January–March •
January 1 – •
Pope Eugene IV called for Christians under his jurisdiction to participate in the
Crusade of Varna against the incursions of the
Ottoman Empire into Central Europe. • The coronation of
Christoffer III as
King of Denmark and of his wife
Dorothea of Brandenburg, as Queen Consort, took place at the
Vor Frue Maria Dormkirke in
Ribe, nearly three years after he had first claimed the throne on April 9, 1440. •
January 28 –
Raffaele Adorno was elected as the new
Doge of the
Republic of Genoa. •
February 26 – The Spanish monarch, King
Alfonso V of Aragon, makes a triumphant entrance into the city of
Naples in order to assume the throne of the
Kingdom of Naples. •
March 11 – At the age of 16 months old,
Charlotte of Savoy, daughter of
Louis, Duke of Savoy, is betrothed in a ceremony to Frederick III of the
House of Wettin, the 4-year-old son of
Frederick II, Elector of Saxony. No marriage takes place, however, and Charlotte will marry the Crown Prince of France in 1451.
April–June •
April 12 –
Henry Chichele, the Roman Catholic
Archbishop of Canterbury for almost 29 years, dies and is succeeded by
John Stafford on May 13. •
April 23 –
The Duke of York, Richard Plantagenet, signs a treaty with
Isabella of Portugal, Duchess of Burgundy for an indefinite truce between the Kingdom of England and the Duchy of Burgundy. •
May 13 –
John Stafford is appointed as the new
Archbishop of Canterbury by
Pope Eugene IV. •
June 5 –
The strongest earthquake on record in
Poland kills at least 30 people and damages buildings in
Kraków and
Wrocław, and in
Timișoara and
Oradea in Romania. •
June 6 – Afonso V of Aragon formally reunites the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily. •
June 14 – Pope Eugene IV and King Alfonso V of Naples reach a forma agreement at
Terracina, with the Pope recognizing Alfonso as the rightful King and
Prince Ferrante as heir to the throne, while Alfonso agrees to stop support of the antipope Amadeus VII and the Council of Basel.
July–September •
July 22 –
Battle of St. Jakob an der Sihl (
Old Zurich War): The forces of the city of
Zurich are defeated, but the
Swiss Confederacy have insufficient strength to besiege and take the city. •
August 14 – The
Siege of Dieppe, an attempt by England's
Earl of Shrewsbury to capture the French port at Normandy and France's access to the
English Channel, fails after nine months. •
September 28 –
Pope Eugene IV returns to
Rome for the first time in more than nine years, after having been forced to flee on June 4, 1434.
October–December •
October 22 –
Pedro de Portugal, Duke of Coimbra and regent for the 11-year old
King Afonso V, grants letters patent to his younger brother
Dom Henrique of Navegador ("Prince Henry the Navigator"), giving Henrique an exclusive monopoly over all navigation south of
Cape Bojador, whether for the purpose of war or trade, as well as a commission on any African goods or slaves brought back to mainland Portugal. •
November 8 –
Battle of Niš:
John Hunyadi and the army of the
Crusade of Varna defeat three
armies of the Ottoman Empire, and capture the city of
Niš in modern-day
Serbia;
Skanderbeg deserts the Ottoman camp and goes to
Albania. •
November 28 – Skanderbeg and his forces, rebelling against the
Ottoman Empire, liberate
Krujë, in Middle
Albania, and raise the
Albanian flag. •
December 12 – At the
Battle of Zlatitsa in what is now
Bulgaria, Ottoman troops under the Sultan
Murad II and General
Kasim Pasha defeat an attack by John Hunyadi and the forces of Hungary, Croatia, Poland and Serbia. •
December 24 – • The Christian crusaders under Hunyadi begin their retreat westward after their defeat at Zlatica, and the Ottoman forces follow them, with a confrontation ultimately taking place on January 2 at the
Battle of Kunovica. • In
Poland,
Wenceslaus I, Duke of Siewierz sells the
duchy of
Siewierz to
Zbigniew Oleśnicki, Bishop of Kraków, for 6,000 silver coins (
Prague groschen), equivalent to at least or 750 ounces of silver. •
December 30 – King
Sejong the Great of
Korea announces the creation of the
Hunminjeongeum (literally "The Proper Sounds for the Instruction of the People") a manual for
Hangul, a standardized writing system for the
Korean language.
Date unknown • In
Moldavia, the conflict between brothers and co-rulers
Iliaș and
Stephen II reignites, and Stephen captures Iliaș and blinds him, thus remaining sole ruler of the country. •
Portuguese explorer
Nuno Tristão penetrates the
Arguin Gulf, off the west coast of Africa. • King
Sejong the Great starts to create
Hangul, the native alphabet of the
Korean language, with his scholars. •
Vlad II Dracul begins his second term as ruler of
Wallachia, succeeding
Basarab II. • The Buddhist
Zhihua Temple (智化寺) is built in
Beijing, at the order of
Wang Zhen, chief
eunuch at the court of the
Emperor Yingzong of
Ming Dynasty China. • A powerful earthquake destroys the
Timișoara Fortress in the
Kingdom of Hungary == Births ==