1371

## **World Events**

* February 17 – Rival brothers Ivan Sratsimir and Ivan Shishman become co-Emperors of Bulgaria after the death of their father, Ivan Alexander. Bulgaria is weakened by the split.
* February 22 – Robert II becomes the first Stuart king of Scotland after the death of his uncle, David II.
* April 9 – Emperor Go-En'yu of Japan succeeds Emperor Go-Kōgon of Japan, becoming the 5th and last of the Northern Ashikaga Pretenders.
* August 22 – At the Battle of Baesweiler, Brabant is unexpectedly defeated by the Duchy of Jülich.
* September 26 – At the Battle of Maritsa, most of the nobility in Serbia are killed by the Ottomans.
* December – Lazar succeeds his distant cousin, Stefan Uroš V, as ruler of Serbia, but declines the title of Tsar.

### **Date unknown**

* The first widely accepted historical reference is made to playing cards (in Spain).
	+ NOTE: They’d been reasonably popular prior to this around Europe, including England (in both average and pornographic versions).
* Zhao Bing Fa becomes King of Mong Mao (in present day south China/north Myanmar) after the death of his father, Si Ke Fa.
* Kalamegha claims the vacant title of King of Cambodia after the power of the Thai invaders from Ayutthaya begins to weaken. The Ayutthayans are finally expelled in 1375.
* Byzantine co-emperor John V Palaiologos pledges loyalty to the Ottoman Empire to prevent the Turks from invading Constantinople.
* The Hongwu Emperor of the Ming Dynasty in China introduces the census registration system of *lijia*, or the hundreds-and-tithing system, throughout the Yangzi valley. This system groups households into units of ten and groups of one hundred, whereupon their capacities for paying taxes and providing the state with corvée labor service can be assessed. The system becomes fully operational in 1381, when it counts 59,873,305 people living in China (the historian Timothy Brook asserts that the number was much higher, somewhere between 65 million and 75 million).

## **The Sphere of Magic**

### **Carthusian Monastery founded**

* Charterhouse Carthusian Monastery is founded in Aldersgate, London. This was carrying on from social momentum already in play, but six years of strange incidents now accelerated the founding and deviated the path to looking in (and possibly defending against) whatever was creating the strange experiences.
* Many of the incidents were benign, strange lights or sounds, distortions or temperature variations, but other incidents included ghost sightings. These types of incidents were being experienced around the world, so it was nothing different in England, but it definitely shifted the status quo to include the mystical. Places like the Charterhouse were front and center in the social response.

### **March:** the Return of Edward of Woodstock to England

* After the near-death but miraculous survival of his eldest son, Prince Edward of Woodstock had renewed political momentum.
* Jean Froissart's would-be accounting of the Siege of Limoges now takes a different tack. Originally written to smear the siege as an atrocity, there is now hesitation by both Froissart and Guy de Châtillon, Count of Blois, to speak ill so shortly after what appears to be a genuine miracle.
* Aquitaine was partially politically stabilized, with John of Gaunt regionally assisting. England itself, however, was crumbling as King Edward III's health deteriorated.
* Now suffering the debilitating effects of dysentery, Prince Edward returned to England. He was seeking personal recuperation and to right England itself.

### **April:** the Sons are introduced to the Royal Court

* After the return to England, "the boys" are introduced to the Royal Court.Edward of Angoulême (6) and Richard of Bordeaux (4) are instant celebrities. Young Edward is still weak and recovering, but has an air of strength of will for surviving. Young Richard projects as his brother's bodyguard... and something of a religious relic, or maybe a young living saint – *some swear they saw a halo*.
* After this first introduction, against the increased withdrawal of the elder Edwards, the boys gradually become regular fixtures at Westminster Castle, becoming a kind of proxy Court. Alice Perrers, Edward III's mistress, would've normally been in full, flagrant and contemptuous flamboyance. The boys, however, have a soothing, moderating effect that goes a long way in elevating Alice's acceptance.
* There had already been deviations from the previous timeline, but the rate was accelerating...

### **May:** the specialized tutoring of Edward and Richard

* REFEREE EYES ONLY: ***Spoilers***.
* The boys were definitely showing they were ahead of the curve. Richard seemed as big and aware as most 6-year olds, while Edward seemed like a solid "8." More personally, Edward's temperance was "blessed" while Richard's intellect was "dizzying."
* Edward of Woodstock (dad) was increasingly distant due to the progression of the dysentery (and he explicitly refused Richard's help on the claim that the father should help the son, not the other way around – basically, *pride*). Joan of Kent provided guidance where she could, but a great deal of time was assisting her ailing husband.
* There was already an assigned nanny, but the decision was made to appoint full-time tutors for the boys. There was limited input from dad Edward and mom Joan, but the final decision came to rest on the boys themselves in what was essentially a measure of compatible personalities.
* The boys wanted a 15-person instructional cadre, but Crown finances were... *modest*. This led to hiring two instructors that would presumably have this role until the boys entered adulthood. Like the funds, the instructors were "modest" – though did have credentials of representing the two English universities: *Oxford* and *Cambridge*.
* In very short order, it appeared the boys brought out the best in everyone around them, including the two tutors, the nanny and so on.

### **June:** John Wycliffe is added to the boys training cadre

* By 1371, alt-timeline legend John Wycliffe was already running counter to Rome regarding the leadership of Canterbury Hall (at Oxford University). He hadn't yet cemented himself as the leader of the English Reformation, nor given momentum to the nascent Protestant Reformation, but he was already destined to make an impact.
* On the verge of receiving his doctorate in Theology, he would round out the boys' retinue to six – and was part of the overall *insiders' training* that helped distinguish the regular tutors and the nanny...

### **September:** John of Gaunt takes a keen interest in Castile

* September 21 – John of Gaunt, son of King Edward III of England, marries Constance of Castile, daughter of King Pedro of Castile.
* This matrimonial act gave John of Gaunt a claim to the throne of Castile. This had a strong effect in the original timeline, but with a rising Richard – would be profound for all of Iberia.