Timeline 1240-1250 (Interference)

1241-1245
1240-1243

Byzantine Empire, Caucasus: Baba Ishaq, an inspired preacher, originally from the Alevi Shiite sect and later a convert to Myriamism, leads a revolt in Cappadocia and Anatolia, establishing a religious state and converting most fellow Alevis and several half-pagan Turkic tribes to the new creed.

1241

Northern Europe: Alexander, a Rurikid temporarily elected as prince of Novgorod, routs the Finns and the Swedish crusaders of Birger Jarl on the Neva river (hence his surname, Nevskij); he also fends off the Danes and the Estonian tribes attacking Pskov.

Central-Eastern Europe: Three powerful Mongol armies invade central Europe:eek: : one into Poland and Bohemia, one across the Carpatians into Hungary, the third along the Danube against Megavlakia. The last one is stopped and actually defeated before the walls of Drystra/Silistra, the Megavlakian capital, where Czar Theophilus the Saint dies just after being briefed the enemy was repulsed. In Poland, instead, the Mongols led by Ögedei's son Kadan and his nephew Kaidu quickly advance and accept the submission of the dukes, crushing at Legnica a Bohemian army led by Henry II, the Piast duke of Silesia-Wroclaw, who dies on the battlefield. A few days later in Hungary the main Mongol army, led by Subotai gains a total victory at Mohi on the Sajò river. Then the army from Poland devastates Moravia and reunites with Subotai and Batu Khan in Hungary. Again they divide to raid the Sklaviniai (*OTL Balkans) up to Greece, easily bringing Serbia to submission. The Megavlakian state proves a tougher nut to crack, but autumn brings along the fall and destruction of Vidin and Drystra/Silistra at the hands of Kadan's detachment and the submission of the country, which is divided between local voivods (dukes) and despots under Mongol suzerainty. In Bosnia, instead, ban Matej Ninoslav and the pro-Bogomil party retake power in the face of the crumbling Hungarian power.

1241-1242

Central-Eastern Europe, Northern Europe: After ravaging Dalmatia, besieging Spalato/Split and Ragusa/Dubrovnik and extorting tributes, the Mongols resume their attack on Europe during the winter months. King Wenceslaus I of Bohemia is made an offer he can't refuse (Lusatia, Austria, Bavaria and the lands down to Trieste and Fiume:eek: ) and allies with the invaders. Also the Piast dukes of Poland supply troops for the double planned submission of Germany and Lombardy. The Mongol-Bohemian army easily takes Vienna (the captured duke of Austria, Frederick II, dies in captivity, extinguishing the Babenberg house), then advances right into Bavaria, crushing the Welf army of Otto the Handsome at the battle of Hordebruck (*OTL Landshut). In the north, a Mongol-Polish army under Kaidu defeats and kills John I of Brandenburg at the Spreewald; Otto of Brunswick, the Staufen duke of Saxony, surrenders to be later beheaded in captivity at Brasta/Berestye (*Brest-Litovsk). Germany is no more, as the court with young king Frederick III flees to France; the Mongols routinely leave in place existing rulers, provided they submit. Bavaria, Austria, Lusatia, are annexed to Bohemia :eek: as crown fiefs. Hundreds of thousands of Germans flee west into Luxemburg and France, a similar number perish in the indiscriminate plunder wrought by the Mongol armies:eek: :eek: :eek:.

Southern Europe: Urban V dies (legend has he was poisoned on orders of Ezzelino, but there's no proof); he is succeeded after an entire year of vacancy by the Genoes Sinibaldo Fieschi, who styles himself Urban VI (*OTL he was Innocent IV), and soon calls Europe to defence against the Mongol onslaught. Stefan Uroš I overthrows his brother Stefan Vladislav in Serbia, but is in turn removed and exiled to Zeta (*later Melanoria, OTL Montenegro) by the powerful landlord Dragomir I, a descendant of a German knight from the Second Crusade, who takes power as a Mongol vassal founding the Harjemanoviċ dynasty.

1241-1245

Byzantine Empire: Count Adolf II of Thebes, one of the “Latin” (Catholic) masters of central and southern Greece, tries to enlarge his lands to the expense of Turcopolia but his forces are mauled and his state destroyed.

1241-1265

Northern Europe, Southern Europe: Count Rudolph I of Habsburg, a powerful feudatory, gains the duchy of Alamannia (*northern Switzerland) after the extinction of the Zähringen house (whose last heir fell at the battle of Hordebruck). He'll build a sizable domain also in Alsace and Swabia through a mix of diplomacy and petty wars.

1242 Northern Europe: The Swordbearer Knights, reduced to Riga and Livonia, are absorbed into the Teutonic Order by Papal decree.

Northern Europe, Western Europe: Luxemburgian forces occupy the archbishoprics of Cologne, Trier and Mainz to keep the Mongols from crossing the Rhine. Batu Khan, with fresh forces from the steppes plus Bohemian and Polish levies, invades Alsace and thence heads north to trounce the Luxemburgians at the battle of Merzig. King Henry VII of Luxemburg is killed along with his brothers and sons, leaving only a minor branch of the Limburg-Brabant-Arlon dynasty to rule as counts over much diminished lands around Luxemburg proper. Louis II of Flanders-Hainault soon yields, accepting Mongol suzerainty in exchange for a sizable part of vanquished Luxemburg:mad:, among which the duchy of Champagne, and pledging help in a last expedition west to overthrow the Greater Norman empire.

Central-Eastern Europe: Given the extent of the Mongol conquests west, a new khanate, Berestia, is organized with its center in the former Lithuano-Ruthenian capital of Brasta/Berestye (*Brest-Litovsk). Berke Khan, Batu's brother, is made khan of the most westerly Mongol khanate – holding domain over vassals in Poland, Slovakia, Galicia, Hungary and Cumania (*OTL Moldavia) and a wide strip of land from the Baltic to the Black Sea and the Danube, plus all the vanquished European rulers. Berke in turn formally acknowledges Batu Khan's Golden Horde and the Great Khan in Karakorum as his superiors. Tens of thousands of German prisoners are brought in by Mongols, Poles and Bohemians to resettle devastated areas in Poland, Hungary and Moravia as serfs.

Southern Europe: A smaller Mongol force under Subotai plunges on the Patriarchate of Aquileia, razing Udena (*OTL Udine) and capturing Patriarch Berchtold of Andechs-Merania. The Mongols then assault and burn Treviso and Padua till Ezzelino da Romano pledges submission:eek:, gaining Friul as a Mongol vassal.

Byzantine Empire: Basileus Theoktistos I Megas Branas negotiates a lasting alliance (in a subordinate position, the only possible one) with the Mongols, perhaps saving the empire from destruction.

1242-1275 ca.

Northern Europe, Western Europe: In ten years after the Mongol onslaught, Germany loses around one-third of its population to massacres, famine and emigration. The Mongol invasions prompt the so-called Drang nach West:D, as a multitude of Germans escape their homeland to find more tolerable conditions, colonizing vast areas in France and Flanders-Hainault. Thousands of German refugees reach also England, Northumbria and the Scandinavian countries, especially Sweden. 1243 Western Europe: A Mongol-European army 100,000 strong under Batu Khan and Subotai invades France, evicting the Greater Normans from the European mainland. Emperor William VI flees to England rather than fighting: his brother Gerbert the Pious tries to stem the Mongol tide in the battle of Morienval but is mangled to death under the enemy cavalry. His corpse, with those of the feudatories who dared resist the invaders, is later lauched by means of a trebuchet inside Rouen's walls :eek: to obtain the surrender of the city. Paris is set ablaze, as Tours, Chartres, Caen and other towns; hundreds of thousands are slain or transported as slaves to astoundingly distant places, never heard of before (some even to China!). Local rulers who put arms down are however spared and preserve their domains, provided they pay due homage to the Great Khan and the Khan of Berestia. Louis II of Flanders-Hainault, now nicknamed (not in his presence:D ) the Turncoat, gains further territorial enlargements. At least half a million of people flees in desperation to England by any seaworthy means; many others flee to Brittany, untouched by the Mongols, or Flanders.

Southern Europe: A Mongol detachment under Berke Khan reaches Lombardy in support of Ezzelino. Towns in Emilia are ravaged, setting an example of terror with the total destruction of Modena and the extermination of its 10,000 inhabitants:eek: :eek: :eek:. The Mongol army then helps Ezzelino to overcome and destroy Pavia, whose days as a capital are now put at an end. A subsequent incursion south is made by the Mongols, who plunder severely Florence. Pope Urban VI (*OTL Innocent IV), with a hastily assembled force of Papal militias, Lesser Normans and Sicilians in tow just in case, heads north and meets Berke Khan in a poor peasant hut near Arezzo. The Pope – or his sizable army – persuade the Mongol khan to withdraw accepting a symbolic tribute and Papal legates to be sent to the court of Great Khan Ögedei in Karakorum: Rome is spared. Mongol forces help Venice to subdue (read: annihilate) the restive Dalmatian town of Zara/Zadar, again risen in rebellion, which is afterwards largely resettled with Venetians.

Byzantine Empire: A new wave of Muslim Turkic tribes ravages the heart of Anatolia, establishing there the sultanate of Kirikkale, in constant attrition with Byzantium, the Miryamite theocracy centered at Tephrike/Divrigi and the Akrite Order in Caesarea/Mazhak. Middle East: Sungur Beg wrests back Aleppo from the Templars and makes it his capital. Khayun Beg of Mosul sacks Saifid-held Baghdad, but cannot keep it for long.

India: Narasimha Deva, the Ganga ruler of Kalinga (Orissa) is defeated and killed at the battle of Tigiria by emperor Anishadharma I of Patna's forces. The Dharma empire annexes the former Ganga holdings. Far East: The Chinese block the Mongol onslaught at the fortress of Diaoyucheng (*near Chongqing) in Sichuan. A long war of siege and attrition begins, where the Mongol might will bite the dust and firearms will be employed on large scale for the fist time, with cannons, mines and rockets used to notable effect, mainly by the Chinese but also, increasingly, by the Mongols.

1243-1244

Western Europe: Mongol raids wreak havoc and enforce submission in Aquitaine/Occitania and parts of former Burgundy; Poitiers is burnt to ashes. The Norman viceroyalty of Toulouse is crushed and local Cathar sympathizers :D are put in charge of Gadary/Languedoc by the Mongol raiders; then, all Mongol forces quickly withdraw west for the incredible ride to Mongolia upon news of the death of Great Khan Ögedei.

1243-1264 Southern Europe: Stefan Uroš I and his brother Stefan Vladislav, former rulers of Serbia, fight over Zeta (later Melanoria, OTL Montenegro) with the former gaining control of most of the land and the latter holding an own realm at Scutari/Shkodēr.

1244 Northern Europe: Mongol and Polish forces, allied with the pagan Prussians, defeat the Teutonic Order at the battle of Marienburg. The valiant knights are spared their lives and allowed to keep their holdings, but not to enlarge them; they are to cut ties with the Danish crown and swear loyalty to Berke Khan of Berestia over anyone else, including the Pope. Those who disagree are spared their lives, but forced in exile into Scandinavia.

Western Europe: Maurian forces support the rebellion of duke Elpidio the Younger of Elbira (*OTL Granada) against his cousin, king Ramiro I of Andalusia. The decisive battle of Castro del Rio marks Elpidio's victory: the new king trasfers the Andalusian capital from Sevilla to Cordoba. The Inquisition is expelled from Gadary/Languedoc, where the Cathars feel now stronger. Infighting begins between several contenders for the crown, as the county in in a state of flux.

Southern Europe: Ezzelino da Romano torches Alessandria and defeats marquis Bonifacio II of Montferrat at Felizzano, but his campaign proves indecisive as the loyalist coalition, knowing the Mongols have left and won't be back so soon, rallies. Venice defeats and subdues the rival Histrian Comune of Pola, then pays a tribute to the Mongols herself.

Byzantine Empire: Byzantine forces, along with the remains of the Megavlakian army, move against Turcopolia: they fail in the siege of Serrai but gain from despot George Korizenos the formal recognition of Theoktistos I Megas Branas as sole basileus and overlord of all “Romans”. Middle East: Sungur Beg, now allied with the Miryamite kingdom of Galilee against the Crusaders, plunders Jerusalem :eek: - a fact little noted in the shocked Christian world, still reeling under Mongol blows.

North Africa: A Templar-Sicilian force of 12,000 is annihilated in the battle of al-Fayyum by the new sultan of Aswan and upper Egypt, Malik Nasreddin Ghazi bin Qurtuz; Cairo falls back to the Muslims, and Crusader control of Lower Egypt is made more difficult. Far East: The Mongols enthrone Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyaltsen as a viceroy of their liking for Tibet, enforcing a measure of unity in the country. When Great Khan Ögedei dies, Batu Khan, back in Karakorum with immense booty and a powerful army (he left behind his brother Berke to watch the West), is elected by the Khuriltai (Great Assembly) as the next Great Khan, despite claims about his father Jochi's legitimacy (*indeed Jochi very likely wasn't Genghis' son:rolleyes:, though raised as such). Soon afterwards Töregene Khatun, one of Ögedei's widows and Batu's first enemy-in-chief, is quietly liquidated along with her sons Güyük and Kadan and her grandson Kaidu.

1244-1250

Western Europe: In the void created by the Mongol invasion a bitter civil war is fought in France between rival landlords (the Anarchy), with the country remaining deeply scarred, isolated and in economic and social ruin.

1244-1263

Arabia: Templars, Sicilians and Genoese from Lower Egypt take the ports of Aden and Mocha in Yemen as waypoints to Western India on the Spice Route. They manage to hold the ports for some years by allying with the Mervid rulers of Yemen and providing mercenaries for defence against the Saifids of Medina, but are eventually ousted by local Muslim forces.

1245

Western Europe: The early death without heirs of king Ramiro IV Diogo dooms the Mabinardo dynasty of Gallastria; his sister Fionna Breinga Maria, sole survivor of the royal branch of the family and sworn to chastity, takes over as queen.

Southern Europe: Ezzelino da Romano welcomes some 20,000 Cumans into ravaged Friul as mercenaries. They settle the arid upper western plain, whence the later name Comagne will come. Ezzelino's siege of Novara comes to nothing and he himself is wounded.

Central-Eastern Europe: King Béla IV of Hungary emerges from his hideout in Trogir/Traù (Dalmatia) and comes back to his country, taking residence in Buda and accepting Mongol suzerainty. He sends his young son Stephen as a hostage to Berke Khan of Berestia. Berke Khan entrusts the area at the mouth the Danube to voivod Kunpany and his mixed Slavo-Cuman-Vlach tribe, the Brodnici.

Byzantine Empire: A Pisan fleet defeats the navy of king Demetrios of Cyprus and Armenia Minor at Paphos. The winners gain the ports of Attalia (Pamphilia) and Famagusta/Ammochostos (Cyprus) plus trade privileges.

1246-1250
1245-1247

Southern Europe, Central-Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Far East: Giovanni di Pian del Carpine and the Polish friar Benedykt Polak make an incredible voyage from Rome to the Great Khan's court in Karakorum and back as Papal ambassadors. Batu Khan, however, declines the invitation to embrace Christianity, answering in turn that it was the Pope's duty to bow and recognize him as sole ruler of the world:D.

1246 

Northern Europe: In Iceland the Ásbirning clan is decisively defeated at the naval battle of Haugsnesbardagi; the victors, Thordur Kakali Sighvatsson and Gissur Thorvaldsson, share power as vassals of king Haakon IV of Norway, who had previously hosted and supported them.

British Isles: William VI of Greater Normandy, widely reviled, is succeeded by his son Stephen the Cruel, who at once liquidates a number of perceived enemy barons. His burning desire to recross the Channel to chaos-ridden France is frustrated by the need to solidify his grip over England. Owain IV of Wales (*OTL Llewellyn the Last) recaptures a sizable part of Pengwernshire (*the western side of the Severn river), ostensibly in the name of the new ruler.

Western Europe: The Coghound navy “discovers” (it seems they already knew them) most of the islands later known as the Atlantides (*OTL Azores). It however uses them only as staging points. The hardline Catholics are defeated in the civil war in Gadary/Languedoc; conflicts resume between local landlords, either more tolerant or embracing Catharism. Even some Jewish knights :confused: from Septimania proper, a fact unheard of till then, take part in the ongoing chaos.

Southern Europe: Ezzelino da Romano crushes the prince-bishopric of Trient (*OTL Trento), adding it to his own domains. He chooses Verona as his capital.

Byzantine Empire: An imperial army trying to evict the Turks from central Anatolia is thoroughly annihilated at the Kappadokios river (*OTL Delice) in the greatest military disaster suffered by Byzantine arms since the battle of Adrianople :eek: ; Nikandros, the basileus' first son and heir, dies in battle. Few survivor bolster Angora's garrison enough to allow it to resist the Turk marauders.

India: The Mongols try an invasion of the mighty Dharma empire; the two armies clash in the huge, bloody and indecisive battle of Dera (*think of a Catalaunian Fields of Indian proportions...). Then, as news come that khan Yäsüntoä of Hindustan has died by natural causes, the surviving Mongols withdraw in good order.

1246-1250

India: After Yäsüntoä's death, regency of the Hindustan khanate is assumed by his Muslim widow Gulbahar Malika, of Khorezmid stock, who is later killed to enthrone her young son Baraq Khan.

1247

Western Europe: Raymond II de Trencavel, a moderate Cathar, regains possession of Albi, Carcassonne, Nimês, Béziers and the Razès/Rennes-le-Chateau, and is elected as king of Gadary (styling himself Raymond V) by a council of Cathar “perfecti” and moderate Catholics (“apostates”) in Béziers. While not recognized by other local players, this gives a little more unity to the country, and in time the Trencavel rulers will somehow reign in a legitimate fashion over the whole of former Septimania/Languedoc. Portugal annexes vassal Transierra (*OTL Extremadura, Spain) upon the death of duke Alfonso.

North Africa: The Maurian Cauta, a former pirate, murders the elective Mencey Ummansa (supreme prince) Garachefez, becoming the first non-Guanche king of the Canaries. His kingdom, at first limited at Tamaràn (*OTL Gran Canaria) only, will soon cover the whole archipelago.

Central-Eastern Europe: A unified principality of Wallachia (only north of the Danube) is quoted for the first time, ruled by voivod (prince) Litovoi as a Mongol vassal.

Middle East: The “Khorezmians” of Sungur Beg and the Galilean Myriamites of Yusuf ibn Amal Yaqub, united in an uneasy alliance, inflict a devastating defeat upon the Crusaders in the battle of Sebaste (Palestine). The Galilean theocrat (Nasi Imam :D being his Judeo-Muslim title) then enters Jerusalem, as the Turks go on sacking the coast, but the Christian-held ports resist.

Far East: Tokiyori Hōjō, the young shikken (regent) of the Kamakura shogunate of Japan, crushes an attempted coup by the Miura clan, an offshoot of the Tairas, at the battle of Hochi.

1247-1248

North Africa: Another wide Muslim rebellion in Lower Egypt is put down by fire and sword by the Crusaders; by now hundreds of settlers and knights, mainly from Sicily, North Africa, Lombardy and Provence, have formed a new feudal aristocracy in the area. An attempt by the Mameluks to expel them from the Delta, now dotted with castles, is foiled.

Far East: Renewed Mongol campaign against Goryeo/Koryo (Korea), again forced to pay tribute.

1247-1251

Southern Europe, Central-Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Far East: A second Papal mission is sent by Urban VI (*OTL Innocent IV) to the Great Khan in Karakorum to solicit an alliance against the Turks of Syria, the Myriamites and the Saifids of Arabia and Baghdad. Batu Khan takes note, but his answer is still negative.

1247-1253

Northern Europe: War of Thuringian succession after the death of Heinrich Raspe, last of the Ludwiginger family. After years of chaotic war Hesse secedes from Thuringia as a county; most of Thuringia is grabbed by the Wettins of Meissen/Misnia.

Central-Eastern Europe: Bavarian rebellion against Bohemian rule; the rebels choose young count Louis the Strong of Wittelsbach as their leader, but in the end are overwhelmed and crushed by a Mongol-Bohemian punitive expedition, and their land is ravaged.

1248 British Isles: The Franciscan scholar Roger Bacon publishes the formula of gunpowder for the first time in Europe. It goes however almost unnoticed. Frederick III of Germany dies at 20 in his English exile and without sons, in practice spelling the end of the German kingdom, as the surviving Welfs and Staufens are either in exile or appear too weak to be ever accepted as kings – provided the Mongols agree a king must exist at all:rolleyes:, which is not the case.

Western Europe: Sancho V of Navarra tries to oust Robert the Black, the Norman duke of Catalonia, but is defeated at Montblanc and Robert can consolidate his control over Barcelona and its region.

Byzantine Empire: Theoktistos I Megas Branas dies in Constantinople, succeeded by his second son Anthemius, a pious but hardly brilliant man.

Northern Hesperia (*OTL America): Kathtugevessem III nicknamed Iron Shell, warlord and sacred chieftain of the Mikkmakks, defeats and kills Lawspeaker Thorgil Jakobsson of Screlingia at the battle of the Midhimikkmà river (*OTL Little Southwest Miramichi, New Brunswick, Canada), halting Norse expansion towards the lower Kandarvannà (*OTL St. Lawrence), where other Norse colonies are growing.

Central Hesperia (*OTL America): The Aztecs (or Mexica), a small tribe last comer in a wide movement of populations from the north, come to central Mexico, fighting against local tribes and city-states.

1248-1249

British Isles: Emperor Stephen the Cruel assaults Wales to get back Pengwernshire (*the western side of the Severn river), but the Welsh resist in their fortresses and mountains. When Owain IV of Wales (*OTL Llewellyn the Last) offers his own sister, Senana, as Stephen's bride and peace prize, a status quo accord is signed: Stephen wants to be back on the continent, and Wales is saved again, though it has to cede back the contested region.

North Africa: Emperor Alexander I of Sicily, nicknamed the Egyptian, leads the failed Sixth Crusade against the Mameluks of upper Egypt; he manages to retake Cairo, but his army is ravaged by the plague and he himself falls ill, being saved, it is said, thanks to the intercession of St. Francis of Assisi. With his army gravely weakened, and only a trickle of reinforcements from Christian North Africa, the planned campaign to retake Jerusalem from the Myriamites must be postponed.

1249 Northern Europe: The native Prussian duchy of Warmia/Ermland is established as a vassal of Mongol Berestia, closely watching the Teutonic Knights and cutting in half their territories. Birgerl Jarl manages to subdue Tavastia (central Finland) in the name of Sweden.

British Isles: A rebellion led by the O'Connor heirs to Connnacht against the Norman Bourke/De Burgh rulers is defeated at the battle of Athenry.

Southern Europe, Byzantine Empire: Despot George I Korizenos of Turcopolia captures Skupiokastritsa (*OTL Skopje) from local Vlacho-Bulgarian rulers. Byzantine Empire: General Eljigidei and the titular king of Iberia/Georgia, David VII Ulu, are sent to Anatolia by Möngke Khan of Persia in support of the beleaguered Byzantines. The Myriamite state of Tephrike/Divrigi and the sultanate of Kirikkale are quickly subjugated as Mongol vassals. The Turkic tribes marauding western Anatolia are then chased and bashed by the joint Mongol-Georgian-Byzantine forces; after having most of their chieftain slain or sold in slavery, they are federated as border guards (Batiturks) or transplanted to Europe (eastern Macedonia and the Maritza valley) as Turcopoles/Vardariotes. Out of gratitude (and fear), basileus Anthemius pays a very large sum in tribute to the Mongols.

1249-1252

Southern Europe: Ezzelino da Romano wrests Este from his margrave, Azzone VII, one of the few who still dare confront him. Then, as he moves against the Tuscan Comuni, still free, and likely against Rome and his arch-enemy the Pope, the tyrant is captured in an ambush by Alberico, lord of Canossa. Ezzelino is held prisoner for three years, and freed only when his sons have granted extensive lands in the Emilian Apennine to Alberico, renounced any expansion towards Tuscany and freed the Emilian towns. In the meantime Oberto Pallavicino, a powerful feudatory from western Emilia and a descendant of the late Obertenghi margraves of middle Lombardy, takes advantage to subdue half-ruined Pavia, Piacenza and Cremona to his own power. Ezzelino's sons, Ezzelino IV and Alberico, crush down revolts in Veneto, but Meinhard III of Gurizberg (*OTL Gorizia) manages to gobble up most of Friul (the Cumans keep the western part), ostensibly to reinstate the Patriarchate of Aquileia, actually to keep it for himself.

1250 Northern Europe: King Erik XI of Sweden dies, ending the domination of the Houses of Sverker and Erik. Birger Jarl takes over as regent for his son Valdemar I, founder of the House of Bjällbo.

Acting as vassals of khan Berke of Berestia, the Teutonic Knights wrest Saaremaa/Ösel and Hiiumaa/Dagö from the Danes, their former employers, and turn to piracy :D :D :D in the Baltic against Scandinavian and Hansa holdings, who are still free from the Mongol yoke.

Western Europe: Emperor Stephen the Cruel of Greater Normandy reenters France from England with a 25,000 strong army and fleet, dispatching one by one the local petty feudatories who dare to resist him, and enlarging his forces with those still loyal to the House of Wiliam the Conqueror. The terrorized citizens of Rouen, well remembering the Mongol siege and pillage, deny his request for entrance, at which he besieges and captures the city, slaughtering hundreds. Most of France, however, still remains in near anarchy.

Southern Europe: Umberto IV of Rivoli, from the Guidonian Anscarids of Piedmont, is recognized as the legitimate king of Lombardy by Pope Urban VI (*OTL Innocent IV) and is crowned in Genoa by a Papal legate.

The count-archbishopric of Milan is revived as Ezzelino languishes in prisony at Canossa; Communal and ecclesiastical forces regain momentum across Lombardy. Florence is taken by local pro-Papal forces; Ezzelino's supporters' power in Tuscany, already very shaky, is reduced almost to nil.

William III of Lesser Normandy is murdered, shortly followed by his surviving brother, Roger IV. Due to the great number of claimants to the crown by dynastical ties and marriages, the kingdom's unity crumbles and no less than a dozen main local states are carved by various landlords.

North Africa: Succeeding his long-reigning father Ruddar I, Alphonse the Good officially declares the return of Mauretania (*OTL Morocco) to the Catholic fold, though actually the country will always remain a hotbed of assorted unorthodoxy. From its capital of Murnathya (*OTL Marrakech), the kingdom begins to be known in the West with the name of Mornavia. ca. 1250 Southern Europe: Refugees fleeing war-torn Bavaria colonize several high Alpine valleys from Alamannia to Tyrol and the eastern Alps. In time they will blend with local Ladinian-speaking populations creating a distinctive Ladino-German dialect, Tyrolian.

Central-Eastern Europe: Berke Khan of Berestia (*Brest-Litovsk) converts to Sunni Waliist Islam :eek:, influenced by his mostly Persian and Turkic staff. He, however, preserves a tolerant attitude towards Christians and Jews, while beginning a subtle missionary work among the still pagan Prussians and Lithuanians.

Transylvania, severely affected by repeated Mongol raids, is partly recolonized by Cuman and Vlach settlers and forced German serfs.

Caucasus: The Alans, whose majority is still heathen, embrace Nestorian/Jacobite Christianity on impulse from Sartaq, Batu Khan's son.

Middle East: The Muslim mystic of Balkh (Afghanistan) Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Shami nicknamed Mevlana establishes in northern Syria the Mevlevi Sufi order, finding a warm welcome by Sungur Beg and his Turkic warriors, people mostly fled from Central Asia as Mevlana himself did in his youth.

Black Africa: Tiramakhan Traoré, a general in the service of the Mali empire, founds the vassal kingdom of Kaabu/Gabù (*in OTL inner Guinea-Bissau). The powerful Chadic kingdom of Kanem reaches its apogee under the long reign of mai (king) Dunama Dabbalemi, whose power is felt from the Waddai (*Ouaddai) in the east to Kano in the West, from the Fezzan in the north to the Adamawa in the south.

East Africa: The Walayta/Wolayta kingdom is established in the southern Ethiopian highlands. The Shona, of Bantoid stock, bring Great Zimbabwe to its first peak of prosperity, establishing an empire trading in ivory and slaves which spans from southern central Africa to the Indian Ocean coasts.

Far East: Tibet reannexes Gughe, a splinter kingdom due north of Assam who had risen four centuries before. SE Asia: The Thai people, pouring down from Yunnan and the upper-medium Mekong and Salween valleys, invade the fertile Siamese plain, wresting it from the Khmer empire.

Northern Hesperia (*OTL America): Shatashan I founds in the lower valley of the Mayambeck (*OTL Ohio) river the Rwadha (*OTL Mandan) Empire, the first centralized native State in northern Hesperia (*OTL America). The Rwadhas by early contact with a Welsh-Norse expedition have known iron-working, the wheel, the long bow and some principles of stone masonry and riverine sail navigation. They practice a shamanistic religion with some strange “Christian” influences. Soon Norse parties from Bakkland (*Québec and Ontario) on trade with the Great Lakes tribes learn the existence of a strong kingdom south (the Rwadhas). Due to drought, the Anasazi culture of OTL Arizona-New Mexico begins to decline.