A Timeline of Medieval Events - 1100 to 1359
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 Crécy
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