Middle ages

William the Conqueror invades England

Aug 29, 1066

William argued that Edward had previously promised the throne to him, and that Harold had sworn to support William's claim. 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.

Paper is first mass-produced in Spain

Aug 29, 1150

Muslim conquest of Spain brought paper making to Europe
• Both Spain and Italy claim to be the first to manufacture paper in Europe
• One of the first paper mills in Europe was in Xativa, Spain
• The first wire mold for making paper is identified in Spain dating to 1150.

Magna Carta

Aug 29, 1215

Magna Carta (Latin for Great Charter). Also called Magna Carta Libertatum or The Great Charter of the Liberties of England, is an Angevin charter originally issued in Latin. It was sealed under oath by King John at Runnymede, on the bank of the River Thames near Windsor, England, on 15 June 1215.[2]

End of the Crusades

Aug 29, 1270

The crusades, judged by what they set out to accomplish, must be accounted an inglorious failure. After two hundred years of conflict, after a vast expenditure of wealth and human lives, the Holy Land remained in Moslem hands. It is true that the First Crusade did help, by the conquest of Syria, to check the advance of the Turks toward Constantinople. But even this benefit was more than undone by the weakening of the Roman Empire in the East as a result of the Fourth Crusade.

The Plague

Aug 29, 1348

Bubonic plague—along with the septicemic plague and the pneumonic plague, which are the two other manifestations of Y. pestis—is commonly believed to be the cause of the Black Death that swept through Europe in the 14th century and killed an estimated 25 million people, or 30–60% of the European population.

First appearance of Robin Hood in literature

Aug 29, 1378

For centuries chroniclers wrote about when Robin Hood lived. However, their dates conflicted each other, and we don't know the chroniclers' reasoning for picking various dates. As you'll read below, someone fabricated a family tree for Robin Hood.

Chaucer writes The Canterbury Tales

Aug 29, 1387

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 (England). The pilgrims, who come from all layers of society, tell stories to each other to kill time while they travel to Canterbury.

War of the Roses

Aug 29, 1455

The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic wars for the throne of England. They were fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet, the houses of Lancaster and York. They were fought in several sporadic episodes between 1455 and 1487, although there was related fighting before and after this period.

First printing of Le Morte d’Arthur

Aug 29, 1485

First published in 1485 by William Caxton, Le Morte d'Arthur is today perhaps the best-known work of Arthurian literature in English. Many modern Arthurian writers have used Malory as their principal source, including T. H. White in his popular The Once and Future King and Tennyson in The Idylls of the King.

First Tudor king, Henry VII, is crowned

Aug 29, 1485

Henry won the throne when his forces defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of England to win his throne on the field of battle. Henry cemented his claim by marrying Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV and niece of Richard III.