1338 Declaration of Rhense abolishes papal approval of the
seven Electors' choice of emperor
1340 Edward III of England formally assumes the title of
king of France
1341-7 Second civil war in Byzantium
1342 Walter of Brienne, duke of Athens, lord of Florence
1342-6 Peruzzi, Bardi, and other smaller Tuscan banks crash
1343 Kingdom of Majorca definitively united with Aragon
1346 English defeat the French at Crecy
1347 Siege and capture of Calais by Edward III of England
1347-50 First wave of the Black Death sweeps Europe killing
over a third of the population
1348 Foundation of Prague University by the Emperor
Charles IV, king of Bohemia
1354 Turks take Gallipoli, their first European conquest
1355 Death of Stefan Dugan, ruler of Serbia, a defender of
Europe against the Turks
1356 French defeated by Anglo-Gascon force at Maupertuis,
near Poitiers; Golden Bull defines powers of the
imperial princes
1358 Peasant rising (Jacquerie) in France
1360 Treaty of Brétigny-Calais: Edward III renounces his
claim to the crown of France in return for a greatly
expanded duchy of Aquitaine; terms never fulfilled
1361 Second wave of plague begins
1365 Vienna University founded by Rudolf, duke of Austria
1369 Hundred Years War reopens after appeal against the
Black Prince, governor of Aquitaine, by Gascon
lords; Henry of Trastamara gains the Castilian
throne
1370 Death of Casimir the Great, last Piast king of Poland;
accession of Louis I of Anjou, king of Hungary to
the kingdom of Poland
1371 Serbs defeated by Ottomans at the River Marica
1372 English defeat at sea off La Rochelle by a Franco-
Castilian fleet
1374 Death of Francesco Petrarca, forerunner of the
humanist movement
1376-8 War of the Eight Saints between the papacy and
Florence
1377 Pope Gregory XI returns to Rome from Avignon

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