1400
Malacca Sultanate Founded
Parameswara, a Hindu prince chased from Palembang by Javanese armies, settled beneath a malacca tree on the strait that would take his refuge's name. Within a generation his obscure village became the spice-road hinge of the Indian Ocean, where Arab, Chinese, and Gujarati merchants bargained in twelve tongues. His successors' conversion to Islam transformed Malacca into the engine of Islamic expansion across Southeast Asia.
Chaucer Dies in London
The customs clerk who taught English to tell its own stories died in a tenement beside Westminster Abbey, the Canterbury Tales unfinished. He was buried in the Poets' Corner he would inadvertently create, leaving behind a language suddenly capable of bawdy comedy, theological argument, and the music of ordinary speech.
Timur Sacks Sivas and Aleppo
The Turco-Mongol conqueror, now in his mid-sixties, swept into Anatolia and Syria with an army that left pyramids of skulls outside each city's gates. Sivas surrendered on promise of no bloodshed; Timur buried its defenders alive instead. Aleppo's scholars were spared only to be deported to Samarkand. The campaign left the Mamluk frontier in ruins and demonstrated no eastern Mediterranean power could resist Timurid fury.
Zara Yaqob Enthroned in Ethiopia
The Solomonic emperor took the throne and spent his long reign centralizing the church, codifying doctrine, and persecuting heretics. His theological treatises are among the most sophisticated writings from medieval Ethiopia. Gondar and Debre Berhan flourished; diplomatic embassies traveled as far as Aragon and the Council of Florence under his rule.
Richard II Dies at Pontefract
The deposed English king, locked in Pontefract Castle's damp stone, starved or was murdered at Henry Bolingbroke's convenience. His ghost would haunt the Lancastrian throne for three generations, and Shakespeare would later turn his downfall into the founding trauma of English kingship. Whether he starved himself or was starved by others remains one of medieval England's enduring mysteries.
Owain Glyndwr Proclaimed Prince of Wales
A Welsh landowner with a grudge against a rude neighbor raised his banner at Glyndyfrdwy and rekindled a nation's dormant fury. Within months the revolt swept the mountains, burning English castles and summoning a parliament at Machynlleth. The last true Welsh rebellion had begun. Glyndwr eluded capture for years, vanishing into Welsh legend with his death date and burial site unknown.
Great Zimbabwe in Decline
The stone-walled city on the Zambezi plateau, center of a gold-trading kingdom that had spanned centuries, was being abandoned by its royal elite. Overgrazing, deforestation, and shifting trade routes south toward Mapungubwe and later Mutapa emptied the site. Its dry-stone walls, meters thick, survived intact for five centuries. Portuguese traders later assumed no African civilization could have built such walls, a prejudice that persisted for centuries.
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Frequently asked
What happened in the year 1400?
Saeculum lists 7 curated events from 1400. The most significant is Malacca Sultanate Founded: Parameswara, a Hindu prince chased from Palembang by Javanese armies, settled beneath a malacca tree on the strait that would take his refuge's name.
What era was 1400 part of?
1400 falls within the Late Middle Ages (1301-1500). Plague, papal schism, and the seeds of nation-states.
Which regions saw notable events in 1400?
The curated events from 1400 span Southeast Asia, Europe, Central Asia and Africa.