1320

1311 1312 1313 1314 1315 1316 1317 1318 1319 1320

political events

Poland's Wladyslaw Lokietek is finally crowned January 20 at Kraków, 14 years after ascending the throne. Now 59, he will reign until his death in 1333 as Wladyslaw I, but the dukes of Silesia have chosen to ally themselves with Bohemia and the Teutonic Knights continue to control eastern Pomerania (see 1331).

The Declaration of Arbroath asserts Scottish independence from England (see 1318). The Scottish Parliament meets April 6 at Arbroath; Bernard de Litton, chancellor to Robert I, drafts the letter to Pope John XXII, reciting in eloquent terms the services that his "lord and sovereign" Robert I has rendered to Scotland, and a mission sets out for Avignon to see the pope (see papal recognition, 1323).

The Peace of Paris ends hostilities between France and Flanders, which retains her independence.

The Byzantine co-emperor Michael IX Palaeologus dies at Thessalonica October 12 at age 43 (approximate), leaving his father, Andronicus II, to rule alone. Andronicus's grandson and namesake, 24, accidentally causes the death of a brother and the emperor excludes him from the succession, but the younger Andronicus obtains the support of some powerful noblemen, notably the rich landowner John Catacuzene (see 1325).

The Muslim Tughlak dynasty that will rule western India until 1413 is founded by the elderly Turkish shah Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlak, who has gained numerous victories over the Mongols and will make Warangal and Bengal provincial states before his death in 1325. The last Khalji sultan Qutb-ud-Din is murdered by his favorite general after a 4-year reign in which he has suppressed revolts in Gujarat and Devagiri and conducted another raid on Telingana. His murderer is a Hindu convert who rules for 4 months as Khusraw Khan, but Tughlak leads a rebellion that overthrows the Khaljis who have ruled since 1290, and as Gharzi Khan he moves the capital four miles east from Delhi to the new city of Tughlakabad.

commerce

Paper produced at Mainz will lead to paper currency in Europe. First used by the Chinese in 1236, paper money was discontinued in 1311 when treasury reserves failed to keep up with the flood of paper money, depreciating the value of money through inflation and diminishing the financial (and moral) credit of Kublai Khan's Yuan dynasty.

communications, media

Paper increasingly replaces the vellum that has given monasteries a monopoly on manuscripts and on written communication (see 1293; England, 1310). It will soon be made at Cologne, Nuremberg, Ratisbon, and Augsburg.

literature

Poetry: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by the English "pearl poet" deals with the legendary King Arthur and his round table at Camelot (see 1176; 1190; 1203; Tennyson, 1859).

art

Painting: Frescoes by Pietro Cavallini for the Church of Santa Maria Donnaregina.

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