Chronology
| 1302 | Battle of Courtrai, in which Fleming militia from Bruges, Ghent, and Ypres defeat the French army of king Philip IV |
| 1309 | Pope Clement V moves the papal see from Rome to Avignon, beginning the “Babylonian Captivity” |
| 1314 | Battle of Bannockburn, in which Robert the Bruce of Scotland defeats the English army of king Edward II |
| 1315 | Battle of Mortgarten, in which the Swiss Confederation defeats the army of Duke Leopold I of Austria |
| 1315–22 | Great Famine throughout the British Isles and Northern Europe |
| 1337 | Outbreak of the Hundred Years War between England and France; king Philip VI of France confiscates the English duchy of Aquitaine in retaliation for Edward IIIs harboring of a condemned Frenchman, Robert of Artois. |
| 1340 | king Edward III of England formally assumes the title of king of France. Naval battle of Sluys, in which the English are victorious |
| 1346–47 | Battle of Crécy, in which the English army led by king Edward III defeats the French led by king Philip VI. After a year-long siege, the port of Calais falls to the English |
| 1347–53 | First outbreak of the Black Death throughout Europe; an average 50 percent of Europe’s population dies from the disease |
| 1356 | Battle of Poitiers, in which the English army led by Edward the Black Prince defeats the French and takes prisoner king John II |
| 1358 | Revolt of the Jacquerie in France |
| 1360 | Treaty of Brétigny between England and France; Edward III agrees to renounce his claim to the French throne and release John II in return for an enlarged duchy of Aquitaine held in full sovereignty and 3 million gold crowns, or £500,000 |
| 1360–63 | Second outbreak of plague in England and throughout Europe |
| 1367 | Battle of Nájera in Spain, in which Edward the Black Prince, allied with king Pedro the Cruel of Castile, defeats a Franco-Castilian army led by Henry of Trastámara |
| 1369 | Third outbreak of plague in England; resumption of war between England and France |
| 1370 | Famine in England |
| 1371-74 | Outbreak of plague in Italy |
| 1374-79 | Fourth outbreak of plague in England |
| 1377 | pope Gregory XI moves the papal see back to Rome from Avignon, ending the “Babylonian captivity” |
| 1378 | Great schism breaks out between pope Urban VI at rome and clement VII at Avignon, after the death of pope Gregory XI in rome. revolt of the ciompi in Florence |
| 1381 | peasants’ revolt in England |
| 1381-84 | outbreak of plague in italy |
| 1388-90 | outbreak of plague in italy |
| 1390-93 | Fifth outbreak of plague in England |
| 1396 | Truce to last 28 years declared between England and France at Ardres near Calais; Battle of Nicopolis, in which a crusading army of French and Hungarians is defeated by the Ottoman sultan, Bayazid I |
| 1398-1400 | Outbreak of plague in italy |
| 1400 | Outbreak of plague in England |
| 1407 | Outbreak of plague in England |
| 1409 | Council of pisa fails to resolve the Schism, adding a third pope, Alexander V to Gregory XII in rome and Benedict XIII in Avignon |
| 1413 | Outbreak of plague in England |
| 1414-18 | Council of Constance ends the Great Schism, with the election of Martin V The Bohemian reformer, Jan Huss, is burned at the stake |
| 1415 | Battle of Agincourt, in which an English army led by Henry V defeats the French |
| 1419 | Outbreak of the Hussite Wars in Bohemia |
| 1420 | Treaty of Troyes between England and France; Henry V of England is made regent and heir to the French throne. Outbreak of plague in England |
| 1423 | Outbreak of epidemic disease, perhaps plague, in England |
| 1426-29 | Outbreaks of epidemic disease, perhaps plague, in England |
| 1429 | Joan of Arc raises the English siege of Orléans in France and defeats the English army at battle of patay. charles VII is formally crowned king of France at reims |
| 1431 | After a five-month trial, Joan of Arc is burned at the stake in rouen |
| 1433-35 | Outbreaks of plague and famine in England |
| 1434 | Battle of Lipany, in which the radical Hussites are defeated, bringing an end to the Hussite Wars |
| 1437-41 | Outbreak of famine throughout Europe |
| 1453 | Battle of castillon, in which the English are defeated by France, bringing an end to the Hundred Years War; Constantinople is besieged and taken by Ottoman sultan, Mehmed II |
| 1455 | Outbreak of the War of the roses, a civil war in England between followers of Henry VI (Lancastrians or “red rose”) and those of richard, duke ofYork (Yorkists or “White rose”) |
| 1463-64 | Outbreaks of plague in England |
| 1467 | Outbreak of plague in England |
| 1473 | Outbreak of the “flux,” probably dysentery, in England |
| 1475 | Outbreak of the “French pox,” perhaps gonorrhea, among the English soldiers of king Edward IV in France |
| 1477 | Battle of Nancy, in which Charles the Bold, duke of Burgundy, is defeated and killed by the Swiss Confederation and the forces of René, duke of lorraine |
| 1479-80 | A particularly severe outbreak of plague in England |
| 1485 | Battle of Bosworth, in which Richard III of england is defeated by his rival, Henry Tudor, bringing to a close the War of the roses; outbreak of the “sweat” in London and east Anglia |
| 1492 | Fall of Granada, last Moorish city in Spain, to Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile; voyage of Christopher Columbus to America |
| 1494 | Charles VIII of France invades Italy in pursuit of French claims to the kingdom of Naples |
Map – The Path of Black Death over Europe
