Middle Ages
Great Buddha of Kamakura: The Bronze Amida Buddha (1252)
The bronze statue was completed in the 13th century and has stood in the open air since its hall was lost in the 14th and 15th centuries; it is a National Treasure of Japan.
Era · c. 500 – 1500
Middle Ages
Kingdoms, crusades and plagues: the medieval world from the end of the Western Roman Empire to the fall of Constantinople.
Middle Ages
William of Rubruck's Journey to the Mongol Court (1253-1255)
Rubruck reached Möngke's court and returned with a detailed eyewitness report, but no alliance or mission resulted.
Middle Ages
Mindaugas (1253): Lithuania's First and Only Crowned King
Mindaugas became the first and only crowned King of Lithuania, but his kingdom did not survive his murder in 1263 and the country returned to paganism.
Middle Ages
Xanadu (Shangdu): Kublai Khan's Summer Capital (1256)
Shangdu served as the Yuan dynasty's summer capital for about a century before being burned in 1358; its ruins are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Middle Ages
Ilkhanate: Hulagu Khan's Mongol Realm in Persia (1256)
A Mongol dynasty ruled Iran and Iraq for about eighty years, converted to Islam in 1295 and broke apart after 1335.
Middle Ages
Siege of Baghdad (1258): Mongols End the Abbasid Caliphate
Mongol victory; Baghdad was sacked, the caliph executed and the Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad ended.
Middle Ages
Mongol Invasions of Dai Viet (1258-1288): Tran Hung Dao
All three Mongol-Yuan invasions were repelled; Dai Viet kept its independence while sending nominal tribute to the Yuan court.
Middle Ages
Boyana Church Frescoes (1259): A Medieval Bulgarian Masterpiece
The 1259 murals survived largely intact and the church was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1979.
Middle Ages
Baybars: Mamluk Sultan and Conqueror of Crusader Castles
Baybars consolidated the Mamluk Sultanate, took many crusader strongholds and held the Mongols at the Euphrates.
Middle Ages
Battle of Ain Jalut (1260): Mamluks Halt the Mongol Advance
Decisive Mamluk victory; the Mongol commander Kitbuqa was killed and Mongol rule in Syria collapsed.
Middle Ages
Toluid Civil War (1260-1264): Kublai Khan Versus Ariq Böke
Kublai won and Ariq Böke surrendered in 1264, but the Mongol Empire split into rival khanates that never again acted as one.
Middle Ages
Battle of Montaperti (1260): Guelphs and Ghibellines at War
Decisive Sienese and Ghibelline victory; the Florentine Guelphs fled into exile and Ghibellines took control of Florence until 1266–1267.