Medieval Timeline - Browse by Century

The Fourteenth Century (21 entries)

Edward I of England Dies
Date: July 7th, 1307 A.D.
Date added: 09.20.04
Region: Western Europe, British Isles, England
Category: Politics

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Edward II Crowned King of England
Date: July 8th, 1307 A.D.
Date added: 09.20.04
Region: Western Europe, British Isles, England
Category: Politics

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The Trial of the Templars
Date: October 1307 A.D.
Description:
Suddenly, in October of 1307, King Philip IV ordered the arrest of the Templars. The claims against the Templars were comprised of having admission ceremony practices which included spitting on the cross and denying Christ. The order was also accused of worshipping idols and encouraging homosexual behavior. The pope of the time, Clement V, protested the actions taken by the French king but changed his mind after several of the Templars, including the Templar master, James of Molay, confessed. After these confessions, Clement V ordered all western rulers to do the same as Philip IV and arrest all Templars and seize their property. In 1310, France burned at the stake about 50 Templars who had recanted their confessions. By 1311 inquiries had been performed by inquisitors and prelates in all countries of the West. Overall the results were varied; many areas could not get any confessions. In late 1311 the Council of Vienne met to decide what should happen to the Templars. Two days after Philip IV had arrived at the council, in March of 1312, the pope pronounced the abolition of the order. Questions surrounding the guilt or innocence of the Templars and the motives behind Philip IV's arrest of the French Templars still exist to this day.
Date added: 09.01.05
Region: Western Europe, France
Category: Politics, Religion
Contributor(s): Natalie Kohout
Source information: Forey, Alan. "The Military Orders 1120-1312." In The Oxford Illustrated History of the Crusades, ed. Jonathan Riley-Smith, 184-216. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.

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Battle of Bannockburn
Date: June 23rd, 1314 A.D.
Description:
Lasting from the 23rd to the 24th, Robert the Bruce of Scotland was able to defeat the English under King Edward II, setting the stage for Scottish independence.
Date added: 11.07.04
Region: Western Europe, British Isles, Scotland, England
Category: Politics, Military, Society

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Pietro D. Abano Dies
Date: 1316 A.D.
Description:
An Italian physician and philosopher who died before the completion of his second trial with the Inquisition.
Date added: 07.08.05
Region: Western Europe, Southern Europe, Italy
Category: Society, Religion
Source information: The Encyclopædia Britannica. A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General Information, Eleventh Edition. Volume I. New York: The Encyclopædia Britannica Company, 1910. 7.

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Edward III Crowned King of England
Date: January 25th, 1327 A.D.
Description:
Edward III was crowned king after reaching the age of majority.
Date added: 09.20.04
Region: Western Europe, British Isles, England
Category: Politics

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Edward II of England Deposed
Date: January 25th, 1327 A.D.
Date added: 09.30.04
Region: Western Europe, British Isles, England
Category: Politics

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Edward II of England Dies
Date: September 21st, 1327 A.D.
Description:
Edward II was almost certainly murdered in Berkeley Castle after having abdicated his throne.
Date added: 09.20.04
Region: Western Europe, British Isles, England
Category: Politics

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Accession of King Philip VI of France
Date: April 1st, 1328 A.D.
Description:
The childless King Charles IV of France, having died on the 1st of March, had stipulated on his deathbed that unless his pregnant Queen should give birth to a son, then the crown should pass to his cousin, Philip, Count of Valois. On the 1st of April the Queen was delivered of a posthumous daughter. Count Philip immediately summoned an Assembly in Paris, which swiftly acknowledged him as their new king - Philip VI. It was a decision that was to have far reaching consequences.

During the assembly in Paris two envoys from England had pressed for the French crown to pass to King Edward III of England, the son of Charles' sister, Isabella. Despite the case put forward by Bishop Adam Orleton of Worcester that no woman had ever been legally been excluded from wearing the crown of France, the assembly concluded that in accordance with the Salic law of the ancient Franks, the crown could not be inherited by a woman.

Queen Isabel may not have been popular on either side of the channel. Her affair with her appalling lover the Regent Roger Mortimer, Earl of March (who had deposed King Edward II in 1326 and then had the same monarch brutally murdered in the following year) had for a while left Edward III as merely Isabel and Mortimer's puppet sovereign. In 1330, Edward's patience snapped. Breaking down the door to the queen's bedchamber he had Mortimer arrested and taken off to the Tower of London, where he would be executed on a charge of treason. His mother, Queen Isabel, was dispatched to permanent retirement at Castle Rising in Norfolk. The way was clear for the ambitious Edward to now commence his plans to oppose his rival in Paris and gain for himself the French crown that had been worn by his French ancestors.
Date added: 07.13.05
Region: Western Europe, France
Category: Politics
Contributor(s): Alan Chanter

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Battle of Sluys
Date: June 24th, 1340 A.D.
Description:
This was a naval battle during the Hundred Years' War between the English, led by Edward III, and the French in front of the town of Sluys, which is located between West Flanders and Zeeland in the area of the Netherlands. The English were able to almost completely destroy the French.

For more information about this battle, see the Medieval Wiki article.
Date added: 07.22.05
Region: Western Europe, Netherlands
Category: Military
Contributor(s): Alan Chanter
Source information: Seward, Desmond. The Hundred Years War. Constable and Robinson, 1978.

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Battle of Crecy
Date: August 25th, 1346 A.D.
Description:
Edward III defeated Phillip VI in the Battle of Crecy. French forces suffered heavy losses, while the English forces only suffered few casualties, largely due to the successful use of the longbow.
Date added: 09.30.04
Region: Western Europe, British Isles, England, France
Category: Politics, Military

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Arrival of the Black Death
Date: 1347 A.D.
Description:
A deadly plague, known as the Black Death, arrived from Asia and rapidly spread throughout Europe from the Mediterranean trading Ports. Within two years most of Europe had been affected, and by the late 14th century the total population had been reduced by as much as one third.
Date added: 06.10.06
Region: Western Europe
Category: Society
Contributor(s): Alan Chanter
Source information: Jotischky, Andrew and Hull, Caroline. The Penguin Historical Atlas of the Medieval World. Penguin Books, 2005.

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Calais Falls to England
Date: October 1347 A.D.
Description:
After an almost year-long siege, French Calais fell to Edward III of England. Calais would remain in English possession for over two hundred years and would remain a point of contention throughout the Hundred Years War.
Date added: 09.30.04
Region: Western Europe, British Isles, England, France
Category: Politics, Military, Society

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Order of the Garter Established
Date: April 23rd, 1348 A.D.
Description:
Edward III establishes the first chivalric order of knighthood.
Date added: 09.30.04
Region: Western Europe, British Isles, England
Category: Society, Military

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Battle of Poitiers
Date: September 19th, 1356 A.D.
Description:
The Black Prince (Prince Edward) of England defeated the French in battle.
Date added: 09.30.04
Region: Western Europe, British Isles, England, France
Category: Politics, Military

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Edward III of England Dies
Date: June 21st, 1377 A.D.
Date added: 09.30.04
Region: Western Europe, British Isles, England
Category: Politics

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Richard II Crowned King of England
Date: July 16th, 1377 A.D.
Date added: 09.30.04
Region: Western Europe, British Isles, England
Category: Politics

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The Peasants' Revolt
Date: May 1381 A.D.
Description:
A poll tax levied by Edward III initiated this revolt in the eastern part of England (Essex and Kent) in late May, although most of the major events occurred in June. The revolt was not just confined to peasants of the lower class, but included artisans and others as well. The rebels made several demands of the king, including the abolition of serfdom. Eventually the revolt was suppressed, and all concessions that had been made were withdrawn.
Date added: 11.07.04
Region: Western Europe, British Isles, England
Category: Politics, Military, Society

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Execution of John Ball
Date: July 15th, 1381 A.D.
Description:
"From the beginning all were created equal by nature, slavery was introduced through the unjust oppression of worthless men, against the will of God; for, if God had wanted to create slaves, he would surely have decided at the beginning of the world who was to be slave and who master." (Sermon at Blackheath, 1381]

One of the leaders of the Peasants' Revolt, John Ball was an English Priest who had already been imprisoned in Maidstone for disagreeing with the Archbishop of Canterbury. John Ball was a stout follower of John Wycliffe and a believer in social equality. At the outbreak of the revolt he was released from prison, and on Blackheath, near London, he incited the rebels by preaching against the ruling classes. When the revolt collapsed he escaped, but was captured near Coventry and ultimately hung at St. Albans.
Date added: 09.30.04
Region: Western Europe, British Isles, England
Category: Society, Politics

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Richard II of England Deposed
Date: August 19th, 1399 A.D.
Date added: 09.30.04
Region: Western Europe, British Isles, England
Category: Politics

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Henry IV Crowned King of England
Date: October 13th, 1399 A.D.
Date added: 09.30.04
Region: Western Europe, British Isles, England
Category: Politics

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