In the Gupta empire of northeastern India, mathematicians develop the decimal system, and great Sanskrit epics and Hindu art works are created.
Indians in Peru make music with flutes, Homs, tubas, and drums.

502-549

Emperor Wudi, founder of the Southern Liang dynasty, rules southern China.

507

Clovis I, king of the Franks (rules 481-511), kills Visigoth king Alaric II (rules 484-507) in battle and seizes his kingdom of Toulouse.
By this date the Germanic people known as the Alemanni are burying their dead in wooden coffins.

510

Under Theodoric the Great, the Italian Ostrogoths occupy Provence, which they hold until 563.

511

On the death of Clovis I, king of the Franks, his realm is divided among his sons, Theuderic I, Chlodomir, Childebert I, and Chlothar I (also known as Lothair).

516

Sigismund, son-in-law of Theodoric the Great, becomes king of Burgundy.

517

After converting to Buddhism, Emperor Wudi helps to establish it in China.
In India, Aryabhata I compiles a manual of astronomy.

518

Justin I becomes Roman emperor, ruling the remaining, eastern (Byzantine) empire.

519

Through the efforts of Emperor Justin I and Pope Hormisdas, the first schism between the Western and Eastern Christian Churches ends.

520

Latin grammarian Priscian writes Institutiones Grammaticae (Grammatical Foundations), which has a major influence on the teaching of Latin and grammar in general throughout the European Middle Ages.

523

Hilderic succeeds Thrasamund as ruler of the Vandal kingdom (in modern-day Tunisia).
Pope John I joins with Emperor Justin in an attempt to force Arian Christians (who deny the divinity of Jesus Christ) to convert to orthodox Christianity.

524

Frankish kings Chlodomir, Childebert I, and Chlothar I invade Burgundy; Sigismund and Chlodomir are killed.

525

Caleb of Abyssinia conquers the Yemen.

526

On the death of Theodoric the Great, his son Athalaric becomes king of the Ostrogoths. Like his father, Athalaric is nominally subject to the emperor in Byzantium but is the de facto secular ruler of Italy.
Pope John I dies while imprisoned by Theodoric the Great, an Arian who was angered by John’s opposition to his religious beliefs.

527

Emperor Justin I dies and is succeeded by his nephew Justinian I, who rules until 565.

529

Attempting to rid the Byzantine Empire of paganism, Justinian I closes the one-thousand-year-old School of Philosophy in Athens.
Known as the father of Western monasticism, Benedict of Nursia founds the Benedictine Order at Monte Cassino, where he builds a monastery.

530

Gelimer deposes Hilderic and becomes king of the Vandals.

531-579

During the reign of Persian king Khosrow I, the Sasanian Empire undergoes a cultural and artistic renaissance.

532

Emperor Justinian commissions the principal church of Constantinople, the Hagia Sophia.

533

Byzantine general Belisarius defeats the Vandal king Gelimer, conquering the North African provinces that the Vandals took from the western Roman Empire in about 429.
Belisarius captures Sicily, using it as a base from which to conquer large portions of Italy, including Rome, for the Byzantine Empire by 540.

539-562

The Byzantine and Sasanian Empires are at war.
Empress Theodora of Byzantium introduces long white dresses, purple cloaks, gold embroidery, tiaras, and pointed shoes.

542

Transported by rats from Egypt and Syria, a plague hits Constantinople and spreads all over Europe.

543

Disastrous earthquakes shake the whole world.

546

Ostrogoth king Totila captures Rome, which is retaken by Byzantine general Belisarius.

550

Totila conquers Rome for the second time and goes on to take most of the rest of Italy and Sicily. As Byzantine power gradually declines in the West, the influence of the papacy begins to grow.

552

Led by General Narses, the Byzantines defeat the Ostrogoths in the Battle of Taginae, killing King Totila and embarking on a march through Italy.
Emperor Justinian sends missionaries to China and Ceylon with instructions to smuggle silkworms home to the West, marking the start of the European silk industry.

553

Narses retakes Rome and Naples for the Byzantines, ending Ostrogoth rule there.

558

Chlothar I, the last surviving son of Clovis I, reunifies the kingdom of the Franks under his rule.

561

On the death of Chlothar, the Frankish kingdom is divided among his four sons, leading to war among the brothers.

565

On the death of Justinan I, his nephew becomes Emperor Justin II.

567

Leovigild, king of the Visigoths, drives the Byzantines from Spain.
As a result of the feud among Chlothar’s sons, the Frankish kingdom is partitioned into Austrasia (Lorraine, Belgium, and the right bank of the Rhine; capital Metz), Neustria (in France; capital Soissons), and Burgundy (a separate kingdom ruled by the king of Neustria).

568

The Lombards conquer large portions of Italy, permanently ending Byzantine rule in those regions.

570*

Muhammad, the founder of Islam, is born in Mecca.
The Persian troops of the Sasanian Empire overthrow the Abyssinian rulers of the Yemen.

572-574

Byzantine troops invade the Sasanian Empire, whose troops counterattack and capture several important Byzantine cities.

574

Driven to insanity by the Sasanian conquests, Emperor Justin II is convinced to adopt General Tiberius as his son and co-emperor, Tiberius II Constantinus.

578

On the death of Justin II, Tiberius II Constantinus becomes sole emperor of Byzantiu….

581-604

Founder of the Sui dynasty (581-618), Emperor Wendi rules China. By the end of the 580s he has unified northern and southern China.

582

Just before his death Byzantine emperor Tiberius II Constantinus names Maurice, the commander of his Persian victories, as his successor.

587

The first Buddhist monastery is founded in Japan.

590*

General Bahram usurps the Sasanian throne and forces the young king Khosrow II to seek asylum with the Byzantines, who send an army to restore him to his throne.

597

Kent becomes the first Anglo-Saxon kingdom to convert to Christianity.

600*

Tibet begins to coalesce into one state.
Smallpox spreads to China and then to Asia Minor and southern Europe.

602

Phocas kills Byzantine emperor Maurice and succeeds him.

604

The first church bell is installed in Rome.

610*

The Prophet Muhammad has the first of many visions in which the message of the Quran is revealed to him.

613

The Frankish kingdoms are re-united under Chlothar II, son of Chilperic I of Neustria.

614

Persian troops of the Sasanid empire conquer the Byzantine cities of Damascus and Jerusalem and take the Holy Cross.

616

Egypt is overrun by the Sasanids.

618

Yangdi, the last emperor of the Chinese Sui dynasty, is overthrown by Li Yuan, who becomes the first emperor of the Tang dynasty.

622

After they are driven out of his native city of Mecca, the Prophet Muhammad and his followers settle in Medina, where he founds a house of worship, or mosque, in the courtyard of his home. This year becomes year one in the Muslim calendar.
Prince Shotoku of Japan dies, having served as regent for his aunt Empress Suiko (rules 592-628) since the beginning of her reign.

623

The first Muslim military expeditions are launched from Medina.

626

Chinese emperor Li Yuan’s second son, Li Shimin, kills his brothers and forces his father to abdicate in his favor. He becomes Emperor Taizong.
Bishop Paulinus of Kent goes on a mission to Northumbria, where he converts King Edwin and many of his subjects.

626-628

The Celtic Christian Church of southern Ireland adopts the Roman Christian form of worship. Northern Irish churches make the change in 692.

628

Having achieved a decisive victory against the Sasanids at the Battle of Ninevah in December 627, Byzantine emperor Heraclius I is able to end a war that has continued off and on for decades. Khosrow II is deposed and executed. The Byzantines recover all the territory conquered by the Sasanids, which includes Jerusalem and Alexandria, as well as the Holy Cross.
After the surrender of Mecca to a Muslim force, the Prophet appoints his first resident governor away from Medina, thus making the Muslim polity a territorial state and establishing the practice of making an annual pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca from Medina.

630*

The Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of East Anglia and Wessex are converted to Christianity.
Mahendravarman I dies. Under his reign, which began circa 600, the Pallava dynasty of southern India reached the height of its power.

630

The first Japanese embassy is established in the Chinese capital of Chang’an.

632

The Prophet Muhammad dies. His successor is Caliph Abu Bakr (rules 632-634). During his reign he begins a series of campaigns in Byzantine and Sasanid (Persian) territory.

633

Because of a revival of paganism in Northumbria after the death of King Edwin in 632, his successor, Oswald, invites the monk Aidan of lona to spread Christianity throughout northern England. The mission begins the temporary ascendancy in England of Celtic Christianity over that of the Roman Church.

634

Damascus falls to Muslim forces.
On the death of Abu Bakr, ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab (rules 634-644) becomes caliph.

634-642

In successful battles against the Byzantines and Sasanids, the Muslims conquer Syria, Palestine (including Jerusalem in 638), Egypt, Iraq, and Iran.

635

A Nestorian missionary arrives in the Chinese capital of Chang’an, where he is received by Emperor Taizong, allowed to preach, and given a church (638). The Nestorians are a Christian sect centered in Persia who believe the divine and human natures of Jesus Christ are independent—two persons only loosely united.

639

On the death of Chlothar II’s son Dagobert I, the Frankish kingdoms are divided. Chlothar gave Austrasia to his son Sigibert in 632 and now leaves Neustria and Burgundy to his son Clovis II. Though members of the Merovingian dynasty continue to rule in name until 751, power passes to nobles known as mayors of the palaces: Ebroïn in Neustria and, in Austrasia, Pepin I of Landen, founder of what becomes known as the Carolingian dynasty.

640

After Byzantine Egypt falls to the Muslims, thirty thousand papyrus scrolls are found in the library of Alexandria, whose book-copying industry is subsequently destroyed. As a result, Alexandria ceases to be the center for Western culture.

642

Kubrat, king of the Bulgars, dies, and his five sons divide their people into five hordes, three of which are absorbed into other peoples over the next few decades. Bezmer, or Bat-Bayan, leads his horde north, where it eventually settles around the confluence of the Volga and Kama Rivers. Asparukh leads his horde westward, eventually crossing the Danube River.

643

Muslims conquer Tripoli.
King Rothari codifies the laws of the Lombards.
The Soga family of Japan kills Prince Shotoku’s son Yamashiro Oe and his family.

645

Prince Nakano Oe and Nakatomi Kamatari stage a coup in Japan, killing the Soga family and re-establishing the power of the royal family.

646

The Japanese royal family institutes the Taikwa reforms, re-establishing a central Japanese state and limiting the power of the nobility.
A Byzantine fleet recaptures Alexandria.

647

Harsha dies, and his empire in northern India, which he has ruled since 606, breaks up.

650*

Two Slavic tribes, the Croats and the Serbs, settle in Bosnia.
Turkic tribes known as the Khazars conquer the Bulgars of the Volga region in southern Russia.

651

Yazdigard III, the last Sasanid ruler, dies as the Muslim conquest of his empire becomes complete.

653

Muslims complete their successful attempt to seize Armenia from the Byzantines.

655

A Muslim navy defeats a Byzantine fleet off the coast of Lycia (in present-day Turkey).
The Chinese concubine Wu Zhao marries Emperor Gaozong (reigns 649-683) and becomes empress. By 660 she, not her husband, is the real ruler of China.

656-661

During the first Muslim civil war Mu’awiyah becomes the first Muslim caliph of the Umayyad dynasty (660), establishing his capital in Damascus, which becomes the political and cultural center of the Muslim world.

657-659

The western Turks disperse, some traveling across southern Russia and eventually reaching Hungary, others going to India.

660

The Korean kingdom of Paekche is invaded by China.

664

Though at first Roman and Celtic Christian missionaries worked together in Britain, differences have developed, especially over how to calculate the date of Easter. The Synod of Whitby firmly establishes Roman Christianity as the dominant religion of England.

668

Constans II is killed during a mutiny of his troops in Syracuse and is succeeded by his son Constantine IV, who reigns until 685 during a period in which the Byzantine Empire is under constant attack, not only from the Muslim Empire but also from Bulgar and Slavic peoples of the Balkans.
China forces Korea to become a vassal state.

672

The death of Emperor Tenji, who has ruled Japan since 668, sparks warfare over the succession. Tenji’s younger brother is victorious and rules as Emperor Temmu.

674-678

Constantinople is besieged by Arab naval forces. The conflict ends with a truce that lasts thirty years.

675

China completes its conquest of the Korean Peninsula.

680-711

Visigoth authorities intensify their persecution of Spanish Jews and try to compel them to convert to Christianity.

681

The Byzantine Empire recognizes by treaty that the land between the Balkans and the Danube is under the control of Asparukh’s horde of Bulgars, delimiting the territory in which the modern state of Bulgaria was later created and weakening the hold of the Avars in the region.

681-687

The Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Sussex is converted to Christianity.

681-692

During the second Muslim civil war the Umayyads successfully defend their control of the caliphate.

681-737

The Khazars are embroiled in a series of wars with the Muslim Empire and eventually withdraw north of the Caucasus Mountains, where they provide a buffer between the Muslims and eastern Europe.

683

On the death of Emperor Gaozong of China, Empress Wu becomes the de facto ruler of China, finally usurping the throne outright in 690.

685

Justinian II succeeds his father, Constantine IV, to the throne of the Byzantine Empire.

688

Justinian II and Caliph Abd al-Malik sign a treaty declaring the Byzantine island of Cyprus neutral territory. The two empires hold the island jointly for almost three hundred years though both sides frequently violate the treaty.

693

The Muslims win a major victory over Byzantine forces in the Battle of Sevastopol.

695

Leontius seizes the Byzantine throne from Justinian II, initiating two decades of instability in the empire.

698

Muslims capture and destroy the Byzantine port of Carthage in North Africa.
The Byzantine army overthrows Emperor Leontius and places Tiberius II on the throne.

700*

By this date the Lombards of Italy have converted from Arianism to orthodox Roman Christianity.

705

In China, Empress Wu is forced to abdicate in favor of her son Emperor Zhongzong.
With the help of the Bulgars, Justinian II reclaims the Byzantine throne.

711

King Roderick of Spain is defeated by Berber general Tariq ibn Ziyad, who has been invited into Visigoth Spain by Roderick’s rival for the throne. By 719 the invaders reach the Pyrenees, making nearly all of Spain a Muslim state and granting Jews the civil rights they did not possess in Christian Spain.

712

Samarqand, in Turkestan, is occupied by the Arabs, who make the city a center of Muslim culture and one of the earliest sites of the Muslim papermaking industry, which spreads from China to the Muslim world during the first half of the eighth century.
Muhammad ibn Kasim establishes a Muslim state in Sind (India).

712-744

During his reign Lombard king Liutprand steadily reduces Byzantine territory in Italy.

716-719

Charles (the Hammer) Martel, illegitimate son of Pepin II of Heristal and grandfather of Charlemagne, establishes himself as mayor of Austrasia and Neustria and sets out to reassert Frankish authority in southern Gaul.

717

Leo III forces the abdication of Theodosius III and is proclaimed Byzantine emperor, ruling until his death in 741.

717-718

For thirteen months Muslim naval forces besiege Constantinople in an unsuccessful attempt to take the city and crush the power of the Byzantines.

718-721

Visigoth noble Pelayo establishes the Christian kingdom of Asturias.

720

Muslim troops cross the Pyrenees into France, seizing Narbonne.

725

The Chinese capital of Chang’an is the largest city in the world. Constantinople is the second largest.
Southern France is ravaged by Muslim troops.

727

China and Tibet begin a full-scale war. Though a settlement is reached in 730, fighting between China and Tibet flares up again within ten years and continues off and on for several decades.

729-749

During his reign, the devout Emperor Shomu establishes Buddhist temples and monasteries in every province of Japan.

730

With the help of the Lombards, Ravenna successfully rids itself of Byzantine rule, while Venice helps Byzantium to keep other parts of its Italian territory.

732

Charles Martel leads Frankish soldiers to victory in the Battle of Tours, checking the Muslims’ northward advance into Europe.

735-736

Charles Martel drives the Muslims from Burgundy.

740

The unity of the Muslim caliphate is destroyed when the Berbers of Morocco revolt and set up their own government.

741

On the death of Charles Martel, his lands are divided between his sons: Carloman becomes mayor of Austrasia, and Pepin III (the Short) gets Neustria.
On the death of Leo III, his son Constantine V becomes Byzantine emperor.

744

On the northern border of China, the Uighur Turks establish an empire that remains a powerful force in the region until 840.

745

Emperor Constantine V defeats Muslim troops at several important battles in northern Syria.

747

With the support of Pope Zacharias, Pepin III (the Short) becomes king of all Carolingian holdings.

749

Not long before his death the Buddhist monk Gyogi promotes the belief that Shinto, the native belief system of Japan, and Buddhism are two aspects of the same religion, leading to the gradual amalgamation of the two faiths.
In the midst of a third Muslim civil war (746-752), a rival, Abbasid caliph, Abu al-‘Abbas, is proclaimed in Iraq.

750

On the death of Marwan II, the last caliph of the Umayyad dynasty, Abu al-’Abbas is proclaimed the first caliph of the Abbasid dynasty, which remains at least nominally in power until the Mongol siege of Baghdad in 1258.

751

The Muslims conquer western Asia after defeating China in the Battle of Samarqand.
Supported by Pope Zacharias, Pepin III (the Short) deposes Childeric III, the last Merovingian king.
The Lombards take Ravenna from the Byzantines.

752

Yang Guozhong—a relative of Emperor Xuanzong’s favorite concubine, Yang Guifei— begins to dominate the Chinese court.

754-755

Pepin III (the Short) provides military aid to the Pope in his disputes with the Lombards.

755-756

An Lushan, the powerful military governor of three provinces on the northwest frontier of China, proclaims himself emperor. Emperor Xuanzong flees the capital city of Chang’an.

756

Pepin III (the Short) returns to Italy, defeating the Lombards and making the Donation of Pepin, which establishes the basis for a papal state (and the temporal power of the papacy) as well as setting up the Franks as the protectors of the papacy.

757

An Lushan is assassinated by his son, but his followers continue their rebellion until 763. From this time until its fall in 907, the Tang dynasty is too weak to assert any authority.

759

Frankish troops force the final withdrawal of Muslim troops from southern France, as Pepin III (the Short) conquers Septimania and reasserts Frankish authority in Aquitaine, extending his kingdom south to the Pyrenees.

762-763

Uighur Turks attack Chinese rebel forces and sack the eastern capital at Loyang. After a Uighur leader is converted to Manichaeism, it becomes the state religion of the Uighur empire.

763

Caliph al-Mansur moves his capital from Damascus to the new city of Baghdad.
A Tibetan army invades China and briefly occupies Chang’an.

764

Civil war erupts in Japan after the powerful Buddhist priest Dokyo, backed by former empress Koken, eliminates his main political rival, Oshikatsu. Emperor Junnin is deposed, and Koken takes the throne as Empress Shotoku. During her reign, which lasts until 770, Dokyo is prime minister and high priest of state.

768

Pepin III (the Short) dies, and his kingdom is divided between his two sons, Charles (Charlemagne) and Carloman.

770

On the death of Empress Shotoku of Japan, the powerful Fujiwara family places Emperor Konnin on the throne, considerably lessening the influence of the wealthy and powerful Buddhist establishment on Japanese politics. The Fujiwaras remain a major force in Japanese government until the mid twelfth century.

771

On the death of Carloman, the kingdom of the Franks is reunited under Charlemagne, who establishes his capital at Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle).

772-804

Charlemagne’s troops engage in a difficult but ultimately successful campaign to conquer Saxony.

773-774

Invading Italy at the request of Pope Adrian I, Charlemagne defeats the Lombards, annexes their Italian kingdom, and fulfills his father’s promise of creating a papal state in Italy.

775

After the death of Constantine V, the Byzantine throne goes to his son Leo IV.

775*

Monks on the Scottish island of lona begin what is now known as the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript of the four Gospels in the ornate Celtic style. After Vikings (Norsemen) raid the island in 802, the book is taken to the Abbey of Kells in Ireland, where it is probably completed.

778

The rear guard of Charlemagne’s forces, led by Roland, is ambushed by Basques as they return from an unsuccessful mission against Muslims in Spain. The battle is later the basis for La Chanson de Roland (The Song of Roland), the oldest French epic poem, written in the early twelfth century.

778-824

Borobudur Temple in Java is built as a microcosm of the universe according to the ideas of Mahayana Buddhism.

780

On the death of Leo IV, ten-year-old Constantine VI inherits the Byzantine throne. His mother, Empress Irene, becomes his regent.

781

Charlemagne gives the throne of Italy to his son Pepin and makes his son Louis I (the Pious) king of Aquitaine.
Byzantine forces suffer a major loss to Muslim troops in Asia Minor.
Emperor Kammu ascends the Japanese throne.

782

Charlemagne has 4,500 Saxon hostages beheaded at Verdun; around 785 he issues the “Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae” (Ordinance for the Saxon Regions), intended to force the Saxons to accept Frankish rule and convert to Christianity.

786-809

During the rule of Caliph Harun al-Rashid, Muslim culture is in what some scholars have called its “Golden Age,” while political unrest is rife throughout the caliphate.

787

The first recorded incursion of Danes takes place in England, beginning a long series of European raids by Danes, Norsemen, and Swedes, known collectively as Vikings.

788

Idris proclaims an independent Shiite Muslim kingdom in Morocco to rival the Sunni Muslim caliphate, founding the Idrisid dynasty that rules Morocco until 926.
Charlemagne conquers Bavaria.

790

The Byzantine army forces Empress Irene into retirement, but Constantine VI recalls his mother two years later and makes her coruler.

792

The Bulgars win a major victory against the Byzantines.

797

Empress Irene orders her son, Constantine VI, overthrown and blinded; she becomes sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire.

800

In Rome on Christmas Day, Pope Leo III crowns Charlemagne “Emperor of the Romans,” an attempt to signal the birth of a Christian Empire (the precursor of the Holy Roman Empire) to rival the Muslim and Byzantine Empires and to equal ancient Rome in its power and glory.

802

High-ranking Byzantine officials depose Empress Irene and place Nicephorus I on the throne.

804-806

Muslim forces conduct a series of raids on Anatolia, Cyprus, and Rhodes.

809

King Krum of the Bulgars begins a war with the Byzantines and conquers the city of Sophia.
The first public hospital is established in Baghdad and is soon followed by similar institutions of healing and teaching in other Muslim cities.

810

Danish king Godfred is killed during a military campaign in Frisia. During his reign, he prevented Charlemagne from expanding his realm northward into Denmark.

811

Emperor Nicephorus I is defeated and killed in a costly battle with the Bulgars. Emperor Michael I Rhangabe is also unsuccessful in stopping their advance on Constantinople.

811-827

A fourth Muslim civil war greatly weakens the power of the Abbasid caliphs.

812

The Byzantines sign a treaty with Charlemagne that allows them to keep their territory in southern Italy, Venice, and Dalmatia.

813

The Byzantine army deposes Emperor Michael I Rhangabe and places Leo V (the Armenian) on the throne.

814

Charlemagne dies and is succeeded by his last surviving son, Louis I (the Pious).

817

Byzantine Emperor Leo V (the Armenian) wins a major victory over the Bulgars at the Battle of Mesembria and forces them to sign a thirty-year peace treaty.

819-999

Though nominally subordinate to the increasingly weak Abbasid caliphs in Baghdad, the Samanid dynasty rules Iran.

820

Emperor Leo V (the Armenian) is assassinated, and Michael II, the first emperor of the Phrygian dynasty, is placed on the Byzantine throne.

826

Muslims from North Africa conquer and plunder Crete, using it as a pirate base until 961, when it is recaptured by the Byzantines.
Benedictine monk Ansgar begins his mission to convert Scandinavia to Christianity.

832

Abbasid Caliph al-Ma’mun sends troops to put down a peasants’ revolt in Egypt.

833

On the death of al-Ma’mun, his brother al-Mu’tasim becomes caliph. During his elevenyear reign, he becomes the first caliph to hire Turkish mercenaries, a move that eventually weakens the power of the caliphs.

838

Muslims sack Marseilles.
Louis I (the Pious) gives Neustria (modern northwestern France) and Aquitaine to his son Charles II (the Bald).
King Egbert of Mercia achieves a major victory over invading Vikings (Danes) and their Cornish Briton allies at the Battle of Hingston Down.

840*

Vikings (Norsemen) found the towns of Dublin and Limerick on the Irish coast as bases for trade with their homeland.

840

Louis I (the Pious) dies. His son Lothar I begins efforts to gain control of all Carolingian lands.

840-841

Though Venice is still nominally a part of the Byzantine Empire, the great trading city is essentially self-ruling by this time.

841

Lothar I is defeated by his brothers, Louis II (the German) and Charles II (the Bald), at the Battle of Fontenoy.
France is invaded by Vikings (Norsemen), who settle in the region that becomes known as Normandy. By 843 these “Normans” have reached to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

842

Louis II (the German) and Charles II (the Bald) renew their alliance against Lothar I in the Strasbourg Oaths. Charles makes his declaration in lingua romana (Old French), and Louis makes his in lingua teudisca (Old German), creating a manuscript that documents an early stage in the evolution of the modern German and French languages.
Michael III ascends the Byzantine throne with his mother, Theodora, as regent.

843

The Treaty of Verdun gives Lothar I control of northern Italy and Lorraine; Louis II (the German) receives the lands east of the Rhine River; Charles II (the Bald) becomes the king of the West Franks (modern-day France).

843-845

Tang emperor Wu-tsung, a Taoist, persecutes Buddhists, Manichaeans, Nestorians, and Maddens (members of a Persian sect), ending a long period of general religious tolerance in China. Only Buddhism survives.
Vikings (Norsemen) sack Paris.

843-858

Kenneth I McAlpin is the first king to rule both the Scots and the Picts.

846

Muslims sack Rome, damaging the Vatican.

850*

Groups of Jews settle in Germany. The Yiddish language begins to develop from Hebrew, Aramaic, and German roots.
Under Vijayawada, who reigns until 870, the prosperous Hindu Cola (or Cholla) dynasty of Tamil kings begins its territorial expansion in southern India.
The Chinese have discovered how to make gunpowder; the formula is first published in 1040.

851

Egbert’s successor, Aethelwulf, defeats a Viking (Danish) army that has attacked Canterbury and London but is having difficulty defending the long, unfortified English coastline from repeated raids.

855

Lothar I dies. His lands are divided among his three sons: Louis II is given Italy; Charles gets Provence; and Lothar II obtains Lotharingia (modern-day Lorraine).

856

Bardas becomes de facto ruler of the Byzantine Empire.

858

Fujiwara Yoshifusa, father-in-law of the emperor of Japan, becomes the first commoner to serve as regent when his nine-year-old grandson, Seiwa, takes the throne.
The Muslims expel the Vikings from the Spanish port of Algeciras.

859

Supported by the caliphate, Ashot I establishes the Bagratid dynasty in Armenia and rules essentially free of outside influence.

860*

Viking (Norse) explorers discover Iceland.

860

Sailing down the Dnieper from Kiev to the Black Sea, the Russians launch an unsuccessful naval attack on Constantinople.

862-885

Byzantine missionaries Cyril and Methodius preach Christianity among the Slavs of Moravia and Bohemia. Cyril adapts the Greek alphabet to the Slavic tongue, and it becomes known as the Cyrillic alphabet.

865

Boris I of Bulgaria is converted to Christianity, eventually affiliating with the Eastern Church.
Louis II (the German) divides his kingdom among his three sons: Carloman (Bavaria and Carinthia), Charles the Fat (Swabia), and Louis the Younger (Franconia, Thuringia, and Saxony).

866

Emperor Seiwa of Japan achieves his majority, but his grandfather continues to serve as regent, inaugurating nearly two centuries of clan dominance known as the Fujiwara period (866-1160).
A Viking (Danish) army of nearly three thousand men attacks England and captures Northumbria.
Bardas is murdered by Basil, a favorite of Byzantine emperor Michael III.

866-910

During his reign, Alfonso III (the Great) of the kingdom of Asturias expands his realm to include León and Castile and other territory as far south as the Duero River, thus setting in motion the “Reconquista,” the Christian recapture of Spain from the Muslims.

867

Basil orders Emperor Michael III deposed and murdered, replacing him on the throne as Emperor Basil I, the founder of the Macedonian dynasty.

868

The Buddhist Diamond Sutra, the first known full-length printed book, is produced in China.

868-872

As the Abbasid caliphate grows weaker, the Tulunid dynasty comes to power in Egypt.

869

Lothar II dies, and his lands are divided between his uncles Louis II (the German) and Charles II (the Bald).

871

Having already captured York and East Anglia, Vikings (Danes) raid London and meet fierce resistance in Wessex. Late in the year Alfred (the Great) becomes king of Wessex and negotiates a temporary peace.

871-879

Taking advantage of internal dissent within the Muslim Empire, the Byzantines engage in sporadic border warfare with the Muslims and make some inroads.

874-883

A series of popular uprisings challenges the government of Tang emperor Hsi-tsung (rules 873-888).

875

Louis II dies; Charles II (the Bald) invades Italy and is crowned Emperor of the Romans
Byzantine forces capture Bari in southern Italy. They later take Tarentum (880) and Calabria (885), re-establishing a large foothold on the peninsula.

876

Charles II (the Bald) attempts, but fails, to take the territory of Louis II (the German), who dies in August. His son Louis III (the Younger) defeats his uncle at the Battle of Andernach on 8 October. Louis’s son Charles III (the Fat) becomes king of Swabia.

877

The death of Charles II (the Bald) leaves the Empire in a state of anarchy. His son Louis II (the Stammerer) agrees to rule the West Franks but refuses to become emperor.
Extending its domain into Syria, the Tulunid dynasty of Egypt seizes Damascus.
A band of Danish marauders kills King Constantine I, who has ruled Scotland since 862; he is succeeded by Eocha, who rules until 889.

878

Vikings led by the Danish king Guthrum are defeated by King Alfred the Great at the Battle of Edington in Wiltshire. Alfred establishes the Peace of Wedmore, in which Guthrum accepts Christianity and agrees to withdraw to the “Danelaw,” England north of Watling Street from Chester to London and the Thames from London to the sea.

879

After the death of Louis II (the Stammerer) his sons divide the kingdom of the West Franks. Louis III becomes king of the North, and Carloman rules the South.

882

Charles III (the Fat) becomes king of all the East Franks.
On the death of Louis III, Carloman becomes sole ruler of the West Franks.

884

Following the death of Carloman, Charles III (the Fat) becomes ruler of all Charlemagne’s empire except Provence.

885-886

Vikings (Norsemen) lay siege to Paris, which is defended by Count Eudes (Odo). Charles III (the Fat) fails in his attempt to aid Eudes.

886

After repelling a Danish invasion of Kent in 885, Alfred the Great captures London and is acknowledged as king of all England south of the Danelaw.
Basil I dies and is succeeded as Byzantine emperor by his son Leo IV (the Wise), who has been co-emperor since 870.

887

The final separation of Germany and France occurs after Charles III (the Fat) is deposed. His nephew Arnulf becomes king of the East Franks (Germany).

888

Eudes, Count of Paris, is elected king of the West Franks. Another faction backs Charles III (the Simple), younger brother of West Frankish kings Louis III and Carloman, and a five-year civil war ensues in France.

889

The Pechenegs, a Turkic people, enter the area between the Don and lower Danube Rivers, driving the Magyars to the eastern edges of their territory.
Boris I retires to a monastery and is succeeded as ruler of the Bulgars by his son Vladimir.

889-900

During the reign of Donald II in Scotland, the Danes increase their efforts to conquer and settle Scottish territory.

891

Fujiwara Mototsune dies, and Emperor Uda, whose mother is not a Fujiwara, refuses to appoint a new kampaku. Having ascended the Japanese throne in 887, Uda rules independently of the Fujiwaras until his death in 897. He is supported in his efforts by the powerful scholar-poet-politician Sugawara Michizane (later deified as Tenjin).
Arnulf of Germany defeats the Vikings (Norsemen) at the Battle of the Dyle (in present-day Belgium).
With the help of the Magyars, Arnulf attacks the Moravians, who are making incursions into Germany.

893

Charles III (the Simple) becomes king of France and rules from Laon. He is the last Carolingian king to exert any true authority in France.
Boris I comes out of retirement, puts down a revolt against his son Vladimir, deposes and blinds him, and makes his son Simeon I (the Great) king of the Bulgars.

894

In Japan, Sugawara Michizane convinces Emperor Uda that diplomatic relations with China are undesirable because of growing Near Eastern influence there. Although unofficial contact between the two countries continues, this breaking of official ties marks the end of some three centuries of Chinese influence on Japanese culture.

894-924

Simeon I (the Great) of Bulgaria engages in a series of wars with the Byzantine Empire, but he is never able to take Constantinople.

895-896

Driven from southern Russia by the Pechenegs (a Turkic people), the Magyars, led by Arpad, settle in Hungary, where they subjugate the resident Slavs and Huns.

899-924

During his reign Edward the Elder, son of Alfred the Great, extends his kingdom to include nearly all of England, including most of the territory controlled by the Danes.

899-955

The Magyars conduct raids throughout central Europe.

900*

The Mayas abandon their settlements in the lowlands of Mexico, but their cities in the Yucatán Peninsula continue to flourish for several more centuries.
By this time the last inhabitants of Teotihuacán, near present-day Mexico City, have abandoned what is left of their once-great city, devastated by fire some 150 years earlier. They have been driven away by the arrival of war-like peoples such as the Toltecs.
The Chimú kingdom arises in the Moche Valley of Peru.

902

The Byzantine island of Sicily falls to the Muslims after a long series of raids that began in 827.

905

The Tulunid dynasty of Egypt is overthrown by the army of Abbasid caliph al-Muk.

907

After another Russian raid on Constantinople, a delegation led by Prince Oleg arrives there to discuss a trade agreement, which is signed in 911.
The Magyars begin raids in Germany and Italy.
Khitan Mongol leader A-pao-chi proclaims himself ruler of the Khitans, and by 916 he has created a Chinese-style dynasty to rule a nation that includes Mongolia and much of Manchuria.

907-960

After the fall of the Tang dynasty, the Five Dynasties rule in a fragmented China.

909

The Fatimid dynasty comes to power in North Africa.

911

Charles III (the Simple) cedes to the Norseman Rollo the Duchy of Northmen (Normans), which becomes known as Normandy. Rollo converts to Christianity, is baptized Robert, and becomes Charles’s vassal. Charles gains control of Lorraine.
On the death of Louis III (the Child), the last Carolingian king of the East Franks, Germany splinters into many smaller principalities.

913

Leo VI’s seven-year-old son, Constantine VII (Porphyrogenitus), becomes Byzantine emperor and reigns until 959.

914

Bulgar ruler Simeon I (the Great) extends his power in the Balkans through raids in Macedonia, Albania, and Serbia.

915

Supported by a Byzantine navy and led by Pope John X, a united Italian army defeats a Muslim force in southern Italy.

915*

The Berbers of North Africa found Algiers on the site of an ancient Phoenician city and make it an important center of Mediterranean commerce.

919*

Chinese flamethrowers are ignited by gunpowder, marking its first documented use in battle.

919

Henry I (the Fowler), Duke of Saxony and the strongest opponent of Conrad I, is elected king of Germany. He subsequently forms an alliance with Charles III (the Simple) of France.

920

Romanus I (Lecapenus) is made co-emperor of the Byzantine Empire with his son-in-law Constantine VII (Porphyrogenitus) and becomes de facto ruler of the empire.

922*

The Volga Bulgars convert to Islam.
Robert, Duke of Paris, seizes the crown of France from Charles III (the Simple).

923

Charles III (the Simple) kills Robert in a battle at Soissons, only to be captured by Hebert, Count of Vermandois, in whose custody he dies in 929. Robert’s son-in-law Rudolf, Duke of Burgundy, becomes king.

924

Edward the Elder dies and is succeeded by his son, Aethelstan, who creates political unity in England during his fifteen-year reign.

925

Simeon I (the Great) proclaims himself tsar of all the Bulgars, presiding over the first Bulgarian Empire. Having proclaimed the independence of the Bulgarian Church from Constantinople, he is recognized by the Pope but not by the Byzantines.

926

In return for helping the Juchens of Manchuria to conquer northern China, Khitan ruler A-pao-chi is given the northeast corner of China, which includes the city of Beijing.

928

The Umayyad ruler of Muslim Spain takes the title of caliph in opposition to the Fatimids and the Abbasids.

936

On the death of Henry I (the Fowler), his son, Otto I (the Great), becomes king of Germany.
King Rudolf of France dies and is succeeded by the son of Charles III (the Simple), Louis IV, who is king in name only while King Robert’s son, Hugh the Great, actually rules the kingdom.

939

Vietnam gains its independence from China.

943-954

During his reign, Malcolm I of Scotland drives the Danes from the English city of York, extending his kingdom south into the northern counties of England.

944

Romanus I (Lecapenus) is deposed by his sons Stephen and Constantine, who force him to become a monk. After exiling Romanus’s sons in 945, Constantine VII (Porphyrogenitus) becomes sole ruler again, but the Byzantine Empire is largely governed by the powerful general Bardas Phocas, who is under the influence of Constantine’s wife, Empress Helena, and her favorite, Basil.

945

Svyatoslav I succeeds his father, Igor, as grand prince of Kiev.
The Buyids, an Iranian dynasty, capture Baghdad and place the Abbasid caliphs under virtual house arrest. The Buyids rule as amirs while allowing the Abbasids to remain as figurehead caliphs.

947

The Khitans of northeastern China proclaim the Liao dynasty, which rules that portion of their empire until 1125.
Quetzalcóatl, revered by the Toltecs as a god, is born in Mexico.

950*

Toltecs invade the Mayan city of Chichén Itzá in the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. They build their capital, Tollan, near the modern Mexican city of Tula.

951

Otto I (the Great) of Germany invades Italy.

954

On the death of Louis IV of France his eldest son, Lothaire, becomes king. The kingdom is controlled by Hugh the Great until 956 and then by Hugh’s uncle, Archbishop Bruno of Cologne, brother of King Otto I (the Great) of Germany.
King Eadred wrests the northern counties of England from Scottish rule.

955

The Magyars attempt another invasion of Germany, but they are defeated at the Battle of the Lechfeld and driven back into Hungary.
A treaty between Ordoño III and ‘Abd al-Rahman-al-Nasir secures the independence of the Spanish kingdoms of León and Navarre.

957

Olga, regent for her son, Grand Prince Svyatoslav, is baptized in Constantinople and begins efforts to convert Russians to Christianity. She is later canonized as the first saint of the Russian Orthodox Church.

959

Byzantine emperor Constantine VII (Porphyrogenitus) dies and is succeeded by his son Romanus II, who allows the eunuch Joseph Bringas to run affairs of state and leaves military affairs to Nicephorus Phocas, son of Bardas Phocas.

960

Zhao Kuanyin stages a coup in China, defeating an army of Chinese and Khitans to become Emperor Taizu, the first emperor of the Song dynasty. During his reign, which lasts until 976, Taizu begins the reunification of the Chinese empire.

960*

King Harald Bluetooth of Denmark converts to Christianity.

961

The Muslims lose Crete to the Byzantines.

962

Otto I (the Great) of Germany becomes Emperor of the Romans.

963*

Duke Mieszko I becomes the first ruler of Poland, founding the dynasty later called the Piasts.

963

After the death of Byzantine emperor Romanus II, the imperial army places Nicephorus II Phocas on the throne.

965

The Byzantines take control of Cyprus.

966-969

With the aid of Prince Svyatoslav of Kiev, the Byzantines defeat the Bulgars. Svyatoslav refuses to cede his conquest to the Byzantines and announces plans to establish a Russo-Bulgarian empire.

969

The Byzantines retake Antioch, in northern Syria, from the Muslims, who have held it since 638.
Nicephorus II Phocas is murdered in a plot devised by his wife, Empress Theophano, and his trusted lieutenant John Tzimisces, who becomes Emperor John I Tzimisces.
The Fatimids complete their invasion of Egypt and send troops into Palestine and southern Syria.

971

Prince Svyatoslav of Kiev invades the Byzantine Empire, where he is defeated by John I Tzimisces and forced to evacuate Bulgaria. John annexes eastern Bulgaria to the Byzantine Empire.

975-1025

Beowulf, an Old English epic that has evolved over several centuries, is written down for the first time.

976

On the death of John I Tzimisces, Basil II and Constantine VIII, sons of Romanos II and Theophano, become the rulers of the Byzantine Empire.

976-997

During his reign, Song emperor Taizong completes the reunification of the Chinese empire.

977

Sabuktigin becomes governor of the town of Ghazna (modern Ghazni in eastern Afghanistan), founding a Turkish dynasty that rules until 1186 over an empire that eventually includes much of Iran and Afghanistan, as well as northwestern India.

978

Otto II of Germany puts down a revolt by Henry II of Bavaria.
King Edward (the Martyr) of England is assassinated at Corfe Castle while visiting his brother, who becomes King Aethelred II.

980

Samuel becomes tsar of Bulgaria, establishing his capital in Macedonia and gradually extending his empire into Byzantine territory in the northern parts of present-day Albania and Greece.

980-1013

Aethelred II fails to halt a series of Danish invasions of England, earning the byname “the Unready.”

982

Muslim forces defeat the troops of Otto II near Stilo in southern Italy.
Norseman Erik the Red discovers Greenland, establishing Norse colonies there in 986.

983

On the death of Otto II, his three-year-old son Otto III becomes king of Germany. His mother and grandmother rule as regents until he comes of age in 994.
On the death of King Lothaire, his weak son Louis V becomes king of France.

986

Sabuktigin invades India, introducing Islam in that region.
Blown off course during a storm, Icelander Bjarni Herjulfsson and his crew make the first recorded European sighting of the North American continent.

987

The last Carolingian king of the West Franks, Louis V, dies and is succeeded by Hugh Capet, the founder of the Capetian dynasty of France.

989

With the help of Prince Vladimir of Kiev, Byzantine emperor Basil II puts down a revolt led by his generals Bardas Phocas and Bardas Skleros. Basil rewards Vladimir with the hand of his sister Anna, on the condition that he and his subjects convert to Christianity. A mass conversion of Russians to Eastern Christianity follows.

989-992

The Poles conquer Silesia. On succeeding his father, Duke Mieszko I, in 992 Boleslaw the Brave continues to expand Polish territory.

994

Danes led by Sweyn I (Forkbeard) invade England and impose tribute.

995

Fujiwara Michinaga becomes head of his clan and de facto ruler of Japan, struggling to suppress rebellions by warrior families who resent the Fujiwaras’ centralized control of the nation.
Military victories at Aleppo and Homs strengthen the Byzantines’ position in Syria.

996

Emperor Basil II recovers Byzantine holdings in Greece by defeating Tsar Samuel of Bulgaria at the Battle of Spercheios River.
Hugh Capet of France dies and is succeeded by his son Robert II (the Pious).
Hoping to rule an empire that rivals ancient Rome, Otto III of Germany answers an appeal from Pope John IV for help in putting down a rebellion of Roman noble Crescentius II by invading Italy and having himself declared king of Lombardy. Reaching Rome after Pope John’s death, Otto engineers the election of his cousin Bruno of Carinthia as Pope Gregory V, the first German pope. In return, Gregory crowns Otto III Emperor of the Romans. After Otto returns to Germany, Crescentius returns to Rome and installs his own candidate as Pope.

997-998

Otto III re-invades Italy, returns Gregory V to the papacy, and makes Rome his capital.

998-1030

During the reign of Mahmud of Ghazna, the Ghaznavid Empire reaches its greatest extent.

999

The Althing, or Icelandic assembly, declares that all Icelanders must abandon the old Norse religion in favor of Christianity.

1000*

The Incan civilization begins to develop in South America.
Struggles between rival religious groups begin to weaken the Toltec state of central Mexico.
Among the Eastern Woodlands peoples in the northwestern part of present-day New York State, the introduction of corn sparks the development of the Owasco culture, the foundation of the groups that later become the Five Iroquois Nations: the Mohawks, Senecas, Onondagas, Oneidas, and Cayugas.
The Navajo and Apache peoples from the far north in Canada arrive in the American Southwest, where they encounter Pueblo Indians, including the Zuni and Hopi, who have been in the region for thousands of years. The Navajo learn agriculture, weaving, and artistic styles from the Pueblo tribes, but the Apache remain mostly hunter-gatherers.
At Cahokia, near present-day East St. Louis, Illinois, members of the group archaeologists call Mississippians begin building the largest earthen structures in pre-Columbian North America. Cahokia becomes a prosperous and influential city, with a population that eventually reaches about twelve thousand people.
Maori people settle New Zealand following long voyages across the Pacific Ocean.

1000

Leif Eriksson, son of Erik the Red, converts to Christianity during a visit to Norway.
The Danes, led by Sweyn I, kill King Olaf I Tryggvason of Norway at the Battle of Svolder, making Norway part of Denmark.
Otto III of Germany recognizes Duke Boleslaw the Brave as the sovereign ruler of Poland. He is formally crowned King Boleslaw I in 1024.

1001

Leif Eriksson and his crew sail to places they call Vinland, Helluland, and Markland, possibly Nova Scotia, Labrador, and Newfoundland.

1001-1002

Romans rise up against Otto III, who calls on his cousin Henry of Bavaria for help. Otto dies before Henry’s troops arrive, and his cousin becomes King Henry II of Germany.

1002

Duke Boleslaw the Brave seizes Bohemia, beginning a series of wars with Germany that lasts until 1018.

1004

Muslim raiders sack Pisa.
Thorfinn Karlsefni and his wife, Gudrid, lead an expedition of about 130 people from Greenland to the North American continent, landing possibly at Baffin Island, traveling south, and settling along what was probably the Gulf of St. Lawrence. After three years they abandon the settlement they call Vinland and return to Greenland. Thorfinn and Gudrid’s son, Snorri (born circa 1005), may be the first European born in mainland North America.

1009

The Fatimids destroy the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

1013

Aethelred II (the Unready) flees to Normandy, leaving the rule of England to Danish king Sweyn I. After Sweyn dies in early 1014, Aethelred returns to the throne and rules until his death in 1016.

1014

Rajendra becomes king of a Cola empire that includes southern India, the Laccadive and Maldive Islands, and northern Ceylon (Sri Lanka). During his thirty-year reign he extends the northern boundaries of his kingdom, completes the invasion of Ceylon, and conquers portions of the Malay Peninsula and Archipelago.
The victory of King Brian Boru’s forces over the Norsemen at the Battle of Clontarf marks the end of Viking domination in Ireland.

1016*

The victory of Malcolm II Mackenneth (rules 1005-1034) over a Northumbrian army at the Battle of Carham makes him the first Scottish king to rule over a country with roughly the same boundaries as modern Scotland.

1016

On the death of Aethelred II (the Unready) in April, his son Edmund II (Ironside) becomes king in the midst of a massive Danish invasion. On his death in November, Canute I (the Great) of Denmark become king of all England, which he rules until 1035.
The Pisans and Genovese drive the Muslims from Sardinia.

1018

On the death of his father, Sweyn I, Canute I (the Great) of England becomes Canute II of Denmark.
In the Treaty of Bautzen, Boleslaw of Poland retains Lusatia and Misnia and returns Bohemia to Henry II of Germany. Boleslaw then expands eastward by defeating Grand Prince Yaroslav I the Wise of Kiev.

1022

Henry II defeats the Byzantines in southern Italy.
The Byzantines, who have been annexing portions of Armenia since 968, gain possession of the Armenian kingdom of Vaspurakan, and the ruler of the Armenian kingdom of Ani is compelled to make Emperor Basil II heir to his estates.

1024

On the death of Henry II, his cousin Conrad II becomes king of Germany; in 1027 he is crowned Emperor of the Romans.

1025-1028

After the death of Basil II, his brother, Constantine VIII, rules the Byzantine Empire until his death three years later.

1026

The Danes repel an invasion by Sweden and Norway.

1028

The death of Fujiwara Michinaga begins the decline of Fujiwara control in Japan.
Canute the Great of England and Denmark becomes king of Norway.
After the death of Constantine VIII, his daughter Zoë becomes de facto empress of the Byzantine Empire, ruling until 1050 with a succession of three husbands, the first of which is her father’s handpicked successor, Romanus III (Argyropolus).

1031

Conrad II defeats the army of Mieszko II of Poland, making it a fief of the Holy Roman Empire.
Robert II (the Pious) of France dies and is succeeded by his son Henry I.

1034

The chosen successor of his maternal grandfather, Malcolm II (rules 1005-1034), Duncan I becomes king of Scotland, though, according to Scottish rules of succession, his cousin Macbeth has a stronger claim to the throne.
Byzantine emperor Romanus III (Argyropolus) dies, reputedly poisoned by his wife, Empress Zoë, who marries Romanus’s young chamberlain and makes him Emperor Michael IV (the Paphlagonian).

1035

Harold I (Harefoot), the illegitimate son of Canute I (the Great), becomes regent in England and seizes the throne outright in 1037.

1039

Conrad II dies and is succeeded as king of Germany by his son Henry III (the Black), who is crowned Emperor of the Romans in 1046. During his reign, which lasts until 1056, Henry controls Poland, Bohemia, and Saxony.

1040

Macbeth kills Duncan I in battle and becomes king of Scotland.
Danish king Hardecanute, the legitimate son of Canute I (the Great), invades England and takes the throne from his half brother Harold.
Byzantine troops crush a Bulgar uprising. Bulgaria is incorporated into the Byzantine Empire.

1041-1042

On the death of Michael IV (the Paphlagonian), Empress Zoë elevates her favorite, Michael V (Kalaphates), who attempts to make himself sole emperor by exiling Zoë to a convent. Members of the nobility depose Michael, blind him, and imprison him.

1042

Edward the Confessor, son of Aethelred the Unready, takes the throne of England on the death of his half brother Hardecanute; Edward rules England until 1066.
Byzantine empress Zoë marries Constantine IX (Monomachus), elevating him to emperor.
General Georgios Maniakes fends off a Norman invasion of Byzantine holdings in southern Italy.

1054

Malcolm, son of Duncan I of Scotland, and Siward, Earl of Northumbria, defeat Macbeth in battle, forcing him to yield part of southern Scotland to Malcolm.
Angry at Pope Leo IX’s support for Norman incursions in Byzantine southern Italy, Patriarch Michael Kerularios of Constantinople anathematizes the Roman Church, an act widely regarded as the beginning of the final schism between the Western and Eastern Christian Churches.

1054-1092

The Muslim Almoravid dynasty of North Africa establishes its domain in Morocco and western Algeria.

1055

On the death of Constantine IX (Monomachus), Empress Theodora reasserts her claim to rule the Byzantine Empire.
Saljuk Turks capture northern Syria, Palestine, and central Iraq, where their capture of Baghdad gives them control over the Abbasid caliphs, who continue in their role as figureheads and religious leaders while the Saljuks wield political power as sultans.

1056

Henry III dies and is succeeded as king of Germany and Emperor of the Romans by six-year-old Henry IV, who reigns until 1106.
On the death of Empress Theodora in August, Michael VI (Stratioticus) becomes the Byzantine emperor. He is deposed the following August by members of the military aristocracy, who put Isaac I Comnenus on the throne.

1057

With the assistance of the English, Malcolm kills Macbeth in battle and later this year becomes Malcolm III Canmore of Scotland.

1059

Pope Nicholas II (reigns 1059-1061) decrees that seven cardinal (pre-eminent) bishops should be solely responsible for electing a new pope, thus eliminating any secular ruler from the selection process. The Church, however, is unable to enforce this ruling until the papal election of 1085.
Byzantine emperor Isaac I Comnenus abdicates in favor of Constantine X (Ducas).

1060

Henry I of France dies and is succeeded by his son Philip I.

1061

Norman brothers Robert and Roger Guiscard begin a long campaign to capture Sicily from the Muslims. The invasion is not entirely complete until the fall of Muslim forces at Messina in 1091. In 1072 Roger becomes Roger II, Count of Sicily.

1064

The Saljuks gain control over a large portion of Armenia, completing their invasion by 1071.

1066

On the death of Edward the Confessor, Harold Godwinsson becomes king of England and defeats an invading army led by King Harald Hardrada of Norway at the Battle of Stamford Bridge (25 September) in Yorkshire.
Norman troops under William the Conqueror land on the southern coast of England and defeat Harold Godwinsson’s weary army at the Battle of Hastings (14 October). Harold Godwinsson is killed, ending Saxon rule of England. William the Conqueror is crowned William I of England on Christmas Day and rules until 1087.

1067-1085

During his reign Emperor Shenzong of China nationalizes the production and distribution of agricultural products.

1071

The Saljuks defeat and capture Byzantine emperor Romanus IV Diogenes at Malazgirt (Manzikert), gaining control over much of Anatolia (the Asian part of Turkey). This victory begins a major expansion of the area influenced by Islam.
Michael VII (Ducas) becomes sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire.

1072

William I (the Conqueror) invades Scotland and forces the Scots to pay homage to him.
The Normans take Palermo.

1074

Michael VII (Ducas) calls on the Saljuks for help against Roussel de Bailleul, a Norman mercenary who is trying to establish his own kingdom in Asia Minor, thus paving the way for the Saljuks’ conquest of the rest of Anatolia.

1075

Saljuk ruler Malik Shah subdues Syria and Palestine.

1076-1122

Pope Gregory VII and Emperor Henry IV and their successors engage in the long dispute known as the Investiture Controversy, a power struggle over whether secular rulers have the right to select and install bishops.

1078

Rival generals, Nicephorus Bryennius in Albania and Nicephorus Botaneiates in Anatolia, march on Constantinople to claim the throne. Michael VII (Ducas) abdicates, and Botaneiates becomes Emperor Nicephorus III.

1080*

An Armenian state is established in Cilicia.

1080-1086

During his reign Canute IV (later Saint Canute) of Denmark is known for his patronage of several churches.

1081

General Alexius Comnenus seizes the Byzantine throne, ruling as Alexius I Comnenus until 1118.

1081-1085

Led by Robert Guiscard and his sons, Bohemond and Roger Borsa, Normans from southern Italy invade Byzantine territories in western Greece (1081), Macedonia (1083), and Corfu (1083). Alexius I Comnenus wins the support of Venice by granting it extensive trading privileges (1082). The Normans abandon their invasion in 1085, after the Byzantine and Venetian fleets defeat them near Corfu.

1083

Christian king Alfonso VI of León and Castile takes Madrid from the Muslims.

1085

Alfonso VI captures Toledo from the Muslims.

1085-1086

The Almoravid dynasty of North Africa sends its forces into Spain, where they halt Alfonso’s advance into Muslim territory but fail to retake Toledo.

1087

William I (the Conqueror) is fatally wounded in a fall from a horse during warfare with Philip I of France. His son William II (Rufus) succeeds to the throne of England.

1093

During a raid into England, Malcolm III Canmore is killed; his brother Donald Bane seizes the Scottish throne.

1094

Spanish mercenary soldier Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (El Cid) captures Valencia from the Muslims in Spain.
Donald Bane of Scotland is deposed by Malcolm III Canmore’s son Duncan II, but soon thereafter Donald Bane has his nephew killed and retakes the throne, ruling until 1097, when he is deposed in favor of Duncan’s brother Edgar, who rules Scotland for the next twenty years.

1095

Responding to a call from Alexius I Comnenus for help against the Saljuks, Pope Urban II calls for a Crusade to claim the Holy Land for Christianity.

1096-1099

Crusader victories during the First Crusade enable Alexius I Comnenus to recover the western coast of Anatolia for the Byzantines, but rather than turning over all conquered territories the Crusaders establish the Latin Christian kingdoms of Jerusalem, Edessa, Antioch, and Tripoli—which only grudgingly acknowledge the Byzantine emperor as their overlord. The Crusaders take Jerusalem in 1099 and massacre its Muslim inhabitants.

1100*

Inuits, a people of North America, settle in northern Greenland.

1100

William II (Rufus) of England is killed while hunting. His brother Henry I (Beauclerc) becomes king and rules until 1135.

1100-1300

Tahitian chief’s make a series of voyages to the Hawaiian Islands.
Germans expand eastward into the Slavic territory between the Elbe and Oder Rivers.

1100-1125

During his reign, Chinese emperor Huizong is known as a patron of the arts.

1104

Alfonso I (the Battler) becomes king of Aragon and Navarre, ruling until 1134.
Crusaders take Acre.

1104-1113

England and France are at war over English lands on the Continent.

1105

Henry IV of Germany abdicates and dies a year later. His son succeeds him as Henry V of Germany and, in 1111, as Emperor of the Romans.

1108

Philip I of France dies and is succeeded by his son Louis VI (the Fat).

1113-1150

During his reign Khmer king Suryavarman II builds Angkor Wat, a huge temple complex in his capital city.

1116-1120

England and France are again at war.

1118

Alfonso the Battler captures the province of Saragossa in northeast Spain, which Muslims have held for nearly four hundred years.

1120

Construction begins on Chartres Cathedral in France, one of the greatest examples of Gothic architecture. It is essentially completed by 1220.

1120s

Arabic works on mathematics, optics, and astronomy are introduced into Europe.

1120-1121

John II Comnenus continues his father’s campaign against the Saljuks and recovers still more of Anatolia for the Byzantines.

1122

John II Comnenus defeats the Pechenegs, finally alleviating their threat to the Byzantine Empire.

1123

John II Comnenus defeats the Serbs.

1124

John II Comnenus defeats the Hungarians.
David I, the last son of Malcolm III Canmore to ascend to the Scottish throne, succeeds his brother Alexander I, who has ruled Scotland since 1107.

1125*

The Berber Almohad dynasty comes to power in Morocco; by 1147 they gain control of all Almoravid territory in North Africa.

1125

Henry V dies without an heir. After a battle over the succession, Lothar, Duke of Saxony, emerges as King Lothar II of Germany and is crowned Emperor of the Romans in 1133.

1126

The Juchens of Manchuria conquer the northern portion of the Song Empire in China.

1127

Chinese prince Gaozong escapes from Juchen invaders and rules the portion of the Chinese empire that lies south of the Yangtze River, establishing the Southern Song dynasty, which rules the South until 1279. During this period the Song government prints paper money, a practice continued by the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368).
Henry I of England compels his barons to accept his only living child, Matilda, the widow of Emperor Henry V, as the heir to his throne.

1130

Roger II becomes ruler of the newly formed kingdom of Sicily. He patronizes many scientific projects, including the creation of sophisticated maps.

1135

On the death of Henry I of England, his nephew Stephen, a grandson of William the Conqueror, seizes the English throne, though he has earlier recognized the claim of Henry’s daughter, Empress Matilda, now the wife of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou. A civil war breaks out between forces loyal to Stephen or Matilda.

1137

Byzantine troops complete a three-year campaign to conquer Cilician (Little) Armenia, which has been under the control of the Latin Christian state of Antioch. Raymond of Antioch is forced to do homage to the Byzantine Empire.
Louis VI (the Fat) of France dies and is succeeded by his son Louis VII (the Young).
Following the death of Lothar II in 1137, Conrad III is elected king of Germany.

1138

David I of Scotland invades England on Matilda’s behalf and is defeated at the Battle of the Standards.

1139

Matilda arrives in England at the head of an army.
Alfonso I of Portugal secures the independence of his kingdom from León. During his reign, which lasts until 1185, he has several important victories over the Muslims.

1141

Stephen of England is captured by Matilda’s forces in February, and in June she travels to London to claim the throne. Before she can be crowned at Westminster, however, the people of London become enraged by her arrogance and drive her from the city. In September her troops suffer a major defeat at Winchester, and two months later Stephen is released. He gradually defeats Matilda, who finally flees to Anjou in 1148.

1143

On the death of John II Comnenus, his son Manuel I Comnenus becomes Byzantine emperor.

1145

Pope Eugenius III calls for the Second Crusade.

1146-1158

Normans from Sicily occupy Tripoli in North Africa.

1147

European troops led by Louis VI of France and Conrad III of Germany arrive in the East for the Second Crusade, which ends in 1149, after their poorly coordinated offensive accomplishes little of importance. Relations between the Crusaders and the Byzantines worsen.

Yury Vladimirovich Dolgoruky, prince of Suzdal, founds the city of Moscow.

1150*

Imported Muslim musical instruments begin to influence western European music.
The Spanish epic Cantar del mio C/W(Poem of the Cid) recounts the deeds of a hero based on Castilian warrior Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar during warfare to recapture Valencia from the Muslims in 1094.
After Aztecs destroy the Toltec capital of Tollan, the Toltec Empire goes into decline.

1150-1151

The Ghurids sack the capital of the Ghaznavid empire.

1152

On the death of his uncle Conrad III, Frederick I (Barbarossa) is elected king of Germany. During his thirty-eight-year reign, he leads six expeditions into Italy.

1152-1154

The Byzantines defeat the Hungarians, who have attempted to take Serbia and Bosnia.

1153

Matilda’s son, Henry of Anjou, invades England; Stephen recognizes him as heir to the throne.

1154

On the death of Stephen, Henry of Anjou becomes Henry II of England. Reigning until 1159, he is the founder of the House of Plantagenet, which rules England until 1485.

1155

Pope Adrian IV crowns Frederick I (Barbarossa) Emperor of the Romans.

1156

Pope Adrian IV (an Englishman) issues the Donation of Ireland, which is interpreted as granting to Henry II of England the right to invade and establish sovereignty over the island.
Civil war breaks out in Japan as retired emperor Sutoku attempts unsuccessfully to regain power from his brother, reigning emperor Go-Shirakawa. The emperor is backed by samurai warriors led by Taira Kiyomori and by the Fujiwaras, who—despite their support of the winning side—continue to lose influence as the Taira family begins its ascent.

1157*

King Erik of Sweden begins invading Finland, which becomes a battleground for nearly a century as Sweden and Russia vie for influence and control over the region.

1157

In Moscow, Prince Yury Vladimirovich Dolgoruky begins building the fortifications that become the Kremlin.

1158

Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) crowns Vladislav II king of Bohemia.

1158-1159

The Byzantines send a military expedition against the Latin Christian kingdom of Antioch and force its ruler, Raymond, to renew his homage to the Byzantine Empire.

1160

Minamoto Yoshitomo and Fujiwara Nobuyori are defeated in their coup attempt against the Taira family, ending the Fujiwara period in Japan and leaving Taira Kiyomori in control of the entire country.

1162

During his second campaign in Italy, Frederick I (Barbarossa) destroys Milan after a nine-month siege.

1167

Cities in northern Italy form the Lombard League in opposition to Frederick I (Barbarossa)’s fourth invasion of Italy.

1167-1168

The Lombard League rebuilds Milan.

1170

Chrétien de Troyes writes Arthurian legends such as Lancelot.
Archbishop Thomas Becket is murdered at Canterbury Cathedral in England because of his resistance to King Henry II’s demands for greater royal control over the clergy.

1170-1171

Acting on the Donation of Ireland (1156), English troops invade Ireland.

1171

Known to Western Europeans as Saladin, Salah al-Din al-Ayyubi (reigns 1171-1193) overthrows the Fatimid rulers of Egypt and proclaims himself sultan, founding the Ayyubid dynasty that rules Egypt, Syria, and parts of Arabia until 1260.

1172

The Almohads force the Almoravids to surrender Seville and soon control all Muslim Spain.

1173

Construction begins on the bell tower for the cathedral of Pisa, which is completed in 1174 and becomes known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

1174

The Toltec Empire of central Mexico falls after internal chaos and invasions by lesscivilized nomads.

1174-1186

Salah al-Din embarks on a successful campaign to unite Egypt, Syria, Palestine, and northern Mesopotamia under his rule.

1175-1176

The Venetians and Normans form an alliance against the Byzantines, forcing them to pay a heavy indemnity.

1176

Supporting Pope Alexander III, the Lombard League defeats Frederick I (Barbarossa) at Legnano.
Byzantine emperor Manuel I Comnenus attacks the Saljuks and suffers a severe defeat at the Battle of Myriocephalon. Though the Byzantines achieve some military success in 1176, the Battle of Myriocephalon is often identified as a harbinger of the fall of the Byzantine Empire.

1177

In the Peace of Venice, Frederick I (Barbarossa) acknowledges Alexander III as Pope.

1178

Frederick I (Barbarossa) becomes king of Burgundy.

1179

The Mayan city of Chichén Itzá is burned and destroyed.

1180

Louis VII (the Young) dies and is succeeded on the French throne by his son, Philip II Augustus.
Taira Kiyomori places his two-year-old grandson on the throne of Japan as Emperor Antoku, provoking a rebellion led by Minamoto Yoritomo, whose father Kiyomori had executed after his coup attempt in 1160.
Manuel I Comnenus dies and is succeeded as Byzantine emperor by his eleven-year-old son, Alexius II Comnenus, whose mother, Mary, daughter of Raymond of Antioch, serves as regent. She entrusts the government to Manuel’s unpopular nephew Alexius.
Philip II Augustus of France expels the Jews from all the territory he controls.

1182-1202

During his reign as king of Denmark, Canute VI expands Danish influence to Pomerania, Holstein, and Mecklenburg.

1183

Andronicus I Comnenus, a cousin of Manuel I Comnenus, seizes the Byzantine throne from Alexius II Comnenus, has him strangled, and marries his thirteen-year-old widow.

1185

The Minamoto clan of Japan defeats the Tairas and establishes the Kamakura shogunate. During this period of feudalism, which lasts until 1333, powerful military governors known as shoguns (generals-in-chief) are the real rulers of Japan.
Isaac Comnenus, Byzantine governor of Cyprus, declares himself the independent ruler of the island.
King William II (the Good) leads his Norman Sicilian troops across Greece and occupies Thessalonica, the second most important city of the Byzantine Empire. News of the defeat sparks a revolt in Constantinople. Andronicus I Comnenus is killed by a street mob. Isaac II Angelus seizes the throne.

1185-1191

The Byzantines drive the Normans from Greece and the Balkans.

1186

Henry VI, son of Frederick I (Barbarossa), marries Constance, daughter of the late Sicilian king Roger II, and assumes the throne of Sicily.

1186-1188

The Byzantines are unable to put down a revolt in Bulgaria that leads to the establishment of a new Bulgarian state north of the Balkans.

1187

After defeating Christian Crusaders at Hittin in Palestine, Salah al-Din retakes Jerusalem for the Muslims.

1189

On the death of Henry II of England, his eldest son, Richard I (the Lion-Hearted), becomes king.
Richard I (the Lion-Hearted), Frederick I (Barbarossa), and Philip II Augustus of France lead the Third Crusade, which lasts until 1192.

1190

On the way to the Holy Land, Frederick I (Barbarossa) drowns in the River Saleph in Cilicia; Henry VI, his son, succeeds him and is crowned Emperor of the Romans in 1191

1191

Richard I (the Lion-Hearted) conquers Cyprus. He arranges to sell it to the Knights Templars, but after they cannot meet his price, Richard’s ally Guy of Lusignan, the dispossessed king of the Crusader kingdom of Jerusalem, eventually becomes ruler of Cyprus.
Crusaders led by Richard I (the Lion-Hearted) and Philip II Augustus take Acre, in the kingdom of Jerusalem, and slaughter the inhabitants.

1192

After Latin Christian forces fail to retake Jerusalem, the Third Crusade ends. Richard and Salah al-Din negotiate a three-year truce that allows the Crusaders to keep Acre and a strip of land along the coast and to have free access to Jerusalem. While returning from the Crusade, Richard I is captured by Leopold, Duke of Austria, and is held for ransom until February 1194.
Muslim Ghurid leader Mu‘izz al-Din returns to win a great victory that opens the way for his subordinates to establish Ghurid control over northern India.
On the death of Japanese emperor Shirakawa II, Minamoto Yoritomo seizes power and names himself shogun; Japan is ruled by a shogunate for the next seven hundred years.

1194

Richard I (the Lion-Hearted) returns to England and begins a war against Philip II Augustus, who has been preparing to attack Richard’s French lands.

1195

Isaac II Angelus is deposed and blinded by his brother Alexius III, who seizes the Byzantine throne. During his reign, which lasts until 1203, the already decaying government and military bureaucracy of the empire collapses completely.

1197

After the death of Emperor Henry VI, civil war breaks out between rivals for the German crown: Henry’s brother Philip of Swabia, who is supported by France, and the ultimately successful Otto of Brunswick, who is backed by England.

1199

Richard I (the Lion-Hearted) of England is mortally wounded while making war against Philip II Augustus in France. His successor is his brother John I (Lackland), who continues the war.

1200*

Kabbalism, a Jewish mystic philosophy, develops in southern Europe.
The Chimú kingdom builds an impressive capital at Chan Chan in the Moche Valley of Peru. The Chimú kingdom begins a period of expansion around 1370, becoming the most powerful civilization in Peru before the rise of the Incas.
Khmer king Jayavarman VII builds the temple complex Angkor Thom in his capital city.

1200

John I of England and Philip II Augustus of France sign the Peace of Le Goulet, in which Philip recognizes John’s claim to all Richard’s lands in return for financial and territorial concessions.

1200-1250

French poet Guillaume de Loris writes the first part of Roman de la Rose (Romance of the Rose).

1201

Pope Innocent III recognizes Otto of Brunswick as Otto IV, king of Germany.

1202

Hostilities resume between England and France. By 1206 John I of England has lost Normandy, Anjou, Maine, and parts of Poitou.

1202-1204

Boniface of Montferrat and Venetian doge Enrico Dandolo lead the Fourth Crusade.

1202-1241

During the reign of Valdemar II, much of the Baltic region comes under the control of the Danes.

1203

Motivated by the wish of Pope Innocent III to reunite the Byzantine and Roman Churches and by the long-standing trade disputes between the Venetians and the Byzantines, Latin Christian knights attack and pillage Constantinople. They depose Alexius III, and Alexius IV governs as a puppet of the Crusaders.

1204

After the deposition and murder of Alexius IV, Alexius V (Ducas) seizes the throne. The Crusaders respond by sacking the city with such brutality that the Pope and the Crusade movement are discredited.
The Crusaders place Baldwin I of Flanders on the throne of the Latin kingdom that controls Constantinople until 1261. Boniface of Montferrat is made king of Thessalonica, and the Venetians gain control of important harbors and islands on their trade routes.
Members of Byzantine royal families establish enclaves at Trebizond on the Black Sea, Epirus in northwest Greece, Nicaea in Anatolia, and elsewhere, but the Byzantine Empire never recovers from the sack of its capital.

1206

Temujin, great-grandson of Mongol leader Kabul Khan, is proclaimed Genghis Khan (Emperor within the Seas). Uniting the Mongol tribes into a single nation and forging them into a powerful fighting force, he rules until 1227.
Muslim conquerors establish the Sultanate of Delhi in northwestern India, establishing a dynasty that rules until 1266.

1208-1209

After the assassination in 1208 of Philip of Swabia, one of the claimants to the German throne, Pope Innocent crowns Otto IV Emperor of the Romans in 1209. In return, Otto recognizes Church territorial claims in central Italy.
Pope Innocent III places England under interdict and excommunicates King John during a dispute over filling the vacant archbishopric of Canterbury. John finally accedes to the Pope’s wishes in 1213.
Theodore Lascaris establishes the empire of Nicaea, which becomes a Byzantine government in exile.

1209

The Latin Christian Church launches an internal European Crusade in southern France against the Cathars, a Christian dualist sect.

1210

Pope Innocent III excommunicates Otto IV for disputing some of the papacy’s land claims.

1211

Iltutmish (rules 1211-1236) founds the Sultanate of Delhi in northern India, the first Indian Muslim state.
Led by Genghis Khan, the Mongols begin their invasion of the Chin state in northern China.

1212

Frederick II, who has gained the support of Pope Innocent III, becomes king of Germany.
At the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, the Christian kingdoms of León, Castile, Aragon, Navarre, and Portugal severely defeat the Almohad army, opening the way for the Christian conquest of southern Iberia.
An army of thousands of adolescents is raised in France and Germany for the Children’s Crusade to the Holy Land. Few, if any, of the children reach their destination, and a large number of them are sold into slavery in the East.

1213

The Council of St. Albans, a meeting of prelates, earls, and barons, is held in an English abbey. Historians call it the precursor of the British Parliament.

1214

Philip II Augustus of France and Frederick II of Germany defeat John of England and Emperor Otto IV at the Battle of Bouvines. Frederick becomes Emperor of the Romans (crowned 1220).

1215

Genghis Khan captures Beijing.
English barons meet with King John at Runnymede and force him to sign the Magna Carta, a feudal charter that limits the powers of the king and protects individual liberties.

1216

At the request of rebellious barons, troops led by Prince Louis of France (later King Louis VIII) land in England. On the death of King John in October, his nine-year-old son becomes Henry III of England. A council of regency led by William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke, defeats the rebels and drives the French from England in 1217.
The Cola empire of southern India begins to break up.

1218

The Fifth Crusade begins, with efforts concentrated on Egypt. It ends in 1221 after Crusaders fail to take Cairo.

1218-1221

The first Mongol invasions devastate Muslim Central Asia, Afghanistan, and northern Iran.

1219

Control of the Kamakura shogunate in Japan passes from the Minamoto family to the Hojo family.

1220

Genghis Khan completes his conquest of Persia.

1221

The Chinese use gunpowder in shrapnel bombs.

1223

On the death of Philip II Augustus of France, his son Louis VIII succeeds him.
The Mongols defeat the Russian and Cuman forces at the Battle of the Kalka River in southern Russia but then return to Asia rather than continuing the invasion.

1226

On the death of his father, Louis VIII, Louis IX (the Pious) becomes king of France and rules for forty-four years.

1227

On the death of Genghis Khan, his three sons divide the empire among themselves with Ogodei, the eldest, as Great Khan, or overlord.

1228-1229

Emperor Frederick II leads the Sixth Crusade. Capturing Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Nazareth, he is proclaimed king of Jerusalem and signs a treaty with the Egyptians.

1233

Pope Gregory IX establishes the Inquisition to rid the Church of heresy.
Emperor Frederick II captures Sicily.

1234

The Mongols annex the Chin empire of northern China.

1237

Mongol armies under Batu, grandson of Genghis Khan, renew their invasion of Russia, conquering the Volga Bulgars.
Frederick II defeats the Lombard League at Cortenuova in northern Italy.

1240*

The Mongols capture Moscow and force its princes to accept them as overlords.
The Great Council of England begins to be called “Parliament.”

1240

Mongol troops take Kiev, ending their conquest of southern and central Russia. The western part of the Mongol Empire becomes known as the Golden Horde.

1241

Mongol armies menace eastern Europe, successfully invading Poland and Hungary and reaching the Adriatic Sea.

1242

Mongol troops withdraw from eastern Europe to their conquered Russian territory.

1244

Jerusalem is recaptured by the Muslims.

1248

Louis IX (the Pious) of France leads the Seventh Crusade, which ends in 1250. During this conflict Muslims use gunpowder against the Crusaders.

1250

Frederick II dies while campaigning in Italy. In 1251 his son becomes Conrad IV of Germany.

1250-1300

French poet Jean de Meun completes Roman de la Rose (Romance of the Rose).

1253

The Venetians and the Genoese engage in ongoing naval warfare over trade rights in the eastern Mediterranean.

1254-1273

The death of Conrad IV is followed by a long interregnum, during which many German princes struggle for power.

1258

Mongol armies led by Hulegu take Baghdad, ending the Abbasid caliphate. Hulegu founds the Ilkhanid dynasty to rule Persia as part of the vast Mongol empire.
An English committee draws up the Provisions of Oxford, establishing a baronial veto over decisions made by the king. In 1261 Henry III reneges on his oath to support the provisions, leading to the outbreak of a civil war known as the Barons’ War.

1259

Great Khan Mongke dies while leading his army in China and is succeeded by his brother Kublai.

1260

Mongols sack Aleppo and Damascus but fail in their attempts to advance into Egypt.

1261

Michael VIII Palaeologus of Nicaea conquers the Latin kingdom of Constantinople.

1264

Henry III is captured by his brother-in-law, Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, at the Battle of Lewes (14 May). Simon forces Henry to renew his pledge to the reforms of 1258.

1265

With the help of troops from the Welsh borderlands, Prince Edward (later Edward I) comes to the aid of his father, Henry III, defeating and killing Montfort at the Battle of Evesham.

1266

Turkish general Balban becomes sultan of Delhi, which he rules until 1287.
Charles of Anjou, brother of Louis IX of France, defeats Manfred of Sicily at the Battle of Benevento and establishes himself as Charles I of Sicily.

1266-1273

Thomas Aquinas writes his Summae theologae (Comprehensive Theology), a cornerstone of all subsequent Roman Catholic theology.

1268

Charles I of Sicily captures Conradin, his rival claimant to Sicily, and has him beheaded in Naples.

1270

Louis IX of France and Edward I of England launch the Eighth—and final—Crusade, which ends in 1271, having accomplished nothing. Louis dies in Tunis and is succeeded by his son Philip III (the Bold).

1271

Kublai Khan proclaims the Yuan dynasty in China, establishing his capital at present-day Beijing. He rules until 1294.
Marco Polo leaves Venice to travel to China.

1272

Henry III of England dies; called back from Crusade, Edward I assumes the throne in 1274 and rules until 1307.

1273

Rudolf of Habsburg becomes Rudolf I, king of Germany and Holy Roman Emperor, establishing the Habsburg dynasty.

1274

Kublai Khan’s fleet is virtually destroyed while attempting to invade Japan.

1275

Marco Polo arrives at the court of Kublai Khan and lives in his domains for the next seventeen years.

1279

Kublai Khan completes his conquest of the Song kingdom in southern China, reunifying all of China under Mongol rule.
The last king of the Indian Cola dynasty dies.

1281

Mongol hopes of conquering Japan are again dashed when a typhoon (“kamikaze”) destroys Kublai Khan’s great invasion fleet.

1281-1282

Charles I of Sicily makes two attempts to wrest Albania from the Byzantines. His second invasion fails after a rebellion at home removes him from power. Defending his empire in the West prevents Emperor Michael VIII from protecting his eastern provinces from the Turks, and by Michael’s death in 1282 they have advanced well into western Anatolia.

1282

Edward I of England leads an army into Wales to put down a second revolt led by Welsh prince Llywelyn ap Gruffudd. Llywelyn is killed; his brother David is hanged, drawn, and quartered in 1283.
Erik V (Glipping), the king of Denmark from 1259 to 1286, is forced to grant the nobles a constitution, which recognizes a national assembly and puts the king under its authority.

1285

Philip IV (the Fair) succeeds his late father, Philip III (the Bold), as king of France.

1286

On the death of Alexander III of Scotland, his granddaughter, Margaret “The Maid of Norway,” daughter of King Eric of Norway, succeeds him.

1290

Edward I expels the Jews from England.
The death of young Margaret of Scotland sparks a two-year dispute over the throne.

1291

Muslims capture Acre, the last Crusader outpost in Syria, ending the presence of Western Crusaders in the Middle East, except on Cyprus, which is ruled by the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem.

1292

Supported by Edward I of England, John de Balliol, a descendant of David I’s youngest son, becomes the successor to Alexander III (died 1286) after a long dispute over the Scottish throne.

1293

The Pueblo peoples of the American Southwest abandon their cliff dwellings, moving southward and eastward and establishing new, large villages.
Turkish leader Othman (for whom the Ottoman Empire is named) emerges as the prince of a border principality in northeastern Anatolia and begins to seize Byzantine territory.

1295

Edward I of England calls the Model Parliament with the broadest representation to date, including clergy, knights, burgesses, and aristocrats as well as commoners representing shires, towns, and parishes.
France and Scotland form an alliance to invade England.

1296

Learning of the alliance between Scotland and France, Edward I of England invades Scotland and forces John de Balliol to abdicate the throne, which remains empty until 1306.

1297

An army led by Scottish nobleman William Wallace defeats the English at Stirling Bridge.

1298

Edward I sends another army against the Scots, who are defeated at the Battle of Falkirk.

1299*

The Ottoman sultanate—later the largest, longest-lasting, and most institutional of premodern Muslim states—is established as a small principality in northwest Anatolia.

1302

Flemish burghers defeat an army of French knights at the Battle of Courtrai (Battle of the Golden Spurs).
Philip IV (the Fair) of France calls the first Estates-General, which has members from the clergy, nobility, and common people.

1303

Pope Boniface VIII enters into a dispute with Philip IV (the Fair) of France, who has his agents kidnap the Pope. Boniface dies later this year.

1303-1307

To fight the Turks, Byzantine emperor Andronicus I hires an army of Catalan mercenaries, who then attack Constantinople.

1306

Another descendant of David I’s youngest son, Robert I (the Bruce) murders his rival John Comyn, a nephew of John de Balliol, and is crowned king of Scotland.

1307

Edward I of England dies and is succeeded by his son, Edward II.

1309

Amid political factionalism in Italy, Pope Clement V moves the seat of the papacy from Rome to Avignon, France, where it remains until 1377.

1310

Edward II is forced to accept the Lords’ Ordinances, which require parliamentary consent to royal appointments, declarations of war, and the king’s departure from the realm.

1311

After failing to take Constantinople, the Catalans advance through Greece, conquer Athens, and create the Catalan Duchy of Athens and Thebes.

1314

Robert I (the Bruce) defeats an English army at the Battle of Bannockburn, re-establishing Scottish independence.
Philip IV (the Fair) of France dies and is succeeded by his son Louis X (the Stubborn).

1315-1318

Edward Bruce, brother of Robert I (the Bruce) of Scotland, invades Ireland and is crowned king; his attempt to wrest control of Ireland from the English ends when he is killed in battle in 1318.

1317

Mongol rule in Persia begins to collapse.

1320

Ghiyas-ud-Din Tughluq becomes sultan of Delhi, founding the Tughlaq dynasty.

1320-1328

Byzantine emperor Andronicus II disinherits his grandson Andronicus, who responds by starting a civil war that devastates much of the empire. Andronicus II is finally forced to yield the throne to Andronicus III, who rules until 1341.

1321

Dante completes his Commedia (Divine Comedy).

1322

Forces loyal to Edward II defeat Thomas of Lancaster at Boroughbridge, Yorkshire. Edward has Lancaster beheaded and revokes the Lords’ Ordinances.
Philip V (the Tall) of France dies and is succeeded by his brother Charles IV (the Fair).

1323

Sweden and Russia sign the Treaty of Nöteborg, dividing Finland between them.

1325*

The Mexica (Aztecs) build their great capital city of Tenochtitlán on the site of present-day Mexico City.

1326

Queen Isabella of England, wife of Edward II and daughter of Philip IV of France, and her lover, exiled English baron Roger Mortimer, invade England.

1327

King Edward II of England dies while imprisoned at Berkeley Castle, probably murdered. His fifteen-year-old son is crowned King Edward III. His fifty-year reign is marked by constant conflict with France.
Othman I, ruler of Turkey, dies.
Exiled from Florence, Petrarch (Francesco Petrarca) goes to Avignon, France, where he meets the woman he addresses as “Laura” in his sonnets.

1328*

After an unsuccessful military campaign in 1327, Edward III of England signs the Treaty of Northampton, recognizing Scottish independence. Edward’s seven-year-old sister, Joanna, is married to Robert I the Bruce’s four-year-old son, David.

1328

Charles IV (the Fair) of France dies without issue and is succeeded by Philip VI, son of Charles of Valois and a nephew of Philip IV.

1329

On the death of Robert I (the Bruce), his son becomes David II of Scotland.

1330*

The bubonic plague, or Black Death, begins to kill huge numbers of people in northeastern China. The epidemic is carried westward by traders, travelers, and nomadic peoples.

1330

After a three-year regency during which England has been ruled by Roger Mortimer and Queen Isabella, Edward III overthrows their rule and has Mortimer executed.

1332

With English support Edward de Balliol, son of John de Balliol, invades Scotland and seizes the throne. Young David II goes into exile in France.

1333

Emperor Go-Daigo of Japan successfully overthrows the Kamakura shogunate, but his subsequent actions provoke civil war.
Toghon Temur becomes the last Yuan (Mongol) emperor of China.
The Mongol empire in Persia breaks into separate kingdoms, which are ruled by Ilkhanid princes until 1353.

1336

Ashikaga Takauji, who has proclaimed himself shogun, drives Emperor Go-Daigo of Japan from the capital and places Kogon on the throne, establishing the Ashikaga shogunate, under which Japanese feudalism enters its golden age.

1337

After losing all northwestern Anatolia to the Ottoman Turks, the Byzantines come to terms with the Ottomans and other Turkish emirs. The Byzantines then hire Turkish soldiers to help them against European enemies such as the Italians, Serbs, and Bulgars.
Edward III of England, grandson of Philip IV of France, claims the French crown, which has gone to Philip IV’s nephew Philip VI in 1328. Edward lands an army in Flanders, thus beginning the intermittent struggle known as the “Hundred Years’ War” (1337-1453).

1340

The Christian forces of Alfonso XI of Castile and Alfonso IV of Portugal defeat Granadan Muslim forces at the Battle of Rio Salado, retaining Castilian control over the Strait of Gibraltar and thwarting Muslim efforts to reclaim lost territory bordering the kingdom of Granada.

1341

In the wake of widespread resentment of English control over King Edward de Balliol, David II returns from France and regains the Scottish throne.
On the death of Andronicus III Palaeologus, his minor son John V Palaeologus becomes Byzantine emperor, and civil war breaks out in the empire.

1345

The Ottoman Turks extend their conquest of Byzantine territory into Europe.

1346

Bubonic plague reaches the Golden Horde, beginning the disintegration of Mongol rule in Russia.
Stefan Dusan, king of Serbia since 1331, has himself crowned emperor of the Serbs and Greeks. He has already conquered much of coastal Albania and part of Greece, and by 1348 his empire includes all of northern Greece.
In a major victory at the Battle of Crécy (26 August), English longbowmen and foot soldiers prove their superiority to French troops.
The English defeat David II of Scotland at Neville’s Cross (17 October) and take him as a prisoner to England, where he is held until 1357.

1347

Bubonic plague reaches Constantinople and other parts of the Byzantine Empire.
John Cantacuzenus, who has opposed the forces of John V Palaeologus in the Byzantine civil war, takes Constantinople and seizes the throne, reigning as John VI until 1354.

1348-1351

Bubonic plague spreads throughout North Africa and Europe.

1349-1351

Italian poet Giovanni Boccaccio writes The Decameron, set during the plague that ravaged Florence in 1348.

1350

Philip VI of France dies and is succeeded by his son John II (the Good).
Sixteen-year-old Javan ruler Hayam Wuruk seizes the throne of the Hindu state of Majapahit, bringing all Indonesia under Javan control.

1353

Firuz Shah, sultan of Delhi, wages war against Bengal.

1353-1371

The Laotian people live in unity under the leadership of Fa Ngum.

1354

John V Palaeologus retakes Constantinople and forces the abdication of John VI Cantacuzenus as the Turks advance steadily on Byzantine territory.

1355

Stefan Dusan is advancing on Constantinople when his sudden death puts an end to his efforts to expand the Serbian empire.

1356

At the Battle of Poitiers, Edward the Black Prince, son of Edward III of England, defeats and captures King John II (the Good) of France.

1360

The Treaties of Bretigny and Calais give Edward III full sovereignty over French lands he previously held as vassal to the king of France. In return, Edward renounces his claim to the French throne. John II of France is ransomed but remains in England, where he dies in 1364.

1364

Charles V (the Wise) of France inherits the throne from his father, John II. Refusing to accept the provisions of peace agreements with England, he re-opens hostilities.

1367

After a Brahman victory in the Battle of Vijayanagar, about four hundred thousand Hindus are slaughtered.

1368

As the army of Zhu Yuanzhang advances on his capital, Yuan emperor Toghon Temur of China flees to Manchuria. Zhu Yuanzhang becomes Emperor Hongwu, establishing the Ming dynasty, which rules China until 1644.

1369

Timur (Tamerlane), a Muslim Turkic leader, rises to power in Transoxania.

1370*

The Chimú kingdom begins a period of expansion, becoming the most powerful civilization in Peru before the rise of the Incas.

1371

David II dies and is succeeded by his cousin Robert II, the first Stuart king of Scotland.

1374

John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, becomes virtual ruler of England. He and his supporters are opposed by a faction led by Edward the Black Prince, heir to the throne of the aging Edward III.

1375

The Mamluks complete their conquest of Armenia.

1375-1400

Englishman Geoffrey Chaucer writes his Canterbury Tales.

1376

Deposed Byzantine emperor John V Palaeologus is succeeded by his son Andronicus IV.
At the Good Parliament of 1376, supporters of Edward the Black Prince impeach some of John of Gaunt’s supporters, the first parliamentary impeachment of government officials in English history. The death of Prince Edward on 8 June, however, robs Parliament of the ability to deal with John of Gaunt.

1377

Edward III of England dies and is succeeded by his grandson, ten-year-old Richard II, son of Edward the Black Prince. Until 1389, England is ruled by a council headed by John of Gaunt.

1378-1388

England and Scotland engage in a series of border wars.

1378-1417

After Pope Gregory XI moves the papacy back to Rome in 1377, there begins a period known as the Great Western Schism (1378-1417), during which cardinals in Rome and Avignon each elect their own pope.

1380

The death of Charles V of France halts the gradual reduction of English territory in France. He is succeeded by his eleven-year-old son, Charles VI, who reigns until 1422, largely a figurehead for prominent members of the nobility.
Prince Dmitry of Moscow defeats the Mongols at the Battle of Kulikovo.

1382

Mongol troops recapture and plunder Moscow.
Leopold III of Austria obtains Trieste.
The Turks capture Sofia.

1383-1385

Timur conquers eastern Persia.
Murad I occupies Salonika. The Turks now control most of the Byzantine Empire.

1391

Manuel II, second son of John V Palaeologus, ascends the throne of a Byzantine Empire that for much of his reign is reduced to the cities of Thessalonica and Constantinople and the province of Morea.

1392

Japanese shogun Ashikaga Yoshimitsu reopens trade with China and ends the imperial division of Japan by settling the succession dispute between rival branches of the imperial family.
The Yi dynasty is established in Korea, where it rules until 1910.

1398

Timur conquers Delhi.

1399

Henry Bolingbroke—son of the late John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and, like Richard, a grandson of Edward III—deposes Richard II and rules England until 1413 as Henry IV, first king of the House of Lancaster.

1400

The Incan civilization begins a period of expansion that leads to its domination of the Andean region.
The Five Iroquois Nations—the Mohawks, Senecas, Onondagas, Oneidas, and Cayugas—are formed in North America.

1401

Timur conquers Damascus and Baghdad.

1402

Several Ethiopian ambassadors arrive in Europe.

1402-1424

During his reign, Ming emperor Yongle exacts tribute from Japan, moves his capital to Beijing, crushes the Mongols, and sends Chinese sailing vessels on expeditions to foreign lands, including Africa.

1404-1434

Narameikhla rules Arakan, on the Bay of Bengal in southern Myanmar, as the first sovereign of the Mrohaung dynasty, which rules until the eighteenth century. Driven from his kingdom early in his reign, he regains it in 1430 and builds the new capital of Mrohaung.

1405

Timur dies while trying to conquer China. His son Shah Rokh establishes the Timurid dynasty that rules Persia and Central Asia until the early sixteenth century.

1405-1433

Chinese admiral Zheng He makes voyages of exploration to Southeast Asia, India, East Africa, Egypt, Ceylon, Indonesia, and the Persian Gulf.

1406-1407

The Chinese invade and occupy Vietnam.

1413

On the death of Henry IV, his son Henry V becomes king of England.

1415

Henry V renews English claims to the crown of France and wins a major victory at the Battle of Agincourt.

1417

The Council of Constance ends the schism in the papacy of the Roman Christian Church.

1417-1420

After his success at Agincourt, Henry V of England forms an alliance with the Burgundian faction and conquers all of northern France. The Treaty of Troyes (1420) recognizes Henry as the regent and heir apparent to the mad king Charles VI (deposing the dauphin, later Charles VII) and arranges Henry’s marriage to Charles VI’s daughter Catherine.

1422

Sultan Murad II of the Ottoman Empire lays siege to Constantinople and invades Greece.
Henry V of England dies suddenly and is soon followed by Charles VI of France. The English proclaim Henry’s nine-month-old son, Henry VI, king of England and France, while Charles’s son Charles VII asserts his claim to the French throne, and fighting in France continues.

1423

After proclaiming himself khan of the Mongols, Aruqtai assails northern China.

1425

The Portuguese begin a series of voyages to explore the west coast of Africa.

1427-1428

Under the leadership of Le Loi, the Vietnamese drive the Chinese from their nation. Le Loi is crowned emperor of Vietnam and rules it until he dies in 1443.

1428

Scotland renews its alliance with France and sends troops to support Charles VII against the English.

1428-1440

During his reign Itzcoatl makes the Aztecs the dominant nation in the valley of Mexico.

1429

Joan of Arc leads French troops to end the English siege of Orléans and make possible the coronation of Charles VII at Reims.

1430

Ottoman sultan Murad II captures Thessalonica.
Joan of Arc is captured by Burgundians, who are allied with the English, at Compiègne on 23 May.

1431

Joan of Arc is convicted of heresy and burned at the stake in Rouen. Henry VI of England is crowned king of France in Paris.

1434

The Medici family rises to power in Italy, ruling Florence for most of the period from 1434 to 1737 (except for intervals in 1494-1512 and 1527-1530).

1436

The forces of French king Charles VII retake Paris from the English.

1438-1471

Led by Emperor Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, the Incas greatly expand their territory.

1439

Esen Taiji becomes chief of the Oyrat Mongols and begins expanding their territory into China and Korea.

1440-1469

During the reign of Emperor Montezuma I, the Aztecs extend their territory to include much of present-day Mexico.

1444

At the Battle of Varna, the Turks decisively defeat a Western army sent to aid the Byzantines, killing Vladislaw III of Poland and Hungary.

1445-1456

Johannes Gutenberg invents a method of printing with movable type. Books from his press include the Constance Mass Book (1450) and the first printed Bible (1456).

1447-1449

During the brief reign of Ulugh Beg, the Timurid empire reaches its cultural peak. After his death, the empire disintegrates.

1448

Constantine XI Palaeologus inherits the throne. He is the last Byzantine emperor.
Ottoman sultan Murad II defeats the Hungarians at the Battle of Kosovo.

1449

After the death of Borommaracha II, his son Trailok is crowned king of Thailand. During his forty-year reign, he extends his influence into the Malay Peninsula.
Led by Esen Taiji, the Oyrat Mongols capture Chinese emperor Zhengtong, holding him prisoner for a year. His brother becomes Emperor Jingtai and rules until 1457.

1450*

The Incas build the city of Machu Picchu in Peru. It is inhabited for about a century and then abandoned.

1453

Led by Sultan Muhammad II (the Conqueror), the Ottoman Turks take Constantinople, bringing about the fall of the Byzantine Empire.
The Hundred Years’ War ends with England ceding to France all its French possessions except Calais.

1455

The thirty-year Wars of the Roses begin in England between supporters of two rival claimants to the throne. The Lancastrians, who wear red roses, support King Henry VI. The Yorkists, who wear white roses, back Richard, Duke of York, who—as a descendant of Edward Ill’s third son, Lionel, Duke of Clarence—has a better claim, according to the rules of primogeniture, than Henry, who is descended from John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, Edward’s fourth son.

1457

As Emperor Jingtai is dying, former emperor Zhengtong re-ascends the throne and disposes of Jingtai.

1458

After a two-year siege, Athens falls to the Ottoman Turks.

1460

Le Thanh Tong becomes king of Vietnam and introduces a Chinese-style government.
Yorkist forces led by Richard Neville, Duke of Warwick, defeat the Lancastrians at the Battle of Northampton (10 July) and capture Henry VI, who comes to a compromise with Richard, Duke of York, by which Richard will succeed to the English throne on Henry’s death. Angry that her son, Prince Edward, is thus disinherited, Henry’s queen, Margaret of Anjou, gathers her own forces, who kill York at Wakefield in December.

1461

York’s son and heir, Edward, Duke of York, takes London and is proclaimed King Edward IV of England. Henry, Margaret, and their son flee to Scotland.
Charles VII of France dies and is succeeded by his son Louis XI.

1462

Ivan III (the Great) of Moscow becomes the first sovereign to rule a unified Russian nation. He reigns until 1505.

1463

The Ottoman Turks complete their invasion of Bosnia.

1465-1470

The Incas conquer the Chimú Indians of northern Peru.

1467

The ten-year Onin War begins in Japan over who will succeed Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa.

1469-1471

The Wars of the Roses resume in England. Edward IV’s brother George, Duke of Clarence, and Edward’s former ally Richard Neville, Duke of Warwick, depose Edward IV and return Henry VI briefly to the throne in 1470, but in 1471 Edward IV returns to England, defeats the Lancastrians, and resumes the throne. Henry VI’s son Edward is killed in the fighting, and Henry is murdered in the Tower of London.

1471-1493

During the reign of Topa Inca Yupanqui, Pachacuti’s son, the Incan empire extends as far south as central Chile.

1474

Queen Isabella, wife of King Ferdinand of Aragon, inherits the throne of Castile, leading to the union in 1479 of the two Spanish kingdoms under their joint monarchy.

1476

Under the patronage of Edward IV, William Caxton sets up the first English printing press at Westminster. Among the roughly one hundred books he prints over the next fifteen years are Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (1477) and Sir Thomas Malory’s Morte Darthur (l485).

1478

Pope Sixtus IV authorizes the Spanish Inquisition to discover, and reform or punish, Christians who hold heretical or unorthodox beliefs, including converts to Christianity from Judaism or Islam who are suspected of retaining their prior beliefs and practicing those religions in secret.

1480

Ivan III (the Great) repels the last Mongol advance on Moscow, ending Mongol power in Russia.

1482

Portuguese navigator Diogo Cão locates the Congo River, initiating trade between Congo and Portugal and the Christianization of the Congolese.
The Ottoman Turks complete their invasion of Herzegovina.

1483

Tomás de Torquemada becomes Grand Inquisitor for the Spanish kingdoms of Castile, León, Aragon, Catalonia, Valencia, and Majorca. By 1498 he has had some two thousand “heretics” burned at the stake.
On the death of Edward IV of England on 9 April, his twelve-year-old son, Edward V, becomes king, with his father’s brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, serving as lord protector. In June, Richard usurps the throne and is proclaimed Richard III.
Louis XI of France dies and is succeeded by his son, Charles VIII.

1485

In England, the Wars of the Roses begin anew as Yorkists angry with Richard III turn to the Lancastrian claimant, Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, whose forces defeat and kill Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field on 22 August. The victor ascends the throne as Henry VII, founder of the Tudor dynasty.

1486

Henry VII of England unites the Houses of York and Lancaster by marrying Edward IV’s daughter Elizabeth of York.

1487

Spanish Christian troops seize Malaga from the Muslims.

1488

James III of Scotland is deposed and killed. The rebels place his teenage son, James IV, on the throne.
Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu Dias rounds the Cape of Good Hope at the southern tip of Africa, establishing the eastern sea route to Asia.

1489

Cyprus comes under Venetian rule.

1491-1492

Michelangelo sculpts two of his earliest works, Madonna of the Stairs and Battle of the Centaurs.

1492

The Muslim kingdom of Granada falls to Spanish Christian forces, ending Muslim political rule in the Iberian Peninsula.
Seeking a westward route to Asia for the Spanish rulers Ferdinand and Isabella, Christopher Columbus discovers the Americas, reaching the Bahamas and Cuba.
Jews who refuse to convert to Christianity are expelled from Spain.

1493

Following the death of Topa Inca Yupanqui, Huayna Capac emerges from a power struggle for the throne and rules the Incas until 1525.

1494

Charles VIII of France conquers Naples, claiming he has inherited it through his father, but the Holy League (Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, Pope Alexander VI, Spain, Venice, Milan, and England) forces him to withdraw.

1495-1497

Leonardo da Vinci paints The Last Supper.

1497

Portugal expels Jews who refuse to convert to Christianity.

1497-1499

Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama commands an expedition around the Cape of Good Hope into the Indian Ocean. He reaches the southwestern coast of India in May 1498 before starting back to Portugal.

1498

Charles VIII of France dies and is succeeded by his cousin Louis XII, son of Charles, Duke of Orléans.

1499

French troops capture Milan. Ludovico, Duke of Milan, briefly controls the city in 1500, but the French recover it and continue to rule it until 1513.
After a renewal of warfare between the Turks and Venetians, the Ottomans destroy a Venetian fleet at Sapienza.

1500

Portuguese mariner Gaspar de Corte Real explores the east coast of Greenland and the Labrador Peninsula.
Louis XII of France and Ferdinand II of Aragon agree to partition Naples, which they conquer in 1501. Late that year, after conflict between the two former allies, Naples comes under sole French rule until it falls to Spanish forces in 1503.

1501

French troops enter Rome.
Ismail I (1487-1524), Sheikh of Ardabil, seizes Persia and establishes the Safavid dynasty.
Mengli Girai of Russia invades Lithuania.
The first African slaves arrive in the West Indies, where they gradually replace Native Americans as laborers. Some Spanish-born blacks are imported as slaves by Nicolas de Ovando of Hispaniola.

1502

Montezuma II succeeds his uncle Ahuitzotl as Aztec emperor of Mexico. Later this year he loses his empire to Spanish troops led by Hernán Cortes. Cortés imprisons Montezuma, who is then killed.
Led by Khan Mengli Girai, the Crimean Tartars defeat the Mongol Great Horde of southwestern Asia and annex their lands.

1503

Venice abandons the strategic port of Lepanto in Greece to the Turks and signs a peace treaty with them.
Poland relinquishes the left bank of the Dnieper River to Russia.
Zanzibar becomes a Portuguese colony.

1504

In the Treaty of Lyons, Louis XII of France cedes Naples to Ferdinand II of Aragon; Naples remains under Spanish control until 1707.

1505

On the death of Ivan III (the Great) his son, Vasily III, becomes ruler of Russia.
Emperor Zhengde ascends to the throne of China and rules until 1521.

1506

The sixth manikongo (ruler) of Kongo, Afonso I, converts to Roman Catholicism and promotes Portuguese colonization.

1506-1548

During his reign Sigismund I, king of Poland and grand prince of Lithuania, establishes Polish suzerainty over East Prussia and annexes Mazovia (which includes the city of Warsaw) to Poland.

1508

Pope Julius II, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, Louis XII of France, and Ferdinand II of Aragon form the League of Cambrai to oppose the Venetian Republic, which the Pope excommunicates.

1509

France crushes the Venetians at the Battle of Agnadello.
Henry VII of England dies and is succeeded by his son Henry VIII.
Commanded by Francisco de Almeida, a Portuguese navy destroys an Arab-Egyptian fleet off Diu, in northwestern Bombay, India.

1510

Pope Julius II leaves the League of Cambrai, absolves Venice from excommunication, and allies himself with the Venetians in the hope of driving the French out of Italy.
The Portuguese attack Goa, on the west coast of India, and establish a colony there.

1511

Pope Julius II joins with Venice and Spain to form a Holy League against the French.

1512

The French are forced out of Milan.

1512-1522

Russia and Poland are at war over possession of Belarus, most of which remains under Polish-Lithuanian control.

1513

Leading an unsuccessful Scottish-French invasion of England, James IV of Scotland is killed at the Battle of Flodden Field.

1515

On the death of Louis XII of France, his nephew succeeds him as Francis I.
Francis I takes Milan.
Ottoman ruler Selim I seizes eastern Anatolia and Kurdistan.

1516

On the death of Ferdinand II, his grandson becomes Charles I of Spain.
In the Concordat of Bologna between Pope Leo X and Francis I, France is granted internal independence in ecclesiastical appointments.
Ottoman emperor Selim I crushes Egyptian forces near Aleppo and annexes Syria.

1517

Martin Luther nails his Ninety-five Theses, questioning the practices of granting indulgences, to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, marking the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.
Egypt and Arabia come under Ottoman suzerainty.
Charles I of Spain approves slave trade in the Spanish South American colonies.

1518

Thomas, Cardinal Wolsey, negotiates a Europe-wide peace treaty.
The Barbary States of Algiers and Tunis are founded.

1519

On the death of Emperor Maximilian I, his grandson Charles I of Spain becomes Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.
Sailing for Spain, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan embarks on a voyage in search of a westward route to the spice islands of the East Indies.

1520

Christian II of Denmark and Norway (rules 1513-1523) conquers Sweden and is crowned its king.
On the death of Sultan Selim I, his son Suleyman I (the Magnificent) becomes ruler of the Ottoman Empire.
Cuauhtémoc is crowned the last emperor of the Aztec Empire.
Magellan rounds the tip of South America on 28 November, passing into the Pacific Ocean through the Strait of Magellan.

1521

Ottoman troops seize Belgrade and advance into Hungary.
After destroying the Aztec state, Cortés takes control of Mexico.
Magellan is killed on Mactan Island in the Philippines.

1521-1566

During the reign of Emperor Jiajing, the power of the Ming dynasty is in decline, and China is fraught with lawlessness, disorder, and nepotism.

1522

Charles V grants Austria, Habsburg possessions in Germany, and Württemberg to his younger brother Ferdinand.
Gustav Vasa becomes regent of Sweden.
Sultan Suleyman I seizes Rhodes from the Knights of St. John.
Spanish Christian forces take Guatemala.
Cortés hangs Cuauhtémoc.
The remnants of Magellan’s fleet reach Spain on 8 September, bearing the first Europeans to circumnavigate the globe.

1523

The Chinese expel the Portuguese.
Gustav Vasa establishes the independence of Sweden from Denmark and is elected King Gustav I Vasa.

1524

In the Treaty of Malmo, Denmark validates the independence of Sweden.

1525

German and Spanish troops defeat the French and Swiss at Pavia; Francis I of France is taken prisoner; Charles V becomes ruler of Italy.
Mongol leader Babur, a descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan, marches into Punjab. By 1530 he is emperor of all northern India, founding the Muslim Mughal dynasty.
On the death of Emperor Huayna, the Incan empire is divided between Huáscar and Atahuallpa.

1526

In the Battle of Mohacs, the Ottoman Turks defeat the Hungarians, killing Louis II of Hungary; János (John) Zápolya and Ferdinand of Austria both claim the Hungarian throne.

1527

Ferdinand becomes king of Bohemia and sole king of Hungary.
Troops of the Holy Roman Empire pillage Rome, killing four thousand inhabitants and looting art treasures; Pope Clement VII is imprisoned for seven months.
The Somali Muslim chieftain Ahmad Gran attacks Ethiopia.
Mac Dang Dung defeats the Le dynasty and becomes ruler of Vietnam.

1529

The viceroy of New Spain establishes his capital at Mexico City on the site of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán.
Khayr ad-Din seizes Algiers, making it a base for Barbary pirates.

1530

The Augsburg Confession establishes the basic doctrines of an independent Lutheran Church.
Pope Clement VII crowns Charles V Holy Roman Emperor and king of Italy; this coronation is the last time a pope crowns a Holy Roman Emperor.
Having failed to convince Pope Clement VII to annul the marriage of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, Cardinal Wolsey is arrested for treason and dies before his trial.

1531

War erupts in Switzerland between Protestant Zurich and Catholic cantons; Protestant leader Huldrych Zwingli is killed at the Battle of Kappel.

1532

Ottoman Sultan Suleyman I launches an unsuccessful invasion of Hungary.
Early this year Atahuallpa overthrows Huáscar and becomes ruler of the entire Incan empire. In November, Francisco Pizarro captures Atahuallpa, holds him for ransom, and once the demands are met, has him executed.

1533

Parliament passes an act that clears the way for the annulment of Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon without the the approval of Pope Clement. Henry and the pregnant Anne Boleyn have already secretly married. The Pope excommunicates Henry.
Vasily III dies; his three-year-old son becomes Ivan IV (the Terrible) of Russia.
The Portuguese found a colony in Brazil.

1534

The Act of Supremacy names Henry VIII “Supreme Head” of the separate Church of England.
Khayr ad-Din seizes Tunisia.

1535

After refusing to swear an oath recognizing the annulment of Henry VII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon and the validity of his marriage to Anne Boleyn, Sir Thomas More, Lord Chancellor of England, is tried for treason and executed.
Holy Roman Emperor Charles V seizes Tunis.
Antonio de Mendoza, viceroy of New Spain, introduces a printing press in Mexico, the first of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.
An army led by Incan ruler Manco Inca Yupanqui is defeated by the Spaniards in Peru.
Francisco Pizarro founds the city of Lima, Peru.

1536

Queen Anne Boleyn is sent to the Tower of London, tried for treason, and executed. Henry VIII marries Jane Seymour.

1537

Queen Jane Seymour dies after giving birth to the future Edward VI of England.

1538

John Calvin is expelled from Geneva for promulgating his Protestant beliefs.

1539

Afghan leader Sher Shah takes Bengal and defeats Mughal emperor Humayun at the Battle of Chausa, going on to become emperor of northern India.
Tabinshweti, of the Burman Toungoo dynasty, seizes Pegu in southern Myanmar.

1540

Henry VIII marries his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves, in January. He has the marriage annulled in July and marries Catherine Howard.

1541

Parliament proclaims Henry VIII king of Ireland and head of the Irish Church.
Ottoman sultan Suleyman I conquers the city of Buda and occupies part of Hungary.
With the help of the Portuguese arms, Ethiopia drives out Ahmad Gran’s Somali army. Portuguese missionaries are sent to Ethiopia, where they convert its next two rulers.

1542

Queen Catherine Howard is executed at the Tower of London.
On the death of James V of Scotland, the throne goes to his week-old daughter, Mary.

1543

Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus publishes his theory of a sun-centered universi.
Henry VIII marries his sixth wife, Catherine Parr.
Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier arrives in Japan.

1545

Charles V, Ferdinand of Austria, and Suleyman I sign the Truce of Adriano.
The Spaniards discover silver at Potosí, Bolivia, and use Indian labor to mine it.
The Le dynasty of Vietnam retakes the Red River region.

1546-1548

Angered by new laws that limit the privileges of the conquistadors, Ganzalo Pizarro, half brother of Francisco Pizarro, takes up arms against the colonial government of Peru. In 1548 he is defeated and executed.

1547

Ivan IV becomes the first Russian ruler to assume the title tsar (caesar or emperor).
On the death of Henry VIII of England, his son succeeds him as Edward VI.

1548

On the death of Sigismund I of Poland, his son Sigismund II Augustus, who has been coruler of Poland since 1530 and grand prince of Lithuania since 1544, becomes king of Poland. Reigning until 1572, he is the last king of the Jagiellon dynasty.

1550

Led by Altan Khan, the Oyrat Mongols raid as far south as the outskirts of Beijing.

1550-1600

Spain is at the peak of its political and economic power.

1551

The Ottoman Turks capture Tripoli.

1552

Ivan IV of Russia captures the khanate of Kazan on the Volga River; in 1556 he annexes the khanate of Astrakhan at the mouth of the Volga.

1553

Edward VI of England dies, having been persuaded by the Protestant opposition to his Roman Catholic half sister, Mary Tudor (daughter of Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon), to name his first cousin Lady Jane Grey as his successor. She reigns for nine days before Mary’s supporters claim the crown for Mary. During Mary I’s reign, which lasts until 1558, she re-establishes Roman Catholicism in England, and some three hundred Protestants are burned at the stake for heresy.

1554

Alarmed by the impending marriage of Mary I of England to the future Philip II of Roman Catholic Spain, Sir Thomas Wyat raises a revolt against her. After defeating and executing Wyat, Mary marries Philip, who rules jointly with her until her death in 1558.

1554-1555

Sultan Suleyman I completes his invasion of Persia.

1556-1605

During his reign, Emperor Akbar the Great, another descendant of Timur and Genghis Khan, spreads Mughal rule over most of the Indian subcontinent.

1558

The English relinquish Calais, their last possession in continental Europe, to the French.
On the death of Charles V (21 September), his brother becomes Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I, and his son becomes King Philip II of Spain.
Mary I of England dies without issue and is succeeded by her Protestant half sister, Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth, who rules until 1603, re-establishes the Anglican Church.
Fifteen-year-old Mary Queen of Scots marries Francis Dauphin of France, who succeeds (CONT’O) Henry II as Francis II in 1559 and claims the thrones of Scotland and England.

1558-1583

Seeking an outlet to the Baltic Sea for landlocked Russia, Ivan IV becomes involved in a protracted and largely unsuccessful attempt to conquer Livonia (in present-day Latvia and Estonia). Lithuania, Poland, and Sweden become involved in the war against Russia.

1559

Christian III, king of Denmark and Norway, dies and is succeeded by his son Frederick II.

1560

A group of Huguenots (French Calvinists) attempt to kidnap King Francis II, who dies later this year. His brother succeeds him as Charles IX.

1561

Mary Queen of Scots, widow of Francis II, returns to Scotland from France.
To obtain protection against the Russians, the Teutonic Knights who govern greater Livonia dissolve their order, placing Livonia proper under the protection of Lithuania and giving Courland to Poland, Estonia to Sweden, and Oesel to Denmark.

1562

The massacre of a Protestant congregation in Vassy sparks a civil war in France, which ends in 1563. Further Wars of Religion take place sporadically between 1567 and 1598.

1563-1570

Sweden, Denmark, Poland, and the Imperial city of Lübeck fight a war over the control of trade in the Baltic Sea.

1564

On the death of Ferdinand I his son Maximilian II succeeds him as Holy Roman Emperor and rules until 1576.

1565

Spain establishes its first permanent colonial settlement in the Philippines.
Spanish troops aid the Knights of St. John in ending the Turks’ siege of Malta.

1566

On the death of Suleyman I (the Magnificent), his son Selim II becomes sultan of the Ottoman Empire and rules until 1574.
Emperor Jiajing dies. By this time the Ming emperors of China have become figureheads.

1567

Mary Queen of Scots is forced to abdicate in favor of her infant son, James VI.
In Japan, Oda Nobunaga, a member of the Fugiwara family, overthrows the Ashikaga shogunate. Ruling until 1582, he unifies much of central Japan.

1568

The Eighty Years’ War begins as the Netherlands seek independence from Spain.

1569

As the Livonia War continues, Lithuania forms a political union with Poland. The two states share a king and parliament but maintain separate legal codes and armed forces.
Reacting to King Philip II of Spain’s 1566 edict forbidding them their distinctive language, dress, and customs, the Moriscos (Spanish-Muslim converts to Christianity) rise up in Granada. After two years of conflict, Philip’s half brother, Juan of Austria, crushes the rebellion, and the Moriscos are forceably dispersed throughout northern Spain. After 1609 some three hundred thousand Moriscos are deported to North Africa.

1570*

The Japanese port of Nagasaki is opened to Western trade.

1570

The Ottoman Turks capture Nicosia, Cyprus, from the Venetians, beginning a war with Venice that results in Turkish possession of Cyprus until 1878.

1570-1600

Chief’S Hiawatha and Dekanawidah unite the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca tribes into the Iroquois League.

1571

After repeated defeats during the 1560s, Altan Khan signs a treaty with the Chinese.
Spanish colonialists in the Philippines found the city of Manila.
The Ottoman Turks capture Famagusta, Cyprus; Spanish commander Juan of Austria destroys most of the Ottoman fleet off Lepanto in Greece.

1572

Sigismund II Augustus of Poland and Lithuania dies childless. Henry of Valois, brother of Charles IX of France, is elected to succeed him.
Some two thousand Huguenots die during the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre in Paris.

1573

The Peace of Constantinople ends the war between the Ottoman Empire and Venice.

1573-1620

Emperor Wanli’s inattention to government contributes to the decline of the Ming dynasty in China.

1574

After the death of Charles IX, his brother Henry of Valois abandons the throne of Poland to become Henry III of France.

1575

The Poles elect Stephen Báthory, prince of Transylvania and son-in-law of Sigismund I, to be their new king. He reigns until 1586, successfully ending the Livonia War with Russia.

1578

During an attempt to invade Morocco, King Sebastian of Portugal is slain at Alcazar. He is succeeded by his granduncle Cardinal Henry, who rules until 1580.

1579

The Union of Utrecht establishes the Dutch Republic, which allies itself with England against Spain.

1580

On the death of King Henry of Portugal, the Spanish invade the country. King Philip II of Spain, a nephew of Henry, becomes King Philip I of Portugal. Spain and Portugal remain united until 1640.

1581

In a fit of rage, Ivan IV of Russia murders his son and heir, Ivan.

1581-1598

The Russians conquer Siberia.

1582

The Papal States, Spain and Portugal, France, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia adopt the Gregorian calendar, which corrects an error in the Julian calendar that has caused the beginning date for each season to regress almost one day per century. (That is, by 1582 the vernal equinox was occurring on 11 March instead of 21 March.)

1584

Tsar Ivan IV (the Terrible) dies. He is succeeded by his infirm son Fyodor, who gives up most of his powers to his brother-in-law and successor Boris Godunov. Reigning until 1598, Fyodor is the last ruler of the Rurik dynasty, founded circa 862.

1586

King Stephen Báthory of Poland dies. He is succeeded by Sigismund III Vasa, son of John III Vasa of Sweden and grandson of Sigismund I of Poland. After he becomes king of Sweden in 1592, Sigismund III unsuccessfully attempts to create a permanent union between the two countries, setting off a series of wars that lasts until 1660.

1587

Mary Queen of Scots is tried for treason and beheaded in England.
Toyotomi Hideyoshi issues a decree expelling Portuguese missionaries from Japan.
Naresuan leads Thai troops in defeating invaders from Burma and Cambodia; he becomes king of Siam in 1590.

1588

The English defeat a Spanish Armada sent to place Philip II on the British throne.

1588-1629

During his reign, Abbas I (the Great) drives the Uzbeks and Ottoman Turks from Persia.

1589

Henry III of France is assassinated by a Jacobin friar who questions his commitment to defending the Roman Catholic faith. Huguenot leader Henry of Navarre becomes the king of the Bourbon dynasty. Reigning until 1610, he converts to Catholicism to re-unify the country (1593) and grants religious freedoms to Protestants while recognizing Catholicism as the state church, thus ending the wars of religion in 1598.