1253

1253

Events

July - William II, Count of Holland defeats the Flemish army at Westkapelle.
July 6 - Mindaugas is crowned as King of Lithuania.
A series of naval wars begins between the Italian city-states of Genoa and Venice, which will continue sporadically until 1371.
King Henry III of England meets with English nobles and church leaders to reaffirm the validity of the Magna Carta.
Pope Innocent IV returns to Rome, having left 9 years earlier in 1244 to depose Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, and being unable to return until after Frederick's death, due to the agitation throughout Europe caused by that action.
Having rebuffed the armed forces of Conrad IV of Germany, Pope Innocent IV offers Sicily to Edmund, son of King Henry III of England.
Halych-Volynia becomes a vassal state to the expanding Mongol Empire.

Matthew Paris writes Historia Anglorum, a work on English history.
The Basilica of San Francesco, the earliest important structure in the Italian Gothic style of architecture, is completed in Assisi, Italy.
Sligo Abbey is built in Sligo, Ireland.
The Domus Conversorum, a building and institution in London for Jews who had converted to Christianity, is established by King Henry III of England.
La Sorbonne is founded by Robert de Sorbon.

April 28 - Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, declares his intent to preach the Lotus Sutra and Nam Myoho Renge Kyo as the true Buddhism, thus founding Nichiren Buddhism.
May - King Louis IX of France dispatches William of Rubruck from Constantinople on a missionary journey to convert the Tatars of central and eastern Asia. Later that year, William records the first meeting between European Christians and Buddhists.
The Mongol Empire launches attacks on the Muslim cities of Baghdad and Cairo.
The Mongol Empire destroys the Kingdom of Dali (Yunnan) in Laos and incorporates the region into their empire.
Kublai Khan introduces the baisha xiyue song and dance suite to the music of Yunnan.
The Chinese era Baoyou begins in the Southern Song Dynasty of China.
The Mongols defeat the Thai confederacy.