TIMELINE

Chaucer’s Medieval England History

1327Edward III is brought to power.

1330Edward III assumes royal authority.

1339Edward II invades France,

beginning the Hundred Years War.

1340English naval victory at Sluys.

1342Birth of Chaucer

1346Battle of Crecy, France. English archers soundly defeat Scottish

invasion force.

1347Truce between England and France.

Plague arrives in Italy.

1348Plague reaches Italy.

1351Parliament passes the Statue of

Laborers to keep down wages.

1353Boccaccio’s Decameron.

1356Battle of Poitiers, France.

1360Treaty of Bretigny ends the first

phase of the Hundred Years’ War.

1361Outbreak of Plague

1362First version of Piers Plowman, the

first major literary work to be written in English since the Norman

Conquest.

1367Edward Prince of Wales leads an

expedition to Spain in aid of Pedro the Cruel, the deposed King of

Castile.

1369Outbreak of the plague. Hostilities resume in the Hundred Years’ War.

1375Outbreak of Plague.

1376Death of the Prince of Wales. Parliament

impeaches royal servants belonging to the faction of John of Gaunt, the king’s fourth

son.

1377Death of Edward III, accession of

his grandson Richard II, still only 11 years of age. Poll Tax levied.

1378Pope Gregory XI dies. The French-dominated

College of Cardinals is intimidated by the Roman mob into electing an Italian as Pope, Urban VI. Urban antagonizes the cardinals,

who declare him deposed, and elect a Frenchman, Clement VII. Clement moves to

Avignon, but Urban remains as Pope in Rome. England, as well as the countries of

Scandinavia, Germany, and northern Italy, support the Roman Pope; France, Scotland,

Naples, Sicily, and the kingdoms of Spain follow the Pope of Avignon. This schism is not

healed until the fifteenth century.

1380Peasants’ Revolt

1382Richard II marries Anne of Bohemia. John

Wycliffe and his Lollard followers complete the first full English translation

of the Bible.

1384Death of Wycliffe.

1385Richard II and his uncle, John of

Gaunt, undertake a fruitless military campaign in Scotland.

1386John of Gaunt leads an expensive

and unsuccessful expedition to Spain in an effort to win the crown of Castile, which he claims by right

of his second wife. Chaucer produces the first sections of the

Canterbury Tales.

1388Scottish victory at Otterburn.

Parliament impeaches several of the king’s favorites.

1389Richard II reaches the age of majority and

assumes the functions of government in person. Boniface IX becomes Pope at

Rome.

1390Outbreak of Plague.

1394Richard II campaigns in Ireland.

Death of Queen Anne.

1396Richard II marries Isabella of

France.

1399Death of John of Gaunt. Richard II is

deposed by Henry of Bolingbroke (Guant’s son), who becomes King Henry

IV.

1400Death of Richard II. Death of

Chaucer. Outbreak of plague.