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The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is around 500, with 476—the year the last Western Roman Emperor was deposed—first used by Bruni. -
Anicius Manlius Severinus Boëthius, a Roman senator and official, is imprisoned by King Theodoric the Great. As he awaits his trial, Boethius writes this philosophical treatise, which examines various questions, including why bad things happen to good people. It has since become a major work of philosophy.
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A monk named Dionysius Exiguus creates this new dating system as part of his efforts to understand the dating of Easter. It wanted the year 1 AD to be the date when Jesus Christ was born, although later calculations show that his birth occurred before this. Gradually use of this calendar became more widespread, and is now the most widely accepted system for counting years in the world. -
A one-year siege by the Umayyad Caliphate against the capital city of the Byzantine Empire ended with the Umayyads withdrawing. Often considered one of the most important military conflicts in the Middle Ages, this would lead to significant changes within the Islamic world.
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On Christmas Day, the Carolingian ruler is crowned Emperor of the Romans by Pope Leo III, the first person in Western Europe to hold that title. -
A new architectural style that would flourish in medieval Europe, it has its beginnings with the work done by French abbot Suger and his work on the Basilica of St Denis in Paris. -
The Jewish philosopher Moses ben Maimon writes this 14 volume work on Judaism, becoming one of the key books on the religion.
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This Dominican friar does not complete this massive work before his death in 1274, but the text has become one of the most important works on theology. -
A series of crop failures and bad weather that struck large parts of Europe.
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The Middle Ages ended with the fall of Constantinople in 1453 AD