1259

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political events

Denmark's Kristoffer I dies at age 40 (approximate) after a 7-year reign during a war against the prince of Rügen, who has attacked his country. Cooperation between church and crown has ended in Kristoffer's reign, the king having joined with the peasants in opposing demands by the archbishop Jackob Erlandsen for full extension of canon law. He has taken the archbishop prisoner, Denmark has been placed under an interdict, and the prince of Rügen has come to his aid with support from Erik, duke of South Jutland, and the count of Holstein. He is succeeded by his son, who will reign until 1286 as Erik V Kristofferson (Erik V Glipping).

The coalition of English barons that forced the Provisions of Oxford on Henry III last year begins to unravel in October as conservatives headed by Richard de Clare, 7th earl of Gloucester, have a falling out with more radical barons, headed by Simon de Montfort, earl of Leicester, who seek not only to limit Henry's abuse of royal power but also to bind all the barons to observe the same reforms (see 1260).

France's Louis IX yields Périgord and the Limousin to England in exchange for renunciation of English claims to Normandy, Maine, and Poitou (see Treaty of Corbeil, 1258). Under terms of the Treaty of Paris signed in December, England's Henry III regains feudal title to lands and reversionary rights in Guyenne.

China's Song (Sung) dynasty armies make the first known use of firearms that propel bullets. They repel a Mongol invasion with bullets fired from bamboo tubes.

The Mongol leader Möngke (Mungke, or Manga) Khan dies of fever in southwest China. A dispute arises as to who shall succeed him: his brother Kublai's claim has the support of his brother Hülegü (both favor moving into conquered countries and becoming the new ruling class), but their younger brother Arigböge (Ariböx, or Arikböge) follows the ideology of their great-grandfather, the late Genghis Khan, who believed that the "people of the felt-walled tents" should remain in the steppe, continue their warrior way of life, and receive tribute from the caravan trade, cities, and farms (see 1260).

commerce

The Hanseatic towns Lübeck, Rostock, and Wismar agree not to permit pirates or robbers to dispose of goods within their environs. Any city that violates the agreement is to be considered as guilty as the outlaw (see 1241; 1300).

England's Henry III grants commercial rights to merchants of Genoa.

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