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| Charles Magno Funeral |
122 Roman forces begin building Hadrian’s Wall, a barrier intended to protect Roman citizens from Picts, or native Scots, on the isle of Britain. The wall is a sign that the Roman Empire has ceased to expand and will begin to shrink in coming years.
135 Banished from Jerusalem by the Romans, Jews begin to spread throughout the Mediterranean.
180 The death of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius marks the end of the “Pax Romana,” or Roman peace. Years of instability follow, and although Rome recovers numerous times, this is the beginning of Rome’s three century decline.
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| Han Dinasty - millstones |
c. 300 Mayan culture enters the Classic Period, which lasts until 925, during which time the Maya undertake the vast majority of their most important building projects.
300s Buddhism, which originated in India, begins to take hold in China.
312 Roman emperor Constantine converts to Christianity. As a result, the empire that once persecuted Christians will embrace their religion and eventually will begin to persecute other religions.
325 Constantine calls the Council of Nicaea, first of many ecumenical councils at which gatherings of bishops determine official church policy.
325 King Ezana of Aksum accepts Christianity. Eventually most of Ethiopia will become Christianized as a result. 330 Constantine establishes Byzantium as eastern capital of the Roman Empire.
372 Headed westward, the Huns cross the Volga River, displacing the Ostrogoths and setting in motion a chain reaction that ultimately leads to the downfall of the Western Roman Empire.
395 After the death of Emperor Theodosius, the Roman Empire is permanently divided in half. As time passes, the Eastern Roman Empire (later known as the Byzantine Empire) distances itself from the declining Western Roman Empire.
410 Led by Alaric, the Visigoths sack Rome, dealing the Western Roman Empire a blow from which it will never recover.
429 Having subdued Gaul (France) and Spain, the Vandals cross the Mediterranean to North Africa and conquer most Roman territories there.
Mid-400s Angles, Saxons, and Jutes from Scandinavia invade the former Roman colony of Britain.
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| Attila the Hun |
451 Roman troops score their last important victory, against Attila’s Huns in Gaul.
455 The Vandals sack Rome.
476 The German leader Odoacer removes Emperor Romulus Augustulus and crowns himself “king of Italy.” This incident marks the end of the Western Roman Empire.
481 The Merovingian Age, named for the only powerful dynasty in Western Europe during the period, begins when Clovis takes the throne in France.
500 Date commonly cited as beginning of Middle Ages.
500–1000 Era in European history often referred to as the Dark Ages, or Early Middle Ages.
529 Benedict of Nursia and his followers establish the monastery at Monte Cassino, Italy. This marks the beginning of the monastic tradition in Europe.
534–563 Belisarius and other generals under orders from Justinian recapture much of the Western Roman Empire, including parts of Italy, Spain, and North Africa. The victories are costly, however, and soon after Justinian’s death these lands will fall back into the hands of barbarian tribes such as the Vandals and Lombards.
535 Justinian establishes his legal code, a model for the laws in many Western nations today.
540 The Huns, or Hunas, destroy India’s Gupta Empire, plunging much of the Indian subcontinent into a state of anarchy.
541 The Byzantine Empire is hit by the first wave of a plague that will continue to strike off and on for the next two centuries. Millions of people die in these epidemics, which greatly weaken the once-powerful empire.
563 Irish monk St. Columba forms the first important monastic settlement in the British Isles, at Iona off the coast of Scotland. In years to come, with Western Europe’s cultural center in Italy under attack from barbarians, monks in places such as Iona and Lindisfarne help preserve reading and writing.
568 The last wave of barbarian tribes descends on Italy as the Lombards invade. They will control the peninsula until 756.
589 More than three centuries of upheaval in China come to an end with the establishment of the Sui dynasty.
590 Pope Gregory I begins his fourteen-year reign. Also known as Gregory the Great, he ensures the survival of the church and becomes one of its greatest medieval leaders.
Late 500s Invading Europe, a tribe called the Avars introduces the stirrup, which they picked up in their migration from Central Asia. By making horsebound combat possible, the stirrup ultimately paves the way for knighthood and feudalism.
618 A revolt against the cruel Sui dynasty leads to the establishment of the highly powerful and efficient T’ang dynasty in China.
622 Arab prophet Muhammad and his followers escape the city of Mecca. This event, known as the hegira, marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar.
632–661 Following the death of Muhammad, the Arab Muslims are led by a series of four caliphs who greatly expand Muslim territories to include most of the Middle East.
661 The fifth caliph, Mu’awiya, founds the Umayyad caliphate, which will rule the Muslim world from Damascus, Syria, until 750.
680 Husayn, son of Ali (the fourth caliph, assassinated in 661), leads an unsuccessful revolt against Umayyad rule. As a result, his supporters, the Shi’ite Muslims — whose power base is chiefly in Persia — break away from the majority, who are called Sunni Muslims.
711 Moors from North Africa invade Spain, taking over from the Visigoths. Muslims will rule parts of the Iberian Peninsula until 1492.
711 Arabs invade the Sind in western India, establishing a Muslim foothold on the Indian subcontinent.
727 In Greece, the Iconoclasts begin a sixty-year war on icons, or images of saints and other religious figures, which they consider idols. Though the Greek Orthodox Church ultimately rejects iconoclasm, the controversy helps widen a growing division between Eastern and Western Christianity.
732 A force led by Charles Martel repels Moorish invaders at Tours, halting Islam’s advance into Western Europe. The battle firmly establishes the use of armored cavalrymen (in other words, knights) in warfare.
750 A descendant of Muhammad’s uncle Abbas begins killing off all the Umayyad leaders and establishes the Abbasid caliphate in Baghdad, Iraq.
751 The Carolingian Age begins when Charles Martel’s son Pepin III, with the support of the pope, removes the last Merovingian king from power.
751 Defeated by Arab armies at Talas, China’s T’ang dynasty begins to decline. A revolt led by An Lu-shan in 755 adds to its troubles.
756 Pepin defeats the Lombards in Italy and in an act called the Donation of Pepin turns their lands over to the church. This creates the Papal States, which will exist for more than eleven hundred years.
768 Reign of Charlemagne, greatest ruler of Western Europe during the Early Middle Ages, begins.
793 Viking raiders destroy the church at Lindisfarne off the coast of England. Lindisfarne was one of the places where civilized learning had weathered the darkest years of the Middle Ages. Thus begins two centuries of terror as more invaders pour out of Scandinavia and spread throughout Europe.
800 Pope Leo III crowns Charlemagne “Emperor of All the Romans.” This marks the beginning of the political alliance later to take shape under Otto the Great as the Holy Roman Empire.
c. 800 The Khmers, or Cambodians, adopt Hinduism under the leadership of their first powerful king, Jayavarman II, founder of the Angkor Empire.
800s Feudalism takes shape in Western Europe.
820 A group of Vikings settles in northwestern France, where they will become known as Normans.
827 Muslims take Sicily, which they will hold until 1072. Later in the 800s, they very nearly win control of Italy itself.
843 In the Treaty of Verdun, Charlemagne’s son Louis the Pious divides the Carolingian Empire among his three sons. These three parts come to be known as the West Frankish Empire, consisting chiefly of modern France; the “Middle Kingdom,” a strip running from what is now the Netherlands all the way down to Italy; and the East Frankish Empire, or modern Germany. The Middle Kingdom soon dissolves into a patchwork of tiny principalities.
862 A group of Vikings called the Varangians invade Eastern Europe, where they come to be known as Rus, the first Russians. Under the leadership of Rurik, they establish the city of Novgorod and found a dynasty that will remain in power for more than seven centuries.
907 China’s T’ang dynasty comes to an end after almost three centuries of rule, and the empire enters a period of instability known as “Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.”
910 Establishment of the Benedictine monastery at Cluny in France signifies a recovery of the church, whose leaders had become increasingly corrupt in the preceding centuries.
911 The last of the Carolingian line in the East Frankish Empire dies. Seven years later, Henry the Fowler of Saxony, father of Otto the Great, takes leadership of the German states.
960 The Oghuz, a group of Turks that includes the Seljuks, convert to Islam.
960 Beginning of the Sung dynasty in China.
962 Having conquered most of Central Europe, Otto the Great is crowned emperor in Rome, reviving Charlemagne’s title. From this point on, most German kings are also crowned ruler of the Holy Roman Empire.
987 Russia converts to Greek Orthodox Christianity and gradually begins adopting Byzantine culture after Vladimir the Great marries Anne, sister of Emperor Basil II.
987 The last Carolingian ruler of France dies without an heir, and Hugh Capet takes the throne, establishing a dynasty that will last until 1328.
1000–1300 Era in European history often referred to as the High Middle Ages.
1000s Guilds, which had existed in ancient times but disappeared from Western Europe during the Early Middle Ages, come back into existence.
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| Vikings |
1001 Vikings led by Leif Eriksson sail westward to North America and during the next two decades will conduct a number of raids on the coast of what is now Canada.
1001 A second Muslim invasion of the Indian subcontinent, this time by Turks, takes place as the Ghaznavids subdue a large region in what is now Afghanistan, Pakistan, and western India.
1025 Basil II dies, having taken the Byzantine Empire to its greatest height since Justinian five centuries earlier; however, it begins a rapid decline soon afterward.
1035 Death of Canute, the last great Viking ruler, who briefly controlled England, Denmark, and Norway.
1054 After centuries of disagreement over numerous issues, the Greek Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church officially separate.
1060 Five years after Turks seize control of Baghdad from the declining Abbasid caliphate, their leader, Toghril Beg, declares himself sultan and thus establishes the Seljuk dynasty.
1066 William the Conqueror leads an invading force that defeats an Anglo-Saxon army at Hastings and wins control of England. The Norman invasion is the most important event of medieval English history, greatly affecting the future of English culture and language.
1071 The Seljuk Turks defeat Byzantine forces at the Battle of Manzikert in Armenia. As a result, the Turks gain a foothold in Asia Minor (today known as Turkey) and the Byzantine Empire begins a long, slow decline.
1071 A Norman warlord named Robert Guiscard drives the last Byzantine forces out of Italy. Byzantium had controlled parts of the peninsula since the time of Justinian.
1072 Robert Guiscard’s brother Roger expels the Arabs from Sicily and takes control of the island.
1075–77 Pope Gregory VII and Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV become embroiled in a church-state struggle called the Investiture Controversy, a debate over whether popes or emperors should have the right to appoint local bishops. Deserted by his supporters, Henry stands barefoot in the snow for three days outside the gates of a castle in Canossa, Italy, waiting to beg the pope’s forgiveness.
1080 Invaders from Morocco destroy Ghana, the first significant kingdom in sub-Saharan Africa.
1084 Reversing the results of an earlier round in the Investiture Controversy, Henry IV takes Rome and forcibly removes Gregory VII from power. The pope dies soon afterward, broken and humiliated.
1092 Following the death of their sultan Malik Shah, the Seljuk Turks begin to decline.
1094 Norman warrior Bohemond, son of Robert Guiscard, takes control of Rome from Henry IV and hands the city over to Pope Urban II. Fearing the Normans’ power and aware that he owes them a great debt, Urban looks for something to divert their attention.
1095 Byzantine Emperor Alexis Comnenus asks Urban II for military assistance against the Turks. Urban preaches a sermon to raise support at the Council of Clermont in France, and in the resulting fervor the First Crusade begins. Among its leaders are Bohemond and his nephew Tancred.
1096–97 A pathetic sideshow called the Peasants’ Crusade plays out before the real First Crusade gets underway. The peasants begin by robbing and killing thousands of Jews in Germany; then, led by Peter the Hermit, they march toward the Holy Land, wreaking havoc as they go. In Anatolia a local Turkish sultan leads them into a trap, and most of the peasants are killed.
1097–99 The armies of the official First Crusade conquer Edessa and Antioch, the first of several “crusader states.”
1099 The First Crusade ends in victory for the Europeans as they conquer Jerusalem. It is a costly victory, however — one in which thousands of innocent Muslims, as well as many Europeans, have been brutally slaughtered — and it sows resentment between Muslims and Christians that remains strong today.
c. 1100–1300 Many of the aspects of life most commonly associated with the Middle Ages, including heraldry and chivalry, make their appearance in Western Europe during this period. Returning crusaders adapt the defensive architecture they observed in fortresses of the Holy Land, resulting in the familiar design of the medieval castle. This is also the era of romantic and heroic tales such as those of King Arthur.
1100s Beginnings of medieval trading fairs in Champagne and Flanders, a sign of Europe’s reawakening.
c. 1100 Inca civilization emerges in South America. Around this time, the Incas establish Cuzco (now in Peru), the oldest continually inhabited city in the New World.
1113 Founding of the first great chivalric order, the Knights Hospitalers.
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| Knight Templar |
1127 An invasion by the Juchen nomads forces the Chinese to move their capital from Kaifeng southward to Hangchow. This marks the end of the Northern Sung period and the beginning of the Southern Sung.
c. 1140 In Cambodia Khmer emperor Suryavarman II develops the splendid temple complex of Angkor Wat.
1146 After the Muslims’ capture of Edessa in 1144, Pope Eugenius III calls on the help of his former teacher, Bernard of Clairvaux, who makes a speech that leads to the launching of the Second Crusade.
1147–49 In the disastrous Second Crusade, armies from Europe are double-crossed by their crusader allies in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. They fail to recapture Edessa and suffer a heavy defeat at Damascus.
c. 1150 Romanesque, the dominant style of architecture in Western Europe since about 1000, gives way to the much more ornate and advanced style of Gothic. Also in this period the art of stained-glass windows reaches its height.
1158 Holy Roman Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa establishes Europe’s first university at Bologna, Italy.
1159 Frederick I Barbarossa begins a quarter-century of fruitless, costly wars in which the Ghibellines and Guelphs — factions representing pro-imperial and pro-church forces, respectively — fight for control of northern Italy.
1160 German cities begin banding together to form the Hanseatic League, designed to help them secure greater trade privileges in international markets.
1163 Building begins on the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, perhaps the most well known example of Gothic architecture.
1165 A letter supposedly written by Prester John, a Christian monarch in the East, appears in Europe. Over the centuries that follow, Europeans will search in vain for Prester John, hoping for his aid in their war against Muslim forces. Even as Europe enters the modern era, early proponents of exploration such as Henry the Navigator will remain inspired by the quest for Prester John’s kingdom.
1182 France under Philip II Augustus becomes the first European country to expel all its Jews.
1183 Frederick I Barbarossa signs the Peace of Constance with the cities of the Lombard League, thus ending his long war in northern Italy. After this he will concentrate his attention on Germany and institute reforms that make him a hero in his homeland.
1185 For the first time, Japan comes under the rule of a shogun, or military dictator. Shoguns will remain in power for the next four centuries.
1187 Muslim armies under Saladin deal the crusaders a devastating blow at the Battle of Hittin in Palestine. Shortly afterward, Saladin leads his armies in the reconquest of Jerusalem.
1189 In response to Saladin’s victories, Europeans launch the Third Crusade.
1191 Led by Richard I of England and Philip II of France, crusaders take the city of Acre in Palestine.
1191 Founding of the Teutonic Knights, the last of the great chivalric orders.
1192 Richard I signs a treaty with Saladin, ending the Third Crusade.
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| Crusaders take Jerusalem |
1198 Pope Innocent III begins an eighteen-year reign that marks the high point of the church’s power. Despite his great influence, however, when he calls for a new crusade to the Holy Land, he gets little response — a sign that the spirit behind the Crusades is dying.
c. 1200 Cambodia’s Khmer Empire reaches its height under Jayavarman VII.
1202 Four years after the initial plea from the pope, the Fourth Crusade begins. Instead of going to the Holy Land, however, the crusaders become involved in a power struggle for the Byzantine throne.
1204 Acting on orders from the powerful city-state of Venice, crusaders take Constantinople, forcing the Byzantines to retreat to Trebizond in Turkey. The Fourth Crusade ends with the establishment of the Latin Empire.
1206 Qutb-ud-Din Aybak, the first independent Muslim ruler in India, establishes the Delhi Sultanate.
1206 Genghis Khan unites the Mongols for the first time in their history, and soon afterward leads them to war against the Sung dynasty in China.
1208 Pope Innocent III launches the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars, a heretical sect in southern France.
1212 The pathetic “Children’s Crusade” ends with most of its participants captured and sold into slavery in the Middle East.
1215 In Rome, Pope Innocent III convenes the Fourth Lateran Council. A number of traditions, such as regular confession of sin to a priest, are established at this, one of the most significant ecumenical councils in history.
1215 English noblemen force King John to sign the Magna Carta, which grants much greater power to the nobility. Ultimately the agreement will lead to increased freedom for the people from the power of both king and nobles.
1217–21 In the Fifth Crusade, armies from England, Germany, Hungary, and Austria attempt unsuccessfully to conquer Egypt.
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| Genghis Khan and the Mongols |
1228–29 The Sixth Crusade, led by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, results in a treaty that briefly restores Christian control of Jerusalem — and does so with a minimum of bloodshed.
1229 The brutal Albigensian Crusade ends. Not only are the Cathars destroyed, but so is much of the French nobility, thus greatly strengthening the power of the French king.
1231 Pope Gregory IX establishes the Inquisition, a court through which the church will investigate, try, and punish cases of heresy.
c. 1235 The empire of Mali, the most powerful realm in sub-Saharan Africa at the time, takes shape under the leadership of Sundiata Keita.
1236 Mongol forces enter Russia and within a few years subdue the land, which becomes known as the Empire of the Golden Horde.
1239–40 In the Seventh Crusade, Europeans make another failed attempt to retake the Holy Land.
1241 After six years of campaigns in which they sliced across Russia and Eastern Europe, a Mongol force is poised to take Vienna, Austria, and thus to swarm into Western Europe. But when their leader, Batu Khan, learns that the Great Khan Ogodai is dead, he rushes back to the Mongol capital at Karakorum to participate in choosing a successor.
1243 Back on the warpath, but this time in the Middle East, the Mongols defeat the last remnants of the Seljuk Turks.
1248–54 King Louis IX of France (St. Louis) leads the Eighth Crusade, this time against the Mamluks. The result is the same: yet another defeat for the Europeans.
c. 1250 The Aztecs settle in central Mexico.
1252 In Egypt, a group of former slave soldiers called the Mamluks take power from the Ayyubid dynasty, established many years before by Saladin.
1253 Mongol armies force the Thais from southern China into Southeast Asia, where they are destined to become the dominant power in later centuries.
1258 Hulagu Khan, who controls Mongol forces in southwestern Asia, kills the last Abbasid caliph and declares the region a separate khanate under his leadership as “Il-khan.”
1260 The Mamluks become the first force to defeat the Mongols, in a battle at Goliath Spring in Palestine. 1260 Kublai Khan, greatest Mongol leader after his grandfather Genghis Khan, is declared Great Khan, or leader of the Mongols.
1261 Led by Michael VIII Palaeologus, the Byzantines recapture Constantinople from the Latin Empire, and Byzantium enjoys one last gasp of power before it goes into terminal decline.
1270–72 In the Ninth Crusade, last of the numbered crusades, King Louis IX of France again leads the Europeans against the Mamluks, who defeat European forces yet again.
1271 Marco Polo embarks on his celebrated journey to the East, which lasts twenty-four years.
1273 The Hapsburg dynasty — destined to remain a major factor in European politics until 1918 — takes control of the Holy Roman Empire.
1273 Italian philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas completes the crowning work of his career, the monumental Summa theologica. The influential book will help lead to wider acceptance of the idea, introduced earlier by Moses Maimonides, Averroës, and Abelard, that reason and faith are compatible.
1279 Mongol forces under Kublai Khan win final victory over China’s Sung dynasty. Thus begins the Yüan dynasty, the first time in Chinese history when the country has been ruled by foreigners.
1281 A Mongol force sent by Kublai Khan on a second attempt to take Japan—a first try, in 1274, also failed — is destroyed by a typhoon. The Japanese call it a “divine wind,” or kamikaze.
1291 Mamluks conquer the last Christian stronghold at Acre, bringing to an end two centuries of crusades to conquer the Holy Land for Christendom.
1294 At the death of Kublai Khan, the Mongol realm is the largest empire in history, covering most of Asia and a large part of Europe. Actually it is four empires, including the Golden Horde in Russia; the Il-Khanate in the Middle East and Persia; Chagatai in Central Asia; and the Empire of the Great Khan, which includes China, Mongolia, and Korea. Within less than a century, however, this vast empire will have all but disappeared.
1299 Turkish chieftain Osman I refuses to pay tribute to the local Mongol rulers, marking the beginnings of the Ottoman Empire.
1300–1500 Era in European history often referred to as the Late Middle Ages.
1303 After years of conflict with Pope Boniface VIII, France’s King Philip the Fair briefly has the pope arrested. This event and its aftermath marks the low point of the papacy during the Middle Ages.
1309 Pope Clement V, an ally of Philip the Fair, moves the papal seat from Rome to Avignon in southern France.
c. 1325 The Aztecs establish their capital at Tenochtitlán, on the site of present-day Mexico City.
1337 England and France begin fighting what will become known as the Hundred Years’ War, an on-again, offagain struggle to control parts of France.
1347–51 Europe experiences one of the worst disasters in human history, an epidemic called the Black Death. Sometimes called simply “the Plague,” in four years the Black Death kills some thirty-five million people, or approximately one-third of the European population in 1300.
1368 A group of Chinese rebels overthrows the Mongol Yüan dynasty and establishes the Ming dynasty, China’s last native-born ruling house.
1378 The Catholic Church becomes embroiled in the Great Schism, which will last until 1417. During this time, there are rival popes in Rome and Avignon; and from 1409 to 1417, there is even a third pope in Pisa, Italy.
1389 Ottoman forces defeat the Serbs in battle at Kosovo Field. As a result, all of Southeastern Europe except for Greece falls under Turkish control.
1392 General Yi Song-ye seizes power in Korea and establishes a dynasty that will remain in control until 1910.
c. 1400 Melaka, or Malaya (modern-day Malaysia), adopts Islam. In later years, it will become a center for Muslim culture in Southeast Asia.
1402 After conquering much of southwestern and central Asia, Tamerlane defeats the Ottoman sultan Bajazed in battle. An unexpected result of their defeat is that the Ottomans, who seemed poised to take over much of Europe, go into a period of decline.
1413 India’s Delhi Sultanate comes to an end. As a result, power in the subcontinent is splintered between the Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagar in the south and smaller Muslim states in northern and central India.
1415 English forces under King Henry V score a major victory against the French at Agincourt, one of the most important battles of the Hundred Years’ War.
1417 The Council of Constance ends the Great Schism, affirming that Rome is the seat of the church and that Pope Martin V is its sole leader. Unfortunately for the church, the Great Schism has weakened it at the very time that it faces its greatest challenge ever — a gathering movement that will come to be known as the Reformation.
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| Prince Henry the Navigator |
1428 In Southeast Asia, Vietnam unites under the leadership of the Le dynasty, which will turn the country into a regional power and control it until 1788.
1429 A tiny French army led by Joan of Arc forces the English to lift their siege on the town of Orléans, a victory that raises French spirits and makes it possible for France’s king Charles VII to be crowned later that year. This marks a turning point in the Hundred Years’ War.
1430–31 Captured by Burgundian forces, Joan of Arc is handed over to the English, who arrange her trial for witchcraft in a court of French priests. The trial, a mockery of justice, ends with Joan being burned at the stake.
1431 In Southeast Asia, the Thais conquer the Angkor Empire.
1431 The Aztecs become the dominant partner in a triple alliance with two nearby city-states and soon afterward gain control of the Valley of Mexico.
1438 Pachacutec Inca Yupanqui, greatest Inca ruler, takes the throne.
1441 Fourteen black slaves are brought from Africa to Portugal, where they are presented to Prince Henry the Navigator. This is the beginning of the African slave trade, which isn’t abolished until more than four centuries later.
1451 The recovery of the Ottoman Empire, which had suffered a half-century of decline, begins under Mehmet the Conqueror.
1453 The Hundred Years’ War ends with French victory.
1453 Turks under Mehmet the Conqueror march into Constantinople, bringing about the fall of the Byzantine Empire. Greece will remain part of the Ottoman Empire until 1829.
1455 Having developed a method of movable-type printing, Johannes Gutenberg of Mainz, Germany, prints his first book: a Bible. In the years to come, the invention of the printing press will prove to be one of the most important events in world history. By making possible the widespread distribution of books, it will lead to increased literacy, which in turn creates a more educated, skilled, and wealthy populace. It will also influence the spread of local languages, and thus of national independence movements, and also spurs on the gathering movement for religious reformation.
1455 Just two years after losing the Hundred Years’ War to France, England is plunged into the Wars of the Roses, which will last until 1485.
1464 In the last-ever crusade, Pope Pius II attempts to retake Turkish-held Constantinople for Christendom. However, he dies en route to Greece, bringing the crusading movement to an end.
1472 Ivan the Great of Muscovy marries Zoë, niece of the last Byzantine emperor, and adopts the two-headed Byzantine eagle as the symbol of Russia — the “Third Rome” after Rome itself and Byzantium. His grandson, Ivan the Terrible, will in 1547 adopt the title czar, Russian for “caesar” — title of Roman and Byzantine emperors for the past fifteen hundred years.
1492 Spain, united by the 1469 marriage of its two most powerful monarchs, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile, drives out the last of the Muslims and expels all Jews. A less significant event of 1492, from the Spanish perspective, is the launch of a naval expedition in search of a westward sea route to China. Its leader is an Italian sailor named Christopher Columbus, who has grown up heavily influenced by Marco Polo’s account of his travels.
1500 Date commonly cited as the end of Middle Ages, and the beginning of the Renaissance.
1517 Exactly a century after the Council of Constance ended the Great Schism, a German monk named Martin Luther publicly posts ninety-five theses, or statements challenging the established teachings of Catholicism, on the door of a church in Germany. The popes had managed to crush earlier efforts at reform, such as those led by Jan Hus of Bohemia, who was burned at the stake under orders from the Council of Constance. By now, however, the movement called the Reformation is much stronger, and Luther is far from its only leader. Over the next century, numerous new Protestant religious denominations will be established.
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| Hernán Cortés destroy the Aztecs |
1526 Babur, a descendant of Tamerlane, invades India and establishes what becomes the Mogul Empire.
1533 Francisco Pizarro and the Spanish forces with him arrive in Peru and soon bring about the end of the Inca Empire.
1591 Songhai, the last of the great premodern empires in Africa’s Sudan region, falls to invaders from Morocco.
In "Middle Ages. Almanac" Judson Knight and Judy Galens, editors, U.X.L, An imprint of the Gale Group USA, 2001, excerpts volume 1. Adapted and illustrated to be posted by Leopoldo Costa.
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