| 313 | Constantine, Edict of Milan. Also called the Edict of Toleration. The Edict gives legal status to Christianity. |
|---|---|
| 315 | Build the Arch of Constantine within sight of Forum. |
| 325 |
Council of Nicaea: Nicaean Creed. Trinity orthodox, no to the Arian heresy. |
| 330 | Build first basilican church of St Peters. Same site as present church. Constantine builds new capital, Constantinople. |
| 337 | Death of Constantine.
(born 280) |
| 360 | Scrolls begin to be replaced with books. |
| 360 | Picts & Scots cross Hadrian's Wall attack Roman Britain.
Huns invade Europe. |
| 374 | Ambrose elected Bishop of Milan. Milan now the most active Christian center in Italy. |
| 383 | Roman legions begin to evacuate Britain. Signs of the Times. |
| 386 | Bishop Ambrose introduces hymn singing. (Milan). |
| 387 | Ambrose baptizes Augustine (see Aug's Confessions Bk V).
You can visit the spot in the Cathedral of Milan. |
| 395 | Emperor Theodosius divides empire into
Eastern and Western halves. Permanent eclipse of Rome, Milan capital of Western Empire. |
| 400 | Jerome translating whole Bible into Latin.
Working in Jerusalem. |
| 401 | Visigoths invade Italy. |
| 410 | Visigoths sack Rome. Worst sack ever. Most terrible calamity of all for Romans. |
| 411 | A shaken Augustine writes The City of
God. Tries to make sense of sack of Rome. |
| 414 | Daughter of Emperor, Galla Placidia, marries Visigoth king Athaulf.
Soon Athaulf is dead. Galla is stranded among the barbarians. |
| 430 | Death of Augustine. Buried in Pavia in the church of San Pietro in Ciel d'Oro. |
| 432 | Patrick begins his mission to Ireland.
Brings Roman Catholic church to Ireland. |
| 451 | Attila crosses the Rhine with 700,000 of his closest friends. Huns besiege Paris; St. Genevieve leads resistance. |
| 455 | Vandals sack Rome.
Rome losing control. |
| 476 | Death of last Roman Emperor in Rome. Now empire ruled from East. |
| 496 | Baptism of Clovis. King of the ("barbarian") Franks. (France) |
| 500 | Benedict in Rome studying Law. Disgusted by corruption of Rome. Later Benedict founds western monasticism. |
| 525 | Death of Boethius, translating all Plato
& Aris into Latin. Dies before he can finish. Boethius buried in Pavia, San Pietro in Ciel d' Oro. Christian scholar Dionysius Exiguus introduces idea of dating B.C./A.D. |
| 527 | Accession to imperial throne of Justinian. His rule ends with his death in 565. For a brief time he unifies the whole of the Eastern & Western Emp. |
| 529 | Benedict founds the Benedictine monastic
order. Founding house at Monte Cassino. |
| 534 | Toledo capital of Visigothic kingdom
of Spain. Lasts till the Moslem conquest in 711. |
| 537 | King Arthur killed in Battle of Camlan
. No documentary evidence for the date. |
| 550 | Saint Apollinare in Classe, Ravenna. Last Supper appears in painting. Appearance of Crucifix as church ornament. |
| 556 | Elect St. Germain bishop of Paris. Later he founds Benedictine monastery in Paris. |
| 570 | Gregory Prefect of Rome. Highest civil post responsible to Constantinople. Birth of Mohammed, founder of Islam (died 632). |
| 576 | Death of St. Germain. Buried in Parisian monastery named for him (des Prés). |
| 590 | Gregory becomes Pope. St. Gregory the Great. |
| 596 | Gregory sends Augustine to England. Christian Rome on the offensive. |
| 597 | Augustine begins the conversion of Eng to Roman Christianity.
Baptizes King Ethelbert of Kent. Founds Canterbury (Benedictine). |
| 600 | Isidore, Archbishop of Seville, writing his Etymologiae (Origins).
Summary of all known knowledge at his time. 1,000 Medieval manuscripts survive. |
| 609 | Consecrate the Pantheon as Christian
church. Santa Maria in Rotonda. |
| 603 | Lombards (Northern Italy) convert to Christianity. Pavia becomes their capital. |
| 615 | Death of St Columban. Irish missionary to Europe. |
| 637 | Arabs conquer Jerusalem. |
| 640 | Arabs in Egypt find Library of Alexandria with 300,000 scrolls.
End of Alexandria as center of Mediterranean learning, book production. |
| 641 | Arab conquest of Persian empire. |
| 642 | Eastern Roman Empire dangerously surrounded by Arab conquests. |
| 673 | First synod of the English Roman Catholic
church, Synod held at Hertford. |
| 674 | Arab conquests push east to the Indus river.
All of the middle east now under Arab control. |
| 664 | Synod of Whitby. Roman church triumphs in dispute with locals. |
| 696 | Elect the first Doge of Venice. Paoluccio Anafesto. |
| 700 | Lindesfarne Gospels, illuminated Bible. |
| 711 | Arab conquest of Spain. End of Visigothic Kingdom of Spain. |
| 720 | Arab conquest of Sardinia. |
| 735 | Death of Venerable Bede. English church historian, adopts B.C./A.D. |
| 718 | Boniface leaves England. Brings Roman Catholic Christianity to Low Countries and Germany Martyred in Holland in 754. |
| 732 | Charles Martel (Franks) defeats Arab advance. Wins the Battle of Poitiers. This marks the furthest northern advance of the Arabs in Europe. |
| 741 | Death of Charles Martel. Son Pepin the Short now leads the Franks. |
| 742 | Birth of Charlemagne son of Pepin. |
| 750 | Pepin officially named King of the Franks. Rules France and Germany. |
| 754 | HISTORIC ACCORD: Boniface arranges meeting, Pope-King
Pepin. Pepin promises military help, protect Papal States from Lombards. Pope Stephen III promises consecrate Frankish dynasty (France/Ger). Triumph of policy is coronation of Charlemagne in Rome 800. |
| 768 | Death of Pepin. Accession of son Charlemagne. |
| 774 | Charlemagne conquers Lombard kingdom, allies with Pope.
Begin historic alliance of Papacy and kingdom of France. |
| 778 | Basques defeat Charlemagne at Roncesvalles,
Song of Roland. |
| 781 | Carolingian Renaissance. Charlemagne meets Alcuin at Pavia. |
| 796 | Monastic school at Tours becomes important center with Alcuin its head. |
| 800 | CORONATION OF CHARLEMAGNE, ROME, DEC 25, BY POPE LEO III First "Holy Roman Emperor" (separation from East.) (Voltaire said was neither holy nor roman nor an empire.) |
| 811 | Development of Venice. Build fortress, Doges palace. |
| 814 | Death of Charlemagne at Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen). |
| 827 | Arab conquest of Sicily/Sardinia (never 100%). |
| 843 | Treaty of Verdun. Divide Charlemagne empire among 3 grandsons. |
| 846 | Arabs sack Rome and Vatican, darkest days of Italy.
Mediterranean now an Arab Lake. |
| 851 | Canterbury Cathedral sacked by Danes.
England on the defensive. |
| 861 | Paris sacked by the Northmen. (Normans). |
| 871 | Alfred the Great, King of England, begin beat back Norsemen/Danes. |
| 900 | Alfonso the Great of Castile begins reconquest of Spain from Arabs.
Constantinople still the richest city in the world-commerce/culture. Papacy at its nadir, called Pornocracy, mistresses, mothers of popes. |
| 919 | Henry Duke of Saxony elected King of the Germans.
Begin success of House of Saxony. Son Otto becomes Holy Roman Emperor. Unite Germany monarchy with papacy. |
| 936 | Otto elected King of the Germans. |
| 951 | Otto comes to Italy marries Adelaide of Burgundy.
Adelaide widow of Lothar, King of Italy. Otto becomes legitimate "king" of Italy & Germany. Otto and Adelaide dominate the second half of 10th Century. (Adelaid dies 999). Son Otto II, 973-983, Grandson Otto III, 983-1002. |
| 962 | Pope John XXII crowns Otto/Adel. Holy Roman Emperor and Empress in Rome. |
| 987 | Hugh Capet, King of the Franks. This ends Carolinian line, establishes new French line. |
| 990 | Establishment of the Cathedral school of Chartres. Fulbert + Hugh Capet. |
| 996 | King Robert II, King of France (to 1031, of Capetian line). |
| 1000 | Emp Otto III arranges election of his friend Gerbert of Aurillac
as Pope Sylvester II, total cooperation between Emperor/Pope. |
| 1000 | Largest city in Spain is Moslem Cordoba.
(Cordoba and Constantinople two of largest cities in world) |
| 1016 | Pisa leads reconquest of Sardinia from Moslems.
Coastal Italian cities most progressive in 11th Century. (Pisa/Venice/Genoa). |
| 1031 | King Henry I of France,. Successful reign to 1060 (stable France). |
| 1039 | Henry III (German) Holy Roman Emperor. Comes to Rome, great power. |
| 1046 | Cluniac reformer Gerhard of Burgundy, Bishop of Florence.
Progressive reformist French church nourishes reform in Italy. |
| 1054 | Formal permanent division between Eastern and Western Christian Church. |
| 1055 | Synod of Florence, Bishop Germany presides,
Florence in center of reform. |
| 1058 | Elect Bishop Gerhard of Florence as Pope
Nicholas II. Leads church reform. |
| 1059 | Pope Nick comes to Florence. Lay cornerstone of new Baptistry (like Pantheon). |
| 1060 | Death of King Henry I of France. Son Philip I (Fat Philip) reigns 48 years. |
| 1062 | Begin Cathedral of Pisa. Pisa on the march. |
| 1063 | Begin Saint Marks, Venice. |
| 1066 | William the Conqueror. |
| 1073 | Elect Hildebrand Pope Gregory VII. Most important church reformer in 11th century. |
| 1077 | The Way to Canossa. Emperor waits in snow for Pope, Papal supremacy. |
| 1079 | Birth of Peter Abelard in Brittany. |
| 1085 | Reconquer Toledo from the Moslems. Christians moving south. ("Reconquista") |
| 1090 | Birth of Bernard of Clairvault (Cistercian Order, France). |
| 1094 | El Cid takes Valencia from the Moslems. (Moors). |
| 1099 | FIRST CRUSADE, The West on the march. |
| 1099 | Crusaders take Jerusalem. |
Porciano, Florence, Italy. Photo by Ken Sandall. Enlarge Image
