Timeline of the Middle Ages
1066- Norman conquest of England
• William the Conquerer
invades from Normandy
and successfully takes
over England
– Builds castles
– Loyalty changes from
personal lords to the
crown
– Sets up the Domesday
(or Doomsday) Book
• First national census
1099- First crusade
• Pope Urban II calls
knights to crusade
– Deus volt- God wills it!
– Promised the crusaders
who fought absolution
from their sins
– Jerusalem eventually
retaken from the
Muslims
1147- Second crusade
• Edessa taken by the
Muslims- entire city
slaughtered or sold into
slavery
• Hospitallers, Templars
and Teutonic Knights
formed
• Sieged Damascus, but
couldn’t hold the siege
– “having practically
accomplished nothing, the
inglorious ones returned
home”
1189- Third crusade
• Saladin united the Muslims
and captured Jerusalem in
1187
• Rulers fought- King Philip
Augustus of France, King
Richard I (the lion-hearted)
of England, and Emperor
Frederick Barbarossa of
Germany
– Crusaders captured Acre
– Saladin and Richard I came to
a truce- Christians permitted
to visit Jerusalem without
paying tribute and have free
access to holy places
– Muslims, led by Saladin,
recaptured Jerusalem
1202- Fourth crusade
• Called by Innocent III
• Captured Constantinople
instead of Jerusalem
• Crusaders seized Christian
city Zara to gain Venetian
support ($)
• Saw more $ in
Constantinople
– Burned the city
– Slaughtered the
inhabitants
– Destroyed monuments
– Carried away any movable
wealth
• Constantinople then
eventually fell to the Turks
(Muslims)- 250 years later
1212- Children’s crusade
• Children were convinced
they would be protected
by God
• Gathered 30,000
followers- all children
– Some died of exhaustion
– The Mediterranean did not
part for them to cross
– Boarded 7 boats and were
never heard from again
1215- Magna Carta signed
• Latin for “Great Charter”
• Between barons of
England and King John
– Barons rebelled against
John’s power when he
tried to raise taxes after
defeat in northern France
• Attempt to stop the king
from abusing his power at
the suffering of his people
– John constantly demanded
money (taxes) and men but
wasn’t militarily successful
and lost land in France
– John also angered the
Roman Catholic Church
• Excommunication and
heresy
1297- Mel Gibson stars in Braveheart
• Not really… he played
William Wallace who led a
Scottish rebellion when
Edward I tried to claim
power over Scotland
– “Alba gu brath”- Scotland
forever!
• Defeated in 1298
• Wallace escaped but was
captured in 1305 and
charged with treason
– Wallace argued he never
swore allegiance to the King
– Hung, drawn and quartered in
1305
1337- Hundred Years’ War begins
• Edward III declared war
on Philip VI because he
believed he was the heir
to the French throne
• England vs. France
– Led to the War of the
Roses in England after it’s
close
– Rising sense of national
pride (nationalism) in both
countries
• Helps the French become
France- idea of the nation
1347- Black Death ravages Europe
• Started in Messina from
merchant ships
• Highly contagious- spread
pneumonically (through the
air) and through bites from
infected fleas and rats
– Symptoms
• Headache, chills, fever, nausea,
vomiting, back pain, soreness in
arms and legs, aversion to light
• Hard, painful lumps on neck,
under arms, inner thighs
• Lumps turned black, split openmay grow to size of an orange
• Death less than a week later
– Death toll: 25 million
• 20-40% dead in first year
– Divine punishment?
• Massacred Jews
• Turned inward
• YOLO
1429- Joan of Arc
• Started hearing voices
ordering her to save France
at 13
• Asked to be taken to the
Dauphin
– Obtained troops from him
and saved Orleans from the
English
– Couldn’t deliver ParisDauphin crowned at Reims
• Captured by the
Burgundians and sold to the
English in 1430
– Condemned as a heretic and
burned at the stake in 1431
1453- Hundred Years’ War ends
• Fought entirely on
French soil
• Series of wars
• Reduced population of
France by half
• Bordeaux surrendered;
Calais is last remaining
English possession in
France
1455- Wars of the Roses begins
• Civil wars fought in England
1455-1487
– House of Lancaster (red rose)
vs. House of York (white rose)
• Causes:
– More than one direct
descendent of Edward III
– Henry VI unpopular
– Powerful nobles with their own
armies
– Henry VI mentally ill
– Henry Tudor (Lancaster) won,
became Henry VII and married
Elizabeth (York) and their son
was Henry VIII
1455- Johann Gutenberg prints Bible
on printing press
• Invented printing press
in 1448
• Before: books were
written and copied by
hand
– Bibles printed in Latin
– 200 copies were made
– All had beautiful
illustrations and vibrant
colors
– Only 22 exist today