1353—Soleiman pasha, Orkhan’s elder son, in response to the third appeal of Cantacuzenos for Ottoman aid, brings an army into Thrace, helps in the recapture of Adrianople, and defeats the Serbians at Demotika. For this aid, a fortress on the European shore of the Dardanelles, probably Tzympe, is given to Orkhan.
1354—An earthquake, which damaged the walls of Gallipoli, enables the Osmanlis of Soleiman pasha to capture the city. Orkhan refuses to give up Gallipoli, breaks with Cantacuzenos, and orders the Osmanlis in the Hellespont to extend their conquest in the direction of Constantinople.
c. 1357—Demotika and Tchorlu are captured for the first time by the Osmanlis under Soleiman pasha.
1358—Soleiman pasha dies from the fall of a horse at Bulaïr.
1359—Orkhan dies, and is succeeded by Murad.
1360-1—Conquest of Thrace.
1361—Second serious ‘Black Death’ plague in Europe.
c. 1362—Murad creates corps of ‘janissaries’.
1362 (1363)—John V Palaeologos binds himself by treaty to recognize Murad’s conquests in Thrace, and to give him military aid against the Turkish emirs of Asia Minor.
1363—Serbian and Hungarian crusaders are defeated on the banks of the Maritza.