By place Europe •
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 6 – A combined Genoese-Sevillian fleet led by Admiral
Benedetto Zaccaria wins a victory over 27 Marinid galleys at
Alcácer Seguir –12 galleys are taken and the rest put to flight. The following day, Benedetto drags the captured vessels along the coast in view of
Abu Yaqub Yusuf an-Nasr, Marinid ruler of
Morocco, who, "defeated and dishonored", withdraws his fleet to
Fez. • Late
September – Abu Yaqub Yusuf an-Nasr crosses the
Strait of Gibraltar from Alcácer Seguir to
Tarifa. During the next three months, Marinid forces besiege
Vejer de la Frontera, and carry out daily raids around
Ferez. In the meantime, other Marinid raiding parties devastate the countryside as far north as
Alcalá del Río, near
Seville. •
November–
December – The kings
Sancho IV of Castile ("the Brave") and
James II of Aragon ("the Just") agree to join the war against the Marinids and conclude a treaty of friendship.
Muhammad II, Nasrid ruler of
Granada, gives his support to Sancho to take Tarifa from the Marinids. In the agreement,
Castile and
Aragon will respect their own boundaries. •
Pope Nicholas IV confirms the independence of
San Marino by
papal bull. •
Klenová Castle is constructed in southern
Bohemia near the town of
Klatovy (modern
Czech Republic) as part of a frontier defense system. • King
Andrew III of Hungary ("the Venetian") gives royal
town privileges to
Bratislava, modern-day capital of
Slovakia.
Britain • Spring – Several nobles unsuccessfully claim the Scottish throne (a process known as the 'Great Cause'), including
John Balliol,
Robert de Brus,
John Hastings and
William de Vesci. Fearing civil war, the
Guardians of Scotland ask King
Edward I of England to arbitrate. Before agreeing, he obtains concessions to revive English overlordship over the Scots. •
May 10 – Edward I meets the claimants for the Scottish crown at
Norham Castle and informs them that he will judge the various claims to the throne, but they must acknowledge him as overlord of
Scotland and, to ensure peace, surrender the royal castles of the kingdom into his keeping. •
June 13 – Guardians and the Scottish nobles recognize Edward I as overlord of Scotland, agreeing that the kingdom will be handed over to him until a rightful heir has been found.
Levant •
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. •
June – Al-Ashraf Khalil enters
Damascus in triumph with Crusaders chained at their feet and the captured Crusader standards, which are carried upside-down as a sign of their defeat. Following the capture of Acre, Khalil and his Mamluk generals proceed to wrest control of the remaining Crusader-held fortresses along the Syrian coast. Within weeks, the Mamluks conquer
Tyre,
Sidon,
Beirut,
Haifa and
Tartus. •
July –
Thibaud Gaudin arrives with the surviving knights, with the treasure of the Order, in Sidon. There, he is elected as Grand Master of the
Knights Templar, to succeed
Guillaume de Beaujeu (who was mortally wounded during the siege of Acre). Shortly after, Mamluk forces attack Sidon and Gaudin (who has not had enough knights to defend) evacuates the city and moves to the
Sidon Sea Castle on
July 14. •
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".
Asia • In
Japan the temple of
Nanzen-ji at
Kyoto is established by Emperor
Kameyama. This temple becomes one of the most important religious schools within the
Rinzai sect of
Zen Buddhism and includes multiple sub-temples. •
Guo Shoujing, Chinese engineer and astronomer, constructs the artificial
Kunming Lake, which is developed into a reservoir with
summer gardens for
Khanbaliq (or Dadu of Yuan), Mongol capital of Emperor
Kublai Khan.
By topic Economy • Four towns of the
County of Holland (
Dordrecht,
Haarlem,
Leiden and
Alkmaar) and two of the
County of Zeeland (
Middelburg and
Zierikzee) agree collectively to secure a loan by their sovereign, Count
Floris V. This gives important securities to the lenders, and allows Floris to access the same low interest rates as the cities’ governments. • Venetian glass manufacture is concentrated on the island of
Murano (located in the
Venetian Lagoon), to prevent fires in
Venice itself.
Exploration • Spring – The brothers
Vandino and Ugolino Vivaldi, Italian explorers and merchants from
Genoa, embark with two galleys intending to reach
India and establish a trade route to
Italy. They sail along the coast of present-day
Morocco after passing through the
Strait of Gibraltar. They may have followed the African coast as far as
Cape Non before being lost at sea. == Births ==