January 27– The "Bad Parliament", the 48th and last to be convened during the reign of King Edward III of England, begins its session with the goal of repealing most of the acts of the 1376 Parliament. Influenced by John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster and son of King Edward, it undoes the work done by the Good Parliament, the previous year, to reduce corruption in the Royal Council. For the first time, the leader of the members of the House of Commons has a title, as Sir Thomas Hungerford, Gaunt's steward, is selected as the first "Speaker of the House of Commons".
March 2– The Bad Parliament dissolves and King Edward III gives royal assent to measures that roll back the 1376 legislation that he had been forced to agree to. He also approves the Bad Parliament's passage of a poll tax of four pennies for every male voter at least 14 years old, an attempt by the House of Commons to expand voting to the lower economic classes in return for expanding the tax burden from property owners to include those citizens who did not own property.
March 13– At Thang Long, capital of Dai Viet (now Hanoi, capital of the Republic of Vietnam), Tran Phe De succeeds his late father, Tran Due Tong as the Emperor of Dai Viet. However, the real power remains with Nghe Tong, the regent for Phe De.
March 21–John Minsterworth, who had plotted a French invasion of the Kingdom of England in conjunction with France's King Charles V, is arrested in Pamplona, and letters to him regarding the proposed invasion are discovered. Minsterworth is taken first to Bordeaux in France and then returned for imprisonment in the Tower of London, where he reveals plans for a May 1378 invasion by the French Navy. Convicted of treason, he is executed on April 12 and his body is drawn and quartered.
June 24– The Caroline War, which had been fought for six years from 1369 until the Treaty of Bruges on June 27, 1375, resumes between the kingdoms of England and France as the treaty expires. The war, a dispute over the control of Aquitaine, will last until 1389.
July–September
July 16–Richard II, the 10-year-old grandson of Edward III, is crowned king of England at Westminster Abbey. A minority government is established, and a series of continual councils rule on his behalf until 1381.
August 2– In the Battle on Pyana River, part of the Golden Horde Dynastic War, an alliance of five Russian principalities is defeated by the Mongol Blue Horde (a part of the Golden Horde), led by Arapsha Khan. According to a later Russian account, Chronicle On The Slaughter at Pyana River, the Russian troops had been drinking mead and beer while waiting at the river for the Golden Horde attack and are intoxicated when Arapsha's troops attacked from five directions. The Russian commander, Prince Ivan Dmitriyevich of Nizhny Novgorod and staff attempt to retreat across the Pyana River and drown, and the river itself, Arapsha Khan and his troops then take over Nizhny-Novgorod with no opposition. The name of the river itself derives from the Russian language word for "drunk", пьяный (pyanyy).
August 4– The members of England's House of Commons and House of Lords are directed, in the name of the new King Richard II, to assemble at Westminster on October 13.
August– The Hongwu Emperor of the Ming dynasty of China scraps the Office of Reports Inspection (established in 1370) for a new Office of Transmission, in his efforts to create a more efficient communicatory system in the empire. A month before this he noted that anyone could send memorials to the throne; commoners often did, although the only times their petitions were read aloud to the emperor were when they called for the impeachment of local officials who were not up to par with their official duties.Wilkinson, 534–535.
October 13– Richard II of England's first parliament assembles for a session of almost two months. The House of Commons members elect Peter de la Mare as the Speaker of the House.
November 16– The village of Westkerke in the Netherlands, on the island of Wolphaartsdijk is entirely washed away by a flood. Three centuries later, the Dutch will reclaim the land from sea by the building of dikes, Wolphaartsdijk will no longer be an island and the area where Westkerke had existed will be resettled. The remains of the lost village will be found in 1975, almost six centuries after its destruction.
November 30– The Battle of Fornarina is fought in Italy when the independent village of San Ginesio (now in Italy's Macerata province) is invaded by mercenaries from the larger city of Fermo from a neighboring province. As the mercenaires cross through an unguarded and open gate, a baker in the middle of baking bread hears the troops approach, throws hot ashes into the first line of soldiers, and alerts the Ginosan troops who drive the invaders up a hill and over the side of a steep cliff.
December 5– The English Parliament adjourns and laws passed therein are given royal assent by Queen Joan of Kent, regent for King Richard II. Among the laws enactted are the Purveyance Act ("Prelants shall have their action of trespass against purveyors offending"), the Arrest of Clergy Act (setting "the penalty for arresting of priests during divine service.") and the Villanies Act ("Commissions shall be awarded to enquire of and punish the misbehaviour of villains and land-tenants to their lords").
The Trezzo sull'Adda Bridge is completed in Lombardy, and becomes the longest single-arch bridge in the world to be built for four centuries.
A sermon by a German monk states "the game of cards has come to us this year", and prohibitions against cards are issued by Prince John of Castile, and the cities of Florence and Basel.
↑Rollo-Koster, Joëlle (2008). Raiding Saint Peter: Empty Sees, Violence, and the Initiation of the Great Western Schism (1378). Brill. p.182. ISBN978-9004165601.
↑Ormod, W. M. (2000). The Reign of Edward III (Updateded.). Stroud: Tempus. pp.44–45. ISBN0-7524-1773-8.
↑Wedgewood, J. C. (1930) "John of Gaunt and the packing of parliament", English Historical Review 45, pp. 623–5.
↑Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology (Third reviseded.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p.564. ISBN0-521-56350-X.
↑Luttrell, Anthony (1959). Juan Fernandez de Heredia, Castellan of Amposta (1346–1377), Master of the Order of St. John at Rhodes (1377–1396). Oxford University Press.
↑Lovrenović, Dubravko (1999). "Proglašenje Bosne Kraljevstvom 1377"[The proclamation of Bosnia as the kingdom in 1377]. Forum Bosnae (in Bosnian) (3–04). Međunarodni forum Bosna: 227–287.
↑Salvi, Giovanni (1889). Memorie storiche di Sanginesio (Marche) in relazione con le terre circonvicine[Historical Memories of Sanginesio (Marche) in Relation to the Surrounding Lands]. Camerino: Tipografia Savini.