Texts in Context:
Timeline of the High
and Late Middle Ages

This timeline covers the High and Late Mediævum, defined for our purposes as falling more or less between 1073 and 1517 (and embracing what is typically called “the Renaissance” as, if you will, one of the “Late Middle Ages”). The timeline is far from exhaustive, and some dates below are approximate or conjectural—these dates are marked with “ca.” (circa) in the former case, or a question mark in the latter.

The periodization of the Middle Ages is, like all periodization, a matter of convention and scholarly judgment; the general “beats” of the Medieval period (e.g. the twelfth-century renaissance) are broadly agreed upon by academics, but how to subdivide the period is less settled. As we have been bold to make judgments of our own about this, we have also noted the years we assign to each period and sub-period.

Our previous summary timelines include one covering prehistory and the Bronze Age, one covering the Early Iron Age (or pre-Classical antiquity), our Classical Antiquity timeline in two parts, and one covering the Early Middle Ages. As usual, we begin a little before our actual period, to furnish the reader with context.

The Earlier Eleventh Century

• ca. 1001—Norse settlement in Vinland (modern Newfoundland) briefly established.
• 1013-1042—”North Sea Empire” of Cnut the Great (personal union of Denmark, England, Norway; crowns separate again at his death).
• 1022—First known execution by burning for heresy at Orléans.
• 1042—King Edward the Confessor reclaims English throne for Anglo-Saxon monarchy: second-to-last Anglo-Saxon ruler of England.
• 1054—Beginning of Great Schism between Catholic, Orthodox Churches.
• 1057-1075—Pataria movement for reform of clergy in Milan.
• 1059—Papal election process reformed (substantially into modern process) to curb corruption, outside influence.
• 1066—Death of Edward the Confessor without heir triggers succession crisis; Harold Godwinson takes throne, against claims from Norway, Normandy. Battle of Stamford Bridge between Harold, Norwegian invaders: Saxon victory. Battle of Hastings: Norman victory; William the Conqueror becomes King of England, establishes Norman dynasty.
• 1071—Battle of Manzikert between Seljuq Turks, East Roman Empire: Seljuq victory.

The High Middle Ages

1073-1291

The High Middle Ages are, very loosely, equivalent to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries (1100-1300); this was the golden age of Catholic Scholasticism, inspired both by Aristotle and by Early Medieval and contemporary Muslim commentators on him. We introduce the period in general in The Real Renaissance, discuss Catholic Scholasticism in The Queen of the Sciences, and then discuss the apostolic poverty movement (and the official response to its heretical expressions). After this, we discuss the genesis of the tradition of courtly love (in two parts)

The Renaissance of the Twelfth Century

1073-1216

We have bookended this first half of the High Mediævum with the reigns of two important popes: St. Gregory VII (a key defender of the Church’s autonomy during the Investiture Contest), and Innocent III (the architect of two famous fourth-things-in-a-series—the crusade went very badly, while the Lateran council went quite well).

• 1073-1085—Pontificate of St. Gregory VII, major supporter of reform.
• 1075—Opening of Investiture Contest (controversy over rights of state to select and formally install, or “invest,” clergy) between Pope St. Gregory VII, Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV.
• 1077—Turkic Sultanate of Rum establishes independence from Seljuqs, takes control of central Anatolia.
• 1088—University of Bologna founded.
• ca. 1090-1100?—University of Oxford informally founded; earliest appearance of troubadours, founders of the tradition of “courtly love.”
• 1093-1109—Archiepiscopate of St. Anselm at Canterbury.
• 1095—East Roman diplomats ask Pope Urban II to help secure westerners’ military aid to Empire; Urban declares First Crusade.
• 1096-1099—First Crusade waged, wresting Levantine coast and parts of hinterland from Muslim control and establishing Crusader states (known collectively as Outremer); contact, communion re-established between Catholic Church, Maronite Christians of Lebanon.
• ca. 1100—Informal beginnings of the University of Paris, based on the local cathedral school; Peter Abelard begins scholarly career there.
• ca. 1100-1130—Early phase of poverty heresies (Arnoldists, Petrobrusians, Umiliati founded).
• 1113-1153—Career of St. Bernard of Clairvaux as a Cistercian.
• 1115-1116—Love affair, secret marriage of Abelard with Héloïse d’Argenteuil; uncle of Héloïse has Abelard castrated; Abelard, Héloïse both retreat into cloistered life.
• 1118—Founding of Knights Templar, first monastic order of knighthood.
• ca. 1120-1140—Career of Hugh of St. Victor.
• 1122—Investiture Contest ends with Concordat of Worms: state selection, investiture of clergy eliminated, but state influence during selection process accepted.
• 1125—Rivalry between German noble Houses of Welf, Swabia lead to founding of Guelf, Ghibelline parties.
• 1135-1153—The Anarchy in England (civil war between Empress Matilda and Stephen of Blois): compromise peace brings House of Anjou, later Plantagenet dynasty, to English throne.
• 1135-1164—Abbey of St. Denis and Cathedral of Sens exemplify beginning of Gothic architecture.
• 1140—Theological conflict between Abelard, St. Bernard; partial reconciliation effected by Peter the Venerable, abbot of Cluny.
• ca. 1140-1160—Formative period of Catharist heresy, church: Cathars appear in Rhineland, northern France, northern Italy, but are especially concentrated in Languedoc, notably around cities of Toulouse, Albi (from which they are nicknamed Albigenses).
• 1141-1179—Career of St. Hildegard von Bingen.
• 1144-1146—St. Bernard commissioned to preach Second Crusade; Radulf the Cistercian begins to promote anti-Semitic violence in the Rhineland, over objections of local bishops, who ultimately summon Bernard to oppose Radulf, force him back into cloister.
• 1147-1149—Second Crusade ends in failure, sours Frankish-Byzantine relations.
• 1150—University of Paris (the Sorbonne) formally established.
• 1153-1198—Career of Abu l-Walid Muḥammad ibn ‘Aḥmad ibn Rushd (Averroës).
• ca. 1160-1215—Floreat of Marie de France.
• 1162-1170—Archiepiscopate of St. Thomas Becket at Canterbury; conflict between Becket, King Henry II over rights and autonomy of the Church from the crown, culminating in Becket’s martyrdom in Canterbury Cathedral, Henry’s relinquishing of his attempt to control the Church.
• ca. 1166-1204—Career of Moses Maimonides, major exponent of Judaic Scholasticism.
• 1169—Norman invasion of Ireland, beginning of nearly a millennium of English efforts to control Ireland.
• ca. 1170—Peter Waldo of northern Burgundy commissions translation of Bible into his native vernacular (Arpitan, close relative of Old French, Provençal), begins developing Waldensian doctrine (widely considered proto-Protestant).
• 1179—Third Lateran Council in Rome: Cathars, Waldenses condemned as heretics.
• 1187—Jerusalem conquered by Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria.
• 1189-1192—Third Crusade attempts to retake Jerusalem, without success.
• 1198-1216—Pontificate of Innocent III.
• ca. 1200—Composition of Nibelungenlied (“Song of the Nibelungs”).
• ca. 1200-1250—Composition of Eiriks Saga Raudha (“The Saga of Erik the Red”).
• 1202—Leonardo Fibonacci publishes Liber Abaci (“Book of the Abacus”), introducing Indo-Arabic numerals, decimal place value.
• 1202-1204—Fourth Crusade: Crusaders become entangled in East Roman succession dispute, ultimately sack New Rome and set up Catholic-aligned “Latin Empire,” hardening Catholic-Orthodox schism; Byzantine rump states persist in northwestern Anatolia (Empire of Nicæa), Black Sea coasts (Empire of Trebizond), western Greece (Despotate of Epirus).
• 1207-1228—Archiepiscopate of Stephen Langton at Canterbury (thought to be codifier of modern chapter, verse divisions of the Bible).
• 1209—Innocent III recognizes Franciscan Order (informally), proclaims Albigensian Crusade against Cathars in southern France; Cambridge University founded.
• ca. 1210-1240—Composition of Lancelot-Grail Cycle, major collection of Arthurian literature.
• 1215—Magna Carta, drafted by English nobility and revised by Archbishop Langton, signed by King John; Fourth Lateran Council defines doctrine of transubstantiation, urges clerical discipline and penalizes simony, condemns Joachimites, imposes social restrictions upon Muslims and Jews in Christian realms.

The Short Thirteenth Century

1216-1291

We discussed the course of the thirteenth century in The Chalice and the Sword.

• 1220—Albigensian Crusade concludes.
• 1223—Order of Preachers (Dominican Order) recognized.
• 1228-1229—Sixth Crusade retakes Jerusalem.
• 1237-1240—Conquest of Kyivan Rus’ by Mongol Khanate.
• 1239—Roman Inquisition established by Pope Gregory IX.
• 1243—Turks of Rum meet Mongols at Battle of Köse Dag: Mongol victory; Rum declines over next 60 years.
• ca. 1245-1274—Career of St. Thomas Aquinas.
• ca. 1250-1350—Medieval Warm Period ends, turn toward Little Ice Age begins: climate becomes generally cooler, harsher in northern Europe.
• 1258—Mongols besiege, conquer Baghdad, destroy House of Wisdom (conventional end-date of Islamic Golden Age).
• 1260—Battle of Montaperti between Guelf Florence and Ghibelline Siena: Sienese/Ghibelline victory, bloodiest battle fought in medieval Italy.
• 1261—Latin Empire overthrown by Nicene Emperor Michael VIII Palæologus, who re-establishes East Roman Empire, founds Palæologan dynasty (twentieth, final Roman imperial dynasty).
• ca. 1270—Controversy rises in Franciscan Order over strict observance vs. relaxation of original rule’s absolute poverty; emergence of various heretical groups known collectively as “Fraticelli.”
• 1271—Marco Polo sets out for Yuan China along northern route of Silk Road.
• 1279—Mongol Khanate at greatest extent (under Kublai Khan, grandson of Chinggis, a.k.a. Genghis, Khan): controls modern Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, China, Georgia, Iran, Kazakhstan, the Koreas, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, plus large parts of modern Iraq, Pakistan, Romania, Russia, Turkey.
• ca. 1280-1290?—Invention of eyeglasses in northern Italy.
• ca. 1280-ca. 1318—Career of Sienese painter Duccio di Buoninsegna.
• 1283—Principality of Muscovy established, basis of later Russian Empire.
• ca. 1283-1321—Career of poet Dante Alighieri.
• ca. 1285-1337—Career of painter Giotto di Bondone.
• 1290—Edict of Expulsion: King Edward I of England banishes all Jews from his realm.
• 1290-1296—Death of infant Queen Margaret of Scotland, last monarch of House of Dunkeld, triggers succession crisis in Scotland; Edward I of England invited to arbitrate, but manipulates situation to secure overlordship of Scotland (through puppet King John Balliol until July 1296, then directly).
• 1291—Fall of Acre, last Crusader foothold in the Holy Land.

The Late Middle Ages

1291-1517

We discuss the High-Late Medieval transition in O Rose Thou Art Sick. The Late Middle Ages saw the gradual decay of the cultural synthesis achieved in the High (and especially, a precipitous fall in the reputation and credibility of the papacy), under the pressure of dynastic wars, famines, the “Babylonian captivity” of the popes (and its immediate sequel in the Western Schism, during which two and then three claimants to the office reigned), and—most brutal of all—the Black Death. We discuss that pandemic in Behold a Pale Horse.

The Long Fourteenth Century

1291-1418

Since the fourteenth century had the immense ill fortune of being an interesting time, for ease of reading, we have further subdivided its timeline into two unequal halves; both are dealt with principally in our post The Dowry of Our Lady.

Famine, War, and Pestilence

1291-1378

• 1294—Death of Kublai Khan; Mongol Khanate breaks into four successor states: Chagatai Khanate (Mongolian-Turkic state in Xinjiang), Khanate of the Golden Horde (Mongolian-Russo-Turkic state in Kazakhstan, southern Russia), the Ilkhanate (Mongolian-Persian state), Yuan dynasty of China; abdication of Pope St. Celestine V* after only four months, election of Boniface VIII.
• 1295—Polo returns to Venice from China.
• 1296-1303—Conflict between King Philip IV of France, Boniface VIII over rights of crown to tax church; culminates in brief abduction of pope by French soldiers.
• 1297—First Scottish War for Independence begins with revolt led by Sir William Wallace.
• 1299—Ottoman Empire founded in northern Anatolia.
• 1305-1306—Wallace captured, executed by English; lull in war until Robert the Bruce (King Robert I of Scotland) reasserts claim to crown.
• 1307-1314—In France, mass arrests, trials of Knights Templar for heresy, witchcraft are instigated by Philip IV; trials of Templars, seizure of their assets reluctantly approved, extended to other realms by Pope Clement V.
• 1309—Clement V relocates papal court to Avignon in Provence (now southeastern France).
• 1312—Knights Templar formally dissolved.
• 1314—Jacques de Molay, last grand master of Templars, executed. Battle of Bannockburn in First Scottish War: Scottish victory, independence secured (war formally ends in 1328).
• 1315-1317—Great Famine kills approximately 10% of population of northern Europe.**
• 1321—Dante completes La Commedia (“The Comedy,” later titled “Divine” by Boccaccio) just before his death.
• 1326-1374—Career of poet Francesco di Petrarco (Francis Petrarch), often esteemed first exponent of Italian Renaissance.
• ca. 1330?-ca. 1400?—Flowering of English Catholic mysticism, expressed in Richard Rolle, Walter Hylton, The Cloude of Unknowynge, Margery Kempe, et al.
• 1337—King Edward III of England advances claim to French throne, rejected in favor of Valois claimant Philip VI; first phase of Hundred Years’ War begins.
• 1341-1375—Career of poet Giovanni Boccaccio.
• 1345—Petrarch discovers previously unknown collection of letters by Cicero in cathedral at Verona.
• 1347—Black Death (second historical, third known plague [Y. pestis] pandemic) appears in Europe, first in Crimea, Genoa, East Roman Empire (parts of modern Bulgaria, Greece, N. Macedonia).
• 1348—Black Death spreads throughout most of North Africa, western Europe (England, France, Italy, Spain).
• 1349—Black Death spreads to central Europe (modern Austria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, the Low Countries, Switzerland), Ireland.
• 1350—Black Death reaches Baltic countries, Scandinavia, Scotland.
• ca. 1350-1400—Development of Conciliarism (theory that church councils are supreme authority, even without or in opposition to papacy).
• 1351—Black Death reaches Russia.
• 1353—Black Death proper ends; local, shorter-term outbreaks of plague recur in Europe for next 400 years.
• 1356-1384—Career of John Wycliffe.
• 1360—First phase of Hundred Years’ War concludes.
• ca. 1360-1400?—Floreat of author of Pearl, Sir Gawaine and the Greene Kny3t.
• ca. 1363-1380—Religious career of St. Catherine of Siena.
• 1367-1400—Career of poet Geoffrey Chaucer.
• 1369-1389—Second phase of Hundred Years’ War.
• 1373—Dame Julian of Norwich endures severe illness, during which she sees sixteen “showings” (recorded as Revelation of Divine Love); she becomes anchoress soon afterward.
• 1376—At urging of St. Catherine of Siena, Pope Gregory XI returns papal court to Rome.
• 1377—Death of Gregory XI; Roman populace fear return of papacy to Avignon, pressure conclave not to elect a Frenchman, leading to election of an Italian, Urban VI; though proponent of reform, Urban quickly proves autocratic, vindictive.

The Western Schism

1378-1418

• 1378—French cardinals assemble outside Rome, claim to have elected Urban invalidly due to fear; they elect Antipope Clement VII (who returns to Avignon), beginning Western Schism.
• 1379—Kalmar Union: personal union of Kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, Sweden (lasts until departure of Sweden in 1523).
• 1381—Peasants’ Revolt in England, narrowly put down by King Richard II.
• 1389-ca. 1430—Career of Christine de Pizan (first known professional woman of letters in Europe).
• 1399—Richard II (childless) deposed, imprisoned, probably murdered; throne claimed by Richard’s cousin Henry of Bolingbroke, now King Henry IV (first Lancastrian monarch).
• 1406-1471—Career of St. Thomas à Kempis with Brethren of the Common Life.
• 1407—Beginning of Armagnac-Burgundian civil war in France, fought between cadet branches of House of Capet.
• 1409—Gathering of clergy, scholars at Pisa try to repair Western Schism by denouncing both papal claimants, electing a second (anti-)pope: two-sided conflict becomes triangular conflict among Rome, Avignon, Pisa, their partisans.
• 1414-1418—Council of Constance held in order to resolve Western Schism: first summoned by Antipope John XXIII (Pisan claimant), then convalidated (excepting early Conciliarist sessions) by Pope Gregory XII; John and Gregory both agree to abdicate upon other’s death, Antipope Benedict XIII (Avignonese claimant) remains aloof, loses almost all support outside Kingdom of Aragon.
• 1415—Jan Hus summoned to Council of Constance under safe-conduct, there tried for heresy, convicted, executed; beginning of last phrase of Hundred Years’ War; Battle of Agincourt: English victory.
• 1417—Council of Constance elects Pope Martin V: Western Schism ends outside Aragon.

The Other Renaissance

1418-1517

This, traditionally “the” Renaissance, is often dated as beginning in the fourteenth century rather than the fifteenth (particularly if the Italian Renaissance is under discussion). Our posts on fifteenth-century history deal with the Wars of the Roses, the massive cultural shifts caused by the printing press, and the discovery of the New World on the eve of the Protestant Reformation.

• 1419—First Defenestration of Prague inaugurates Hussite Wars.
  
• 1419-1432—First stage of Hussite Wars: Catholics loyal to Holy Roman Empire fight Hussite factions (Taborites, Utraquists) loyal to Kingdom of Bohemia (under-kingdom within Empire).
• 1420—Treaty of Troyes declares King Henry V of England heir to French throne on death of King Charles VI (on dubious legal basis: only Charles could assent to treaty, but he suffered from recurring episodes of insanity, casting doubt on his grasp of Treaty of Troyes).
• 1422—Henry V predeceases Charles VI, who dies later that year.
• ca. 1425-1441—Career of Jan van Eyck, early master painter of Dutch Renaissance.
• 1429—Aragon reconciles with Rome, universally ending Western Schism; peasant girl, St. Joan of Arc, professes divine mission to deliver France from English dominion, lifts siege of Orléans, turns tide of war in France’s favor; Charles VII, theoretically king since his father’s death, coronated at Rheims (traditional site of French coronations).
• 1430—St. Joan captured by Burgundians, handed over to English; Charles VII does not attempt military rescue or negotiate for her release.
• 1431—English clergy, theologians of Sorbonne try Joan for heresy, witchcraft; though several judges present become convinced of her innocence, Joan is condemned, executed.
• 1431-1449—Council of Basel tries to declare Conciliarism Catholic dogma; undermined by papal convocation of Council of Florence, Basel elects antipope, finally dissolves itself.
• 1432-1434—Second stage of Hussite Wars: Utraquist faction comes to terms with mainstream Catholicism; Catholics and Utraquists now fight Taborites.
• 1435—Armagnac-Burgundian civil war resolved.
• 1438-1445—Council of Florence (many initial participants at Basel leave for Florence in 1438): promising overtures for conciliation between Catholic, Orthodox Churches, even some Miaphysites† attend; opposition from influential eastern clergy, populace stymie reunion.
• ca. 1440—Johannes Gutenberg invents printing press.
• 1441—Portuguese traders reach West Africa, re-establish slave trade (otherwise increasingly uncommon in Europe for a century or more); witchcraft trial of Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Gloucester, convicts her of treasonable sorcery against King Henry VI: four associates of hers (three priestly astrologers, one reputed witch from Middlesex) executed, Cobham sentenced to life imprisonment.
• 1453—Constantinople falls to siege by Ottoman Empire: East Roman Empire permanently dissolved; many Greek scholars leave Ottoman-dominated eastern Mediterranean for Western Europe, contributing to renewal of Greek learning there; formal end of Hundred Years’ War.
• 1455—Richard, Duke of York revolts against King Henry VI of England, inaugurating Wars of the Roses between Lancastrian, Yorkist cadet branches of Plantagenet dynasty.
• 1456—St. Joan of Arc posthumously acquitted.
• 1469—Marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile (“the Catholic Monarchs”), paving way for unification of Spain.
• 1469-1492—Leadership of Lorenzo de Medici in Florentine Republic, notable patron of Marsilio Ficino, Sandro Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarotti, et al.
• ca. 1470—Thomas Malory completes Le Mort d’Arthur.
• 1476—William Caxton sets up first printing press in England.
• 1478—Foundation of Spanish Inquisition.
• 1485—Wars of the Roses end at Battle of Bosworth Field: Lancastrian victory; King Richard III (last Yorkist monarch) slain in battle; Henry VII (first Tudor monarch) succeeds.
• 1487-1536—Career of Desiderius Erasmus.
• 1492—Reconquista ends with Spanish conquest of Emirate of Granada; Alhambra Decree issued by Catholic Monarchs imposes conversion, exile, or death upon all Jews in Aragon, Castile: tens of thousands expelled, many going to Ottoman Empire, welcomed by Sultan Bayezid II; first voyage of Columbus to New World.
• 1498-1527—Career of Niccolò Machiavelli.
• 1501—Princess Katharine Trastámara, daughter of Catholic Monarchs, marries Prince Arthur Tudor, heir to English throne; Arthur soon dies of illness, plans are made for Katharine to marry Arthur’s brother Henry if papacy grants dispensation from impediment of affinity.‡
• 1503—Pope Julius II grants dispensation for Katharine, Henry to marry.
• 1505—Martin Luther enters St. Augustine’s monastery in Erfurt, central Germany.
• 1507—Katharine of Aragon made Spanish ambassador to England (first known female ambassador in Europe); Bartolomé de las Casas enters priesthood; first smallpox epidemic in Hispaniola causes mass death among indigenous Taíno.
• 1508-1516—War of the League of Cambrai: at first (1508-1510) waged by France, Papal States against Venice; later (1510-1513) by France against Papal States, Venice; finally (1513-1516) by France, Venice against Papal States; other powers of Europe join in at various points.
• 1509—Accession of King Henry VIII; he weds Katharine of Aragon.
• 1510—Dominican friars in Spanish Caribbean, shocked by condition of indigenous slaves in encomiendas, begin to preach against slave-owners, refuse them absolution; colonists (including de las Casas) complain, friars are recalled.
• 1511-1514—Spanish conquest of Cuba: accompanying conquistadors as chaplain, de las Casas appalled by Spanish cruelty, has change of heart.
• 1512—Copernicus writes Commentariolus, first exposition of his heliocentric theory.
• 1513—Henry VIII appoints Queen Katharine regent during his absence (England involved as papal ally in second, third phases of War of the League of Cambrai); in response to Scottish invasion meant to aid its ally France, Queen Katharine rides north, gives rousing speech to English army before Battle of Flodden: English victory; King James IV of Scotland killed (last monarch in British Isles to die in battle); Machiavelli writes The Prince.
• 1515-1522—Early phase of advocacy for indigenous American peoples by de las Casas.
• 1516—Thomas More‘s Utopia published; first edition of Erasmus’ Novum Instrumentum Omne (later known as Textus Receptus) published.
• 1517—Luther proposes “Ninety-five Theses” on topic of indulgences for academic discussion (conventional date for beginning of Protestant Reformation).