1333

1333 (MCCCXXXIII) was marked by decisive military and political developments in medieval Europe and Asia, including the English victory at the Battle of Halidon Hill on July 19, where King Edward III's forces, employing massed longbowmen, routed a larger Scottish army led by Regent Archibald Douglas, thereby securing Berwick-upon-Tweed and bolstering Edward Balliol's bid for the Scottish crown amid the Second War of Scottish Independence.^[1][2] In Japan, the Kamakura shogunate collapsed under pressure from Emperor Go-Daigo's revolt, which began in 1331 and culminated in the establishment of the short-lived Kemmu Restoration, shifting power toward imperial rule and paving the way for Ashikaga dominance.^[3] These events underscored the era's feudal instabilities, with Halidon Hill demonstrating the tactical evolution of English archery in warfare and the Japanese upheaval reflecting samurai factionalism's erosion of shogunal authority.^[4][3]

Events

January–March

On 28 January, imperial loyalist forces under the command of rebels against the Kamakura shogunate defeated shogunate troops at the Battle of Hoshigaoka on Shikoku Island during the Genkō War, extending the scope of Emperor Go-Daigo's uprising beyond Honshu.^[5] In early March, Edward Balliol, claimant to the Scottish throne and backed by English forces under King Edward III, initiated a renewed invasion of Scotland from Carlisle, crossing the border and marching toward Berwick-upon-Tweed to challenge the regency of David II.^[4] On 25 March, Balliol's advancing army clashed with a small Scottish force led by local knights near Dornock in Dumfriesshire, routing the defenders in a brief skirmish and capturing several prisoners, including key figures such as William Douglas, thereby securing initial momentum for the campaign.^[6][7]

April–June

In April 1333, Sir Andrew Murray, Guardian of Scotland, was captured by English forces while attempting to relieve the besieged Roxburgh Castle; he was subsequently imprisoned in Durham, leading to his replacement by Sir Archibald Douglas as Guardian.^[8] On April 25, Casimir III was crowned King of Poland in Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, succeeding his brother Władysław I and initiating a period of territorial expansion and legal reforms.^[9] In early May, King Edward III of England arrived in person to intensify the ongoing siege of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which had begun in March, aiming to support Edward Balliol's claim to the Scottish throne amid the Second War of Scottish Independence.^[1] On May 18, during the Kenmu Restoration in Japan, forces led by Nitta Yoshisada loyal to Emperor Go-Daigo breached the defenses of Kamakura, sacking the city and effectively dismantling the Hōjō clan's regency over the Kamakura shogunate, marking the end of its dominance after nearly 150 years.^[10] On June 6, William Donn de Burgh, 3rd Earl of Ulster, was murdered at Le Ford near Belfast by allies of Richard de Mandeville, in retaliation for the earl's role in the starvation death of Walter de Burgh the previous year; this assassination destabilized Anglo-Irish lordship in Ulster and left de Burgh's young daughter Elizabeth as the sole heir.^[11]

July–December

On 19 July, English forces under King Edward III decisively defeated a Scottish army led by Sir Archibald Douglas at the Battle of Halidon Hill, near Berwick-upon-Tweed, during the Second War of Scottish Independence.^[12][13] The battle followed a Scottish attempt to relieve their garrison at Berwick, which had been under English siege since late April; English longbowmen, positioned on elevated ground, inflicted heavy casualties on Scottish pikemen and knights attempting an uphill assault amid stormy weather, resulting in over 14,000 Scottish deaths compared to minimal English losses.^[4][2] This victory allowed Edward III to capture Berwick and bolster the claim of Edward Balliol, whom he supported as a rival to Scottish King David II, marking a tactical shift toward English use of dismounted men-at-arms and archers in defensive formations.^[13] The English success at Halidon Hill facilitated Balliol's restoration as king of Scots later in 1333, though his control remained precarious amid ongoing resistance from David II's partisans.^[12] Edward III withdrew his main army by early August, returning to England after securing northern borders temporarily, while Scottish forces fragmented under Douglas's death in the battle and subsequent leadership vacuums.^[2] No other major military engagements or political upheavals are recorded in Europe for the remainder of 1333, though the battle's outcome presaged renewed Anglo-Scottish hostilities leading into the 1340s.^[13]

Undated events

A severe famine struck China during the Yuan dynasty, triggered by a series of climatic disasters including droughts and floods, and persisted until 1337, resulting in an estimated six million deaths from starvation as recorded in contemporary annals.^[14][15] In the Iberian Peninsula, a widespread famine commenced in 1333 amid poor harvests and adverse weather, enduring until 1336 or 1337 and exacerbating economic strains across Spain and Portugal, as one of the earliest major subsistence crises of the 14th century in the region.^[16]

People

Births

• 10 July – Roger de Clifford (d. 1389), 5th Baron Clifford and English nobleman who participated in military campaigns against Scotland during the reign of Edward III.^[17]
• c. early 1333 – Frederick V (d. 1398), Burgrave of Nuremberg from the House of Hohenzollern, who expanded the family's territories in Franconia.^[18]
• 1333 – Eleanor of Aragon (d. 1417), daughter of Peter IV of Aragon and queen consort of Cyprus through marriage to Peter I of Cyprus, later acting as regent.

Deaths

March 2 – Władysław I Łokietek, king of Poland from 1320 who unified fragmented Polish territories against Teutonic Knights and Bohemia, died in Kraków at approximately 72–73 years old.^[19] July 19 – Sir Archibald Douglas, Guardian of Scotland during the Second War of Scottish Independence and military leader, killed at the Battle of Halidon Hill while attempting to relieve the English siege of Berwick-upon-Tweed.^[20][13] September 25 – Prince Morikuni, ninth and final shōgun of the Kamakura shogunate in Japan, reigning nominally from 1308 amid Hōjō clan regency, died in Kamakura at age 32.^[10]