Edward III establishes a new kind of knighthood with the Order of the Garter, conferred purely as an honour

A narrator who calls himself Will, and whose name may be Langland, begins the epic poem of Piers Plowman

One of four new yeomen of the chamber in Edward III's household is Geoffrey Chaucer

On the death of his uncle, David II, Robert Stewart becomes king of Scotland as Robert II

The courtly poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight tells of a mysterious visitor to the round table of King Arthur

John Wycliffe, writing mainly in Oxford, is critical of the contemporary church and can find no basis for the pope's authority

A poll tax imposed in England provokes widespread unrest, which flares up in the Peasants' Revolt

Wat Tyler, leader of the Kentish rebels, meets Richard II at Smithfield - before being struck and wounded by the Lord Mayor of London

Chaucer completes Troilus and Criseyde, his long poem about a legendary love affair in ancient Troy

John I, newly victorious in Portugal, proposes an alliance with England which has never been revoked

A clock, designed only to strike the hours, is installed in Salisbury cathedral and is still working today

Chaucer begins an ambitious scheme for 100 Canterbury Tales, of which he completes only 24 by the time of his death

On the death of his father, Robert II, Robert III becomes king of Scotland

The English king, Richard II, commissions a diptych (the Wilton Diptych) showing himself being presented to the Virgin and Child

Richard II cedes his crown to Bolingbroke, as Henry IV, and a few months later dies in Pontefract castle - probably starved to death

The followers of Wycliffe, after his death, become known as Lollards or 'mutterers'

The English mystery cycles are performed by trade guilds, on carts pulled from audience to audience around the city

The Welsh rise against the English and proclaim Owain Glyn Dwr as their own prince of Wales

Owain Glyn Dwr captures Aberystwyth and Harlech from the English and sets up an independent Welsh administration

On the death of his father, Robert III, James I becomes king of Scotland

Driven from Aberystwyth and Harlech, Owain Glyn Dwr loses support - and the last Welsh rebellion fades away

Henry V succeeds his father, Henry IV, as king of England

The treaty of Troyes, between the English and the Burgundian faction, grants Henry V the status of heir to the French throne

Henry V marries Catherine, daughter of the French king and sister of the rightful heir to the kingdom, the dauphin, who is on the opposing side

Henry VI, son of Henry V and Catherine of France, is king of England and theoretically king of France before his first birthday