Middle Ages
Kalmar Union (1397): Margaret I Unites Scandinavia
Denmark, Norway and Sweden were joined under a single monarch; Sweden broke away for good in 1523, while Denmark and Norway stayed united until 1814.
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
Medici Bank (1397): How a Florentine Family Built a Fortune
The Medici Bank became one of the largest businesses in 15th-century Europe and funded the Medici family's rise to power in Florence.
Middle Ages
Timur's Sack of Delhi (1398): Ruin of the Tughluq Capital
Timur defeated the Tughluq army and sacked Delhi; the Delhi Sultanate was left fragmented and the Tughluq dynasty soon ended.
Middle Ages
Jingnan Campaign (1399–1402): The Yongle Emperor Seizes Power
Zhu Di captured Nanjing in July 1402, the Jianwen Emperor disappeared, and Zhu Di took the throne as the Yongle Emperor.
Middle Ages
Owain Glyndŵr's Rising (1400): The Last Welsh Prince of Wales
The revolt briefly made Owain master of most of Wales but was crushed by 1409; Owain disappeared and became a Welsh national hero.
Middle Ages
Founding of the Malacca Sultanate (c. 1400): Parameswara
Malacca became the main entrepot of the Strait of Malacca and a centre for the spread of Islam until the Portuguese conquest of 1511.
Middle Ages
Battle of Ankara (1402): Timur Defeats Sultan Bayezid I
Decisive Timurid victory; Bayezid I was captured and the Ottoman state fell into a decade of civil war.
Middle Ages
Yongle Encyclopedia (1403–1408): Ming China's Giant Compendium
A manuscript compendium of 22,877 chapters in 11,095 volumes was completed; it was never printed, and fewer than 4 per cent of its volumes survive today.
Middle Ages
Zheng He's Treasure Voyages (1405–1433): Ming China at Sea
Seven state-sponsored expeditions spread Ming prestige and the tribute system across the Indian Ocean, then ended abruptly after 1433 and were never repeated.
Middle Ages
Temple of Heaven, Beijing (1406–1420): Ming Imperial Altar
A great sacrificial complex was completed in 1420 and, after major remodelling in the 16th and 18th centuries, served for nearly 500 years as the empire's chief altar to Heaven.
Middle Ages
Forbidden City (1406–1420): Building the Ming Imperial Palace
A vast walled palace complex was completed in 1420 and served as the seat of Chinese emperors until 1912; it became the Palace Museum in 1925.
Middle Ages
Ming Tombs and Changling: The Yongle Emperor's Burial Site
Changling became the first and largest tomb of an imperial necropolis where 13 Ming emperors were eventually buried.