Brief History 1000 - 1399

c. 1000-1300 Classic Pueblo period of Anasazi culture; cliff dwellings. c.1000 Hungary and Scandinavia converted to Christianity. Viking raider Leif Eriksson discovers North America, calls it Vinland. Beowulf, Old English epic. c. 1008 Murasaki Shikibu finishes The Tale of Genji, the world's first novel. 1009 Muslims destroy Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. 1013 Danes control England. Canute takes throne (1016), conquers Norway (1028), dies (1035); kingdom divided among his sons: Harold Harefoot (England), Sweyn (Norway), Hardecanute (Denmark). 1040 Macbeth murders Duncan, king of Scotland. 1053 Robert Guiscard, Norman invader, establishes kingdom in Italy, conquers Sicily (1072). 1054 Final separation between Eastern (Orthodox) and Western (Roman) churches. 1055 Seljuk Turks, Asian nomads, move west, capture Baghdad, Armenia (1064), Syria, and Palestine (1075). 1066 William of Normandy invades England, defeats last Saxon king, Harold II, at Battle of Hastings, crowned William I of England ("the Conqueror"). 1068 Construction on the cathedral in Pisa, Italy, begins. 1073 Emergence of strong papacy when Gregory VII is elected. Conflict with English and French kings and German emperors will continue throughout medieval period. 1095 At Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II calls for a holy war to wrest control of Jerusalem from Muslims, which launches the First Crusade (1096), one of at least 8 European military campaigns between 1095 and 1291 to regain the Holy Land. (For detailed chronology, see The Crusades. below) 1100-1300 Construction of Cathedral at Chartres, France. 1144 Second Crusade begins. c. 1150 Angkor Wat is completed. 1150-1167 Universities of Paris and Oxford founded in France and England. 1162 Thomas á Becket named Archbishop of Canterbury, murdered by Henry II's men (1170). Troubadours (wandering minstrels) glorify romantic concepts of feudalism. 1169 Ibn-Rushd begins translating Aristotle's works. 1189 Richard I ("the Lionhearted") succeeds Henry II in England, killed in France (1199), succeeded by King John. Third Crusade. 1200-1204 Fourth Crusade. 1211 Genghis Khan invades China, captures Peking (1214), conquers Persia (1218), invades Russia (1223), dies (1227). 1212 Children's Crusade. 1215 King John forced by barons to sign Magna Carta at Runneymede, limiting royal power. 1217 Fifth Crusade. 1228 Sixth Crusade. 1231 The Inquisition begins as Pope Gregory IX assigns Dominicans responsibility for combating heresy. Torture used (1252). Ferdinand and Isabella establish Spanish Inquisition (1478). Tourquemada, Grand Inquisitor, forces conversion or expulsion of Spanish Jews (1492). Forced conversion of Moors (1499). Inquisition in Portugal (1531). First Protestants burned at the stake in Spain (1543). Spanish Inquisition abolished (1834). 1241 Mongols defeat Germans in Silesia, invade Poland and Hungary, withdraw from Europe after Ughetai, Mongol leader, dies. 1248 Seventh Crusade. 1251 Kublai Khan governs China, becomes ruler of Mongols (1259), establishes Yuan dynasty in China (1280), invades Burma (1287), dies (1294). 1260 Chartres cathedral consecrated. 1270 Eighth Crusade. 1271 Marco Polo of Venice travels to China, in court of Kublai Khan (12751292), returns to Genoa (1295) and writes Travels. 1273 Thomas Aquinas stops work on Summa Theologica, the basis of all Catholic theological teaching; never completes it. 1295 English King Edward I summons the Model Parliament. The Crusades (1096-1291) In 1095 at Council of Clermont, Pope Urban II calls for war to rescue Holy Land from Muslim infidels. The First Crusade (1096) is assembled in response to Emperor Alexius I. The Christians capture Antioch (1098) and Jerusalem (1099). They establish the Crusader States, ruled by Europeans. It is the only successful crusade. The Second Crusade begins after the Seljuk Turks recapture Edessa, one of the Crusader States, in 1144. It is led by King Louis VIII of France and Holy Roman Emperor Conrad III. Crusaders perish in Asia Minor (1147). Saladin controls Egypt (1171), unites Islam in Holy War (Jihad) against Christians, recaptures Jerusalem (1187). Third Crusade (1189) under kings of France, England, and Germany fails to reduce Saladin's power. Fourth Crusade (12001204)French knights sack Greek Christian Constantinople, establish Latin empire in Byzantium. Greeks reestablish Orthodox faith (1262). Children's Crusade (1212)only one of 30,000 French children and about 200 of 20,000 German children survive to return home. Other CrusadesFifth, against Egypt (1217), Sixth (1228), Seventh (1248), Eighth (1270). Mamelukes conquer Acre; end of the Crusades (1291). 1312-1337 Mali Empire reaches its height in Africa under King Mansa Musa. c.1325 The beginning of the Renaissance in Italy: writers Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio; painter Giotto. Development of Noh drama in Japan. Aztecs establish Tenochtitlán on site of modern Mexico City. Peak of Muslim culture in Spain. Small cannon in use. 1337-1453 Hundred Years' WarEnglish and French kings fight for control of France. 1347-1351 At least 25 million people die in Europe's "Black Death" (bubonic plague). 1368 Ming Dynasty begins in China. 1376-1382 John Wycliffe, pre-Reformation religious reformer, and followers translate Latin Bible into English. 1378 The Great Schism (to 1417)rival popes in Rome and Avignon, France, fight for control of Roman Catholic Church. c.1387 Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. 1399 Tamerlane begins last great conquest.

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