1275


Year 1275 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar.

Events

By place

Byzantine Empire

  • Battle of Neopatras: Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos assembles a Byzantine expeditionary force, mostly mercenaries from Bulgaria, Serbia and the Sultanate of Rum. He places these forces under his own brother, John Palaiologos, and General Alexios Kaballarios. Michael sends them against Thessaly, and is supported by the Byzantine navy led by Admiral Alexios Doukas Philanthropenos, who is ordered to attack the Latin principalities and prevent them from aiding John I, ruler of Thessaly. John is caught by surprise by the rapid advance of the Byzantine forces and is bottled up with a garrison in his capital of Neopatras, which the Byzantines proceed to lay siege. John manages to escape: he climbs down the walls of the fortress with a rope and walks through the Byzantine lines. After 3 days, John reaches Thebes, where he requests the aid of John I de la Roche, duke of Athens. He receives some 500 horsemen with whom he returns to Neopatras. Meanwhile, the Byzantine forces have been weakened, with several detachments sent off to capture other forts or plunder the region. The Byzantines panic under the sudden attack of a smaller but disciplined Latin force and breaks completely when a Cuman contingent switches sides. Despite John's attempt to rally his forces, they flee and scatter.
  • Battle of Demetrias: Michael VIII Palaiologos sends a Byzantine fleet led by Alexios Philanthropenos to harass the Latin coasts. A joint Latin fleet composed of Lombard and Venetian vessels from Negroponte and Venetian-held Crete, is variously given at 30 to 60 ships. The Latin fleet under Admiral Guglielmo II da Verona takes the Byzantines by surprise and their attack is so effective that they almost win. Their ships, on which high wooden towers have been erected, have the advantage, and many Byzantine seamen and soldiers are killed or drowned. Just as victory seem sure, Greek reinforcements arrive, led by John I. His arrival boosts the Byzantines' morale, and John's men, ferried on board the ships by small boats, begin to replenish their casualties and turn the tide. The Latin casualties are heavy, which also include Guglielmo. By nightfall, all but two Latin ships have been captured.

    Europe

  • May 13 - Marinid forces led by Sultan Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Abd al-Haqq land in Spain upon a call from Muhammad II, ruler of Granada. With a fleet of 20 ships organized at Ceuta, some 5,000 men are transported from Alcázar Seguir to Tarifa without meeting any significant Christian opposition. The Maranids raid as far as the towns of Vejer de la Frontera and Jerez.
  • June 14 - Battle of Hova: King Valdemar Birgersson of Sweden is defeated by his brother Magnus in the forest of Tiveden.
  • July 22 - Magnus deposes Valdemar and is elected new king of Sweden at the Stones of Mora.
  • September 8 - Battle of Écija: A Castilian army led by Nuño González de Lara is defeated by Marinid forces.
  • October 21 - Battle of Martos: A Castilian army under Sancho of Aragon is defeated by the Moors at Martos.
  • October 27 - Floris V, count of Holland, grants the city of Amsterdam freedom from taxes.
  • December 12 - Battle of Roccavione: Ghibelline forces defeat a Neapolitan army at Roccavione.

    British Isles

  • Spring - King Edward I of England demands a meeting with Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, prince of Wales, at Chester to pay homage, but Llywelyn refuses. In an attempt to stir up internal problems, Llywelyn seeks to marry 23-year-old Eleanor of Montfort, daughter of Simon de Montfort, but she is captured by English pirates on the journey from France to meet Llywelyn. She is held prisoner at Windsor Castle and used as a bargaining chip over the coming years in Edward's attempts to subjugate Llywelyn and Wales.
  • April 22 - The first Statute of Westminster, drawn up between Parliament and Edward I, defines the legal privileges that landowners are allowed. These are based on the investigations carried out in 1274 into the landowner's rights to own their land. Establishing a series of laws into 51 chapters, including equal treatment of rich and poor, free and fair elections, and definition of Bailable and non-bailable offenses.
  • September 11 - 1275 British earthquake: An earthquake strikes the south of Great Britain. The epicentre is unknown, although it may have been in the Portsmouth-Chichester area on the south coast of England or in Glamorgan, Wales.
  • October 8 - Battle of Ronaldsway: Scottish forces under John de Vesci defeat the Manx people of the Isle of Man in a decisive battle, firmly establishing Scottish rule of the island.
  • The first main survey of the Hundred Rolls, an English census seen as a follow-up to the Domesday Book completed in 1086, is finished; it began in 1274.

    Africa

  • Marinid forces take the city of Algiers, at this time independent.

    Asia

  • March - Mongol forces under Bayan of the Baarin defeat a Chinese army of 130,000 men led by the Song chancellor Jia Sidao on the Yangtze River. Sidao sends an emissary to Bayan to discuss a truce, but he declines to negotiate. Dowager Empress Xie Daoqing strips Sidao of his rank and titles, and he is later on her orders executed by one of his own guards as he is being sent to exile in Fujian.
  • The 21-year-old Marco Polo together with his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo Polo, arrives at Kublai Khan's opulent summer palace at Shangdu, after a 4-year journey. They present the "Great Khan" sacred oil from Jerusalem and letters from Pope Gregory X. Kublai takes Marco into his royal court and appoints him as a 'special envoy'.
  • The mountain fortress Alamut Castle is temporarily recaptured from the Mongols by a Nizari force under Shams al-Din Muhammad.
  • April - The Japanese era Bun'ei ends and the Kenji era begins during the reign of the 8-year-old Emperor Go-Uda.

    By topic

Art and Science