The clergy in France are taxed to support war and Rome issues a bull to ban the practice.

EUROPEAN & ASIAN HISTORY 1300 - 1339

EUROPEAN & ASIAN HISTORY Return to EUROPEAN & ASIA INDEX 1000 - 1499

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A holy war is called against the cardinals who claim the pope is a murderer
Their lands and titles are confiscated

1276  

Emperor Duanzong of China reigned (1276-1278) of the Southern Song Dynasty

The best off in English society, the average life expectancy in 1276 was 35.28 years. 

The Song Empire fell to the Mongol Kubli Khan (Lord of Lords) who didn't plunder their cities.  The city of Hangzhou is the juiciest plum being the largest city in the world numbering with at least one million people.  On the advice of his wife he proclaimed himself as the Emperor of China so as to start a new dynasty (Yuon Dynasty?).  Emperor Kubli Khan (Lord) created a cast system in China with the Mongolian people being the ruling class.  The Song people are the lowest class with the Chin and Hsi-Hsia being the middle class.  He nationalized all gold and silver mines and personal ownership of precious metals is not allowed.  He created a paper currency, a banking system and a central Government for the Greater Chinese Empire stretching from Europe to the Pacific Ocean.  Emperor Kubli built a great navy for exploration and trade.  Trade routes are established as far as the Mongolian-Persian Gulf.  The Chinese Emperor encouraged foreign traders to visit China.  Russian, Turks and Pursian traders established trading houses and brought their religions.

Innocent V alias Pierre of Tarentaise (1276-1276) a Dominican is elected pope at Arezzo.  Hadrian V alias Ottonono Fieschi (1276-1276) is elected pope.  John XXI alias Pedro Juliao ( 1276-1277) a Portuguese from Lisbon is elected pope.  He delegated most decision making to Cardinal Orsini (future Pope Nicholas III) who had desired the papacy but stood no chance, so he elected John XXI.  The pope is charged with moral instability and a dislike of religious orders.

1277  

A terrible storm flooded the country surrounding the Zuider Zee, (Holland), submerging the towns and enabling enemy troops to capture the flooded cities by boat.

Nicholas III (1277-1280) after seven cardinals took six months elected a new pope.  He swore to restore papal supremacy in Italy and established his residence as the Vatican palace.  Dante consigned this pope to hell because of his nepotism and avariciousness.

1278  

Emperor (Di Bing) of China reigned (1278-1279) ending the Southern Song Dynasty

Two hundred and seventy eight Jews are hanged in London for clipping coins, the Christians guilty of the same offense are fined.

1279  

By 1279, the Mongol Empire covered over 33,000,000 km² (12,741,000 sq mi), 22% of the Earth's total land area. It held sway over a population of over 100 million people.

The Mongol Empire (Yuan dynasty 1279-1368) completed its conquest of China.  It eliminated the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) in central and south China creating the division of the Mongol Empire of the Great Kublai Khan (Lord).  The Batu (Kipchak) Empire, IL Khan (Lord) Empire of Hulagu, a grandson of Jenghis, and the Empire of Jagatai, the second son of Jenghis, paying tribute.  This extraordinary achievement of a few small tribes implies an organizational genius in the Jenghis Khan (Lord) ruling family.  China prospered under the Mongol rule.

1281  

Kublai Khan (Lord), a grandson of Jenghis the first Mongol Emperor is determined to invade Japan having failed in 1274 and sent nine hundred warships with some forty thousand warriors to invade.  The invasion is launched from Korea and Hangzhou, China.  An epidemic killed three thousand warriors slowing their progress when in June three thousand five hundred ships arrived with more than one hundred thousand men.  August 14 a deadly typhoon ravaged Japan for two days destroying Kublai Khan's armada.  Only two hundred ships returned to China and it is estimated that one hundred thousand men died or are later killed by the Japanese.

Martin IV alias Simon de Brie or Brion (1281-1285) a Frenchman is elected pope at Viterbo.  The Romans refused him entry to the Vatican due to his unconcealed pro-French stance so he resided at Orvieto.

1282  

After twenty years of brutal French rule, Sicily rebelled killing more than two thousand the first day including Sicilian women married to Frenchmen, butchering their children and even ripped out the wombs of women suspected of having been made pregnant by Frenchmen.  Sicily offered to become a papal vassalage but Pope Martin IV refused the offer demanding they submit to King Charles (1266-1285).   Sicily would eventually came under control of Spain.

1283  

By the end of 1283 only 170,000 Prussians remained in Prussia as a result of the Mongol and Teutonic invasions.

1284  

King Edward I  (1272-1307) united West Wales and England driving many Welsh into the hills giving their land to Anglo farmers.  Others are being forced into the army to fight the Scotch and French teaching the Anglo's their longbow skills.

The English kills Liewelyn the last Prince of Wales.

King Sancho IV (1284-1294) of Spain made little progress against the Moors but did secure Tarifa.

1285  

Honorius IV alias Giacomo Savelli (1285-1287) a Roman is unanimously elected pope at Perugia.  In Rome his election is enthusiastically received.

1287  

Marco Polo with his father and uncle came from Venice as merchants to worked for China being employed as an official in the salt trade.  Marco is greatly impressed with the advanced technology of China as compared to the backwater culture of Europe.

The Alcantara Order of Knights aided King Dinis of Portugal against his brother Dom Afonso.  Lack of strong authority and being employed on purely secular campaigns weakened the religious order.

1288  

Nicholas IV (1288-1292) a Roman Franciscan is elected pope.  The election took eleven months and six cardinals died from heat exhaustion and most others fell sick causing suspension of the conclave so divided are the cardinals.

The Chinese invented the gun about this time.  They also made bombs, grenades, rockets, land mines and other arms using gunpowder.

1289  

Pope Nicholas IV sent Giovanni di Monte Corvino (d-1330) a Franciscan friar to the court of the Great Kubla Khan (Lord) (1260-1294) establishing the first Roman Catholic Church in China.

1290  

King Edward I (1272-1307) invaded Scotland and would put John de Balliol (1292-1296) on the Scottish throne.  The Exchequer of the Jews, a small Jewish Community in England earned its living by lending money and lived under Royal protection.  A large number of Knights is in debt to the Jews.  The Jews foreclosed on the Knights land for failure to pay and sold it to recover their money.  The King feared land would thereby accumulate in too few hands and challenge the Kings power base.  Using this pretext the Jews in London and York are massacred and the Jewish ghettos sacked during the Baron wars.  The remaining Jews are forced to France after being relieved of their possessions.

The Ottoman Turkish people began to organize into a religious military clan about this time in northwestern Anatolia (Turkey).  The Christians are routed out of the Middle East by the Islamic army.

1292   

The Mongol Chinese Empire by orders of the Emperor Kublai Khan invaded Sumatra and Java with 1,000 ships during the 1292-1293 season.  They returned to China in defeat.

1294  

The Chinese Emperor Kublai Khan (Lord) died this year leaving the worlds largest Empire from the Black Sea and the Persian Gulf to the Pacific Ocean.

Scotland is again invaded by the English who captured all the main Scottish castles.

Celestine V alias Pietro del Morrone (1294-1296) a hermit is elected pope after 12 cardinals argued for 27 months before coming to a 2/3 vote.  Pietro del Morrone is alleged to have prophesied that divine retribution would follow if a pope is not soon selected.  Pope Celestine is reputed to be a puppet manipulated by King Charles II of Sicily and Naples (1285-1309).  He appointed 12 cardinals (7 Frenchmen) nominated by King Charles and appointed more of his creatures to key positions of the curia and the papal state.  He abdicated the papacy and begged the cardinals to swiftly elect a new pope for the good of the church.  To avoid a schism the Pope is arrested and imprisoned.

Benedict Gaetani (Caetani) became Pope Boniface VIII (1294-1303) by effectively deposing then some say by killing Pope Celestine V (1294-1296).  He immediately annulled most of Pope Celestine’s appointments and privileges granted.  He demanded blind submission to his authority, universal authority of the papacy.  He is a believer in amulets, magic and a skeptic in religion.  He is rude beyond belief, domineering and well hated, his primary objective is to increase the power of the Caetani family.

King Ferdinand IV (1294-1312) of Spain made little progress against the Moors but did capture Gibraltar attacking from the seaward side.  The rock is too exposed to attract settlers so he made it a safe haven for all criminals, robbers, murderers and women who ran away from their husbands.

1295  

Emperor Chengzong  of China reigned (1295-1307) of the Yuan Dynasty

Scotland entered into a secret alliance with France against the English with an agreement that if England attacked one the other would make trouble behind England's back.  France saw her biggest problem being the Duke of Burgundy and the English King  Edward I (1272-1307) who is also Duke of Aquitaine and they refused to recognize the French Kings Philip IV (1285-1314) Over lordship.

1296  

King Philip IV of France (1285-1314) raised money for war by taxing the clergy.  Pope Boniface issued a bull banning the practice and King Philip retaliated by prohibiting the export of money and valuables and expelled foreign merchants.

1297 

William Wallice, a Norman-Scottish Knight rose against English rule, is defeated and executed and his head is put on a pole on London bridge by King Edward I (1272-1307).  The powerful Colonna family had supported Pope Boniface VIII election became disenchanted with his high-handed style, opposed his Sicilian policy joined the Franciscan Spirituals in questioning the validity of Pope Celestine V's abdication and Pope Boniface election.  They called for a general council to adjudicate his legitimacy as pope and investigate his alleged murder of Pope Celestine.  The Pope deposed and excommunicated two of the Colonna's cardinals and organized a holy war against them, razed their fortresses, seized their lands and exploited them to enrich the Vatican.

1299 

A number of Church enthusiasts during this century maintained that there was no remission of sins without flagellation, or whipping. Accordingly, they walked in procession, preceded by a priest carrying a cross, and publicly lashed themselves till the blood dropped from their backs.
 

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