Timeline of the British Middle Ages

Early Britain Saxons, Danes, and Normans Plantagenet Kings Tudor England Stuart England Scotland European Middle Ages

Early Britain (56 b.c to 784 a.d)

Invasion of Julius Caesar, to the first Viking Raids on Saxon England

Date	Event
54 BC	Julius Caesar invades Britain and demands tribute.
51 AD	Emperor Claudius reconquers Britain.
61	Romans put down Boadicea's Rebellion.
77-84	Agricola Romanizes Britain; builds schools, roads, aqueducts.
122	Hadrian's wall built to protect Roman Britain from the Picts of Scotland.
304	Death of Saint Alban, the first Christian martyr in Britain.
402	Roman legions leave Britain.
433	Saint Patrick converts the Irish Celts to Christianity.
460	Hengist and Horsa, German princes from Juteland, arrive in Britain.
540	Saint Mungo helps convert the Celtic Scots to Christianity.
542	Death of King Arthur.
596	Saint Augustine of Kent sent from Rome to convert Saxon kingdoms of Britain.
660	Celtic Christian and Roman Christian churches are united.
700	Venerable Bede publishes An Ecclesiastic History of the English People.
757-796	Reign of King Offa in Mercia, greatest of the Saxon kingdoms.

Saxons, Danes, and Normans (802 to 1154 a.d.)

Egbert the Saxon becomes first King of Wessex to Death of the Last Norman King

Date	Event
787	First Viking attack on Britain.
793	Sack of the monastery at Lindisfarne.
802	Egbert the Saxon reigns over united Anglo and Saxon kingdoms.
871-899	Reign of Alfred the Great—Saxons defeat Danes at the Battle of Edington.
937	Battle of Brunanburh—Wessex Saxons defeat Celts and Danes.
991	Battle of Maldon—Saxons are defeated by Vikings and made to pay tribute.
1002	Aethelred the Unready orders the death of all Danish citizens.
1016-1042	Danish king Sweyn Forkbeard assumes the throne of England.
1042	Edward the Confessor recalled to the throne, Saxon rule restored.
1065	Consecration of Westminster Chapel.
1066	Battle of Stanford Bridge—Harold Godwinson defeats Viking invaders.
1066	Battle of Hastings—Harold is killed and the Normans conquer England.
1086	Completion of Domesday Book.
1087	Death of William the Conqueror.
1095	First Crusade.
1100-1135	Reign of Henry I, youngest son of William the Conqueror.
1135-1154	Anarchy and civil war between followers of Stephen and Matilda, daughter of Henry I.
1154	Death of Stephen; crown passes to Henry II, son of Matilda.

Plantagenet Kings (1154 to 1485 a.d.)

Henry Plantagenet claims throne of England to War of the Roses

Date	Event
1170	Murder of St. Thomas a Becket.
1172	Henry II conquers Ireland.
1190	Richard Coeur de Lion goes on Third Crusade.
1215	John Lackland signs Magna Carta.
1265	First Parliament meeting arranged by Simon de Montfort.
1284	Edward I conquers Wales.
1291	Edward I conquers Scotland.
1314	Battle of Bannockburn—Scots under Robert Bruce regain their independence.
1348-1349	Black Plague.
1337-1453	Hundred Year War—England vs. France.
1346	—Edward III prevails at the Battle of Crecy.
1356	—Edward the Black Prince prevails at the Battle of Poitiers.
1415	—Henry V prevails at the Battle of Agincourt.
1428	—Joan of Arc prevails at the Siege of Orleans.
1362	English becomes official legal language, displacing French.
1381	Wat Tyler Rebellion.
1399	Richard II deposed by Henry IV (Bolingbroke).
1400	Death of Geoffrey Chaucer, author of the Canterbury Tales.
1403	Henry IV puts down a rebellion at the Battle of Shrewsbury.
1455-1485	War of the Roses—Yorkists vs. Lancastrians.
1461	—Yorkists prevail at Battle of Towton; Lancastrians exiled.
1469	—Lancastrians regain throne due to machinations of Earl of Warwick.
1471	—Yorkists prevail again at Battle of Barnet.
1476	William Caxton bring a printing press to England. Publishes first book.
1483	—Richard III murders princes, usurps throne at death of Edward IV.
1485	—Henry Tudor defeats Richard III at Battle of Bosworth Field.

Tudor England (1485 to 1603 a.d.)

Henry Tudor defeats Richard III at Bosworth Field to Death of Queen Elizabeth

Date	Event
1486	Henry VII Tudor marries Elizabeth of York, unites Lancastrian and Yorks.
1492	Christopher Columbus discovers America.
1497	John Cabot sails to North America under an English flag.
1515	Cardinal Wolsey appointed Lord Chancellor.
1517	Martin Luther incites widespread rebellion against the Church of Rome.
1520	Field of the Cloth of Gold: France and England at peace
1534	Act of Supremacy—Henry VIII breaks England's ties with the Rome.
1535	St. Thomas More executed for failing to acknowledge Henry VIII's divorce.
1536	Execution of Anne Boleyn.
1539	Dissolution of the monasteries enriches the Protestant gentry.
1553-1558	Reign of Mary I; failed attempt to return England to the Catholic faith.
1553	Lady Jane Grey executed for plotting to usurp the throne.
1558-1603	Reign of Elizabeth I.
1591	Edmund Spenser publishes the Faerie Queen.
1577-1580	Sir Francis Drake circumnavigates the globe.
1584	Founding of the "Lost Colony" at Roanoke, the first British colony in America.
1584	Poet Sir Sidney Philip dies fighting for the Netherlands
1587	Execution of Mary I of Scotland, Elizabeth's rival for the throne.
1588	England defeats the Spanish Armada, dealing a blow to Spanish naval supremacy.
1601	Elizabeth's favorite, Earl of Essex, executed for treason.
1594-1603	Tyrone rebellion in Ireland delivers Ulster to English rule.

Stuart England (1603 to 1714 a.d.)

James Stuart ascends to throne of England to Death of Queen Anne

Date	Event
1603	James I assumes throne on death of Elizabeth
1605	Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament discovered.
1607	Founding of Jamestown colony in Virginia.
1607	Voyages of Henry Hudson to the New World.
1611	King James version of the Bible first published in England.
1616	Death of William Shakespeare.
1620	Voyage of the Mayflower; Puritans settle in New England.
1641-1649	English Civil Wars.
1642	—Battle of Edgehill; opening battle in Civil War.
1645	—Battle of Naseby; Charles I is taken prisoner.
1649	—Execution of Charles I; Oliver Cromwell invades Ireland.
1649-1658	Commonwealth, led by Cromwell.
1653	First Anglo-Dutch War—great naval battle between English and Dutch under Robert Blake.
1659	Restoration of Charles II.
1665	Great Plague of London.
1667	Great Fire of London.
1688	Glorious Revolution: James II deposed by parliament; William III and Mary installed.
1689	Williamite War in Ireland—James II exiled to France after the Battle of Boyne.
1702-1714	Reign of Queen Anne, last Stuart monarch.
1701-1714	War of the Spanish Succession checks the growing influence of France.
1704	—British victory at the Battle of Blenheim under Duke of Marlborough.
1704	—British gain possession of the gateway to the Mediterranean at the Siege of Gibraltar.
1707	England and Scotland join to become Great Britain.

Scotland (483 to 1707 a.d.)

Union of Picts and Scots under Kenneth Macalpine to the Act of Union

Date	Event
540	Saint Mungo arrives from Ireland as a missionary to Scotland.
563	Saint Columba founds the Monastery of Iona.
563	Saint Aidan founds the Monastery of Lindisfarne.
843	Picts and Scots unite under Kenneth Macalpine.
1040	Duncan, the king of Scots, is killed by the usurper, Macbeth.
1058-1096	Reign of Malcolm Canmore and his wife Saint Margaret of Scotland.
1286	Death of Alexander III of Scotland leaves the Scottish throne vacant, chaos ensues.
1297	William Wallace leads the Scots in revolt against Edward I.
1306	Robert I of Scotland is crowned king of Scotland, in defiance of Edward I.
1314	Scottish victory at the Battle of Bannockburn guarantees Scotland's independence from England.
1371	Robert II of Scotland ascends the throne as the first Stuart king of Scotland.
1424	Henry VI releases James I of Scotland from prison.
1460	Fall of the Black Douglases.
1513	James IV of Scotland dies at the Battle of Flodden Field, a disastrous loss for Scotland.
1560	The Scottish Parliament, led by John Knox, establishes a national church.
1567	Mary I, Queen of Scots, exiled from Scotland and imprisoned by Queen Elizabeth.
1603	James I (a.k.a. James VI of Scotland), assumes throne of England on death of Elizabeth.
1641	Scotland declares against Charles I in the English Civil Wars.
1649	After execution of Charles I, Scotland declares against Cromwell in the English Civil Wars.
1692	Massacre of Glencoe results from Scots' Jacobite resistance to William III .
1707	Act of Union unites England and Scotland into Great Britain.
1715	First Jacobite uprising in Scotland in support of the Old Pretender.
1745	Second Jacobite uprising in Scotland in support of Bonnie Prince Charles.

European Middle Ages

(500 to 1650 a.d.)

Clovis, King of the Franks, converts to Christianity, to the Thirty Years War

Date	Event
	Christian Conversion
500	Conversion of Clovis to Catholic Christianity.
520	Saint Benedict founds Western Monasticism.
785	Baptism of Wittekind, chief of the Saxons.
865	Cyril and Methodius convert Slavs to Christianity.
1000	Olaf I converts Vikings to Christianity.
1000	Steven of Hungary converts Hungarians to Christianity.
	The Viking Menace
885	Vikings besiege Paris.
911	Rollo the Viking becomes the first Duke of Normandy.
	The Moslem Threat and the Crusades
732	Charles Martel stops the Mohammedan invasion at the Battle of Tours.
1096	Peter the Hermit organizes the First Crusade.
1270	Saint Louis of France dies on his final Crusade in Tunis.
1453	Mohammed II conquers Constantinople, expands Turkish empire in Balkans.
1492	Siege of Granada, last stronghold of the Moors is conquered.
1517	Don John of Austria defeats Turkish Army at the Battle of Lepanto.
1683	Second Siege of Vienna relieved by Polish king Sobieski.
	Church-State Conflicts
800	Charlemagne is crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Rome.
1076	Gregory VII seeks to reform lay bishoprics; excommunicates Henry IV.
1303-1378	"Avignon Papacy" is captive of the French Crown.
1378-1417	Western Schism. Multiple claimants for the office of pope.
	New World Exploration
1492	Columbus discovers America.
1498	Vasco da Gama opens up a trade route to Asia.
1520	Ferdinand Magellan dies while circumnavigating the globe.
	The Reformation
1450	Gutenberg publishes the first Bible.
1517	Martin Luther initiates Protestant Reformation in Germany.
1572	St. Bartholomew Day's Massacre of Huguenots in France.
1568	Revolt of the Netherlands led by William the Silent
1598	Henry IV of France issues edict of Nantes, granting rights to Protestants.
1620-1650	The Thirty Year's War reduces the power of the Catholic Hapsburgs.