1247 Explained

Year 1247 (MCCXLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events

War of the Thuringian Succession: The claims on the Ludovingians' inheritance after the death of Henry Raspe, landgrave of Thuringia, leads to a dispute over the succession territories of Thuringia and Hesse, between his niece Sophie of Thuringia and her cousin Henry III (the Illustrious), who claims the territories as fiefs of the Electorate of Mainz.
Rome becomes 2000 years old.
July 2 - King Béla IV grants territories to the Knights Hospitaller in the Banate of Severin and Hungarian Cumania (according to a document called the Diploma of the Joannites), makes an early mention of Litovoi and other Vlach/Romanian local rulers, in Wallachia and Transylvania.
Summer - Siege of Seville: Castilian forces under King Ferdinand III (the Saint) begin to besiege Seville, the city is isolated and Ramón de Bonifaz sails with 13 galleys up the Guadalquivir River to scatter some 40 smaller Almohad ships trying to oppose him (with many destroyed).^[1]
December 1 - A rebellion arises among the Muslim subjects in the region of Valencia. As a punishment, King James I (the Conqueror), issues an order of expulsion of the Muslims from his realm, leading numerous people into exile in Andalusia and North Africa.^[2]

June 17 - Egyptian forces under Sultan As-Salih Ayyub capture Tiberias and his castle. Mount Tabor and Belvoir Castle are occupied soon afterward. Next, Ayyub moves his army to siege Ascalon – which is defended by a garrison of Knights Hospitaller. They summon the help from Acre and Cyprus.^[3]
Summer - King Henry I (the Fat) sends a Cypriot squadron of 8 galleys with 100 knights led by Baldwin of Ibelin, to Acre. With the support of the Italian colonists, they fitted out 7 more galleys and some 50 lighter ships, to relieve the siege at Ascalon – which is now blockaded by the Egyptian fleet.^[4]
The Egyptian fleet (some 20 galleys) confronts the Crusader ships led by Baldwin of Ibelin at Ascalon. But before contact is made, it is caught in a sudden Mediterranean storm. Many of the Muslim ships are driven ashore and wrecked; the survivors sail back to Egypt.
October 15 - Egyptian forces under As-Salih Ayyub capture Ascalon by surprise – while a battering-ram forces a passageway under the walls right into the citadel. Most of the defenders are massacred, and the remainder of the garrison is taken prisoner.^[5]

Battle of Ballyshannon: Norman forces under Maurice FitzGerald defeat a Gaelic army near Ballyshannon in northern Ireland. After the battle, the entire country of Donegal is devastated and plundered by the Normans.
The Bethlem Royal Hospital is founded in London during the reign of King Henry III.
Romford (located within Greater London) is chartered as a market town.

The Hōjō clan under Hōjō Tokiyori destroys the Miura family; and in so doing, the clan consolidates its authority as regents in Japan.

Song Ci publishes the Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified, a book considered to be the first monographic work on forensic medicine.

Joseph F. O'Callaghan (2004). Reconquest and crusade in Medieval Spain, pp. 113–116. University of Pennsylvania Press. .
Book: de Epalza, Miguel. Negotiating cultures: bilingual surrender treaties in Muslim-Crusader Spain under James the Conqueror. 1999. Brill. 90-04-11244-8. 108.
Irwin, Robert (1986). The Middle East in the Middle Ages: The Early Mamluk Sultanate, 1250–1382, p. 19. Southern Illinois University Press/Croom Helm. .
[Steven Runciman]
Steven Runciman (1952). A History of The Crusades. Vol III: The Kingdom of Acre, p. 192. .
Book: Mohan Lal. Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature: Sasay to Zorgot . 1992. Sahitya Akademi. 978-81-260-1221-3. 3987.