1254

By place

Asia

• King Louis IX of France, having exhausted his funds and being needed at home, abandons the Seventh Crusade, and returns to France.
• The classic Japanese text Kokin Chomonjo is completed.
• The Mongols destroy the Kingdom of Dali, in modern Yunnan.
• The Mongols enslave 200,000 Koreans, and take them away.

  Europe

Northern Europe

• June 12 - The city of Alkmaar obtains city rights from the count of Holland, William II.
• November 1 - Edward Plantagenet marries Eleanor of Castile, at the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas, Burgos. His father Henry III has demanded the marriage, in exchange for ending the war with her brother Alfonso X of Castile.
• In England, an important step in the evolution of the Parliament and Peerage occurs, as lesser barons are replaced, on the King's Council, by elected representatives from shires and cities.
• Pope Innocent IV excommunicates Conrad IV of Germany and Rudolph I of Germany.
• The Danish city of Copenhagen receives its city charter.
• The Swedish city of Malmö is founded.
• Danylo of Halych, prince of Halych-Wolyn Rus, is crowned a king. The kingdom of Rus is founded.

  Southern Europe

• December 2 - Manfred of Sicily defeats the army of Pope Innocent IV, at Foggia.
• King Louis IX of France expels all Jews from France.
• King Afonso III of Portugal holds the first session of the Cortes, in Leiria.
• The Ghibelline town of Pistoia is taken over by Guelph Florence.
• The Horses of Saint Mark, once supposed to have adorned the Arch of Trajan in ancient Rome, are installed at Saint Mark's Basilica in Venice.
• Battle of Adrianople: The Byzantines defeat Bulgaria.

  By topic

Markets

• As part of an offensive against usury in north-western Europe, Pope Innocent IV relieves the city of Beauvais from its obligations to its creditors.

  Religion

• December 12 - Pope Alexander IV succeeds Pope Innocent IV, as the 181st pope.
• Construction is begun on the Cathedral of Saint Martin in Utrecht.
• The Catholic dogma of purgatory is clarified and so named, by the Catholic Church.