1298
Marco Polo dictates his Travels in a Genoese prison
Captured at the naval battle of Curzola between Venice and Genoa, Polo shared a cell with the writer Rustichello of Pisa. Over months of boredom he narrated his adventures in Yuan China; Rustichello wrote them down in French-Italian. The book was instantly pirated and translated. Columbus would carry a heavily annotated copy on his voyage to the Americas two centuries later.
Rashid al-Din begins Jami al-Tawarikh
The Jewish-born Persian vizier of the Ilkhanate began compiling his Compendium of Chronicles, the first attempt at a genuinely universal history covering China, India, the Franks, and the Mongols in a single work. Illustrated with Chinese-influenced miniatures, it remains the most ambitious historical project of the medieval world. Rashid al-Din employed scholars from across Eurasia, including a Chinese physician who provided information on the history and customs of the Far East.
Edward I crushes Wallace at Falkirk
The English king, having returned from Flanders, hunted down the Scottish army and broke its schiltron formations with longbowmen. Wallace escaped but lost his credibility as a field commander. The war for Scottish independence would continue without him for another decade. The battle demonstrated the devastating effectiveness of the English longbow against massed infantry, a lesson that would be perfected at Crecy and Agincourt.
Venice and Genoa fight at Curzola
On a Sunday in September off the Dalmatian island of Curzola, a Genoese fleet shattered a Venetian one, capturing nearly seven thousand men, among them Marco Polo. Polo's imprisonment produced his Travels. The battle was a high point of Genoese sea power over Venice. The maritime war between the two republics would continue intermittently for another century before Venice finally gained the upper hand.