Directory

1348 CE

Edward III of England creates the first English order of chivalry, the Most Noble Order of the Garter. A papal bull is issued by Pope Clement VI, protecting Jews against popular aggression during the Black Death pandemic. The anti-royalist Union of Valencia attacks the Jews of Murviedro because they are serfs of the King of Valencia and thus "royalists".

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • November 18 – Emperor Kōmyō of Japan abdicates the throne in favour of his son Emperor Sukō, making them the second and third of the Northern Court (Ashikaga Pretenders).source
  • The Pskov Republic gains independence from the Novgorod Republic with the treaty of Bolotovo.source

Conflict & Security

  • February 2 – Battle of Strėva: the Teutonic Order secure a victory over the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Sources tell of a blow to Lithuanian leadership, one that the Teutonic Order could not fully make use of due to the Black Death.source
  • November 1 – The anti-royalist Union of Valencia attacks the Jews of Murviedro because they are serfs of the King of Valencia and thus "royalists".source
  • Estimation: Hangzhou in Mongolian China becomes the largest city of the world, taking the lead from Cairo, capital of Mamluk Egypt.source
  • Hundred Years' War (1337–1360): The effects of the Black Death cause a de facto truce to be observed between England and France until 1355.source
  • Stefan the Mighty, Emperor of Serbia, conquers Thessaly and Epirus.source

Religion & Belief

  • April 7 – Charles University in Prague, founded the previous year by papal bull, is granted privileges by Charles I, King of Bohemia, in a golden bull.source
  • July 6 – A papal bull is issued by Pope Clement VI, protecting Jews against popular aggression during the Black Death pandemic.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • April 23 – Edward III of England creates the first English order of chivalry, the Most Noble Order of the Garter.source

Health & Medicine

  • By June 24 – The Black Death pandemic reaches England, having probably been brought across the English Channel by fleas on rats aboard a ship from Gascony to the south coast port of Melcombe (modern-day Weymouth, Dorset); by November it will have reached London and by 1350 will have killed one third to a half of its population.source
  • The Black Death pandemic spreads to central and western Europe and to Cairo.source

Climate & Environment

  • January 25 – The 6.9-magnitude 1348 Friuli earthquake centered in Northern Italy is felt across Europe. Contemporary minds link the quake with the Black Death, fueling fears that the Biblical Apocalypse has arrived.source

Culture & Society

  • January – Gonville Hall, the forerunner of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, England, is founded.source

Births

  • April 11 – Andronikos IV Palaiologos, Byzantine Emperor (d. 1385)source
  • John Fitzalan, 1st Lord Arundel (d. 1379)source
  • Alice Perrers, politically active English royal mistress and courtier (d. 1400)source

Deaths

  • February 2 – Narimantas, Christian Lithuanian prince of Pinsk (Battle of Strėva)source
  • June 9 – Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Sienese painter (Black Death) (b. 1290)source
  • June 13 – Don Juan Manuel, prince of Villena, Spanish writer (b. 1282)source
  • July 1 – Joan of England, princess (Black Death) (b. 1333/34)source
  • August 20 – Laurence Hastings, 1st Earl of Pembroke, English noble (b. 1319)source
  • August 23 – John de Stratford, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. c.1275)source
  • October 2 – Alice de Lacy, 4th Countess of Lincoln, English noblewoman (b. 1281)source
  • Giovanni Villani, chronicler of Florence (Black Death) (b. c. 1276)source
  • Laura de Noves, French countess, presumed beloved of Petrarch (b. 1310)source
  • Pietro Lorenzetti, Sienese painter (Black Death) (b. 1280)source
  • Umur of Aydın, Emir (killed in action) (b. c.1309)source