1281

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	12th century 13th century 14th century
Decades:	1260s 1270s 1280s 1290s 1300s
Years:	1278 1279 1280 1281 1282 1283 1284

1281 in various calendars

Gregorian calendar	1281 MCCLXXXI
Ab urbe condita	2034
Armenian calendar	730 ԹՎ ՉԼ
Assyrian calendar	6031
Balinese saka calendar	1202–1203
Bengali calendar	688
Berber calendar	2231
English Regnal year	9 Edw. 1 – 10 Edw. 1
Buddhist calendar	1825
Burmese calendar	643
Byzantine calendar	6789–6790
Chinese calendar	庚辰年 (Metal Dragon) 3978 or 3771     — to — 辛巳年 (Metal Snake) 3979 or 3772
Coptic calendar	997–998
Discordian calendar	2447
Ethiopian calendar	1273–1274
Hebrew calendar	5041–5042
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	1337–1338
- Shaka Samvat	1202–1203
- Kali Yuga	4381–4382
Holocene calendar	11281
Igbo calendar	281–282
Iranian calendar	659–660
Islamic calendar	679–680
Japanese calendar	Kōan 4 (弘安４年)
Javanese calendar	1191–1192
Julian calendar	1281 MCCLXXXI
Korean calendar	3614
Minguo calendar	631 before ROC 民前631年
Nanakshahi calendar	−187
Thai solar calendar	1823–1824
Tibetan calendar	阳金龙年 (male Iron-Dragon) 1407 or 1026 or 254     — to — 阴金蛇年 (female Iron-Snake) 1408 or 1027 or 255

Year 1281 (MCCLXXXI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events

By place

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 Daozang (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 Mangrai's Lannathai kingdom.

Middle East

• October 29 – Mamluk sultan Qalawun defeats an invasion of Syria by Mongol Ilkhan Abaqa Khan in the Second Battle of Homs.
• 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.

Europe

• 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.
• July – Niccolò Bonsignori heads a hundred of Ghibelline exiles in a failed attempt to topple the Sienese government.

By topic

Markets

• Guy of Dampierre, count of Flanders, licenses the first Lombards merchants to open a changing business in his realm.

Religion

• Pope Martin IV succeeds Pope Nicholas III as the 189th pope.

Births

• Castruccio Castracani, duke of Lucca (d. 1328)
• Yuri III Danilovich, Grand Prince of Russia (d. 1325)
• Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster (d. 1345)
• Hamdallah Mustawfi, Ilkhanid Iranian historian (d. 1349)
• Rudolf I of Bohemia (d. 1307)

Deaths

• February 16 – Gertrude of Hohenburg, queen consort of Germany (b. c.1225)
• September 10 – John II, Margrave of Brandenburg-Stendal (b. 1237)
• October 8 – Princess Constance of Greater Poland (b. c.1245)
• December 24 – Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (b. 1216)
• date unknown – Ertuğrul, father of Osman I (b. 1198)