Medieval chronological timeline
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Note: All dates are Common Era.
768: Beginning of Charlemagne's reign.
800: Charlemagne is crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
843: Division of Charlemagne's Empire between his grandsons with the Treaty of Verdun. Sets the stage for the founding of the Holy Roman Empire and France.
871: Alfred the Great assumes the throne, the first king of a united England. He defended England from Viking invaders, formed new laws and fostered a rebirth of religious and scholarly activities.
911: The Viking Rollo and his tribe settle in what is now Normandy by the terms of the Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte, founding the Duchy of Normandy.
955: Battle of Lechfeld. Otto the Great's defeat of the Magyars is the defining event that prevents them from entering Central Europe.
962: Otto the Great crowned the first Holy Roman Emperor.
1049: Pope Leo IX ascends to the papal throne, beginning a period of church reform.
1050: The astrolabe, an ancient tool of navigation, is first used in Europe.
1054: The East-West Schism which divided the church into Western Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.
1066: William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy, invades England and becomes King after the Battle of Hastings.
1073: Pope Gregory VII elevated to the papal throne.
1077: Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV walks to Canossa where he stands barefoot in the snow to beg forgiveness of the Pope for his offences, and admitting defeat in the Investiture Controversy. This helps establish Papal rule over European heads of state for another 450 years.
1078: The Construction of the Tower of London begins. The tower of London was the ultimate keep of the British Empire.
1086: The compilation of the Domesday Book. The Domesday Book is a great land and property survey commissioned by William the Conqueror to assess his new possessions. It is the first such undertaking since Roman times.
1098: The Cistercian Order is founded.
1099: First Crusade. Jerusalem is re-taken from the Muslims on the urging of Pope Urban II.
1118: The Knights Templar founded to protect Jerusalem and European pilgrims on their journey to the city.
1123: First Lateran Council. Followed and confirmed the Concordat of Worms.
1139: Second Lateran Council. Declared clerical marriages invalid, regulated clerical dress, and punished attacks on clerics by excommunication.
1147: Second Crusade. The Second Crusade was in retaliation to the fall of Edessa, one of the first Crusader States founded in the First Crusade. This was the first Crusade to have been led by European Kings. It was an overall failure.
1158: The Hanseatic League is founded, marking a new period of trade and economic development for North and Western Europe.
1163: The first cornerstone is laid for construction of Notre Dame de Paris.
1179: Third Lateran Council. Limited papal electees to the cardinals alone, condemned simony, forbade the promotion of anyone to the episcopate before the age of thirty.
1184: The first of many Inquisitions begins.
1189: Richard I ascends to the throne of England.
1190: Third Crusade. Saladin manages to unite the Muslim world and recapture Jerusalem, sparking the Third Crusade. Despite managing to win several major battles, the Crusaders did not capture Jerusalem.
1200: Fourth Crusade embarks. Eventually sacks Constantinople.
1208: Pope Innocent III calls for the Albigensian Crusade which seeks to destroy a rival form of Christianity practiced by the Cathars.
1209: The University of Oxford is founded.
1209: The University of Cambridge is founded.
1212: Children's Crusade.
1212: Spanish Christians succeed in defeating the Moors in the long Reconquista campaigns. By 1248, only the small southern kingdom of Granada remained under Muslim control.
1215: The Magna Carta is signed by John of England. This marks one of the first times a medieval ruler is forced to accept limits on his power.
1215: Fourth Lateran Council. Dealt with transubstantiation, papal primacy and conduct of clergy. Proclaimed that Jews and Muslims should wear identification marks to distinguish them from Christians.
1216: Papal recognition of the Dominican Order.
1223: Founding of the Franciscan Order.
1257: Founding of the University of Paris.
1258: Provisions of Oxford forced upon Henry III of England, establishing a new form of government limited regal authority.
1273: Rudolph I of Germany is elected Holy Roman Emperor, beginning the Habsburg de facto domination of the crown that lasted until is dissolution in 1806.
1274: Thomas Aquinas' work, Summa Theologiae is published.
1295: Marco Polo publishes his tales of China.
1297: William Wallace emerges as the leader of the Scottish resistance to England.
1307: The Knights Templar are rounded up and murdered by Philip the Fair of France, with the backing of the Pope.
1309: Beginning of the Babylonian Captivity during which the Popes moved to Avignon.
1311: Dante publishes his Divine Comedy.
1337: The Hundred Years' War begins. England and France struggle for dominance of Western Europe.
1347: The Black Death ravages Europe for the first of many times. An estimated 20% - 40% of the population is thought to have perished within the first year.
1347: The University of Prague is founded.
1378: The Western Schism during which three claimant popes were elected simultaneously. The Avignon Papacy ends.
1380: Prince Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow led a united Russian army to an important victory over the Mongols in the Battle of Kulikovo.
1380: Chaucer begins to write The Canterbury Tales.
1381: Peasants' Revolt in England.
1382: The Bible is translated into English by John Wycliffe.
1386: The University of Heidelberg is founded.
1415: Battle of Agincourt. Henry V and his army defeat a numerically superior French army, partially because of the newly-introduced English longbow.
1417: The Council of Constance ends the Western Schism at last, and elects Pope Martin V as the sole pope.
1429: Joan of Arc lifts the siege of Orleans for the Dauphin of France, enabling him to eventually be crowned at Reims. The battle at Orleans is the first of many which ultimately drive the English from continental Europe.
1430: Capture, trial, and execution of Joan of Arc.
1434: The Medici family rises to prominence in Florence.
1439: Strassburg Cathedral is completed, making it the highest building in the world.
1452: Leonardo da Vinci is born. Leonardo developed many plans and paintings, including the helicopter and the famous, Mona Lisa.
1453: The Hundred Years' War ends. Calais is the only English possession on Continental Europe.
1453: Constantinople falls to the Ottoman Turks.
1455: Johann Gutenberg prints the first of his Bibles on his new printing press. This innovation will help ignite the Protestant Reformation in Europe.
1455: Pope Callixtus III, born Alfonse Borgia, ascends to the papal throne, beginning a period of papal scandal and debauchery on an unprecedented scale.
1455: The Wars of the Roses begins in England.
