1246 CE

Battle of the Leitha River: Hungarian forces, under King Béla IV, defeat Duke Frederick II (the Quarrelsome) at the banks of the Leitha River. Frederick is killed (leaving no male heirs); the House of Babenberg is dissolved. Emperor Frederick II places the fiefs of Austria and Styria under his rule. This ends the Austrian claims to the western counties of Hungary. Güyük Khan, eldest son of Ögedei Khan, is enthroned as the 3rd Great Khan of the Mongol Empire (which is witnessed by a papal mission under Giovanni da Pian del Carpine) at Karakorum. Güyük reverses several edicts of his mother, Töregene Khatun, and orders Eljigidei, Mongol viceroy of Persia, to advance into Syria and prepare an attack on Baghdad. Damascus falls to the Ayyubid vizier Mu'in al-Din Hasan ibn al-Shaykh after a siege of some four months.

In the 1240s, the 13th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • February 16 – Emperor Go-Saga abdicates the throne in favor of his 3-year-old son, Go-Fukakusa, who becomes the 89th Emperor of Japan.source

Conflict & Security

  • February 28 – Siege of Jaén: Castilian forces, led by King Ferdinand III (the Saint), manage to take the city of Jaén from the Andalucians. In a combined assault with the knights of the Order of Santiago, the city is handed over by Sultan Muhammad I, who accepts Ferdinand's overlordship in exchange for a 20-year truce. The Emirate of Granada becomes a vassal state of the Kingdom of Castile.source
  • June 15 – Battle of the Leitha River: Hungarian forces, under King Béla IV, defeat Duke Frederick II (the Quarrelsome) at the banks of the Leitha River. Frederick is killed (leaving no male heirs); the House of Babenberg is dissolved. Emperor Frederick II places the fiefs of Austria and Styria under his rule. This ends the Austrian claims to the western counties of Hungary.source
  • 2 October – Damascus falls to the Ayyubid vizier Mu'in al-Din Hasan ibn al-Shaykh after a siege of some four months.source
  • November – Michael II Asen, ruler (tsar) of the Bulgarian Empire, succeeds his brother Kaliman I (possibly poisoned). He confirms the reconquest of Bulgarian territories against John III (Doukas Vatatzes), Byzantine ruler of the Empire of Nicaea.source
  • Frederick II suppresses a Sicilian revolt and deports the remaining Muslim inhabitants of Lucera (approximate date).source

Religion & Belief

  • May 22 – Henry Raspe is elected anti-king in Germany in opposition to Conrad IV of Germany and Conrad's father, the excommunicated emperor Frederick II.source
  • August 24 – Güyük Khan, eldest son of Ögedei Khan, is enthroned as the 3rd Great Khan of the Mongol Empire (which is witnessed by a papal mission under Giovanni da Pian del Carpine) at Karakorum. Güyük reverses several edicts of his mother, Töregene Khatun, and orders Eljigidei, Mongol viceroy of Persia, to advance into Syria and prepare an attack on Baghdad.source
  • Katedralskolan in Uppsala is established beside Uppsala Cathedral as a seminary for the clergy (the founding year according to tradition).source
  • Beaulieu Abbey in England, founded earlier by King John, is dedicated in the presence of King Henry III, Queen Eleanor and 7-year-old Prince Edward.source

Science & Discovery

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

Crime & Justice

  • September 30 – Yaroslav II, father of Alexander Nevsky, is poisoned by Töregene Khatun, after he is summoned by Güyük Khan in Karakorum.source

Culture & Society

  • Robert Grosseteste translates Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics from Greek into Latin, which marks the true start of the rediscovery of the philosopher by Medieval Europe.source

Births

  • March 8 – Nikkō Shōnin, Japanese religious leader (died 1333)source
  • March 24 – Henry Bate of Mechelen, Brabantian philosophersource
  • September 14 – John FitzAlan, English nobleman (died 1272)source
  • Teodosije the Hilandarian, Serbian hagiographer (died 1328)source
  • Riccobaldo of Ferrara, Italian chronicler and geographersource
  • Jutta of Denmark (or Judith), Danish princess and abbesssource
  • Enrique Enríquez (the Elder), Castilian nobleman (died 1323)source
  • Safi al-Din al-Hindi, Indian scholar and theologian (died 1315)source
  • Hugh of Lincoln (Little Saint), English Jewish boy (died 1255)source
  • Takezaki Suenaga, Japanese retainer and samurai (died 1314)source
  • Drakpa Odzer, Tibetan Imperial Preceptor (Dishi) (died 1303)source
  • Nicholas of Tolentino, Italian monk, friar and mystic (died 1305)source
  • Angelo da Furci, Italian priest, orator and theologian (died 1327)source
  • Paolo Malatesta, Italian nobleman and diplomat (died 1285)source

Deaths

  • February 25 – Dafydd ap Llywelyn, Welsh prince (born 1212)source
  • April 15 – Peter González (Telmo), Castilian priest (b 1190)source
  • May 19 – Umiliana de' Cerchi, Italian noblewoman (born 1219)source
  • June 4 – Isabella of Angoulême, queen consort of Englandsource
  • June 15 – Frederick II, duke of Austria and Styria (born 1211)source
  • June 16 – Lutgardis (or Lutgarde), Flemish nun (born 1182)source
  • June 28 – Al-Mansur Ibrahim, Ayyubid governor and rulersource
  • September 20 – Michael of Chernigov, Kievan Grand Princesource
  • September 30 – Yaroslav II, Kievan Grand Prince (born 1191)source
  • October 22 – Mieszko II (the Fat), duke of Kalisz-Wieluńsource
  • November 8 – Berengaria (the Great), queen of Castilesource
  • Alice of Champagne, queen consort of Cyprus (born 1193)source
  • Alice of Champagne, queen and regent of Jerusalem, dies after a 3-year reign. She is succeeded by her son, Henry I of Cyprus (the Fat), who appoints Balian III of Beirut as his bailli and confirms Philip of Montfort in the possession of Tyre.source
  • Ednyfed Fychan, Welsh nobleman and knight (born 1170)source