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520 St. Benedict established the first monastery at Monte Cassino, Italy. He drew up a set of rules for the monks, which included vows of obedience, poverty and manual labor.
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1066 William invaded and conquered England. He defeated King Harold who was killed at the battle of Hastings. William brought feudalism and culture from France to England.
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1096 First Crusade began. The Crusaders were armies of Christians from all over Europe who marched to the Holy Land to regain lands captured by the Turks. The First Crusaders took the city of Jerusalem but paid a very heavy price in lives.
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1147 Second Crusade was launched. This Crusade is generally considered to have been a failure.
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1189 Third Crusade was one of the more successful. In it King Richard the Lion-Hearted obtained certain privileges for Christians from the Turkish ruler, Saladin.
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1202 Forth Crusade launched. In this Crusade 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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1348 The black plague swept England and Europe. It was estimated that one out of every five people in England died. 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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800 Charlemagne was crowned ruler of the Holy Roman Empire. This act symbolized a union of church and state
