Timeline of the Middle Ages
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Note: All dates are Common Era.
For earlier events, see Timeline of ancient history{{#if:| and [[{{{3}}}]]}}.
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Contents |
[edit]
Early Middle Ages
[edit]
5th century
Year | Date | Event | Significance |
---|---|---|---|
406 | Visigoths, Suevi and Burgundians cross the Rhine and invade Roman Gaul. | Beginning of the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. | |
410 | Rome is captured by the Visigoths under Alaric I. | ||
416 | Visigothic conquest of Spain. | ||
418 | Roman Empire recognises the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse. | ||
428 | Vandals begin North African conquest. | ||
430 | Saint Patrick's Irish mission begins. | ||
444 | The "Groans of the Britons", a last appeal to Roman government. | ||
451 | Attila the Hun is repelled from Gaul by Roman–Barbarian forces at the Battle of Châlons. | ||
452 | Attila the Hun raids Italy, destroying Aquileia and causing the foundation of Venice by refugees. | ||
455 | The Vandals pillage Rome. | ||
476 | The last Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustus, is deposed by Odovacar, conventionally ending the Western Roman Empire. | ||
481 | Clovis becomes King of the Franks. | ||
493 | Ostrogothic Kingdom founded in Italy by Theodoric. | ||
496 | Clovis converted to the Catholic faith. |
[edit]
6th century
Year | Date | Event | Significance |
---|---|---|---|
507 | The Franks under Clovis defeat the Visigoths in the Battle of Vouillé, forcing them to retreat into Spain. | ||
515 | Battle of Mons Badonicus. | The West Saxon advance is halted by Britons. | |
527 | August 1 | Justinian I becomes Eastern Roman Emperor. | 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. | This compiled centuries of legal writings and imperial pronouncements into three parts of one body of law. | |
529 | Benedict of Nursia founds monastery at Monte Cassino. | 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. | ||
542 | Bubonic plague reaches Constantinople. At least 230,000 people die in the city and perhaps two million in the empire. | This Justinian plague undermines emperor's attempts to renew Roman glory through conquests. This plague becomes pandemic and continues to castigate Europe, the Middle East, and northern Africa for the next 200 years, until 750. | |
552 | The Byzantine conquest of Italy completes. | ||
563 | Saint Columba founds mission in Iona. | ||
568 | The Kingdom of the Lombards is founded in Italy. | ||
571 | Mohammed is born. 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. | ||
581—618 | Sui Dynasty in China. | ||
590 | Gregory the Great becomes Pope. | ||
597 | Augustine arrives in Kent. |
[edit]
7th century
Year | Date | Event | |
---|---|---|---|
605 | Grand Canal of China constructed. | ||
602-629 | Last great Roman-Persian War Long conflict leaves both empires exhausted and unable to cope with the newly united Arab armies under Islam in the 630s | ||
618—907 | T'ang Dynasty in China. The essential administrative system of this dynasty lasts for 1,300 years. | ||
622 | Muhammad flees Mecca for Medina. | ||
626 | Joint Persian-Avar-Slav Siege of Constantinople Constantinople saved, Avar power broken and Persians henceforth on the defensive | ||
627 | Battle of Nineveh. The Byzantines, under Heraclius, crush the Persians. | ||
631 | Death of Muhammed. By this point, all of Arabia is Muslim. | ||
632 | Accession of Abu Bakr as first Caliph. | ||
633/634 | Battle of Heavenfield. Northumbrian army under Oswald defeat Welsh army. | ||
638 | Jerusalem captured by Muslims. | ||
641 | Battle of Nehawand. Muslims conquer Persia. | ||
643 | Muslims take Alexandria. | ||
645 | In Japan, the Soga clan falls.This initiates a period of imitation of Chinese culture. | ||
650 | Slav occupation of Balkans complete. | ||
663 | Synod of Whitby. Roman Christianity triumphs over Celtic Christianity in England. | ||
674-678 | First Arab siege of Constantinople. First time Islamic armies stopped, saving Europe from Islamic conquest. | ||
681 | Establishment of the Bulgarian Empire. | A country with great influence in the European history in the Middle Ages. | |
685 | Battle of Nechtansmere. Picts defeat Northumbrians, whose dominance ends. | ||
687 | Battle of Tertry | ||
698 | Muslims take Carthage. |
[edit]
8th century
Year | Date | Event | Significance |
---|---|---|---|
711 | Muslims under Tarik invade Spain. | ||
718 | Second Muslim attack on Constantinople, ending in failure. The combined Byzantine–Bulgarian forces stop the Arab threat in Eastern Europe. | ||
726 | Iconoclast movement begun in the Byzantine Empire under Leo III. This was opposed by Pope Gregory II, and an important difference between the Roman and Byzantine churches. | ||
732 | Battle of Tours. Charles Martel halts Muslim advance. | ||
735 | Death of Bede. Bede was later regarded as "the father of history" | ||
750 | Beginning of Abbasid Caliphate. | ||
751 | Pepin founds the Carolingian dynasty. | ||
754 | Pepin promises the Pope central Italy. This is arguably the beginning of the temporal power of the Papacy. | ||
768 | Beginning of Charlemagne's reign. | ||
778 | Battle of Roncevaux Pass. | ||
786 | Accession of Harun al-Rashid in Baghdad. | ||
793 | Sack of Lindisfarne. Viking attacks on Britain begin. | ||
795 | Death of Offa. 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. | ||
825 | Battle of Ellandun. Egbert defeats Mercians. Wessex becomes the leading kingdom of England. | ||
827 | Muslims invade Sicily. | ||
840 | Muslims capture Bari and much of southern Italy. | ||
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. | |
840 | Kenneth McAlpin becomes king of the Picts and Scots, creating the Kingdom of Alba. | ||
862 | Viking state in Russia founded under Rurik, first at Novgorod, then Kiev. | ||
864 | Christianization of Bulgaria. | ||
866 | Fujiwara period in Japan. | ||
866 | Viking "Great Army" in England. Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia were overwhelmed. | ||
868 | Earliest known printed book in China with a date. | ||
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. | ||
874 | Iceland is settled by Norsemen. | ||
885 | Arrival of the disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius in Bulgaria | Creation of the Cyrillic alphabet; in the following decades the country became the cultural and spiritual centre of the whole Eastern Orthodox Slavic World. | |
885—886 | Vikings attack Paris. | ||
893 | Simeon I becomes ruler of the First Bulgarian Empire in the Balkans. | ||
896 | Arpad and the Magyars are present in Pannonia. | ||
897 | Death of Alfred the Great. |
[edit]
10th century
Year | Date | Event | Significance |
---|---|---|---|
910 | Edward the Elder, son of Alfred, defeats the Northumbrian vikings at the Battle of Tettenhall; they never raid south of the River Humber again. | ||
910 | Cluny Abbey is founded by William I, Count of Auvergne. | Cluny goes on to become the acknowledged leader of Western Monasticism. Cluniac Reforms initiated with the abbey's founding. | |
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. | ||
917 | Battle of Anchialus. Simeon I the Great defeats the Byzantines. | Recognition of the Imperial Title of the Bulgarian rulers. | |
919 | Henry the Fowler, Duke of Saxony elected German King. First king of the Ottonian Dynasty. | Henry I considered the founder and first king of the medieval German state. | |
927 | Death of Simeon I the Great. Recognition of the Bulgarian Patriarchate, the first independent National Church in Europe. | ||
929 | Abd-ar-Rahman III of the Ummayad dynasty in al-Andalus (part of the Iberian peninsula) takes the title of Caliph or ruler of the Islamic world. | Beginning of the Caliphate of Córdoba (929-1031). | |
955 | Battle of Lechfeld. Otto the Great, son of Henry the Fowler, defeats the Magyars. | This is the defining event that prevents them from entering Central Europe. | |
c.960 | Mieszko I becomes duke of Polans. | First historical ruler of Poland and de facto founder of the Polish State. | |
962 | Otto the Great crowned the Holy Roman Emperor. | ||
963-964 | Otto deposes Pope John XII who is replaced with Pope Leo VIII. | Citizens of Rome promise not to elect another Pope without Imperial approval. | |
965-967 | Mieszko I of Poland and his court embrace Christianity, which becomes national religion. | ||
969 | John I Tzimiskes murders Nikephoros II and is crowned Byzantine co-emperor in his place. | ||
976 | Death of John I Tzimiskes; Basil II (his co-emperor) takes sole power. | Under Basil II zenith of the power of Eastern Empire after Justinian. | |
978 | Al-Mansur Ibn Abi Aamir becomes de facto ruler of Muslim Al-Andalus. | Peak of power of Moorish Iberia under "Almanzor". | |
981 | Basil II (called "Bulgar Slayer") begins final conquest of Bulgaria by Eastern Empire. | Conquest finished by 1018. | |
985 | Eric the Red, exiled from Iceland, begins Scandinavian colonization of Greenland. | ||
987 | Succession of Hugh Capet to the French Throne. | Beginning of Capetian Dynasty. |
[edit]
High Middle Ages
[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 | |
1018 | The Byzantines under Basil II conquer Bulgaria after a bitter 50-years struggle. | ||
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. | End of Anglosaxon rule in England and start of Norman lineage | |
1067 | Pope Gregory VII elevated to the papal throne. | This begins a period of church reform. | |
1071 | The Seljuks under Alp Arslan defeat the Byzantine army at Manzikert. The Normans capture Bari, the last Byzantine possession in southern Italy. | Beginning of the end of Byzantine rule in Asia Minor. | |
1075 | Dictatus Papae in which Pope Gregory VII defines the powers of the pope. | ||
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 |
---|---|---|---|
1102 | The Pacta Conventa is signed by the Croat nobles and King Coloman of Hungary uniting the two countries in a personal union. | This pact ends independence of Croatia until the XX century. | |
1106 | 9/28 | Henry I of England defeats his older brother Robert Curthose, duke of Normandy, at the Battle of Tinchebrai, and imprisons him in Devizes castle; Edgar Atheling and William Clito are also taken prisoner. | This victory made a later struggle between England and the rising Capetian power in France inevitable. |
1107 | Through the Compromise of 1107, suggested by Adela, the sister of King Henry, the Investiture Struggle in England is ended. | This compromise removed one of the points of friction between the English monarchy and the Catholic Church. | |
1109 | In the Battle of Naklo, Boleslaus III Wrymouth defeats the Pomeranians. | Polish access to the sea is re-established. | |
1109 | 8/24 | In the Battle of Hundsfeld, Boleslaus III Wrymouth defeats Emperor Henry V. | German expansion to the east is stopped. |
1116 | The Byzantine army defeats the Turks at Philomelion. | The Turks abandon the entire coastal area of Anatolia and all of western Anatolia | |
1117 | The University of Oxford is founded. | ||
1118 | The Knights Templar are founded to protect Jerusalem and European pilgrims on their journey to the city. | ||
1121 | 12/25 | St. Norbert and 29 companions make their solemn vows marking the beginning of the Premonstratensian Order. | This order played a significant role in evangelizing the Slavs, the Wends, to the east of the Holy Roman Empire. |
1122 | 9/23 | The Concordat of Worms was drawn up between Emperor Henry V and Pope Calixtus II. | This concordat ended the investiture struggle, but bitter rivalry between emperor and pope remained. |
1123 | 3/18-3/27 | The First Lateran Council followed and confirmed the Concordat of Worms. | |
1125 | Lothair of Supplinburg, duke of Saxony, is elected Holy Roman Emperor instead of the nearest heir, Frederick of Swabia. | This election marks the beginning of the great struggle between the Guelfs and the Ghibellines. | |
1130 | 12/25 | Roger II is crowned King of Sicily, a royal title given him by the Antipope Anacletus II. | This coronation marks the beginning of the Kingdom of Sicily and its Mediterranean empire under the Norman kings, which was able to take on the Holy Roman Empire, the Papacy, and the Byzantine Empire. |
1139 | April | The Second Lateran Council declared clerical marriages invalid, regulated clerical dress, and punished attacks on clerics by excommunication. | |
1147–1149 | The Second Crusade was in retaliation for 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. | |
1150 | Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Barcelona, married Queen Petronilla of Aragon. They had been betrothed in 1137. | This marriage gave the Kingdom of Aragon access to the Mediterranean Sea, creating a powerful kingdom which expanded to control many of the Mediterranean lands. | |
1152 | The Synod of Kells-Mellifont established the present diocesan system of Ireland (with later modifications) and recognized the primacy of Armagh. | This synod marks the inclusion of the Irish Church into western European Catholicism. | |
1158 | The Hanseatic League is founded. | This marks a new period of trade and economic development for northern and western Europe. | |
1163 | The first cornerstone is laid for the construction of Notre Dame de Paris. | ||
1171 | King Henry II of England lands in Ireland to assert his supremacy and the Synod of Cashel acknowledges his sovereignty. | With his landing, Henry begins the English claim to and occupation of Ireland which would last some seven and a half centuries. | |
1174 | 7/12 | King William I of Scotland, captured in the Battle of Alnwick by the English, accepts the feudal lordship of the English crown and does ceremonial allegiance at York. | This is the beginning of the gradual acquisition of Scotland by the English. |
1175 | Hōnen Shōnin (Genkū) founds the Jōdo shū (Pure Land) sect of Buddhism. | This event marks the beginning of the Buddhist sectarian movement in Japan. | |
1176 | 5/29 | At the Battle of Legnano, the cavalry of Frederick Barbarossa is defeated by the infantry of the Lombard League. | This is the first major defeat of cavalry by infantry, signaling the new role of the bourgeosie. |
1179 | March | The Third Lateran Council limits papal electees to the cardinals alone, condemns simony, and forbids the promotion of anyone to the episcopate before the age of thirty. | |
1183 | The final Peace of Constance between Frederick Barbarossa, the pope, and the Lombard towns is signed. | The various articles of the treaty destroyed the unity of the Empire and Germany and Italy underwent separate developments. | |
1183 | The Taira clan are driven out of Kyōto by Minamoto Yoshinaka. | The two-year conflict which follows ends at the Battle of Dan no Ura (1185). | |
1184 | November | Pope Lucius III issues the papal bull Ad Abolendam. | This bull set up the organization of the medieval inquisitions. |
1185 | Windmills are first recorded. | ||
1185 | The reestablishment of the Bulgarian Empire. | ||
1185 | At the Battle of Dan no Ura, Minamoto Yoshitsune annihilates the Taira clan. | The elimination of the Taira leaves the Minamoto the virtual rulers of Japan and marks the beginning of the first period of feudal rule known as the Kamakura Period. | |
1186 | 1/27 | The future emperor Henry VI marries Constance of Sicily, heiress to the Sicilian throne. | This marriage shifts the focus of the Guelphs/Ghibelline struggle to Sicily and marks the ruin of the House of Hohenstaufen. |
1187 | Saladin recaptures Jerusalem. | ||
1188 | Richard I ascends the throne of England. | His heavy taxation to finance his European ventures created an antipathy of barons and people toward the crown, but his being absent enabled the English to advance in their political development. | |
1189–1192 | The Third Crusade follows upon Saladin's uniting the Muslim world and recapturing Jerusalem. | Despite managing to win several major battles, the Crusaders did not recapture Jerusalem. | |
1192 | Minamoto Yoritomo is appointed Sei-i Taishōgun, or shōgun for short. | He is the first of a long line of military dictators to bear this title. The institution would last until 1913. | |
1193 | Turkic Muslim invaders sack and burn the university at Nalanda. | This is the beginning of the decline of Buddhism in India. | |
1193 | The first known merchant guild. |
[edit]
13th century
Year | Date | Event | Significance |
---|---|---|---|
1204 | Sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade. | ||
1205 | Battle of Adrianople. The Bulgarians under Emperor Kaloyan defeat Baldwin I. | Beginning of the decline of the Latin Empire. | |
1206 | Genghis Khan was elected as Khagan of the Mongols and the Mongol Empire was established. | The Mongols would conquer much of Eurasia, changing former political borders. | |
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 sealed 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 Theologica is published. | ||
1295 | Marco Polo publishes his tales of China. | A key step to the bridging of East and West | |
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]
Late Middle Ages
[edit]
14th century
Year | Date | Event | Significance | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1307 | Friday, October 13th | The Knights Templar are rounded up and murdered by Philip the Fair of France, with the backing of the Pope. | ||
1307 | 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. | |||
1361 | The fall of the Yuan Dynasty. Its successor state-Northern Yuan was founded in Mongolia. | The break up of the Mongol Empire, which marked the end of Pax Mongolica. | ||
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. | |||
1396 | The Battle of Nicopolis the last great crusade fails. |
[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 Orléans for the Dauphin of France, enabling him to eventually be crowned at Reims. | The battle at Orléans 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 | Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press | ||
1453 | Constantinople falls to the Ottoman Turks | ||
1461 | The Empire of Trebizond falls to the Ottoman Turks. | Last Roman outpost to be conquered by the Ottomans | |
1485 | Thomas Malory composes Le Morte d'Arthur | ||
1492 | Reconquista | ||
1492 | Christopher Columbus reaches the New World. Regarded by many historians as the end of the Middle Ages. |
[edit]
See also
Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Timeline of the Middle Ages" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.