The '1280s' is the decade starting
January 1, 1280 and ending
December 31, 1289.
Europe in the 1280s was marked by naval warfare on the
Mediterranean Sea and consolidation of power by the major states. Ongoing struggles over the control of
Sicily provoked lengthy naval warfare: after the
Sicilian Vespers rebellion, the
French Angevins struggled against
Aragon for control of the island. King
Rudolph I of Germany established the
Habsburg dynasty in
Austria when he invested his two sons with power there. In
England, King
Edward I of England completed the conquest of
Wales and annexed the territory via the
Statute of Rhuddlan; he also constructed a series of castles in Wales to suppress any future rebellions. Edward I also established several important legal traditions, including a court system to hear claims on the king's behalf and a codification of the separation of church and state legal powers. The death of King
Alexander III of Scotland fomented political wrangling in
Scotland which would soon lead to increased English influence over Scotland. In
Sweden, King
Magnus I of Sweden founded a
Swedish nobility.
In
Asia, the
Mongol Empire continued to expand, although at a slower pace and with less success than in previous decades.
Kublai Khan's
Yuan dynasty established control over the
Khmer empire in
Cambodia, the
Pagan Empire in
Myanmar, and a kingdom of
Laos, but failed a second attempted invasion of
Japan and was twice defeated in attempted invasions of
Vietnam. The
Thai kingdoms of
Lanna and
Sukhothai also exercised power in the region, avoiding conflict with the Mongol Empire to the north. Across the continent in the
Middle East, the
Mamluk sultanate of
Egypt continued to extinguish
crusader states under the leadership of
Qalawun, capturing
Margat,
Latakia, and the
County of Tripoli. In
Anatolia,
Osman I became a local chief, or ''
bey'', planting the seed that would eventually grow into the
Ottoman Empire.
The 1280s was also a busy decade in culture. In Thailand, King
Ramkhamhaeng the Great invented the
Thai alphabet. In
Holland, a dramatic flood killed 50,000 while creating the
Zuider Zee, thus giving
Amsterdam the sea access it would later need to rise to prominence as an important port. In legal reforms, King
Edward I of England started the use of
drawing and quartering as punishment for traitors, King
Philip IV of France created the
gabelle, an onerous tax on salt, and the
Scots Parliament passed laws allowing women to propose marriage to men, but only in
leap years. The northern branch of the
Grand Canal of China was
constructed during the first half of the decade, the
Uppsala Cathedral was begun, and a partial collapse set back construction of the
Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Beauvais in a blow to the aspirations of its
Gothic architecture. Colleges at the Universities of
Oxford and
Cambridge were founded. The cities of
Al Mansurah,
Egypt and
Guiyang,
China were founded, while
Hamburg,
Germany burnt to the ground in a catastrophic fire.
Jews continued to be persecuted across Europe, while
Taoists suffered under
Kublai Khan in
Mongol China.
War and politics
Europe
War and Peace
Continental Europe and the British Isles
★ 1282 - March -
Dafydd ap Gruffydd, brother to
Prince of Wales Llywelyn the Last, attacks an
English castle; his brother feels compelled to support him despite poor preparation for war, quickly leading to the final English conquest of
Wales by King
Edward I of England.
★ 1286 -
Prussians settled in exile in
Serbia stage a famous uprising.
★ 1288 -
June 5 -
John I of Brabant defeats the duchy of
Guelders in the
Battle of Worringen — one of the largest battles in Europe of the Middle Ages — thus winning possession of the
duchy of Limburg. The battle also liberates the city of
Cologne from rule by the
Archbishopric of Cologne; it had previously been one of the major ecclesiastical principalities of the
Holy Roman Empire.
★ 1288 -
August 8 -
Pope Nicholas IV proclaims a crusade against King
Ladislaus IV of Hungary, who had lost credibility by favoring his semi-pagan
Cuman subjects and in general refusing to conform to the social standards of western Europe.
Mediterranean Europe
★ 1281 -
Pope Martin IV authorizes the
Ninth Crusade against the newly re-established
Byzantine Empire in
Constantinople;
French and
Venetian expeditions set out toward Constantinople but are forced to turn back in the following year.
★ 1281 - An offensive by the
Byzantine Empire significantly reduces the size of the
Kingdom of Albania, as it recaptures land seized from the
Despotate of Epirus by
Charles I of Sicily ten years earlier.
★ 1282 -
March 30 - The
Sicilian rebellion known as the
Sicilian Vespers begins against the rule of
Angevin King
Charles I of Sicily; over the next six weeks, thousands of French are killed. The rebellion forces Charles to abandon the
Ninth Crusade while still en route to the target city of
Constantinople, and allows King
Peter III of Aragon to take over rule of the island from Charles (which in turn leads to Peter's
excommunication by
Pope Martin IV).
★ 1283 -
July 8 - At the
naval Battle of Malta at
Valletta, an
Angevin fleet sent to help put down a rebellion on
Malta is defeated by the fleet of
Roger of Lauria.
★ 1284 - King
Charles II of Naples is captured in a naval battle off
Naples by
Roger of Lauria, admiral to King
Peter III of Aragon.
★ 1284 - The
Italian city-state of
Genoa defeats its rival
Pisa in the naval
Battle of Meloria, ending Pisa's marine power and hastening the city's decline in power.
★ 1285 -
September 4 -
Roger of Lauria defeats King
Philip III of France in a naval battle off of
Barcelona.
★ 1287 -
January 17 - King
Alfonso III of Aragon captures the island of
Minorca from the
Moors.
Political entities
★ 1284 - The
Statute of Rhuddlan is created, formally incorporating
Wales into
England in the entity
England and Wales.
★ 1284 -
Stefan Dragutin, king of
Serbia, receives
Belgrade,
Syrmia, and other territories from
Hungary when his son marries the king of Hungary's cousin.
Political reform
★ 1280 - King
Magnus I of Sweden founds a
Swedish nobility by enacting a law accepting a contribution of a
cavalry-member in lieu of ordinary tax payments.
★ 1280 - King
Edward I of England forms the Court of
King's Bench to hear petitions for justice instead of the king hearing them himself.
★ 1285 - The
writ Circumspecte Agatis, issued by King
Edward I of England, defines the jurisdictions of church and state in
England, thereby limiting the church's judicial powers to ecclesiastical cases only.
People and dynasties
★ 1280 - The
Asen dynasty of
tsars of
Bulgaria ends.
★ 1282 -
Holy Roman Emperor Rudolph I of Germany invests his sons
Albert I of Germany and
Rudolph II of Austria as co-rulers of the duchies of
Austria and
Styria, thus founding the
Habsburg dynasty in those territories.
★ 1283 -
June 1 - The young Duke
Rudolph II of Austria is forced to yield his claim on the Duchies of
Austria and
Styria to his elder brother,
Albert I of Germany, under the
Treaty of Rheinfelden.
★ 1286 -
March 19 - King
Alexander III of Scotland dies in a
horse accident with Queen
Yolande de Dreux's unborn child and the 3-year-old
Margaret, Maid of Norway as heirs; this sets the stage for the
First war of Scottish Independence and increased influence of
England over
Scotland.
The Mongol Empire sphere of influence
The Yuan dynasty: east Asia
★ 1281 -
August 15 - The second
Mongol invasion of Japan is foiled at the
Battle of Kōan (or Battle of Hakata Bay) as a large
typhoon — famously called a ''
kamikaze'', or divine wind — destroys much of the combined
Chinese and
Korean fleet and forces, numbering over 140,000 men and 4,000 ships.
★ 1281 - The
Mon kingdom of
Haripunchai falls as its capital
Lamphun (in present-day
Thailand) is captured by King
Mengrai's
Lannathai kingdom.
★ 1283 -
Kublai Khan's
Mongol Empire invades the
Khmer empire of present-day
Cambodia; King
Jayavarman VIII decides to pay tribute rather than fight the invasion, buying peace and preserving the empire.
★ 1285 -
Tran Hung Dao leads
Vietnamese forces in victory over an invading
Yuan dynasty Mongol army.
★ 1286 - In
Laos, King
Panya Leng is overthrown in a
coup d'etat led by his son
Panya Khamphong, which is likely to have been supported by the regionally dominant
Mongol Empire (
Yuan dynasty of
China).
★ 1286 -
Kublai Khan plots a final
Mongol invasion of
Japan, but aborts the plan due to a lack of necessary resources.
★ 1287 - Kings
Mengrai of the
Lanna kingdom and
Ramkhamhaeng the Great of the
Sukhothai kingdom agree to a peace pact in their region of southeast
Asia (present-day
Thailand).
★ 1287 - The
Theravada Buddhist kingdom at
Pagan, Myanmar falls to the invading
Mongol Empire in the
Battle of Pagan.
★ 1288 -
Vietnamese general
Tran Hung Dao sinks the entire fleet of an invading
Yuan dynasty Mongol army by placing steel-tipped bamboo stakes in the
Bach Dang River, near
Halong Bay.
★ 1289 -
Franciscan friars begin
missionary work in
China.
The Ilkhanate: southwest Asia
★ 1287 -
Mongol Ilhan Arghun Khan dispatches
Rabban Bar Sauma to the leaders of
Europe to negotiate an alliance against
Muslim states, specifically the
Mamluk sultanate of
Egypt.
The Golden Horde: Eastern Europe
★ 1285 - Second mongol raid against
Hungary, led by
Nogai Khan.
★ 1287 - Third mongol raid against
Poland.
The Mamluk Sultanate sphere of influence: the Middle East
★ 1280 -
Syria attempts to secede from the
Mamluk sultanate of
Egypt, but
Qalawun defeats the rebels and keeps Syria within the Egyptian sultanate.
★ 1281 -
October 29 -
Mamluk sultan
Qalawun defeats an invasion of
Syria by
Mongol Ilkhan Abaqa Khan at the
Battle of Homs.
★ 1281 -
Osman I, founder of the
Ottoman Empire, becomes ''
bey'' of the
Sögüt tribe in central
Anatolia; in
1299 he will declare independence from the
Seljuk Turks, marking the birth of the Ottoman Empire.
★ 1284 -
Mamluk sultan of
Egypt Qalawun signs a ten-year truce with the
Crusader city of
Acre; he will violate the truce on pretexts in
1290.
★ 1285 -
April 25 -
Mamluk sultan
Qalawun begins a siege of the
Crusader fortress of
Margat (in present-day
Syria), a major stronghold of the
Knights Hospitaller thought to be impregnable; he captures the fortress a month later.
★ 1287 -
Mamluk sultan
Qalawun captures the port city of
Latakia in present-day
Syria.
★ 1289 -
April 27 -
Mamluk sultan
Qalawun captures the
County of Tripoli (in present-day
Lebanon) after a month-long siege, thus extinguishing the
crusader state.
Culture
Natural events
★ 1280 - The Wolf minimum of
solar activity begins (approximate date).
★ 1282 - The most recent eruption of
Larderello, a
volcano in southern
Tuscany, is observed.
★ 1287 -
December 14 - A fringing barrier between the
North Sea and a shallow lake in
Holland collapses during a heavy storm, causing the fifth largest flood in recorded history which creates the
Zuider Zee inlet and kills over 50,000 people; it also gives sea access to
Amsterdam, allowing its development as an important port city.
★ 1287 - The
English city of
Old Winchelsea on
Romney Marsh is destroyed by catastrophic flooding during a severe storm; a new town of the same name is later constructed some two miles away on higher ground.
Science, literature, and industry
★ 1280 to 1283 - The E codex of the
Cantigas de Santa Maria, a collection of
Portuguese musical manuscripts, is dated to between
1280 and 1283.
★ 1282 - The technology of
watermarks is introduced by
paper manufacturers of
Bologna,
Italy.
★ 1283 - The
Libro de los juegos, an early
European treatise on board games (including
chess,
dice, and a version of
backgammon), is commissioned by King
Alfonso X of Castile between
1251 and 1283.
★ 1283 - King
Ramkhamhaeng the Great of the
Sukhothai kingdom creates the
Thai alphabet, according to tradition.
★ 1284 -
Jean de Meun translates
Vegetius'
4th century military treatise
De Re Militari from
Latin into
French.
★ 1285 - The
English romantic poem ''
The Lay of Havelok the Dane'' is written (approximate date).
★ 1289 - The 5,452 meter (17,887 feet) high
volcano Popocatépetl is
first ascended by members of the
Tecuanipas tribe in present-day
Mexico.
Civic laws and institutions
★ 1280 - 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 completed; it began in
1279.
★ 1282 - The form for the
Trial of the Pyx, during which it is confirmed that newly-
minted coins conform to required standards, is established.
★ 1283 -
October 3 - Death by
drawing and quartering is first used as a form of
capital punishment (for the newly created crime of
high treason) by King
Edward I of England in his execution of
Dafydd ap Gruffydd, the last ruler of an independent
Wales.
★ 1284 - The
Republic of Venice begins coining the
ducat, a
gold coin that is to become the standard of
European coinage for the following 600 years.
★ 1285 - The
Second statute of Westminster is passed in
England, reforming various laws; it includes the famous clause ''
de donis conditionalibus'', considered one of the fundamental institutes of medieval law in England.
★ 1286 - King
Philip IV of France imposes the
gabelle — a tax on
salt in the form of a
state monopoly — which would become immensely unpopular and grossly unequal, but persist until
1790.
★ 1288 - The
Scottish Parliament creates a law allowing women to propose
marriage to men during
leap years; men who refuse such proposals are required to pay a fine to the spurned bride-to-be.
Art and architecture
★ 1280 - Construction on the northern section of the
Grand Canal of China is begun; it is completed in 1283.
★ 1280 - The final expansion of the
Lincoln Cathedral is completed.
★ 1283 - Construction of
Caernarfon castle,
Conwy Castle (completed in 1289), and
Harlech Castle is begun in
Wales by King
Edward I of England as a system of defenses against possible future Welsh uprisings.
★ 1284 - Construction on the
Cathédrale Saint-Pierre de Beauvais is interrupted by a partial collapse of the choir; the event unnerves
French masons working in the
Gothic style.
★ 1286 - In
Glasgow, the wooden
Glasgow Bridge is constructed to span the
River Clyde.
★ 1287 - The
Altar of St. James at the
Cathedral of San Zeno in
Pistoia,
Italy — a masterwork of the
silversmithing trade containing nearly a ton of
silver — is begun; it will not be completed for nearly 200 years.
★ 1287 - Construction on the
Cathedral of Uppsala is begun; it will not be completed until
1435.
★ 1288 - The oldest surviving
bell in the clocks atop the dome of
St. Peter's Basilica in
Rome dates to 1288.
★ 1289 - Construction of the
Belaya Vezha tower in
Belarus is completed.
Cities and institutions
★ 1280 - The
Egyptian city of
Al Mansurah is founded.
★ 1282 -
Hertford College is founded at the
University of Oxford.
★ 1283 - The city of
Guiyang is founded in
China.
★ 1284 - The
German city of
Hamburg is destroyed by a fire.
★ 1284 -
Peterhouse College, the oldest college at the
University of Cambridge, is founded by
Hugo de Balsham.
★ 1289 -
Pope Nicholas IV formally constitutes the
University of Montpellier in
France by
papal bull, combining various existing schools under the mantle of a single
university.
Religion
Christianity
★ 1285 -
January 6 - Archbishop
Jakub Świnka orders all priests subject to his bishopry in
Poland to deliver sermons in
Polish rather than
German, thus further unifying the
Catholic Church in Poland and fostering a national identity.
★ 1286 -
March 7 - The
Catholicon, a religious
Latin dictionary, is completed by
John Balbi of
Genoa.
Judaism
★ 1282 - The
Archbishop of Canterbury orders all
synagogues of
London to close, and forbits
Jewish doctors from practicing on non-Jews.
★ 1283 - King
Philip III of France causes a mass migration of
Jews when he outlaws their residence in the small villages and rural localities of
France.
★ 1286 - King
Rudolph I of Germany declares all
Jews to be "serfs of the Treasury", thus negating all their political freedoms.
★ 1287 - King
Edward I of England arrests the heads of
Jewish households, and demands their communities pay hefty ransoms for their release.
★ 1289 -
Jews are expelled from
Gascony and
Anjou in
France.
Taoism
★ 1281 -
Kublai Khan orders the burning of sacred
Taoist texts, resulting in the reduction in number of volumes of the
Dao Zheng (Taoist Canon) from 4,565 to 1,120.
Births
★ 1282 -
Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor (d.
1347)
★ 1284 -
April 25 - King
Edward II of England (d.
1327)
★ 1285 -
William of Ockham,
English Franciscan to whom
Occam's Razor is attributed (approximate date; d.
1349)
★ 1286 - Duke
Frederick I of Austria (d.
1330)
★ 1286 -
Odoric of Pordenone, famous traveller (approximate date; d.
1331)
★ 1288 -
Gersonides,
Jewish philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer (d.
1344)
★ 1289 -
October 4 - King
Louis X of France (d.
1316)
Deaths
★ 1280 -
November 15 -
Albertus Magnus,
German philosopher (b. c.
1193)
★ 1280 - King
Magnus VI of Norway
★ 1282 -
October 13 -
Nichiren, founder of
Nichiren Buddhism (b.
1222)
★ 1282 -
December 11 -
Llywelyn the Last, last independent
Prince of Wales (b. c.
1228)
★ 1282 -
December 11 - Emperor
Michael VIII Palaeologus of the
Byzantine Empire (b.
1225)
★ 1282 -
Abaqa Khan,
Mongol Ilkhan (b.
1234)
★ 1284 -
April 4 - King
Alfonso X of Castile (b.
1221)
★ 1285 -
October 5 - King
Philip III of France (b.
1245)
★ 1285 - Emperor
Yekuno Amlak of Ethiopia
★ 1286 -
March 19 - King
Alexander III of Scotland (b.
1241)
★ 1288 -
Ibn Nafis,
Arabic scientist (b.
1210)
العربية
中国
Français
Deutsch
Ελληνική
हिन्दी
Italiano
日本語
Português
Русский
Español
