AD1400

AD1400-1+

W:gh 13, 35, 123, 144, 147, 26, 36, 23

##By this time the city of Begho on the edge of the rain forest in Ghana had developed into the principal export mecca for the fold from the Akan gold fields.  Archaeologists have identified 1500 mounds across a site covering 375 hectares at Begho that date over the course of the next three centuries.  The export market in gold attracted a variety of ethnic groups to Begho. Among the ethnic groups segregated into different quarters were the Akan-speaking Bong people, the Muslim Kramo from what is now Mali, the Dwinfuor, who made up much of the artisan class in Beghho, and the Nyarko, who consisted of a variety of smaller ethnic groups.  Limited self-government within each quarter helped maintain order in this market town.  Among the crafts practiced in this town were ivory working, textiles, dying, ceramics, and metallurgy. 

Iron working and ivory working centers also developed at Dapaa and Kulo Kataa within 30 kilometers of Begho.  Other towns that developed in southern Ghana during this period were Akrokowa and Kumasi.  (DT13 O94 2013 pp. 860, 866-67)#

AD1400-2+

W}W:bf 114, W:bf 1223, 447

##The Dagara (Dagaaba) people migrated to their current location within Burkino Faso at about this time and established small scale agricultural communities, growing millet, sorghum, and yams.  The earth shrine, called a tengan is the spiritual center of each community.  Each shrine is linked to a mother shrine.  The powers in one shrine can be transferred to another by carrying a stone in the mother shrine to a new location.  (DT13 O94 2013 p. 167)(Wikipedia: Dagaare, Dagaaba)#

AD1400-3+

W:ma 138, 114, 11, 13

##The city of Jenne-Jeno in what is now Mali evacuated its location at the convergence of the Niger and Bani Rivers and re-located away from the rivers at its current location.  (DT13 )94 2013 p. 837)#

AD1400-4+

W:ni 144, 18

##At about this time the Hausa site of Kufan Kanawa was constructed.  This included a walled enclosure six kilometers long.  The walls of the site were constructed on stone slabs and the site was proctected further by breastworks.  Kufan Kanawa is considered to be the ancestral city of the modern city of Kano.  Other Hausa towns were also fortified. (DT13 O94 2013 p. 852)(F283 K437 2009 p. 250)#.  

AD1400-5+

W:ni 16, 1466, 11, W}W:be 68

##At the height of its power of Benin City extended as far east as the Sabe territory in what is the modern country of Benin. Later during this century the Yoruba city of Ile-Ife reached the peak of its population at about this time with an estimated population of 70,000 to 150,000 people.  The Yoruba people of what is now Nigeria were divided into many petty kingdoms at this time.  These kingdoms were modeled after the Ife kingdom of what is now Benin.  (DT13 O94 2013 pp. 863, 865)#

AD1400-6+

W:co 16, 13, 135, 1223, 35, WZ 35

##In what is now the eastern region of Congo-Kinshasa, three kingdoms emerged during this century.  These were Biga, Munsa, and Kibengo.  These decentralized towns were divided by ditches, which appear to have been used for coraling cattle and other livestock.  Archaeologists have found no evidence of class distinctions in these communities.  There is also no evidence of trade with the Swahili coast.  (DT13 O94 2013 p. 714)# 

AD1400-7+

W:an 16, 1223, 23, 35, 13, 447, 344, 356, 144

##During the Fifteenth Century the kingdomsof Kongo and Loango, were established south of the Congo River along the western coast of Africa.   The economic basis of each of these kingdoms was agricultural, but they also produced iron in their own furnaces and copper was a significant commodity that was traded. 

The kingdom of Kongo, just south of what is now the Congo border in Angola, was the largest of the two states, extending over 150,000 square kilometers.  Achaeologists have identified three locations where the elite were buried in this kingdom: Mbanza Mbata, located where the modern city of Kinshasa is today; Mbanza Soyo, which was located in what is now Angola; and Mbanza Kongo (Sao Salvador), which was located in what is now northern Angola.  Mbanza Kongo was the capital and had a population of about 40,000 at the time the Portuguese made contact. 

Small shells ncalled nzimbu (Olivancillaria nana) were used as currency in Kongo.  These shells, collected on the coast near Luanda, were used throughout the Congo basin as currency, circulating among some 500 ethnolinguistic groups.  A hoard of 20,000 nzimbu shells was found in a pot excavated at Kinshasa. 

The Kingdom of Loango, which was founded by the Vih people, was ruled by a matrilineal dynasty.  Ther rulers were considered sacred.  The Loango people exchanged copper for fish, sea slat and palm products.  (DT13 O94 2013 pp. 712, 875, 877)#

AD1400-8+

Z:sa 23

##Khoe pottery emerged as the prominent pottery in the Seacrow Valley of southern Africa at this time.  (DOI: 10:2307/3888314 44: 139 (June 1989) pp. 3-16)#

AD1400-9+

Z:sa 144, 127, 1223

##An archaeological site at Moor Park in South Africa, believed to have been inhabited by ancestors of the Nguni, dates from about this time.  The simple earthen houses and grain-storage bins with a frame of twigs and thatched roofs were laid out in a circulat plan, divided by low stone walls.  The remains of iron tools, fish, and game have been found there.  Menlo Park ceramics are called Umgazana ceramics in the  Eastern Cape region.  (DT13 O94 2013 p. 933)(DT20 G463 1981 4: 4:  234)#

AD1400-10+

Z:md 138, EM}Z:md 114

##The city of Mahilaka in northern Madagascar began to decline at this time.  The so-called Zafiraminia, immigrants who claimed direct descent from Ramina (Ramini) arrived in Madagascar no later than this time.  An important clan, they claim to have come from the island of Ramni (Sumatra) by way of Mecca.  (DT13 O94 2013 p. 948)(DS135 A25 B78 2008 p. 127)(CB69 H59 1994 4: 1277)#

AD1400-11+

Z:zi 123, 447, 23, 344~, 447~, 477~, 3577~,3356, 35 Z:bo 13, Z:mo 13, 3356, Z:sa 13

##The city of Great Zimbabwe, located within the modern country of the same name, reached the peak of its size at about this time, covering about 700 hectares and encompassing about 20,000 people.  Although the purpose of each of the various structures are really clear, there is a consensus that this city included palaces for the elite, ritual centers, and a larger area for artisans and other commoners.

            The so-called Great Enclusure of Great Zimbabwe is 244 meters long and about 5 meters wide.  At its greatest point it is 10 meters high.  The solid conical tower of Zimbabwe is its most striking feature.  There are also five more stone enclosures to the north east and east of the Great Enclosure.  All of these walls were constructed without mortar.

            During the African colonial period European scholars could not believe that these great walls had been erected by indigenous Africans.  Among the proposals put forward to explain the phenomenon was that the ruins were the ancient kingdom of Sheba.  It was even proposed that the Phoenicians constructed the walls, but subsequent investigation showed that the walls were not old enough for these proposals to be correct.  The Rhodesian government promoted the idea that the ruins of Great Zimbabwe were constructed by invaders, but the contemporary view is that it was constructed by the Shona people. 

            However, there is still no conclusion concerning the purpose of the various components of the city.  According to one theory the Western Enclosure was the palace of the king and the Eastern Enclosure was a ritual center used for circumcision.  Symbols in the Eastern Enclosure are said to have represented different age sets.  According to this same theory the Valley Enclosure was the residence of the wives and children of the king.   A second theory asserts that the various enclosures were built for different rulers in succession.    One of the roles of the Zimbabwean king was to insure adequate rainfall within his kingdom, practicing the traditional rain-making cult of previous communities like Schroda, K2, and Mapungubwe. Among the interesting artifacts fournd at Zimbabwe are birds that look like raptors carved out of soapstone.  These birds symbolized the role of ancestors in intermediation between man and gods. 

            Evidently, Zimbabwe was a political and religious center supported by the export of gold, ivory, and iron.  Althought the need for fuel at Zimbabwe left environmental damage on the nearby area, the knowledge of operating the iron works in Great Zimbabwe was transportable to other locations.  The industry  continued and possibly improved before the European colonial period. 

At the time the British invaded Zimbabwe in he late Nineteenth Century the Njanja iron and steel works in the Megangara capital of Neshangwe of the Zimbabwe plateau were an impressive operation, operating about 20 furnaces during the dry season when both male and female employees worked in shifts.  Each furnace had 2 or 3 pairs of tuyeres to feed oxygen into the ovens after thery were preheated. The Njanja iron works acquired haematite from the Wedza Mountains, where there is evidence that thousands of tons or iron ore was extracted.  The Njanja operation was a vertical monopoly in control of mining, production, as well as distribution and the one of their customers was the Portuguese colongy in  Mozambique. 

In other parts of southern Africa beyond the reach of the Njanja operation, the bloom furnances in high level smelters were considered to be like the womb of a fertile woman.  Above the opening to the furnace, the smelter was shaped to take on the feature os the female anatomy, including a navel and breasts. The operator at the smelter at Chishinga in what is now Zambia was expected to abstain from sex with his wife while operating the smelter because to do so would be adulterous and jeopardize the quality of the bloom.   It is not yet clear how the iron works at Great Zimbabwe in the Fourteenth Century compared to these examples of Nineteenth Century production.   

The most important export from Zimbabwe was its gold, but the state also exported copper, tin, and  ivory, which were transported to the Islamic world by way of the port of Sofala.  Muslim or South Asian glass beads and Chinese porcelain excavated at Great Zimbabwe were among the most inotable imports.  The porcelain  eating vessels from China are believed to have been made for a royal family rather than for merchants.  Persian ceramics and stoneware have also been excavated.  Cloth was also imported to Great Zimbabwe.  The coins found in Zimbabwe were minted in Kilwa. 

Great Zimbabwe was the largest of several hundred urban centers located in what is now Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique, and South Africa during this period, but few of these sites have been excavated. Based upon the distribution of these sites it seems evident that the territory of this interior African kingdom extended to the confluence of the Save and Runde Rivers and to the plains of Mozambique.  (DT13 O94 2013 pp. 168, 170, 696, 919-922)(DT 20 C28 3: 155, 183, 184, 189, 204-208, 210-211, 218, 583-92)(DT13 O94 2013 pp. 26, 54, 137-39, 166, 255, 711)(DOI: 10.2307/20474922  Vol. 61; No. 184 (December 2006) pp. 142-51)#

AD1400-12+

Z:za 23, 3577, 447~

##An excavation at the Makwe Rock Shelter in southern Zambia has uncovered evidence of iron artifacts there, including an iron axe and iron arrowheads.  The remains of cattle and wild goats found there was that of wild animals rather than domesticated.  The rock art at Makwe includes stock figures to represent people and spread-eagle designs, the later of which is associated with Chewa purberty rites for girls.  Other paintings of masked men and animals are associated with traditional male hunting ceremonies.   (GN 861 B37 2008 pp. 218-19)(DT352.65 B57 1981 p. 10)(DT13 O94 2013 p. 882)#

AD1400-13+

Z:za 23, 16

##Production of copper from a mine north of the Solwezi River in what is now Kansanshi, Zambia greatly increased at this time.  A kingdom was established by the operators of this mine.  Other copper mining operations were established at nearby Kipushi and Bwana Mkubwa, where those in control also established dynasties.  (DT13 O94 2013 p. 880)(CC70 K56 2000 p. 270)#  

AD1400-14+

Z}Z:ma 144, 23

##The Maravi people invaded the area now known as Malawi and introduced Mawudzu ware pottery.  Examples of Mawudzu ware have been excavated at Mwamasapa and Mbande Hill. Kapeni (Luanga) pottery continued to be produced in the area. (DT13 O94 2013 p. 881)(DT3169 C76 2012 p. 3)#

AD1400-15+

Z:ta 1223, 127, 144, 36, 344

##Engaruka, a site in Arusha province in what is now northern Tanzania that is noted for its terraces and stone irrigation complex, has been dated to about this time.  Stone blocks were cut to channel water from highland craters.  Cattle manure was used to fertilize the crops.  About 1750 habitation platforms can be identified over an area of about 37 hectares.  An estimated 3000 to 5000 people inhabited the site for the next 3000 years before it was abandoned.  Later historical records show that the rights to water distribution at Engaruka are believed to have bee decided by local councils of elders called kokwa.  

The Engaruka people were unique.  Other farming communities in nearby Kenya, such as the Pokot, Marakwet, and Elgeyo, did not develop irrigation systems.  Like their neighbors who contained their cattle in Sirikwa Holes, the resident of Engaruka appear to have been an egalitarian society.  Their burials show little evidence of class divisions.  The identity of the people who constructed this complex is a mystery.  (DT13 O94 2013 pp. 676-77, 728)(Wikipedia: Engaruka)# 

AD1400-16+

Z:ke 144, 23, 1223, Z}Z:ke 114, Z}Z:ta 114, Z:ke 35, 344, 2557, Z:ta 35, 344, 2557

##The Maasi Mara iron smelting site dates from about this time.   This furnace had a triangular shape with a tuyere to blow air into the chamber at each corner.  The deceased at Maasi mara were buried beneath stone cairns.  The number of deceased beneath each stone cairn varied from one to several. 

            During the Fifteenth Century a Nilo-Saharan people called the Maasai (Maa) migrated south with their cattle from Sudan into the Great Rift Valley of Kenya and Tanzania.  Due to their superior weaponry, they displaced other peoples in this region, who kept their cattle in the Sirikwa Holes.  They also displaced the Waata of Kenya and the click-speaking Hadza (Hadzabe) and the Sandawe, both of whom were hunters and gatherers in Tanzania.

Unlike the rock art of the Sandawe, which is brushed stroked, the art of the cattle herding Maasai is finger painted.  Most frequently Maasi art depicts images of long or short horned cattle.  The shield of the Maasai is also frequently depicted.  Some of the art of the Maasai can be assocaiated with feasting. 

Over the next several hundred years there was some genetic assimilation between the Maasai and the indigenous hunters and gatherers, as demonstrated by the ability of many foraging Hadza to drink milk.  The Waata, who hunt with poisonous arrows in the arid bush of southwestern Kenya,  exchange rock crystal, rhinocerous, skins, ivory, and other commodities fro grain and metal.  Desptie the trade, the Maasai look down aupon the foragers as their inferiors. The word used by the Maasai to refer to the foragers they replaced was Toroboni.  This word became Wandorobo in Swahili and today it is Dorobo.  (GN 861 B37 2008 p. 412)(DT13 O94 2013 pp. 153-54, 468, 598, 732)(Wikipedia: Hadzabe; Maasai)#   

AD1400-17+

WZ:ug 4579, 16, 18, 13, 1223

##A popular legend that a great empire centered upoin the Lake District of Africa ruled the modern countries of Uganda, Congo and Tanzania is set in this time period.  It is also known as the Kitara and the Bachwezi Empire.  At one time Bigo bya Mugenyi, a site 13 kilometers north of Ntusi within the southern portion of the modern country of Uganda was proposed to be the center of this empire. An archaeological dig at this site found only a very small habitation area within the center of the earthwork, too small to be a capital.  More significantly archaeological evidence indicates that a single empire ever ruled such a large area in central Africa at this time or any other. .

            Nonetheless the theory remains popular and there are a couple of other places in the Lake district that have been proposed as its capital.  Ditches that were over four meters deep surrounding a site about 100 hectares in area and a full kilometer in diameter have been excavated at Ntusi, also within the southern portion of the modern kingdom of Uganda.  This may have been the site of a capital of a small pastoral society in which wealth was based upon a display of cattle, but there is no evidence that there was a consistent culture beyond a short distance. (DT13 O94 2013 pp. 695, 893)(Wikipedia: Empire of Kitara)# 

AD1400-18+

E:ye 69

##Nasir Ahmad b. Ash’ari Isma’il ascended to the Rasulid throne of Yemen.  (DT 20 C28 3: 154)#

AD1400-19+

KM 66, K’E:eg 689, K}M{M:le} 68

##An ambassador that Timur of Samarkand sent to Cairo was assassinated.  Timur responded by invading the Mamluk territory in Syria. (DS272 C34 1986 6: 75)(D117 N48 1995 6: 965)#

AD1400-20+

MEI 135, 133

##Suriving records indicate that the most profitable commercial voyages in Europe at this time were the those that traded with Alexandria.  (D117 N48 1995 6: 185)#

AD1400-21+

K}K’M{M:le} 68, 28, 138, K{M:le} 116, 223, K’M{M:le} 135, M}K:tu 114, M’K:tu 223, M:le 5579

##Timur of Samarkhand invaded northern Syria and met a Mamluk army under Faraj.  Using elephants from India and Greek fire, he defeated Faraj outside Aleppo, but Faraj defeated Timur when Timur attacked Damascus.   After Faraj returned to Cairo, Timur took Damascus and he destroyed the cities of Aleppo, Damascus and Hims.  The skulls of the dead Sunnis were stacked in pyramids.  Although the Mongol occupation of Syria was only temporary, Timur destroyed the communication system and the region was ruined economically.  Timur sent the most skilled craftsmen back to Samarkhand. (DG 311 G56 1946 3: 664-65)(DT 20 C28 3: 55)(DS 35.6 C3 1: 220)(TA 16 H55 1984 p. 87)#

cAD1400-22+

M:ag 5579, 77

##The Psalter of Rodomir and the Sopov/Karadimon Psalter that were produced by Bulgarian monks in the monasteries of Mt. Athhos near the Aegean Sea cannot be accurately dated because the authors included no dates, but historians have dated the Psalter of Radomir estimate that it was written by at sometime in the late Thirteenth Century and that the Sopov/Karadimon Psalter was written and illustrated sometime in the Fourteenth Century. The monk who worte the two-volume Radomir Psalter identified himself as Wrongful Radomir and is known to have been active in Zograft Monastery.  The Sopov/Karadimov Psalter was also a Bulgarian and is held by the National Library of Sophia. (D117 N48 1995 5: 792)(bibliophia.eu/radomirov-psaltir; kb.osu.edu)#

AD1400-23+

M:ag 3468, 18

##Catalan and Basque pirates in the Aegean seized the island of Naxos and used it as a base of their operations.  The Latin inhabitants to the island were drafted to serve as oarsmen. (D117 N48 1995 7: 806)#

AD1400-24+

M:ad 133, 35

##A report in the Venetian Senate estimated the value of merchandise in the Greek port of Patras on the southern coast of the Gulf of Corinth to be approximate 80,000 ducats.  (D117 N48 1995 6: 833)#

AD1400-25+

M 66, 4467, M}M:ag 166

##In expectation of an Ottoman offensive, Theodore of Morea offered submission to Venice in return for naval support.  Venice refused to offer because of their profitable relations with the Ottoman Empire.  Next Theodore offered Corinth, Kalavryta, and Mistra to the Hospitallers, who in return for these prizes agreed to return to the Morea for the first time in seventeen years.  Due to the uncompromising Catholicism of the Hospitallers, there was Greek resistance to their occupation of Mistra and Kalavryta.  The the accounts of this resistance in Kalavryta are too varied to go beyond saying that, but in Mistra the Hospitallers were clearly met with armed resistance.  (DR39 F57 1987 p. 432)#

AD1400-26+

M:ad 69, B}M:ad 68

##The Albanian chieftain John Bova Spata of Arta died and was succeeded by Sgouros Bova Spata.  He was soon driven out of Arta by Vango, a warlord of Serbian, Albanian, and Bulgarian ancestry.  Sgouras retreated to Anelokastron on the island of Corfu.  (DR39 F57 1987 p. 355)# 

AD1400-27+

M{M:ba} 699, M{M:ba} 368,

##Florentine merchants paid a high raneome to the Zenevisi Albanians for the release of their fellow Florentine, Esau de Buondelmonte of Jannina.  He was then able to return to Jannina, where he was liked and continued to rule there for another decade.  (DR39 F57 1987 p. 355)# 

AD1400-28+

M:ad 77

##The earliest known work of the Venetian artist Jocobello of Fiore is a crucifixion painting in the Toledo Musuem of Art that depicts the event in a crowded street.  Withall the action it is not immediately obvious that Jesus is proportionately larger than the people who stand below.  (D117 C34 1969 8: 764)(Wikipedia: Jocobello of Fiore)#

AD1400-29+

BM:ad 2469

##Doge Antonio Veniero of Venice was succeeded by Michele Steno.  (DG 646 H43 1: 742)#

AD1400-30+

M:ad 66, 345, M{M:ad}4467, 345

##The Bosnian king Ostoja and a prominent noble Hrvoje Vukcic of Danj Kraji filed a complaint before  the city of Dubrovnik that Bosnian Chrisitans were being sold there as slaves.  Although trading in Catholic slaves was illegal in Dubrovnik there was no prohibition there on the selling of Bosnian Christians to serve as slaves elsewhere.  (DR39 F57 1987 p. 463)#

AD1400-31+

M:ad 1336, 223

##The Republic of Venice began to produce a galley with two masts that was more adapted to the needs of sailing than previous models of a merchant ship.  Despite the improvements in navigation, 170 oarsmen out of a total crew of 250 men were still hired per ship.  However, the ships constructed in Genoa and Barcelona were larger, more efficient at sailing, required smaller crews, and led to higher profits than those produced in the government shipyards of Venice at this time.  (D117 N48 1995 6: 184)# 

AD1400-32+

M:ad 135, 3468, 18, M:ba 135, 3468, 18

##Due to continual problems with highway robbery on the road across the Appenines from Bologna to Florence, the road that crossed the Appenines that ran through Cisna Gap was replaced by a new road through Giogo Pass policed by garrisons stationed at Scarperta and Firenzuola.  (D117 N48 1995 6: 172)#

AD1400-33+

BM 66

##Following his visit to Venice, where he sought aid for a renewed crusade againt the Turks, the Byzantine emperor Manuel II visited Padua, Vicenza, Pavia, and Milan.  In the city of Milan he met with Galeazzo Visconti and his frend the Greek scholar Manuel Chrysoloras.  (D117 C32 1966 4: 1: 377)( Wikipedia: Manuel II Palaiologos)#

AD1400-34+

M}M:ty 68

##The Hafsid caliph Abu Faris of Tunis drove the Banu Yamlul back out of Tuzar.  (DT194 A23 1987 p. 130)#

cAD1400-34+

M:ty 5579, 77, 124, P}M:ty 124, 1457 

##An illuminated manuscript called the Tacuinum Sanitatis, an Arabic translation of the Eleventh Arabic treatise Taqwim as-Sihha (Maintenance of Health), dates from no later than this time. It was translated into Latin in either Palermo or Naples. Currently held by the Biblioteca Casanatense in Rome, it is considered to have the best illustrations of a number of many of the original Arabic work by Ibn Butlan of Baghdad. (D117 N48 1995 6: 168)(Wikipedia: Tacuinum Sanitatis)#

cAD1400-35+

M:ty 1223, 1248

##There was a crop failure and famine in the Papal States this year that caused the population of Viterbo to decline from 10,000 to 6600.  A half century passed before the city recovered. (D117 N48 1995 7: 571)#

AD1400-36+

ABM:ty 5667, 447

##Pope Boniface IX of Rome declared a Jubilee, ten years after the Jubilee declared by his rival, the antipope Clement VII of Avignon.   (BX955.3 C68 2003 p. 303)#

AD1400-37+

M:ty 66, M}M:ty 166, M}M:ba 166, M{M:ty} 66

##Due to internal problems within the city of Perugia, a faction of city leaders invited Giangaleazzeo of Milan  to extend his authority there.  He stationed a Milanese garrison there. After the fall of Perugia, Paolo Guinigi of Lucca, and the towns of Assisi and Spoleto also chose to recognize Giangaleazzo as their protector. 

The city of Florence was so alarmed at the expansion of Giangaleazzo’s suzerainty at this point that it offered 200,000 florins to Rupert of the Palatinate, the recently elected King of the Romans, to intervene in Italy to contain the ambitions of Giangaleazzo.  Florrence also promised Rupert an additional 200,000 florins after the first four months of his campaign against Giangaleazzo. (D117 C31 1964 7: 72)(D117 N48 1995 6: 486)#

AD1400-38+

M:ty 5579, 4456

##The Italian jurist Baldus de Ubaldi (Ubaldis) of Perugia died this year aged about seventy-two.  A student of Cino of Pistoia, he taught law at  Florence, Padua, and Pavia and wrote commentaries on the Sixth Century Byzantine works Codex Justinianus and the Digesta sui Pandectae), which were still in use in Italy and most other European countries at this time.  Ubaldis upheld the legitimacy of the Viscontis of the duchy of Milan arguing that the King of the Romans Wenceslas IV of Bohemia had the legal authority he called plenitude potestats to appoint rulers while he was King of the Romans. (D117 N48 1995 7: 18-19)(D117 N48 1995 6: 76)(D117 C3 1926 5: 740)(Wikipedia: Baldus de Ubaldis)#

AD1400-39+

M:ty 1279

##The lighthouse of Genoa was renovated so that part of it could be used as a prison.  (D117 N48 2004 4: 1: 73)(Wikipedia: Lighthouse of Genoa)#

AD1400-40+

M:ba 77

##The Italian sculptor Jacopo del Quercia created his marble statue known as the Madonna of Humility for the city of Siena at about this time. In the earliest known example of a marble statue by this sculptor, the Virgin Mary is portrayed sitting on the floor with the baby Jesus reaching up to her ample bosom. Located in the National Museum of Art in Washington, this statue is his earliest known surviving work.

There are also a couple of wooden statues that date from the earliest period of Quercia’s career.  On of them is a carving of an equestrian found in the woodshed of the Parish Church of San Cassino di Controni.  Carved out of lime wood, the rider is young and clean shaven.  The other equestrian wooden statue is associated with the funeral of Azzo Ubaldini. (D117 C31 1969 8: 768-69)(Wikipedia: Jacopo del Quercia)(Museum of San Cassiano de Controne)#

AD1400-40+

M:ba 5579, M:ad 5579

##Manuel Chrysoloras, the Greek chair of the University of Florence, left Florence and went on a wider tour of Italy, lecturing in Milan, Padua, Venice, and Rome. He used a question and answer method derived from Manuel Moschopoulos’ work Erotomata grammaticalia to teach the classical Greek language. (D117 C31 1964 7: 759)(Wikipedia: Manuel Chrysoloras)#

AD1400-41+

M:ba 1248, 11, 223, 133

##The city of Florence was afflicted with another wave of the bubonic plague, which killed 40 to 50 victims per day in July with a total of 11,000 burials.  There were reports of 20,000 total deaths in Florence.  By the time this wave finished playing out in Florence the population of the city was down 22% from what it had been at the conclusion of the first wave of the bubonic plague in 1347-1351 and down 50% from what it had been prior to the first wave of the bubonic plague. 

Similar population losses appear to have taken place throughout Tuscany, including Genoa, Siena, Lucca, and Perugia. The industrial production of woolen textiles, fustian textiles, majolica, paper, and soap also declined in these cities.  During the same half-century the populations of Milan and Venice increased rather than declined and in those cities the number of people employed in these industries actually increased rather than declined. (D117 N48 1995 6: 133, 138, 207)#

AD1400-42+

M:ba 5579, 26, 133

##Leonardo Bruni of Florence wrote Laudatio florentinae urbis, in which he praised his city for its constitution, republican values, splendor, and destiny.  (D117 N48 1995 7: 24)#

AD1400-43+

M:ba 5579, 369, 2466

##The humanist scholar Coluccio Salutati of Florence wrote De tyranno (On the Tyrant), in which he condemned dictatorial regimes, but at the same time recommended a universal benevolent monarch rather than an electoral system to choose leaders.  (D117 N48 1995 7: 263-64)(Wikipedia: Coluccio Salutati)#

cAD1400-44+

M:ba 5579

##The Florentine poet and short story author Franco Sacchetti died this year aged in his sixties.  Some 258 of his short stories have survived.  The most popular ones are humorous. During his career he wrote poems in praise of Bernado Visconti of Milan, but other poems criticized him. (D117 N48 1995 6: 452)(Wikipedia: Franco Sacchetti)#

AD1400-45+

AM:ba 2466

##Philip the Bold of Burgundy summoned an assembly of all three estates together into an estates general of his possessions.  (D117 N48 1995 7: 53)#

AD1400-46+

M:ba 1279

##Construction of the Gothic cathedral of Huesca was begun.  (AE 5 E363 1966 11: 863)#

AD1400-47+

A:hs 2457, 477

##A school of theology was established in the University of Lisbon in Portugal.  This undermined the dogmatic authority of the University of Paris.  (D117 N48 1995 6. 71)#  

AD1400-48+

ABM 2457, 344, M:ad 2457, M:ty 2457, M:ba 2457, A:hs 2457, A:st 2457, A:ga 2457, A:mr 2457, B:da 2457, A:ba 2457, A:st 2457, A:st 2457, A:st 2457

##By this time there were over thirty Latin-speaking universities established in Latin Europe, including 9 in Italy (Bologna, Florence, Naples, Padua, Pavia, Perugia, Piazenza, Pisa, and Siena), ; 3 in Aragon (Lerida, Huesca, and Perpignan), 2 in Castile (Salamanca, and Valladolid); 2 in Portugal (Lisbon and Coimbra); 7 in France (Paris, Avignon; Toulouse, Montpellier, Cahors, Grenoble), 2 in England (Oxford and Cambridge); 4 in Germany and Austria (Vienna, Heidelberg, Cologne, and Erfurt); 1 in Bohemia (Prague), 1 in Hungary (Buda); and 1 in Poland (Krakow). 

            Despite repeated outbreaks of the bubonic plague and other challenges universities generally grew in the during the late medieval period.  This was partly due to the Great Schism, which hurt the credibility of the Papacy and inspired charitable contributions to the universities as an alternative. The University of Paris had about 4000 students by this time and Oxfored had about 1500 students. The Universities of Avignon, Prague, and Toulouse each had over a 1000. Angiers, Cambridge, Montpellier, and Orleans each had over 700 students. 

Although all of these universities attracted foreign students from other kingdoms in Europe because of their reputation in specific fields, virtually none of the students in Italy traveled north of the Alps, preferring to stay within their own culture.  Except for area lying outside the bounds of the ancient Roman Empire, most of the students came from urban backgrounds, but there were also students from the nobility.  A majority of students from the noble class only took place in Spain, Germany, Hungary, Bohemia, and Poland, where cities were generally less developed.

            Over the next century an addition 34 universities were established so that Latin Europe,  propelling this cultures to the world leader in its number of its universities.  The list of these universities includes 11 in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria (Frankfurt am Oder), Freiburg, Greifswald, Ingolstadt, Leipzig, Mainz, Pozony, Rostock, Trier, Tubingen, and Wurzburg), 9 within the bounds of modern France (Aix-en-Provence, Bordeaux, Bourges, Caen, Dole Louvain, Nantes, Poitiers, and Valence), 5 in what is now Spain (Alcala, Barcelona, Palma, Zaragoza, and Siguenza); 4 in Italy (Catania, Ferrara, Rome, Turin), 3 in Scotland (Aberdeen, Glasgow, St. Andrews); and 2 in Scandinavia (Copenhagen and Uppsala).

During the Fifteenth Century all of the municipalities of Italy had at least one municipal school if not several and literary and new grammar schools continued to be established in market towns and even villages throughout much of Europe. Over seventy of these schools for young students were established in   England by this time. In Chalons-sur-Champagne, 37 out of about 300 parishes had schools for young males by this time.  Most of the monastic schools had a dozen more more students.  Some of them had dozens. St. Giles Benedictine monastery in Nuremburg had approximately 200 students. Earlier in this century the various grammar schools in the city of Efurt are reported to have had about a 1000 students.

Most of these schools were intended to improve the literary and computational skills of merchants and artisans rather than prepare students for higher level courses in the universities. The school masters who taught literacy and accounting skills in these schools could hope for only a modest status within contemporary society.  When scholars from the period wrote about these teachers they tended to portray them as ignorant and brutal, an opinion based to some extent on their class. 

In the meantime, cathedrals, monasteries, and collegiate churches continued to teach young males in the hope of recruiting students to receive Holy Orders and become priests, friars, and monks. Lodging was offered to promising students who lived to far to walk to the schools each day.  The universities also operated grammar schools. The ones in Cambridge and Oxford had excellent reputations. Over the next century the annual enrollment in the universities of Cambridge and Oxford increased from about 200 each to about 3000 each.

Although the growth of these universities was impressive from a modern perspective their approach to education has been criticized for a number of reasons.  Althuogh there was upward mobility for commoners through this educational system women were left out, just like they were everywhere else in the world at this time.  The arts focused more on speculative theology and philosophy rather than history and the foreign and vernacular literature was almost completely ignored.  The universities also displayed no interest in the importance of hands on technology and focused entirely on booklearning, lectures, and disputation. (D117 N48 1885 7: 221-23, 225-27, 241)(LA177 R25 1936 2: 243)(D117 N48 1995 6: 77-80)#

cAD1400-49+

ABM 3356, 133

##Reportedly, there was a severe shortage of silver in Europe by this time, generally explained by the unfavorable balance of trade that Europe had with China, which preferred silver to gold coinage.  Even in England, which had a favorable balance of trade with other European countries due to its wool exports, was reportedly down 90% in the amount of silver in circulation by this time and perhaps due to rising prices in Alexandria, which had gained a virtual monopoly on the sale of Chinese silk to the Europeans.  (D117 N48 1995 6: 199)# 

cAD1400-50+

ABM 447, 147

##There was a violent disagreement over the proper observance of the Feast of Corpus Christi that took place in Europe at about this time.  Most likely this was the participation of flagellants in some of the procession and other annual activities, especially in southern Europe. Although the flagellants were convinced that their self-abuse was in the best interest of the community at large others felt it was a distraction from the original intent of the observance.  Church authorities tried to discourage these displays, but flagellation continued to be a popular form or religious devotion both before and after the Reformation. (D117 N48 1995 6: 47)#

AD1400-51+

AM 4669~

##Louis II of Anjou married Yolande, the younger daughter of Juan I of Aragon.  (D117 N48 1995 6: 600)(Wikipedia: Yolande of Aragon)#

AD1400-52+

A:ga 69~

##Beraud II of Avergne died and was succeeded by his only child Anne of Forez, who at this time became Anne of Auvergne and Forez.  Anne was married to Duke Louis II of Bourbon and had male heirs. (D117 N48 1995 6: 439)(Wikipedia: Anne of Auvergne)#

AD1400-53+

A:ga 2457

##The chancellor of the University of Paris drew up a plan to reform the school of theology.  (D117 N48 1995 7: 231)#

AD1400-54+

BA 66

##The Byzantine emperor Manuel II crossed the Alps from Milan to Paris where he met with the French king Charles VI before crossing to England where he met with the English king Henry IV.  Charles and Henry treated Manuel as distinguished guest, but did not offer him military aid.  (D117 C32 1966 4: 1: 377)(Wikipedia: Manuel II Palaiologos)#

AD1400-55+

A:ga 77, 3468, 5579, 57

##The Flemish artist Andre Beuneveu died this year aged about sixty-four. Orignally from Bourges, he took  most of his commissions from the French royal family, including Charles V and his younger brother Duke John of Berry and Auvergne.  Throughout his career, Beuneveu excelled in a number of genres, including sculpturing, painting, illuminated manuscripts, and stained glass.

This same year Duke Philip the Bold of Burgundy paid the ransom for Herman and Johan, two  painters from the Dutch city of Nijmegen who had been taken captive. Philip decided to pay the ransom after he learned that goldsmith guilds were tyring to raise the money.  Following their release Philip  employed them and a third brother named Paul to work on the production of an illuminated Bible.  These extremely rare expensive illustrated Bibles are called called the Bible Moralisee (Bible Allegoresee).  Only seven of them are known to have been produced during the Thirteenth through Fifteenth Centuries. The one produced by he Limberg brothers is currently held by the Biblioteque Nationale and is called Bible Moralisee MS fr. 166.  The Limbergs continued to work for Duke John for the next sixteen years and produced approximately half the miniature illustrations produced through his financial support. (D117 C31 1969 8: 734)(Wikipedia: Andre Beuneveu; Bible Moralisee)#

AD1400-55+

A:ga 5579

##The French noblewoman Christine de Pisan wrote Epistre Othea a Hector, a didactic work intended to inspire ideal leadership on the part of the French king.  (D117 N48 1995 6: 30)#

AD1400-56+

A:ga 5579

##The chronicle of Enguerrand de Monstrelet of Cambrai, simply called Chronique, begins with the events of this year.  The work presents a favorable portrayal of John the Fearless and Philip III the Good.  (D117 N48 1995 7: 445)(Wikipedia: Enguerrand de Monstrelet)#

AD1400-57+

A:ga 4467, 336

##Guillaume VI de Vienne, the Archbishop or Rouen, was punished for refusing the transfer of a benefice to Duke Louis of Orleans, who was the brother of Charles VI of France.  Royal officials seized all Guillaume’s territorial possessions including their revenue.  This was one of the more blatant examples of how the diversion of revenue to the pope in Avignon was transferred to the crown of France rather than to the prelates on the local level.  (D117 C31 1964 7: 296)(Wikipedia: Duke of Orleans)#  

AD1400-58+

A:ga 166

##Louis of Orleans purchased Coucy from Mary of Coucy.  (D117 C31 1964 7: 380)(Wikipedia: Lords of Coucy)#

AD1400-59+

A:st 668, 689, G 4467~

##Supporters of the deposed king Richard II of England tried to overthrow his cousin and successor Henry IV in the Epiphany Rising in which the plan was to seize Henry in a tournament and kill him. The plot was discovered before it could be implemented and many of the participants in the plot were killed by peasants as they were trying to flee.  Richard II died the same year when he was slowly starved to death in the Pontefract Tower in West Yorkshire.  One of the leaders of the plot, Sir Ralph Lumley was captured and later beheaded after a trial.

Henry also gained custody of Richard’s widow Isabella of Valois, who at this time was only nine-years-old. Henry VI of France requested that his daughter be sent home to him, but Henry IV decided to hold keep her so that she could marry his son own son Henry, who at this time was thirteen years of age. Isabella made it clear that she did not want to marry Henry and the following year she was sent home to France. (D117 C31 1969 8: 364)(D117 C31 1964 7: 481)(D117 N48 1995 6: 330)(Wikipedia: Epiphany Rising; Ralph Lumley, 1^st Baron of Lumley; Pontefract Castle)# 

cAD1400-60+

A:st 11, 13

##The largest cities in England outside of London at this time were Bristol, Norwich, and York.  The estimated population of these towns at this time were each between 6000, and 12,000 people.  Perhaps due to the bubonic plague a large number of a list of cordwainers and tailors active in the city of York at this time were born elsewhere in Yorkshire, where the outbreaks of the plague my not have been so severe. (D117 C31 1929 6: 493, 503)#

AD1400-61+

A:st 1279

##The construction of the Gothic Cathedral of Exeter was completed with perpendicular details.  The fan vaults of this cathedral are said to be the oldest uninterrupted vaulted ceiling in the world.  (D117 C31 1929 6: 766)(D117 N48 1995 6: 115)(Wikipedia: Wells Cathedral)#

AD1400-62+

A:st 1279

##The Octagonal Tower of the Cathedral of Ely was constructed. (D117 C31 1929 6: 766)(Wikipedia: Ely Cathedra)#

cAD1400-63+

A:st 5579, 477

##A collection of twelve ghost stories, each with a didactic twist, was written at this time by an anonymous monk in Byland Abbey in the Ryedale district of Yorkshire.  The ghost stories appear to have been reported at various locations in Yorkshire. (D117 C31 1964 7: 744)(Wikipedia: Byland Abbey)#

AD1400-64+

A{A:st} 48

##Owain Glyndwr led a rebellion against English rule in Wales.  (D117 C31 1929 6: 781)(Wikipedia: Harlech Castle)#

AD1400-65+

A:st 4669~, 66~, 668, 699, A}A:st 38

##Duke David of Rothesay, the son and heir of Robert III of Scotland broke his engagement to marry  Elizabeth Dunbar a second time. Although they had been living together for years after their first secular  marriage, the Papacy insisted they have a proper marriage within the church.  However, shortly before the planned wedding David changed his mind and instead married  Marjorie Douglas, the daughter of Earl Archibald of Douglas. Earl George Dunbar of March, the father of Elizabeth, was so deeply offended by this that he renounced allegiance to Robert III of Scotland, surrenderd his claim to the earldom of March,  and defected to the English. Robert III responded by charging George Dunbar with treason, but the Scottish authorities were never able to arrest him.  Hencefroth, Dunbar was active in helping the English raiding Scotland. He later avenged the insult to his family in the battle of Nesbit Moor and Holmidon Hill. (D117 C31 1969 8: 469)(D117 N48 1995 6: 361, 365)(Wikipedia: David Steward, Duke of Rothesay; George Dunbar, Earl of March; Robert III of Scotland)#

AD1400-66+

A:st 69, 369, 66

##The third earl of Douglas, Archibald Douglas, died and was succeeded by his son Archibald, who became the fourth Earl of Douglas.  This same year the Scottish crown appointed the younger Archibald to serve as the Keeper of Edinburgh Castle.  Over the next quarter century Archibald was the most powerful magnate in Scotland. (D117 N48 1995 6: 370)Wikipedia: Archibald Douglas, Third Earl of Douglas; Archibald Douglas, Fourth Earl of Douglas)#

cAD1400-67+

A:st 133, 344, 136

##Financial records fo the Earl of Stafford show a drop of feudal income of approximately 50% from twenty-eight years earlier, most probably due to a decline in population and productivity, but also due to the reduction of its holdings due to the sale of real estate to peasants.  (D117 N48 1995 6: 202)#    

AD1400-68+

A:st 5579, 77, 123

##The Dominican friar John Siferwas is credited with painting the artwork in an illustrated manuscript known as the Sherborne Missal dates from about this time. The scribe was John Whas.  Created for Sherborne Abbey with a religious calendar and complete guide for sayng the mass, the book consists of 347 pages and includes many natural portrayals of birds, some of which are identifiable species.  This work is currently held by the British Museum.  (D117 C31 1969 8: 738)(British Museum: MS 74236)#

cAD1400-69+

A:st 223,133,  GM 35, A:ga 1223, 35, A:mr 133, 233, M:ty 133, 233, M:ba 133, 233, A:st 223, 77, G 35, 33

##English manufacturers exported about 40,000 bolts of woolen cloth this year, compared to mostly raw wool half a century earlier.  This increase was less than the decline in woolen cloth production in Tuscany and Flanders during the same period.

Of course, wool was not the only raw material needed in manufacturing woolen texiles. One of their sources of woad was Toulouse, a city that traditionally acquired its woolen cloth from Flanders.  Toulouse also exported woad to Castile. Selling finished textiles overseas was more lucrative than selling raw wool to the cloth manufacturers in Flanders and Tuscany. 

Over the decades the quality and quantity of English woolen cloth improved and eventually provided England with a more favorable balance of trade. As England’s prosperity rose, the prosperity of woolen industries of Flanders and Florence declined because these centers were dependant of English wool.  During this period the price of woolen cloth fustian, linen, silk, and velvet all declined because overall production outstripped demand.

In the long run Flanders and Italy adjusted to this competition by marketing luxury woolen textiles. Italy could also buy wool from Andalusia, Apulia, and other locations in the Mediterranean.  By concentrating on the manufacture of woolen luxury goods it still was able to find a market for its goods. In the Flemish towns of Bergan-op-Zoom, Harenthals, and Hondschoote responded by marketing lighter weight textiles; the Flemish towns of Brussels, Louvain (Leuven) and Mechelen (Malines) responded by shrifting to luxury cloth; the Flemish town of Tirlemont, better known toda, specialized in selling cloth to Prussia and Hungary; Florence specialized in producing brocades; and Lucca specialized in producing silk cloth.  England also produced luxury cloth in the Cotswolds and in the Welsh marches.

One of the biggest expenses in the production of luxury cloth was dying.  It has been estimated that the cost of dying varied from a quarter of the cost of production to a half of the cost of production.  For high quality cloth the thread had to be dyed before it were woven together on the loom.  The investment in the dying process was the most expensive in the textile industry and the most skilled labor in the textile industry produced the dyes. 

For example, the vermilion scarlet cloth from Brussels, which was produced by an independent class of highly skilled weavers called the lackenmakers, was sixteen times more expensive in Krakow than the traditional textiles manufactured in lesser Poland.  The scarlet cloth was produced from crushing the kermes shield lice in a vat of water after it had been dried.  Other hues produced through this process were sanguine scarlet, violet scarlet, dark perse-blue scarlet, and green scarlet.  Cloth that had not been dyed was called white scarlet. (D117 N48 1995 7: 153, 154, 156, 549)(D117 N481 995 6: 122, 168-69, 202-204)(D117 C31 1929 6: 499)#

AD1400-70+

A:st 5579

##The Kirkstall Chronicle, written by the Cistercian monks in the Abbey of Kirkstall in England, ends with the events of this year.  This chronicle is currently held by the University of Manchester Library.  (D117 N48 1995 6: 299)(University of Manchester Library)#

cAD1400-71+

A:st 5579, 477

##The Middle English poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, which is over 2500 lines in length, dates from some time in the Thirteenth Century.  Written by an unknown author or authors, it is a classic example of a chivalric romance based upon a variety of traditions from the British Isles as well as France.  Gawain is identified as a knight of King Arthur’s legendary round table.  In this story Green Knight challenges anyone to strike him with an axe who is willing to take a similar blow to the head a year and a day later.  After Gawain decapitates the Green Knight he is alarmed when the Green Knight picks up his head and walks away.  As a knight he is expected to keep his promise. When facing the challenge a year later and surviving through the help of a maiden who loves him, Gwain learns that honesty is the best policy. (G117 N48 1995 6: 299)(D117 C31 1929 6: 815, 829)(Wikipedia: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight)#  

AD1400-72+

A{A:st} 48

##Welsh forces under Owain Glyndrw attacked Rhuddlan in northern Wales and damaged the town, but were unable to capture the English castle at Rhuddlan.  (D117 C31 1929 6: 781)# 

AD1400-73+

A}A:st 68

##Henry IV of England led an invasion of Scotland to punish the kingdom for the raids inflicted on England the previous year.  He advanced as far as Edinburgh where he was driven back out of Scotland. (D117 C31 1969 8: 334, 469)#

AD1400-74+

A{A:st} 48, A}A:st 38

##On hearing of the English defeat in Scotland, a Welsh landowner in northern Wales named Owain ap Gruffydd Fychan, who is better known as Owain Glyn Dwr (Glendower) mobilized a rebellion at Glyn Dyfrdwy and proclaimed himself to be the Prince of Wales.  

            Owain Glyn Dwr was a direct descendant of the dynasty that ruled Powys on his father’s side and a direct descendant of the dynasty that ruled Deheubarth on his mother’s side. Together these landholdings gave him an annual income of 200 pounds per year. Unlike other Welsh rebels in the past, Owain Glyn Dwr was trained in English law in Westminister and was married to Margaret, the daughter of an English judge, Sir David Hanmer.  He held extensive lands in inherited from his mother in Cardiganshire.  

Owain Glyn Dwr enjoyed great prestige in northern Wales because of his genealogy.  He had the support of the uchelwyr, the Welsh equivalent of the gentry or squire class in England, as well as the Welsh clergy who for generations now had been deprived of the bishoprics that traditionally had gone to the uchelwyr class before the English conquest.

            The rebellion began as a territorial dispute with the English magnate Reginald de Guy, the 3^rd Baron Grey of Ruthin.  Owain Glyn Dwr began the dispute by attacking and plundering Ruthin.  Next he plundered Denbigh, Rhuddlan, Flint, Hawarden, Holt, Oswesty, and Welshpool, The Welsh in Anglesey joined in the rebellion once they heard about these attacks. However, an English Shropshire aristocrat named Hugh Burnell defeated him at Welshpool. When Henry IV led his forces into Wales he advanced as far as Snowdonia.

The English were able to confiscated Owen Glyn Dwr’s estates because Owain avoided a direct battle with Henry’s knights and retreated into the western mountains of Wales where the English had no advantages.  Under these conditions with both sides avoiding battle unless it was on their choice of terrain the war dragged on for a decade.  During this time both sides led highly destructive raids.  In addition to towns, churches were also plundered.  Henry offered amnesty to anyone who deserted the cause of Owain Glyn Dwr, but few deserted the Welsh rebel.  (D117 C31 1969 8: 365, 651)(D117 N48 1995 7: 531, 532, 534, 537, 558)(D117 C31 1964 7: 523-24)(D117 N48 1995 6: 341)(D117 N48 1995 5: 827)(Wikipedia: Baron Grey of Ruthin;  Margaret Hamner)#

AD1400-75+

A 66, A}A{A:st} 166

##Henry IV of England negotiated a peace settlement with  Art Og mac Murchadha Comhanach of Leinster in which Art Og received amnesty from the king and the restoration of the lands that had been taken from his wife Elizabeth Calf.  (D117 C31 1969 8: 461)#

AD1400-76+

A:st 288, 3468, 356, A}A:ga 288, 3468, 38, A}A:mr 288, 3468, 38,, A}A:mr 288, 3468, 38, 288, 3468, 38

##Henry IV of England granted permission to Mark Mixtow of Fowey, John Harley of Darthmouth, and Henry Pay of Poole to act as privateers attacking foreign ships in the English Channel.  In addition to attack ships from France and Brittany, they also attacked ships from Flanders and German ships of the Hanseatic League.  This policy led to the punishment of English merchants who were available overseas for crimes that were not really their responsibility.  Eventually, Henry realized how foolish this policy was and ordered the privateers to halt their piracy.  (D117 C31 1969 8: 365)#

AD1400-77+

AZ 66

##Henry IV of England sent a letter to Prester John of Abyssinia congratulating him on his rumored victories against the Muslims.  Considering the fact that the location of Prester John’s kingdom was unknown, the fate of the letter is unknown.  (DT 20 C28 3: 179)#

cAD1400-78+

A:st 5579, A:st 5579, A:mr 5579

##The oldest remaining manuscript of the Volsung Saga, which was written in Old Norse is held by the Royal Library of Denmark.  Composed in Iceland in what is described as a rough prose, the Volsung Saga is one of many versions of an old Germanic oral tradition that appears to date back to the conquest of the Burgundian Kingdom by the Huns in the Fifth Century.  Most of the saga follows the genealogy of a Volsung clan and includes legendary stories such as the repeated interference of the god Odin in the lives of the mortal characters and Sigurd’s killing of the serpent dragon Fanir that guarded the rign of Andraranaut.  The love story between Sigurd and Brynhild is overshadowed in this saga by the themes of clan loyalty and revenge.

            The Volung Saga includes common characters and other elements with the a German composition called the Thidrek Saga, which dates from the Thirteenth Century and and the German narrative poem called Das Nibelungenlied, which dates from the Twelfth Century.  There is also a collection of poetry called the Poetic Edda that includes compositions over many centuries. The origins of none of these works can be accurately dated.

            Together these four works form the bases of what literary scholars call the Northern Cycle of literature, a classification that separates it from the Arthurian cycle of literature and the collection of literature called the chanson de geste, all of which date from the late medieval period. (D117 C31 1929 6: 837, 842)(Wikipedia: Volsung Saga)#  

AD1400-79+

A:st 11, 13, A:ba 11, 13

##Demographer has estimated that there were about 140 towns and cities in the region of Scandinavia that now include the countries of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.  About 60% of these trading centers were in the most populated kingdom of Denmark.  About 25% of these trading centers were in Sweden; and about 15% of these trading centers were in Norway.  The largest cities were the growing administrative centers of Visby in Denmark, Stockholm, in Sweden, and Bergen in Norway.  (D117 N48 1995 5: 728)#

AD1400-80+

A:st 13, 2457~

##The town of Vadstena was founded in Sweden in support of a Brigettine convent there.  (D117 N48 1995 7: 678)#

AD1400-81+

A:ba 3468, A}A:mr 3468, A}A:st 3468

##The pirates known as the Vitalienbruder withdrew from the Baltic Sea and became more active in the North Sea, where the English, Scottish, and French pirates were also active during this period.  Further south Breton and Spanish pirates were also active during this period of the war on the other side of the English Channel.  Sometimes Hanseatic ships flew the Flemish flag to avoid attacks of the Spanish and Bretons. (D117 N48 1995 7: 675)(D117 C31 1964 7: 229, 233)#

AD1400-82+

A:ba 4467, 18

##Archbishop John of Novgorod constructed a citadel (kremlin) for the city of Novgorod.  (DK40 S6213 2001 6: 91)#

AD1400-83+

A:ba 66

##Having suffered enormous casualties in the battle of the Vorskla River the previous year, Vytautas withdrew his demands on Novgorod and negotiated a peace settlement with the city based upon the status quo.  (DK40 S6213 1999 5: 28-29)(D117 C31 1969 8: 569)#

AD1400-84+

A}A:ba 68

##Taking advantage of the defeat of Vytautas of Lithuania by in the battle of Vorskla River, the Teutonic Knights invaded Lithuania and threatened its capital Vilna.  (D117 C31 1969 8: 570)#

AD1400-85+

A:ba 2457

##Wladyslaw II Jagiello of Poland and Lithuania expanded the University of Carcow to include a school of theology.  Prior to this time the university had focused entirely upon training lawyers. During the Fifteenth Century Polish students increasingly went to the University of Krakow rather than the University of Prague, which previously had been their destination. (D117 N48 1995 6: 733, 751)#

cAD1400-86+

A:ba 11, A:mr 11

##The largest cities in Germany at this time were still Lubeck on the Baltic Sea and Cologne in the Rhineland.  Both of these cities had a population of about 25,000 people at this time.  The next largest towns were Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Nuremberg, each of which had a population of between 6000 and 12,000 people. The rest of the towns in Germany were smaller. (D117 C31 1929 6: 493)#

AD1400-87+

A 6688

##Margrave Jobst of Moravia formed and alliance with the King of the Romans Rupert of of Germany and the magnates of Bohemia against Sigismund of Bohemia.  (D117 C31 1964 7: 176)#

cAD1400-88+

A:mr 223, 123, A:ba 223, 123

##At about this time the Dutch introduced a curing industry that made brill a rival to Scania in the processing and sale of fish.  Soon herring from the North Sea replaced herring from the Baltic Sea in the Rhineland.  Some cured herring from the Netherlands also began to compete with Baltic herring.  Part of the reason for this was a decline in the herring population in Scania that was probably partially a result of over fishing. (D117 C31 1964 7: 231)#

AD1400-89+

A:mr 479~

##The mystic Floris Radewijn died this year aged about forty-nine.  A Dutch student of theology in the University of Prague he later became active in the Bretheren of Common Life and played an important role in its expansion.  (D117 N48 1995 6: 64)(Wikipedia: Florent Radewijn)#

AD1400-90+

A{A:mr} 2466, 66

##Philip II the Bold of Burgundy and Flanders summoned an estates general in Flanders to counter the influence of the independent and more decentralized Scabini Flandriae. This alternative assembly provided  him with a structure more like what he was used to in Burgundy.  Over the decades the estates general gradually became a more important institution.  (D117 N48 1995 7: 56-57)#

AD1400-91+

A:mr 223

##The textile industry in the city of Louvain peaked at about this time.  A century later production had fallend about 90% as production moved elsewhere.  (D117 N48 1995 7: 126)#

cAD1400-92+

A:mr 77

##The altarpiece of a Rhineland cloister church of St. Clare (St. Clara) for Franciscan nuns was constructed and painted no later than this time. Originally  located in a Rhineland cloister church for Franciscan nuns that burned down in 1811, the altarpiece survived and was moved to Cologne cathedral, where it can now be seen in the North Aisle.  The altarpiece was decorated with scenes from the passion of Christ.  (D117 C31 1969 8: 738, 746)(DD125 P38 2019 2: 188)(Unesco World Heritage Site: Cologne Cathedral)#

AD1400-93+

A:mr} 4467, 2466, 2469, 668, 689, 69, 369, 36, M{A:mr} 4467

##Under the leadership of Archbishop John of Mainz, the Diet of Ober Lahnstein was called and met in Lahneck Castle near Koblenz. John was joined by his fellow Rhenish electors Count Palatine Rupert III and the archbishops of Cologne and Trier. They charged the the King of the Romans Wenceslas IV of Bohemia  with failing to maintain peace within the empire and failing to take measures to reunite the Holy Roman Empire. The participants were also outraged by the granting of a ducal title to Giangaleazzo Visconti. The Elector of Brandenburg and the Duke of Saxony did not attend this diet, but the four other electors still had a majority.

When these four electors summoned him to come before them he made no effort to do so because he was experiencing enough difficulty in his role as king of Bohemia. Consequently, they deposed him and listed numerous abuses, including the selling of aristocratic titles Genoa and Milan, negotiations with Poland against the Teutonic Knights, destruction of the University of Prague, the mismanagement of revenues, his hopeless addiction to alcohol, and numerous acts of violence against his subjects. 

The electors planned for Wencelas to be succeeded by Duke Frederick of Brunswick, but this plan failed when Frederick was attacked and assassinated by agents of Count Henry II of Waldeck at Fritzlar.    Duke Rudolf III of Saxony was also seriously wounded in this encounter. Next the German electors chose the Wittelsbach Count Palatinate of the Rhine Rupert III to serve as the next King of the Romans.  From the beginning Rupert was unpopular.  .

The deposed King of the Romans Wenceslas IV did not recognize Rupert as his successor and continued to rule Bohemia for the next two decades. His allies in the Luxemburg dynasty never recognized Rupert as legitimate either and for a while there were two Kings of the Romans just like there were two popes. Philips II of Burgundy recognized Rupert and Louis of Orleans recognized Wenceslas.  Eventually,

Although Rupert supported the landfrieden against the leagues of the cities, nobles like the Count of Wurttemberg eventually turned against him because Rupert proved to be ineffective.  Even Archbishop John of Mainz, who had originally called the meeting in which Rupert was elected, eventually turned against him.

 More pious than Wencelsas, Rupert I served as the King of the Roman for the next ten years. Like his predecessor, Rupert chose to reside in Bohemia, which was the principal source of his tax revenue.  Like Wenceslas, Rupert conducted all business through Bohemian administrators.  His most important advisors were Borivoj of Srinare, the Landgrave of Leuchtenberg, and Bishop Lamprecht of Bambert, the latter of whom had previously worked for Emperor Charles IV and Grnther of Schwarzburg  Like Charlies IV, Rupert favored the landfrieden over the leagues of the cities.  (DD 125 S75 pp. 151-54)(D 117 T17 p. 919)(D117 C31 1986 8: 65, 119-20, 329)(BX955.3 C68 2003 p. 304)(D117 N48 1995 7: 347, 350)(D117 C31 1964 7: 72, 380, 559-62)(D117 N48 1995 6: 559-60, 592)(Wikipedia: Wenceslas IV of Bohemia; Rupert, King of the Romans)#

AD1400-94+

A:mr 6688

##The city of Basel negotiated an alliance with Bern and Solothern.  (D117 C31 1964 7: 212)#

AD1400-95+

A:mr 6688

##The rural community of Glarus in Switzerland negotiated an alliance with the Rhaetian League of the Upper Rhine, the Abbot of Disentis, and the barons of Raezuns, and Sax.  (D117 C31 1964 7: 197)#

D1400-96+

A:mr 1279

##The nave of St. Lorenz (St. Lawrence) Cathedral in Nuremberg, a eigenkirchen (proprietary church) for the Holy Roman Empire, was completed this year.  (D117 N48 1995 7: 143)(Wikipedia: St. Lorenz, Nuremberg)# 

AD1400-97+

A:mr 223, 35, B:da 223, 35, BG 35

##The fustian merchants of Nuremberg and Augsburg introduced their cloth in fairs of Cologne and Frankfurt. (D117 N48 1995 6: 202)#

AD1400-98+

A{A:mr} 2466

##Wencelas of Germany granted Zurich the authority to elect its own reichsvogt (imperial governor) and operate an independent criminal judicial system. (D117 N48 1995 7: 651)(Wikipedia: History of Zurich)#

AD1400-99+

AB 2457, A}A:ba 457, A}B:da 457

##It has been calculated that by this time there were about 200 Dominican and Franciscan houses in Poland, Bohemia, and Hungary, active in efforts to convert the pagan Prussians, Lithuanians and Cumans,.  (D117 N48 1995 5: 772)#

AD1400-100+

B:da 1279

##The German architect Wenzel Parler, the son of the master architect Peter Parler began construction of St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna. (D117 N48 1995 7: 301)(Wikipedia: Peter Parler)#

AD1400-101+

B:da 2457

##The University of Vienna claimed to have 4000 students this year in its marketing, but actually had less than a thousand according to other sources.  (D117 N48 1995 6: 564)#

AD1400-108+

B{B:da} 6688, 69, 36, 135, 356, 35, 133, 478

 ##With the help of Mircea I of Wallachia and the backing of Sigismund of Hungary, the claimant to the Moldavan throne Alexander overthrew his half-brother Iuga and gained the throne of this principality.   Alexander ruled Moldavia for over three decades and is remembered in Romanian history as Alexander cel Bun (Alexander the Good) because he cultivated peaceful alliances with both Hungary and Poland; improved the administration and roads of the Moldavia; expaned the port facilities of Cetatea Alba and Chilia; extended trading privileges to merchants; and tried to maintain a good relationship with the  Catholic and Orthodox Churches. (D117 C32 1966 4: 1: 561)(Wikipedia: Iuga of Moldavia; Stephen I of Moldavia)#

AD1400-104+

B}B:by 68, K}V:ku 68, B}B:an 68, KB 66

##The Ottoman sultan Bayezid lay sidge to Constantinople, but lifted the siege when he became concerned about the operations of Timur of Samarkand in eastern Anatolia.  In order to better secure his position, Bayezid captured the city of Sivas from the Turkmen chieftain Qazi Burhan al-Din Ahmad.  Following the destruction of Aleppo and Damascus Following the destruction of these two cities, which took place after Timur had already destroyed the city of Sivas, Timur warned Bayezid to give up his claim to suzerainty over all the beyliks within Anatolia.  This was something Bayezid could not afford to do because the Turks in Anatolia were his most reliable source of soldiers. (DS272 C34 1986 6: 6: 77)(D117 C32 1966 4: 1: 766)#

cAD1400-105+

MB 66, 4467, MB:by 1279, 478

##At about this time the Ottoman sultan Bayezid received permission to build a mosque in Constantinople and the Muslims who now lived in Constantinople were placed under the legal authority of the qadi.  (D117 C32 1966 4: 1: 775)#  

cAD1400-106+

B:by 5579, 124, 77

##No later than this time and most probably much earlier a Byzantine veterinarian named Tiberius wrote Hippiatrica (On the Treatment of Horses), a manual for the care of horses, including veterinary medicine.  The text of this work is believed to have been copied from much earlier works, drawn upon many sources of advice that date as early as the Greek classical period.  These sources include On the Care of Horses by a Greek named Hierocles and another work written by an author named Theomnestes, who wrote on Armenian practices during the Fourth Century.  Additionally, there are 36 passages in Hippiatrica that at one time were thought to have originated with the Greek physician Hippocrates now thought to have originated from a South Asian source in the Sixth Century.  In other words many centuries of best practices from many Eurasian cultures contributed to the Hippiatrica.

            The work Hippiatrica  has survived in over 400 fragments from seven manuscripts.  A manuscript currently held in the Bibllioteque Nationale, includes  miniature illustrations, which adds to its charm and clarity.  (D117 C32 1966 4: 2: xxxv, 285, 292)(Wikipedia: Hippiatirca)#

cAD1400-107+

MB:by 5579

##A vernacular Greek satirical poem called the Mass of the Beardless Man has been dated to no later than this time.  In this poem the beardless man clearly represents a eunuch, who were despised in Greek culture.  In this poem the priest celebrates a mass in which he gives his daughter in marriage to a eunuch.  (D117 C32 1967 4: 2: 259)# 

AD1400-108+

B:by 1279, 127

##The Ulu Jami’ of Bursa, completed after four years of construction, was modeled after earlier mosques of the Seljuk period.   Twenty separate domes roofed the arcades below.  Early Ottoman mosques followed the same architectural scheme, including the Sinjirli Kuyu Jam’, which was later constructed in  Istanbul.  DS 35.6 C3 2: 733)#

AD1400-107+

K}B:an 68

##Upon the advance of Timur through the upper Euphrates valledy as well as his aquistion of Baghdad, some of beyliks in Anatolia decided to recognize Timur as their suzerain rather than the Ottoman sultan Bayezid.  They probably did this  because the center of Timur’s power was further away than the center of Bayezid’s base of power in western Anatolia, but in recognizing the suzerainty of Timur they encouraged Timur to invade Anatolia.  The first city in Anatolia that Timur reached that offered resistance was Sivas.  After Timur took the city he massacred the inhabitants, especially the Christian population of the city. (D117 C32 1966 4: 1: 766)(Wikipedia: Timur)#

AD1400-102+

B:ru 4469~

##Yury Dmietrievich, a son of he late Dmitry of Moscow, married Anastasia, a daughter of Yury Sviatoslavich of Smolensk.  (DK40 S6213 1999 5: xxv)#

AD1400-103+

B:ru 668, 66~

##Ivan Mikhailovich of Tver began to annex some of the land of his younger brother, Vasily of Kashin.  Vasily complained to his mother Evdokia, who intervened on her younger son’s behalf.   A temporary settlement was reached.  (DK40 S6213 1999 5: 20, 153)# 

AD1400-109+

V:ur 69, 345, 356

##Upon the death of Timur-Kutlugh, the warlord Edigey of the White Horde chose his cousin Shadibeg (Shadibek) be khan, but Shadibeg was never more than a puppet.  Edigey ended the slave trade in Cuman children to Syria and Egypt, but these routes were later re-established for Circassian slaves.  (DK 40 V44 3: 283)(DK40 S6213 1999 5: 135)#

AD1400-106+

K}V:ku 68, 38, K{V:ku} 368, BK:sd 18

##After wintering in Qarabagh, an Armenian town on the Arass River in what is now Azerbaiyan, Timur of Samarkand lead a campaign against George VII of Georgia, captured his capital Tiflis and plundered it. Timur was furious that George allowed the Jalayrid prince Tahir to escape to the court of Bayezid and forced  George to pay  high tribute.  He also forced George to provide troops for Timur’s campaign against the Mamluks in Syria.  (DS272 C34 1986 6: 75)(D117 C32 1966 4: 1: 637)(Wikipedia: George VII of Georgia)# 

AD1400-11+

K}P:su 68, P:su 699, M:le 699

##Following Timur’s conquest of Armenia and Georgia, the Jalayirid ruler Ahmad of Baghdad fled to Syria, but when Timur moved close to Syria Ahmad returned to Baghdad and offered the city to one of Timur’s commanders, Amir Faraj, who accepted the offer.  Ahmad then fled to the court of the Ottoman Turks.  (DS272 C34 1986 6: 66, 160)(D117 C32 1966 4: 1: 766)#

cAD1400-109+

K:tu 5579

##Kitab-i Dede Qorqud (Book of Dede Qorqud), the most popular epic of the Orghuz Turks who came to Anatolia from Central Asia, has been dated to about this time.  Based upon references to geography it was probably written somewhere in the Caucasus Mountains. Twelve stories written after the Orghuz Turks converted to Islam, the protagonists are all practicing Muslims and the villains in the stories are all infidels. (DS272 C34 1986 6: 152)(Wikipedia: Book of Dede Korkut)#

cAD1400-110+

I:in 124, 1223, 5579

##Sharngadhara wrote Sharngadhara Samhita, a brief account on Aryurveda medicine.  (DS451 S5697 2008 p. 544)#

cAD1400-111+

I:in 5579, 7779

##Mahavira wrote Shankara-digvijava, the most popular biography on the Ninth Century Vedanta philosopher Adi Shankara. (DS451 S5697 2008 p. 610)#

cAD1400-112+

I:gu 2247, I:in 2247

##During this century the Gujarati script evolved from the Devanagari script to express the Gujarati language.  Variations of the Devanagari script had already been developed in the Hindi regions of India at this time.  The development of different scripts helped solidify national identities in the areas were they were used. (DS451 S5697 2008 p. 46)#

cAD1400-113+

H}I:te 2557, H}I:ka 2557

##At about this time the modern scripts of Telugu and Kannada emerged in southern India.  The Telegu script was fundamental in the eventual emergence of the Telugu ethnicity and state.  The Kannada script was fundamental in the emergence of the Kannarese ethnic identity and the state of Karnataka.  The small Tulu minority who lived on the coast of Karnataka at around Barkur continued to use the Tigalari script to express their language.  (DS451 S5697 2008 p. 43, 46)(Wikipedia: Tulu Language)#

cAD1400-114+

I:kr 5579

##Ayata-varma wrote Rama-karadaka, a campu translated from Sanskrit covering the three jewels of Jainism: belief, knowledge, and conduct.  (DS484.5 N55 2009 p. 255)#

cAD1400-115+

I:tn 579, H{I:tn} 336, MH 35

##An early inscription in the town of Kayalpattanam in what is now Tamil Nadu records taxes paid to the government of Vijayanagar by Ayyavole traders for foreign trade transactions.  Considering the Muslim population in Kayalpattnam this probably included extensive trade with Arabs, especially in horses. (DS485 M28 H58 2011 p. 248)#

cAD1400-116+

I:tn 479, 5579, 344

##At about this time the Tamil ascetic Svarupananda Desikar wrote an anthology Sivaprakasap-perundirattu, consisting of 2824 verses.  His pupil Tattuvarayar wrote a shorter anthology Kurundirattu, consisting of 1412 verses.  Many of the devotional poems and songs of these two ascetics became popular among the working classes of southern India due to their simple style.  Among the most popular are Paduturai, Nanavinodan, Kalambakam, Mohavadaip-parani, and Annavadaipparani.  (DS484.5 N55 2009 p. 244)#

cAD1400-117+

I:tn 5579

##At about this time Umapati-sivacarya wrote eight of the fourteen wroks on the so-called Saiva Siddantha sastras. (DS484.5 N55 2009 p. 243)#

cAD1400-118+

I:tn 5579

##At about this time the Irattaippulavar twins wrote Kkamra-badar-ulain Tamil.    These twins were both born with handicaps.  Reportedly, the elder was lame and the younger was blind and the blind brother man carried the lame brother on his shoulders.  One of the characters in Ekamra-nadar-ula is Mallinathan Rajanarayana Sambuvarayan, who was the last of the sengeni chieftains of North Arcot.  (DS484.5 N55 2009 p. 246)(Wikipedia: Irattaippulavar)

cAD1400-119+

I:tn 5579

##At about this time Villiputturar wrote Bharatam, an account of the Great Bharata War in 4350 verses.  (DS484.5 N55 2009 p. 246)#

AD1400-120+

E:ja 69, 457

##Wikramvardhana (Bhra HyangWishesa) of Mahapahit in what is now Java abdicated his throne and became a hermit, but circumstances within a few years led his to resume his responsibilities as king.    (DS524 M56 2007 p. 1)#

AD1400-121+

E:ja 447, 5667, 4467

##Twelve years after his death a shraddha ceremony was held at Surawana Temple in eastern Java for the deceased noble Wijayarajasa of Wengker.  (DS524 M56 2007 p. 368)# 

cAD1400-122+

E:ja 1279

##At about this time a  hermitage called Selomangleng was cut out of solid rock at Tulungagung on the island of Java.  Like the Selomangleng, the image of a kala was sculpted above the entrance.   The reliefs cut inside this cave depict scenes from the popular story of temptation and delayed gratification, Arjunawaha.  Among the most notable scenes are that of Indra ordering seven nymphs to tempt the hero Arjuna; the nymphs descending down to earth near a stream; a temptation scene similar to that of Buddha and the daughters of Mara; Arjuna’s journey to Mount Meru; Indra ordering Suprabhu to pretend to accept the proposal of Nitikawara; Arjuna and a nymph being transported to the lair of a demon.

This cave herimate should no be confused with another hermitage also named Selomangleng that was cut ouf to solid rock over s50 years earlier.   (DS524 M56 2007 p. 335)#

AD1400-123+

E:th 223, 23

##By this time there was a glazed ceramic industry in in the lower Ayeyarwadi River basin that developed at the stites of Lagumbyi and Twante.  Lead and tin were used in the production of these bowls and plates.  There is no evidence that some of these ceramics were exported.  (DS524 M57 2007 p. 87)# 

AD1400-124+

E:th 138

##A shipwreck called the Ko Si Chang II that was found off the coast from the town of Ko Si Chang  in Thailand in the Bay of Bangkok has been dated to no later than about this time. (DS524 M56 2007 p. 43)#

cAD1400-125+

Y:na 5579

##A Vietnamese author named Le Tac wrote Annam Chi Luo on the ancient land of Champa no later than this time.  (HF3790.8 H438 2011 p. 74)# 

AD1400-126+

Y{Y:na} 468, Y:na 468, 124, 69, 169, 68

##Ho Qui Ly, a former administrator withinthe Chinese government in the kingdom of Da Viet in what is now northern Vietnam led a rebellion in which he  promised to end the destruction of the teak forests, to redistribute the land to the peasants, to improve health care facilities, and to provide for meritorious upward mobility within the government.  Mobilizing support for these issues he overthrew Ho Quy Ly (Ho Qui Li), who he regarded as a puppet of the Ming dynasty.  He then established the Ho dynasty. The Ming emperor Chien-wen refused to recognize Ho dynasty as the legitimate. Rather than adequately prepare for a reaction from China, Le Qui Ly invaded Champa. (DS 735 C3145 1998 8: 2: 13)(G 322 M46 2003 p. 79)(HF3790.8 E438 2011 pp. 242-44)(DS524 M56 2007 pp. 92, 395, 438)(DS 735 C3145 1998 8: 2: 314-15)(DS524 M56 2007 p. 439)#

AD1400-127+

E:ph 144, 223, 1223, 28, 123, 11, YE 35

##Archaeological excavations on the island of Cebu in the Philippines has revealed a large quantity of imported blue and white Chinese and Siamese porcelain that dates from about this time.  White jade Buddhist statutes and brass gongs from China have also been excavated.  Most of the porcelain was of Chinese origin, but about one third of it was imported from Siam.  Local potters appear to have been put out of business by these imports.  The Filipino boat communities called barangay in Cebu, Mindoro, Mindanao were also acquired brass canons from the Chinese during this period. 

            Filipino exports during this period included gold, copper, rice and slaves.  They also offered nutmeg, mace, cloves, and sandalwood from the Spice Islands further south.  By the time of the Spanish arrival a century later, Cebu had a population of about 2000 people. (HF3790.8 E438 2011 p. 319-21, 323, 332)#  

AD1400-128+

EJKH:ch5579, 11, 344, 1223, Y{H:zj} 1336, Y{E:fj} 1336, Y{E:jx} 11, 1223, 1336, Y{H:ah} 11, 1223, Y{H:sd} 11, 1223, Y{H:sh} 11, 1223, Y{H:hn} 11, 1223,

##The T’u-shu-pien (Atlas and Encyclopedia) that survives from this year is considered to be the best source of information on land ownership and cultivation during the entire Ming dynasty period.  There wee four kinds of real estate in Ming China: state-owned land, land owned by military colonies, princely estates, other privately-owned land. The provinces with the greatest proportion of state-owned land were Zhejiang, Fujien, Jiangxi, and Hu-kuang. The total acerage of land under cultivation in China at this time included 4,709, 200 units.  The highest number of these units were in the Southern Metropolitan District, followed by Shandong.  The two provinces with the lowest number of these units counted were Sichuan, and Guangxi.  The proportion of cultivated land per person was highest in Honan at 21.8 mu and lowest in Fujien at only 3.5 mu.  (DS 735 C3145 1998 8: 2: 449, 450, 452, 475-76)#      

cAD1400-129+

H:sa 1279, 3577, 23

##A stela was erected in memory of the Seventh Century Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang at his burial place in Changan (Xian) no later than this time.  An image of the Xuanzang on the stela depicts him carrying a backpack with a frame in which the bulk of the weight is placed on his shoulders.  (BQ8149  H787 W75 2004 p. 4)#

AD1400-130+

Y{H:hu} 1223, 135, 2223

##Large scale irrigation projects were initiated in the Hu-bei region of Hu-kuang province including long dikes to prevent flooding.  Irrigation projects were also intiated further south around Tung-t’ing Lake in the Hunan portion of Hu-kuang province.   These irrigation schemes were so successful that the rice production center of China shifted from Zhejiang further up the Chiang Jang to Hu-kuang province.  Double cropping was possible in Li-ling, Yu-hsien, and Anjen counties.   The introduction of new rice hybrids may have had something to do with this improved efficiency.  Of course rice production continued in Zhejiang to feed the local urban market, but it now became supplemented by the rice imports from Hu-kuang.  Rice wine production continued to be centered in Zhejiang.  The town of Shao-hsing in Zhejiang was famous for this product.  (DS 735 C3145 1998 8: 2: 523, 546, 547, 549)#

AD1400-131+

Y{H:zj} 36, 136

##The earliest surviving deed of sale for land from the Ming dynasty dates from this year.  It is the earliest of a cache of 685 Ming deeds of sale from Hui-chou in what is now Zhejiang province.  Only ten such deeds have been found from the entire Song and Yuan periods of Chinese history, so this collection is quite remarkable.  The signatures on this specific contract include the man who sold the property, two of his relatives, a witness, and the scribe.  (DS 735 C3145 1998 8: 2: 642)#

AD1400-132+

J:ko 668, 689, 69, 26, 36, 5579, 344, 2456, 2457, 346, 1223, 28, 347, 123, Y{J:ko} 1466

##Chongjong of Choson was overthrown and killed by his half-brother Yi Pang-won, who also killed Chongjong’s older brother Yi Pang-gan.  With the elimination of these two half-brothers, the claimants to the throne by Taejo’s second wife were eliminated.  Pang-won took the temple name T’aejong. At this time the Ming emperor Chien-wen was threatened by a dynastic power struggele with his own uncle Zhu Di, so he quickly recognized T’aejong. 

In oreder to secure his position T’aejong also killed Chong To-jon, the principal advisor of his father Taejo and reorganized the structure of government, replacing the Privy Council (Top’yonguisasa) with a Council of State called the Uijongbu, which consisted of three high councilors who made recommendations to the king.  After the king made a decision the Council of State delegated specific administrative authority to the appropriate one of the Six Ministries (Yukcho) of Choson.  These were the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Taxation, the Ministry of Rites, the Ministry of the Military, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Public Works. 

Taejong revised the Six Codes of Government of Chong To-jon, replacing it with the Basic Six Codes ((Won yukchon).  Later the Supplemental Six Codes (Sok-yukchon) followed.  These reforms provided for a more centralized system of government.   In the long run these six ministries became more important than the Council of State because the ministries were encouraged to make further recommendations to the king based upon their experiences from implementing the original policies proposed by the Council of State.   These recommendations, written in the form of memorials to the king, were submitted to the king through the Sunjongwon, which functioned like a secretariate to the king.

During the Choson dynasty the men who served in these positions consisted of class of scholar bureaucrats called the yangban, who were recruited through the civil service examination system.   Once hired to work within the bureaucracy, the yangban were exempted from taxation, military service, and  corvee duties.   Alhough the civil service examination system sought to replace family priviledge with merit, there was a tendency for the the families of the men hired through the system to intermarry.  These families lived in segregated neighborhoods. Men  of illigitimate birth and and the sons and grandsons who were the product of second marriages by widows were prohibited from taking the civil service exams.  There is also evidence of discrimination against civil service examinees from the northern provinces of P’yongan and Hamgyong.  For all these reasons and the natural advantages the sons of scholar bureaucrats had in competing with the sons of other classes the end result of the system was just as hereditary as previous classes of scholar bureaucrats.

Below the yangban there developed a middle class of clerks and specialists called the chungin who filled a wide variety government occupations in the capital.  These occupations included accountants, statutory law clerks, scribes, translators and interpreters, medical officers, astronomers, meteorologists, and government artisans.  They lived in separate neighborhoods from the yangban. They were considered to be of higher status than the local functionaries beyond the capital called sori and ajon, who in turn were considered to be of higher status than the military (kun’gyo).

In order to train the students for the civil service examinations and better prespare them for government service there were private schools as well as public schools.  The youngest students learned Chinese characters and calligraphy in sodang schools.  The public schools called sahak opened to students when they were seven years of age.  In each county in the kingdom there was a public school called a hyanggyo that offered classes for aspiring youth.  These public schools were supported by landholdings called hakchon.  Although available to aspiring youth from other classes, the sons of the yangban atteneded superior private schools. 

There were a variety of civil service exams in the kingom of Choson.  These were the lower level exams (saengjinkwa or sokwa) for students who sought employment as skilled specialists and the higher level exams (munkwa or taekwa) to be taken by men who aspired to become yangban.  Those students seeking the lower level positions in the administration studied the five Confucian classics and answered specific questions from those sources and other questions relevant to their work.  Those students who aspired to become yangban were tested on their ability to write shih poetry, fu prose, and t’se essay questions. 

Officers in the military had to pass military exams that were offered evey third year.  In addition to demonstrating skill in martial arts, prospective officers in the military also had to pass a written test called the sondal to demonstrate their knowledge of military science.  Eventually, this test was offered to commoners because soldiers did not enjoy as much prestige as bureaucrats in Choson.

For students who aspired to be government specialists there were a variety of miscellaneous tests called chapkwa.  Students who passed a legal test were employed in the Ministry of the Parliaments. Students who passed a foreign language examination were employed in the Office of Translators.  Students who passed a medical examination were employed in the Palace Medical Office.  Students who passed a sience test were employed in the Office of Observance of Natural Phenomena.   

In the early history of the kingdom of Choson, these competitive tests were taken at the provincial, and national levels of the kingdom every third year.  Students who performed well on the provincial level were sent on to the national capital for a more advanced examination in which the best students were awarded degrees.  These students then competed within the National Confucian Academy (Songgyun’gwan) and the very best students then competed in a Palace Examination in the presence of the king.  The finalists who competed on this level were ranked into three categories: pass, high pass, and pass with distincition.  Only thrity-three were chosen in each Palace Examination. Later special oportunities for taking the test were also held on special occasions within the dynasty. 

The largest number of workers for the government of Choson were not paid in land allotments.  These were the unpaid corvee workers who were conscripted by the government as needed. Corvee duty was used for agricultural work on palace lands,  construction work, and mining for unskilled labor.  Some of the more skilled peasants were conscripted in a way that would make better use of their time. This included the manufacture of palace clothing, weapons for the army, metal utensils, and paper.  According to one record the Korean government employed over 6000 artisans per year, including 2800 in the capital and 2800 elsewhere in the kingdom. The ones employed in the capital included 590 artisans to produce palace clothing in the Bureau of Royal Attire, 640 artisans per year to manufacture weapons, 300 artisans per year to produce other metal products, and 91 artisans per year to produce government paper supplies.   (DS907.16 Y5313 1984 pp. 173-75, 180-82, 186)(DS 735 C3145 1998 8: 2: 278)#

cAD1400-133+

J:ko 23, 3577, 133, Y}J:ko 23, 223

##There are two Korean caledon maebyong vases that have been dated to the early Fifteenth Century.  Both of them stand between 29 and 33 centimeters in height and have the classic shape of a maeybong vase with a bugle mouth, rounded shoulders and a narrow concave waist at the base.  Both vases also have a band of arches below the mouth on the shoulder and a second band of arches covering the entire waist.  A double line separates the vertical arch designs on the waist from more carefully carved inlaid nature scenes on the main portion of the vases.  The appearance of these vases in the early Fourteenth Century following the turbulent Mongol period marks a revival of the celadon ceramic industry in Korea.

The larger of the two vases is on display in the Hoam Museum of Fine arts in Yong’in.  The inlaid decorations on the larger upper portion of this vase include sparrows standing on tree brahches.  The smaller vase was part of the personal collection of Hong Tu-yong of Seoul in the late Nineteenth Century.  The upper section of this vase is decorated with the image of a drageon head fish. 

Also dated to the early Fifteenth Century is a white porcelain bottle that was part of the private  collection of Yun-chang-sop in the late Twentieth Century.   Standing nearly 29 centimeters in height, the weight of this vessel is distributed near the base of the container rather than near the shoulders and is notably sparse in decorative features.  The only decorative features are two pairs of incised horizontal lines just below the narrow of the neck and a  freehand squiggle incised intetween these two paris of lines.  Ont eh main portion of the bottle there is a rough sketch of a bumble bee on a peony branch.  The novelty of the pure white porcelain appears to have been sufficient at this time. Later in the century white porcelain bottles became increasingly complex.  It is unclear where this white porcelain bottle was produced, but this bottle is the earliest surviving example of many fine porcelains that were produced in Korea later in the century.  There is no doubt that the Korean potters learned how to produce porcelain from the Chinese. 

Stikingly similar to the design on this bottle is a white porcelain bowl that has been dated to later in the century and is on display in the Tongwon Museum of Fine Arts in Seoul.  Standing only 7.6 centimeters in height, and 17.5 centimeters in diameter at the mouth, this bowl is also decorated with simple incised lines and curves, but unlike the bottle at the beginning of the century, the design on this bowl was carefully executed so that the incised image of branches and flowers are perfectly balanced.  Double horizontal lines frame the floral image above and below.  A carefully executed and more complicated band can be seen just inside the mouth.  (DS736 P59 P365413 2012 pp. 108-109, 112-13)#

cAD1400-134+

J:ko 3577, 447, 27, 344

##The earliest surviving Hahoe masks used in annual Pyolsin exorcism plays in Korea have been dated to about this time and are on display in the National Musem of Korea in Seoul.  The mask are constructed of wood and painted with laquer until the right texture is acquired. By this time the plays were already centuries old, having originated in the villages of Hahoe and Byeongsan in what is now North Kyongsong province in what is now South Korea. . 

Hahoe plays excelled in satirical attacks on the stereotypical corrupt nobles and priests in Korean society. Altogether there are twelve stock characters in these plays, all of which are exaggerations of facial types in Korea. The on display in the National Museum of Korea survived because they were handed down from generation to generation by performers in the same family. (N7363 C4813  1979 p. 328)(DS907.16 Y5313 1984 pp. 169-70)(Wikipedia: Hahoetal)#

AD1400-135+

J:ja 48

##A kokojin league organized by the Muramaki family in Shinano province decisively defeated its shugo, Ogasawara Nagahide in the battle of Oto.  Ogasawara fled to Kyoto.  (DS 835 C36 1988 3: 255)#.

AD1400-136+

N:12, 1223, N:gr 12, 1223, N}N:nf 114

##The temperatures associated with the Little Ice Age reached their lowest point  at about this time in the Northern hemisphere.  During the summers the ice did not melt and the Inuit around Thule had to continue to fish through the ice, because it never thawed. For this reason the Inuit were forced to abandon the area around Thule and migrated south to the coast of Labrador.  (E77.9 S565 2010 p. 312)(E77.9 O04 2012 p. 131)#

AD1400-137+

N:qu 127, 1223

##A Iroquois longhouse excavated at the site of Lanoraie in what is now Quebec dates from about this time.  This longhouse was found to have a place for storing grain at one end.  Otherwise the design of the house where many related families livedwas open providing no privacy.  (E77.9 O94 2012 p. 259)(FC2911 D53 2008 pp. 6-7)#

AD1400-138+

N:on 1223, 133

##By this time about 70% of the diet of the inhabitants of the Wandat Iroquoian site of  Moatfield in what is now Toronto was derived from maize.  It is unclear if this was typical of Iroquoian sites during this period because archaeologists have not found a comparable ossuary at other Iroquoian sites. (E77.9 O94 2012 p. 278)#

AD1400-139+

N:sc 138, N:ga 138

##The mound sites at Lawton, South Carolina, Red Lake Georgia, and Spring Lake Georgia were all abandoned at about this time.  (E77.9 O94 2012 p. 315)#

AD1400-140+

N:ar 144, 1279, 127, 18, 23, 77, 447, 11

##The Nodena Site site, located in Mississippi County, Arkansas on a horseshoe bend in the Misssissippi River, dates from no later than this time and was still occupied at the time of the Desoto expedition over a century later. The pallisaded village constructed there consisted of a plaza surrounded by several mounds and wattle and daub houses with thatched roofs constructed in rows. Over 300 graves were excavated from this site. Some of their ceraminics were shaped in the form of effigies of human heads or animals.  An examination of their remains indicates that they practiced a form of cranial deformationon their infants resulting in heads that were shaped like cones. According to DeSoto the area was very densely populated with few remaining trees at the time in which he visited the area.  (E77.9 O94 2012 p. 473, 487)(Wikipedia: Nodeena Mound)#

AD1400-141+

N:oh 144, 447, 344, N:wv 144, N:ky 144, N:in 144

##The Middle period of the Fort Ancient Culture is said to have been replaced by the Late Period of the Fort Ancient culture at about this time.  During the late period gravesites began to cluster around the small rectangular houses, indicating an association with nuclear families rather than extended families.  The Late Period of the Fort Ancient Culture marked the greatest expansion of this culture and lasted until the time European conquest.  (E77.9 O94 2012 p. 299, 301)# 

AD1400-142+

N:il 138, N:nm 138, N 1468

##The ceremonial center of just east of the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers was abandoned at this time.  The settlement at Chaco Canyon in what is now New Mexico was completely abandoned by this time.  One explanation for this coincidence is that there may have been an epidemic.  (E77.9 O94 2012 p. 70)#

AD1400-143+

N:ia 114, N:wi 114

##The Oneota people of what is now Iowa and southern Wisconsin left the area at this time.  (E77.9 S565 2010 p. 267)#

cAD1400-144+

N:al 11, 133, 35, 138

##The number of burials within the Moundsville region along Black Warrior River in Alabama began to decline at this time, indicating a decrease in population or migration elsewhere.  The burials found there during this period do not include copper or shell ornaments.  This indicates a decline in trade.  When DeSoto arrived in the area of Moundsville over a century later he found the site to be completely abandoned.  (E77.9 O94 2012 p. 534, 542)#

cAD1400-145+

N}N:ne 114, N}N:ok 114, N}N:tx 114, N}N:nm 114, N}N:az 114, N:nm 1223, 447, 223, 344, N:az 1223, 447,223, 344

##The Athabascan ancestors of the Navajo and Apache began to migrate from what is now the Great Plains of Canada to New Mexico.  Along the way there is evidence of their occupation of the Dismal River region of what is now western Nebraska and the Tierra Blanca region of the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles.

            During the same period there was an increase in fortification among the river communities of the Prairie, possibily because they were threatened by the Apache.  They learned weaving and pottery making skills from the Ancestral Pueblo.  Although weaving was the work of men in Ancestral Pueblo society, the womn did the weaving in Navajo society. 

            In their domestication of maize, the Navajo harvested this crop at variety of times throughout its life cycle.  Shortly after the maize sprouted they thinned the sprouts and cooked them to eat as greens.  Later when when the stalks began to grow, they roasted some of the them.  If the maize became infected with a fungus called smut, which makes the maize swell with tumors, they ate this as a delicacy.  When silk appeared on the ears of corn they would chop it up and use it for making soup. However, most of the corn was saved for the final harvest,which took place in the autumn, when the kernels became soft.  Once these kernals were soft enough to be easily removed, there were a variety of ways the maize could be eaten or stored.   Some of it was roasted on the cob, but more of it was boiled into a mash and ground to make flour.  This ground maize could be cooked as bread.  The hardest kernals could be used to make fried dumplings. (E77.9 O94 2012 p. 79-80, 137, 380, 388, 551)(Wikipedia: Navaho)#

cAD1400-146+

N:tx 144, 223, 35, 344~, 447~

##An archaeological period called the Wheeler phase is said to have begun at about this time on the high plains of what is now Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas at about this time and continued for the next three centuries.  The Wheeler people exported bison products like meat, hides, pemmican and bone fat to the Rio Grande valley in return for obsidian and shell jewelry and turquoise.  Numerous small post holes at Wheeler phase sites like Little Deer are believed to be evidence of scaffolding for drying meat and hides.  Shallow pits surrounded by rocks are believed to have been used for boiling hides through the use of hot stones.

            The Wichita and Apache Indians are believed to be the desendants of the Wheeler phase people.  Both of these tribes were matrilocal and matrilineal, but the males within this society were able to increase their authority through multiple marriages and possibly slave raids. (E77.9 O94 2012 pp. 389, 392)#

cAD1400-147+

N:nm 13, 127, 144

##The Ancestral Pueblo site of Zuni along the Zuni River in what is now western New Mexico at this time consisted of about a dozen pueblos.   The so called Seven Cities of Cibola later visited by the Spanish conquistador Francisco Coronado a 140 years later.  According to the Spanish reports, there were multi-storied houses with up to five floors with corridors, hard surface floors, and basements at this location.  The modern tribe of the Zuni may an assimilation of both Ancestral Pueblo and Mogollon ancestry.  (E77.9 S565 2010 p. 112, 137)(Wikipedia: Zuni)#

AD1400-148+

C}N:az 1223, 12, C}N:ca 1223, 12

##The cultivation of maize, beans, squash were introduced to the Sonoran, and Mojave deserts of what are now Arizona and southern California no later than this time.  This was possible due to an increase in rainfall. (E77.9 O94 2012 p. 74)#

AD1400-149+

C:me 69, 16, 169, 1466, 13, 1279, 22, 2245, 477, 447, 36, 1457, 144, 147~, 68, 18, 123

##Tariacuri of the Tarascans established a dynasty in the town of Patzcuaro on the plain south of Lake Patzcuaro in what is now the Mexican state of Michoacan.  He conquered the area around the lake in a counter-clockwise direction.  Over the next century Tariacuri and his successors expanded the Taurascan state over an area that extended from the Lerma-Santiago River in the north to the Balsas River in the south.  The total area was about about 75,000 square  kilometers including Chichimec and Nahua populations. 

            Three other important towns in the Tarascan Empire were Ihuatzio and Zacapu.  The central ceremonial center at Ihuatzio was 1000 meters long by 470 meters wide.  A circular building constructed at Ihuatzio was probably used as an astronomical observatory.  A composite pyramid called a yacata was constructed there.  A yacata was a pyramid that included a platform and a half round apron was constructed at Ihuatzio.  Zacapu was located near the modern town of El Palacio-La Crucita in the marshes north of Lake Patzcuaro.  At its pre-Columbian peak Zacapu covered about 11 square kilometers and had a population of about 20,000 people.

            Like other Mesoamerican kingdoms, the Tarascans used a calendar with eighteen months of twenty days and three additional days at the conclusion of the year.  They venerated landscape features like mountains, springs, caves, and animals like the serpent and the butterfly.  They practiced both human sacrifice and auto-sacrifice.  They also played ball games in towns outside of Tzintzunzan.  Unlike other Mesoamerican states, there is no evidence that they used no writing script.  The Turascan language, called purepecha, is unlike other languages in Mesoamerica, but various theories have proposed tha the Turacans were related to the Zuni in New Mexico or the Quechua or Chibchan in South America.  

            Tariacuri and his descendants claimed descent from uacusecha (eagles).  The principal diety of the Tarascans and his subjects was was Curiocaueri, who a god depicted as a hunter and warrior who represented the sun and earthly fire.  Two goddesses associated with the Tarascan Empire were Xaratanga and Cuerauaperi, the latter of whom was an earth goddess associated with the rain.

            The Tarascan were formidable enemies of the Aztecs.  They constructed a number of fortified garrisons to defend their borders with the Aztecs and benefited from their own obsidian quarry near Zinaparo. (F1219 E93 2004 p. 434-36)(F1218.6 O95 A73 2000 pp. 458, 463)#

AD1400-150+

C:me 11, 133

##The population of the central Mexican basin reached about 800,000 people by this time.  This was double the population of a century earlier.  Over the next century the population doubled again.  During this period the size of the population became unsustainable, leading to a decline in the quality of life.  (F1219 E93 2004 p. 438)#

AD1400-151+

C:gu16, 18, 13, 16, 1466, 11, 169, C:me 16, 1466, 6688

##The Quiche Maya capital of Utatlan (Q’umarka) was founded by the Maya leader Q’uq’umatz in what is now Guatemala.  The location was chosen because of its natural defenses. From Utatlan, the Quiche Maya expanded their suzerainty over other Mayan peoples such as the Cakchiquel, the Tzutujil, the Mam, and the Kekchi.  By the end of this century the Quiche Maya controlled an area that included about a million people at the time of the Spanish conquest.  This empire did not extend as far north as the Maya lowlands along the northern coast of the Yucatan peninsula where there were sixteen independent states, some of which were organized into confederations.  During the early Colonial period, the Cakchiquel sided with the Spanish against the Quiche Maya.  (F1219 E93 2004 pp. 517, 520)(F1435.3 K55 M37 2000 p. 228)(E77.9 S565 2010 p. 193)(Wikipedia: Q’umarka)#   

AD1400-152+

S:co 16, 1466, 13, 35, 23, 3577

##By this time two rival kingdoms had emerged within the Muisca culture in what is now the department of Santander in Colombia.  Tehse were Zipa and Zaque.  Zipa extended a full three kilometers along the shores of a lagoon now called the Pantano de Gauli in the Sabana de Bogota not far from the current town of Funza.  Zaque was located near Tunja  The largest market town of the Muisca was Sorocata, where merchants from Zipa, Zaque, and the maller Muisca states gathered.  Among the commodities exchanged there were gold, cotton, tobacco, drugs, emeralds, shells, and ceramics.   (F 2229 B78 1994 pp. 343-45)# 

AD1400-153+

S}S:pe 68, Spe 23, 57, 28, 2245, 4579, 4456, 447

##The Chimu Kingdom on the northern coast of Peru completed the La Leche valley no later than this time.  It is unclear if the Chimu kingdom ever advanced further north.  The spondylus shells imported from Ecuador used by Chimu and other Peruvian cultures were processed at Tumbes, but there is no evidence that Chimu advanced this far north.  More likely the region continued to be divided between local chieftains.

             In Coronica Moralizada,Father Antonio de la Calancha consulted with the indigenous inhabitants of Pacasmayo valley to find out what they remembered about life there prior to the Spanish conquest.  Similar information collected by Father Miguel Cabello de Balboa has also been useful in providing posterity with knowledge about the society that existed on what is now the northern coast of Peru. 

            According to this account, the basic political structure of the coastal plain was a hierarchy of greater and lesser kings or chiefs decided in petty warfare.  The rulers on the coastal plain fought with javelins and darts.  The near naked tribal armies in the highlands fought with slings.  Succession went to the son or brother considered to have the greatest ability.  In order to prevent a dynastic war the name of a chosen heir was always made public prior to the death of a head of government. 

            The calendar of the Pacasmayo people was lunar and the most important diety in was a moon goddess, to whom was erected a temple in Sian.  The moon goddess was said to be held in higher regard than the sun god because the the sun was only visible in the daytime, but the moon could be visible at any time of the day.  The devotees of the temple to the moon celebrated the eclipse of the sun as a victory of the moon goddess over the sun god and viewed a lunar eclipse as a time of sorrow.  Maize, beer (chicha) and children under five were sacrificed to the moon goddess on piles of cotton. 

            The natives of Pacasmayo also had terrestrial deities.  Among them was a sea god named Ni, who provided the fishermen with plentiful harvests.  Devotees of Ni made offerings of maize meal and ochre to Ni.  All of the produce of the sea was provided to the people by Ni except for the whale, which was regarded as sacred. They locals also held in high regard a common stone called alecpong, examples of which they believed had once been human before their father the sun god turned them into stone.  For this reason they bowed down to an alecpong stone, whenever they saw one and made offereings to them in sympathy for them.

            The natives of Pacasmayo also believed that they were connected to the stars and could locate the two starts believed to have given birth to the first nobles as well as the two starts believed to have given birth to the first commoners.  Three stars within the constellation of the Pleiades were said to represent a thief and two agents of the moon goddess sent to punish the thief for his crime.  Four stars positioned below the thief and the two divine agents were said to be vultures sent by the moon goddess to eat the thief.  If a thief was caught in this society he was punished by being hung til half dead and then moved to the center of the highway to be fed to the vultures.  Anyone who gave protection to a thief was treated the same way for thievery was thought to be the greatest crime.  According to the natives the punishment was effective because no one locked their doors in the city of Chan Chan.

            A second offense punishable by the death penalty was the death of a patient.  Although usually a doctor (oquetlupuc) was held in high regard for his knowledge, this prestige was forgotten when a patient died.  Doctors who had the misfortune of being blamed for the death of a patient could be flogged to death.  The pharmacist or medicine man (hampi camayoc) could also be blamed if a patient died.  When he had the misfortune of being blamed for the death of a patient he was tied to the body of the deceased and buried alive with his victim. 

            Actions judged to be immoral were also punished by the death penalty.  Those found guilty adultery were were executed by being thrown off a cliff.  Those found guilty of sodomy were punished by being burned alive and having all their property confiscated.  Those found gulty of sacriledge or disrespect toward the for the king were also burned to death.  Their charred bones were then buried with others of their kind. 

            Despite the rigid rules separating the nobles from the commoners, marriage in Pacasmayo society placed an emphasis on equality among the spouses.  In their wedding ceremonies a pot of maize and the tallow of a young llama was place in front of the bride and groom.  The ingredients of the pot were then set on fire and the officiate in the ceremony advocated equality of man and wife.  When someone died the family of the deceased were expected to mourn for five days.  The body was washed before burial.  The deceased was positioned in a sitting postion with the knees up below the chin.  Most of the burials were simple, but the rulers were buried with offerings of gold and silver placed in large jars. (F2229 M49 1931 pp. 50, 53-63, 89-92, 103, 114)(F2229 H36 2008 pp. 762, 789, 796)#

AD1400-154+

S:br 144, 57, 1223, 447, 127, 347, 447, 23, 344, 68

##No later than the final century before the arrival of the Portuguese, the entire coastalregion of of modern Brazil north Sao Paulo of was inhabited by the Tupinamba, a simple society who left a small archeological footprint prior to this time due to their use of mostly biodegradable materials in their lifestyle.  Most of what we know about this culture is derived from the early accounts of Europeans who came in contact with the Tipinamba, but it is probable that the lifestyle described by the Europeans had changed little for hundreds of years.

            An agricultural society, the Tupinamba lived in small villages, where they grew bitter manioc, sweet potatoes, xanthosoma (dasheen, coco yam), tobacco, cotton, and gourds.  Early European records indicate that the cashew tree (Ancardium accidentale) was another source of nutrition for the Tupinamba.  The fruit could be eaten fresh or fermented to make  alcohol.  The nutritious nut, which was covered an outer poisonous shell could be freed from this shell by roasting.  The word for the cashew in Tupi was acaju.  This became caju in Portuguese and cashew in English.

            The villages moved frequently due to leaching of the soil.  Usually, the villages was located along a river, where they fished with nets and used rafts, bark canoes, and dug-out canoes for transportation purposes.  In addition to fish, they also ate dogs and ducks, which were their two domesticated animals.  They hunted with bows and arrows, wood and bone points.  

            They lived in large wooden houses with thatched roofs.  Sometimes as many as thirty families lived in separate quarters within the same sprawling buildings, with separate compartments for each household.  The Tupinamba women wore no clothing other than shell necklesses, lip plugs (labrets), and feather headdresses.  Both the men and women decorated themselves with paint and tattoos.  In addition to feather headdresses and tattoos, younger men also wore penis strings, in which a string was wound tightly around the foreskin and attached to the waste so that the penis was held permanently erect. The older men wore a cluster of leaves in front of their private parts.  

            Shamanism and beer were important features in Tupinamba ceremonies.  Both male and female shamans gained insights from the use of tobacco, datura, and other drugs.  Women were assigned the chore of making beer.  After gathering and peeling manioc, they boiled it and gave the cooked manioc to young girls to chew before it was mixed with water in large jars to be brewed.  The ceramic pots of the Tupinamba were decorated with corrugation red, black, and white paint.  Plant resin was used for polishing the pots.       

            Marriage was indogamous and matrilocal.  Usually a man married the daughter of his sister, a cousin, or the daughter of a cousin.  After marriage he was obligated to perform services for the family he married into for about two or three years.     

            Petty warfare between local villages was a common feature of Tupinamba life.  Those killed on the battlefield were roasted and eaten.  The heads and sexual organs of those killed in battle were taken back to the village as trophies.  Captives were brought back to the village alive, where both men and women were allowed to marry within the family that captured them.  According to European accounts, the captives were treated kindly and often allowed to eat before the owners ate, but the captives and children of the captives were nonetheless regarded as slaves and there was an understanding that eventually the captives and their children would be cooked and eaten by the villagers in a ceremony that could take place at any time. 

            The rite of cannibalism was highly ritualized by the time of the European accounts.  The victms were decorated prior to their butchering and were tormented by their owners for days before they were finally killed.  During this time they were allowed to throw gourds or rocks at their tormentors until a designated executioner killed them with a club.  After the victim was cooked and butchered the portions were distributed to the villagers according to a pre-determined formula, except for the executioner, who was not allowed to participate.

            When those who were no designated for cannibalism died, they were wrapped in a hammock and squeezed into one of the same pots that were used for brewing beer or boiling a slave.  Offerings of food were made and then the pot was covered with the lid and buried.  The head of a household was buried in the house that he ruled.  Others were buried underneath a small hut to ward off evil.  (F2229 B78 1994 pp. 349-55, 393, 668)(SB71 S58 1993 pp. 14-15)(Wikipedia: Tupinambas)#       

AD1400-155+

O}O:ea 114, 168, O:ea 144, 48

##According to oral traditions some colonists came to Easter Island at about this time in two catamarans under the leadership of a chief named Hotumatua, the first of 22 chiefs on the island. He appears to have led a group known as the short-eared people. There followed a war between the short-eared people and long-ear people in which the long-eared people were defeated and burned. The final defeat of the long-ears appears to have been about three centuries later, based upon radiocarbon dating of the ashes in the oven where locals say the long-ears were cremated.  An ancient writing script on the island called rongorongo cannot be translated. For this reason, it seems likely that this script was used by the long-eared people, who were wiped out. There were about 120 different characters in this script, creating a combination of about 1000 words.

            The famous statues of giant heads on Easter Island that were erected on burial platforms called ahu each depict the shaven heads of men with long ears, suggesting that these were sculptured and erected by the people who were defeated. These heads were constructed out of soft volcanic rock. There are over 250 of these platforms that ring the island at regular intervals. These platforms were constructed to a height of about fifteen feet and extend as much as 300 feet in length. Some of them show are aligned with the solstice or with the equinox. Many of these ahu had statues of heads with long ears erected on them. These heads stood from ten to fifteen feet in height and weighed up to fifty tons. These heads were carved with obsidian. The rock quarry for these statues was easily located in the crater of the extinct volcano of Rano Raraku because some statues in various stages of completeion can be seen in this quarry. This indicates that the construction of the heads was halted suddenly, perhaps the result of the legendary war between the short-eared people and the long-eared people. Some of the heads were capped with cylindrical red hats weighing on average of about ten tons cut from a different colored stone found at another quarry. The transportation of the heads from the rock quarry to the various ahu was performed by pulling them with ropes made from hemp and hibiscus.  Tree trunks and small pebbles used as rollers. This process may have accelerated the deforestation of the island.

            Eventually all of these heads toppled over, but most of them were still standing when the Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen visited the island in 1722.  By that time the population of the island had greatly declined.  The most impressive structures in use on the island at that time were the stone chicken coops, which are said to have been constructed to protect the chickens from theft from rival clans. 

The surviving indigenous language of the Easter Islands is a Polynesian language, but the Easter Islanders have longer-heads than other Polynesian peoples, a characteristic that may have been passed down to the population from intermarriage between the two groups before they fought to the death. (AE 5 E363 1966 7: 867-68)(GF 75 P66 1992 pp. 4-7)#