Medieval Timeline - Browse by Region

Ostrogoths Gain Independence
Date: 454 A.D.
Description:
The Ostrogoths regain their independence from Hun overlordship.

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Corpus Luris Civilis: The Code of Civil Law
Date: April 8th, 529 A.D.
Description:
A man named Tribonian headed a group of men who compiled and edited all of the documents that made up the Roman system of government. Tribonian's codification of Roman law under the Emperor Justinian removed any repetitions, contradictions, and made sure nothing was incompatible with Christian teaching. These legal compilations can be broken down into three elements: Codex, the supreme authority in the courts, Pandects, writings of the ancient Roman jurists, and the Institutes, a handbook of extracts from the other two designed for use in the Imperial Law schools. This became the basis for what many other European countries would base their practice of both canon and civil law.

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Schism of East and West
Date: 1054 A.D.
Description:
After an unfortunate sequence of events, two cardinals and a bishop from Rome, on business in Byzantium, left a Bull of Excommunication upon the high altar in St. Sophia. This was directed at the Greek Patriarch Cerularius, who in turn excommunicated them. This incident led to the schism of Catholic and Orthodox Churches, which was later even further cemented by the events of the Fourth Crusade.

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Battle of Manzikert
Date: August 1071 A.D.
Description:
In one of the worst defeats in the Byzantine Empire's history, Emperor Romanus Diogenes was defeated and captured by the Turks' sultan, Alp Arslan. As a result of this battle, the Eastern Empire lost much of Asia Minor, which included much of its grain and manpower sources.

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Birth of Anna Comnena
Date: 1083 A.D.
Description:
She is considered the first female historian in the west and was the daughter of Byzantine emperor Alexius Comnenus. Her 15 volume history of her family the Comneni, is entitled the Alexiad, and gives a wealth of information about her father and the first crusaders.

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Constantinople Falls
Date: April 12th, 1204 A.D.
Description:
Instead of reaching Jerusalem, the crusaders of the Fourth Crusade became involved in Venetian and Byzantine intrigues, and they were diverted to Constantinople to help the deposed Byzantine emperor Isaac Angelus to regain his throne. Within a few months the crusaders had stormed and sacked the city, establishing a Latin empire there under Baldwin of Flanders.

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Fall of Constantinople
Date: May 29th, 1453 A.D.
Description:
In 1453, Constantinople fell to Mehmet II of the Ottoman Empire. Constantine XI, the Byzantine emperor at the time, was killed in the fighting to take the city. This marked the end of the Eastern Roman Empire.

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