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The Teutonic Knights invade Novgorod, whose leaders invite Aleksandr Nevski to return and help them repel the invaders (see 1240; religion, 1237). The late Pope Gregory IX encouraged the Knights to "Christianize" the Baltic region, but the Battle on Lake Peipus April 5 ends in a victory for Aleksandr, who stops the Knights in a savage struggle on the ice between Lake Piepus (Chud) and Lake Pskov in Livonia. The battle ends in a massacre; some of the Knights, laden with heavy armor, crash through the ice in their flight and are drowned, others are taken captive.
England's Henry III invades France to support feudal lords in the south who have rebelled against Louis IX, but Henry meets with defeat at Saintes in Poitevin and escapes death or capture largely through the help of his brother Richard, earl of Cornwall and Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, who have returned from their crusade in January after refortifying Ascalon and negotiating an advantageous treaty. Richard's prompt retreat at Saintes and subsequent diplomacy at Taillebourg save Henry; Aquitaine and Toulouse will soon submit to the French king, and the coalition of rebellious barons will collapse.
Hugh de Lacy, earl of Ulster, dies in Ulster December 26 at age 66, leaving no legitimate heirs. His earldom reverts to the crown.
The Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich II pays a short visit to his German realms that have been threatened earlier by the Mongols. He gains some support by granting extensive privileges to certain towns.
The Mongol and Turkic Golden Horde regroups at Sarai on the lower Volga under the command of Batu Khan (see 1240; 1243).
Il Statuto Veneto (or Il Statuto Giacomo Tiepolo) is promulgated for Venice under the rule of its doge Giacomo Tiepolo; it requires that a husband render to his wife an account of his use of her dowry, with control of the capital sum remaining in her hands; an unfaithful wife forfeits her dowry, a widow enjoys her husband's patrimony until she remarries or dies, and should a couple renounce secular life their combined property is shared equally, with each free to do what he or she likes with the money and with parents providing for any underaged children on an equal basis (year approximate).
Venice's Grand Doge Giacomo Tiepolo carries on naval and military expeditions while settling factional disputes; his wife, Valdrada, devotes her time to supporting trading companies (year approximate).
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