1337 or 1338—Nicomedia and the last Byzantine possessions in north-western corner of Asia Minor are conquered by the Osmanlis.
1340—Stephen Dushan crosses the Vardar, captures Serres, and crowns himself there as ‘master of almost all the Roman Empire’.
1341—After death of Andronicus III, Cantacuzenos crowns himself at Demotika.
1342—Civil war between Cantacuzenos and widow and son of Andronicus III, during which both sides make overtures to Osmanlis, Serbians, and Bulgarians.
1345—Cantacuzenos receives aid from Orkhan, and pays for it by marrying his daughter to the Ottoman emir.
1347—Dushan crowns himself Emperor of Constantinople. Agreement between John Cantacuzenos and John Palaeologos to share Byzantine throne.
Black Death plague reaches Constantinople.
1349—Cantacuzenos calls Osmanlis into Europe again to save Salonika from the Serbians.
1349-53—Civil war between Cantacuzenos and Palaeologos.
Palaeologos flees to Tenedos.