1276
Year 1276 was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
- Spring
- * Sultan Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd al-Haqq and Muhammad II, ruler of Granada, agree to a truce with King Alfonso X of Castile for two years. Before Abu Yusuf leaves, Muhammad's secretary addresses a poem to Abu Yusuf, expressing fear of Castile's power and appealing for Marinid's continued support. Later, Abu Yusuf lands at Alcázar Seguir on January 19. This ending the first Marinid invasion in Al-Andalus.
- * King Edward I of England orders the people of Bayonne in Gascony to provide Castile with warships "to resist the Saracens by sea", but excuses himself from personal participation against the Marinid invasion in Spain because of his wars in Wales and his plan to lead a Crusade to the Holy Land.
- June - King Rudolf I of Germany declares war on his rival Ottokar II of Bohemia. After 6 months of campaigning, Ottokar surrenders all his lands except Bohemia and Moravia. Rudolf makes Vienna his capital, marking the beginning of the House of Habsburg, which will last until 1918.
Africa
- Battle of Dongola: Mamluk forces led by Sultan Baibars gain a decisive victory against the Kingdom of Makuria. They capture the Makurian capital of Dongola and force King David of Makuria to flee upstream on the Nile. He seeks refuge in the Kingdom of Al-Abwab, but is handed over to Baibars, who has him executed. Later, Baibars conquers Al-Maris, previously a part of Makuria, and annexes it into Egypt.
Asia
- Spring - The court of the Southern Song dynasty of China and hundreds of thousands of its citizens flee from Hangzhou to Fujian, and then Guangdong, in an effort to escape a Mongol invasion under Kublai Khan.
- June 15 - Remnants of the Chinese Song court in Fuzhou province conduct the coronation ceremony for Prince Zhao Shi to become Emperor Emperor Duanzong.
- The mountain fortress Alamut Castle is again captured by the Mongols from a Nizari force under Shams al-Din Muhammad.
The Americas
- A severe 23-year drought begins to affect the Grand Canyon area, eventually forcing the agriculture-dependent Puebloans to migrate out of the region.
By topic
Cities and towns
- March 9 - Augsburg is granted the status of a free imperial city. Later this year, Ravensburg also receives the status.
Culture
- Merton College, Oxford, is first recorded as having a collection of books, making its Library the world's oldest in continuous daily use.
Economy
- Henry of Ghent becomes the last major theologian openly to consider annuities as a usurious contract. The end of the debate allows for the expansion of the budding practice of renten emission, to become a staple of public finance in northwestern Europe.
Religion
- January 10 - Pope Gregory X dies after a 4-year pontificate at Arezzo. He is succeeded by Innocent V as the 185th pope of the Catholic Church.
- June 22 - Innocent V dies after a 5-month reign at Rome. He is succeeded by Adrian V as the 186th pope of the Catholic Church.
- August 18 - Adrian V dies after a 2-month reign at Viterbo. He is succeeded by John XXI as the 187th pope of Rome.
- The foundation stone of the Minoritenkirche in Vienna is laid by Ottokar II.