1286
Alexander III of Scotland dies
Riding in a storm to join his new queen, the Scottish king fell from his horse over a cliff near Kinghorn. His only heir was a three-year-old granddaughter in Norway. The succession crisis that followed would draw Edward I of England into Scottish politics with lasting consequences. The sudden death of a healthy king in his prime set in motion events that would lead to centuries of Anglo-Scottish conflict.
Arghun Khan seeks Christian alliance against Mamluks
The Mongol Ilkhan of Persia dispatched the Nestorian monk Rabban Bar Sauma to Rome, Paris, and Bordeaux, proposing a joint Mongol-Christian campaign to retake Jerusalem from the Mamluks. The European kings were polite but noncommittal. The last realistic chance for a Mongol-Crusader alliance against Islam evaporated in diplomatic pleasantries. Bar Sauma's account of his journey is a rare eastern perspective on medieval European courts.
Kublai Khan bans Mongol control of Confucian exams
After a protracted debate at court, Kublai allowed the reorganization of imperial examinations but reserved high posts for Mongols and Central Asians. Chinese literati were effectively shut out of top office, a grievance that would fester throughout the Yuan dynasty. The frustrated scholars turned to painting, poetry, and theater, producing some of the finest Chinese landscape art and the first great Chinese operas.
Norham Treaty negotiated
English and Scottish commissioners met at the Northumbrian border town of Norham to manage the Scottish succession after Alexander III's death. The meetings established the slippery precedent of English arbitration in Scottish affairs that would harden into Edward I's claim of overlordship. The legal arguments crafted at Norham would be cited for centuries by English jurists seeking to justify dominion over Scotland.