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This is what most consider to be the beginning of the Middle Age
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Benedict of Nursia and his followers establish the monastery at Monte Cassino, Italy. This marks the beginning of the monastic tradition in Europe
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Pope Gregory I begins his fourteen-year reign. Also known as Gregory the Great, he ensures the survival of the church, and becomes one of its greatest medieval leaders. Late 500s The first Turks begin moving westward, toward the Middle East, from their homeland to the north and west of China.
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Muhammad and his followers escape the city of Mecca. This event, known as the hegira, marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar
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Wu Ze-tian becomes sole empress of China. She will reign until 705, the only female ruler in four thousand years of Chinese history
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The Venerable Bede publishes his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, his most important work.
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English scholar Alcuin goes to France, on the invitation of Charlemagne, to organize a school for future officials in the Carolingian empire.
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In the Treaty of Verdun, Charlemagne 's son Louis the Pious divides the Carolingian Empire among his three sons. These three parts come to be known as the West Frankish Empire, consisting chiefly of modern France; the "Middle Kingdom," a strip running from what is now the Netherlands all the way down to Italy; and the East Frankish Empire, or modern Germany. The Middle Kingdom soon dissolves into a patchwork of tiny principalities
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The last of the Carolingian line in the East Frankish Empire dies. Seven years later, Henry the Fowler of Saxony, father of Otto the Great, takes leadership of the German states.
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Russia converts to Greek Orthodox Christianity and gradually begins adopting Byzantine culture after Vladimir the Great marries Anne, sister of Emperor Basil II.
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End of Middle Age