1259

Year 1259 (MCCLIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.

1259 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	1259 MCCLIX
Ab urbe condita	2012
Armenian calendar	708 ԹՎ ՉԸ
Assyrian calendar	6009
Balinese saka calendar	1180–1181
Bengali calendar	665–666
Berber calendar	2209
English Regnal year	43 Hen. 3 – 44 Hen. 3
Buddhist calendar	1803
Burmese calendar	621
Byzantine calendar	6767–6768
Chinese calendar	戊午年 (Earth Horse) 3956 or 3749     — to — 己未年 (Earth Goat) 3957 or 3750
Coptic calendar	975–976
Discordian calendar	2425
Ethiopian calendar	1251–1252
Hebrew calendar	5019–5020
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1315–1316
- Shaka Samvat	1180–1181
- Kali Yuga	4359–4360
Holocene calendar	11259
Igbo calendar	259–260
Iranian calendar	637–638
Islamic calendar	656–658
Japanese calendar	Shōka (era) 3 / Shōgen 1 (正元元年)
Javanese calendar	1168–1169
Julian calendar	1259 MCCLIX
Korean calendar	3592
Minguo calendar	653 before ROC 民前653年
Nanakshahi calendar	−209
Thai solar calendar	1801–1802
Tibetan calendar	阳土马年 (male Earth-Horse) 1385 or 1004 or 232     — to — 阴土羊年 (female Earth-Goat) 1386 or 1005 or 233

Portion of a fresco of the Boyana Church, completed this year.

Events

By place

Europe

• September – Battle of Pelagonia: The Empire of Nicaea defeats the Principality of Achaea, ensuring the eventual reconquest of Constantinople in 1261.^[1][2]
• December 4 – Kings Louis IX of France and Henry III of England agree to the Treaty of Paris, in which Henry renounces his claims to French-controlled territory on continental Europe (including Normandy), in exchange for Louis withdrawing his support for English rebels.^[3]
• The famous frescoes of the Boyana Church in Bulgaria are completed (the church and its murals are now a UNESCO World Heritage Site).^[4]
• The German cities of Lübeck, Wismar, and Rostock enter into a pact to defend against pirates of the Baltic Sea, laying the groundwork for the Hanseatic League.^[5]
• Nogai Khan leads the second Mongol Golden Horde attack against Lithuania, and Poland.^[6]
• Epirote–Nicaean conflict.^[7]

Asia

• August 11 – While conducting a siege against the Song dynasty city known as Fishing Town in the province of Chongqing, China, the Mongol Great Khan, Möngke Khan, dies in the nearby hills. Persian, Chinese, and Mongol records have different accounts of how he died, including succumbing to an arrow wound received by a Chinese archer in the siege, dysentery, and even a cholera epidemic. His death sparks a succession crisis in the Mongol Empire, while his brothers Ariq Böke and Kublai soon convene their own kurultai to elect themselves as the next Khan of Khans, opening the path to a four–year-long Toluid Civil War from 1260 to 1264. In the end, Ariq Böke surrenders to Kublai.^[8][9]
• While engaged in a war with the Mongols, the Song Chinese official Li Zengbo writes in his Kozhai Zagao, Xugaohou that the city of Qingzhou is manufacturing one to two thousand strong iron-cased gunpowder bomb shells a month, dispatching to Xiangyang and Yingzhou about ten to twenty thousand such bombs at a time.^[10]
• Lannathai, a kingdom in the north of Thailand, is founded by King Mangrai.^[11][12]
• The Goryeo Kingdom in Korea surrenders to invading Mongol forces.^[13]
• The Chinese era Kaiqing begins and ends, in the Northern Song dynasty of China.^[14]
• The Japanese Shōka era ends, and the Shōgen era begins.^[15][16]

Births

• February 25 – Infanta Branca of Portugal, daughter of King Afonso III of Portugal and Urraca of Castile (d. 1321)^[17][18]
• March 25 – Andronikos II Palaiologos, Byzantine emperor (d. 1332)^[19]
• Pietro Cavallini, Italian painter (d. 1330)^[20][21]
• Demetre II of Georgia (d. 1289)^[22][23]
• Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster (d. 1326)^[24]

Deaths

• January – Matilda II, Countess of Boulogne, ruler of Boulogne, queen consort of Portugal (b. 1202)^[25]
• February 7 – Thomas, Count of Flanders^[26][27]
• May 29 – King Christopher I of Denmark (b. 1219)^[28][29]
• July 21 – Gojong of Goryeo^[30]
• August 11 – Möngke Khan of the Mongol Empire^[8]
• October 7 – Ezzelino III da Romano, Italian ruler^[31]
• November 18 – Adam Marsh, English scholar and theologian^[32][33]
• date unknown – Matthew Paris, English chronicler^[34]