1334 (idea)

• The earliest known cases of the Black Death to appear in the historical record occur in what is now the Chinese province of Hubei. The plague would later spread across Eurasia and kill 1/3 of Europe by 1350.
• With his supporters having overthrown the Kamakura Shogunate the year before, Japanese emperor Go-Daigo triumphantly returns to Japan from his exile on the island of Oki, innaugurating the "Kemmu Restoration" by becoming the first Japanese emperor in several centuries to actually rule as well as merely reign.
• The Nogai Horde, a Mongol horde, conquers much of what is now the Ukraine.
• Serbian emperor Stephen Dushan conquers much of Macedonia from the weakening Byzantine Empire, capturing the towns of Ohrid, Prilep, Kastoria, Strumica, and Voden.
• With the support of English king Edward III, Scottish lord and would-be king Edward Baliol defeats the forces of legitimate Scottish king David II at the Battle of Halidon Hill. Baliol then demonstrates his gratitude to Edward by signing the Treaty of Newcastle upon Tyne declaring his fealty to Edward III as his overlord and ceding eight Scottish counties to the English crown.
• King Philip VI of France declares himself "Champion of Scotland" and provides refuge to fleeing Scottish king David II, enraging English king Edward III, in an incident that would contribute to the start of the Hundred Years War three years later.
• The Jews in Poland catch a break when King Casimir III passes a law prohibiting the kidnapping of Jewish children for the purpose of enforced Christian baptism and inflicting heavy punishment for the desecration of Jewish cemeteries.
• Construction work begins on Giotto's Bell Tower in Florence.

These people were born in 1334:

• Japanese Emperor Sukō.
• Hayam Wuruk, king of the Javan Hindu kingdom of Majapahit at the time of its greatest power.
• Future king of Castille Peter the Cruel, excoriated by his enemies as monstrously cruel, but now seen by historians as a fair and just king.
• Henry II, another future king of Castille (by defeating and killing his half-brother Peter the Cruel).
• James I of Cyprus, titular king of Armenia and Jerusalem (former Christian kingdoms which had long since been overrun by the Saracens).
• Count of Savoy Amadeus VI, nicknamed the "Green Count"
• Fakr ad-Dowleh, last king of the Bavand Dynasty which ruled Tabaristan in norther Persia.
• Turkish poet Taceddin Ahmedi.
• Venetian admiral Carlo Zeno, victor over the Genoese in the decisive Battle of Chioggia in 1380.

These people died in 1334:

• Pope John XXII, succeeded by Benedict XII .
• Sheik Safi ad-Din Ardabili, the sufi holy man after whom the the Safavid Dynasty in Persia is named.
• French bishop, theologian, and philosopher Durandus Of Saint-pourçain, best remembered today for his fierce opposition to the ideas of Thomas Aquinas.

1333 - 1334 - 1335

14th century