LaTe MeDiEvAL TiMeLiNe

THE LATE MEDIEVAL PERIOD

Period: Jan 1, 1000 to Dec 31, 1500

William the Conqueror was born

Jan 1, 1028

William I, usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first Norman King of England, reigning from 1066 until his death in 1087.

East-West Schism

Jan 1, 1054

Also called 'The Great Schism', the East West Schism was the division of western (Latin) and eastern (Greek) branches of the church, which later became the roman catholic and eastern orthodox churches. The split was made due to the tension between the Latin and Greek churches over political, theological and conflicting claims over papal authority.

Norman Conquest of England

Sep 28, 1066

When King Edward died, William, Duke of Normandy, invaded England in 1066, which lead to his crowning as King of England and the establishment of Norman rule over England. This is significant because it gave England a link with European culture which lead to more development in England.

The Battle of Hastings

Oct 14, 1066

The Battle of Hastings occurred on 14 October 1066 during the Norman conquest of England, between the Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy and the English army under King Harold II. It took place at Senlac Hill, approximately 7 miles (11 kilometres) northwest of Hastings, close to the present-day town of Battle, East Sussex, and was a decisive Norman victory.

The Bayeux Tapestry

Jan 1, 1080

Tapestry is now on permanent public display in the city of Bayeux in Normandy, France. It tells the story of the Battle of Hastings, why William felt he had to invade, the preparations made for the crossing, and the battle itself. Tapestries were not rare in the time of William but the size of this particular tapestry is an indication that it was important...

The Doomsday book is completed

Jan 1, 1086

It is now held at The National Archives, Kew, in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086. The survey was done for William I of England (William the Conqueror): "While spending the Christmas time of 1085 in Gloucester, William had deep speech with his counsellors and sent men all over England to each shire to find out what or how much each landholder had in land and livestock, and what it was worth" (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle).

First Crusade

Jan 1, 1095

The First Crusade (1096–1099) was a military expedition by Roman Catholic Europe to regain the Holy Lands taken in the Muslim conquests of the Levant (632–661), ultimately resulting in the recapture of Jerusalem in 1099.

University of Oxford is founded

Jan 1, 1117

The oldest university in the English-speaking world .
(The Oxford buildings built between 1100 and 1400 display the rise of the gothis style).

Eleanor of Aquitaine is born

Sep 24, 1122

Eleanor was one of europe's most important female individuals. At 15 she was left a large inheritance. She married twice, and produced sons in her second marriage, to Henry, who became king of England. She was actually involved in running Henry;s empire when he was away, and was later the regent in England when her son, Richard joined the third crusade. She also was an important patron of poets and writers, and was also involved in affairs over Aquataine.

Saladin was born

Jan 1, 1138

Ṣalāḥ al-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb, better known in the Western world as Saladin, was the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria and the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty.

Second Crusade

Jan 1, 1145

The Second Crusade (1145–1149) was the second major crusade launched from Europe. The Second Crusade was started in response to the fall of the County of Edessa the previous year to the forces of Zengi. The county had been founded during the First Crusade (1096–1099) by Baldwin of Boulogne in 1098. While it was the first Crusader state to be founded, it was also the first to fall.

Richard the Lionheart was born

Sep 8, 1157

Richard the Lionheart of Richard I was King of England from 6 July 1189 until his death. He also ruled as Duke of Normandy (as Richard IV), Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Lord of Cyprus, Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Count of Nantes, and Overlord of Brittany at various times during the same period. He was known as Richard Cœur de Lion, or Richard the Lionheart, even before his accession, because of his reputation as a great military leader and warrior.

Third Crusade

Jan 1, 1187

The Third Crusade (1189–1192), also known as the Kings' Crusade, was an attempt by European leaders to reconquer the Holy Land from Saladin. It was largely successful, but fell short of its ultimate goal—the reconquest of Jerusalem.

Fourth Crusade

Jan 1, 1202

The Fourth Crusade (1202–1204) was originally intended to conquer Muslim-controlled Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe invaded and sacked the Christian (Eastern Orthodox) city of Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire).

Children's Crusade

Jan 1, 1212

The Children's Crusade is the name given to a disastrous Crusade by European Catholics to expel Muslims from the Holy Land said to have taken place in 1212. The traditional narrative is probably conflated from some factual and mythical notions of the period including visions by a French or German boy, an intention to peacefully convert Muslims in the Holy Land to Christianity, bands of children marching to Italy, and children being sold into slavery.

Magna Carta

Jun 15, 1215

The Magna Carta was a document that King John of England was forced into signing because it reduced the power he held as a king of England and allowed for the formation of powerful parliment. It was a collection of 37 laws that became the basis for english citizens rights. The Magna Carta demonstrated that the power of a king could be limited by a grant and was the beginning of a constituional government in England

Fifth Crusade

Jan 1, 1217

The Fifth Crusade (1213–1221) was an attempt by Catholic Europeans to reacquire Jerusalem and the rest of the Holy Land by first conquering the powerful Ayyubid state in Egypt.

Sixth Crusade

Jan 1, 1228

The Sixth Crusade started in 1228 as an attempt to regain Jerusalem. It began seven years after the failure of the Fifth Crusade. It involved very little actual fighting. The diplomatic maneuvering of the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II resulted in the Kingdom of Jerusalem regaining control of Jerusalem and other areas for fifteen years.

Seventh Crusade

Jan 1, 1248

The Seventh Crusade was a crusade led by Louis IX of France from 1248 to 1254. Approximately 800,000 bezants were paid in ransom for King Louis who, along with thousands of his troops, were defeated and captured by the Egyptian army led by the Ayyubid Sultan Turanshah supported by the Bahariyya Mamluks led by Faris ad-Din Aktai, Baibars al-Bunduqdari, Qutuz, Aybak and Qalawun.

Marco Polo was born

Jan 1, 1254

He was an Italian merchant traveler from Venice whose travels are recorded in a book which did much to introduce Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned trade from his father and uncle, who traveled through Asia. The three of them went to Asia, returning after 24 years to find Venice at war with Genoa. He was imprisoned, and told his stories to a cellmate. He was released in 1299, became a wealthy merchant, married and had three children. He died in 1324, and was buried in San Lorenzo.

Eighth Crusade

Jan 1, 1270

The Eighth Crusade was a crusade launched by Louis IX, King of France, in 1270.

The Great Famine

Jan 1, 1315

The Great Famine of 1315–1317 (occasionally dated 1315–1322) was the first of a series of large scale crises that struck Europe early in the fourteenth century. Places affected include continental Europe (extending east to Russia and south to Italy) as well as Great Britain. It caused millions of deaths over an extended number of years and marks a clear end to an earlier period of growth and prosperity between the eleventh to thirteenth centuries.

The Hundred Years War

Jan 1, 1337

Starting in 1337, and lasting till 1453, the Hundred Years War was a series of battles between England and France. In this war, Joan of Arc helped the France defeat England. The battle also lead to the development of technoogy with new seige engines and the use of the Longbow as an English weapon.

Geoffrey Chaucer is born

Jan 1, 1340

He was known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey. While he achieved fame during his lifetime as an author, philosopher, alchemist and astronomer, composing a scientific treatise on the astrolabe for his ten year-old son Lewis, Chaucer also maintained an active career in the civil service as a bureaucrat, courtier and diplomat.

The Black Plague

Oct 1, 1347

The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, killing an estimated 75 to 200 million people and peaking in Europe in the years 1348–50AD Although there were several competing theories as to the etiology of the Black Death, an analysis of DNA from victims in northern and southern Europe indicates that the pathogen responsible was the Yersinia pestis bacterium probably causing several forms of plague.

Donatello was born

Jan 1, 1386

Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi (circa 1386 – December 13, 1466), better known as Donatello, was an early Renaissance Italian sculptor from Florence. He is, in part, known for his work in bas-relief, a form of shallow relief sculpture that, in Donatello's case, incorporated significant 15th-century developments in perspectival illusionism.

Joan of Arc is born

Jan 6, 1412

Jeanne d'arc, or better known as Joan of Arc, was a peasent girl who believed that the voice of god had spoken to her and persuaded her to tell Charles that if he can fight his way to Reims to be consecrated, France will have a king. She fights alongside the army, and eventually Charles Is crowned King of France. Later she is captured by the burgundians, who hand her over to the English, who proceed to burn her at stake for being framed as a heretic. She played a key role in Charles Crowning.

The Fall of Constantinople

May 29, 1453

The fall of Constantinople marked the end of the final remnant of the Roman Empire that lasted about 1,500 years. It was a capture of the Byzanine Empire, which occured after a siege by the Ottoman empire. Many inhabitants fled to Italy which helped start the rennissance and end the middle ages.

The War of the Roses

Jan 1, 1455

The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic wars fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York (whose heraldic symbols were the red and the white rose, respectively) for the throne of England.

Christoher Coloumbus reaches North America

Jan 1, 1492

Columbus was a Spanish sailor and explorer who discovered North America while searching for a route to Asia. Many historians consider Columbus' "discovery" of North America to be the end of the Medieval Period.