1420

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political events

Johann of Bavaria gains control of Holland and Zeeland when Johannes IV of Brabant, husband of his niece Jacoba of Bavaria, mortgages the two counties to him (see 1419). Chagrined at her husband's action, Jacoba leaves for Hainaut and next year will repudiate her marriage, voyage to England, and receive a warm welcome from Henry V (see 1424).

The Treaty of Troyes allows the English to retain all of their conquests as far as the Loire and abolishes the Salic Law that excludes women from the throne (see 1419). Signed May 21 by France's mentally unbalanced Charles VI under pressure from his wife, Isabelle, and Burgundy's Philippe le Bon, it provides for the marriage of the French princess Catherine to England's Henry V. Catherine's brother, the dauphin Charles, is declared illegitimate, Henry's forces drive him south of the Loire, and Henry enters Paris in triumph December 20.

Robert Stuart, earl of Fife and 1st duke of Albany, dies at Stirling Castle September 3 at age 80 (approximate), having virtually ruled Scotland since 1388 in the absence of strong leadership by his late brother Robert III. He is buried at Dunfermline Abbey, and his son Murdac (or Murdoch) succeeds as 2nd duke of Albany and regent of Scotland (but see 1425).

Yolande of Anjou's son René marries Isabelle of Lorraine at Nancy. Charles I, duc de Lorraine, has lent support to the English; Yolande aims to tie him by blood to the House of Valois. René will lay claim to the throne of Sicily.

Aragon's Alfonso V embarks with a fleet to pacify Sardinia and Sicily; he attacks the Genoese outpost of Corsica (see 1421).

China's third Ming dynasty emperor Yong Le (Yung-lo) moves his court from Nanjing (Nanking) to Beijing (Peking) as he continues to reform local governments and attempts to establish trade with islands to the south. He commissioned construction in 1406 of a walled, 178-acre Forbidden City (Zhin Cheng, or Tzu-Chin Ch'eng) within Beijing and has ordered that access be barred to all except members of the imperial family and certain government functionaries (about 9,000 people will live inside the compound, but many servants and tradespeople will come and go on a daily basis). The Forbidden City's Meridian Gate (Wu men) rises 125 feet high at its roof ridge, the courtyard within it measures 460 feet deep by 690 feet wide, the Golden Water River running through it has five parallel white marble bridges leading to the Gate of Supreme Harmony (T'ai-ho tien), and beyond that lies a three-tiered marble terrace on which there are three main halls, including the Hall of Supreme Harmony with a throne room measuring 210 feet by 122 feet. Made of timber, brick, stone, and marble, the buildings are all less than two stories high, rooms have translucent paper windows, most buildings face south, and braziers keep the palaces warm and burn incense to counter the odors from the pigs and sheep in the courtyard, which also contains the emperor's herd of 48 elephants. Farmers take away the animal (and human) waste for use as fertilizer, but flies and mosquitoes are free to invade the palace rooms. The emperor and his retinue of wives and concubines have numerous temples and shrines, a library, and a dozen theaters at their disposal, trees in the garden are sometimes decorated with silk blossoms out of season, but only the emperor himself has permission to enter any part of the area at will; the Forbidden City will remain China's seat of government until 1912.

exploration, colonization

Portuguese navigator João Conçalves Zarco lands on the Madeira Islands in the Atlantic about 450 miles off the coast of Morocco in North Africa; the island's inhabitants may be descendants of the Phoenicians, although Genoese mariners visited them in the 14th century (see 1425; 1456; Columbus, 1493).

commerce

Florence makes vain attempts to place a 20 percent ceiling on interest rates charged by Florentine bankers, especially on loans to the popolo minuto.

religion

Theologian Pierre Cardinal d'Ailly dies at Avignon August 9 at age 70.

art

Painting: The Crucifixion and The Last Judgment by Flemish painter Jan van Eyck, 35, and his brother Hubert, 50. They have pioneered in using oil paint on wood to achieve brilliant colors.

agriculture

China's Ming court at Beijing (Peking) maintains an imperial herd of 70,000 beef cattle and milk cows to supply butterfat, table meat, and sacrificial offerings. While the number will soon be reduced to 30,000 head, the imperial dairy herd will produce butter for shortbread and pastries for more than 200 years to come.

The Portuguese prince Henrique has sugar from Sicily planted in the Madeira Islands (see 1456; Columbus, 1493). He also has Malvasia grape vines from Crete planted in the islands, whose winemakers will turn their grapes into wine right after they are picked. The word Malvasia will be anglicized to Malmsey, and fortified Madeira wines will come to rival the sherries of Spain's Jerez region (see 1665).

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