1439 CE

As part of Ming China's campaign against the Möng Mao kingdom in south China, General Fang Zheng, commander of 295,000 troops, attacks the stockade of the Mao kingdom's General Si Renfa and forces the enemy to retreat southward, after which he continues in pursuit. However, by this time his troops are exhausted and his supply lines are cut off. He requests reinforcements, but Mu Sheng sends only a small number as he is angry that Fang Zheng has disobeyed orders. Fang Zheng is then defeated at Kongni where he has pursued Si Renfa, and "fell into an ambush of the elephant phalanx of his enemy", at which point he orders his son to escape, and dies with his troops. Smederevo Fortress, the seat of government of the Despotate of Serbia, surrenders to the Ottoman Empire after a siege of three months under the command of the Sultan Murad II. The siege had started after the Despot, Durad Branković, had departed to the Republic of Venice, leaving the nation under the control of his son, Grgur Branković. Grgur is appointed as the Ottoman Governor of the Serbian province. Parliament is opened and the House of Commons elects William Tresham as its speaker.

In the 1430s, the 15th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 4 – A truce is signed at Breslau between King Albert of Hungary and King Casimir IV Jagiellon of Poland to end the 8-month war between the two kingdoms.source
  • January 20 – In England, John Juyn becomes the new Chief Justice of the King's Bench.source
  • March 19 – Aedh mac Tairdelbach becomes the new King of Connacht (in modern-day County Roscommon) in Ireland upon the death of his nephew, Cathal mac Ruaidri Ó Conchobair, who had been King of Connacht since 1426.source
  • September 25 – King Henry VI of England summons the English Parliament, directing all members to assemble at Westminster on November 12.source
  • November 2 – A Great Ordinance is adopted by the French Estates-General. This measure grants the king the exclusive right to raise troops, and establishes the taxation measure known as the taille, in support of a standing army.source
  • 2 November - A Great Ordinance is adopted by the Estates-General, granting the king the exclusive right to raise troops, and establishing the taxation measure known as the taille, in support of a standing army, foundation of the Compagnie d'ordonnance.Francesource
  • November 12 – Parliament is opened and the House of Commons elects William Tresham as its speaker.source
  • November 12 – Plymouth becomes the first town incorporated by Parliament.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 9 – A rebellion by peasants in Finland against the Swedish government, led by Anian Daavid, is ended by the Swedish Army after intervention by the Bishop of Turku. After confiscation of some untillable land to compensate other landowners for damages, the peasants are pardoned upon taking an oath never to rise up against the Swedish Crown again.source
  • January 17 – As part of Ming China's campaign against the Möng Mao kingdom in south China, General Fang Zheng, commander of 295,000 troops, attacks the stockade of the Mao kingdom's General Si Renfa and forces the enemy to retreat southward, after which he continues in pursuit. However, by this time his troops are exhausted and his supply lines are cut off. He requests reinforcements, but Mu Sheng sends only a small number as he is angry that Fang Zheng has disobeyed orders. Fang Zheng is then defeated at Kongni where he has pursued Si Renfa, and "fell into an ambush of the elephant phalanx of his enemy", at which point he orders his son to escape, and dies with his troopssource
  • January – In Vietnam, a rebellion of the barbarians in Phục Lễ province, supported by the Laotian army, against King Lê Thái Tông under the Lê dynasty, is defeated.source
  • April 12 – In a battle on Lake Garda in Italy, a passage to the Adriatic Sea, ships from the Duchy of Milan defeat those of the Republic of Venice in battle and take control of the lake.source
  • May 6 – Battle of Grotnik: Wladyslaw III's royal army defeats the Hussite rebels, led by Spytko III of Melsztyn, ending the non-Catholic movement in Poland.source
  • June – The "Miracle of the Moose" takes place, according to Russian hagiographers.source
  • July 9 – The Battle of Craignaught Hill takes place in Scotland between Clan Boyd and Clan Stewart as the Stewarts of Darnley carry out revenge against Sir Thomas Boyd for his murder of Alan Stewart.source
  • July 13 – The siege of Moscow by Ulugh Muhammad, the monarch of the Kazan Khanate, fails after 10 days following the defense of the Muscovite capital by Yuri Patrikeevich.source
  • August 18 – Smederevo Fortress, the seat of government of the Despotate of Serbia, surrenders to the Ottoman Empire after a siege of three months under the command of the Sultan Murad II. The siege had started after the Despot, Durad Branković, had departed to the Republic of Venice, leaving the nation under the control of his son, Grgur Branković. Grgur is appointed as the Ottoman Governor of the Serbian province.source
  • November - The wolves of Paris terrorize the city, led by Courtaud.Francesource

Exploration & Expansion

  • Beginning of the settlement of the Azores with the arrival of the first Portuguese settlers in Santa Maria.source

Religion & Belief

  • January 10 – Pope Eugene IV, who had convened the Council of Ferrara a year earlier to fight the reforms of the Council of Basel, orders the transfer of its participants from Ferrara to Florence.source
  • May 16 – Pope Eugene, already found to be in contempt of the Council of Basel, is declared by the Council to be a heretic.source
  • June 25 – The Council of Basel formally declares that Pope Eugene IV is deposed.source
  • July 6 – Pope Eugene IV issues the Bull of Union with the Greeks (Laetentur Caeli), signed by the Byzantine Emperor John VIII Palaiologos, proclaiming the end of the East–West Schism between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy and the union of the two divisions of the Christian faith. The bull is repudiated by most Eastern bishops shortly thereafter.source
  • August 28 – Pope Eugene IV sends a message of unity to the Emperor of Ethiopia, Qostantinos I, but the proposal for a union with the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Church is not acknowledged.source
  • September 8 – Cardinal Giovanni Vitelleschi captures Foligno, ending Trinci's signoria.source
  • October 30 – The Council of Basel begins a conclave to elect its own successor to Pope Eugene IV, whom it had deposed on June 25.source
  • November 5 – The Council of Basel elects its own pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, and selects Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy (considered an antipope), who takes the regnal name Felix V.source
  • November 22 – Following up on the declaration of union of the Roman Catholic Church with the Greek Orthodox Church, Pope Eugene IV signs an agreement of union with the Armenian Apostolic Church.source
  • December 18 – Pope Eugene IV designates nine archbishops and six bishops to join the College of Cardinals and one cardinal and one priest, for 17 appointments in all.source
  • Undated - Strasbourg Cathedral is completed.Francesource

Economy & Finance

  • September 24 - King Erik XIII of Sweden is declared deposed in Sweden while Karl Knutsson Bonde continues to serve as Regent of Sweden. Erik remains King of Norway.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • Earliest likely date for Johannes Gutenberg's development of printing with movable type at Mainz.source

Culture & Society

  • February 17 – In the Duchy of Cieszyn in Poland, Duke Wenceslaus I marries Elisabeth of Hohenzollern, the daughter of the Elector of Brandenburg, Friedrich.source
  • 11 June - Catherine of France, Countess of Charolais is betrothed to Charles the Bold of Burgundy. They marry the following year.Francesource
  • June 24 – Sigismund of Habsburg becomes the new Duke of Austria upon the death of his father, Frederick IV.source
  • September 20 – In the modern-day Indian state of Rajasthan, Raja Udharan becomes the new King of Amber upon the death of the Raja Banbir.source
  • At the Portuguese Cortes, Peter, Duke of Coimbra is appointed Regent of the Kingdom.source

Births

  • March 3 – Ashikaga Yoshimi, brother of Shōgun Ashikaga Yoshimasa (died 1491)source
  • April 3 – Ludwig II, Count of Württemberg-Urach, German noble (died 1457)source
  • May 29 – Pope Pius III (died 1503)source
  • July 18 – John V, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, German duke (died 1507)source
  • July 26 – Sigismund, Duke of Bavaria, member of the Wittelsbach dynasty (died 1501)source
  • August 10 – Anne of York, Duchess of Exeter, Duchess of York, second child of Richard Plantagenet (died 1476)source
  • date unknown – Hua Sui, Chinese inventor and printer (died 1513)source

Deaths

  • April 30 – Richard Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, English military leader (born 1382)source
  • June 10 – Joseph II, the leader of the Eastern Orthodox Church as the 155th Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, dies after a reign of 23 years, leaving a vacancy that is used by the Roman Catholic Pope Eugene IV to declare a unification of the two churches to end the East–West Schism of 1054.source
  • June 24 – DFrederick IV, Duke of Austria (born 1382)source
  • September 12 – Sidi El Houari, Algerian imam (born 1350)source
  • October 20 – Ambrose the Camaldulian, Italian theologiansource
  • October 27 – Albert II of Germany, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1397)source
  • December 30 – Margaret Holland, English noblewoman (born 1385)source