1245
Year 1245 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
- Winter - Siege of Jaén: Castilian forces under King Ferdinand III besiege the Moorish-held city of Jaén. During the siege Moorish knights sally out and manage to capture a Castilian supply caravan. Meanwhile, Ferdinand tries to launch attacks on the various city gates, but all are ineffective.
- In witness of the toll taken by war and fiscal pressure in the Kingdom of Castile, the region of Segovia is described this year as depopulated and sterile.
England
- King Henry III starts the work of rebuilding Westminster Abbey, as a tribute to Edward the Confessor.
Levant
- April - Egyptian forces under As-Salih Ayyub besiege the city of Damascus. After six months, As-Salih Ismail, ruler of Damascus, surrenders to Ayyub in return for a vassal-principality, consisting of Baalbek and the Hauran. Ayyub is awarded the title of sultan by Caliph Al-Musta'sim in Baghdad.
By topic
Religion
- February 21 - Thomas, bishop of Turku, is granted resignation by Pope Innocent IV. He admits to committing several felonies, such as torturing and forging a papal letter.
- April 16 - Innocent IV sends Giovanni da Pian del Carpine to the Mongol court at Karakorum, suggesting that the Mongols convert to Christianity.
- June 28 - First Council of Lyon: In a general church council held at Lyon, Innocent IV declares Emperor Frederick II excommunicated and deposed. He proclaims the Seventh Crusade.
Births
- January 16 - Edmund Crouchback, son of Henry III
- May 1 - Philip III, king of France
- November 14 - Sang Sapurba, Indonesian ruler
- Antony Bek, English bishop and patriarch
- Araniko, Nepalese architect and painter
- Eric of Brandenburg, archbishop of Magdeburg
- Fujiwara no Saneko, Japanese empress consort
- Giovanna da Signa, Italian miracle worker and saint
- Kikuchi Takefusa, Japanese nobleman and samurai
- Kunigunda of Halych, queen consort of Bohemia
- Ma Duanlin, Chinese encyclopaedist and politician
- Nichirō, Japanese Buddhist disciple and scholar
- Rinaldo da Concorezzo, Italian priest and archbishop
- Roger Bigod, English nobleman and Lord Marshal
- Thomas de Berkeley, English nobleman
- Yahballaha III, patriarch of the Church of the East
- Ziemomysł of Kuyavia, Polish ruler of Bydgoszcz
Deaths
- January 27 - Ralph of Maidstone, bishop of Hereford
- January 28 - Giovanni Colonna, Italian cardinal
- February 8 - John of la Rochelle, French theologian
- February 15 - Baldwin de Redvers, English nobleman
- March 22 - Roger I of Fézensaguet, French nobleman
- July 22 - Kolbeinn ungi Arnórsson, Icelandic chieftain
- August 19 - Ramon Berenguer IV, Spanish nobleman
- August 21 - Alexander of Hales, English theologian
- November 27 - Walter Marshal, English nobleman
- December 4 - Christian of Oliva, bishop of Prussia
- Adam of Harcarse, Scottish Cistercian priest and abbot
- Beatrice d'Este, queen consort of Hungary
- Cletus Bél, Hungarian prelate, bishop and chancellor
- Diya al-Din al-Maqdisi, Syrian scholar and writer
- Fujiwara no Tadataka, Japanese regent and monk
- Guillaume le Vinier, French composer and poet
- Ibn al-Salah, Syrian scholar, imam and writer
- Isabel de Bolebec, English noblewoman and co-heiress
- Rusudan of Georgia, queen consort of Georgia