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Claiming his right to the English throne, William, duke of Normandy, invades England at Pevensey on Britain's southeast coast. His subsequent defeat of King Harold II at the Battle of Hastings marked the beginning of a new era in British history.
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Muslim conquest of Spain brought paper making to Europe. One of the first paper mills in Europe was in Xativa, Spain. The first wire mold for making paper is identified in Spain dating to 1150.
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Magna Carta was the first document forced onto a King of England by a group of his subjects, the feudal barons, in an attempt to limit his powers by law and protect their privileges.
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The future Edward I of England undertook another expedition against Baibars in 1271, after having accompanied Louis on the Eighth Crusade. Louis died in Tunisia. The Ninth Crusade was deemed a failure and ended the Crusades in the Middle East.[
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The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history. The Black Death is thought to have started in China or central Asia,[3] before spreading west. It is estimated to have killed 25 million people or 30% of the population of China.[4][5] The plague then travelled along the Silk Road and reached the Crimea by 1346. From there, it was probably carried by Oriental rat fleas living on the black rats that were regular passengers on merchant ships. Spreading throughout the Medit
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William Langland wrote the Middle English work Piers Plowman - in a throwaway reference, the character Sloth (a lazy priest) tells us that he doesn't know his Lord's Prayer perfectly, but does know tales of Robin Hood.
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The tales (mostly written in verse although some are in prose) are presented as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together on a journey from Southwark to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral. The prize for this contest is a free meal at the Tabard Inn at Southwark on their return.
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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. They were fought in several sporadic episodes between 1455 and 1485, although there was related fighting both before and after this period. The final victory went to a relatively remote Lancastrian claimant, Henry Tudor, who defe
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Malory probably started work on Le Morte d'Arthur while he was in prison in the early 1450s. It is a compilation by Sir Thomas Malory of Romance tales about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, and the Knights of the Round Table. Le Morte d'Arthur is perhaps the best-known work of English-language Arthurian literature today.
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The first Tudor King of England, establishing the Tudor Dynasty. His victory at the Battle of Bosworth Field overthrew Richard III and effectively put an end to the Wars of the Roses.
