The most prominent dates of the Middle Ages

476 - the start of the Middle Ages

476

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, a new age began with lots of wars on territory among the germanic tribes, this meant a setback in learning and quality of living. Later these tribes formed kingdoms, and adopted christianity and the roman heritage, but with a feudal system brought from the Dark ages - these were the foundations of the civilization we live in now. Also, the disappearence of the romans caused the bufferzone in the Arab-peninsula, leading to the formation of Islam.

622 - Birth of Islam

622

Though this date only refers to the escape from Mekka, the consequences of Muhhamad's return and his teachings that eventually unified the arab world are enormous - the Islam owned the most important trade routes from the East, meant threat to Eastern Europe, but also was a mediator between the far East and the West, and preserved and reconsidered lots of territories of science.

732 - Battle of Poitiers

732

This battle ended with the victory of the franks, which meant a stop to the spread of Islam in Europe, christianity strengthened instead, and later on it contributed to the disintegration of the Arab empire, giving space to the Seljuk Turks, and later to the Ottomans.

756 - birth of the Papal States

756

After the restriction of the Lombards, Peppin the Short gave the lands to the pope, which made him a wordly leader - this act later on made the pope the most powerful leader, starter of the Crusades, Investiture wars and the demolition of the Byzantine Empire, making the Balkans the bufferzone of wars.

800 - Charlemagne becomes emperor

800

This title meant that Charlemagne gained enough power and support to become an emperor, he was acknowlegded as heritor and maintainer of the roman heritage and christianity - the pope anointed him, he could make peace with the Byzantine emperor, revived literacy and learning. These steps brought his empire - and as his empire was from the Atlantic to the Danube, basically Western Europe - to a new level.

1054 - The great schism

1054

This crack in christian religion made cultural borders between western and eastern Europe, later on it had a terrible disadvantage for the Byzantine empire, when these differences made them scapegoats in the eyes of the pope, which lead to a cursade and demolition of the empire, making eastern Europe exposed to the Ottoman conquests.

1077 - Walk to Canossa

1077

The conflict between Henry IV and Gregory VII here came to a very tense point - though it should have been an apology, it was only the start of the investiture fights, which had all three won by the pope, weakening the power of the Holy-Roman emperor, thus decentralizing the empire, and the pope becoming even more powerful and able to organize several crusades which caused the decline of the Byzantine empire, but also the cultural exchange with the arab world.

1215 - Magna Carta Libertatum

1215

This document restricted the british monarch and gave power into the hand of the Great council, which later turned into the Monfort Pairlament, where the barons and the clergy, and also the lower layers with representatives played the role of the legislative body - this laid the foundation to leave the feudal system later on.

The Black Death

Period: 1346 to 1353

This plague killed from 30 to 60 per cent of European population, over 75-200 million people in the world. It had great effect on society, and meant a huge setback in population growth after the population boom from 11-14th century.

1492 - The discovery of America

1492

This event is the end of the Middle Ages, with the new lands and with the increasing importance of trade and money, the feudalistic system began to weaken. Also, due to the colonization, Western Europe developed fast, while the eastern part of the continent fell behind more and more.