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Battle of Neopatras: Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos assembles a Byzantine expeditionary force (some 30,000 men), 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 ("Angelos"), 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.[1]
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 (Euboea) 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.[2]
Spring – King Edward I of England ("Longshanks") 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 (employed by Edward) 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.
Marinid forces take the city of Algiers, at this time independent.[8]
Asia
March – Mongol forces (some 200,000 men) under Bayan of the Baarin ("Hundred Eyes") 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.[9]
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 (or 'Xanadu'), 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' (possibly as a tax collector).[10]
In Ghent, the first instance is recorded of emission of life annuities by a town in the Low Countries; this event confirms a trend of consolidation of local public debt in northwestern Europe, initiated in 1218 by Reims.[13]
Ramon Llull, Spanish scholar and theologian, establishes a school in Majorca to teach Arabic to preachers, in an attempt to aid proselytizing to Moors. He also discovers diethyl ether.
^Fine, John Van Antwerp (1987). The Late medieval Balkans: A Critical Survey from the Late Twelfth Century to the Ottoman Conquest, p. 188. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08260-4.
^Geanakoplos, Deno John (1959). Emperor Michael Palaeologus and the West, 1258–1282: A Study in byzantine-Latin Relations, p. 284. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. OCLC1011763434.
^Joseph F. O'Callaghan (2011). The Gibraltar Crusade: Castile and the battle for the Strait, p. 65. ISBN 978-0-8122-2302-6.
^Joseph F. O'Callaghan (2011). The Gibraltar Crusade: Castile and the battle for the Strait, pp. 67–68. ISBN 978-0-8122-2302-6.
^Joseph F. O'Callaghan (2011). The Gibraltar Crusade: Castile and the battle for the Strait, p. 69. ISBN 978-0-8122-2302-6.
^Meynier, Gilbert (2010). L'Algérie cœr du Maghreb classique. De l'ouverture islamo-arabe au repli (658-1518). Paris: La Découverte. p. 158. ISBN 978-2-7071-5231-2.
^Tan Koon San (2014). Dynastic China: An Elementary History, p. 299. ISBN 978-983-9541-88-5.
^Bergreen, Laurence (2007). Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu, pp. 340–41. ISBN 978-0-307-26769-6.
^Wasserman, James (2001). The Templars and the Assassins: The Militia of Heaven, p. 115. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-59477-873-5.
^Virani, Shafique N.; Virani, Assistant Professor Departments of Historical Studies and the Study of Religion Shafique N. (2007). The Ismailis in the Middle Ages: A History of Survival, a Search for Salvation, p. 32. Oxford University Press, USA. ISBN 978-0-19-531173-0.
^Zuijderduijn, Jaco (2009). Medieval Capital Markets. Markets for renten, state formation and private investment in Holland (1300-1550). Leiden/Boston: Brill. ISBN 978-90-04-17565-5.
^Hywel Williams (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History, p. 147. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
^Jacques Gernet (1996). A History of Chinese Civilization, p. 376. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-49781-7.
