1257
Mount Samalas erupts catastrophically in Indonesia
The volcano on Lombok island exploded in what modern geologists have identified as one of the largest eruptions of the last ten thousand years. Its sulfur veil cooled the global climate, contributing to crop failures from England to Japan. Medieval chroniclers recorded dark skies and famine without knowing the cause.
Sorbonne founded in Paris
Robert de Sorbon, a chaplain of Louis IX, established a college for poor theology students near the Seine. From these rooms a college, and eventually an entire faculty, grew. For centuries its name would serve as shorthand for French theological authority. The Sorbonne's theologians would weigh in on every major doctrinal controversy from the Great Schism to the Enlightenment, their opinions carrying near-papal weight.
Mongols first invade Dai Viet
A Mongol tumen rode south from Yunnan into northern Vietnam. Tran Thai Tong's forces evacuated Thang Long, waited for the summer heat and disease to ravage the invaders, then counterattacked and drove the survivors back across the border. The formula would be used twice more. The Vietnamese strategy of trading space for time, then exploiting climate and terrain, became a template for resistance that endured for centuries.
Richard of Cornwall elected King of the Romans
The enormously wealthy younger brother of Henry III of England bought the votes of four German electors and was crowned King of the Romans at Aachen. He never achieved real authority in Germany. The Great Interregnum continued under a king who lived largely in England. His election demonstrated that the imperial title had become a commodity to be purchased rather than earned through military or dynastic power.
Richard of Cornwall's coronation at Aachen
The brother of Henry III was crowned King of the Romans inside the ancient cathedral of Aachen, seated on Charlemagne's throne. His German lords extracted enormous sums for their support and promptly ignored him once the ceremonies were over. The coronation's hollow pageantry underlined how far the Holy Roman Empire had fallen from the days when its emperor could command armies and dictate terms to popes.