Medieval Times

  • Oct 14, 1066

    William the Conqueror invades England

    William the Conqueror invades England
    William built a large fleet and invaded England in September 1066, decisively defeating and killing Harold at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066.
  • Jun 18, 1150

    Paper was first mass-produced in Spain

    Paper was first mass-produced in Spain
    Paper as we know it, was invented in China, AD 105, by the Chinese Eunuch Ts'ai Lun. It was, thin, feted, formed, flat made in porous molds from macerated vegetable fiber.
  • Jun 15, 1215

    Magna Carta

    Magna Carta
    A charter agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215.
  • Apr 15, 1348

    The Plague

    The Plague
    The Black Death or Black Plague was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people and peaking in Europe.
  • Sep 12, 1378

    First appearance of Robin Hood in literature

    First appearance of Robin Hood in literature
    Authors like Joseph Ritson (1795), Sir Walter Scott and Thomas Love Peacock (both 1820), and Pierce Egan (1838) all featured Robin Hood in their works, either momentarily (as in Scott), or as a featured character, and the period ends with Pyle (1883) starting a new trend in Robin Hood stories.
  • Aug 7, 1387

    Chaucer writes The Canterbury Tales

    Chaucer writes The Canterbury Tales
    Geoffrey Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales, a collection of stories in a frame story, between 1387 and 1400. It is the story of a group of thirty people who travel as pilgrims to Canterbury.
  • Period: Jul 13, 1455 to Oct 25, 1485

    War of the Roses

    The Wars of the Roses were a series of wars for control of the throne of England. They were fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet, those of Lancaster and York.
  • Jan 14, 1485

    FIrst Printing of Le Morte d'Arthur

    FIrst Printing of Le Morte d'Arthur
    Le Morte d'Arthur was first published in 1485 by William Caxton, and is today perhaps the best-known work of Arthurian literature in English.
  • Aug 22, 1485

    First Tudor king, Henery VII, is crowned

    First Tudor king, Henery VII, is crowned
    King of England after seizing the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death, the first monarch of the House of Tudor.
  • End of the Crusades

    End of the Crusades
    After two centuries the old crusading enthusiasm died out, the old ideal of the crusade as "the way of God" lost its spell. Men had begun to think less of winning future salvation by visits to distant shrines and to think more of their present duties to the world about them. They came to believe that Jerusalem could best be won as Christ and the Apostles had won it "by love, by prayers, and by the shedding of tears."