165: Epidemic under Emperor Antoninus Pius
284-305: Reign of Emperor Diocletian (introduction of Tetrarchy)
306-337: Rule of Emperor Constantine the Great
312: Battle of the Milvian Bridge (vision of Constantine)
313: Edict of Milan (legalization of Christianity)
325: Council of Nicaea (combat Arianism)
364-378: Reign of Emperor Valens
378: Battle of Adrianople
394: Christianity becomes state religion
410: Siege of Rome by the Visigoths
410: Departure of the Romans from the British Isles
418: Settlement of the Visigoths in southern Gaul
430: Death of Augustine of Hippo
440-461: Paus Leo I
476: Deposition of Romulus Augustulus (end of the Western Roman Empire)
481-751: Merovingian dynasty
527-565: Reign of Emperor Justinian I (Codex Justinianus)
530-560: Benedictine Rule written
570: Birth of Muhammad
589: Visigothic king Reccared converts to Catholicism
590-604: Pope Gregory the Great
608-615: Pope Boniface
610: Muhammad receives his first revelation
610-641: Reign of Emperor Heraclius
622: Mohammed flees to Medina (beginning of the Islamic era)
624: Battle of Badr (first Muslim military victory)
632: Death of Mohammed
639-657: Reign of Clovis II
661-750: Caliphate of the Umayyads (first caliphic dynasty of the Sunni Muslims)
664: Synod of Whitby
670: Establishment of Chelles women's monastery
675-754: Life period of Boniface
678: Willibrord travels to Ireland
680-681: Defeats of Byzantium by the Bulgarians
685-705: Reign of Caliph Abd-al-Malik
690: Willibrord travels to the territory of the Frisians
711-715: Capture of Spain by Islamic armies
726: Start of Byzantine iconoclasm by Emperor Leo III
730: Ban on images of saints
742-814: Life period of Charlemagne
,750: Split of the Islamic Empire (Abbasids and Umayyads)
751-768: Life period of Pepin III
754: Synod of Constantinopel (complete ban on icons)
768-814: Reign of Charlemagne
768: Charlemagne is crowned king
800: Charlemagne is crowned emperor
800: Flowering period in the Islamic world
817: Order of the Empire of Louis the Pious
824: Dhuoda marries Bernard of Septimania
829: Bernard becomes advisor and guardian to Charles the Bald
830: Highlight of the battle between Louis and his sons
833: Louis the Pious does public penance in Soissons
840: Death of Louis the Pious
841: Dhuoda starts writing Liber Manualis
843: Treaty of Verdun (partition of the Carolingian Empire)
864: Conversion of the Bulgarian Khan to Christianity
865: The Great Heathen Army in Thanet
867-886: Reign of Basil I (beginning of Macedonian dynasty)
870: Viking attack at Thetford, kill King Edmund
878: Battle of Edington, Alfred the Great defeats Guthrum
Late 9th century: borrowing becomes hereditary
910: Cluny Abbey Foundation
910: Proclamation of Shiite Caliphate by the Fatimids (domination of Egypt and North
Africa)
911: Henry I becomes king after the end of the Carolingian line
919-936: Reign of Henry I
936-973: Reign of Otto I
955: Battle of Lechfeld (Otto I defeats the Hungarians)
960: Birth of Theophanu
961-983: Reign of Otto II (emperor from 976)
962: Otto I crowned emperor (beginning of the Holy Roman Empire)
972: Marriage Theophanu and Otto II
976-1025: Reign of Basil II
989: Peace of God movement
1000: Western Europe is almost entirely Christian
1000: Major social changes in Western Europe (start of population growth)
1000: Conversion of Scandinavian rulers to Christianity
1010-1020: Decree of Buchard of Worms
1025: End of Macedonian dynasty
1027-1111: Life period of Robert of Molesme
,1049-1054: Pope Leo IX and reintroduction of papal supremacy
1049-1109: Abbey of Hugh of Cluny
1066: Birth William the Conqueror
1066: Capture of England by Normans
1070: Fall of the Fatimids
1070: Marrakesh Foundation
1071: Battle of Manzikert (defeat SEquestrian Turks against Byzantines in Anatolia)
1073-1085: Pope Gregory VII
1075-1122: Ivestiture struggle between Henry IV and Gregorius VII
1076: Excommunication of Henry IV
1077: Henry IV does penance in Canossa
1081-1118: Reign of Alexius I (Byzantine government reform)
1084: Stichting Carthusian Order
1085: Conquest of Toledo by Alfonso VI
1093: Capture of Sicily by Normans
1095: Council of Clermont
1095: Call to the First Crusade by Urban II
1095: Establishment of Portugal
1096-1099: First Crusade
1097: Fulcher of Chartres becomes chaplain
1097: Establishment of a Milanese commune
1098: Cistercian Order Foundation
1100: Gesta Francorum (anonymous chronicle of the First Crusade)
1100-1120: Anselm as an influential scholar
1107-1130: Balderic van Dol as bishop
1122: Concordat of Worms (solution of investment conflict)
1145: Almohads displace Almoravids in al-Andalus and the Maghreb; Ghana chooses
the Abbas caliph.
1147-1149: Second Crusade
1155-1157: Petrus Lombardus schrijft Sententiae
1158: Legislation of Roncaglia (Frederick Barbarossa claims northern Italy, but is
defeated by the Lombard League in 1176)
1162-1227: Life of Genghis Khan
1166: Assizes of Clarendon (Henry II creates a common criminal justice system in
England)
1170-1221: Longevity Dominicus Guzman
1171-1193: Reign of Saladin
1180-1223: Reign of Philip II of France
1181/1182-1226: Lifespan of Francis of Assisi
1187: Battle of Hattin
,1188: Townspeople join the clergy and nobility in the Spanish cortes
1189-1192: Third Crusade
1198-1216: Pope Innocent III
1202-1204: Fourth Crusade
1204: Crusaders conquer Constantinople (Latin Empire foundation)
1206: Temüjin becomes Chinggis Khan and begins Mongol conquests
1208-1265: Life period of Simon de Montfort
1209-1229: Albigensian Crusades
1214: Battle of Bouvines (King John loses Normandy to Philip the Fair)
1213-1221: Fifth Crusade
1215: Fourth Lateran Council, Magna Carta
c. 1225-1274: Thomas Aquinas writes the The sum of theology
1228-1229: Sixth Crusade
1248-1254: Seventh Crusade
1250: Frederick II dies, ambitions to unite Sicily and Germany fail
1260: Jacob de Voragine (Golden legend)
1260: Mamluks defeat Mongols
1260-1264: Hanze Regulation
1261: Byzantines recapture Constantinople and restore their empire
1265-1321: Dante Alighieri writes vernacular poetry
1270: Eighth Crusade
1275: Genemuiden receives city rights
1289: The division of the world (Travelogue of Marco Polo)
1290: Alberto Scotti becomes signore of Piacenza; Jews are expelled from England
1295: Ghazan Khan converts to Islam
1303: Guldensporenlag
1304-1306: Giotto erects the Scrovegni Chapel
1309-1377: Babylonian exile of the Popes in Avignon
1314-1316: Veepest
1315-1321: Great famine
1324: Mansa Musa makes the Hajj to Mecca
1333-1370: Casimir III the Great rules Poland
1337-1453: Hundred Years' War between EEngland and France
c. 1340: The Mongol Empire falls apart; Ming Dynasty begins in China; Timur Lenk
dominates Iran and Iraq; Ottomans expand in Anatolia
1347-1352: Black Death in Europe
1355: Ciompi uprising in Siena (workers' uprising in northern Italy)
1358: Jacquerie (French peasant uprising against the aristocracy)
1378-1417: Great Western Schism, with three rival popes; resolved by the Council of
Constance
,1381: Wat Tyler's Rebellion (English peasant uprising against taxes and serfdom)
1429: Joan of Arc protects France
c. 1450: Invention of the printing press (paper and ink increase literacy)
1450s: Portuguese embark on voyages of discovery, explore Africa and find new routes
to India
1453: Ottomans conquer Constantinople (end of the Byzantine Empire)
1455-1487: Wars of the Roses (Yorkists versus Lancastrians); Henry VII becomes the
first Tudor king
1492: Ferdinand and Isabella expel the Jews from Spain, conquer Granada and send
Columbus on a voyage of discovery
1737-1794: Life period of Edward Gibbon
1935-present: Life period of Peter Brown
1983: Claude Cahen publishes criticism
,Chapter 1: Prelude: the Roman Empire Transformed (c. 300-c. 600)
Clergy and laity
Clergy refers to the men who are ordained for religious services (e.g. priests and
bishops). Priests were accompanied by their bishop, who was himself assisted by
priests, deacons and minor ministers. Some bishops—those of Alexandria, Antioch,
Carthage, Jerusalem, and Rome (later called the "Pope")—were more important than
others. Laity (from the Greek laikos, meaning "of the people") refers to the totality of
non-ordained people. Monks held a special position. Initially, only a few of them were
ordained priests, so technically they were not clergy. But because they devoted their
entire lives to religion, they were not entirely laypeople.
Ethnogenese
Ethnogenesis refers to the process by which barbarian peoples acquired and changed
their identities as they joined or broke away from other groups. Ethnogenesis is thus at
odds with a "biological" view of peoples; it sees "ethnicity" as a practice, as the active
adoption of ethnic styles, myths and customs that can change over time.
Eucharist
The Eucharist in the Catholic Church refers to the consecrated bread and wine, which
become the body and blood of Christ during Mass.
Plague of Justinian
The first recorded pandemic caused by the plague bacterium Yersinia pestis. The
plague first broke out in 541 and continued to attack for the next 200 years.
Relics
An object related to a saint, usually a body part. A relic can also be an object that a
saint used, owned or simply touched. The power of God, passed on to His saints, was
believed to live on in relics. Saints were thus present in their relics. Relics played a
crucial role in the cult of saints.
Romeinse federaten
The Roman federates were population groups that were connected to Rome by an
alliance treaty. By the end of the fourth century, barbarian tribes fought as "federations"
for Roman emperors (and imperial pretenders) under their own leaders.
Roman provinces
Regions that the Romans conquered, with the exception of Italy itself, were converted
into Roman provinces. Provinces were administrative units, each ruled by a governor.
,Some modern countries (such as Arabia, Belgium, Great Britain, Cyprus, Spain, Syria)
and even two continents (Africa, Asia) take their names from Roman provinces.
Saints
God's special holy people. In the early church, saints had mainly been martyrs, who
died for their faith. After the persecutions ended, saints were individuals who imitated
martyrdom and became role models because of their strict asceticism (fasting, prayer,
sleep deprivation, sexual abstinence). They were seen as miracle workers and
intercessors between God and ordinary Christians. The power of the saints lived on in
their relics. Both women and men were venerated as saints.
Theodosian Code and Justinian Code
The Theodosian Code was a collection of imperial laws ("constitutions") and judicial
decisions. It was published in 438 under the reign of Theodosius II. The Justinian Code
or Codex Justinianus (published in 529, revised in 534), was an expansion of The
Theodosian Code. Barbaric legal codes were modeled on the Theodosian Code.
Chapter 2: The Emergence of Sibling Cultures (c. 600-c. 750)
Amizigh
Indigenous and therefore preferred terms for the names "Berbers/Berbers".
Byzantine strategies
The armies of the Empire, previously stationed as border guards, were reorganized and
set up as large regional defensive units within the Empire. They were called themes and
were led by strategoi (generals).
Caliph
Probably originally derived from "khalifat Allah", meaning "vicar of God", the title caliph
later became "vicar of the apostle of God, Muhammad". Caliphs were the religious and
political leaders of the Muslims. Initially they were chosen from Muhammad's inner
circle.
Emporium
An emporium is a commercial center mainly equipped with the buildings and other
institutions that promote trade.
Greek fire
A feared Byzantine weapon, Greek fire was probably a mixture of crude oil and resin.
Once heated and projected through a tube over the water, it burned and engulfed
enemy ships with its flames.
,Hijra
The word refers to the journey of Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina.
It became year 1 of the Islamic calendar and corresponds approximately to 622 AD.
(The Islamic calendar is based on a lunar cycle and therefore does not correspond
neatly with the generally accepted Gregorian calendar.
Icon / iconoclasm
An icon is an image of the divine, usually painted on wood. Iconoclasm (literally
meaning icon-breaking) refers to the anti-icon movement instituted by the emperors in
Byzantium. Emperor Leo III launched the first iconoclastic period (726-787).
Mayor of the Palace
The official with the highest position at the Merovingian court was appointed mayor of
the palace. He controlled access to the king and brokered deals with aristocratic
factions. Eventually the mayors of the palace became the de facto rulers of the Frankish
kingdoms.
Offering
From the Latin word oblatio, meaning "sacrifice", oblation - by which parents gave their
young children to monasteries - was a common practice in the medieval West. Oblation
was widely accepted and even considered essential for the spiritual well-being of both
children and their families.
Fine
Penitentials were manuals of sins and assigned penances, usually fasting on bread and
water for a specified period of time. They were used both in monasteries and by priests
for pastoral care.
Koran
The Quran is the holy book of Islam, understood as the word of God as dictated to
Muhammad by the angel Gabriel. It consists of 114 chapters (surahs). The texts are
historical and prophetic, legal and moral. It may have been composed around 650,
possibly even earlier.
Scratch crew
Unlike the heavy moldboard plow, the crab plow was light, suitable for making narrow
furrows in sandy soils. Because the heavy plow was difficult to turn, the fields it
produced were usually long and rectangular in shape. The crab plow was more agile: it
,was used to cut the ground in one direction and then at right angles to it, creating a
square field.
Chapter 3: Creating New Identities (c. 750-c. 900)
Adab literature
Adab literature refers to the refined and learned prose and poetry that was encouraged
in the courts of Muslim rulers in the ninth and tenth centuries.
WITHalving
Anointing is the ritual application of holy oil. Churchmen anointed kings in a rite
reminiscent of ceremonies recounted in the Old Testament. Anointing gave kings a
quasi-clerical status, indicating that they ruled by the grace of God. It also proclaimed
that these kings were the successors to those in the Old Testament.
Ban
The ban, or bannum, referred to the king's right to command and punish. It described
his authority when he enlisted his subjects for war, forbade crimes and imposed fines for
disobedience.
Capitularies
The Carolingians issued laws in the form of "capitularies", i.e. summaries of decisions
taken at meetings held with the most important men of the empire.
Caroline minuscule
Caroline minuscule was a new script promoted by the Carolingian rulers as part of their
reform efforts. The fact that it was simple and easy to read improved communication
within the Carolingian world. Modern lowercase letters are inspired by Caroline
minuscule.
Emir
The word means "commander". In 756, the Umayyad prince Abd al-Rahman I
proclaimed himself "emir" of al-Andalus. His dynasty ruled al-Andalus for two and a half
centuries.
Hadith
Hadith are oral traditions about the Prophet's teachings that were written down and
collected in the Abbasid period.
Sent on Sunday
Literally, these Latin words mean "those sent out by the lord king". In an effort to
discourage corruption, the Carolingian kings appointed these officials to oversee the
, counts (serving as regional governors) on the king's behalf. The missi traveled through
the empire in pairs, one a noble layman, the other a bishop or other high cleric, to
review the work of the counts.
Mozaraben
Mozarabischen means "supposed to be Arabs"; it is what the Christians who lived in
al-Andalus (Islamic Spain) were called by Christians elsewhere.
Old Church Slavic
Old Church Slavonic is the name of a language created by the Byzantine missionaries
Constantine-Cyril and Methodius. To spread Christianity among the Moravians, they
devised an alphabet (the "Glagolitic" alphabet) that used Greek letters to represent the
sounds of a Slavic dialect.
Polyptyken
The lords of large estates in the Carolingian period, whether they were dungeons,
monasteries, aristocrats, or royal officials, had their scribes draw up polyptyques to keep
track of their peasants and the labor or other obligations owed by each peasant family.
Tagmata
A Greek word, it refers to the Byzantine mobile forces established in the second half of
the eighth century. These troops were not tied to a theme and were largely composed of
cavalry. Initially the tagmata were deployed largely around Constantinople, but were
eventually used in border battles. They helped Byzantium to expand in the ninth and
tenth centuries.
Theme
These were small regional military units first established in the eighth century by
Byzantine emperors who were keen to organize the army into small local units. The
recruits for each theme were drawn from the place (also called a theme) in which they
were stationed, and nearby communities were charged for their support. They were still
led by strategists, whose power, however, was more limited.
Three stroke system
A system of grain and legume cultivation in which a third of the land was left fallow
(uncultivated) over the course of a year. It represented an improvement in yield over the
two-field system, in which half the land was set aside for regeneration.
