Vasily I
1371 – 1425 · 54 years · Moscow · Eastern Europe & Russia
Reign: 1389 – 1425 (Rus and Russia)
Son of Dmitry Donskoy and the first grand prince to inherit power by his father's will. He annexed the Nizhny Novgorod principality; in 1395 Timur turned back before reaching Moscow.
Wikipedia (Russian) · Wikipedia (English) · 14th century
Portrait: collective · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons
Contemporaries around the world
Europe
- Johannes Gutenberg — inventor of the printing press, 29 years younger
- Joan of Arc — heroine of the Hundred Years' War, 41 years younger
- Sigismund — emperor of the Council of Constance that ended the Schism and burned Hus, 3 years older
- Henry V — victor of Agincourt who became heir to the French crown, 15 years younger
- Richard II — boy king who faced down the Peasants' Revolt and was deposed by his cousin, 4 years older
- Charles VII — king under whom the Hundred Years’ War ended, 32 years younger
Eastern Europe & Russia
- Andrei Rublev — icon painter, 11 years older
- Sergius of Radonezh — saint and abbot, 57 years older
- Dmitry Donskoy — Grand Prince of Moscow, 21 years older
- Vasily II the Blind — grand prince blinded in a dynastic civil war, 44 years younger
Middle East
- Bayezid I the Thunderbolt — sultan defeated and captured by Timur at Ankara, 11 years older
- Murad II — sultan who crushed the crusaders at Varna, 33 years younger
- Murad I — sultan who took Adrianople and fell at Kosovo, 45 years older
- Mehmed I Çelebi — sultan who reunited the realm after Timur, 18 years younger
- Hafez — Persian poet, 46 years older
Africa
- Ibn Khaldun — historian and thinker, 39 years older
Asia
- Timur — emir and conqueror, 35 years older
- Zheng He — admiral and explorer, born the same year
- Ashikaga Yoshimitsu — shogun who reunited the two imperial courts and built Kinkaku-ji, 13 years older
- Sejong the Great — King of Joseon Korea, 26 years younger
- Ashikaga Yoshimochi — shogun who broke off tributary trade with Ming China, 15 years younger
- Ulugh Beg — ruler and astronomer, 23 years younger
Americas
- Nezahualcoyotl — ruler of Texcoco, poet, 31 years younger
The world in their lifetime
- 1377 Jikji, printed with movable metal type — aged 6, Asia
- 1380 Battle of Kulikovo — aged 9, Eastern Europe & Russia
- 1385 Union of Krewo — aged 14, Europe
- 1392 Founding of Joseon — aged 21, Asia
- c. 1400 Founding of Malacca — aged 29, Asia
- 1405–1433 Voyages of Zheng He — aged 34, Asia
- 1410 Battle of Grunwald — aged 39, Eastern Europe & Russia
- c. 1411 Andrei Rublev's Trinity — aged 40, Eastern Europe & Russia