1258

For broader historical context, see 13th century.

Events

February 10 - The Hulagu Khan's Mongol forces overrun Baghdad, then the leading center of Islamic culture and learning, burning it to the ground and killing as many as 800,000 citizens.

Llywelyn the Last declares himself Prince of Wales. He is the final ruler of an independent Wales, before its conquest by the English.

King Henry III of England is forced by seven powerful barons to accept the Provisions of Oxford, effectively ending the absolute monarchy in England by requiring the calling of a parliament.

The Chinese era Baoyou ends in the Northern Song Dynasty of China.

Civil unrest in northern Italy spawns the medieval musical form of Geisslerlieder, penitential songs sung by wandering bands of Flagellants.

Births

Osman I, founder of the Ottoman Empire

Deaths

January or February - Count Meinhard I of Gorizia-Tyrol

February 20 - Al-Musta'sim, Abbasid Caliph

August - Theodore II Lascaris, Byzantine Emperor

Theodore II Lascaris, emperor of Nicaea

Adam Marsh, English Franciscan, scholar, and theologian

Hong Bok-won, Korean turncoat and an administrator for the Mongol Empire

Reginald de Cobham, 1st Baron Cobham

See also

List of state leaders in 1258