1350

Political Events

Denmark's Valdemar IV Atterdag returns home after settling his dispute with the German anti-king and finds his personal rule challenged by leading Jutland magnates, who have the support of the counts of Holstein. Rebellions will continue for the next decade (see 1360).

Sweden's Magnus II Eriksson introduces a new national law code that integrates various provincial codes. He has antagonized much of the nobility by raising taxes to acquire the wherewithal to buy the former Danish province of Skane.

Castile's Alfonso XI dies of the plague March 27 at age 38 while besieging Gibraltar, the last Spanish city still in Muslim hands. Alfonso's son, 16, will reign until 1369, ruling so harshly that he will be called Pedro the Cruel.

France's Philippe VI dies at Nogent-le-Roi August 12 at age 57 after a 22-year reign. He is succeeded by his 31-year-old son, who will reign until 1364 as Jean II largely under the domination of evil counselors.

Zürich goes to war with Austria in September as the counts of Rapperswil make renewed efforts to oust Zürich's burgomaster Rudolf Brun with backing from the House of Hapsburg (see 1336; 1351).

Rome's Cola di Rienzo emerges from hiding, reaches Prague in July, denounces the temporal power of the pope, and asks the German anti-king Charles of Luxembourg to deliver Italy from its oppressors (see 1347), but Charles imprisons Rienzo in the fortress at Raudnitz and will turn him over to the pope next year (see 1352).

Venetian admiral Niccolo Pisani leads a squadron to Constantinople and concludes an alliance with the Byzantine Empire.

Serbia's Stefan Dusan leads his forces into Bosnia but has to give up his plans for reconquering Herzegovina when supporters of the Byzantine co-emperor John VI Cantacuzenus in the Greek cities send their armies to attack him, forcing him to return to Macedonia.

Technology

A wire-pulling machine invented in Europe is an early step in the development of metallurgical technology.

Medicine

The Black Death spreads through Scotland and Wales, turning once-flourishing villages into ghost towns, but by year's end the plague has virtually disappeared in Western Europe, having killed tens of millions of people.

Education

Trinity Hall at the University of Cambridge has its beginnings in the College of the Holy Trinity of Norwich founded by William Bateman, bishop of Norwich, for scholars of canon and civil law (see Gonville and Caius, 1348). Bateman issues statutes in January and obtains royal licenses to acquire houses and land for the new college (see Corpus Christi, 1352; Trinity College, 1546).

Food Availability

The Black Death reduces population pressure on food supplies, which have been growing in England and Europe in this century, and prices drop for lack of demand (see 1349). Where a good horse brought 40 shillings in England 2 years ago it now brings only 16, while a fat ox fetches only 4 shillings, a cow 1 shilling, and fat sheep sixpence, but wheat fetches 1 shilling per quarter (eight bushels), up from as little as 16 pence in good crop years, as the dearth of field hands reduces the crop and forces many landlords to turn farmland into pasturage. The rural poor have begun to drive their cattle into deer parks and take timber from the forests, poaching game by night.

Food And Drink

Salt production takes a sharp drop in northern Europe as a result of economic conditions and of the Hundred Years' War. Poor-quality salt from Brittany's Bourgneuf Bay begins to dominate the salt fish trade as good white salt becomes too costly. Great salt deposits will soon be opened in Poland, with a Genoese firm headquartered at Kraków receiving a monopoly in Polish salt production.

Population

Europe's population falls to 40 million, down from 60 million in 1347; the plague that will be called the Black Death has extinguished one third of Europe's population in just 3 years, and in some parts of the Continent nearly two-thirds of the population have died. The population of Locarno on Lake Maggiore has fallen from 4,800 to 700.

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