1373 CE

Marquard of Randeck, Prince-Bishop of Augsburg, who had joined an alliance in a war against the Republic of Venice, is defeated in the Battle of Fossa Nuova, near Treviso, after the Doge of Venice, Andrea Contarini, hired Turkish mercenaries. Randeck is forced to negotiate surrender terms and sign a peace treaty. Bristol perambulation: Bristol is made a county corporate, the first town in he Kingdom of England outside London to be granted this status. The Treaty of Fürstenwalde is concluded between the Holy Roman Empire and the Margravate of Brandenburg, as the Margrave Otto V abdicates the throne and sells Brandenburg to the Holy Roman Emperor in return for several castles and towns in the Upper Palatinate 500,000 imperial guilders (1,900 kg or almost 68,000 ounces of gold) as Margrave of Brandenburg.

In the 1370s, the 14th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • March 24 – The Treaty of Santarém is signed between Ferdinand I of Portugal and Henry II of Castile, ending the second war between the two countries.source
  • March 31 – The Treaty of Villeneuve, signed on August 20, 1372 to settle the dispute between the Capetian House of Anjou and the House of Barcelona over rule of the Kingdom of Sicily, is ratified by Queen Giovanna of Naples (for Anjou), acknowledging the loss of Sicily to King Frederick the Simple of Sicily of the House of Barcelona.source
  • May 17 – The dukes of the various duchies of Pomerania, enter into an alliance in a meeting at Kaseburg (now Karsibor in Poland) to resist the expansion of the neighboring state of Brandenburg.source
  • June 16 – The Anglo-Portuguese Treaty is signed in London, and is the oldest active treaty in the world.source
  • August 18 – The Treaty of Fürstenwalde is concluded between the Holy Roman Empire and the Margravate of Brandenburg, as the Margrave Otto V abdicates the throne and sells Brandenburg to the Holy Roman Emperor in return for several castles and towns in the Upper Palatinate 500,000 imperial guilders (1,900 kg or almost 68,000 ounces of gold) as Margrave of Brandenburgsource
  • September 25 – At Constantinople, Manuel II Palaiologos is proclaimed as co-Emperor of Byzantium by his father, the Emperor John V Palaiologos.source
  • November 21 – King Edward III opens the English Parliament at Westminster and demands more money to be raised to continue the war with France.source
  • December 21 – The Parliament of England ends its session after 20 days and royal assent is given to measures passed therein, including an act setting "the length and breadth of cloth of ray, and cloth of colour", and setting the exchange rate for a Scottish groat as three English pence.source
  • Louis I of Hungary takes Severin again, but the Vlachs will recover it in 1376–1377.source
  • The Chinese emperor of the Ming dynasty, the Hongwu Emperor, suspends the traditional civil service examination system after complaining that the 120 new jinshi degree-holders are too incompetent to hold office; he instead relies solely upon a system of recommendations, until the civil service exams are reinstated in 1384.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 13 – King Charles VI of France issues an ordinance to reform the kingdom's defense forces, with a goal of improving efficiency and discipline. For the first time, captains of regiments of soldiers are required to pay their men directly and report the accounting to their superiors, who are required to audit the reports. Previously, the captains pocketed the wages and allowed their men "to pay themselves by pillage."source
  • February 16 – King Edward III of England appoints Lord Salisbury to command a fleet of English and Genoese galleys and 1,700 soldiers to fight in the Duchy of Brittany.source
  • March 21 – The Battle of Chiset is fought between France and England near what is now Chizé in Deux-Sèvres département in France. The French force of 1,500 defenders, led by Bertrand du Guesclin overwhelms 700-man English force led by Baron Devereux, who is taken prisoner of war.source
  • March 21 – The Battle of Chiset is fought at Chizé between English and French forces during the Hundred Years' War. The French had laid siege to the town and the English sent a relief force. The French, led by Bertrand du Guesclin, met the relief force and defeated it.Francesource
  • April 28 – Hundred Years' War: The French re-capture most of Brittany from the English, but are unable to take Brest, and John IV, Duke of Brittany, is forced into exile.source
  • April 28 – Hundred Years' War: The French re-capture most of Brittany from the English, but are unable to take Brest.Francesource
  • May 6 – Byzantine co-emperor Andronikos IV Palaiologos allies with Savcı Bey, the son of the Ottoman Sultan Murad I, rebels against his father, John V Palaiologos, for agreeing to let Constantinople become a vassal of the Ottoman Empire, but the rebellion fails.source
  • May 7 – The troops of the Papal States and of the county of Savoy and the French mercenary Enguerrand VII de Coucy, defeat the Visconti, rulers of the Lordship of Milan in the Battle of Montichiari and stop Milan's attempts to expand its empire within Italy.source
  • July 1 – Marquard of Randeck, Prince-Bishop of Augsburg, who had joined an alliance in a war against the Republic of Venice, is defeated in the Battle of Fossa Nuova, near Treviso, after the Doge of Venice, Andrea Contarini, hired Turkish mercenaries. Randeck is forced to negotiate surrender terms and sign a peace treaty.source
  • August 4 – Hundred Years' War: John of Gaunt launches a new invasion of France, setting out with 15,000 men from Calais and marching through Picardy, Champagne and Burgundy, "burning and destroying as he advancedsource
  • August 9 – John of Gaunt's chevauchée of 1373: John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, launches an English military raid of France. Despite the devastation caused by the raid over its five month period, it was a failure for the English crown because of the weak military and political results, and the enormous losses.Francesource
  • September 9 – Władysław the White (Władysław Biały), formerly the Duke of Gniewkowo begins a rebellion against the Kingdom of Poland in an attempt to become the kingdom's monarch rather than the King of Hungary. He begins an attempt to reestablish his duchy, capturing Gniewkowo, Włocławek, Inowrocław and Złotoria, but ultimately fails after he flees to Zlotoria in 1376 and is besieged there, surrendering in 1377.source
  • September 9 – The French attack an isolated English corps at Oulchy, killing its captain Walter Hewitt and numerous men, and capturing several knights and squires, including Thomas Despenser, brother of the Constable of England Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester.Francesource
  • September 22 – The English arrived before Troyes, but are met by Constable of France Bertrand du Guesclin, Olivier V de Clisson, Louis II of Bourbon, the Duke of Burgundy and more than 7,000 men in garrison who had been waiting for them for a week. This prevented any English attempt to march on Paris through Gâtinais. The English left, around September 25.Francesource
  • November 25 – Philip II, Prince of Taranto hands over the rule of Achaea (modern-day southern Greece) to his cousin, Joanna I of Naples.source
  • A city wall is built around Lisbon, Portugal to resist invasion by Castile.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • June 12 – John of Gaunt's chevauchée of 1373: King Edward III appoints John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster as his captain-general in the war in France and sends him with a large army across the English Channel to Calais.source

Religion & Belief

  • January 15 – Majorie Castle in Switzerland becomes the official residence of the Roman Catholic Prince-bishop of Sion, Guichard Tavelli, and the bishops that follow.source
  • May 13 – The English anchoress, Dame Julian of Norwich receives the 16 Revelations of Divine Love from God while seriously ill.source
  • The Adina Mosque is built in Bengal.source

Economy & Finance

  • August 8 – Bristol perambulation: Bristol is made a county corporate, the first town in he Kingdom of England outside London to be granted this status.source

Culture & Society

  • October 2 – Wenzel of Luxembourg, son of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, is installed by the Empire as the new Margrave of Brandenburg, ending the war with Pomerania and entering into an alliance with the Pomeranian dukes.Buchholz (1999), p.161source
  • Merton College Library is built in Oxford, England.source

Births

  • March 29 – Marie d'Alençon, French princess (died 1417)source
  • June 25 – Queen Joanna II of Naples (died 1435)source
  • September 22 – Thomas le Despenser, 1st Earl of Gloucester (died 1400)source
  • Edward of Norwich, 2nd Duke of York (died 1415)source
  • Margery Kempe, writer of the first autobiography in Englishsource

Deaths

  • January 16 – Humphrey de Bohun, 7th Earl of Hereford (born 1342)source
  • February – Ibn Kathir, Mamluk Islamic scholar (born 1301)source
  • May 30 – Andronikos IV is arrested, imprisoned, and blinded in one eye on orders of his father, the Emperor John V Palaiologos, who was directed by Sultan Murad to carry out the punishment.Savci, who was completely blinded, is executed on orders of Murad, his father. After the rebellion fails, Ottoman Emperor Murad I commands to blind his son.source
  • July 23 – Saint Birgitta, Swedish saint (born 1303)source
  • November 3 – Jeanne de Valois, Queen of Navarre (born 1343)source
  • November 3 – Joan of Valois, Queen of NavarreFrancesource
  • December 7 – Rafał of Tarnów, Polish nobleman (born c. 1330)source
  • Robert le Coq, French bishop and councillorsource
  • Tiphaine Raguenel, Breton astrologer (born c. 1335)source
  • Constantine IV, King of Armenia (assassinated)source
  • Constantine IV, ruler of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia (modern-day southern Turkey), is assassinated; he is succeeded by his distant cousin Leo V.source