1262
Year 1262 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Mongol Empire
- Berke–Hulagu war: Mongol forces under Berke Khan, ruler of the Golden Horde, raid territory in the Caucasus belonging to his cousin Hulagu Khan, ruler of the Ilkhanate. Berke supports the Georgian rebels and allies with the Mamluks. He defeats the Ilkhanate forces on the Terek River, together with the Mamluk army led by Baibars, saving Palestine and Arabia from Ilkhanate occupation.
Europe
- March 8 - Battle of Hausbergen: The bourgeois of Strasbourg defeat a German army of knights under Bishop Walter of Geroldseck. Strasbourg becomes an imperial Free City of the Holy Roman Empire.
- May - King Alfonso X of Castile and León, at a meeting in Jaén, demands military support from Muhammad I, ruler of Granada, and relinquishes the ports of Tarifa and Algeciras to prepare an invasion of North Africa.
- September 14 - Reconquista: Castilian-Leonese forces led by Alfonso X conquer Cádiz. The city has been under Moorish rule since 711. The Muslims are ousted, and Alfonso repopulates the region.
- The Icelandic Commonwealth enters into the Old Covenant, establishing a union with Norway, and acknowledges King Haakon IV of Norway as its ruler.
- King Mindaugas of Lithuania perhaps renounces Christianity, returning to the country's pagan roots, and reverting to Grand Duke.
Levant
- Al-Hakim I, a member of the Abbasid dynasty, travels to Egypt and is proclaimed as caliph of Cairo in succession to his former rival Al-Mustansir II. After his arrival, he is imprisoned at the Citadel of Cairo by orders of Sultan Baibars but released in 1296 by Sultan Lajin.
Asia
- King Mangrai of Lan Na founds the city of Chiang Rai as the kingdom's capital.
By topic
Arts and Culture
- Adam de la Halle, French trouvère and musician, writes the first operetta, Le Jeu de la Feuillee.
Markets
- The Venice Senate starts consolidating all of the Republic's outstanding debt into a single fund, later known as the Monte Vecchio. The holders of the newly created prestiti are promised a 5% annual coupon. These claims can be sold, and quickly give rise to the first recorded secondary market for financial assets, in Medieval Europe.
Religion
- January 25 - Richard of Chichester in England is canonized as a saint; he is best known for authoring the prayer adapted into the song "Day by Day" in the musical Godspell.
Science and Technology
- Alfonso X of Castile commissions Yehuda ben Moshe and Isaac ibn Sid to compile the Alfonsine Tables, describing the movement of the planets.