1353

1351 1352 1353 1354 1355 1356 1357 1358 1359 1360

political events

The grand duke of Muscovy Ivan I dies after a 25-year reign in which he has achieved some reforms and made Moscow the capital of Russia; he is succeeded first by his son Semen and then by his 27-year-old son, who receives the patent to the principality as a grant from Jani Beg, the khan of the Golden Horde, despite strong opposition by Konstantin Vasilyevich of Suzdal and will reign until his death in 1359 as Ivan II. The principalities of Suzdal and Ryazan initially refuse to recognize Ivan as grand duke, as does the republic of Novgorod; all three will wage war against him until next year.

Bern joins the Helvetic Confederation, whose territories now embrace seven cantons (see Battle of Sempach, 1386).

Milan's Giovanni Visconti annexes Genoa, which resumes its war with Venice (see 1352). The Venetian admiral Niccolo Pisani surprises the Genoese fleet, sinks 33 enemy galleys, and takes 4,500 prisoners, who are later executed (see 1354).

Laotian warrior Fa Ngoun (Fa Ngum), 37, begins a series of wars with his neighbors that will continue for 18 years. A grandson of Souvanna Khamphong, who rules the principality of Muang Swa (later Luang Prabang) on the upper Mekong River, Fa Ngoun has married a Khmer princess; he conquers Muang Swa, forces his grandfather to abdicate, and will continue to fight until he has expanded his realm to embrace much of what later will be northern and eastern Siam, establishing Lan Xang ("Kingdom of the Million Elephants") (see 1356).

exploration, colonization

The Muslim scholar Ibn Battutah returns to his native Morocco, having spent a year in Africa's Mandingo Empire en route home from his travels (see 1352; 1354).

religion

Parliament enacts a Statute of Praemunire forbidding English appeals to Rome in disputes related to patronage (see Statute of Provisors, 1351).

literature

Fiction: The Decameron by Italian humanist Giovanni Boccaccio, 40, is a collection of short stories full of vivid descriptions of the Black Death that has killed three out of every five Florentines. Boccaccio's 10 protagonists have fled the city to the seclusion of a villa garden on the slopes of Fiesole, and their sexually explicit stories will be suppressed until well into the 20th century (see 1419).

1351 1352 1353 1354 1355 1356 1357 1358 1359 1360

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