Dark and Middle ages timeline

By facebooker_100001529962396
  • 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 and looted by the Visigoths under Alaric I.

  • 455

    The Vandals pillage Rome.

  • 476

    End of the Western Roman Empire.

  • 570

    Mohammed is born

  • Jan 1, 631

    Death of Muhammed. By this point, all of Arabia is Muslim.

  • Period: Jan 1, 674 to

    First Arab siege of Constantinople. First time Islamic armies stopped, saving Europe from Islamic conquest.

  • Jan 1, 1023

    Paper money invented

  • Jan 1, 1050

    The astrolabe, an ancient tool of navigation, is first used in Europe.

  • Jan 1, 1050

    Invention of the Crossbow

  • Jan 1, 1066

    Battle of Stamford Bridge marks the end of the Vikings

  • Oct 14, 1066

    The Battle of Hastings

    End of Anglosaxon rule in England and start of Norman lineage and feudalism
  • Dec 24, 1066

    William the Conqueror crowned king of England

  • Jan 1, 1077

    The Construction of the Tower of London begins.

    The tower of London was the ultimate keep of the British Empire.
  • Jan 1, 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.
  • Jan 1, 1096

    First Crusade. Jerusalem is re-taken from the Muslims on the urging of Pope Urban II.

  • Jan 1, 1100

    Creation of Arabic Numerals

  • Jan 1, 1117

    The University of Oxford is founded

  • Jan 1, 1147

    The Second Crusade begins. It was an overall failure.

  • Jan 1, 1163

    The first cornerstone is laid for the construction of Notre Dame de Paris.

  • Jan 1, 1182

    Invention of Magnetic Compass

  • Feb 15, 1187

    Saladin recaptures Jerusalem.

  • Jan 1, 1188

    Richard I ascends the throne of England.

  • Jan 1, 1189

    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.
  • Feb 15, 1204

    Sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade.

  • Feb 15, 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.
  • Jan 1, 1209

    The University of Cambridge is founded.

  • Jan 1, 1212

    Children's Crusade.

  • Jan 1, 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.
  • Jan 1, 1249

    Invention of Gunpowder

  • Jan 1, 1250

    Invention of the primativegun

  • Jan 1, 1268

    Invention of the Eyeglass

  • Jan 1, 1280

    Mechanical Clocks are invented

  • Jan 1, 1295

    Marco Polo publishes his tales of China.

  • Jan 1, 1297

    William Wallace emerges as the leader of the Scottish resistance to England.

  • Jan 1, 1337

    The Hundred Years' War begins. England and France struggle for dominance of Western Europe.

  • Jan 1, 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.

  • Jan 1, 1348

    Quarantine invented in Venice

  • Jan 1, 1381

    Peasants' Revolt in England.

  • Jan 1, 1381

    The Bible is translated into English by John Wycliffe.

  • Jan 1, 1411

    Invention of Musket trigger

  • Jan 1, 1429

    Joan of Arc lifts the siege of Orléans for the Dauphin of France.

  • Jan 1, 1430

    Capture, trial, and execution of Joan of Arc.

  • Jan 1, 1492

    Christopher Columbus reaches the New World. Regarded by many historians as the end of the Middle Ages.

  • Jan 1, 1500

    Start of the Renaissance

  • Clovis becomes King of the Franks.

  • Gregory the Great becomes Pope.

  • Jerusalem captured by Muslims.

  • Establishment of the Bulgarian Empire.

    A country with great influence in the European history in the Middle Ages.

  • Beginning of Charlemagne's reign.

  • Sack of Lindisfarne. Viking attacks on Britain begin.

  • Charlemagne is crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire by Pope Leo III

  • Death of Charlemagne.

  • Viking "Great Army" in England. Northumbria, East Anglia, and Mercia were overwhelmed.

  • Earliest known printed book in China with a date.

  • 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.

  • Death of Alfred the Great.

  • Invention of the Metronome

  • Invention of Fountain Pen

  • 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.