14th century

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: General history

This 14th-century statue from south India depicts the gods Shiva (on the left) and Uma (on the right). It is housed in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C..

As a means of recording the passage of time, the 14th century was that century which lasted from 1301 to 1400.

Events

• The transition fom the Medieval Warm Period to the Little Ice Age
• Beginning of the Ottoman Empire, early expansion into the Balkans
• The Avignon papacy transfers the seat of the Popes from Italy to France
• The Great Famine of 1315-1317 kills millions of people in Europe
• Being forced out of previous locations, the Aztec found the city of Tenochtitlan in 1325
• The Vijayanagara Empire is founded in South India by Harihara in 1336
• The Hundred Years' War begins when Edward III of England lays claim to the French throne in 1337.
• Black Death kills almost half of the population of Europe. ( 1347 - 1351)
• The end of Mongol Yuan Dynasty in China and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty ( 1368)
• The heresy of Lollardy rises in England
• The Great Schism of the West begins in 1378, eventually leading to 3 simultaneous popes.
• An account of Buddha's life, translated earlier into Greek by St John of Damascus and widely circulated to Christians as the story of Barlaam and Josaphat, became so popular that Buddha (under the name Josaphat) was made a Catholic saint.
• Singapore emerges for the first time as a fortified city and trading centre of some importance.
• Reunification of Poland under Ladislaus I of Poland
• Peasants' Revolt in England
• Islam reaches Terengganu, on the Malay Peninsula.
• The Hausa found several city-states in the south of modern Niger.
• The Mali Empire expands westward and conquers Tekrur.
• The poet Petrarch coins the term Dark Ages to describe the preceding 900 years in Europe, beginning with the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 410 through to the renewal embodied in the Renaissance.
• The Scots win the Scottish Wars of Independence.
• Union of Krewo between Poland and Lithuania.
• Work begins on the Great Enclosure at Great Zimbabwe, built of uncemented, dressed stone. The city's population is now between 10 000 and 40 000.
• Beginning of the Renaissance in Italy
• The english word "abacus" used to describe the calculating device from China.

Significant people

Statue of Dante Alighieri at the Uffizi, Florence

• Dante Alighieri, Italian poet and writer ( 1265 - 1321).
• King Robert the Bruce of Scotland, victor of the First War of Scottish Independence against the invading Kingdom of England ( 1274 - 1329).
• Juan Manuel, Duke of Penafiel, Spanish author ( 1282 - 1349).
• William of Ockham, English Franciscan friar and philosopher (c. 1285 - 1347).
• Charles I of Hungary, military, diplomatic and financial reformer, restoring the Kingdom of Hungary to power ( 1288 - 1342).
• Isabella of France, queen consort and regent of the Kingdom of England (c. 1295 - 1358).
• Guillaume de Machaut, French composer and poet (c. 1300 - 1377).
• Ibn Battuta, Arab Muslim traveler ( 1304 - 1368/ 1377).
• Francesco Petrarch, Italian poet and writer ( 1304 - 1374).
• Casimir III of Poland, expansionist and financial reformer ( 1310 - 1370).
• Hafez Persian poet (c. 1310 - 1379.
• Edward III, King of England. His claim to the throne of France resulted in the Hundred Years' War ( 1312 - 1377).
• Giovanni Boccaccio, Italian author ( 1313 - 1375).
• Timur, Central Asian warlord and founder of the Timurid Dynasty ( 1336 - 1405).
• Geoffrey Chaucer, English poet (c. 1343 - 1400).
• Mansa Musa (d. 1347), King of the Mali Empire while it was the source of almost half the world's gold.
• Christine de Pizan, French writer ( 1364 - 1430).

Inventions, discoveries, introductions

• music of the Ars nova
• The technique of knitting
• Foundation of the University of Cracow

Decades and years