Major Events
- Apr 28 -May 7th) Utrecht destroyed by fire
- Apr 28 Nichiren, a Japanese Buddhist monk, propounds Nam Myoho Renge Kyo for the first time and declares it to be the essence of Buddhism, in effect founding Nichiren Buddhism.
- May 7 Flemish friar William of Rubruck sets off to convert the Mongols to Christianity, a mission ordered by French king Louis IX - one of the most famous travel accounts in the Medieval world
- Jul 1 Battle at Westkapelle - Floris de Voogd 'the Guardian' defeats Gwijde van Dampierre
- Jul 6 Mindaugas is crowned King of Lithuania
- Jul 23 Jews are expelled from Vienne, France by order of Pope Innocent IV
- Aug 9 Clare of Assisi's rules confirmed by Pope Innocent IV for Clare's Order of Poor Ladies
Born in 1253
- Oct 17 Ivo of Kermartin, Catholic saint and patron of Brittany, born in Kermartin, Duchy of Brittany (d. 1303)
Who Died in 1253
- Apr 22 Elias van Cortona, Italian general (1232-39), dies at ~53
- Jul 8 Theobald de Champagne, French ruler (Count of Champagne; King of Navarre, 1234-53), poet, and troubadour, dies at 52
- Aug 11 Saint Clare of Assisi, Italian follower of Francis of Assisi and founder of the Order of Poor Ladies (the Poor Clares), dies at 59
- Sep 22 Dōgen, Japanese Buddhist priest and founder of the Sōtō school of Zen, dies at 53
- Oct 9 Robert Grosseteste, English scientist, scholastic philosopher, theologian and Bishop of Lincoln, dies at around 78
More 1253 Deaths
Gregory I
Gregory XIII
Julius II
Julius III
Leo X
Pius V