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Lanzarote, the Canary Islands conquered by the Spanish

Hilla, Middle East. Tamerlane attacks the Jews, burning them inside the synagogue.

Count Vlad Dracula rules Transylvania; he used to impale invading Turks

In Renaissance Europe, ancient texts such as Euclid’s geometry, Ptolemy’s geography, Galen’s medicine, preserved in the Middle Ages by Arab scholars, gave birth to modern science.

England. The Houses of Lancaster and York reign, with eight sovereigns (Plantagenates): Henry IV Bolingbroke, Henry V, Henry VI, Edward IV (second reign), Edward V, and Richard III.

The Genoese built large, round ships weighing as much as 1,000 tons, while the Venetians were held back by the shallow waters of the Venetian lagoon. The largest cocca built by the Venetians at the time was 27 meters long and carried 720 tons (1,200

Nicopolis on the Danube. The Christian coalition suffers a catastrophic defeat at the hands of the Ottomans under Bayazid, who becomes the hero of Islam of his time.

Jalairid Kingdom. Timur attacks Baghdad by surprise. Soltan Ahmad, caught off guard, must flee in a daring way to the Mamluk dominions. The city is devastated and sacked.

The Jewish presence in Modena grew significantly during the 15th century, as more than 500 documents on Modena’s Jews are found among notarial deeds. Jews settled in Modena to practice money lending against pledges, opening banks authorized by the Este family (money lending banks). The

Khwarezm, Central Asia. Timur besieges Urgench for the second time, accused of collaborating with his bitter rival Toqtamish. The city is razed to the ground.

Muzapharid Kingdom. Persia. Tamerlane occupies Isfahan to demand the collection of huge taxes. When the population refuses, he unleashes carnage: 70,000 dead, with pyramids of heads surrounding the city walls. After Isfahan, he moves on to Shiraz, where the citizens rush to welcome him with

Mirandola. The Mirandola statutes are published. Mirandola is an imperial fiefdom, and only in 1710, following the War of the Spanish Succession, did Mirandola pass to the Este family of Rinaldo I, becoming part of the Modena territory.

Beginning of the Jagiellonian dynasty which unifies Poland and Lithuania.

Venice purchases Corfu from a pretender to the Neapolitan throne. The island will be fortified from top to bottom and will remain Venetian until the end of the Republic, after more than four centuries.

Venice carefully avoided engaging the Ottoman Empire directly in battle, but when the opportunity arose, it purchased seaports throughout the Aegean Sea and elsewhere at favorable prices. Thus, it purchased Durazzo and Scutari in Albania, Lepanto, Patras, Argos, and Nafplio in the Morea, and finally

Byzantine Empire. Murad’s Ottomans conquer Sofia.

Georgia. Tamerlane destroys the city of Qars, conquers Tiflis, and takes prisoner the Christian ruler Bagrat V, who is forced to convert to Islam.

Persia. Timur attacks Sistan, then a very fertile and rich land. He carries out one of the most devastating devastations in the history of his conquests. After conquering the cities of Bust and Zarang, Timur devastates the water system based on the qanats, a masterpiece

Fourth Genoa-Venice War. Chioggia. Starving, Pietro Doria surrenders Chioggia unconditionally, losing 5,000 men and 19 galleys.

Fourth Genoa-Venice War. A force of 4,000 men unsuccessfully attempts to conquer Chioggia Minore, but the fleet manages to block all access to the Clodian lagoon by sinking ships loaded with stones and thus trapping the Genoese ships, which from besieging them become besieged.

Fourth Genoa-Venice War. The reconstituted Venetian fleet sets sail for Chioggia, under the command of the octogenarian Doge.

Fourth Genoa-Venice War. The Genoese and Paduans join forces and storm Chioggia, completing the siege of Venice. They ask for negotiations, but the Genoese respond that “it won’t be discussed until the horses of Saint Mark are harnessed” (the famous bronze quadrille brought from Constantinople

The Great Schism divides Western Christianity.

Fourth Genoa-Venice War. Vettore Pisani, a Venetian admiral, wages war in Genoese waters, and manages to capture several Genoese nobles and bring them back as prisoners to Venice. However, this does not prevent the Genoese from quickly reorganizing and re-establishing their fleet, which reaches the

Hundred Years’ War: Under Edward III, King of England

The Holy Roman Empire stretches from Tuscany to Provence to Holland to Bohemia to Moravia

The Russians reconquer various territories from the Mongols, up to the Black Sea.

Seven German princes (four laymen and three ecclesiastical) shared the hereditary power to elect the Holy Roman Emperor: the so-called prince-electors. This was officially sanctioned by the Golden Bull of Charles IV of Bohemia in 1356.

Geoffrey De Charny, nephew of the Normandy preceptor of the same name, exhibited the Holy Shroud for the first time in the West in Liney in the diocese of Troyes

The Council of Ten uncovered a conspiracy hatched by Doge Falier to attempt to overthrow the Republican regime and establish a personal Signoria. It is said that the prince had decided to launch the plot out of disillusionment with the aristocratic system of government, after

Hundred Years’ War: Aquitanian Phase

North America. In present-day East St. Louis, the city of Cahokia, the capital of a sort of Native American grain-growing state, is abandoned. Something catastrophic, unknown to us, happens. In the previous two centuries, it had reached peak populations of 15,000, only to suddenly vanish

Nicola Oresmo demonstrates the divergence of the harmonic series (1/1 + 1/2 + 1/3 + 1/4 + …) in an elementary way: he points out that the sum of the inverses of 3 and 4, as well as of 5, 6, 7, 8, as well

First Genoa-Venice War. Genoa was Venice’s most dangerous rival for dominance of Mediterranean trade. The winner of these battles (the second Genoa-Venice war would be in 1378–1381) would never be able to prevent its opponent from deploying a fleet equal to or more powerful than

Venice. The conscription system required each of the sixty contrade to count all men between the ages of 20 and 60, drawn in groups of twelve. Each dozen drew lots to determine who would be the first to serve. Until 1350, the chosen one received

The bubonic plague has already reached England

Venice establishes the important technique of the bill of exchange, which allows the resident merchant to send funds to his agent abroad or to quickly receive the proceeds of a sale, without the risk of shipping gold or silver by sea.

Venice establishes the important technique of marine insurance: in exchange for a premium paid in advance, the insurance company undertakes to compensate for losses due to shipwreck or piracy.

The Este family, having once again joined the Guelphs, entered the Modena area and occupied Finale Emilia. The previous month, Malatestino Malatesta had also returned to threaten the city, devastating its countryside, but was unable to approach the walls.

Modena. The Emperor had scheduled a massacre of the Modenese for this date, accused of having defected to the papal vicar in exchange for 15,000 gold florins. Only the intervention of the brothers Guido Pio and Manfredo Pio with the Emperor saved the city in

Theravada Buddhism spreads to Laos and Cambodia

Zhu Yuanzhang becomes the first emperor of the Ming Dynasty. During 14 years of purges, he executes 30,000 opponents. He then helps build a meritocratic society, with excellent education and a drive for innovation. Trade with Europe is expanded, seen as a source of silver.

Mantua. Rainaldo Bonacolsi, known as Passerino, is caught off guard while resting by a coup plotted by the Gonzagas. Rainaldo mounts his horse, but is overtaken and wounded. While fleeing on horseback, he strikes his head against the marble doorpost of the palace and falls

Modena. The Ghibelline commander Rainaldo d’Este has all his baggage and war implements moved to Castelvetro. During the night, he reaches Marano di Campiglio and crosses the Panaro River. In Bolognese territory, the army joins up with the other contingent coming from Poggio di Bazzano.

Altopascio, Tuscany. The Ghibellines land a crucial victory. Castruccio Castracani defeats the Florentines, led by Raimondo da Cardona, at Altopascio. Despite their outnumbering, they win thanks to Azzone Visconti’s masterful use of cavalry (800 Germans, 200 of whom were sent by Passerino Bonacolsi). To mock

Asia. The Mongol Empire is largely dissolved. It will be Timur who will temporarily resurrect it. Restless bands of Qarawbas are roaming Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Transoxiana. The Turkoman kings are firmly in power in Central Asia, and Syria and Egypt are in the hands of

Modena. Construction of the first city walls.

In 1317, with the papal bull Si Fratum, Pope John XXII ordered Duke Passerino, Cangrande della Scala, and Matteo Visconti to resign their titles as imperial vicars, given the emperor’s absence. On May 5, 1323, the bishop of Mantua, Jacopo Benfatti, the bishop of Modena,

Ferrara had just returned to papal control after only seven years. But in 1317, when a vicar of Rome killed a young Ferrarese man from the Bocchimpani family, a revolt broke out. On August 5, 1317, the besieged papal garrison surrendered. On August 15, 1317,

The Venetians invented the cocche, or large round ships.

Rome. Clement V publishes the Bull Flagitosumscelsus excommunicating Modena. Near the city of Modena, in fact, the previous year, Duke Passerino’s men had a truly terrible time: Raimondo da Spello, nephew of Pope Clement V, was robbed and killed. He was carrying 200,000 gold ducats

Venice built a canal between the Adige and the Po for the simultaneous passage of cargo ships, thus cutting off Ferrara (under the papacy). The pope subsequently revoked the papal bull of excommunication and interdiction against Venice issued five years earlier.

Finale Emilia, Bassa Modenese. The Clock Tower is being repaired after a Guelph-Ghibelline war. It was destroyed by the 2012 earthquake and became its symbol when, for a few hours, it remained half standing, its clock broken.

New Zealand. In the same century that humans (the Maori) first arrived in New Zealand, the Aepyornis also became extinct, a large flightless bird, over 3 meters tall and weighing between 600 and 800 kg. It laid enormous eggs with extremely hard shells, the fragments

The Maori arrive in New Zealand (fifty thousand years after the Aborigines arrived in Australia).

India. The third Mongol attempt to conquer Delhi also ends in disaster. Captured Mongol soldiers are publicly trampled by elephants in Delhi’s main square.

Ghazan, Mongol governor of the Ilkhanid ulus and descendant of Genghis Khan, dies. With him, the attempts to conquer the Mamluk kingdom end.

Venice. During this period, the Arsenale more than doubled in size. Next to the Arsenale is the Tana, also government-owned, a hemp warehouse and rope factory.

An earthquake destroys the Great Lighthouse of Alexandria

Marj as-Suffar (Shahqab), Syria. South of Damascus, the Ilkhanid army is heavily defeated by the Mamluks. Qutlughshah himself must flee with his routed army.

Bafeus, Middle East. The Byzantines, commanded by the noble Mouzalon, are heavily defeated by the Ottomans under Osman.

Battle of Courtrai. The infantry of the Flemish cities destroys the cream of the French cavalry, which abandons them the 500 golden spurs that will become the symbol of the battle.

Venice is home to approximately 160,000 people, up from half that number just a century earlier. 120,000 live in the city center and another 40,000 in the surrounding lagoon area.

England. The price of wheat reaches a peak. If we take the price of wheat in the period 1160-79 as 100, it reaches 325 in 1300-19, partly due to the famine of 1315-16.

In Bulgaria, Theodore Svetoslav becomes king and, taking advantage of the crisis of the Golden Horde, frees himself from Mongol rule and expands his territories.

Genoese admiral Lamba Doria devastates the Venetian Dalmatian coast and forces the Venetians to take up the challenge. They move their fleet and encounter the Genoese off the island of Korčula: 90 Venetian vessels against 80 Genoese, including fully armed galleys. The battle is fierce,

The Venetians armed a war fleet of 165 galleys with 35,000 men on board and, acting as pirates, plundered the Genoese shipping at Pera, Phocaea and Caffa, taking great booty.

Acre, Tyre, and Tripoli in Lebanon also fall to the Mamluks of Egypt. The last Venetian and Crusader strongholds of the Kingdom of Jerusalem are swept away.

Japan. 100,000 Chinese troops join forces with 40,000 Koreans and Mongolians to land on the island of Kyushu in Japan. Meanwhile, the Japanese had built a massive wall around Hakata Bay, the site of the previous Mongol landing. After the landing, the attacking forces fought

One treatise describes as many as 70 different recipes for preparing gunpowder, depending on its uses and the availability of raw materials.

Etienne Tempier declares the notion that time can exist only in the mind to be heretical. This idea was conceived by Saint Augustine, who wrote in the Confessions: “It is in my mind, then, that I measure time. I must not allow my mind to

Holland. Delft receives city rights.

Japan. The unexpected success of the previous year gives the Japanese confidence. The Mongol ambassadors sent the following year are executed.

Flanders mints the silver grosso, following in the footsteps of Venice and Florence.

The Venetians grew in commercial activity in the Mediterranean basin and in trade with Flanders and the German mines which, by continually increasing production, provided the means to pay for Venetian oriental goods, such as silk and spices, for which Europe seemed to always have

Venice introduces double-entry bookkeeping in its financial statements

The oldest known portolan chart, the Pisan Chart, is drawn. Among the best cartographers are Marco and Francesco Pizzigani. Portolan charts were made possible by the introduction of the nautical compass, and thus the ability to estimate position.

Venice is the first European state to consolidate its public debt, thus paying interest regularly from a single fund to all bondholders. Monte Vecchio pays 5% annually. It will continue to be paid without interruption or changes for over a century.

The Mongol armies of Qubilai and Boge, brothers and both contenders for the title of Khan of the Yuan ulus, clash. Qubilai prevails, and Boge surrenders, submitting to his brother’s judgment. Boge dies a few years later.

Constantinople. Venice suffers a grave setback: the Greek Emperor Michael Palaeologus seizes the city through treachery and a surprise attack through secret passages, while the Venetian fleet is at sea. When the fleet returns, it has no choice but to rescue its compatriots and the