1275 CE

The first Statute of Westminster, drawn up between Parliament and Edward I, defines the legal privileges that landowners are allowed. These are based on the investigations carried out in 1274 into the landowner's rights to own their land. Establishing a series of laws into 51 chapters, including equal treatment of rich and poor, free and fair elections, and definition of Bailable and non-bailable offenses. Magnus deposes Valdemar and is elected new king of Sweden at the Stones of Mora. 1275 British earthquake: An earthquake strikes the south of Great Britain. The epicentre is unknown, although it may have been in the Portsmouth-Chichester area on the south coast of England or in Glamorgan, Wales.

In the 1270s, the 13th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • April 22 – The first Statute of Westminster, drawn up between Parliament and Edward I, defines the legal privileges that landowners are allowed. These are based on the investigations carried out in 1274 into the landowner's rights to own their land. Establishing a series of laws into 51 chapters, including equal treatment of rich and poor, free and fair elections, and definition of Bailable and non-bailable offenses.source
  • October 27 – Floris V, count of Holland, grants the city of Amsterdam freedom from taxes (called a road toll).source

Conflict & Security

  • March – Mongol forces (some 200,000 men) under Bayan of the Baarin ("Hundred Eyes") defeat a Chinese army of 130,000 men led by the Song chancellor Jia Sidao on the Yangtze River. Sidao sends an emissary to Bayan to discuss a truce, but he declines to negotiate. Dowager Empress Xie Daoqing strips Sidao of his rank and titles, and he is later on her orders executed by one of his own guards as he is being sent to exile in Fujian.source
  • April – The Japanese era Bun'ei ends and the Kenji era begins during the reign of the 8-year-old Emperor Go-Uda (until 1278).source
  • June 14 – Battle of Hova: King Valdemar Birgersson of Sweden is defeated by his brother Magnus in the forest of Tiveden.source
  • September 8 – Battle of Écija: A Castilian army led by Nuño González de Lara is defeated by Marinid forces.source
  • October 8 – Battle of Ronaldsway: Scottish forces under John de Vesci defeat the Manx people of the Isle of Man in a decisive battle, firmly establishing Scottish rule of the island.source
  • October 21 – Battle of Martos: A Castilian army under Sancho of Aragon (archbishop of Toledo) is defeated by the Moors at Martos.source
  • December 12 – Battle of Roccavione: Ghibelline forces defeat a Neapolitan army at Roccavione (Piedmont).source
  • The mountain fortress Alamut Castle ("Eagle's Nest") is temporarily recaptured from the Mongols by a Nizari force under Shams al-Din Muhammad.source
  • Battle of Demetrias: Michael VIII Palaiologos sends a Byzantine fleet led by Alexios Philanthropenos to harass the Latin coasts. A joint Latin fleet composed of Lombard and Venetian vessels from Negroponte (Euboea) and Venetian-held Crete, is variously given at 30 to 60 ships. The Latin fleet under Admiral Guglielmo II da Verona takes the Byzantines by surprise and their attack is so effective that they almost win. Their ships, on which high wooden towers have been erected, have the advantage, and many Byzantine seamen and soldiers are killed or drowned. Just as victory seem sure, Greek reinforcements arrive, led by John I. His arrival boosts the Byzantines' morale, and John's men, ferried on board the ships by small boats, begin to replenish their casualties and turn the tide. The Latin casualties are heavy, which also include Guglielmo. By nightfall, all but two Latin ships have been captured.source
  • Marinid forces take the city of Algiers, at this time independent.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • May 13 – Marinid forces led by Sultan Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd al-Haqq land in Spain upon a call from Muhammad II, ruler of Granada. With a fleet of 20 ships organized at Ceuta, some 5,000 men are transported from Alcázar Seguir to Tarifa without meeting any significant Christian opposition. The Maranids raid as far as the towns of Vejer de la Frontera and Jerez.source

Religion & Belief

  • August – Gregory X persuades King Alfonso X of Castile ("the Wise") to give up his claim to the title of "King of the Romans". Gregory gains support in northern Italy through Rudolf I, king of Germany.source
  • The era of the tosafot (medieval commentators on the Talmud) ends (it began in 1100).source
  • Ramon Llull, Spanish scholar and theologian, establishes a school in Majorca to teach Arabic to preachers, in an attempt to aid proselytizing to Moors. He also discovers diethyl ether.source
  • Rabban Bar Sauma, Chinese Nestorian monk, embarks on a pilgrimage from China to Jerusalem. He travels to Hotan, Kashgar, Taraz and Khorasan (modern Afghanistan).source
  • The 21-year-old Marco Polo together with his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo Polo, arrives at Kublai Khan's opulent summer palace at Shangdu (or 'Xanadu'), after a 4-year journey. They present the "Great Khan" sacred oil from Jerusalem and letters from Pope Gregory X. Kublai takes Marco into his royal court and appoints him as a 'special envoy' (possibly as a tax collector).source

Economy & Finance

  • In Ghent, the first instance is recorded of emission of life annuities by a town in the Low Countries; this event confirms a trend of consolidation of local public debt in northwestern Europe, initiated in 1218 by Reims.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • The verge escapement, a simple type of escapement used in clocks, is invented (approximate date).source

Climate & Environment

  • September 11 – 1275 British earthquake: An earthquake strikes the south of Great Britain. The epicentre is unknown, although it may have been in the Portsmouth-Chichester area on the south coast of England or in Glamorgan, Wales.source

Culture & Society

  • July 22 – Magnus deposes Valdemar and is elected new king of Sweden at the Stones of Mora.source
  • 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).source
  • Spring – King Edward I of England ("Longshanks") demands a meeting with Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, prince of Wales, at Chester to pay homage, but Llywelyn refuses. In an attempt to stir up internal problems, Llywelyn seeks to marry 23-year-old Eleanor de Montfort, daughter of Simon de Montfort, but she is captured by English pirates (employed by Edward) on the journey from France to meet Llywelyn. She is held prisoner at Windsor Castle and used as a bargaining chip over the coming years in Edward's attempts to subjugate Llywelyn and Wales.source
  • The first main survey of the Hundred Rolls, an English census seen as a follow-up to the Domesday Book completed in 1086, is finished; it began in 1274.source

Births

  • August 18 – Bartholomew Badlesmere, English nobleman (died 1322)source
  • September 27 – John II, Duke of Brabant ("the Peaceful"), Dutch nobleman (died 1312)source
  • October 20 – Chungseon of Goryeo (or Wang Jang), Korean ruler (died 1325)source
  • Hugues de Bouville, French nobleman and chamberlain (died 1331)source
  • Fernando de la Cerda, Spanish nobleman and prince (died 1322)source
  • Jón Halldórsson, Norwegian cleric, priest and bishop (died 1339)source
  • Nijō Tamefuji (Fujiwara no Tamefuji), Japanese nobleman and poet (died 1324)source
  • William of Alnwick, English friar, bishop and theologian (died 1333)source
  • Musō Soseki, Japanese Rinzai Zen monk and teacher (died 1351)source
  • Gregory of Raska, Serbian copyist, bishop and writer (died 1321)source
  • Dnyaneshwar, Indian Hindu poet, philosopher and writer (died 1296)source
  • Andrew Horn, English scholar, chamberlain and writer (died 1328)source
  • Gerard of Lunel, French nobleman, monk and hermit (died 1298)source
  • Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, Anglo-French nobleman and knight (died 1324)source

Deaths