SUPERFICIAL EXCURSION THROUGH MEDIEVAL EUROPE
732 - Charles Martel defeats the Muslims at Battle of Tours.
793 - First attack of Vikings on Europe.
800 – Charlemagne crowned emperor by the pope on Christmas Day
862 - Traditional date for founding of Russia by Slavs inviting Scandinavian Rus to rule them.
945 - Princess Olga is the first Russian ruler to be Christian.
962 - Otto I becomes the first Holy Roman Emperor. The HRE is supposed to be the temporal head of Christianity, which puts him at odds with the Pope who wants that job for himself.
989 - Vladimir I of Kiev converts all the Russians to Orthodox Christianity.
1000 - End of Viking raids.
1054 - Pope and Patriarch (Archbishop of Constantinople) excommunicate each other. Christianity now split between Roman Catholicism and Greek Orthodoxy.
1066 - William of Normandy conquers the Angles and Saxons in England.
1077 - Henry IV of Germany "goes to Canossa" begs Pope Gregory VII's forgiveness to get his excommunication lifted. (Investiture Controversy)
1095 - Seljuk Turks take Jerusalem.
1096 - First Crusade. Byzantine Emperor Alexis Comnenus asks Pope Urban II for help to retake Jerusalem. Beginning of a bloody series of ill-timed, ill-planned wars.
1215 - Magna Carta. Nobles force King John of England to sign it.
1225-1273 - Life of St. Thomas Aquinas, the guy who invented the concept of "just war" and "just price." Heavy hitter in "scholastic" philosophy.
1240 - Mongols destroy Kiev, rule all Russia.
1270 - 8th and final Crusade.
1302 - High point of papal power. Boniface VIII publishes bull, Unam Sanctum.
1337 - Hundred Years War begins between England and France.
1348 - Black Death kills off between 1/4-1/3 of entire population of Europe. Death drives up the price of people.
1350 - A convenient date to begin the Renaissance, an artistic and literary movement located primarily in Italy and Germany.
1453 - A big year: 1) Ottoman Turks take Constantinople. Goodbye, Byzantine Empire.
2) Hundred Years War over; France wins.
1455 - War of the Roses begins in England.
1461 - Reign of King Louis XI of France.
1462 - Beginning of reign of Ivan III
1469 - Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile get married. Spain’s on the road to unification.
1480 - Ivan III liberates the Russians from the Mongols and becomes the first Tsar.
1485 - War of the Roses over. Reign of Henry VII begins.
1492 - Another big year: 1) Spain completes "Reconquista" expels Moors from their last stronghold at Granada. 2) Spain kicks out all the Jews. 3) Columbus sails the ocean blue.
1517 - Martin Luther issues his 95 Theses, beginning the Reformation. A convenient date to end the Renaissance as well, but it depends on where you are. . . .