1340s
The Yuan dynasty in China was struck by a series of disasters, including frequent flooding, widespread banditry, fires in urban areas, declining grain harvest, increased civil unrest and local rebellion – the seeds of resistance that would lead to its downfall. Southeast Asia remained free from Mongol power, with several small kingdoms struggling for survival.


1340s
In Europe, the decade continued the period of gradual economic decline, often mistitled the "depression" of the 1340s. This followed the end of the Medieval Warm Period and the start of the Little Ice Age in the 1300s, and affected most of Western Europe, with the exception of a few Italian city-states. The state increasingly interfered in the social and economic life of the decade, while Europe entered a period which saw almost continuous war for the next century.


1340s
The Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) between France and England continued, and Edward III of England led an invasion resulting in notable victories at the Battles of Sluys and Crécy in 1340 and 1346 respectively. The medieval crusading spirit continued in Spain, with a Castilian victory at the Battle of Río Salado and the recommencement of the Reconquista in 1340; and in the Baltic, with King Magnus II of Sweden's Northern Crusades against Novgorod in 1347–1348. In the east, the Byzantine Empire, then under the Palaiologoi, saw the start of the disastrous Byzantine civil war of 1341–47. Meanwhile, a crisis of confidence in the Florentine banks caused many of them to collapse between 1341 and 1346. The Black Plague which struck Europe in 1348 wiped out a full third of the population by the end of the decade.


1340s
In Africa, the two great empires were the Christian Ethiopian Empire in the east and the Muslim Mali Empire in the west. Amda Seyon I, who had brought Ethiopia to its height, was succeeded in 1344 by Newaya Krestos, who continued to foster trade in East Africa. Mansa Suleyman assumed office in the Mali Empire in 1341, and similarly took steep measures to reform Mali's finances. Songhai, which had emerged in this decade, was conquered by Mali for the time being.


1340s
In the Americas, cities of the Mississippian culture such as Cahokia, Kincaid and Moundville went into an accelerated state of decline in this decade. Factors such as depletion of resources, climatic change, war, disease, social unrest and declining political and economic power have been suggested, although the sites were not fully abandoned until the 15th century. Central America saw the decayed Maya civilization ruled from their capital Mayapan in the Yucatán Peninsula, while the Mexicas from their capital city of Tenochtitlan were on the rise.


1340s, Asia, Political developments, Mongol decline
In the Kipchak Khanate, Özbeg Khan of the Golden Horde died in 1341, ending what Muslim chroniclers considered a golden age. His elder son Tinibeg ruled for a year or two, before being dethroned and killed at the hands of his younger brother Janibeg in 1342. Janibeg's fifteen-year reign was notable for the appearance and rapid transmission of the Black Plague along the trade routes from inner Asia in this decade. The nation "struggled into new life" after the plague had passed in the following decade.


1340s, Asia, Political developments, Mongol decline
The Chagatai Khanate was being split by religious dissensions between the traditionalist Mongol adherents of the Yasa and the Mongol and Turkish converts to Islam. The eastern half of Chagatai seceded under the conservative Mongol element when Tughluk Temür seized power in Moghulistan around 1345. The Khanate continued in Transoxiana, but the Chatagai khans became the puppets of the now enthusiastically Muslim Turkish amirs, and the amir Kazghan overthrew the Khan Kazan in 1347.


1340s, Asia, Political developments, Mongol decline
In the Persian Ilkhanate, the Mongol House of Hülegü had been extinguished in the male line with the death of Il-Khan Abu Sa'id in 1335, . As JJ Saunders wrote, "A crowd of competitors for the vacant throne started up, but of some history has scarcely condescended to record their names, much less their actions, and an interval of more than thirty years was filled with confused political struggles". Numerous claimants were set up in the 1330s; by 1339, the two rivals were Jahan Temür set up by Shaik Hasan-i Buzurg, and Suleiman Khan supported by Shaik Hasan-i Kuchak.


1340s, Asia, Political developments, Mongol decline
In June 1340, the two Hasans and their rival khans met in battle on the Jaghatu; "Hasan-i Buzurg was defeated and fled to Baghdad, where he deposed Jahan-Temür and himself assumed sovereignty as the founder of the Jalayir dynasty". The deposition of Jahan-Temür can be regarded as the final dissolution of the Ilkhanate. Although his rival retained nominal power among the Chobanids for another year or two, he in turn was deposed by Hasan-i Kuchak's brother and similarly disappears into obscurity. "So insignificant had these figureheads become", according to JA Boyle, "that we are not even informed as to the time and manner of their death". Suleiman was replaced as puppet by Anushirvan, "in whose name his Chobanid masters continued to strike coin until 1353".


1340s, Asia, Political developments, China
In China, the Mongol Yuan dynasty was in a gradual state of decline, due to complex and longstanding problems such as the "endemic tensions among its ruling elites". Toghon Temür had been installed as emperor at age thirteen in 1333, and was to reign as the last Yuan emperor until 1368. In March 1340, the Yuan chancellor, Bayan of the Merkid, was removed in a carefully orchestrated coup, and replaced by his nephew Toqto'a. In Bayan's overthrow by the younger generation, the movement to restore the status quo from reign of Kublai Khan effectively died.


1340s, Asia, Political developments, China
Bayan's purges were called off; his supporters dismissed; positions he had closed to the Chinese were reopened; the meritocratic system of examinations for official service was restored. By this time, Temür had just begun to participate in the formal functions of state, and assisted in the "anti-Bayan coup": he issued a posthumous denunciation of his uncle Tugh Temür; he exiled the grand empress dowager Budashiri and his cousin El Tegüs; and entrusted the upbringing of his infant son Ayushiridara to Toghto's household.


1340s, Asia, Political developments, China
Toghto's first term exhibited a fresh new spirit which took a predominantly centralist approach to political solutions. He directed an unsuccessful project to connect the imperial capital to the sea and the Shansi foothills by water; he was more successful in his attempt to organise funds for the completion of the official histories of the Liao, Qin and Song dynasties. In June 1344, however, he tendered his resignation following a series of local rebellions that had broken out against the Yuan in scattered areas of China.


1340s, Asia, Political developments, China
Toghto's replacement as chancellor was Berke Bukha, an effective provincial administrator who took the opposite, decentralised approach to Toghto. Bukha had learned firsthand from the great Hangchow fire of 1341 that central regulations had to be violated to provide immediate and effective relief. Accordingly, he promoted able men to local positions and gave them discretionary authority to handle relief and other problems. Similarly, he granted local military garrisons blanket authorisation to prevent the spread of banditry. In 1345, Bukha's administration sent out twelve investigation teams to visit each part of China, correct abuses, and "create benefits and remove harms" for the people.


1340s, Asia, Political developments, China
Bukha's approach failed to arrest the mounting troubles of Yuan China in the 1340s, however. The central government was faced with chronic revenue shortfalls. Maritime grain shipments — vital for the inhabitants of the imperial capital — had seriously declined from a peak of 3.34 million bushels in 1329 to 2.6 million in 1342. From 1348 on, they continued only when permitted by a major piratical operation led by Fang Kuo-chen and his brothers, which the authorities were unable to suppress. Additionally, the Yellow River was repeatedly swelled by long rains, breaching its dykes and flooding the surrounding areas.


1340s, Asia, Political developments, China
When the river finally began shifting its course, it caused "widespread havoc and ruin". In 1349, the emperor recalled Toghto to office for a second term. With high enthusiasm and strong belief from his partisans that the problems were soluble, he began a radical process of recentralisation and heavy restriction of regional and local initiative in the following decade.


1340s, Asia, Culture, religion and philosophy
Pope Benedict XII had despatched the Italian Franciscan John of Marignolli in 1339, who travelled safely through the Yuan territories of Kipchack and Chagatai Khanate during the Pax Mongolica and reached the imperial capital of Ta-tu in 1342. He was received in an audience with Toghon Temür, to whom he presented some large European horses — their bulk, according to JJ Saunders, "surprised Chinese and Mongols alike, accustomed as they were to the small, wiry animals of the steppes". Marignolli stayed in China for five years, departing by ship in 1347 and returning to Avignon in 1353.


1340s, Europe, Political developments, War and decline in Western Europe
In Europe, the decade continued the period of gradual economic decline, which followed the end of the Medieval Warm Period and the start of the Little Ice Age in the 1300s. This secular decline, often mistitled a "depression", affected most of Western Europe, with the exception of a few Italian city-states. It was the result of factors which had begun earlier in the century, the main cause being the breaking of the balance between Church and state. The more dominant state increasingly interfered in the social and economic life of late medieval Europe, imposing detrimental taxation and regulation. King Edward III of England faced a brief standoff with some dissident barons in 1341 — one of only two such isolated standoffs in his popular reign. Meanwhile, the role of the Parliament of England became more defined, with the House of Commons regularly petitioning Edward from about 1343 onward.


1340s, Europe, Political developments, War and decline in Western Europe
Europe entered a period which saw almost continuous war for the next century. Fighting took place in the Duchy of Brittany, "a country well suited to guerilla warfare", from 1342 to 1365 in the Breton War of Succession. The Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) between France and England continued, and Edward III led an invasion resulting in a number of victories. One of the earlier English victories was at the naval Battle of Sluys in 1340, which annihilated the French fleet and gave the English control of the English Channel for several years.


1340s, Europe, Political developments, War and decline in Western Europe
The initial campaigns were frustrating and expensive, so Edward altered his strategy to use English armies that were lightly supported but prepared to forage off the land. It successfully established English control over Brittany in 1342. Further armies were sent to Brittany and Gascony in 1345, and Edward himself crossed the Channel in 1346 with 10,000 men — an enormous army by contemporary standards. They plundered Caen, an important town in Normandy, and eventually began moving back toward the Channel.


1340s, Europe, Political developments, War and decline in Western Europe
In 1346, the Battle of Crecy became the first great land battle of the Hundred Years' War, and the most stunning victory of Edward's career. English longbowmen crippled the French knights for many years to come, allowing Edward to take the key Channel port of Calais in 1347. Meanwhile, public discontent caused the town of Lyon to riot in 1347. Importantly, the English campaign of the 1340s "brought the hegemony of high medieval France to a decisive close."


1340s, Europe, Political developments, Central Europe
In the Holy Roman Empire, Ludwig the Bavarian was in conflict with the Avignon Papacy. Pope Clement VI influenced the German Prince-electors to elect Charles of Moravia as rival king to Ludwig. He was crowned in 1346 in Bonn. After the death of Emperor Ludwig in September 1347, Charles IV was recognised as King of Germany by all of the German princes.


1340s, Europe, Political developments, Central Europe
In 1341, Margarete Maultasch, Countess of County of Tyrol, had expelled her husband John Henry of Bohemia. She then married Louis of Bavaria, a son of Ludwig, without an annulment of her previous marriage. The result was the excommunication of the couple. Meanwhile, in 1342, Kitzbühel became part of Tyrol.


1340s, Europe, Political developments, Northern Europe
In 1340, a German law-code was drawn up by the Teutonic Knights for their long-settled Prussian district of Pomesania. The code defined two categories of people: the unfree, who came under peasant law (Gebauersrecht) and were consigned to the jurisdiction of their lords; and the freedmen. The latter group included peasants who had the right to demand trial by the written code and could not be sentenced to death in private courts. However, an appendix to the law-code also made it clear that the Old Prussian peasant converts were discriminated against by the Teutonic Knights, and were allowed remain "semi-pagan, uncouth and lawless". Such treatment shocked contemporary commentators such as Saint Bridget of Sweden.


1340s, Europe, Political developments, Northern Europe
The Danish monarchy had disintegrated in the 1330s, but was restored in 1340 by Valdemar IV after a long interregnum. In the Danish crusader state of Estonia, some 80% of the indigenous population was subject to immigrant lords, to whom they owed tithe and military duty. When the lords reacted to falling grain-prices by increasing the level of tithe, which led to the St. George's Night Uprising in 1343. On 23 April, the Estonians rose up and killed their masters — German sources give a figure of 18,000 dead as a result of the uprising, although this total is unlikely.


1340s, Europe, Political developments, Northern Europe
The Danish government in Estonia was overthrown when a major group of vassals in Tallinn handed over castles to the Teutonic Order in 1344–1345. Beset by pressing problems at home and unable to break the monopoly of the Hanseatic League at sea, Valdemar decided to sell the territory to the master of the Teutonic Order for 10,000 marks. The final sale was approved by the king's Danish counsellors, and the shift of sovereignty took place on 1 November 1346.


1340s, Europe, Political developments, Northern Europe
In Sweden, the court was continually reminded of its religious duties by Bridget of Sweden, who was the king's cousin and beginning to win fame as a prophetess. Her primary aim was to reform and purify the upper class, and her posthumously complied Revelations contain thoughts on the Northern Crusades which must have been expressed in the 1344–1348 period.


1340s, Europe, Political developments, Northern Europe
After King Magnus II of Sweden had tried and failed to take possession of Denmark in the early 1340s, she advised him not to offend his people by raising taxes to fund wars against their co-religionists, but instead to raise taxes only for self-defence or in crusading against unbelievers. Therefore, after Magnus had at least temporarily resolved difficulties at home, he prepared for a crusade against the Russian Orthodox Novgorod. Envoys were sent to the Russians in 1347, and an army was assembled that included Danish and German auxiliaries, and the support of Henry of Rendsburg. The army set sail for the campaign in 1348.


1340s, Europe, Political developments, Northern Europe
Accordingly, there were political divisions in the Russian states in this decade. The southern territories of Novgorod had been subjugated by Prince Algirdas of Lithuania in 1346, and Simeon of Moscow had failed to intervene. The city was divided between competing boyar factions, and the lack of unity between Novgorod and her allies allowed for the success of Magnus' campaign of 1348. Pskov officially broke away from Novgorod that year;  and Simeon was again delayed in helping against the Swedes, this time by business with his overlord, the Khan of the Golden Horde. Orekhov was taken by the Swedes, although it was to fall in 1349.


1340s, Europe, Political developments, Southern Europe
In Rome, the general despair brought on by the Plague and the absence of the Pope have been cited as possible causes for the rise of the Roman notary Cola di Rienzo: in 1347, he assumed the title of censor and claimed to restore the Roman Republic. He utilised popular rhetoric, and invited the men of Trastevere to sack the palaces of the fleeing Roman nobility. Cola tried to establish direct government with elections in the rione of the city, but he lacked the means to take the Castel Sant'Angelo and he was cut down by the Roman aristocracy in 1354.


1340s, Europe, Political developments, Southern Europe
There were several rulers of the Kingdoms of Spain in the 1340s. Alfonso XI the Just ruled until the end of the decade as King of Castile and León. Castile and León surrounded Granada by land, and Alfonso advanced the Christian Reconquista. In 1340, at the Battle of Río Salado, he won the first Castilian victory over the Moors for over a century, and crossed the straits to Algeciras. In 1345, he attacked Gibraltar, but was unable to conquer it.


1340s, Europe, Political developments, Southern Europe
Peter the Ceremonious ruled from 1336 as King of Aragon, King of Sardinia and Corsica, King of Valencia, Count of Barcelona and Prince of Catalonia. By 1343, Aragon had acquired the Balearic Islands, and in 1344 Peter deposed James III of Majorca to become King of Majorca himself. Navarre was ruled by Philip III until 1343, his Capetian wife Joanna II until 1349, and finally Charles II the Bad ruled into the late 14th century. The Kingdom of Portugal was meanwhile ruled by Afonso IV, from 1325 until his death in 1357.


1340s, Europe, Society and economy, Economic collapse and crisis
To finance the continuing wars of the 1340s, Edward III of England granted to a small group of merchants a monopoly on the export of wool. In return, they agreed to collect the "poundage", or wool tax, on his behalf. This included a tariff on the import of woolen cloth, which put out of business the Italian and foreign merchants that had dominated the wool export trade. The monopoly merchants went bankrupt in the following decade.


1340s, Europe, Society and economy, Economic collapse and crisis
Edward also introduced three new gold coins in 1344: the florin, leopard, and helm. However, the gold content of these coins did not match their respective value of 6 shillings, 3 shillings, and 1 shilling and sixpence, so they had to be withdrawn and mostly melted down by August of that year.


1340s, Europe, Society and economy, Economic collapse and crisis
In France, the king's personal expenditure on dowries, gratuities, the upkeep of the palace, his travels and his wardrobe, consumed the entirety of the royal income. Therefore, a monopoly on salt, an essential commodity, was established in 1341; monopolies in salt had already been established in Kingdom of Castile and Venice in the 1330s. The French salt tax or gabelle itself never amounted to more than 2%. Fouages were also levied in 1342 and 1349.


1340s, Europe, Society and economy, Economic collapse and crisis
The Italian city states were booming at the start of the decade. In 1340, Francesco Balducci Pegolotti wrote his Practica della mercatura. Meanwhile, rulers such as the Neapolitan princes had begun withdrawing massive funds from Florentine banks. England found itself unable to repay its debts, and both factors resulted in a crisis of confidence in the Florentine banks  The family-based banks and mercantile associations of Florence and Genoa generally kept only 25–30% of their capital in liquid assets, and between 1341 and 1346, many of the most important of the Florentine banks collapsed. — an "avalanche of bankruptcies", in the words of Robert Fossier. These were owned by the following banking families: the Acciaiuolis, the Bonaccorsis, the Cocchis, the Antellesis, the Corsinis, the Uzzanos, the Perendolis, the Peruzzis and the Bardis.


1340s, Europe, Society and economy, Social unrest
The situation in the towns remained delicate: while on one hand the trades were dominant, and Villani counted no fewer than 200 textile workshops in Florence around 1340, working conditions and entry restrictions imposed by the guilds created tensions with the unemployed and unskilled labourers. Strikes or grèves occurred in Ghent in 1337–1345 and in Florence in 1346. In 1349–1350, the fullers and weavers of Ghent and Liège massacred each other. The failures in the food supply in the regions of Provence and Lyon, in 1340 and 1348 respectively, affected contemporaries particularly harshly. This was not just because these generations were unused to them, but because they were accompanied by war and followed by epidemic in this decade.


1340s, Europe, Society and economy, The Black Plague
In 1340, the total population of Europe was 54 million; by 1450, it would be 37 million, a 31% drop in only a century. In addition to the earlier social and economic decline, the Black Plague is identified as the superficial cause, which struck Europe and wiped out a full third of the population in short space of 1348–1350. It has been described as "a pandemic of plagues such as the world had not seen since the sixth century and was not destined to see again till the 1890s."


1340s, Europe, Society and economy, The Black Plague
It was actually three related diseases: bubonic plague and septicaemic plague, carried by fleas hosted by the black rat, and pneumonic plague, the especially fast and lethal airborne variant. The few areas that escaped included Poland, Hungary, Rouergue in France, Liège in Belgium, and the county of Béarn in the Pyrenees. It has been suggested that these areas were spared due to the predominance of O-Blood type, which had only recently taken root in the heartlands of Europe, although this hypothesis has yet to be proven.


1340s, Europe, Society and economy, The Black Plague
The pandemic, which began in central Asia, was first reported in Europe in the summer of 1346. The Genoese colony of Caffa in the Crimea was besieged by the Tartars, who catapulted plague-ridden corpses into the city. The defenders carried the disease back to Italy; in October 1347 it reached Messina in Sicily, in December a ship carried the plague into Marseille, and by January 1348 it was in Genoa. The plague then moved northward through France. According to the French monk Guillaume de Nangis:


1340s, Europe, Society and economy, The Black Plague
Victims were only ill for two or three days and died suddenly, their bodies almost sound… They had swellings in the armpits and groin, and the appearance of these swellings was an unmistakable sign of death… Soon, in many places, of every twenty inhabitants only two remained alive. The mortality was so great at the hospital of Paris that for a long time more than 500 bodies were carried off on wagons each day, to be buried at the cemetery of the Holy Innocents.


1340s, Europe, Society and economy, The Black Plague
The reasons for the plague's success are not yet entirely understood. Urban overcrowding, declining sanitary conditions and the "lively European trade in (rat-infested) grain" have been cited as causes of the plague's rapid transmission; while favourable climatic conditions and the summer months may also have aided its spread. In the summer of 1348 it reached England, arriving first at Melcombe Regis in Dorset. It had spread through the southwestern shires to London by winter. It peaked in the summer of 1349, when it was passed on into Germany and Austria, and in winter it was in Scotland, Scandinavia and Spain.


1340s, Europe, Society and economy, The Black Plague
In general, towns were hit more severely than rural areas, the poor more than the rich, and the young and fit more than the old and infirm. Norman Davies generalises that "No pope, no kings were stricken." Hundreds died in each parish, although some figures may have been exaggerated. Norwich, a city that did not exceed 17,000, was reported as having lost 57,000. The Italian humanist Giovanni Boccaccio records a loss of 100,000 in Florence, exceeding the total population of the city. The figure was probably closer to 50,000. Regardless, modern studies make it clear that the plague's toll in this decade was heavy.


1340s, Europe, Society and economy, The Black Plague
Heaviest hit were the clergy, who were brought into direct contact with plague victims. Guillaume de Nangis records that "some monks and friars, being braver, administered the sacraments", and that the sisters at the hospital of Paris, "fearless of death, carried out their task to the end with the most perfect gentleness and humility. These sisters were all wiped out by death…" In the dioceses of York and Lincoln, about 44% of the clergy perished, while nearly 50% died in the Exeter, Winchester, Norwich and Ely. In all, half of the English clergy may have died.


1340s, Europe, Society and economy, The Black Plague
In 14th century England, the Black Plague "served as a somber backdrop to a deepening economic crisis… and growing social tensions and religious restlessness." Villages were deserted, herds were untended, wool and grain markets were crippled and land values plummeted. The plague would strike periodically in subsequent decades. However, it is also suggested that in Europe in general, the Black Plague solved the economic recession, in that the reduction in population returned the supply of cash credit and money per capita to its pre-crisis level, laying the foundation for recovery. Wages rose, and the peasantry benefited from a more open, fluid society. [ Note 1]  At the end of the decade, the economic effects of the Black Plague "may well have been more purgative than toxic."


1340s, Europe, Culture, religion and philosophy, Architecture
A number of European building projects were completed in the 1340s, mainly consisting of cathedrals and universities. In 's-Hertogenbosch, construction was finished on the Romanesque church begun in 1220, which was later rebuilt as the 16th century St. John's Cathedral. In the German city of Mainz, work was completed on the Collegiate Church of St. Stephan, begun in 1267. In Naples, three decades of work were finished on the monastery of Santa Chiara.


1340s, Europe, Culture, religion and philosophy, Architecture
The High Gothic choir of St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna, was consecrated in 1340. Mecheln Cathedral, then a collegiate church, was started with the choir in 1342. In 1344, Prague was made an archbishopric, and the foundation stone was laid on the new St. Vitus Cathedral. Cathedrals completed in this decade, excluding later alterations, include Notre Dame de Paris and the Cathedral of the Theotokos, Vilnius, completed around 1345 and 1346 respectively. In Ely Cathedral, the last part of the repairs to the structure was finished with the richly decorated Lady Chapel in 1345.


1340s, Europe, Culture, religion and philosophy, Architecture
In Venice, the Venetian Gothic Palazzo Ducale, or Doge's Palace, was erected on top of older buildings in 1340. In Switzerland, the walls of the Old City of Berne were extended up to the Christoffelturm, from 1344 to 1346. Berne's Käfigturm was erected from 1256 to 1344 as the second western city gate. In Siena, the Torre della Mangia of the Palazzo Pubblico was completed in 1348. That same year, land in the English town of Charing held by the Archbishop of Canterbury was redeveloped as an episcopal palace.


1340s, Europe, Culture, religion and philosophy, Architecture
The Scuola della Carità, one of the six Scuole Grandi of Venice, was built in 1343. Two medieval universities were established in the 1340s: the University of Pisa (1343) and the University of Prague (1347). The University of Valladolid was also granted a licentia ubique docendi by Pope Clement VI in 1347, during the reign of Alfonso XI. Queen's College, Oxford, was founded by the chaplain Robert de Eglesfield in 1341, and Queen Philippa secured the lands of a small hospital in Southampton for the college in 1343. Meanwhile, Bablake School was founded in Coventry in 1344 by the Queen Mother, Isabella of France., while Pembroke College, Cambridge, was completed in 1347.


1340s, Europe, Culture, religion and philosophy, Art
In religious art, a series of stained glass windows were completed for the choir clerestory of Évreux Cathedral in Normandy c. 1340. Stained glass was also completed for the former Königsfelden Abbey in Switzerland, around the same time.


1340s, Europe, Culture, religion and philosophy, Art
The possibilities of Giotto's art were developed further in this decade by his pupils Maso di Banco and Bernardo Daddi. Significant of their works is Pope Sylvester Tames the Dragon, painted in 1340 by di Banco for the Church of Santa Croce in Florence. An illustration by the artist Domenico Lenzi, the City Scene of 1340 from the Il Biadaiolo codex, shows just how much the Florentine artists were influenced by Giotto.


1340s, Europe, Culture, religion and philosophy, Art
In 1340, toward the end of his life, the painter Simone Martini was called to Avignon to work for the papal court. His frescos in the portico of Avignon Cathedral have been lost, but the frescoes in the papal palace, painted by his pupils or colleagues around 1340, survive. Another notable religious artist was the Pisan painter Francesco Traini, who painted the Triumph of St. Thomas Aquinas as part of an Italian altarpiece "which reflects the divine order of the cosmos".


1340s, Europe, Culture, religion and philosophy, Art
In sculpture, the main artist was Andrea Pisano, who maintained a workshop in Pisa with his son Nino Pisano from 1343 to 1347. They are noted for the famous sculpture Maria lactans, and their work on Orvieto Cathedral.


1340s, Europe, Culture, religion and philosophy, Literature
In 1341, Petrarch was crowned poet laureate in Rome, the first man since antiquity to be given this honor.


1340s, Europe, Culture, religion and philosophy, Military technology
It was around this decade that medieval cannon began to be used more widely in Europe, appearing in small numbers in several European states by the 1340s. "Thunder jar" weaponry utilizing gunpowder and other firearm technology spread to Spain in 1342 and to the city of Aachen in Northern Germany in 1346. "Ribaldis" were first mentioned in the English Privy Wardrobe accounts between 1345 and 1346, during preparations for the campaign in France.


1340s, Europe, Culture, religion and philosophy, Military technology
The effectiveness of these cannon was limited, as they are believed to have only shot large arrows and simple grapeshot, but they were so valuable that they were directly controlled by the Royal Wardrobe. Contemporary chroniclers such as the French Jean Froissart and the Florentine Giovanni Villani record their destructiveness on the field at the Battle of Crecy in 1346.


1340s, Europe, Culture, religion and philosophy, Philosophy and religion
In the 1340s, Catholic Church was governed under the Avignon Papacy. Pope Benedict XII died on 25 April 1342, and was buried in a mausoleum in Avignon Cathedral. Thirteen days later, the cardinals elected Benedictine cardinal and theologian Pierre Roger de Beaufort as Pope Clement VI. He reigned as pope until 1352.


1340s, Europe, Culture, religion and philosophy, Philosophy and religion
In 1340s, the controversial Franciscan friar and Scholastic philosopher William of Ockham was at Munich under the protection of the Holy Roman Emperor, Louis of Bavaria, since 1330. During this time, he wrote exclusively on political matters, as an advocate of secular absolutism against papal authority, for which he had previously been excommunicated. Among the followers of Ockhamism — condensed as the omnipotence of God and Occam's Razor — were John of Mirecourt (fl. c. 1345) and Nicholas of Autrecourt (fl. c. 1347), both of whom taught at the University of Paris. Ockham, Mirecourt and Autrecourt all agreed on the principle of noncontradiction and experience as bases of certainty.


1340s, Europe, Culture, religion and philosophy, Philosophy and religion
On November 21, 1340, Autrecourt too was summoned him to Avignon to respond to allegations of false teaching. The trial, under Pope Benedict XII and his successor Clement VI, lasted until his conviction in 1346. Autrecourt was charged with 66 erroneous teachings or "articles", which he publicly recanted before the papal court. He recanted them in public again, in Paris in 1347. Although Ockham also expressed willingness to resubmit to the Church and Franciscan Order, there is no evidence of a formal reconciliation. Ockham is sometimes said to have died in 1349, but it is more likely to have been 1347, possibly of the Black Plague.


1340s, Europe, Culture, religion and philosophy, Philosophy and religion
In 1343, Clement VI issued the papal bull Unigenitus. The bull defined the doctrine of "The Treasury of Merits" or "The Treasury of the Church" as the basis for the issuance of indulgences by the Catholic Church.


1340s, Africa
In Egypt, the Mameluk sultans were constantly changing. In 1347, the Blue Mosque was completed in Cairo.


1340s, Africa
In the Horn of Africa, the 1340s were part of the century and a half (1314–1468) that comprised "the crowning era of medieval Ethiopia", which began with the reign of Amda Seyon I. The crusading spirit of Amda's conquests in the previous decades had established an effective Ethiopian hegemony over his divided Muslim neighbours, but the chief concern of his conquests had been above all to maintain trade for both Muslims and Christians. On Amda's death in 1344, the size of his Christian Empire was double what it had been in 1314.


1340s, Africa
Trade flourished in ivory and other animal products from the western and southwestern border regions, while food products were exported from the highlands to the eastern lowlands and coastal ports. He was succeeded as emperor by his eldest son Newaya Krestos, who followed his father's policies toward the Mulisms in the east, most of whom continued to be tributaries of Ethiopia.


1340s, Africa
In the Mali Empire of West Africa, Mansa Souleyman, who had assumed office in 1341, took steep measures to put Mali back into financial shape, developing a reputation for miserliness. However, he proved to be a good and strong ruler despite numerous challenges. It is during his reign that Fula raids on Takrur began. There was also a palace conspiracy to overthrow him hatched by the Qasa (Manding term meaning Queen) and several army commanders. Mansa Souleyman's generals successfully fought off the military incursions, and the senior wife behind the plot was imprisoned. Mali was at this time the dominant empire of West Africa, having conquered Songhai Empire. The Songhai Empire would not regain independence for another three decades.


1340s, The Americas
Very little is known of the Americas in this period, save what can be determined from archaeology. In North America, the Mississippian culture was in a continued state of decline. The city of Cahokia had experienced gradual decline since the 1200s, possibly due to contributory factors such as depletion of resources, climatic change, war, disease, social unrest and declining political and economic power. The final abandonment of the city may have taken place some time between this decade and 1400. Radiocarbon dating of wash material from Mound 55 give a date of around 1350, which can be taken as the time the mound was last used.


1340s, The Americas
Other Mississippian sites which went into decline after this decade, from about 1350 on, include the Kincaid Mounds and the Moundville site. In the case of the latter, the decline was marked by a loss of the appearance of a town and a decrease in the importation of goods. Although the site retained its ceremonial and political functions, some of the mounds were abandoned while others lost their religious importance altogether.


1340s, The Americas
In Central America, the Mayans, who centuries earlier had suffered a serious decline, were ruled from a capital in the Yucatan Peninsula called Mayapan. Other pre-Columbian civilisations, however, were on the rise. The precursors to the Aztecs, the Mexicas, had recently founded their capital city of Tenochtitlan. They also had occasional skirmishes with the nearby Mixtec civilization.


1340s BC
The 1340s BC is a decade which lasted from 1349 BC to 1340 BC.


1340s in art
The decade of the 1340s in art involved some significant events.


1340s in poetry
Nationality words link to articles with information on the nation's poetry or literature (for instance, Irish or France).


1340s in poetry, Births
Death years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article. There are conflicting or unreliable sources for the birth years of many people born in this period; where sources conflict, the poet is listed again and the conflict is noted:


1340s in poetry, Deaths
Birth years link to the corresponding "[year] in poetry" article:


1341
Year 1341 (MCCCXLI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.


1341 Edmée
1341 Edmée, provisional designation 1935 BA, is a rare-type metallic asteroid from the central region of the asteroid belt, approximately 27 kilometers in diameter.


1341 Edmée
It was discovered on 27 January 1935, by Belgian astronomer Eugène Joseph Delporte at Uccle Observatory in Belgium, and later named after French astronomer Édmée Chandon.


1341 Edmée, Orbit and classification
Edmée orbits the Sun in the middle main-belt at a distance of 2.5–3.0 AU once every 4 years and 6 months (1,658 days). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.08 and an inclination of 13° with respect to the ecliptic. In 1917 it was first identified as A917 DA at Heidelberg Observatory. The body's observation arc begins at Uccle, on the night following its official discovery observation in 1935.


1341 Edmée, Physical characteristics
Edmée is classified as a rare XB-type in the Tholen taxonomy, an intermediary between the X and B type asteroids.


1341 Edmée, Physical characteristics, Rotation period
American astronomer Robert Stephens obtained several rotational lightcurves of Edmée between 2004 and 2014. Best rated results include an observation taken at the Goat Mountain Research Observatory (G79) during the body's 2009-opposition, which gave a rotation period of 23.745 hours with a brightness variation of 0.05 magnitude (U=2+), superseding an alternative period solution of 11.89 (U=2).


1341 Edmée, Physical characteristics, Rotation period
Because Edmée's rotation is similar to that of Earth, photometric observations are challenging. In 2013, a much shorter period was derived from a fragmentary lightcurve at the Palomar Transient Factory in California (U=1).


1341 Edmée, Physical characteristics, Diameter and albedo
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite, and NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer with its subsequent NEOWISE mission, Edmée measures between 23.86 and 27.49 kilometers in diameter, and its surface has an albedo between 0.137 and 0.182. The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link adopt the results from IRAS, that is, an albedo of 0.1371 and a diameter of 27.49 kilometers with an absolute magnitude of 10.58.


1341 Edmée, Naming
This minor planet was named in honour of French astronomer Édmée Chandon. Naming citation was first mentioned in The Names of the Minor Planets by Paul Herget in 1955 (H 122).


1342
(MCCCXLII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.


1342 in Scotland
Events from the year 1342 in the Kingdom of Scotland.


1342 papal conclave
The 1342 papal conclave (5 May to 7 May) – the papal conclave convened after the death of Pope Benedict XII, it elected Cardinal Pierre Roger, who became the fourth Pope of the period of Avignon Papacy under the name Clement VI.


1342 papal conclave, Cardinal electors
Pope Benedict XII died at Avignon on 25 April 1342. At the time of his death, there were nineteen Cardinals in the Sacred College, of whom seventeen participated in the subsequent conclave:


1342 papal conclave, Cardinal electors
Ten electors were creatures of John XXII, six of Benedict XII and one of Clement V. Thirteen of them were French, three Italian and one Spanish.


1342 papal conclave, Cardinal electors
The post of the Camerlengo of the Holy Roman Church was occupied at that time by Gasbert de Valle, Archbishop of Narbonne (not a Cardinal) and nephew of Pope John XXII.


1342 papal conclave, Absentee cardinals
Two French Cardinals, both elevated by John XXII, did not participate in this conclave:


1342 papal conclave, The election of Pope Clement VI
The conclave started on May 5 and lasted only two days. On May 7 Cardinal Pierre Roger, former Chancellor of the Kingdom of France, was unanimously elected Pope, "by divine inspiration alone", as reported shortly thereafter Cardinals des Farges and Ceccano. Elect took the name of Clement VI. On May 19 new Pope was crowned in the church of the Dominicans in Avignon by Raymond Guillaume des Farges, protodeacon of S. Maria Nuova.


1342 papal conclave, The election of Pope Clement VI
Shortly after the death of Benedict XII king Philip VI of France sent to Avignon his eldest son with the task to support the candidature of Cardinal Roger, but when he arrived, the election had been already accomplished with the result expected by the king.


1343
Year 1343 (MCCCXLIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.


1343 Naples tsunami
The 1343 tsunami struck the Tyrrhenian Sea and Bay of Naples on November 25, 1343. Underground shocks were felt in Naples and caused significant damage and loss of lives. Of major note was a tsunami created by the earthquake which destroyed many ships in Naples and destroyed many ports along the Amalfi Coast including Amalfi itself. The effects of the tsunami were observed by the poet Petrarch, whose ship was forced to return to port, and recorded in the fifth book of his Epistolae familiares. A 2019 study attributes the event to a massive submarine landslide (possibly greater than 1 km3), caused by flank collapse of the Stromboli volcano.


1344
Year 1344 (MCCCXLIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.


1344 Yellow River flood
The 1344 Yellow River flood was a major natural disaster during the Yuan dynasty of Imperial China. The impact was devastating both for the peasants of the area as well as the leaders of the empire. The Yuan dynasty was waning, and the emperor forced enormous teams to build new embankments for the river. The terrible conditions helped fuel rebellions that led to the founding of the Ming dynasty.


1344 Yellow River flood
As a result of the flood, the Yellow River shifted course south of the Shandong peninsula, where it remained for the next five hundred years until floods in the 1850s returned it to its more northerly course.


1345
Year 1345 (MCCCXLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. It was a year in the 14th century, in the midst of a period in world history often referred to as the Late Middle Ages.


1345
During this year on the Asian continent, several divisions of the old Mongol Empire were in a state of gradual decline. The Ilkhanate had already fragmented into several kingdoms struggling to place their puppet emperors over the shell of an old state. The Chagatai Khanate was in the midst of a civil war and one year from falling to rebellion. The Golden Horde to the north was besieging Genoese colonies along the coast of the Black Sea, and the Yuan dynasty in China was seeing the first seeds of a resistance which would lead to its downfall.


1345
Southeast Asia remained free from Mongol power, with several small kingdoms struggling for survival. The Siamese dynasty in that area vanquished the Sukhothai in this year. In the Indonesian Archipelago, the Majapahit Empire was in the midst of a golden age under the leadership of Gajah Mada, who remains a famous figure in Indonesia.


1345
England and France were engaged in the early stages of the Hundred Years' War, with the Battle of Auberoche fought in Northern France in October of this year. In the Iberian Peninsula, Alfonso XI of Castile again besieged the Muslim city of Granada as part of the Reconquista, but without success. The Holy Roman Empire under Louis IV took control of Holland and the surrounding area, granting these lands to his wife Margaret II, Countess of Hainaut in a move which angered many of his princes.


1345
Holland was also in the midst of the Friso-Hollandic Wars, engaging with the Frisians on 26 September in the Battle of Warns. Italy, which at the time was divided into several kingdoms, saw several power struggles including the Battle of Gamenario in the north, and the assassination of Andrew, Duke of Calabria in the Kingdom of Naples. In Northern Europe, Swedes continued early stages of their emigration to Estonia, which would continue in the coming decades. Estonian rulers also managed to crush the St. George's Night Uprising in 1345 after a two-year struggle. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania changed hands from Jaunutis to his brother Algirdas in a relatively bloodless shift of power, and Lithuania continued its skirmishes with its northern, Estonian neighbor.


1345
The main forces in the Balkans in 1345 were Serbia, Bulgaria, and the Byzantine Empire. Stefan Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia proclaimed himself Tsar of the new Serbian Empire and continued his efforts at expansion, quickly conquering Albania and other surrounding areas within the year. The Byzantines, though powerful, were in a state of decline, with an ongoing civil war between emperors John V Palaiologos and John VI Kantakouzenos, although in 1345, the tide began to turn toward the latter. At the same time, the Zealot commune in Thessalonica entered a more radical phase.


1345
Turks clashed with Byzantines, Serbs, and Cypriots at sea and in the islands of Chios and Imbros. The Byzantine Empire's precarious situation at this time is evidenced by the fact that they did not have enough soldiers to protect their own borders, but hired mercenaries from the Serbs and the Ottoman Turks.


1345, Asia, Western Asia
The country of Georgia had been struggling for independence from the Ilkhanate since the first anti-Mongol uprising started in 1259 under the leadership of King David Narin who in fact waged his war for almost thirty years. Finally, it was King George the Brilliant (1314–1346) who managed to play on the decline of the Ilkhanate, stopped paying tribute to the Mongols, restored the pre-1220 state borders of Georgia, and returned the Empire of Trebizond into Georgia's sphere of influence. Thus, in 1345, Georgia was in the midst of golden age of independence, though its leader would die one year later.


1345, Asia, Western Asia
Trebizond had reached its greatest wealth and influence during the long reign of Alexios II (1297–1330). Afterwards, however, it suffered a period of repeated imperial depositions and assassinations from the end of Alexios II's reign until the first years of Alexios III's, finally ending in 1355, six years into his rule. The empire, however, never fully recovered its internal cohesion, commercial supremacy or territory. Its ruler in 1345, Michael Megas Komnenos was crowned Emperor of Trebizond in 1344 after his son, John III, was deposed.


1345, Asia, Western Asia
He was forced to sign a document which gave the Grand Duke and his ministers almost all power in the Empire, promising to seek their counsel in all official actions. This constitutional experiment was short-lived, however, because of opposition from the people of Trebizond. They were infuriated to see the Emperor stripped of his effective authority and rose up in revolt against the oligarchy. Michael swiftly took advantage of his opportunity to regain power and arrested and imprisoned the Grand Duke in 1345. He also sent his son John to Constantinople and then Adrianople, where he was to be kept prisoner to prevent him from becoming a further focus for the discontented nobles of Trebizond.


1345, Asia, Mongol khanates
The Mongol Empire had become fractured since the late 13th century. After the death of Kublai Khan in 1294, it had already been divided into four khanates: The Yuan dynasty, the Ilkhanate, the Golden Horde, and the Chagatai Khanate.


1345, Asia, Mongol khanates, Ilkhanate
The Ilkhanate had been declining rapidly since 1335, when Abu Sa'id died without an heir. Since then, various factions, including the Chobanids and the Jalayirids, had been competing for the Ilkhan throne. Hassan Kuchak, a Chobanid prince, was murdered late in 1343. Surgan, son of Sati Beg, the sister of Abu Sa'id, found himself competing for control of the Chobanid lands with the late ruler's brother Malek Ashraf and his uncle Yagi Basti. When he was defeated by Malek Asraf, he fled to his mother and stepfather.


1345, Asia, Mongol khanates, Ilkhanate
The three of them then formed an alliance, but when Hasan Buzurg (Jalayirid) decided to withdraw the support he promised, the plan fell apart, and they fled to Diyarbakır. Surgan was defeated again in 1345 by Malek Asraf and they fled to Anatolia. Coinage dating from that year appears in Hesn Kayfa in Sati Beg's name; this is the last trace of her. Surgan moved from Anatolia to Baghdad, where he was eventually executed by Hasan Buzurg; Sati Beg may have suffered the same fate, but this is unknown.


1345, Asia, Mongol khanates, Golden Horde
In 1345, the Golden Horde made a second attempt to lay siege on the Genoese city of Kaffa. (An earlier attempt had failed because Kaffa was able to get provisions across the Black Sea.) The 1345 siege would fail in the following year as the Mongols were struck with the Black Plague and forced to retreat. This siege is therefore noted as one of the key events that brought the Black Plague to Europe.


1345, Asia, Mongol khanates, Golden Horde
The Kingdom of Hungary saw the threat of the growing power of the Golden Horde and as such, in 1345 it began a campaign against the Tatars and the Horde, in the area what would become a few years later Moldavia. Andrew Lackfi, the Voivode of Transylvania and his Székely warriors were victorious in their campaign, decapitating the local Tatar leader, the brother-in-law of the Khan, Atlamïş and making the Tatars flee toward the coastal area.


1345, Asia, Mongol khanates, Chagatai Khanate
Amir Qazaghan (d. 1358) was the leader of the Qara'unas tribe (1345 at the latest – 1358) and the powerful de facto ruler of the Chagatai ulus (1346–1358). In 1345 he revolted against Qazan Khan, but was unsuccessful. The following year he would try again and succeed in killing the khan. With this the effective power of the Chagatai khans would come to an end; the khanate eventually devolved into a loose confederation of tribes that respected the authority of Qazaghan, although he primarily commanded the loyalty of the tribes of the southern portion of the ulus. He did not claim the khanship, but instead contented himself with his title of amir and conferred the title of khan on puppets of his own choosing: first Danishmendji (1346–1348) and then Bayan Qulï (1348–1358).


1345, Asia, Mongol khanates, Yuan dynasty
By 1345, the Yuan dynasty in China was steadily declining. Chinese peasants, upset with the lack of effective policies by the government when they were facing droughts, floods, and famines, were becoming rebellious. The Yellow River flooded in Jinan in 1345. The river had flooded previously in 1335 and in 1344. There was also conflict between the rulers of the dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang was about 16 years old in 1345. His parents and brothers had died of plague or famine (or both) in 1344, and he joined a Buddhist monastery. In 1345 he left the monastery and joined a band of rebels. He would lead a series of rebellions until he overthrew the Yuan dynasty and became the first emperor of the Ming dynasty in 1368.


1345, Asia, Japan and India
Muhammad bin Tughluq was reigning as Sultan of Delhi in 1345 when there was a revolt of Muslim military commanders in the Daulatabad area. In Bengal, on the eastern border of the Sultanate, a general named llyas captured East Bengal, leading to its reunification. He established his capital at Gaur. In southern India, Harihara I had founded the Vijayanagara Empire in 1336. After the death of Hoysala Veera Ballala III during a battle against the Sultan of Madurai in 1343, the Hoysala Empire had merged with the growing Vijayanagara Empire.


1345, Asia, Japan and India
In these first two decades after the founding of the empire, Harihara I gained control over most of the area south of the Tungabhadra river and earned the title of Purvapaschima Samudradhishavara ("master of the eastern and western oceans"). The Jaffna Kingdom, which encompassed the southern tip of India and parts of Sri Lanka; there was continual conflict with Vijayanagara and the smaller Kotte Kingdom of southern Sri Lanka.


1345, Asia, Japan and India
From 1336 to 1392, two courts claimed the throne of Japan. This was known as the Nanboku-chō, or the Northern and Southern Courts period. In the Northern Court, Emperor Go-Murakami claimed the throne. In the Southern Court, Emperor Kōmyō claimed the throne.


1345, Asia, Southeast Asia
In Southeast Asia, Sukhothai changed hands to a new Siamese dynasty in 1345. A Buddhist work, the Traibhumikatha, was composed by the King of Siam in the same year. The Sukhothai Emperor also wrote a similar Buddhist work, the Tri Phum Phra Ruang. Both works describe Southeast Asian cosmological ideas which still exist today. Life is said in these books to be divided into 31 levels of existence separated between three worlds.


1345, Asia, Southeast Asia
Angkor was in a period of decline, forced to devote much of its resources to skirmishes with the Sukhothai and Siamese, which left Champa free to attack Đại Việt and opened the way for Lopburi to spring up, all of which happened right around this year. A Buddhist colony also existed to the west in the Mon Empire, which struggled to maintain its existence in the face of the Islamic Delhi Sultanate to the west and the Mongol Chinese to the north.


1345, Asia, Southeast Asia
The Majapahit Empire, which occupied much of the Indonesian Archipelago, was ruled by empress Tribhuwana Wijayatunggadewi. During Tribhuwana's rule, the Majapahit kingdom had grown much larger and became famous in the area. Gajah Mada reigned at the time along with the empress as mahapatih (prime minister) of Majapahit. It was during their rule in 1345 that the famous Muslim traveller Ibn Battuta visited Samudra in the Indonesian Archipelago. According to Battuta's report on his visit to Samudra, the ruler of the local area was a Muslim, and the people worshiped as Muslims in mosques and recited the Koran. Many Islamic traders and travelers had already scattered themselves along the major cities and coasts surrounding the Indian Ocean by this time.


1345, Western Europe, Hundred Years' War
By 1345, the Hundred Years' War between France and England had been going on for only about eight years. The English claimed the right to the French throne, and the French refused to be ruled by foreigners. In August the English Earl of Derby commenced the Gascon campaign of 1345, taking a large French army at Bergerac, Dordogne by surprise and decisively defeating it.


1345, Western Europe, Hundred Years' War
Later in the campaign, on 21 October the French were besieging the castle at Auberoche, when Derby's army caught them off guard during their evening meal and won one of the most decisive battles of the war. This set the stage for English dominance in the area for several years.


1345, Western Europe, Hundred Years' War
Previous to this, the French had been having success, and the English had even offered a treaty, but with this battle along with Derby's overrunning of the Agenais (lost twenty years before in the War of Saint-Sardos) and Angoulême, as well as the forces in Brittany under Sir Thomas Dagworth also making gains, the tide turned somewhat in this year.


1345, Western Europe, Hundred Years' War
A new machine was introduced to this war in 1345—cannon. "Ribaldis", as they were then called, are first mentioned in the English Privy Wardrobe accounts during preparations for the Battle of Crécy between 1345 and 1346. These were believed to have shot large arrows and simplistic grapeshot, but they were so important they were directly controlled by the Royal Wardrobe.


1345, Western Europe, War of Succession
A kind of side conflict to the Hundred Years' War was the War of the Breton Succession, a conflict between the Houses of Blois and Montfort for control of the Duchy of Brittany. The French backed Blois and the English backed Montfort in what became a miniature of the wider conflict between the two countries. The House of Blois had laid siege to the town of Quimper in early 1344, and continued into 1345. During the summer and autumn of 1344, the Montfortist party had fallen apart.


1345, Western Europe, War of Succession
Even those who had been John of Montfort's staunchest allies now considered it futile to continue the struggle. It therefore mattered little that in March 1345 John finally managed to escape to England. With no adherents of note of his own, he was now little more than a figurehead for English ambitions in Brittany.


1345, Western Europe, War of Succession
Edward III decided to repudiate the truce in summer 1345, a year before it was due to run out. As part of his larger strategy, a force was dispatched to Brittany under the joint leadership of the Earl of Northampton and John of Montfort. Within a week of their landing in June, the English had their first victory when Sir Thomas Dagworth, one of Northampton's lieutenants, raided central Brittany and defeated Charles of Blois at Cadoret near Josselin.


1345, Western Europe, War of Succession
The follow-up was less impressive. Further operations were delayed until July when Montfort attempted the recapture of Quimper. However, news had reached the French government that Edward's main campaign had been cancelled and they were able to send reinforcements from Normandy. With his strengthened army, Charles of Blois broke the siege. Routed, Montfort fled back to Hennebont where he fell ill and died 16 September. The heir to the Montfortist cause was his 5-year-old son, John.


1345, Western Europe, War of Succession
During the winter, Northampton fought a long and hard winter campaign with the apparent objective of seizing a harbour on the north side of the peninsula. Edward III had probably planned to land here with his main force during summer 1346. However, the English achieved very little for their efforts. Northern Brittany was Joanna of Dreux’ home region and resistance here was stiff. The only bright spot for the English was victory at the Battle of La Roche-Derrien, where the small town was captured and a garrison installed under Richard Totesham.


1345, Western Europe, Other events
Also in England in 1345, Princess Joan was betrothed to Pedro of Castile, son of Alfonso XI of Castile and Maria of Portugal. She would never marry him, however, but would die of the Black Plague on her journey to Spain to meet him. Spain, meanwhile, continued its struggle to regain Muslim territory on the Iberian Peninsula. In that same year Alfonso XI attacked Gibraltar as a part of the Reconquista, but was unable to conquer it. In 1345 Muhammud V was made its ruler. The York Minster Cathedral, the largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe, was completed in this year as well. It remains the largest in the region to this day. England was still recovering from French occupation. Until 1345, all school instruction had been in French, rather than English.


1345, Western Europe, Other events
Besides the War of Succession and the Hundred Years' War, France was in the midst of an interesting period. Several decades earlier, the Roman Papacy had moved to Avignon and would not return to Rome for another 33 years. The Avignon Papacy was then ruled by Pope Clement VI, who was aiding the French in their war against the English with Church funds. Also, in the year 1345, the famous Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was completed after nearly two centuries of planning and construction.


1345, Western Europe, Other events
On 24 March, a man named Guy de Chauliac observed a strange astronomical sign: the planets Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars conjoined in the sky under the sign of Aquarius. That same day the area experienced a solar eclipse. This sign was interpreted as foreboding by many, and Chauliac would later blame it for the Black Plague, which arrived less than five years later.


1345, Central Europe, Holy Roman Empire
On 1 January, emperor Louis IV's son Louis VI the Roman married Cunigunde, a Lithuanian Princess. Besides this move, the emperor continued his policy of expansion by conferring Hainaut, Holland, Zeeland and Friesland upon his wife Margaret of Holland after the death of William IV at the Battle of Warns. The hereditary titles to these lands owned by Margaret's sisters were ignored. This widened a divide which had already been growing between himself and the lay princes of Germany, who disliked his restless expansion policy. His actions in this year eventually led to a civil war, which was cut short by his death by stroke two years later.


1345, Central Europe, Holy Roman Empire
On 12 March, a eucharistic miracle occurred in Amsterdam, now called the Miracle of the Host. It involved a dying man vomiting upon being given the Holy Sacrament and last rites in his home. The Host was then put in the fire, but miraculously remained intact and could be retrieved from the fire in one piece without the heat burning the hand of the person that retrieved it. This miracle was later officially recognised as such by the Roman Catholic Church, and a large pilgrimage chapel was built where the house had stood. Every year, thousands of Catholics take part in the Stille Omgang, or procession to the place of the miracle.


1345, Central Europe, Holy Roman Empire
Holland, meanwhile, was in the midst of the Friso-Hollandic Wars, as the Counts of Holland continued their efforts to conquer nearby Friesland in the Battle of Warns. In 1345 William IV, Count of Holland, prepared a military action to conquer Middle Frisia, crossing the Zuiderzee with a large fleet and with the help of French and Flemish knights, some of whom had just returned from crusade. He set sail in Enkhuizen, together with his uncle John of Beaumont, and landed near Stavoren and Laaxum and planned to use the Sint-Odulphus monastery near Stavoren as a fortification. The Hollandic knights wore armour, but had no horses as there wasn't enough room in the ships, which were full of building materials and supplies.


1345, Central Europe, Holy Roman Empire
William's troops set fire to the abandoned villages of Laaxum and Warns and started to advance towards Stavoren. In the countryside around Warns the Hollandic count was attacked by the local inhabitants. With their heavy armour the knights were no match for the furious Frisian farmers and fishermen. As they fled they entered a swamp where they were decisively beaten. Their commander William IV of Holland was killed, and was succeeded by his sister Margaret of Holland, wife of Louis IV. When John of Beaumont heard what had happened, he ordered a retreat back to the ships. They were pursued by the Frisians and most did not make it back. Count William's death in this battle paved the way for the Hook and Cod wars, and 26 September, the day of the battle, remains a national holiday in Friesland today.


1345, Central Europe, Italy
The Battle of Gamenario, fought on 22 April, was a decisive battle of the wars between the Guelfs (Angevins) and Ghibellines (Lombards). It took place in north-west Italy in what is now part of the commune of Santena about 15 km southeast of Turin.


1345, Central Europe, Italy
Reforza d'Agoult was sent in the spring of 1345 by Joanna of Anjou, viceroy to northern Italy in hopes of putting an end to the war with the Margravate of Montferrat. Reforza conquered Alba and besieged Gamenario, a castle in the neighbourhood of Santena. Lombard Ghibellines formed an anti-Angevin alliance, headed by John II, Marquess of Montferrat. On 22 April, he confronted Reforza d'Agoult and battle was joined. The meeting was brief and bloody. Initially uncertain, the outcome was a victory for the Ghibellines, who recovered the besieged fortress and dealt a severe blow to Angevin influence in Piedmont.


1345, Central Europe, Italy
To celebrate his victory, John built a new church in Asti in honour of Saint George, near whose feast day the battle was won. Saint George held a special place for the men of chivalry of the Medieval, because he was the Saint that killed the dragon and was therefore held in a warrior cult.


1345, Central Europe, Italy
In the aftermath, Piedmont was partitioned between the victors. John received Alba, Acqui Terme, Ivrea, and Valenza. Luchino Visconti received Alessandria and the House of Savoy (related to the Palaiologos of Montferrat) received Chieri. The Angevins lost almost complete control of the region and many formerly French cities declared themselves independent. The defeat of the Angevins was also a defeat for Angevin-supported Manfred V, Marquess of Saluzzo and the civil war in that margraviate was ended at Gamenario.


1345, Central Europe, Italy
Andrew, Duke of Calabria, was assassinated by conspiracy in 1345. He had been appointed joint heir with his wife, Joan I, to the throne of Naples by the Pope. This, however, sat ill with the Neapolitan people and nobles; nor was Joan content to share her sovereignty. With the approval of Pope Clement VI, Joan was crowned as sole monarch of Naples in August 1344. Fearing for his life, Andrew wrote to his mother Elizabeth that he would soon flee the kingdom.


1345, Central Europe, Italy
She intervened, and made a state visit; before she returned to Hungary, she bribed Pope Clement to reverse himself and permit the coronation of Andrew. She also gave a ring to Andrew, which was supposed to protect him from death by blade or poison, and returned with a false sense of security to Hungary.


1345, Central Europe, Italy
Thus, in 1345, hearing of the Pope's reversal, a group of noble conspirators (probably including Queen Joan) determined to forestall Andrew's coronation. During a hunting trip at Aversa, Andrew left his room in the middle of the night and was set upon by the conspirators. A treacherous servant barred the door behind him; and as Joan cowered in their bed, a terrible struggle ensued, Andrew defending himself furiously and shrieking for aid. He was finally overpowered, strangled with a cord, and flung from a window. The horrible deed would taint the rest of Joan's reign.


1345, Central Europe, Italy
Other events in Italy in 1345 include Ambrogio Lorenzetti's painting of a map of the world for the palace at Siena. The painting has since been lost, but the instruments which he used to make it still survive, giving insights into mapmaking techniques of the day. The Peruzzi family, a big banking family and precursor to the Medici family went bankrupt in 1345, and in 1345 Florence was the scene of an attempted strike by wool combers (ciompi). A few decades later they would rise in a full-scale revolt. In Verona, Mastino II della Scala began the construction of his Scaliger Tomb, an architectural structure still standing today.


1345, Sweden and Lithuania
In Sweden and states bordering the Baltic Sea, the oldest surviving manuscript from the first Swedish law to be put to paper is from c. 1345, although earlier versions probably existed. The law was created for the young town Stockholm's customs, but it was also used in Lödöse and probably in a few other towns, as well. No town was allowed to use the law without the formal permission by the Swedish king. Its use may have become more widespread if it had not been superseded by the new town law by King Magnus Eriksson (1316–1374). The term Bjarkey Laws was however used for a long time for Magnus Eriksson's law in various locations.


1345, Sweden and Lithuania
Records also exist for the emigration of Swedes to Estonia in this year. Early mentions of Swedes in Estonia came in 1341 and 1345 (when an Estonian monastery in Padise sold "the Laoküla Estate" and Suur-Pakri Island to a group of Swedes). During the 13th through 15th centuries, large numbers of Swedes arrived in coastal Estonia from Finland, which was under Swedish control (and would remain so for hundreds of years), often settling on Church-owned land.


1345, Sweden and Lithuania
1345 marked the end of a series of skirmishes begun in the 1343 St. George's Night Uprising. The rebellion, which was by this time limited to the island of Saaremaa, was stifled in 1345. After the rebellion Denmark sold its domains in Estonia to the Teutonic Order in 1346. The fighting had started as a protest by indigenous Estonians to Danish and German rule. Parts of Estonia such as the city of Valga suffered raids from the nearby Lithuanian rulers.


1345, Sweden and Lithuania
In Lithuania in 1345 Grand Duke Jaunutis was deposed by his brothers. Very little is known about years when Jaunutis ruled except that they were quite peaceful years, as the Teutonic Knights were led by ineffective Ludolf König. The Bychowiec Chronicle mentions that Jaunutis was supported by Jewna, presumed wife of Gediminas and mother of his children. She died ca. 1344 and soon after Jaunutis lost his throne. If he was indeed protected by his mother, then it would be an interesting example of influence held by queen mother in pagan Lithuania. However, a concrete stimulus might have been a major reise planned by the Teutonic Knights in 1345.


1345, Balkans
In 1345, the Byzantine civil war continued. Having exploited the conflict to expand his realm into Macedonia, following the conquest of Serres Stefan Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia proclaimed himself "Tsar of the Serbs and Romans". By the end of the year, his Serbian Empire included all of Macedonia, except for Thessalonica, and all of Albania, except for Dyrrhachium, held by the Angevins. The first known line of Serbian text written in the Latin alphabet is dated to this year. Serbia was recognized as the most powerful empire in the Balkans for the next several years.


1345, Balkans
The Byzantine civil war also allowed the emergence of a local quasi-independent principality in the Rhodope, headed by the Bulgarian brigand Momchil, who had switched his allegiance from John VI Kantakouzenos to the regency in Constantinople. On 7 July, the army of Umur Beg, the Turkish emir of Aydin and Kantakouzenos' chief ally, met and defeated Momchil's forces at Peritheorion. Momchil himself was killed in the battle.


1345, Balkans
On 11 June, Alexios Apokaukos, the driving force behind the Constantinopolitan regency and main instigator of the civil war, was murdered. His demise led to a wave of defections to the Kantakouzenist camp, most prominently his own son, John Apokaukos, the governor of Thessalonica. He plotted to surrender the city to Kantakouzenos, and had the leader of the Zealots, a certain Michael Palaiologos, killed. The Zealots however reacted violently: in a popular uprising, led by Andreas Palaiologos, they overpowered Apokaukos and killed or expelled most of the city's remaining aristocrats. The events are described by Demetrius Cydones:


1345, Balkans
...one after another the prisoners were hurled from the walls of the citadel and hacked to pieces by the mob of the Zealots assembled below. Then followed a hunt for all the members of the upper classes: they were driven through the streets like slaves, with ropes round their necks-here a servant dragged his master, there a slave his purchaser, while the peasant struck the strategus and the labourer beat the soldier (i.e. the pronoiar).


1345, Balkans
In 1345, the Greek island of Chios fell to the Genoese Giustiniani. The Genoese also sacked the city of Dvigrad in Istria in this same year. Aquileian patriarchs had for some time fought fiercely against Venetians which had already gained considerable influence on the west coast of Istria. It was during these confrontations that the town fell.


1345, Anatolian Peninsula
In 1344, Hugh IV of Cyprus joined a league with Venice and the Knights Hospitaller which burnt a Turkish fleet in Smyrna and captured the city. In 1345 the allies defeated the Turks at Imbros by land and sea, but Hugh could see little benefit for his kingdom in these endeavors and withdrew from the league. Meanwhile, Umur Beg transformed the Beylik of Aydınoğlu into a serious naval power with base in İzmir and posed a threat particularly for Venetian possessions in the Aegean Sea. The Venetians organized an alliance uniting several European parties (Sancta Unio), composed notably of the Knights Hospitaller, which organized five consecutive attacks on İzmir and the Western Anatolian coastline controlled by Turkish states. In between, it was the Turks who organized maritime raids directed at Aegean islands.


1345, Anatolian Peninsula
John XIV sparked the civil conflict when he convinced the Empress that John V's rule was threatened by the ambitions of Kantakouzenos. In September 1341, whilst Kantakouzenos was in Thrace, Kalekas declared himself as regent and launched a vicious attack on Kantakouzenos, his supporters & family. In October Anna ordered Kantakouzenos to resign his command. Kantakouzenos not only refused, he declared himself Emperor at Didymoteichon, allegedly to protect John V's rule from Kalekas. Whether or not Kantakouzenos wished to be Emperor is not known, but the provocative actions of the Patriarch forced Kantakouzenos to fight to retain his power and start the civil war.


1345, Anatolian Peninsula
There were not nearly enough troops to defend Byzantium's borders at the time and there certainly was not enough for the two factions to split – consequently, more foreigners would flood the Empire into a state of chaos – Kantakouzenos hired Turks and Serbs – his main supply of Turkish mercenaries came from the Umur of Aydin, a nominal ally established by Andronikos III. The Regency of John V relied on Turkish mercenaries as well. However, Kantakouzenos began to draw support from the Ottoman Sultan Orkhan, who wed Kantakouzenos' daughter in 1345. By 1347, Kantakouzenos had triumphed and entered Constantinople. However, in his hour of victory, he came to an accord with Anna and her son, John V. John V (now 15 years of age) and Kantakouzenos would rule as co-emperors, though John V would be the junior in this relationship. The unlikely peace would not last long.


1345, Anatolian Peninsula
The Turks attacked Smyrna on January 17 and the Ottomans annexed Qarasi in west Asia minor. Later, Pope Clement urged further attacks on the Levant.


1345, Africa
Pope Clement IV said in 1345: "the acquisition of the kingdom of Africa belongs to us and our royal right and to no one else." Ironically, in the same year, trade was established between Italy and the Mamluk Sultanate in Egypt. This marked the beginning of reliable trading of spice to the Adriatic Sea.


1345 Avenue of the Americas
1345 Avenue of the Americas, also known as the AllianceBernstein Building, is a 625-foot (191 m)-tall, 50-story skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan New York City, New York. Located on Sixth Avenue between 54th and 55th Streets, the building was built by Fisher Brothers and designed by Emery Roth & Sons. When completed in 1969, the building was originally known as Burlington House, after Burlington Industries.


1345 Avenue of the Americas
1345 Avenue of the Americas is an unrelieved slab structure in the International Style, sometimes referred to as "corporate" style, faced with dark glass. Its small plaza is dominated by its sprinkling fountain like a dandelion seedhead. It replaced the original Ziegfeld Theatre.


1345 Avenue of the Americas, First public cellphone call
A base station atop the building was used on April 3, 1973, by Martin Cooper to make the world's first handheld cellular phone call in public. Cooper, a Motorola inventor, called rival Joel S. Engel of Bell Labs to tell him about the invention. Engel was staying across the street in the Hilton New York.


1345 Avenue of the Americas, In popular culture
In the film Spider-Man 3 (2007), 1345 Avenue of the Americas is the building Gwen Stacy falls from in the crane scene. It also serves as the foyer for the fictional law firm in the film Michael Clayton (2007). It is used as the establishing shot for the corporate headquarters of the fictional company, Dunder Mifflin in the television show The Office.


1345 Liverpool riot
The 1345 Liverpool riot took place on St Valentine's Day that year when a large body of armed men entered the town of Liverpool and attacked the Courts.


1345 Liverpool riot
Having unfurled banners, the mob broke into the court—while the Justices of the Peace were in session—and began abusing them. What began with hurling insults escalated into violence, and swiftly following their "'insulting and contumacious words", the armed mob "did wickedly kill, mutilate, and plunder of their goods, and wound very many persons there assembled, and further did prevent the justices from showing justice" as they were due to.


1345 Liverpool riot
A Commission of the Peace was held three weeks later to bring to justice those involved; many of whom, it was discovered, were propertied men. By July, Henry, Earl of Lancaster had ensured that most of them had received royal pardons on condition that they joined his military campaign to Gascony. Recent scholarship has indicated that the riots were an extension of an on-going feud between two gentry families, the Radcliffe and Trafford families, all of whose retainers were later found among the accused.


1345 Liverpool riot
There were a number of casualties among each family. Of the Traffords, says the Victoria County History, "Geoffrey son of Sir Henry de Trafford; Richard de Trafford, son of Sir John the elder, and John and Robert his brothers; also Richard brother of Henry de Trafford" were all killed. Robert Ratcliffe also died the day of the riot, but in his particular case, there is some uncertainty whether his death was directly the result of injuries sustained in the riot.


1345 Potomac
1345 Potomac (/pəˈtoʊmək/ (listen)), provisional designation 1908 CG, is a dark Hildian asteroid from the outermost regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 73 kilometers (45 mi) in diameter. It was discovered on 4 February 1908, by American astronomer Joel Metcalf at the Taunton Observatory (803) in Massachusetts, United States. The X-type asteroid has a rotation period of 11.4 hours. It was named for the Potomac River on which Washington, D.C. is located.


1345 Potomac, Orbit and classification
Potomac is member of the dynamical Hilda group, which stays in  3:2 orbital resonance with Jupiter. It is, however, not a member of the Hilda family but a non-family asteroid of the main belt's background population when applying the Hierarchical Clustering Method to its proper orbital elements.


1345 Potomac, Orbit and classification
It orbits the Sun in the outermost asteroid belt at a distance of 3.3–4.7 AU once every 7 years and 12 months (2,910 days; semi-major axis of 3.99 AU). Its orbit has an eccentricity of 0.18 and an inclination of 11° with respect to the ecliptic. The body's observation arc begins at the United States Naval Observatory, three weeks after its official discovery observation at Taunton.


1345 Potomac, Naming
This minor planet was named after the U.S. Potomac River in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, on which Washington, D.C. is located. The river flows from West Virginia into the Chesapeake Bay and forms the southern boundary of Maryland. The official naming citation was mentioned in The Names of the Minor Planets by Paul Herget in 1955 (H 122).


1345 Potomac, Physical characteristics
In the Tholen classification, Potomac is an X-type asteroid. It has also been characterized as a carbonaceous C-type asteroid by Pan-STARRS photometric survey.


1345 Potomac, Physical characteristics, Rotation period
Two rotational lightcurves of Potomac was obtained from photometric observations. Lightcurve analysis gave a rotation period of 11.40 and 11.41 hours with a brightness amplitude of 0.22 and 0.24 magnitude, respectively (U=2/3).


1345 Potomac, Physical characteristics, Diameter and albedo
According to the surveys carried out by the Infrared Astronomical Satellite IRAS, the Japanese Akari satellite and the NEOWISE mission of NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, Potomac measures between 71.82 and 76.72 kilometers in diameter and its surface has an albedo between 0.039 and 0.0439.


1345 Potomac, Physical characteristics, Diameter and albedo
The Collaborative Asteroid Lightcurve Link adopts the results obtained by IRAS, that is, an albedo of 0.0439 and a diameter of 71.82 kilometers based on an absolute magnitude of 9.73.


1345 in Italy
The Battle of Gamenario, fought on 22 April, was a decisive battle of the wars between the Guelfs (Angevins) and Ghibellines (Lombards). It took place in north-west Italy in what is now part of the commune of Santena about 15 km southeast of Turin.


1345 in Italy
Reforza d'Agoult was sent in the spring of 1345 by Joan of Anjou, viceroy to northern Italy in hopes of putting an end to the war with the Margravate of Montferrat. Reforza conquered Alba and besieged Gamenario, a castle in the neighbourhood of Santena. Lombard Ghibellines formed an anti-Angevin alliance, headed by John II of Montferrat. On 22 April, he confronted Reforza d'Agoult and battle was joined. The meeting was brief and bloody. Initially uncertain, the outcome was a victory for the Ghibellines, who recovered the besieged fortress and dealt a severe blow to Angevin influence in Piedmont.


1345 in Italy
To celebrate his victory, John built a new church in Asti in honour of Saint George, near whose feast day the battle was won. Saint George held a special place for the men of chivalry of the Medieval, because he was the Saint that killed the dragon and was therefore held in a warrior cult.


1345 in Italy
In the aftermath, Piedmont was partitioned between the victors. John received Alba, Acqui Terme, Ivrea, and Valenza. Luchino Visconti received Alessandria and the House of Savoy (related to the Palaiologos of Montferrat) received Chieri. The Angevins lost almost complete control of the region and many formerly French cities declared themselves independent. The defeat of the Angevins was also a defeat for Angevin-supported Manfred V of Saluzzo and the civil war in that margraviate was ended at Gamenario.


1345 in Italy
Andrew, Duke of Calabria, was assassinated by a conspiracy in 1345. He had been appointed joint heir with his wife, Joan I, to the throne of Naples by the Pope. This, however, sat ill with the Neapolitan people and nobles; nor was Joan content to share her sovereignty. With the approval of Pope Clement VI, Joan was crowned as sole monarch of Naples in August 1344. Fearing for his life, Andrew wrote to his mother Elizabeth that he would soon flee the kingdom.


1345 in Italy
She intervened, and made a state visit; before she returned to Hungary, she bribed Pope Clement to reverse himself and permit the coronation of Andrew. She also gave a ring to Andrew, which was supposed to protect him from death by blade or poison, and returned with a false sense of security to Hungary.


1345 in Italy
Thus, in 1345, hearing of the Pope's reversal, a group of noble conspirators (probably including Queen Joan) determined to forestall Andrew's coronation. During a hunting trip at Aversa, Andrew left his room in the middle of the night and was set upon by the conspirators. A treacherous servant barred the door behind him; and as Joan cowered in their bed, a terrible struggle ensued, Andrew defending himself furiously and shrieking for aid. He was finally overpowered, strangled with a cord, and flung from a window. The horrible deed would taint the rest of Joan's reign.


1345 in Italy
Other events in Italy in 1345 include Ambrogio Lorenzetti's painting of a map of the world for the palace at Siena. The painting has since been lost, but the instruments which he used to make it still survive, giving insights into map-making techniques of the day. The Peruzzi family, a big banking family and precursor to the Medici family went bankrupt in 1345, and in 1345 Florence was the scene of an attempted strike by wool combers (ciompi). A few decades later they would rise in a full-scale revolt. In Verona, Mastino II della Scala began the construction of his Scaliger Tomb, an architectural structure still standing today.


1346
Year 1346 (MCCCXLVI) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. It was a year in the 14th century, in the midst of a period known in European history as the Late Middle Ages. In Asia that year, the Black Plague came to the troops of the Golden Horde Khanate; the disease also affected the Genoese Europeans they were attacking, before spreading to the rest of Europe.


1346
In Central and East Asia, there was a series of revolts after Kazan Khan was killed in an uprising, and the Chagatai Khanate began to splinter and fall; several revolts in China began what would eventually lead to the overthrow of the Yuan dynasty. The Indian kingdom of Vijayanagara won several victories over Muslim conquerors in the north in this year as well.


1346
In Eastern Europe, Stefan Dušan was proclaimed Tsar of Serbia on April 16 (Easter Sunday) at Skopje. In the nearby Byzantine Empire, the Ottoman emir Orhan married Byzantine princess Theodora as part of an alliance between her father John VI Kantakouzenos and the Ottomans. Ongoing civil wars in both Bulgaria and Byzantium continued. Denmark sold its portion of Northern Estonia to the Livonian Order of the Teutonic Knights after finally quelling the St. George's Night Uprising. In Central Europe, Charles IV of Luxembourg was elected Roman King on July 11.


1346
A number of banking families in Italy, including the Bardi family, faced bankruptcy in this year, and much of Italy suffered a famine. The Hundred Years' War between the Kingdom of France and the Kingdom of England continued in Western Europe, as Edward III of England led an invasion onto the continent and won a number of victories.


1346, Asia, Western Asia
The Golden Horde's siege of Kaffa continued through 1346, despite a number of obstacles. They were struck with the Black Plague and forced to retreat, although not until the following year. As one Russian historian records:


1346, Asia, Western Asia
In the same year [1346], God's punishment struck the people in the eastern lands, in the town Ornach , and in Khastorokan, and in Sarai, and in Bezdezh, and in other towns in those lands; the mortality was great among the Bessermens, and among the Tartars, and among the Armenians and the Abkhazians, and among the Jews, and among the European foreigners, and among the Circassians, and among all who lived there, so that they could not bury them.


1346, Asia, Western Asia
The many areas and peoples listed here represent much of Western Asia and the Caucasus. The "European foreigners" are those fighting with the Tartars in the Mongol-led siege of Kaffa. These Europeans would return to Europe the following year, carrying the plague with them. Travellers returning from the Crimea also carried the plague to Byzantium and Arabia, according to Greek and Arab scholars of the time.


1346, Asia, Western Asia
It seemed to the besieged Christians as if arrows were shot out of the sky to strike and humble the pride of the infidels who rapidly died with marks on their bodies and lumps in their joints and several part, followed by putrid fever; all advice and help of the doctors being of no avail. Whereupon the Tartars, worn out by this pestilential disease, and falling on all sides as if thunderstruck, and seeing that they were perishing hopelessly, ordered the corpses to be placed upon their engines and thrown into the city of Kaffa.


1346, Asia, Western Asia
Accordingly were the bodies of the dead hurled over the walls, so that the Christians were not able to hide or protect themselves from this danger, although they carried away as many dead as possible and threw them into the sea. But soon the whole air became infected, and the water poisoned, and such a pestilence grew up that scarcely one out of a thousand was able to escape.


1346, Asia, Western Asia
Modern scholars consider this one of the earliest, and most deadly, biological attacks in world history, though in the end the Mongols were forced to retreat. Early sources state that the plague began its spread in the spring of 1346 at the River Don near the Black Sea, then spread throughout Russia, the Caucasus, and the Genovese provinces within the year.


1346, Asia, Western Asia
Further south in Georgia, King George the Brilliant died and was succeeded by King David IX. King George V had managed to increase the Georgian realm to all of Transcaucasia. However, after 1346 the Kingdom began to decline, caused by George's death and the devastating spread of the plague throughout the area soon afterwards.


1346, Asia, Central and East Asia
Central Asia was marked in 1346 by the continued disintegration of the Mongol's domains, as well as by Muslim expansion. Kazan Khan, emperor of the Chagatai Khanate, was killed by the forces of Qazaghan in this year, putting an end to the Chagtai Khanate's status as a unified empire. Qazghan was the leader of the group of Turkish nobles opposed to Mongol rule. Qazghan had been wounded by Kazan's forces earlier in the year, but rather than taking advantage of his opponent's weakness, Kazan retreated and many of his troops abandoned him.


1346, Asia, Central and East Asia
To the east, Kashmir was conquered by Shah Mir, the first Muslim to rule the area. Kathmandu was also conquered in this year. However, Muslim expansion did suffer some defeats in southern India. The Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagara in India conquered the Hoysalas and celebrated its "festival of victory", strengthening their status as a legitimate Hindu empire in opposition to Muslim rule in the north. The Delhi Sultanate in Northern India, Muhammad bin Tughluq, had a particular disdain for Hinduism, and the Deccan culture of the south. Telugu chieftains gathered in opposition to the Sultan in this year and celebrated victory.


1346, Asia, Central and East Asia
Further east, Ibn Battuta traveled from Southeast Asia to Khanbaliq (Beijing) in China. Although the Muslim leaders there extended him a warm welcome, they advised him to leave the city soon. A civil war had caused the Khan to flee the city, and riots were becoming more and more widespread. Meanwhile, T'aigo Wangsa, a Korean Buddhist monk, traveled to China to receive training under the guidance of Buddhist leader Shih-wu. T'aigo later founded the T'aigo sect of Korean Buddhism.


1346, Europe, Scandinavia
In 1346 Denmark sold Northern -Estonia (Danish Estonia) to the Teutonic Knights following the end of an uprising and conflict between the pro-Danish party (bishop Olaf of Lindanise) and the pro-German party (captain Marquard Breide), called the St. George's Night Uprising. The Danish dominions in were sold for 10,000 marks to the Livonian Order, ignoring the promise by Christopher II in 1329 never to abandon or sell its Estonian territories. The King of Denmark even made a public statement "repenting" for that broken promise, and asked forgiveness from the pope.


1346, Europe, Balkans and Asia Minor
In the Balkans, on April 16 (Easter Sunday), Stefan Dušan was crowned in Skopje as Tsar of the new Serbian Empire, which now occupied much of southeastern Europe. Also in 1346, both Bulgaria and Byzantium (which at this time covered most of Greece) were in the middle of a series of civil wars. At the same time, the Christian-held islands and possessions around the Aegean Sea were subject to Turkish raids.


1346, Europe, Balkans and Asia Minor
Orhan, the Ottoman Turkish prince of Bithynia was married to Theodora, daughter of Emperor John VI Kantakouzenos. The Greek clergy believed that the marriage of a Christian princess and a prominent Muslim would increase the region's power. Orhan already had several other wives, and although Theodora was permitted to keep her religion, she was required to spend the rest of her life in an Islamic harem. Kantakouzenos hoped that Orhan would become his ally in any future wars, but Orhan, like his fellow Turks, became his enemy in the Genoese war. As part of the alliance, the Ottoman prince was permitted to sell the Christians he had captured at Constantinople as slaves in the public market.


1346, Europe, Central
On July 11, Charles IV of Luxembourg was elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. In consequence of an alliance between his father and Pope Clement VI, the relentless enemy of the emperor Louis IV, Charles was chosen Roman king in opposition to Louis by some of the princes at Rhens. He had previously promised to be subservient to Clement, he confirmed the papacy in the possession of wide territories, promised to annul the acts of Louis against Clement, to take no part in Italian affairs, and to defend and protect the church.


1346, Europe, Central
Charles IV was at this time in a very weak position in Germany. Owing to the terms of his election, he was derisively referred to by some as a "priest's king" (Pfaffenkönig). Many bishops and nearly all of the Imperial cities remained loyal to Louis the Bavarian. Charles further endangered his high position when he backed the losing side in the Hundred Years' War. He lost his father and many of his best knights at the Battle of Crécy in August 1346. He himself was wounded on the same field.


1346, Europe, Central
Meanwhile, in Italy a number of banks in Florence collapsed due to internal problems in Florence, contributed by King Edward III of England defaulting on some of his loans. Most notably, the Bardi family went bankrupt in this year. Italy also suffered a famine, making it difficult for the Papacy to recruit troops for the attack on Smyrna. The Venetians, however, organized an alliance uniting several European parties (Sancta Unio), composed notably of the Knights Hospitaller, which carried out five consecutive attacks on İzmir and the Western Anatolian coastline controlled by Turkish states. In the realm of technology, papermaking reached Holland, and firearms made their way to Northern Germany in this year. The earliest records in the area place them in the city of Aachen.


1346, Europe, Western Europe
On July 11, King Edward III crossed the English Channel and arrived in Normandy the following day with 1,600 ships. He took the ports of La Hogue and Barfleur with overwhelming force and continued inland towards Caen, taking towns along the way. The French mounted a defence at Caen, but were ultimately defeated. The French had been planning to cross the channel and invade England with a force of about 14,000 led by Jean le Franc, but Edward's attack forced them onto the defensive.


1346, Europe, Western Europe
The French king, Phillippe, destroyed several bridges to prevent Edward's advance, but the English took the town of Poissy in August and repaired its bridge in order to advance. The French king mounted a defence near the forest at Crécy, which ended in another English victory. Edward then proceeded to Calais, laying siege to the city from September 4. Meanwhile, Jean de France, King Phillippe's son, besieged the city of Aigullon, but with no success. King Phillippe also urge the Scots to continue the fight against England to the north.


1346, Europe, Western Europe
The Scots, believing that the English were preoccupied with Calais, marched into England toward Durham in October, but were met and defeated by an English force of knights and clergymen at the Battle of Neville's Cross, and King David of Scotland was captured. The Irish also mounted a brief resistance, but were similarly defeated. Before the end of the year, Edward also captured Poiters and the towns surrounding Tonnay-Charente.


1346, Europe, Western Europe
For his role in the Battle of Crécy, Edward, the Black Prince honoured the bravery of John I, Count of Luxemburg and King of Bohemia (also known as John the Blind) by adopting his arms and motto: "Ich Dien" or "I Serve". John's decades of fighting had already made his name widely known throughout Europe, and his death at Crécy became the legendary subject of several writings, including this passage by Froissart:


1346, Europe, Western Europe
... for all that he [John I] was nigh blind, when he understood the order of the battle, he said to them about him: ...'Sirs, ye are my men, my companions and friends in this journey: I require you bring me so far forward, that I may strike one stroke with my sword.' ... they tied all their reins of their bridles each to other and set the king before to accomplish his desire, and so they went on their enemies ...


1346, Europe, Western Europe
The king ... was so far forward that he strake a stroke with his sword, yea and more than four, and fought valiantly and so did his company; and they adventured themselves so forward, that they were there all slain, and the next day they were found in the place about the king, and all their horses tied each to other.


1346 Gotha
1346 Gotha, provisional designation 1929 CY, is a stony background asteroid from the central regions of the asteroid belt, approximately 14 kilometers (8.7 mi) in diameter. It was discovered on 5 February 1929, by astronomer Karl Reinmuth at the Heidelberg-Königstuhl State Observatory in southwest Germany. The presumed S-type asteroid has a short rotation period of 2.6 hours. It was named for the German city of Gotha, located in Thuringia.