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1258

Calendar year From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1258
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Year 1258 (MCCLVIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar.

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Mongols besiege the walls of Baghdad
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Events

By place

Mongol Empire

  • February 10 Siege of Baghdad: Mongol forces (some 150,000 men), led by Hulagu Khan, besiege and conquer Baghdad after a siege of 13 days. During the first week of February, the eastern walls begin to collapse, and the Mongols swarm into the city, on February 10. Caliph Al-Musta'sim surrenders himself to Hulagu – together with all the Abbasid chief officers and officials. They are ordered to lay down their arms, and are massacred. Hulagu imprisons Al-Musta'sim among his treasures, to starve him to death. Meanwhile, massacres continue throughout the whole city; in 40 days about 80,000 citizens are murdered. The only survivors are the ones who are hiding in cellars which are not discovered, and a number of attractive girls and boys who are kept to be slaves, and the Christian community, who take refuge in the churches which are left undisturbed, by the special orders of Hulagu's wife, Doquz Khatun.[1]
  • February 15 Hulagu Khan enters Baghdad, where many quarters of the city are ruined by fire. The House of Wisdom (or Great Library) is destroyed, numerous precious book collections are thrown into the Tigris River. Before the siege, about 400,000 manuscripts are rescued by Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Persian polymath and theologian, who takes them to Maragheh observatory (located in East Azerbaijan Province). The sack of Baghdad brings an end to the Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258) and the Islamic Golden Age. Many professors, physicians, scientists, clerics, artists and lecturers are also massacred.

Europe

British Isles

Levant

  • June 25 Battle of Acre: The Genoese send an armada (some 50 galleys) to relieve the blockade at Acre and ask for the assistance of Philip of Montfort, lord of Tyre, and the Knights Hospitaller for a combined attack from the land side. The Genoese fleet's arrival takes the Venetians by surprise but the superior experience and seamanship result in a crushing Venetian victory, with half the Genoese ships lost. Later, the Genoese garrison is forced to abandon Acre.[6][7]

Asia

  • Mongol invasions of Vietnam: Mongol forces (some 30,000 men) under Uriyangkhadai, son of Subutai, invade Vietnam. After many battles, the Vietnam army is routed and defeated. The senior leaders are able to escape on pre-prepared boats, while the remnants are destroyed on the banks of the Red River. The Mongols occupy the capital city, Thăng Long (modern-day Hanoi), and massacres the city's inhabitants, by the end of January.[8]

By topic

Global

Markets

  • The Republic of Genoa starts imposing forced loans, known as luoghi, onto its taxpayers; they are a common resource of medieval public finance.[10]

Religion

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Births

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Deaths

References

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