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The 1300s

548 sourced entries across 10 years, inside the 14th century. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.

1300 CE66 entries

  • February 22 – Pope Boniface VIII begins the practice of Roman pontiffs declaring a Jubilee or "Holy Year" to be observed every 100 years, and issues the papal bull Antiquorum habet fida relatio. Boniface declares that Christians who make a pilgrimage to visit Saint Peter's Basilica will receive a plenary indulgence forgiving them from purgatorial punishment for certain sins. The papal declaration, which also applies to a visit to the Basilica of Saint Paul, results in tens of thousands of people visiting Rome during the Jubilee Year. It is at this celebration that Giovanni Villani decides to write his universal history of Florence, called the Nuova Cronica ("New Chronicles").
  • May 10 – A session of the Parliament of Scotland is held at Rutherglen. Sir Ingram de Umfraville replaces Sir Robert the Bruce as one of the three members of the Guardians of the Kingdom of Scotland, a group of regents who govern Scotland during the "Second Interregnum", a period when King Edward I of England is threatening to annex Scotland. Umfraville joins Baron John Comyn III of Badenoch and Bishop William de Lamberton, but the three step down the following year to make way for a single Guardian, John de Soules. Robert the Bruce later becomes King of Scotland in 1306.
  • June 24 – English invasion of Scotland (1300): On Midsummer Day, after crossing the border from England into Scotland, England's King Edward I holds a conference at English-occupied Scottish territory at Roxburgh with his advance force. King Edward starts another Scottish campaign and marches north with his army, accompanied by several knights of Brittany and Lorraine. The 16-year-old Prince Edward of Caernarfon is appointed to take command of the rearguard of the English army but part from a small skirmish, he sees no action.

1301 CE45 entries

  • July 5 – First War of Scottish Independence: King Edward I of England launches his sixth campaign into Scotland, crossing into Berwickshire from Northumberland.
  • July 10 – Indian forces under Sultan Alauddin Khalji capture Ranthambore Fortress. During the siege, General Nusrat Khan Jalesari is hit and killed by a manjaniq stone.
  • December 6 – In Spain, Ferdinand IV of Castile reaches the age of 16 and is proclaimed of the age of majority to be crowned as King of Castile and as King of León. Ferdinand IV had become the nominal monarch at age 9, under the regency of his mother, María de Molina.

1302 CE60 entries

  • January 20 – In Egypt, Al-Mustakfi I becomes the new Muslim Abbasid Caliph of Cairo, leader of Islam within the Mamluk Sultanate, upon the death of his father, the Caliph Al-Hakim I.
  • August 31 – The Peace of Caltabellotta is signed between King Charles the Lame, King of Naples and King Frederick III of Sicily, ending the War of the Sicilian Vespers. The Kingdom of Sicily will pass to Angevin rule on Frederick's death, in return Charles pays a tribute of some 100,000 ounces of gold. Frederick hands over all his possessions in Calabria and releases Charles' son Philip I, prince of Taranto, from his prison in Cefalù.
  • September – Roger de Flor, Italian military adventurer and knight (condottiere), founds the Catalan Company group of mercenaries, with soldiers (Almogavars) jobless after the Treaty of Caltabellotta.

1303 CE48 entries

  • April 22 – Battle of Marj al-Saffar: Egyptian Mamluk forces (some 20,000 men) under Sultan Al-Nasir Muhammad defeat a Mongol army and their Armenian allies led by Qutlugh-Shah, on the plain of Marj al-Saffar. After the battle, Egyptian forces enters Damascus and chases the Mongols as far as Al-Qaryatayn in Syria. Al-Nasir returns to Cairo in triumph through the Bab al-Nasr ("Victory Gate") with chained prisoners of war.
  • August 26 – Siege of Chittorgarh: Delhi forces led by Sultan Alauddin Khalji capture the massive Chittor Fort in northern India, after an 8-month-long siege. Alauddin orders a general massacre of Chittor's population.
  • October 27 – The coronation of Cardinal Boccasini as Pope Benedict XI, 194th pope of the Roman Catholic Church, is performed at St. Peter's Basilica by Cardinal Matteo Rosso Orsini.

1304 CE50 entries

  • August 8 – Treaty of Torrellas: The 18-year-old King Ferdinand IV of Castile signs a peace with King James II of Aragon ("James the Just"). In the terms, James agrees to restore the Kingdom of Murcia to Castile, except for Alicante, Elche, Orihuela, and lands north of the Segura River. In return for extensive patrimony, Prince Alfonso de la Cerda renounces his claim to the Castilian throne, ending a conflict that has disturbed the tranquility of the realm for nearly 30 years.
  • September 2 – Brinolfo Algotsson, the Swedish Catholic Bishop of Skara is rewarded for his financial assistance in rebuilding Norway's Stavanger Cathedral, as a Norwegian ship arrives at Skara. He is presented a holy relic, what is purported to be a thorn from the crown of thorns worn by Jesus Christ at the Crucifixion. In a solemn profession led by Algotsson, the thorn is transported to the Skara Cathedral.
  • October 5 – Treaty of Treviso: After a dispute over salt works, the Italian commune of Padua and Venice sign a peace treaty, ending the Salt War. Venice establishes a salt monopoly and sells salt rights to merchants.

1305 CE62 entries

  • April – New Mongol ruler Öljaitü sends letters to Philip IV of France, Pope Clement V, and Edward I of England offering a military collaboration between the Christian nations of Europe and the Mongols against the Mamluks.
  • June 5 – Pope Clement V, formerly the Archbishop of Bordeaux, succeeds Pope Benedict XI as the 195th pontiff of the Catholic Church. He will reign until 1314.
  • August 23 – After a three-week trial at Westminster, William Wallace is convicted of treason and of atrocities against civilians in war. After the trial, he is dragged through the streets of Smithfield in London and hanged, drawn and quartered – strangled by hanging – but cut down while still alive, emasculated, disemboweled (with his bowels burned before him), beheaded, and then cut into four parts. Wallace's head is placed on a spike above the London Bridge, and his limbs are displayed separately, in Newcastle, Berwick, Stirling, and Perth.

1306 CE54 entries

  • May 22 – Feast of the Swans: At Westminster Abbey King Edward I of England proclaims that all squires, who agree to march in an invasion of Scotland, will be knighted. After the feast, the King has two swans brought in and swears "before God and the swans" to avenge the murder of Lord John Comyn III of Badenoch, the desecration of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries by Robert Bruce, and to fight the infidels in the Holy Land. The King knights his son, Prince Edward of Caernarfon. The Prince knights 266 other men. King Edward then gives his "Raise the Dragon" orders, proclaiming that no mercy is to be granted to Scotland, and all Scots taken in arms are to be executed without trial. Among the persons knighted, the King appoints Aymer de Valance, lieutenant for Scotland. Valence will make his base at Perth, along with Henry Percy and Robert Clifford, to organize an army.
  • July 22 – The Great Exile of 1306: King Philip IV of France turns his attentions to Italian bankers and orders the Jews to be exiled in France. The Jewish quarter in Paris is cleared and goods are confiscated – to regain money spent on expanding the domains of Flanders and Gascony. Meanwhile, rumors of a secret initiation ceremony of the Knights Templar create distrust, and Philip – while being deeply in debt to the Order for loans from his war against England, uses this distrust for political and religious motivations against the Templars.
  • September 13 – In Scotland, English forces under Edward of Caernarfon capture and sack Kildrummy Castle in Aberdeenshire. Edward takes Elizabeth de Burgh, Christina Bruce and Mary Bruce (sisters of Robert the Bruce), and Princess Marjorie Bruce (daughter of Bruce) as prisoners. He executes Nigel de Brus (younger brother of Bruce) for high treason, who is later hanged, drawn and quartered at Berwick.

1307 CE51 entries

  • July 7 – King Edward I of England, known as Edward Longshanks, dies at Burgh by Sands after a 34-year reign. He is succeeded by his son 23-year-old Edward II, who becomes new ruler of England. After his death Edward's body is embalmed and transported to Waltham Abbey in Essex. Here it lay unburied for several weeks so that people can come and see the body lying in state. After this, Edward is taken to Westminster Abbey for a proper burial on October 28.
  • July 20 – King Edward II travels from London, after he is proclaimed king and continues north into Scotland, where he receives homage from his Scottish supporters at Dumfries.
  • November 18 – William Tell, Swiss mountain climber and marksman, shoots (according to legend) an apple off his son's head with a crossbow at Altdorf, Switzerland.

1308 CE62 entries

  • January 25 – King Edward II marries the 13-year-old Isabella of France, daughter of King Philip IV of France ("Philip the Fair"). The marriage takes place at Boulogne and Edward leaves his friend and favourite, Piers Gaveston, as regent in his absence. Isabella's wardrobe indicates her wealth and style – she has dresses of silk, velvet, taffeta and cloth along with numerous furs; she has over 72 headdresses and coifs. Isabella brings with her two gold crowns, gold and silver dinnerware and 419 yards of linen. Meanwhile, Edward alienates the nobles by placing Gaveston in such a powerful position, who react by signing the Boulogne agreement on January 31.
  • March 8 – King Denis of Portugal, "the Poet King", grants Póvoa de Varzim a charter, the Foral, giving royal lands to 54 families, who found a municipality known as Póvoa around Praça Velha.
  • May 23 – Battle of Inverurie: Scottish forces led by King Robert the Bruce defeat the rival Scots under John Comyn at Oldmeldrum. During the battle, Robert repulses a surprise attack on his camp, and counter-attacks the Scots of Clan Comyn. John flees to seek refuge at the English court and is well received by Edward II, who appoints him as Lord Warden of the Marches. Meanwhile, Robert orders his forces to burn the farms, houses and strongholds associated with Clan Cumming in north-east Scotland. The Earldom of Buchan will never again rise for Clan Cumming.

1309 CE50 entries

  • March 9 – Pope Clement V officially transfers the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Pontiff from Rome to the French city of Avignon, his residence and at this time part of the Kingdom of Arles, starting the Avignon Papacy. Since 1305, the papal court had been at Poitiers, and the move is justified by violence in Rome. The papal seat becomes part of the Holy Roman Empire, and its absence from Rome is referred to as the "Babylonian captivity of the Papacy".
  • August 15 – Conquest of Rhodes: The Byzantine garrison of the city of Rhodes surrenders to the Crusader forces of the Knights Hospitaller under Grand Master Foulques de Villaret – completing their conquest of Rhodes. The knights establish their headquarters on the island and rename themselves as the Knights of Rhodes.
  • October 31 – In India, Alauddin Khalji, Sultan of Delhi, orders General Malik Kafur to invade the Kakatiya kingdom, ruled by Prataparudra, and to besiege its capital, Warangal (now in India's Telangana state).