Timeline of the Middle Ages

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This is a timeline of the Middle Ages. The list is not exhaustive or complete, and requires expansion, particularly of the significance column.

Note: All dates are Common Era.

Centuries: 5th - 6th - 7th - 8th - 9th - 10th - 11th - 12th - 13th - 14th - 15th

[edit] 5th century

Year	Date	Event	Significance
416		Visigothic conquest of Spain.[1]
418		Roman Empire recognises the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse.[1]
427		Vandals begin North African conquest.[1]
430		Saint Patrick's Irish mission begins.[1]
444		The "Groans of the Britons", a last appeal to Roman government. This event is "traditional." [1]
449		Attila the Hun is repelled from Gaul by Roman-Barbarian forces at the Battle of Châlons.[1]
451		Attila the Hun raids Italy, destroying Aquilea and causing the foundation of Venice by refugees.[1]
453		The Vandals pillage Rome.[1]
476		The last Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustus, is deposed by Odovacar, conventionally ending the Roman Empire.[1]
481		Clovis becomes King of the Franks.[1]
493		Ostrogothic Kingdom founded in Italy by Theodoric. [1]

[edit] 6th century

Year	Date	Event	Significance
c. 515[1]		Battle of Mons Badonicus.[1]	The West Saxon advance is halted by Britons.
527	August 1	Justinian I becomes Eastern Roman Emperor.[1]	Justinian is best remembered for his Code of Civil Law (529), and expansion of imperial territory retaking Rome from the Ostrogoths.
529—534		Justinian I publishes the Code of Civil Law.[1]	This compiled centuries of legal writings and imperial pronouncements into three parts of one body of law.
c. 529		Benedict of Nursia founds monastery at Monte Cassino.[1]	The first of twelve monasteries founded by Saint Benedict, beginning the Order of Saint Benedict.
534		Byzantines, under Belisarius, retake North Africa from the Vandals.[1]
552		The Byzantine conquest of Italy completes.[1]
563		Saint Columba founds mission in Iona.[1]
568		The Kingdom of the Lombards is founded in Italy.[1]
571		Mohammed is born.[1]	Professed receiving revelations from God, which were recorded in the Qur'an, the basis of Islamic theology, in which he is regarded as the most important prophet.
577		The West Saxons continue their advance at the Battle of Deorham.[1]
581—618		Sui Dynasty in China.[1]
590		Gregory the Great becomes Pope.[1]
597		Saint Augustine arrives in Kent.[1]

[edit] 7th century

Year	Date	Event
605		Grand Canal of China constructed.[1]
617—907		T'ang Dynasty in China..[1]	The essential administrative system of this dynasty lasts for 1,300 years.[1]
622		Mohammed flees Mecca for Medina.[1]
627		Battle of Nineveh. The Byzantines, under Heraclius, crush the Persians.[1]
631		Death of Mohammed.[1]	By this point, all of Arabia is now Muslim.[1]
632		Accession of Abu Bakr as first Caliph.[1]
633/634		Battle of Heavenfield. Northumbrian army under Oswald defeat Welsh army.[1]
638		Jerusalem captured by Muslims.[1]
641		Battle of Mehawand. Muslims conquer Persia.[1]
643		Muslims take Alexandria.[1]
645		In Japan, the Soga clan falls.[1]	This initiates a period of imitation of Chinese culture.[1]
650		Slav occupation of Balkans complete.[1]
663		Synod of Whitby.[1]	Roman Christianity triumphs over Celtic Christianity in England.[1]
685		Battle of Nechtansmere.[1]	Picts defeat Northumbrians, whose dominance ends.
698		Muslims take Carthage.[1]

[edit] 8th century

Year	Date	Event	Significance
711		Muslims under Tarik invade Spain.[1]
718		Second Muslim attack on Constantinople, ending in failure.[1]
726		Iconoclast movement begun in the Byzantine Empire under Leo III.[1]	This was opposed by Pope Gregory II, and an important difference between the Roman and Byzantine churches.[1]
731		Battle of Tours. Charles Martel halts Muslim advance.[1]
735		Death of Bede.[1]
750		Beginning of Abbasid Caliphate.[1]
751		Pepin founds the Carolingian dynasty.[1]
754		Pepin promises the Pope central Italy.[1]	This is arguably the beginning of the temporal power of the Papacy.[1]
768		Beginning of Charlemagne's reign.
778		Battle of Roncevaux Pass. [1]
786		Accession of Haroun-al-Rashid in Baghdad.[1]
793		Sack of Lindisfarne.[1]	Viking attacks on Britain begin.[1]
795		Death of Offa.[1]	Marks the end of Mercian dominance in England.

[edit] 9th century

Year	Date	Event	Significance
800		Charlemagne is crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Leo III.
814		Death of Charlemagne.[1]
825		Battle of Ellandun. Egbert defeats Mercians.[1]	Wessex becomes the leading kingdom of England.[1]
827		Muslims invades Sicily.[1]
840		Muslims captures Bari and much of southern Italy.[1]
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 as separate states.[1]
840		Kenneth McAlpin becomes king of the Picts and Scots, creating the Kingdom of Alba.[1]
862		Viking state in Russia founded under Rurik, first at Novgorod, then Kiev.[1]
866		Fujiwara period in Japan.[1]
866		Viking "Great Army" in England.[1]	Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia were overwhelmed.[1]
868		Earliest known printed book in China with a date.[1]
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.
872		Harold Fairhair becomes King of Norway.[1]
874		Iceland is settled by Norsemen.[1]
885—886		Vikings attack Paris.[1]
893		The first Bulgar Empire is founded, by Simeon in the Balkans.[1]
896		Arpad and the Magyars are present in Norway.[1]
897		Death of Alfred the Great.[1]

[edit] 10th century

Year	Date	Event	Significance
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 defeats the Magyars.	This is the defining event that prevents them from entering Central Europe.
956		Otto the Great crowned the first Holy Roman Emperor.

[edit] 11th century

Year	Date	Event	Significance
1010		Malcolm II defeats the Danes in five battles, including Mortlach and Camuston.	Scotland remains free from the empire of Cnut
1049		Pope Leo IX ascends to the papal throne.
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.
1067		Pope Gregory VII elevated to the papal throne.	This begins a period of church reform.
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.
1077		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, a great land and property survey commissioned by William the Conqueror to assess his new possessions.	This 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.

[edit] 12th century

Year	Date	Event	Significance
1117		The University of Oxford is founded.
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. It was an overall failure.	This was the first Crusade to have been led by European Kings.
1158		The Hanseatic League is founded.	This marks 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.
1188		Richard I ascends to the throne of England.
1189		Third Crusade. This follows Saladin uniting the Muslim world and recapturing Jerusalem. Despite managing to win several major battles, the Crusaders did not capture Jerusalem.

[edit] 13th century

Year	Date	Event	Significance
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 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.
1257		Provisions of Oxford forced upon Henry III of England.	This establishes a new form of government-limited regal authority.
1273		Rudolph I of Germany is elected Holy Roman Emperor.	This begins 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.
1296		Edward I of England invades Scotland, starting the First War of Scottish Independence.
1297		William Wallace emerges as the leader of the Scottish resistance to England.

[edit] 14th century

Year	Date	Event	Significance
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 of the Papacy during which the Popes moved to Avignon.
1310		Dante publishes his Divine Comedy.
1314		Robert the Bruce restores Scotland's de facto independence at the Battle of Bannockburn.
1328		The First War of Scottish Independence ends in Scottish victory with the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton and de jure independence.
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 a victory over the Mongols in the Battle of Kulikovo.
1380		Chaucer begins to write The Canterbury Tales.
1381		Peasants' Revolt in England.
1381		The Bible is translated into English by John Wycliffe.
1386		The University of Heidelberg is founded.

[edit] 15th century

Year	Date	Event	Significance
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.
1440		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.
1454		Johann Gutenberg prints the first of his Bibles on his new printing press.	This innovation helped ignite the Protestant Reformation in Europe.
1455		Pope Callixtus III, born Alfonse Borgia, ascends to the papal throne.	This begins a period of papal scandal and debauchery on an unprecedented scale.
1455		The Wars of the Roses begins in England.

[edit] References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj ak al am an ao ap aq ar as at au av aw ax ay az ba bb bc bd be bf bg bh bi bj bk bl bm bn bo bp bq br bs bt bu bv bw bx by} Cook, Chris (ed.). Pears cyclopaedia 2003-4. pp. A4 - A7.

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