1400s (decade)

Events

Contents: 1400 1401 1402 1403 1404 1405 1406 1407 1408 1409

1400

January–December

• January – Henry IV of England quells the Epiphany Rising and executes the Earls of Kent, Huntingdon and Salisbury and the Baron le Despencer for their attempt to have Richard II restored as king.
• February – Henry Percy (Hotspur) leads English incursions into Scotland.
• February 14 – The deposed Richard II of England dies by means unknown in Pontefract Castle. It is likely that King Henry IV ordered his death by starvation to prevent further uprisings.
• March 23 – Five-year-old Trần Thiếu Đế is forced to abdicate as ruler of Đại Việt (modern-day Vietnam) in favour of his maternal grandfather and court official Hồ Quý Ly, ending the Trần dynasty after 175 years and starting the Hồ dynasty. Hồ Quý Ly subsequently changes the country's name to Đại Ngu.
• May – Frederick I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg is declared as a rival to Holy Roman Emperor Wenceslaus. However, Frederick is murdered shortly after.
• August
  • The English occupy Edinburgh in Scotland^[1] but fail to capture Edinburgh Castle.
  • The princes of the German states vote to depose Wenceslaus as Holy Roman Emperor due to his weak leadership and mental illnesses.
• August 21 – Rupert, Count Palatine of the Rhine, is elected as Holy Roman Emperor.
• September 16 – Owain Glyndŵr is proclaimed Prince of Wales by his followers and begins attacking English strongholds in north-east Wales.
• December – Manuel II Palaiologos becomes the only Byzantine Emperor ever to visit England.

Date unknown

• Timur defeats both the Ottoman Empire and the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt to capture the city of Damascus in present-day Syria. Much of the city's inhabitants are subsequently massacred by Timur's troops.
• Timur conquers the Empire of The Black Sheep Turkomans, in present-day Armenia, and the Jalayirid dynasty in present-day Iraq. Black Sheep ruler Qara Yusuf and Jalayirid Sultan Ahmad flee and take refuge with the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I.
• In modern-day Korea, King Jeongjong of Joseon abdicates in fear of an attack by his ambitious younger brother, Taejong. Taejong succeeds to the throne.
• Prince Parameswara establishes the Malacca Sultanate in present-day western Malaysia and northern Sumatra.
• Hananchi succeeds Min as King of Hokuzan in modern-day north Okinawa, Japan.
• Wallachia (modern-day southern Romania) resists an invasion by the Ottomans.
• The Kingdom of Kongo begins.
• The Haast's eagle and Moa are both driven to extinction by Māori hunters.
• The Mississippian culture starts to decline.
• Europe is reported to have around 52 million inhabitants.
• The House of Medici becomes powerful in Florence.
• Newcastle upon Tyne is created a county corporate by Henry IV of England.
• Jean Froissart completes his Chronicles detailing the events of the 14th Century in France.

1401

• January 6 – Rupert, King of Germany, is crowned King of the Romans at Cologne.
• March 2 – William Sawtrey, a Lollard, is the first person to be burned at the stake at Smithfield.
• March 13 – The Samogitians, supported by Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania, rebel against the Teutonic knights and burn two castles. Vytautas is granted increased autonomy by King Jogaila of the Poland–Lithuania union.
• March 24 – Turko-Mongol emperor Timur sacks Damascus.
• June
  • The English Pale in Ireland reduced to Dublin, County Kildare, County Louth, and County Meath.
  • Timur raids the city of Baghdad in the Jalayirid Empire.
• October 14 – Mahmud II, sultan of Delhi, is restored to power.

Date unknown

• The De heretico comburendo Act is passed in England, as the Archbishop of Canterbury pressures King Henry IV of England into outlawing as heretics the Lollards, followers of John Wycliffe. Evidence of being a Lollard is having a copy of Wycliffe's translation of the Bible.
• Dilawar Khan establishes the Malwa Sultanate in present-day northern India.
• Emperor Hồ Quý Ly of Dai Ngu (now Vietnam) passes the throne to his son, Hồ Hán Thương.
• A civil war, lasting four years, breaks out in the Majapahit Empire in present-day Indonesia.
• The Joseon Dynasty in present-day Korea officially enters into a tributary relationship with Ming Dynasty China.
• Japan re-enters into a tributary relationship with China.

1402

January–December

• January 29 – King Jogaila of the Poland–Lithuania union answers the rumblings against his rule of Poland by marrying Anna of Celje, a granddaughter of Casimir III of Poland.
• March 26 – David Stewart, Duke of Rothesay, heir to the throne of Scotland, dies while being held captive by his uncle, Robert Stewart, 1st Duke of Albany.
• May 21 – Following the death of Queen Maria of Sicily, her husband Martin I of Sicily, now sole ruler, marries Blanche of Navarre.
• June 22
  • Battle of Nesbit Moor: An English force decisively defeats a returning Scottish raiding party.
  • Battle of Bryn Glas: Welsh rebels defeat the English on the England/Wales border..
• June 26 – Battle of Casalecchio: Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the Duke of Milan, crushes the forces of Bologna and Florence, but he dies from a fever later this year and is succeeded by his son Gian Maria Visconti.
• July 12 – The Ming dynasty prince Zhu Di and his army occupies the Ming capital, Nanjing. The Jianwen Emperor is either lost or killed and Zhu Di takes over the throne as the Yongle Emperor. This marked the end of the Jingnan campaign.
• July 20 – Battle of Ankara: An invading Timurid Dynasty force defeats the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I, who is captured. A period of interregnum begins in the Ottoman Empire with the future Mehmed I as one of the leading claimants to the throne. After Serbia is freed from Ottoman rule, Stefan Lazarević is crowned Despot of Serbia.
• September – Penal Laws against Wales The English Parliament passes the Penal Laws against Wales. The Laws stop the Welsh from gathering together, obtaining office, carrying arms and living in English towns. Any Englishman who marries a Welsh woman also comes under the laws.
• September 14 – Battle of Homildon Hill: Northern English nobles led by Sir Henry "Hotspur" Percy and using longbows decisively defeat a Scottish raiding army and capture their leader, the Earl of Douglas.

Capture of Bayezid I after Battle of Ankara

Date unknown

• After the Christian Knights of Saint John, who are ruling Smyrna, refuse to convert to Islam or pay tribute, Timur has the entire population massacred. The Knights of Saint John subsequently begin building Bodrum Castle in Bodrum to defend against future attacks.
• Conquest of the Canary Islands: King Henry III of Castile sends French explorer Jean de Béthencourt to colonize the Canary Islands. Béthencourt receives the title King of the Canary Islands, but recognizes Henry as his overlord. This marks the beginning of the Spanish Empire.
• The Genoese regain control of Monaco.
• The White Sheep Turkmen Empire, in present-day northern Iraq and Iran, moves its capital from Amida to Diyarbakır.
• Moldavia becomes a vassal of Poland in order to protect itself from an invasion by Hungary.
• Maria II Zaccaria succeeds her husband, Peter of Saint Superan, as ruler of the Principality of Achaea (now southern Greece).
• Conchobar an Abaidh mac Maelsechlainn O Cellaigh succeeds Maelsechlainn mac William Buidhe O Cellaigh as King of Uí Maine in present day County Galway and County Roscommon in Ireland.
• The University of Würzburg, is founded.
• The Kangnido map of the world is completed in Joseon Dynasty Korea.
• The Great Comet of 1402 is sighted.
• Big fire in the city of Utrecht started near the Jacobus Church.

1403

January–December

• February 7 – King Henry IV of England marries as his second wife Joan of Navarre, the daughter of King Charles II of Navarre and widow of John IV, Duke of Brittany, at Winchester Cathedral.
• March 12 – As King Martin I of Aragon helps to end the siege by the French of the papal palace in Avignon, Antipope Benedict XIII flees to Aragon.
• April – Balša III succeeds his father Đurađ II as ruler of the Principality of Zeta (now the Republic of Montenegro).
• May 21 – Ruy Gonzalez de Clavijo, an ambassador from the king of Castile to Timur, leaves Cadiz; he arrives in Samarkand over a year later.
• Before July 21 – Henry 'Hotspur' Percy forms an alliance with Welsh rebel Owain Glyndŵr.
• July 21 – Battle of Shrewsbury: King Henry IV of England defeats a rebel army led by "Hotspur" Percy, who is killed in the battle.
• October 7 – Battle of Modon: French naval forces under Jean Le Maingre (Marshal Boucicaut) defeat the Republic of Venice at Modon in the Peloponnese.^[2]

Date unknown

• Jan Hus begins preaching Wycliffite ideas in Bohemia.
• In China, the Yongle Emperor of the Ming dynasty
  • moves the capital from Nanjing to Beijing.
  • commissions the Yongle Encyclopedia, one of the world's earliest and largest known general encyclopedias.
  • orders his coastal provinces to build a vast fleet of ships, with construction centered at Longjiang near Nanjing; the inland provinces are to provide wood and float it down the Yangtze River.
• The Temple of a City God is constructed in Shanghai.
• The Gur-e Amir Mausoleum is built in Samarkand by Timur after the death of his grandson Muhammad-Sultan, and eventually becomes the family mausoleum of the Timurid dynasty.
• Georgia makes peace with Timur but has to recognise him as a suzerain and pay him tribute.
• While the Ottoman Empire is at war, the Byzantine Empire reclaims the European coast of the Sea of Marmara and Thessalonica. The emperor's son Andronikos Palaiologos is given the title of Lord of Thessalonike.
• The world's first quarantine station is built in Venice to protect against the Black Death.
• Grand Duke Vytautas ends his alliance with Muscovy and captures Vyazma and Smolensk.
• Stefan Lazarević establishes Belgrade as the capital of the Serbian Despotate.
• A guild of stationers is founded in the City of London. As the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers (the "Stationers' Company"), it continues to be a Livery Company in the 21st century.
• In Ireland
  • Tadgh Ruadh mac Maelsechlainn O Cellaigh succeeds Conchobar an Abaidh mac Maelsechlainn O Cellaigh as King of Hy-Many in present-day Galway and Roscommon.
  • Maolmhordha mac Con Connacht succeeds Giolla Iosa mac Pilib as King of East Breifne in present-day Leitrim and Cavan.
• probable – Ououso becomes King of Nanzan in present-day south Okinawa, Japan.

1404

January–December

• June 14 – Rebel leader Owain Glyndŵr, having declared himself Prince of Wales, allies with the French against the English. He later begins holding parliamentary assemblies.
• October 17 – Pope Innocent VII succeeds Pope Boniface IX as the 204th pope.
• November 19 – A St. Elizabeth's flood: A flood of the North Sea devastates parts of Flanders, Zeeland and Holland.

Date unknown

• Jean de Béthencourt becomes the first ruler of the Kingdom of the Canary Islands.
• Stephan Tvrtko II succeeds Stefan Ostoja as King of Bosnia.
• Peace is declared between Lithuania and the Teutonic Knights after they agree to exchange land and form an alliance against Muscovy.
• The University of Turin is founded.
• Timur is hit by a fever while preparing to invade China.
• Centurione II Zaccaria succeeds Maria II Zaccaria as ruler of the Principality of Achaea.
• Virupaksha Raya succeeds Harihara Raya II as ruler of the Vijayanagara Empire in present-day southern India.
• Narayana Ramadhipati succeeds Ponthea Yat as King of Cambodia.
• Ruaidri Caech MacDermot succeeds Conchobair Óg MacDermot as King of Magh Luirg in present-day north-east Connacht, Ireland.
• The city of Vicenza comes under the rule of the Venetians.

1405

January–December

• May 29 – In England, Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, meets Archbishop Richard le Scrope of York and Earl of Norfolk Thomas Mowbray in Shipton Moor, tricks them to send their rebellious army home and then imprisons them.
• June 8 – Archbishop Richard le Scrope of York and Thomas Mowbray, Earl of Norfolk, are executed in York on Henry IV's orders.
• July 11 – Ming Dynasty fleet commander Zheng He sets sail from Suzhou to explore the world for the first time.
• October 5 – Early feminist Christine de Pizan writes a letter to Queen Isabeau urging her to intervene in the political struggle between the dukes of Burgundy and Orleans.
• November 17 – The Sultanate of Sulu is established on the Sulu Archipelago off the coast of Mindanao in the Philippines.

Date unknown

• Bath Abbey is built in England.
• First written record of whiskey being consumed recorded in Ireland, where it is distilled by Catholic monks.
• Bellifortis, a book on military technology, is published by Konrad Kyeser.
• Christine de Pizan writes The Book of the City of Ladies.

1406

January–December

• April 4 – James I becomes King of Scotland, after having been captured by Henry IV of England.
• October 7 – French troops comprising 1,000 men at arms landed on Jersey and fought a battle against 3,000 defenders.^[3]:50–1
• October 13 – Richard Whittington is elected Lord Mayor of London for a second full term. He holds this office simultaneously with that of Mayor of the Calais Staple.
• October 26 – Eric of Pomerania marries Philippa, daughter of Henry IV of England.
• November 30 – Pope Gregory XII succeeds Pope Innocent VII as the 205th pope.
• December 25 – John II becomes King of Castile.

Date unknown

• Construction of the Forbidden City begins in Beijing during the Chinese Ming dynasty.
• Pisa is subjugated by Florence.

1407

January–December

• April 10 – After several invitations by the Yongle Emperor of China since 1403, the fifth Karmapa of the Karma Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism, the lama Deshin Shekpa, finally visits the Ming dynasty capital, then at Nanjing. In his twenty-two-day visit, he thrills the Ming court with alleged miracles that are recorded in a gigantic scroll translated into five different languages. In a show of mystical prowess, Deshin Shekpa adds legitimacy to a questionable succession to the throne by Yongle, who had killed his nephew the Jianwen Emperor in the culmination of a civil war. For his services to the Ming court, including his handling of the ceremonial rites of Yongle's deceased parents, Deshin Shekpa is awarded the title Great Treasure Prince of Dharma (大寶法王).
• June 16 – Ming–Hồ War: The Ming dynasty of China under the Yongle Emperor conquers Vietnam, capturing Hồ Quý Ly and his sons, ending the Vietnamese Hồ dynasty.
• November 20 – A solemn truce between John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy and Louis I, Duke of Orléans is agreed under the auspicies of John, Duke of Berry.
• November 23 – The Duke of Orleans is assassinated; war breaks out again between the Burgundians and his followers.

Date unknown

• Rudolfo Belenzani leads a revolt against Bishop Georg von Liechtenstein in Trento, Bishopric of Trent.
• David Holbache founds Oswestry School in the Welsh Marches.

1408

January–December

• February 19 – Battle of Bramham Moor: a royalist army defeats the last remnants of the Percy rebellion.
• September – Henry, Prince of Wales (later Henry V of England) retakes Aberystwyth from Owain Glyndŵr.
• September 16 – Thorstein Olafssøn marries Sigrid Bjørnsdatter in Hvalsey Church, in the last recorded event of the Norse history of Greenland.
• December 13 – The Order of the Dragon is founded under King Sigismund of Hungary.

Date unknown

• The Moldavian town of Iaşi is first mentioned.
• The Yongle Encyclopedia is completed.
• Gotland passes under Danish rule.
• Zheng He delivers 300 virgins from Korea to the Chinese emperor.

1409

January–December

• January 1 – The Welsh surrender Harlech Castle to the English.
• March 25 – The Council of Pisa opens. On June 5 it deposes Pope Gregory XII and Antipope Benedict XIII and on June 26 crowns Petros Philargos as Pope Alexander V; he is subsequently regarded as an antipope.
• July – Martin I of Aragon succeeds his own son as King of Sicily.
• August 7 – Council of Pisa closes.
• December 2 – The University of Leipzig opens.
• December 9 – Louis II of Anjou founds the University of Aix.

Date unknown

• Ulugh Beg becomes governor of Samarkand.
• The Republic of Venice purchases the port of Zadar from Hungary.
• Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen of the Teutonic Knights guarantees peace with the Kalmar Union of Scandinavia by selling the Baltic Sea island of Gotland to Queen Margaret of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.^[4]
• Cheng Ho (or Zheng He), admiral of the Ming empire fleet, deposes the king of Sri Lanka.

Births

• 1400 – Johannes Gutenberg, credited with inventing movable type printing in Europe.
• 1401 – Catherine of Valois, Queen consort of England from 1420 until 1422.
• 1401 – Emperor Shōkō, the 101st emperor of Japan.
• 1403 – Charles VII of France, King of France from 1422 until his death in 1461.
• 1404 – Murad II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1421 to 1451.
• 1404 – Gilles de Rais, murderous French noble considered by some historians to be a precursor of the modern serial killer.
• 1405 – Skanderbeg, Albanian National Hero, Athleta Christi, the Defender of Christian Europe. (d. 1468)
• 1405 – Constantine XI, the last reigning Roman Emperor.
• 1405 – Thomas Malory, the author or compiler of Le Morte d'Arthur.
• 1405 – Pope Pius II, Pope from 1458 until his death in 1464.
• 1409 – Charles VIII of Sweden, king of Sweden for three separate reigns between 1448 and 1470.

Deaths

• 1400 – Geoffrey Chaucer, viewed as father of English literature ((b. c. 1343))
• 1400 – Richard II, deposed King of England, died in captivity.
• 1402 – The Jianwen Emperor, second Emperor of the Ming dynasty, killed in a coup.
• 1403 – Bayezid I, deposed sultan of the Ottoman Empire, died in captivity.
• 1404 – Pope Boniface IX.
• 1405 – Timur, also known as Tamerlane, Turco-Mongol conqueror, died of plague while invading China.
• 1406 – Robert III, King of Scots, allegedly died of grief.
• 1406 – Pope Innocent VII, died suddenly amidst rumours of foul play, of which no evidence was ever found.

References