1025
CE: Medieval Europe - The Byzantine aristocracy gains
control over the government and begins to limit the freedom
of the peasantry, thereby beginning the destruction of the
economic base of Byzantine civilization.
 1046
CE: Medieval Europe - German Emperor Henry III arrives
in Italy and names a German monastic reformer as pope. The
series of reforming popes that follow enacts decrees against
simony and clerical marriage.
1049
CE: Medieval Europe - The Cluniac monastic reform
sparks interest in the reform of the clerical hierarchy.
1050
CE: Medieval Europe - The period from 1050 to 1300
is generally considered the High Middle Ages. Western Europe
rises as a great power with only China equaling it in political,
economic and cultural flourishing. It also witnesses profound
religious and intellectual change, including the organization
of the papal monarchy.
1050-1200
CE: Medieval Europe - The first agricultural revolution
of Medieval Europe begins in 1050 CE with a shift to the northern
lands for cultivation, a period of improved climate from 700
CE to 1200 CE in western Europe, and the widespread use and
perfection of new farming devices, some previously discovered
by the Carolingians and the Romans. Technological innovations
include the use of the heavy plow, the three-field system
of crop rotation, the use of mills for processing cloth, brewing
beer, crushing pulp for paper manufacture and many other advantages
that before were not available, and the widespread use of
iron and horses. With an increase in agricultural advancements,
Western towns and trade grow exponentially and Western Europe
returns to a money economy.
1059
CE: Medieval Europe - The reforming popes, following
from the acts of Henry III, issue a decree on papal elections
which gives the cardinals sole right of appointing new popes.
This decree allows papal elections to escape the whims of
political leaders.
 1066
CE: Medieval Europe - William the Conqueror invades
England and asserts his right to the English throne at the
Battle of Hastings. The Norman Conquest fuses French and English
cultures because William is both the King of England and the
Duke of Normandy. The language of England evolves into Middle
English with an English syntax and grammar and a heavily French
vocabulary. French art and literature prevail over previous
English art and literature, and the French language eventually
becomes the language of the political realm. William achieves
political stability in England with the introduction of the
feudal system. The system progresses over the next two centuries
into a national monarchy.
1071
CE: Medieval Europe - The Seljuk Turks of Islam defeat
the Byzantines at Manzikert in Asia Minor and reconquer most
of the eastern Byzantine provinces.
1073
CE: Medieval Europe - Gregory VII initiates a new
conception of Church. According to Gregory, the Church is
obligated to create "right order in the world,"
rather than withdraw from it. Gregory seeks to create a papal
monarchy with power over the secular state and to establish
ecclesiastical authority. Henry IV, the German king, resists
this authority thereby inaugurating the "investiture
controversy." Gregory excommunicates Henry IV in 1077
CE. The Gregorian reform encourages the practice of Christian
warfare in the pursuit of providing "right order in the
world" and establishes religious enthusiasm in all of
Christendom.
1079
CE: Medieval Europe - Scholasticism emerges as an
attempt to reconcile classical philosophy (primarily Aristotelean)
with Christianity. Peter Abelard contributes to this movement
with his great theological work, Sic et Non. He dies in 1142.
 1095
CE: Medieval Europe - The First Crusade is initiated
when Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus requests help in reconquering
the lost territory of Asia Minor. Western Europe sends enormous
support to rescue Jerusalem from the control of Islam. Pope
Urban II calls the crusade to strengthen the Gregorian papacy
by bringing the Greek Orthodox Church under papal authority
and by humiliating the German emperor Henry IV who had forced
Urban to flee Italy.
1098
CE: Medieval Europe - The crusaders of the First
Crusade capture Antioch and most of Syria, killing the Turkish
inhabitants. The oldest epic poem in French, The Song of Roland,
is written by an unknown author. The poem is set in northern
Spain during the reign of Charlemagne and is based on the
Roncesvalles massacre of Charlemagne's rearguard. It serves
to establish the differing characteristics between Christianity
and paganism. The death scene of Roland, devoted patriot of
Charlemagne, is commonly considered one of the greatest scenes
in all of world literature.
1099
CE: Medieval Europe - The crusaders of the First
Crusade capture Jerusalem, killing its Muslim inhabitants.
The Crusaders divide their new territories into four principalities.
1100
CE: Medieval Europe - Henry I, the son of Willaim
the Conqueror, institutes a system of representatives dedicated
to travelling the country and administering justice. He dies
in 1135 CE. Around the same time, a new asceticism is sought
for monks who wish to engage in contemplation and self-examination.
Two new orders are created: the Carthusian and the Cistercian.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux, leader of the Cistercians, establishes
343 monasteries by the time of his death. Accompanying the
fervent worship of Christ Jesus during this period is the
pronouncement of the Virgin Mary as a saint. This is the first
time a woman is given central significance in the Christian
religion.
1108
CE: Medieval Europe - Louis VI, the first important
Capetian king of France, banishes the "robber barons"
from the Ile-de-France, which allows agriculture, trade and
intellectual activity to flourish.
1122
CE: Medieval Europe - A compromise is drawn between
pope and emperor over the issue of investiture. At the Concordat
of Worms (a German city), religious symbols, originally invested
for prelates, are replaced with symbols of temporal rule.
Prelates accept the emperor as their temporal overlord and
are invested with the symbol that recognizes their right to
rule. Following the issue of investiture, the successors of
Gregory VII develop the canon law of the Church which provides
the papacy with jurisdiction over the clergy, the rights of
inheritance and the rights of widows and orphans. Because
the papacy begins acting as a court of appeals, it is necessary
that popes are trained as legal experts, rather than as monks.
1125
CE: Medieval Europe - German princes abolish the
hereditary claim to the throne and establish the right to
elect new rulers.
1144
CE: Medieval Europe - The Romanesque abbey church
of St. Denis, a burial shrine for French saints and kings,
is torn down and replaced with Gothic architecture. Gothic
architecture is highlighted by pointed arches, rather than
Roman arches, ribbed vaulting, flying buttresses and intricately
wrought stained-glass depictions of stories from the Bible
and everyday life.
1152
CE: Medieval Europe - Frederick I of Germany entitles
his realm the "Holy Roman Empire," in an attempt
to bring prestige back to the German throne.
1155
CE: Medieval Europe - A student of Peter Abelard,
Peter Lombard, writes the Book of Sentences which answers
fundamental questions of theology with passages from the Bible
and various Christian thinkers. His book becomes a standard
text in all universities by the thirteenth century.
1164
CE: Medieval Europe - Henry II constructs the Constitutions
of Clarendon in an attempt to regain power for the civil courts,
which have been loosing authority to ecclesiastical ones.
The archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, strongly resists
the decision of Henry and a quarrel breaks out. Becket is
murdered in Canterbury Cathedral. He is quickly made a martyr
by the English public and is revered as the greatest saint
of English history. The political result is the abandonment
of Henry's court program. Aside from this event, Henry II
is considered one of England's greatest kings due to his judicial
reforms and legal innovations. His reforms establish a stable
government which requires little, if any, attention of the
king.
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