Summer – A German expeditionary force under Emperor
Frederick II invades the
Romagna and
Tuscany, hoping to capture
Rome. He appoints his 21-year-old son,
Enzo of Sardinia, as imperial
vicar general for Northern
Italy. Frederick also threatens with war against
Venice, who has sent ships to blockade the harbors on
Sicily. In order to finance his growing need for arms, he institutes an administrative reorganization of the
Holy Roman Empire (among others, the formation of 10 vice regencies in Italy).
Autumn – King
Béla IV allows some 40,000
Cumans, pagan nomads fleeing the Mongols, to settle in
Hungary between the rivers
Danube and
Theiss, after their leader,
Köten, has promised to convert to
Christianity.
November 2 – A expeditionary force (some 4,000 knights) under Theobald I sets out from Acre for the Egyptian frontier, detachments from the military orders and several local barons accompany the Crusaders. While marching to
Jaffa, a Crusader column led by
Peter of Brittany and his lieutenant
Raoul de Soissons with two hundred knights, lays an ambush and attacks a rich Muslim caravan.[3]
November 12 – Sultan
as-Salih Ayyub sends an Ayyubid army to
Gaza to protect the Egyptian border. At nightfall,
Henry of Bar, jealous of the successful ambush of Peter of Brittany, decides to march out towards Gaza with a Crusader force (some 500 knights and 1,000 soldiers). Although warned by Theobald I, Henry orders to set up camp in a flat terrain surrounded by sand dunes near Gaza.[4]
November 13 –
Battle of Gaza: The Crusader army led by Henry of Bar is defeated by the Egyptians near Gaza. More than a thousand men are slaughtered, including Henry himself. Six hundred more are captured and carried off to Egypt. Among them are
Amaury VI de Montfort and
Philippe de Nanteuil – who, in the dungeons of
Cairo, writes a
Crusade song about the failure of the expedition.[5]
December 7 – Ayyubid forces under
An-Nasir Dawud march on
Jerusalem, which is largely undefended. The garrison of the city surrenders to Dawud, after accepting his offer for a safe-conduct to Acre. Dawud destroys Jerusalem's fortifications, including the
Tower of David. Meanwhile, Theobald I (losing many men underway) moves with the remnants of the Crusader army northward to Acre.[6]
October 18 –
Sack of Chernigov: The Mongols led by Batu Khan attack
Chernigov, the garrison rallied outside the walls to face the Mongols in a pitched battle. Prince
Mstislav III Glebovich comes to help with his troops, they are slaughtered by Mongol
catapults. The city is pillaged as are the towns in the surrounding countryside.
March 20 – Gregory IX renews the excommunication of Frederick II, while he is at his court in
Padua. Frederick responds by expelling the
Franciscans and
Dominicans from
Lombardy.[7]
^Painter, Sidney (1969). The Crusade of Theobald of Champagne and Richard of Cornwall, 1239–1241, p. 472. Robert Lee Wolff; Harry W. Hazard (eds.). A History of the Crusades, Volume II: The Later Crusades, 1189–1311, pp. 463–86. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.