Directory

1441 CE

King's College, Cambridge, is founded by King Henry VI of England. Abū r-Rabīʿ Sulaymān al-Mustakfī bi-Llāh, or Al-Mustakfi II, becomes the new Caliph of Cairo upon the death of his father, Al-Mu'tadid II. The Metropolitan Isidore of Kiev is allowed by Grand Prince Vasily II to escape from imprisonment in Moscow, along with two of his disciples, Gregory the Bulgarian and Afanasy. He flees to Tver and then to Novogrudok and eventually to Rome.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • February 24 – The Republic of Venice annexes the seigniory of Ravenna, ending the da Polenta Dynasty.source
  • September 6 – The Dutch–Hanseatic War concludes with the Treaty of Copenhagen.source
  • November 20 – The Peace of Cremona (1441) ends the war between the Republic of Venice and the Duchy of Milan.source
  • December 3 – King Henry VI summons the members of the English Parliament to assemble at Westminster on January 25.source
  • With the help of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, governor Hacı I Giray declares his province independent of the Golden Horde and establishes the Crimean Khanate.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 20 – The siege of Tartas in France is temporarily halted when Charles II of Albret, against whom residents of Gascony are campaigning, and the commander of the English forces, Sir Thomas Rempston, agree to a three-month truce.source
  • February 7 – Luchuan–Pingmian campaigns: In Ming dynasty China, the Vice Minister of Justice, He Wenyuan, petitions the Imperial Court not to make a second punitive campaign against the kingdom of Möng Mao and its ruler, Si Renfa, arguing that the nation's resources should not be wasted on worthless land. The Minister of War, Wang Ji, joins with General Mu Ang in arguing that Si Renfa should be stopped before he conquers more territory. The Emperor authorizes the second campaign.source
  • February 27 – Luchuan–Pingmian campaigns: The second campaign against the Mong Mao state is launched.source
  • March 1 – Battle of Samobor: The army of Ulrich II, Count of Celje, defeats the army of Stjepan Banić at Samobor, Croatia in union with Hungary.source
  • May 3 – In Denmark, a rebel army of 25,000 peasants led by Henrik Reventlow repels an attack by Swedish nobles, led by Eske Jensen Brock. The peasants prepare a trap near their camp at St. Jørgensbjerg before the Battle of St. Jorgen's Hill, placing trees and soil over a swamp, and Brock's army of knights becomes mired down, where almost all (including Brock) are slaughtered.source
  • May 8 – The Siege of Creil is Started on orders of King Charles VII of France against the English held town and council. William Peyto surrenders on May 25.source
  • June 6 – The siege of Pontoise is started by with 5,000 troops led by King Charles VII of France and Arthur de Richemont, Duke of Brittany, to capture a 1,200 member English Army garrison located on the Île-de-France near Paris. The siege continues for three months until the garrison surrenders.source
  • June 27 – The siege of Novo Brdo in Serbia ends after eight months as Ottoman Empire troops, led by the Sultan Murad II and General Hadım Şehabeddin guarantee the safe evacuation of the surviving Ragusan defenders, accept the Serbian surrender.source
  • September 19 – The siege of Pontoise ends after four months, following a three-day final assault led by Marshal André de Laval-Montmorency and Jean de Bueil, Count of Sancerre of the French Army. More than 400 of the English defenders are killed, and hundreds of survivors taken prisoner, including their commander, Baron Clinton. Because Pontoise was not surrendered, the property of the survivors is seized by the French and Clinton and most of his officers are held hostage until a ransom is paid. The English soldiers are not ransomed and are drowned in public instead.source
  • October 2 – (16 Jumada I, 845 AH) In what is now Saudi Arabia, Ali ibn Hasan ibn Ajlan is appointed as the new Emir of Mecca by the Mamluk Sultanate and his brother Barakat ibn Hasan is deposed, but the news does not reach Barakat for nearly two months.source
  • November 10 – Alfonso V of Aragon lays siege to Naples.source
  • November 29 – (14 Rajab 845 AH) Barakat ibn Hasan learns that he is deposed as Emir of Mecca and leaves that evening.source
  • December 16 – (2 Sha'ban 845 AH) Ali ibn Hasan ibn Ajlan takes office as the new Emir of Mecca.source
  • A revolt occurs in the Mayan nation of Mayapan; the Maya civilization splits into warring city-states.source
  • Ouagadougou becomes the capital of the Mossi Kingdoms.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • The first enslaved black Africans are brought to Europe at Lagos in the Kingdom of Portugal.source
  • Nuno Tristão reaches the Ras Nouadhibou (Cabo Branco) on the western coast of Africa. This is probably the first voyage where a caravel is used for maritime exploration.source

Religion & Belief

  • March 17 – The Swiss Canton of Bern intervenes to block an agreement between the Canton of Zürich that would have ceded the town of Grüningen to the Habsburg family of Germany.source
  • March 19 – Isidore of Kiev, the Russian Orthodox Church Metropolitan of Kiev and all Russia, returns to his home in Moscow after having attended the Council of Florence, where he agreed to unify the Russian Church with the Roman Catholic Church. When he arrives, he is arrested on the order of Grand Prince Vasily II and imprisoned under minimum security.source
  • April 20 — The Council of Florence, led by Pope Eugene IV, declares that the members of the Council of Basel are heretics and votes to excommunicate them, as well as affirming the superiority of the Pope over the Councils in the bull Etsi non dubitemus. In 1440, the Council of Basel had declared Eugene IV to be a heretic, deposed him as Pope, and excommunicated him.source
  • April 26 — Pope Eugene IV orders the transfer of the Council of Florence to Romesource
  • June 7 – The University of Bordeaux is established by Pope Eugene IV while Bordeaux is under the control of France. Closed in 1793 during the French Revolution, it will reopen in 1896 and continue to be in existence 280 years later.source
  • August 26 – Bishop Alberto da Sarteano, who had been sent by the Vatican on a mission to seek the Ethiopian Coptic Christian Church to join with the Roman Catholic Church, returns to Rome with four Ethiopians who had been allowed to leave by the Emperor Zara Yaqob. Two of the visitors the attend the Council of Florence to discuss the possible union of Coptic Orthodoxy and the Latin Church, marking the earliest recorded contact of the Ethiopian Coptic Church with Europe.source
  • October 4 – Pope Eugene IV issues a papal bull to recognize the Order of St Ambrose.source

Crime & Justice

  • July 12 ((Kakitsu 1, 24th day of the 6th month) – In Japan, the Shōgun Ashikaga Yoshinori is murdered by Akamatsu Mitsusuke, who is upset that Ashikaga has made Akamatsu Sadaura leader of the Akamatsu clan. Over the next 16 days, several prominent nobles allied with Ashikaga are killed during the fighting including Kyōgoku Takakazu, the Shugo of Yamashiro Province and Ōuchi Mochiyo (1394–1441), the head of the Ōuchi clan. After the fighting ceases, Yoshinori's 8-year-old son, Ashikaga Yoshikatsu, is proclaimed as the new shōgun.source
  • September 15 – The Metropolitan Isidore of Kiev is allowed by Grand Prince Vasily II to escape from imprisonment in Moscow, along with two of his disciples, Gregory the Bulgarian and Afanasy. He flees to Tver and then to Novogrudok and eventually to Rome.source

Culture & Society

  • February 12 – King's College, Cambridge, is founded by King Henry VI of England.source
  • February 25 – Elizabeth of Luxembourg, widow of the late King Albert of Hungary presents the Crown of St. Stephen to Frederick, King of Germany and invites him to take the throne, although Hungary's nobles had elected King Władysław III of Poland as King Laszlo of Hungary.source
  • September 13 — The coronation of King Christopher II of Denmark as King Cristoffer of Sweden takes place in Uppsala.source
  • October 25 – In accordance with the proposals for the Peace of Cremona to end the war between Venice and Milan, Francesco I Sforza of Venice marries Bianca Maria Visconti, daughter of the Duke of Milan. An Italian tradition credits the creation of nougat to the celebration of the wedding.source

Births

  • February 9 – Ali-Shir Nava'i, Central Asian poet, politician and writer (d. 1501)source
  • March 24 – Ernest, Elector of Saxony, German ruler of Saxony (d. 1486)source
  • June 25 – Federico I Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua (1478–1484) (d. 1484)source
  • June 27 – John III, Count of Nassau-Weilburg, German nobleman (d. 1480)source
  • July 23 – Danjong of Joseon, King of Joseon (d. 1457)source
  • November 11 – Charlotte of Savoy, French queen (d. 1483)source

Deaths

  • March 8 – Margaret of Burgundy, Duchess of Bavariasource
  • April 1 – Prince Carlos of Viana legally becomes the King of Navarre in Spain upon the death of his mother, Queen Blanca, who had ruled since 1425.source
  • April 1 – Blanche I of Navarre, Queen of Navarre (1425–1441) and Regent of Sicily (1404–1405 and 1408–1415)source
  • June 14 – Corrado IV Trinci, former lord of Folignosource
  • July 9 – Jan van Eyck, Dutch paintersource
  • July 12 – Kyōgoku Takakazu, Japanese noble and vassal of Ashikaga Yoshinorisource
  • July 12 – Ashikaga Yoshinori, Japanese shōgun (b. 1394)source
  • July 23 – Abū r-Rabīʿ Sulaymān al-Mustakfī bi-Llāh, or Al-Mustakfi II, becomes the new Caliph of Cairo upon the death of his father, Al-Mu'tadid II.source
  • August 15 – King Afonso V of Portugal, the 9-year-old monarch since the 1438 death of his father, King Duarte, is formally betrothed to his cousin, Isabel of Coimbra, aged 10, as part of an arranged marriage planned by Isabel's father Pedro, Duke of Coimbra, the King's regent. Their marriage does not take place until almost six years later, on May 6, 1447.source
  • September 25 – Akamatsu Mitsusuke, Japanese samuraisource
  • October 24 – Adolf, Duke of Bavaria (b. 1434)source
  • October 27 – Margery Jourdemayne, Englishwoman executed for treasonable witchcraftsource
  • November 18 – Roger Bolingbroke, English cleric, astronomer, astrologer, magister and alleged necromancersource
  • December 26 – Niccolò III d'Este, Marquis of Ferrara (b. 1383)source