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The 1290s

386 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.

1290 CE44 entries

  • March 1 – The University of Coimbra is founded in Lisbon by Denis I ("the Poet King"). He decrees that Portuguese is the official language of Portugal, replacing classical Latin in that capacity.
  • July 10 – King Ladislaus IV of Hungary ("the Cuman") is assassinated at the castle of Körösszeg (modern Romania). He is succeeded by Andrew III ("the Venetian"), after an election by Hungarian nobles, who is crowned by Archbishop Lodomer as new ruler of Hungary and Croatia in Székesfehérvár on July 23.
  • December – Edward I travels with the body of Queen Eleanor from Lincoln to London. Remembering his wife, Edward erects a series of crosses at each location that the body rests overnight. These are known as the twelve Eleanor crosses.

1291 CE53 entries

  • May 18 – Siege of Acre: Mamluk forces under Sultan Al-Ashraf Khalil capture Acre after a six-week siege. The Mamluks take the outer wall of the city after fierce fighting. The Military Orders drive them back temporarily, but three days later the inner wall is breached. King Henry II of Cyprus escapes, but the bulk of the defenders and most of the citizens perish in the fighting or are sold into slavery. The surviving knights fall back to the fortified towers and resist for ten days until the Mamluks breakthrough on May 28. The fall of Acre signals the end of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. No effective Crusade is raised to recapture the Holy Land afterward.
  • August 1 – Federal Charter of 1291: The "three forest cantons" (Waldstätte) of Switzerland (Schwyz, Uri and Unterwalden) form a defensive alliance to protect themselves from the House of Habsburg; this is a starting point for growth of the Old Swiss Confederacy. This year is also the traditional date of the Rütli Oath (Rütlischwur), the swearing of an oath by the three cantonal representatives at Rütli meadow.
  • August 14 – Mamluk forces conquer the last Crusader outpost in Syria, the Templar fortress of Atlit south of Acre. All that now is left to the Knights Templar is the island fortress of Ruad. Al-Ashraf Khalil returns to Cairo in triumph as the "victor in the long struggle against the Crusader states".

1292 CE42 entries

  • April 4 – Nicholas IV dies after a 4-year pontificate in Rome. The cardinals assemble at Perugia to elect a new pope (1292–1294 papal election).
  • June 24 – Castilian forces led by King Sancho IV ("the Brave") begin the siege of Tarifa: eleven newly built engines bombard the city constantly by land and sea. Meanwhile, Muhammad II, Nasrid ruler of Granada, provides the army of Sancho with men, arms and also aids the blockade in the Strait of Gibraltar. Muhammad attacks Marinid outposts and his forces seize Estepona on the coast to the west of Málaga. Sancho conquers Tarifa after a siege of four months, on October 13.
  • November 17 – John Balliol is selected by King Edward I of England as ruler of Scotland at Berwick from among 13 competitors for the Crown of Scotland. Edward then treats John as a puppet ruler and Scotland as a vassal state, provoking the Wars of Scottish Independence, commencing in 1296. John is crowned at Scone on November 30 (Saint Andrew's Day). Scotland's castles are returned to the powerful magnates.

1293 CE21 entries

  • May 20 – King Sancho IV of Castile creates a Studium General in Alcalá de Henares, forerunner to the modern Complutense University of Madrid.
  • May 26 – An earthquake in Kamakura, Japan kills an estimated 23,000.
  • May 31 – The forces of Raden Wijaya win a major victory in the Mongol invasion of Java, which is considered to be the founding date of the city of Surabaya.

1294 CE24 entries

  • February 18 – Kublai Khan dies; by this time the separation of the four khanates of the Mongol Empire (the Chagatai Khanate in Central Asia, the Golden Horde in Russia, the Ilkhanate in Persia, and the Yuan Dynasty in China) has deepened.
  • March 30 – Third Swedish Crusade: a Novgorodian army led by Prince Roman Glebovich attempts a storm of Vyborg, but the attack fails.
  • July 5 – Following the Papal election, 1292–94, Pope Celestine V succeeds Nicholas IV, becoming the 192nd pope.

1295 CE42 entries

  • June 20 – Treaty of Anagni: Pope Boniface VIII arranges a peace treaty between King Philip IV of France ("the Fair"), Charles II of Naples ("the Lame"), and James II of Majorca. James returns Sicily to the Papal States, seeking to bring peace between the Capetian House of Anjou and the Kingdom of Sicily; the effort is in vain. Boniface is determined to put an end to the War of the Sicilian Vespers, because he wants to declare a new Crusade for the reconquest of the Holy Land.
  • June 26 – Przemysł II is crowned king of Poland at Gniezno, the first coronation of a Polish ruler in 219 years. Przemysł travels to Pomerelia where he confirms the privileges of the monasteries in Oliwa and Żarnowiec. He also visits other major cities: Gdańsk, Tczew and Świecie. In August, Przemysł returns to Greater Poland but in October he travels again to Gdańsk.
  • October 4 – Mongol leader Baydu Khan is executed after a 7-month reign at Tabriz. He is succeeded by Ghazan, who becomes ruler of the Ilkhanate. He converts to Islam, ending a line of Vajrayana (Tantric Buddhist) leaders.

1296 CE31 entries

  • March 30 – Capture of Berwick: King Edward I of England storms and captures Berwick-upon-Tweed, sacking what is at this time a Scottish border town, with much bloodshed. He slaughters most of the residents, including those who flee to the churches.
  • April 12 – King Mangrai the Great of Ngoenyang establishes a new capital by founding Chiangmai, and founds the Mangrai Dynasty, that will rule the Lanna Kingdom of Chiangmai from 1296 to 1578 (the 700th Anniversary Stadium will be built in remembrance of this foundation).
  • July 20 – Jalal ud din Firuz Khalji dies, and his nephew and son-in-law Ala-Ud-Din-Khalji comes to the throne of the Delhi Sultanate in Hindustan, becoming the most powerful ruler of his dynasty.

1297 CE44 entries

  • July 11 – King Louis IX of France (died 1270) is canonized by Boniface VIII. Louis a devout Christian of the Catholic Church, banned during his reign prostitution, gambling, blasphemy and judicial duels.
  • July – In Scotland, a group of nobles forms a confederacy (organized by Robert Wishart, bishop of Glasgow), but are defeated by English troops at Irvine. An agreement of submission to Edward I of England is signed by the future Scottish king Robert the Bruce and other Scottish leaders.
  • October–November – Scottish forces led by William Wallace begin raids in Northumberland and Cumberland. During a ceremony at Selkirk, Wallace is knighted and appointed Guardian of Scotland. (Contradicts First Scottish War of Independence that cites William Wallace as having been made a knight and Guardian of Scotland in March, 1298)

1298 CE42 entries

  • April 20 – Rintfleisch massacres: The Jews of Röttingen are burned en masse. "Lord Boels von Rindtfleisch" (also referred to as a carnifex, i.e. butcher or executioner) goes from town to town and kills all the Jews that fall under his control. He destroys the Jewish communities at Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Würzburg, Bamberg, Dinkelsbühl, Nördlingen and Forchheim. In the Free Imperial City of Nuremberg, the Jews seek refuge in the Nuremberg Castle, assisted by Christian citizens, but Rintfleisch overcomes the defenders and massacres the Jews on August 1. Spreading from Franconia to Bavaria and Austria, Rintfleisch and his followers destroy 146 communities, and between 20,000 and 100,000 Jews are killed.
  • July 2 – Battle of Göllheim: German forces of Duke Albert I defeat King Adolf of Nassau at Göllheim over the prince electors' decision, without electoral act – to dethrone Adolf and proclaim Albert the new ruler of Germany at Frankfurt, on July 27. During the battle, Adolf is killed and his army is destroyed with the loss of 3,000 horses.
  • September 9 – Battle of Curzola: The Genoese fleet (some 80 galleys) led by Admiral Lamba Doria defeats the Venetian fleet at Curzola. The disaster is almost complete for Venice: 83 of the 95 galleys are destroyed and some 7,000 men are killed. During the battle, Marco Polo, commanding one of the Venetian ships, is captured.

1299 CE43 entries

  • February 25 – Sultan Alauddin Khalji orders the army (some 35,000 men) to prepare for the march to Gujarat. One part of the army under Nusrat Khan starts its march from Delhi. Another part, led by Ulugh Khan, marches from Sindh and attacks Jaisalmer along the way. When the army returns from raiding Gujarat, Mongol soldiers stage a mutiny over payment of khums (one-fifth of the share of loot). The mutiny is crushed, the mutineer families in Delhi are punished and executed.
  • December 22–23 – Battle of Wadi al-Khaznadar: Mongol forces under Ghazan Khan defeat a Mamluk army (some 30,000 men) north of Homs. Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad flees with the remnants of his army to Damascus. Ghazan splits his forces, one part sacks Damascus and besieges the citadel. Another part pursues the retreating Mamluks as far as Gaza, pushing them back to Egypt.
  • December – Mongol forces (some 10,000 men) led by Ghazan Khan cross the Euphrates River and invade Syria. They continue south, and successfully take Aleppo. There, Ghazan is joined by forces from his vassal state of Cilician Armenia. King Hethum II leads the Armenian army (which includes Templar and Hospitaller knights). He participates during the Mongol offensive and regains all the Armenian territories which have previously been lost to the Mamluks.