Timeline of Kings and Queens, page 8
1251
France The First Shepherds’ Crusade is launched, a French peasants’ crusade, to rescue Louis IX from captivity in Egypt. Lithuania Mindaugas, grand duke, is acknowledged as king by Pope Innocent IV, the only man to be king of Lithuania; he converts to Christianity to discourage attacks by the Livonian Order and Teutonic Knights.
1252
León-Castile-Galicia Alfonso X ‘the Wise’ becomes king. Denmark King Abel is killed in battle; his younger brother is elected King Christopher I. Venice Reniero Zeno, formerly a diplomat in France and Italy, is elected doge. Russia The Mongols eject Andrei II from Vladimir; the great military commander and politician Alexander Nevsky, fourth son of Iaroslav II, becomes grand prince.
1253
Navarre Theobald II becomes king. Bohemia Ottokar II becomes king; he becomes the greatest Bohemian monarch and, for some time, the most powerful prince in the Holy Roman Empire. Albania Around this date, Grigor Kamona dies, and is succeeded by his son-in-law, Gulam.
1254
England Lesser barons are replaced on the King’s Council by elected representatives from the shires and cities. France King Louis IX expels all Jews from France. Portugal To placate the middle classes, King Afonso III holds the first session of the Cortes, Portugal’s general assembly. Germany and The Holy Roman Empire The Great Interregnum begins, lasting until 1273. Rome Rinaldo di Jenne, dean of the Sacred College of Cardinals, is elected pope as Alexander IV. Sicily Aged 2, Conrad II, commonly known as Conradin, becomes king; the pope declares Sicily a papal possession and installs Edmund Crouchback, son of Henry III of England, as a rival king; Edmund fails to secure the kingdom. Albania Gulam, prince of Albania, dies.
1256
Bulgaria Tsar Michael Asen I is murdered by his cousin, Kaliman Asen II, while hunting.
1257
Germany Alfonso X, king of León, Castile and Galicia, is elected king of the Germans, but holds no authority over the country and is never crowned; among other contenders is Richard of Cornwall, second son of England’s King John. Bulgaria Kaliman II flees, and Mitso Asen, grandson of Ivan Asen II, briefly becomes tsar, but loses control; the nobles replace him with Constantine Tikh, son of a Bulgarian noble.
1258
England King Henry III is forced to accept the Provisions of Oxford, requiring the summoning of a parliament and the end of absolute monarchy in England. Wales Llywelyn the Last is the final ruler
of an independent Wales. Sicily Manfred, illegitimate son of Frederick I (Holy Roman Emperor as Frederick II), becomes king.
1259
Denmark Christopher I is deposed by nobles loyal to his son, who becomes king as Eric V.
England The Treaty of Paris is signed between Kings Henry III of England and Louis IX of France.
1261
Rome Patriarch of Jerusalem Jacques Pantaléon is elected pope as Urban IV. Byzantine Empire Constantinople is recaptured by Nicaean forces, led by Michael VIII, re-establishing the Byzantine Empire; Michael is the great-grandson of Emperor Alexios III Angelos.
1262
England King Henry III obtains a papal bull from Pope Alexander IV, releasing him from the Provisions of Oxford, setting the scene for the Second Barons’ War. Norway Iceland and Greenland come under Norwegian rule. Sicily The pope grants the Kingdom of Sicily, which he has claimed as a papal possession, to Charles I of Anjou, youngest son of Louis VIII of France and the first Sicilian king of the Angevin dynasty.
1263
Scotland Alexander III defeats the Norwegians, led by Haakon IV, in the Battle of Largs. Norway King Haakon IV dies in the Orkney Islands; his youngest son, Magnus VI the Law-Mender, is crowned king; he will modernize Norwegian law and make peace abroad. Lithuania Grand Duke Mindaugas and his two sons are murdered by his nephew Treniota; a war between the nobles erupts; Treniota becomes ruler.
1264
England Civil war breaks out with the Second Barons’ War. Ireland The first definitively known meeting of the Irish legislature takes place at Castledermot in County Kildare. Germany The war of the Thuringian Succession ends; the western half becomes independent, under the name of Hesse; most of the remainder comes under the rule of the Wettin dynasty of the nearby Margraviate of Meissen and will form the nucleus of the later Electorate and Kingdom of Saxony. Lithuania Vaišvilkas, prince of Black Ruthenia and younger son of Mindaugas, deposes Treniota and seizes power; Treniota is murdered by his father’s servants. Russia The great Alexander Nevsky dies; Iaroslav III, son of Iaroslav II, becomes grand prince of Vladimir.
1265
England In Westminster, the first elected English parliament (De Montfort’s Parliament) takes place; the Battle of Evesham is fought in the Second Barons’ War, with Edward’s army defeating Simon de Montfort and killing him. Rome Cardinal Gui Faucoi le Gros is elected pope as Clement IV.
1266
Scotland The war between Scotland and Norway ends with Magnus VI of Norway ceding the Western Isles and the Isle of Man to Scotland in exchange for a large monetary payment. Sicily King Manfred is killed in the Battle of Benevento against Charles of Anjou, leading the pope’s army; Charles of Anjou becomes king as Charles I.
1267
Wales Henry III acknowledges Llywelyn ap Gruffydd’s title of prince of Wales in the Treaty of Montgomery. Lithuania Grand Duke Vaišvilkas becomes a monk, passing his title to his brother-in-law, Shvarn, prince of Kholm and knyaz of Galicia.
1268
France The House of Bourbon first rises to prominence when Robert, count of Clermont, sixth son of King Louis IX of France, marries Beatrix of Bourbon, heiress to the lordship of Bourbon. Rome Pope Clement IV dies; divisions among the cardinals lead to the papal throne remaining unoccupied for three years. Holy Roman Empire Aged 16, Conradin, the last legitimate male heir of the Hohenstaufen dynasty of the kings of Germany and Holy Roman Emperors, is captured and beheaded by Charles of Anjou, a political rival and ally to the hostile Roman Catholic Church. Venice Lorenzo Tiepolo, son of former doge Jacopo Tiepolo, is elected doge; during his reign, Venetian pre-eminence in the Adriatic is confirmed; Marco Polo begins his journey to China. Rome Papal Interregnum begins (until 1271).
1269
Bohemia King Otakar II inherits Carinthia and part of Carniola, making him the most powerful prince in the Holy Roman Empire. Lithuania Traidenis becomes grand duke, ending the unrest following the assassination of King Mindaugas and establishing the country as a pagan state for the next hundred years.
1270
France Louis IX dies of the plague while besieging Tunis; Philippe III ‘the Bold’ becomes king of France, adding Toulouse to his country. Hungary and Croatia Stephen V becomes king.
1271
Rome Deadlock in the election of a new pope is broken when the inhabitants of Viterbo remove the roof of the building in which the cardinals are assembled and lock them in with only bread and water; after three days, Cardinal Tebaldo Visconti is elected pope as Gregory X.
1272
England Henry III dies, leaving Westminster as his memorial; Edward I Longshanks becomes king; he conquers Wales and tries, and fails, to conquer Scotland, but becomes known as ‘the Hammer of the Scots’; he is the fourth Edward to be an English king, but is known as Edward I. Navarre Theobald II dies on the Eighth Crusade, while besieging Tunis; his brother, Henry I the Fat, becomes king. Hungary and Croatia Stephen V dies, possibly murdered, while searching for his kidnapped infant son Ladislaus; Ladislaus IV becomes king, and his reign is filled with unrest. Albania Charles I of Anjou occupies Durres and establishes an Albanian kingdom with himself as king; he is the first Albanian ruler of the Angevin dynasty. Russia Vasily of Kostroma, youngest son of Iaroslav II, becomes grand prince of Vladimir; he never leaves his home town of Kostroma.
1273
Germany Rudolph I is elected king; the first Habsburg ruler of Germany, he attempts to increase the power of the monarchy by restoring all the lands and rights usurped by the princes since 1245.
1274
England King Edward I returns from the Ninth Crusade to be crowned king. Navarre Henry the Fat dies, reportedly suffocated by his own fat; his son and heir has died in a fall from a battlement; Henry is the last in the male line of the House of Champagne; his daughter Joanna I becomes queen, aged 3.
1275
Sweden Valdemar I’s brother, Magnus III Ladulås, deposes him, with Danish help, to become king. Venice Jacopo Contarini is elected doge.
1276
Germany Rudolf forces Otakar II of Bohemia to cede to him Austria, Styria, Carinthia and Carniola; Austria will eventually become the seat of Habsburg power. Rome Pierre de Tarentaise reigns as Pope Innocent V for just five months; under the influence of the Sicilian king, Charles of Anjou, Cardinal deacon Ottobuono Fieschi, a Genoese nobleman, is elected pope as Adrian V; he dies a month later, never having been ordained to the priesthood; he never becomes bishop of Rome, but is traditionally counted in the papal succession; the Portuguese Pedro Julião is elected Pope John XXI. Aragón Pedro III becomes king; he conquers Sicily, is also king of Valencia and Majorca and becomes known as Pedro the Great. Majorca James II becomes king; his other territories include Ibiza, Formentera, the counties of Roussillon and Cerdanya, the dominion of Montpellier and others; he is a vassal to his brother in Aragón, even though Majorca is larger than Aragón. Serbia King Stefan Uroš I is forced to abdicate by his son, Stefan Dragutin, who becomes king. Russia Dmitry of Pereslavl, second son of Alexander Nevsky, becomes grand prince of Vladimir after fighting for a decade against the previous two grand princes.
1277
Rome The roof of a new wing of Pope John XXI’s palace, at Viterbo, collapses on top of him while he is sleeping; he dies eight days later, possibly the only pope to die in an accident; Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, cardinal deacon and inquisitor general, is elected pope as Nicholas III. Bulgaria Tsar Constantine Tikh dies fighting the usurper Ivailo; Ivailo had started life as a goatherd; in the next three years, another two usurpers, Ivan Asen III and another Ivailo, briefly occupy the Bulgarian throne.
1278
Holy Roman Empire Rudolph I of Germany and Ladislaus IV of Hungary defeat and kill Ottakar II of Bohemia in the Battle of Marchfield, the largest battle of knights of the Middle Ages; the Habsburgs will continue to rule Austria and other captured territories until the end of the First World War, in 1918. Bohemia Wenceslaus II becomes king.
1279
Portugal Denis, ‘the Farmer King’, becomes king of Portugal and the newly added Algarve; he effectively founds the Portuguese navy. Poland Leszek the Black becomes ruler.
1280
Norway Twelve-year-old Erik II Magnusson becomes king. Venice Giovanni Dandolo, from the prominent Dandolo family, is elected doge; he introduces the Venetian Ducat, a coin that is valid in every state with which Venice trades. Bulgaria George Terter becomes the first Terter tsar as George I.
1281
Rome The French cardinal Simon de Brion, former chancellor of France, is elected pope as Martin IV. Norway Erik II marries Princess Margaret of Scotland. Byzantine Empire Michael IX Palaiologos, son of Andronikos II, is named as co-emperor. Belarus Gleb and Iziaslav have both been princes of Polotsk at unknown dates; Daumantas becomes prince of Polotsk.
1282
Spain Alfonso X of Castile and León is unseated by his son, Sancho IV the Brave, in a bitter civil war. Norway Queen Margaret dies giving birth to Margaret, Maid of Norway, who will later become queen of Scots. Sicily The Sicilian rebellion known as the Sicilian Vespers begins against the rule of Angevin King Charles I; Charles is deposed from rule of the island of Sicily but retains the throne of mainland Sicily, informally known as the Kingdom of Naples; he is replaced by Pedro III of Aragón, husband of Constance, daughter of King Manfred of Sicily; son of James I of Aragón, he is also king of Valencia and Majorca, as well as count of Barcelona. Lithuania Traidenis is the first Lithuanian grand duke to die of natural causes; Daumantas becomes grand duke. Serbia King Stefan Dragutin breaks his leg while hunting and becomes ill; he gives the throne to his younger brother, who becomes Stefan Uroš II Milutin, retaining for himself several parts of the country; he becomes king of Srem; Stefan Uroš II Milutin conquers large parts of Macedonia and makes Skopje his capital. Byzantine Empire Andronikos II Palaiologos becomes emperor, having been co-emperor since 1261.
1283
England Death by drawing and quartering is first recorded as a form of execution in the killing of Dafydd ap Gruffydd, the last ruler of an independent Wales.
1284
Wales The creation of the Statute of Rhuddlan, formally incorporat-ing Wales into England in the entity England and Wales. León-Castile-Galicia Alfonso X dies defeated and unpopular; his second son, Sancho IV the Brave, becomes king against his wishes. Navarre Queen Joanna marries Prince Philippe, future king of France.
1285
France Philippe III dies in battle in Aragón; Philippe IV the Fair becomes king; he determines to strengthen the monarchy. Navarre Queen Joanna I becomes queen of France; King Philippe III of France becomes Felipe I of Navarre, the first king of the House of Capet in Navarre; the crowns of France and Navarre are united until 1328. Majorca Alfonso III, king of Aragón, annexes Majorca and the Balearic Islands after defeating his uncle, James II, at the Battle of Les Formigues. Rome Giacomo Savelli, protodeacon of the College of Cardinals, is elected pope as Honorius IV; he is the last pope to be married before taking holy orders. Aragón Alfonso III the Liberal becomes king; he reconquers Majorca and Ibiza from his uncle, James II of Majorca; during his reign, he quarrels with the nobles and Aragón comes close to anarchy. Naples Charles II becomes king. Sicily James I becomes king; Charles II of Anjou continues to claim the kingdom. Albania Charles II of Anjou succeeds his father as king. Lithuania Butigeidis becomes grand duke; he is the first grand duke of the House of Gediminaičiai, which will rule the country until the 16th century; another branch of this powerful dynasty, the Jagiellons, will also reign in Poland, Hungary and Bohemia; he builds a castle system along the Neman river to discourage raids by the Livonian Order and Teutonic Knights.
1286
Scotland Alexander III dies in a fall from his horse, initiating the First War of Scottish Independence; his granddaughter Margaret, Maid of Norway, becomes queen. Denmark Eric V is assassinated by his followers; he is succeeded by his son, Eric VI.
1287
Spain King Alfonso III of Aragón conquers the island of Minorca from the Moors.
1288
Sicily Edward I of England obtains the release of Charles II from captivity, on condition that he rules only Naples, leaving Sicily to the Aragónese. Rome Girolamo Masci, cardinal bishop of Palestrina, is elected pope as Nicholas IV; he proclaims a crusade against King Ladislaus IV of Hungary. Poland Henryk IV Probus becomes high duke.
1289
Venice Pietro Gradenigo is elected doge. Sicily The pope absolves Charles II of his promises to the Aragónese, and he is crowned king of Sicily.
1290
Scotland Three-year-old Queen Margaret (Maid of Norway) dies, uncrowned, on her way to Scotland to marry Edward, prince of Wales. Sweden Birger Magnusson becomes king. Hungary and Croatia Stephen V is murdered by assassins of the nomadic Turkic people, the Cumans; he dies without an heir, and Andrew III, grandson of Andrew II, becomes the last king of the Árpád line. Poland Premislas II, son of the duke of Greater Poland, becomes high duke.
1291
Scotland Scottish nobles recognize the authority of Edward I of England in mediating a resolution of the succession crisis created by the death of Queen Margaret. Germany In an attempt to limit the increasing power of the Habsburgs, the princes refuse to elect Rudolf I’s son, Albert, as co-king. Aragón and Sicily James II becomes king; he resigns as king of Sicily. Switzerland Three Swiss cantons join together to begin a struggle for independence from the Habsburgs. Italy The independence of San Marino is confirmed by a papal bull. Lithuania Butvydas, brother of Butigeidis, becomes grand duke.
1292
Scotland Six years of interregnum, when the country is governed by the Guardians of Scotland, ends when John Balliol, great-great-great-grandson of King David I, through his mother, Dervorguilla of Galloway, is elected as king; his rival is Robert Bruce, 5th lord of Annandale, grandfather of the future Robert the Bruce. Rome Pope Nicholas IV dies; a papal interregnum begins (until 1294). Germany Adolf of Nassau, a minor German noble, is elected king; he is elected because the princes want a weak emperor. Bulgaria George I flees and is replaced by two usurpers – Smilitz, a Mongol puppet monarch, until 1298, and George’s son-in-law, Caka, who is tsar for only a few months.
1293
Norway Eric II marries Isabel Bruce, sister of Robert the Bruce, King Robert I of Scotland.
1294
Scotland John Balliol negotiates the Auld Alliance with France and Norway. Rome Benedictine hermit Pietro Angelerio is surprisingly elected pope as Celestine V; he abdicates after five months and eight days; cardinal priest Benedetto Caetani is elected pope, as Boniface VIII; he is the last pope to challenge the growing power of European nation-states and their rulers. Albania Charles II surrenders his rights to Albania to his son Philip II, who rules as lord of the Kingdom of Albania. Russia Andrey III Alexandrovich, son of Alexander Nevsky, ousts his brother Dmitri from Vladimir, with the help of the Mongols, and becomes grand prince.
1295
England Edward I summons the Model Parliament. Aragón With the Treaty of Anagni, James II returns the Balearics to James II of Majorca. León-Castile-Galicia Nine-year-old Ferdinand IV the Summoned becomes king of Castile and León; his mother’s bravery during her regency saves him from the violence of competitors and nobles. Poland Premislas II, already high duke, is crowned king of Poland; the Polish Kingdom will survive for 500 years. Lithuania Vytenis becomes grand duke; his reign is marked by constant warfare; he makes an alliance with Riga and defeats the Livonian Order in the Battle of Turaida.
