Philip became Duke of Burgundy, count of Flanders, Artois and Franche-Comté when his father was assassinated in 1419. Philip accused Charles, the Dauphin of France and Philip's brother-in-law of planning the murder of his father which had taken place during a meeting between the two at Montereau.

11. April 1357 - 4. August 1433
was the tenth King of Portugal and the Algarve and the first to use the title Lord of Ceuta. He was the natural son of Peter I by a woman named Teresa Lourenço, who some say was a noble Galician, daughter of Lourenço Martins, o da Praça, and wife Sancha Martins. In 1364 he was created Grand Master of the Order of Aviz, by which title he was known. He became king in 1385, after the 1383–1385 Crisis. John I married at Oporto on 2 February 1387 Philippa of Lancaster, daughter of John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster and Blanche of Lancaster. From that marriage were born several famous princes and princesses of Portugal (infantes) that became known as the Illustrious Generation <<Dudenha>>

During the 15th and 16th centuries, as the result of maritime exploration, Portugal established a global empire that included possessions in Africa, Asia and South America, becoming one of the world's major economic, political and military powers.
His daughter Isabelle Infanta 1397 - 1471 of Portugal, married Philip of Burgundy in 1430. She was the mother of Charles le Téméraire

The Popes of the Middle Ages became powerful and highly influential. This was the period of the crusades where thousands of Medieval people from all walks of life travelled nearly three thousand miles to the Holy Land. The Militant religious zeal of the popes and the promise of redemption from sins made the crusades popular. The Catholic church became the universal and unifying institution. The religious fervour of the Popes of the Middle Ages transferred into medieval culture. A centralized Catholic church was realized under Pope Innocent III. The church and the power of the Popes was eventually weakened by quarrels between church and state.

In Europe during the Middle Ages the only recognised religion was Christianity, in the form of the Catholic religion.  The lives of the Medieval people of the Middle Ages was dominated by the church. From birth to death, whether you were a peasant, a serf, a noble a lord or a King - life was dominated by the church. Various religious institutions became both important, rich and powerful. The lives of many Medieval people were dedicated to to the Catholic church and religion.

rival claimant to Alfonso V of Aragón and Ferrante I of Naples), duke of Anjou, Bar, and Lorraine, count of Provence. He was also called René of Anjou and Good King René. The second son of King Louis II of Naples, he was count of Guise when he married (1419) Isabella, heiress of Lorraine and Bar. He inherited Bar (1430) and Lorraine (1431), but the latter title was contested by a rival supported by Philip the Good of Burgundy.

Còsimo di Giovanni of the Medicis  was the first of the Medici political dynasty, de facto rulers of Florence during most of the Italian Renaissance; also known as "Cosimo 'the Elder'" ("il Vecchio") and "Cosimo Pater Patriae".

The son of Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, Cosimo de' Medici succeeded his father as the head of the Medici Bank. He played a prominent role in the government of Florence until his exile in 1433, after a disastrous war with Tuscany’s neighbour, the Republic of Lucca Cosimo's exile in Venice lasted for less than a year, when the people of Florence overturned Cosimo’s exile in a democratic vote. Cosimo returned to the acclaim of his people and the banishment of the Albizzi family, who had exiled Cosimo. He was a patron of scholarship and the arts, including such figures as Donatello and Filippo Brunelleschi.

The Republic of Florence was a city-state that was centered on the city of Florence, located in modern Tuscany, Italy. The republic was founded in 1115, when the Florentine people rebelled against the Margraviate of Tuscany upon Margravine Matilda's death. The Florentines formed a commune in Matilda's place. The republic was ruled by a council, known as the signoria. The signoria was chosen by the gonfaloniere (titular ruler of the city), who was elected every two months by Florentine guild members. The republic has a chequered history of coups and counter coups against various factions. The Medici faction gained control of the city in 1434, upon Cosimo de' Medici's counter coup against the faction that sent him into exile the previous year. The Medici kept control of Florence until 1494

Filippo Maria tried to re-establish his father's (Giangaleazzo Visconti) policies but by then surrounding states were better prepared to resist Milanese expansion. He died without heirs and his daughter, Bianca, married Francesco Sforza, (grandfather of the famous and beautiful Caterina Sforza) one of the most powerful mercenary captains in Milan. After three years of trying to establish republican government, the Milanese asked Sforza to step in and restore order in 1450. Having settled the situation, Sforza declared himself to be the successor to the Visconti dynasty through his wife and ruled as Duke of Milan until his death in 1466.

For more than 1,000 years, the chief magistrate and leader of the city of Venice and later of the Most Serene Republic of Venice was styled the Doge, a rare but not unique Italian title derived from the Latin Dux. Doges of Venice were elected for life by the city-state's aristocracy. Commonly the person selected as Doge was one of the shrewdest elders in the city. The Venetian combination of elaborate monarchic pomp and a republican (though "aristocratic") constitution with intricate checks and balances makes "La serenissima" (Venice) a textbook example of a crowned republic.

Despite the great power given to them, the Venetian Doges were restricted by law (unlike the Doges of the Republic of Genoa) to spend the rest of their lives inside the Doge's Palace complex and St Mark's Basilica, occasionally leaving for diplomatic reasons.

In the early fifteenth century, the Venetians also began to expand in Italy, as well as along the Dalmatian coast from Istria to Albania, which was acquired from King Ladislas of Naples during the civil war in Hungary.
 By 1410, Venice had a navy of 3,300 ships (manned by 36,000 men) and taken over most of Venetia, including such important cities as Verona (which swore its loyalty in the Devotion of Verona to Venice in 1405) and Padua. Slaves were plentiful in the Italian city-states as late as the 15th century. Between 1414 and 1423, some 10,000 slaves were sold in Venice, almost all of whom were "nubile" young women from Russia, Greece, Bosnia, Georgia, Armenia, Bulgaria, and Turkey.

Situated in the western Alps with its capital at Chambéry, the duchy of Savoy began as a county of the Holy Roman Empire in the Middle Ages. During the reign of Amadeus VIII (1391–1436), the duchy acquired significant territory in Piedmont, east of the Alps, and its ruler was promoted to the status of duke by the Holy Roman emperor in 1416. In the fifteenth century, the duchy of Savoy
included both Nice (Nizza) and Geneva

During the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Genoa developed into one of the "Maritime Republics" (Repubbliche Marinare) along with Venice, where trade, shipbuilding and banking supported one of the largest and most powerful navies in the Mediterranian.( the others being Venice, Pisa, and Amalfi) mainly oriented on the sea. The Republic of Genoa begun spreading over the surrounding regions obtaining the control of almost entire Tyrrhenian Sea. Its' alliance with the Byzantine Empire gave it opportunities to expand into the Black See and Crimea. The wealthy republic begun collapsing when the Black Death was imported into Europe in 1349 from the Genoese tradeing post at Caffa (Theodosia) in Crimea destroying its economy and killing its population. It adopted the Venetian model of government and was presided over by the doge. The period was also the time of continuous wars against Venice. The Republic of Genoa extended over modern Liguria and Piedmont. It had several colonies in the Mideast, in the Black Sea, in Sicily, Sardinia and Northern Africa. It possessed the island of Corsica.
Due to feuds and rivalry with Venice it tightened political alliances with France, but eventually was conquered by France in 1499 and again in 1502. It gained permanent independence from France in 1528.

was King of Hungary and Croatia from 1387 to 1437, and Holy Roman Emperor for four years from 1433 until 1437, the last Emperor of the House of Luxemburg. He was also King of Bohemia from 1419, of Lombardy from 1431, and of Germany from 1411

The Holy Roman Emperor (German: Römisch- Deutscher Kaiser, or "Roman-German Kaiser") is a term used by historians to denote a Middle Ages ruler, who as German King had in addition received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope of the Holy Roman Church.

For most of its history, Germany was not a unified state but a loose association of territorial states that together made up the “Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation”. It was a long time until the founding of the German Reich in 1871.  

he was married to Mary of Hungary, whose mother was killled by her husbands men... something she never forgave Sigismund. She died in 1395 in a suspicious horse accident while heavily pregnant.

Jogaila was the last pagan ruler of medieval Lithuania. He held the title Didysis Kunigaikštis. As King of Poland, he pursued a policy of close alliances with Lithuania against the Teutonic Knights. The allied victory at the Battle of Grunwald in 1410, followed by the Peace of Thorn (1411), secured the Polish and Lithuanian borders and marked the emergence of the Polish–Lithuanian alliance as a significant force in Europe.
After Jagiełło took the throne in Poland, Poland and Lithuania were joined with a union and for several hundred years functioned as a two-state kingdom, known as Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

The reign of Władysław II Jagiełło extended Polish frontiers and is often considered the beginning of Poland's "Golden Age".