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

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

[edit] Events

• The transition from the Medieval Warm Period to the Little Ice Age
• Beginning of the Ottoman Empire, early expansion into the early Balkans

Osman I, 1st Sultan of the Ottoman Empire

• The Avignon papacy transfers the seat of the Popes from Italy to France
• The Great Famine of 1315-1317 kills millions of people in Europe
• Being forced out of previous locations, the Mexica found the city of Tenochtitlan in 1325
• Battle of Kosovo in 1389 between Serbs and Ottoman Turks, Prince Lazar, sultan Murat I and Miloš Obilić were killed
• The Vijayanagara Empire is founded in South India by Harihara in 1336
• The Hundred Years' War begins when Edward III of England lays claim to the French throne in 1337.
• French recruit troops and ships in Genoa, Monaco and Nice. (1345 - 1346)

The Hundred Years' War, Joan of Arc at the Siege of Orléans

Richard II of England

• Black Death kills around a third of the population of Europe. (1347 - 1351)
• The Battle of Lake Poyang, a naval conflict between Chinese rebel groups led by Chen Youliang and Zhu Yuanzhang, took place in August to October of 1363, and was one of the largest naval battles in history.
• The end of Mongol Yuan Dynasty in China and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty (1368)
• The heresy of Lollardy rises in England
• The Great Schism of the West begins in 1378, eventually leading to 3 simultaneous popes.
• An account of Buddha's life, translated earlier into Greek by St John of Damascus and widely circulated to Christians as the story of Barlaam and Josaphat, became so popular Buddha (under the name Josaphat) was made a Catholic saint.
• Singapore emerges for the first time as a fortified city and trading centre of some importance.
• Reunification of Poland under Ladislaus I of Poland
• Ciompi Revolt in Florence
• Peasants' Revolt in England
• Islam reaches Terengganu, on the Malay Peninsula.
• The Hausa found several city-states in the south of modern Niger.
• The Mali Empire expands westward and conquers Tekrur.
• The poet Petrarch coins the term Dark Ages to describe the preceding 900 years in Europe, beginning with the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 through to the renewal embodied in the Renaissance.
• The Scots win the Scottish Wars of Independence.
• Union of Krewo between Poland and Lithuania.
• Work begins on the Great Enclosure at Great Zimbabwe, built of uncemented, dressed stone. The city's population is now between 10,000 and 40,000.
• Beginning of the Renaissance in Italy
• The English word "abacus" used to describe the calculating device from China.
• Wang Dayuan, the first Chinese to sail into the Mediterranean while visiting Egypt and North Africa from 1334-1339.
• The Kalmar Union is established in 1397, uniting Norway, Sweden and Denmark into one kingdom.
• Foundation of Tenochtitlan, Aztec capital city, in the valley of Mexico.

[edit] Significant people

• Osman I (1258 –1326, Osman Gazi or Osman Bey or I.Osman or Osman Sayed II) leader of the Ottoman Turks, founder of the dynasty that established and ruled the Ottoman Empire.

Statue of Dante Alighieri at the Uffizi, Florence

Edward III and the Black Prince

Guillaume de Machaut (at right) receiving Nature and three of her children, from an illuminated Parisian manuscript of the 1350s

• Giotto di Bondone, Italian painter of the late Middle Ages, early Renaissance (c. 1267–1337)
• Simone Martini, Italian painter of the late Middle Ages, early Renaissance 1284 – c. 1344
• Edward II (1284 – 1327?) of Caernarfon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327.
• Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland, victor in the First War of Scottish Independence against invasion by the Kingdom of England (1274 - 1329).
• David II of Scotland (1324 – 1371) King of Scots, son of King Robert the Bruce by his second wife, Elizabeth de Burgh (d. 1327), was born at Dunfermline Palace, Fife.^[1]
• Joan of the Tower aka Joan of England (1321–1362), was the first wife and Queen consort of David II of Scotland. She was born at the Tower of London and was the youngest daughter of Edward II of England and Isabella of France.
• Juan Manuel, Duke of Penafiel, Spanish author (1282 - 1349).
• William of Ockham, English Franciscan friar and philosopher (c. 1285 - 1347).
• Charles V (1338 – 1380), called the Wise, was King of France from 1364 to his death and a member of the House of Valois.
• Charles I of Hungary, military, diplomatic and financial reformer, restoring the Kingdom of Hungary to power (1288 - 1342).
• Chen Youliang, Chinese rebel leader and arch nemesis to Zhu Yuanzhang (aka Emperor Hongwu)
• Isabella of France, queen consort and regent of the Kingdom of England (c. 1295 - 1358).
• Roger de Mortimer, 1st Earl of March (1287 –1330), an English nobleman, was for three years de facto ruler of England, after leading a successful rebellion against Edward II.
• Richard II (1367 – 1400) was the King of England from 1377 until he was deposed in 1399.
• Ibn Battuta, Berber Muslim traveler (1304 - 1368/1377).
• Jiao Yu, Chinese general and author of the Huolongjing military treatise
• Liu Ji, a Chinese general, court advisor, philosopher, and co-editor of the Huolongjing
• Casimir III of Poland, expansionist and financial reformer (1310 - 1370).
• Edward III, King of England. His claim to the throne of France resulted in the Hundred Years' War (1312 - 1377).
• Edward, the Black Prince or Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales, KG (1330 – 1376), was the eldest son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault, and father to King Richard II of England.
• Timur, Central Asian warlord and founder of the Timurid Dynasty (1336 - 1405).
• Mansa Musa (d. 1347), King of the Mali Empire while it was the source of almost half the world's gold.
• Hongwu Emperor, founder of the Ming Dynasty in China (1328 - 1398)

[edit] Literature

See also: 14th century in literature, Renaissance literature, and Medieval literature

• Dante Alighieri, Italian poet and writer (1265 - 1321).
• Giovanni Boccaccio, Italian author (1313 - 1375).
• Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1343 – 1400?) was an English author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat, courtier and diplomat.
• Hafez Persian poet (c. 1310 - 1379.
• William Langland (ca. 1332 - ca. 1386) is the conjectured author of the English dream-vision Piers Plowman.
• Guillaume de Machaut, French composer and poet (c. 1300 - 1377).
• Francesco Petrarch, Italian poet and writer (1304 - 1374).
• Christine de Pizan, French writer (1364 - 1430).

[edit] Inventions, discoveries, introductions

• List of 14th century inventions
• First real handgun in the world invented in Florence 11 Feb 1326. ^[2]
• music of the Ars nova
• The technique of knitting
• Foundation of the University of Cracow
• Chinese text the Huolongjing by Jiao Yu describes fire lances, fire arrows (rockets), rocket launchers, land mines, naval mines, bombards, cannons, and hollow cast iron cannonballs filled with gunpowder, and their use to set ablaze enemy camps.

[edit] References

1. ^ Richardson, Douglas, Plantagenet Ancestry, Baltimore, Md., 2004, p.23, ISBN 0-8063-1750-7
2. ^ http://riv.co.nz/rnza/hist/gun/firstgun.htm

[edit] Decades and years