Directory

1302 CE

In Egypt, Al-Mustakfi I becomes the new Muslim Abbasid Caliph of Cairo, leader of Islam within the Mamluk Sultanate, upon the death of his father, the Caliph Al-Hakim I. Roger de Flor, Italian military adventurer and knight (condottiere), founds the Catalan Company group of mercenaries, with soldiers (Almogavars) jobless after the Treaty of Caltabellotta. Theobald II of the House of Metz becomes the new Duke of Lorraine within the Holy Roman Empire after the death of his father, Frederick III.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 26 – At the suggestion of France, and pursuant to the treaty signed between England and France at Asnières, King Edward I of England ("Edward Longshanks") and the Scottish nobles led by Robert the Bruce agree to a nine-month peace treaty at Linlithgow, to last until St. Andrew's Day, November 30, 1302.source
  • June 12 – The Baltic Sea town of Wesenberg in Danish Estonia (modern-day Rakvere) receives municipal self-government under the Hanseatic League doctrine of Lübeck law.source
  • August 31 – The Peace of Caltabellotta is signed between King Charles the Lame, King of Naples and King Frederick III of Sicily, ending the War of the Sicilian Vespers. The Kingdom of Sicily will pass to Angevin rule on Frederick's death, in return Charles pays a tribute of some 100,000 ounces of gold. Frederick hands over all his possessions in Calabria and releases Charles' son Philip I, prince of Taranto, from his prison in Cefalù.source
  • September – Roger de Flor, Italian military adventurer and knight (condottiere), founds the Catalan Company group of mercenaries, with soldiers (Almogavars) jobless after the Treaty of Caltabellotta.source

Conflict & Security

  • May 18 – Flemish militia kill 2,000 French soldiers in the course of the Matins of Bruges, after Pieter de Coninck and Jan Breydel call on soldiers to kill all of the French occupiers of the city in Flanders. The French Governor of Flanders, Jacques de Châtillon, escapes with a handful of soldiers while disguised as a priest. He arrives in Paris to bring the news of the massacre to King Philip the Fair, who sends an army to capture the city.source
  • June 14 – Matteo I Visconti, Lord of Milan (Signore di Milano), the semi-independent Italian region within the Holy Roman Empire, is deposed by Guido della Torre, but will return in 1311.source
  • July 11 – The Battle of the Golden Spurs takes place as France retaliates against Flanders for the May 18 Matins of Bruges massacre. Flemish forces led by William of Jülich ("William the Younger") and Pieter de Coninck defeat the French army (some 9,000 men) at Kortrijk in Flanders. The cavalry charges of the French prove unable to defeat the untrained Flemish infantry militia, consisting mainly of members of the craft guilds. Many French nobles (some 500 knights) are killed, like the commander Robert II of Artois, and forced to retreat.source
  • July 27 – Battle of Bapheus: To counter the Turkish threat at Nicomedia, Emperor Andronikos II Palaiologos sends a Byzantine force (some 2,000 men) to cross over the Bosporus to relieve the city. On the plain, Turkish forces (some 5,000 light cavalry) led by Sultan Osman I defeat the Byzantines, who are forced to withdraw to Nicomedia. After the battle, Andronikos loses control of the countryside of Bithynia, withdrawing to the forts. Meanwhile, Turkish forces capture Byzantine settlements, such as the coastal city of Gemlik.source
  • August 5 – John Segrave is appointed to the custody of Berwick Castle, leaving him in charge with an English force of some 20,000 men. Robert, along with other nobles, gives his allegiance to Edward.source
  • September 3 (1 Muharram 702 AH) – At the start of the new Muslim year 702 AH, Mamluk Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad sends a fleet of 20 galleys) to Tripoli of Lebanon, where Mamluk forces led by Kahardash al-Zarraq al-Mansuri, begin a blockade and siege.source
  • October 4 – Andronikos II Palaiologos, Byzantine Emperor, signs a peace treaty with the Republic of Venice, ending the Byzantine–Venetian War (1296–1302). The Venetians return most of their conquests – but keep the islands of Kea, Santorini, Serifos and Amorgos – which are retained by the privateers who have captured them. Andronikos agrees to repay the Venetians for their losses sustained during the massacre of Venetian residents (see 1296).source
  • December 10 – The Inuigin Era (Kengen) begins in Japan during the reign after the coronation of Emperor Gonijo.source

Religion & Belief

  • February 10 – The papal bull Ausculta Fili is delivered to Philip the Fair, King of France, but Robert II, Count of Artois, snatches the document from Jacques de Normans, the emissary of Pope Boniface VIII and burns the paper in a fire.source
  • March 4 – After learning of the rejection of the papal bull by King Philip of France, Pope Boniface VIII sends Cardinal Jean Lemoine to inform King Philip of the Pope's plans for an ecclesiastical council to control the appointment of French clergy.source
  • April 10 – The first meeting of the Estates General in France is convened King Philip IV ("Philip the Fair") at the Notre-Dame in Paris. During the assembly, all three classes – the French nobles, clergy, and commons – discuss the conflict between Philip and Pope Boniface VIII over the papal legate, Bernard Saisset – who is accused to raise a rebellion of Occitan independence, associated with Navarre, under the banner of the County of Foix.source
  • April 12 – Ghazan of the Mongol Empire's Ilkhanate division sends a letter to Pope Boniface and announces preparations for a new campaign against the Mamluk Sultanate.source
  • November 18 – Boniface VIII issues the papal bull Unam sanctam, which asserts the superiority of the papacy's spiritual power over secular rulers.source
  • The Beijing Temple of Confucius is erected during the reign of Emperor Temür Khan (or "Chengzong") of the Chinese Yuan dynasty.source

Culture & Society

  • January 23 – King Ferdinand IV of the Spanish Kingdom of Castile, having recently reached the age of majority at age 16, marries 12-year-old Princess Constance, the only daughter of King Dinis of Portugal, in a ceremony at Valladolid.source
  • March – Robert the Bruce, the future King of Scotland marries as his second wife the 13-year-old Elizabeth de Burgh at Writtle in Essex. She is the daughter of Richard Óg de Burgh ("the Red Earl"), a powerful Irish nobleman and close friend of King Edward I of England.source
  • May 17 – At the age of 12, Eleanor of Anjou, daughter of King Charles II of Naples, marries King Frederick III of Sicily.source
  • December 2 – The coronation of Martha of Denmark, wife of Sweden's King Birger since 1298, as Queen consort of Sweden takes place in a ceremony at Söderköping.source

Births

  • November 30 – Andrew Corsini, Italian prelate and bishop (d. 1374)source
  • December 7 – Azzone Visconti, Italian nobleman and knight (d. 1339)source
  • Tai Situ Changchub Gyaltsen, Tibetan ruler and politician (d. 1364)source
  • Fang Congyi, Chinese Daoist priest and landscape painter (d. 1393)source
  • Shihabuddeen Ahmed Koya, Indian Grand Mufti and writer (d. 1374)source
  • Konoe Tsunetada, Japanese nobleman (kugyō) and regent (d. 1352)source
  • Hōjō Sadayuki, Japanese nobleman, governor and samurai (d. 1333)source

Deaths

  • January 2 – In Germany, Henry II becomes the ruler of the independent nation of Mecklenburg (encompassing the modern-day northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) upon the death of his father, Henry the Pilgrim. Henry II had served as regent from 1290 to 1298 during Henry the Pilgrim's pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and had continued most of the administration of Mecklenburg after the return of his 68-year-old father.source
  • January 19 – Al-Hakim I, Abbasid ruler (caliph) of Cairo (b. 1247)source
  • January 20 – In Egypt, Al-Mustakfi I becomes the new Muslim Abbasid Caliph of Cairo, leader of Islam within the Mamluk Sultanate, upon the death of his father, the Caliph Al-Hakim I.source
  • January 26 – Godfrey Giffard, English Lord Chancellor and bishopsource
  • February 19 – The Italian artist Cimabue completes construction of the image of John the Evangelist, a major portion of the mosaic Christ Enthroned, in the Pisa Cathedral, after 94 days. Cimabue dies shortly afterward, and the full mosaic will not be completed until 1320.source
  • March 3 – Upon the death of Roger-Bernard III, Count of Foix, who had founded the Co-principality of Andorra in 1278, Roger's son Count Gaston continues as the new French administrator on behalf of King Philip of France. The holder of the title Count of Foix will continue to be the French representative in Andorra, with almost 200 years of unbroken rule, until the death of Gaston IV in 1472.source
  • March 3 – Roger-Bernard III, Count of Foix, French nobleman and knight (b. 1243)source
  • April 8 (8 Shaban 701 AH) – Sultan Muhammad II dies after a 29-year reign and is succeeded by his son Muhammad III as ruler of Granada. Within two weeks of his accession, he sends a Nasrid army under Hammu ibn Abd al-Haqq to seize Bedmar and other neighboring strongholds from Castile. Nasrid forces also attack Jódar, northeast of Bedmar, and recapture Quesada. Meanwhile, Muhammad contains friendly relations with King James II ("James the Just").source
  • April 9 – Constance II of Sicily, queen and regent of Aragon (b. 1249)source
  • May 2 – Blanche of Artois, queen consort and regent of Navarre (b. 1248)source
  • July 11 (Battle of the Golden Spurs):source
  • November 17 – Gertrude the Great, German mystic (b. 1256)source
  • December 29 – Vitslav II, Prince of Rügen, Danish nobleman, knight and princesource
  • December 31 – Theobald II of the House of Metz becomes the new Duke of Lorraine within the Holy Roman Empire after the death of his father, Frederick III.source