1281

'Years:' 1278 1279 1280 - '1281' - 1282 1283 1284

'Decades:' 1250s 1260s 1270s - '1280s' - 1290s 1300s 1310s

'Centuries:' 12th century - '13th century' - 14th century

Contents

Events

Europe

Middle East

Asia

Births

Deaths

Events

Europe

★ Pope Martin IV succeeds Pope Nicholas III as the 189th pope.

★ Pope Martin IV authorizes a Crusade against the newly re-established Byzantine Empire in Constantinople; French and Venetian expeditions set out toward Constantinople but are forced to turn back in the following year.

Middle East

★ October 29 - Mamluk sultan Qalawun defeats an invasion of Syria by Mongol Ilkhan Abaqa Khan at the 2nd Battle of Homs.

★ Osman I, founder of the Ottoman Empire, becomes ''bey'' of the Sögüt tribe in central Anatolia; in 1299 he will declare independence from the Seljuk Turks, marking the birth of the Ottoman Empire.

★ An offensive by the Byzantine Empire significantly reduces the size of the Kingdom of Albania, as it recaptures land seized from the Despotate of Epirus by Charles I of Sicily ten years earlier.

Asia

★ August 12 - The second Mongol invasion of Japan is foiled at the Battle of Kōan (or Battle of Hakata Bay) as a large typhoon — famously called a ''kamikaze'', or divine wind — destroys much of the combined Chinese and Korean fleet and forces, numbering over 140,000 men and 4,000 ships.

★ Kublai Khan orders the burning of sacred Taoist texts, resulting in the reduction in number of volumes of the Dao Zheng (Taoist Canon) from 4,565 to 1,120.

★ The Mon kingdom of Haripunchai falls as its capital Lamphun (in present-day Thailand) is captured by King Mengrai's Lannathai kingdom.

Births

★ Richard De Bury, English statesman (died 1345)

★ Castruccio Castracani, duke of Lucca (died 1328)

★ Yuri III Danilovich, Grand Prince of Russia (died 1325)

★ Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster (died 1345)

★ Hamdollah Mostowfi, Ilkhanid Iranian historian (died 1349)

★ Rudolph I of Bohemia (died 1307)

Deaths

★ Ertuğrul, father of Osman I (born 1198)

★ Traidenis, Grand Prince of Lithuania