1242 (timeline)

Year **1242** (**MCCXLII**) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. It corresponded to the Byzantine years of 6750–6751 and the Islamic years of 639–640.

## Events

### Europe

#### Holy Roman Empire

* The War of the Three Ottos continues.
* Henry of Luxembourg marries Margaret of Andechs, uniting the domains of the Palatine, Arlon, Luxembourg, the County of Burgundy and the Duchy of Merania.
* Wenceslaus I of Bohemia successfully invades Austria and Bohemia.
* The Battle of Weimar takes place, resulting in Wittelsbach victory. Rudolf of Habsburg is captured and Otto V, King of the Germans, is killed. His son declares himself Otto VI, King of the Germans.

#### France

* A Norman host is defeated outside Caen by Louis IX of France, as they fail to retreat to Brittany, as had been ordered.
* Louis IX lays siege to a number of Norman castles in Maine, as Henry III wins the upper hand in Brittany.

#### British Isles

* Henry III defeats rebellious Pale lords in Kent and leads a march north, known as the "Chain of Dogs" for the resentment of the English nobility for their king.
* The Battle of the Border takes place, resulting in royalist victory over the rebels.
* Henry III marches on Galloway, forcing Devorguilla, Countess of Galloway, to flee to Ulster. Joan, Queen of Scotland, escapes Galloway custodianship alongside her youngest daughter Euphemia, with the support of Robert de Brus.
* 23 August – Henry III is crowned King of Scotland by the Archbishop of York at Scone, who is excommunicated by Pope Innocent IV. An agreement is reached with Dowager Queen Joan and English heir William is promised to one of her daughters. Henry III's brother Robert claims Galloway, marries Margaret de Quincy and is named regent of Scotland, but the Scottish nobility is left discontent.
* The English royal treasury is depleting rapidly.
* The Scottish lords petition for Roger de Quincy, regent appointed by Alexander II of Scotland, to replace Prince Robert as regent of Scotland. Henry III names Roger de Quincy as Lord Governor and recalls Robert and the English garrison to London.
* Henry III summons the clergy of England, Scotland and Ireland to a synod at York to discuss Innocent IV's pontificate and his excommunication of England.

#### Italy

* The Sack of Syracuse takes place. Catholic Crusaders under Frederick I of Sicily storm Syracuse and butcher the Muslims within. Hafsid Caliph Abu Zakariya Yahya is brutally executed.

#### Iberia

* The Battle of Lisbon takes place, resulting in Marinid victory. Sancho II of Portugal is taken captive. Peace is made and Portugal is forced to concede vast lands to the Marinids.
* Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence and regent of Aragon announces the betrothal of one of his daughters to Martin Alfonso, illegitimate brother of Enrique I of Castille's late wife and self-proclaimed rightful King of Galicia and León, at Enrique's expense. Enrique I proceeds to smash the crown of Galicia and León at a ceremony at Toledo, thereby abandoning his claims to those kingdoms.
* Martin I of León fails to repel the Nasrids.
* Enrique I marches against and conquers the Emirate of Valencia.

#### Scandinavia

* With the death of King Valdemar II of Denmark, Prince Abel, Duke of Holstein, usurps the throne. He is supported by his bastard half-brother Canute Helenson, Duke of Estonia, and opposed by his elder brother Eric, who names himself Eric IV, and younger brother Christopher, Count of Mecklemburg.
* Abel allies unpopularly himself with Eric I of Sweden, who is named Duke of Scania as a Danish vassal. Eric IV is slain in battle in Scania.
* Christopher declares himself King of Denmark and pledges his allegiance to Otto VI, King of the Germans, as a vassal of the Holy Roman Empire, in exchange for future support.
* The city of Lübeck and the county of Schauenberg rise in rebellion against Abel to rejoin the Holy Roman Empire. Abel divorces his Schauenberg wife and marries Judith of Saxony.

#### Eastern Europe

* Mindaugas I, Grand Duke of Lithuania, and Boleslaw V, High Duke of Poland, make peace. East Prussia is split in half, leaving neither satisfied.

#### Byzantium

* John III Doukas Vatatzes continues his campaign in Cilicia and advances into the kingdom, but the capital still eludes him.
* Turkish and Bulgarian border raids intesify as the war in Cilicia resumes indefinitely.

### Middle East

* The Battle of Banha takes place, resulting in a crushing Mamluk victory. The Crusader army is routed and the Kingdom of Egypt is reduced to Alexandria and Damietta.

### Northern Africa

* Following the victory at the Battle of Lisbon, the Marinid Sultan marches against the Hafsids to capture Tunis and revive the Almohad Caliphate.
* The False Crusade under Frederick I of Sicily invades Tunisia in retalation of the Hafsid invasion of Sicily.
* 3 September – the Sicilians assault the city of Tunis and take it by storm. The Sack of Tunis lasts for three or four days. Frederick I has himself crowned King of Africa.

## Deaths

* Valdemar II of Denmark, of old age.
* Otto V, King of the Germans, killed at the Battle of Weimar.
* Maurice I of Egypt, killed at the Battle of Banha.
* Aimery, heir to Jerusalem, killed at the Battle of Banha.
* Enzo, prince of Sicily, died of cholera in the False Crusade.
* Alberic of France, died of an infected wound taken during the Sack of Tunis. Tunis is renamed Tunis Alberina in his honor.
* Eric, son of Valdemar II, slain in battle in Scania.