Year 1348 ( MCCCXLVIII ) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar , the 1348th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 348th year of the 2nd millennium , the 48th year of the 14th century , and the 9th and pre-final year of the 1340s decade.

Events [ edit ]

January–December [ edit ]

• January – Gonville Hall, the forerunner of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge , England, is founded.
• January 25 – The 6.9-magnitude 1348 Friuli earthquake centered in Northern Italy is felt across Europe. Contemporary minds link the quake with the Black Death , fueling fears that the Biblical Apocalypse has arrived.
• February 2 – Battle of Str?va : the Teutonic Order secure a victory over the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . Sources tell of a blow to Lithuanian leadership, one that the Teutonic Order could not fully make use of due to the Black Death. ^{[1] [2]}
• April 7 – Charles University in Prague , founded the previous year by papal bull , is granted privileges by Charles I, King of Bohemia , in a golden bull . ^[3]
• April 23 – Edward III of England creates the first English order of chivalry, the Most Noble Order of the Garter .
• By June 24 – The Black Death pandemic reaches England , ^[4] having probably been brought across the English Channel by fleas on rats aboard a ship from Gascony to the south coast port of Melcombe (modern-day Weymouth, Dorset ); ^{[5] [6]} by November it will have reached London and by 1350 will have killed one third to a half of its population.
• July 6 – A papal bull is issued by Pope Clement VI , protecting Jews against popular aggression during the Black Death pandemic.
• November 1 – The anti-royalist Union of Valencia attacks the Jews of Murviedro because they are serfs of the King of Valencia and thus "royalists".
• November 18 – Emperor K?my? of Japan abdicates the throne in favour of his son Emperor Suk? , making them the second and third of the Northern Court (Ashikaga Pretenders). ^[7]

Date unknown [ edit ]

• The Black Death pandemic spreads to central and western Europe and to Cairo .
• Stefan the Mighty , Emperor of Serbia , conquers Thessaly and Epirus .
• The Pskov Republic gains independence from the Novgorod Republic with the treaty of Bolotovo .
• Hundred Years' War (1337?1360) : The effects of the Black Death cause a de facto truce to be observed between England and France until 1355 . ^[8]
• Estimation: Hangzhou in Mongolian China becomes the largest city of the world, taking the lead from Cairo , capital of Mamluk Egypt . ^[9]

Births [ edit ]

• April 11 – Andronikos IV Palaiologos , Byzantine Emperor (d. 1385 )
• date unknown
  • John Fitzalan , 1st Lord Arundel (d. 1379 )
  • Alice Perrers , politically active English royal mistress and courtier (d. 1400 )

Deaths [ edit ]

• February 2 – Narimantas , Christian Lithuanian prince of Pinsk (Battle of Str?va)
• June 9 – Ambrogio Lorenzetti , Sienese painter (Black Death) (b. 1290 )
• June 13 – Don Juan Manuel , prince of Villena, Spanish writer (b. 1282 )
• July 1 – Joan of England , princess (Black Death) (b. 1333/34)
• August 20 – Laurence Hastings, 1st Earl of Pembroke , English noble (b. 1319 )
• August 23 – John de Stratford , Archbishop of Canterbury (b. c.1275)
• October 2 – Alice de Lacy, 4th Countess of Lincoln , English noblewoman (b. 1281 )

• date unknown
  • Laura de Noves , French countess, presumed beloved of Petrarch (b. 1310 )
  • Pietro Lorenzetti , Sienese painter (Black Death) (b. 1280 )
  • Umur of Aydın , Emir (killed in action) (b. c. 1309 )
  • Giovanni Villani , chronicler of Florence (Black Death) (b. c. 1276 )

References [ edit ]