Directory

1341 CE

The Queen's College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, is founded. October – The Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347 (between John VI Kantakouzenos and the regency for the infant John V Palaiologos) breaks out. A great flood in the river Periyar in modern-day southern India leads to the river changing its course, the closing of Muziris, the opening up of Cochin (Kochi) harbour, submersion of some islands, and birth of some new islands.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • The sultan of Delhi Muhammad bin Tughluq chooses Ibn Battuta to lead a diplomatic mission to Yuan Dynasty China.source
  • Approximate date – Magnus Erikssons landslag (the Country Law of Magnus IV of Sweden) is promulgated.source

Conflict & Security

  • September–October – The Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347 (between John VI Kantakouzenos and the regency for the infant John V Palaiologos) breaks out.source
  • Chinese poet Zhang Xian writes the Iron Cannon Affair, about the destructive use of gunpowder and the cannon.source
  • Tbilisi becomes a capital of European Christian Cathedra, after the city of Smirna. George V (the Brilliant) returns Jerusalem and the Grave of Christ from the Muslims.source
  • Saluzzo is sacked by Manfred V of Saluzzo.source
  • The Breton War of Succession begins, over the control of the Duchy of Brittany.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • The Danish king Valdemar IV Atterdag sells southern Halland for 8000 mark to king Magnus Eriksson of Sweden in order to finance the reunification of Denmark.source

Religion & Belief

  • April 8 – Petrarch is crowned poet laureate in Rome, the first man since antiquity to be given this honor.source
  • Margarete Maultasch, Countess of Tyrol, expels her husband John Henry of Bohemia, to whom she had been married as a child. She subsequently marries Louis of Bavaria without having been divorced, which results in the excommunication of the couple.source
  • Saint Bridget of Sweden and her husband Ulf Gudmarsson went on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • Casimir III of Poland builds a masonry castle in Lublin, and encircles the city with defensive walls.source

Climate & Environment

  • January 1 – An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe) affects Crimea (disputed event).source
  • A great flood in the river Periyar in modern-day southern India leads to the river changing its course, the closing of Muziris, the opening up of Cochin (Kochi) harbour, submersion of some islands, and birth of some new islands.source

Culture & Society

  • January 18 – The Queen's College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, is founded.source

Births

  • June 5 – Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, son of King Edward III of England (d. 1402)source
  • September 1 – Frederick the Simple, King of Sicily (d. 1377)source
  • November 10 – Henry Percy, 1st Earl of Northumberland, English statesman (d. 1408)source
  • Qu You, Chinese novelist (d. 1427)source
  • Bonne of Bourbon, Countess regent of Savoy (d. 1402)source
  • Hermann II, Landgrave of Hesse (d. 1413)source
  • Louis, Duke of Durazzo (d. 1376)source

Deaths

  • January 22 – Louis I, Duke of Bourbon (b. 1279)source
  • March 2 or October 3 – Martha of Denmark, queen consort of Sweden (b. 1277)source
  • April 30 – Duke John III of Brittany (b. 1286)source
  • June 15 – Andronikos III Palaiologos, Byzantine Emperor (b. 1297)source
  • June 19 – Juliana Falconieri, Italian saint (b. 1270)source
  • June – Al-Nasir Muhammad, Sultan of Egypt (b. 1295)source
  • August 9 – Eleanor of Anjou, queen consort of Sicily (b. 1289)source
  • August 28 – King Leo IV of Armenia (murdered) (b. 1309)source
  • December 4 – Janisław, Archbishop of Gnieznosource
  • December – Gediminas, Duke of Lithuaniasource
  • Petrus Filipsson, Archbishop of Uppsalasource
  • Bartholomew II Ghisi, Lord of Tenos and Mykonos, Triarch of Negropontesource
  • probable – Richard Folville, English outlaw and parson (resisting arrest)source
  • Uzbeg Khan, Khan of the Golden Horde (b. 1282)source