Crime & Justice in the 14th century

90 sourced entries, 1301 CE to 1399 CE, oldest first. Also see Crime & Justice across every century or everything else in the 14th century.

• 1301July 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.source
• 1301October 5 – (Shoan, 22nd day of the 8th month) Hojo Morotoki becomes the 10th regent for the Kamakura shogunate of Japan.source
• 1305August 3 – William Wallace, Scottish rebel leader and knight, is captured near Glasgow at Robroyston, by English troops led by John de Menteith. He is transported to London and led, crowned mockingly with laurel, in procession to Westminster Hall.source
• 1305August 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.source
• 1305September 15 – King Edward I of England issues ordinances for the government of the Kingdom of Scotland. King Edward issues the first commission of Trailbaston – which empowers him to appoint judicial commissions to punish crimes (such as homicide, theft, arson, and rape) and certain trespasses. Edward adds also conspiracy to the list of presentments.source
• 1306January 28 – After two hearings, Sunni Muslim theologian Ibn Taymiyyah is found innocent of charges of heresy by the Indian Qur'an scholar Safi al-Din al-Hindi. Taymiyyah is found guilty three months later by a panel of judges in the Mamluk state and imprisoned for four months.source
• 1306February 10 – Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn III, Scottish nobleman and political rival, before the high altar of the Greyfriars Church at Dumfries. Bruce and Comyn meet to discuss their differences at the church (without their swords). An argument between the two ensues, and Bruce draws his dagger in anger and stabs Comyn. He flees the church, telling his followers outside what has occurred. Roger de Kirkpatrick, cousin of Bruce, goes back inside and finishes off the seriously wounded Comyn. In response, Bruce is excommunicated by Pope Clement V.source
• 1307February 17 – Eight days after their capture at Loch Ryan, Thomas de Brus, and Alexander de Brus, Reginald Crawford are all executed. Thomas and Alexander are taken to Carlisle, where hanged, drawn and quartered.source
• 1307October 13 – King Philip IV of France orders the arrest of all members of the Knights Templar in France. The Templars, together with their Grand Master Jacques de Molay, are imprisoned, interrogated, and tortured into confessing heresy. In Paris, the king's inquisitors torture some 140 Templars, most of whom eventually make confessions. Many are subjected to "fire torture": their legs are fastened in an iron frame and the soles of their feet are greased with fat or butter. Unable to withstand these tortures, many Templars eventually confess.source
• 1307November 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.source
• 1307December 10 – Theodoric IV, the ruler of the semi-independent states of Lusatia, Osterland and Thuringia, is murdered at Leipzig by Philip of Nassau. Theodoric is succeeded by Frederick the Brave as ruler of Thuringia and by Otto IV of Brandenburg as ruler of Lusatia. The areas are now part of eastern Germany.source
• 1308Sultan Mesud II, Seljuk vassal of the Mongol Ilkhanate, is murdered after a 5-year reign. During his rule, he exercises no real authority and becomes the last ruler. Ending the Sultanate of Rum after 230 years.source
• 1309October 22 – The trial of the Knights Templar arrested in England begins and will continue for the next five months, ending on March 18, 1310.source
• 1310April 15 – Sultan An-Nasir Muhammad of Egypt has his predecessor, the former Sultan Baybars II, executed.source
• 1312June 19 – One month after surrendering Scarborough Castle to the Earl of Pembroke and having his life spared, Piers Gaveston, 1st Earl of Cornwall is executed at Blacklow Hill after having been taken hostage by Guy de Beauchamp, 10th Earl of Warwick and put in a dungeon at Warwick Castle.source
• 1312July 8 – In Italy, Francesco I Pico, Lord of Mirandola, is captured at Baggiovara by Guelph rebels in Bologna, while on his way home to Mirandola after being invested by the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry VII as imperial vicar. Pico is imprisoned for the next nine months before being released to resume his Lordship.source
• 1314January 21 (3 Shawwal 713 AH) – Muhammad III of Granada, Sultan from 1302 to 1309, is murdered by being drowned in the pool of the Dar al-Kubra on orders of his brother, Sultan Nasr.source
• 1314August 14 – Scottish raiders led by Edward Bruce plunder the north-eastern counties of England in the Pennines; they are attacked at Stainmore by the English under Andrew Harclay.source
• 1317April 27 – John XXII orders the Spiritual Franciscans, including the French priest Bernard Délicieux, to come to Avignon and answer for their disobedience. Upon arrival, Délicieux is arrested and interrogated.source
• 1318January 26 – Sir Gilbert Middleton, an English knight who had rebelled against King Edward II and kidnapped the Bishop of Durham on September 1, is convicted of treason and then executed by being hanged, drawn and quartered.source
• 1318July 13 – Rashid al-Din Hamadani, the Grand Vizier of the Ilkhanate in Iran during the reign of the Mongol Ilkhan Öljaitü, is convicted of the 1316 murder of the Ilkhan, and is executed (along with his son Ibrahim Izzaddin).source
• 1318November 22 – Grand Prince Mikhail of Tver is summoned by Özbeg Khan at Sarai, the capital of the Golden Horde. After his arrival, he is executed.source
• 1319February 6 – (14 Dhu al-Hijjah 718 AH) Rumaythah ibn Abi Numayy and Sayf al-Din Bahadur al-Ibrahimi, both former Emirs of Mecca, are arrested by the incumbent Emir, Shams al-Din Aq Sunqur al-Nasiri and taken from Mecca to Cairo for imprisonment. Rumaythah is charged with having provided support to his brother, Humaydah ibn Abi Numayy and al-Ibrahimi is accused of allowing Humaydah to escape. Rumaythah is pardoned a month later after arriving in Cairo.source
• 1320July 9 – In India's Delhi Sultanate, Qutbuddin Mubarak Shah is murdered by his favourite, Khusrau Khan, who succeeds him on the throne.source
• 1320July – Shepherds' Crusade: Many followers are arrested and executed, after which there are no further incidents and the crusade disperses.source
• 1320August 4 – William II de Soules confesses to treason before the Scottish Parliament at a hearing at the "Black Parliament" session held at Scone. For the crime of conspiring against King Robert, Soules is sentenced to life imprisonment at Dumbarton Castle.source
• 1320September 5 – Delhi's Sultan Khusrau Khan, who betrayed and murdered Qutbuddin Shah earlier in the year to become ruler in India, is himself betrayed and murdered by his governor, Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq, who founds Delhi's Tughlaq dynasty. Sultan Ghiyath appoints military governors in Punjab and Sindh province, who manage to halt Mongol incursions towards the sultanate.source
• 1320October 27 – Magnus Birgersson, who had been the crown prince of Sweden until his father, King Birger was forced to flee, is beheaded by order of King Magnus Eriksson. Magnus had defended the Stegeborg Castle in 1318 to allow his father to flee to safety. When the castle surrendered, it was under the condition that Magnus would not be harmed.source
• 1322April 14 – Baron Badlesmere, another leader of the unsuccessful Contrariant attempt to overthrow King Edward II of England, is found guilty of treason at a trial in Canterbury. His death sentence is carried out later in the day.source
• 1323February 25 – The Earl of Carlisle is arrested at Carlisle Castle by the Castle's warden, Anthony de Lucy, on charges of treason and turned over to the custody of King Edward II of England.source
• 1323March 3 – The Earl of Carlisle is tried and convicted for treason, then executed later in the day. Carlisle is hanged, drawn and quartered, and parts of his body are sent to various sites in England for public display.source
• 1323December 21 – In further retaliation by the King Charles of France against King Edward of England for the Saint-Sardos incident, Edward's chief advocate in France's parliament, Pons Tournemire, is arrested and imprisoned in the Grand Châtelet.source
• 1324October 7 – (Genko 4, 19th day of 9th month) The Shōchū Incident, the plan by Japan's Emperor Go-Daigo to overthrow the Kamakura shogunate, is discovered by the shogun's security police, the Rokuhara Tandai, and persons involved (other than the Emperor) are arrested and punished.source
• 1325February 1 – Sultan Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq is murdered after a 5-year reign at Kara-Manikpur. He is succeeded by his son Muhammad bin Tughluq (Juna Khan) as ruler of the Delhi Sultanate.source
• 1325April 20 – Elizabeth de Comyn, daughter of the late Guardian of Scotland, John Comyn III of Badenoch, is forced to sign away her title to her properties in England at Painswick and at Goodrich Castle to Hugh Despenser the Elder after being kidnapped in 1324 and imprisoned in England at Pirbright.source
• 1325July 8 – (26 Rajab 725 AH) Sultan Ismail I is murdered in his palace, the Alhambra, after an 9-year reign. The attackers are captured and beheaded. Ismail is succeeded by his 10-year-old son Muhammad IV, who becomes the new ruler of the Emirate of Granada. Vizier Muhammad ibn al-Mahruq, serving as wakil (or regent), quarrels for control of the young sultan's government.source
• 1326September 15 – Dmitry, Grand Prince of Tver, is executed for the murder of Grand Duke Yuri of Moscow at Sarai on orders of Özbeg Khan, ruler of the Golden Horde that controls much of modern-day Asian Russia.source
• 1326October 27 – The day after his capture at Bristol, Hugh Despenser the Elder, the chief adviser to King Edward II of England, is dressed in his armor and hanged in public. Afterwards, Hugh's body is dismembered, with his head presented to Queen Isabella to show to others among Edward's allies.source
• 1327April 5 – Edward II is moved to Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire. He is kept under the custody of Roger Mortimer's son-in-law, Thomas Berkeley and John Maltravers, who are given £5 a day to look after him. Despite records showing luxury goods being bought for him, Edward is possibly mistreated by his captors.source
• 1327August 25 – Demasq Kaja, Viceroy of Azerbaijan and of Iraq in the Ilkhanate, the Mongol Empire's area of control in the Middle East, is killed in Soltaniyeh after trying to escape arrest on orders of the Ilkhan, Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan. Abu Sa'id had concluded that Demasq's father, Amir Chūpān, was attempting to take over the Ilkhanate.source
• 1327September 21 – Less than a year after his arrest, the former King of England, Edward II, is brutally murdered in Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire.source
• 1333June 6 – William Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster, is murdered as part of the Burke Civil War in Ireland.source
• 1344King Edward III of England introduces three new gold coins, the florin, leopard, and helm. Unfortunately, the amount of gold in the coins does not match their value of 6 shillings, 3 shillings, and 1 shilling and sixpence, so they have to be withdrawn and mostly melted down, by August of this year.source
• 1346October–November – Several Mongol towns in the Crimea are cleared of inhabitants by the Black Death.source
• 1349February 19 – Jewish persecutions during the Black Death: The entire Jewish community in the remote German village of Saulgau is wiped out.source
• 1349March 21 – Jewish persecutions during the Black Death: Erfurt massacre – The Jewish community of Erfurt (Germany) is murdered and expelled in a pogrom.source
• 1349May 28 – In Breslau, Silesia, 60 Jews are murdered following a disastrous fire which destroys part of the city.source
• 1349May – The Black Death ceases in Ireland.source
• 1350The Punta Lobos massacre is carried out by members of the powerful Chimu Empire in Peru, leaving a residue of 200 murders.source
• 1350The Black Death first appears in Scotland and Sweden.source
• 1354October 8 – Cola di Rienzo, self-proclaimed "tribune" of Rome, is killed by an angry mob.source
• 1361March 17 – An-Nasir Hasan, Mamluk Sultan of Egypt, is killed by one of his own mamluks, Yalbugha al-Umari, who, with the senior Mamluk emirs, has al-Mansur Muhammad installed as the new sultan.source
• 1362April – Sultan Muhammad V of Granada, returns to the throne after the murder of the usurper Muhammed VI.source
• 1369January 17 – Peter the Fat becomes the new King of Cyprus when his father, King Peter I, is stabbed to death while in bed at the Palace of La Cava in Nicosia. The murder is carried out by a group of noblemen, led by Philip of Ibelin, Henry of Jubail, John of Gaurelle, and James of Nores, along with some outlaws freed from imprisonment earlier in the evening.source
• 1371June 24 – In punishment for his malfeasance as regent during the reign of King David II, the property of William III, Earl of Ross at Inverness is confiscated by King Robert II.source
• 1372January 29 – John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster and the third son of England's King Edward III, begins a claim to the throne of Spain's Crown of Castile after his September 21 marriage to Princess Constance of Castile. King Pedro of Castile, who was killed by his brother, who took control as King Enrique II, in 1369.source
• 1374January 17 – In Italy, at Padua, Alvise Forzatè is arrested on charges of treason and conspiracy with his nephew Filippo Forzate, in 1373, to assassinate Francesco I da Carrara, Lord of Padua. The two men are beheaded one week later on January 24.source
• 1378Ottoman Turks capture the town of Ihtiman in west Bulgaria.source
• 1378Sa'im al-Dahr is hanged for blowing the nose off the Great Sphinx of Giza.source
• 1379January 23 – Maria, Queen of Sicily since 1377, is kidnapped from her home at the Ursino Castle in Catania by Guglielmo Raimondo III of the rival House of Moncada claimants to the throne held by the House of Aragon. The action takes place with the support of King Pero IV of Aragon, who installs his son Martin of Aragon as the Viceroy of Sicily.source
• 1380March 3 – The 4th English parliament of King Richard II adjourns, and the King gives royal assent to the Assize of Cloths Act 1379 (providing a penalty for "the aulneger that setteth his seal to faulty cloths" and to the Farming of Benefices for Aliens Act 1379 (providing that "None shall take any benefice of an alien, or convey money to him.")source
• 1380Sir William Walworth, a member of the Fishmongers Guild, becomes Lord Mayor of London for the second time.source
• 1381June 15 – Peasants' Revolt: During further negotiations, Wat Tyler is murdered by the King's entourage. Noble forces subsequently overpower the rebel army. The rebel leaders are eventually captured and executed and Richard II revokes his concessions. The revolt is discussed in John Gower's Vox Clamantis and Froissart's Chronicles.source
• 1382July 19 – Joanna of Anjou, who had been Queen of Naples until being deposed on August 25, 1381, is murdered by strangulation after being transferred in May to the prison at the Castle of Muro Lucano.source
• 1382Kęstutis, the Grand Duke of Lithuania, is taken prisoner by former Grand Duke Jogaila, whilst meeting him to hold negotiations. Kęstutis is subsequently murdered, and Jogaila regains the rule of Lithuania.source
• 1383March 16 – In France, Évrart de Trémaugon, an adviser to King Charles V, interrupts the King's dinner at the Louvre Palace and accuses Guillaume de Chamborant, the King's equerry, of the murder of Evrart's brother Yvon.Famiglietti 2015, vol.1, p.279. Charges are eventually dropped against Chamborant 16 months later and Evrart is ordered on July 30, 1484, to pay 500 Livres tournois, equivalent to more than 404 kilograms of fine silver, to Chamborant.source
• 1383September 12 – Shortly before his death, King Fernando I of Portugal creates the kingdom's first police force, the Quadrilheiros, initially consisting of 20 of the strongest men in Lisbon, and gives them the authority to arrest criminals. The concept of a city police force is expanded to other communities and becomes the basis for the Polícia de Segurança Pública.source
• 1384February 7 – Nicholas Brembre, Lord Mayor of London after defeating John Northampton's bid for re-election, arranges to have Northampton arrested on charges of sedition.source
• 1384August 16 – The Hongwu Emperor of Ming China hears a case of a couple who tore paper money notes, while fighting over them. Under the law, this is considered an act of destroying stamped government documents, which is to be punished by a caning with a bamboo rod of 100 strokes. However, the Emperor decides to pardon them, on the grounds that it was unintentional.source
• 1385March 13 – Officials in the Kingdom of Scotland discover that 700 pounds sterling of bullion has been taken from the customs collectors of Edinburgh by John Stewart, the Earl of Carrick, who diverted the funds while acting as Guardian of Scotland.source
• 1385Castello Estense in Ferrara (now in Italy)source
• 1385Bodiam Castle (East Sussex, England)source
• 1386July 25 – Elizabeth of Bosnia, mother of Queen Jadwiga of Poland is kidnapped by Croatian rebels at Gorjani, along with Jadwiga's sister, Queen consort Mary of Hungary Mary, when they are ambushed by John Horvat and his men while traviling to Dakovo. Nicholas I Garai, who had accompanied Elizabeth and Mary, is murdered and his severed head is sent by the rebels to Margaret of Durazzo, the former Queen consort of Hungary and Naples, as proof that the murderers of her husband King Charles III, have been captured.source
• 1387January 16 – Elizabeta Kotromanic, the regent of Hungary for her daughter, Queen Mary, is murdered in prison by Croatian rebels.source
• 1387November 19 – By order of the Lords Appellant, Sir Robert Tresilian, Chief Justice of the King's Bench of England, is arrested along with other nobles loyal to King Richard II, and charged with treason for malfeasance in office, with trial to take place four months later at Parliament in February.source
• 1388February 19 – Chief Justice Robert Tresilian, one of the five advisors to King Richard convicted of treason in absentia, is discovered hiding in sanctuary at Westminster and is dragged by a mob into the Parliament. Because he was already convicted, Tresilian is hanged in publicon the same day.source
• 1388February 20 – London's Lord Mayor Bembre is hanged in public at Tyburn after having been imprisoned in the Tower of London.source
• 1388November 18 – Uskhal Khan Tögüs Temür, the Emperor of the Northern Yuan dynasty in Mongolia, is killed by the Ming Chinese General Jorightu Khan Yesüder , who becomes the new Emperor.source
• 1388December 27 – At Thăng Long, Tran Ngung overthrows and kills Tran Hien as Emperor of Dai Viet (now Vietnam).source
• 1388Petru of Moldavia receives Pokuttya, as a pawn for a loan to the Polish king.source
• 1389March 14 – The unpopular Sultan Tughluq Khan of Delhi is murdered and succeeded by his brother, Abu Bakr Shah. The assassins, including Abu Bakr, kill the Sultan Tughluq and his vizier, Jahan Khan.source
• 1389June 11 – The Hättebröder, a group of German-speaking burghers during the reign of the German Albrecht as King of Sweden, arrest and imprison the Swedish mayor of Stockholm, Bertil Brun, and two other city officials, whom they hold for ransom. Brun and the other two officials become victims two weeks later of the Käpplinge murders.source
• 1389June 17 – On the night of the Feast of Corpus Christi, the Käpplinge murders (Käpplingemorden) take place in Sweden at Käpplingeholmen when 76 Swedish men are taken prisoner, convicted of treason, then burned alive in a barn.source
• 1392July 22 – After a second hearing at Nottingham Council concerning the Fleet Street riot, former London Mayor John Hende and other imprisoned city officials are assessed a fine and released from prison after posting bond to secure their return for future charges.source
• 1392September 23 – Aleid van Poelgeest, the mistress of Count Albert of Holland, is found dead at the Altena Castle in The Hague, along with the Count's chamberlain, Willem Cuser, the victim of Hook nobles who were opposed to Count Albert.source
• 1394August 15 – Two months after being captured by King Zsigmond of Hungary, the Serbian rebel Janos Horvati, is brutally executed at Pécs by dismemberment to avenge the 1387 execution of the former Queen consort of Hungary, Elizabeth of Bosnia.source
• 1396The Kart dynasty is brought to an end in east Persia after its remaining rulers are murdered at a banquet by Miran Shah.source
• 1397July 12 – King Richard II of England orders the arrest of members of a group of powerful barons known as the Lords Appellant, including Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester and Richard Fitzalan, Earl of Arundel. Gloucester is murdered while under house arrest on September 9 and Arundel is behaded on September 21.source
• 1398February 20 – The vicar John de Aston of Colston Bassett is released from incarceration at Fleet Prison in England by order of King Richard II upon the payment of mainprise or bail.source
• 1399September 1 – Richard II, though still nominally the King of England, is imprisoned by Henry Bolingbroke at the Tower of London.source