
The
Mamluk sultanate of
Egypt continued to expand its territory and dodge two crusades -- the
Eighth Crusade never reached its intended target, and the
Ninth rapidly became a failure. The sultan
Baibars was successful in expanding his territory as far north as the
Sultanate of Rüm in
Anatolia, east into
Syria, and south into
Makurian
Nubia. After Baibars died in 1277, his successor
Qalawun continued expansionist policies.
European culture witnessed the arrival of several important scientific works in translation from centuries-old Arabic sources, including
Alhazen's work on optics and
Al-Razi's medical works. The two major surveys of the
English census known as the
Hundred Rolls were conducted.
Thomas Aquinas completed his seminal work ''
Summa Theologica'' late in 1273, and died in 1274. Leadership of the
Catholic Church attempted to address the
East-West Schism of the church through the
Second Council of Lyons, but despite apparent success the effort was ultimately doomed to fail. In
Japan,
Nichiren continued to lead a life that would come to be revered in
Nichiren Buddhism.
In
North America, a severe 23-year drought began in the
Grand Canyon area, which would eventually force the local
Anasazi people to emigrate from the region.
War and politics
Europe
War and peace
★ 1271 -
July 2 - Kings
Otakar II of Bohemia and
Stephen V of Hungary sign the first
Peace of Pressburg, settling territorial claims following the failed invasion of
Hungary by Otakar II.
★ 1272 -
Charles I of Anjou, King of
Naples, occupies
Durres in
Albania and establishes an Albanian kingdom.
★ 1272 - King
Alphonso III of Portugal eliminates the last
Moorish community in
Portugal at
Faro.
★ 1273 -
September 29 -
Rudolph I of Germany is elected
King of Germany over rival candidate King
Otakar II of Bohemia, ending the Interregnum; Otakar refuses to acknowledge Rudolph as the new king, leading to the outbreak of war in
1276. Rudolph is the first of many
Habsburgs to hold the throne.
★ 1273 - King
Otakar II of Bohemia captures
Bratislava from
Hungary.
★ 1274 - November - The diet at
Nuremberg orders that all crown estates seized since the death of
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor be restored to
Rudolph I of Germany; almost all European rulers agree, with the notable exception of King
Otakar II of Bohemia, who had benefited greatly by conquering or otherwise coming into possession of many of those lands.
★ 1275 -
Eleanor de Montfort is captured by pirates in the employ of
Edward I of England to prevent her marriage to
Llywelyn the Last, prince of
Wales; she is used as a bargaining chip over the coming years in Edward's attempts to subjugate Llywelyn and Wales.
★ 1275 -
Scottish forces defeat the Manx of the
Isle of Man in a decisive battle, firmly establishing Scottish rule of the island.
★ 1276 - June - King
Rudolph I of Germany declares war on King
Otakar II of Bohemia, a political rival; by November, Otakar II is forced to cede four important territories as demanded by the
diet of
Nuremberg in
1274.
★ 1276 - Four different men are
pope over the course of the year, as Popes
Gregory X,
Innocent V, and
Adrian V all die in quick succession.
★ 1277 -
Llywelyn ap Gruffyd is subdued by King
Edward I of England in the First Welsh War.
★ 1278 -
August 26 - Kings
Rudolph I of Germany and
Ladislaus IV of Hungary defeat King
Otakar II of Bohemia in the
Battle of Marchfield, a match of over 80,000 men and the largest battle of
knights in the
Middle Ages. The battle ends a power struggle between Rudolph and Otakar over the fate of central
Europe, and Rudolph's
Habsburg family will continue to rule
Austria and other captured territories until the end of
World War I in
1918.
Political entities
★ 1271 - The County of
Toulouse passes to the
French crown via the
Treaty of Languedoc.
★ 1272 - The city of
Strasbourg becomes an
Imperial Free City of the
Holy Roman Empire.
★ 1276 -
March 9 -
Augsburg becomes an
Imperial Free City.
Ravensburg also does in the same year.
★ 1278 - The independence, boundaries, and political structure of
Andorra are agreed to by the
Spanish Bishop of Urgell and the
French Count of Foix.
Political reform
★ 1271 -
September 1 -
Pope Gregory X is elected pope by compromise between
French and
Italian cardinals, ending a three-year
conclave, the longest ever.
★ 1274 -
Pope Gregory X decrees that
conclaves (meetings during which the electors have no contact with the outside) should be used for
papal elections, reforming the electoral process which had taken over three years to elect him.
★ 1275 -
April 22 - The first of the
Statutes of Westminster are passed by the
English parliament, establishing a series of laws in its 51 clauses, including equal treatment of rich and poor, free and fair elections, and definition of
bailable and non-bailable offenses.
★ 1279 - The first of the
Statutes of Mortmain are passed under king
Edward I of England, which prevents land from passing into possession of the church.
Asia and Africa
Mongol Empire sphere of influence
★ 1270 - In
Korea, the
Sambyeolcho Rebellion begins against the
Goryeo Dynasty, a
puppet government of the
Mongol Empire.
★ 1270 - The city of
Tabriz, in present-day
Iran, is made capital of the
Mongol Ilkhanate empire (approximate date).
★ 1271 - Mongol
Golden Horde raid against
Bulgaria.
★ 1271 -
December 18 -
Kublai Khan renames his empire "Yuan" (元 yuan2), officially marking the start of the
Yuan Dynasty of
China.
★ 1271 - The
Nakhi kingdom of the northern
Himalayan foothills is annexed by the
Mongol Empire's
Yuan Dynasty.
★ 1273 -
January 31 - The six-year long
battle of Xiangyang ends as commander of the
Song Dynasty's forces surrender to
Kublai Khan. The battle is the first in which firearms are used in combat.
★ 1273 - In
Korea, the
Sambyeolcho Rebellion against the
Goryeo Dynasty (a
puppet government of the
Mongol Empire) ends as rebel forces are defeated by combined Mongol and Goryeo forces.
★ 1274 - Mongol
Golden Horde raid against Bulgaria.
★ 1274 -
November 20 - The
Mongol Empire attempts the first of several invasions of
Japan; after the Mongols capture outlying islands, they are repulsed on the main island at the
Battle of Bun'ei by amassed Japanese warriors and a strong storm which batters their forces and fleet. Credit for the storm — called a ''
kamikaze'', or divine wind — is given by the Japanese to the god
Raiden.
★ 1275 - Invading
Mongol forces capture the
Chinese city of
Suzhou.
★ 1275 -
Marco Polo purportedly visits
Xanadu,
Kublai Khan's summer capital of the
Mongol Empire.
★ 1275 - The city of
Kunming is made capital of the
Yunnan province of the
Mongol Yuan Dynasty.
★ 1275 - Mongol
Golden Horde raid against
Lithuania.
★ 1276 - February - The court of the
Song Dynasty of
China and hundreds of thousands of its citizens flee from
Hangzhou to
Fujian and then
Guangdong in an effort to escape an invasion by the
Mongol Empire.
★ 1277 -
Burma's
Pagan empire begins to disintegrate after being defeated by
Kublai Khan at the
Battle of Ngasaunggyan, at
Yunnan near the
Chinese border.
★ 1277 - Leaders and some 50,000 citizens of the
Southern Song Dynasty of
China become the first recorded inhabitants of
Macau, as they seek refuge from the invading
Mongol Empire.
★ 1277 - In
Japan, a 20 kilometer stone wall defending the coast of Hakata Bay in
Fukuoka is completed; it is built in response to the attempted invasion by the
Mongol Empire in 1274.
★ 1279 -
March 19 -
Kublai Khan's
Mongol Yuan Dynasty defeats the
Song Dynasty in the
Battle of Yamen. This completes the Mongol conquest of
China and exterminates the Song Dynasty.
★ 1279 - A
Mongol diplomatic party sent by
Kublai Khan to
Japan is killed by Japan's regent
Hōjō Tokimune, leading to a second invasion attempt by the Mongols in
1281.
Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt sphere of influence
★ 1270 - The
Eighth Crusade:
★
★ 1270 - Before August - King
Louis IX of France launches the
Eighth Crusade in an attempt to recapture the
crusader states from the
Mamluk sultan
Baibars; the opening engagement is a siege of
Tunis.
★
★ 1270 -
August 25 - King Louis IX of France dies while besieging the city of Tunis, possibly due to poor quality drinking water.
★
★ 1270 -
October 30 - The siege of Tunis and the Eighth Crusade end by an agreement between
Charles I of Sicily (Louis IX's brother) and the
sultan of Tunis.
★ 1270 - The ancient city of
Ashkelon is captured from the
crusader states and utterly destroyed by the
Mamluk sultan
Baibars, who goes so far as to fill in its important
harbor, leaving the site desolate and the city never to be rebuilt.
★ 1271 -
April 8 -
Mamluk sultan
Baibars continues his territorial expansion, capturing the strategically important castle
Krak des Chevaliers from the
Knights Hospitaller in present-day
Syria.
★ 1271 -
Baibars conducts an unsuccessful siege of the city of
Tripoli, and also fails in an attempted naval invasion of
Cyprus.
★ 1271 -
Edward I of England and
Charles of Anjou arrive in
Acre, starting the
Ninth Crusade against
Baibars; however, they are unable to capture any territory and a peace is quickly negotiated.
★ 1272 -
Baibars invades the weakening kingdom of
Makuria to the south.
★ 1276 -
Baibars conquers
Al-Maris, previously part of
Makuria, and annexes it into
Egypt.
★ 1277 -
Baibars invades
Anatolia and captures the emirates which once composed the
Sultanate of Rüm.
★ 1277 -
June 1 -
Baibars dies in
Syria; his son
Baraka Khan takes his place to become sultan of
Egypt and
Syria.
★ 1279 -
Mamluk sultan
Baraka Khan and emir
Qalawun of
Egypt invade
Armenia; a revolt in Egypt while they are away forces Baraka to abdicate and allows Qalawun to become sultan.
South Asia
★ 1270 - The independent state of
Kutch is founded in present-day
India.
★ 1279 - The
Chola Dynasty of
South India falls under attacks by the
Hoysala Empire and
Pandyan kingdom.
Africa
★ 1270 -
Yekuno Amlak overthrows the
Ethiopian
Zagwe dynasty, claims the throne and establishes the
Solomonic dynasty.
Americas
★ 1276 - A severe 23-year
drought begins to affect the
Grand Canyon area, eventually forcing the agriculture-dependent
Anasazi culture to migrate out of the region.
Culture
Science, literature, and industry
★ 1270 -
Witelo translates
Alhazen's 200-year-old treatise on optics, ''Kitab al-Manazir'', from
Arabic into
Latin, bringing the work to
European academic circles for the first time.
★ 1270 - The
Sanskrit fables known as the
Panchatantra, dating from as early as 200
BCE, are translated into
Latin from a
Hebrew version by
John of Capua.
★ 1271 -
Marco Polo departs from
Venice with his father and uncle on his famous journey to
Kublai Khan's
China.
★ 1272 - The
Worshipful Company of Cordwainers receives the right to regulate the
leather trade in
London,
England.
★ 1272 - In
astronomy, the recording of the
Alfonsine tables is completed.
★ 1274 - The first main survey of the
Hundred Rolls, an
English census seen as a follow up to the
Domesday Book completed in
1086, is begun; it lasts until
1275.
★ 1275 -
Jean de Meun completes the
French allegorical work of fiction, ''
Roman de la Rose'', with a second section; the first section was written by
Guillaume de Lorris in
1230.
★ 1275 -
Ramon Llull discovers
diethyl ether.
★ c. 1275 - The
verge escapement, a simple type of
escapement used in
clocks, is invented.
★ 1279 - The second of two main surveys of the
Hundred Rolls, an
English census seen as a follow up to the
Domesday Book completed in
1086, is begun; it lasts until
1280.
★ 1279 -
Al-Razi's important medical writings are translated into
Latin by
Faraj ben Salim some 350 years after Al-Razi's death.
★ 1279 - The
Royal Mint of
England moves into the
Tower of London.
Art, architecture, and music
★ 1270 - The
cathedral on the
Rock of Cashel in
Ireland is completed.
★ 1271 - The construction of
Caerphilly Castle, the largest in
Wales, is completed.
★ 1271 - Construction of the
Belaya Vezha in
Belarus is begun.
★ 1273 - The "Holy Redeemer"
khachkar, believed to be one of the finest examples of the art form, is carved in
Haghpat,
Armenia, by
Vahram.
★ 1276 - The foundation stone of the
Minoritenkirche in
Vienna is laid by King
Otakar II of Bohemia.
Religion
Christianity
★ 1270 - December - Crucial aspects of the philosophy of
Averroism (itself based on
Aristotle's works) are banned by the ''Catholic church'' in a
condemnation enacted by
papal authority at the
University of Paris. A second condemnation follows in 1277.
★ 1273 -
December 6 - Saint
Thomas Aquinas quits his writing of ''
Summa Theologica'' — a work considered within the
Roman Catholic Church to be the paramount expression of its
theology — leaving it unfinished after having a mystical experience during
Mass.
★ 1274 -
May 7 - The
Second Council of Lyons, held by the leadership of the
Roman Catholic Church convenes to consider the conquest of the
Holy Land via
Crusades and address the
East-West Schism with the
Byzantine church. The Council eventually approves a
tithe to support efforts to conquer the Holy Land from
Muslims, and reaches apparent resolution of the schism which ultimately proves unsuccessful.
★ 1275 - A purported
witch is first burned to death by sentence of a judicial
inquisitor in
Toulouse,
France.
Judaism
★ 1270 - Construction of the
Old New Synagogue in
Prague is completed.
★ 1274 - King
Edward I of England enforces a decree requiring all
English Jews to wear
yellow badges.
★ 1278 - An edict by
Pope Nicholas III requires all
Jews to attend conversion sermons.
Buddhism
★ 1271 -
September 12 - According to the followers of
Nichiren Buddhism, the sect's founder,
Nichiren, reaches a turning point known as ''hosshaku kempon'' as he discards his identity as a mortal priest and begins to reveal himself as a reincarnation of the
Buddha.
★ 1274 -
Nichiren enters a voluntary exile on
Mount Minobu.
★ 1279 -
October 12 - The ''
Dai-Gohonzon'', the supreme object of veneration of
Nichiren Shoshu Buddhism, is inscribed by
Nichiren.
Islam
★ 1273 - December - Followers of the recently deceased
Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi establish the
Sufi order of
the Whirling Dervishes in the city of
Konya (in present-day
Turkey).
★ 1275 -
Ramon Llull establishes a school in
Majorca to teach
Arabic to Catholic preachers in an attempt to aid
proselytizing to
Moors.
Zoroastrianism
★ 1278 - The earliest known written copy of the
Avesta, a collection of ancient sacred
Persian Zoroastrian texts previously passed down orally, is produced.
Births
★ 1270 -
Jacob ben Asher,
Spanish rabbi and important religious author
★ c. 1270 -
Zhu Shijie, famous
Chinese mathematician (very approximate date)
★ 1271 -
Ghazan Khan,
Mongol emperor of the
Ilkhanate
★ 1273 - November -
Abulfeda,
Arab historian and geographer (d.
1331)
★ 1274 -
July 11 -
Robert the Bruce, King of
Scotland (d.
1329)
★ 1276 -
William Wallace,
Scottish patriot (approximate date; d.
1305)
★ 1276 -
Yesün Temür Khan,
khan of the
Mongol Empire (d.
1328)
★ 1278 -
Nicola Pisano, Italian sculptor (b. c.
1220)
Deaths
★ 1270 -
August 25 -
Louis IX, King of
France,
saint, and
Crusader
★ c. 1270 -
Nahmanides, prominent
Jewish
rabbi and
philosopher (approximate date)
★ 1272 -
Emperor Go-Saga,
emperor of Japan (b.
1220)
★ 1273 - October - Emperor
Baldwin II of Constantinople (b.
1207)
★ 1274 -
March 7 - Saint
Thomas Aquinas,
Catholic theologian (b.
1225)
★ 1274 -
Aedh mac Felim Ua Conchobair, King of
Connacht
★ 1276 -
Ahmad al-Badawi, founder of the
Sufi tarika of
Badawiyyah (b.
1199)
★ 1277 -
July 1 -
Baibars,
Mameluk sultan of
Egypt (b.
1223)
★ 1278 -
August 26 - King
Otakar II of Bohemia (b. c.
1230)
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