1271
Year 1271 was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar.
Events
By place
Europe
- July 2 - Peace of Pressburg: Kings Ottokar II and Stephen V sign a peace agreement at Pressburg, settling territorial claims, following the failed invasion of Hungary by Ottokar in April. In the agreement, Stephen promises not to support Ottokar's opponents in Carinthia, and Ottokar renounces the castles he and his partisans occupy in Hungary.
- August 21 - The counties of Poitou and Toulouse are absorbed into the French domains following the death of Alphonse, Count of Poitiers, son of the late King Louis VIII of France.
- Construction of the Tower of Kamyenyets in Belarus begins. Later, it becomes a frontier stronghold on the northern border of Volhynia.
- The 17-year-old Marco Polo departs from Venice with his father and uncle Niccolò and Maffeo Polo, to set off for Asia to meet the Mongolian emperor Kublai Khan at his court in Beijing, China. They sail across the Mediterranean Sea and travel overland, crossing Armenia, Persia and the Pamir Mountains.
Levant
- February - Mamluk forces led by Sultan Baibars continue their territorial expansion in western Syria and appear before Safita Castle built by the Knights Templar. After a heroic defense, the small garrison is advised by Grand Master Thomas Bérard to surrender. The survivors are allowed to withdraw to Tortosa.
- April 8 - Siege of Krak des Chevaliers: Mamluk forces under Baibars capture the strategically important castle Krak des Chevaliers from the Knights Hospitaller. During the siege the defenders receive a letter, supposedly from Grand Master Hugues de Revel, to surrender the castle. Under safe-conduct the Hospitallers retreat to Tripoli.
- May-June - Baibars conducts an unsuccessful siege of Tripoli, and also fails in an attempted naval invasion of Cyprus. He sends an Egyptian fleet to Limassol, while King Hugh III of Cyprus has left for Acre. Due to bad weather and seamanship, 11 ships run aground and the crews fall into the hands of the Cypriots.
- May 9 - English prince the Lord Edward and King Charles I of Anjou arrive in Acre, with a fleet of 30 galleys, starting Lord Edward's crusade against Baibars. During this crusade they are unable to capture any territory and peace is quickly negotiated with the Mamluk Sultanate. Baibars consolidates his occupation in Syria.
- October - Abaqa Khan, Mongol ruler of the Ilkhanate, detaches some 10,000 horsemen from Anatolia to support the Lord Edward in his war against Baibars. They invade Syria and defeat Mamluk forces who protect the region around Aleppo. The Mongols plunder the cities of Maarat al-Numan and Apamea.
Asia
- September 12 - Nichiren, Japanese Buddhist priest, is arrested by a band of soldiers and nearly beheaded. This incident, known as Hosshaku Kenpon or "casting off the transient and revealing the true," is regarded as a turning point of Nichiren's teachings within the various schools, known as Nichiren Buddhism.
- December 18 - Kublai Khan renames his empire "Great Yuan", officially marking the start of the Yuan dynasty in China.
- The Nakhi Kingdom, of the northern Himalayan foothills, is annexed by the Yuan dynasty.
By topic
Religion
- September 1 - Pope Gregory X succeeds the late Clement IV as the 184th pope of the Catholic Church, as the compromise candidate between French and Italian cardinals, ending a three-year conclave, the longest ever.