Mongols under Batu Khan capture the capital city of Bilär after a siege that lasts for 45 days. The Volga Bulgars are defeated within the year, as are the Kipchaks and Alans. Mongol–Song War: The Mongols under Ögedei Khan penetrate deep into the Southern Song. The important city of Xiangyang, gateway to the Yangtze plain, capitulates to the Mongols. Asia October 10 – Razia Sultana, daughter of Mamluk Sultan Shamsuddin Iltutmish, becomes the first female Muslim ruler of the Indian subcontinent, deposing her half-brother, Ruknuddin Firuz, as sultan of the Delhi Sultanate. King Kalinga Magha (the Tyrant) is expelled from Polonnaruwa to Jaffna, capital of the Jaffna Kingdom (located in modern Sri Lanka). Africa Kouroukan Fouga, the constitution of the Mali Empire, is created by an assembly of nobles of the Mandinka clan. By topic Literature The Goryeo court in Korea orders the preparation of another set of woodblocks for printing the Buddhist Tripiṭaka (Triple Basket) – which is intended both to gain protection against the Mongol invaders and to replace the earlier 11th century set that has been destroyed by the Mongols (see 1232). Religion Pope Gregory IX condemned the links that both the Knights Templer and Knights Hospitaller have with the Assassin fighters in the Middle East. He issues a bull, a formal proclamation issued by the pope, preventing further contact with the Assassins. May 6 – Roger of Wendover, English Benedictine monk and chronicler, dies at St. Albans Abbey. His chronicle is continued by Matthew of Paris. Births January 1 – Baldwin de Redvers, English nobleman (d. 1262) June 6 – Wen Tianxiang, Chinese poet and politician (d. 1283) June 8 – Violant of Aragon, queen consort of Castile (d. 1301) November 8 – Lu Xiufu, Chinese general and politician (d. 1279) Albert I (the Great), German nobleman and regent (d. 1279) Alice de Lusignan (or Angoulême), English countess (d. 1290) Bayan of the Baarin (or Boyan), Mongol general (d. 1295) Elizabeth of Hungary, duchess consort of Bavaria (d. 1271) Henry II of Rodez, French nobleman and troubadour (d. 1304) Olivier II de Clisson, Breton nobleman and knight (d. 1307) Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi, Persian polymath and poet (d. 1311) Stephen the Posthumous, Hungarian pretender (d. 1271) Deaths January 14 – Sava (the Enlightener), Serbian archbishop March 15 – Mu'in al-Din Chishti, Persian preacher (b. 1143) March 28 – Conon of Naso, Italian priest and abbot (b. 1139)