Everything about 1345 totally explained
» This page is a summary of events taking place in the year 1345 CE. For a timeline of events in this year, see 1345 timeline.
The year
1345 was a year in the
14th century, in the midst of a period in
world history often referred to as the
Late Middle Ages. During this year on the
Asian continent, the several divisions of the old
Mongol Empire were in a state of gradual decline. The
Ilkhanate had already fragmented into several kingdoms struggling to place their puppet emperors over the shell of an old state. The
Chagatai Khanate was in the midst of a civil war and one year from falling to rebellion. The
Golden Horde to the north was besieging
Genoese colonies along the coast of the
Black Sea, where in 1346 they'd be ravaged by the
Black Plague, and the
Yuan Dynasty in China was seeing the first seeds of a resistance which would lead to its downfall.
Southeast Asia remained free from Mongol power, with several small kingdoms struggling for survival. The
Siamese Dynasty in that area vanquished the
Sukhothai in this year. In the
Indonesian Archipelago, the
Majapahit Empire was in the midst of a golden age under the leadership of
Gajah Mada, who remains a famous figure in
Indonesia.
The Black Plague was to arrive in
Europe within two years.
England and
France were engaged in the early stages of the
Hundred Years' War, with the
Battle of Auberoche fought in Northern France in October of this year. In the
Iberian Peninsula,
Alfonso XI of Castile again besieged the Muslim city of
Granada as part of the
Reconquista, but without success. The
Holy Roman Empire under
Louis IV took control of
Holland and the surrounding area, granting these lands to his wife in a move which angered many of his princes. Holland was also in the midst of the
Friso-Hollandic Wars, engaging with the
Frisians on
26 September in the
Battle of Warns.
Italy, which at the time was divided into several kingdoms, saw several power struggles including the
Battle of Gamenario in the north, and the assassination of
Andrew, Duke of Calabria in
Naples. In
Northern Europe,
Swedes continued early stages of their emigration to
Estonia, which would continue in the coming decades. Estonian rulers also managed to crush the
St. George's Night Uprising in 1345 after a two-year struggle.
Lithuania changed hands from
Jaunutis to his brother
Algirdas in a relatively bloodless shift of power, and Lithuania continued its skirmishes with its northern, Estonian neighbor.
The main forces in the
Balkans in the 1345 were
Serbia,
Bulgaria, and the
Byzantine Empire.
Stefan Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia proclaimed himself Tsar of the new
Serbian Empire and continued his efforts at expansion, quickly conquering Albania and other surrounding areas within the year. The Byzantines, though powerful, were in a state of decline. With the aid of Serbia, they managed to quash the rebellion of a group of
Zealots in
Thessalonica led by
John Cantacuzenus. Turks clashed with Byzantines, Serbs, and Cypriots at sea and in the cities of
Chios and
Imbros. The Byzantine Empire's precarious situation at this time is evidenced by the fact that they didn't have enough soldiers to protect their own borders, but hired mercenaries from the Serbs and the Ottomans.
Asia
Western Asia
The country of
Georgia had been struggling for independence from the
Ilkhanate since the first anti-Mongol uprising started in
1259 under the leadership of
King David Narin who in fact waged his war for almost thirty years. Finally, it was
King George the Brilliant (
1314 -
1346) who managed to play on the decline of the Ilkhanate, stopped paying tribute to the Mongols, restored the pre-
1220 state borders of Georgia, and returned the
Empire of Trebizond into Georgia’s sphere of influence. Thus, in 1345, Georgia was in the midst of golden age of independence, though its leader would die one year later.
Trebizond had reached its greatest wealth and influence during the long reign of
Alexios II (1297–1330). Afterwards, however, it suffered a period of repeated imperial depositions and assassinations from the end of Alexios II's reign until the first years of
Alexios III's, finally ending in 1355, six years into his rule. The empire, however, never fully recovered its internal cohesion, commercial supremacy or territory. Its ruler in 1345,
Michael Megas Komnenos was crowned Emperor of Trebizond in
1344 after his son,
John III, was deposed. He was forced to sign a document which gave the Grand Duke and his ministers almost all power in the Empire, promising to seek their counsel in all official actions. This constitutional experiment was short-lived, however, because of opposition from the people of Trebizond. They were infuriated to see the Emperor stripped of his effective authority and rose up in revolt against the oligarchy. Michael swiftly took advantage of his opportunity to regain power and arrested and imprisoned the Grand Duke in 1345. He also sent his son John to
Constantinople and then
Adrianople, where he was to be kept prisoner to prevent him from becoming a further focus for the discontented nobles of Trebizond.
Declining Mongol Empire
The
Mongol Empire had been slowly disintegrating for many years. After the death of
Kublai Khan in
1294, it had been divided into four
khanates: The
Yuan Dynasty, the
Ilkhanate, the
Khanate of the Golden Horde, and the
Chagatai Khanate.
Ilkhanate
The
Ilkhanate had been declining rapidly since
1335, when
Abu Sa'id died without an heir. Since then, various factions, including the
Chobanids and the
Jalayirids, had been competing for the Ilkhan throne.
Hasan Kucek, a Chobanid prince, was murdered late in
1343. Surgan, son of
Sati Beg, the sister of Abu Sa'id, found himself competing for control of the Chobanid lands with the late ruler's brother
Malek Asraf and his uncle
Yagi Basti. When he was defeated by Malek Asraf, he fled to his mother and stepfather. The three of them then formed an alliance, but when
Hasan Buzurg (Jalayirid) decided to withdraw the support he promised, the plan fell apart, and they fled to
Diyarbakr. Surgan was defeated again in 1345 by Malek Asraf and they fled to
Anatolia. Coinage dating from that year appears in
Hesn Kayfa in Sati Beg's name; this is the last trace of her. Surgan moved from Anatolia to Baghdad, where he was eventually executed by Hasan Buzurg; Sati Beg may have suffered the same fate, but this is unknown.
Golden Horde
In
1343, the
Golden Horde had tried to lay siege on the Genoese city of
Kaffa, but failed because Kaffa was able to get provisions across the
Black Sea. In 1345, the Mongols besieged Kaffa again, but the following year, they were struck with the
Black Plague and forced to retreat. This is noted as one of the key events that brought the Black Plague to Europe. Infected Genoese soldiers returning to Genoa stopped at Italy in 1347. From there, the disease would spread to the rest of the continent.
Chagatai Khanate
Amir Qazaghan (d.
1358) was the leader of the
Qara'unas tribe (1345 at the latest –
1358) and the effective ruler of the
Chagatai ulus (
1346 – 1358). In 1345 he revolted against
Qazan Khan, but was unsuccessful. The following year he'd try again and succeed in killing the khan. With this the effective power of the Chagatai khans would come to an end; the khanate eventually devolved into a loose confederation of tribes that respected the authority of Qazaghan, although the he primarily commanded the loyalty of the tribes of the southern portion of the
ulus. He didn't claim the khanship, but instead contented himself with his title of
amir and conferred the title of khan on puppets of his own choosing: first
Danishmendji (
1346-
1348) and then
Bayan Quli (1348-
1358).
Yuan Dynasty
By 1345, the
Yuan Dynasty in
China was steadily declining. Chinese peasants, upset with the lack of support by the government when they were facing droughts, floods, and famines, were becoming rebellious. The
Yellow River flooded in
Jinan in 1345. The river had flooded previously in
1335 and in
1344. There was also conflict between the rulers of the dynasty.
Zhu Yuanzhang was about 16 years old in 1345. His parents and brothers had died of plague or famine (or both) in
1344, and he joined a
Buddhist monastery. In 1345 he left the monastery and joined a band of rebels. He would lead a series of rebellions until he drove out the Mongols and became the first emperor of the
Ming Dynasty in
1368.
Japan and India
In
India,
Muhammad bin Tughluq was reigning as
Sultan of Delhi in 1345. This year saw a revolt of Muslim military commanders in the Daulatabad area. In Bengal, on the eastern border of the Sultanate, a general named llyas captured East Bengal, and under him Bengal was again united. He established his capital at
Gaur. In southern India,
Harihara I had founded the
Vijayanagara Empire in 1336. After the death of Hoysala
Veera Ballala III during a battle against the Sultan of Madurai in 1343, the Hoysala Empire had merged with the growing Vijayanagara Empire. In these first two decades after the founding of the empire, Harihara I gained control over most of the area south of the Tungabhadra river and earned the title of
Purvapaschima Samudradhishavara ("master of the eastern and western oceans"). The
Jaffna Kingdom, which encompassed the southern tip of India and parts of
Sri Lanka, was constantly in conflict with both Vijayanagara and the smaller
Kotte Kingdom of southern Sri Lanka during this time.
From 1336 to 1392, two courts claimed the throne of
Japan. This was known as the
Nanboku-chō, or the Northern and Southern Courts period. In the
Northern Court,
Emperor Go-Murakami claimed the throne. In the Southern Court,
Emperor Kōmyō claimed the throne.
Southeast Asia
In Southeast Asia,
Sukhothai changed hands to a new Siamese Dynasty in 1345. A Buddhist work, the
Traibhumikatha, was composed by the King of Siam in the same year. The Sukhothai Emperor also wrote a similar Buddhist work, the
Tri Phum Phra Ruang. Both works describe Southeast Asian
cosmological ideas which still exist today. Life is said in these books to be divided into 31 levels of existence separated between three worlds.
Angkor was in a period of decline, forced to devote much of its resources to skirmishes with the Sukhothai and Siamese, which left
Champa free to attack
Dai Viet and opened the way for
Lopburi to spring up, all of which happened right around this year. A Buddhist colony also existed to the west in the
Mon Empire, which struggled to maintain its existence in the face of the Islamic Delhi Sultanate to the west and the Mongol Chinese to the north.
The Majapahit Empire, which occupied much of the
Indonesian Archipelago, was ruled by empress
Tribhuwana Wijayatunggadewi. During Tribhuwana's rule, the Majapahit kingdom had grown much larger and became famous in the area.
Gajah Mada reigned at the time along with the empress as
mahapatih (prime minister) of
Majapahit. It was during their rule in 1345 that the famous Muslim traveller
Ibn Battuta visited Samudra in the Indonesian Archipelago. According to Battuta's report on his visit to Samudra, the ruler of the local area was a Muslim, and the people worshiped as Muslims in mosques and recited the
Koran. Many Islamic traders and travelers had already scattered themselves along the major cities and coasts surrounding the Indian Ocean by this time.
In the Philippines, fragmented ethnic groups established numerous city-states or
barangays under the Sultanates of Sulu, in which a
datu was a Muslim ruler. These scattered
barangays, through the development of inter-island and international trade, had been relatively culturally homogeneous for nearly a thousand years. Hindu-Buddhist culture and religion flourished among the noblemen in this era. Many of the
barangay were, to varying extents, under the
de-jure jurisprudence of the
Majapahit empire although
de-facto had established their own independent system of rule. Trading links with Java, China, India, Arabia and Japan flourished during this era. It wasn't until later in this century that the Chinese would begin to exercise control over the islands. Until then, a
thalassocracy, or
rule from the beaches prevailed, based on international trade.
Western Europe
Hundred Years' War
By 1345, the
Hundred Years' War between France and England had been going on for only about eight years. The English claimed the right to the French throne, and the French refused to be ruled by foreigners. On
21 October the French and English met in one of the many battles fought in this war, the
Battle of Auberoche. Earlier in the year, the area had been taken from the French by an English cavalry. The French retaliated by besieging the castle at Auberoche, but English reinforcements arrived and caught the French off guard during their evening meal. The battle ended in an English victory. This set the stage for English dominance in the area for several years. Previous to this, the French had been having success, and the English had even offered a treaty, but with this battle along with the English
Earl of Derby's overrunning of the
Agenais (lost twenty years before in the
War of Saint-Sardos) and
Angoulême, as well as the forces in Brittany under Sir
Thomas Dagworth also making gains, the tide turned somewhat in this year.
A new machine was introduced to this war in 1345—cannons. "Ribaldis", as they were then called, are first mentioned in the English Privy Wardrobe accounts during preparations for the
Battle of Crécy between 1345 and
1346. These were believed to have shot large arrows and simplistic grapeshot, but they were so important they were directly controlled by the Royal Wardrobe. In 1345 Muhammud V was made its ruler. The
York Minster Cathedral, the largest
Gothic cathedral in northern Europe, was completed in this year as well. It remains the largest in the region to this day. England was still recovering from French occupation. Until 1345, all school instruction had been in French, rather than English.
Besides the War of Succession and the Hundred Year's War, France was in the midst of an interesting period. Several decades earlier, the Roman Papacy had moved to Avignon and wouldn't return to Rome for another 33 years. The
Avignon Papacy was then ruled by
Pope Clement VI, who was aiding the French in their war against the English with Church funds. Also, in the year 1345, the famous
Notre Dame Cathedral in
Paris was completed after nearly two centuries of planning and construction. On
24 March, a man named Guy de Chauliac observed a strange astronomical sign: the planets Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars conjoined in the sky under the sign of Aquarius. That same day the area experienced a solar eclipse. This sign was interpreted as foreboding by many, and Chauliac would later blame it for the
Black Plague, which arrived less than five years later.
Central Europe
Holy Roman Empire
On
1 January, emperor
Louis IV's son
Louis VI the Roman married Cunigunde, a Lithuanian Princess. Besides this move, the emperor continued his policy of expansion by conferring
Hainaut,
Holland,
Zeeland and
Friesland upon his wife
Margaret of Holland after the death of
William IV at the
Battle of Warns. The hereditary titles to these lands owned by Margaret's sisters were ignored. This widened a divide which had already been growing between himself and the lay princes of Germany, who disliked his restless expansion policy. His actions in this year eventually led to a civil war, which was cut short by his death by stroke two years later.
On
12 March, a
eucharistic
miracle occurred in
Amsterdam, now called the
Miracle of the Host. It involved a dying man vomiting upon being given the Holy Sacrament and
last rites in his home. The Host was then put in the fire, but miraculously remained intact and could be retrieved from the fire in one piece without the heat burning the hand of the person that retrieved it. This miracle was later officially recognised as such by the Roman Catholic Church, and a large pilgrimage chapel was built where the house had stood. Every year, thousands of Catholics take part in the
Stille Omgang, or procession to the place of the miracle.
Holland, meanwhile, was in the midst of the
Friso-Hollandic Wars, as the
Counts of Holland continued their efforts to conquer nearby
Friesland in the
Battle of Warns. In 1345
William IV, Count of Holland, prepared a military action to conquer Middle Frisia, crossing the
Zuiderzee with a large fleet and with the help of French and
Flemish knights, some of whom had just returned from
crusade. He set sail in
Enkhuizen, together with his uncle John, Duke of
Beaumont, and landed near
Stavoren and
Laaxum and planned to use the
Sint-Odulphus monastery near Stavoren as a
fortification. The Hollandic knights wore
armour, but had no
horses as there wasn't enough room in the ships, which were full of building materials and supplies.
William's troops set fire to the abandoned villages of Laaxum and
Warns and started to advance towards Stavoren. In the countryside around Warns the Hollandic count was attacked by the local inhabitants. With their heavy armour the knights were no match for the furious Frisian farmers and fishermen. As they fled they entered a swamp where they were decisively beaten. Their commander William IV of Holland was killed, and was succeeded by his sister Margaret of Holland, wife of Louis IV. When John of Beaumont heard what had happened, he ordered a retreat back to the ships. They were pursued by the Frisians and most didn't make it back. Count William's death in this battle paved the way for the
Hook and Cod wars, and
26 September, the day of the battle, remains a national holiday in
Friesland today.
Italy
The
Battle of Gamenario, fought on
22 April, was a decisive battle of the wars between the
Guelfs (
Angevins) and
Ghibellines (
Lombards). It took place in north-west Italy in what is now part of the
commune of
Santena about 15 km southeast of
Turin.
Reforza d'Agoult was sent in the spring of 1345 by
Joan of Anjou, viceroy to northern Italy in hopes of putting an end to the war with the
Margravate of Montferrat. Reforza conquered
Alba and besieged
Gamenario, a castle in the neighbourhood of Santena.
Lombard Ghibellines formed an anti-Angevin alliance, headed by
John II of Montferrat. On
22 April, he confronted Reforza d'Agoult and battle was joined. The meeting was brief and bloody. Initially uncertain, the outcome was a victory for the Ghibellines, who recovered the besieged fortress and dealt a sever blow to
Angevin influence in Piedmont. To celebrate his victory, John built a new church in
Asti in honour of
Saint George, near whose feast day the battle was won. Saint George held a special place for the men of chivalry of the Medieval, because he was the Saint that killed the dragon and was therefor held in a warrior cult.
In the aftermath, Piedmont was partitioned between the victors. John received Alba,
Acqui Terme,
Ivrea, and
Valenza.
Luchino Visconti received
Alessandria and the
House of Savoy (related to the
Palaiologos of
Montferrat) received
Chieri. The Angevins lost almost complete control of the region and many formerly French cities declared themselves independent. The defeat of the Angevins was also a defeat for Angevin-supported
Manfred V of Saluzzo and the civil war in
that margraviate was ended at Gamenario.
Andrew, Duke of Calabria, was assassinated by conspiracy in 1345. He had been appointed joint heir with his wife,
Joan I, to the throne of Naples by the Pope. This, however, sat ill with the Neapolitan people and nobles; nor was Joan content to share her sovereignty. With the approval of
Pope Clement VI, Joan was crowned as sole monarch of Naples in August
1344. Fearing for his life, Andrew wrote to his mother Elizabeth that he'd soon flee the kingdom. She intervened, and made a state visit; before she returned to Hungary, she bribed Pope Clement to reverse himself and permit the coronation of Andrew. She also gave a ring to Andrew, which was supposed to protect him from death by blade or poison, and returned with a false sense of security to Hungary.
Thus, in 1345, hearing of the Pope's reversal, a group of noble conspirators (probably including Queen Joan) determined to forestall Andrew's coronation. During a hunting trip at Aversa, Andrew left his room in the middle of the night and was set upon by the conspirators. A treacherous servant barred the door behind him; and as Joan cowered in their bed, a terrible struggle ensued, Andrew defending himself furiously and shrieking for aid. He was finally overpowered, strangled with a cord, and flung from a window. The horrible deed would taint the rest of Joan's reign.
Other events in Italy in 1345 include
Ambrogio Lorenzetti's painting of a map of the world for the palace at
Siena. The painting has since been lost, but the instruments which he used to make it still survive, giving insights into mapmaking techniques of the day. The
Peruzzi family, a big banking family and precursor to the
Medici family went bankrupt in 1345, and in 1345 Florence was the scene of an attempted strike by wool combers (
ciompi). A few decades later they'd rise in a full-scale revolt. In Verona,
Mastino II della Scala began the construction of his
Scaliger Tomb, an architectural structure still standing today.
Northern and Eastern Europe
Sweden and the Baltic area
In
Sweden and states bordering the
Baltic Sea, the oldest surviving manuscript from the first Swedish law to be put to paper is from c. 1345, although earlier versions probably existed. The law was created for the young town
Stockholm's
customs, but it was also used in
Lödöse and probably in a few other towns, as well. No town was allowed to use the law without the formal permission by the Swedish king. Its use may have become more widespread if it hadn't been superseded by the new town law by King
Magnus Eriksson (
1316–
1377). The term
Bjarkey Laws was however used for a long time for Magnus Eriksson's law in various locations.
Records also exist for the emigration of Swedes to
Estonia in this year. Early mentions of Swedes in Estonia came in
1341 and 1345 (when an Estonian monastery in
Padise sold "the Laoküla Estate" and
Suur-Pakri Island to a group of Swedes).
During the
13th through
15th centuries, large numbers of Swedes arrived in coastal Estonia from Finland, which was under Swedish control (and would remain so for hundreds of years), often settling on Church-owned land.
1345 marked the end of a series of skirmishes begun in the 1343
St. George's Night Uprising. The rebellion, which was by this time limited to the island of
Oesel, was stifled in 1345. After the rebellion Denmark sold its domains in Estonia to the
Teutonic Order in
1346. The fighting had started as a protest by indigenous Estonians to Danish and German rule. Parts of Estonia such as the city of
Valga suffered raids from the nearby Lithuanian rulers.
In Lithuania in 1345
Grand Duke Jaunutis was deposed by his brothers. Very little is known about years when Jaunutis ruled except that they were quite peaceful years, as the
Teutonic Knights were led by ineffective
Ludolf König. The
Bychowiec Chronicle mentions that Jaunutis was supported by
Jewna, presumed wife of Gediminas and mother of his children. She died ca. 1344 and soon after Jaunutis lost his throne. If he was indeed protected by his mother, then it would be an interesting example of influence held by
queen mother in pagan Lithuania.
Balkans and Byzantium
Balkan and Grecian areas
In 1345,
Stefan Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia proclaimed himself
Tsar of the new
Serbian Empire and continued his efforts at expansion. The new empire quickly conquered
Albania in this year. The first known line of Serbian text written in the Latin alphabet is dated to this year. Serbia was recognized as the most powerful empire in the Balkans for the next several years.
Both Bulgaria and Byzantine, which at this time covered most of Greece, were in the middle of a series of civil wars. An independent Bulgarian ruler of the
Rhodope and
Aegean region, by the name of
Momchil took an important role in the wars. He was among the first local rulers to realize the threat of the Ottomans. Momchil plead both the Emperors of Bulgaria and Byzantium for help but received none, even though he continued the resistance in the eastern part of the Rhodope mountains. In May 1345 the Turks led by Uner beg marched from Asia Minor to the Balkan Peninsula and made a devastating raid on Bulgarian territory driving away many people and cattle. Soon after that, on
7 July the Bulgarian forces were defeated in the
battle of Peritor near Momchil's seat
Xanthi by superior Ottoman forces under
Uner beg and Momchil perished in the battle.
In another part of the Byzantine Empire a group of
Zealots had captured the city of Thessalonica, and with the aid of allies, the
Seljuk Emir Omur and
Stefan Dusan of Serbia,
John Cantacuzenus attempted to retake the city but failed as the resistance was fierce. Later in 1345 there was a plot by John Apocaucus to surrender the city to Cantacuzenus. He had the leader of the Zealots,
Michael Palaeologus, killed. But this caused even greater violence. Led by Andreas Palaeologus, the Zealots overpowered the reaction, as described by
Demetrius Cydones:
...one after another the prisoners were hurled from the walls of the citadel and hacked to pieces by the mob of the Zealots assembled below. Then followed a hunt for all the members of the upper classes: they were driven through the streets like slaves, with ropes round their necks-here a servant dragged his master, there a slave his purchaser, while the peasant struck the strategus and the labourer beat the soldier (for example the pronoiar).
In 1345, the Greek island of
Chios fell to the Genovan
Giustiniani, becoming once again the territory of the Byzantines. The last Byzantine ruler of the island,
Martino Zaccaria, had been beheaded by Turks in
Smyrna on
15 January in a church courtyard during a mass service. He had been planning to return to the island and reconquer it. Instead, it was Simone Vignoso who succeeded his command and took the island. Genoans also sacked the city of
Dvigrad in
Istria in this same year.
Aquileian patriarchs had for some time fought fiercely against Venitians which had already gained considerable influence on the west coast of Istria. It was during these confrontations that the town fell.
Anatolian Peninsula
In
1344,
Hugh IV of Cyprus joined a league with
Venice and the
Knights Hospitallers which burnt a Turkish fleet in
Smyrna and captured the city. In 1345 the allies defeated the Turks at
Imbros by land and sea, but Hugh could see little benefit for his kingdom in these endeavors and withdrew from the league. Meanwhile,
Umur Bey transformed the Beylik of Aydınoğlu into a serious naval power with base in İzmir and posed a threat particularly for Venetian possessions in the
Aegean Sea. The Venetians organized an alliance uniting several European parties (
Sancta Unio), composed notably of the
Knights Templar, which organized five consecutive attacks on İzmir and the Western Anatolian coastline controlled by Turkish states. In between, it was the Turks who organized maritime raids directed at Aegean islands.
John XIV sparked the civil conflict when he convinced the Empress that John V's rule was threatened by the ambitions of Kantakouzenos. In September of 1341, whilst Kantakouzenos was in Thrace, Kalekas declared himself as regent and launched a vicious attack on Kantakouzenos, his supporters & family. In October Anna ordered Kantakouzenos to resign his command. Kantakouzenos not only refused, he declared himself Emperor at Didymoteichon, allegedly to protect John V's rule from Kalekas. Whether or not Kantakouzenos wished to be Emperor isn't known, but the provocative actions of the Patriarch forced Kantakouzenos to fight to retain his power and start the civil war.
There were not nearly enough troops to defend Byzantium's borders at the time and there certainly wasn't enough for the two factions to split - consequently, more foreigners would flood the Empire into a state of chaos - Kantakouzenos hired Turks and Serbs - his main supply of Turkish mercenaries came from the Umur of Aydin, a nominal ally established by Andronikos III. The Regency of John V relied on Turkish mercenaries as well. Later, Pope Clement urged further attacks on the
Levant.
Africa
Pope Clement IV said in 1345: "the acquisition of the kingdom of Africa belongs to us and our royal right and to no one else." Ironically, in the same year, trade was established between Italy and the Mamluke Empire in Egypt. This marked the beginning of reliable trading of spice to the
Adriatic Sea.
Ethiopia was at this time ruled by
Newaya Krestos (throne name Sayfa Ar`ed). In the
Mali Empire of
West Africa,
Mansa Souleyman, who had assumed office in 1341, took steep measures to put Mali back into financial shape, developing a reputation for miserliness. Mansa Souleyman’s generals successfully fought off the military incursions, and the senior wife behind the plot was imprisoned. Mali was at this time the dominant empire of West Africa, having conquered
Songhai. The Songhai Empire wouldn't regain independence for another three decades.
Further south, very little is known about this year, other than the fact that this area of Africa was in the midst of the
Bantu expansion. Between the 13th and 15th centuries relatively powerful Bantu-speaking states on a scale larger than local chiefdoms began to emerge, in the Great Lakes region, in the savannah south of the Central African rainforest, and on the Zambezi river where the
Monomatapa kings built the famous
Great Zimbabwe complex. Such processes of state-formation occurred with increasing frequency from the 16th century onward. They were probably due to denser population, which led to more specialized divisions of labor, including military power, while making outmigration more difficult, to increased trade among African communities and with European, Swahili and Arab traders on the coasts, to technological developments in economic activity, and to new techniques in the political-spiritual ritualization of royalty as the source of national strength and health.
The Americas
Very little is known about American history during this period. In general, the precursors to the
Aztecs, the
Mexicas, had recently founded their capital city of
Tenochtitlan. They also had occasional skirmishes with the nearby
Mixtec civilization. The
Mayans, who centuries earlier had suffered a serious decline, were ruled from a capital in the
Yucatan Peninsula called
Mayapan.
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