1360

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political events

The Peace of Brétigny signed May 8 brings a brief truce to the Hundred Years' War that has exhausted both England and France (see 1359). Edward III and his son return to England, Sir John Chandos and Sir Walter Manny are in the delegation that represents the king at Calais, and Edward virtually renounces his claim to the French crown in the Treaty of Calais signed in October; the powerful feudal lord Henry Grosmont, 1st duke of Lancaster, has played a leading role in negotiating the treaty, whose terms are humiliating to the French; the treaty fixes the French king Jean II's ransom at 3 million gold écus, the dauphin Charles has acted as regent for Jean and promises 3 million gold crowns for his father's return, yielding Calais, Guienne (southwestern France), Ponthieu, and their immediately surrounding territories to England. Edward makes Chandos constable of Aquitaine and lieutenant-general of all English possessions in France, giving him the viscontcy of St. Saveur in Cotentin. The English release Jean October 9, he leaves three younger sons as hostages and returns to France, but he cannot raise the huge ransom, one son escapes from custody, Jean feels dishonored, and he returns voluntarily to imprisonment in England (see 1364; Burgundy, 1361).

Denmark's Valdemar IV Atterdag regains Skane from Sweden (see 1318). He thereby completes the reunification of his father's kingdom but violates his friendship with Sweden's Magnus II Eriksson, who comes in via Halland and marches on Helsingborg to confront a resistance force of Danish and Skanian troops supported by peasant levies (see Gotland, 1361). Valdemar suppresses the last of the revolts that have plagued him since 1350 and meets at Kalundborg to consolidate peace in his realm. The meeting results in a new definition of the reciprocal rights and obligations of the king and his subjects.

Zürich's burgomaster Rudolf Brun dies at Zürich September 17 at age 60 (approximate), having become a pensioner of the Hapsburgs whom he once opposed.

Mantua's Ludovico Gonzaga, count of Mirandola and Concordia, dies at age 93 (approximate) after a 32-year reign and is succeeded by his son Guido, who will reign until his own death in 1369.

Pisa engages the services of English mercenary Sir John Hawkwood, 40, who sacked Provence before the Peace of Brétigny and has come to Italy with his "White Company" of Englishmen clad in white armor (see 1364).

The Ottoman sultan Orkhan I dies at age 71 after a 24-year reign. He is succeeded by his eldest son, 40, who will reign until 1389 as Murad I, using an elite Janissary military corps composed of war prisoners and, later, Christians taken captive in childhood as he extends Ottoman power throughout Anatolia and the Balkans.

commerce

The Hanseatic League grows to include 52 towns that number among them Bremen, Cologne, Danzig, Dortmund, Gronigen, Hamburg, and Hanover. The number will be enlarged to 70 or 80.

English authorities order that laborers who ask wages above the legal minimum established by the 1351 Statute of Labourers be imprisoned with bail.

France's Jean II issues a proclamation December 5 ordering creation of a franc d'or. The gold coin bears an image of the king of the Franks in armor and on horseback, its name is derived from "franc dei Anglais," meaning "free of the English," but within 25 years it will be replaced by the gold écu, which will be supplemented in years to come by the louis, new versions of the écu, and the livre (see 1800).

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