King Wenceslaus had had to deal in…

Sweden's sudden determination to take over Finland has not been explained, but for one reason or another Finland is high on Birger Jarl's agenda.

Finland has become an integrated part of Sweden since there was a lot of exchange between the regions, especially via the Åland archipelago.

During this time, it is easier to travel by sea than by land.

Birger Jarl seems to have headed for Finland just after having both crushed the Folkung uprising of 1247-1248 and finalized the Treaty of Lödöse with Norway earlier in the summer of 1249.

Sweden's previous attempts to gain a foothold in Estonia in 1220 may have urged Sweden to settle for what is still available.

Eric's Chronicle also points out the threat from Russians, mentioning that the "Russian king" had now lost the conquered land.

All details of the crusade are from Eric's Chronicle, which is largely propagandist in nature, written amidst internal unrest and war against Novgorod.

The chronicle has caused a long controversy on the actual target of the expedition, since it presents Tavastians (taffwesta) as the Swedish opponents.

Based on this, it is usually assumed that the target of the crusade was also Tavastia, even though that is not explicitly said in the chronicle.

Tavastians are known to have rebelled against the church in the 1230s, which had resulted in a papal demand for a crusade against them in a letter in 1237.

According to the chronicle, the expedition was prepared in Sweden and then conducted over sea to a land on the coast, where the enemy was waiting.

Since Tavastia was inland, this contradiction was later explained so that there was a Tavastian port somewhere on the coast that was the primary target of the attack.

The Chronicle also mentions that a castle called "taffwesta borg" was established after the war.

There have been many attempts to identify the castle with either Häme Castle or Hakoinen Castle in central Tavastia, but neither has been indisputably dated to such an early period.

The first Swedish garrisons in Finland seem to have been not far from Turku and Koroinen, the fortified church-residence of the early bishops, along the Oxen Way to central Tavastia.

Pope Innocent IV, probably related to preventing other parties from getting involved in the conflict, takes Finland under his special protection in August, 1249, without , however, mentioning Sweden in any way.

Finland's bishop Thomas, probably a Dominican monk, had resigned already in 1245 and died three years later in a Dominican convent in Gotland.

The seat being vacant, the diocese had probably been under the direct command of the papal legate William of Modena, whose last orders to Finnish priests were given in June, 1248.

Swedish Bero had eventually been appointed as the new bishop in 1248/9, presumably soon after William's visit to Sweden for an important church meeting at Skänninge that ended on March 1, 1248.

The so-called "Palmsköld booklet" from 1448 notes that it was Bero who gave Finns' tax to the Swedish king.

Bero comes directly from the Swedish court, as will his two successors.

It seems that Swedish bishops also hold all secular power in Finland until the 1280s nd the establishment of the position of the Duke of Finland.

In 1249, the situation is also seen clear enough to have the first Dominican convent established in Finland.

There had been no monasteries in Finland before this.

The convent is situated next to the bishop's fortification in Koroinen, and will remain here until the end of the century.

The conquest of the southernmost province of Algarve in 1249 by Afonso III ends the Portuguese reconquest from the Moors but provokes a quarrel with Alfonso X of León and Castile, which is eventually settled by a marriage alliance.

University College is founded at Oxford.

Some claim the college was founded by King Alfred in 872; however, most agree its foundation was in 1249 by William of Durham.

This later date still allows the claim that University is the oldest of the Oxford colleges, although this is contested by Balliol and Merton.

The Prussians are compelled to sign the Treaty of Christburg on February 7, 1249.

The treaty provides personal freedom and rights to newly converted Christians.

Frederick, in February 1249, fires his advisor and prime minister, the famous jurist and poet Pier delle Vigne, on charges of peculation and embezzlement.

Some historians suggest that Pier was planning to betray the Emperor, who, according to Matthew of Paris, cried when he discovered the plot.

Pier, blinded and in chains, dies in Pisa, possibly by suicide.

As-Salih Ayyub, before he became sultan, had purchased Shajar al-Durr in the Levant as a bondmaid; of Turkic origin, she is described by contemporary historians as a beautiful, pious and intelligent woman.

She had in 1239 accompanied him with his Mamluk Baibars (not Baibars who would later become a Sultan) at Al Karak during his detention.

Later, when he became Sultan in 1240, she had gone with him to Egypt and delivered their son Khalil, who will later be called al-Malik al-Mansour.

Ayyub, who had been gravely ill in Syria, returns in April 1249 to Egypt and stays in Ashmum-Tanah, near Damietta, after he hears that King Louis IX of France has assembled a crusade army in Cyprus and is about to launch an attack against Egypt.

Even more shocking for Frederick is the capture of his son Enzio of Sardinia by the Bolognese at the Battle of Fossalta, in May of the same year.

Only twenty-three at the time, he is held in a palace in Bologna, where he will remain captive until his death in 1272.

The Seventh Crusade, having wintered in Cyprus, lands in June 1249 near Damietta, Egypt.

The King is one of the first to leap onto land, where he plants the oriflamme of St. Denis on Muslim territory.

Louis IX sends a letter to as-Salih Ayyub.

Although the town and port of Damietta are strongly fortified,Emir Fakhr ad-Din Yussuf, the commander of the Ayyubid garrison, retreats to the camp of the Sultan in Ashmum-Tanah, causing a great panic among the inhabitants of Damietta, who flee the town, leaving intact the bridge that connects the west bank of the Nile with Damietta.

The crusaders on June 6, 1249, cross the river over the bridg eand occupy the deserted town.

Upon hearing the news of the fall of Damietta, the Ayyubid government declares a general emergency and commoners from Cairo and from all over Egypt begin to move to the battle zone.

Scots king Alexander II dies on his flagship during his 1249 attempt to wrest the Hebrides from Norway.

His seven year old son by Mary of Courcy assumes the throne as Alexander III.

Henry III of England takes advantage of the situation by attempting to establish suzerainty over Scotland, but the bishop of St. Andrews, supported by Pope Innocent IV, prevents it.

Frederick loses another son, Richard of Chieti.

The struggle continues: the Empire loses Como and Modena, but regains Ravenna.