1409

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political events

Harlech Castle in Wales surrenders to the English in March after a 6-month siege in which the 61-year-old Edmund de Mortimer, 5th earl of March, has either been killed or starved to death fighting for Owen Glendower. The Welsh rebel's wife, daughters, and granddaughters are all captured and imprisoned in the Tower of London, but Glendower himself escapes into the mountains and his rebellion collapses.

Venice recovers its territories on the Dalmatian coast once known as Illyria.

Genoa seizes the opportunity of the absence of the Marshal of France Jean II le Meingre Boucicaut to force the withdrawal of French troops.

religion

An antipope is set up at Rome in opposition to Gregory XII and will reign until next year as Alexander V. He promulgates a bull ordering the surrender of all books by the late John Wycliffe (see 1382). Bohemia's archbishop publicly burns some 200 of Wycliffe's writings.

Bohemia's archbishop excommunicates Jan Hus along with several of his friends, who will appeal to the successor of Pope Alexander IV (see 1408). Hus continues to preach at the Bethlehem chapel and begins to defend in public the so-called heresies of John Wycliffe (see 1410).

The Council of Pisa assembles 500 prelates and delegates from all over Europe to end the schism between Rome and Avignon that has persisted since 1378. The conclave hears charges against Pope Gregory XII at Rome and the antipope Benedict XIII at Avignon. It declares both of them deposed, it elects Peter Philarges pope June 26, and he begins a brief reign as Alexander V, but neither Gregory nor Benedict recognizes the council's authority and so three popes reign simultaneously (see 1410; Council of Constance, 1414).

education

Leipzig University has its beginnings in a college founded by émigrés from Prague.

art

Sculpture: David (marble) by Florentine sculptor Donatello (Donato di Noccolo di Betto Bardi), 23, whose work has been commissioned by local banker Cosimo de' Medici, 20. Cosimo's father, Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, 49, moved the family's business headquarters from Rome back to Florence in 1397 and has provided his son with the best education possible.

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