1407
Louis of Orleans Assassinated in Paris
The king's brother was dragged from his horse on the Rue Vieille du Temple and hacked apart by masked men hired by John the Fearless of Burgundy. The murder cracked France into Armagnac and Burgundian factions, paralyzing the kingdom just as Henry V of England began eyeing the Channel. John the Fearless defended the killing as tyrannicide before the university, establishing a precedent for murder dressed in philosophy.
Ming Invasion of Dai Viet
Yongle's armies crossed the southern frontier and crushed the Ho dynasty, briefly annexing what is now northern Vietnam as a Chinese province. The occupation lasted twenty years and produced nothing but guerrilla resistance. It also produced, eventually, Le Loi. Chinese authorities imposed Confucian education and suppressed Vietnamese script, provoking nationalist resistance that burned for two decades.
Bank of Saint George Chartered in Genoa
Genoese creditors consolidated the republic's scattered public debts into a single institution that functioned as one of the earliest state banks in all of European history. It managed colonial revenues from Corsica, administered territories, and lent to kings across the continent at rates that made lesser bankers envious. Machiavelli would later call it a state within a state. Modern public finance was being invented on a Ligurian counting table.
Bethlem Royal Hospital Expands in London
The London priory of Saint Mary of Bethlehem, already housing mentally ill patients for decades in conditions that ranged from neglectful to horrifying, expanded its capacity under royal patronage. It would eventually give the English language the word bedlam. Medieval Europe's approach to mental illness oscillated between religious compassion and horrified containment, and Bethlem occupied the uneasy, badly funded center of that continuum.
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Frequently asked
What happened in the year 1407?
Saeculum lists 4 curated events from 1407. The most significant is Louis of Orleans Assassinated in Paris: The king's brother was dragged from his horse on the Rue Vieille du Temple and hacked apart by masked men hired by John the Fearless of Burgundy.
What era was 1407 part of?
1407 falls within the Late Middle Ages (1301-1500). Plague, papal schism, and the seeds of nation-states.
Which regions saw notable events in 1407?
The curated events from 1407 span Europe and Southeast Asia.