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The 1420s

472 sourced entries across 10 years, inside the 15th century. Each year below opens its own page; the lines under it are that year’s highest-ranked entries.

1420 CE55 entries

  • March 25 – Hussite Wars After their offer of a surrender is refused, the outnumbered Hussites of Bohemia, led by Jan Zizka, defeat the invading Holy Roman Imperial forces at the Battle of Sudoměř fought near modern-day Čejetice in the Czech Republic.
  • May 23 – Albert V, Duke of Austria, issues the Vienna Gesera, a campaign of expulsion or extermination of the 1,500 Jewish residents of Vienna. Those who are not imprisoned are executed 10 months later, and similar persecutions are carried out in other cities in Austria.
  • October 22 – Ghiyāth al-dīn Naqqāsh, an envoy of the embassy sent by the Timurid ruler of Persia, Shah Rukh (r. 1404–1447), to the Ming dynasty of China during the reign of the Yongle Emperor (r. 1402–1424), records his sight and travel over a large floating pontoon bridge at Lanzhou (constructed in 1372) as he crosses the Yellow River on this day. He writes that it was: "...composed of twenty three boats, of great excellence and strength attached together by a long chain of iron as thick as a man's thigh, and this was moored on each side to an iron post as thick as a man's waist extending a distance of ten cubits on the land and planted firmly in the ground, the boats being fastened to this chain by means of big hooks. There were placed big wooden planks over the boats so firmly and evenly that all the animals were made to pass over it without difficulty."

1421 CE47 entries

  • 21 March - Battle of Baugé is fought during the Hundred Years War. The English commander Thomas, Duke of Clarence, younger brother of Henry V, is killed in battle.
  • April 8 – Maredudd ab Owain Glyndŵr, son of the Welsh rebel Owain Glyndŵr, accepts a pardon from, and swears loyalty to England's King Henry V, formally bringing an end to the Glyndŵr rebellion.
  • July 2 – At Erciş in what is now Turkey, Iskandar ibn Yusuf is crowned as the Sultan of Qara Qoyunlu, a kingdom encompassing what are now eastern Turkey, northwestern Iran and northern Iraq, northern Armenia and all of Azerbaijan.

1422 CE42 entries

  • March 11 – On Okinawa Island, now part of Japan, King Shō Hashi of Chūzan begins a war against the two other kingdoms on the island, Hokuzan and Nanzan and begins the unification of Okinawa.
  • September 1 – Henry VI becomes King of England, at the age of nine months, upon the death of his father, King Henry V.
  • September 27 – The Teutonic Knights sign the Treaty of Melno with the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania, after the brief Gollub War. The Prussian–Lithuanian border established by the treaty remains unchanged, until World War I.

1423 CE51 entries

  • February 11 – Hundred Years War: The island of Tombelaine, off of the coast of France, is taken by English forces in order to be used as a base to attack Mont Saint-Michel.
  • February 11 – Hundred Years War: The island of Tombelaine, off the coast of France, is taken by English forces in order to be used as a base to attack Mont Saint-Michel.
  • May 22 – Byzantine–Ottoman Wars: After a two-day battle, Turakhan Beg, Ottoman governor of Thessaly, breaks through the Hexamilion wall, and ravages the Peloponnese Peninsula in Greece.

1424 CE48 entries

  • February 1 – While negotiating his release from captivity, King James of Scotland is allowed to be married to Joan Beaufort in London, with a ceremony taking place at Southwark Cathedral.
  • June 22 – Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt under the leadership of Egyptian general Ibn bint al-Aqsarayi launch a series of military expeditions marking the start of the Mamluk campaigns against Cyprus (1424–1426).
  • November – The Bourges astronomical clock, designed by Jean Fusoris, is installed in Bourges Cathedral as a gift to the town from Charles VII of France.

1425 CE45 entries

  • June 27 – Zhu Zhanji is formally enthroned as the Ming dynasty Emperor of China as the Emperor Xuanzong, beginning the Xuande Era.
  • July 14 – The English Parliament closes as King Henry VI gives royal assent to the Labourers Act 1425, the River Lee Navigation Act 1425 and laws requiring a royal license for exportation of sheep and for exportation of butter and cheese.
  • August – (Tawthalin 787 ME); King Thihathu of Ava, the Burmese monarch in what is now Myanmar, is ambushed at Amarapura after being guided into a trap by one of his wives, Queen Shin Bo-Me. His 8-year-old nephew, Min Hla, becomes the new King while Shin Bo-Me seeks a way to take the throne for herself.

1426 CE38 entries

  • April 22 – The Second Scutari War between the Republic of Venice and the Serbian Despotate is formally ended by the signing of a treaty at the then Serbian city of Vushtrri in what is now Albania.
  • May 16 – In Burma, Kale Kye-Taung Nyo, ruler of the Kingdom of Ava, flees his capital. He is succeeded by Mohnyin Thado, who receives Thinkhaya III of Toungoo.
  • July 7 – Battle of Khirokitia: King Janus of Cyprus is defeated by Egyptian troops under Ibn bint al-Aqsarayi and captured by the Mamluks and brought to Egypt, where he is ransomed after ten months.

1427 CE51 entries

  • June 7 – Pope Martin V orders the Roman Catholic bishops of Portro and Alba to work on driving the Fraticelli faction of the Franciscan Order from Italy.
  • August 4 – Hussite Wars: Battle of Tachov – The Hussites decisively beat the crusader armies, ending the Fourth Anti-Hussite Crusade.
  • October 13 – Lincoln College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, is founded by the Bishop of Lincoln.

1428 CE52 entries

  • June 3 – Dan II leads an army against the Ottomans at Golubac Fortress, obtaining a treaty that will allow him a semi-peaceful rule in Wallachia, until 1432.
  • October 12 – English forces under Thomas Montacute, 4th Earl of Salisbury, besiege Orléans. Jean de Dunois, the Bastard of Orléans, commands the defenders. Bombardment starts on October 17 and troops attempt an assault on
  • 12 October – English forces begin the siege of Orléans during the Hundred Years War.

1429 CE43 entries

  • January 6 – The Congress of Lutsk opens in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at the castle of Liubartas in Lutsk. In addition to the Lithuanian nobles gathered there with the Supreme Duke of Lithuania Władysław II Jagiełło and the Grand Duke Vytautas, the Congress is attended by Sigismund, King of Germany, Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia; Erik VII, King of Denmark; a Komtur of the Teutonic Knights; Vasily II, Grand Prince of Moscow; Boris, Duke of Tver; Ivan III, Duke of Ryazan; the Voivode Dan II of Wallachia; and representatives of the Pope, the Byzantine Empire and Moldavia, to discuss the coronation of Vytautas as the King of Lithuania, as well as the siege of Moldavia, entering a against the Ottoman Empire, the ongoing war between Denmark and the Hanseatic League, religious unions and divisions, and assorted economic, trade, and tax-related issues.
  • February 12 – Battle of Rouvray (or "of the Herrings"): English forces under Sir John Fastolf defend a supply convoy, which is carrying rations (food) to the army of William de la Pole, 4th Earl of Suffolk at Orléans, from attack by the Comte de Clermont and John Stewart.
  • June 18 – Battle of Patay: French forces under Joan of Arc smash the English forces under Lord Talbot and Sir John Fastolf, forcing the withdrawal of the English from the Loire Valley.