HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL BRITAIN (1066-1487)

 AD

1066 - Harold II is crowned king the day after Edward the
Confessor dies. Tostig and Harold Hardraada of Norway invade
England: Harold defeats them at the Battle of Stamford Bridge,
killing both; Battle of Hastings: 19 days after battle of Stamford
Bridge, William of Normandy lands at Pevensey, defeats and kills
Harold; William I, the Conqueror, first Norman King of England
(to 1087)

1067 - Work is begun on building the Tower of London.

1068 - The Norman Conquest continues until 1069: William
subdues the north of England (the "Harrying of the North" ): the
region is laid waste

1070 - Hereward the Wake begins a Saxon revolt in the Fens of
eastern England; Lanfranc, an Italian lawyer, becomes William's
formidable Archbishop of Canterbury. Lanfranc rebuilds
Canterbury Cathedral and establishes the primacy of the see of
Canterbury over York, but does not enforce clerical celibacy.

1072 - William invades Scotland, and also receives the submission
of Hereward the Wake.

1080 - William, in a letter, reminds the bishop of Rome that the
King of England owes him no allegiance.

1086 - Domesday Book is completed in England

1087 - William II, Rufus, King of England (to 1100); his elder
brother, Robert, is Duke of Normandy

1093 - Donald Bane, King of Scots (to 1097), following the death
of his brother, Malcolm III, in battle against the English

1097 - Edgar, second son of Malcolm Canmore, King of
Scotland (to 1107); he defeats Donald Bane with the assistance of
William II of England

1099 - Crusaders capture Jerusalem; Godfrey of Bouillon is
elected King of Jerusalem

1100 - Henry I, youngest son of William the Conqueror, King of
England (to 1135), following assassination of William Rufus

1106 - Henry I defeats his brother Rober, Duke of Normandy, at
battle of Tinchebrai: Robert remains captive for life

1113 - Founding of the Order of St. John is formally
acknowledged by the papacy

1114 - Matilda (Maud), daughter of Henry I of England marries
Emperor Henry V

1118 - Hugues de Payens founds the order of Knights of
Templars

1120 - William, heir of Henry I of England, is drowned in wreck
of the "White Ship"

1129 - Empress Matilda, widow of Henry V, marries Geoffrey the
Handsome, Count of Anjou, nicknamed " Plantagenet "

1139 - Matilda lands in England

1141 - Matilda captures Stephen at the battle of Lincoln, and
reigns disastrously as queen; she is driven out by a popular rising
and Stephen restored

1148 - Matilda leaves England for the last time

1152 - Marriage of Louis VII of France and Eleanor of Aquitaine
is annulled on grounds of blood relationship; Eleanor marries
Henry of Anjou, allying Aquitaine to his lands of Anjou and
Normandy, two months after her divorce

1153 - Henry of Anjou, son of Matilda, invades England and
forces Stephen to make him heir to the English throne

1154 - Henry II, King of England (to 1189); he also rules more
than half of France; Pope Adrian IV (to 1159) (Nicholas
Breakspear, the only English pope)

1155 - Henry II appoints the Archdeacon of Canterbury, Thomas
a Becket, as Chancellor

1159 - Henry II levies scutage, payment in cash instead of military
service

1162 - Becket is appointed Archbishop of Canterbury and at
once quarrels with Henry II over the Church's rights

1164 - Constitutions of Clarendon; restatement of laws
governing trial of ecclesiastics in England; Becket is forced to flee
to France

1170 - Becket is reconciled with Henry II, returns to Canterbury;
is murdered by four knights after Henry's hasty words against him

1173 - Rebellion of Henry's eldest sons, Henry, Richard, and
Geoffrey, supported by their mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine;
Thomas a Becket canonized

1189 - Richard I, Coeur de Lion, eldest surviving son of Henry II,
King of England (to 1199)

1191 - The bodies of King Arthur and Guinevere were reported
to have been exhumed from a grave at Glastonbury Abbey;
Richard I conquers Cyprus and captures the city of Acre

1192 - Richard I captures Jaffa, makes peace with Saladin; on the
way home he is captured by his enemy, Duke Leopold of Austria

1193 - Leopold hands Richard over to Emperor Henry VI, who
demands ransom

1194 - Richard is ransomed and returned to England

1199 - John Lackland, youngest son of Henry II, King of England
(to 1216)

1203 - John of England orders the murder of his nephew Arthur,
Duke of Brittany

1207 - Pope Innocent III appoints Stephen Langton Archbishop
of Canterbury (Langton is the man who divided the books of the
Bible into chapters); John refuses to let him take office

1208 - Innocent III lays England under interdict

1209 - Cambridge University is founded in England; Innocent III
excommunicates John for attacks on Church property

1213 - Innocent III declares John deposed; John resigns his
kingship to the pope and receives it back as a holding from the
Roman legate, thereby ending the interdict.

1215 - Signing of Magna Carta; English barons force John to
agree to a statement of their rights

1216 - Henry III becomes king of England at age nine (to 1272)

1227 - Henry III begins personal rule in England

1256 - Prince Llewellyn sweeps English from Wales

1264 - Simon de Montfort and other English barons defeat
Henry III at battle of Lewes

1265 - De Montfort's Parliament: burgesses from major towns
summoned to Parliament for the first time; Henry III's son Edward
defeats and kills Simon de Montfort at battle of Evesham

1269 - Rebuilding of Westminster Abbey begun by Henry III.

1272 - Edward I, King of England (to 1307)

1283 - Edward I defeats and kills Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, and
executes Llewellyn's brother David; conquest of Wales complete

1290 - Edward I expells all Jews from England

1291 - Scots acknowledge Edward I of England as suzerain; he
arbitrates in succession dispute

1295 - Model Parliament of Edward I : knights and burgesses
from English shires and towns summoned. First representative
parliament

1296 - Edward I of England deposes John Balliol from Scottish
throne

1297 - Battle of Cambuskenneth: Scottish patriot William Wallace
defeats English army

1298 - Edward I defeats Wallace at battle of Falkirk and
reconquers Scotland

1301 - Edward I of England invests his baby son Edward as
Prince of Wales

1305 - The English capture and execute William Wallace

1306 - New Scottish rebellion against English rule led by Robert
Bruce. Robert I, the Bruce crowned King of Scotland (to 1329)
at Scone

1307 - Edward I dies on march north to crush Robert Bruce.
Edward II, King of England (to 1327)

1310 - English barons appoint 21 peers, the Lords Ordainers, to
manage Edward II's household

1312 - Order of Knights Templar abolished

1314 - Battle of Bannockburn: Robert Bruce defeats Edward II
and makes Scotland independent

1326 - Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer sail from France with
an army to rebel against Edward II of England

1327 - Parliament declares Edward II deposed, and his son
accedes to the throne as Edward III. Edward II is hideously
murdered, nine months later

1328 - Charles IV dies, ending the Capetian dynasty. Philip of
Valois succeeds him as Philip VI.

1329 - Edward III of England does simple homage for Aquitaine
(Guienne), but refuses to do liege homage.

1333 - Edward III invades Scotland on Balliol's behalf and
defeats the Scots at battle of Halidon Hill

1336 - Edward places an embargo on English exports of wool to
Flanders.

1337 - Philip declares Edward's fiefs forfeit and begins harassing
the frontiers of Aquitaine; Edward III, provoked by these attacks
on his territories in France, declares himself king of France; "The
Hundred Years' War " begins (ends 1453)

1338 - Treaty of Koblenz: alliance between England and the Holy
Roman Empire; Edward III formally claims the French crown.

1340 - Naval victory at Sluys gives England the command of the
English Channel; English Parliament passes four statues providing
that taxation shall be imposed only by Parliament

1346 - Edward III of England invades France with a large army
and defeats an even bigger army under Philip VI at the Battle of
Cr&eacutecy

1347 - The English capture Calais

1348 - Edward III establishes the Order of the Garter; Black
Death (bubonic plague) reaches England

1351 - The English remove the Pope's power to give English
benefices to foreigners

1353 - Statue of Praemunire: English Parliament forbids appeals to
Pope

1356 - Edward the Black Prince, son of Edward III, defeats the
French at the battle of Poitiers, capturing King John II

1358 - The Jacquerie

1360 - Peace of Bretigny ends the first stage of the Hundred
Years' War. Edward III gives up claim to French throne

1369 - Second stage of war between England and France begins

1370 - French troops commanded by Bertrand du Guesclin;
Edward, the Black Prince, sacks Limoges

1372 - French troops recapture Poitou and Brittany; Naval battle
of La Rochelle: French regain control of English Channel

1373 - John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, son of Edward III,
leads new English invasion of France

1374 - John of Gaunt returns to England and takes charge of the
government; Edward III in his dotage, the Black Prince is ill

1375 - Truce of Bruges ends hostilities between England and
France

1376 - The Good Parliament in England, called by Edward the
Black Prince, introduces many reforms of government; Death of
Edward the Black Prince, aged 45; The Civil Dominion of John
Wyclif, an Oxford don, calling for Church reforms

1377 - Richard II, son of the Black Prince, King of England (to
1399)

1381 - Peasants' Revolt in England; John Wyclif, an Oxford
theologian, publishes his "Confession", denying that the "substance"
of bread and wine are miraculously changed during the Eucharist.

1382 - John Wyclif is expelled from Oxford because of his
opposition to certain Church doctrines

1386 - John of Gaunt leads an expedition to Castile, which he
claims in his wife's name; fails 1388

1387 - Geoffrey Chaucer begins work on The Canterbury Tales

1389 - Richard II, aged 22, assumes power

1394 - Richard II leads expedition to subdue Ireland; returns to
England 1395

1396 - Richard II marries the seven-year old Princess Isabella of
France

1399 - Death of John of Gaunt; Gaunt's eldest son, Henry of
Bolingbroke, lands in Yorkshire with 40 followers, and soon has
60,000 supporters: Richard II is deposed; Bolingbroke becomes
Henry IV, King of England (to 1413)

1400 - Richard II murdered at Pontefract Castle; Owen
Glendower proclaims himself Prince of Wales and begins rebellion

1401 - Persecution of Lollards for revolting against clergy.

1402 - Henry IV enters Wales in pursuit of Glendower

1403 - Battle of Shrewsbury; rebellion by the Percy family: Henry
IV defeats and kills Harry "Hotspur" Percy

1406 - Henry, Prince of Wales, defeats Welsh

1413 - Henry V, King of England (to 1422)

1415 - Henry V invades France, and defeats the French at
Agincourt

1416 - Death of Owen Glendower

1420 - Treaty of Troyes

1422 - Deaths of Henry V of England and Charles VI of France;
Henry VI, King of England (to 1461)

1424 - John, Duke of Bedford, regent for Henry VI of England,
defeats the French at Cravant

1428 - Henry VI begins siege of Orleans

1429 - A French force, led by military commander Joan of Arc
(Jeanne d'Arc), relieves the siege of Orleans; Charles VII
crowned king of France at Rheims

1430 - Burgundians capture Jeanne d'Arc and hand her over to
the English

1431 - Jeanne d'Arc burned as a witch at Rouen; Henry VI of
England crowned king of France in Paris

1453 - Bordeaux falls to the French, Hundred Years' War ends;
England's only French possession is Calais; In England, Henry VI
becomes insane

1454 - Richard, Duke of York, is regent of England while Henry
VI is insane; Printing with movable type is perfected in Germany
by Johannes Gutenberg

1455 - Henry VI recovers. Richard of York is replaced by
Somerset and excluded from the Royal Council; War of the Roses
- civil wars in England between royal houses of York and
Lancaster (until 1485); Battle of St. Albans. Somerset defeated
and killed

1460 - Battle of Wakefield. Richard of York is defeated and
killed; Earl of Warwick (the Kingmaker) captures London for the
Yorkists; Battle of Northampton: Henry VI is captured by
Yorkists

1461 - Battles of Mortimer's Cross and Towton: Richard's son,
Edward of York, defeats Lancastrians and becomes king; Edward
IV, King of England (to 1483)

1465 - Henry VI imprisoned by Edward IV

1466 - Warwick's quarrels with Edward IV begin; forms alliance
with Louis XI

1470 - Warwick turns Lancastrian: he defeats Edward IV and
restores Henry VI

1471 - Battle of Barnet. Edward IV defeats and kills Warwick;
Henry VI dies, probably murdered in the Tower of London

1475 - Edward IV invades France; Peace of Piequigny between
England and France

1476 - William Caxton sets up printing press at Westminster

1483 - Death of Edward IV; Edward V, King of England; he is
deposed by his uncle, Richard Duke of Gloucester; Richard III,
King of England (to 1485); Edward V and his brother are
murdered in the Tower of London

1484 - Caxton prints Morte D'Arthur, the poetic collection of
legends about King Arthur compiled by Sir Thomas Malory

1485 - Battle of Bosworth Field: Henry Tudor, with men,
money and arms provided by Charles VIII of France, defeats and
kills Richard III in the decisive (but not final) battle of the Wars of
the Roses.

1487 - Stoke Field: In final engagement of the Wars of the Roses,
Henry VII, defeats Yorkist army "led" by Lambert Simnel (who
was impersonating Edward, the nephew of Edward IV, the only
plausible royal alternative to Henry, who was confined in the
Tower of London).

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