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Battle of Maritsa: Ottomans crush Serbian princes
A Serbian army led by King Vukasin and his brother attempted a night march toward the Ottoman camp on the Maritsa river and was destroyed when Ottoman scouts detected the advance and launched a devastating counterattack. Both Serbian leaders died. The remaining Serbian principalities became Ottoman vassals. The road to Kosovo eighteen years later was now wide open.
Hongwu Emperor dispatches maritime envoys to Southeast Asia
The Ming emperor sent diplomatic missions to Java, Champa, and Siam, demanding tribute and offering trade. It was the opening move in a tributary system that would frame East Asian diplomacy for centuries - China as the celestial center, its neighbors as respectful guests bringing local goods and receiving silk and porcelain.
Sergius of Radonezh founds Trinity Lavra
The Russian hermit, already famous for his austere humility, established what would become the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius north of Moscow, a monastery that combined rigorous asceticism with communal living. Sergius blessed Dmitri of Moscow before Kulikovo and would be canonized within a generation. His monasticism infused Moscow's imperial idea with spiritual authority for centuries.
John of Gaunt claims the Castilian throne
The Duke of Lancaster, married to Pedro the Cruel's daughter, declared himself king of Castile and spent a decade trying to make the claim stick. His Iberian ambition drained English resources, distracted from the French war, and ultimately produced nothing but a diplomatic marriage. Yet it entangled England and Spain for generations.
Great Bible commissioned for Charles V's Louvre library
Charles V of France commissioned a richly illuminated French translation of the Bible in two massive volumes, with marginal commentaries and historiated initials painted by the finest Parisian miniaturists. The 'Bible of Charles V' was one of a series of French vernacular commissions that made the Louvre the most bibliographically sophisticated lay library of fourteenth-century Europe.