1336

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political events

Aragon's Alfonso IV dies at Barcelona January 24 at age 36 after a 9-year reign in which he has had to deal with a serious revolt in Sardinia that led to war with Genoa. Having established diplomatic relations with the Moorish kingdoms of North Africa, Alfonso el Benigno is succeeded by his 17-year-old son, who will reign until 1387 as Pedro IV (Pedro the Ceremonious), but Alfonso's second wife will make trouble for the new king by trying to advance the positions of her own sons.

Sicily's Federico II dies in Catania July 12 at age 64 (approximate) after a 40-year reign in which he has strengthened Aragonese power at the expense of Neapolitan Angevins. He is succeeded by his son Pedro.

France's Philippe VI purchases the Dauphine, the first major imperial fief to be added to French territory.

Discontented Swiss knights and artisans overthrow Zürich's oligarchical constitution under the leadership of nobleman Rudolf Brun, 36, who draws up a new constitution, reorganizes the city government, creates a new office of burgomaster, and gives himself that title for life. Supporters of the old order go into exile but will continue opposition with financial help from the counts of Rapperswil, a branch of the House of Hapsburg (see 1350).

Greek forces reconquer Lesbos from the Byzantines.

The Japanese warlord (daimyo) Ashikaga Takauji overthrows the emperor Godaigo and his son Morinaga in January, drives them out of Kyoto, and installs a new emperor to begin the Muromachi (or Ashikaga) period that will continue until 1568 (see 1333). Supported by Ashikaga Tadayoshi, Hosokawa Jozen, Shoni Yorihasa, and others, Takauji leads an army eastward from Kyushu in May, but he soon suffers a defeat that forces him to withdraw to Kyushu. Gen. Nitta Yoshisada dispatches a messenger to Masashige Kusunoki asking him to join the loyalist cause, but Kusunoke questions Yoshisada's decision to confront Takauji in open battle and by one account suggests that Yoshisada be eliminated and that the emperor Godaigo make peace with Takauji. After some hesitation, Godaigo accepts Yoshisada's plan. Kusunoki reluctantly raises an army to support it, and the two sides clash July 5 on the Minato River, with Kusunoki's 700 men arrayed on the river's west bank, his flank secured to the south by Yoshisada's men on the east bank. Ashikaga Tadayoshi and Shoni Yorihasa advance by land, Ashikaga Takauji and Hosokawa Jozen by ship, but Yoshisada panics. The full weight of Tadayoshi's army falls on Kusunoki, he and his brother Masasue commit suicide after nearly 6 hours of fighting, his surviving retainers join him in committing seppuku, and although Yoshisada escapes he is later killed. Later Japanese governments will cite the loyalty of Kusunoki as a paradigm for having fought so valiantly for the emperor in the face of certain death.

commerce

France's walled town of Carcassonne permits the Florentine banking house of Peruzzi to collect its taxes, giving the bankers a percentage of the take.

England's Edward III embargoes export of wool to frustrate the French in Flanders (see Hundred Years' War, 1337).

architecture, real estate

Florence's baptistery has the bronze doors at its south end decorated with reliefs of scenes from the life of John the Baptist. Sculptor-architect Andrea Pisano (Andrea da Pontadera), 46, has been working on the reliefs for 7 years.

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