Editing 1340s (section)

==Europe==

===Political developments===

====War and decline in Western Europe====
{{see also|Hundred Years' War (1337–1360)}}
[[File:Edward III noble.jpg|left|thumb|A [[Noble (English coin)|gold noble]] of [[Edward III]]; his arms show his claim to both France and England]]
In Europe, the decade continued the period of gradual economic decline,<ref name="R67">Rothbard, p 67</ref> which followed the end of the [[Medieval Warm Period]] and the start of the [[Little Ice Age]] in the [[14th century|1300s]]. This secular decline, often mistitled a "depression", affected most of Western Europe, with the exception of a few Italian city-states.<ref name="R67"/> It was the result of factors which had begun earlier in the century, the main cause being the breaking of the balance between Church and state.<ref name="R67"/> The more dominant state increasingly interfered in the social and economic life of late medieval Europe, imposing detrimental taxation and regulation.<ref name="R67"/> King [[Edward III of England]] faced a brief standoff with some dissident barons in 1341 — one of only two such isolated standoffs in his popular reign.<ref>Hollister, p 269</ref> Meanwhile, the role of the [[Parliament of England]] became more defined, with the [[House of Commons of England|House of Commons]] regularly petitioning Edward from about 1343 onward.<ref>Hollister, p 278</ref>

[[Image:Battle of crecy froissart.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Battle of Crecy]] in [[1346]] was the first great land battle of the [[Hundred Years' War]]. In the 1340s, Europe entered a century of virtually continuous war.]]
Europe entered a period which saw almost continuous war for the next century.<ref name="R67" /> Fighting took place in the [[Duchy of Brittany]], "a country well suited to guerilla warfare", from 1342 to 1365 in the [[Breton War of Succession]].<ref>Fossier, p 69</ref> The [[Hundred Years' War]] (1337–1453) between France and England continued, and Edward III led an invasion resulting in a number of victories. One of the earlier English victories was at the naval [[Battle of Sluys]] in 1340, which annihilated the French fleet and gave the English control of the [[English Channel]] for several years.<ref name="H272">Hollister, p 272</ref> The initial campaigns were frustrating and expensive, so Edward altered his strategy to use English armies that were lightly supported but prepared to [[forage]] off the land.<ref name="H272" /> It successfully established English control over [[Brittany]] in 1342.<ref name="H272" /> Further armies were sent to Brittany and [[Gascony]] in 1345, and Edward himself crossed the Channel in 1346 with 10,000 men — an enormous army by contemporary standards.<ref name="H272" /> They [[Battle of Caen (1346)|plundered Caen]], an important town in [[Normandy]], and eventually began moving back toward the Channel.<ref name="H272" />

In 1346, the Battle of Crecy became the first great land battle of the Hundred Years' War, and the most stunning victory of Edward's career.<ref name="H272"/> English longbowmen crippled the French knights for many years to come, allowing Edward to take the key Channel port of [[Calais]] in 1347.<ref name="H272"/> Meanwhile, public discontent caused the town of [[Lyon]] to riot in 1347.<ref>Fossier, p 38</ref> Importantly, the English campaign of the 1340s "brought the hegemony of high medieval France to a decisive close."<ref name="H272"/>

====Central Europe====
In the [[Holy Roman Empire]], [[Ludwig the Bavarian]] was in conflict with the [[Avignon Papacy]].<ref name="Rendina378">Rendina, p 378<!--Source gives "Charles" as "Karl"--></ref> Pope Clement VI influenced the German [[Prince-elector]]s to elect [[Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Charles of Moravia]] as rival king to Ludwig.<ref name="Rendina378"/> He was crowned in 1346 in [[Bonn]].<ref name="Rendina378"/> After the death of Emperor Ludwig in September 1347, Charles IV was recognised as [[List of German monarchs|King of Germany]] by all of the German princes.<ref name="Rendina378"/>

In 1341, [[Margarete Maultasch]], Countess of [[County of Tyrol]], had expelled her husband [[John Henry of Bohemia]]. She then married [[Louis V the Brandenburger|Louis of Bavaria]], a son of Ludwig, without an annulment of her previous marriage. The result was the [[excommunication]] of the couple.

====Northern Europe====
{{further|Northern Crusades|Crusader states}}
[[File:Medieval Livonia 1260.svg|thumb|left|Danish Estonia was sold to the Teutonic Order after the rebellion of 1343–1346.]]
In 1340, a German law-code was drawn up by the [[Teutonic Knights]] for their long-settled [[Monastic state of the Teutonic Knights|Prussian]] district of [[Pomesania]].<ref name="Christiansen210">Christiansen, p 210</ref> The code defined two categories of people: the unfree, who came under peasant law (''Gebauersrecht'') and were consigned to the jurisdiction of their lords; and the freedmen.<ref name="Christiansen210"/> The latter group included peasants who had the right to demand trial by the written code and could not be sentenced to death in private courts.<ref name="Christiansen210"/> However, an appendix to the law-code also made it clear that the [[Old Prussians|Old Prussian]] peasant converts were discriminated against by the Teutonic Knights, and were allowed remain "semi-pagan, uncouth and lawless".<ref name="Christiansen211">Christiansen, p 211</ref> Such treatment shocked contemporary commentators such as [[Saint Bridget of Sweden]].<ref name="Christiansen211"/>

The [[Danish monarchy]] had disintegrated in the [[1330s]], but was restored in 1340 by [[Valdemar IV]] after a long interregnum.<ref name="Christiansen200">Christiansen, p 200</ref> In the Danish crusader state of [[Danish Estonia|Estonia]], some 80% of the indigenous population was subject to immigrant lords, to whom they owed tithe and military duty.<ref name="Christiansen212">Christiansen, p 212</ref> When the lords reacted to falling grain-prices by increasing the level of tithe, which led to the [[St. George's Night Uprising]] in 1343.<ref name="Christiansen212"/> On 23 April, the Estonians rose up and killed their masters — German sources give a figure of 18,000 dead as a result of the uprising, although this total is unlikely.<ref name="Christiansen212"/> The Danish government in Estonia was overthrown when a major group of vassals in Tallinn handed over castles to the Teutonic Order in 1344–1345.<ref name="Skyum-Nielsen129">Skyum-Nielsen, p 129</ref> Beset by pressing problems at home and unable to break the monopoly of the [[Hanseatic League]] at sea, Valdemar decided to sell the territory to the master of the Teutonic Order for 10,000 marks.<ref name="Christiansen200"/> The final sale was approved by the king's Danish counsellors, and the shift of sovereignty took place on 1 November 1346.<ref name="Skyum-Nielsen129"/>

[[File:Pskov Veche Vasnetsov.jpg|thumb|A "[[veche]]" or [[popular assembly]] of the [[Pskov Republic]], which officially became independent by the [[Treaty of Bolotovo]] in 1348]]
In [[Sweden]], the court was continually reminded of its religious duties by Bridget of Sweden, who was the king's cousin and beginning to win fame as a prophetess.<ref name="Christiansen190">Christiansen, p 190</ref> Her primary aim was to reform and purify the upper class, and her posthumously complied ''Revelations'' contain thoughts on the [[Northern Crusades]] which must have been expressed in the 1344–1348 period.<ref name="Christiansen190"/> After King [[Magnus Eriksson]] had tried and failed to take possession of Denmark in the early 1340s, she advised him not to offend his people by raising taxes to fund wars against their co-religionists, but instead to raise taxes only for self-defence or in crusading against unbelievers.<ref name="Christiansen190"/> Therefore, after Magnus had at least temporarily resolved difficulties at home, he prepared for a crusade against the [[Russian Orthodox]] Novgorod.<ref>Christiansen, p 191-192</ref> Envoys were sent to the Russians in 1347, and an army was assembled that included Danish and German auxiliaries, and the support of Henry of Rendsburg.<ref>Christiansen, p 192</ref> The army set sail for the campaign in 1348.<ref name="Christiansen193" />

Accordingly, there were political divisions in the Russian states in this decade. The southern territories of [[Novgorod Republic|Novgorod]] had been subjugated by Prince [[Algirdas of Lithuania]] in 1346, and [[Simeon of Moscow]] had failed to intervene.<ref>Christiansen, p 191</ref> The city was divided between competing [[boyar]] factions, and the lack of unity between Novgorod and her allies allowed for the success of Magnus' campaign of 1348.<ref>Christiansen, p 191 & 193</ref> [[Pskov Republic|Pskov]] officially broke away from Novgorod that year;<ref>Nossov (2007), p 8</ref> and Simeon was again delayed in helping against the Swedes, this time by business with his overlord, the Khan of the [[Golden Horde]].<ref name="Christiansen193">Christiansen, p 193</ref> Orekhov was taken by the Swedes, although it was to fall in 1349.<ref name="Christiansen193"/>

====Eastern Europe====
{{further|Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347}}
* [[Byzantine civil war of 1341–1347]] within the [[Byzantine Empire]]
* [[John III of Trebizond|John III Comnenus]] becomes [[Empire of Trebizond|emperor of Trebizond]] (1342)<ref>{{Cite book|title=Encyclopedia of the Byzantine Empire|last=Lawler|first=Jennifer|publisher=McFarland|year=2011|isbn=978-1476609294|pages=326}}</ref>
* Guy de Lusignan becomes King [[Constantine II, King of Armenia|Gosdantin II of Armenia]] (1342)<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Armenian Kingdom and the Mamluks|last=Stewart|first=Angus Donal|publisher=Brill|year=2001|isbn=9004122923|pages=185}}</ref>
* The [[Patriarch of Antioch|Patriarchate of Antioch]] is transferred to [[Damascus]] under Ignatius II (1342)<ref>{{cite web |title=Primates of the Apostolic See of Antioch |url=http://ww1.antiochian.org/patofant/primates |website=Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese |publisher=Primates of the Apostolic See of Antioch |access-date=3 April 2020 |archive-date=23 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200223233528/http://ww1.antiochian.org/patofant/primates |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* Serbian expansion
* In 1342, [[Louis I of Hungary|Louis I]] became King of [[Hungary]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Louis-I-king-of-Hungary|title=Louis I king of Hungary |website=Britannica |publisher=Encyclopaedia Britannica |access-date=3 April 2020}}</ref>

====Southern Europe====
In [[Rome]], the general despair brought on by the Plague and the absence of the Pope have been cited as possible causes for the rise of the Roman notary [[Cola di Rienzo]]: in 1347, he assumed the title of [[Roman censor|censor]] and claimed to restore the [[Roman Republic]].<ref name="Fossier105">Fossier, p 105</ref> He utilised popular rhetoric, and invited the men of [[Trastevere]] to sack the palaces of the fleeing Roman nobility.<ref name="Fossier105"/> Cola tried to establish direct government with elections in the ''[[Rioni of Rome|rione]]'' of the city, but he lacked the means to take the [[Castel Sant'Angelo]] and he was cut down by the Roman aristocracy in 1354.<ref name="Fossier105"/>

[[Image:Alfonso XI Coin.jpg|left|thumb|A [[billon (alloy)|billon]] coin of [[Alfonso XI]], dated circa 1345.]]
There were several rulers of the Kingdoms of Spain in the 1340s. [[Alfonso XI of Castile|Alfonso XI the Just]] ruled until the end of the decade as [[King of Castile and León]].<ref name="Davies393">Davies,  p 393</ref> Castile and León surrounded Granada by land, and Alfonso advanced the Christian ''[[Reconquista]]''.<ref name="Davies393"/> In 1340, at the [[Battle of Río Salado]], he won the first Castilian victory over the [[Moors]] for over a century, and crossed the straits to [[Algeciras]].<ref name="Davies393"/> In [[1345]], he attacked Gibraltar, but was unable to conquer it.<ref>O'Callaghan, p 212</ref>

By 1343, Aragon had acquired the [[Balearic Islands]],<ref>Fossier, p 66</ref> and in 1344 Peter deposed [[James III of Majorca]] to become [[King of Majorca]] himself. [[Navarre]] was ruled by [[Philip III of Navarre|Philip III]] until 1343, his [[House of Capet|Capetian]] wife [[Joanna II of Navarre|Joanna II]] until 1349, and finally [[Charles II of Navarre|Charles II the Bad]] ruled into the late 14th century. The [[Kingdom of Portugal]] was meanwhile ruled by [[Afonso IV of Portugal|Afonso IV]], from 1325 until his death in 1357.

In 1341, [[Saluzzo]] sacked by [[Manfred V of Saluzzo]]. In 1342, [[Louis of Sicily|Louis "the Child"]] became King of [[Sicily]] and [[Duchy of Athens|Duke of Athens]]. An earthquake and [[tsunami]] of 1343 devastated the [[Amalfi|Maritime Republic of Amalfi]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Del Lungo |first=Stefano |date=July 2012 |title=Reckless foundations, Natural disasters or Divine punishment in the 14th century Italian culture (the storm or tsunami of Amalfi in 1343) |url=https://www.academia.edu/26091361 |access-date=June 18, 2020 |website=ResearchGate}}</ref>

===Society and economy===

====Economic collapse and crisis====
To finance the continuing wars of the 1340s, Edward III of England granted to a small group of merchants a [[monopoly]] on the export of wool.<ref name="Rothbard221">Rothbard, p 221</ref> In return, they agreed to collect the "[[poundage]]", or wool tax, on his behalf.<ref name="Rothbard221"/> This included a [[tariff]] on the import of woolen cloth, which put out of business the Italian and foreign merchants that had dominated the wool export trade.<ref name="Rothbard221"/> The monopoly merchants went bankrupt in the following decade.<ref name="Rothbard221"/>

Edward also introduced three new gold coins in 1344: the [[English coin Florin or Double Leopard|florin]], [[English coin Half Florin or Leopard|leopard]], and [[English coin Quarter Florin or Helm|helm]]. However, the gold content of these coins did not match their respective value of 6 shillings, 3 shillings, and 1 shilling and sixpence, so they had to be withdrawn and mostly melted down by August of that year.<!--Copied from [[1344]] article-->{{citation needed|date=June 2013}}

In France, the king's personal expenditure on dowries, gratuities, the upkeep of the palace, his travels and his wardrobe, consumed the entirety of the royal income.<ref>Fossier, p 113</ref> Therefore, a monopoly on [[salt]], an essential commodity, was established in 1341; monopolies in salt had already been established in [[Kingdom of Castile]] and [[Venice]] in the [[1330s]].<ref name="Fossier34">Fossier, p 34</ref> The French salt tax or ''[[gabelle]]'' itself never amounted to more than 2%.<ref name="Fossier34"/> ''[[Fouage]]s'' were also levied in 1342 and 1349.<ref>Fossier, p 115</ref>

The Italian city states were booming at the start of the decade. In 1340, [[Francesco Balducci Pegolotti]] wrote his ''[[Practica della mercatura]]''.<ref>Fossier, p 99</ref> Meanwhile, rulers such as the Neapolitan princes had begun withdrawing massive funds from [[Florence|Florentine]] banks.<ref name="Soto"/> England found itself unable to repay its debts, and both factors resulted in a [[bank run|crisis of confidence]] in the Florentine banks<ref name="Soto"/> The family-based banks and mercantile associations of Florence and Genoa generally kept only 25–30% of their [[capital (economics)|capital]] in [[liquid asset]]s,<ref name="Fossier100">Fossier, p 100</ref> and between 1341 and 1346, many of the most important of the Florentine banks collapsed.<ref name="Soto"/> — an "avalanche of bankruptcies", in the words of Robert Fossier.<ref name="Fossier100"/> These were owned by the following banking families: the [[Acciaiuoli]]s, the [[Bonaccorsi family|Bonaccorsi]]s, the [[Cocchi family|Cocchi]]s, the [[Antellesi]]s, the [[Corsini]]s, the [[Uzzano family|Uzzanos]], the [[Perendoli]]s, the [[Peruzzi]]s and the [[Bardi family|Bardis]].<ref name="Soto"/>

====Social unrest====
The situation in the towns remained delicate: while on one hand the trades were dominant, and [[Villani]] counted no fewer than 200 textile workshops in Florence around 1340, working conditions and entry restrictions imposed by the guilds created tensions with the unemployed and unskilled labourers.<ref>Fossier, p 102</ref> [[Strike action|Strikes]] or ''grèves'' occurred in [[Ghent]] in 1337–1345 and in Florence in 1346.<ref>Fossier, p 107</ref> In 1349–1350, the [[fulling|fullers]] and [[weaving|weavers]] of Ghent and [[Liège]] massacred each other.<ref>Fossier, p 104</ref> The failures in the food supply in the regions of [[Provence]] and [[Lyon]], in 1340 and 1348 respectively, affected contemporaries particularly harshly.<ref name="Fossier40">Fossier, p 40</ref> This was not just because these generations were unused to them, but because they were accompanied by war and followed by epidemic in this decade.<ref name="Fossier40"/>

====The Black Plague====
{{main|Black Death}}
[[Image:Bubonic plague-en.svg|thumb|left|Spread of plague in the 1340s:
{{legend|#a1584e|1347}} {{legend|#FF7F50|mid-1348}} {{legend|#ED9121|early-1349}} {{legend|#fad07d|late-1349}} {{legend|#50C878|Areas that escaped with minor plague outbreak}}]]
In 1340, the total population of Europe was 54 million; by 1450, it would be 37 million, a 31% drop in only a century.<ref name="R67"/> In addition to the earlier social and economic decline, the [[Black Plague]] is identified as the superficial cause, which struck Europe and wiped out a full third of the population in short space of 1348–1350.<ref name="Rothbard-p70" /><ref name="R67"/> It has been described as "a pandemic of plagues such as the world had not seen since the sixth century and was not destined to see again till the [[1890s]]."<ref name="Davies409">Davies, p 409</ref> It was actually three related diseases: [[bubonic plague]] and [[Septicemic plague|septicaemic plague]], carried by fleas hosted by the [[black rat]], and [[pneumonic plague]], the especially fast and lethal airborne variant.<ref name="Davies409"/> The few areas that escaped included [[Poland]],<ref name="Davies411">Davies, p 411</ref> [[Hungary]],<ref name="Fossier55">Fossier, p 55</ref> [[Rouergue]] in France,<ref name="Fossier55"/> [[Liège]] in [[Belgium]],<ref name="Davies411"/> and the county of [[Béarn]] in the [[Pyrenees]].<ref name="Davies411"/> It has been suggested that these areas were spared due to the predominance of O-[[Blood type]], which had only recently taken root in the heartlands of Europe, although this hypothesis has yet to be proven.<ref name="Fossier55"/>

The pandemic, which began in central Asia, was first reported in Europe in the summer of [[1346]].<ref name="Davies409"/> The [[Republic of Genoa|Genoese]] colony of [[Caffa]] in the [[Crimean Peninsula|Crimea]] [[Siege of Caffa|was besieged]] by the [[Tartars]], who catapulted plague-ridden corpses into the city.<ref name="Davies409"/> The defenders carried the disease back to Italy; in October 1347 it reached [[Messina]] in [[Sicily]],<ref name="Davies409"/> in December a ship carried the plague into Marseille,<ref name="Fossier53">Fossier, p 53</ref> and by January 1348 it was in Genoa.<ref name="Davies409"/> The plague then moved northward through France.<ref name="Hollister283">Hollister, p 283</ref> According to the French monk [[Guillaume de Nangis]]:

{{blockquote|Victims were only ill for two or three days and died suddenly, their bodies almost sound… They had swellings in the armpits and groin, and the appearance of these swellings was an unmistakable sign of death… Soon, in many places, of every twenty inhabitants only two remained alive. The mortality was so great at the hospital of [[Paris]] that for a long time more than 500 bodies were carried off on wagons each day, to be buried at the cemetery of the Holy Innocents.<ref name="Hollister283"/>}}<!--

-->The reasons for the plague's success are not yet entirely understood.<ref name="Fossier53"/> Urban overcrowding,<ref name="Fossier53"/> declining sanitary conditions<ref name="Fossier53"/> and the "lively European trade in (rat-infested) grain" have been cited as causes of the plague's rapid transmission;<ref name="Hollister283"/> while favourable climatic conditions and the summer months may also have aided its spread.<ref name="Fossier53"/> In the summer of 1348 it reached England, arriving first at [[Melcombe Regis]] in [[Dorset]].<ref name="Hollister283"/> It had spread through the southwestern shires to [[London]] by winter.<ref name="Hollister283"/> It peaked in the summer of 1349,<ref>Hollister, p 283-284</ref> when it was passed on into [[Germany]] and [[Austria]], and in winter it was in [[Scotland]], [[Scandinavia]] and [[Spain]].<ref name="Fossier53"/>

In general, towns were hit more severely than rural areas, the poor more than the rich, and the young and fit more than the old and infirm.<ref name="Davies412">Davies, p 412</ref> Norman Davies generalises that "No pope, no kings were stricken."<ref name="Davies412"/> Hundreds died in each parish, although some figures may have been exaggerated.<ref name="Hollister284" /> [[Norwich]], a city that did not exceed 17,000, was reported as having lost 57,000.<ref>Smith, p 28</ref> The Italian humanist [[Giovanni Boccaccio]] records a loss of 100,000 in Florence, exceeding the total population of the city.<ref name="Davies412"/> The figure was probably closer to 50,000.<ref name="Davies412"/> Regardless, modern studies make it clear that the plague's toll in this decade was heavy.<ref name="Hollister284">Hollister, p 284</ref>

Heaviest hit were the clergy, who were brought into direct contact with plague victims. Guillaume de Nangis records that "some monks and friars, being braver, [[Sacraments of the Catholic Church|administered the sacraments]]", and that the sisters at the hospital of Paris, "fearless of death, carried out their task to the end with the most perfect gentleness and humility. These sisters were all wiped out by death…"<ref name="Hollister283"/> In the [[Diocese of York|dioceses of York]] and [[Diocese of Lincoln|Lincoln]], about 44% of the clergy perished, while nearly 50% died in the [[Diocese of Exeter|Exeter]], [[Diocese of Winchester|Winchester]], [[Diocese of Norwich|Norwich]] and [[Diocese of Ely|Ely]].<ref name="Hollister284"/> In all, half of the English clergy may have died.<ref name="Hollister284"/>[[Image:Codex Manesse 069r Werner von Teufen.jpg|thumb|An illustration of fashion among nobles hawking, from the ''[[Codex Manesse]]'', completed c. 1340.|237x237px]]In 14th century England, the Black Plague "served as a somber backdrop to a deepening economic crisis… and growing social tensions and religious restlessness."<ref>Hollister, p 282</ref> Villages were deserted, herds were untended, wool and grain markets were crippled and land values plummeted.<ref name="Hollister285">Hollister, p 285</ref> The plague would strike periodically in subsequent decades.<ref name="Hollister285" /> However, it is also suggested that in Europe in general, the Black Plague solved the economic recession, in that the reduction in population returned the [[money supply|supply of cash credit and money]] per capita to its pre-crisis level, laying the foundation for recovery.<ref>Soto, p 71</ref> Wages rose, and the peasantry benefited from a more open, fluid society.<ref name="Hollister285" /><sup>[[#Notes|[Note 1]]]</sup> At the end of the decade, the economic effects of the Black Plague "may well have been more purgative than toxic."<ref name="Hollister285" />

==== Fashion ====
{{see also|1300–1400 in fashion}}

===Culture, religion and philosophy===

====Architecture====
{{see also|14th century in architecture}}
[[Image:NotreDameI.jpg|left|thumb|The western façade of [[Notre Dame de Paris]], completed in 1345]]
A number of European building projects were completed in the 1340s, mainly consisting of cathedrals and universities. In [['s-Hertogenbosch]], construction was finished on the [[Romanesque architecture|Romanesque church]] begun in 1220, which was later rebuilt as the 16th century [[St. John's Cathedral, 's-Hertogenbosch|St. John's Cathedral]]. In the German city of [[Mainz]], work was completed on the [[St. Stephen's Church, Mainz|Collegiate Church of St. Stephan]], begun in 1267. In [[Aragonese Kingdom of Naples|Naples]], three decades of work were finished on the [[monastery]] of [[Santa Chiara (Naples)|Santa Chiara]].

The High Gothic choir of [[St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna]], was consecrated in 1340.<ref>Toman, p 478</ref> [[St. Rumbolds Cathedral|Mecheln Cathedral]], then a collegiate church, was started with the choir in 1342.<ref>Toman, p 178</ref> In 1344, [[Prague]] was made an archbishopric, and the foundation stone was laid on the new [[St. Vitus Cathedral]].<ref>Toman, p 209</ref> [[Cathedral]]s completed in this decade, excluding later alterations, include [[Notre Dame de Paris]] and the [[Cathedral of the Theotokos, Vilnius]], completed around 1345 and 1346 respectively. In [[Ely Cathedral]], the last part of the repairs to the structure was finished with the richly decorated [[Lady Chapel (Ely)|Lady Chapel]] in 1345.<ref>Toman, p 144-145</ref>

In [[Venice]], the [[Venetian Gothic architecture|Venetian Gothic]] [[Doge's Palace, Venice|Palazzo Ducale]], or Doge's Palace, was erected on top of older buildings in 1340.<ref>Toman, p 260</ref> In [[Switzerland]], the walls of the [[Old City of Berne]] were extended up to the [[Christoffelturm]], from 1344 to 1346. Berne's Käfigturm was erected from 1256 to 1344 as the second western city gate.<ref>{{cite web|title=Käfigturm (Prison Tower) |url=http://www.berninfo.com/en/navpage-SightsBET-AttractionsBET-32481.html |publisher=Berninfo.com |access-date=2008-07-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070129054412/http://www.berninfo.com/en/navpage-SightsBET-AttractionsBET-32481.html |archive-date=2007-01-29 }}</ref> In [[Siena]], the [[Torre del Mangia|Torre della Mangia]] of the [[Palazzo Pubblico]] was completed in 1348.<ref>Toman, p 280</ref> That same year, land in the English town of [[Charing]] held by the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] was [[Archbishop's Palace, Charing|redeveloped as an episcopal palace]].

The [[Scuola della Carità]], one of the six [[Scuole Grandi of Venice]], was built in 1343. Two [[medieval universities]] were established in the 1340s: the [[University of Pisa]] (1343) and the [[Charles University in Prague|University of Prague]] (1347).<ref>Davies, p 1248</ref> The [[University of Valladolid]] was also granted a ''licentia ubique docendi'' by Pope [[Clement VI]] in 1347, during the reign of Alfonso XI.<ref>{{cite web |title=A Historical University, Tradition and Progress since the 13th century |url=http://www.universityofvalladolid.uva.es/past/index.html |publisher=[[University of Valladolid]] |access-date=2008-07-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081212125253/http://www.universityofvalladolid.uva.es/past/index.html |archive-date=2008-12-12 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Queen's College, Oxford]], was founded by the chaplain [[Robert de Eglesfield]] in 1341, and [[Philippa of Hainault|Queen Philippa]] secured the lands of a small hospital in Southampton for the college in 1343.<ref>{{cite web |title=The History of The Queen's College |url=http://www.queens.ox.ac.uk/history/ |publisher=[[Queen's College, Oxford]] |access-date=2009-06-18 }}</ref> Meanwhile, [[Bablake School]] was founded in [[Coventry]] in 1344 by the Queen Mother, [[Isabella of France]], while [[Pembroke College, Cambridge]], was completed in 1347.<ref>Neillands, p 109-110</ref>

====Art====
{{see also|1340s in art}}
[[Image:Bernardo Daddi 002.jpg|thumb|right|[[Bernardo Daddi]]'s ''Crucifixion'' (1340–1345)]]
In religious art, a series of [[stained glass]] windows were completed for the choir [[clerestory]] of [[Évreux Cathedral]] in Normandy c. 1340.<ref name="Toman477">Toman, p 477</ref> Stained glass was also completed for the former Königsfelden Abbey in [[Switzerland]], around the same time.<ref name="Toman477"/>

The possibilities of [[Giotto di Bondone|Giotto]]'s art were developed further in this decade by his pupils [[Maso di Banco]] and [[Bernardo Daddi]].<ref name="Toman444">Toman, p 444</ref> Significant of their works is ''[[:Image:Popesylvesterdragon.jpg|Pope Sylvester Tames the Dragon]]'', painted in 1340 by di Banco for the [[Basilica of Santa Croce, Florence|Church of Santa Croce]] in [[Florence]].<ref name="Toman444"/> An illustration by the artist Domenico Lenzi, the ''City Scene'' of 1340 from the ''Il Biadaiolo'' codex, shows just how much the Florentine artists were influenced by Giotto.<ref>Toman, p 464-465</ref>

In 1340, toward the end of his life, the painter [[Simone Martini]] was called to [[Avignon]] to work for the papal court.<ref name="Toman446">Toman, p 446</ref> His frescos in the portico of [[Avignon Cathedral]] have been lost, but the frescoes in the papal palace, painted by his pupils or colleagues around 1340, survive.<ref name="Toman446"/> Another notable religious artist was the [[Pisa]]n painter [[Francesco Traini]], who painted the ''Triumph of St. Thomas Aquinas'' as part of an Italian altarpiece "which reflects the divine order of the cosmos".<ref>Toman, p 439</ref>

In sculpture, the main artist was [[Andrea Pisano]], who maintained a workshop in Pisa with his son [[Nino Pisano]] from 1343 to 1347.<ref name="Toman331">Toman, p 331</ref> They are noted for the famous sculpture ''Maria lactans'', and their work on [[Orvieto Cathedral]].<ref name="Toman331"/>

====Literature====
{{see also|14th century in literature|Medieval literature}}
In 1341, [[Petrarch]] was crowned poet laureate in Rome, the first man since antiquity to be given this honor.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Renaissance Profiles|last=Plumb|first=J.H.|publisher=Harper & Row|year=1965|isbn=9780061311628|location=New York|pages=1–17}}</ref>
* ''[[Codex Manesse]]'', completed 1340
* Michael of Northgate (''[[Ayenbite of Inwyt]]'', 1340)
* [[Giovanni Boccaccio]] ([[Giovanni Boccaccio#Works|works]])
* [[Petrarch]] (''[[Africa (Petrarch)|Africa]]'', 1343)
* [[Geoffrey Chaucer]] (born 1343)
* ''[[Perceforest]]'', completed 1344

====Military technology====
It was around this decade that [[medieval cannon]] began to be used more widely in Europe, appearing in small numbers in several European states by the 1340s.<ref name="Nicolle">Nicolle, p 21</ref> "Thunder jar" weaponry utilizing gunpowder and other firearm technology spread to Spain in 1342 and to the city of [[Aachen]] in Northern Germany in 1346.<ref>Delbrück, p 28</ref><ref>Nossov (2005), p 209</ref> "[[Ribauldequin|Ribaldis]]" were first mentioned in the English Privy Wardrobe accounts between 1345 and 1346, during preparations for the campaign in France.<ref name="Nicolle"/> The effectiveness of these cannon was limited, as they are believed to have only shot large arrows and simple grapeshot, but they were so valuable that they were directly controlled by the Royal Wardrobe.<ref name="Nicolle"/> Contemporary chroniclers such as the French [[Jean Froissart]] and the Florentine [[Giovanni Villani]] record their destructiveness on the field at the [[Battle of Crecy]] in 1346.

====Philosophy and religion====
[[Image:William of Ockham - Logica 1341.jpg|thumb|A sketch of [[William of Ockham]], from a 1341 manuscript of Ockham's earlier [[nominalism|nominalist]] work, ''[[Sum of Logic|Summa Logicae]]'']]

In the 1340s, Catholic Church was governed under the [[Avignon Papacy]]. Pope [[Benedict XII]] died on 25 April 1342, and was buried in a mausoleum in [[Avignon Cathedral]].<ref name="Rendina376">Rendina, p 376</ref> Thirteen days later, the [[cardinal (Catholicism)|cardinals]] elected [[Benedictine]] cardinal and theologian Pierre Roger de Beaufort as Pope [[Clement VI]].<ref name="Rendina376"/> He reigned as pope until 1352.<ref name="Rendina376"/>

In 1340s, the controversial [[Franciscan]] [[friar]] and [[Scholasticism|Scholastic]] philosopher [[William of Ockham]] was at [[Munich]] under the protection of the [[Holy Roman Emperor]], [[Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor|Louis of Bavaria]], since 1330.<ref name="CRVP">{{cite web|title=William of Ockham, Philosopher of Nominalism |url=http://www.crvp.org/book/Series01/I-9/chapter_vii.htm |publisher=Council for Research in Values and Philosophy |access-date=2008-07-12 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720111114/https://www.crvp.org/book/Series01/I-9/chapter_vii.htm |archive-date=2008-07-20 }}</ref> During this time, he wrote exclusively on political matters,<ref name="StanfordOckham">{{cite encyclopedia |title=William of Ockham – 1.3 Munich |url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ockham/#1.3 |encyclopedia=[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |publisher=[[Stanford University]] |access-date=2008-07-12 }}</ref> as an advocate of [[Absolute monarchy|secular absolutism]] against [[papal]] authority, for which he had previously been [[Excommunication (Catholic Church)|excommunicated]].<ref name="Newadvent">{{cite encyclopedia |title=William of Ockham |url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15636a.htm |encyclopedia=[[Catholic Encyclopedia]] (1913) |publisher=Newadvent.org |access-date=2008-07-12 }}</ref> Among the followers of Ockhamism — condensed as the omnipotence of God and [[Occam's Razor]] — were [[John of Mirecourt]] (fl. c. 1345) and [[Nicholas of Autrecourt]] (fl. c. 1347), both of whom taught at the [[University of Paris]].<ref name="CRVP"/> Ockham, Mirecourt and Autrecourt all agreed on the [[Law of noncontradiction|principle of noncontradiction]] and experience as bases of certainty.<ref name="CRVP"/>

On November 21, 1340, Autrecourt too was summoned him to [[Avignon]] to respond to allegations of false teaching.<ref name="StanfordAutrecourt">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Nicholas of Autrecourt |url=http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/autrecourt/ |encyclopedia=[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |publisher=[[Stanford University]] |access-date=2008-07-12 }}</ref> The trial, under [[Pope Benedict XII]] and his successor [[Clement VI]], lasted until his conviction in 1346.<ref name="StanfordAutrecourt"/> Autrecourt was charged with 66 erroneous teachings or "articles", which he publicly recanted before the papal court.<ref name="StanfordAutrecourt"/> He recanted them in public again, in Paris in 1347.<ref name="StanfordAutrecourt"/> Although Ockham also expressed willingness to resubmit to the Church and Franciscan Order, there is no evidence of a formal reconciliation.<ref name="CRVP"/> Ockham is sometimes said to have died in 1349,<ref name="Newadvent"/> but it is more likely to have been 1347,<ref name="StanfordOckham"/> possibly of the Black Plague.<ref name="CRVP"/>

In 1343, Clement VI issued the [[papal bull]] ''Unigenitus''. The bull defined the doctrine of "The Treasury of Merits" or "The Treasury of the Church" as the basis for the issuance of [[indulgence]]s by the Catholic Church.<!--Copied from [[1343]] article--><ref>''The Forge of Vision: A Visual History of Modern Christianity'' {{ISBN|978-0-52028-695-5}} p. 75</ref>