36. Birth of Timur (Tamerlane) the Tartar.

1337. Edward III of England obtains the support of Van Artevelde; he
obtains money by grants from parliament and confiscating the wealth of
the Lombard merchants. See "JAMES VAN ARTEVELDE LEADS A FLEMISH REVOLT,"
vii, 68.

Birth of Froissart, the chronicler, at Valenciennes.

1338. Beginning of the wars of Edward III against France; he sails with
a fleet of five hundred ships; lands his army at Antwerp. See "BATTLE OF
SLUYS AND CRECY," vii, 78.

Declaration of the Electors at Rense that Germany is an independent
empire over which the Pope has no jurisdiction; the diet at Frankfort
ratifies the manifesto.

1339. France invaded by Edward III of England; beginning of the Hundred
Years' War.

Genoa elects its first doge, Simone Boccanera.

A body of disbanded mercenaries form themselves into the first
_condottiere_ company known in Italy. The word means a captain or
leader, the _condottieri_ those under the leader. They were free lances,
open to serve under any flag.

1340. Edward destroys a large French fleet at Sluys; beginning of
England's naval power. See "BATTLE OF SLUYS AND CRECY," vii, 78.

War between the Hanseatic League and Denmark; the Danes defeated.

1341. Death of John III of Brittany; his brother, John of Montfort, and
his niece, Jeanne de Penthievre, wife of Charles of Blois, contest the
succession; England supports the former, France the latter.

Edward Balliol retires on the return of David II to Scotland.

Petrarch is crowned with laurel at Rome. See "MODERN RECOGNITION OF
SCENIC BEAUTY," vii, 93.

1342. Edward III pursues his campaign in Brittany; he relieves
Hennebonne, besieged by the French.

Walter de Brienne, Duke of Athens, becomes sovereign lord of Florence.

Accession of Louis, called the Great, to the throne of Hungary, on the
death of King Charles Robert, his father.

1343. Expulsion from Florence of the Duke of Athens; popular government
restored.

A truce of three years arranged between England and France by the
mediation of the papal legates.

1344. Breach of the truce between England and France; Earl Derby defeats
Count de Lisle and reduces a great part of Perigord.

A Turkish fleet is destroyed at Pallene by the Knights of Rhodes, who
assist in the capture of Smyrna by the Venetians and the King of Cyprus.

Masham, an Englishman, first discovers the Madeira Islands.

In England, parliament, by the Statute of Provisors, f