1351 to 1371

Literature

The Decameron. Boccaccio. Italian. 1351/53. Stories. The year of the Black Death. 1348. Seven ladies and three men escape from the city to the hills of Fiesole. Ten days of stories. 100 anecdotes, fabliaux, folk tales, fairy tales. Bernabo. Isabella. Calandrino. Titus. Gisipus. Griselda.

Society

1352. The Black Death reaches Moscow and spreads eastward back to India and China.

1354. England resumes the Hundred Years' War after an interruption by the Black Death.

1356. The Battle of Poitiers, Sept. 19, ends in defeat for France's John II.

1361. The Black Death strikes again in England, France, and Poland, especially among children.

1362. English is made the language of pleading and judgment in England's courts of law, but legal French continues to be used for documents.

Literature

Piers Plowman. William Langland. British. 1362/87. Poetry. Langland was a contemporary of Chaucer. Alliterative. Piers, Peter/Jesus urges people to work toward salvation.

Society

1366. Europeans commonly eat the main meal of the day at 9 o'clock in the morning.

Literature

The Golden Lotus. Anonymous. Chinese. 1368? Novel. Life and loves of Hsi-men Ch'ing and his six wives. Naturalism. Realistic. Explicit eroticism.

Society

1369. Tamerlane (Timur the Lame, or Tamburlaine) makes himself master of Samarkand in Turkestan. A descendant of Genghis Khan, the lame leader will conquer much of the world.

Literature

The Book of the Duchess. Chaucer. British. 1369. Poetry. Elegy on the occasion of the death of Blanche, the first wife of John of Gaunt. Narrator reads Halcyon and Ceyx and then dreams. Black Knight laments that he met, married, lived in bliss, and lost in death the most perfect lady.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Pearl Poet. British. 1370. Poetry. Alliterative. Beheading game and temptation to adultery. Greatest single Arthurian legend in English. Green Knight challenges knights to lop off his head. Gawain accepts. In return, he must accept a return blow a year later. Stays at castle. Twice resists temptation from his host's wife. Fails to mention the green sash to his host. The host is, in reality, the Green Knight, who misses twice to represent the two times Gawain has resisted temptation. Third time, he is nicked on the neck. Gawain wears the green sash forever after to remind him of his moral lapse.

The Travels of Sir John Mandeville. French/English? 1371. Travel. Book of travels filled with fictitious marvels.