Middle/Dark Ages Timeline

  • 455

    Vandals sack Rome

    The sack of 455 was the third of four ancient sacks of Rome; it was conducted by the Vandals, who were then at war with the usurping Western Roman Emperor Petronius Maximus
  • Period: 476 to 750

    Clovis Merovingian Dynasty

    The ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751. They first appear as "Kings of the Franks" in the Roman army of northern Gaul. By 509 they had united all the Franks and northern Gaulish Romans under their rule
  • Period: 480 to 547

    Benedict of Nursia

    A Catholic saint venerated in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Anglican Communion and Old Catholic Churches. He is a patron saint of Europe
  • Period: Oct 10, 732 to Oct 11, 732

    Battle of tours

    The Battle of Tours, also called the Battle of Poitiers and, by Arab sources, the Battle of the Highway of the Martyrs, was fought on 10 October 732, and was an important battle during the Umayyad invasion of Gaul
  • May 26, 735

    Saint Bede

    an English Benedictine monk at the monastery of St. Peter and its companion monastery of St. Paul in the Kingdom of Northumbria of the Angles.
  • Period: 768 to 814

    Missi Dominici

    Responsible for announcing the king's will on the local level and for ensuring that justice was done throughout the realm.
  • Period: 780 to 850

    Al-Khwarizmi

    A Persian polymath who produced vastly influential works in mathematics, astronomy, and geography. Around 820 CE he was appointed as the astronomer and head of the library of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad
  • 782

    Massacre of Verden

    The Frankish king Charlemagne ordered the death of 4,500 Saxons
  • 793

    Vikings attack Lindisfarne

    Vikings attack Lindisfarne which had the preeminent center of Christianity in the kingdom of Northumbria
  • Jan 28, 814

    Charlemagne Death

    Charlemagne, King of Franks dies
  • Period: 849 to Oct 26, 899

    King Alfred of England

    Alfred the Great was king of the West Saxons from 871 to c. 886 and king of the Anglo-Saxons from c. 886 to 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf, who died when Alfred was young. Three of Alfred's brothers, Æthelbald, Æthelberht and Æthelred, reigned in turn before him.
  • Period: 854 to Oct 15, 925

    Muhammad Al Razi

    Abū Bakr Muhammad Zakariyyā Rāzī, was a Persian polymath, physician, alchemist, philosopher, and important figure in the history of medicine. He also wrote on logic, astronomy and grammar
  • Oct 14, 1066

    Battle of Hastings

    Fight between the Norman-French army and the English army
  • 1086

    Doomsday Book

    Domesday Book is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William the Conqueror
  • Period: 1094 to 1162

    Ibn Zuhur

    An Arab physician, surgeon, and poet. He was born at Seville in medieval Andalusia, was a contemporary of Averroes and Ibn Tufail, and was the most well-regarded physician of his era
  • Period: 1162 to Aug 18, 1227

    Genghis Khan

    The founder and first Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death. He came to power by uniting many of the nomadic tribes of Northeast Asia
  • Period: Aug 20, 1190 to 1255

    Sundiata Keita

    A prince and founder of the Mali Empire. The Malian ruler Mansa Musa, who made a pilgrimage to Mecca, was his great-nephew
  • Jun 15, 1215

    Magna Carta

    A royal charter of rights agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor
  • Period: Sep 15, 1254 to Jan 8, 1324

    Marco Polo

    Marco Polo was a Venetian merchant, explorer, and writer who travelled through Asia along the Silk Road
  • Period: 1300 to Jul 25, 1368

    Guy De Chauliac

    A French physician and surgeon who wrote a lengthy and influential treatise on surgery in Latin, titled Chirurgia Magna
  • 1325

    Mansa Musa Journey for the Hajj

    Mansa Musa traveled through the cities of Timbuktu and Gao on his way to Mecca, and made them a part of his empire when he returned around 1325
  • 1343

    Jani Beg siege of Kaffa/Caffa

    Jani Beg commanded a massive Crimean Tatar force that attacked the Crimean port city of Kaffa
  • Period: 1343 to Oct 25, 1400

    Geoffrey Chaucer

    An English poet and author. Widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages, he is best known for The Canterbury Tales. He has been called the "father of English literature", or, alternatively, the "father of English poetry"
  • Period: Sep 11, 1364 to 1430

    Christine De Pisan

    Born Cristina da Pizzano, was a poet and author at the court of King Charles VI of France and several French dukes. Venetian by birth, Christine served as a court writer in medieval France after the death of her husband
  • Period: Jan 6, 1412 to May 30, 1431

    Joan of Arc

    A heroine of France for her role during the Lancastrian phase of the Hundred Years' War, and was canonized as a saint. She was born to Jacques d'Arc and Isabelle Romée, a peasant family, at Domrémy in the Vosges of northeast France