1254

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Louis IX of France ends the unsuccessful Seventh Crusade.

Year 1254 (MCCLIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events

By place

Asia

• King Louis IX of France, having exhausted his funds and being needed at home, abandons the Seventh Crusade (which he had conducted first in Egypt and then Syria) and returns to France.
• The classic Japanese text Kokin Chomonjo is completed.
• The Mongols destroy the Kingdom of Dali in modern Yunnan.
• The Mongols enslave 200,000 Koreans and take them away.

Europe

Northern Europe

• June 12 – The city of Alkmaar obtains city rights from the count of Holland, William II.^[1]
• November 1 – Edward Plantagenet (the future Edward I of England, aged 15) marries Eleanor of Castile (aged c. 13) at the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas, Burgos. His father Henry III has demanded the marriage in exchange for ending the war with her brother Alfonso X of Castile.
• In England, an important step in the evolution of the Parliament and Peerage occurs, as lesser barons are replaced on the King's Council by elected representatives from shires and cities.
• Pope Innocent IV excommunicates Conrad IV of Germany and Rudolph I of Germany (later elected Holy Roman Emperor).
• The Danish city of Copenhagen receives its city charter.
• The Swedish city of Malmö is founded.
• Danylo of Halych, prince of Halych-Wolyn Rus, is crowned a king. The kingdom of Rus (Ruthenia Minor, Halych-Wolyn) is founded

Southern Europe

• December 2 – Manfred of Sicily defeats the army of Pope Innocent IV at Foggia.
• King Louis IX of France expels all Jews from France.
• King Afonso III of Portugal holds the first session of the Cortes (Portugal's general assembly composed of nobles, members of the middle class, and representatives from all municipalities) in Leiria.
• The Ghibelline town of Pistoia is taken over by Guelph Florence.
• The Horses of Saint Mark, once supposed to have adorned the Arch of Trajan in ancient Rome, are installed at Saint Mark's Basilica in Venice.
• Battle of Adrianople: The Byzantines defeat Bulgaria.

By topic

Markets

• As part of an offensive against usury in north-western Europe, the pope Innocent IV relieves the city of Beauvais from its obligations to its creditors.^[2]

Religion

• December 12 – Pope Alexander IV succeeds Pope Innocent IV as the 181st pope.
• Construction is begun on the Cathedral of Saint Martin in Utrecht.
• The Catholic dogma of purgatory is clarified and so named by the Catholic Church.

Births

• September 15 – Marco Polo, Italian explorer (d. 1324)
• Floris V, Count of Holland (d. 1296)
• Zhao Mengfu, Chinese scholar, painter and calligrapher (d. 1322)
• Ren Renfa, Chinese painter

Deaths

• March 28 – William de Ferrers, 5th Earl of Derby (b. 1193)
• May 21 – Conrad IV of Germany (b. 1228)
• November 3 – John III Ducas Vatatzes, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1193)
• December 7 – Pope Innocent IV
• date unknown – Silvester de Everdon, English bishop

References