1226
CE: Medieval Europe - Louis IX (St. Louis), son of
Louis VIII, is one of the most loved monarchs of French history.
He is canonized by the Church for his piety and reigns over
a period of internal peace in France.
1228
CE: Medieval Europe - Frederick II, leader of the
Sixth Crusade, begins a diplomatic negotiation with Islam
for control of Jerusalem. It is a success. However, because
Frederick was excommunicated by the pope, he crowns himself
king of Jerusalem.
1237
CE: Medieval Europe - The Mongols, under the leadership
of Batu, cross the Urals from Asia into Russia. Prior to the
thirteenth century, Russia is ruled by westerners who found
the Kievan state. During the thirteenth century Russia retreats
from the West, partly due to the distance between Moscow and
the rest of Europe.
 1240
CE: Medieval Europe - Mongols enter the state of
Kiev and create a new state on the Volga River, from where
they rule Russia for two centuries. Over these two centuries,
the Grand Duchy of Moscow emerges and eventually defeats the
Mongol Khans.
1242
CE: Medieval Europe - St. Bonaventura enters the
Franciscan order. He becomes the seventh general of that order
within fifteen years. He is a professor of theology at the
University of Paris, Bishop of Albano, made cardinal by Gregory
X and is canonized by Sixtus IV. St. Bonaventura's major works
are the Reductio Artium in Theologiam, the Biblia Pauperum
and the Breviloquium. His thought is heavily influenced by
an ancient Greek philosopher, Plotinus.
1244
CE: Medieval Europe - Jerusalem is lost by the West
and is not recaptured again until 1917 CE.
1250
CE: Medieval Europe - The successors of Innocent
III are involved in a political struggle with Frederick II,
who attempts to take control in central Italy. They order
a crusade against him, the first time a crusade is called
for political reasons. The outcome is the death of Frederick.
1252
CE: Medieval Europe - The papacy approves the use
of torture for religious disobedience, following Innocent
III's brutal "inquisitions" against heresy (namely
the Waldensian and Albigensian heretics).
1260
CE: Medieval Europe - Several texts are translated
from their original languages into Latin, including the texts
of Aristotle.
1261
CE: Medieval Europe - The Byzantine Empire returns
to Constantinople.
 1265
CE: Medieval Europe - Dante Alighieri is born. Later,
he will write the Divine Comedy -- perhaps the greatest literary
expression of the Middle Ages -- in Italian verse. Born in
Florence, Dante is extensively educated in literature, philosophy
and Scholastic theology. His "Comedy" is saturated
with the belief of earthly immortality through worthy deeds
and the preparation of life everlasting.
1267
CE: Medieval Europe - Florentine Giotto, the most
important painter of the later Middle Ages, begins the modern
tradition in painting. He is a naturalist whose paintings
include depictions of Christ's entrance into Jerusalem and
the death of St. Francis.
1268
CE: Medieval Europe - The military champion of the
papacy's crusade against the heirs of Frederick II is Charles
of Anjou, who is from the French royal house. Charles defeats
the last of Frederick's heirs and wins Sicily.
1272
CE: Medieval Europe - Edward I of England, Henry
III's son, establishes Parliament, originally a feudal court
for the king and not yet a system of representative government.
1280
CE: Medieval Europe - Eyeglasses are invented and
later improved in the late medieval period.
1282
CE: Medieval Europe - Charles of Anjou's efforts
to tax Sicily provokes the "Sicilian Vespers" revolt.
The rebels install the king of Aragon as their own king, thereby
reinstating rule to the house of Frederick II.
1285
CE: Medieval Europe - France becomes the strongest
power in Europe due to the administration of St. Louis' grandson,
Philip IV. He attempts to gain full control over the French
Church from Rome and begins the process of governmental centralization.
1294
CE: Medieval Europe - Boniface VIII disputes with
the kings of England and France over the taxation of the clergy
for support of war. Later, Boniface will run into political
problems with Philip IV of France.
1300
CE: Medieval Europe - The Late Middle Ages begins
here and ends around 1500 CE. The beginning of the Late Middle
Ages witnesses the invention of the magnetic compass, greatly
aiding overseas expansion and enhancing trade between places
such as Italy and the North. Boniface VIII calls the first
papal "jubilee," thereby recognizing pilgrimages
to Rome instead of Jerusalem, which is no longer accessible
to the West.
1303
CE: Medieval Europe - Boniface VIII is captured in
Anagni by local citizens and is abused beyond his capabilities
to sustain the mistreatment. He dies in his seventies a month
after his release. After his death, the Church witnesses many
institutional crises.
1305
CE: Medieval Europe - The papacy is moved from Rome
to Avignon, beginning the Church's "Babylonian Captivity."
For most of the fourteenth century, the papacy is subordinate
to French authority with the majority of cardinals and popes
being French.
1315
CE: Medieval Europe - Bad weather and crop failure
result in famine across northwestern Europe. Unsanitary conditions
and malnutrition increase the death rate. Even after the revival
of agricultural conditions, weather disasters reappear. A
mixture of war, famine and plague in the Late Middle Ages
reduces the population by one-half.
1327
CE: Medieval Europe - Born in 1260, German Dominican
Master Eckhart defines the individual soul as a "spark"
of the divine at its most basic element. By renouncing all
knowledge of the self, one is able to retreat into that "spark"
and reach God. Most of his teachings are condemned by the
papacy. Two bands of mysticism arise from Eckhart's theories:
heterodox, the belief in the unification of God and man on
earth without the aid of priests as intermediaries, and orthodox,
the belief in the possibility of joining the soul with God
and the awareness of divine presence in everyday life.
1328
CE: Medieval Europe - The last heir of the Capetian
dynasty dies and is replaced by the first ruler of the Valois
dynasty. Because the English kings are also descended from
the Capetian line, England attempts to claim the French crown.
1330
CE: Medieval Europe - Oxford theologian John Wyclif
is born. He later becomes the leader of a heretical movement:
finding the Church extravagant, he condemns most Church officials
and begins a reform movement. He receives aristocratic support
by advocating the replacement of officials with men willing
to lead apostolic lives modeled on the New Testament. He dies
in 1384, before the death penalty for heresy emerges in England.
The use of heavy cannons in warfare begins.
1337
CE: Medieval Europe - The French retaliate against
the English and initiate the Hundred Years' War, a series
of battles lasting until 1453 CE. The three greatest battles
of the war are fought at Crecy (1346), Poitiers (1356) and
Agincourt (1415). Due to the military superiority of the English,
the French are defeated in most of the battles.
1340
CE: Medieval Europe - Geoffrey Chaucer is born. He
later begins the literary tradition with his Canterbury Tales.
1342
CE: Medieval Europe - The reign of Avignonese Pope
Clement VI exemplifies the French takeover of the Church.
Clement offers spiritual benefits for money, appoints Church
leaders for economic gains and commits sexual acts on "doctors'
orders." The French Church based in Avignon rises in
power, centralizes the Church government and establishes a
system of papal finance.
1347
CE: Medieval Europe - The Black Death appears during
a time of economic depression in Western Europe and reoccurs
frequently until the fifteenth century. The Black Death is
a combination of bubonic and pneumonic plagues and has a major
impact on social and economic conditions. Religious flagellation
appears among lay groups in order to appease the divine wrath.
English Franciscan William of Ockham dies. He teaches that
God is free to do good and bad on earth as He wishes and developes
the philosophical position known as "nominalism."
His quest for certainty in human knowledge is one of the foundations
of the scientific method.
1348
CE: Medieval Europe - Italian Giovanni Boccaccio
(1313-1375 CE) begins writing the Decameron, a collection
of stories about love, sex, adventure and trickery told by
seven ladies and three men on a journey into the country to
escape the Black Death. Boccaccio's work is the first literature
written in narrative prose. His prose is realistic of the
men and women in the stories, rather than blatantly moral
or immoral as in the earlier romances.
1356
CE: Medieval Europe - A war begins between the English
and the French directly following an occurrence of the Black
Death in France. French peasants suffer the most economically,
as is usual in medieval times during war, and physically --
their homes are pillaged and burned. The English defeat the
French king, John II, at the Battle of Poitiers, and the peasants
again are asked to bear the weight of the upper class.
1358
CE: Medieval Europe - Economic hardship in France
results in an uprising of the lower-class, called the "Jacquerie"
(taken from the French peasant "Jacques Bonhomme").
The peasants burn castles, murder and rape their lords and
lords' wives and take advantage of the political confusion
in France by attempting to reform the governmental system.
The revolt occurs during the king's captivity in England.
Also, during this time, an aristocratic group plans the takeover
of power. A brief revolt is put to an end when this group
restores order by the massacre of the rebels.
1360
CE: Medieval Europe - With the introduction of oil
painting into western Europe, the earliest naturalistic painting
is created. Its subject is the French king, John the Good.
After this, naturalistic portraitures become prominent in
European art.
1367
CE: Medieval Europe - Urban V is successful in returning
the pope to Rome. However, Pope Gregory XI dies in 1368. Because
the papacy is now in Rome, an Italian pope, Urban VI, is elected
and begins quarreling with the French cardinals. The French
cardinals cancel the previous election and elect a French
pope, Clement VII.
1378
CE: Medieval Europe - The second phase of the Church's
institutional crisis is the Great Schism. The French papacy
leaves Rome due to the uprising of Urban VI and his group
of newly founded cardinals. The split of the two groups causes
confusion in Europe. French territories recognize Clement
VII as pope, and the rest of Europe recognizes Urban VI as
pope. The schism survives the death of both popes. The Florentine
Ciompi, wool-combers, witnessing a depressed industry, rise
against the governmental system and gain power for six weeks,
in which time they institute tax relief, provide a proletarian
representation in government and expand employment. All reforms
are revoked with the new oligarchic power.
1381
CE: Medieval Europe - The presence of the Black Death
in England works to the advantage of English peasants, causing
a shortage of labor, a freeing of serfs, a rise in salary
and a decrease in rent. The aristocratic class, however, passes
legislation that lowers wages to the amount before the plague
and that requires lower wages for laborers without land. The
peasants rise against this oppression in what is called the
English Peasants' Revolt when a national tax is levied for
every individual in England. The peasants march into London,
murder the lord chancellor and treasurer and are met by Richard
II. Richard promises the abolition of serfdom and a lower
of rent. After the peasants leave, Richard has the peasant
groups followed and murdered.
1385
CE: Medieval Europe - The first German university
is opened in Heidelberg.
1386
CE: Medieval Europe - The queen of Poland, Jadwiga,
marries grand duke of Lithuania, Jagiello. The marriage creates
a state double the size of Poland's previous size.
1399
CE: Medieval Europe - In England, the death penalty
becomes the punishment for heresy, and many Lollards, Wyclif's
lay followers, convert.
1400
CE: Medieval Europe - Czech students of John Wyclif
bring Wyclifism to the Bohemian capital of Prague. Preacher
John Hus (1373-1415 CE) adopts Wyclif's theories to support
his own claims against ecclesiastical extravagance. The Northern
provinces of Italy devise their own systems of government.
The government of Venice becomes a merchant oligarchy; Milan
is ruled by dynastic despotism; and Florence becomes a republic,
ruled by the rich. The three cities expand and conquer most
of Northern Italy.
1409
CE: Medieval Europe - A council of prelates from
both sides of the Great Schism meet at Pisa and decide to
rename a new pope in place of the two. However, both popes
enjoy great political power and refuse the deposition, causing
three rivals to the papacy instead of two.
1410
CE: Medieval Europe - Polish-Lithuanian forces defeat
the German Teutonic Knights and extend rule eastward, almost
into Russia. Eastern Orthodox Moscow begins a campaign of
resistance to Roman Catholic Poland-Lithuania.
1414
CE: Medieval Europe - A Lollard uprising in England
fails. Some Lollards retreat underground and aid the Protestant
Reformation in the sixteenth century.
1415
CE: Medieval Europe - John Hus travels to the Council
of Constance to propose his reforms for the Church. Upon his
arrival at the Council, Hus is tried for heresy and burned.
His death encourages futher revolt by his followers.
1417
CE: Medieval Europe - The Council of Constance, the
largest Church meeting in medieval history, ends the Great
Schism. The council gains secular support and elects Martin
V as pope. It replaces papal monarchy with a conciliar government,
which recognizes a council of prelates as the pope's authority,
and mandates the frequent meeting of the council. This new
period is known as the Italian territorial papacy, which lasts
until 1517 CE.
1419
CE: Medieval Europe - The province of Burgundy breaks
from France and allies with the English during the Hundred
Years' War.
1420
CE: Medieval Europe - Hus' supporters defeat German
"crusaders." The lower-class Hussites are led by
general John Zizka.
1427
CE: Medieval Europe - Thomas a Kempis writes The
Imitation of Christ, a manual directing the individual through
Orthodox mysticism. Originally in Latin, it is translated
into European languages for the lay audience. Its major themes
concern the path of Christian piety for those active in everyday
life, communion with Christ, biblical meditation and a moral
life. The only sacrament suggested to its reader is the Eucharist.
1429
CE: Medieval Europe - Joan of Arc, a peasant girl
in France, seeks out the French leader and relates her divinely-inspired
mission to drive the English out of France. She takes control
of the French troops and liberates most of central France.
1430
CE: Medieval Europe - Joan of Arc is captured and
taken to England. The English accuse her of being a witch
and condemn her for heresy. Joan is publicly burned in the
city of Rouen.
 1434
CE: Medieval Europe - Aristocratic Hussites end the
revolt of Hus' supporters and their attempts of social and
religious reform. Bohemia does not return to Catholic Orthodoxy
until the Catholic Reformation of the seventeenth century.
1434
CE: Medieval Europe - The Medici banking family dominates
the government of Florence.
1453
CE: Medieval Europe - Ottoman Turks take Constantinople
and end Byzantine civilization. The French king Charles VII
captures Bordeaux in the southwest and ends the Hundred Years'
War, during the reign of English King Henry VI and after the
withdrawal of Burgandy from English alliance. The French monarchy
reestablishes rule and returns to collecting national taxes
and maintaining a standing army in times of peace. The monarchy
becomes even stronger during the reigns of Louis XI (1461-1483)
and Louis XII (1498-1515).
1454
CE: Medieval Europe - Italy is divided into five
major regions: Venice, Milan, Florence, the Papal States and
the southern kingdom of Naples.
1455
CE: Medieval Europe - Henry VI of England (1422-1461)
wages the Wars of the Roses. The two sides of the war are
the red rose (Henry's family at Lancaster) and the white rose
(the house of York). Yorkist Richard III gains the kingship
for a short time.
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