Llewellyn ap Iorwerth acquires such authority over other Welsh chieftains that he is informally referred to as the prince of Wales

Andrew II accepts the Golden Bull, a charter of liberties demanded by the nobles of Hungary

The Franciscans are formally established by Honorius III as Ordo Fratrum Minorum, the Order of the Friars Minor

The Teutonic knights undertake a new form of crusade, attempting to subdue the pagan Prussians who occupy part of the Baltic coast

Magna Carta is reissued slightly modified when Henry III comes of age; in the version which becomes enshrined in English law

The kingdom of Granada is established with a Berber noble, Muhammad I, as the first king

Gregory IX sends Dominican friars to root out the remains of the Catharist heresy in France, thus launching the Inquisition

Batu Khan and his Mongols sweep into Russia, where they and their descendants become known as the Golden Horde

Work begins on the Alhambra, the palace fortress of the Muslim kings of Granada

Haakon IV is the first ruler to build up a strong Norway, some two centuries after the region becomes a single kingdom

Alexander, a Russian prince, defeats a Swedish army on the frozen river Neva, thus winning his name Alexander Nevksy

Mongols of the Golden Horde defeat the Poles at Legnica and ravage the city of Cracow

Mongols of the Golden Horde reach Hungary, where they graze their horses for the summer before withdrawing to the Volga

Construction begins in Paris on the Sainte Chapelle, designed to house relics acquired by Louis IX, the king of France

The siege of the Catharist stronghold of Montségur ends when 200 heretics are herded into a wooden stockade and are burnt

Birger Jarl establishes a dynasty which brings all Sweden under a single rule

Tannhäuser is one of the Minnesinger, the German equivalents of the French troubadours

The Palio, in which horses race round the Campo in Siena, is held from this time

A school of translation is set up in Toledo, to translate classical Greek texts from the Arabic versions into Latin

France becomes the first kingdom to establish a permanent parliament when Louis IX reserves a chamber in his palace for quarterly sessions

Alexander Nevsky, appointed grand prince of Vladimir in 1252, thrives by collaborating with the Mongols of the Golden Horde

Construction begins of two basilicas, one above the other on a hillside in Assisi, in memory of St Francis

The death of the last Hohenstaufen ruler, Conrad IV, leaves a vacancy on the German throne which is not filled for nineteen years

The pope, eager to fill the vacant throne of Sicily, offers it to a son of Henry III of England but gets no firm response

Pope Alexander IV establishes a third order of preaching friars, the Augustinians