 Meanwhile, in Italy a number of banks in Florence collapsed due to internal problems in Florence, contributed by King Edward III of England defaulting on some of his loans. Most notably, the Bardi family went bankrupt in this year. Italy also suffered a famine, making it difficult for the Papacy to recruit troops for the attack on Smyrna. The Venetians, however, organized an alliance uniting several European parties (Sancta Unio), composed notably of the Knights Hospitaller, which carried out five consecutive attacks on İzmir and the Western Anatolian coastline controlled by Turkish states. In the realm of technology, papermaking reached Holland, and firearms made their way to Northern Germany in this year. The earliest records in the area place them in the city of Aachen.
