Timeline 1270-1280 (Interference)

1271-1275
1270-1271

Central-Eastern Europe: Civil war in Russia among the Rurikid princes, after a tense standoff in Staraya Russa and Golden Horde intervention, results in a westward shift of local hegemony from Vladimir to Tver, ruled by Yaroslav III's descendants.

1270-1273

Southern Europe: Western Imperial reconquest of much of Sardinia, with Genoese and native help, especially in Arborea. Pisa, having found a valuable ally in the Neapolitan fleet, firmly holds Gallura (NE Sardinia) and helps preserve the independence of Torres. Far East: The Sambyeolcho Rebellion against the Joseon/Choson dynasty rages in southern Korea under the leadership of Bae Jungson. The Sambyeolcho (Three Patrols), powerful private armies of the Choe family, risen in rebellion after the enforced end of the military dictatorship ruling the country, are finally crushed by joint Korean and Mongol armies in the islands of Jeju-do and Jin-do.

1271 British Isles: Tristan the Red emerges the winner and the sole king from the cruel civil war in Scotland and Alba, massacring a large part of his opponents, several relatives and entire enemy clans.

Southern Europe: Alberto della Scala, claimant to the lordship of Verona, successfully resists his enemies the counts of San Bonifacio and the Este militias in the Cathar stronghold of Sirmione. Out of gratitude, he promises Cathars, still present in Lombardy after fierce persecutions, will be free to profess in his domains. The Western “Roman” emperor Olympius of Sicily and Ifrigia (*later Punia, *OTL Tunisia), in fear of losing his grip over the Papacy, forbids anyone from inhabiting the city boundaries of Rome, dispersing its surviving population: the empty, ruined shell of the city is to be kept by monastic orders as a pilgrimage center for the veneration of the tomb of St. Peter.

North Africa: Pope Dominic IV (Albert Magnus) dies in Bardapolis (*OTL Tunis) and is succeeded by the nominal patriarch of Jerusalem, the Levantine-born Jacob de Urgel, who assumes the name of Alexander III.

Central-Eastern Europe, Southern Europe: Exploiting a native Slavic revolt against feudal oppression, Nogai Khan of Berestia and king Ottokar/Otakar II of Bohemia jointly crush the Crusaders in Krain/Carniola: their prince Florestan the Crossbearer, defeated, flees by sea from Trieste to Sicily. The Slovenians are now subjected to the Bohemian crown, which gains access to the Adriatic Sea. The subsequent Hungarian-Bohemian rivalry will be skilfully fueled by Nogai, whose army proceeds into Friul, joining with the local Cuman avantgarde to sack the countryside of Veneto before turning back.

Middle East: The Knights of St. John, assisted by the Templars, successfully defend the Krak des Chevaliers against the Sungurid Turks.

India: Hindustani khanate forces campaign in the northern mountains and tribal areas of Nuristan and Baltistan, extorting tribute and vassalage.

Far East: Kublai Khan proclaims the new Yuan Dynasty (actually, his own branch of the Borjegin clan, or Gengiskhanids) as the legitimate rulers of China, as the southern Song still struggle to stop the Mongol juggernaut. The Chinese are a subject people, with only Mongols allowed to bear arms in their domain; nevertheless, the superior Chinese civilization deeply fascinates the conquerors, now eager to gain acceptance and a place in such a long and illustrious history.

1271-1281

Middle East, Caucasus: Kurdish and Turkic tribes rebel against the Ilkhanid Mongol yoke from Ahlat (*Armenia) to northern Iraq, resisting subsequent attempts to extinguish their revolt. They find a competent and ruthless leader in Abdullah Yalik, nicknamed “Hammer of the Mongols”.

1272 Northern Europe: Birger Wolksson, second son of Wolk/Roman of Riga, who after falling out with his father and brother took refuge in the Russian republic of Pskov converting to Orthodox Christianity, is recognized as the local knyaz, or military leader, under the name Fyodor Volkov, establishing one of the most relevant Russian noble families.

Southern Europe: Enrico I Castiglioni, count-margrave of Seprio and Pombia and undisputed master of vast domains on the two banks of the middle Ticino river, crushes the rebel Communal forces of Como in the battle of the Lura creek and reoccupies the city, being confirmed as its lord.

Central-Eastern Europe: The Rurikid kingdom of Slavonia and Mačva (NW Serbia) is made into a Hungarian vassal, with tacit assent from overlord Nogai Khan of Berestia. With the excuse of feasting this swift success, Alberico/Erberek I Attila of Hungary invites 1500 restive nobles at Esztergom, then has them massacred by treason:mad:, breaking the back of the Hungarian nobility's opposition to his tyranny. A brand new nobility of mainly Cuman and Székely extraction will emerge in the following years.

Southern Europe, Byzantine Empire: Stefan Vladislav II, the Nemanjid Serbian lord of Scutari/Shkodēr, wrests Dyrrachion (*OTL Dūrres) from Venetian hands and is crowned king of Albania by a Papal legate, after pledging to support Catholicism.

Byzantine Empire: The Batiturks refusing conversion to Catholicism in Morea/Peloponnesus rebel under the leadership of Toghrul Beg, devastating the land and massacring the apostates who accepted the new faith and the related benefits offered by duke William of Athens. They then pour upon the Papal holding of Achaia and horribly sack Patras, making it their stronghold. They'll soon start building a navy of their own to plunder the Mediterranean. Basileus Anthemius II Megas Branas dies in Constantinople, succeeded in a very smooth way by his oldest surviving son, Bardas IV. The new ruler inherits a culturally splendid, but militarily weakened empire, protected by its good relations with the Mongols, but in urgent need of reform. The real strongman behind the Byzantine throne, however, is the megas dux (comander in chief) Alexius of Cybira, claiming descent from the Cyprus branch of the Canossas; he'll establish his descendants, the Kybirenides, as one of the noblest families in Byzantium. The Venetian fleet retakes the island of Chios, a Byzantine-Genoese codominium.

North Africa, Eastern Africa: Abdurrahman I the One-Eyed, a slave-soldier of Azeri origins, gains power in the Mameluk sultanate of Aswan, transferring its capital to the new site of Burj al-Maris, hence the name of Marisia the realm will take. During the civil war Abdurrahman won, Dotawo, the last notable Christian polity in northern Nubia, had been destroyed.

1273

British Isles: King Owain IV (*OTL Llewellyn the Last) of Wales dies, and soon his sons Dafydd III and Rhodri begin quarreling for the crown. The only result is a quick English intervention, after which Dafydd is enthroned, but in a vassal state and effectively reduced to a puppet well guarded by palace masters loyal to Simon I of England.

Western Europe: The town of Tours gains hegemony in the League of St.-Arnaud by crushing a rebel coalition of peasants and petty nobles near Orléans. This battle marks the appearance in western Europe of a new powerful weapon, the zoucaine, a repeating crossbow modeled after the Chinese chu-ko-nu, cumbersome but very effective.

Northern Europe: Nogai Khan sacks central and northern Germany, repressing peasant rebellions against the heavy feudal system imposed by the Mongol overlords (but run by German nobles).

Southern Europe: The Comune of Florence routs its nearby rival, the town of Pistoia, at the battle of Campi, and forces it to raze the walls and lower or abolish certain duties and tributes on trade which caused the conflict.

Central-Eastern Europe: The Bohemians capture Pozsony/Pressburg/Preslavia (*OTL Bratislava) from Hungary, which is busy fighting against Bosnian Bogomil incursions and a serious revolt among the Croatian nobility, stirred by the Catholic clergy in revolt against the “national” church of Hungary.

Byzantine Empire: Basileus Bardas IV repays the huge debt owed to Genoa by granting the Genoese the quarter of Perai, as it was before the “Latin” Crusaders took Constantinople, and the overall income of port duties throughout the empire for the next five years.

Far East: The Mongol conquest of Xiangyang marks the beginning of the final agony for the southern Song dynasty of China.

1273-1275

Central-Eastern Europe: Mongol (Golden Horde) punitive raids devastate the cities of Vologda and Smolensk and ravage parts of southern Russia.

1273-1278

Southern Europe: Riccardo II da Canossa holds the lordship of Reggio Emilia, but the town regains Communal freedom upon his death, expelling his son Bernardo.

1274

Western Europe: The kingdom of Navarra has to formally acknowledge its vassal status to Aquitaine/Occitania; king Ferdinand VI is deposed and exiled to Andalusia, his young son Sancho VI marries Melisenda, daughter of his overlord Bernard II of Aquitaine/Occitania. The Communal town of Strasburg is forced to accept the lordship of Rudolph I of Habsburg-Alamannia after suffering a long siege.

Southern Europe: Arimanno de' Ridolfi, son of marquis Rodolfo II of Camerino, crushes the Communal militia of Gubbio at the battle of Scheggia, subduing the Umbrian town.

North Africa, Black Africa: The Maurians, after subduing the last rebellious Zenete tribes of Mauretania Ultima (*OTL Mauritania), invade Senegal, extorting tributes in ivory, spices and serfs from the local Christianized kingdoms.

Byzantine Empire: Gabriel Ho Kyrios Megas, despot of Turcopolia, dies of a fever soon after his last male son, also called Gabriel. The pronoiars (feudatories) do not agree on a successor and the state quickly collapses into an anarchical mess of local lordships, theoretically accepting Byzantine suzerainty but where no imperial army would be able to set a firm foot. In the meantime, Vlach and Albanian immigration from the north is still on the rise, and in Morea (*Peloponnesus) the local Batiturks are rampaging.

East Africa: The Mahdali dynasty replaces with Hassan IV ibn Talut the Shiite Twelver Shirazi dynasty in power since almost five centuries in the Zeng/Zanj empire (actually more of a thalassocracy based on slave and spice trade) based in Kilwa (Tanzania). The new ruler adheres to the Zaydi branch of Shiism. By now the Swahili language, born by the contact between Arab and Bantu languages, has attained the status of a major trade language.

Central Asia: The forces of Baraq Khan of Hindustan attack the Ilkhans in Afghanistan, starting a long rivalry for the control of the region. Far East: Japan repels a Mongol invasion at the battle of Bun'ei (Kyushu island). The large Mongol-Korean fleet assembled in Hakata Bay finds a huge Japanese army already well prepared and led by shikken (regent) Hōjō Tokimune, alerted by the recent devastation of Tsushima. The landing party overwhelms the Japanese samurai (warriors), but finds strong defences behind them; one day later the entire fleet has to reimbark the army and depart hastily for Korea after a typhoon damages it.

1274-1278

British Isles: Simon I of Montfort, king of England, intervenes in the inner convulsions of Northumbria and makes it a puppet kingdom with his son Peter as king. The remaining Godwinsons, the last surviving members of the ancient House of Cerdic, are brushed apart and mostly deported or exiled in monasteries as a source of infighting and rebellion. This marks the true end of the Anglo-Saxon era in Britain.

1274-1279

Southern Europe: Western Histria rebels against Venetian domination, starting the Capodistria War between Venice and Meinhard IV, count-margrave of Gurizberg (*OTL Gorizia), Tyrol and Merania. Venice preserves its power over her part of Histria, but Meinhard gets hegemony over Trieste – theoretically a free city vassal to the crown of Bohemia.

1274-1281

Northern Europe, Central-Eastern Europe: The long war of Franconia pits one against the other the crown of Bohemia, the landgrave of Hesse and the local Bohemian vassal lords, ending by exhaustion and fragmenting territorial control in the area; the common overlord, Nogai Khan, plays one against the other the rivals, even sacking Moravia twice to remind the Bohemian king what is his own due place in the order of the world.

1275 Southern Europe: Ravenna becomes a signoria (lordship) under Martino Tebaldi the Old, a distant scion of the Canossas.

North Africa: The First Council of Bardapolis (*OTL Tunis), summoned by Pope Alexander III with little imperial interference, takes a hard stance against the “national” Churches in European countries subject to the Mongol Khan, excommunicating them. This will not prevent them from continuing on their own, evolving to council-ruled structures with the local king as supreme arbiter. In order to fight back the proliferation of religious orders, the council also provides for the absorption of orders and congregations born after 1215 (save the all-powerful Agostinians) into already existing ones (Benedictine, Cistercian, Franciscan, Dominican...); but this move only exacerbates the chaos and fuels the growth of the Apostolic movement, which is gaining ground in Lombardy and Burgundy. The council also condemns the doctrine of the “double truth” (that is that knowledge can be reached by two distinct paths, philosophy and religious revelation) and excommunicates its main supporters Boetius the Swede and Martino Miracoli. The two condemned scholars take refuge from Sicily, where they dwelt, in Constantinople. King Alexander I the Mighty of Greater Lesvallia (*OTL Kabylia) wrenches the Rawel (*OTL Rif) from Mauretania/Mornavia (*OTL Morocco) after the victorious battle of Taza, a dreadful bloodbath where the flower of the Maurian nobility is slain. The war originated from a dispute after a dynastical marriage. The battle marks the rise of Greater Lesvallia to main native power of Christian North Africa, and the sudden, sharp decline of Maurian fortunes.

Byzantine Empire: The Ionian island of Kefalonia is sacked and conquered by Batiturk pirates from Morea/Peloponnesus, who now begin raiding the Venetian trade with the Aegean. Duke William I of Athens takes advantage of the effective dissolution of Turcopolia to gobble up central Greece up to the Thermopylae; the Thessalian lords, however, prove hard-headed and well organized and repulse his mercenary forces.

Byzantine Empire, Middle East: Prince Constantine, heir to the throne of Armenia Minor, soundly defeats the Sungurid Turks in the battle of Hromgla/Rumkale on the Euphrates river.

Far East: The Mongols conquer the main Chinese stronghold of Suzhou, gainging full control of the Yangtze valley. ca. 1275

Northern Europe, Western Europe: The “Norse madness”, syphilis, imported from Hesperia (*OTL America), makes its first appearance in Europe, soon spreading from Alba-Scotland and Scandinavia throughout the continent.

Central-Eastern Europe: Lviv/Lemberg is made the new capital of Galicia by Grand prince Leo I, a loyal vassal of Nogai khan.

Byzantine Empire: John Tacticus, a Byzantine general of Batiturk origins, theorizes the reform of the imperial army, resurrecting on new feudal bases the concept of the themes, which made Byzantium so strong in earlier centuries, and reducing the need for mercenaries. His administrative and military reform will be applied piecemeal in the following decades.

Central Asia: The state of flux prevailing in the area fosters further migrations, bringing about the final Turkicization of most of Central Asia at the expense of the historical Iranic presence, now limited to some major trade centers and the mountainous areas in the southeast.

Northern Hesperia (*OTL America): Reconsidering a concept vaguely grasped from Ryrid and its Welsh companions a century before, the Rwadhas (*OTL Mandan) develop an own writing – an ideographic script carved on wood and stone or depicted on dried skins.

1276-1280
1275-1276

Central Asia, Far East: Alghu Khan's surviving sons, Yehe Baghatur and Mirza Mangudai (a Tengriist and a Waliist Muslim, respectively), after years of exile in Hindustan, reenter Central Asia from Afghanistan capturing the Tajik lands. Having failed in their attacks on Samarkand and Otrar, they plunge across the Asman Tau (*OTL Tien Shan) in eastern Turkestan (*OTL Xinjiang Uyghur). There the elder brother, Yehe Baghatur, is recognized as Great Khan by the most independent Mongol tribes from the Altai and Dzungaria, reigning form his capital in Yarkand, whereas his younger brother Mangudai acts as sub-prince for the largely Muslim Uyghurs. A long feud with Kublai Khan begins, as well as a parallel struggle against the rulers of the Chagatai khanate.

1275-1278

Northern Europe: The Swedish prince Magnus III Ladulås (“Barnlock”), supported by Denmark, dethrones his brother Valdemar I after a protracted struggle, chasing him out of Sweden. Valdemar takes refuge in Norway.

Central-Eastern Europe: Alberico/Erberek I Attila of Hungary crushes in blood the Croatian insurgency, executing a dreadful percentage of the local nobility.

1276 Western Europe: A brief, bloody fratricide war opposes the three sons of king Elpidio I of Andalusia upon his death: in the space of a few months Godenço manages to have both his brothers assassinated and ascend the throne in Cordoba, despite opposition from the Church and the people, who call him another Cain. Infamous sack of Perpignan at the hands of Balearic freebooters and Coghound diehards, still active in trade and piracy from the Atlantides (*OTL Azores), which after the Maurian conquest of the Canary islands have become a refuge (*Think of a Medieval Tortuga). It is, however, their last Mediterranean venture.

Southern Europe: With Venetian support, Stefan Dragutin I deposes his father Stefan Uroš I and becomes king of Zeta (*later Melanoria, OTL Montenegro). The nearby sea-trading town of Ragusa/Dubrovnik is forced into tributary status to both Venice and Zeta.

Middle East: The Myriamites conquer the Templar fortress at Eilat, gaining an access to the Red Sea.

Eastern Africa: The Christian Coptic kingdom of Alodia/Alwa, in OTL central Sudan, is overrun by the Islamicized Beja nomads invading from the east; an influx of Nubian refugees will later reach Ethiopia.

Far East: The Chinese Song court and hundred of thousands of frightened people flee their capital, Hangzhou, in front of the advancing Mongol armies of Kublai Khan, and relocate in the southern provinces, first in Fujian and finally to Guangdong, for their last stand.

1277 Northern Europe: A devastating flood in the estuary of the Ems (Dollart) sets the stage for the loss of some land (which will happen slowly till the 16th century) and the geographical separation of (central) Frisia proper from eastern Frisia.

British Isles: King Dafydd III of Wales, suspected of having planned an anti-English revolt, is murdered and replaced with his rival brother Rhodri II Saesnig, who had been till then kept in golden prisony in London. England adopts St. George's cross as its flag.

Southern Europe: Meinhard IV, count-margrave of Gurizberg (*OTL Gorizia), Tyrol and Merania, wrests Bulsan (*OTL Bolzano) from the count-bishopric of Trient (*OTL Trento); already excommunicated after refusing to overturn his fathers' usurpation of the Aquileian Patriarchate domains, Meinhard shows little respect for ecclesiastical holdings. Alberto I della Scala takes over as lord of Verona.

Central-Eastern Europe: Maimudas I Blackbeard, a young Waliist Muslim chieftain and illegitimate son of Mindaugas, concludes the civil war in Lithuania establishing his stern authority and renewing Lithuanian allegiance to Nogai Khan of Berestia.

Middle East: The already strained relationship between the Myriamite theocracy of Palestine and the Sungurid Turks of Syria reaches the breaking point when emir Lalak ibn Sungur begins a persecution against the growing number of Myriamite converts in his domain.

SE Asia: King Narathihapate of Pagan suffers a crushing defeat against Kublai's Mongol army at the battle of Ngasaunggyan, following his overconfident invasion of Yunnan.

1277-1279

Southern Europe: The lordships of southern Apulia rebel against the Western Roman emperor, establishing the Sacred United Crown :D:D:D compact, where the counts and princes of Gallipoli, Otranto, Leuca, Lecce, Brindisi and Taranto shift the royal title among themeselves each year. Tiny as it is, the confederation has a substantial army and is defended by sea by both Venice and Bari, who compete to gain favor in the area.

Southern Europe, Byzantine Empire: The swineherd Ivailo leads a major popular uprising in central Bulgaria and is crowned Czar by his followers. His army, comprising many petty nobles and some dissatisfied boyars too, defeats the Byzantine army at the battle of Devnya, but is unable to conquer the strongly fortified towns of Sredets/Sofia and Tarnovo.

1278

Western Europe: Count Bernat IV of Foix, Comminges, Couserans, Bigorre etc. sees his domain vastly enlarged when he inherits by way of marriage the march of Saragossa/Aragon from Navarra, but his claim is immediately contested by Robert II, the Norman duke of Barcelona and Catalonia, and his son Amalric the Greedy. Saragossa is soon conquered, but the Pyrenaic areas remain in the hands of the House of Foix, who calls for help the prince of Valencia, Paul II the Saint. Soon the conflict escalates into a chaotic mess. Florestan the Crusader, a respected veteran of the struggles against the Mongols and their henchmen, is enthroned in Andalusia by a Western imperial-Genoese expedition with Papal benediction; the hated king Godenço flees to Greater Lesvallia (~OTL Algeria).

Southern Europe: A creeping conflict for the control of the count-Archbishopric of Milan between the Della Torre/Torriani and Castiglioni (a Milanese branch of the Seprio counts) families begins. North Africa: Pope Alexander III dies in Bardapolis (*OTL Tunis), being succeded by the bishop of Barcelona, Teoderic Grau, who takes the name of John XIX (same as an old anti-Pope) and, on orders from the western emperor Olympius, quashes the faction pressing for an immediate comeback in nearly abandoned Rome.

Byzantine Empire: Batiturk pirates from Patras conquer a sizable part of Crete (especially in the east) during a major raid, establishing another base for their activities. In time most of them will turn to normal traders, finding it less dangerous and equally remunerative, and founding a renowned trading community of Turco-Cretans.

Central-Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus: Orda, the aged Khan of the Golden Horde (actually a loose confederation made up by the White Horde, controlling the Dasht-i-Kipchak, OTL Kazakhstan, and southern Siberia, and by the Blue Horde in the Pontic steppes) dies after a long and mostly peaceful reign, marked only by some punitive expeditions into Russia. He is succeeded by his son Köchü. Middle East: The Sungurid Turks gain a major victory by conquering Tripoli of Lebanon from Venice. The Templar fortress of Chastel Blanc at Safita in Syria, however, repels the attackers.

1279 Northern Europe: Maimudas I Blackbeard of Lithuania and his mostly Muslim army thrash the German-Swedish crusaders at the battle of *Aizkraukle, killing prince Wolk/Roman of Riga, then devastate Livonia and Courland but fail in the sieges of the major strongholds still under Christian control. The deceased prince's remaining heir, the Swedish-born Erik Stenhuvd, takes over stubbornly resisting the new rising power.

Western Europe: Valencian forces invade Catalonia but are defeated at the battle of Tarragona. Navarrese-Foix forces recapture Saragossa after a popular revolt expelled the Catalo-Normans.

Southern Europe: The Communal republic of Tortona falls to marquis Manfredo Pallavicino, already lord of extensive holdings in the middle Padan Plain.

Central-Eastern Europe, Southern Europe: The Sponheim branch reigning with ducal title over Carinthia and Styria goes extinct with the death of duke Philip, a former clergyman turned back lay feudatory after the Mongol invasions. Both Carinthia and Styria are inherited in personal union by king Ottokar/Otakar II of Bohemia, who already was duke Philip's immediate liege. Hungary, in search for a maritime outlet, wrests Fiume/Rijeka and the lands of Merania from their master Meinhard IV of Gurizberg (*OTL Gorizia) and Tyrol, whose Friulian lands are further plundered by the Cuman Guard still based in western Friul despite any attempt to dislodge them. Bohemian forces intervene when the Hungarians invade Krain/Carniola and Styria: the two armies clash at the battle of the Kumberg (*in OTL Slovenia), where king Alberico/Erberek I Attila of Hungary, wounded and defeated, narrowly escapes capture.

Southern Europe, Byzantine Empire: Nogai Khan of Berestia, eyeing the Sklaviniai (*OTL Balkans) and Byzantium since a few years, intervenes in the Bulgarian quagmire. After wresting reconstructed Drystra/Silistra from the Byzantines, he enthrones there the Cumanian (*OTL Moldavian) boyar Eltimir. Nogai now aims to provide (unrequested) help against Ivailo and his rebel army and, “in exchange”, extort tribute and as much land as possible from Byzantium. When the Byzantines, already bound to the Ilkhans of Persia/Iran, refuse:eek: Nogai's offers for help, the European Khan invades and ravages first Bulgaria (to no avail, as Ivailo and his men survive in mountain fastnesses), then Byzantine Thrace. The walls of Constantinople, restored under the late basileus Anthemius II, however resist Nogai's siege engines and the very scorched earth they made quickly exhaust the Mongols' logistical train. So Nogai's army devastates its way through Macedonia, crushing a Turcopolian force at the lower Vardar before graciously accepting the submission of the trembling Mikrovlakians in Skupiokastritsa (*OTL Skopje). Then, with winter approaching, Nogai rides back through Serbia and Hungary to his Polish domain.

Central Asia: Bahram Shah Khan of the Chagatai Khanate is murdered in a family struggle for the throne; soon the area becomes a battlefield between his sons and relatives and the two brothers Yehe Baghatur and Mirza Mangudai of eastern Turkestan, effectively shattering the unity of the khanate and severing most contacts between the east and west of the Mongol empire.

India: The much decayed Chola Empire, once the master of the eastern Indian Ocean, is destroyed once and for all and swallowed by the Hoysala kingdom and the resurgent Pandyas: the last Chola emperor, Rajendra III, is killed in battle.

Far East: The Song dynasty of southern China is ended for good after the Yuan naval victory at Yamen (Guangdong). The 7-year old emperor, Zhang Bing, drowns with one of his officials, Lu Xiufu, who plunged himself into the sea with the young emperor in a last act of defiance. A Mongol diplomatic party to Japan sent by Kublai Khan ends up in a pile of severed heads :mad:at the court of shikken (regent) Hōjō Tokimune.

1280 Northern Europe: Haakon V of Norway dies, leaving the throne to his favored son, Magnus III the Red (*not to be confused with the other Magnus III reigning in Sweden).

Northern Europe, Western Europe: Louis III of Flanders, Hainault and Champagne seizes Brabant when its young Mongol-appointed duke, the German Heiko of Nassau, dies without heirs. He promptly has himself crowned as king of Lower Lorraine (a long time dead title now resurrected) by a Papal legate sent from England, establishing an alliance with king Simon I of Montfort the Younger. Louis, however, still sends regular tribute to Nogai Khan of Berestia, hoping to avoid his much-feared retaliation.

Southern Europe: Naples resists a land siege by Western Imperial forces, who are later soundly beaten with a sortie. By sea the Neapolitans had smashed the imperials near Capri, thus preventing any blockade.

North Africa: Emperor Olympius of Western Rome cedes the town of Tripoli of Lybia to Genoa, in payment of long due debts.

Southern Europe, Byzantine Empire: Taking advantage of the ravages wrought by Nogai's horde, Ivailo's rebels manage to conquer Sredets/Sofia and Tarnovo from the groggy Byzantines. Ivailo is crowned by his followers as Czar of a reborn Bulgaria, in rivalry with Berestian-backed prince Eltimir of Drystra/Silistra.

Byzantine Empire: A Venetian fleet torches Pelagamborion (*not existing in OTL, on the Aegean coast at the root of the Gallipoli peninsula), a port they founded a century before, now in Byzantine hands and already “visited” by Nogai's horde.

Middle East: Caesarea of Palestine falls to the Myriamites; Beirut and Saida/Sidon also open their gates to the new conquerors, who, despite fiercely persecuting the Catholic clergy and the monastic military orders, prove more tolerant to the laymen of any faith.

ca. 1280

SE Asia: Pressed by the Mongol armies of Kublai Khan, the Shan people invades eastern Burma from Yunnan, establishing there an own kingdom.