Middle Ages
Battle of Sluys (1340): Edward III's Naval Victory Over France
Decisive English victory; most of the French fleet was captured or destroyed and the threat of a French invasion of England was ended for years.
Era · c. 500 – 1500
Middle Ages
Kingdoms, crusades and plagues: the medieval world from the end of the Western Roman Empire to the fall of Constantinople.
Middle Ages
Yellow River Floods of 1344 and the Fall of the Yuan Dynasty
Years of flooding wrecked the North China Plain; the huge repair works of 1351 coincided with the outbreak of the Red Turban Rebellion.
Middle Ages
Black Death (1346–1353): The Plague That Ravaged Europe
An estimated 30–60% of Europe's population died, causing deep social, economic and religious change.
Middle Ages
Siege of Calais (1346-1347) and the Six Burghers of Calais
Calais surrendered to Edward III after eleven months and remained English until 1558.
Middle Ages
Battle of Crécy (1346): English Longbows Defeat French Knights
Decisive English victory; much of the French nobility was killed and Edward III went on to besiege and capture Calais.
Middle Ages
Stefan Dušan (1346): Serbia's Emperor and His Law Code
Dušan created the largest medieval Serbian state and issued a major law code, but his empire fragmented soon after his death in 1355.
Middle Ages
Founding of the Bahmani Sultanate (1347) in the Deccan
The Deccan broke away from the Delhi Sultanate and became an independent Muslim kingdom for nearly two centuries.
Middle Ages
Order of the Garter (1348): Edward III's Order of Chivalry
Edward III created a fellowship of 26 knights under St George that survives as Britain's highest order of chivalry.
Middle Ages
Jolof Empire: Wolof Kingdom of Medieval Senegal (c. 1350)
A Wolof confederation dominated the Senegambian coast and interior for about two centuries before its vassal kingdoms broke away.
Middle Ages
Red Turban Rebellion (1351-1368): Uprising Against the Yuan
The revolts destroyed Yuan authority south of the Yellow River and ended with Zhu Yuanzhang founding the Ming dynasty in 1368.
Middle Ages
Founding of Ayutthaya (1351): U Thong's Siamese Kingdom
Ayutthaya became the capital of a Siamese kingdom that dominated mainland Southeast Asia for four centuries.
Middle Ages
Ibn Battuta in Mali (1352): A Traveller at Mansa Sulayman's Court
Ibn Battuta's account became the only detailed eyewitness description of the medieval Mali Empire written by an outsider.