The Middle Ages
David Wissler
1066-1099
• King Edward the Confessor dies without Heir
and Duke of Normandy invades England.
– Leaving no heirs, Edward's death made a 3-way rivalry for king. Harold
Godwinson and King Edward became brothers-in-law when Edward married
Harold's sister. With Harold's powerful position, his relationship to Edward,
and his esteem among his peers gave him the best shot at the throne. Across
the English Channel, William, Duke of Normandy, also tried to claim to the
English throne. William justified his claim through his blood relationship with
Edward (they were distant cousins) and by stating that some years earlier,
Edward had designated him as his successor, which lead to the invasion of
England.
1100-1149
• Knights Templar was founded
– Within two decades of the victory of the First Crusade (1095-1099) a group of knights led by
Hugues (Hugh) de Payens offered themselves to the Patriarch of Jerusalem to serve as a
military force. This group – often said to be nine in number – had the mandate of protecting
Christian pilgrims who were en route to the Holy Land to visit the shrines sacred to their faith.
Somewhere between the years of AD 1118 – 1120, King Baldwin II granted the group quarters
in a wing of the Royal Palace on the Temple Mount (the Al Aqsa Mosque).
1150-1199
• King Henry II invades Ireland, starting the first
800 years of British rule
– He curbed the power of the barons, but his attempt to bring the church courts
under control was abandoned after the murder of Thomas à Becket,
Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1170. The English conquest of Ireland began
during Henry's reign. In 1171 Henry invaded Ireland and received homage
from the King of Leinster. In 1174 his three sons Henry, Richard and Geoffrey
led an unsuccessful rebellion against their father.
1200-1249
• English Barons force King John to sign The
Magna Carta
– The Magna Carta was a list of rights. Most rights were already law. The Magna
Carta restated them so there would be no confusion. The Magna Carta added
new rights. One of the new rights was that nobles could keep watch over the
king. They could seize his castles if he did not keep his word. The king could no
longer do whatever he wanted. He had to obey the law, just like everyone
else. If he did not, his nobles could seize his lands and banish him from
England.
1250-1299
• Crusades end
– Acre, the last Christian post in Syria, fell in 1291 A.D., and with this event the
Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem ceased to exist. The Hospitallers, or Knights of St.
John, still kept possession of the important islands of Cyprus and Rhodes,
which long served as a barrier to Moslem expansion over the Mediterranean.
• Edward I invades Scotland
– Disorder in the royal line fostered a struggle for the Scottish throne. Edward I
of England, arbitrated the dispute and recognized John de Baliol as King in
1292. Baliol later allied himself with France against England. Edward invaded
Scotland in 1296 and seized the Stone of Scone, used in Scottish coronation
rites, and declared himself king of Scotland.
1300-1349
• 100 yrs war between England and France begin
•
Fighting started in the Hundred Years' War because the Kings of England - descendants
of William the Conqueror who still spoke French -wanted to rule France as well. France
was temptingly weak and divided. It began with the English King already ruling a large
part of France; it ended with him ruling hardly any, but with what is now Nord - Pas de
Calais split off under foreign rule for several centuries.
• Black Death strikes England
– The disease may have appeared as early as late June or as late as August 4. We do
know that in mid-summer the Channel Islands were reeling under an outbreak of
the plague. From this simple beginning the disease spread throughout England
with dizzying speed and fatal consequences. The effect was at its worst in cities,
where overcrowding and primitive sanitation aided its spread. On November 1 the
plague reached London, and up to 30,000 of the city's population of 70,000
inhabitants succumbed. Over the next 2 years the disease killed between 30-40%
of the entire population. Given that the pre-plague population of England was in
the range of 5-6 million people, fatalities may have reached as high as 2 million
dead.
1350-1399
Bible translated
– Wycliffe criticized abuses and false teachings in the Church. In 1382 he
translated an English Bible—the first complete European translation done
in nearly 1,000 years. The Lollards, itinerant preachers he sent throughout
England, inspired a spiritual revolution.
Chaucer begins Canterbury Tales
– Around 1387 Chaucer began his master work, The Canterbury Tales. This
lengthy poem, which weighs in at an impressive 17,000 lines, was never
finished. It tells the tale of a group of pilgrims journeying from London to the
shrine of Thomas à Becket at Canterbury. To pass the time on their trip, they
tell each other stories.
1400-1485
• Christine de Pisan writes, City of Ladies
– Christine de Pizan was a French Renaissance writer who wrote some of the
very first feminist pieces of literature. During the Renaissance, Christine de
Pizan broke with the traditional roles assigned to women in several ways
during a time when women had no legal rights and were considered a man's
property. Because she was one of the few women of the time period that
were educated, she was able to write. When she was unexpectedly left to
support herself and her family on her own, she became the first woman in
Europe to successfully make a living through writing. She wrote in many
different genres and styles depending on her subject and patron. Eventually,
she began to address the debate about women.
• Birth of Nicholas Copernicus
• First Tudor King, Henry VII, is crowned
Works Cited
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