Events, Verisoph

January 630 Conquest of Mecca 0 cit. Muhammad returns to Mecca at the head of a large force and takes the city with little fighting. He clears the Kaaba of its idols and rededicates it to the worship of one God. Most of the Quraysh accept Islam, and Arabia's tribes increasingly align with Medina. politics / religion / war ●●●

c. 636 to c. 651 Muslim conquest of Sasanian Persia 0 cit. Arab armies defeat the Sasanian Empire in a series of battles beginning at al-Qadisiyyah, and by 651 the last Sasanian ruler is dead. Persia passes into Muslim rule, and over following centuries most Persians adopt Islam. Persian scholars and administrators go on to shape Islamic civilization deeply. politics / religion / war ●●●

August 636 The Arab conquests strip away the eastern provinces 0 cit. Armies of the new Islamic caliphate shattered a Byzantine field army at the Yarmuk in 636 and swept through Syria, Palestine, and Egypt within a decade. The empire lost its richest provinces, its grain, and Jerusalem itself, shrinking to Anatolia, the Balkans, and a string of coasts. The blow reshaped Byzantium into a smaller, embattled, and more thoroughly Greek Orthodox state. politics / religion / war ●●●

c. 640 Byzantine theme system established 0 cit. Facing Arab and Slavic invasions, the Byzantine Empire reorganized its territory into military provinces called themes, each under a general who commanded local troops settled on land in exchange for hereditary military service. This let the shrunken empire field defensive armies without the cost of a fully professional standing force. The theme system remained the backbone of Byzantine defense for several centuries. politics / war ●●

c. 645 Arab conquest brings Armenia under the caliphate 0 cit. Arab armies overrun Armenia in the mid-seventh century, and it becomes a province of the caliphate under a resident governor. Armenians keep their Christian faith and much local autonomy through noble houses called nakharars, but pay tribute and periodically revolt. Caliphal control weakens over the following two centuries. politics / religion / war ●●

c. 647 to c. 709 Arab conquest of North Africa 0 cit. Arab forces push west from Egypt across the Maghreb, founding the garrison city of Kairouan around 670 as a base. By the early 700s Muslim rule reaches the Atlantic, and Berber peoples convert in large numbers. North Africa becomes the launch point for the crossing into Spain. politics / religion / war ●●

651 Fall of the Sasanian Empire 0 cit. In 651 CE the last Sasanian king, Yazdegerd III, was killed while fleeing the Arab conquest. The fall ended the Persian empire and brought Iran under Muslim rule. politics / religion / war ●●●●

651 The Arab conquest ends Zoroastrian Persia 0 cit. The Muslim Arab conquest topples the Sassanid empire, and Zoroastrianism slowly gives way to Islam in its homeland. Over the following centuries many of the faithful would flee eastward to India. religion / war ●●●

668 Unification of Korea under Silla 0 cit. Silla defeated Goguryeo and Baekje to unify most of the Korean peninsula. The Unified Silla period brought a flowering of Buddhist art and culture. politics / war ●●●●

10 October 680 Battle of Karbala 0 cit. Husayn ibn Ali, grandson of Muhammad, is killed with his small band by Umayyad forces. His martyrdom becomes the defining event of Shia identity and hardens the Sunni-Shia split. religion / war ●●●●

711 Fall of the Visigothic Kingdom 0 cit. In 711 CE an Umayyad army defeated and killed the Visigothic king Roderic near the Guadalete River. Muslim forces swept across most of the Iberian Peninsula, ending the Visigothic kingdom. politics / religion / war ●●●

711 Muslim conquest of Hispania 0 cit. A largely Berber army under Tariq ibn Ziyad crosses from North Africa and defeats the Visigoths, bringing most of the Iberian Peninsula under Muslim rule within a few years. The region, called al-Andalus, becomes a center of learning and religious mixing for centuries. Muslim rule in parts of Spain lasts until 1492. politics / religion / war ●●●

711 Muhammad bin Qasim's conquest of Sindh 0 cit. An Umayyad army under Muhammad bin Qasim conquers Sindh in the Indus valley, the first lasting Muslim foothold in the Indian subcontinent. It opens the long history of Islam in South Asia. Larger Muslim states there follow with the Delhi Sultanate centuries later. politics / religion / war ●●

711 Muslim conquest of Iberia opens a new era for Jews 0 cit. Arab and Berber armies overthrow the Visigothic kingdom, whose late kings had persecuted and tried to forcibly baptize the Jews. Under Muslim rule Jews were tolerated as a protected but subordinate people, and their conditions improved sharply. This opening set the stage for centuries of Jewish life in the land they called Sepharad. politics / religion / war ●●●

717 Greek fire saves Constantinople 0 cit. An Umayyad army and fleet besieged Constantinople for a year, aiming to end the empire, but the great walls and a secret incendiary weapon held them off. This 'Greek fire', sprayed from ships and burning even on water, became the empire's most feared weapon; its exact recipe was a guarded secret and is still debated. The failed siege blunted the Arab advance into Europe and let Byzantium endure. technology / war ●●

750 Fall of the Umayyad Caliphate 0 cit. In 750 CE the Abbasid revolution defeated the Umayyad army at the Battle of the Zab and overthrew the ruling dynasty. The Abbasids massacred the Umayyad family and moved the center of the caliphate eastward. politics / religion / war ●●●●

December 755 to 763 An Lushan Rebellion 0 cit. General An Lushan revolts against the Tang dynasty, seizing both capitals in a war that kills or displaces tens of millions. The Tang survive but never recover their former power. politics / war ●●●●

756 Pepin's Donation creates the Papal States 0 cit. The Frankish king Pepin the Short defeated the Lombards and granted conquered lands in central Italy to the pope. This Donation of Pepin created the Papal States, a territory the popes would rule for over a thousand years. politics / religion / war ●●●●

772 to 804 Charlemagne forces the Saxons to convert 0 cit. Charlemagne cuts down the Irminsul and wages decades of war to convert the pagan Saxons by the sword, including the massacre of thousands at Verden in 782. The old Germanic religion was stamped out on the continent centuries before it fell in the Norse north. religion / war ●●●

June 793 The Lindisfarne raid opens the Viking Age 0 cit. Norse raiders sack the monastery of Lindisfarne off the English coast, the shock that opened the Viking Age. For nearly three centuries Norse seafarers raided, traded, and settled from Russia to North America. religion / war ●●●●

795 Viking raids and the founding of Dublin 0 cit. Viking raids on Irish monasteries began around 795 and grew into permanent settlement. Norse traders established a fortified base at Dublin by 841 and founded other port towns including Waterford, Wexford, Cork and Limerick. These were Ireland's first true towns, and they tied the island into wider North Atlantic trade networks. economy / war ●●

c. 800 Odin leads the Norse gods as god of wisdom and war 0 cit. Odin, chief of the Norse Aesir, sought wisdom at the cost of an eye and hung on the world tree to win the runes. He gathered slain warriors to Valhalla for the final battle. religion / war ●●●

c. 800 Carolingian Feudal Levy and Knight Service 0 cit. Under Charlemagne and his successors, military obligation became tied to landholding: nobles who held land from the king owed him mounted warriors, knights, in return. This system of feudal levies spread across medieval Europe and made war-fighting the specialized business of an armored aristocracy rather than the general citizenry. It set the pattern for European "who fights" arrangements for the next several centuries, until the rise of paid professional and mercenary forces. society / war ●●

c. 850 Gunpowder 0 cit. Chinese alchemists mixed saltpeter, charcoal and sulfur into an explosive powder. Gunpowder led to firearms and cannon and changed warfare worldwide. technology / war ●●●●●

869 to 883 The Zanj Rebellion 0 cit. Enslaved East Africans, known as the Zanj, rose in a massive revolt against the Abbasid Caliphate that lasted 14 years. It was one of the largest slave uprisings in history before it was crushed. society / war ●●●

c. 880 Treaty of Alfred and Guthrum 0 cit. Pact between Alfred the Great of Wessex and the Viking king Guthrum defining the boundary between English and Danish rule. It formalized the Danelaw and set legal terms between the two peoples. diplomacy / politics / war ●●

907 Collapse of the Tang Dynasty 0 cit. In 907 CE the warlord Zhu Wen forced the last Tang emperor to abdicate, ending nearly three centuries of Tang rule. China broke apart into the rival regimes of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. politics / war ●●●●

907 Collapse of the Tang and Five Dynasties 0 cit. The Tang dynasty fell in 907 CE, opening a period of fragmentation known as the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms. Rival regimes competed until the Song reunified much of China. politics / war ●●●

c. 911 Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte 0 cit. Agreement between King Charles the Simple of West Francia and the Viking leader Rollo, granting Rollo lands around Rouen in exchange for defense and baptism. It created what became the Duchy of Normandy. diplomacy / politics / war ●●●

August 955 Otto I defeats the Magyars at Lechfeld 0 cit. Otto I, king of the Germans, crushed a Magyar raiding army near Augsburg. The victory ended decades of steppe raids and made Otto the strongest ruler in the West. It set the stage for his claim to the imperial crown. politics / war ●●

c. 988 Varangian Guard formed for the Byzantine emperor 0 cit. Byzantine Emperor Basil II received several thousand Scandinavian and Rus warriors from Kievan Rus and formed them into an elite personal guard, later known as the Varangian Guard. Composed largely of Norse and, from the 11th century, Anglo-Saxon warriors, the unit was famed for its loyalty since its foreign members had no local political ties. It served as the Byzantine emperors' bodyguard for several centuries. politics / war ●●

c. January 1005 Chanyuan Treaty 0 cit. Peace between Song China and the Khitan Liao dynasty under which the Song paid annual tribute in silk and silver. It bought more than a century of peace on the northern frontier. diplomacy / economy / politics / war ●●●

23 April 1014 Battle of Clontarf 0 cit. High King Brian Boru defeated an alliance of the Norse of Dublin and the king of Leinster at Clontarf, though Brian himself was killed. Nationalist tradition later cast it as the battle that broke Viking power in Ireland. Historians now read it more as a struggle for the high kingship among Irish rival dynasties, in which Norse forces fought on both sides. politics / war ●●

1025 Basil II brings the empire to its medieval peak 0 cit. Basil II, called the Bulgar-Slayer after his long and brutal wars, died having pushed the frontiers to their greatest extent since Justinian. The empire he left was rich, disciplined, and dominant across the Balkans and the east. Within fifty years weak rule and court rivalries would squander that strength. politics / war ●●

c. 1037 Founding of the Seljuk Empire 0 cit. The Seljuk Turks under Tughril established a large empire across Persia and the Near East. They became protectors of the Abbasid caliph and pushed into Anatolia. politics / war ●●●●

c. 1040 Samuel ibn Naghrillah, vizier and general of Granada 0 cit. Samuel ibn Naghrillah, known as Samuel ha-Nagid, rose to become vizier of the Muslim kingdom of Granada and led its armies in the field, an almost unheard-of height for a Jew. He was also a major Hebrew poet and Talmudic scholar. His career shows how far a Jew could rise under Muslim rule, but it also stirred resentment that would soon turn deadly. culture / politics / war ●●●

30 December 1066 The 1066 Granada massacre 0 cit. A mob stormed the royal palace, killed Joseph ibn Naghrillah, the Jewish vizier and son of Samuel ha-Nagid, and turned on the Jewish quarter. Chroniclers put the dead in the thousands, though the exact figure is uncertain. The massacre is a reminder that convivencia was never full equality: Jewish standing depended on rulers, and a shift in the crowd's mood could erase it overnight. religion / society / war ●●●

26 August 1071 Battle of Manzikert opens Anatolia to the Turks 0 cit. The Seljuk Turks crush a Byzantine army at Manzikert, in the Armenian highlands, opening Anatolia to Turkish settlement. Byzantium had annexed the Bagratid kingdom and sacked Ani only years earlier, leaving Armenia exposed. Many Armenians migrate south, laying the ground for a new Armenian state in Cilicia. politics / war ●●

26 August 1071 Manzikert opens Anatolia to the Turks 0 cit. The Seljuk Turks defeated and captured Emperor Romanos IV at Manzikert in eastern Anatolia. The battlefield loss was not catastrophic in itself, but the civil wars that followed let the Turks pour into Anatolia, the empire's heartland and its main source of soldiers and grain. The slow loss of Asia Minor was a wound Byzantium never truly healed. politics / war ●●●

1085 Toledo falls to Christian Castile 0 cit. Alfonso VI of Castile captured Toledo, a major step in the Christian Reconquista of Iberia. Under early Christian rule Jews often kept their standing, and Toledo became a famous center where Jewish, Christian, and Muslim scholars translated Arabic and Greek learning into Latin. For a time the transfer of power did not end Jewish flourishing. politics / science / war ●●

27 November 1095 Council of Clermont 0 cit. Pope Urban II calls on Western Christians to march east and take Jerusalem, launching the First Crusade. Two centuries of crusading follow, reshaping relations between Christian Europe and the Islamic world. religion / war ●●●●

27 November 1095 Council of Clermont launches the First Crusade 0 cit. Pope Urban II called on Western knights to march east and recover Jerusalem, promising spiritual rewards to those who went. The appeal launched the Crusades and showed the papacy directing armies across the continent. politics / religion / war ●●●●

1095 Byzantium's appeal helps launch the First Crusade 0 cit. Emperor Alexios I Komnenos asked the west for mercenaries to help recover lost lands from the Turks. Pope Urban II answered at the Council of Clermont with a call for a far grander armed pilgrimage to Jerusalem, launching the First Crusade. The crusaders helped Byzantium regain ground but also brought a large, unpredictable Latin army into a wary and mutually suspicious relationship. diplomacy / religion / war ●●●

May 1096 to 1096 Crusaders massacre the Rhineland communities 0 cit. As the First Crusade set out for Jerusalem, bands led by Count Emicho turned on the Jews of the Rhineland instead. They killed thousands in Worms, Mainz, Cologne, and Speyer, giving victims the choice of baptism or death. Many Jews killed themselves and their families rather than convert, an act remembered as Kiddush Hashem, the sanctification of God's name. The massacres left a deep scar on Ashkenazi memory and liturgy. religion / society / war ●●●

15 July 1099 Crusaders capture Jerusalem 0 cit. After a long siege, the armies of the First Crusade stormed Jerusalem and killed much of its Muslim and Jewish population. The massacre, carried out in the name of the faith the pope had called them to defend, became a lasting symbol of holy war. politics / religion / war ●●●

1119 Founding of the Knights Templar 0 cit. The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon were founded around 1119 to protect pilgrims in the Holy Land. They are relevant to Freemasonry only through a later legend, not through any real historical link. religion / war ●●●

1127 Jurchen Jin conquer the north and Southern Song 0 cit. The Jurchen Jin captured the Song capital Kaifeng in 1127 and seized northern China. The Song court fled south and rebuilt at Hangzhou as the Southern Song. politics / war ●●●●

c. 1140 to c. 1291 Templar Castles and Fortifications 0 cit. The order built and garrisoned major castles that anchored Crusader defenses, including strongholds in the Levant and on the Iberian frontier. These fortresses were centers of military and economic power. economy / war ●●●

c. 1141 Treaty of Shaoxing 0 cit. Peace between Song China and the Jurchen Jin dynasty that ceded northern China to the Jin and made the Southern Song a tribute-paying state. It fixed the border at the Huai River for decades. diplomacy / politics / war ●●●

1147 The Almohads shatter the Golden Age 0 cit. The Almohads, a strict Berber dynasty from North Africa, conquered Muslim Spain and abolished the old tolerance of Jews and Christians. They offered conversion, exile, or death, and the ancient Jewish communities of al-Andalus were destroyed or driven out. Maimonides was among the refugees. The Golden Age under Muslim rule was over. politics / religion / war ●●●

c. 1150 The Guelphs and Ghibellines divide Italy 0 cit. Across the Italian cities, factions formed around two loyalties: Guelphs backing the pope and Ghibellines backing the emperor. The names came from rival German dynasties but became labels for local feuds that ran for generations. The split shows how the papal-imperial rivalry seeped into everyday politics. politics / religion / war ●●

1169 The Norman invasion of Ireland 0 cit. The deposed king of Leinster, Diarmait Mac Murchada, invited Anglo-Norman lords from Wales to help recover his kingdom. Led by Richard de Clare, known as Strongbow, they landed in 1169 and quickly seized Wexford, Waterford and Dublin. Their arrival began roughly eight centuries of English and later British involvement in Ireland. politics / war ●●●

1171 Henry II and the Lordship of Ireland 0 cit. Alarmed by Strongbow's success, King Henry II of England landed in 1171 to bring the Norman lords and Irish kings under his authority. He took the title Lord of Ireland, a claim the papacy had earlier endorsed. English control was real near Dublin but thin elsewhere, and over later centuries many Norman families became, as the saying went, more Irish than the Irish themselves. politics / war ●●

29 May 1176 The Lombard League defeats Barbarossa at Legnano 0 cit. An alliance of northern Italian cities, backed by the pope, beat Emperor Frederick Barbarossa's army in the field. The loss forced him to recognize the cities' self-rule. It showed the limits of imperial power south of the Alps against wealthy, self-governing towns. politics / war ●●

1181 The Assize of Arms sets the duty to bear arms for defence 0 cit. Henry II's Assize of Arms required free men to keep weapons and armour matched to their wealth and to answer a muster in defence of the realm. It put into law an older idea that ordinary men, not just paid soldiers, owed service to defend their own country. This obligation became the root of the English militia and, much later, of the home guard tradition. politics / war ●

4 July 1187 Templar Losses at the Battle of Hattin 0 cit. Saladin's forces crushed the Crusader army, and many captured Templars were executed. The defeat led to the loss of Jerusalem and weakened the Crusader states. religion / war ●●●

2 September 1192 Treaty of Jaffa 0 cit. Truce between Richard I of England and Saladin ending the Third Crusade. Jerusalem stayed under Muslim rule but Christian pilgrims gained free access to the holy sites. diplomacy / religion / war ●●●

13 April 1204 The Fourth Crusade sacks Constantinople 0 cit. A crusade meant for the Holy Land was diverted and turned on the Christian city of Constantinople, which the crusaders looted and burned. Pope Innocent III had forbidden the attack and condemned it, but the assault crippled the Byzantine Empire and deepened the split between Rome and the Eastern Church. politics / religion / war ●●●●

c. 1206 Genghis Khan unites the Mongols 0 cit. Temujin is proclaimed Genghis Khan, ruler of all the Mongol tribes. His armies go on to build the largest contiguous land empire in history, linking and devastating much of Eurasia. politics / war ●●●●

1206 Founding of the Mongol Empire 0 cit. Genghis Khan united the Mongol tribes and was proclaimed ruler of all the steppe peoples. The Mongols went on to build the largest contiguous land empire in history. politics / war ●●●●●

1209 to 1229 The Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars 0 cit. Pope Innocent III called a crusade against the Cathars, a dissenting Christian sect in the south of France. Tens of thousands were killed over twenty years, and the massacre at Beziers, where a papal legate is reported to have said to kill all and let God sort them out, became infamous. The war destroyed Cathar society and extended the Inquisition to root out survivors. politics / religion / war ●●●

1211 Mongol invasions of China begin 0 cit. Genghis Khan launched campaigns against the Jin dynasty in 1211. Decades of Mongol warfare followed across northern and central China. war ●●●●

c. 1221 Fall of the Khwarazmian Empire 0 cit. Between 1219 and 1221 the Mongols under Genghis Khan destroyed the Khwarazmian Empire that ruled Central Asia and Persia. Great cities such as Samarkand and Urgench were sacked and their populations slaughtered. politics / war ●●●

31 May 1223 Battle of the Kalka River 0 cit. A Mongol reconnaissance force defeated a combined army of Rus princes and Cumans in the first clash between the Rus and the Mongols. The defeat exposed how divided the Rus principalities were. war ●●●

1239 Frederick II, the wonder of the world, wars with the papacy 0 cit. Emperor Frederick II, a brilliant and unconventional ruler nicknamed stupor mundi, the wonder of the world, was excommunicated more than once as he fought to control Italy. Popes branded him a heretic and even the Antichrist. His long duel with Rome exhausted the empire's grip on the south. politics / religion / war ●●

December 1240 Mongol Sack of Kiev 0 cit. In December 1240 the Mongols captured and destroyed Kiev, the chief city of the Rus. The sack broke the power of Kievan Rus and placed its lands under Mongol overlordship. politics / war ●●●

5 April 1242 Battle on the Ice 0 cit. Prince Alexander Nevsky of Novgorod defeated the Livonian Order on the frozen Lake Peipus, checking crusader expansion from the west. The battle later became a strong symbol in Russian national memory. religion / war ●●●

c. 1250 Mamluk slave soldiers rule Egypt 0 cit. The Mamluks were enslaved soldiers, mostly from the Caucasus and Central Asia, who seized power and ruled Egypt and Syria for centuries. Their rise shows how slavery could take military and political forms far from plantation labour. politics / war ●●

10 February 1258 Mongol sack of Baghdad 0 cit. Hulagu's Mongol army takes Baghdad, kills the caliph, and destroys the city, ending the Abbasid Caliphate. The sack closes the Islamic Golden Age centered on Baghdad and shifts power in the Muslim world. religion / war ●●●●

10 February 1258 Fall of Baghdad and the Abbasid Caliphate 0 cit. On 10 February 1258 the Mongols under Hulagu Khan took Baghdad and soon killed the last Abbasid caliph. The sack ended the caliphate and is often seen as the close of the Islamic Golden Age. politics / religion / war ●●●●●

25 July 1261 The Byzantines retake their capital 0 cit. Forces of the Nicaean successor state under Michael VIII Palaiologos recaptured Constantinople from the Latins and restored the empire. But the state they revived was a shadow of the old power, poor, encircled, and shorn of most of Anatolia. The Palaiologan dynasty would rule a shrinking realm for its final two centuries. politics / war ●●

c. 1270 Aquinas States the Conditions of Just War 0 cit. In the Summa Theologica, Thomas Aquinas laid out three conditions for a just war: it must be declared by a legitimate sovereign authority, fought for a just cause, and waged with rightful intention. Aquinas explicitly built on Augustine's earlier arguments and gave the just-war tradition its most systematic medieval statement. His formulation remained the standard reference point for Christian and later secular just-war theory. religion / war ●●●

1271 Kublai Khan founds the Yuan dynasty 0 cit. Kublai Khan proclaimed the Yuan dynasty in 1271, establishing Mongol rule over China with its capital at Dadu, modern Beijing. It was the first foreign dynasty to rule all of China. politics / war ●●●●●

19 March 1279 Fall of the Song Dynasty 0 cit. At the naval Battle of Yamen on 19 March 1279 the Mongols destroyed the last Song fleet, and the boy emperor died. The victory completed the Mongol conquest of China under the Yuan dynasty. politics / war ●●●●

1279 Fall of the Southern Song 0 cit. At the naval Battle of Yamen in 1279, Mongol forces destroyed the last Song resistance. The Yuan now ruled all of China. war ●●●●

May 1291 Fall of Acre and the Crusader Kingdom 0 cit. In May 1291 the Mamluks captured Acre, the last major stronghold of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. Its fall ended nearly two centuries of Crusader states in the Holy Land. politics / religion / war ●●●

18 May 1291 Fall of Acre 0 cit. Mamluk forces captured Acre, the last major Crusader city in the Holy Land. The Templars lost their main base in the East and relocated their headquarters to Cyprus. religion / war ●●●●

May 1291 Fall of Acre ends Crusader rule in the Holy Land 0 cit. The Mamluks captured Acre, the last major Crusader stronghold, ending nearly two centuries of Christian rule in the Holy Land. The Templars lost their original purpose of defending pilgrims and the Crusader states, and relocated their base to Cyprus. religion / war ●●

1298 Host desecration charges spark the Rintfleisch massacres 0 cit. A new accusation claimed Jews stole and stabbed the consecrated communion host to torment Christ, a charge that made little sense even in Christian terms since Jews did not accept the doctrine behind it. In 1298 a nobleman known as Rintfleisch led mobs that destroyed scores of Jewish communities across German lands. The host desecration myth, like the blood libel, was invented and then used to justify slaughter. religion / society / war ●●

c. 1298 Host desecration charges fuel new massacres 0 cit. A second false charge accused Jews of stealing and torturing the consecrated communion wafer, which Catholics believe is the body of Christ. In 1298 a mob led by a knight called Rintfleisch used such a rumor to massacre Jews across Franconia, destroying scores of communities. Like the blood libel, the host desecration charge rested on a belief with no possible factual basis. religion / society / war ●●

c. 1299 Founding of the Ottoman Empire 0 cit. Osman I founded a small state in Anatolia that grew into the Ottoman Empire. Over centuries it came to rule southeastern Europe, the Near East, and North Africa. politics / war ●●●●●

c. 1299 Founding of the Ottoman beylik 0 cit. Osman I, leader of a small Turkish frontier principality, breaks with the declining Seljuk order and builds an independent state on the Byzantine border. The dynasty and empire take their name from him. The 1299 date is a traditional marker; the beylik grew over the following decades rather than being founded in a single year. politics / war ●●●

1326 Capture of Bursa 0 cit. Orhan, Osman's son, takes the Byzantine city of Bursa after a long blockade and makes it the first Ottoman capital. The conquest gives the young state a real administrative center, a mint, and the resources to expand further. politics / war ●●

17 March 1328 Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton 0 cit. Peace treaty in which England recognized Scotland as an independent kingdom and Robert the Bruce as its king. It ended the First War of Scottish Independence. diplomacy / politics / war ●●

c. 1348 Black Death pogroms sweep Jewish communities 0 cit. As plague killed a third of Europe, rumors spread that Jews had poisoned the wells. Mobs massacred Jewish communities across the Rhineland, Spain, and elsewhere, and many towns expelled survivors. The killings had no basis in fact, and even Pope Clement VI condemned them as slander. religion / society / war ●●

c. 1349 Black Death massacres devastate Rhineland Jewry 0 cit. As plague killed a third of Europe, rumors spread that Jews had poisoned the wells. Mobs destroyed the Ashkenazi communities of Strasbourg, Basel, Mainz, Cologne, and hundreds of other towns, burning thousands of people alive. The charge had no basis in fact, and Pope Clement VI condemned it in two bulls. The killings shattered the old Rhineland heartland and speeded the move eastward. religion / society / war ●●●

1354 Ottomans cross into Europe at Gallipoli 0 cit. Ottoman forces seize Gallipoli and establish their first permanent foothold on European soil. From this base they begin a steady advance into the Balkans that would last for centuries. politics / war ●●

1354 The Ottomans cross into Europe 0 cit. The rising Ottoman Turks seized a foothold at Gallipoli and began expanding across the Balkans, encircling the remnants of the Byzantine state. Over the following century they reduced the empire to little more than Constantinople and a few scattered holdings. The city, once the head of a Mediterranean power, became an island in an Ottoman sea. politics / war ●●

8 May 1360 Treaty of Bretigny 0 cit. Treaty between England and France during the Hundred Years' War, giving Edward III large territories in France in return for renouncing his claim to the French crown. It brought nine years of peace before war resumed. diplomacy / politics / war ●●●

1368 Founding of the Ming dynasty 1 cit. The rebel leader Zhu Yuanzhang drove out the Mongols and founded the Ming dynasty in 1368. Ruling as the Hongwu Emperor, he restored native Chinese rule and rebuilt central government. politics / war ●●●●●

1375 Fall of the Kingdom of Cilicia 0 cit. The Mamluks of Egypt conquer Cilicia and capture its last king, Levon V, ending the final Armenian kingdom of the Middle Ages. With its fall, Armenians are left without a sovereign state of their own. From here on they live as subjects of larger empires until the twentieth century. politics / war ●●

8 September 1380 Battle of Kulikovo 0 cit. Prince Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow led a coalition to victory over a Golden Horde army, the first major Rus win over the Mongols. The battle boosted Moscow's prestige even though Mongol overlordship continued for another century. politics / war ●●●●

c. 1383 Ottoman Janissary corps organized 0 cit. The Ottoman sultans built the Janissary corps as an elite infantry force recruited through the devshirme system, which conscripted Christian boys from the Balkans, converted them to Islam, and trained them as soldiers personally loyal to the sultan. For centuries the Janissaries were the core of Ottoman military power and among the first standing armies in Europe to use firearms extensively. Over time they gained enormous political influence, repeatedly deposing sultans who threatened their privileges. religion / war ●●●

c. 1383 Ottoman Janissary Corps Founded 0 cit. The Ottoman sultans built the Janissary corps, an infantry force recruited chiefly through the devshirme system, which levied Christian boys from the Balkans, converted them to Islam, and trained them from childhood as soldiers directly loyal to the sultan. The Janissaries gave the Ottoman state a standing professional force independent of the feudal nobility, centuries before most of Europe developed comparable armies. They later became a powerful political faction in their own right, at times deposing sultans. politics / war ●●

15 June 1389 Battle of Kosovo 0 cit. Ottoman and Serbian-led armies fight to mutual devastation; Sultan Murad I is killed, but the battle breaks Serbian power and opens the Balkans to Ottoman control. The event became a central myth in later Serbian national identity. politics / war ●●●

1391 The massacres of 1391 and mass forced conversion 0 cit. Riots that began in Seville, stirred by the preaching of Ferrand Martinez, spread across Castile and Aragon and killed thousands of Jews. To survive, tens of thousands accepted baptism. This wave of forced conversion created a large new class of Christians of Jewish origin, the conversos, and reshaped the whole Sephardic world. religion / society / war ●●●

1396 Fall of the Second Bulgarian Empire 0 cit. By 1396 the Ottomans had conquered the remaining Bulgarian lands after taking the capital Tarnovo. The Second Bulgarian Empire ended, and Bulgaria remained under Ottoman rule for centuries. politics / war ●●

25 September 1396 Battle of Nicopolis 0 cit. Sultan Bayezid I destroys a large crusader army drawn from across Latin Christendom. The defeat ends the last major western effort to roll back the Ottoman advance in the Balkans for generations. religion / war ●●

20 July 1402 to 1413 Battle of Ankara and the Ottoman Interregnum 0 cit. Timur (Tamerlane) crushes the Ottoman army and captures Sultan Bayezid I, who dies in captivity. The empire nearly collapses into an eleven-year civil war among Bayezid's sons before Mehmed I reunites it. The near-death of the state shows how fragile the early empire still was. politics / war ●●

21 August 1415 Portuguese capture of Ceuta 0 cit. Portugal seized the Muslim port of Ceuta on the North African coast, its first overseas conquest. Historians treat this as the opening act of European overseas expansion. It gave Portugal a foothold for further exploration down the African coast. politics / war ●●