1396

1396 (MCCCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar, the 1396th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 396th year of the 2nd millennium, the 96th year of the 14th century, and the 7th year of the 1390s decade. As of the start of 1396, the Gregorian calendar was 8 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which was the dominant calendar of the time.

Events of 1396

• May 19 – Martin I succeeds his brother, John I, as King of Aragon (now north-east Spain).
• September 25 – Battle of Nicopolis: The Ottomans defeat a joint crusade by Hungary, France, the Holy Roman Empire, England and Wallacia, led by King Sigismund of Hungary. This was last large-scale crusade of the Middle Ages.
• November 24 – Transit of Venus – the last not to be part of a pair. Possibly observed by Aztec astronomers.
• November 29 – Ralph de Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, marries Joan Beaufort
• Temporary peace is declared between England and France with the marriage of Richard II of England and Isabella of Valois, the daughter of Charles VI of France.
• France conquers the Republic of Genoa.
• After a fourteen-year period of interregnum, Peter of Saint Superan is declared as ruler of the Principality of Achaea (now southern Greece).
• In the "Battle of the Thirty", a mass trial by combat, the Clan Cameron defeat the Clan MacKintosh on the North Inch of Perth, Scotland.
• Queen Margaret of Norway, Denmark and Sweden makes her adopted son Eric of Pomerania joint ruler of Sweden. Eric had already been made joint ruler of Norway.
• Abu Amir succeeds Abdul Aziz II as ruler of the Marinid dynasty in present-day Morocco.
• Timur appoints his son Miran Shah as Timurid viceroy of Azerbaijan.
• The Kartid Dynasty is brought to an end in east Persia after its remaining rulers are murdered at a banquet by Miran Shah, son of Timur Lenk.
• Philibert de Naillac succeeds Juan Fernández de Heredia as Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller.
• The Ulu Camii mosque is built in Bursa by the Ottomans.

Births

• July 31 – Philip III, Duke of Burgundy (died 1467)
• October 16 – William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk (died 1450)
• date unknown
  • Alfonso V of Aragon (died 1458)
  • Ambroise de Loré, baron of Ivry in Normandy (died 1446)
  • John de Ros, 8th Baron de Ros (died 1421)
  • Paolo Uccello, painter (died 1475)

Deaths

• July 31 – William Courtenay, Archbishop of Canterbury
• November 29 – Robert Ferrers, 3rd Baron Ferrers of Wemme (born 1373)
• date unknown
  • John Beaumont, 4th Baron Beaumont, Constable of Dover Castle (born 1361)
  • Frederick II, margrave of Saluzzo
  • Saint Stephen of Perm (born 1340)