The fourteenth century saw the founding and dominance of the Ottoman State (the occupancy of Gallipoli in 1354 gained the first foothold in Europe) and the new and powerful Ming Dynasty create a new capital in Beijing and build the Great Wall of China to protect its lands. The Great Famine swept through Europe followed by The Black Death which reached Europe in the mid century. Religious tensions resulted in the beginning of the Hundred Years war between England and France and the Great Schism caused friction between rival popes in Rome and Avignon. By the end of the fourteenth century throughout central Europe universities had become central to intellectual life, it was the beginning of the Italian Renaissance and the end of the medieval arts. Although theology continued to be the most prestigious area of study the growing interest in more subjects such as arithmetic, geometry, grammar and logic signalled a move away from the churches dominance over the intellectual world. The fourteenth century was the time of Chaucer and Dante and when knowledge of the world was expanding rapidly as the first atlas of known trade routes were produced.
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