Year 1337 (MCCCXXXVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.

Events

<onlyinclude>

January–December

• March 16 Edward the Black Prince establishes the Duchy of Cornwall, becoming the first English Duke.

• May 24 Philip VI of France confiscates Gascony from English control.

• August Second War of Scottish Independence: English forces relieve Stirling Castle, ending Edward III of England's last campaign in Scotland.

• October Hundred Years' War: Edward III of England formally rejects Philip VI's claim to the French throne, initiating hostilities between France and England.

• November Battle of Cadzand: English troops raid the Flemish island of Cadzand.

Date unknown

• Bisham Priory is founded in England.

• The Scaligeri Family loses control of Padua; Alberto della Scala, patron of the music of the Trecento, moves to Verona.

• Petrarch, "father" of Renaissance humanism, first visits Rome to wander its mysterious ruins, with an eye for aesthetics as well as for history, exciting a renewed interest in Classical civilisation.

• The Sofia Psalter is produced in Bulgaria.

• The Despotate of Epirus is conquered by the Byzantine Empire.

• The famine in China, which had lasted since 1332 and killed 6,000,000, comes to an end.</onlyinclude>

• Siege of Nicomedia: After its foundation by Osman I in about 1299, the Ottoman Empire expanded across Bithynia in north-west Anatolia by capturing territory from the Byzantine Empire.

Births

• February 25 Wenceslaus I, Duke of Luxembourg, Czech Duke of Luxembourg (d. 1383)

date unknown

• Louis II, Duke of Bourbon (d. 1410)

• Jean Froissart, historian and courtier from Hainaut (d. 1405)

• Bianca of Savoy, lady consort of Milan (d. 1387)

• Chŏng Mong-ju, Goryeo diplomat and poet (d. 1392)

• Robert III of Scotland, second monarch from the House of Stewart to rule Scotland (d. 1406)

Deaths

• January 8 Giotto, Italian painter (b. 1267)

• June 7 William I, Count of Hainaut (b. 1286)

• June 15 Angelo da Clareno, Italian Franciscan and leader of a group of Fraticelli (b. 1247)

• June 25 Frederick III of Sicily (b. 1272)

• June 30 Eleanor de Clare, politically active English noble (b. 1290)

date unknown

• Changshi, khan of the Chagatai Khanate

• William Frangipani, Latin Archbishop of Patras

• Musa I of Mali, ruler of the Malian Empire (b. c.1280)

• Prince Narinaga, Japanese Shōgun (b. 1326, d. either 1337 or 1344, the sources are contradictory)

References