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St. Benedict was established as the first monastery at Monte Cassino, Italy. He made a set of rules for the monks, that had included vows of obedience, poverty and manual labor.
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William invaded and conquered England. He defeated King Harold who was later was killed at the battle of Hastings. William brought feudalism and culture with him from France to England.
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The First Crusade began. The Crusaders were armies of Christians from everywhere in Europe who marched to the Holy Land to regain lands that were captured by the Turks. The First Crusaders took the city of Jerusalem but they paid a very heavy price in lives.
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The Second Crusade was launched and this Crusade was generally considered to have been a failure.
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The third Crusade was probably one of the more successful, King Richard the Lion-Hearted obtained certain privileges for Christians from the Turkish ruler, Saladin.
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The Forth Crusade launched, the original purpose of the Crusades was abandoned, and the Crusaders burned and sacked many cities and villages on their route. They never reached the Holy Land.
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King John of England was forced to sign the Magna Carta. The Magna Carta gave some basic rights to the people and it also said that the king was not above the law.
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The Fall of Acre was marked as the end of the Crusades. Acre, who the last Christian city in the Near East, was lost to the Turks.
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The black plague swept through England and Europe. It was said that one out of every five people in England died. The Black plague was spread by fleas which infested a huge rat population, the disease is characterized by the victim turning dark purple in the last hours of life due to respiratory failure, hence the name, black plague.
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Charlemagne was crowned the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. This act has symbolized a union of church and state.
