Medieval Timeline - Browse by Region

Ecclesiastical Council of Arles
Date: 455 A.D.
Description:
An ecclesiastical council was held at Arles in Gaul. Representatives of the British church attended, and Pelagianism was still a concern.

Top

Britons Largely Take Armorica
Date: c. 460 A.D.
Description:
By the 460s the Britons had largely taken Armorica (a Gaulish province), eventually changing it's name its name to Brittany and its language to Breton.

Top

Conversion of Clovis I
Date: 496 A.D.
Description:
Clovis I of the Franks becomes a Christian.

Top

Death of Clovis I
Date: November 27th, 511 A.D.
Description:
Clovis I, Merovingian founder of the Frankish kingdom, dies (approximately aged 45).

Top

Battle of Poitiers
Date: October 25th, 732 A.D.
Description:
The real power behind the throne of the Frankish King Thierry IV was Charles Martel (the Hammer), the Mayor of the Palace. A tough soldier, Charles had proved his worth many times in battle against rebellions factions within the Frankish empire. For many years the Moslems of Spain had been threatening Gaul. In 725 an invading army had penetrated as far as Burgundy, but it had been bought off by Duke Eudes, much to Charles' disfavour. In 732 Abd-er-Rahman, the Governor of Spain, crossed the Pyrenees with an immense army, and advanced as far as the River Loire. In October, Charles' Franks engaged Abd-er-Rahman at the Battle of Poitiers outside of the town of Tours. During the battle the Moorish Governor was slain and the remains of his army beat in retreat back to Spain. This battle, perhaps one of the most important in European history, would ensure the survival of Christian civilisation in Western Europe

Top

Birth of Charlemagne
Date: April 8th, 742 A.D.
Description:
This is the date of the birth of Carolus Magnus (Charles the Great, or Charlemagne). Charlemagne was the son of the Merovingian mayor of the palace, Pepin the Short. Charlemagne would inherit the northern Frankish lands following the death of his father (crowned king by Pope Stephen II in 754) and those of his brother, Carloman, in 771. After assisting the Pope in the defeat of the Lombards in Italy, he was crowned as the King of the Lombards. After subduing and Christianizing the Saxon tribes of northern Germany, Charlemagne would gain control of large areas of Saxony. A campaign in Spain would add further lands between the Pyrenees and the Llobregat. Bavaria was incorporated in the kingdom in 788, and the Avar people were subdued between 791 and 796. With much of Western Europe under his rule, Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor, thereby founding the Holy Roman Empire.

Although he never learned to read, during Charlemagne's reign a renaissance of learning began in Western Europe. With leading scholars (such as the Northumbrian Alcuin) in his service, the Frankish King revised Frankish Laws. These revisions included the first introduction of jury service within courts. Charlemagne maintained diplomatic relations with Byzantium, Baghdad, Mercia, Northumbria, and others. He introduced a new coinage and reformed the weights and measures. In addition, communications were much improved, Church reforms throughout his dominions began, missionary and monastic reforms were supported, the old heroic sagas and other peoples' laws were written down, and religious instruction in the vernacular was promoted.

Top

Charlemagne's Coronation as Emperor
Date: December 25th, 800 A.D.
Description:
Pope Leo III crowns Charlemagne emperor of the West at Christmas mass. The title had not been used since Roman Augustulus held the title in 476.

Top

Treaty of Verdun
Date: 843 A.D.
Description:
This treaty divided the Carolingian Empire into three new states. These states were divided amongst the three surviving grandsons of Charlemagne. Lothar, the eldest, kept the imperial title but in reality really only had authority over his third of the empire. That third included Rome and Aachen and stretched from the North Sea to the Italian peninsula in a long portion down Western Europe. After Lothar's death in 855, this kingdom dissolved. Louis the German received East Francia, which encompasses much of modern Germany. The third brother, Charles the Bald, took West Francia from which France would develop.

Top

Foundation of the Cluny Monastery
Date: 910 A.D.
Description:
William the Pious, Duke of Aquitaine, founded Cluny in 910 in east-central France. Cluny was a Benedictine monastery devoted to the strictest observance of Saint Benedict's rule. A special emphasis was placed on liturgical purity. Out of this great monastery a reform movement was born which had a substantial impact on Western Christianity. The Cluniacs asserted that no secular ruler could hold authority over the Church; the Pope in Rome was the only ruler over the clergy. Chastity among the clergy was another issue the Cluny reformers sought to tackle. These two important components of Western Christianity, the separation of Church and State and the celibacy of the Catholic clergy, had definitive roots in the Cluny reform movement born out of this monastery.

Top

Pope Urban II's Speech at Clermont
Date: November 27th, 1095 A.D.
Description:
This speech, given by Pope Urban II in central France in 1095, was responsible for releasing a torrent of events which played out on a grand scale over the few hundred years. Since a major announcement was expected, the speech was moved to a field so that it could accommodate more people. Thousands of laymen and clerics gathered to hear him speak. Marked as the starting point of the crusades, Urban II's speech called upon both rich and poor to help their Christian brothers in the East. Originally the goal was just that, to help the Christian Churches in the East, but a very different goal soon developed. The freeing of the Holy Sepulchre of Christ from the non-Christians soon became the most important objective. The success of Urban II's appeal at Clermont was extraordinary and to help spread the word even further, preachers were sent all around Europe.

"Deus lo volt!"

Top

Henry Plantagenet Marries Eleanor of Aquitaine
Date: May 18th, 1152 A.D.
Description:
Prince Henry, the future King Henry II and son of the Empress Matilda by her second husband Geoffrey of Anjou, marries Eleanor of Aquitaine, the widow of King Louis VII and the queen of France. A year later, by the Treaty of Winchester (1153), Henry would become King Stephen's nominated successor, thus adding the throne of England (1154) to his considerable continental inheritances of Normandy, Brittany and Anjou.

Top

Philip II Augustus Orders Jews out of France
Date: April 1182 A.D.
Description:
All nonconverting Jews were ordered out of France in 1182, by order of Philip II Augustus. Their property was confiscated by the king. They were, however, allowed a short amount of time to sell any movable possessions or goods.

Top

Rebellion of the Young King
Date: 1183 A.D.
Description:
Henry, the oldest of the quarrelsome sons of King Henry II, together with his brother Geoffrey lead a rebellion in Aquitaine against their brother Richard, the future King Richard I, Couer de Lion. Henry, the young king, would die in 1183, and his brother, Geoffrey of Brittany, died in 1186 whilst plotting another revolt, thus leaving Richard to inherit the crown of England upon their father's death in 1189.

Top

Marriage of King John
Date: 1200 A.D.
Description:
King John of England, having divorced his first wife Avice of Gloucester, marries Isabella of Angoulême. Isabel was the heiress to the Angoumois province in Aquitaine and descended on her mother's side from Prince Peter, the fifth son of King Lewis le Gros of France. Unfortunately, Isabella was already betrothed to a Poitevin noble, Hugh of Lusignan. Hugh was enraged and, together with many of his neighbours, took up arms against John. John retaliated by accusing the rebel nobles of treason and challenged them to clear their characters by selecting champions to fight an equal number of English and Norman knights.

The Poitevin barons declined this challenge and instead appealed directly to John's over-lord, King Philip II Augustus of France. In 1202 Philip summoned John to appear before him to answer the complaints of his peers, but not only did John fail to appear, he also did not make any excuse for his absence. Consequently Philip condemned the English King to forfeit his French lands, and with Prince Arthur (John's nephew through his older brother Geoffrey), he commenced an invasion of Normandy.

John's aged mother Eleanor now took up the cause against her grandson, Arthur, but was then besieged by the prince at her castle at Mirebeau. John's army arrived and raised the siege, taking Arthur prisoner. Some time in 1203, Arthur mysteriously disappeared (he was probably murdered by John). However, by now many of the Norman Barons had actively ceased to respect John. Castle after Castle fell to Philip until by 1204 only Château Gaillard remained in English hands. When in 1204 this too fell, John was forced to accept the loss of his lands in Normandy, Maine, Anjou, Touraine and part of Poittou, all of these having submitted to Philip.

Top

The Children's Crusade
Date: 1212 A.D.
Description:
In 1212 a French boy from Coyes claimed he had met Christ and was urged by him to lead a Children's Crusade. Their innocence and faith would convince the Muslims of their cause, and the children attracted to the crusade believed it. This French boy, known as Stephen, went to Paris to gather support for his crusade to the Holy Land. Thousands of other children joined him and the movement even spread into Germany. Nicholas, a German peasant from near Cologne, served as a rallying point for those in Germany. Eventually Stephen and about 9,000 followers escorted by priests reached the port of Marseilles. In the port local merchants offered to transport them all to the Holy Land. In route a storm at sea drowned all of the children aboard two ships, and the remaining five parted ways, each heading for different destinations. One group went to Bougie in North Africa and the other sailed to Alexandria, Egypt. Both groups of children had the same end result in these port cities; all were sold in the slave markets. While those in Stephen's group met horrible ends, the group led by Nicholas had crossed the Swiss Alps and were in northern Italy. They numbered only about 7,000 or less and wandered south through Italy begging for food as they went. Only a few hundred of Nicholas' group remained when they reached the city of Brindisi on the southern Italian coast. A Norwegian trader by the name of Friso took the children who were left under his wing. Most of these children subsequently ended up in Mediterranean brothels or slave markets. Remarkably, a few actually did make it to the Holy Land by tagging along with groups of pilgrims. The handful of child crusaders that did reach the Holy Land failed to make any sort of an impression on the Muslims who occupied Jerusalem.

Top

The Trial of the Templars
Date: October 1307 A.D.
Description:
Suddenly, in October of 1307, King Philip IV ordered the arrest of the Templars. The claims against the Templars were comprised of having admission ceremony practices which included spitting on the cross and denying Christ. The order was also accused of worshipping idols and encouraging homosexual behavior. The pope of the time, Clement V, protested the actions taken by the French king but changed his mind after several of the Templars, including the Templar master, James of Molay, confessed. After these confessions, Clement V ordered all western rulers to do the same as Philip IV and arrest all Templars and seize their property. In 1310, France burned at the stake about 50 Templars who had recanted their confessions. By 1311 inquiries had been performed by inquisitors and prelates in all countries of the West. Overall the results were varied; many areas could not get any confessions. In late 1311 the Council of Vienne met to decide what should happen to the Templars. Two days after Philip IV had arrived at the council, in March of 1312, the pope pronounced the abolition of the order. Questions surrounding the guilt or innocence of the Templars and the motives behind Philip IV's arrest of the French Templars still exist to this day.

Top

Accession of King Philip VI of France
Date: April 1st, 1328 A.D.
Description:
The childless King Charles IV of France, having died on the 1st of March, had stipulated on his deathbed that unless his pregnant Queen should give birth to a son, then the crown should pass to his cousin, Philip, Count of Valois. On the 1st of April the Queen was delivered of a posthumous daughter. Count Philip immediately summoned an Assembly in Paris, which swiftly acknowledged him as their new king - Philip VI. It was a decision that was to have far reaching consequences.

During the assembly in Paris two envoys from England had pressed for the French crown to pass to King Edward III of England, the son of Charles' sister, Isabella. Despite the case put forward by Bishop Adam Orleton of Worcester that no woman had ever been legally been excluded from wearing the crown of France, the assembly concluded that in accordance with the Salic law of the ancient Franks, the crown could not be inherited by a woman.

Queen Isabel may not have been popular on either side of the channel. Her affair with her appalling lover the Regent Roger Mortimer, Earl of March (who had deposed King Edward II in 1326 and then had the same monarch brutally murdered in the following year) had for a while left Edward III as merely Isabel and Mortimer's puppet sovereign. In 1330, Edward's patience snapped. Breaking down the door to the queen's bedchamber he had Mortimer arrested and taken off to the Tower of London, where he would be executed on a charge of treason. His mother, Queen Isabel, was dispatched to permanent retirement at Castle Rising in Norfolk. The way was clear for the ambitious Edward to now commence his plans to oppose his rival in Paris and gain for himself the French crown that had been worn by his French ancestors.

Top

Battle of Crecy
Date: August 25th, 1346 A.D.
Description:
Edward III defeated Phillip VI in the Battle of Crecy. French forces suffered heavy losses, while the English forces only suffered few casualties, largely due to the successful use of the longbow.

Top

Calais Falls to England
Date: October 1347 A.D.
Description:
After an almost year-long siege, French Calais fell to Edward III of England. Calais would remain in English possession for over two hundred years and would remain a point of contention throughout the Hundred Years War.

Top

Battle of Poitiers
Date: September 19th, 1356 A.D.
Description:
The Black Prince (Prince Edward) of England defeated the French in battle.

Top

Battle of Agincourt
Date: October 25th, 1415 A.D.
Description:
One of the most significant battles of the Hundred Years War, this battle was an English victory (under Henry V) over the French (under Charles VI). The superiority of the English longbow was again demonstrated against France's heavily armored knights.

Top

Treaty of Troyes
Date: May 21st, 1420 A.D.
Description:
This treaty was an agreement between England and France during the Hundred Years War. According to its terms, the French King Charles VI betrothed his daughter Catherine of Valois to Henry V and made the English King his rightful heir in place of the dauphin.

When Henry V died two years later, the crown of both countries was in effect inherited by the infant Henry VI (who was born 1421). Henry VI would be crowned King of England at Westminster in 1429 and King of France at Paris the following year.

Top

Henry V of England Dies
Date: September 1st, 1422 A.D.
Description:
Henry V, King if England and the victor of Agincourt, dies of dysentery in 1422 in Bois de Vincennes, France.

Top

Execution of Joan of Arc
Date: May 30th, 1431 A.D.
Description:
Joan of Arc is executed at Rouen. The Maid of Orleans, aged just 19, had been captured by the Burgundians and handed over to the English. After a lengthy trial she was found guilty of being a relapsed heretic and duly burnt at the stake. She was canonised in 1920.

Top

Fall of Cherbourgh
Date: August 12th, 1450 A.D.
Description:
After 33 years of English rule, the French succeed in recovering all of Normandy. Now only the Channel Islands would remain under English control. Although tthe war would continue for another three years, the ruinous cost of financing garrisons, combined with the ending of the Burgundian-Almanac civil war in France, would spell the end to Plantagenet ambitions in Continental Europe.

Top

Battle of Castillon
Date: July 17th, 1453 A.D.
Description:
The vanguard of the small English army arrived at the French camp in the early hours of the morning, only to witness the whole French army in flight before them. The English commander, John Talbot, charged up to the camp's palisade wall in pursuit of the enemy—only to find the parapets manned by hundreds of cannon, and thousands of archers. The French army had hidden while the servants and valets fled the field as a lure to the Englishmen. Talbot was killed and his army routed, resulting in complete English expulsion from France and the loss of Aquitaine, which had been the pride of England's crown for over three hundred years.

Top