The Middle Ages

By Austin Shepard
  • Sep 28, 1066

    William the Conqueror invades England

    The descendant of Viking raiders, he had been Duke of Normandy since 1035. After a long struggle to establish his power, by 1060 his hold on Normandy was secure, and he launched the Norman conquest of England in 1066. The rest of his life was marked by struggles to consolidate his hold over England and his continental lands and by difficulties with his eldest son.
  • Sep 5, 1150

    Paper is first mass-produced in Spain

    Paper is first mass-produced in Spain
    Papermaking and manufacturing in Europe was started by Muslims living on the Iberian Peninsula, (today's Portugal and Spain) and Sicily in the 10th century, and it slowly spread to Italy and Southern France, reaching Germany by 1400.
  • Sep 28, 1215

    Magna Carta

    Magna Carta
    is a charter agreed by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215.[a] First drafted by the Archbishop of Canterbury to make peace between the unpopular King and a group of rebel barons, it promised the protection of church rights, protection for the barons from illegal imprisonment, access to swift justice, and limitations on feudal payments to the Crown, to be implemented through a council of 25 barons.
  • Sep 28, 1270

    end of the Crusades

    end of the Crusades
    The emperor Frederick II for a short time recovered Jerusalem by a treaty, but in 1244 A.D. the Holy City became again a possession of the Moslems. They have never since relinquished it. Acre, the last Christian post in Syria, fell in 1291 A.D., and with this event the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem ceased to exist.
  • Sep 28, 1348

    The Plague

    The Plague
    The Black Death: Bubonic Plague. In the early 1330s an outbreak of deadly bubonic plague occurred in China. The bubonic plague mainly affects rodents, but fleas can transmit the disease to people. Once people are infected, they infect others very rapidly.
  • Sep 25, 1378

    first appearance of Robin Hood in literature

    first appearance of Robin Hood in literature
    Robin Hood is a heroic outlaw in English folklore who, according to legend, was a highly skilled archer and swordsman. Traditionally depicted as being dressed in Lincoln green, he is often portrayed as "robbing from the rich and giving to the poor" alongside his band of Merry Men.
  • Sep 25, 1387

    Chaucer writes the Canterbury Tales

    Chaucer writes the Canterbury Tales
    The Canterbury Tales (Middle English: Tales of Canterbury) is a collection of over 20 stories written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer at the end of the 14th century, during the time of the Hundred Years' War. The tales (mostly written in verse, although some are in prose) are presented as part of a story-telling contest by a group of pilgrims as they travel together on a journey from Southwark to the shrine of Saint Thomas Becket at Canterbury Cathedral.
  • Sep 28, 1455

    War of the Roses

    War of the Roses
    The Wars of the Roses were a series of dynastic wars for the throne of England. They were fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House of Plantagenet, the houses of Lancaster and York. They were fought in several sporadic episodes between 1455 and 1487, although there was related fighting before and after this period. The conflict resulted from social and financial troubles that followed the Hundred Years' War.
  • Sep 28, 1485

    First Tudor king, Henry VII, is crowned

    First Tudor king, Henry VII, is crowned
    Henry won the throne when his forces defeated the forces of Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the culmination of the Wars of the Roses. Henry was the last king of England to win his throne on the field of battle. He cemented his claim by marrying Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV and niece of Richard III. Henry was successful in restoring the power and stability of the English monarchy after the political upheavals of the civil wars known as the Wars of the Roses.
  • Sep 28, 1485

    first printing of Le Morte d’Arthur

    first printing of Le Morte d’Arthur
    The publication of Chaucer’s work by William Caxton was a precursor to his publication of Malory’s Le Morte D’Arthur. Where the Canterbury Tales are in Middle English, Malory extends “one hand to Chaucer, and one to Spenser” constructing a manuscript which is hard to place in one category. Like other English prose in the fifteenth century, Le Morte D’Arthur was highly influenced by French writings, but Malory blends these with other English verse and prose forms.