Information About

1281

EVENTS

Pope Martin IV authorizes the Ninth Crusade against the newly re-established Byzantine Empire in Constantinople ; French and Venetian expeditions set out toward Constantinople but are forced to turn back in the following year.

Middle East

October 29 - Mamluk sultan Qalawun defeats an invasion of Syria by Mongol Ilkhan Abaqa Khan at the 2nd Battle Of Homs .

Osman I , founder of the Ottoman Empire , becomes '' Bey '' of the Sögüt tribe in central Anatolia ; in 1299 he will declare independence from the Seljuk Turks , marking the birth of the Ottoman Empire.

An offensive by the Byzantine Empire significantly reduces the size of the Kingdom Of Albania , as it recaptures land seized from the Despotate Of Epirus by Charles I Of Sicily ten years earlier.

Asia

August 15 - The second Mongol Invasion Of Japan is foiled at the Battle Of Kouan (or Battle Of Kyushu ) as a large Typhoon — famously called a '' Kamikaze '', or divine wind — destroys much of the combined Chinese and Korea n fleet and forces, numbering over 140,000 men and 4,000 ships.

Kublai Khan orders the burning of sacred Taoist texts, resulting in the reduction in number of volumes of the Dao Zheng (Taoist Canon) from 4,565 to 1,120.

The Mon kingdom of Haripunchai falls as its capital Lamphun (in present-day Thailand ) is captured by King Mengrai 's Lannathai kingdom.

BIRTHS

Richard De Bury , English statesman (died 1345 )

Castruccio Castracani , duke of Lucca (died 1328 )

Yuri III Danilovich , Grand Prince of Russia (died 1325 )

Henry, 3rd Earl Of Lancaster (died 1345 )

Hamdollah Mostowfi , Ilkhanid Iranian historian (died 1349 )

Rudolph I Of Bohemia (died 1307 )

DEATHS

Ertuğrul , father of Osman I (born 1198 )

Traidenis , Grand Prince of Lithuania