Timeline of Ancient and Medival France (to 1453)

As part of the Visual Timeline series, this pages highlights key events in Korea from 1392 to 1945.


711: Muslim Arabs invade Spain

732: Franks under Charles Martel defeat Muslims at Battle of Poitiers and Tours; stopping expansion of Islam into Europe, and setting the foundations of the Carolingian Empire.

Battle of Tours. Source

771: Charlemagne becomes ruler of Frankish kingdom; conquering Aquitine and inheriting territory as his younger brother dies.

774: Franks conquer Lombard Kingdom of Italy

778: Frankish rearguard under Charlemagne ambushed by Muslims at Battle of Roncesvalles (Spain)

800: First Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne; crowned by Pope Leo III on Christmas Day

Charlemagne. Source

814: Charlemagne dies from illness; disputes over succession.

843: Frankish Civil War ends; Treaty of Verdun divides Frankish Carolingian empire into 3; among grandsons

845: Norse Vikings besiege Paris; Franks pay them off

Siege of Paris depicted in Vikings series. Source

889: Final breakup of Carolingian Empire.

911: Franks grant Norse Vikings land in northern France, Normandy

962: Holy Roman Empire founded in Germany; king Otto I starts reign

1047: Normans conquer southern Italy and Sicily (1031-1090)

1054: East-West Schism between Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople and Catholic Church in Rome; Pope excommunicates the patrich of Constantinople

1066: Norman Conquest of England; William the Conqueror (duke of Normandy) (r.1066-1086) defeats King Harold II at Battle of Hastings

1095: First Crusade (1095-1099); Crusaders capture and massacre Jerusalem

1098: Cistercian monastic movement founded (by abbot Robert of Molesme)

1122: Concordat of Worms ends Investiture Controversy between papacy (Pope Calixtus II) and Holy Roman emperor (Henry V) over control of church offices; scholars’ attention drawn to inconsistencies in scripture; leads to renewed interests in Greek classics

1147: Second Crusade (1147-1150) to recapture Edessa is failure for Christians

1187: Saladin victorious at Battle of Hattin, Muslims recapture Jerusalem

1189: Third Crusade (1189-1192) fails to re-take Jerusalem but captured Cyprus, Acre and Jaffa; results in treaty; under Richard I

1204: Fourth Crusade captures and plunders Byzantine Constantinople

1209: Cathar (Albigensian) Crusade (1209-1229); Pope Innocent III calls to eliminate competing Christian movement (Cathari) in France

1212: Christian coalition defeats Arabs at Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in Spain; important turning point in Reconquista

1215: Magna Carta; sealed by king John of England; limits monarchic power

1241: Mongols overrun Eastern Europe, defeating Poles at Battle of Legnica and the Hungarians at Battle of Mohi

1248: Seventh Crusade into Egypt (1248-1254); led by Louis IX

1295: Scotland-France forms Auld Alliance against English

1309: Papacy moves from Rome to Avignon (France) (1309-1378)

Avignon Papacy. Source

1337: Hundred Years War (1337-1453) against England; 4 wars over 116 years (Edwardian War 1337-1360, Carolin War 1369-1389, Lancastrian War 1415-1420, Second Lancastrian War 1420-1453)

1346: English (under Edward III) long bows devastates French (under Philip VI) at Battle of Crecy (part of Hundred Years War); 3x fire rate of crossbow and deadly impact at 300m

Battle of Crecy. Source

1347: Black Death (Bubonic Plague) kills 1/3 of Europe (1347-1351)

1375: War of the Eight Saints (1375-1378); Pope Gregory XI vs Italian coalition; ends in return of papacy from Avignon (France) to Rome

1415: English victory over French at Battle of Agincourt (Hundred Years War) (immortalized in Shakespeare’s Life of Henry the Fifth)

1429: Teenage heroine St Joan of Arc (“Maid of Orleans”) relieves Siege of Orleans; turning point in Hundred Years War

Joan of Arc breaks 8 month siege in 7 days. Source

1431: Joan of Arc burned by English at Rouen

1438: Habsburg dynasty begins in Austria

1453:
– Hundred Years War (1337-1453) ends with French victory; English driven out of most of France by House of Valois; England only holds onto Calais
– Ottomans capture Constantinople.

Territorial shifts throughout Hundred Years War. Source

See also:

Visual Timeline Series