1361
Murad takes Adrianople from Byzantium
The strategic Thracian city, sitting astride the road to Constantinople, fell to the Ottomans almost without a fight, its garrison depleted by plague and desertion. Murad would soon make it his European capital under the Turkish name Edirne. Byzantium was now nearly surrounded on land by an Anatolian-rooted power that had vaulted into Europe.
Black Death's second pestilence sweeps Europe
Twelve years after the great mortality, plague returned in what English chroniclers called the pestis puerorum because it killed so many children born after 1349 who had no prior exposure. The cycle of recurring outbreaks, every decade or so, would continue into the seventeenth century, suppressing European population growth for generations.
Ottomans capture Adrianople and rename it Edirne
Murad I took the second city of the Byzantine Balkans and made it his European capital, shifting the Ottoman center of gravity across the straits. Edirne's minarets rose where Roman columns had stood. Constantinople was now encircled, a Christian island in an Ottoman sea, its fall a matter of when, not if.
Nicole Oresme proposes a rotating Earth
The Norman bishop and mathematician argued in his commentary on Aristotle that the Earth might rotate on its axis rather than the heavens spinning around it. He could not prove it and ultimately deferred to scripture, but his reasoning anticipated Copernicus by two centuries. Medieval Paris was closer to heliocentrism than posterity credits.
Great Wind blows down English forests
A continent-wide storm flattened woodlands across southeastern England, blew church spires down, and drove Channel shipping onto lee shores. The storm uprooted ancient oaks by the thousands, reshaping the landscape of the Home Counties. It was one of several extreme weather events of the little ice age's onset, stripping an already depopulated country of timber and patience.
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Frequently asked
What happened in the year 1361?
Saeculum lists 5 curated events from 1361. The most significant is Murad takes Adrianople from Byzantium: The strategic Thracian city, sitting astride the road to Constantinople, fell to the Ottomans almost without a fight, its garrison depleted by plague…
What era was 1361 part of?
1361 falls within the Late Middle Ages (1301-1500). Plague, papal schism, and the seeds of nation-states.
Which regions saw notable events in 1361?
The curated events from 1361 span Middle East and Europe.