Nicolaas Zannekin to Pope Clement VI

Continued from previous post.

Nicolaas Zannekin (died 23 August 1328), was a Flemish peasant leader, best known for his role in the Peasant revolt in Flanders 1323-1328. During the early 14th century AD, Zannekin served as leader of the revolt in coastal Flanders against the oppressive tax policy of the Count of Flanders Louis of Nevers.

Louis I (c. 1304 – August 26, 1346, ruled 1322–1346) was Count of Flanders, Nevers and Rethel. His pro-French policies and excessive taxations levied by Louis caused an uprising in 1323 which escalated into a full-scale rebellion.  After being captured held captive by these rebels, in February 1326 Louis was released thanks to the intervention the King of France, Charles IV and the sealing of the Peace of Arques.

Charles IV, known as the Fair (18/19 June 1294 – 1 February 1328), was the King of France and of Navarre (as Charles I) and Count of Champagne from 1322 to his death: he was the last French king of the senior Capetian lineage. After his first wife died following a premature birth, in 1325 Charles married Jeanne d'Évreux. Since Jeanne was his first cousin, the marriage required the approval of Pope John XXII.

Pope John XXII (1244 – 4 December 1334), born Jacques Duèze (or d'Euse), was pope from 7 August 1316 until his death.  He was an excellent administrator and did much efficient reorganizing. During his papacy he sent a letter to the Muslim ruler Uzbeg Khan, thanking him for his tolerant treatment of Christians.

Sultan Mohammed Öz-Beg, better known as Uzbeg or Ozbeg (1282–1341, reign 1313–1341), was the longest-reigning khan of the Golden Horde, under whose rule the state reached its zenith. Converted to Islam by Ibn Abdul Hamid, he urged the Mongol elite to convert to Islam, but at the same time, he preserved the lives of Christians, as seen in a letter Uzbeg sent to the Metropolitan Peter, stating that no one should meddle with the Christian church.

Saint Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow and all Russia (died on 20 December 1326) was the Russian metropolitan who moved his see from Vladimir to Moscow in 1325. Later he was proclaimed a patron saint of Moscow. In 1308 king Boleslaw-Yuri II of Galicia nominated and the Patriarch of Constantinople appointed Peter to the vacant see of Kiev and all Rus'.

Bolesław Jerzy II of Mazovia (also known as "of Galicia", Boleslaw-Yuri II, and Jerzy-Bolesław Trojdenowicz, 1308 – April 7, 1340) was a ruler of the Polish Piast dynasty who reigned in the originally Ruthenian principality of Galicia. In a treaty of 1338 Bolesław Jerzy offered Casimir III of Poland succession to the throne of Galicia-Volhynia.

Casimir III the Great (30 April 1310 – 5 November 1370), was the last King of Poland from the Piast dynasty. On 24 August 1335, Casimir signed the Treaty of Trentschin or Trenčín with King John of Bohemia to initiate the transfer of the suzerainty over the former Polish province of Silesia to the Kingdom of Bohemia.

John the Blind (10 August 1296 – 26 August 1346) was the Count of Luxembourg from 1309 and King of Bohemia from 1310 and titular King of Poland. He is well known for having died while fighting in the Battle of Crécy at age 50, after having been blind for a decade. John lost his eyesight at age 39 or 40 from ophthalmia in 1336, while crusading in Lithuania. A treatment by the famous physician Guy de Chauliac had no positive effects.

Guy de Chauliac or Guigonis de Caulhaco (ca. 1300 – 25 July 1368) was a French physician and surgeon who wrote a lengthy and influential treatise on surgery in Latin, titled Chirurgia Magna. It was translated into many other languages (including Middle English circa 1425) and widely read by physicians in late medieval Europe.  Chauliac's reputation as a physician grew quickly and he was invited to the Papal Court in Avignon, France, to serve as a personal physician to Pope Clement VI.

Pope Clement VI (1291 – 6 December 1352), born Pierre Roger, the fourth of the Avignon Popes, was pope from May 1342 until his death in December of 1352. Clement is most notable as the Pope who reigned during the time of the Black Death (1348–1350), during which he granted remission of sins to all that died of the plague. Clement continued the struggle of his predecessors with Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV, and excommunicated him after protracted negotiations on 13 April 1346.


Continued in the next post.