1281

Political Events

Kublai Khan sends a second invasion fleet to conquer Japan. 42,000 Mongol troops from Korea arrive in Kyushu in May and are joined in July by 100,000 more from southern China, but the Japanese are saved by the elements as they were in 1274. A typhoon destroys most of the Mongol invasion fleet July 29, more than 2,000 of the invaders are taken prisoner, scarcely one-fifth of the Mongols and Koreans survive, and the Japanese begin calling typhoons kamikaze (divine winds).

The Golden Horde's Khan Mangu Temir dies at Astrakhan.

Religion

The late Pope Nicholas III is succeeded February 22 by the French-born Simon Cardinal de Brion (or Brie), who is crowned at Orvieto March 23 and promptly reverses the policy of his predecessor by restoring Charles d'Anjou, king of Sicily, as a Roman senator (but see Sicilian Vespers, 1282). The new pope has been Charles's candidate for the papal throne and will reign until 1285 as Martin IV.

Food Availability

Kublai Khan employs imperial inspectors to examine the crops each year with a view to buying up surpluses for storage against possible famine.

1281 1282 1283 1284 1285 1286 1287 1288 1289 1290