Political Events

Norway's Haakon V dies May 8 at age 48 (approximate) after a 20-year reign in which he has warred intermittently with Denmark and Sweden, built fortresses in the Oslo (Kristiania) area, and regained at least some of the royal power lost by his late brother to the higher nobility and clerics, but his support of Scotland in opposition to England has opened the way for commercial domination of his country by Hanseatic traders; his 3-year-old grandson Magnus is recognized as ruler of both Norway and Sweden (his mother, Ingeborg, is married to the Swedish duke Erik, brother of Sweden's deposed king Birger Magnusson). The youth will spend almost all of his time in Sweden, and a regency will control his two realms until he comes of age in 1332 and begins his personal 42-year reign as Magnus II Eriksson.

Denmark's Erik VI (Menved) dies November 13 at age 45 after a 33-year reign. His 42-year-old brother assumes the throne as Kristoffer II Eriksson, but the Danes make their new king sign a strict charter, making him the first monarch to accept the hof (parliament) as a permanent institution independent of his personal supporters. Kristoffer will not abide by the charter (see 1326).

Environment

An Armenian earthquake shatters the once glorious city of Ani, whose people suffered at the hands of Mongol raiders in the last century (see politics, 961); the city will eventually be abandoned.

Agriculture

A cattle plague strikes England, forcing farmers in some places to use horses in place of oxen for plowing, the horses being immune to the disease.

Food And Drink

Sugar reaches England for the first time by some accounts, having arrived in exchange for a shipment of wool (but see 1226). It will be used later in this century to preserve Chinese ginger, flavor cooked partridges, and candy orange peel (see 1456; Denmark, 1324).

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