Events of 1396

• May 19 – Martin I succeeds his brother, John I, as King of Aragon (now north-east Spain).

• September – The Battle of the North Inch takes place in Perth, Scotland.

• 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 is the 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.

• The Ottomans capture the Bulgarian fortress of Vidin and Tsar Ivan Sratsimir, ending the Second Bulgarian Empire. The Bulgarian state is reestablished in 1878 as the Principality of Bulgaria.

• 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 14-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 present-day 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.

• The Ming Dynasty court of China sends two envoys, Qian Guxun and Li Sicong, to the Ava Kingdom of Burma and the Tai polity of the Mong Mao in order to resolve a dispute between these two. The travels of the Chinese ambassadors are recorded in the historical text of the Bai Yi Zhuan.

• Tamerlane orders the construction of a garden in a meadow, House of Flowers.

• Peasants in the present-day provinces of Hunan and Hupeh in the east plant 84 million fruit trees.

• Taejo of Joseon ends to rule.

• University of Zadar founded, first University in Croatia

Births

• July 31 – Philip III, Duke of Burgundy (d. 1467)

• October 16 – William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk (d. 1450)

• date unknown

• *Alfonso V of Aragon (d. 1458)

• *John de Ros, 8th Baron de Ros (d. 1421)

• *Ambroise de Loré, baron of Ivry in Normandy (d. 1446)

Deaths

• July 31 – William Courtenay, Archbishop of Canterbury

• November 29 – Robert Ferrers, 3rd Baron Ferrers of Wemme (b. 1373)

• date unknown

• *John Beaumont, 4th Baron Beaumont, Constable of Dover Castle (b. 1361)

• *Frederick II, margrave of Saluzzo

• *Saint Stephen of Perm (b. 1340)