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The 1270s

410 sourced entries across 10 years, inside the 13th century. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.

1270 CE40 entries

  • August 10 (10 Nehasé 1262) – Yekuno Amlak overthrows the Ethiopian Zagwe dynasty, claims the imperial throne and establishes the Solomonic Dynasty, which will last until 1974.
  • December 15 – The Nizari Ismaili garrison of Gerdkuh, Persia surrender after 17 years to the Mongols.
  • December – Crucial aspects of the philosophy of Averroism (itself based on Aristotle's works) are banned by the Roman Catholic Church, in a condemnation enacted by papal authority at the University of Paris.

1271 CE40 entries

  • February – Mamluk forces led by Sultan Baibars continue their territorial expansion in western Syria and appear before Safita Castle (called the White Castle) built by the Knights Templar. After a heroic defense, the small garrison is advised by Grand Master Thomas Bérard to surrender. The survivors are allowed to withdraw to Tortosa.
  • September 1 – Pope Gregory X succeeds the late Clement IV as the 184th pope of the Catholic Church, as the compromise candidate between French and Italian cardinals, ending a three-year conclave, the longest ever.
  • September 12 – Nichiren, Japanese Buddhist priest, is arrested by a band of soldiers and nearly beheaded. This incident, known as Hosshaku Kenpon or "casting off the transient and revealing the true," is regarded as a turning point of Nichiren's teachings within the various schools, known as Nichiren Buddhism.

1272 CE39 entries

  • February – Charles I of Anjou, king of Sicily, occupies the city of Durrës, and establishes the Angevin Kingdom of Albania. A delegation of Albanian nobles and citizens from Durrës make their way to Charles' court.
  • August 18 – Nubian forces sack the Egyptian Red Sea outpost of Aydhab and raid the southern frontier city of Aswan. In return, Baibars invades the kingdom of Makuria.
  • November – Charles I orders his officials to take all Genoese prisoner within his territories, except for the Guelphs and to seize their property. The Sicilian fleet occupies Ajaccio on Corsica. Pope Gregory X condemns the aggressive policy of Charles and proposes that the Genoese elect Guelph officials.

1273 CE40 entries

  • March 14 – Battle of Xiangyang: Chinese forces surrender to Kublai Khan's general Aju (or Achu) after a 6-year siege. The battle is the first in which firearms are used in combat.
  • October 6 – Thomas Aquinas, Italian priest and theologian, writes Summa Theologica, a master work of Catholic theology, leaving it unfinished, after having a mystical experience during Mass.
  • December – Followers of Persian poet and mystic Rumi establish the Mevlevi Order ("whirling dervishes") in the city of Konya (approximate date).

1274 CE37 entries

  • May 1 – In Florence, the 9-year-old Dante first sees the 8-year-old Beatrice, his lifelong muse. She appears later as one of his guides in the Divine Comedy, Paradiso and Purgatorio.
  • September 21 – Walter de Merton, English chancellor and regent, retires from royal service, in favour of Robert Burnell, who becomes a strong ally of the Edwardian regime.
  • Pope Gregory X decrees that conclaves (gatherings of the College of Cardinals where the elections of a bishop of Rome are convened) should be used for papal elections, reforming the electoral process which had taken over 3 years to elect him.

1275 CE52 entries

  • July 22 – Magnus deposes Valdemar and is elected new king of Sweden at the Stones of Mora.
  • 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.
  • 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.

1276 CE40 entries

  • January 10 – Pope Gregory X dies after a 4-year pontificate at Arezzo. He is succeeded by Innocent V as the 185th pope of the Catholic Church.
  • March 9 – Augsburg is granted the status of a free imperial city. Later this year, Ravensburg also receives the status.
  • June 22 – Innocent V dies after a 5-month reign at Rome. He is succeeded by Adrian V (or Hadrian) as the 186th pope of the Catholic Church.

1277 CE44 entries

  • January 21 – Battle of Desio: Lombard forces under Archbishop Ottone Visconti defeat the Della Torre family troops for the rule of Milan. Later, Ottone enters the city in triumph, and imprisons Napoleone della Torre in the Castello Baradello at Como (Northern Italy).
  • February – The Duke of Wrocław Henry IV Probus is kidnapped from his estates in Jelcz, and moved to Legnica by Bolesław II the Horned.
  • March 18 – Charles I, king of Sicily, buys the title to the Kingdom of Jerusalem from Maria of Antioch, for 1,000 bezants and an annual payment of 4,000 livres tournois.

1278 CE37 entries

  • May 1 – William of Villehardouin, prince of Achaea, dies. By the terms of the Treaty of Viterbo, his lands passed under the direct control of Charles I, king of Sicily. Charles appoints a bailiff to rule the Latin principality. In response, Charles swears fealty to the new pope, Nicholas III, on May 24. He promises not to attack or invade the Byzantine Empire because Nicholas has hopes to unify the Orthodox Church with the Catholic Church.
  • September 29 – Reconquista: Aragonese forces led by King Peter III take the Muslim stronghold of Montesa, putting an end to two years of Mudéjar rebellion. The defeated Muslims are expelled from the realm and go into exile.
  • November 8 – Trần Thánh Tông, second emperor of Vietnam's Trần dynasty, takes up the post of Retired Emperor, but continues for 11 years to co-rule with his son Trần Khâm.

1279 CE41 entries

  • August 5 – The Diet of Hungary adopts the so-called Cuman laws to regulate the social status and lifestyle of the nomadic and pagan Cumans living in the Kingdom of Hungary.
  • October 12 – The Dai-Gohonzon, supreme object of veneration of Nichiren Shōshū Buddhism, is said to be inscribed by Nichiren Daishonin.
  • November 15 – The first of the Statutes of Mortmain are passed during the reign of King Edward I ("Longshanks"), which prevents land from passing into the possession of the Church.