1251 CE

The first Shepherds' Crusade, a domestic French uprising in response to events in Egypt during the Seventh Crusade, occurs. Möngke Khan is elected as the fourth great Khan of the Mongol Empire. King Alexander III of Scotland marries Margaret, daughter of King Henry III of England, precipitating a power struggle between the two monarchs.

In the 1250s, the 13th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • July 1 – Möngke Khan is elected as the fourth great Khan of the Mongol Empire.source
  • Alexander Nevsky signs the first peace treaty between Kievan Rus' and Norway.source
  • Ottokar II of Bohemia, later to become King of Bohemia, is elected Duke of Austria.source
  • Fínghin Mac Carthaigh becomes King of DesmondIrelandsource

Conflict & Security

  • April – The first Shepherds' Crusade, a domestic French uprising in response to events in Egypt during the Seventh Crusade, occurs.source
  • May – English governor Simon de Montfort suppresses a revolt in Gascony.source
  • Andrew de Longjumeau, dispatched two years earlier by King Louis IX of France as an ambassador to the Mongols, meets the king in Palestine, with reports from the Mongols and Tartary; his mission is considered a failure.source
  • King Conrad IV of Germany invades Italy, but fails to subdue the supporters of Pope Innocent IV.source

Religion & Belief

  • The earliest known manuscript of The Proverbs of Alfred, a collection of sayings of England's Alfred the Great, is written.source
  • Mindaugas of Lithuania is baptized, in prelude to his crowning as King of Lithuania in 1253.source
  • Saint Canice's Cathedral built in Kilkenny.Irelandsource

Culture & Society

  • April 21 – City of Launggyet in Arakan (modern-day Burma) is founded according to some sources.source
  • December 26 – King Alexander III of Scotland marries Margaret, daughter of King Henry III of England, precipitating a power struggle between the two monarchs.source
  • The carving of the Tripitaka Koreana, a collection of Buddhist scriptures recorded on some 81,000 wooden blocks, is completed.source

Births

  • June 5 – Hōjō Tokimune, 8th regent of the Kamakura shogunate (died 1284)source
  • September 2 – Francis of Fabriano, Italian writer (died 1322)source
  • Adelaide, Countess of Auxerre, French countess (died 1290)source

Deaths

  • January – Bohemund V of Antiochsource
  • February 9 – Matthias II, Duke of Lorrainesource
  • March 6 – Rose of Viterbo, Italian saint (born 1235)source
  • March 31 – William of Modena, Bishop of Modenasource
  • June 6 – William III of Dampierre, Count of Flanderssource
  • Winter 1251–52 – Eljigidei, Mongol commander of Persia, killedsource
  • Oghul Qaimish, 3rd regent of the Mongol Empire, following her husband's deathsource
  • Isobel of Huntingdon, Scots noblewoman (born 1199)source