Top Ten Events of the Middle Ages

By jkkqei
  • 480

    the middle age start

    The Vandals sack Rome under their king Gaisalic.
    Odoacer deposing Roman Emperor Romulus Augustus
    Death of Nepos, the last recognized Roman emperor
  • 1066

    The battle of Hastings and the Norman conquest

    The Norman conquest of 1066 marked a dramatic and irreversible turning point in English history. Events began with the battle of Hastings, in which the Anglo-Saxon king Harold II attempted to defend his realm from the Norman invasion forces of William, Duke of Normandy (later known as William the Conqueror).
  • 1071

    Alp Arslan of the Seljuks defeats the Eastern Roman Empire at Malazgirt, and the Normans capture Bari

    The Eastern Roman Empire began to decline
  • 1085

    The Domesday Book is completed

    The Domesday Book is England’s earliest surviving public record, unsurpassed in depth and detail until the introduction of censuses in the 19th century.
  • 1088

    University of Bologna established

    oldest university in europe
  • 1095

    The First Crusade is decreed

    Pope Urban II’s official call for “holy war” in 1095
    These intercontinental military expeditions also had a much wider impact on global relations. They led to an unprecedented interaction between east and west, which had an enduring influence on art, science, culture and trade. In the words of historian Linda Paterson, the crusades “transformed the western world and left a profound legacy in inter-cultural and inter-faith relations nationally and worldwide”.
  • 1215

    Magna Carta is signed

    Sealed by King John at Runnymede on 15 June 1215, Magna Carta (meaning ‘great charter’) has become one of the founding documents of the English legal system.
  • 1337

    Beginning of the Hundred Years' War between Britain and France

    The war lasted 116 years, with several twists and turns, and finally the French victory
  • 1347

    The Black Death began to spread in Europe, 20%-40% of people died in the first year

    The summer of 1348 saw the first outbreak of the bubonic plague in England, leading to an epidemic of huge proportions. The disease is estimated to have killed between a third and a half of the population – a devastating and unprecedented death rate.
  • 1453

    Constantinople captured by the Ottoman Turks

    The Eastern Roman Empire fell. Constantinople becomes the capital of the Ottoman Empire