Editing 1347 (section)

=== Eastern and Scandinavian ===
[[File:Doutielt3.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Citizens of [[Tournai]] bury plague victims. Miniature from "The Chronicles of Gilles Li Muisis" (1272-1352). Bibliothèque royale de Belgique, MS 13076-77, f. 24v.]]
On February 2 the [[Byzantine Empire]]'s [[Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347|civil war]] between [[John VI Kantakouzenos]] and the regency ended with John VI entering Constantinople. On February 8, an agreement was concluded with the empress [[Anna of Savoy]], whereby he and [[John V Palaiologos]] would rule jointly. The agreement was finalized in May when John V married Kantakouzenos' 15-year-old daughter. The war had come at a high cost economically and territorially, and much of the Empire was in need of rebuilding.<ref>Mango, Cyril. The Oxford History of Byzantium. Oxford Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2002. {{ISBN|0-19-814098-3}} pp. 267</ref> To make matters worse, in May Genoese ships fleeing the [[Black Death]] in Kaffa stopped in Constantinople. The plague soon spread from their ships to the city.<ref name = bp>Benedictow, Ole and Ole Benedictow. The Black Death, 1346–1353. Ipswich: Boydell Press, 2004. {{ISBN|0-85115-943-5}} pp. 51–54</ref> By autumn, the epidemic had spread throughout the [[Balkans]], possibly through contact with Venetian ports along the Adriatic Sea.<ref>Benedictow, Ole and Ole Benedictow. The Black Death, 1346–1353. Ipswich: Boydell Press, 2004. {{ISBN|0-85115-943-5}} pp. 74</ref> Specific cases were recorded in the northern Balkans on December 25, in the city of [[Split (city)|Split]].<ref name=autogenerated1>Benedictow, Ole and Ole Benedictow. The Black Death, 1346–1353. Ipswich: Boydell Press, 2004. {{ISBN|0-85115-943-5}} pp. 75</ref>

After being proclaimed [[Tsar of Serbia]] in the previous year by the newly promoted [[Serbian Patriarch]] [[Joanikije II]], [[Stefan Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia|Stefan Dušan]] continued his southern expansion by conquering [[Epirus]], [[Aetolia]] and [[Acarnania]], appointing his half-brother, despot [[Simeon Uroš]] as governor of those provinces.