Medieval Timeline

By victoria.houston13
  • Jan 1, 1066

    William the Conqueror invades England

    William the Conqueror successfully invaded England and defeated Harold Godwinson to win the crown. As King of England William initiated or oversaw numerous changes, including an extensive plan of castle-building and a more rigidly structured system of feudal government than England had previously known.
  • Jan 1, 1150

    Paper is first mass-produced in Spain

    paper was invented by the Chinese by 105 AD during the Han Dynasty and spread slowly to the west. The rapid expansion of European paper production was truly enhanced by the invention of the printing press.
  • Jan 1, 1215

    Magna Carta

    Magna Carta was the first document forced onto an English King by a group of his subjects, the feudal barons, in an attempt to limit his powers by law and protect their privileges. It was preceded and directly influenced by the Charter of Liberties in 1100, in which King Henry I had specified particular areas wherein his powers would be limited.
  • Jan 1, 1270

    End of the Crusades

    After a long series of losses in Palestine, there was little stomach left for further adventures in Palestine. The 1287 Christian attack on the Muslim citizens of Acre gave the Islamic leader a pretext to attack the city. Its conquest by the Muslims in 1291 left the Christians with control of no major city in the Middle East. The Knights Hospitaller were forced to leave for the island of Rhodes. Although the Muslims now controlled the entire Near East, they permitted Christians and Jews to remai
  • Jan 1, 1348

    The Plague

    The Black Death is estimated to have killed 30–60 percent of Europe's population[3] and reduced the world population from an estimated 450 million to between 350 and 375 million in the 14th century. The aftermath of the plague created a series of religious, social and economic upheavals, which had profound effects on the course of European history. It took 150 years for Europe's population to recover.
  • Jan 1, 1378

    First appearance of Robin Hood in literature

    Robin Hood became a popular folk figure in the medieval period continuing through to modern literature, films and television. In the earliest sources, Robin Hood is a yeoman, but he was often later portrayed as an aristocrat wrongfully dispossessed of his lands and made into an outlaw by an unscrupulous sheriff.
  • Jan 1, 1387

    Chaucer writes The Canterbury Tales

    The Canterbury Tales is a book of stories written by Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century. This is an important book, because it is one of the first to be written in the English language. The book is about a group of travelers who are going from London to Canterbury. As they travel along, each person tells a tale (a story), thus making up the text of The Canterbury Tales.
  • Jan 1, 1455

    War of the Roses

    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
  • Jan 1, 1485

    first printing of Le Morte d'Arthur

    Le Morte d'Arthur (originally spelled Le Morte Darthur, Middle French for "the death of Arthur"[1]) is a compilation by Sir Thomas Malory of Romance tales about the legendary King Arthur, Guinevere, Lancelot, and the Knights of the Round Table. The book interprets existing French and English stories about these figures, with some of Malory's own original material (the Gareth story). Le Morte d'Arthur is perhaps the best-known work of English-language Arthurian literature today.
  • Oct 30, 1485

    First Tudor King, Henry VII, is crowned

    Having defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, Henry Tudor took the English throne, and was crowned. He was the first Tudor king after defeating Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in August 1485. This battle saw the end of the Wars of the Roses which had brought instability to England. Henry VII was king of England from 1485 to 1509.