John II, called John the Good (French: Jean le Bon), was the King of France from 1350 until his death. He was the second sovereign of the House of Valois and is perhaps best remembered as the king who was vanquished at the Battle of Poitier...

John Wycliffe was an English scholastic philosopher, theologian, Biblical translator, reformer, and seminary professor at Oxford. He was an influential dissident within the Roman Catholic priesthood during the 14th century. Wycliffe atta...

William of Wykeham was Bishop of Winchester, Chancellor of England, founder of Winchester College and of New College, Oxford, and builder of a large part of Windsor Castle. William was born to an undistinguished family, in Wickham, Hamps...

The Divine Comedy (Italian: Commedia, later christened "Divina" by Giovanni Boccaccio), written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and his death in 1321, is widely considered the central epic poem of Italian literature, and is seen as one of t...

Murad I, "the God-like One", was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1361 to 1389. He was the son of Orhan I and the Valide Sultan Nilüfer Hatun and became the ruler following his father's death in 1361. He established the Empire by buil...

The Hongwu Emperor, personal name Zhu Yuanzhang, was the founder and first emperor 1368-1398 of the Ming Dynasty of China. His era name, Hongwu, means "Immensely Martial." The previous Mongol Yuan Dynasty was perceived as "foreign", and the...

Edward of Woodstock, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Prince of Aquitaine, was the eldest son of King Edward III of England and his wife Philippa of Hainault as well as father to King Richard II of England. He was called Edward of Wood...

Gregory XI, 1330–78, pope (1370–78), a Frenchman named Pierre Roger de Beaufort. He was the successor of Urban V, who had made an unsuccessful attempt to remove the papacy from Avignon to Rome (1367–70). From the time of his election Gregor...

Ibn Khaldun or Aith Khaldoun was a Arab Muslim historiographer and historian, and one of the founding fathers of modern historiography, sociology and economics. He is best known for his Muqaddimah (known as Prolegomena in Greek), which w...

Timur meaning "iron" or Tamerlane in English, was a 14th-century conqueror of much of western and central Asia, founder of the Timurid Empire and Timurid dynasty (1370–1405) in Central Asia, and great great grandfather of Babur, the founder...

Robert III, born John Stewart, was King of Scots from 1390 to his death. He was known primarily as the Earl of Carrick before ascending the throne at age 53. He was the eldest son of Robert II and Elizabeth Mure and was legitimated with the...

The Hundred Years' War was a series of wars waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou, for the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Cape...

Charles V, called the Wise, was King of France from 1364 to his death in 1380 and a member of the House of Valois. His reign marked a high point for France during the Hundred Years' War, with his armies recovering much of the territory cede...

Geert Groote, otherwise Gerrit or Gerhard Groet, in Latin Gerardus Magnus, was a Dutch preacher and founder of the Brethren of the Common Life. In 1366 he visited the papal court at Avignon. About this time he was appointed to a canonry in...

John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, was a member of the House of Plantagenet, the third surviving son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault. He was called "John of Gaunt" because he was born in Ghent, then known as Gaunt...