Medieval History

By helmer
  • Period: 450 to Dec 31, 1500

    Medieval History

  • 476

    Western Roman empire ends.

    Odoacer, a mercenary in the service of Roma, leader of the Germanic soldiers in the Roman army, deposes the western Roman emperor and thereby terminates the western Roman empire.
  • Jan 1, 711

    Moors start raiding Spain.

    General Tarik, accompanied by 100 horses and 400 African soldiers, crossed over into Spain on an exploratory mission. Tarik's small army ravaged several Spanish towns and returned to Africa laden with spoils. Later that same year, Tarik took an army of 7000 Africans, crossing from Africa to Gibraltar (named after him), defeating King Roderic and conquering most of the Iberian Peninsula.
  • Jan 1, 1066

    William of Normandy.

    Battle of Hastings to decide the King of England is fought and William of Normandy wins and is crowned King.
  • Jan 1, 1096

    Crusade begins.

    The months which followed the Council of Clermont were marked by an epidemic of religious excitement in western Europe. Popular preachers everywhere took up the cry "God wills it!" and urged their hearers to start for Jerusalem. A monk named Peter the Hermit aroused large parts of France with his passionate eloquence, as he rode from town to town, carrying a huge cross before him and preaching to vast crowds. Without waiting for the main body of nobles, which was to assemble at Constantinople in
  • Jan 1, 1100

    Small towns created around Europe.

  • Jan 1, 1192

    New Shogun.

    With the annihilation of the Taira clan Yoritomo established the Kamakura bakufu or 'tent government' and became shogun in 1192.
  • Jan 1, 1215

    King John of England signs Magna Carta.

    Magna Carta was the first document forced onto an English King by a group of his subjects (the barons) in an attempt to limit his powers by law and protect their privileges. It was preceded and directly influenced by the 1100 Charter of Liberties, when King Henry I had specified particular areas where his powers would be limited. The charter was an important part of the extensive historical process that led to the rule of constitutional law.
  • Jan 1, 1291

    Crusades end.

  • Jan 1, 1337

    100 Years' war starts.

    The Hundred Years' War (French: Guerre de Cent Ans) was a series of separate wars lasting from 1337 to 1453 between two royal houses for the French throne, which was vacant with the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings. The two primary contenders were the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou. The House of Valois claimed the title of King of France, while the Plantagenets from England claimed to be Kings of France and England.
  • Jan 1, 1347

    Black Death breaks out in Europe.

    The Black Death was one of the worst natural disasters in history. In 1347 A.D., a great plague swept over Europe, ravaged cities causing widespread hysteria and death. One third of the population of Europe died. "The impact upon the future of England was greater than upon any other European country." (Cartwright, 1991) The primary culprits in transmitting this disease were oriental rat fleas carried on the back of black rats.
  • Jan 1, 1429

    Joan of Arc drives out the English from Orleans.

    When the siege began, Orléans possessed only a small garrison, but this was augmented by militia companies that were formed to man the city's thirty-four towers. As the English lines never fully cut off the city, reinforcements began to trickle in and Jean de Dunois assumed control of the defense. Though Shrewsbury's army was augmented by the arrival of 1,500 Burgundians during the winter, the English were soon outnumbered as the garrison swelled to around 7,000. In January, the French king, Cha
  • Jan 1, 1453

    100 Years' war ends.

  • Jan 1, 1485

    Henry Tudor is crowned King of England.

  • Vikings start raiding Europe.

    In England the Viking Age began dramatically in 793 when Vikings destroyed the abbey on Lindisfarne, a center of learning famous across the continent. Monks were killed in the abbey, thrown into the sea to drown or carried away as slaves along with the church treasures. Three Viking ships had beached in Portland Bay four years earlier, but that incursion may have been a trading expedition that went wrong rather than a piratical raid.