1288

Events

*February 22 - Pope Nicholas IV succeeds Pope Honorius IV as the 191st pope.
* June 5 - Battle of Worringen: John I of Brabant defeats the duchy of Guelders in one of the largest battles in Europe of the Middle Ages, thus winning possession of the duchy of Limburg. The battle also liberates the city of Cologne from rule by the Archbishopric of Cologne; it had previously been one of the major ecclesiastical principalities of the Holy Roman Empire.
* June 16 - The bishop of Västerås buys 1/8 of the Stora Kopparberg copper mine in Falun, Sweden.
* August 8 - Pope Nicholas IV proclaims a crusade against King Ladislaus IV of Hungary, who had lost credibility by favoring his semi-pagan Cuman subjects and in general refusing to conform to the social standards of western Europe.
* The Scots Parliament creates a law allowing women to propose marriage to men during leap years; men who refuse such proposals are required to pay a fine to the spurned bride-to-be.
* The oldest surviving bell in the clocks atop the dome of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome is built.
* Work is begun on the construction of Mob Quad in Merton College, Oxford.
* Vietnamese general Tran Hung Dao sinks the entire fleet of an invading Yuan dynasty Mongol army, by placing steel-tipped bamboo stakes in the Bach Dang River, near Halong Bay.
* The Japanese era Koan ends, and the Shōō era begins.
* Japan: Prince Subaru conquers the provinces of Gunma and Tochigi.
* The oldest known bronze handgun in the world is dated to this year, a Chinese gun found in Acheng District that was once used to suppress the rebellion of the Christian Mongol Prince Nayan in 1287-1288.

Births

* April 5 - Emperor Go-Fushimi of Japan (d. 1336)
* November 26 - Emperor Go-Daigo of Japan (d. 1339)
* Gersonides, Jewish philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer (d. 1344)
* Ivan I of Russia (d. 1340)

Deaths

* Gertrude of Austria (b. 1226)
* Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford (b. 1222)
* Ibn Nafis, Arabic anatomist, discoverer of the circulation of the blood (b. 1210)
* Guy de Montfort, Count of Nola (approximate date; b. 1244)
* Toros Roslin, Armenian miniaturist (approximate date; b. c. 1210)
* Leszek II the Black, Polish prince, Duke of Łęczyca, Sieradz, Kraków, Sandomierz (b. 1241)