Time Line for

A time line of important events during the Middle Ages.

Date
Region
Event

5th-6th c.
East Asia

Confucianism Arrives in Japan

455
Europe
Vandals sack Rome

c. 456
Europe
Saint Patrick begins his missionary work in Ireland

476-493
Europe
Reign of Odoacer, first barbarian king of Italy

481-511
Europe
Reign of Clovis, king of the Franks

484
Central and South Asia

White Huns Raid India

493-511
Europe
Reign of Saint Clotilda, queen consort of France

493-1364
Europe and Middle East
Bulgarian-Byzantine wars for control of the area south of the Danube River and the border between the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgarian kingdom

495-516
Europe
Battle of Mount Badon puts a stop to Anglo-Saxon expansion

496
Europe

Baptism of Clovis

499
South Asia
Āryabhaṭa the Elder writes his magnum opus on mathematics and astronomy, The Aryabhatiya

500-534
Europe
Burgundian-Frankish wars for control of Burgundy

c. 500-1000
Africa

Rise of Swahili Cultures

c. 500-1000
Americas

Tiwanaku Civilization Flourishes in Andean Highlands

6th-8th c.
Central Asia

Sogdians Dominate Central Asian Trade

Aug. 502-591
Europe and Middle East
Byzantine-Persian wars for control of Asia between the Bosporus and beyond the Euphrates River

Feb. 2, 506
Europe

Alaric II Drafts the Breviarum Alarici

507
Europe
Clovis defeats the Visigoths at Vouillé and unifies Gaul

524
Europe

Imprisonment and Death of Boethius

526
Europe
Priscian writes Institutiones grammaticae

Before 527
Central Asia
Translator and church historian Dionysius Exiguus devises the Christian-based calendar

527-548
Europe
Reign of Theodora, Byzantine empress

529
Europe
Saint Benedict of Nursia founds the Benedictine monastic order at Monte Cassino in southern Italy

529-534
Middle East

Justinian’s Code Is Compiled: Justinian definitively codifies Roman law, wages war against the Germans and Persians, and changes the nature of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire to an absolute monarchy

531-579
Middle East
Reign of Khosrow I, king of Persia

532-537
Middle East

Building of Hagia Sophia

534-535
Europe
Reign of Amalasuntha, queen of the Ostrogoths

534-554
Europe
Gothic wars for control of the Italian peninsula

538-552
East Asia

Buddhism Arrives in Japan

543-1189
South Asia
Cālukyan wars for control of southern India

c. 550
East Asia
The Tuque (T’u-chüeh), a Turkish steppe people, create a loose dominion north of China, stretching from Korea to Karashar

July 552
Europe
Battle of Taginae: Justinian’s general Narses defeats the Ostrogoths in Italy

563
Europe, Middle East, East Asia

Silk Worms Are Smuggled to the Byzantine Empire

567-568
Central and South Asia

Sāsānians and Turks Defeat the White Huns

567-597
Europe
Reign of Fredegunde, queen of Neustria

568-571
Europe

Lombard Conquest of Italy and reign of Alboin

Late sixth c.
Europe
Irish abbess Saint Brigit makes Kildare a center of scholarship and a school of art

Late sixth c.
Europe
Gregory of Tours writes his history of the Franks, Historia Francorum

581
East Asia

Sui Dynasty Reunifies China

590-604
Europe

Reforms of Pope Gregory the Great

593-604
East Asia

Regency of Shōtoku Taishi

593-628
East Asia
Reign of Suiko, Japanese empress

c. 595/598
Europe
Battle of Catraeth, ground battle in defense of Britain

595-665
East and South Asia

Invention of Decimals and Negative Numbers, including the zero value

596-597
Europe

See of Canterbury Is Established

598-668
East Asia
Sino-Korean wars: Chinese conquest of north Korea

c. 600-950
Americas

El Tajín Is Built

7th c.
Africa
Aksumite kingdom is weakened by the spread of Islam throughout Arabia and North Africa

7th-early 8th c.
Americas

Maya Build Astronomical Observatory at Palenque

7th-8th c.
East Asia

Papermaking Spreads to Korea, Japan, and Central Asia

7th-13th c.
Americas

Mogollons Establish Agricultural Settlements

605-610
East Asia

Building of the Grand Canal

606
East Asia

National University Awards First Doctorate

606-647
South Asia

Reign of Harṣa of Kanauj

607-839
East Asia

Japan Sends Embassies to China

c. 610-632
Middle East

Muḥammad Receives Revelations

610-638
Europe
Constantinople’s Sergius I is patriarch of the Orthodox Church

610-641
Europe
Heraclius reigns over the Byzantine Empire, Hellenizing the culture and introducing a system of provinces ruled by military governors

c. 611-642
South Asia

Reign of Pulakeśin II

618
East Asia

Founding of the Tang Dynasty

619
Middle East
Death of Khadīja, wife of the Prophet Muḥammad and first convert to Islam

622
Middle East
The Prophet Muḥammad flees from Mecca to Medina to avoid persecution

627-649
East Asia
Reign of Taizong, Chinese emperor

627-650
Central and South Asia

Reign of Songtsen Gampo

c. 628
South Asia
Indian mathematician Brahmagupta completes his masterwork on astronomy, the Brahmasphuṭasiddhānta

629-645
East, Central, and South Asia

Pilgrimage of Xuanzang

630-668
South Asia

Reign of Narasi Mhavarman I Mahāmalla

630-711
Africa

Islam Expands Throughout North Africa

June 8, 632
Middle East
Death of the Prophet Muḥammad, followed by creation of the Islamic caliphate

633
Europe
At the Fourth Council of Toledo, Isidore of Seville orders the establishment of liberal arts schools in all dioceses of Hispania

634-644
Middle East
Reign of ՙUmar I, first caliph

635-800
Europe

Founding of Lindisfarne and Creation of the Book of Kells

Aug. 15-20, 636
Middle East

Battle of Yarmūk: Muslim forces capture the holy regions of Syria and Palestine from the Byzantine Empire

637
Middle East
Battle of Qadisiyah: Arab forces destroy the Sāsānian Persians, heralding the decline of their empire

637-657
Middle East

Islam Expands Throughout the Middle East

641-642
Middle East
Siege of Nahavand: Muslims invade the Persian highlands

645-646
East Asia

Adoption of Nengo System and Taika Reforms

c. 650
East Asia
Portraitist Yan Liben paints his Scroll of the Emperors, depicting thirteen of China’s emperors

652-c. 1171
Africa

Christian Nubia and Muslim Egypt Sign Treaty

657-661
Middle East
Muslim Civil War for control of the Islamic world: ՙAlī’s claim to the caliphate creates a rift in Islamic unity between Syrian and Iraqi Muslims, leading to the formation of the Shīՙite and Sunni sects

c. 667-c. 702
Africa
Reign of the Berber queen Damia al-Kāhina

668-935
East Asia

Silla Unification of Korea

674-678
Europe
The flammable liquid Greek fire is used by the Byzantines against Arab ships during the Siege of Constantinople

c. 675-719
Europe
Frankish civil wars for control of the Frankish kingdom

c. 680
Europe
Cædmon composes the earliest known English poetry

Oct. 10, 680
Middle East

Martyrdom of Prophet’s Grandson Ḥusayn at the Battle of Karbalā՚

682-1377
Southeast Asia

Expansion of Śrivijaya

685-691
Middle East

Building of the Dome of the Rock

685-705
Middle East
Reign of Caliph ՙAbd al-Malik

687
Europe
Pépin of Herstal wins the Battle of Tertry, solidifies rule over all Franks, and unifies the office of Mayor of the Palace

687-701
Europe
Saint Sergius I is pope

Nov. 17, 689
Europe
Death of Saint Hilda of Whitby, English abbess

c. 690
Europe
Death of Paul of Aegina, Byzantine physician and writer

690-705
East Asia

Reign of Empress Wu

c. 700
Americas

Bow and Arrow Spread into North America

c. 700
East Asia
Porcelain is invented in China

c. 700
Middle East
Windmills are invented in Persia

c. 700-1000
Americas

Building of Chichén Itzá

c. 700-1000
Europe

Heavy Plow Helps Increase Agricultural Yields

c. 700-1100
Australia/Pacific

Settlement of the South Pacific Islands

c. 700-1253
Southeast Asia

Confederation of Thai Tribes

8th c.
Europe
Composition of Beowulf, England’s national epic

8th-14th c.
Americas

Cahokia Becomes the First North American City

8th-15th c.
Americas

Hohokam Adapt to the Desert Southwest

701
East Asia

Taihō Laws Reform Japanese Government

c. 710
South Asia

Construction of the Kāila Śanātha Temple

Apr./May 711
Europe

Ṭārik Crosses into Spain, overcoming the Visigoths in the seven-day Battle of La Janda

711-1492
Europe
Reconquista (Reconquest) of Spain: Christian principalities launch a four-hundred-year campaign to retake the southern Iberian Peninsula from Muslim rule

712-720
East Asia

Writing of Kojiki and Nihon Shoki

713-741
East Asia

First Newspapers in China

714
Europe
Pépin’s illegitimate son, Charles Martel, seizes control of the Frankish kingdom

717-718
Europe
Siege of Constantinople: The Islamic Empire expands into Europe

718-759
Europe, Middle East
Frankish-Moorish wars for control of Gaul

719-741
Europe
Charles Martel is Frankish mayor of the palace

721
Europe
Battle of Toulouse: Eudo, duke of Aquitaine, defeats the Muslims

726-843
Europe

Iconoclastic Controversy

728
Middle East
Death of the Islamic sage al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī

729
Southeast Asia

Founding of Nanzhao

730
South Asia

Rise of the Pratihāras

730’s
East Asia
Li Bo is traveling through China and writing lyric poetry

731
Europe

Bede Writes Ecclesiastical History of the English People

Oct. 11, 732
Europe

Battle of Tours: Christian victory discourages Muslim incursions beyond the Pyrenees

733-750
Europe
Æthelbald’s wars for control of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms: Mercia becomes the most important power in England

734-755
East Asia
Wang Wei is writing poetry in China

735
Europe

Christianity Is Introduced into Germany by Saint Boniface, archbishop of Mainz

740
Europe

Khazars Convert to Judaism

c. 740
Middle East
Abū Ḥanīfah founds the Hanifite school of Islamic law

744-840
Central Asia

Uighur Turks Rule Central Asia: Uighurs destroy the Tuque (T’u-chüeh) Empire and dominate Mongolia and Central Asia

747-750
Middle East
ՙAbbāsid Revolution: Establishment of a legitimate Islamic government and control of tax revenues

Dec. 4, 749
Europe
Death of John of Damascus, writer, monk, and religious scholar

c. 750
East Asia
Carbon-steel swords first appear in Japan

c. 750
South Asia
Śaṅkara founds the Advaita school of Hindu philosophy and makes a pilgrimage throughout the Indian subcontinent

750-1035
Europe, Middle East
Byzantine-Muslim wars to determine Christian vs. Muslim influence in the Middle East

c. 750-1240
Africa

Rise and Fall of Ghana

751
Central Asia

Battle of Talas River: Arabs defeat the Chinese near Samarqand in Central Asia

754
Europe

Coronation of Pépin the Short

755-763
East Asia

Rebellion of An Lushan

759-770
East Asia
Chinese poet Du Fu writes his most mature lyrics

763
Central Asia

Tibetans Capture Chang’an

764-770
East Asia
Reign of Kōken, Japanese empress

c. 770
Worldwide
Iron horseshoes come into common use

770-810
South Asia

Reign of Dharmapāla

771-786
Europe
Offa’s wars for Mercian hegemony in England

771-814
Europe
Wars of Charlemagne: expansion and protection of the Frankish empire

775-802
Europe
Reign of Saint Irene, Byzantine empress

775-840
Southeast Asia

Building of Borobuḍur

780
Middle East

Beginning of the Harem System

780
Southeast Asia

Rise of the Sailendra Family

781
Europe

Alcuin Becomes Adviser to Charlemagne

782
Europe
Saxon chieftain Widukind leads a revolt against the Franks near the Weser River

786-809
Middle East

Reign of Hārūn al-Rashīd

788-850
South Asia

Śaṅkara Expounds Advaita Vedānta

791
Central Asia

Buddhism Becomes Tibetan State Religion

792
East Asia

Rise of the Samurai

June 7, 793
Europe

Norse Raid Lindisfarne Monastery

794-1185
East Asia

Heian Period

c. 796
Europe
Completion of Offa’s Dyke, built on the Welsh border to defend the Mercian kingdom

800
Europe
Pope Leo III crowns Charlemagne Holy Roman Emperor

c. 800
East Asia

Kana Syllabary Is Developed

9th-11th c.
Africa
Kanem-Bornu Sultanate expands throughout western Sudan

c. 800-1100
Australia/Pacific
Polynesians make unique stone images on Necker Island in Hawaii

c. 800-1350
Americas

Mississippian Mound-Building Culture Flourishes

9th-14th c.
Africa

Rise of the Toutswe Kingdom

9th-15th c.
Americas

Plains Village Culture Flourishes

9th-15th c.
Middle East, Africa
Throughout the Islamic world, mamlūks (military slaves) are recruited into elite regiments, providing military support to many Islamic emirates and caliphates

801
Middle East
Death of Sufi mystic Rābiՙah al-ՙAdawiyah

802
Southeast Asia

Founding of the Khmer Empire

802-839
Europe
Reign of Egbert, king of England

809
Middle East

First Islamic Public Hospital

c. 810
Europe
Rabanus Maurus’s “figural poems” revive the classical practice of joining text to pictures

c. 810-815
Europe
Theophanes the Confessor writes Chronographia, the main source for the history of the Byzantine Empire from about 600 to 813

812
East Asia

Paper Money First Used in China

815
Middle East
Death of Abū Mūsā Jābir ibn Ḥayyān, Arabian chemist and alchemist

832
Southeast Asia

Nanzhao Subjugates Pyu

834
Middle East

Gypsies Expelled from Persia

Apr. 22, 835
East Asia
Death of Japanese monk Kōbō Daishi

838-842
Central Asia

Tibetan Empire Dissolves

840-846
Central Asia

Uighur Migrations

840-920
Central Asia
Nomadic Kirghiz horsemen invade Mongolia and drive out the Uighurs

c. 841
Europe
Dhuoda writes Liber Manualis, the only extant book by a woman from the Carolingian period

June 25, 841
Europe
Battle of Fontenay, ground battle in the Carolingian civil wars

843
Europe

Treaty of Verdun divides the Carolingian Empire among Charlemagne’s sons

843-876
Europe
Reign of Louis the German, king of Germany

845
East Asia

Suppression of Buddhism

Mid-9th c.
East Asia

Invention of Gunpowder and Guns

c. 850
Europe

Development of Slavic Alphabet

c. 850
Middle East
Death of Arabic mathematician and astronomer al-Khwārizmī

c. 850
Middle East
The coffee beverage is invented in Arabia

c. 850-950
Europe

Viking Era: Vikings raid the British Isles, Iceland, continental Europe, and Russia

850-1257
South Asia
Cōla Kingdom rules much of southern India

After 850
Americas

Foundation of Chan Chan

852-889
Europe
Reign of Boris I of Bulgaria, czar of Bulgaria

July 855
Middle East
Death of Aḥmad ibn Ḥanbal, Muslim theologian and jurist

858
East Asia

Rise of the Fujiwara Family

858
Middle East
Birth of Arab astronomer and mathematician al-Battānī

858-867
Europe
Nicholas the Great is pope

859-862
Europe
Varangian incursion: Vikings invade northwestern Russia

c. 860-879
Europe
Rurik becomes the first prince of Kievan Rus

861-870
Middle East
Muslim civil war for control of the caliphate in Baghdad

863
East and Southeast Asia

Nanzhao Captures Hanoi

863-885
Europe
In Moravia, Saints Cyril and Methodius are developing the Slavonic liturgy and alphabet

864
Europe

Boris Converts to Christianity

867-886
Europe
Reign of Byzantine emperor Basil the Macedonian

868
Middle East
Death of Arabic zoologist and scholar al-Jāḥiẓ

868
East Asia

First Book Printed: The Diamond Sutra is the earliest extant printed book

869-883
Middle East

Zanj Revolt of African Slaves

871-899
Europe
Reign of Alfred the Great, king of England

872
Middle East
Arab historian al-Ṭabarī writes his history of the world

872-973
Middle East

Publication of The History of al-Ṭabarī

875-877
Europe
Reign of Charles the Bald, king of France and Holy Roman Emperor

877-889
Southeast Asia

Indravarman I Conquers the Thai and the Mons

878
Europe

Alfred Defeats the Danes at the Battle of Edington

886
Europe
Last Viking siege of Paris

890’s
Europe

Magyars Invade Italy, Saxony, and Bavaria

893
Europe

Beginning of Bulgaria’s Golden Age

c. 896-907
Europe
Reign of Árpád, founder of the first Hungarian state

899-918
Europe
Reign of Æthelflæd, queen of Mercia

899-924
Europe
Reign of Edward the Elder, king of England

Early 10th c.
Central Asia

Qarakhanids Convert to Islam

10th c.
Americas

Cult of Quetzalcóatl Spreads Through Mesoamerica

10th c.
Central and South Asia
Ghaznavid Turks invade India from Afghanistan, introducing an Islamic influence that will continue until the early sixteenth century

10th-11th c.
Africa

First Hausa State Established

10th-11th c.
Europe
The crossbow makes its first European appearance, in Italy

10th-11th c.
Europe
Under the Umayyad caliphate, the Iberian Peninsula experiences a golden age of philosophy, literature, science, and relative religious tolerance

c. 900-1150
Middle East
Philosophy, science, and scholarship flourish in Iran under such figures as al-Bīrūnī, physician-philosopher Avicenna, the Islamic theologian al-Ghazzālī, and the physician al-Rāzī

907-960
East Asia

Period of Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

907-1125
East Asia
The Liao Dynasty rules northwestern China

911
Europe
Rollo receives the county of Normandy from the French king

911-c. 932
Europe
Rollo’s reign establishes the Norman Dynasty

912-961
Europe
ՙAbd al-Raḥmān III al-Nāṣir, Umayyad emir and caliph, rules Córdoba

c. 915
Africa
Arab historian and geographer al-Masՙūdī begins his extensive travels through the Middle East and Asia

915
South Asia

Parāntaka I Conquers Pāṇḍya: Parāntaka expands Cōla territory into southern India with his victory against the Pāṇḍyas at the Battle of Vellur

918-936
East Asia

Foundation of the Koryŏ Dynasty

920
East Asia
Khitans drive out Kirghiz and establish an empire in Mongolia and China

Sept. 15, 921
Europe
Death of Saint Ludmilla, duchess of Bohemia

c. 922
Middle East
Persian physician al-Rāzī writes his treatise on smallpox

927
East Asia

Compilation of the Engi Shiki

c. 930
Europe
Vikings settle Iceland

c. 930
Middle East
Islamic theologian al-Ashՙarī founds Ashՙarism, a movement to achieve a true synthesis of purely logical argument and the transcendental elements of revealed Islam

936
East Asia

Khitans Settle Near Beijing

937
Europe
Battle of Brunanburgh: Æthelstan defeats Scots and Vikings

939-944
Southeast Asia

Reign of Ngo Quyen

945-964
Europe
Reign of Saint Olga, princess of Rus

945-1055
Middle East
The Buyid Dynasty dominates the ՙAbbāsid caliphate in Iraq

c. 950
Europe

Court of Córdoba Flourishes in Spain

c. 950-1100
Middle East

Rise of Madrasas

c. 950-1150
Americas

Toltecs Build Tula, the largest city in central Mexico, with a population of about 60,000 and covering some 5 square miles

Aug. 10, 955
Europe

Otto I Defeats the Magyars at the Battle of Lechfeld

956
Central Asia

Oğhuz Turks Migrate to Transoxiana

958-1076
East Asia

Koreans Adopt the Tang Civil Service Model

960
East Asia

Founding of the Song Dynasty

c. 960
Europe

Jews Settle in Bohemia

960-1279
East Asia

Scholar-Official Class Flourishes Under Song Dynasty

962
Europe

Foundation of the Mount Athos Monasteries

962-973
Europe
Coronation of Otto I as Holy Roman Emperor

c. 963
Europe
German-Saxon poet, playwright, and historian Hrosvitha is writing plays in Gandersheim

969-1171
Africa

Reign of the Fāṭimids: Shīՙite Muslims based in Cairo, the Fāṭimids challenge Baghdad’s Sunni ՙAbbāsid caliphate for control of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina

972
Africa

Building of al-Azhar Mosque

972-1152
Africa
The Zirid and Hammadid Berbers, under the Fāṭimid caliphate, dominate Tunisia and eastern Algeria

973
South Asia

Foundation of the Western Cālukya Dynasty

976-1025
Europe

Reign of Basil II

977-1186
Central and South Asia
The Ghaznavid Empire, based in modern-day Afghanistan, is the first Islamic state dominated by a Turkic military class, spreading Islam into India

978-980
Europe
Franco-German war for control of the province of Lorraine

978-1016
Europe
Reign of Ethelred II, the Unready, king of England

980-1015
Europe
Reign of Vladimir I, grand prince of Kiev

982
Southeast Asia

Le Dai Hanh Invades Champa

c. 983-998
Middle East
Persian mathematician and astronomer Abul Wefa develops his theory of sines and cosines

c. 985-1014
South Asia

Reign of Rājarāja I

987
Europe

Hugh Capet Is Elected to the French Throne

988
Europe

Baptism of Vladimir I

989
Europe
Byzantine princess Anna marries Vladimir I and lays the foundation for the Christian conversion of Russia

990’s
Europe
The first stone keeps appear in northwestern Europe

991
Europe
Battle of Maldon: Danish Vikings defeat the English and force them to pay Danegeld

992-1054
Africa

Ghana Takes Control of Awdaghust

995-1000
Europe
Reign of Olaf I, king of Norway

997-1038
Europe
Reign of Stephen I, king of Hungary

998-1030
Central and South Asia

Reign of Maḥmūd of Ghazna

999-1003
Europe
Sylvester II is pope

c. 1000
Americas

Collapse of the Huari and Tiwanaku Civilizations

c. 1000
Americas
Pueblo villages are built and black-on-white ceramics are manufactured in New Mexico’s Mimbres Valley

c. 1000
East Asia

Footbinding Develops in Chinese Society

c. 1000
South Asia

Hindi Becomes India’s Dominant Language

c. 1000
South Asia
Construction of the Lingaraja and Rajarani temples in Orissa on India’s east coast

c. 1000
Americas
Metalworkers in southern Costa Rica and western Panama produce gold pendants depicting figures with the heads of frogs, turtles, bats, and crocodiles

c. 1000
Europe
Death of Leif Eriksson, Norwegian explorer

Sept. 9, 1000
Europe
Battle of Svalde, a naval conflict during the Viking raids

1000-1471
Southeast Asia
Vietnamese-Cham wars for control of the kingdom of Champa (southern Vietnam)

11th c.
Africa

Expansion of Sunni Islam in North Africa and Iberia

11th c.
Central Asia
Tibet undergoes a Buddhist renaissance, with growth of monasteries, schools, and art

11th-12th c.
Europe

Building of Romanesque Cathedrals

11th-12th c.
Americas

First European-Native American Contact: Norse expeditions reach Baffin Island, Labrador, and Newfoundland, 986-1008

11th-15th c.
Africa

Development of the Ife Kingdom and Yoruba Culture: Ife becomes a major urban center during the Pavement period, named after mosaics constructed to form a distinctive herringbone pattern. Ife’s famous terracotta and metal heads are sculpted to represent identifiable individuals

11th-15th c.
Africa

Great Zimbabwe Urbanism and Architecture: develops after the city is founded by Bantu-speaking ancestors of the Shona people

11th-15th/16th c.
Africa
Tellem people, seeking to avoid conversion to Islam, migrate from the inland Niger River Delta and Jenne-Jeno to the Bandiagara escarpment

After 1000
Europe

Development of Miracle and Mystery Plays

1001
Southeast Asia
Thailand’s Lopburi Kingdom requests China’s assistance in securing independence from the Khmers

c. 1001
East Asia

Sei Shōnagon Completes The Pillow Book

c. 1004
East Asia

Murasaki Shikibu Writes The Tale of the Genji

1009
Middle East

Destruction of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

1010
Middle East

Firdusi Composes the Shahnamah
, Iran’s national epic

c. 1010
Africa

Songhai Kingdom Converts to Islam

c. 1010-1015
Middle East

Avicenna Writes His Canon of Medicine

1012
East Asia

Rice Is Introduced into China

1013
Europe
Danish king Sveyn I Forkbeard defeats English king Ethelred I and forces him into exile

Apr. 23, 1014
Europe

Battle of Clontarf: Brian Boru and his son Murchad defeat the Norse-Leinster alliance, but Brian is killed

1014-1024
Europe
Henry II the Saint reigns as Holy Roman Emperor

c. 1015
Europe
The two republics of Genoa and Pisa send ships to Sardinia and Corsica to oust the Arabs from those islands, then vie for their control for the next three hundred years

1016-1017
East Asia
Regency of Fujiwara Michinaga

1016-1028
Europe
Reign of Saint Olaf, king of Norway

1016-1035
Europe

Canute Conquers England and reigns as king of England, Denmark, and Norway

1016-1070
Europe
Normans migrate into southern Italy, eventually subverting Byzantine dominance

c. 1017
South Asia
Cōlas conquer Sri Lanka

c. 1018
Middle East
Arab scholar and scientist al-Bīrūnī becomes official astronomer/astrologer to the court of Maḥmūd of Ghazna

1018
Europe
Emperor Basil II conquers Bulgaria, expanding the Byzantine Empire to its largest extent until the second Bulgarian kingdom is established under the Asen line in 1186

1019
Central and South Asia
Maḥmūd of Ghazna raids northern India and destroys Kanauj, the capital of the Gurjara-Pratihāra Empire

1019
Southeast Asia
Airlangga founds the Kahuripan kingdom in Java; during his reign Hindu and Buddhist arts flourish

1020-1057
East Asia
Japanese sculptor Jōchō is developing his joined-wood technique

1020’s
Middle East
Arab physicist Alhazen, the most important figure in optics between antiquity and the seventeenth century, writes his treatise Optics

c. 1025
Europe

Scholars at Chartres Revive Interest in the Classics

1025
South and Southeast Asia
South India’s Cōla kingdom invades Śrivijaya

After 1026
Europe
Italian music theorist Guido d’Arezzo publishes the Micrologus, a manual on musical notation and one of the most influential books of its time

Apr. 10, 1028
Europe
Death of Saint Fulbert, founder of the cathedral school at Chartres

c. 1028
Europe
Death of Gershom ben Judah, French-German rabbi who played a major role in establishing the scholarly autonomy of Franco-German Jewry

1030
South Asia
Al-Bīrūnī completes his history of India, Tār՚īkh al-Hind

1031
Europe

Caliphate of Córdoba Falls

1031-1086
Europe
Ta’ifa rulers assume power in Islamic Spain after the fall of Córdoba, becoming patrons of the arts and architecture and building huge palaces

1032-1227
East Asia
Rise of the Xixia Empire in northwestern China

1037
Middle East
Death of Avicenna, Persian philosopher and scholar

1038
Central Asia
Battle of Nishapur: Seljuks defeat the Ghaznavids and move into the Khorāsān grazing grounds of northeastern Persia

May 24, 1040
Middle East
Battle of Dandāngān Castle: Seljuks overcome the Ghaznavid Masՙūd I

1040’s
Europe
Ibn Gabirol is writing poetry in biblical Hebrew

1040-1055
Middle East

Expansion of the Seljuk Turks

c. 1042
Central Asia
The “second transmission,” a renaissance in Tibetan Buddhism, is born when Atisha, an Indian mystic, settles in Tibet

1043-1066
Europe
Reign of Edward the Confessor, king of England

c. 1044
East Asia
The first book containing a formula for gunpowder appears, listing coal, saltpeter, and sulfur as the primary ingredients

1044
Southeast Asia
Anawrahta founds the first Burmese kingdom, the Pagan Empire

c. 1045
East Asia

Bi Sheng Develops Movable Earthenware Type

1048
Africa

Zīrids Break from Fāṭimid Dynasty and Revive Sunni Islam

1049-1054
Europe
Leo IX is pope

c. 1050
East Asia
Worldwide proliferation of block-printed books and paper

1050-1203
Southeast Asia
Khmer-Cham wars: Khmer territorial expansion and political control over Champa

1054
East and South Asia
Chinese and American Indian astronomers observe the Crab supernova explosion

1054
Europe

Beginning of the Rome-Constantinople Schism

1055
Europe
Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, prince of Powys, briefly unifies Wales, but the country dissolves after his death

1055
Middle East
The Seljuk Turks take Baghdad, ending Buyid rule

1059
East Asia
Chinese writer and philosopher Ouyang Xiu revivifies the fu, a Chinese poetic form, with “The Sounds of Autumn”

1062-1147
Africa

Almoravids Conquer Morocco and Establish the Almoravid Empire

1063-1072/73
Middle East
Reign of Alp Arslan, second Seljuk sultan; Seljuk vizier Niẓām al-Mulk is in power

Sept. 25, 1066
Europe
Battle of Stamford Bridge: English king Harold II defeats Norwegian and Norman invaders

Oct. 14, 1066
Europe

Battle of Hastings: William of Normandy defeats Harold II in this decisive battle in the Norman Conquest

1066-1086
Europe
The abbot Desiderius restores the abbey at Monte Cassino

1066-1087
Europe
Reign of William the Conqueror, king of France

1067
East Asia
Chinese statesman Sima Guang presents his Zizhi tongjian to Emperor Yingzong

1069-1072
East Asia

Wang Anshi Introduces Bureaucratic Reforms

1070’s
Middle East
Mathematician and poet Omar Khayyám writes his Rubáiyát

Aug. 26, 1071
Middle East

Battle of Manzikert: marks the beginning of Byzantine decline as Seljuk Turks conquer Anatolia and Hellenistic Asia Minor; prompts the First Crusade two decades later

After 1071
Europe
Byzantine philosopher and historian Michael Psellus writes Chronographia

1073-1085
Europe
Gregory VII is pope

c. 1075-1086
Africa

Hummay Founds Sefuwa Dynasty

1075
Europe
In Spain, work begins on the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, the most important destination for Christian pilgrims after Rome and Jerusalem

1075-c. 1220
Africa

Emergence of Mapungubwe

1076
Africa

Almoravids Sack Kumbi

1076
Europe
Investiture Controversy begins: Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Emperor Henry IV for insisting on his right to name bishops and other clerics within his realm

c. 1077
Europe
Bayeux Tapestry is created: More than 200 feet long, it tells the story of the Battle of Hastings in 1066

1077
Middle East

Seljuk Dynasty Is Founded: Süleyman founds Seljuk Rum, beginning the golden age of the Seljuk Empire

1077-1095
Europe
Reign of Saint László I, Polish-born king of Hungary

1077-1214
Europe
German civil war over control of the Holy Roman Empire

1081-1085
Europe
Norman-Byzantine wars result in Norman defeat and preservation of Byzantine autonomy

1084-1106
Europe
Henry IV of Germany reigns as Holy Roman Emperor

1086
Africa
Battle of Al-Zallāqah: Major battle during the Reconquista; after Castilian king Alfonso VI conquers Toledo in 1085, the Almoravid Tāshufīn enters Iberia to support the Islamic principalities and establish control in the south

1086
Europe

Domesday Survey: Ordered by William the Conqueror, first Norman king of England, the Domesday Book records a systematic survey of England’s lands

1086-1091
Europe
Bogomil (Bulgarian) revolt and Pecheneg-Byzantine war

1088-1099
Europe
Urban II is pope

1092-1093
Europe
Saint Anselm intercedes with King William Rufus on behalf of oppressed clerics in England, is named archbishop of Canterbury

1092-1094
Europe

El Cid Conquers Valencia: After cavalry and infantry battles and sieges, El Cid holds Valencia during his lifetime, although Muslims reconquer it at his death

Nov. 27, 1095
Europe, Middle East

Pope Urban II Calls the First Crusade

1095-1105
Middle East
Muslim mystic al-Ghazzālī abandons Baghdad for a life of poverty, producing The Revival of the Religious Sciences

Aug. 1096
Europe
Battle of Cibotus: Crossing the Bosporus into Asia, participants in the Peasants’ Crusade are annihilated by the Turks

Before 1097
Europe
Italian physician Trotula is writing her manuals of the treatments of women’s diseases and conditions

July 1, 1097
Europe, Middle East
Battle of Dorylaeum: Bohemond I defeats the Turks

Mar. 21, 1098
Europe

Foundation of the Cistercian Order

June 3, 1098
Europe, Middle East
Fall of Antioch to Bohemond I and Crusaders after an eight-month siege

July 15, 1099
Middle East
Crusaders retake Jerusalem

c. 1100
Europe

Arabic Numerals Are Introduced into Europe

c. 1100
Africa

Founding of Timbuktu

c. 1100
Africa

Origins of Swahili in Its Written Form

c. 1100
Europe

Rise of Courtly Love

1100
Americas
Building of the Pueblo Bonito, the largest of the Chaco Canyon multistory houses

1100
Europe
European knights adopt the use of the couched lance, which provides more force than previous hand-thrust weapons

1100-1125
East Asia
Reign of Huizong, famous for his paintings and as a patron of the arts

1100-1135
Europe
Reign of Henry I, king of England

1100-1300
Europe

European Universities Emerge

12th c.
Africa
Gao, near the Niger River on the border between the Sudan and the Sahel, becomes a key trading center of the Songhai Empire

12th c.
Africa

Coins Are Minted on the Swahili Coast

12th c.
Africa

Trading Center of Kilwa Kisiwani Is Founded

12th c.
East Asia

Wang Chongyang Founds Quanzhen Daoism

12th-14th c.
Europe

Social and Political Impact of Leprosy

12th-15th c.
Africa
Creation of the Esie sculptures, soapstone images of humans and animals found near this Yoruba town in Nigeria

c. 1100-1500
Australia/Pacific
On Easter Island, the earliest of the giant stone figures called moai are being carved

1101
East Asia
Li Qingzhao is writing her poetry

1101
Europe
Tancred becomes regent of Antioch

July 28, 1101
East Asia
Death of Chinese poet and scholar Su Dongpo

Sept. 6, 1101
Middle East
Battle of Ramleh, a ground battle in the Crusades

1107
East Asia
Death of Chinese calligrapher Mi Fei

1112
East Asia
The Miyazedi stone inscriptions, recording the earliest known written form of the Burmese language, are created

1113-1150
Southeast Asia
Reign of Khmer king Suryavarman II, who captures parts of Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand, and builds Angkor Wat

1115
East Asia

Foundation of the Jin Dynasty: Jurchens conquer northern China, Mongolia descends into tribal warfare between Jurchens and Khitan-Liao, and Chinese are driven south

1115
Europe
Saint Bernard founds the abbey of Clairvaux and revives the Cistercian monastic order

July 24, 1115
Europe
Death of Matilda of Canossa, defender of the Papacy during the Investiture Controversy

1117
Europe
French Scholastic philosopher and university teacher Peter Abelard is tutoring his pupil Héloïse in Paris

c. 1119
East Asia
Earliest known record of a compass, although the instrument was invented centuries before

c. 1119-1120
Europe
William of Saint-Thierry becomes abbot of the monastery at Saint-Thierry near Reims

c. 1120
Middle East

Order of the Knights Templar Is Founded

1122
Europe
Concordat of Worms settles the Investiture Controversy, which began in 1076

1123
Europe
Battle of Ascalon: Venetian fleet defeats a Muslim fleet, ensuring Christian control of the Kingdom of Jerusalem for another generation

1124-1153
Europe
Reign of David I, king of Scotland

1127-1130
Europe

Creation of the Kingdom of Sicily: Roger II unifies Norman territories in southern Italy, Sicily, Malta, and North Africa

1127-1279
East Asia
Southern Song Dynasty

1130
East Asia

Birth of Zhu Xi, who later consolidates Confucian thought into four books

1130
Central Asia

Karakitai Empire Established

1130-1163
Africa
Reign of ՙAbd al-Mu՚min, Berber founder of the Almohad Dynasty

1130-1170
Europe
Owain Gwynedd rules in Wales, overseeing a revival of Latin scholarship and literature

1131-1153
Middle East
Reign of Melisende, queen of Jerusalem

1134-1141
East Asia
In China, Yo Fei, a military commander in the displaced Song Dynasty, conducts campaigns against the Jin and Qi invaders under the slogan “Give us back our rivers and mountains!” He is murdered

1135-1154
Europe
Reign of King Stephen, king of England

c. 1136
Europe
Geoffrey of Monmouth’s History of the Kings of Britain appears

1136
Europe
In Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire, Wales, Gwenllian verch Gruffydd is killed fighting against Norman invaders

1136
Europe

Hildegard von Bingen Becomes Abbess

1137
South Asia
Death of Rāmānuja, Indian philosopher

July 1137
Europe
Eleanor of Aquitaine marries Louis VII, king of France, significantly increasing the size of France by adding her land holdings to the kingdom

1139
Europe
Pope Innocent II prohibits the use of the crossbow in Christian Europe

1139
Europe
Hebrew poet, physician, and philosopher Judah ha-Levi writes his Book of the Kuzari

1139-1185
Europe
Reign of Afonso I, king of Portugal

1140’s
Africa
Arab geographer and cartographer al-Idrīsī produces a globe and maps of the world at the court of Roger II, king of Sicily

1140-1150
Europe
Abbot Suger reforms the architecture of Saint-Denis outside Paris and furnishes it with newly commissioned artworks

1141
Central Asia
Battle of Qatwan: Seljuks are defeated in a clash with the nascent Karakitai Empire near Samarqand

1142-1180
Europe
Henry the Lion is duke of Saxony and Bavaria

1143
Europe
Portugal becomes an independent state under the leadership of Afonso I

1143-1180
Middle East
Reign of Byzantine emperor Manuel I Comnenus

1145
East Asia

Kim Pu-sik Writes Samguk Sagi
, Korea’s first written histories

c. 1145
Europe

Prester John Myth Sweeps Across Europe

1145-1232
Europe
Almohad Berbers from the south overcome the Almoravids in northern Africa and Islamic Spain

1147-1149
Europe

Second Crusade is prompted by Muslim conquest of the principality of Edessa in 1144, unsuccessfully led by the kings of France and Germany

1147-1186
Europe
Sicilian-Byzantine wars: Byzantines fail to reconquer southern Italy and Sicily

After 1148
Europe
Death of Anna Comnena, Byzantine princess and historian

c. 1150
Europe

Moors Transmit Classical Philosophy and Medicine to Europe

c. 1150
Europe

Refinements in Banking

1150
Europe

Venetian Merchants Dominate Trade with the East

1150
Americas
Inhabitants of Chaco Canyon abandon their settlements during a long drought

1150-1160
Europe
German mystic and Benedictine abbess Hildegard von Bingen is writing hymns, canticles, and morality plays

c. 1150-1200
Europe

Development of Gothic Architecture allows higher cathedral ceilings and more numerous windows filled with stained glass, leading to some of the most breathtaking architecture in Europe

c. 1150-1200
Europe

Rise of the Hansa Merchant Union: The Hanseatic League dominates trade in the Baltic and becomes the northern European hub for world trade

1152
Europe

Frederick Barbarossa Is Elected King of Germany, reigns as Holy Roman Emperor until 1190

1153
East Asia

Jin Move Their Capital to Beijing

1153-1186
South Asia
Construction in Sri Lanka of the Parakrama Samudra, a huge artificial lake for irrigation and one of the greatest feats of engineering in the world

1154-1159
Europe
Adrian IV is pope

1154-1204
Europe

Angevin Empire Is Established: Henry II, the first Plantagenet, reigns in England (1154-1189) and reforms English law and its enforcement; Eleanor of Aquitaine reigns as queen, adding her domains in France to England’s holdings; the empire dissolves on her death in 1204 when their weak son King John cannot hold the empire together

1155
Europe

Charter of Lorris Is Written

1156
East Asia
The Hōgen disturbance in Japan, between the Minamoto (Genji) and Taira (Heike) clans, inaugurates the decline of Fujiwaras

Sept. 17, 1156
Europe

Austria Emerges as a National Entity

1156-1192
East Asia

Minamoto Yoritomo Becomes Shogun: establishes bakufu, government by warrior chieftains (shoguns) or their regents, which will endure for seven centuries

1157-1182
Europe
Valdemar I the Great reigns during Denmark’s golden age

c. 1159
Europe
Geographer Benjamin of Tudela embarks on his journey to Baghdad

1159-1181
Europe
Alexander III is pope

1160
Europe
Death of the religious mystic Christina of Markyate

1160’s
Europe
Marie de France is composing her Lais

1167
Europe

Foundation of the Nemanjid Dynasty: emergence of an independent Serbia under Stefan Nemanja

1167-1183
Europe
Wars of the Lombard League result in free government of Lombard cities and their retention of the royal revenue

1169-1172
Europe

Normans Invade Ireland: English incursions into Ireland will last for more than four centuries

1170
Europe
While acting as Venetian ambassador in Constantinople, Enrico Dandolo is blinded on order of the Byzantine emperor

Dec. 29, 1170
Europe

Murder of Thomas Becket, English statesman and archbishop of Canterbury, in Canterbury Cathedral

1171
Africa
Saladin establishes the Ayyūbid Dynasty in Syria and Egypt

1171
Europe
Averroës (Ibn Rushd) becomes physician to Alomoravid caliph Abū Yaՙqūb Yūsuf in Marrakech

1174-1178
Europe
After it was destroyed by fire, Canterbury Cathedral is rebuilt in a distinctly English architectural style

c. 1175
Americas
The major city Tula, in central Mexico, is destroyed by peoples from northern Mexico

c. 1175
Central and South Asia
In Punjab, Ghūrid Turks defeat the Ghaznavids

1175
East Asia

Hōnen Shōnin Founds Pure Land Buddhism

c. 1175
Europe

Waldensian Excommunications Usher in Protestant Movement

1175-1206
South Asia
Conquests of Muḥammad of Ghor, laying the groundwork for Islamic rule in India

May 29, 1176
Europe
Battle of Legnano: Lombard League defeats Frederick I Barbarossa

1179-1223
Europe
Reign of Philip II Augustus, the first French monarch referred to as King of France (rather than “of the Franks”)

c. 1180
Europe

Chrétien de Troyes Writes Perceval

1180’s
East Asia
Saigyo, a Buddhist monk, composes three volumes of poetry known as the Sankashu (mountain hermitage)

1180-1185
East Asia
In the Gempei War, the Minamoto clan defeats the Taira clan and establishes the bakufu (shogunate) government in Kamakura

c. 1180-1230
Africa
Expansion of the Soso Kingdom under the Kante Dynasty, which absorbs much of ancient Ghana

c. 1181-1221
Africa

Lalibela Founds the Christian Capital of Ethiopia

c. 1181-1243
Southeast Asia
In Khmer, Jayavarman VII builds the city of Angkor Thom, supporting Mahayana Buddhism with the Bayon temple

1183
Europe
Peace of Constance allows Frederick I Barbarossa to extend direct imperial administration throughout Tuscany

1184-1212
Europe
Reign of Queen Tamara, Georgian queen

1185-1208
Europe
Saxo Grammaticus composes his history of the Danes, Gesta Danorum

July 4, 1187
Middle East
Battle of Hattin: Saladin’s forces capture this walled city, prompting the Third Crusade

1189-1192
Europe

Third Crusade: The participation of Richard I helps to restore some Christian possessions, including Acre and Cyprus but not Jersalem

1189-1199
Europe
Reign of Richard I, king of England

c. 1190
Europe
Hartmann von Aue composes the first German Arthurian romance, Erec

1190
Europe

Moses Maimonides Writes The Guide of the Perplexed

1190’s
Europe
Alexander Neckam becomes the first Scholastic theologian to teach at Oxford University

c. 1190-1279
East Asia

Ma-Xia School of Painting Flourishes

1191
East Asia
Eisai, a Buddhist monk, is teaching Zen Buddhism in Japan, marking the growth and influence of this form of Buddhism

1192-1203
Central and South Asia
The Ghūrid Empire, headed by Muḥammad Ghūri, invades India, defeats the Rājputs, and sacks Buddhist monasteries

1193
Central and South Asia

Turkish Raiders Destroy Buddhist University at Nalanda

1194
Europe
Pope Celestine III issues Joachim of Fiore a charter to establish new monastery at San Giovanni in Fiore

1196-1258
East Asia

Ch’oe Family Takes Power in Korea

1198
Europe
Pope Innocent III calls for the Fourth Crusade

c. 1198-1200
Europe
French musician Pérotin, a pioneer of Western music, is developing polyphonic forms

1198-1216
Europe
Innocent III is pope

Feb. 9, 1199
East Asia
Death of Japanese shogun Minamoto Yoritomo

1199
Europe
Burgundian historian and military leader Geoffroi de Villehardouin joins the Fourth Crusade

1199-1216
Europe
Reign of John, king of England

c. 1200
Europe
As forged steel processes are refined, several European cities, including Sheffield, Brussels, and Toledo, emerge as swordmaking centers

c. 1200
Americas
In North America, the southwestern Anasazi culture is destroyed, possibly by raiding Ute, Apache, Navajo, and Comanche tribes

c. 1200
Europe

Common-Law Tradition Emerges in England

c. 1200
Europe

Fairs of Champagne: Such international markets introduce Asian and other world goods into Europe

c. 1200
Europe

Scientific Cattle Breeding Developed

c. 1200
Europe
Nicholas of Verdun produces the Klosterneuburg Altarpiece, an elaborate metalwork shrine in Cologne Cathedral considered the most important metal artwork of the Middle Ages

c. 1200
Australia/Pacific
Polynesians reach the Chatham Islands east of New Zealand

c. 1200
Australia/Pacific
Construction begins on Nan Madol, a city on Pohnpei Island in Micronesia

1200
Americas
Moundville, on the Black Warrior River in Alabama, is one of the largest cities in North America at this time, producing ceramic, stone, and copper tools and implements

1200
Americas
In New Mexico, people are living in cliff dwellings such as those at Mesa Verde; in Arizona, Snaketown is abandoned

Apr. 23, 1200
East Asia
Death of Confucian scholar Zhu Xi

Early 13th c.
East Asia
Composition of the Japanese war epic Heike monogatari (The Tale of the Heike), the tale of the Taira and Minamoto clans from the Hōgen disturbance in 1156 to the end of the Gempei War in 1185

c. 1200-1210
Europe
German poet Wolfram von Eschenbach writes his epic Parzifal

c. 1200-1230
Americas

Manco Capac Founds the Inca State

1200-1300
Central Asia
Tibetan monks translate 4,569 works in the Buddhist canon, which along with Chinese translations preserves India’s Buddhist doctrines

1200-1482
South Asia
King Ari Malla founds the Malla Dynasty in the Kathmandu Valley; it will dominate the region until 1482

c. 1200-1500
Central and South Asia
Development of the Urdu language, a combination of Persian, Arabic, and regional dialects

13th c.
Africa
The Great Mosque of Kilwa begins construction in Tanzania and marks the flowering of Swahili architecture and powerful trade cities along the East African coast

13th c.
Africa
The centralized city-state of Benin is founded by Edo-speaking people; kingship at Benin state is formalized in the thirteenth century, and by the mid-fifteenth century, under Oba (King) Ewuare the Great, Benin develops into an empire

13th c.
Africa
Muslim Soninke people found the major trade city of Jenne on the Niger Delta in West Africa, although Jenne’s founding has been dated as early as the eighth century, according to oral tradition

13th c.
Africa

Ndiadiane N’diaye Founds the Wolof Empire in the region of modern Senegal

13th c.
East Asia
Korean printers complete the Buddhist Tripitaka Koreana

13th c.
Europe
Rise of the guild system, in which groups formed by professional craftsmen begin to assume political as well as economic power, in turn leading to powerful city-states such as Venice and Florence

13th c.
Europe
The cog, a large merchant vessel associated with the Hanseatic League, is developed in northern Europe

13th-16th c.
Africa
Mali Empire: Through a series of successful military campaigns, the emperors of Mali created a massive kingdom stretching across a vast section of West Africa

1202
Europe
The first great medieval European mathematician, Leonardo Fibonacci (Leonardo of Pisa), publishes Liber abaci (book of calculations), which popularizes the decimal system first devised in India

1202-1241
Europe
Reign of Valdemar II, king of Denmark

1204
East and Central Asia

Genghis Khan Founds Mongol Empire

1204
Europe

Knights of the Fourth Crusade Capture Constantinople

1206-1210
South Asia

Quṭ al-Dīn Aybak Establishes the Delhi Sultanate

1206-1526
South Asia
Wars of the Delhi Sultanate: struggles for hegemony in India result in Muslim domination

Apr. 16, 1209
Europe

Founding of the Franciscans

1209-1229
Europe

Albigensian Crusade is led by Simon de Montfort

1210
Middle East
Death of Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī, Muslim theologian and scholar

1212
Europe

Children’s Crusade

1212
Europe
Saint Clare of Assisi receives the tonsure from Saint Francis of Assisi and settles at the nearby monastery of San Damiano, where she will establish the Poor Ladies of Assisi

July 16, 1212
Europe
Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa; the armies of Aragon and Castile defeat the Almohads, a turning point in the Reconquista, the campaign of Christian kingdoms to defeat Islamic rule

c. 1213
Middle East and Central Asia
Muslim historian and geographer Yaqut begins his travels through the Middle East and Central Asia

July 27, 1214
Europe

Battle of Bouvines, during the German civil war of 1077-1214, establishes France as champion of the Catholic Church and sets a precedent for popular support of the monarchy

1215
East Asia
Genghis Khan captures Beijing during the Mongol invasion of China

1215
Europe
Saint Dominic establishes the Dominican monastic order

June 15, 1215
Europe

Signing of the Magna Carta

Nov. 11-30, 1215
Europe

Fourth Lateran Council reinforces the power of the Papacy and initiates the unsuccessful Fifth Crusade

1215-1217
Europe
English civil war over absolute monarchy vs. baronial rule and English land in France results in King John’s victory and negotiation of the Magna Carta

1216-1272
Europe
Reign of Henry III, king of England

1217-1221
Africa, Middle East

Fifth Crusade: organized to attack the Islamic power base in Egypt, succeeds in capturing the port city of Damietta but ends in defeat

1217-1276
Europe
Reign of James I the Conqueror, king of Spain

1219
Europe
While a student in Paris, Johannes de Muris begins writing his controversial treatise on musical notation, Ars novae musicae

1219-1333
East Asia

Hōjō Family Dominates Shoguns, Rules Japan

c. 1220
Europe
Saint Elizabeth of Hungary establishes the first orphanage for homeless children in Central Europe

1220’s
Europe
Walther von der Vogelweide is writing poetry in Germany

1220’s
Europe
Franciscan theologian Saint Anthony of Padua is preaching to large crowds throughout Italy

1220’s
Middle East
Ibn al-ՙArabī formulates the doctrines of Sufism

1220-1250
Europe
Reign of Frederick II, king of Sicily and Holy Roman Emperor

1221
Middle East
Battle of Eşfahān: Mongols retreat from Iran to Central Asia

1221-1256
Middle East
Mongols invade and dominate Iran

1221-1259
Africa

Mai Dunama Dibbalemi Expands Kanem Empire

1223
East Asia
Death of Japanese sculptor Unkei

1223-1252
Europe
Reign of Blanche of Castile, queen of France

c. 1225
East Asia
Death of Chinese painter Ma Yuan

1225
Europe
Mathematician Leonardo Fibonacci (Leonardo of Pisa) publishes his numbers theory in Liber quadratorum (the book of square numbers), dedicated to his patron, Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II

1225
Southeast Asia

Tran Thai Tong Establishes Tran Dynasty

1225-1231
Middle East

Jalāl al-Dīn Expands the Khwārizmian Empire

1226
East Asia
Battle of Yellow River destroys the Western Xia kingdom and leaves the Song Dynasty vulnerable to Mongol attack

Oct. 3, 1226
Europe
Death of Saint Francis of Assisi

1226-1270
Europe
Reign of Louis IX, king of France

1227-1230
Middle East

Frederick II Leads the Sixth Crusade

1227-1241
Europe
Gregory IX is pope

1227-1502
Middle East
The Golden Horde khanate rules the western Mongol Empire, stretching from the Caucasus Mountains and the Volga River Basin to the Irtysh River in Siberia

1228
Europe
William of Auvergne becomes bishop of Paris

1228-1229
Middle East
In what is sometimes referred to as the Sixth Crusade, the excommunicated Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II sails to the Holy Land and negotiates a reoccupation of Jerusalem

1228-1231
Europe

Teutonic Knights Bring Baltic Region Under Catholic Control: in particular East Prussia, which, together with Brandenburg, forms the nucleus of the Prussian state

1228-1454
Middle East
The Rasulid sultanate rules in Yemen

1229-1574
Africa
The Hafsid Berbers replace the Almohads as the dominant force in northwestern Africa’s Maghrib

c. 1230
Europe
German mystic Mechthild von Magdeburg leaves home to join the Beguines in Magdeburg

1230
Europe

Unification of Castile and León

1230
East Asia
Death of Chinese painter Xia Gui

Aug. 10, 1230
Middle East
Battle of Erzincan: Defeat of Jalāl al-Dīn ends his westward expansion

c. 1230-1235
Europe
Snorri Sturluson writes the Heimskringla, his chronicle of the kings of Norway

1230’s-1255
Africa

Reign of Sundiata of Mali

1231
East Asia
The Koryō Dynasty is forced into exile when the Mongols begin a series of invasions into the Korean peninsula

1232-1492
Europe
The Nasrid Dynasty rules Granada but becomes a vassal to northern Christian states by 1243; the Nasrids build the Alhambra, the last major monument to Islam on the Iberian Peninsula

1233
East Asia
The Jin capital at Kaifeng surrenders to the Mongols

1233
Europe

Papal Inquisition

c. 1235
Europe
Henry de Bracton writes his treatise on English common law, De legibus et consuetudinibus Angliae

1235
Africa
Battle of Kirina: Sundiata of Mali defeats Sumanguru of Ghana

1236-1240
South Asia

Reign of Raziya, fifth sultan of Delhi

1236-1242
Europe, Middle East, Asia
The Mongols make conquests in Russia, Eastern Europe, Iran, and Transcaucasia

July 15, 1240
Europe

Alexander Nevsky Defends Novgorod from Swedish Invaders

Apr. 11, 1241
Europe
Battle of Sajó River, during the third Mongol invasion of Eastern Europe

1243
Middle East
Battle of Köse Dagh: fall of the Seljuks to the Il-Khanids

1243-1254
Europe
Innocent IV is pope

1243-1295
Southeast Asia
Reign of Jayavarman VIII and restoration of Hinduism in the Khmer nation

1244
Middle East
Muslim Turks retake Jerusalem from Christian Crusaders

Apr. 16, 1245
Europe
Franciscan missionary Giovanni da Pian del Carpini leaves Lyon to lead a mission to the Mongols in Kiev, three thousand miles away

1248-1254
Middle East

Failure of the Seventh Crusade

1248-1257
Europe
Saint Bonaventure is writing his theological works

1249-1250
Middle East
Battle of Mansura (Al Manṣūrah), ground battle in the Seventh Crusade: King Louis IX’s forces are routed, and Louis is taken for ransom

1249-1286
Europe
Alexander III of Scotland unifies mainland Scotland

Late 13th c.
Australia/Pacific

Maoris Hunt Moa to Extinction in New Zealand

c. 1250
Europe

Improvements in Shipbuilding and Navigation

c. 1250
Americas
Chichén Itzá is abandoned as a population center but remains a destination for Mayan pilgrims

c. 1250
Americas
The Toltecs conquer the major religious and cultural center at Cholula, east of the Mexican Basin

1250
Americas
The Hohokam settlement of Casas Grandes, in northern Chihuahua, undergoes major construction, including ballcourts, wells, and a sewer system

1250’s
Middle East
Muslim poet Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī composes Sufi lyrics of Dīwan-i Shams-i Tabrīz

c. 1250-1300
Europe

Homosexuality Criminalized and Subject to Death Penalty

c. 1250-1532
Americas
The Inca Empire conquers Chanca, Chincha, Chinchasuyu, Chimor, and other Andean states, creating the largest indigenous state in the Western Hemisphere, with an estimated thirteen million inhabitants

Feb./Mar. 1252
East Asia
Death of Mongolian princess and kingmaker Sorghaghtani Beki

1252-1284
Europe
Reign of Alfonso X, king of Castile and León

1252-1517
Middle East
The Mamlūk sultans, former slaves to the declining Ayyūbids, assume rule in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and the holy cities of Mecca and Medina on the Arabian Peninsula, defeating the Crusaders at the end of the thirteenth century and becoming the most important Islamic power of the Middle Ages

1253-1254
Europe
Dutch geographer William of Rubrouck is traveling through Central Asia

1254-1273
Europe
Great Interregnum: The Holy Roman Empire loses its authority over Italy as the Papacy invites Charles of Anjou to establish Angevin power in southern Italy and Sicily

1255
Europe
Birger Jarl, regent of the Swedish crown, founds the city of Stockholm

1256
Middle East
Medina’s mosque is destroyed by fire

1256
Europe
French theologian William of Saint-Amour writes De periculis novissimorum temporum

1257-1258
Middle East
The Persian writer Shaykh Saՙdi writes The Orchard and The Rose

1257-1266
Europe
Roger Bacon is in Paris teaching mathematics, perspective, and philosophy and conducting scientific investigations

1257-1299
Europe
The republics of Venice and Genoa battle for control of trade routes and ports in the eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea; although neither side clearly defeats the other, Venice proves more resilient and Genoa never recovers

1258
Middle East
Il-Khanid Mongols sack the Islamic capital, Baghdad, and murder the caliph al-Mustaՙṣim, ending the ՙAbbāsid caliphate—a major blow to Islamic civilization

1258
Europe

Provisions of Oxford Are Established

1259
Southeast Asia

Mangrai Founds the Kingdom of Lan Na

Sept. 3, 1260
Middle East

Battle of Ain Jālūt: Mongols invade Syria and capture Damascus but are defeated by Mamlūk slave cavalry

1260-1277
Middle East
Reign of Baybars I, sultan of Egypt and Syria

1260-1278
Europe
William of Moerbeke translates Aristotle’s works

1260-1294
East Asia
Reign of the Mongol Kublai Khan, who moves his capital to Beijing and establishes the Yuan Dynasty

1260-1315
Europe
Nicola and Giovanni Pisano are creating cathedral sculptures in northern and central Italy

1261
Middle East
Byzantine emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus retakes Constantinople from the Venetians, who had captured the city in 1204, but the Byzantine Empire will never regain its former power

1261
Europe, Asia
Civil war between Il-Khanate of Persia and the Golden Horde of Russia begins

1262-1288
Europe
Salimbene writes his Chronicle

1263
Europe
Jewish scholar and physician Naḥmanides is forced to debate a Dominican friar as a stratagem to convert him to Christianity; despite the rigged and unfair restrictions of the debate, Naḥmanides rebuts the Dominican’s claims and defeats him

1263-1265
Europe
Barons’ War over baronial participation in English government; royalist victory results in restoration of King Henry III

1264
Europe
Death of Vincent of Beauvais, French scholar and historian

c. 1265-1273
Europe

Thomas Aquinas Compiles the Summa Theologica

Feb. 26, 1266
Europe
Battle of Benevento: Charles of Anjou conquers Sicily, establishing Angevin rule

1268
Europe
Death of Flemish mystic Beatrice of Nazareth

1269
Europe
Petrus Peregrinus de Maricourt publishes his treatise on the properties and uses of magnetism

1269-1270
Africa
Eighth Crusade is organized by a now elderly Louis IX, who dies upon landing in Tunisia

1269-1465
Africa
The Marinid Dynasty conquers the Maghrid and ends Almohad rule in northwestern Africa

1270-1272
Middle East
Edward I, the son of Henry III of England, decides to press on alone to Palestine after the French abandon the Eighth Crusade and achieves some modest success with a truce before the ultimate fall of Acre, the last bastion of the Crusader states, in 1291

1270-1277
Europe
Siger of Brabant is condemned by the Church for his heretical teaching of Averroistic doctrines and finally flees Paris for Rome

1270-1285
Africa

Yekuno Amlak Founds the Solomonid Dynasty: The Solomonic period is a golden age of trade and cultural exchange for Ethiopia and the surrounding region

1271-1276
Europe
Gregory X is pope

1271-1295
Europe, Mideast, and Asia

Travels of Marco Polo

1272-1307
Europe
Reign of Edward I, king of England

1273
Europe
Catalan mystic Raymond Lull writes his Book of Contemplation

1273
Middle East

Sufi Order of Mawlawīyah Is Established

1273-1291
Europe
Reign of Rudolf I, Holy Roman Emperor

1274-1278
Europe
Habsburg-Bohemian War: Rudolf’s victory results in establishment of the Habsburg Dynasty in Austria

1274, 1281
East Asia
The Mongols attempt naval invasions of Japan but are forced to retreat by devastating typhoons

1275
Europe

First Mechanical Clock

1275
East Asia

Nestorian Archbishopric Is Founded in Beijing

c. 1275
Europe

The Zohar Is Transcribed

1275
Europe
Theoleptus of Philadelphia retires as a monk to Mount Athos in northeastern Greece, where he practices a form of prayer and spirituality known as Hesychasm

Jan. 6, 1275
Europe
Death of Spanish religious scholar Raymond of Peñafort

c. 1276-1277
Europe
Adam de la Halle writes his play Jeu d’Adam

Nov. 15, 1280
Europe
Death of Saint Albertus Magnus, German philosopher, theologian, and scientist

c. 1280-1300
Europe
Guido Cavalcanti is writing love poetry in the “sweet new style”

c. 1281/88-1326
Middle East
Reign of Osman I, founder of the Ottoman Empire

Nov. 14, 1282
East Asia
Death of Japanese monk Nichiren

c. 1284
Europe
Arnolfo di Cambio becomes Florence’s capomaestro, or chief architect

1284
Europe
The 64-meter-high vault of the Cathedral of Saint-Pierre Beauvais collapses, revealing limits to the height of Gothic cathedrals

1285
Europe

Statute of Winchester

1285-1314
Europe
Reign of Philip IV the Fair, king of France

1290-1306
Europe

Jews Are Expelled from England, France, and Southern Italy

c. 1290-1326
Middle East
Reign of Osman I, founder of the Ottoman Empire in northwestern Anatolia

1290-1388
Europe
Anglo-Scottish wars produce Scottish independence until the seventeenth century

Apr. 1291
Middle East

Fall of Acre, Palestine marks the end of the Crusader kingdom in Palestine

Aug. 1291
Europe
The principalities of Schwyz, Uri, and Unterwalden sign a written alliance for mutual defense; it will form the basis for the state of Switzerland

Dec. 8, 1292
Europe
Death of John Pecham, archbishop of Canterbury

1293-1310
Southeast Asia
Rise of kingdom of Majapahit in Java, which emerges in the fight against the Mongols

1294
Europe
Edward I of England attacks La Rochelle; in response, Philip IV seizes the English duchy of Aquitaine

1295
Europe

Model Parliament establishes broad political representation in England

1295
Southeast Asia

Ramkhamhaeng Conquers the Mekong and Menam Valleys

1295-1304
Middle East
Reign of Maḥmūd Ghāzān, Mongol il-khan of Iran

1296
Europe
Franciscans found the church of Santa Croce in Florence

1296-1316
South Asia
Reign of ՙAlā՚-ud-Dīn Muḥammad Khaljī, Khaljī sultan of Delhi

Sept. 11, 1297
Europe
Battle of Stirling Bridge: William Wallace defeats the English in this battle in the Anglo-Scottish wars

July 22, 1298
Europe
Battle of Falkirk: English defeat William Wallace

1299
South Asia

ՙAlā-ud-Dīn Muḥammad Khaljī Conquers Gujarat

Dec. 22, 1299
Middle East
Battle of Homs: Ghāzān defeats the Mamlūks

1290’s-c. 1310
Europe
Arnold of Villanova develops alcohol distillation and writes numerous medical treatises

1300
Americas
The mound-builder city of Etowah, in northeastern Georgia, dominates the region

1300
East Asia
Japanese sword makers create the katana, a curved sword used by samurai warriors

c. 1300
Americas
Distinct tribal identities among North American indigenous peoples develop in response to the increasing importance of agriculture and sedentary cultures

c. 1300
Europe
Early oil painting on a Norwegian church altar heralds the refinement and proliferation of the technique a century later

c. 1300-1350
Europe
Albanians migrate southward from the Balkans into central Greece

1300’s
Europe
The population of France is estimated to be about 20 million, far greater than that of Germany (14 million) or England (only 4 million)

c. 1300-1400
Central and South Asia
Nepalese artists begin to influence Tibetan art

14th c.
Africa
The semilegendary founder of Benin and Oyo, Prince Oranmiyan, flourishes in West Africa

14th c.
Europe
The carrack, an efficient sailing ship with multiple masts, becomes popular in Atlantic and Mediterranean waters

14th-15th c.
Europe
The increasing predominance of firearms in Europe results in the diminishing use of archers in warfare

July 11, 1302
Europe
Battle of Courtrai: The eight-year battle between England’s Edward I and France’s Philip IV ends when the count of Flanders, an English ally, defeats Philip

July 27, 1302
Middle East

Battle of Bapheus: first battle of the Byzantine-Ottoman wars; the Byzantines attempt to meet the challenge of Ottoman power but are defeated

Nov. 18, 1302
Europe

Boniface VIII Issues the Bull Unam Sanctam

1302-1461
Europe, Middle East
Byzantine-Ottoman wars test whether the reduced Byzantine Empire can defend itself against the growing Ottoman Empire, marking the rise of Ottoman domination of Balkans and Middle East

1304
Europe
Giotto begins painting his frescoes in Padua

1305
Europe
Dietrich von Freiberg investigates rainbows to understand reflection and refraction

1305-1307
Europe
Scholastic theologian John Duns Scotus is teaching in Paris

1305-1417
Europe

Avignon Papacy and the Great Schism

Before 1306
Europe
Marguerite Porete writes The Mirror of Simple Souls

c. 1306
East Asia
Japanese poet Nijō writes Towazugatari, or The Confessions of Lady Nijō, concerning her life at court

c. 1306-1320
Europe

Dante Writes The Divine Comedy

1306-1329
Europe
Reign of Robert Bruce, king of Scotland

1307-1327
Europe
Reign of Edward II, king of England

1308-1330
Europe
Reign of Isabella of France, queen of England

1309-1466
Europe
Teutonic Knights’ wars with Poland: The Teutonic Order becomes the dominant power on the Baltic coastline

1310-c. 1350
Europe

William of Ockham Attacks Thomist Ideas

1312-1337
Africa
Reign of Mansa Mūsā, king of Mali

1313-1357
Europe
Ghibelline-Guelph struggle for domination of Tuscany

1314
Africa
Emperor Amda Tseyon comes to power in Ethiopia, expanding the Solomonid Dynasty

June 23-24, 1314
Europe

Battle of Bannockburn: Robert I’s victory ensures Scottish independence

1314-1325
Europe
German civil war for control of the Holy Roman Empire: Wittelsbach victory confines the Habsburgs to their Austrian possessions

1315
Europe
Simone Martini produces his masterpiece, the Siena Maestà

Nov. 15, 1315
Europe

Swiss Victory at Morgarten over Habsburg Forces

1316-1334
Europe
John XXII is pope

1317-1329
Europe
Jewish rabbi and philosopher Levi ben Gershom writes The Wars of the Lord

c. 1320
Middle East

Origins of the Bubonic Plague: The point of origin is contested but may be in Crimea, carried back to China by Mongol soldiers; epidemics begin to emerge in the 1330’s in China and spread west

1320
Europe
Philippe de Vitry produces his treatise on music, Ars nova

1320-1328
Europe
Luccan-Florentine war: In the Ghibelline-Guelph struggle for domination of Tuscany, a major setback for the Ghibellines

1320-1334
Europe
French painter Jean Pucelle is illuminating manuscripts in Paris

1323-1326
Southeast Asia

Champa Wins Independence from Dai Viet

1323-1328
Europe

Peasants’ Revolt in Flanders

1324
Europe
Aragon conquers Sardinia

July 2, 1324
Europe

Lady Alice Kyteler Is Found Guilty of Witchcraft

1324-1325
Africa

Mansa Mūsā’s Pilgrimage to Mecca Sparks Interest in Mali Empire

1325-1355
Africa

Travels of Ibn Baṭṭūṭah

1325-c. 1400
Americas
Rise of the Kachina cult in the American Southwest

1325-1519
Americas

Aztecs Build Tenochtitlán: Mexican people settle on a marshy island in the Basin of Mexico’s Lake Texcoco, building monuments to gods such as Huitzilopochtli and Tlaloc

1327-1369
Europe
Reign of Philippa of Hainaut, queen of England

1327-1377
Europe
Reign of Edward III, king of England

1328
Europe
Philip VI, the first French king from the Valois branch of the Capetian dynasty, ascends the French throne

1328
Europe
King Edward III of England signs the Treaty of Northampton, formally recognizing Scottish sovereignty

1328
Europe
William of Ockham challenges Church authority and upholds the rights of lay rulers

1328-1350
Europe

Flowering of Late Medieval Physics

1329-1371
Europe
Reign of David II, king of Scotland

Nov. 1330
Europe

Basarab Defeats the Hungarians at the Battle of Posada

1331
Europe
Siege of Friuli in Italy is marked by early use of gunpowder weaponry on the battlefield

1331-1355
Europe
Reign of Stefan Dušan, king of Serbia

1333
Africa

Kilwa Kisiwani Begins Economic and Historical Decline

1333-1370
Europe
Reign of Casimir the Great, king of Poland

1333-1466
Europe
Polish wars of expansion: Poland comes into power, achieving access to trade ports and political dominance of eastern central Europe

1334-1360
Europe
The bell tower at the Cathedral of Florence is built

1335
Middle East
Il-Khanate of Persia ends

1336-1392
East Asia

Yoshino Civil Wars: Ashikaga Takauji ousts Emperor Go-Daigo from Kyoto, establishing the Northern Court in Japan as Go-Daigo takes refuge in the south at Yoshino and founds the Southern Court; thus begins the Muromachi period, a time of intense rivalry and warfare between competing warlords known as daimyo

1337-1453
Europe

Hundred Years’ War: a series of military conflicts between France and England that resulted in France’s ultimate victory at the Battle of Castillon in 1453, a rise in nationalism in a more unified France, England’s withdrawal from its French holdings, and England’s emergence as a preeminent naval power

1340
Africa

Al-ՙUmarī Writes a History of Africa

June 24, 1340
Europe
Battle of Sluis: English fleet overcomes the French in this naval battle in the Hundred Years’ War

1340’s
Europe
Jean Buridan is writing his commentaries on the works of Aristotle

c. 1343
South Asia
Completion of Vijayanagar in southern India, one of the most lavishly appointed cities in the world, with palaces, temples, and huge gateways

1346
South Asia
Muslim armies raid the Kathmandu valley in Nepal, destroying images and temples

Aug. 26, 1346
Europe

Battle of Crécy: Key battle in the Hundred Years’ War, notable for the use of longbows by the English to defeat French knights; also marked the role of gunpowder artillery. English victory at Crécy foreshadowed the decline of the mounted knight and a greater emphasis on missile warfare

Oct. 17, 1346
Europe
Battle of Neville’s Cross: English defeat David II and the Scots

1346-1381
Europe
Hungarian-Venetian wars: Hungary gains Dalmatia

1347
Europe
Siege of Calais ends when the English capture this city on the French coast of the English Channel, after a yearlong siege

1347
South Asia

ՙAlā՚-ud-Dīn Bahman Shāh Founds the Bahmanī Sultanate

1347-1352
Europe

Invasion of the Black Death in Europe: Traveling on flea-infested rats from the east, the plague erupts first in Constantinople and then travels west to Italy and north throughout Europe for the next three years, killing a third of the population; more than any other natural event, this epidemic shaped Europe for centuries, not only economically, as labor shortages gave rise to a new middle class, but also religiously and politically, as social reforms were instituted to cope with the epidemic’s aftermath

1347-1354
Europe

Cola di Rienzo Leads Popular Uprising in Rome

c. 1350
Americas
Mixtecs and Zapotecs intermarry to extend their territories in Mexico’s Oaxaca Valley

c. 1350
Australia/Pacific
On the islands of central Vanuatu (New Hebrides) in the southwestern Pacific, the legendary king Roy Mata is in power, as evidenced by a burial site containing his body and shell artifacts

1350
Americas
Eastern Woodland culture, characterized by religious practices and artifacts displaying warrior, bird-man, and serpent imagery, flourishes in eastern North America

1350
Southeast Asia

Ramathibodi I Creates First Thai Legal System

1350-55, 1378-80
Europe
More Venetian-Genoese battles for control of trade routes and ports in the eastern Mediterranean and Black Sea; Venice thrives while Genoa declines

c. 1350-1400
Europe

Petrarch and Boccaccio Recover Classical Texts, leading to the emergence of Humanism and laying a foundation for the Renaissance

1352-1434
Southeast Asia
Khmer-Thai wars: Siamese attempts to exert political dominance over Cambodia cause the decline of the Khmer Empire

1353-1373
Southeast Asia
Fa Ngum founds the Lan Xang, a kingdom that controls Laos and parts of Thailand

1354
Europe
Ottoman Turks capture the Byzantine fortress of Gallipoli and begin expansion into the Balkans

1354
Europe
Andrea Orcagna is commissioned by Strozzi family to paint an altarpiece in the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, Christ Conferring Authority on Saints Peter and Thomas Aquinas

1355-1378
Europe
Reign of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor

1356
Europe

Golden Bull: Charles IV reiterates the power of the electors of the Holy Roman Empire, thus limiting German unity

Sept. 19, 1356
Europe
Battle of Poitiers: English defeat the French and capture the French king John II, who is held prisoner in England until 1360

1358-1384
Middle East
Persian poet Hafiz is composing his ghazal

1360
Europe
Treaty of Brétigny: England gains Calais and nearly the whole of Aquitaine

1360
Europe
Jean de Venette records the trauma of plague and war during his times in his Chronicon

c. 1360-1406
Middle East
Jalayirid Dynasty rules Iraq and northwestern Iran after the collapse of the Il-Khans

c. 1360-1440
East Asia

Kan’ami and Zeami Perfect Nō Drama

1361-1370
Europe
Danish wars with the Hanseatic League: The League maintains its supremacy in the Baltic region

1363
Europe
Guy de Chauliac completes his treatise on surgery, Chirurgia magna

1366
Europe

Statute of Kilkenny

1368
Southeast Asia
Burmese civil wars for provincial supremacy of Burma begin; Burma is united by 1555

1368
East Asia

Establishment of the Ming Dynasty: The native Chinese population reasserts itself, burning the Mongol palaces of the Yuan Dynasty in Beijing

1368
Central Asia

Tibet Gains Independence from Mongols

1369
Europe
A sense of national identity begins to form in the Low Countries (Netherlands) with the marriage of Margaret of Flanders to Philip the Bold of Burgundy, inaugurating more than a century of Burgundian rule of the region

1369-1388
Europe
Portuguese-Castilian war over reciprocal claims by Portugal and Castile to each other’s thrones; mutual independence is assured for Portugal and Castile, and Portugal and England begin a long alliance

c. 1371
Americas
In Mexico, Tezozomoc becomes king at Azcapotzalco and takes control of Tenochtitlán, naming Acamapichtli as its king

1371
Europe
Battle of Marica: Turks defeat the Serbians and Bulgarians

1371-1529
Southeast Asia
Thai kingdom and the provinces of Ayutthaya and Chiengmai struggle for dominance

1373-1410
Europe

Jean Froissart Compiles His Chronicles

1375
Middle East
The Armenian kingdom of Cilicia, in southern Anatolia, falls to the Mamlūks

1376
Africa
Ibn Khaldūn abandons his political career to live among North Africa’s nomadic tribes and write

1376
Europe
Catherine of Siena travels to Avignon to urge the pope to return to Rome

1377
Southeast Asia
The Majapahit kingdom conquers Palembang in Sumatra, ending Śrivijayan dominance

1377
Africa

Ibn Khaldūn Completes His Muqaddimah

Apr.?, 1377
Europe
Death of Guillaume de Machaut, French poet and composer of polyphonic music

1377-1378
Europe

Condemnation of John Wyclif

1377-1399
Europe
Reign of Richard II, king of England

1378-1419
Europe
Reign of Wenceslaus, king of Bohemia

c. 1380
South Asia

Compilation of the Wise Sayings of Lal Ded

Sept. 8, 1380
Europe

Battle of Kulikovo: defeat of the Mongols by Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow

May-June 1381
Europe

Peasants’ Revolt in England, led by Wat Tyler

July 15, 1381
Europe
John Ball is executed near St. Albans Abbey for his part in Wat Tyler’s Peasants’ Revolt

1381-1405
Middle East

Tamerlane’s Conquests: After establishing Timurid rule in Central Asia, Tamerlane gains control over most of Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Anatolia, as well as southern Russia and India

1382-1395
South Asia

Reign of Sthitimalla

1382-1516
Middle East
In the Mamlūk sultanate, the Burjī sultans, Circassian military elites, replace the Baḥrī line

1384-1399
Europe
Reign of Władysław II Jagiełło and Jadwiga, king and queen of Poland

1385-1499
Europe
Austro-Swiss wars: Swiss victory secures the de facto independence of Switzerland

c. 1387
East Asia

Chinese Create the Eight-Legged Essay

1387-1400
Europe

Chaucer Writes The Canterbury Tales

1387-1412
Europe
Reign of Margaret, queen of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden

1389
Europe
Battle of Falköping: Margaret’s forces were victorious in this battle of the Swedish civil war

June 28, 1389
Europe

Turkish Conquest of Serbia: Battle of Kosovo

1389-1402
Middle East
Reign of the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I, who will defeat Tamerlane and the Timurids

1391
Europe
Jews on the Iberian Peninsula are persecuted and massacred

c. 1392
Central Asia

Foundation of the Gelugpa Order of Buddhist monks

July 1392
East Asia

Establishment of the Yi Dynasty

Sept. 25, 1396
Middle East
Battle of Nicopolis: European Christians fail to drive back the Muslim Turks, leaving them in control of the Balkans

1397
East Asia

Publication of the Laws of Great Ming

June 17, 1397
Europe

Kalmar Union Is Formed: Sweden, Norway, and Denmark are united

Dec. 17, 1399
South Asia
Battle of Pānīpat, major battle during Tamerlane’s invasion of India

1399-1404
Central Asia

Tamerlane Builds the Bibi Khanum Mosque in Samarqand

1399-1413
Europe
Reign of Henry IV, king of England

c. 1400
Americas
The Mayan codexes are being created

c. 1400
Americas
In Mexico, the population of the Tarascan state grows to about 35,000, centered on its capital at Tzintzuntzan

1400
Africa
The Kongo kingdom becomes central Africa’s largest state, with its capital at Mbanza

1400
Americas
In southeastern North America, Moundville, Etowah, and Spiro are in decline

1400
Europe
Iceland enters a five-century period of decline following natural disasters, climate change, disease, and depleted resources

Oct. 25?, 1400
Europe
Death of Geoffrey Chaucer

c. 1400-1401
Middle East
Tamerlane’s armies burn and loot Aleppo and Damascus in Syria and Baghdad in Iraq

1400-1402
East Asia
Zeami Motokiyo writes his first treatise on the aesthetics of Nō drama, Fūshikaden

1400-1403
Europe
Christine de Pizan composes Le Livre de la mutacion de fortune and Le Livre du chemin de long éstude

1400-1409
Europe
Glendower’s Revolt: This struggle for Welsh independence from England results in English victory and Welsh submission, impoverishment, and social restructuring

Aug. 20, 1400-11
Europe
German civil war: Wenceslaus of Bohemia wins this struggle for the Holy Roman Empire and the Rhine-Main area of Germany, but his power continues to decline, enabling his brother Sigismund to replace him as king

1400-1500
Africa

Foundation of the West African States of Benin

15th c.
Europe
The Medici merchant-banker family rules Florence, exerting not only economic and political but also cultural influence stemming from their patronage of the arts

July 28, 1402
Central Asia
Battle of Ankara: Tamerlane defeats Bayezid I

1402-1421
Middle East
Mehmed I reestablishes a unified Ottoman state after the death of his father Bayezid I

1402-1424
East Asia
Reign of Chinese Ming emperor Yonglo is marked by five military campaigns, the development of porcelains and textiles, and the proliferation of Buddhist influence

1403-1407
East Asia

Yonglo Dadian Encyclopedia Is Compiled

1404-1406
Southeast Asia
Malacca emerges as the most important trading center on the Malay Peninsula

1405
Central Asia
Death of Tamerlane

1405-1433
East Asia

Zheng He’s Naval Expeditions

1406
Europe
Pisa falls to Florence

c. 1406-1408
East Asia
In Beijing, work begins on the Forbidden City

1406-1428
East Asia
The Chinese take control of Vietnam

1408
Europe
Donatello sculpts his bronze David

1409-1419
Central Asia
Gelugpa Buddhists build three major monasteries in Lhasa: Ganden in 1409, Drepung in 1416, and Sera in 1419

1409-1613
Europe
Kalmar wars: Sweden achieves independence

July 15, 1410
Europe

Battle of Tannenberg: marks the decline of the Teutonic Knights and the rise of Polish influence in the Baltic

c. 1410-1440
Europe

Florentine School of Art Emerges

1413-1422
Europe
Reign of Henry V, king of England

1414-1418
Europe

Council of Constance ends the Great Schism

July 6, 1415
Europe

Martyrdom of Jan Hus

Oct. 25, 1415
Europe
Battle of Agincourt: English rout the French in the first of a string of English victories in the Hundred Years’ War

1415-1460
Europe

Prince Henry the Navigator Promotes Portuguese Exploration: Portuguese establish contact along West African coast

1417
East Asia
The Confucian texts known as the Great Compendium of the Philosophy of Human Nature appear; with the Five Classics and the Four Books, they set the standard for Chinese scholarship

1418-1450
East Asia
The reign of the Yi Dynasty emperor Sejong is marked by the creation of a written Korean language

1419-1436
Europe
Hussite wars: Prompted by the martyrdom of Jan Hus, a Bohemian civil war in which Czech Hussites, nationalist followers of Hus, attack clerics and churches

c. 1420
Americas
Cozumel, an island off the coast of Yucatan, becomes a destination for women seeking to worship the Mayan fertility goddess Ixchel

1420’s
Europe
The works of Masaccio, the foremost painter of the early fifteenth century, mark the transition from medieval to Renaissance art

1423
Europe
Battle of Cravant: English defeat French

1423
Europe
Appearance of the earliest dated woodcut, depicting Saint Christopher

1423-1454
Europe
Venetian-Milanese wars result in a strong Venetian mainland with protected routes to European markets and long-term peace between Venice and Milan

1424
Europe
Battle of Verneuil: English defeat French

c. 1425
Europe
The corning, or granulating, process is developed to grind gunpowder into smaller grains

1425
Americas
Growth of the Zuni villages of New Mexico

1425-1462
Europe
Russian civil war determines principle of succession from father to son

1426-1435
East Asia
Reign of the Ming emperor Xuande, known for his patronage of the arts

c. 1427
Europe
Thomas à Kempis writes The Imitation of Christ

1427
Southeast Asia
Battle of Chi Lang Pass: Vietnam is liberated

1427?-1440
Americas
Reign of Itzcóatl, king of the Aztecs: The Aztec Empire begins when the Mexica of Tenochtitlán form the Triple Alliance with Tlacopan and Texcoco and defeat Azcapotzalco

1428
East and Southeast Asia

Le Loi Establishes Later Le Dynasty

May 4-8, 1429
Europe

Joan of Arc’s Relief of Orléans

1429
Europe
Alain Chartier writes about Joan of Arc in Epistola de Puella

1430
Europe
Philip the Good creates the Order of the Golden Fleece, which he awards to nobles in the Low Countries as a means of uniting them politically under his Burgundian control

1430’s
Europe
Florentine painter Fra Angelico is painting his Annunciation

1430’s
Europe
The Van Eyck brothers are painting their masterpiece, a polyptych known as The Ghent Altarpiece

c. 1430’s-1450
Europe
Leonello d’Este establishes Ferrara as a major center for Humanism and the arts

1431
Southeast Asia
The Khmer Empire falls to Thais after they sack Angkor

May 30, 1431
Europe
Joan of Arc is burned for heresy

1431-1447
Europe
Eugene IV is pope

1431-1449
Europe
The Council of Basel rejects and weakens papal authority in the wake of scandals over church corruption; the Church is in a state of crisis, which paves the way for the Reformation

c. 1435-1464
Europe
Architect Leon Battista Alberti writes his influential treatises on painting, architecture, and sculpture

c. 1436
Europe
English mystic Margery Kempe dictates her memoirs, The Book of Margery Kempe

1436
Europe
Filippo Brunelleschi completes his revolutionary dome for the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence

1438-1769
East and Southeast Asia
Burmese-Chinese wars: Border ambiguity gives rise to this conflict, but both sides tire of war, sign a treaty, and resume peaceful trade

1439-1459
Europe
Frederick III of Habsburg is elected Holy Roman Emperor; during his reign, the German principalities will become increasingly independent

1440
Europe

Donation of Constantine Is Exposed

c. 1440-1480
Africa
Oba Ewedo rules Benin, establishing a highly centralized, autocratic form of government and devising new military weapons and tactics

1442-1456
Europe

János Hunyadi Defends Hungary Against the Ottomans

1443-1468
Africa
The Tuareg, a group of nomadic, semisedentary tribes and slave traders, take control of Timbuktu and Gao

1443-1478
Middle East, Europe
Albanian-Turkish wars: Albania becomes part of the Ottoman Empire

Nov. 10, 1444
Hungary
Battle of Varna: Murad defeats János Hunyadi and Władysław

1444-1446
Europe

Albanian Chieftains Unite Under Prince Skanderbeg

1447
Europe
Visconti rule of Milan ends with the death of Filippo Maria Visconti and the ascension of the Sforza family

1447-1450
Europe
Pope Nicholas V’s Roman Jubilee year (1450) is preceded by massive building and renovation projects, including the Senators’ Palace on Capitoline Hill, the Vatican Palace, and an expansion of Saint Peter’s

1448-1471
Europe
Bohemian civil war over control of the Bohemian crown

1448-1471
Europe
Sweden breaks from Denmark and Norway and becomes independent

c. 1450
Europe

Gutenberg Pioneers the Printing Press: The ability to print and publish a broad variety of documents, combined with the rise in use of vernacular languages, has a revolutionary impact on European civilization and helps lay a foundation for the Reformation and the proliferation of Humanist thought

1450
Africa
Songhai incorporates the former kingdom of Mali and becomes one of the largest empires in Africa

1450
Europe
Battle of Formigny: French defeat English and Normandy becomes French territory

1450-1550
East Asia
Japanese civil wars for control of Japanese provinces eventually lead to consolidation of power on a national scale

1451-1481
Middle East
Reign of the great Ottoman sultan Mehmed II

1452
Europe
Florentine sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti completes work on the bronze doors of the Baptistery of San Giovanni, Florence

1452
Europe
The great Renaissance artist and engineer Leonardo da Vinci is born in Tuscany

1453
Europe

English Are Driven from France after the Battle of Castillon, marking the virtual end of English possessions on the Continent and the end of the Hundred Years’ War

May 29, 1453
Europe

Fall of Constantinople marks the end of the Byzantine Empire and the ascendancy of the Muslim-Turkish Ottoman Empire

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