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Timeline |
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MIDDLE AGES |
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MIDDLE AGES > Website 
The Middle Ages was the middle period in a schematic division of European history into three 'ages': Classical civilization, the Middle Ages, and Modern Civilization. It is commonly considered as having lasted from the end of the Western Roman Empire (5th century) until the rise of national monarchies and the beginnings of demographic and economic renewal after the Black Death, European overseas exploration and the cultural revival known as the Renaissance around the 15th century as well as the Protestant Reformation starting 1517 when the Disputation of Doctor Martin Luther on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences, known as the 95 Theses, challenged the teachings of the Church on the nature of penance, the authority of the pope and the usefulness of indulgences. They sparked a theological debate that would result in the birth of the Lutheran, Reformed and Anabaptist traditions within Christianity.
More on this Website >
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_ages
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Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo
He was named the Christian bishop of Hippo (Annaba, Algeria) in 396, and devoted the remaining decades of his life to the formation of an ascetic religious community. Augustine argued against the skeptics that genuine human knowledge can be establish... |
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Attila, King of the Huns
Attila Attila the Hun was the Emperor of the Huns from 434 until his death in 453. He was leader of the Hunnic Empire which stretched from Germany to the Ural River and from the River Danube to the Baltic Sea. During his rule, he was one of the most... |
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The Huns
The event which, more than any other, presaged the fall of the Roman Empire was the arrival of a group of the Huns in Eastern Europe, forcing many Germanic peoples to migrate southwards and westwards and setting off a chain reaction which could only... |
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Odoacer, 1st Barbarian King of Italy
First barbarian king of Italy (476 – 493). A German warrior in the Roman army, he led a revolt against the usurper Orestes (475). He was proclaimed king by his troops in 476, the date that traditionally marks the end of the Western Roman Empire. Odoa... |
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Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths
King of the Ostrogoths and founder of the Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy. Sent by the Byzantine emperor Zeno to invade Italy in 488, he made himself sole ruler by 493 and murdered Odoacer by treachery. With Ravenna as his capital he staved off the Fran... |
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Clovis, KIng of the Franks
The founder of the Merovingian dynasty of Frankish kings, Clovis defeated the last Roman ruler in Gaul and conquered various Germanic peoples in what is today France. His conversion to Catholicism (instead of the Arian form of Christianity practiced... |
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Aryabhata, Inventor of the Digit Zero
Aryabhata is the first of the great astronomers of the classical age of India. He was born in 476 AD in Ashmaka but later lived in Kusumapura, which his commentator Bhaskara I (629 AD) identifies with Patilputra (modern Patna).
Aryabhata gave the... |
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Saint Benedict
Born in the district of Nurcia, in Umbria, central Italy, he was sent to Rome for his studies; but left there and joined (c 500) a sort of community of ecclesiastical students at Affile. Shortly after he retired to a cave near Subiaco--now the Sacro... |
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Boethius, Roman Scholar
In two ways, Boethius was unique. He was far and away the best educated Roman of his age: indeed, there had been no one like him for a century, and there would never be another (the senate, long since ceremoniously inane, disappeared forever by the e... |
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The Lombards invade Italy
The Lombards (Latin Langobardi, Longobards found in older English texts), were Germanic people who migrated southwards to occupy the Hungarian plains during the 6th century and entered the late Roman Empire.
Pressure from the Avars caused them to... |
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Mohammed, Founder of Islam
Mohammed or Muhammed is the founder of the religion of Islam and is regarded by Muslims as a messenger and prophet of God, the last and the greatest law-bearer in a series of prophets. Muslims consider him the restorer of the uncorrupted original mon... |
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The Advenures of Beowulf
Beowulf, written in Old English sometime before the tenth century A.D., describes the adventures of a great Scandinavian warrior of the sixth century. A rich fabric of fact and fancy, Beowulf is the oldest surviving epic in British literature. Beowu... |
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Tang Dynasty
The Tang Dynasty followed the Sui Dynasty and preceded the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period in China. The dynasty was interrupted by the Second Zhou Dynasty (690–705) when Empress Wu Zhao seized the throne. The dynasty was founded by the Li fam... |
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Wu Zetian, Empress of China
The Empress Wu Zetian, personal name Wu Zhao, was the only female emperor in the history of China, founding her own dynasty, the Zhou, and ruling under the name Emperor Shengshen from 690 to 705. Her rise and reign has been criticized harshly by Conf... |
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The Venerable Bede, Servant of Christ
The extraordinary life of the Venerable Bede created a rich legacy that is celebrated today at Bede's World, Jarrow, where Bede lived and worked 1300 years ago. "Servant of Christ and Priest of the Monastery of Saints Peter and Paul which is at Wearm... |
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Charles Martel, Ruler of the Franks
Charles Martel (in Latin, Carolus Martellus; in German, Karl Martell) - grandfather of Charlemagne - was the illegitimate son of Pippin II of Herstal and, after an intense power struggle, succeeded him as the "mayor of the palace" of Austras... |
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Pepin the Short, Father of Charlemagne
Pepin the Short (or Pepin the Younger or Pepin III), was the King of the Franks from 751 to 768 and is best known for being the father of Charlemagne, or Charles the Great. He was born in 714 in Jupille, close to the city of Liège, in what is today B... |
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Battle of Tours, Turning Point Islam
The Battle of Tours, often called Battle of Poitiers, was fought near the city of Tours, close to the border between the Frankish realm and the independent region of Aquitaine. The battle pitted Frankish and Burgundian forces under Austrasian Mayor o... |
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Charlemagne, Charles the Great
First Holy Roman Emperor: 800-814. (French for Carolus Magnus, or Carlus Magnus; Charles the Great, German Karl der Grosse). The name given by later generations to Charles, King of the Franks, first sovereign of the Christian Empire of the West; born... |
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Offa, First King of the English
Offa (son of Thingfrith, son of Eanulf), King of Mercia, was one of the leading figures of Saxon history. He obtained the throne of Mercia in 757, after the murder of his cousin, King Aethelbald, by Beornraed. After spending fourteen years in consoli... |
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The Vikings
The Vikings were venturesome seafarers. From Denmark, Norway and Sweden they spread through Europe and the North Atlantic in the period of vigorous Scandinavian expansion (AD 800-1050) known as the Viking Age. Although they are often thought of prima... |
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Pope St. Leo III, Crowned Charlemagne
Leo III, Saint, pope (795–816), a Roman; successor of Adrian I. He was attacked about the face and eyes by members of Adrian's family, who hoped to render him unfit for the papacy. Leo recovered and fled (799) to Charlemagne's protection at Paderborn... |
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Invention of Gunpowder
Gunpowder, reportedly produced from saltpetre, sulphur and charcoal, is a Chinese invention. Earliest records of the formula date to the 800s. The Chinese used gunpowder to propel rockets, and to produce incendiary and explosive projectiles thrown by... |
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Treaty of Verdun, End Empire Charlemagne
Verdun, Treaty of, the partition of Charlemagne's empire among three sons of Louis I, emperor of the West. Louis the German received the eastern portion (later Germany); Charles II (Charles the Bald) became king of the western portion (later France);... |
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Simeon the Great, 1st Tsar of Bulgaria
Tsar Simeon the Great was the ruler of Bulgaria, who reigned 893 - 927. He was 27 when he took the throne from his brother Vladimir, the son of Prince Boris, who was deposed and possibly blinded by his own father after his attempt to return Bulgaria... |
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Al-Farabi, Muslim Philosopher
Al-Farabi, Farabi, and Abunaser was a Muslim philosopher and scientist and one of the greatest scientists and philosophers of his time.
Some historians claim Farabi was born in the small village of Wasij near Farab (in what is today Otrar, Kazakhs... |
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Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman emperor Otto I, called Otto the Great, was the most powerful western European ruler after Charlemagne. He organized a strong German state and expanded his authority over Burgundy and Italy.
He extended the frontiers of the German k... |
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Leif Ericson, 1st to sail to North America
Leif Ericson was a Norse explorer known to be the first European to have landed in North America (presumably in Newfoundland, Canada). It is believed that Leif was born about 970 in Iceland, the son of Erik the Red, a Norwegian explorer and outlaw. E... |
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Al-Biruni, Persian Mathematician
Abu Rayhan Biruni was a Persian mathematician, physicist, scholar, encyclopedist, philosopher, astronomer, astrologer, traveller, historian, pharmacist, and teacher, who contributed greatly to the fields of mathematics, philosophy, medicine, and scie... |
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El Cid, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar
Rodrigo (or Ruy) Díaz de Vivar, nicknamed El Cid Campeador, was a Castilian military and political leader in medieval Spain. Born of the minor nobility, El Cid was educated in the royal Castilian court and became an important general and administrato... |
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Battle of Hastings, William the Conqueror
William took seven months to prepare his invasion force, using some 600 transport ships to carry around 7,000 men (including 2,000-3,000 cavalry) across the Channel. On 28 September 1066, with a favourable wind, William landed unopposed at Pevensey a... |
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St. Bernard of Clairvaux
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux was a French abbot and the primary builder of the reforming Cistercian monastic order. "The voice of conscience, the dominating figure in the Catholic Church from 1125 to 1153", his authority helped to end the schism of 113... |
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The Crusades
The Crusades were a series of religiously-sanctioned military campaigns waged by much of Latin Christian Europe, particularly the Franks of France and the Holy Roman Empire. The specific crusades to restore Christian control of the Holy Land were fou... |
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Roger II, King of Sicily
Roger II was King of Sicily, son of Roger I of Sicily and successor to his brother Simon. He began his rule as Count of Sicily in 1105, later became Duke of Apulia and Calabria (1127), then King of Sicily (1130). It is Roger II's distinction to have... |
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Siege of Jerusalem, 1st Crusade
In the early 11th century, the Egyptian Fatimid Caliph Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah ordered the destruction of all churches and synagogues in Jerusalem. Reports of this were one cause of the First Crusade, which marched off from Europe to the area, and, on... |
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Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a Christian kingdom established in the Levant in 1099 after the First Crusade. It lasted less than two hundred years, until 1291 when the last remaining outpost, Acre, was destroyed by the Mamluks. At first the kingdom wa... |
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Afonso I, First King of Portugal
Afonso I of Portugal (English Alphonzo), more commonly known as Afonso Henriques, was the first King of Portugal, declaring his independence from León. Afonso was the son of Henry of Burgundy, Count of Portugal and Teresa of León, the illegitimate da... |
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Frederick I, Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick I Barbarossa was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March, crowned King of Italy in Pavia in 1154, and finally crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV on 18 June 1155. He was crowned King of... |
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King Richard I - The Lionheart
While Richard Plantagenet is revered as one of the great warrior kings of England, he is perhaps best known as "the absent king." This is due to the fact that during his reign from 1189-1199, he spent a total of six months in England. This aside Rich... |
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Genghis Khan, Unified the Mongols
At the time of his death in 1227, Genghis Khan had unified the Mongol people, organized a nearly invincible army of fearless nomadic warriors, and set into motion the first stage in the conquest of an enormous territory that woul... |
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Francis of Assisi, Founder Franciscans
Italian saint and founder of the Franciscan religious order. Born into a wealthy family, he was a soldier and prisoner of war before he experienced a conversion in his early 20s. He sold his property, gave the proceeds to the church, and began a life... |
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Frederick II, King of Sicily
Frederick II of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was a pretender to the title of King of the Romans from 1212 and unopposed holder of that monarchy from 1215. As such, he was King of Germany, of Italy, and of Burgundy. He was Holy Roman Emperor from his pap... |
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Kublai Khan, Mongolian Leader
Kublai Khan was a Mongolian leader who made an impact on China, not only through conquest, but also by ruling successfully. Many of the rulers before him were brutally land-hungry and apathetic to the conquered people; however, Kublai challenged the... |
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St. Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, born of a noble family in Rocca Secca, near Aquino in 1225, was to complete the magnificent synthesis of Scholasticism. Thomas Aquinas was the first to recognize the fact that Aristotelian intellectualism would be of great help fo... |
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Marco Polo, Travels to China
Marco Polo, is probably the most famous Westerner traveled on the Silk Road. He excelled all the other travelers in his determination, his writing, and his influence. His journey through Asia lasted 24 years. He reached further than any of his predec... |
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The Fall of Baghdad
By 1251 the horsemen of the steppe were united once again, under the authority of three brothers, grandsons of Genghis Khan: Mongke, Kubilay and Hulegu. It was the ambition of the third, who had settled in Persia, to conquer the entire Muslim east to... |
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Dante, Writer of Divina Commedia
Dante Alighieri was born in 1265 in Florence, Italy. He was exiled from the city for life. For 20 years Dante lived in exile, wandered Europe, and wrote one of the greatest classics in all Western literature, his Divina Commedia. His exile and his d... |
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Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles IV, born Wenceslaus, of the House of Luxembourg, was Holy Roman Emperor from 1355 until his death. He was the eldest son and heir of John the Blind, from whom he inherited Luxembourg and Bohemia on 26 August 1346. He was elected King of Germa... |
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The Black Death in Europe
The Black Death was one of the worst natural disasters in history. In 1347 A.D., a great plague swept over Europe and ravaged cities causing widespread hysteria and death. One third of the population of Europe died. "The impact upon the future of... |
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RENAISSANCE
"Renaissance," French for "rebirth," perfectly describes the intellectual and economic changes that occurred in Europe from the fourteenth through the sixteenth centuries. During the era known by this name, Europe emerged from the economic stagnation... |
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Who • What • When • Where • Which |
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