Year 1309: Key Historical Events
Year 1309 (MCCCIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar.
Events
January – March
- January 6: The coronation of Henry of Luxembourg as “King of the Romans” takes place at Aachen, Germany. He will become the Emperor in 1312.
- February 2: At Avignon, Pope Clement V begins the investigation and posthumous trial of the late Pope Boniface VIII, accused of heresy and sodomy.
- February 15: King Denis of Portugal grants the Magna Charta Privilegioum, the charter for Portugal’s first university, now known as the University of Coimbra.
- February 24: King Ferdinand IV of Castile agrees to assist the Kingdom of Aragon in a war against the Islamic Emirate of Granada.
- March 9: Pope Clement V officially transfers the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Pontiff from Rome to Avignon, marking the start of the Avignon Papacy.
- March 14: Sultan Muhammad III is deposed after a palace coup in the Emirate of Granada.
April – June
- April 24: Spanish kings James II of Aragon and Ferdinand IV of Castile persuade Pope Clement V to grant a papal bull for a crusade against Islamic forces in the Iberian peninsula.
- April 29: Pope Clement V issues a papal bull granting King Ferdinand IV part of clergy taxes to finance the war against Granada.
- May 5: Robert the Wise becomes the new King of Naples.
- June 15: The second coronation of Charles I as King of Hungary takes place.
July – September
- July 3: Portugal joins forces with the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon in their attack on Gibraltar.
- September 12: Castilian forces besiege and conquer the fortress at Gibraltar, held by Muslim forces for nearly 600 years.
October – December
- October 18: Pope Clement V signs a mandate allowing trials against the memory of Boniface VIII.
- October 22: The trial of the Knights Templar arrested in England begins.
- November 4: Pope Clement V declares the Knights Hospitaller will remain in the Mediterranean region.
- December 18: Fernando Ponce de León is made the new ruler of several regions in Spain.
Births
- March 25: Robert de Ferrers, English nobleman and knight (d. 1350)
- June 9: Rupert I, German nobleman (d. 1390)
- December 6: Humphrey de Bohun, English nobleman (d. 1361)
Deaths
- January 4: Angela of Foligno, Italian nun, mystic and writer (b. 1248)
- May 5: King Charles II of Naples (b. 1254)
- September 19: Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, Spanish nobleman (b. 1256)