Year 1245 (MCCXLV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar.

Events

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By place

Europe

• Winter Siege of Jaén: Castilian forces under King Ferdinand III ("the Saint") besiege the Moorish-held city of Jaén. During the siege Moorish knights sally out and manage to capture a Castilian supply caravan. Meanwhile, Ferdinand tries to launch attacks on the various city gates, but all are ineffective.

• In witness of the toll taken by war and fiscal pressure in the Kingdom of Castile, the region of Segovia is described this year as depopulated and sterile.

England

• King Henry III starts the work of rebuilding Westminster Abbey, as a tribute to Edward the Confessor.

Levant

• April Egyptian forces under As-Salih Ayyub besiege the city of Damascus. After six months, As-Salih Ismail, ruler of Damascus, surrenders to Ayyub in return for a vassal-principality, consisting of Baalbek and the Hauran. Ayyub is awarded the title of sultan by Caliph Al-Musta'sim in Baghdad.

By topic

Religion

• February 21 Thomas, bishop of Turku (modern Finland), is granted resignation by Pope Innocent IV. He admits to committing several felonies, such as torturing and forging a papal letter.

• April 16 Innocent IV sends Giovanni da Pian del Carpine (accompanied by Stephen of Bohemia) to the Mongol court at Karakorum, suggesting that the Mongols convert to Christianity.

• June 28 First Council of Lyon: In a general church council held at Lyon, Innocent IV declares Emperor Frederick II excommunicated and deposed. He proclaims the Seventh Crusade.

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Births

• January 16 Edmund Crouchback, son of Henry III (d. 1296)

• May 1 Philip III (the Bold), king of France (d. 1285)

• November 14 Sang Sapurba, Indonesian ruler (d. 1316)

• Antony Bek (or Beck), English bishop and patriarch (d. 1311)

• Araniko (or Anige), Nepalese architect and painter (d. 1306)

• Eric of Brandenburg, archbishop of Magdeburg (d. 1295)

• Fujiwara no Saneko, Japanese empress consort (d. 1272)

• Giovanna da Signa, Italian miracle worker and saint (d. 1307)

• Kikuchi Takefusa, Japanese nobleman and samurai (d. 1285)

• Kunigunda of Halych, queen consort of Bohemia (d. 1285)

• Ma Duanlin, Chinese encyclopaedist and politician (d. 1322)

• Nichirō, Japanese Buddhist disciple and scholar (d. 1320)

• Rinaldo da Concorezzo, Italian priest and archbishop (d. 1321)

• Roger Bigod, English nobleman and Lord Marshal (d. 1306)

• Thomas de Berkeley (the Wise), English nobleman (d. 1321)

• Yahballaha III, patriarch of the Church of the East (d. 1317)

• Ziemomysł of Kuyavia, Polish ruler of Bydgoszcz (d. 1287)

Deaths

• January 27 Ralph of Maidstone, bishop of Hereford

• January 28 Giovanni Colonna, Italian cardinal (b. 1170)

• February 8 John of la Rochelle, French theologian (b. 1200)

• February 15 Baldwin de Redvers, English nobleman (b. 1217)

• March 22 Roger I of Fézensaguet, French nobleman (b. 1190)

• July 22 Kolbeinn ungi Arnórsson, Icelandic chieftain (b. 1208)

• August 19 Ramon Berenguer IV, Spanish nobleman (b. 1198)

• August 21 Alexander of Hales, English theologian (b. 1185)

• November 27 Walter Marshal, English nobleman (b. 1209)

• December 4 Christian of Oliva, bishop of Prussia (b. 1180)

• Adam of Harcarse, Scottish Cistercian priest and abbot

• Beatrice d'Este, queen consort of Hungary (b. 1215)

• Cletus Bél, Hungarian prelate, bishop and chancellor

• Diya al-Din al-Maqdisi, Syrian scholar and writer (b. 1173)

• Fujiwara no Tadataka, Japanese regent and monk (b. 1163)

• Guillaume le Vinier, French composer and poet (b. 1190)

• Ibn al-Salah, Syrian scholar, imam and writer (b. 1181)

• Isabel de Bolebec, English noblewoman and co-heiress

• Rusudan of Georgia, queen consort of Georgia (b. 1194)

References