1400 Feb 14, Richard II (33), deposed king of England (1377-99),
was murdered in Pontefract Castle in Yorkshire.
(HN, 2/14/99)(MC, 2/14/02)
1400 Oct 25, Geoffrey Chaucer, author (Canterbury Tales), died
in London.
(AP, 10/25/97)(WSJ, 9/18/00, p.A36)
c1400 The first gold balls were made of stitched leather which
was soaked and filled with feathers.
(SFEC, 6/14/98, p.A12)
c1400 The Ahwahneechee, a Southern Sierra Miwok band, first began
to inhabit Yosemite in California.
(SFEC, 5/18/97, Z1 p.4)
c1400 In Washington state the 6 yard deep Electron Mudflow came
down from Mount Rainier where the town of Orting was later established.
(SFEC, 7/12/98, p.A22)
1400 Plague broke out again in Europe.
(HN, 1/20/01)
1400 Mali (Africa) was under attack from all four sides and gradually
weakened in power.
(ATC, p.120)
1400 In Cracow, Poland, the Jagiellonian University was re-founded
with funds and a permanent income by the royal couple. [see 1364]
(WSJ, 7/13/00, p.A24)(PG-Comm)
c1400 The Toraja people came to Sulawesi (later part of Indonesia)
by boat from a island to the southwest and settled on the banks of the
Sa’dan River.
(SFEC, 6/11/00, p.T8)
c1400 In Wales Owain Glyndwr (Owen Glendower c1359-c1460) led
the warriors of Gwynned in a bloody revolt against Henry IV. The event
was marked by a comet.
(SFEC, 6/22/97, p.D2)
c1400 Stone buildings were erected at Zimbabwe in central Africa
and continued to be enlarged until about 1830.
(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.169)
1400s Kongo’s king, the Mani-Kongo, ruled six provinces and about
two million people. The capital of the Kongo was Mbanza, built on a fertile
plateau 100 miles east of the coast and 50 miles south of the Congo River
in southwest Africa.
(ATC, p.150)
c1400-1425 Yong Le, the 3rd Ming emperor, created a permanent imperial
residence in Beijing. Work was done by some 200,000 laborers and in time
became the 8,886-room complex called the "Forbidden City."
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R36)
1400-1450 http://www.donsweb.com/History/Timeline/12--1400-1450ad.htm
1400-1464 Roger Van Der Weyden, Flemish painter.
(AAP, 1964)(WUD, 1994, p.1624)
c1400-1471 Sir Thomas Malory, English author. His work included "Le
Morte Darthur."
(WUD, 1994, p.868)
c1400-1474 Guillaume Dufay [Du Fay], Flemish composer. His work included
the "Ecclesie militantis," which has four texts going simultaneously.
(WUD, 1994, p.440)(WSJ, 7/29/97, p.A12)
c1400-1500 The 15th century German "Housebook" was produced. It taught
the rules and etiquette of jousting, and contained remedies, cooking recipes,
information on love and horoscopes.
(SFEC, 1/10/99, p.T3)
c1400-1500 In Germany Cardinal Nikolaus Cusanus, philosopher, founded
a religious and charitable institution complete with vineyard at Kues,
across from Bernkastel on the Mosel River.
(SFEC, 4/30/00, p.T8)
1400-1500 Europeans began producing ethereal sounds from wine glasses
containing liquids.
(SFEC,12/28/97, DB p.17)
1400-1500 In China a Shang Xi 15th cent. painting portrayed "The Xuande
Emperor on an Outing."
(WSJ, 2/19/98, p.A20)
1400-1500 The 15th cent Urbino Bible was produced.
(WSJ, 7/12/96, p.A9)
1400-1500 The Vietnamese from the north pushed the Chams south and opened
the port of Hoi An to foreign traders.
(SFEC, 4/26/98, p.T4)
c1400-1500 Vietnamese porcelain from this period was recovered from
a sunken ship in the South China Sea in 1999. 10% of the 150,000 pieces
were kept by the government and the rest was scheduled for auction on eBay.
(WSJ, 6/22/00, p.W10)
1400-1500 The city of Bagerhat was founded in southern Bangladesh by
Ulugh Khan-i-Jahan as a Muslim colony.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.B)
1400-1500 In the Philippines Vigan historic town on Luzon was established
by Chinese traders by this time.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.F)
1400-1500 Giovanni Spinetti of Venice built the first small piano called
the spinet.
(SFEC, 4/20/97, Z1 p.5)
1400-1500 In Romania Vlad Tepes, aka Vlad the Impaler, the son of Vlad
Dracul (Vlad the Dragon), was a 15th century gruesome Wallachian nobleman.
Dracula means son of the dragon. He punished disobedient subjects and "unchaste"
women by impaling them on sharpened logs, often dining amid the victims
as they died. The family name changed to Kretzulesco and grew in stature
with members upgraded to princes and princesses.
(WSJ, 10/30/97, p.A20)
1400-1600 Researchers in 1997 announced that sometime in this period
the Sauvignon Franc grape crossed with Sauvignon Blanc grape to produce
the Cabernet Sauvignon grape.
(SFC, 6/4/97, Z1 p.4)
1401 Jan 9, In Marienburg some 80 Lithuanian barons were baptized
to Catholicism.
(LHC, 1/9/03)
1401 Jan 18, In Lithuania Vytautas and the country’s dukes submitted
documents to Poland that Vytautas would rule Lithuania as a vassal to Poland
and return the country to Poland upon his death.
(LHC, 1/18/03)
1401 Feb 19, William Sawtree, 1st English religious martyr, was
burned in London.
(MC, 2/19/02)
1401 Mar 13, The 1st Samogitian uprising supported by Vytautas
took place against the German knights.
(LHC, 3/13/03)
1401 Jul 9, Timur Lenk, Mongol monarch, destroyed Baghdad.
(MC, 7/9/02)
1401 In England King Henry IV passed the medieval statute De Heretico
Comburendo.
(MWH, 1994)
1401-1428 Tomasso di Giovanni, Italian artist, also known as Masaccio.
His only know documented work is the Pisa altarpiece of 1426.
(WSJ, 9/27/01, p.A16)
1402 Mar 2, In Marienburg Svitrigaila crossed over to the
Knights of the Cross and promised to uphold the Salyn treaty that was broken
by Vytautas.
(LHC, 3/1/03)
1402 Jul 20, In the Battle of Angora the Mongols, led by Tamerlane
"the Terrible," defeated the Ottoman Turks and captured Sultan Bayezid
I. The Turks eventually regained control of the city and it remained a
part of the Ottoman Empire for the next five centuries. Around 2,000 BCE
the site of the present day city was a Hittite village known as Ancyra.
It was conquered in 333 BC by Macedonians led by Alexander the Great. Because
of its central Anatolian Plateau location on the Ankara River, it became
an important commercial center. Angora’s name was changed to Ankara in
1930.
(HN, 7/20/98)(Ot, 1993, p.6)(HNQ, 4/15/02)
1402 Sep 3, Gian Galeazzo Visconti, duke and tyrant of Milan (1395-1402),
died at 51.
(MC, 9/3/01)
1402 The English Bedlam institution, a former monastery whose
named derived from Bethlehem, began to house the poor and incurably mad.
From 1728-1853 it was presided over by a family of doctors all descended
from James Monro. On 2003 Jonathan Andrews and Andrew Scull published their
2-volume study: "Undertaker of the Mind" and "Customers and patrons of
the mad-Trade," based on Monro’s Case Book.
(WSJ, 1/29/03, p.D10)
1403 Feb 22, Charles VII, King of France (1422-1461), was born.
(HN, 2/22/98)(MC, 2/22/02)
1403 Jul 21, Henry IV defeated the Percys in the Battle of Shrewsbury
in England. Henry IV fought down an insurrection from Henry Percy, the
Earl of Northumberland and Ralph Neville, the Earl of Westmorland, the
same men who had helped him overthrow Richard II. Henry Percy (39), [Harry
Hotspur] was killed in the battle.
(WUD, 1994, p.1671)(MWH, 1994)(HN, 7/21/98)
1403 Gjergj Kastrioti (d.1468) was born. He became the Albanian
leader known as Skanderbeg.
(www, Albania, 1998)(HNQ, 10/5/98)
1403-1413 The Ottoman Empire fell into 11 years of civil war between
the 4 sons of Beyazid.
http://www.osmanli700.gen.tr/english/sultans.html
1403?-1482 Giovanni di Paolo, painter. He painted "Expulsion from Paradise."
(AAP, 1964)
1404 Feb 9, Constantine XI Dragases, last Byzantine Emperor, was
born.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1404 Feb 18, Leon Battista Alberti (d.1472), Italian humanist,
architect (Della Pittura), was born in Genoa, the illegitimate son of a
Florentine merchant.
(WSJ, 11/30/00, p.A20)(MC, 2/18/02)
1404 Sep 27, William of Wykeham, chancellor and Bishop of Winchester,
died.
(MC, 9/27/01)
1404 In Wales Owain Glyndwr convened a parliament in Macchynlleth.
(SFEC, 6/22/97, p.D2)
1404-1423 China controlled the price of tea and was able to increase
its stock of horses from 20,000 to 1,600,000.
(WSJ, 8/15/00, p.A24)
1405 Feb 14, Timur, aka Tamerlane (68), crippled Mongol monarch,
died at 68.
(V.D.-H.K.p.172)(MC, 2/14/02)
1405 A Ming dynasty fleet under Admiral Zheng He sailed with 28,000
men through Southeast Asia to India and on to Africa and the Middle East.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R51)
1406 Apr 4, Robert III, King of Scotland (1390-1406), died.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1406 In Beijing the Palace of Heavenly Purity, later renamed the
People’s Cultural Palace, was built.
(SFC,12/22/97, p.E7)
1407 Oct 26, Mobs attacked the Jewish community of Cracow.
(MC, 10/26/01)
1408 Feb 14, Vytautas gave self-rule status to Kaunas, which was
1st mentioned in the summer of 1361.
(LHC, 2/14/03)
1408 Feb 19, Henry IV led a victory in the Battle of Brabham Moor
that marked the end of domestic threats. The revolt of Henry Percy, Earl
of Northumberland, against King Henry IV, ended with his defeat and death
at Bramham Moor.
(MWH, 1994)(HN, 2/19/98)
1408 Sep 22, Johannes VII Palaeologus, Byzantine Emperor (1376-77,
90/1404-8), died.
(MC, 9/22/01)
1408 A law was enacted making it illegal to translate any part
of the scriptures into English. It was declared a capital offense to possess
an English Bible.
(WSJ, 12/22/94, A-20)(WSJ, 4/4/01, p.A18)
1408 A marriage at the Hvalsey Church in the East Settlement was
the last record of the Norse in Greenland.
(SFEM, 11/15/98, p.25)(AM, 7/00, p.66)
1409 Mar 3, Austrian civil war ended.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1410 May 18, Ruprecht, Roman Catholics German king, died.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1410 Jul 15, The Lithuanian-Polish forces defeated the Teutonic
Knights at the Battle of Tannenberg, Prussia, thereby halting the Knights’
eastward expansion along the Baltic and hastening their decline. Vytautas
and Jogaila with hired mercenaries from Byellorus [Belorus] along with
Tartars and Czechs defeated the Teutonic Knights between Grunvald (Zalgiriai)
and Tannenberg southeast of Malburg. Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen
and many of his nobles were killed. The war officially ended with the Treaty
of Thorn in which the Knights gave up Zemaitija to Vytautas.
(COE)(H of L, 1931, p.52)(DrEE, 11/9/96, p.6)
c1410 The French "Book of the Chase" depicted hunting dogs and
snares.
(SFEM, 4/6/97, p.16)
1411 Feb 1, Lithuania, Poland and the Knights of the Cross signed
the Torun Peace Treaty. Samogitia was returned to Lithuania. The Teutonic
Knights had regrouped and gone to battle against Vytautas and Jogaila.
Peace was signed at Torun and western Lithuania was returned, but not Klaipeda
(Memel).
(Ist. L.H., 1948, p. 71)(LHC, 1/31/03)
1411-1437 Sigismund became the Holy Roman Emperor. [see 1433]
(WUD, 1994, p.1325)
1412 Jan 6, According to tradition, French heroine Joan of Arc
was born Jeanette d'Arc, in the French village of Domrémy. When
she was 12 years old, she began hearing what she believed were voices of
saints, sending her messages from God. When she was 17, the voices told
her to leave her village and save Orléans. Joan convinced the dauphin
that she could lead French troops in resistance against their English invaders,
and she was given a force of several hundred men to command, whom she led
to victory at Orléans in 1429. Wearing her white enameled armor
suit, she continued to fight against the English. Joan was captured by
Burgundians and then burned at the stake by the English on May 30, 1431,
for the offenses of witchcraft, heresy and wearing male clothing. The Roman
Catholic Church recognized Joan of Arc as a saint in 1920.
(CFA, '96,Vol 179, p.38)(AP, 1/6/98)(HNPD, 1/6/99)
1413 Mar 20, Henry IV, King of England (1399-1413), died; he was
succeeded by Henry V. He died of an epileptic seizure while praying at
Westminster Abbey.
(AP, 3/20/97)(MWH, 1994)(MC, 3/20/02)
1413 Iceland used dried fish for money.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)
1414 Feb 19, Thomas Arundel, archbishop of Canterbury, chancellor
of England, died.
(MC, 2/19/02)
1414 Nov 5, The Church Council of Constance, its 16th ecumenical
council, opened in Germany.
(MC, 11/5/01)(WUD, 1994 p.313)
1415 Jun 13, Henry the Navigator, the prince of Portugal, embarked
on an expedition to Africa. This marked the beginning of Portuguese dominance
of West Africa.
(HN, 6/13/98)
1415 Jul 4, Angelo Correr became Pope Gregory XII.
(Maggio)
1415 Jul 6, Jan Hus, Bohemian religious reformer, a Czech who
spoke out against Church corruption, was burned at the stake as a heretic
at Constance, Germany.
(NH, 9/96, p.23)(HN, 7/6/98)(MC, 7/6/02)
1415 Sep 21, Frederick III, German Emperor (1440-1493), was born
in Innsbruck Austria.
(MC, 9/21/01)
1415 Oct 25, An English army under Henry V defeated the French
at Agincourt, France. The French had out numbered Henry’s troops 60,000
to 12,000 but Welsh longbows turned the tide of the battle. The French
force was under the command of the constable Charles I d’Albret. Charles
I d’Albret, son of Arnaud-Amanieu d’Albret, came from a line of nobles
who were often celebrated warriors. His ancestors had fought in the First
Crusade (1096-99) and his father had fought in the Hundred Years War himself--first
for the English before joining the side of France. Charles’ own exploits
in the ongoing conflict came to an end at the Battle of Agincourt. The
decisive victory for the outnumbered English saw the death of not only
Charles, but a dozen other high-ranking nobles as well. But Charles’ fate
did not end the Albrets as his descendants went on to become kings of Navarre,
and later, France.
(MH, 12/96)(HN, 10/25/98)(HNQ, 1/30/01)(MC, 10/25/01)
1415 Oct 25, Edward, duke of York, died at 45.
(MC, 10/25/01)
1416 Feb 6, A Samogitian complaint against the Knights of the
Cross was read at the Catholic Church Council at Constance.
(LHC, 2/6/03)
1416 Apr 2, Ferdinand I (52) the Justified, king of Aragon and
Sicily, died.
(MC, 4/2/02)
1416 May 7, Monk Nicolaas Serrurier was arrested for heresy at
Tournay.
(MC, 5/7/02)
1416 May 30, Jerome of Prague was burned as a heretic by the Church.
(HN, 5/30/98)
1416 Jun 15, St. Francesco de Paolo, was born.
(HT, 6/15/00)
1416 Jun 15, Joannes Argyropoulos, Greek scholar, was born.
(HT, 6/15/00)
1416 The Drepung Loseling Monastery was founded in Lhasa, Tibet,
as a center for Buddhist teaching. It was the home for early Dalai Lamas
and a place where multiphonic singing was nurtured.
(SFC, 10/10/96, p.E1)
1416-1469 Piero de Medici, son of Cosimo de Medici.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R8)
1417 Feb 23, Pietro Barbo, later Pope Paul II (1464-1471), was
born in Venice.
(PTA, 1980, p.418)
1418 Feb 25, At the Constance church synod the Orthodox
Metropolitan of Kiev and Lithuania, Gregory Camblak, proposed a union between
the Orthodox and Catholic church.
(LHC, 2/25/03)
1418 In Florence Brunelleschi and Ghiberti submitted plans for
the dome of the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Flower. The cathedral had
been under construction for 125 years and was designed to be capped by
the largest dome since the golden age of ancient Rome.
(ON, 9/00, p.6)
1418 The Gawhar Shad Mosque in Meshed, Iran was completed by the
wife of Shah Rukh.
(NG, Sept 1939, Baroness Ravensdale, p.353)
1418 The Church Council at Constance, Germany, begun in 1414,
ended.
(WUD, 1994 p.313)
1419 Jul 30, Anti-Catholic Hussites, followers of executed reformer
Jan Hus, stormed the town hall in Prague and threw 3 Catholic consuls
and 7 citizens out the window. This episode has been called "The Defenestration
in Prague." The out-the-window gentlemen all landed safely in a manure
pile.
(NH, 9/96, p.23)(MC, 7/30/02)
1419 Sep 10, John the Fearless (48), Burgundy and French warrior,
was murdered at Montereau, France, by supporters of the dauphine.
(HN, 9/10/98)(MC, 9/10/01)
1419 Dec 11, Heretic Nicolaas Serrurier was exiled from Florence.
(MC, 12/11/01)
1419 The marble Fonte Gaia in Siena was sculpted by Jacopo della
Quercia.
(WSJ, 4/29/03, D5)
1419 Prince Henry (d.1460), as governor of Portugal’s southernmost
province, attracted shipbuilders, cartographers and other nautical experts.
His patronage was instrumental in stimulating European exploration in the
first half of the 15th century.
(HN, 6/21/01)
1420 Mar 1, Pope Martinus I called for a crusade against the Hussieten
(Bohemia).
(SC, 3/1/02)
1420 Jul 14, Battle at Vitkov Zizka's hill (Prague): Taborites
beat Bohemia.
(MC, 7/14/02)
1420 Siennese artist Giovanni di Paolo painted a tiny gold-ground
triptych.
(SFEC, 1/11/98, p.D7)
1420 Prince Henry the Navigator (b.1394) gathered cartographers,
navigators and shipbuilders in a fortress in Sagres, Portugal, to invent
navigation technology to reach India, China and the Americas. He
later sailed south of the Canary Islands to the great eastward curve of
West Africa at Sierra Leone. The search for Prester John as an ally against
the Muslims helped inspire his explorations. Henry began dispatching expeditions
from the nearby port of Lagos. Although dubbed "Henry the Navigator" by
English writers, he never embarked on the voyages of exploration he himself
sponsored. Nevertheless, the prince helped advance European cartography
and the accuracy of navigation tools as well as spurring maritime commerce.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)(HN, 3/4/98)(WSJ, 1/28/00, p.A18)(HNQ, 6/21/01)
1420 Portuguese sailors and soldiers begin fighting the
natives of the Canary Islands, 800 miles southwest of the southern tip
of Portugal.
(V.D.-H.K.p.173)
1420 The main character of Janacek’s opera "The Excursions of
Mr. Broucek" was cast into a setting of religious wars from this time and
forced to fight with the Hussite fanatics in Prague.
(WSJ, 6/13/96, p.A12)
c1420 Francesco di Antonio, Florentine artist, painted "St. John
the Baptist" and "St. Anthony Abbot." The panels later made their way to
St. Philip’s in the Hills parish in Tucson, Ariz.
(WSJ, 8/9/96, p.A8)
1420-1433 Time of the Hussite wars in Bohemia.
(WUD, 1994, p.1671)
1420-1480 The Portuguese explored the west coast of Africa along the
Gold Coast, so named because here could be found plenty of gold to buy
pepper.
(V.D.-H.K.p.173)
1420-1492 Piero della Francesca, painter, born in Borgo Sansepolcro,
but trained in Florence. In Urbino under the patronage of Federico da Montefeltro,
he produced some of his best works including the "Flagellation," the "Resurrection"
and "St. Apollonia." His paintings incorporated the new aspect of perspective
and earthly matters dominate over religious feeling.
(V.D.-H.K.p.130)(AAP, 1964)(WUD, 1994, p.563)
1420-1500 The Paston Letters comprise 1,000 documents involving an English
family over this period. The collection is held by the Univ. of Michigan
and is being made electronically available under the Humanities Text Initiative
(HTI) program that was begun in 1989.
(MT, 6/96, p.8,9)
1421 Mar, Admiral Zheng He of the Ming dynasty embarked on a voyage
that took him to the east coast of Africa. In 2002 an amateur historian
proposed that he continued his voyage around the world. [see 1431]
(SSFC, 3/17/02, p.A3)
1421 Apr 17, Dikes at Dort, Holland, broke and some 100,000 people
drowned.
(MC, 4/17/02)
1421 May 11, Jews were expelled from Styria, Austria.
(MC, 5/11/02)
1421 May 23, Jews of Austria were imprisoned and expelled.
(MC, 5/23/02)
1421 May 26, Mohammed I, Ottoman sultan (1413-21), died.
(MC, 5/26/02)
1421 Nov 18, Southern sea flooded 72 villages, killing 10,000
in Netherlands.
(MC, 11/18/01)
1421 Dec 5, Henry VI of England, was born. [see Dec 6]
(MC, 12/5/01)
1421 Dec 6, Henry VI , the youngest king of England, was born.
He acceded the thrown at 269 days of age. [see Dec 5]
(HN, 12/6/02)
1421 In Florence the first recorded patent was granted for a barge
with hoisting gear used to transport marble.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)
1421 In Vienna a medieval synagogue burned with its Jewish occupants.
Its remains were found in 1996 in the Judenplaz during preparation work
for the installation of a new statue for the Holocaust Memorial project.
(WSJ, 11/7/96, p.A18)
1422 Mar 30, Ketsugan, a Zen teacher, performed exorcisms to free
the Aizoji temple.
(MC, 3/30/02)
1422 Aug 31, Henry V, King of England (1413-22) and France (1416-19),
died.
(MC, 8/31/01)
1422 Sep 6, Sultan Murat II ended a vain siege of Constantinople.
(HN, 9/6/98)
1422 Oct 21, Charles VI, King of France (1380-1422), died at 54.
(MC, 10/21/01)
1422-1482 Federico da Montefeltro, a distinguished warrior and scholar,
commissioned 2 intarsia studiolas (1478-1483). A history of Federico and
his studiola is in the 6/6/96 issue of "The Bulletin," the NY Met museum’s
newsletter for members
(WSJ, 6/6/96, p.A12)
1423 Mar 30, Lithuania and Poland reached an agreement at Kezmark
with Emperor Sigismund, who agreed to recall Sigismund Kaributa from Poland.
(LHC, 3/30/03)
1423 May 23, Benedict XIII, [Pedro the Luna], Spanish Pope (1394-1423),
died. He had been elected by the Avignon cardinals during the Great Western
Schism.
(MC, 5/23/02)(PTA, 1980, p.402)
1424 Oct 11, Jan Zizka, Czech army leader (Hussite), died of plague
at 46.
(MC, 10/11/01)
1424 Dec 6, Don Alfonso V of Aragon granted Barcelona the right
to exclude Jews.
(MC, 12/6/01)
1424 Masolino sculpted his Pieta.
(WSJ, 1/20/02, p.D8)
1424 A Portuguese navigation chart showed a land called Antilia
in the vicinity of the West Indies.
(SFEC, 5/28/00, Z1 p.2)
1424 In Scotland James I tried but failed to ban golf. He wanted
his troops to practice more archery.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34)
1425 Feb 27, Moscow's Grand Duke Vasilii died and
his brother-in-law, Vytautas, became guardian of his son, Vasilii, and
daughter, Sophia.
(LHC, 2/27/03)
1425 Jul 21, Manuel Palaeologus, Byzantine Emperor (1391-1425),
writer, died.
(MC, 7/21/02)
1425 Aug 25, Countess Jacoba of Bavaria escaped from jail.
(chblue.com, 8/25/01)
1425 Robert Campin painted the altarpiece "The Merode Triptych."
(WSJ, 1/14/00, p.W12)
1425 Dame Juliana Berner described fly fishing in her "Treatyse
of Fysshynge Wyth an Angle." [see 1496]
(SFEM, 11/7/99, p.6)
1426 Sep 18, Hubert [Huybrecht] van Eyck, painter, died.
(MC, 9/18/01)
1427 May 10, Jews were expelled from Berne, Switzerland.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1428 Feb 5, King Alfonso V ordered Sicily's Jews to convert to
Catholicism.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1428 Dec 22, Richard Neville Warwick, 2nd earl of Salisbury, was
born.
(MC, 12/22/01)
1428 John Wycliffe (1328-1384), English theologian and biblical
translator, was posthumously declared a heretic and his body was exhumed
for burning.
(WSJ, 4/4/01, p.A18)
1429 Jan 9, The conference at Luck began (Jan 9-29). Vytautas
hosted a grand Congress at Luck ostensibly to unite the region against
threats from the Turks to the south. Emperor Sigismund of Hungary agreed
to the formation of the Kingdom of Lithuania and dispatched a crown from
Hungary.
(DrEE, 11/9/96, p.6)(LHC, 1/9/03)
1429 Jan 10, Order of Golden Fleece was established in Austria-Hungary
& Spain.
(MC, 1/10/02)
1429 Jan 23, At the Congress of Luck Emp. Sigismund of Luxembourg
offered to crown Vytautas as King of Lithuania.
(LHC, 1/23/03)
1429 Apr 29, Joan of Arc led French troops to victory over the
English at Orleans during the Hundred Years’ War. Legend has it that King
Charles VII of France had a suit of armor made for Joan at a cost of 100
war horses. In 1996 a suit of armor was found and proposed to be Joan’s
armor.
(ATC, p.107)(SFC, 6/19/96, p.A10)(AP, 4/29/98)(HN, 4/29/98)
1429 May 7, English siege of Orleans was broken by Joan of Arc.
(HN, 5/7/98)
1429 May 8, French troops under Joan of Arc rescued Orleans.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1429 May 9, Joan of Arc defeated the besieging English at Orleans.
(HN, 5/9/98)
1429 Jul 16, Joan of Arc led French army in the Battle of Orleans.
[see May 9]
(MC, 7/16/02)
1429 Jul 17, The dauphin, son of Charles VI, was crowned as king
of France.
(PCh, 1992, p.144)(MC, 7/17/02)
1429 Aug 26, Joan of Arc makes a triumphant entry into Paris.
(HN, 8/26/99)
1429 Nov 6, Coronation of Henry VI, King of England.
(HN, 11/6/98)
1429 Dec 21, Jacquemart de Blaharies, Tournay "heretic", was burned
to death.
(MC, 12/21/01)
1429 The kingdom of Ryukyu was unified under the court at Shuri
(later part of Naha, Okinawa).
(NH, 9/01, p.56)
1430 May 5, Jews were expelled from Speyer, Germany.
(MC, 5/5/02)
1430 May 23, Joan of Arc was captured by the Burgundians, who
sold her to the English.
(AP, 5/23/97)(HN, 5/23/98)
1430 Jul 14, Joan of Arc, taken prisoner by the Burgundians in
May, was handed over to Pierre Cauchon, the bishop of Beauvais.
(HN, 7/14/98)
1430 Oct 3, Jews were expelled from Eger, Bohemia.
(MC, 10/3/01)
1430 Oct 27, Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytautas had been preparing
for coronation but Polish forces interrupted the arrival of his crown to
Trakus. He began to ride to Vilnius but fell from his horse and was returned
to Trakus where he died at the age of 80.
(H of L, 1931, p.58)
1430-1432 In Lithuania Svitrigaila served as Grand Duke.
(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1430s Jan van Eyck painted 2 works titled "St. Francis Receiving
the Stigmata." For a time he was considered the inventor of oil painting,
but later lost that distinction. He is still regarded as the inventor of
a type of landscape painting with figures in realistic scale that influenced
the entire Northern school of painting. Only 9 signed and dated works survive.
In 2001 painter David Hockney and physicist Charles Falco alleged that
Eyck and other artists of this period began using optical devices to project
pictures and produce detailed tracings.
(WSJ, 5/7/98, p.A21)(SFC, 1/5/01, p.C9)
1430-1494? Hans Memling, German painter of the Flemish school.
(AAP, 1964)(WUD, 1994, p.894)
1430?-1498? Cosimo Tura, Italian painter. He painted "Renaissance Nobleman."
(AAP, 1964)(WUD, 1994, p.1525)
1430-1516 Giovanni Bellini, Venetian painter son of Jacopo. He painted
"Portrait of the Doge Loredano."
(AAP, 1964)(WUD, 1994, p.136)
1431 Jan 1, Rodrigo Borgia Lanzol (d.1503), member of the Borgia
family, was born in Xativa, Spain. His mother was the sister of Pope Calixtus
III. He was elected Pope Alexander VI in 1492 and amassed a fortune by
pocketing church funds. His reign helped inspire the Protestant reformation.
He fathered numerous children including Lucrezia Borgia. Machiavelli based
"The Prince" on him.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R8)(PTA, 1980, 424)
1431 Mar 3, Bishop Gabriele Condulmer (1383-1447) was elected
as Pope Eugene IV (1431-1447).
(WUD, 1994 p.491)(PTA, 1980, p.410)(SC, 3/3/02)
1431 May 30, Joan of Arc (19), condemned as a heretic
[as a witch], was burned at the stake in Rouen, France. A silent movie
of her life was made in 1927 by Carl Theodor Dreyer.
(CFA, '96, p.46)WSJ, 1/23/96, p.A-12)(AP, 5/30/97)(HN, 5/30/98)
1431 Dec 16, Henry VI of England was crowned King of France.
(HN, 12/16/98)
1431 Admiral Cheng Ho of the Ming dynasty led a fleet of 52 ships
with nearly 30,000 men to the east coast of Africa. Shortly thereafter
the Mings halted all voyages and begin to foster an attitude of antiforeign
conservatism.
(V.D.-H.K.p.172)
1431 Thai armies invaded and plundered the Khmer civilization
at Angkor Thom in Cambodia. The court moved south of the great lake Tonle
Sap and later to Phnom Penh.
(SFEC, 7/26/98, p.T6)
1431 Cosimo de Medici was arrested for seeking to elevate himself
higher than others. With bribes he reduced his sentence from execution
to banishment. His absence led to a financial crises in Florence and he
was quickly invited back.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R8)
1431-1463? Francois Villon, French poet. The 1938 film "If I Were King"
starred Ronald Colman and Basil Rathbone and was directed by Preston Sturges.
It was about the French poet and revolutionary Francois Villon.
(WUD, 1994, p.1593)(SFEC, 8/2/98, DB p.49)
1431-1506 Andrea Mantegna, Italian painter and engraver, painted a dead
Christ whose bare feet seem to stick out of the picture.
(WUD, 1994, p.1534)(WSJ, 6/6/96, p.A12)
1432 Jan 15, Afonso V "the African", king of Portugal (1438-1481),
was born.
(MC, 1/15/02)
1432-1440 In Lithuania Zygimantas Kestutaitis served as Grand Duke.
(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1433 Apr 14, Liduina van Schiedam (53), Dutch mystic (Christ's
Bride), saint, died.
(MC, 4/14/02)
1433 May 31, Sigismund was crowned emperor of Rome.
(HN, 5/31/98)
1434 Mar 1, Jacoba of Bavaria married Frank van Borselen.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1434 May 30, Prokopius [Bohemia], leader of Taborites, died in
battle.
(MC, 5/30/02)
1434 Nov 24, The Thames River froze.
(MC, 11/24/01)
1434 Jan van Eyck painted "the Arnolfini Marriage." It is now
at the London National Gallery.
(Cont, 12/97, p.60)(SFEC, 2/1/98, p.T8)
1434 The imperial kiln at Jungdezhen in south-central China produced
250,000 porcelain pieces.
(SFEC, 10/6/96, DB p.37)
1435 Sep 21, Treaty of Atrecht. Philippe le Bon of Burgundy and
French king Charles II signed a treaty at Arras. Phillipe broke with the
English and recognized Charles as France’s only king.
(MC, 9/21/01)(PCh, 1992, p.145)
1435 Oct 20, Andrea Della Robbia, sculptor, nephew of Luca, was
born in Florence.
(MC, 10/20/01)
1435 A Songhai prince, Sunni Ali, declared Gao’s independence
[West Africa]. Aided by Songhai warriors, he successfully fought off Mali’s
attempt to regain the city.
(ATC, p.122)
1436 Jun 6, Regiomontanus (Johannes Muller), prepared astronomical
tables, was born.
(MC, 6/6/02)
1436 The 350-foot high dome of Santa Maria del Fiore, the cathedral
of Florence, by Filippo Brunelleschi was completed. The cathedral was consecrated
by the Pope following 140 years of construction. In 2000 Ross King authored
"Brunelleschi’s Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture."
(Hem., 10/97, p.130)(SSFC, 12/24/00, BR p.12)
1436 Emperor Sigismund (1368-1437) was accepted as king of Bohemia.
(WUD, 1994, p.1672)(WUD, 1994, p.1325)
1437 Sep 18, Farmers revolted in Transylvania.
(MC, 9/18/01)
1438 Oct 20, Jacopo di Piero della Quercia (64), Italian sculptor,
died.
(MC, 10/20/01)
1438 Jan van Eyck (1385-1440) painted his "Portrait of Cardinal
Niccols Albergati."
(SFC, 1/5/01, p.C9)
1438 Filippo Lippi created the painting "Woman with a Man at a
Window."
(WSJ, 12/14/01, p.W20)
1438 The Incas established an imperial state in the Andes (Peru)
and went on to build over 25,000 miles of roads.
(SFC, 3/19/02, p.A2)
1439 Jul 16, Kissing was banned in England in order to stop germs
from spreading.
(MC, 7/16/02)
1439 Oct 21, Traversari Ambrosius (53), Italian humanist and leader,
died.
(MC, 10/21/01)
1439 Oct 27, Albrecht II von Habsburg (42), king of Bohemia, Hungary
and Germany, died.
(MC, 10/27/01)
1439 Donatello completed his statue of David. It was commissioned
by Cosimo de Medici.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R53)
1439 Byzantium formally submitted to Rome. [see 330AD]
(WSJ, 11/14/95, p. A-12)
1439-1448 Felix V served as the last antipope. He was born as Amadeus
VIII, duke of Savoye in 1383.
(MC, 9/4/01)
1440 Jan 22, Ivan III (the Great), grand prince of Russia, czar
from 1462-1505, was born. He conquered Lithuania.
(HN, 1/22/99)(MC, 1/22/02)
1440 Feb 22, Ladislaus V Posthumus, King of Hungary and Bohemia,
was born.
(MC, 2/22/02)
1440 Oct 26, Gilles de Rais, French marshal, depraved killer of
140 children, was hanged over slow fire. A brilliant young French knight,
he was believed to have cracked over the torture and death of his true
love, Jeanne d'Arc, the Maid of Orleans (d.1431).
(MC, 10/26/01)
1440 Dec 22, Bluebeard, pirate, was executed.
(MC, 12/22/01)
c1440 The Book of Hours of Catherine of Cleves was made.
(SFC, 2/15/97, p.D1)
c1440 Lief Eriksson drew a map of America about this time. The
"Vinland Map" was introduced in 1965 by Yale University as being the 1st
known map of America, drawn about 1440 by Norse explorer Lief Eriksson.
(MC, 10/10/01)
1440 Eton, the top British public school, was established by Henry
VI.
(Hem, 4/96, p.68)
1440-1492 In Lithuania Casimir served as Grand Duke.
(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1440-1870 This period is covered in the 1997 book by Hugh Thomas: "The
Slave Trade, The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade: 1440-1870."
(SFEC,11/16/97, BR p.4)(WSJ, 2/26/02, p.A22)
1441 Jul 9, Jan/Johannes van Eyck, Flemish painter (Lamb Gods),
died.
(MC, 7/9/02)
1441 Portuguese kidnapped several noble-born Africans, who in
turn offered African slaves to the captors as ransom. In 1998 John Reader
published "Africa: A Biography of a Continent."
(SFEC, 6/28/98, BR p.12)
1442 Apr 20, Edward IV, King of England (1461-83), was born. [see
Apr 28]
(MC, 4/20/02)
1442 Apr 28, Edward IV was born. He became king of England (1461-1470)
and first king of the House of York (1471-1483). [see Apr 20]
(HN, 4/28/02)
1442 Jun 12, Alfonso V of Aragon was crowned King of Naples.
(HN, 6/12/98)
1442 The Pazzi Chapel in Florence was begun. Its design was suspected
to be by Michelozzo di Bortalommeo, a follower of Brunelleschi.
(SFC, 1/2/97, p.C3)
1443 May 9, Niccolo d'Albergati, Italian cardinal, died.
(MC, 5/9/02)
1443 Jun 5, Ferdinand, Portuguese saint, slave to Fez, died.
(MC, 6/5/02)
1443 Dec 4, Pope Julius II, (1503-13), patron of Michelangelo,
Bramante, Raphael, was born.
(MC, 12/4/01)
1443 After losing a battle near Nis, Skenderbeg with a group of
Albanian warriors defected from the Ottoman army and return to Kruja. Albanian
resistance to Turkish rule was organized under the leadership of Skander
Beg in Kruja. He was able to keep Albania independent for more than 20
years. A baronial museum in his honor was later was designed by the daughter
of Enver Hoxha.
(CO, Grolier’s Amer. Acad. Enc./ Albania)(WSJ, 4/14/98, p.A21)(www,
Albania, 1998)
1444 May 20, Bernardinus van Siena (63), Italian saint, died.
(MC, 5/20/02)
1444 Nov 10, In the Battle at Varna on the Black Sea, Sultan Murad
II beat the Crusaders.
(MC, 11/10/01)
1444 Murad II, Ottoman ruler, abdicated and Mehmet II (13) briefly
succeeded him until 1446.
(Ot, 1993, p.7)
1444 The Albanian people organized a league of Albanian princes
in this year under George Kastrioti, also known as Skanderbeg. As leader
of this Christian league he effectively repulsed 13 Turkish invasions from
1444 to 1466, making him a hero in the Western world.
(HNQ, 10/5/98)(www, Albania, 1998)
1444 Cossacks were first mentioned in Russian history.
(SFC,10/28/97, p.A8)
1444 Slaves from Africa were first carried to Portugal.
(WSJ, 12/1/97, p.A20)
1445 Giovanni di Paolo, Italian painter in Siena, painted "The
Creation," and the Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise. In this painting
Paolo depicted the universe as a set of nesting concentric spheres.
(NOHY, Weiner, 3/90, p.244)
1445 The Council of Florence ended. It established the date for
the Great Schism between the Eastern and Western (Orthodox and Catholic)
churches as July, 1054. An official date was needed so that talks could
begin on reunion.
(WSJ, 7/16/97, p.A23)
1445-1510 Sandro Botticelli, Italian painter, was born in Florence as
Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi. His work included "The Birth of Venus"
"Madonna of the Eucharist" (c1472-1475) and "Portrait of a Man with a Medal."
His work "Venus and Mars" is at the London National Gallery. He belongs
to the era of the Quattro cento, when artists were still struggling to
break free of the rigid outlines of the Middle Ages. His solution was the
use of curved lines. Vasari later claimed that Botticelli was a follower
of Savonarola, the religious zealot.
(AAP, 1964)(WUD, 1994, p.173)(WSJ, 2/5/97, p.A16)(SFEC, 2/1/98,
p.T8)
1446 Apr 16, Filippo Brunelleschi (69), architect, sculptor and
goldsmith, died and was buried in the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Flower
in Florence. In the 1490s Antonio di Tuccio Manetti authored "The Life
of Brunelleschi." In 1974 Isabelle Hyman authored "Brunelleschi in Perspective."
(ON, 9/00, p.8)(MC, 4/16/02)
1446 Mehmet II, Ottoman ruler, was deposed and Murad II was recalled
to the throne.
(Ot, 1993, p.7)
1446-1523 The Italian painter Perugino, born as Pietro di Cristoforo
di Vannucci, was a student of Pierro della Francesca and Andrea Verrochio.
He won a papal commission for frescoes on the sidewalls of the Sistine
Chapel along with Botticelli and Ghirlandaio. His work included the late
weird allegory "The Combat Between Love and Chastity."
(WSJ, 1/6/98, p.16)
1446-1524 Il Perugino (Pietro Vannucci), painter, worked in Umbria and
died of the plague. His work includes: "The Baptism," "Mary in Glory,"
"Adoration of the Magi," Martyrdom of St. Sebastian," " Madonna and Child,"
and "The Virgin in Glory."
(WUD, 1994, p.1076)(SFEM, 10/12/97, p.49)
1447 The winged altarpiece of Stephensdom in Vienna, Austria was
completed.
(Hem., Dec. '95, p.67)
1448 Oct 31, Johannes VIII Palaeologus, Emperor of Byzantium,
died.
(MC, 10/31/01)
1448 In China hyperinflation hit and paper money lost 97% of its
value. China soon abandoned paper money.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)
1448 The Portuguese established the first European trading post
in Africa.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R49)
1449 Jan 1, Lorenzo de Medici [The Magnificent] of Florence was
born.
(MC, 1/1/02)
1449 Albanians, under Skenderbeg, routed the Ottoman forces
under Sultan Murat II.
(www, Albania, 1998)
1449 Ashikaga Yoshimasa (14) inherited the office of Shogun, the
chief military and civic leader of feudal Japanese society. His leadership
focused on the arts and depleted the national treasury which led to social
and political anarchy.
(ON, 7/01, p.3)
1449 The giant Scottish bombard known as Mons Meg was built. It
was retired from active service in 1680, after splitting her barrel while
firing a ceremonial shot. She can still be seen in Edinburgh castle.
(HNQ, 6/20/02)