The Beginnings of European History

Middle Ages

476

The Middle Ages was a period of Old World history from the 5th to the 15th century. The period followed the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476, and preceded the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period in a three-period division of history: Classic, Medieval, and Modern. The term "Middle Ages" first appears in Latin in the 15th century and reflects the view that this period was a deviation from the path of classical learning, a path supposedly reconnected by Renaissance scholarship.

Medieval Art

500

Art historians attempt to classify medieval art into major periods and styles, often with some difficulty. A generally accepted scheme includes Early Christian art, Migration Period art, Byzantine art, Insular art, Pre-Romanesque and Romanesque art, and Gothic art, as well as many other periods within these central styles. In addition each region, mostly during the period in the process of becoming nations or cultures, had its own distinct artistic style, such as Anglo-Saxon art or Norse art.

Medieval Music

500

Medieval music is Western music written during the Middle Ages. This era begins with the fall of the Roman Empire and ends sometime in the early fifteenth century. Establishing the end of the medieval era and the beginning of the Renaissance is difficult; the usage in this article is the one usually adopted by musicologists. Instruments used to perform medieval music still exist, but in different forms.

Medieval Literature

500

Medieval literature is a broad subject, encompassing essentially all written works available in Europe and beyond during the Middle Ages (encompassing the one thousand years from the fall of the Western Roman Empire ca. AD 500 to the beginning of the Florentine Renaissance in the late 15th century). The literature of this time was composed of religious writings as well as secular works.

Monasticism

550

The Papacy during the Middle Ages found its strongest supporters among the monks. By the time of Gregory the Great monasticism was well established in the Christian Church. Its origin must be sought in the need, often felt by spiritually-minded men, of withdrawing from the world, from its temptations and its transitory pleasures to a life of solitude, prayer, and religious contemplation. en, influenced by the monastic spirit, sought a closer approach to God.

Rise of towns and trade

Jan 1, 1050

Although scholars have long debated the extent of trade and urban life during the early Middle Ages, there is general agreement that increased trade activity was evident before the crusades. With the ending of Viking and Magyar attacks in the tenth century, a northern trading area developed, which extended from the British Isles to the Baltic Sea.

East/West Church Schism (Great Schism)

Jan 1, 1054

The East-West Schism was the tear between the East (Greek Orthodox) and West (Roman Catholic) divisions of the church. This was the first major division of the church, putting two different Holy Capitals in both Rome and Constantinople. This was the first time people were shown that their church was not as rock solid as presumed before.

Norman conquest of England

Oct 14, 1066

In 1066 there was a three way claim to the throne of england. William the Conquerer claimed the right to the throne through his blood relation through Edward. This claim to the throne drove William to lead an army into England from Normandy. At the battle of hastings,William won a major victory and defeated the Saxon army in the south. The Normans built england on their feudal System, changing the social structure.

Rise of universities

Jan 1, 1088

The first institutions generally considered to be universities were established in Italy, France, and England in the late 11th and the 12th centuries for the study of arts, law, medicine, and theology.[1] These universities evolved from much older Christian cathedral schools and monastic schools, and it is difficult to define the date at which they became true universities, although the lists of studia generalia for higher education in Europe held by the Vatican are a useful guide.

Crusades

Jan 1, 1095

The Crusades were a series of religiously sanctioned military campaigns, called by the pope and with the main goal of restoring Christian control of the Holy Land. The crusaders came from all over western Europe. The main series of Crusades occured between 1095 and 1291; historians have given them numbers, later unnumbered crusades were also taken up for a variety of reasons. The Crusades were fought mainly by Roman Catholics against Muslims.

Romanesque and Gothic Architecture

Jan 1, 1100

Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style, characterised by pointed arches.

Scholasticism

Jan 1, 1100

Scholasticism is a method of critical thought which dominated teaching by the academics (scholastics, or schoolmen) of medieval universities in Europe from about 1100–1500, and a program of employing that method in articulating and defending orthodoxy in an increasingly pluralistic context. It originated as an outgrowth of, and a departure from, Christian monastic schools.

Medieval Technology

Jan 1, 1100

Medieval technology refers to the technology used in medieval Europe under Christian rule. After the Renaissance of the 12th century, medieval Europe saw a radical change in the rate of new inventions, innovations in the ways of managing traditional means of production, and economic growth. The period saw major technological advances, including the adoption of gunpowder, the invention of vertical windmills, spectacles, mechanical clocks, and greatly improved water mills and building techniques.

Henry II, royal authority, & common law

Jan 1, 1154

Henry II has a good claim to be the founder of English Common Law. In a series of Assizes (meetings with barons that issued binding decrees), many of its basic principles were established.

Hanseatic League

Jan 1, 1159

This was an economic alliance of trading cities and their merchant guilds that dominated trade along the coast of Northern Europe. It stretched from the Baltic to the North Sea and inland during the Late Middle Ages and early modern period. The League was created to protect commercial interests and privileges granted by foreign rulers in cities and countries the merchants visited. The Hanseatic cities had their own legal system and furnished their own protection and mutual aid.

King John and the Magna Carta

Jan 1, 1215

Magna Carta is an English charter, originally issued in the year 1215 and reissued later in the 13th century in modified versions, which included the most direct challenges to the monarch's authority to date. The charter first passed into law in 1225. The 1215 Charter required King John of England to proclaim certain liberties, and accept that his will was not arbitrary, for example by explicitly accepting that no "freeman" could be punished except through the law of the land.

Louis IX (France) and kingship

Nov 8, 1226

Louis IX was King of France from 1226 until his death. He was also styled Louis II, Count of Artois from 1226 to 1237. Born at Poissy, near Paris, he was the sixth-great-grandson of Hugh Capet, and thus a member of the House of Capet, and the son of Louis VIII and Blanche of Castile. He worked with the Parliament of Paris in order to improve the professionalism of his legal administration. He is the only canonised king of France.

Hundred Years' War

Jan 1, 1337

The Hundred Years' War was a series of wars waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou, for the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings. The House of Valois claimed the title of King of France, while the Plantagenets claimed the thrones of both France and England.

Black Death

Jan 1, 1348

The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. It is widely thought to have been an outbreak of plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, an argument supported by recent forensic research, although this view has been challenged by a number of scholars. Thought to have started in China, it travelled along the Silk Road and had reached the Crimea by 1346. From there, probably carried by Oriental rat fleas living on rats.

Babylonian Captivity

Jan 1, 1377

Following the strife between Boniface VIII and Philip IV of France, and the death after only eight months of his successor Benedict XI, a deadlocked conclave finally elected Clement V, a Frenchman, as pope in 1305. Clement declined to move to Rome, remaining in France, and in 1309 moved his court to the papal enclave at Avignon, where it remained for the next 68 years. This absence from Rome is sometimes referred to as the "Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy".

Joan of Arc & Orleans

May 30, 1431

Called upon by God at the age of sixteen when she was sheperdess to lead the French Army. She appealed to the Dauphin by saying she was ordered by god to fight the english. She led with her men and won a series of victories in a row to show the French that the English were not invincible, raising the moral of france in such a way to promote the end of an english clim on Frnce.

Invention of the printing press

Jan 1, 1440

The printing press was invented in the Holy Roman Empire by the German Johannes Gutenberg around 1440, based on existing screw presses. Gutenberg, a goldsmith by profession, developed a complete printing system, which perfected the printing process through all its stages by adapting existing technologies to printing purposes, as well as making groundbreaking inventions of his own. His newly devised hand mould made for the first time possible the precise and rapid creation of metal movable type.

War of the Roses

Jan 1, 1455

The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic civil wars for the throne of England fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York (the "red" and the "white" rose, respectively). They were fought in several sporadic episodes between 1455 and 1485, although there was related fighting both before and after this period. The final victory went to a relatively remote Lancastrian claimant, Henry Tudor, who defeated Henry III.

Holy Roman Empire

Mar 2, 2022

was a realm that existed from 962–1806 in Central Europe. It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes. In its last centuries, its character became quite close to a union of territories. The empire's territory was centered on the Kingdom of Germany, and included neighbouring territories, which at its peak included the Kingdom of Italy and Burgundy.