1254
Great Interregnum begins in the Holy Roman Empire
With the Hohenstaufen line collapsing, the electors could agree on no legitimate king of the Romans. Germany entered nearly two decades without an effective emperor as princes carved out independent jurisdictions and towns bought their liberties. Robber knights flourished. The vacuum allowed the territorial princes to consolidate the fragmented sovereignty that would define German politics until Bismarck finally unified the nation six centuries later.
Almohad Caliphate collapses in Morocco
The once-mighty Almohad dynasty, which had ruled from the Atlas Mountains to the Ebro, lost its last territories to the Marinid Berbers. Their austere theology and geometric architecture survived them, but the dream of a unified North African empire under Berber rule died in the streets of Marrakesh. The great Koutoubia mosque and its minaret, the dynasty's most enduring monument, still dominates the Marrakesh skyline.
Marco Polo born in Venice
Into a merchant family already trading in the Black Sea, the boy who would grow up to narrate the Mongol empire to Europe was born on the lagoon. His father and uncle were away in Bukhara; the child would not meet them until he was fifteen. When they finally returned, they brought a letter from Kublai Khan and a plan that would change the young man's life forever.
Treaty of Corbeil settles French and Aragonese borders
Louis IX and James I of Aragon renounced each other's historic claims in the former Marca Hispanica, effectively setting the Franco-Aragonese border in the Pyrenees. The treaty ended residual Carolingian claims and gave Catalonia a stable northern frontier. The agreement was characteristic of Louis's preference for negotiated settlements over military adventures, a trait that earned him the respect of even his rivals.