The Second millenium

[AirDancer]

Also in 1292:

Edward I of England oversees the selection between competing claims to the Scottish throne, on condition he is acknowledged as Lord Superior of Scotland. 13 competitors are narrowed down to two. John Balliol accepted Edward I's conditions & was therefore selected over Robert Bruce and is crowned King of Scotland on 30 November 1292.

 

[Vince]

Thank you, AirDancer. And now, on to 1293.

Trần Anh Tông begins his peaceful 21 year reign over Vietnam. He stabilizes the economy to the point that centuries of prosperity follow, and he starts and wins a few small wars with his neighbors, while remaining strong enough to keep the Mongols out. In his early years, he had to overcome alcoholism, but then he ruthlessly suppressed gambling and corruption. He later handed the kingdom to his son and retired.

What? You've never heard of Majapahit? Taking advantage of the collapse of the Mongol Empire in southeast Asia, this new empire will eventually control most of the area before collapsing after two centuries. Majapahit's greatest strength was the chaos that Mongolia left behind, leaving small territories at war with each other that the new empire could easily conquer. Based on the island of Java, this Empire eventually became the large, modern nation of Indonesia. This modern republic is the fourth most populated nation in the world.

A Japanese earthquake kills 30,000 people. I want to explain why I keep reporting great natural disasters. Jesús said that these things would happen, but they are not signs of the end of the age. They've been happening for thousands of years.

The ruler of Egypt is assassinated, and then his assassin is assassinated.

 

[Vince]

1294 is a bad year for honest Popes.

After a two-year impasse, 79 year old Celestine V begins his reign as Pope. One of the few non-Cardinals to be elected during the Middle Ages, he preferred to remain at the isolated monastery he had founded, but reluctantly took the Papacy. Blatantly honest and incompetent, he resigned after five months and was later made a saint. However, fearing his influence, the next Pope had him imprisoned, where he died ten months later.

Near the very end of the year, Boniface VIII is elected Pope. Imprisoning former Pope Celestine is not the only evil deed this man is remembered for. He initiated the Roman Jubilee, in which pilgrims to Rome were granted total forgiveness of sins, intending it to be only once every 100 years (The first one was in 1300). In 1302, he declared that salvation was impossible to anyone not subject to the Pope. (The Catholic Church has repudiated this).

He sent an army against the city of Palestrina for opposing him, and razed the city to the ground, massacring its 6,000 inhabitants, after it surrendered.

His system of canon law is still mostly in force today.

He excommunicated the entire population of Sicily for accepting a King whom he didn't want, and they ignored him. He interfered in other political affairs, making the great mistake of his life when he arrests Dante, who got his revenge by making Pope Boniface one of the most famous figures in religious literature. Later, in “The Inferno,” Dante meets a previous Pope in Hell who mistakes Dante for Pope Boniface (who was still alive). It is pronounced with absolute certainty that Pope Boniface would be in Hell someday.

Arrested by the French for excommunicating their rulers, he was beaten but released, dying shortly afterward.

 

[Vince]

We're still in the year 1294.

Not only is it a bad year for honest Popes, it is also a bad year for brutal English kings. Wales and Scotland both rebel. The longest-term harm to England is that Scotland and France sign "The Auld Alliance," promising to go to war against England if the other one does. The treaty holds back English control of Scotland, as well as English expansión onto continental Europe, for centuries. Although the treaty isn't signed until next year, France takes advantage of the chaos to go to war with England this year.

Kublai Khan dies. Made famous by the writings of Marco Polo, Kublai Khan had at first expanded his father's empire, but then presided over a series of failed invasions and civil wars. His response to defeat (as with Japan and Vietnam) was to invade with an even-larger force, and the following defeats weakened his ability to control his vast empire. At his death, the Mongolian Empire effectively divided into four kingdoms.

England and Portugal sign the first Anglo-Portuguese Alliance, the oldest internacional treaty still in effect.

 

[Vince]

Welcome to 1295.

Ghazan, ruler of one of the four Mongolian kingdoms, converts to Islam, helping to establish Islam as the dominant religin of central Asia.

After being away for 24 years, Marco Polo returns to Venice, where he is arrested. Released four years later, he goes onto become a wealthy merchant.

 

[Vince]

1296

England invades Scotland with a massive army. Next year, Scotland beats the living daylights out of them. But Longshanks, King of England, captures the border town of Berwick, slaughtering most of the inhabitants.

Remember that the Mongolian Empire has now fragmented into four empires. The Chinese empire sends Zhou Daguan as ambassador to the Khmer Empire in modern Cambodia. Although he only stays a year, Zhou Daguan's detailed report on Cambodian life, customs, and temples is a major historical document.

 

[Vince]

1297 is a bad year for Longshanks (Edward 1) King of England. He invades Flanders, and they beat him and throw him out. A tightly-disciplined Scottish army waited until as many English crosed the bridge as they could defeat, and then they slaughtered about 5,000 infantry and about 100 cavalry. Still holding the other side of the bridge with a superior army, the English lost their nerve, destroyed the bridge, and ran off, abandoning a castle and the Scottish lowlands. The pursuing Scots even captured a large English supply train. Meanwhile, the Welsh rebellion and the war with France continue..

The Parliament of Ireland meets for the first time. It will exist until 1800, devoted mainly to levying taxes. The common people are not represented, however.

 

[Vince]

Welcome to 1298!

Invading Scotland again, England catches a Scotch army by surprise and defeats them, putting the nation under English rule.

Fushimi II begins his unimportant three year reign over Japan after his father abdicates. Years later, his father becomes the "cloistered Emperor," having the real power. After three years, Fushimi abdicates to his son, and a few decades later becomes the cloistered Emperor himself. As previously pointed out, this system prevented civil wars when the Emperor died. It also gave the Japanese a supply of trained Emperors that they could give various amounts of power to, and from whom they could choose their cloistered Emperor.

A mass pogrom against Jews in Germany (parts of which are now in Holland) begins, eventually killing about 5,000 Jews. It is led by a man heavily-indebted to Jews. Sources disagree as to whether he was a knight or a butcher.

The Catholic Church invents the title "Doctor of the Church." This refers to men who played major parts in forming the theology of Catholicism. It is notable that none of the doctors believed the same things.

 

[Vince]

1299

They still haven't learned. With their Empire split into four parts, the Mongolians invade India with a 200,000 man army. India wins.

It isn't that big a deal, but the Ottoman State is formed. But three centuries later, the Ottoman Empire will encircle most of the Mediterranean Sea and will be one of the world's most powerful empires. Allied with the Central Powers (led by Germany) in World War I, the Empire will collapse, and what is left will form the nation of Turkey.

Down but not out, the defeated Scots capture Stirling Castle, one of the most powerful castles in Britain. And financially stressed by all his wars, Longshanks, King of England, has to take out a huge loan from Italian merchants.

 

[Vince]

Welcome to the fourteenth century! We're leaving the 1200's behind. It was a century marked by the rapid rise and collapse of the Mongolian Empire, the largest land empire in history. It was also a rough century for the Holy Roman Empire, as it continues to fragment within. Various major Italian cities are semi-independent, even having their own navies. The Byzantine Empire had overthrown their Catholic conquerors, but have still lost ground to their Moslem enemies. And although various Moslem kingdoms have risen and fallen, the Moslems have a solid grip on the Holy Land, leaving a debt-ridden Europe to pay for its Crusades.

And now for the 1300's! The year 1300 itself marks the highest point of the Papacy. Claiming sovereignty over all the earth, Pope Boniface VIII declares a Year of Jubilee, in which certain pilgrimages and donations will erase all sins. But his own downfall is rapid, and the debt-ridden Catholic Church finds itself competing with jealous European monarchs for tax money. European rulers will look more favorably on the idea that they are authorized to correct Church abuses in their own territories, and the Catholic Church will once again lose the power to appoint its own Popes, as France seizes the Papacy. Strapped for cash, European rulers will aggressively tax and seize valuable church lands to pay off Crusader debts and wage new wars against each other.

A census shows that China has 60 million people. This is 20 million less than it had in 1200, before the Mongolian conquest.

It's a slow century for Icelanders and Ethiopians. They quietly go about their business.

But twenty years after discovering New Zealand, Polynesians begin sending waves of settlers there.

The Russians will spend a fairly peaceful century under their Mongol rulers. The Mongols and Russians will plot to put various Russians in high positions, and a successful revolt leads to two years of Russian independence. But at the end of this century,most of Russia is still divided into various principalities under Mongol rule.

 

[Vince]

And now for the actual year 1300:

The Catholic Papacy hits its highest point ever on February 22, as the Jubilee begins.

Wenceslaus II, King of Bohemia, now inherits the throne of Poland. Two years earlier, one of the largest silver mines on Earth had opened in Bohemia, and under Wenceslaus' direction, it begins producing twenty tons of silver per year. His son will inherit the throne of Hungary next year, and Wencenslaus will use his territory and wealth to establish cities. After his death in 1305, much of his empire fell apart.

Around this time, the Aztec Culture begins in central Mexico. The Aztecs were not a tribe;, they were simply a collection of local Indians who worked together to cultivate corn. They developed a nobility and an advanced calendar.

 

[Vince]

1301

The Guelphs were an Italian faction that supported the Pope against the Holy Roman Empire. They enter Florence, sack the city, and massacre many of its inhabitants this year.

Edward II, son of Longshanks, becomes the first Prince of Wales. He will later become King of England.

 

[Vince]

1302

The Battle of the Golden Spurs marked a massive defeat for France against Flanders (now part of Belgium). Mistreated by their French overlords, the Flemish declared themselves independent and sought an alliance with Longshanks, King of England. Harrassed by a French army, they massacred the army and al the French citizens they could find. Their army, consisting entirely of well-trained infantry, defeated a large French army by digging ditches in the field before the battle. The victorius Flemish collected over 1,000 golden spurs from slain French Knights, hence the name of the battle.

The new Ottoman State wins a major victory over the Byzantine Empire, capturing a large section of present-day Turkey.

Pope Boniface VIII makes one of the greatest errors in history when he issus the Papal Bull ("Bull" comes from the Latin word for "Seal") Unam Sanctam. He declared that Salvation was imposible outside the Catholic Church or to anyone who resisted the authority of the Pope. He announced that the Pope, alone, was sole head of the Catholic Church. Much of the controversy related to rival claims by secular governments with the Church over the right of taxation. France regards it as a declaration of war, and...

Ruad is a small island off the coast of Syria, where the Crusaders held a fort. They hoped, from there, to someday launch an invasion of the Holy Land. It falls to the Moslems, and the last Crusader stronghold in the Holy Land is gone.

France confiscates all Jewish property.

 

[Vince]

Welcome to 1303.

Regarding "Unam Sanctum" as a declaration of war, France invades Italy and heads rapidly for Rome. Although everyone is a member of the Holy Roman Empire, the Empire itself cannot stop them. Pope Boniface VII is arrested and tried as a heretic. There is dispute over exactly what happened. The 82 year old Pope was held prisoner for three days, and MIGHT have been beaten or starved. The local Italian townspeople storm in to rescue him, and the French release him without a fight. A few days later, the man who had brought the Papacy to its highest level died of shock from his mistreatment.

Benedict XI begins his nine month reign as Pope. A supporter of the previous Pope, he changed sides quickly when he was elected Pope himself. He wavered between supporting and opposing the policies of his predecessor and might have been poisoned by a man he had excommunicated.

The Lighthouse of Alexandria was a magnificent structure built 14 1/2 centuries earlier. This year it is destroyed by an earthquake. One of the Seven Wonders of the World, its ruins were eventually taken away for other construction purposes.

Despite another major defeat, Longshanks reconquers all of Scotland.

 

[Vince]

1304

It's a quiet year. Spanish Catholics seize Villena, on Spain's southeastern coast, from the Moslems.

The four Mongolian empires sign a peace treaty, ending their minor civil wars.

 

[Vince]

Sakes alive, it's 1305!

After a one year delay, Clement V begins his nine year reign as Pope. He immediately moves the headquarters of the Catholic Church from Rome to France, beginning “the Babylonian Captivity,” which lasts until 1377. He is strongly allied with Philip IV, the King of France, and promptly appoints nine French cardinals. For the next 72 years, the King of France will control the Papacy.

Steadily becoming a tool of King Philip, he conducts a two year long trial of Pope Boniface VIII, despite being convinced of Boniface's innocence. He repeals Unam Sanctum (which had declared the Pope to be leader of all secular rulers), arrests hundreds of Knights Templar so the government can seize their property, is unable to end the civil wars that have broken out in Rome, brutally persecutes the Dulcinians (a bizarre group that opposed the worldliness of the Catholic Church), receives Mongol ambassadors in an unsuccessful attempt to form an alliance against the Moslems, and finally gets killed in a hunting accident.

The Catalan Company was a large and powerful group of mercenaries hired by the Byzantines to wage war against the Turks. But demanding more money, the Catalans found themselves confronted by the Byzantines and other mercenaries. The Catalans win, ravage the area for two years, and then head off to Greece to plunder the people there.

 

[Vince]

Can things get any worse in 1306?

Five weeks after murdering his chief opponent, Robert the Bruce begins his 23 year reign as King of Scotland. Excommunicated by the Pope while forgiven by the Bishop of Glasgow, Robert suffered initial defeats before freeing Scotland from English rule.

Mongolia invades India (again). And France exiles all Jews and seizes their property (again).

 

[Vince]

1307 is a year of legend..

Trying to control the Swiss teritory of Uri, the Habsburg family installs Herman Gessler as ruler of the city of Altdorf. Angered by the city's refusal to respect him or the Habsburgs, Gessler hangs his hat on a pole in the marketplace, ordering everyone to bow to it. The idea, presumably, would be that Swiss patriots would give themselves away when they refused. The townspeople agree to boycott the marketplace; however, William Tell, a wood-cutter with a reputation as a marksman, returns from a hunting trip with his son Walter and enters the marketplace, not knowing about the law. Refusing to bow to the hat, Tell is offered the chance to save the life of himself and his son by shooting an apple off Walter's head. Taking two arrows, Tell succeeds with the first shot, then explains that he would have killed Gessler with the second arrow if he had killed his son.
Arrested and sent to Austria, Tell escapes and helps lead a local rebellion that eventually drives out the Habsburgs. He also assassinates Gessler.
How true is the story? Definitely exaggerated, it was widely believed by the Swiss, but not recorded for another two centuries. However, the oldest written record cites earlier written records. It is recorded by more than one source as well. Perhaps it is a blending of two older stories of a tyrannical ruler forcing a man to shoot an apple off his son's head with the genuine heroics of William Tell. Some of the Austrian forts destroyed by Tell's followers have been examined by scientists and found to have been destroyed at an earlier date. Other "forts" turned out to be nothing but mansions. And the surviving historical records we have do not confirm the story of Tell's rebellion.
My opinion? It is a partly-true story that got exaggerated over time. No historian believes the story to be completely true.

But it sure is a great story.

 

[Vince]

While William Tell was busy shooting an Apple off his son's head, other things were happening in 1307.

It's a good year for India, as Mongolian invaders are forced to withdraw. But it's a rough year for the island of Rhodes, in the Mediterranean Sea. They are invaded by the Knights Hospitaller, and the Pope confirms their conquest without waiting for it to be complete.

In October, "Friday the Thirteenth" becomes a day of terror. Philip the Fair, King of France, has all the Knights Templar simultaneously arrested. They are then tortured into confessing a wide variety of crimes, many of which were ridiculous. But Philip was deeply in debt to the order, and burning them at the stake freed him from debt. Every single one who was released recanted his confession, which had been made under torture, and some of them were then burned. Survivors ususally joined the Knights Hosptallers, to whom the Pope bequethed all the Knights Templar property. Meanwhile, Philip the Fair claimed the rights to all the Templars' bizarre claims of Divine authority, including superiortiy over the Pope (whom the French monarchy controlled). In 1312, the Pope abolished the order.

With the death of Longshanks, Edward II begins his weak and unsuccessful twenty year reign as King of England.

 

[Vince]

It is time for 1308.

France's King Philip the Fair had murdered many of the Knights Templar last year, but this year he builds an indoor tennis court. What a guy! And then he marries off his twelve year old daughter, Isabella, "The She Wolf of France," to England's King Edward II. Twenty years later, she leads an army that deposes her weakling husband and sets her son (the grandson of Philip the Fair and Longshanks) on the throne while she rules as Regent.

11 year old Hanazono begins his ten year rule as Emperor of Japan. He accomplished little as Emperor, since his father and brother (both former Emperors) rules the country. But 17 years after abdicating, he begins a massive and successful campaign to further Buddhism and higher education. A university and several other organizations are named after him, and his palace is still a major Buddhist temple.

Dante begins writng "The Divine Comedy." The first part, in which Dante travels through Hell, is far more famous than the other two parts. He describes Hell as cone-shaped, with each layer getting smaller and more severe. The top layer is reserved for virtuous pagans (at that time, the Catholic Church taught that salvation was impossible outside the Church), a pleasant place illuminated by the light of human reason. The book, incidentally, is not a comedy.