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Battle of Kosovo Polje
On the field of blackbirds, Serbian Prince Lazar's coalition met Murad I's Ottomans and was destroyed. Lazar was captured and beheaded. Murad himself was assassinated in his tent by a Serb feigning surrender. Serbia became an Ottoman vassal. The battle would crystallize into the central trauma of Serbian national memory.
Bayezid I succeeds murdered Murad
Hours after his father's assassination on the battlefield of Kosovo, the new Ottoman sultan ordered the strangulation of his own brother Yakub to forestall succession war, establishing a grim precedent of fratricide that would haunt the dynasty. Bayezid would campaign relentlessly across Bulgaria, Greece, and Anatolia, earning the nickname Yildirim, the Thunderbolt, until Timur shattered him at Ankara.
Ming maritime ban begins to take shape
The Hongwu emperor, fearing pirate alliances and foreign influence along the coast, decreed restrictions on private overseas trade and ordered coastal populations relocated inland. The haijin policy aimed to concentrate maritime activity under state control. It would constrict Chinese private maritime commerce for two centuries, though smuggling and tribute trade kept the sea routes alive.
Tlatoani Acamapichtli dies in Tenochtitlán
The first recorded Aztec huey tlatoani died after establishing hereditary rulership over the island city, leaving behind a system of noble succession through an electoral council of elders. Under his heirs Tenochtitlan would expand from tributary of Azcapotzalco to independent power in the Valley of Mexico and, within a century, the axis of a vast Triple Alliance empire.
Ming shipbuilding yards expand at Longjiang
The Hongwu court enlarged naval yards on the Yangtze near Nanjing to build treasure ships, patrol craft, and transport vessels. The maritime ban did not extend to state fleets, which grew rapidly. The yards would later build Zheng He's great expeditionary vessels, some reportedly four hundred feet long. Chinese naval capacity quietly surpassed anything elsewhere in the world.