1444 - Definition and Overview

Events

• March 1 - Gjergj Kastriot Skanderbeg proclaimed commander of the Albanian resistance
• April 16 - Truce of Tours. Five Year Truce between England and France
• August 26 - Battle of St. Jakob an der Birs in the Old Zürich War. Charles VII of France, seeking to send away troublesome troops made idle by the truce with England, sends his son the Dauphin with a large army into Switzerland to support the claims of Emperor Frederick III. The massively outnumbered Swiss force is destroyed in this battle, but inflict such casualties on the French that they withdraw.
• November 10 - Battle of Varna. The crusading forces of King Ladislas of Poland and Hungary are crushed by the Turks under Sultan Murad II. Ladislas is killed.
• Murad II, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire abdicates in favor of his son Mehmed II following his defeat in the Battle of Jalowaz.
• Forces of the Sultan of Egypt fail to take Rhodes from the Knights of Rhodes
• Iguvine Tables discovered at Gubbio, Italy
• Portuguese explorers reach the mouth of the rivers Senegal and Gambia.

Births

• Heinrich Finck Long-lived German composer who mostly worked in Poland

Deaths

• May 27 - John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset
• November 10 - King Ladislaus III of Poland (Battle of Varna)
• Humanist Leonardo Bruni