1378 - Definition and Overview

Events

• March - John Wyclif tried to gain public favour by laying his theses before parliament, and then made them public in a tract. He appeared before Simon of Sudbury at the episcopal palace at Lambeth to defend himself.
• April 9 - Pope Urban VI (Bartolomeo Prignano, archbishop of Bari) elected. In the Great Schism the papacy moves from Avignon to Rome, ending the Avignon Papacy.
• September 20 - Unhappy with Pope Urban's behavior, a group of cardinals meet at Fondi and elect Clement VII antipope.
• Dmitri Donskoi of Vladimir defeated a small Mongol army.

Births

• December 31 - Pope Callixtus III
• Lorenzo Ghiberti, a sculptor and metal smith.

Deaths

• February - Queen Jeanne de Bourbon, wife of King Charles V of France
• March 27 - Pope Gregory XI
• Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor
• King Enrique of Castile