Great Famine
Three years of rain rot the harvest across northern Europe
In spring 1315 relentless rains began across Northern Europe, rotting crops three years running. An estimated 5–12% of people died; in Flemish Ypres alone one in ten perished, three decades before the Black Death.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 14th century
Meanwhile around the world (±25 years)
Eastern Europe & Russia
- c. 1337 Sergius of Radonezh founds his monastery — 22 years later
Africa
- 1324 Hajj of Mansa Musa — 9 years later
- c. 1327 The Djinguereber Mosque in Timbuktu — 12 years later
Asia
- 1293 Founding of Majapahit — 22 years earlier
Americas
- c. 1325 Founding of Tenochtitlan — 10 years later
Alive at the time
- Marco Polo (aged 61)
- Dante Alighieri (aged 50)
- Osman I (aged 57)
- Mansa Musa (aged 35)
- Orhan (aged 34)
- Emperor Go-Daigo (aged 27)
- Ivan Kalita (aged 27)
- Ibn Battuta (aged 11)
- Ashikaga Takauji (aged 10)
- Edward III (aged 3)