1250

For broader historical context, see 1250s and 13th century.

Years: 1247 1248 1249 - 1250 - 1251 1252 1253
Decades: 1220s 1230s 1240s - 1250s - 1260s 1270s 1280s
Centuries: 12th century - 13th century - 14th century

Events

October 12 - A great storm shifts the mouth of the River Rother 12 miles (20 km) to the west; a battering series of strong storms significantly alter other coastal geography as well (see Romney Marsh).
December 13 - Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, dies, beginning a 23-year-long interregnum known as the great interregnum. Frederick II is the last Holy Roman Emperor of the Hohenstaufen dynasty; after the interregnum, the empire passes to the Habsburgs.
The Lombard League dissolves upon the death of its member states' nemesis, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor.
King Afonso III of Portugal captures the Algarve from the Moors, thus completing the expulsion of the Moors from Portugal.
Valdemar I of Sweden, first Swedish king of the Folkung house, becomes King of Sweden
Albertus Magnus isolates the element arsenic. He also first uses the word oriole to describe a type of bird (most likely the golden oriole of Great Britain).
University of Valladolid is founded in Spain.
The Rialto Bridge in Venice, Italy is converted from a pontoon bridge to a permanent, raised wooden structure.
Vincent of Beauvais completes his proto-encyclopedic work, The Greater Mirror.
The Parlement law courts of ancien régime France are established.
A plague breaks out in the city Naples (In what is now Italy), called the Naple's Plague

A kuriltai is called by Batu Khan in Siberia as part of maneuverings to eventually elect Möngke Khan as khan of the Mongol empire in 1251.

July 3 - Louis IX of France is captured by Baibars' Mamluk army at the Battle of Fariskur while he is in Egypt conducting the Seventh Crusade; he later has to ransom himself.
The Bahri dynasty of Mamluks seize power in Egypt.
The Walayta state is founded in present-day Ethiopia (see Rulers of Walayta)

The world population in 1250 is estimated at between 400 and 416 million individuals.

Being a round number, the year 1250 is used to demarcate the beginning or ending of various eras or epochs. These include:

Judaism's acknowledged center of Jewish thought and learning:
- End of the Geonim era in Babylonia (from 650)
- Beginning of the Rishonim era (until 1550)
Medieval music - end of the Notre Dame school of polyphony