1285

By place

Europe

• Aragonese Crusade: French forces led by King Philip III entrench before Girona, in an attempt to besiege the city. Despite strong resistance, the city is eventually taken on September 7. Philip's son, the 15-year-old Charles of Valois, is crowned as king of Aragon but without an actual crown. Shortly after, the French camp is racked by an epidemic of dysentery and Philip is forced to retreat.
• April - Marinid forces under Sultan Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd al-Haqq cross the straits from Alcácer Seguir to Tarifa. From there they advance to Jerez de la Frontera, where they besiege the city. Marinids detachments are dispatched to devastate a broad area from Medina-Sidonia to Carmona, Vejer de la Frontera, Écija and Seville, cutting down trees, orchards, and vineyards, destroying villages, and killing or capturing many inhabitants.
• May - King Sancho IV assembles his army at Seville and sends the Castilian fleet led by Admiral Benedetto I Zaccaria to blockade the mouth of the Guadalquivir River. Meanwhile, a Marinid detachment of 1,000 cavalry moves against Seville, routing the Castilians send out to oppose them. Turning eastward against Carmona and Alcalá de Guadaíra, the Marinids burn the suburbs, harvest and ruin orchards.
• May 22 - Marinid forces under Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd al-Haqq prolong their siege at Jerez de la Frontera. He sends his son Abu Yaqub Yusuf an-Nasr with 5,000 regulars, 2,000 cavalry, some 13,000 infantry and 2,000 archers to raid Seville and its environs on June 1. During June and early July, the Marinids assault daily Jerez while raiding parties pillage the countryside at Carmona, Niebla, Écija, Seville and Sanlúcar de Barrameda.
• August - Castilian forces led by Sancho IV march against the Marinids at Jerez de la Frontera. Meanwhile, Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd al-Haqq with his army of 18,000 cavalry and faced with dwindling supplies, decides to lift the siege after five months, on August 2. He withdraws his army to the safety of Algeciras and opens negotiations with Sancho while the Castilian fleet arrives at El Puerto de Santa Maria.
• September 4 - Battle of Les Formigues: An Aragonese-Sicilian fleet under Admiral Roger of Lauria defeats French and Genoese ships near the Formigues Islands. According to Johan Esteve de Bezers, a French troubadour, all prisoners but one have their eyes gouged out, and that one is left with one eye to guide the others. After the battle, Roger captures about 15 to 20 French galleys, and others are sunk or burnt.
• October 1 - Battle of the Col de Panissars: Aragonese forces under King Peter III ambush and defeat a French expeditionary army while it was retreating over the Pyrenees. The French troops are massacred by the Aragonese vanguard at the Panissar Pass, but spared the royal family. Philip III arrives with his fatigued remnants in Perpignan, where he dies of dysentery on October 5.
• November 2 - Peter III dies after a 9-year reign at Vilafranca del Penedès. He is succeeded by his 20-year-old son Alfonso III, who becomes king of Aragon. Peter's other son James II, is crowned ruler of Sicily. His third son, the 13-year-old Frederick, becomes co-ruler and regent of Sicily.
• Winter - The Mongol Golden Horde led by Nogai Khan and Talabuga attacks Hungary for the second time. They successfully subdue Slovakia and sack territory north of the Carpathian Mountains.

England

• The Second Statute of Westminster is accepted in parliament, reforming various laws; it includes the clause de donis conditionalibus, considered one of the fundamental institutes of medieval law.
• The writ Circumspecte Agatis, issued by King Edward I, defines the jurisdictions of church and state, thereby limiting the church's judicial powers to ecclesiastical cases only.

Levant

• April 17 - Mamluk forces under Sultan Qalawun appear with specially built war engines before the Crusader fortress of Margat and begin a siege. For a month, the Mamluks can make no progress and the assaults on the stronghold are repelled. Qalawun then invites a delegation of Knights Hospitaller to come and see the damage his engineers have done to the 'impregnable' fortifications. They understood they have no real choice and are forced to surrender on May 25. The Hospitallers are allowed to retire with all their possessions, on horseback and fully armed. The rest of the garrison is promised a safe-conduct to Tortosa – while Qalawun establishes a Mamluk garrison which he uses as a basis for further campaigns against the Crusader States.

Asia

• June 24 - Battle of Chương Dương: Joint forces of Champa and Đại Việt defeat the Mongol-led Yuan fleet on the Red River. Most of the Yuan warships are burned during the battle, and the Mongol army retreats to China in late June. The Vietnamese royal court returns to the capital in Thang Long following a six-month conflict.

By topic

Art and Culture

• The English romantic poem The Lay of Havelok the Dane is written.

Markets

• The first record is made of an emission of life annuities, by the city of Lübeck. It is the first instance of issue of public debt in Germany, and it confirms a trend of consolidation of local public debt over north-western Europe.
• The County of Champagne is integrated into the kingdom of France; the region loses its haven characteristics for foreign merchants, and the Fairs of Troyes quickly dwindle into economic insignificance.

Religion

• January 6 - Archbishop Jakub Świnka organizes a synod in Łęczyca. During the meeting, he orders all priests who are subject to his bishopric to deliver their sermons in Polish rather than German. This further unifies the Catholic Church in Poland and fosters a national identity.
• March 25 - Pope Martin IV dies after a 4-year pontificate in Perugia. He is succeeded by Honorius IV, who becomes the 190th pope of the Catholic Church.
• Council of Blachernae: The Eastern Orthodox Church repudiates the Union with the Catholic Church, declared in the Second Council of Lyon.
• The Mor Bar Sauma Monastery, one of the most important monasteries of the Syriac Orthodox Church, is destroyed. Though a monastic community remains, the patriarchal seat is moved to Sis.