1354

1351 1352 1353 1354 1355 1356 1357 1358 1359 1360

political events

England resumes the Hundred Years' War after an interruption caused by the plague that will be called the Black Death. The English will ravage Languedoc in the next 2 years, meet little opposition, and reduce the prestige of the French crown.

Cola di Rienzo receives the title senator from Pope Innocent VI, the pope sends him to Rome with the papal legate Cardinal Albornoz and a few mercenaries, he enters the city to wild acclaim in August, and the Romans restore him to his position as tribune (see 1352), but his heavy drinking and large paunch soon take their toll, rioting breaks out October 8 with an ugly mob shouting, "Death to the tyrant." Rienzo tries to address the mob with pleas that he, too, is a plebeian. The mob stones him and sets the building ablaze. Rienzo cuts off his beard in an effort to disguise himself as a woman, but he is murdered at age 41 while trying to escape.

Venetians elect naval hero Marino Faliero doge in September as he negotiates with Pope Innocent VI to resolve Venice's dispute with Genoa (see 1353), but Faliero is now 80; Genoese admiral Paganino Doria surprises the Venetian admiral Niccolo Pisani and defeats him at the Battle of Sapienza at Porto Longe in November, capturing him and his entire fleet. Faliero is obliged to negotiate a 4-month truce (see 1355).

Milan's leader Giovanni Visconti dies at age 64 after a 5-year rule, leaving territories that extend from Lake Como to the upper Ticino, from Novara to Allesandria, from Bergamo to Lake Garda, and from Lodi to Bologna. His nephews Matteo II, Galeazzo II, and Bernabo divide his vast possessions and will mediate the war between Venice and Genoa (see 1355).

The Bohemian king Charles of Luxembourg leads an army into Italy to gain recognition for the House of Luxembourg (see 1355).

The Byzantine emperor John VI Cantacuzenus crowns his son Matthew co-emperor, but the co-emperor John V Palaeologus appeals to Venice for help (see 1347; 1355).

Ottoman forces take the Gallipoli peninsula and spread through Thrace.

exploration, colonization

Traveler Ibn Battutah returns to his native Tangiers after a 29-year journey that has taken him as far east as China and Sumatra (see 1353). Now 50, he settles at Fez and begins dictating an account of his travels at the request of the Marini sultan Abu Inan. The city of Hangzhou (Hangchow), he says, is "the greatest I have ever seen on the surface of the earth. It is three days' journey in length" and divided into quarters inhabited by Jews, Christians, and Muslims who trade with the Chinese.

architecture, real estate

Granada's Alhambra Palace is completed on a 35-acre plateau after 106 years of work begun in the reign of the Moor Al Ahmar. Enclosed by a fortified wall, the palace is flanked by 13 towers.

1351 1352 1353 1354 1355 1356 1357 1358 1359 1360