1370

## **World Events**

* May 24 – The Treaty of Stralsund ends the war between Denmark and the Hanseatic League.
* October 20 – Philip of Anjou, Titular Emperor of Constantinople, marries Elisabeth of Slavonia, daughter of Stephen, duke of Transylvania and Slavonia, and Margareta of Bavaria.
* December 20 – Pope Gregory XI succeeds Pope Urban V as the 201st pope.

### **Date unknown**

* The steel crossbow is first used as a weapon of war.
* Xian City (Chang'an) is fortified against invasion.
* Timur completes his conquest of Central Asia and parts of Persia, establishing the Timurid Empire.
* Trần Nghệ Tông deposes Dương Nhật Lễ as emperor of Đại Việt, now Vietnam.
* For the second time since 1368, Grand Duchy of Moscow attacks Tver, which again counter-attacks with the aid of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Blue Horde.
* Casimir III of Poland is succeeded jointly by his sister, Elisabeth of Kujavia, and her son, Louis I of Hungary, beginning the rule of Poland by the Capet-Anjou family.

## **The Sphere of Magic**

### **Prince Edward of Woodstock contracts dysentery**

* Contracted after traversing Spanish swamps (after battles), the amoebic dysentery would lead to a slow decline in health, affecting local politics as he eventually retreated from Aquitaine to London to recover.
* In the original timeline, the dysentery led to his eventual death. Perhaps accelerating that was the emotional trauma of hearing of his first-born son's death to plague. Unlike the original timeline, however, such news did *not* reach Prince Edward while he was in the field. Rather, events had taken a significantly different turn...

### **September:** The Siege of Limoges is launched.

* The town of Limoges had been under English control but in August 1370 it surrendered to the French, opening its gates to the Duke of Berry. The *Siege of Limoges* was laid by the English army led by Prince Edward of Woodstock in the second week in September. On 19 September, the town was taken by storm, followed by "much destruction and the deaths of numerous civilians." The sack effectively ended the Limoges enamel industry, which had been famous across Europe for around a century.
* Jean Froissart wrote of a massacre that took place at the hands of Edward, but evidence suggests this was propaganda to rally France against England, especially in Aquitaine. Froissart was at the time employed by Guy de Châtillon, Count of Blois, and his effort largely worked (and may have contributed to the "Black Prince" moniker slapped on him by history).

### **September:** the Miraculous Survival of **Edward** *of* **Angoulême**

* Plague was usually a death sentence for those who contracted it, with the current strain packing a 90% mortality rate.
* Edward of Angoulême, son of Prince Edward of Woodstock, was given no chance of survival. In Bordeaux, his little brother Richard could not be pulled from his side. Young Edward himself had already shown a great deal of temperance, showing "the seeds of Christ-like behavior."
	+ Richard, it was said, miraculously nursed his older brother back from the brink. Prince Edward heard of the miracle upon his return from the Siege of Limoges.
	+ After the passage of the disease, and the survival of Edward, the boys were visited by all of the barons of Gascony and Poitou. This was the kind of miracle that made waves across Europe.
* The death originally occoured around the Feast of Saint Michael (29 Sept), but in this case, history took a turn that would have massive consequences all its own. While minor anomalies had been flowing into the time stream since 1365, none had yet cascaded into a major causality event. The survival of Edward of Angoulême represents the first *major* deviation from known history.
* REFEREE EYES ONLY: ***Spoilers.***