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'Years:' 1285 1286 1287 - '1288' - 1289 1290 1291

'Decades:' 1250s 1260s 1270s - '1280s' - 1290s 1300s 1310s

'Centuries:' 12th century - '13th century' - 14th century

Contents

Events

Births

Deaths

Events

★ February 22 - Pope Nicholas IV succeeds Pope Honorius IV as the 191st pope.

★ 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.

★ June 16 - The bishop of Västerås buys 1/8 of the Stora Kopparberg copper mine in Falun, Sweden.

★ 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.

★ The Scots 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.

★ The oldest surviving bell in the clocks atop the dome of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome dates to 1288.

★ Work is begun on the construction of Mob Quad in Merton College, Oxford.

★ 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.

★ The Japanese era Koan ends, and the Shōō era begins.

★ Japan: Prince Subaru conquers the provinces of Gunma and Tochigi.

★ The oldest known bronze handgun in the world is dated to this year, a Chinese gun found in Acheng District that was once used to suppress the rebellion of the Christian Mongol Prince Nayan in 1287-1288.

Births

★ April 5 - Emperor Go-Fushimi of Japan (died 1336)

★ November 26 - Emperor Go-Daigo of Japan (died 1339)

★ Gersonides, Jewish philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer (died 1344)

★ Ivan I of Russia (died 1340)

Deaths

★ Gertrude of Austria (born 1226)

★ Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford (born 1222)

★ Ibn Nafis, Arabic anatomist, discoverer of the circulation of the blood (born 1210)

★ Guy de Montfort, Count of Nola (approximate date; born 1244)

★ Toros Roslin, Armenian miniaturist (approximate date; born c. 1210)

★ Leszek II the Black, Polish prince, Duke of Łęczyca, Sieradz, Kraków, Sandomierz (born 1241)