1281

Events

Europe

* Pope Martin IV succeeds Pope Nicholas III as the 189th pope.
* Pope Martin IV authorizes a Crusade against the newly re-established Byzantine Empire in Constantinople; French and Venetian expeditions set out toward Constantinople but are forced to turn back in the following year.

Middle East

* October 29 - Second Battle of Homs: Mamluk sultan Qalawun defeats an invasion of Syria by Mongol Ilkhan Abaqa Khan.
* Osman I, founder of the Ottoman Empire, becomes "bey" of the Sögüt tribe in central Anatolia; in 1299 he will declare independence from the Seljuk Turks, marking the birth of the Ottoman Empire.
* An offensive by the Byzantine Empire significantly reduces the size of the Kingdom of Albania, as it recaptures land seized from the Despotate of Epirus by Charles I of Sicily 10 years earlier.

Asia

* August 12 - Battle of Kōan (Hakata Bay): The second Mongol invasion of Japan is foiled, as a large typhoon — famously called a "kamikaze", or divine wind — destroys much of the combined Chinese and Korean fleet and forces, numbering over 140,000 men and 4,000 ships.
* Kublai Khan orders the burning of sacred Taoist texts, resulting in the reduction in number of volumes of the "Dao Zheng" (Taoist Canon) from 4,565 to 1,120.
* The Mon kingdom of Haripunchai falls as its capital Lamphun (in present-day Thailand) is captured by King Mengrai's Lannathai kingdom.

Births

* Richard De Bury, English statesman (d. 1345)
* Castruccio Castracani, duke of Lucca (d. 1328)
* Yuri III Danilovich, Grand Prince of Russia (d. 1325)
* Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster (d. 1345)
* Hamdollah Mostowfi, Ilkhanid Iranian historian (d. 1349)
* Rudolph I of Bohemia (d. 1307)

Deaths

* Ertuğrul, father of Osman I (b. 1198)
* Traidenis, Grand Prince of Lithuania