portfolio

middle ages

Period: 395 to 1400

10 important events that happened in the middle ages

The Fall of Rome

400

The Roman empire was one of the greatest and most accomplished empires ever known. Rome had it's ups and downs but it eventually fell in around 400 AD. Series of events like Barbarian invasions and multiple economic troubles eventually led to it's downfall. Also Rome was a very vast empire, it stretched from the Atlantic Ocean all the way to the middle east. Although Rome had a very advanced infrastructure for their time, they could not control everything that was happening and eventually fell.

The Reign of Charlemagne

768

Charlemagne was the king of the Franks, his empire was todays Germany, France, Italy. He was the king for 46 years and he really enjoyed warfare. Most of his reign he was fighting Muslims in Spain, Axons in the North, or Slavs in the East.One of Charlemagne's big focuses was education. He built schools around his empire that taught reading and writing in Latin. In the year 800 Charlemagne became the Emperor of the Romans. He made sure he expanded Christianity to pagans like the Slavs and Saxons.

Age of The Vikings

800

Vikings originally came from today's countries of norway, sweden, and denmark. Vikings were not civilized and were not religious. Their main goal was to find riches since around this time a lot of Europe were getting rich. Vikings would travel by sea a lot and raid towns located on the coasts on the British Isles. Eventually Vikings began to settle in places like Iceland and Greenland. Also, a Viking legend named Leif Eriksson was thought to be the first person to discover North America.

Start of Feudalism

900

Feudalism was different from place to place but it was political and economic system that helped to govern life during the Middle Ages. In feudalism the Monarch was at the top and after him were the most powerful lords. Each of these lords had their own vassals, and some vassals had their own vassals. The vassals held fiefs for the lords. Or a vassal could be also a lord. Vassals held loyalty to their lords.

William of Normandy conquers England

1066

After the death of Anglo-Saxon king Edward somebody had to take the throne. William became the King of England after the Battle of the Hastings. He raised an army in France and sailed across the English Channel with the support of the pope. Anglo-Saxons and Norman French customs and traditions were blended together, that was an effect of French person ruling England. William strengthened 2 important parts of the government which were finance and law.

The Crusades

1096

The Crusades were a series of bloody combats between Christians and Muslims in the holy land. Christians took control of Jerusalem in 1099 and murdered all the Muslims and Jews that lived in the city. The Holy Land was divided into different Muslim and Christian states. Muslims wanted to capture all the states and that caused the Europeans to send out more crusades to protect their lands. Europe failed to capture the holy land and that led to religious rivalry in Europe and the Middle East.

Golden Horde conquers Russia

1236

In 1236 Batu, the grandson of Genghis Khan led the Golden Horde to conquer Russia. They burned and looted Russian towns like Kiev. Mongols were Muslim but they let Russian people to worship their Orthodox Church which was getting more powerful. The Golden Horde controlled Russia for 150 years and they cut off contact with Western Europe who were making major advancements in arts and science. That caused Russia to be behind after Mongol power declined in Russia.

Hundred Years war

1337

Series of battles between England and France throughout 1337-1453 were known as the Hundred Years War. England wanted to control certain land on the coast of France which was a cause of the battles. Also, a growing national pride throughout Europe led to the conflicts. New weapons were introduced to the world and changed the way battles were fought. England introduced the longbow which could shoot 3 arrows at a time and was very powerful. France had cannons which could take down entire castles.

The Black Death

1347

The Black Death originated from Italy and then spread to France and Spain and all throughout Europe. A bubonic plague developed on rats that lived in ships and houses. One of every three people had died from it which is a higher death rate than any war ever. The Black Death had a major effect on Europe and was one of the causes of the end of the Medieval Ages. The Black Death never came back till the 1600s in England, and never since then.

Joan of Arc lead France

1429

During the Hundred Years War, France were down bad and were desperate after losing so many battles to England. A 17 year old peasant woman came to the King of France and convinced him to let her lead the French army against England. She managed to bring back the fighting spirit of the French troops and led them to several victories in the following years.Joan was captured by the English and was charged with witchcraft and burned. That didnt discourage the French armies and they continued to win.