The
Pretanic Isles include Britain, Ireland, Mann, Angelsey, the Hebrides, the
Orkneys, the Shetlands, the Channels, the Friesans, and others. This
outline is an attempt to put events in those Isles into context of other events
in the world throughout history.
13,800,000,000
BCE - The Big Bang creates the Universe and all
that is in it.
13,200,000,000 BCE - The Milky Way galaxy is born.
4,560,000,000
BCE - The Solar system forms from the collapse of a giant
molecular cloud.
4,540,000,000
BCE - Planet Earth, aka Terra, forms from one of the
plantessimals drawn into Sol's gravity well.
4,100,000,000 BCE - Earliest discovered life on Terra arise through abiogensis at the cusp of the Hadean Eon with the Eoarchaean Era.
3,900,000,000 BCE - The microplanet Theia collides with Terra and disintegrates, creating the satellite Luna out of a mixture of material from both Terra and Theia.
612,000,000
BCE - The Laurentian craton rises above the Great Ocean
and remains today the oldest dry landmass on Terra.
540,000,000
BCE - The microcontinent Avalonia breaks off of
supercontinent Pannotia.
425,000,000
BCE – The islands of Great Britain and Ireland are formed
by the collision of Laurentia and Avalonia. On Great Britain, the divide
is roughly the same as that later followed by Hadrian’s Wall, while on Ireland
the divide roughly corresponds to that between Ulster-Connacht and
Leinster-Munster.
950,00,000 BCE - Members of the race Homo antecessor make their home on the island of Britain.
700,000
BCE – Connected to the Continent by a land bridge, the
Isles are inhabited by representatives of Homo
erectus.
500,000
BCE – Representatives of Homo bodoensis arrive in the Isles.
210,000
BCE – Representatives of Homo neanderthalensis arrive in the Isles.
130,000-60,000
BCE – No evidence of human occupation of the Isles.
70,000 BCE – The Topa supervolcano erupts, plunging
temperatures world-wide for centuries.
Human population is reduced to possibly as low as 15,000 individuals.
41,000-24,000 BCE –
Aurignacian Culture; Homo sapiens first enter Europe.
31,000-22,000 BCE –
Gravettian Culture spreads across Europe.
8500 BCE – Reoccupation of the Isles by Humans begins,
this time by representatives of H. sapiens.
8000 BCE – The end of the last Great Ice Age.
6200 BCE – The Storegga Slide off the coast of Norway causes a tsunami that destroys Doggerland, the land bridge connecting the island of Great Britain with France, the Netherland, northwestern Germany, and Jutland.
6000-2500 BCE – Holocene Climatic Optimum.
4200 BCE –
First Indo-Europeans migrate from the Eurasian Steppe into the Danube Valley.
4000-2000 BCE – Neolithic Age in the Isles. It was during this time that the great
complex at Stonehenge was built.
Beginning with this era and lasting until the end of the Bronze ages of
both Britain and Ireland, barrows of various types are used for burials.
In Irish Gaelic, these structures are called Sidhe, in Scottish Gaelic
this becomes Sith.
4000 BCE –
Mass migration of Early European Farmers (80%) and Western European
Hunter-Gatherers (20%) into Britain.
3200 BCE –
Stonehenge is first erected in the Preseli Hills of Wales with bluestone
monoliths taken from a nearby quarry.
3150 BCE – Upper and Lower Egypt are first unified under
the Pharoah Menes.
2800-1800 BCE – Bell Beaker
Culture in Great Britain and Ireland.
2800-2300 BCE – Bell Beaker
Culture in Continental Europe.
2800 BCE – Stonehenge
is dismantled, transported to Wiltshire, and re-erected on Salisbury Plain.
2700-1450 BCE – The Minoan civilization on Crete
dominates the eastern Mediterranean.
2686-2134 BCE – The Old Kingdom period in Egypt.
2500-2000 BCE – The Copper Age in the Isles.
2500 BCE – Proto-Indo-Europeans of the Yamnaya culture, the Kurgans of the Pontic steppes of Russia, begin flooding into Central Europe.
2400 BCE – Immigration of pastoralists
of Steppe ancestry into
Britain, eventually displacing up to 90% of the existing population of the
island.
2200-750 BCE – The Bronze Age on Great Britain.
2030-1640 BCE – The Middle Kingdom period in Egypt.
2000-500 BCE – The Bronze Age on Ireland.
1800-1600 BCE –
The Unetice Culture in Central Europe.
1800 BCE – Beginnings of Mayan civilization.
1700
BCE -
The Battle of Tailtiu in which the Milesians under Erimon mac Mil Espaine, Eber
Finn, and Amergin Gluingel defeat the Tuatha De Danaan under Ethur Mac Cuill,
Tethur Mac Cecht, and Cethur Mac Graeine, after which the latter are driven
underground to dwell in the Sidhe, or barrows, of Eire, where they become the
Daoine Sidhe under the kingship of Manannan mac Lir, according to the Lebor
Gabala Erenn.
1620-1530 BCE – Hyksos rule in Egypt.
1600-1200 BCE –
The Tumulus Culture in Central Europe.
1595-1180 BCE – The Hatti Empire in Anatolia and the
Levant.
1550-1069 BCE – The New Kingdom period in Egypt.
1500-400 BCE – Olmec civilization in
Mesoamerica.
1450 BCE – A natural disaster believed to be the
eruption of the Thera volcano on Crete destroys the seat of Minoan civilization,
giving birth to the legend of Atlantis.
Knossos enjoys a brief hegemony before being conquered by the rising
power of Mycenae.
1300-700 BCE – Atlantic Bronze Age in western France, Great Britain, Ireland, and Iberia.
1206-1150 BCE – Collapse
of the Late Bronze Age civilizations such as Mycenaean Hellas, Hatti Empire,
Kemitic Empire, Cyprus, Mesopotamia, Amurru, and Ugarit. Southern Kana’an becomes deserted except for
Philistia on the coast.
1200-539 BCE – The
merchant-warriors of the coastal city-states of Kana’an, from Arvad in the
north to Ashekelon in the south, dominate the Mediterranean region culturally
and economically, including giving the world the alphabet. Including Byblos, Tyre, Sidon, Beirut,
Tripoli, Haifa, and Jaffa, among others, this collection of coastal city-states
come to be referred to as Phoenicia by outsiders.
1200-700 BCE – The Urnfield Period on the Continent;
proto-Celtic culture.
1194-1184
BCE – The Trojan War of the Achaeans of
Mycenean Hellas (Greece) against the Wilusa confederation in Anatolia at the
south side mouth of the Dardanelles Strait, with its seat at Troy, or
Illion. The Fall of Troy at the end of
the war.
1000-1 BCE – The Early Woodland Period in North
America.
1000-875 BCE –
Peak immigration of proto-Celtic speakers into Britain, confined genetically to
southern Britain, though their language and culture spreads across the islands.
860-800
BCE - Reign of Leir, son of
Bladud and great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Brutus,
great-grandson of Aeneas of Troy, as King of Britain, according to Geoffrey of
Monmouth's Historia Regnum Britanniae.
831 BCE – The city of Qarthadast (Carthage, or New
City) is established by colonists from the Kananayite city of Tyre.
800-475 BCE – The Halstatt Period on the Continent;
early classic Celtic culture.
800-300 BCE – The Golasecca Period in northern Italy.
753 BCE – Foundation of the village of Roma by Latins
in Italia.
750-43 BCE – The Iron Age on Great Britain.
722 BCE – The Assyrian Empire conquers the Samaritans
and the Philistines. Refugees flood into
southern Palestine, inhabiting it in large numbers for the first time in more
than five centuries.
714 BCE – According to tradition, the Laws of the
Fenechas (Landtillers), or Brehon Laws, are first gathered into one body this
year by order of Ard Ri na Eireann Ollamh Fodhla and govern all Ireland until
the English Conquest and Ulster and Connacht until the 17th century.
700-450 BCE –
The Hallstatt Culture in Central Europe.
678-549 BCE – The Median Empire in Iran, southwestern
Central Asia, northern Mesopotamia, eastern Anatolia.
650 BCE – Warriors from southern Kana’an establish
a military colony on the island of Yeb (Elephantine) in Kemi, complete with a
fully functioning temple to Yahu and Anath, presided over by a high priest of
the Zadokite dynasty, which sits side-by-side with the Kemitic temple to Khnum.
600 BCE - Greeks from
Phocaea establish the city of Massalia (Marseilles) and ally with the Roman
Republic for defense and trading, eventually becoming a main point of contact
between Gaul and Rome.
590 BCE – Establishment of the Republic of Roma.
586 BCE – The Chaldean Empire conquers the Southern
Levant and establishes Yehuda Medinata, the “province of Yehud” in Aramaic,
named after the range of hills called Har Yehuda (“mountains of the gorges”) by
the locals.
549-336
BCE - The Achaemenid Empire in Greater Iran and
beyond, with Aramaic as its official language.
549
BCE - Koroush conquers the Median Empire and unites it
with his own. One of his first acts is to severely restrict the power of
the Zoroastrian Magi, though it is during the Achaemenid dynasty that classical
Zoroastrianism makes great headway.
547 BCE – Iran conquers Ionia in western Anatolia.
539 BCE – Iran conquers Phoenicia, Yehud, and Samaria.
500 BCE-400 CE – The Iron Age on Ireland.
499-449 BCE – Greco-Persian Wars.
450-1 BCE – The La Tene Period on the Continent; high
classic Celtic culture.
401-399 BCE – Journey of the Ten Thousand back to Hellas
after the death of Cyrus the Younger at the Battle of Cunaxa, as recorded by
Xenophon.
400 BCE-1521 CE – Zapotec civilization.
387 BCE – The Gaulish Senones under Brennus invade
Italia seeking land and defeat the Romans at the Battle of the Allia. They subsequently sack Roma.
334-323 BCE – Conquest of the Achaemenid Empire by
Alexander the Great of Macedonia, including the Levant, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Iran,
Bactria, and northern India.
332 BCE – Alexander conquers Syria, Palestine,
Phoenicia, and Kemi. In Kemi, he founds
the city of Alexandria, which has a large Jewish section from its very
beginning, two of the five districts of the city.
330 BCE – The Achaemenid dynasty falls to Alexander.
325 BCE – Pytheas of Massalia (Marseilles) becomes the
first to mention the “Pretanic Isles” by name; he refers to the island of Great
Britain as “Albion” and Ireland as “Ierne”.
322-172 BCE – Wars of the Diadochi, the successors
of Alexander.
321-63 BCE – The Seleucid Empire in Anatolia, the
Levant, Mesopotamia, Iran (until thrown out by the Arcasids), and Central Asia
(until the rise of Greco-Bactria).
320-185
BCE -
The Maurya Empire in northern India, officially Buddhist after the conversion
of Ashoka, who ruled 273-232, though it tolerated all religions. Ashoka
sent out missionaries as far east as China and as far west as Egypt.
305-30 BCE – The Ptolemaic Empire in Egypt and the
Levant.
300 BCE-325 CE - Dominance in the
Mediterranean and Southwest Asia of Hellenistic philosophy: Pythagoreanism,
Sophism, Cynicism, Cyrenaicism, Platonism, Peripateticism, Skepticism,
Epicureanism, Stoicism, Electicism, Hellenistic Judaism, Neopythagoreanism, and
Plotinism.
281 BCE – Gauls under Brennus invade Greece.
270 BCE – Gauls from the Balkans settle Galatia.
264-241 BCE – First Punic War, between the republics
of Qarthadast and Roma.
256
BCE-650 CE – Greco-Buddhism in
Central Asia influences philosophy and religious thought over a wide range,
west to the Mediterranean and east to China along the Silk Road.
256-125
BCE - Greco-Bactrian Kingdom
in Central Asia.
250 BCE-400 CE – The Roman Warm Period.
247
BCE-224 CE -
The Arsacid Empire in Iran. Parthian is its official language and
classical Zoroastrianism its officially supported religion, but again tolerance
is also official. Many aspects of the culture take on Hellenistic themes.
238 BCE –
The Roman Republic establishes the province of Gallia Cisalpina in northern
Italy. The province is later divided
into Gallia Cispadana, between the Rubicon and the Po, and Gallia Transpadana,
between the Po and the Alps.
221 BCE – The Qin dynasty first unifies China.
218-201 BCE – Second Punic War.
218 BCE – Roma begins the long conquest of Hispaniae.
204 BCE-216 CE - The Great Hun Empire, between Siberia, the Pacific Ocean, Tibet and Kashmir, and the Caspian Sea.
192 BCE – The Romans conquer the last part of Gallia
Cisalpina.
180-125
BCE -
Graeco-Indian Kingdom in the northern Indian subcontinent.
168 BCE – Greece falls to the armies of Roma and Hellas
becomes Graecia.
150
BCE-300 CE -
Peak of the Mediterranean/Southwest Asian Mystery Cults, including the
mysteries of Isis (Serapis), Eleusis (Demeter and Persephone), Orpheus,
Dionysus, Mithras, Cybele (Attis), Sabazius (Thrace), Adonis (Syria, Palestine),
and Iesous (Alexandria).
149-146 BCE – Third Punic War.
135-132
BCE - First Servile War
against the Roman Republic, led by Eunus.
118 BCE – The Roman Republic
establishes the province of Gallia Transalpina in southeastern Gaul, known in
Rome as Provincia Nostra and outside Rome as Provincia Romana, whence the name
of the French region of Provence. The
province is later known as Gallia Narbonensis.
104-100
BCE - Second Servile War
against the Roman Republic, led by Salvius.
100
BCE-650 CE – Civilization of
Teotihuacan in the Valley of Mexico.
100
BCE-300 CE - Eire's Heroic Age.
73-71
BCE - Third Servile War
against the Roman Republic, led by Spartacus. It was defeated by Marcus
Licinis Crassus, with some assistance from Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus. Crassus' legions capture 6,000 surviving
rebels and crucify all of them along the Appian Way from Roma to Capua.
60 BCE –
Conspiracy of Dumnorix of the Aedui, Casticus of the Sequani, and Orgetorix of
the Helvetii to seize control of Gaul and rule it as a triumvirate, beginning
with the migration of the Helvetii to southwestern Gaul (Gallia Aquatanica) from
Switzerland. The plans for the
triumvirate are aborted after the Helvetii learn of them, but two years later
they attempt the relocation, instigating Caesar’s invasion.
58 BCE–50 BCE – The Gallic Wars of Imperator Gaius
Iulius Caesar and Legatus Titus Atius Labienus, during which he not only
conquers all of Gallia Comata, but also invades Britannia and Germania.
Caesar's initial motive is to get himself out of debt.
56 BCE –
Caesar conquers the Veneti, the dominant Gaulish tribe of the Armorican
peninsula.
55 BCE – Caesar’s first invasion of Britannia.
At this
time, Eire is divided into five provinces, or coicids: Midhe, Ulaidh, Ol-nEchtmachta, Laighin, and
Mumhan.
54 BCE-428 CE – A branch of the Arsacid dynasty rules
the kingdom of Armenia.
54 BCE – Caesar’s second invasion of Britannia, to which the chief
resistance is led by Cassivellaunus of the Catuvellauni. He sets up Mandubracius of the Trinovantes as a client of Rome and makes the Catuvellani a
tributary state.
Indutiomarus of the
Treveri, rival to the king Cingetorix, instigates the uprising of the Belgae
under Ambiorix of the Eburones. Indutiomarus
dies in battle, but Ambiorix destroys the enhanced Legio XIV Gemina (15 cohorts) under legati Quintus
Titurius Sabinus and Lucius Aurunculeius Cotta at the Battle of Atuatuca. Rome immediately reconstituted the legion.
The revolt ends in 53 BCE with the
destruction of the Eburones as an entity and the flight of Ambiorix and his men
east over the Rhine. Many of the other Belgic leaders cross the
Channel to take refuge in Britain.
53-52 BCE – The Galli rise up under Vercingetorix, first and only King of the Galli. The Battle of
Lutetia on the plain of Garanella. The Battle of Gergovia. The
Siege and Battle of Alesia.
After this, the only action
in the Gallic Wars is mopping up, which continues until the outbreak of the
Roman Civil War in 50 BCE. Gaul is divided into three provinces: Gallia
Celtica (later Gallia Lugudensis),
Gallia Belgae, and Galla Aquitania (plus
Gallia Narbonensis).
One of the leaders of the
Galli, Commius of the Atrebates, escapes to Britain, where he establishes
himself as king of the Atrebates there.
49-45
BCE -
Great Roman Civil War, between Caesar's Populares and Pompey's Optimates.
43-33
BCE - Government of Roma by the legally-recognized
(Second) Triumvirate made up of Gaius Iulius Caesar Octavius, Marcus Antonius,
and Marcus Ameilius Lepidus.
43-42 BCE – Liberators Civil War, of the Triumvirate
against Marcus Iunius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus.
36 BCE - Lepidus is
expelled from the Triumvirate, left with only the title Pontifex Maximus.
Octavius has control of Gallia, Hispania, Italia, and Africa, while
Antonius controls Aegyptus, Graecia, Asia, and Syria.
32-30
BCE –
Anthony’s Civil War, of Octavius against Antonius and Cleopatra VII Philopater
of Aegyptus.
30-29 BCE –
Revolt of the Treveri and the Morini with German help.
27
BCE-284 CE -
The Principate period of the Imperium Romanum.
27 BCE - The Senate of
Roma grants Octavius the cognomen of Augustus and he adopts the title “princeps
senatus, princeps civitas”, making him the first emperor and changing the Roman
Republic into the Imperium Romanum.
The
population of the city of Rome at this time is one million.
22 BCE – Roma divides Gallia Comata into the provinces
of Gallia Aquitania, Gallia Lugdunensis, and Gallia Belgica.
21 BCE – Revolt of the Treveri under Julius Florus and the Aedui under Julius Sacrovir.
20 BCE –
Tincomarus succeeds his father Commius as King of the Atrebates in Britain and
becomes a client of the Roman Empire.
19 BCE – Gaius Iulius Caesar Octavius Augustus
finishes the conquest of Hispaniae.
16 BCE –
Octavius Caesar Augustus establishes the city of Augusta Terverorum (now the
German city of Trier) as the capital of the province of Gallia Belgica. The city later became the second capital of
the Gallic Empire 271-274, served as a seat of the western emperor 293-395 and as seat of the Praetorian Prefecture of Gaul 318-407.
12
BCE-100 CE -
The Buddhist Indo-Parthian Kingdom in roughly the same area as modern Pakistan.
1 BCE-500 CE – The Middle Woodland Period in North
America.
1 CE – Conchobar mac Nessa reigns as high king of
the Ulaidh at Emain Macha, Setanta Cu Chulain mac Sualtam is his champion, and
Ailill and Medb of the Ol-nEchtmachta in Cruachain are his chief rivals. The island of Ireland is at the time dominated by the Fir Domnann and the Osraige in the southeast, the Fir Mumhan in the southwest, the Fir Ol nEchmachta in the west, and the Ulaidh in the north.
9 CE – Battle of Teutoburg Forest, in which the army
of Legatus Publius Quinctilius Varus (three legions, three alae, six auxiliary
cohorts, plus cavalry) is destroyed in the forests east of the Rhine River
after being ambushed by German (Cherosci, Marsi, Bructeri, Sicambri, Suebi) warriors
led by Arminius of the Cherusci. After this disaster, Rome never again uses the
designations Legio XVII, Legio XVIII and Legio XIX.
10 CE – By this time, Cunobelinus rules
over both the Catuvellani and the Trinovantes; Suetonious calls him Britannorum
Rex.
Hellenistic domination of Central Asia and
northern India ends.
30-375 CE – The Kushan Empire dominates northern India
and Central Asia, a branch of the Yuezhi confederation.
36 CE - According to the Ecclesiastical Annals of Caesar Cardinal Baronius, Joseph of Arimathea lands this year at Glastonbury in southwestern Britannia, with passengers that include Mary the mother of Jesus, the apostles Philip and James bar Alphaeus, Lazarus, Mary, and Martha of Bethany, Marcella the handmaid, Mary wife of Clopas, Salome, Maximin, Eutropius, Cleon, Saturninus, Marial, Trophimus, and Sidonius.
40-43 CE – The Two Trung sisters liberate the Vietnamese people
from their domination by the Empire of China.
40 CE –
Caratacus son of Cunobelinus overthrows Verica, another son of Commius, and
adds the Atrebates to his kingdom.
Verica takes refuge in Rome, and this ultimately leads to the Claudian
invasion.
42
CE - Imperator Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus
Germanicus establishes the Classis Britannica at Bononia Gesoriacum (Boulogne-sur-Mer)
in preparation for the invasion of Britannia.
43 CE-84 CE – The Roman conquest of
Britain.
43
CE – Beginning
of the Roman conquest of Britannia, under Claudius Augustus, with Legio II
Augusta, Legio IX Hispana, Legio XIV Gemina Martia Victrix, and Legio XX Valeria Victrix.
The territories under the power of the Catuvellauni are the first to
fall, and become the nucleus of the new provincia of Britannia,
with its first capital at Camulodunum, formerly the seat of the subdued
Catuvellauni and before that of the Trinovantes. Verica is restored as king
of the Atrebates, but is soon succeeded by his son, Tiberius Claudius
Cogidubnus, who rules over the Regni, a people carved out of the original
territory, with the two others bearing the names Atrebates and Belgae. Besides these and the Catuvellauni, the
provincia includes the Cantiaci and the Trinovantes. Legio XX is based in the capital.
48-216 CE - The Western Hun Empire in Central Asia, under the overlordship of the Chinese Empire.
60 CE – Legatus Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, legatus Augustus pro
praetore (propraetor) of
Britannia, destroys the druidic school and sacred groves on Ynys Mon (Anglesey) in an attempt to eradicate their
influence.
The
Boudican revolt of the Britonici led by the Iceni queen Boudica begins. Three Roman towns are entirely destroyed and
50,000 colonists killed, nearly convincing Imperator Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus to abandon
Britain, but Boudica’s army is annihilated at the Battle of Watling Street the
following year. Camulodounum is
rebuilt as Colonia Claudia
Victricensis and the capital of the province is moved to
the also newly rebuilt commercial center on the Thames, Londinium.
66-73 – The Great Jewish Revolt. Imperator Titus Flavius Caesar Vespasianus Augustus takes Jerusalem in 70 and
utterly destroys it, including the Temple Mound, which is completely dismantled. Masada falls in 73.
66 – Legio XX Victrix Valeria
occupies Virconium Cornoviorum (Wroxeter, Shropshire).
67 – Legio XIV Gemina is
recalled to the Continent in anticipation of the invasion of Parthia which
never launches, but stays nonetheless.
70 – The Revolt of the Batavi
(in Germania Inferior), which is joined by the Treveri under Julius Classicus
and the Lingones under Julius Sabinus.
71 – Legio IX Hispana builds
the fort at Eboracum which becomes its base.
73 - The temple built
by former Jerusalem high priest Onias IV in Leontopolis in Aegyptus is
destroyed because Vespasian fears it may become a center of dissent.
74 –
Legio II Adiutrix begins building the fort of Deva Victrix (Chester, Cheshire).
75 –
Legio II Augusta Antonina, previously at Alchester (43), Waddon Hill (49), Isca
Dumnoniorum (Exeter, 55), and Glevum (Gloucester, 66), takes up quarters at
Isca Augusta (Caerleon).
79-81 –
Roman legions construct what is now called Dere Street from the fort at
Eboracum to what is now Carmond village northwest of Edinburgh at the mouth of
river Almond, a site possibly called Alaterva.
The road was used into the Late Middles Ages, the portion from Melrose
to Ediburgh known in Scotland as the
Royal Way.
80 – Gnaeus Julius Agricola, propraetor of
Britannia, reaches the River Tay and begins building a legionary fortress at
Inchtuthil, which he plans to be the largest in the Imperium Romanum, and other
fortifications north of the River Forth and River Clyde.
83 – Battle of Mons Graupius between the Romans
under Agricola and the Caledonii under Calgacus. Agricola marches as far into the north as
Cawdor, where his troops build a fort, then orders his praefetus classis to
sail around the north end of the island.
According to 18th century forger Charles
Bertram, upon his return to Londinum, Agricola names the new territories (north
of the firths) Vespasiana, but the work in which he
made this claim, De Situ Britanniae, was proven a hoax in the 19th century.
The Battle of Mons Graupius
marks the end of the conquest of Britain, and with all the territory south of
the Solway and Tyne pacified, the native Britonici are organized into civitates
based on the tribes:
Atrebatum (Calleva/Silchester)
Belgarum (Venta/Winchester)
Brigantum (Isurium/Aldborough)
Cantiacorum (Durovernum/Canterbury)
Cornoviorum (Viroconium/Wroxeter)
Dobunnorum (Corinium/Circencester)
Dumnoniorum (Isca/Exeter)
Icenorum (Venta/Caistor)
Regnensium (Noviomagus/Chichester)
Silurum (Venta/Caerwent)
Catuvellaunum (Verulamium/St. Alban's)
Durotrigum (Durnovaria/Dorchester)
Parisorum (Petuaria/Brough)
Demetarum (Moridunum/Carmarthen)
Carvetiarum (Luguvalium/Carlisle)
Corieltavarum (Ratae/Leicester)
Ordovicarum (Segontium/Caernarfon)
Deceangliarum (Canovium/Caerhun)
In addition to the capitals of the civitates, four coloniae are established: Camulodunum (Colchester), Lindum (Lincoln), Glevum (Gloucester), and Eboracum (York).
Beginning
of the uprising of the Aitheachtuatha in Ireland. Battle of Tara; Agricola sends a
unit of Auxiliae to Eire in support of the deposed Tuathal Techtmar.
85 - The main base of the
Classis Britannica is moved to Dubris (Dover).
87 –
Legio II Adiutrix is recalled to the Continent to take part in the Dacian wars
and becomes permanently stationed there.
88 –
After returning south from Agricol’s campaign in the north, Legio XX Valeria
Victrix takes up its base at the recently vacated Deva Victrix.
100-940 – Aksumite Empire on the west coast of the Red
Sea, which in the 4th century is one of the four great powers of the
world, the others being the Imperium Romanum, the Sassanid Empire, and the
Empire of China.
115-117 – The Kitos War. Revolt of the Jews in Cyrenaica, Aegyptus,
Cyprus, and Mesopotamia. It is quelled
by Lusius Quietus, procurator of Iudea.
Contemporary sources report that Libya is virtually depopulated by
slaughter and evacuation. The
Jewish quarter in Alexandria is completely destroyed at the end of the
uprising.
117 – The Legio IX Hispana marches into the
Highlands and disappears.
119 –
Imperator Caesar Traianus Hadrianus Augustus relocates Legio VI Victrix
Hispanesis Pia Fidelis Constans Britannica from Germania Inferior to northern
Britannia, stationing it as Eboracum.
122-157 – Reign of Conn Cétchathach as Ard Ri Eireann.
122-128 – Hadrian's Wall is built from the mouth of the
River Tyne to the Solway Firth, originally anchored in the east by Pons Aelius
(Newcastle-upon-Tyne) and in the west
by Luguvalium (Carlisle), until it is
extended to the fort of Segedunum (Wallsend)
in the east and the fort of Mais (Bowness-on-Solway)
in the west. A total of twenty-five
forts in all support the Wall.
132-135 – The Bar Kokhba War. It begins after Imperator Publius Aelius Trajanus Hadrianus Augustus
begins building Aelia Capitolina in placed of Jerusalem, destroyed in the Great
Jewish Revolt, in 130.
After the war’s conclusion, Hadrian merges all the provinces in the
area as Syria-Palestina and finishes the building of Aelia Capitolina. The new city includes a freshly rebuilt
Temple Mount with a wall around it and temples to Jupiter (later claimed as the
site of the Temple of Herod) and of Juno and Minerva (later claimed as the site
of Herod’s Royal Stoa) atop it. Nearby
is a grotto to Venus (later claimed as the Holy Sepulchre), a shrine to
Asclepius (later claimed as the pool of Bethesda), and a temple of Mercury
(later claimed as the Upper Room).
Meanwhile in nearby Bethlehem, the cave later claimed to be the site of
the Nativity serves the same function for followers of the god Mithras.
142-144 – The Antonine Wall is built between the Firth
of Forth and the Firth of Clyde, with eleven forts along its length.
150 – The
population of the Imperium Romanum at this time is between 65 million and 130
million persons, 21% to 40% of the world’s total population of an estimated 300
million.
155-158 – Revolt in Britain led by the Brigantes results in depletion of the legions to
the extent that replacements have to be transferred from the Rhine provinces. After the rebellion is completely put down, the
Brigantes find themselves bereft of their lands and with no monarch.
164 – The Romans abandon the Antonine Wall and fall
back to Hadrian’s Wall.
175 - Imperator Marcus
Aurelius Antoninus Augustus stations a unit of 5500 Sarmatian cavalry, Cuneus Sarmatarum, in Britannia at Bremetennacum. Veterans are noted in
the area as late as the 5th century. No
connection to the Roman commander Lucius Artorius Castus, Praefectus Castrorum
of Legio VI Victrix at Eboracum.
180 – The Caledonii (Coille Daon) cross over
the Antonine Wall to attack the Romans and stir up trouble among the Maetae. Imperator Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus
Augustus sends Lucius Ulpius Marcellus as propraetor to deal with the situation.
184 –
Following a ruthless campaign north of the Antonine Wall, the legions rise up
against Marcellus and Commodus over the former’s mistreatment of them, putting
forward one “Priscus” as emperor, who declines.
185 –
Marcellus is removed and replaced as propraetor of Britannia with Publius
Helvius Pertinax, a former tribune of Legio VI Victrix.
192-1832 – The kingdom of Champa dominates modern
southern Viet Nam. At first Hindu, the
kingdom becomes Muslim after the Dai Viet invasion of 1471.
192 –
Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus Augustus is assassinated
and Publius Helvius Pertinax, then urban prefect of
Rome, is
proclaimed his successor.
193 –
After a brief reign of 87 days, Imperator Caesar Publius Helvius Pertinax Augustus is
assassinated, after which Lucius Septimus Severus, legate of the Legio XIV Gemina Martia Victrix, is proclaimed emperor by his troops. Meanwhile, the legions in Britanniae proclaim Decimus Clodius Albinus, propraetor of Britannia, emperor, but he ends up throwing his
support to Severus to defeat the other two claimants, Marcus Didius Iulianus
and Gaius Pescennius Niger.
196 – Albinus, still propraetor of Britannia,
declares himself Imperator Caesar Decimus Clodius Septimius Albinus Augustus and invades Galliae in a revolt against Imperator Lucius Septimius Severus Augustus.
197 – Severus Augustus defeats Albinus at the Battle of Lugdunum. He sends Virius Lupus as chief governor of Britannia, and he divides the single province of Britannia is divided into two:
Britannia Superior (Londinium)
Britannia Inferior (Eboracum)
Lupus arrives to find the Maeatae (Miathi) and the Caledonii have broken their treaties with Roma and begun raiding the south. Lacking sufficient troops to halt them militarily, Lupus pays off the Maeatae, the southernmost of the two confederations, to cease.
Early 3rd century - The rise of the Connachta in the west of Ireland, displacing the Fir Ol nEchmachta and giving their name to the province.
208-211 – Severus invades the North with three legions, 9000 imperial guards with cavalry support, and numerous auxiliaries and defeats the Caledonii, who have begun another war but is eventually forced back behind Hadrian’s Wall after losing too many men to guerrilla tactics by the defeated comined with an uprising of the Maeatae. He is preparing another invasion at Eboracum in 211 when he dies.
c. 220 - The Eóganachta dynasty is established in
Mumhan.
224 – The Arsacid Empire in Iran falls to the
armies of the Sassanids in Fars, and the Sassanid Empire is established by
Ardashir I. Though its state religion is
officially Zurvanism (a branch of Zoroastrianism), it tolerates nearly all
religions. The language of the Iranian
Empire becomes Pahlavi, or Middle Persian.
226-266 – Reign of Cormac mac Airt as Ard Ri Eireann,
which includes the activities of Fionn mac Cumhaill as head of the Fianna
Eireann, among which is the repulsion of a Roman incursion at the Cath
Finntraga.
235-284 - Crisis of the Third
Century in the Imperium Romanum: the empire nearly collapses under the weight
of invasion, civil war, plague, and economic depression.
250-900 – Classic period of Mayan civilization in
Mesoamerica.
260-274 – The Imperium
Galliarum, with its seat at Augusta Trevorum and including Gallia Belgica, Gallia
Lugdunensis, Gallia Aquitania, Gallia Narbonensis, Germania Superior, Germania
Inferior, Britannia Superior, Britannia Inferior, Hispania Baetica, Hispania
Lusitania, and Hispania Tarraconensis, is established when Postumus rebels against Imperator Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus Augustus,
son of Imperator Publius Licinius
Valerianus Augustus who at the time is a prisoner of the Sassanids.
Its
rulers are:
Marcus Cassianius Latinius Postumus (260-269)
Ulpius
Cornelius Laelianus (269)
Marcus
Aurelius Marius (269)
Marcus
Piavonus Victorinus (269-271)
Gaius
Pius Esuvius Tetricus (271-274)
The provinces of Hispania realigned with Rome
following the overthrow of Postumus in 269.
Rome retook Narbonensis and part of Aquitania briefly that same year,
but those areas were recovered by Tetricus in 271. The entire territory returned to the Imperium
Romanum in 274 after the Battle of Chalon against Imperator Lucius Domitius Aurelianus Augustus.
260-273 - Palmyrene Empire in
Aegyptus, Syria-Palestina, and southeast and south central Anatolia.
270-420 - First kingdom of
the Buddhist Indo-Sassanid Kushanshahs in Bactria and Gandhara.
270 – About this time, the system of forts late
known as the Litus Saxonicum (Saxon Shore) start being built, based on the system
of forts supporting the Classis Britannica (the coastal patrol), at first in
defense against the Frisii, for whom the North Sea is at the time called Mare Frisicum.
274 – The Imperium Galliarum is reunited with the Imperium
Romanum.
284-480 – Dominate period
of the Imperium Romanum, so called for Imperator Gaius Aurelius Valerius
Diocletianus Augustus demanding to be addressed as Dominus, a practice
every ruler after him followed.
284-285 - First uprising
of the Bagaudae, in Galliae and Hispaniae, against the imposition of feudalism
and serfdom.
285 - Imperator Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus
Augustus divides the Imperium Romanum into Eastern and Western halves under
himself at Nicodemia in the east and Imperator Marcus Aurelius Valerius
Maximianus Herculius Augustus, the lesser of two equals, in the west at Roma.
286 – Marcus
Aurelius Mausaeus Valerius Carausius, commander of the Classis
Britannica, sets himself up as emperor of Britanniae and northern Galliae, a state referred to by historians as the Imperium Britannicum, taking the title
Restitutor Britanniae.
293 – Diocletianus Augustus divides the Imperium
Romanum into four parts, known as the Tetrarchy, two of which fall under an
Imperator Augustus, and two smaller under Caesars (Marcus Flavius Valerius Constantius Herculius at Augusta Terverorum and
Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus at Sirmium). He
further moves the capital of the West from Roma to Meliandum (Milan) and reduces the size of the
empire’s provinces and groups them into twelve dioceses, each under a vicarius.
294 – Imperator Caesar Marcus
Aurelius Mausaeus Carausius Augustus is murdered by his treasurer,
Allectus, who takes his place.
296 - As part of his tax
reforms, Diocletianus Augustus institutes the legal status of colonus, tying
formerly free laborers to the land of the latifundia, great landed estates of
conquered territory, upon which they live and work, thereby creating serfdom.
297 - First reference to the Picti by that name.
Imperator Caesar Allectus
Augustus is defeated
in battle at Cavella Atrebatum
(Silchester) and killed by the Roman army and his dominions are reunited with the
Empire. Caesar Marcus Flavius Valerius Constantius Herculius Chlorus
divides Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior into four new provinces,
making it a diocese headed by a vicarius, under the Prefecture of Galliae:
Britannia Maxima Caesariensis (Londinium)
Britannia
Prima (Corinium)
Britannia
Secunda (Eboracum)
Britannia Flavia
Caesariensis (Lindum)
The
governor of the first is a consularis, of the other three are praesides.
Britannia Maxima covered
the densely-populated southeast; Britannia Prima roughly what became Wales and
Dumnonia; Britannia Flavia the area of the later Mercia; and Britannia Secunda the later part of Northumbria south of
Hadrian’s Wall. In addition, Londinium, the capital of the
diocese as well as of Britannia Maxima, is renamed Augusta, though the
designation never gained widespread usage.
In the same reform, the
provinces of Gaul are divided into the Diocese of Galliae (Lugdunensis I, Lugdunensis
II, Lugdunensis III, Lugdunensis IV Senonia, Belgica I, Belgica II, Germania I,
Germania II, and Maxima Sequanorum) and the Diocese of Viennensis or Septem
Provinciae (Aquitania I, Aquitania II, Aquitania III Novempopulana, Narbonensis
I, Narbonensis II, Viennensis, Alpes Maritimae, and Alpes Poeninae et Graiae).
4th century – The Connachta
tribe known as the Ui Neill moves north to occupy the west and north of
Ulster.
305 – About this time a group of Deisi establishes
a colony among the Demetae; a group of Laighin is granted land in Lleyn
peninsula; and the Eoganachta are given lands in the later Ceredigion (under
Lethan), Dumnonia (under Corpre), and Circinn in the north (under Fidig). The Ui Laithin have a colony in
Dumnonia. A group of Ui Bairrche settle
in Scotland.
305-306 – Constantius Chlorus Augustus crosses north
of Hadrian’s Wall to campaign in the Lowlands north of the Antonine Wall,
accompanied by his son Flavius Valerius Constantinus.
306-324 - Civil Wars
of the Tetrarchy.
306 – Constantius
Chlorus Augustus dies at Eboracum and his son is proclaimed Imperator Caesar Flavius
Valerius Constantinus Augustus, known to history as Constantine the Great, by his troops.
313 – The Tetrarchy system falls, leaving
Constantine sole emperor, though the system of smaller provinces grouped into
twelve dioceses remains intact.
315 - Imperator Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustus
awards himself the title of Britannicus.
320-550 – The Gupta Empire dominates the Indian
subcontinent, bringing about the Golden Age of India.
325 – Constantinus Augustus
Britannicus, Comes Solis Invicti, convenes the First Ecumenical Council of
the Christian Church at Nicaea, which upholds Trinitarianism, sets the method
of calculating Easter, and condemns Arianism. It also issues the original
Nicene Creed, recognizes the See of Alexandria as nearly equal to Roma, affirms
the same for the See of Antioch but with a little bit less equality, and
establishes the status of the See of Jerusalem.
326 - Cairill mac Cairbre, aka Colla Uais, Ard Ri
Eireann, is overthrown by Muiredach Tirech and expelled to Alba, along with his
two brothers, Aed, aka Colla Menn, and Muiredach, aka Colla Co Frith, and three
hundred warriors.
330 – Constantinus Augustus establishes Nova
Roma (Constantinopolis) at the site of the city of Byzantium, making it
the senior capital of the whole Imperium Romanum.
331 - The Three Collas return to Ireland, defeat
the last Ulaidh high king of Ulster, destroy Emain Macha, and create the
kingdom of Airgialla, with the Ulaidh now confined to the northeast of their
former kingdom.
335 - The First Synod of Tyre called by Constantinus Augustus tries Athanasius, now Bishop of Alexandria, on several charges, the affair presided over by Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea. Upon conviction, Athanasius travels to Constantinopolis to appeal to the emperor, who dismisses all charges but one. That one, however, is sufficient to depose him, and with his deposition, Arianism regains some of its position.
337 – At the death of Constantinus Augustus, the
Imperium Romanum is divided into three praetorian prefectures:
Prefecture
of Galliae (including Galliae, Viennensis or Septem Provinciae, Britanniae, Hispaniae, Germaniae, and Tingitana)
Prefecture
of Italiae (plus the Balkans and Africa)
Prefecture
of the Orient (Thracia, Anatolia, Syria-Palestina, Aegyptus,
Libya).
The
Praefecti of these units have authority only over civil administration.
In addition to these regions, Roma and Constantinopolis each have their own
Praefectus.
The
Magister Militum per Galliae reports to the Magister Utriusquae Militiae, who
answers to the western Augustus. The military in the field is
restructured too.
In the Diocese of Britanniae, there are three commands,
who officially report to the Magister Militum per Galliae:
Comes
Maritimi Tractus, under whom are Legio II Augusta, now at Ritupiae
(Richborough), plus limitanei that include 3000 foot and 600 horse
Dux Britanniarum, under whom are Legio VI Legio VI Victrix at Eboracum,
plus limitanei that include 14,000 foot and 900 horse
Comes
(Rei Militaris) Britanniae, under whom are Legio XX Valeria Victrix at Deva Victrix, plus
comitatenses that include 2200 foot, 200 horse
The
Comes Maritimi Tractus supervises shore defense of both sides of the Mare
Britannicum (English Channel) and also has under his command the Classis Britannica,
which is based at both Dubris (Dover) in Britanniae and at Bononia Gesoriacum (Boulogne-sur-Mer)
in Galliae.
The Classis Germanica, based at Castra Vestra (Xanten)
then at Colonia Aggrippensis (Cologne), mostly patrols the Rhine River,
but also the coast at its mouth on the Mare Frisicum (North Sea) under
commanders in Galliae.
347 - The vicarius of
Britanniae sets up a laeti colony of Frisii that later becomes known as Caer
Peris or Dun Fries.
350-353 – Revolt of Flavius Magnus Magnentius, who usurps Imperator Caesar Flavius Julius Constans Augustus,
actively supported by Britanniae, Galliae, and Hispaniae.
351-352 – Revolt of the Jews in Galilee against Caesar Flavius Claudius Constantius Gallus.
356 – The Imperium Romanum carves the Prefecture of
Illyricum (Illyria, Dalmatia, Graecia, and Dacia) largely from Italiae.
357 – Maine Mor establishes in Ol-nEchtmachta the
kingdom later known as Ui Maine.
360-363 - The reign of
Imperator Caesar Flavius Claudius Iulianus Augustus, known as Julian the
Apostate, the last pagan ruler of the Imperium Romanum.
360 - The Scoti and Picti raid the diocese of Britanniae.
363 – Iulianus Augustus orders the temple in
Jerusalem to be rebuilt, but the effort fails largely due to sabotage by
Christians, ambivilance by Jewish leaders in Palestina, and his own death in
battle against the Sassanids in Iran.
364 – Raiding of the diocese of Britanniae by the Picti, Saxonici, Scoti, and Attacotti.
Imperator Caesar Flavius Jovianus Augustus
orders the Library of Antioch burned and decrees the death penalty for ancestor
worship and for taking part in any pagan ceremonies, even private ones. He also forbids non-Christians from
commanding Roman soldiers.
366 – Damasus I, Bishop of Roma, convinces
Imperator Caesar Flavius Valentianus Augustus to give him the title Pontifex
Maximus, becoming the first Pope in the modern sense of the word.
Second
uprising of the Bagaudae, in Galliae, against feudalism and serfdom, in conjunction
with an invasion of the Alemanni.
367-369 – War against the confederation of the Picti, Attacotti, and Scoti attacking Britanniae and the Saxonici and Franci attacking northern Galliae. At
this time, Roman sources report the Picti have consolidated into two known
confederations, the Verturiones and the Dicalydones, though a third likely
exists in the far north dominated by the Catti.
It begins after the Roman garrisons along Hadrian’s Wall rebel in conjunction with native frontier troops known as areani; northern and western Britanniae are overwhelmed. In the midst of the chaos, Valentinus and other exiles begin planning a revolt. In the fighting both Nectadarius, Comes Maritimi Tractus, is killed, and Fullofades, Dux Britanniarum, captured. The “Great Conspiracy” is finally defeated by a force under Flavius Theodosius, Comes Rei Militaris per Britanniarum. Afterwards, Theodosius disbands the areani and organizes a new civil administration.
369 – An additional province,
Valentia, is added to the Diocese of Britanniae in the north, its governor a
consularis. For centuries, general hypothesis
held this to be in southern Scotland between the Walls, with its seat at Habitanicum
(Risingham, Northumberlandshire) on Dere Street, or else at Luguvalium
(Carlisle). Since the late 20th century,
dissenting opinions have suggested it was rather in Wales, with its seat at
Deva, or else covered Cumberlandshire-Westmorelandshire, with its seat at Luguvalium.
Either at this time or shortly after, a sixth province likely existed in the Orkney Islands, called Orcades. At least one source claims that the Lowlands north of the Antonine Wall was called Vespasiana Thule with the Highlands designated as Caledonia.
375-454 - European Hun Empire in southern Russia, Ukraine, Romania, northern Yugoslavia, Hungary, Austria, Czechoslvakia, southern and central Germany.
376-1022 - The Ui Neill
rule as Ard Ri Eireann/Ri hEireann Uile, with the exception of the two decades
of Brian Borumha.
376 – Death of Crimthann mac Fidaig, first of the
great raiding Ard Ri Eireann who prey on the Pictii, Britanniae, Armoricae, and
Galliae; succession of Niall Noígíallach, son of previous Ard Ri Eochaid
Mugmedón and Cairenn Chasdubh, daughter of the Pictish king of Fortrenn, or
Uerturio, at Inverness. His
half-brothers Brion, Ailill, and Fiachrae found dynasties in Ol-nEchtmachta,
which takes their family name, Connachta.
380 - The Edict of Thessalonika,
issued jointly by Flavius Theodosius Augustus, Flavius Gratianus Augustus, and
Flavius Valentianus Augustus, makes Nicene Christianity the official religion
of the Imperium Romanum.
381 – The Second Ecumenical Council at Constantinopolis condemns
Apollinarianism and approves additions to the Creed to bring it to its present
form and make it the Niceno-Constantinopolan Creed. It mainly reaffirms
the “official” Church’s anti-Arianism, but also recognizes the primacy of the
See of Constantinopolis over any other save Roma.
382 – Third wave of raiding by Scotti, Pictii, and
Saxonici. Aed Brosc of the Deisi is
brought over to help repel the raids.
After
their defeat, Magnus Maximus, Comes Britanniarum, assigns
praefecti gentium to commands in the north:
Quintilius
son of Clemens at Alt Clut (Dinas y Brython/Dunbarton)
Paternus
son of Tacitus at Din Paladur (Traprain Law)
Catellius
Decianus at Din Gefron (Yeavering Bell)
Antonius
Donatus Gregorius (son of Magnus Maximus) in Novant; he later transfers to
Demetia in Wales.
Ruling
dynasties later trace their descent back to these praefecti.
383-388 – Revolt of Magnus Maximus, who becomes Imperator
Caesar Augustus of the West.
383 – Comes Maximus establishes
local rulers and Roman army officers as praefecti gentium across the later Wales. Fed up with Imperator Flavius
Gratianus Augustus favoring his Alani troops, the legions in Britanniae declare
Maximus emperor. Maximus crosses to the
Continent and defeats Gratian when most of the latter’s forces change sides in
the battle. Now Imperator Flavius Magnus
Maximus Augustus establishes Augusta Trevorum as his capital. First wave of Britonici colonists to Armorica.
The
deposed emperor, son of Imperator Flavius Valentinianus Augustus (Valentinian I), was named for
his grandfather, Gratianus Funarius, who served as Comes Britanniarum in the
340s during the reign of Imperator Caesar Flavius Iulius Constans Augustus.
384 – On the northern coast of his
native Gallaecia, Maximus Augustus establishes a military base that later becomes
the foundation of the Britonic colony of Nova Britannia, or Britonia.
385 –
Maximus Augustus has Priscillian executed for sorcery, though the true reason
is for heresy.
387 –
Maximus Augustus issues an edict condemning Christians who burned down a Jewish
synagogue in Rome, for which he is criticized by St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan. Maximus then invades Italia, captures Milan,
and forces out junior emperor of the West Flavius Valentinianus (Valentinian
II).
388 –
Maximus is defeated by the forces of Valentinian II and Imperator Flavius Theodosius
Augustus of the East (and son of the former Comes Britanniarum of the same
name) at the Battle of Poetovio. Surrendering
at Aquileia, he is executed.
389-395 – Theodosian War on Paganism in the Imperium
Romanum.
391 - The Theodosian Decrees
outlaw several pagan religious practices. The eternal fire at the temple
of Vesta is extinguished and the Vestal Virgins disbanded. The Serapeum
in Alexandria, chief temple of the syncretic god Serapis, is destroyed
completely by a mob of Christians inspired by a decree from Pope Theophilus,
Bishop of Alexandria. The mob also destroys the Musaeum of the city with
its Great Library of Alexandria.
392 - Theodosius Augustus
closes the sanctuaries of Demeter and Persephone at Eleusis, bringing the
ancient Eleusinian Mysteries to an end.
393 - The last of the ancient
Olympic Games, banned after this year by decree from Theodosius Augustus, who
shuts down the Oracle of Delphi as well.
395 – Following the death of Imperator Caesar
Flavius Theodosius Augustus in 395, the Imperium Romanum is once again split
into Eastern and Western halves, only this time the division is permanent.
At
this time, the office of Comes Maritimi Tractus becomes the Comes Litoris
Saxonici per Britanniae, with responsibilities limited to the British side of
the Mare Frisicum. This is also the case
for the Classis Britannica.
Across the Mare
Britannicum, two new commands now guard the coasts of Armorica, Nervica, and
Belgica Segunda. The territory of the
Dux Belgicae Secondae is limited to the province of the same name but includes
the Classis Sambricae, based at Quartensis (Étaples-sur-Mer) and Cap Hornu (Saint-Valery-sur-Somme). The territory of the Dux Tractus Armoricani
et Nervicani includes Lugdunensis II, Lugdunensis III, Lugudnensis IV Senonia, Aquitania
I, & Aquitania II.
396-398 –
Stilicho’s Pictish War, named for Flavius Stilicho, the first Comes et Magister Utriusque
Militiae.
397 - Death of St. Martin of Tours, who becomes one
of the most important saints in Celtic Christianity.
400-1000 – The Medieval Cool Period.
400-800 – The Golden Age of Eire. Learning, art, literature, culture,
international influence reach its peak.
400 –
Comes Stilicho orders Hadrian’s Wall repaired.
Early 5th century - Niall of the Nine Hostages, progenitor of the Ui Neill, establishes himself at Tara as the first true High King of Ireland along with Meath as a province.
402 – Flavius Stilcho, Magister Utriusquae Militiae,
withdraws some legions from Britanniae to face the Gothi in Italiae.
Meanwhile, Imperator Caesar Flavius Honorius Augustus moves his seat from
Meliandum to Ravenna for defensive purposes.
405 – Fourth wave of raiding by Scotti, Pictii, and
Saxonici. The Dal Riata, pressured by
the Ulaidh who are retreating before the northern Ui Neill, begin to colonize
Earr a’ Gaidheal.
Death of
Niall Noígíallach, Ard Ri Eireann, ancestor of the Ui Neill dynasty and second
of the great raiding High Kings; succession of Feradach Dathi mac Fiachrae, his
nephew.
406 – In response to the invasion of Galliae by the
Suebi, Alani, Vandali, and Burgundi, the legions of Britain revolt and nominate
a usurper named Marcus as emperor.
407 – Marcus is killed by his troops and replaced
with Gratian. Gratian is killed by the
troops because he would not order them to cross over to Galliae to stop the
“barbarians”. The troops in Britanniae
then nominate Flavius Claudius Constantinus, who moves to Galliae with the
remaining legions.
409-417 - Third uprising
of the Bagaudae, in the lower Loire Valley, against feudalism and serfdom.
409 – The Vandali, Buri, Suevi, and Alani ravage
the Diocese of Galliae until driven into Iberia by the Visigothi. The
tribes establish kingdoms that are Arian rather than Catholic.
The Saxonici
begin raiding the shores of Britanniae and Armorica in large numbers. Cut off by the chaos, the people of
Britanniae and of Armorica appeal to the central government for
assistance. Imperator Caesar Flavius Honorius Augustus tells them to
attend their own affairs; therefore, they expel their imperial officials and declare
independence.
410-650 - Sub-Roman
Britain's Heroic Age.
410 - Coelistius, aka Coel Hen, assumes control of
the North, the area known to the Cymry as Hen Ogledd, its people as the Gwyr y
Gogledd.
Ceretic (Coroticus) Guletic,
possibly a descendant of Quintilius ap Clemens, establishes the kingdom of Alt
Clut (later Ystrad Clud, Strathclyde, Cumbria; Strað-Clota to the Angles), with its capital at Dinas y Brython
(Dunbarton).
The kingdoms of Cernyw in the west and of Ewyas in the east
are established among the Silures in what is now southeastern Wales, the first
with its seat at Venta Silurum (Caerwent).
There are
Irish incursions into Venedotia, Cornovia, Siluria, Demetia, and the Gower
Peninsula.
The Visigothi
under Alaric invade Italia and sack Roma.
Among other damage, they destroy significant parts of the aqueduct system
of the city and other infrastructure.
411 - Capture at Arles of Capture at Arles of
Imperator Caesar Flavius Claudius Constantinus Augustus, last emperor from
Britanniae, who is executed at Ravenna soon afterward.
411-429 – Raiding of Britanniae by Pictii, Scotti, and
Saxonici.
413 – Pelagian heresy said to begin.
415 - Mathmetician and
widely-respected pagan philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria, daughter of Theon
Alexandricus, the last director of the Great Library, is pulled from her
chariot, stripped naked, dragged through the streets of the city to the
Caesareum, where she is flayed with sea shells, dismembered, and burned by a
crowd inspired by St. Cyril of Alexandra.
Honorius
confiscates all pagan temples in the Imperium Romanum.
417 – The revolts in Armorica and Britanniae are
suppressed, followed by the return of some level of imperial presence in both
regions.
418 - Descendants of Antonius
Donatus establish a sub-Roman kingdom in Wyr Enouant (Novant), the area of
later Galwyddel or Galloway.
Ynys Weith, or the Isle of
Wight, is given to a group of Geatish settlers as foederati. They establish Vectis, becoming the Wihtwara.
Pelagian “heresy” outlawed in Roma after it
is condemned at the Council of Carthage and the decision affirmed by Pope
Zozimus, but in Britanniae and Hibernia, along with Gaul, enjoys much support
from “pro-Celtic” faction.
Traditionalists support Roma.
Imperator
Caesar Flavius Honorius Augustus grants his Visigothi allies land in Aquitania
to settle as foederati. Thus begins the kingdom of the Visigoths, which
since the Visigoths were converted to that faith in the mid-300's is Arian, at
least among the gentry.
420-567 - Hephthalite, or White Hun, Empire in Bactria, Gandhara (northwestern India), and Central Asia.
420 - Death of Coel Hen. The lands of his office divide into the
kingdoms of Gododdin (at Din Paladur or
Traprain Law), Bryneich (at Din
Guardi or Bamburgh), Ebrauc (at Eboracum
or York), and Deifr (at Petuaria or
Brough). The descendants of Coel,
called the Coelingas by the Germanic invaders, rule Ebrauc and Deifr, and later
Rheged, Eidyn, and Elmet. The rulers at
Din Paladur trace their line back to Paternus ap Tacitus and the rulers at Din
Guardi to Catellius Decianus of Din Gefron.
The kingdom of Ceint
(Cantiacum) is established.
Eógan mac
Néill establishes the kingdom of Aileach (aka Tir Eogain) while his brother
Conall Gulban mac Neill establishes the kingdom of Tir Conaill, both in
territory carved out of Ulster.
421 - Death of Gradlon Mawr of Armorica, which is
now coming to be called Brittania Minor; division of Armorica into Kernev (Cornouaille) and Domnonea (Domnonée).
423 - Birth of St. Patrick in Banna Venta Burniae
(near Birdoswald).
424 –
The kingdom of Ceredigion is established north of Dyfed.
425-450 – Marcus Conor Mor flourishes in Dumnonia.
425 – Flavius Aetius, the “last of the Romans”,
becomes Comes and Magister Militum per Galliae.
Vortigern
comes to power, possibly as head of the Council of Britain, but almost
certainly as the supreme political figure.
* * * * *
Approximate date the Notitia Dignatum is published, with its
account of civil government and the military accurate to between 410 and 420.
At the top of the Diocese of Britanniae
was the Vicarius, whose staff included a chief of staff, a chief deputy, two
receivers of taxes, a chief clerk, a custodian, a chief assistant, a keeper of
records, assistants, secretaries, notaries, and the rest of the staff.
At the next level were the governors of
provinces. Those of Britannia Prima and Valentia each had a
consularis, while those of Britannia Secunda, Flavia Caesariensis, and Maxima
Caesariensis each had a praesides.
In addition to reaffirming the five
province structure of the diocese, the ND lists the following military commands. In the late Roman army, a numerus was a unit
of 300. A cohort was a unit of 480. An ala was a special cavalry unit. The legion of the late Roman army had 1000
infantry soldiers rather than the 5000 mostly infantry supported by cavalry.
Many of the local and tribal
designations along with specialized functions such as “exploratorum” and “vigilum”
were traditional and may have had little to do with the actual origin,
composition, and duties at this date.
The ND did not include Roman forts in
Valentia, between the Walls, nor in (North) Wales, probably
because, as noted above, these had previously been turned over to local rulers
and Roman officers.
Each of these commanders
had as adminstrative staff a chief of staff, two paymasters, an assistant, a
subassistant, an accountant and legal expert, administrator, lawyers,
bodyguards, and other officials.
Comes (Rei Militaris) Britanniae
Includes
military command over the diocese for all Roman Britain with direct charge of
the comitatus, or field army, of which are the following units.
Primani iuniores
(legiones
comitatenses; heavy infantry)
Secundani iuniores
(legiones
comitatenses; heavy infantry)
Victores iuniores Britanniciani
(an
auxilia palatinae; medium infantry)
Equites cataphractarii iuniores
(heavy
cavalry)
Equites stablesiani
(heavy
cavalry)
Equites scutarii Aureliaci
(heavy
cavalry)
Equites Honoriani seniores
(a
vexillationes comitatenses)
Equites Syres
(mercenary
cavalry)
Equites Taifali
(mercenary
cavalry)
Comes litoris
Saxonici per Britanniam
Includes command
over the limitanei on the southern coast of the Oceanus Britannica and the
eastern coast of the Mare Frisicum.
Praefectus legionis II Augustae,
Rutupis
(Richborough,
Kent)
*Praefectus classis Britannicae, Dubris
(Dover,
Kent)
Praepositus numeri Fortensium, Othonae
(Bradwell,
Essex)
Praepositus militum Tungrecanorum,
Dubris
(Dover,
Kent)
Praepositus numeri Turnacensium,
Lemannis
(Lympne,
Kent)
Praepositus equitum Dalmatarum
Branodunensium, Branoduno
(Brancaster,
Norfolk)
Praepositus equitum stablesianorum
Gariannonensium, Gariannonor
(Burgh
Castle, Norfolk)
Tribunus cohortis primae Baetasiorum,
Regulbio
(Reculver,
Kent)
Praepositus numeri Abulcorum, Anderidos
(Pevensey,
East Sussex)
Praepositus numeri exploratorum, Portum
Adurni
(reconnaissance;
Portchester, Hampshire)
*Not listed in
the Notitia Dignatum, but then neither are the forts in Valentia and Britannia
Secunda.
Dux
Britanniarum
Includes command
over the limitanei in Maxima Caesariensis and along the Vallum (Hadrian’s
Wall), with some authority over Valentia and possibly over Britannia Secunda.
Praefectus legionis VI, Eboracum
(York,
Yorkshire)
Praefectus equitum Dalmatarum,
Praesidio
(near
Bridlington, Humberside)
Praefectus equitum Crispianorum, Dano
(Doncaster,
Yorkshire)
Praefectus equitum catafractariorum,
Morbio
(Ilkley,
Yorkshire)
Praefectus numeri barcariorum
Tigrisiensium, Arbeia
(South
Shields, Tyne & Wear)
Praefectus numeri Nevuiorum Dictensium,
Dicti
(Old
Winteringham)
Praefectus numeri vigilum, Concangios
(“watchmen”;
Chester-le-Street, Durham)
Praefectus numeri exploratorum,
Lavatres
(Bowes,
Durham)
Praefectus numeri directorum, Verteris
(“guides”;
Brough Castle, Cumbria)
Praefectus numeri defensorum,
Barboniaco
(“defenders”;
Kirkby Thore, Cumbria)
Praefectus numeri Solensium, Maglone
(Old
Carlisle, Cumbria)
Praefectus numeri Pacensium, Magis
(Burrow
Walls or Drumburgh)
Praefectus numeri Longovicanorum,
Longovicio
(Lanchester,
Durham)
Praefectus numeri supervenientium
Petueriensium, Deruentione
(Malton,
Yorkshire)
Units along the
Wall:
Tribunus cohortis quartae Lingonum,
Segeduno
(Wallsend,
Tyne & Wear; Segedunum)
Tribunus cohortis primae Cornoviorum,
Ponte Aeli
(Newcastle,
Tyne & Wear; Pont Aelius)
Praefectus alae primae Asturum,
Conderco
(Benwell,
Tyne & Wear)
Tribunus cohortis primae Frixagorum,
Vindobala
(Rudchester,
Northumberland)
Praefectus alae Sabinianae, Hunno
(Halton
Chesters, Northumberland; Onnum)
Praefectus alae secundae Asturum,
Cilurno
(Chesters,
Northumberland; Cilurnum)
Tribunus cohortis primae Batavorum,
Procolitia
(Carrawburgh,
Northumberland; Brocolitia)
Tribunus cohortis primae Tungrorum,
Borcovicio
(Housesteads,
Northumberland; Vercovicium)
Tribunus cohortis quartae Gallorum,
Vindolana
(Chesterholm,
Northumberland; Vindolanda)
Tribunus cohortis primae Asturum,
Aesica
(Great
Chesters, Northumberland)
Tribunus cohortis secundae Dalmatarum,
Magnis
(Carvoran,
Northumberland)
Tribunus cohortis primae Aeliae
Dacorum, Amboglanna
(Birdoswald,
Cumbria; Camboglanna)
Praefectus alae Petrianae, Petrianis
(Stanwix
or Wreay, Cumbria; Vxelodunum)
Praefectus numeri Maurorum
Aurelianorum, Aballaba
(Burgh-by-Sands,
Cumbria)
Tribunus cohortis secundae Lingonum,
Congavata
(Kirkbride
or Drumburgh, Cumbria)
Tribunus cohortis primae Hispanorum,
Axeloduno
(Maryport
or Netherby, Cumbria; Castra Exploratorum)
Tribunus cohortis secundae Thracum,
Gabrosenti
(Workington
or Moresby, Cumbria)
Tribunus cohortis primae Aeliae
classicae, Tunnocelo
(Bowness
or near Calder Bridge, Cumbria)
Tribunus cohortis primae Morinorum,
Glannibanta
(Ravenglass,
Cumbria)
Tribunus cohortis tertiae Neruiorum,
Alione
(Lancaster,
Lancashire; Calunium)
Cuneus Sarmatarum, Bremetenraco
(Ribchester,
Lancashire; Bremetenacum)
Praefectus alae primae Herculeae,
Olenaco
(Elslack,
Yorkshire; Olenacum)
Tribunus cohortis sextae Neruiorum,
Virosido
(Brough-by-Bainbridge,
Yorkshire; Virosidum)
The following
two commands of territory in Galliae formerly under the Comes Maritimi Tractus
coordinate with the Comes Litoris Saxonici.
Dux tractus
Armoricani et Nervicani
Includes command
over the limitanei Lugdunensis II, Lugdunensis III, Lugudnensis IV Senonia,
Aquitania I, & Aquitania II
Tribunus cohortis primae novae
Armoricanae, Grannona in litore Saxonico
(Port-en-Bessin,
France)
Praefectus militum Carronensium, Blabia
(Blaye,
France)
Praefectus militum Maurorum Benetorum,
Venetis
(Vannes,
Brittany)
Praefectus militum Maurorum
Osismiacorum, Osismis
(Brest,
Britanny)
Praefectus militum superventorum,
Mannatias
(Nantes,
Britanny)
Praefectus militum Martensium, Aleto
(Saint-Malo-de-Beignon,
Britanny)
Praefectus militum primae Flaviae,
Constantia
(Countances,
Normandy, France)
Praefectus militum Ursariensium,
Rotomagus
(Rouen,
Normandy, France)
Praefectus militum Dalmatarum,
Abrincatis
(Avranches,
Normandy, France)
Praefectus militum Grannonensium,
Grannona
(Port-en-Bessin,
France)
Dux Belgicae
Secundae
Includes command
over the limitanei in Belgica Secunda and over the Classis Sambricae.
Equites Dalmatae, Marcis in litore
Saxonico
(prob.
Marck, France; Marquise or Mardyck also poss.)
Praefectus classis Sambricae, in loco
Quartensi siue Hornensi
(Port
d’Etaples and Cap Hornu or Saint-Valery-sur-Somme)
Tribunus militum Nerviorum, Portu
Epatiacus
(Oudenberg,
Netherlands)
Praefectus laetorum Nerviorum,
Fanomantis
(Famars,
Picardie, France)
Praefectus laetorum Batavorum Nemetacensium,
Atrabatis
(Arras,
Pas de Calais, France)
Praefectus laetorum Batavorum
Contraginnensium in Noviomago
(Nijmegen, Netherlands)
Praefectus laetorum gentilium in Remo
et Silvanectas
(Durocotroum
Remorum, now Riennes, and Senlis, France)
427 – The Council of Britanniae appeals to Comes Aetius,
but gets no support.
428 – The Council of Britanniae invites a number of
Germanic foederati and laeti to aid in repelling the Scotti and the Pictii,
settling them in the Dorchester-upon-Thames area.
Death of
Feradach Dathi, Ard Ri Eireann, last of the great raiding High Kings, reportedly
in battle among the Alps.
429 - At the request of Palladius, a British
deacon, Pope Celestine I dispatches Bishops Germanus of Auxerre and Lupus of
Troyes to Britanniae to combat the Pelagian heresy. While in Britanniae, Germanus leads the
Britonici to victory near the Welsh border.
Largely
due to Comes Aetius’ campaigns, the Vandali and their client Alani cross from
Hispaniae into North Africa, and within ten years conquer all of Roman Africa. Meanwhile, Aetius is made Magister Militum
Praesentalis.
430-752 – The Merovingian dynasty rules the Salian
Francii, then the kingdom of France.
430 – Ewyas adopts the name Gwerthefyriwg,
after its king Vortimer ap Vortigern Vorteneu.
431 – St. Palladius is sent as missionary bishop to
Eire, making his seat in Mumha.
The Third
Ecumenical Council at Ephesus condemns Nestorianism and affirms to Mary, mother
of Jesus, the title “Theotokos”. This
precipitates the Nestorian Schism, the secession of the Church in Iran and in
Mesopotamia. The Council also affirms
the condemnation of Pelagianism by the Council of Carthage and Pope Zozimus of
Roma.
432 - Death of St. Ninian, Bishop of Whithorn.
Comes Aetius becomes Magister Utriusque Militiae.
434 – The later St. Patrick is captured by pirates
and taken to Eire as a slave.
435 - Tibatto leads Armorican movement for
independence from Galliae.
War breaks
out between the Irish settlers in Garth Madrun and Powys. Anlach of Garth Madrun is defeated and forced
to send his son, Brychan, as a hostage to the Powysian Court.
Aetius is
raised to the rank of Patricius.
437 – Aurelius Ursicinus appears as leader of the
pro-Roman faction in Britain. Vitalinus
fights against him at the Battle of
Wallop.
Triffyn
Farfog of the Deisi takes Demetia by marrying Gweldyr, daughter of Clotri, and
the kingdom takes it name from his tribe as Dyfed.
Glywissing
is founded in southern Wales.
438 – Ard Ri na Eireann Loaghaire appoints a
commission to study, revise, and codify Irish law which promulgates its code of
the Laws of the Fenechas three years later as the Senchus Mor (criminal code)
and the Lebhar Acaill (civil code).
439 – After conquering Africa Proconsularis and completing
his conquest of Roman Africa, Genseric adopts the title King of the Vandals and
Alans, making his seat at Cartago, the former seat of Roman government. The kingdom is, of course, Arian rather than
Catholic.
440-450 - Civil War and famine in Britanniae, caused by
Pictish incursions and tensions between Pelagian/Roman factions. Migration of pro-Roman citizens toward
west.
440 - St. Patrick escapes from his captors and returns
to Britanniae, probably to Alt Clut.
The kingdom of Caer Lundein
(Londinium) is established.
The kingdom of Caer
Gwinntguic (Venta Belgarum) is established.
Glywys
flourishes in Glywysion.
441 – German foederati in Britanniae rise in revolt
443 - Death of Constantine Corneu of Dumnonia. His realm is divided between his two sons as
Dumnonia (Dyfneint; Dewnans in Cornish) and Cornubia (Kernow).
446 – The Britonici appeal to Patricius Aetius for
military assistance against the Pictii and the Scotti, but he has his hands
full with Attila the Hun. Vortigern
Vorteneu authorizes the use of German foederati for the defence of the northern
parts against barbarian attack and to guard against further Irish
incursions. The Angli are given a little
land in the later that later becomes the kingdom of Lindsey (Linnuis).
447 – The second visit of St. Germanus
to Britannia, this time accompanied by St. Severus, Bishop of Trier. They lead the Britonici, aroused to heroic
effort, in defeat of their enemies, the Pictii and the Scotti, expelling the Scotti
from Teyrnllwg, the mountain territory of the Cornovii, and establish the
kingdom of Paganes (Powys). Its capital
is at Viroconium Cornoviorum (Wroxeter), with Catellius son of Categirn
(Cadell Ddernllwg) as Tribune, is later succeeded by Bruttius, grandson of Vortigern.
St.
Patrick founds the church at Ard Macha.
448-1048 – The multi-ethnic Khazar Khaganate dominates
the Pontic steppe and the Caucasus Mountains. Officially Jewish, it is an
ally of the Imperium Romanum against the Sassanids and the Abbasids, and has
close relation with the Jewish communities of Iran and the Levant. During
the High Middle Ages, it is second only to Al-Andalus as a center of Jewish
culture but tolerates all religions, including all sects of Christianity,
Islam, Zoroastrianism, and various tribal cults.
448 - Civil war and plague ravage Britain.
450 - In the first year of Imperator
Caesar Flavius Marcianus Augustus at Constantinopolis, Hengest and Horsa arrive
in Britanniae with “3 keels” of Jutish warriors, settling on the Isle of Thanet
as foederati at the invitation of Vortigern and the Council of Britanniae.
The kingdom of Rheged is
established by a descendant of Coel Hen, carved out of Northern Britain. The new domain reaches from the southern
border of Alt Clud to the northern border of Gwynedd.
The kingdom of Garthmadrun,
later Brycheneiog, is established in what is now central Wales.
451 – The armies of Patricius Aetius and of the
Visigoth king Theodoric I turn back the army of Attila the Hun in the Battle of
the Catalaunian Plains.
The Fourth
Ecumenical Council at Chalcedon condemns Eutychian monophysitism, affirms the
dual natures of Christ, and publishes the Chalcedonian Creed. This brings on the Chalcedonian Schism of the
Sees of Alexandria, Antioch, and Armenia.
452 - Increasing Saxonici settlement in Britanniae. Vortigern marries Hengist’s daughter, Rowena. Hengist invites his son, Octha, from Germania
with 16 keels of warriors.
Cunedda Wledig ap Aeternus
and his retinue are transferred from Manaw to what is now northern Wales, where
they drive out the Irish establish the kingdom of Venedotia, or Gwenydd (from
Feni, the Irish). Meanwhile, Germanius
ap Coelistius is transferred from Gododdin to Manaw; Ochta and Ebissa, sons of
Hengist, are sent to replace Germanius.
453 - Raids on British towns and cities becoming
more frequent. Increasing Saxon
unrest.
The method
of dating Easter is altered by Pope Leo I.
454 – Patricius Aetius is assassinated in Roma by Imperator
Caesar Flavius Placidius Valentinianus
Augustus.
455 - Vortimer rebels against his
father, Vortigern, and fights Hengist at the Battle of Crayford. Hengist is victorious and the British army
flees back to Londinium. Vortimer
relocates westward and establishes the kingdom of Caer Gloui (Glevum) around
what is now Gloucester.
The troops
of Geiseric, king of the Vandali and Alani, invade Italiae and sack Roma.
The
Visigothi invade and conquer Hispaniae in the name of Imperator Caesar
Eparchius Avitus.
456 - Battle of Aylesford (in Kent) between Hengist’s Iutae and the Britonici under Vortimer in which Catigern ap Vortigern
and Horsa of Kent are killed.
Aegidius,
one of Patricius Aetius’ generals is made Comes et Magister Militum per
Gallias.
St.
Patrick leaves Britain once more to evangelize Ireland.
457 –
Ceint falls to the the forces of Hengist and Horsa.
458-460 – Full-scale migration of British aristocrats
and city-dwellers across the Oceanus Britannicus to Armorica (the “second
migration”), led by Riothamus.
458 - Saxon uprising is in full-swing. Hengest finally conquers Ceint.
Imperial
forces under Nepotianus, Comes et Magister Utrusque Militiae, and Comes Aegidius
invade southern Galliae and reconquer all of it except for Aquitania, which is
reduced from independence to foederati status. Their armies
also defeat the Bagaudae and recover the city of Lugdunum.
459 - The armies of Comes Nepotianus
and Sunieric, Comes Rei Militaris, force the Visigothi to surrender Hispaniae
except for Gallaecia.
460 – Aurelius Ambrosius, whom Gildas calls the
“last of the Romans”, takes full control of Britanniae and leads the Britonici
in years of back-and-forth fighting with Saxonici. British strategy seems to be to allow Saxon
landings and to then contain them there.
Comes Nepotianus
and Comes Sunieric reconquer Gallaecia from the Suebi.
461 - Cut off from the Imperium Romanum by the Visigothi and Burgundi and refusing to recognize Ricimer's puppet imperator, Comes Aegidius establishes an exclave of the empire in northern Galliae later called the Kingdom of Soissons, with its seat at Augusta Suessionum (formerly
Noviodunum). It remains in regular contact with pro-Roman elements in the Diocese of Britanniae. The territory is roughly coextensive with the later Frankish kingdom of Neustria (511-751 CE), originally taking in the imperial provinces Belgica II, Lugundensis II, Lugundensis III, and Lugundensis IV Senonia, the last of which included the city of Lutetia Parisiorum.
Two other contiguous Roman
domains, allied with Soissons but adhering to the empire, are civitas Andecavorum and
civitas Trevorum.
462 – The Visigothi reacquire Narbonensis,
leaving them in control of the entire of the Diocese of Viennensis (Septimania),
i.e. southern Gaul.
464 - Aegidius dies in the Battle of Orleans
against the Visigothi as ally of Childeric I of the Salian Francii to his
immediate east, and is succeeded by his second-in-command, Paulus, Comes of Adecavus (Angers).
465 - Battle of Wippedsfleet (Richborough), in which the Britonici defeat the Saxonici, but with
great slaughter on both sides. The
latter are confined to the Thanet and there is a respite from fighting.
Hispaniae
falls back under control of the Visigothi.
466-473 - Period of minimal Saxonici activity. Re-fortification of ancient hillforts and
possibly construction of the Wansdyke.
468 – St. Brigid founds Kildare Abbey.
469 – Imperator Caesar Procopius
Anthemius Augustus appeals to the Brittones for help against the Visigothi
under Euric. A 12,000 man force under Riothamus
responds, travelling up the River Loire to land in the civitas Biturigum. After being driven out of the stronghold of
Avaricum, the bulk of the combined Brittones-Bituriges force is wiped out at vicus Dolensis, with survivors taking refuge with the Burgundians.
Comes Paulus of the civitas
Andecavorum (Angers, or Juliomagus of the Adecavi) leads the Romans and Salian
Franks under Childeric against the Visigothi, and is successful. Saxons under Adovacrius attack Andecavorum and
Paulus is killed in the fighting.
Childeric and the Salian Franks arrive soon after and defeat the Saxons.
470 – The kingdoms of Elmet and
of the Pennines are established, possibly by dynastic offspring of Coel Hen.
Cernyw is renamed Glywysion after King Glywys.
The end of the Visigoth War.
471-475
- Ecdicius Avitus rules the short-lived Ducatas
Arvernorum as an autonomous part of the Imperium Romanum. After 474, he
becomes Magister Militum Praesentalis, but is deposed the next year.
471 - Ceretic of Alt Clut raids the Irish Coast and
carries off some of St. Patrick's new flock and sells them into slavery,
receiving a written reprimand from the Irish evangelist.
472 - Attempted rebellion against
Anthemius Augustus by Arvandus, Praetorian Praefectus Galliae, averted by
Riothamus.
Successful
rebellion against Anthemius Augustus by Flavius Ricimer, Magister Utriusquae
Militiae, whose troops sack Roma once again.
474 –
Gwerthefyriwg divides into the kingdoms of Gwent and Ergyng.
475 – The Anglii begin arriving in the territory of
Caer Went. About the same time, the
Middlesex and Suthrig begin to infiltrate the lower Thames River region.
Arvernia
falls to the Visigothi when Imperator Caesar Iulius Nepos Augustus trades it in
exchange for Septimania.
476-1461 – Byzantine period of the Imperium Romanum/Basilea
Rhomain
476 – Odoacer of the Scirii, head of the foederati
in the Prefecture of Italiae, captures Ravenna and overthrows Magister
Utriusquae Militiae Flavius Orestes and Imperator Caesar Flavius
Romulus Augustus. He invites Imperator
Caesar Flavius Zeno Augustus in Constantinopolis to become sole ruler of the
reunited Imperium Romanum, with himself as King of Italy under Zeno. Zeno grants Odoacer the pronomen Patricius and
the title Dux Italiae, recognizing Imperator Caesar Flavius Julius Nepos
Augustus as de jure ruler of the West. Patricius Odoacer, the de facto
ruler, maintains all of the imperial institutions, including the Senate at old
Roma.
477 – The Saxon chieftain Aelle lands on southern
coast with his sons and founds the kingdom of Sussex. The Britonici engage him upon landing, but
his superior force besieges them at Pevensey and drives them into the Weald. Over next nine years, Saxon coastal holdings
are gradually expanded in Sussex.
The kingdom of Rhegin is
established at Noviomagus Reginorum (Chichester).
The
Visigothi destroy the last remnants of the Prefecture of Galliae, except for
the Ducatas Noviodunum in the north.
480 – St. Erbin, king of Dumnonia, abdicates in
favour of his son, Geraint Llygesoc.
Death of
Glywys of Glywysion; his kingdom is divided into Gwynllwg, Penychen, Gorfynedd,
Edeligion and others which are all eventually reunited into a
single kingdom.
The kingdom of Lindes
(Linnius) falls to the Angles, who call their newly won territory Lindisfaras
or Lindsey.
The kingdom of Caer Colun (Camulodunum
or Colchester) is established.
Imperator
Caesar Nepos Augustus is murdered in Dalmatia where he has had made his
residence, after which Patricius Odoacer moves to take over Sicilia and
Dalmatia.
484 – Samaritan Justa Uprising. Afterwards, Flavius Zeno Augustus has the
temple of the Samaritans on Mt. Gezirim destroyed.
485 – Arthurus Miles (Arthur the Soldier) becomes
“dux bellorum” or Comes Britannorum in Britanniae.
Comes Arbogast of civitas
Trevorum (Augusta of the Treveri, later Trier) manages to maintain his domain’s
independence until becoming part of the realm of the Ripuarian Franks in 485. Arbogast flees to Chartres
(Autricum, capital of the civitas Carnutum), where he became its bishop.
486 - Aelle and his sons overreach their normal territory
and are engaged by the Britonici at the Battle of Mercredesburne. The battle is bloody but indecisive, and ends
with both sides pledging friendship.
The
Kingdom of Soissons is conquered by Clovis I, king of the Francii, leaving him
in control of all Galliae north of the River Loire. Dux Syagrius flees to
the protection of the Visigothi to the south, only to be executed by Alaric II.
488 - Hengest dies.
His son, Oesc, takes over and rules for 34 years, founding the Oescingas
dynasty.
Death of
Einion Yrth of Gwynedd. His kingdom is
divided into Gwynedd and Rhos.
Theodoric,
Consul of the Imperium Romanum at Constantinopolis and now king of the
Ostrogothi, invades the Prefecture of Italiae at the behest of Zeno after
Patricius Odoacer becomes too independent.
490 –
The kingdom of Caer Lerion (Ratae Corieltauvorum or Leicester) is established.
493 – Death of St. Patrick.
The Ostrogothi
under Consul Theodoric complete their conquest of Odoacer’s domain, and the now
Patricius Theodoric, like his predecessor, rules as viceroy with the title Dux
Italiae. In addition to promoting Roman
culture and architecture, Theodoric, an Arian cognizant of maintaining good
relations with the Bishop of Roma, promulgates a law establishing freedom of
religion.
495 – Ealdorman Cerdic, son of Elesa, his son,
Cynric, and 3 keels of the Gewissae land somewhere on the south coast, near the
Hampshire-Dorset border, establishing the beginnings of Wessex.
Gwynllyw
of Gwynllwg carries off Princess Gwladys of Brycheiniog; war between the two
kingdoms is narrowly avoided by the intercession of Arthur.
The kingdom of Caer Went (Venta
Icenorum or Caistor St. Edmund, Norfolk) falls to the East Angles. The Angli
of Caerwent divide into the Norfolk and the Suffolk.
St.
Finnian establishes the abbey at Molville.
496 - Siege and Battle of Mons
Badonicus. The Britonici under Arthur defeat
the Angli under Esla of Bernicia and the Gewissae under Cerdic. However, Caer Lindein falls to the Middel
Seax.
496-550 - Following the victory at Mt. Badon, the Saxon
advance is halted with the invaders returning to their own enclaves. A generation of peace ensues.
497 - Death of Erbin of Dumnonia.
Late 5th century - The Fir Domnann in southeast Ireland are displaced by the Laighin, the former moving into the west, the latter giving its modern name to the province.
The Eoghanachta displace the Fir Mumhan, becoming rulers of what is now Munster.
500-1000 – The Late Woodland Period in North America.
500-517 – Cadwallon Lawhir expels the Irish from
Anglesey.
500 – With help from Theodoric (Tewdrig), commander
of the Classis Britannica, and Marcellus (Maeliaw) of Britannia Minor (Kernov),
the Romano-British commander Agricola defeats the forces of the Deisi at the
Battle of Porthmawr and reconquers Dyfed to become its governor as
Tribune. Theodoric makes his base in
Gwent.
Theodoric
defeats in invasion force under Irish king Fingar and his British ally Guiner.
By this
time, the population of the city of Roma, which had been over one million since
the beginning of the Imperium Romanum, has fallen to under 50,000.
501 – Death of Fergus Mor mac Eirc, who transferred
the seat of the kings of the Dal Riata to Earr a’ Gaidheal.
Rhegin falls to Aelle of
the Sud Seax.
504 – Muircheartach mac Erc, brother of Fergus Mor,
becomes Ard Ri Eireann.
505 – The
kingdom of Armterid (Arfderydd), or Caer Gwenddoleu,
is established in what is now the Cumberlandshire parish of Arthuret between
Rheged and Alt Clud with its seat at Carwinley.
507 – Death of Domangart Reti mac Fergus of Ceann
Tir; succession of Comgall mac Domangairt, ancestor of Cenel Comgaill.
Campaign
of Theodoric, commander of the Classis Britannica, and Marcellus of Britannia
Minor in Armorica and both sides of the Oceanus Britannica.
Imperator
Caesar Flavius Anastasius Augustus raises Clovis of the Franci to the rank of
Consul after he conquers the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse under Alaric II in
the Battle of Vouille, leaving only Septimania and Hispaniae in Visigothic
hands.
508 - Cerdic of the Gewissae begins to move inland
and defeats British king, Nudd-Lludd, at the Battle of Netley.
510 - Battle of Llongborth, where Geraint Llyngesoc
of Dumnonia is killed.
Rivod
of Britannia Minor (Kernov) murders his brother, Marcellus, and usurps the
throne. Many of the royal family flee to Britannia Major, including
Maeliaw's sons Maxentius and Budic, seeking refuge at the court of Agricola in
Dyfed. Maxentius expels Budic, who returns to Dyfed. Agricola
dispatches Theodoric to expel Maxentius and return Budic. Upon his return
to Britannia Major, Theodoric defeats a combined invasion force under Fingar
mac Clito of Eire and Guiner, cousin of Maxentius.
Patricius
Theodoric, Dux Italiae and king of the Ostrogothi, re-establishes the
Prefecture of Galliae in its former capital of Arelate (Arles).
511 - After the death of Clovis I of the Franks, his realm is divided among his four sons, and the territory of the former Kingdom of Soissons/province of Gallia Lugdunensis becomes the Kingdom of Neustria.
515 - Death of Aelle of Sussex. The kingdom passes to his son, Cissa and his
descendents, but over time, diminishes into insignificance. Eventually much of their coastal territory is
taken over by the Jutish Meonwara.
517 - Battle of Camlann, where “Arthur and Medraut
fell”.
King and
Saint Constantine ruling in Dumnonia/Dyfneint.
Death of
Cadwallon Lawhir ap Einion of Gwynedd; his son Maelgwn takes the throne after murdering
his uncle, probably Owain Ddantgwyn of Rhos, and re-unites the two kingdoms.
519 - Cerdic becomes King of the Gewissae,
beginning the dynasty of the Cerdicingas which rules until 1066 CE.
520 - Pabo Post Prydain of Peak abdicates his
throne and retires, as a hermit, to Ynys Mon.
Death of
Riwal Mawr Marchou of Domnonea. Budic II of Brittania Minor returns to
Kernev to claim the Breton throne.
The Middle
Angles first branch out from East Anglia.
523 - Death of Gwynllyw of Gwynllwg. Gwnllywg and
Penychen are united under his son, St. Cadoc.
525 - St. Samson founds the Monastery of
Dol-de-Bretagne.
The
kingdom of the Pennines splits into the kingdoms of Dunotion, Craven, and Peak.
Gabran mac
Domangairt of Dal Riata, marries Lleian, daughter of Brychan (Briocan) of Manaw
and niece of Cedric of Alt Clut, and settles with his men and their families in
the region now known as Gowrie, from Gabhranaig.
527 – Aescwine founds the kingdom of Essex.
Flavius
Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus becomes Imperator Caesar Augustus of the Imperium
Romanum. During his imperium, the
population of Constantinopolis surpasses 500,000.
528 - King St. Cadoc of Glywysion abdicates in
favour of Meurig ap Tewdrig of Gwent, who is joined in marriage to Cadoc's
aunt.
Banishment
of Princess Thaney of Gododdin; birth of her son, St. Kentigern.
529 – Ben Sabar Revolt in Samaria. Iustinianus
Augustus puts down the revolt with the help of the Ghassanids, slaughtering and
enslaving tens of thousands. He also outlaws the practice of
Samaritanism.
The
Academy of Plato is closed by order of Justinian.
530 – The Britons of Ynys Wyth (Isle
of Wight) are defeated by Cerdic of the Gewissae at the Battle of Carisbrooke.
Caer
Lerion falls to the Middle Angles.
St.
Brendan the Navigator leads 14-60 companions across the Atlantic Ocean to the
Isle of the Blessed and back, reportedly travelling by curragh, a feat proven
possible in 1976.
534 – Flavius Belisarius,
Magister Militum Praesentalis, brings an end to the kingdom of the Vandals and
Alans and establishes the Prefecture of Africa, which includes Tingitania, Corsica,
and Sardinia, with its seat at Cartago.
535-554 – Magister Belisarius conducts the Gothic War
against the Ostrogothi for control of the Prefecture of Italiae.
535 - Sawyl Penuchel of Peak is expelled from his
kingdom by Bernicia and flees to Powys.
Death of
Meirchion Gul of Rheged; the southern part of the kingdom breaks away as the kingdom of Argoed.
Death of
St. Illtud, abbot of Llanilltud Fawr and reported cousin of Arthur the Soldier.
536 – The revived Prefecture of Galliae falls to
the Francii.
Magister
Belisarius finishes reconquering Sicilia and establishes the Thema of Sicilia.
A massive
volcanic in the Northern Hemisphere causes a severe protracted drop in
temperature and extensive atmospheric dust that leads to crop failure followed
by widespread famine.
538-1185 – Classical period in the Empire of Japan.
538 - Cynlas Goch of Rhos abandons his wife in
favour of his sister-in-law, a nun who he drags from her convent. Civil war between Cynlas and his cousin, Maelgwn
Wledig. Maelgwn enters a monastery, but
soon returns to secular life and murders his nephew in order to marry his
widow.
Civil war
also in Powys due to the tyranny of Cyngen Glodrydd.
Gabran mac
Domangairt returns to Dal Riata.
540 - Jonas of
Domnonea is murdered by Conomor of Kernow and Poher. Conomor marries
Jonas' widow and rules Domnonea.
Death of Comgall
mac Domangairt of Dal Riata; succession of Gabran mac Domangart, ancestor of
the Cenel Gabrain.
Caradoc
Vreichfras of Gwent moves the royal court to Portskewett.
Probable
date of St. Gildas' De Excidio Britanniae;
in it he condemns Constantine of Dumnonia, Aurelius Caninus (Cynan Wledig) of
Gwent (and/or Powys), Vortiporius ap Agricola (Aircol) of Dyfed, Cuneglas ap
Owen Danwyn of Rhos (“charioteer to the Bear”), and Maglocunus ap Cadawallan
(Maelgwn Wledig) of Gwynedd.
541-797 - The Plague of Justinian, Yersinia pestis, ravages Europe in periodic waves.
543 – St. Colmcille establishes the abbey of
Durrow.
545 - The kingdom of Eidyn is
established.
Deaths of the joint-kings Budic II and his
son Hoel I Mawr of Britannia Minor. Tewdwr Mawr succeeds to the throne,
but is quickly ousted from Kernevby Macliau of Gwened
(Vannetais). Tewdwr flees to Kernow and sets himself up as
king of the Penwith region.
The Synod
of Brefi is held at Llandewi Brefi to condemn the Pelagian heresy.
St. David
becomes archbishop of South Wales.
Prince
Judwal of Domnonea flees from his murderous step-father to the court of
Childebert I of the Franks.
St. Ciaran
founds the abbey and school of Clonmacnoise.
546 - St. Gildas returns to Breizh/Bertaeyn with
St. Cadoc.
St. Ita founds
her abbey at Kileedy.
547 - Ida, leader of a band of
Angles and Frisians, establishes the kingdom of Bernicia after capturing the
British stronghold of Din Guardi, renaming it Bebbanburg, which is later
corrupted to Bamburgh.
Death of
the joint-king Hoel II Fychan of Breizh/Bertaeyn.
The Plague of Justinian hits Britain, having travelled from Constantinopolis.
St.
Brendan founds the abbey of Clonfert.
548 - Conomor of Kernow, Poher, and Domnonea marries
Princess Triphine of Bro Waroch (Broërec).
549 - Yellow fever hits British territories,
causing many deaths, including Maelgwn of Gwynedd. Eire is also affected. Saxons, for some reason, are unaffected.
550 - The kingdoms of Caer Ceri (Corinium
or Cirencester) and of Caer Baddan (Aqua Sulis or Bath) split off from Caer
Gloui.
Caer Colun falls to the
East Seax.
Cyndrwyn Glas establishes
Glastenning (the later Somerset) as a subkingdom of Dumnonia.
Judwal of Domnonea retakes his throne. Conomore
of Kernev, Poher, and Domnonea flees to Kernow.
Pompeius
Regalis (aka Pabo Riwal) leads a third wave of emigration from Britain to
Armorica.
Some
Britons in Armorica migrate further to Gallaecia in the northwest of Hispaniae,
where they establish Britonia.
War
between Alt Clut and Gwynedd.
552-743 - Gokturk, or Blue Turk, Empire, split into eastern and western states, from and including Mongolia to the Volga River.
552 - Cynric of the Gewissae lays siege to the
British at Old Sarum and puts them to flight.
Caer
Gwinntguic falls to the Gewissae.
St.
Comgall founds the abbey of Bangor.
The
Imperium Romanum reconquers enough of Hispaniae to establish the autonomous
province of Spaniae in the former Cathaginensis with its capital at Cartago
Spartaria and most important city at Malaca under a Magister Militum
Spaniae.
553 – The Fifth Ecumenical Council at
Constantinopolis attempts to reconcile the Catholic Church with the Syrian and
Coptic Monophysites by condemning the Three Chapters, the writings of Theodore
of Mopsuestia, Theodoret of Cyprus, and Ibas of Edessa. It results in a schism by the Sees of
Aquilea, Liguria, Aemilia, Meliadunum, and Itria.
554 – Imperial forces under Magister Militum Praesentalis
Narses, a scion of the Arsacid dynasty of Armenia, finally complete the
conquest of the Prefecture of Italiae.
The remaining Ostrogothi, Arians, settle the region that later becomes
Austria.
555 - Death of Erb of Gwent; kingdom is divided
into Gwent and Ergyng.
556-572 – Revolt in Palestina begins with Jews and
Samartians slaughtering the Christians of Caesarea.
556 - Cynric of the Gewissae lays siege to the
British at Barbury Castle and is victorious.
558 – Bro Waroch (Broërec) is attacked by Childebert of the Franks. Canao II leads resistance.
559 – Deifr falls to the Angles and Frisians under
Aelle of the Angeln dynasty Icelingas, who renames it Deira.
560-920 - First Pandaya
Empire in southern India.
560 – Last recorded Royal Feast at the Hill of Tara.
Elidyr of
Alt Clut invades Gwynedd in right of his wife, trying to expel brother-in-law,
Rhun Hir ap Maelgwn, but dies at the Battle of the Cadnant.
Death of Gabran
mac Domangairt of the Dal Riata; Conall mac Comgaill of the Cenel Comgaill
succeeds him.
The sees
of the Three Chapters Schism recognize as their leader the Patriarch of
Aquilea, a title which ultimately becomes the Patriarch of Venice long after
the reunification.
561 – Battle of Cul Dreimhe (Cooldrevny) between the Clann
Cholmain and other southern Ui Neill under Diarmait mac Cerbhaill, Ard Ri na
Eireann, and the Cenel Eoghan and Cenel Connaill led by Domhnall Ilchealgach,
king of Aileach, over the killing of Cunan, son of Aed mac Echach, king of
Connachta, who was under the protection of St. Colmcille (Crimthann mac
Felimid) of the Cenel Conaill, abbot of Doire. Cunan sought out
Colmcille’s protection after accidentally killing the son of Diarmait’s steward
in a hurley match. The northern Ui Neill
of Aileach were victorious.
A later
church legend ascribed the cause of the battle to an unauthorized copy of a
psalter belonging to St. Finnian of Clann Cholmain, abbot of Moville, scribed
secretly by Columba.
562-796 - The Avar Empire, in the region between Hungary, the Volga River, and Bessarabia.
562 – St. Moluag founds the abbey of Lismore.
563 – St. Colmcille establishes an abbey on the Hebridean
island of Iona, then travels to Inverness to meet with Bridei mac Maelchon
(Maelgwn Wledig), king of Fortrenn, to gain his permission to stay there.
565 – Death of Diarmait mac Cerbaill, last pagan
High King of Ireland and the last to reign from the Hill of Tara.
Riderch
Hael of Alt Clut mounts a revenge attack on Rhun Hir of Gwynedd. Rhun marches on Alt Clu and reinforces the
armies of his half-brother, Bridei, in Pictland.
Death of
St. Samson.
567-647 -
Second kingdom of the Buddhist Indo-Sassanid Kushanshahs in Bactria and
Gandhara.
567 – The British settlements in Britonia in Gallaecia
are recognized at the Council of Lugo.
568 – The Cenel Loairn and the Cenel nOengusa rise
against Conall of Cenel Gabrain, but he defeats them with the aid of Coman Bec
of Midhe.
The
Lombards invade and conquer northern Italia, where they establish a kingdom
that is officially Arian rather than Catholic.
569 - St. David holds the Synod of Victoria to
denounce the Pelagian heresy.
Áedán mac
Gabráin of the Dal Riata establishes himself as king of Manaw by right through
his mother; he is married to Demlech, daughter of Maelgwn Wledig of Gwynedd.
570 - Death of St. Gildas.
When power in Paganes (Powys) shifts to the west, the eastern half breaks off as the kingdom of Pengwern,
taking the original capital with it.
Aodh Caomh
of the Dal gCais carves a kingdom out of the southernmost part of Connacht that
in the 7th century becomes Deisceart Mumhan and later Tuadh Mumhan.
570-575 - The Northern British Alliance is forged
between kingdoms of Rheged, Alt Clut, Bryneich, and Elmet. They fight the Northumbrians at the Battles
of Gwen Ystrad and the Cells of Berwyn.
571 - Cuthwulf of the Gewissae invades the Midlands
and defeats the Britons, probably under the king of Calchfynedd, at the Battle
of Bedford.
573 - Peredur and Gwrgi of Ebrauc ally themselves
with Dunod Fawr of Dent and Riderch Hael of Alt Clut. They march north to claim the fort at
Caerlaverock from Gwendoleu of Caer-Gwendoleu.
The latter is killed in the Battle of Arthuret and his bard, Myrddin
Wyllt, flees into the Coed Celyddon, where he goes mad and becomes a prophet. Caer Gwenddoleu becomes
dependent on Rheged.
St. Mungo
founds an abbey at Govan that later becomes Glasgow.
574 – Death of Conall of the Dal Riata; succession
of Aedan mac Gabrain of Cenel Gabrain, who is reportedly enthroned by St. Colmcille
and perhaps is the greatest king of the Dal Riata, the first to truly unite
under one rule its disparate small kingdoms, leading expeditions to the Isle of
Mann, mainland Scotia (Eire), the Orkneys, and the east coast. He is also the son of Luan, daughter of
Brychan, and is married to Demlech, daughter of Maelgwn Wledig. Reportedly, he leaves Manaw in the capable
hands of his son, Artuir.
Colman Mor
founds the kingdom of Osraige.
575 - Owein of Rheged kills Theodoric of Bernicia
at the Battle of Leeming Lane.
The North
Folk and the South Folk of Caer Went combine to become the kingdom of East
Anglia.
The Council
of Druim Ceatt, hosted by St. Colmcille between Aedan mac Gabrain of the Dal
Riata in Alba, Colman mac Comgellan of the Dal Riata in Ulster, and Aedan mac
Ainmuir of the northern Ui Neill; they form an alliance against Báetán mac
Cairill of the Dál Fiatach, high king of Ulster, and agree that the Dal Riata
in Alba have no obligation to the High Kings.
577 – The Gewissae invade the lower Severn Valley. Ffernfael of Caer Baddan, Cyndyddam of
Caer Ceri and Cynfael of Caer Gloui are killed at the Battle of Dyrham, and
their kingdoms fall to the Gewissae. The
Gewissae overrun the Cirencester area, and the three kingdoms end.
Tewdwr
Mawr of Breizh/Bertaeyn returns to Kernev, reclaims his throne and kills
Macliau of Gwened in battle.
Baetan of
Ulster invades Ellan Vannin completing his conquest the next year.
580 - The army of Peredur and Gwrgi of Ebrauc
marches north to fight Bernicia. Both
are killed by Adda's forces at Caer Greu.
The Deirans
rise up under Aelle, and move on the city of Ebrauc. Peredur's son Gwrgant Gwron is forced to
flee; Ebrauc falls, with Catraeth going to Rheged.
Death of
Galam (Cennalath), king of the Picts.
Aedan of
Dal Riata leads an expedition against the Picts of Orkney.
The Senate
of Roma sent two ambassadors to the court of Imperator Caesar Flavius Tiberius
Constantinus Augustus at Constantinopolis.
583 – Aedan of the Dal Riata attacks the Ulstermen
who have recently conquered Ellan Vannin, allegedly ending their occupation of
the island.
584 – The Britons are victorious over Ceawlin of
the Gewissae at the Battle of Fethanleigh and kill his brother, Cuthwine.
Ceawlin ravages the surrounding countryside in revenge.
Death of
Bridei of the Picts; accession of Garnait mac Dornelch (or mac Aedan).
Imperator
Caesar Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus transforms the western holdings of
the Imperium Romanum, creating two exarchates, with governors combining civil
and military powers. The Prefecture of Africa becomes the Exarchate of
Africa, adding to it the formerly autonomous province of Spaniae and the Islas
Baleares. The Prefecture of Italiae becomes the Exarchate of Italiae, with
its constituent parts being the Ducatas Romanus, the Ducatas Pentapolis, the
Ducatas Perusia, the Ducatas Neapolitanus, and the Ducatas Bruttium (Calabria).
588 - Edwin of Deira is ousted from his kingdom by
the Bernicians and seeks refuge at the court of Iago ap Beli of Gwynedd.
Aedan mac Gabhrain wins the Battle of Leithri.
589 - Death of St. Constantine, king of
Dumnonia.
Death of
St. David, archbishop of St. David’s.
The Third
Council of Toledo marks the conversion of the Visigoths from Arianism to
Catholicism.
590 - Siege of Lindisfarne. The Northern British
Alliance (Rheged, Alt Clut, Bryneich, Elmet) lays siege to Hussa of Bernicia
and almost exterminates the Northumbrians.
Urien Rheged is assassinated at the behest of his jealous ally Morcant
Bulc of Bryneich. Northumbrians recover
while internal squabbles tear the British Alliance apart.
Peak falls
to Bernicia.
591 - Dunod Mawr of Dent mounts an invasion of
Rheged, but is repulsed by its king, Owein, and his brother, Pasgen. Elffin of Rheged is simultaneously attacked
by Gwallawc Marchawc Trin of Elmet.
St.
Columbanus emigrates to the Continent.
593 - Morcant Bulc of Bryneich invades Rheged and
kills Owein in battle. Pasgen of Rheged
flees to the Gower Peninsula. A greatly
diminished Rheged probably continues under the rule of their brother, Rhun.
594 - Battle of Manaw, or Miathi, between Aedan of the Dal Riata and Aodhan, with the former victorious, but with the loss of his sons Bran, Domangart, Eochaid Finn, and Artur.
595 - The aging Donud Mawr of Dunotion (Dent) dies fighting
off a Bernician invasion. His kingdom is
overrun and his family flees to join his grandson in Gwynedd.
Erb ap Erbig unites Gwent, Glywysing,
and Ergyng under one crown.
597 – Death of St. Columcille. Succession of St. Blaithen as abbot.
598 - Mynyddog Mwynfawr of Din Eidyn and Cynan of
Gododdin ride south to fight Bernicia against enormous odds at the Battle of
Catterick, seat of Rheged. The British
are victorious, though Geraint of Dumnonia is killed in the fighting.
599 - Death of Taliesin,
poet for Urien map Cynfarch of Rheged, great-great-great-grandson of Coel Hen,
and for Owain map Urien. His works are collected in the Llyfr
Taliesin.
7th century - A branch of the Eoghanachta Ninussa conquers Deisceart Aidne, the area of modern Co. Clare, from the branch of the Connachta known as the Ui Fiachrach Aidne and establishes a kingdom of Tuadh Mumhan, or Thomond, there and in the Aran Isles. Two centuries later, it is conquered by the Deisi Tuiasceart, who become the Dal gCais.
600 - Bryneich falls to the
Angles of Bernicia.
Aneirin of Dunotion writes the poem Y Gododdin recording the events of the
Battle of Catterick.
Pengwern divides into the
autonomous subkingdoms of Caer Luitcoyt or Letocetum (Wall, Staffordshire); Caer
Magnis or Carovan (Kenchester); and Caer Guricon or Viroconium.
Essex
subjugates Middlessex and Suthrig.
601 - Synod of Chester.
The king of Dyfneint grants land in Glastonbury to Abbot Worgret upon which to build a monastery, which becomes Glastonbury Abbey. The monks at the hermitage atop nearby Glastonbury Tor become part of the new congregation.
602-768 - Autonomous Duchy of
Aquitania, comprising Bordeux, Gascony, Languedoc, and Provence, its people Gallo-Roman
and Basque. The laws of the region,
based upon both Roman and Gallic sources, grant near equality to women that
their sisters don't share until the 20th century.
602-628 – The Byzantine-Sassanid War, the last conflict
between Iran and the Imperium Romanum, ends the centuries-old running conflict.
602 - St. Augustine of Canterbury meets with the
Welsh bishops at Aust near Chepstow, accuses them of acting contrary to Church
teachings, failing to keep Easter at the prescribed Roman time and not
administering baptism according to the Roman rite, and he insists that they
help in the conversion of the Saxons and look to Canterbury as their spiritual
centre. They decline.
The
Merovingians establish the Duchy of Vasconia as a buffer against the Vascones,
or Basques.
603 - Battle of Degsastan between Aethelfrith of
Bernicia and Aedan of the Dal Riata, with support from Máel Umai mac Báetáin of
the Cenél nEógain (son of Báetán mac Muirchertaig) and Fiachnae mac Báetáin of
the Dal nAraidi, king of Ulster, resulting in a devasting defeat for the Scotti
in which Artuir mac Aedan dies, along with Aethelfrith’s brothers Theodbald and
Eanfirth. (It is not out of the realm of possibility
that this battle was fought in the vicinity of the former Roman fort of Camlann
just north of the eastern end of the Antonine Wall.)
Pope
Gregorius, Bishop of Roma and Pontifex Maximus, records the acclamation by the
Senate of Roma of new statues of Imperator Caesar Flavius Phocas Augustus and
his wife Imperatrix Leonitia Augusta, the last to be erected in the Roman
Forum.
The
kingdom of the Lombards, one of the the last remaining strongholds of Arianism,
converts to Catholicism, though Arianism survives in Austria (to which the
Ostrogothi removed) and in the Lombard Duchy of Benevento in southern Italia,
cut off from their northern brethren by the Ducatas Romanus.
604 - Welsh bishops meet for a second time with St.
Augustine of Canterbury. He neglects to
rise to greet them, lectures them again, and insists they submit. The Welsh kick him out.
605-1410 – The Srivijaya Empire covers the Malay
peninsula, Sumatra, and Java, but its influence is widespread across Southeast
Asia. Its religions are Hinduism and
Buddhism.
606 – The Middle Angles form the kingdom of Mercia.
607 - Death of Judhael of Domnonea. His son, Haelioc, takes the throne and
attempts to exterminate his brothers.
608 - Death of Aedan mac Gabhrain of the Dal
Riata.
610 – Erb ap Erbig dies, and
Ergyng becomes again a separate kingdom while Gwent and Glywysing remain
together.
The kingdom of Caer
Celemion (Calleva Atrebatum or Silchester, Hampshire) falls to the Gewissae.
With the
succession of Imperator Caesar Flavius Heraclius Augustus, Greek becomes the
official language of the Imperium Romanum.
612 - Death of St. Mungo, bishop of Glasgow.
613 - Aethelfrith of Bernicia invades Gwynedd in
order to root out Edwin of Deira. A
united British force (Gwynedd, Powys, Pengwern and Dyfneint) clashes with his
army at the Battle of Chester. Iago of
Gwynedd, Selyf Sarffgadau of Powys, and Cadwal Cryshalog of Rhos are all killed
but the victor is unclear. The Battle of
Bangor-is-Coed follows in quick succession.
Bledric of Dyfneint is killed in the fighting.
Argoed
falls to Mercia.
614-629 – Revolt against Imperator Caesar Flavius
Heraclius Augustus. The Jews in the
Levant rise up against the Imperium Romanum as allies of the Sassanids. After the fall of Jerusalem in 614, the area
becomes a Commonwealth under the Sassanid Empire.
614 - Cynegils of the Gewissae invades Dyfneint and
defeats the local army at the Battle of Bindon. The Tarvin-Macefen boundary
between Powys and Mercia is delineated.
616 – Rheged falls to Mercia.
Aethelfrith
of Bernicia is killed by Edwin of Deira at the Battle of the River Idle, and
his children escape north, his heir, Eanfrith to Fortrenn while the rest go to
Eochaid Buide of the Dal Riata.
617 - Edwin of Deira conquers Elmet. Ceretic of Elmet is killed in the fighting.
620 - Tewdrig Fendigaid of Glywysion and Gwent
abdicates in favour of son Meurig.
Llywarch
Hen is expelled from Argoed, probably by Edwin of Deira, and flees to Powys to
become a famous bard.
622 – Domnall Brecc, son of Eochaid Buide of the
Dal Riata, and Conall Guthbinn mac Suibhne of Clann Cholmáin defeat a rival
branch of the Ui Neill in the Battle of Cenn Delgthan.
623 - Edwin of Deira is baptised by Rhun of Rheged.
624 - Spaniae falls to the
Visigothi.
625 - Cadfan ap Iago of Gwynedd dies and is buried
at Llangadwaladr where his memorial stone can still be seen. His son, Cadwallon, succeeds to the
throne.
Aodh Fionn
mac Fergna establishes the kingdom of Breifne in Connacht.
626 - The rivalry between Cadwallon of Gwynedd and
Edwin of Deira reaches a climax. Edwin
invades the Isle of Man and then Anglesey.
Cadwallon is defeated in battle and is besieged on Puffin Island. He eventually flees to Breizh/Bertaeyn.
627 – The churches of Mumha and Laighin in Ireland
accept Continental practice at the Synod of Mag Lene
628 – The forces of the Imperium Romanum decisively
defeat those of the Sassanid Empire at the Battle of Nineveh, ending the
Romano-Perisan Wars once and for all.
629 – Battle of Fid Eoin in Ireland in which Connad
Cerr of the Dal Riata and his brother Failbe mac Eochaid Buide along with
Rigullan mac Conaig and Osric, formerly of Bernicia, fall to Máel Caích,
brother of Congal Cáech of the Dal nAraidi, king of Ulster, while fighting for
Dicuil mac Eochaid.
St. Paulinus visits Lincoln
(Lindum Colonia) to discover its governor named Blecca with the title Praefectus Civitates.
Imperator
Caesar Flavius Heraclius Augustus assumes the title Basileus tuv Basileuv (Shahanshah) in
honor of his defeat of the Sassanids. He also changes the pronomen from
Imperator Caesar to Basileus and the cognomen from Augustus to Sebastos so that
he is now Basileus Flavius Heraclius Sebastos, with the empire now called the
Basilea Rhomaion.
630 – The Gewissae invade Gwent. Meurig defeats them, with the help of his
aging father, at the Battle of Pont-y-Saeson.
Calchwynedd
falls to the Middle Angles and the Chiltern Saxons.
Penda of
Mercia besieges Exeter. Cadwallon of
Gwynedd lands nearby from his Deiran imposed exile in Breizh/Bertaeyn. He negotiates an alliance with Penda, and a
united British and Saxon force moves north to re-take Gwynedd. The Deirans are defeated at the Battle of the
Long Mountain and Cadwallon chases them back to Northumbria. The British ransack Northumbria and bring
the kingdom to its knees.
Morgan the Generous unites
the kingdoms of Gwent and Glywysing as the kingdom of Morgannwg.
632-661 – The Rashidun Caliphate of the Islamic Empire.
632 - Idris of Meirionydd is killed fighting the
Gewissae on the River Severn.
633 - The British under Cadwallon of Gwynedd meet
the Northumbrians in the Battle of Hatfield Chase. Edwin of Deira is killed in the fighting and
Cadwallon is victorious. Cadwallon is
later besieged at Ebrauc by Edwin's cousin and successor, Osric and is again
victorious.
The Celtic
rite of Britonia is abandoned in favor of the Mozarabic rite.
634 - Cadwallon ap Cadfan has both Eanfrith of
Bernicia and Osric of Deira assassinated rather than negotiate peace with them. Eanfrith's half-brother, Oswald, succeeds to
a united Northumbria. He gathers a
force, with support from Domnall Brecc of the Dal Riata which includes monks
from Iona, and clashes with Cadwallon at the Battle of Heavenfield. Cadwallon is killed and Oswald
victorius.
Cadafael
Cadomedd ap Cynfeddw ousts Cadwaladr and usurps the Gwynedd throne. Civil War ensues in the kingdom.
Death of
the great bard, Llywarch Hen of Argoed, supposedly aged one hundred. His
works include Canu Hedledd and Geraint son of Erbin.
635 – St. Judicael of Domnonea submits to the
overlordship of Dagobert I of the Franks.
An alliance is drawn up and the borders of the Breton kingdom
agreed.
St. Aidan
is sent out from Iona to the Angles of Northhumbria, where he founds a
monastery on the island of Medcaut (Lindisfarena).
Meurig of Glywysion and Gwent invades Ergyng and re-unites the two kingdoms in the right
of his wife.
636 - Judicael of Domnonea abdicates in order to
enter a monastery.
637 - Defeat of Domnall Brecc of the Dal Riata and
Congal Caech of Ulaidh and Dal nAraidi, supported by Oswald of Northumbria, by Domnall
mac Aedo, Ard Ri Eireann and king of Cenel Connaill along with the Sil nAedo
Slaine at the Battle of Mag Rath (Moira).
Domnall Brecc’s force includes Scots, Picts, Angles, and Brythons. That same day the Ard Ri’s fleet defeats a
combined fleet of the Dal Riata and the Cenel nEogain at the Battle of Ceann
Tir (Kintyre). The outcome is domination
of the north by the Ui Neill for the next thousand years along with their
subjugation of western Dal Riata, while eastern Dal Riata becomes a client of
Northumbria, then of Fortrenn.
Muslim
Arab armies invade the Basilea Rhomaion and conquer Syria-Palestina, in which
they erect Bilad al-Sham, made up of five districts: Jund Dimashq
(Damascus), Jund Filastin (southern Palestine), Jund al-Urdun (northern
Palestine), Jund Hims (Homs), and, later, Jund Qinnasrin (Aleppo).
638 – Din Eidyn is taken by Northumbria and
Gododdin ceases to exist, its aristocracy escaping to Alt Clut.
Rhianfelt,
heiress of Rheged, marries Oswiu of Northumbria. Northumbria embraces Rheged in a peaceful
takeover, and also becomes overlord of Circinn.
639 – Muslim armies conquer Armenia and Aegyptus
from the Basliea Rhomain.
641-1025 - Golden Age of
Byzantium
642 - Penda of Mercia commands a united force
including Cadafael Cadomedd of Gwynedd, Eluan of Powys, and Cynddylan of
Pengwern against Oswald of Northumbria.
Oswald is killed, and possibly Eluan also. The Mercians become dominant in
Midlands.
Owen ap
Beli of Alt Clut kills Domnall Brecc at the Battle of Strathcarron.
Muslim
invaders defeat the Sassanid armies decisively at the Battle of Nihawand.
645 - Gwynedd and much of Cymru in the grasp of
famine. Would-be king Cadwaladr
Fendigaid of Gwynedd flees to Breizh/Bertaeyn; civil war continues in his
kingdom.
650 - Cloten of Dyfed marries Princess Ceindrech of
Brycheiniog and unites the two kingdoms.
Eanhere
and Eanfrith establish the sub-kingdom of the Hwicce in the former territory of
the Dobunni.
Mid 7th century – Vikings from Norway begin to colonize both Shetland and Orkney, in the later of which they find two tribes, the Peti and the Papae.
651 – After the fall of the Sassanid dynasty in this year, the Rashidun Caliphate adopts Iranian
administration and customs, but gradually imposes the Arabic language on the
former empire and its own new territories.
652 – Muslim armies conquer nearly all of North
Africa from the Basilea Rhomain.
653 – Talorgan ap Eanfrith becomes king of Fortrenn.
654 – Death of Dunchad Bec of the Dal Riata in
battle against Talorgan I of Fortrenn at Strath Ethairt.
Muslim
armies conquer Cyprus from the Basilea Rhomain.
655 - Cadafael ap Cynfeddw of Gwynedd and his army
join Penda of Mercia, Athelhere of East Anglia, and Aethelwald of Deira to
march on the Bernicians, but he and Aethelwald both withdraw before the battle
begins. Penda and Athelhere clash with
Oswiu at the Battle of the Winwaed, but Oswiu defeats them and they are both
killed; Oswiu then unites his kingdom with Deira to become Northumbria.
Northumbria establishes the
subkingdom of Leudian (Lothian) or Din Baer in its territory north of the River
Tweed.
Morfael of
Pengwern retakes the Wall.
656 - Oswiu of Northumbria
invades Pengwern and kills Cynfael of Caer Gloui, Ffernfael of Caer Ceri, and
Cyndyddan of Pengwern and Caer Luitcoyt in battle. Cyndyddan’s brother Morfael and the rest of
the family flee to Glastenning. The Mercians
take control of Pengwern and may have invaded Powys at this time. The three small kingdoms cease to exist.
The kingdom of Cynwidion (Bedfordshire
to Northamptonshire) also falls to Mercia about this same time, but a part remains
free as the kingdom of Calchwynedd (in the Chiltern Hills) until the end
of the century.
658 - Cenwalh and the Gewissae make a push against Dyfneint. They are victorious at Battle of Penselwood
and Dyfneint-Gewissae border is set at the River Parrett. Glastenning ceases to
exist and the Gewissae occupy its territory, which becomes known as Somersaetes. Glastonbury Abbey lies within the conquered territory, but Cenwalh allows its abbot, Bregored, to continue in place.
661-750 - The Umayyad
Caliphate of the Islamic Empire, based in Damascus.
661 - Cenwalh of the Gewissae invades Dyfneint and
is victorious at the Battle of Posbury.
Saxon
settlers found Somerset, Dorset, and Wiltset in eastern Dyfneint.
Wulfere of
Mercia gives the territory of the Meonwara to the Sussex.
663 – Oswiu of Northumbria invades the southern
Picts and establishes overlordship over Fibh, Circinn, and Strath Eireann.
Basileus
Konstantinos Pogonatos Sabastos (Constans II) moves the imperial seat of the
Basilea Rhomaion from Konstantinopoulis to Siracusa in Sicilia. He also becomes the first emperor to visit Roma
in 200 years.
664 - Plague devastates Gwynedd. Probable death of Cadafael Cadomedd. Cadwaladr Fendigaid of Gwynedd reasserts
himself in his kingdom by sending his son, Ifwr, from Breizh/Bertaeyn to be
regent.
The Synod
of Whitby at the conhospitae of St. Hilda at Streonshal determines that the
northern kingdom (Northumbria) should comply with the doctrines and practices
of Rome, at which St. Colman resigns his see and returns to Iona.
665-689 – Muslim conquest of North Africa from the
Basilea Rhomain.
665 – Second Battle of Mount Badon.
668 – The seat of the Basilea Rhomain returns to
Konstantinopoulis after Konstantinos Sabastos is assassinated.
670 – Ceannfaeld mac Blathmac conquers Cymru and he
and his family rule it, at least as overlords, for 59 years.
671 – Northumbria establishes the sub-kingdom of
Din Baer in the former territory of the Gododdin, also called Lleuddiniawn (Lothian).
672 – Drest of Circinn is deposed and replaced by Bridei,
son of Beli I of Alt Clut.
673 – Domangart mac Domnaill of the Dal Riata
submits to Northumbria as overlord upon his accession.
674 – Ecgfrith of Northumbria repels Wulfhere of Mercia and seizes control of Lindsey.
Muslim armies subdue Greater Khorasan,
completing their conquest of the former Sassanid Empire.
679 – St. Adomnan becomes abbot of Iona.
Ecgfrith of Northumbria is defeated by the Mercians, now under Wulfhere's brother Aethelfred, at the Battle of Trent, and forced to return Lindsey.
680-692 – Second Islamic Civil War, ending with the
Battle of Karbala, resulting in the permanent Sunni-Shia split.
680 – Bridei of Fortrenn attacks Dunnottar.
The
Basilea Rhomain recognizes the First Bulgarian Empire as the dominant power in the
Balkan peninsula.
681 – The Sixth Ecumenical Council at
Konstantinopoulis condemns Monoernergism and Monothelitism. It also declared both Pope Honorius of Roma and Patriarch Sergius of Konstantinopoulis to be heretics.
682 – Bridei destroys Orkney as an independent kingdom.
683 – After a successful seige of Dunadd, Bridei
brings the Dal Riata under his hegemony.
The kingdom of Wyr Enouant ruled by the line of Antonius Donatus falls to invasion from Beornicia.
684 – Ecgfrith of Northumbria sends raiders to plunder coastal Brega.
685 - St. Cuthbert of Lindisfarne visits Carlisle.
Ecgfrith
of Northumbria marches his army north to engage the Picts at the Battle of
Nechtansmere. The Dal Riata and Alt Clut
Britons join the Picts in a thorough defeat of the Anglish forces. The latter lose much land south of the Forth
to Dumnagual II of Alt Clut in the process.
The
Gewissae take Suthrig from Essex.
686 – Sussex becomes subject to the Gewissae.
Lindsey is
absorbed by Mercia.
688 - Cadwaladr Fendigaid of Gwynedd dies on a
pilgrimage to Rome.
Caedwalla
of the Gewissae likewise dies on a pilgrimage to Rome and is succeeded by Ine, under
whom the Gewissae become known as the West Seax, or Wessex.
692 – The Qunitisext Council in Trullo affirms the
Pentarchy of the Church order (Roma, Konstantinopoulis, Alexandria, Antioch,
Jerusalem) and sets the Biblical canon.
696 – Death of Taran of Fortrenn; succession of Bridei,
son of Dargart mac Finguine of Cenel Comgaill and of Der-Ilei, daughter of a
Pictish king. Bridei is the first of the
Dal Riata to rule in Inverness, but he does not rule the Gaels of Argyll. He changes the patron saint of the Picts from
St. Columcille to St. Peter.
697 – Council of Birr, a gathering of Irish and
Pictish notables led by St. Adamnan, abbot of Iona, enacts the Cáin Adomnáin (Lex Innocentium, or Law of Innocents), forbidding the killing and
making captive of women and children, exempting women and clerics from
compulsory military service, and setting forth harsh penalties for rape during
wartime, among other provisions. Also at
this council, the churches of Ulaidh, Midhe, and Connacht, along with that of
the Dal Riata in Earr a’ Gaidheal, adopt the practices of the Continental
church.
The
sub-kingdom of Deisi Mumhain is founded by the Deisi; the other non-Eoghanachta
kingdom in Munster is Ernaibh Mumhan, of the Ernai.
Basileus
Leontios Sebastos establishes the Ducatas Venetia in northeastern Italiae,
under the Exarchate of Italiae at Ravenna, with Paolo Lucio Anafestom as Doux
(Dux) and Hypatos (Consul).
698 - The Exarchate of Africa falls to the Muslim
armies of the Umayyads, except the city of Septum (Ceuta), which remains in the
Basilea Rhomaion under an autonomous comes.
700 - Ceredigion and Ystrad Tywy
unite as Seisyllwg.
The kingdom of Calchwynedd,
remnant of Cynwidion, falls to Mercia.
Geraint of Dyfneint receives a letter from St.
Aldhelm of Malmesbury during a synod in Wessex insisting that the church of Dyfneint comply with the doctrines of Rome, as agreed previously at the Synod of Whitby.
The
Eoganachta begin to rule Mumhan.
704 – Death of St. Adomnan, abbot of Iona.
705 - Geraint of Dyfneint grants land at Maker to Sherbourne
Abbey in an attempt to strengthen his position in the disputed regions of
Dorset
The
churches of East Dyfneint and Somersaete, under the kings of Wessex, accept Continental
practice.
706 – Death of Bridei mac Dargart of Fortrenn;
Nechtan mac Dargart of the Cenel Comgaill ascends the throne.
710 - Geraint of Dyfneint clashes with Ine of Wessex
who manages to establish a fortress at Taunton.
Seisyll of
Ceredigion invades Dyfed and conquers Ystrad Tywi to create the greater kingdom
of Seisyllwg. A reduced Dyfed and
Brycheiniog both appear to have taken on the name of Rhainwg. Rhain's kingdom is now sliced in two.
Julian,
last Comes of Septum, switches his loyalty from the Basilea Rhomaion to the
Umayyad dynasty when he needs closer allies in his fight against the Visigothi,
leading to the invasion of Hispaniae.
The
churches in Fortrenn and Circinn accept Continental practice
711-1492 – La Convivencia in Al-Andalus, coexistence of
Christians, Muslims, and Jews.
711 – Northumbria invades Circinn and is defeated
in Manaw.
The Mauri
following the Umayyads invade Hispaniae.
Their conquest of the peninsula is complete by 718 and they establish
Al-Andalus.
717 – Nechtan mac Dargart of Fortrenn expels the
Ionan clergy from his kingdom. Later
that year, the church of Iona decides to follow Continental practice
718-1147 – The Golden Age of the Sephardim, the Jewish
population of Iberia under the regimes of Al-Andalus.
720 - Contact between the Welsh church and Yvi of Breizh/Bertaeyn
is the last known link between the two Celtic countries.
721 – The church of Alt Clut agrees to follow Continental
practice
722 - Ine of Wessex attempts a takeover of Dyfneint. His armies are crushed and have to
withdraw.
Death of
Beli of Alt Clut; Teudebur ap Beli succeeds to the throne.
724 – Nechtan mac Dargart of Fortrenn retires to a
monastery in favor of his nephew Drostan mac Talorcan.
725 – The Ui Bruin supercede the Ui Fiachrae in
Connacht.
726 – Drostan imprisons Nechtan and is deposed by
Alpin.
Kent falls
under the sway of Mercia.
729 – Oengus mac Fergus of the Eoghanachta Mag
Geirginn defeats Alpin in battle and restores Nechtan to the throne of Fortrenn.
St. Fillan
founds the abbey of Glen Dochardt.
730 - Civil War between Tewdr of Brycheiniog and a
rival claimant to his throne, his cousin Awst; the latter is slain and Tewdr is
persuaded to live in peace with Awst's son, Elwystl.
Mercia
takes Middlesex.
731 – Elisedd ap Gwylog of Powys expels the
Mercians from his kingdom.
732 – Oengus mac Fergusa, married to an heiress of
the Cenel Loairn, becomes king of Fortrenn upon the death of Nechtan; the throne
in Inverness remains in his family until the disaster of 839.
Abdul
Rahman Al Ghafiqi of Al-Andalus invades over the Pyrenees into Aquitania, which
he conquers before proceeding northward, only to be halted by Charles Martel at
the Battle of Tours, Tours being a major holy site to the Franks as the burial
place of St. Martin.
733 – With the death
of Eochaid mac Echdach of the Cenél nGabráin, last overking of the Dal
Riata, comes the final separation of the western Dal Riata from those in
Argyll. Indrechtach of the Dal nAraide becomes overlord over the western
branch; his descendants are the O'Lynch clan. The ancestor of the
O’Quinns is direct king over the western Dal Riata in the Glens of Antrim.
A fleet
from the eastern Dál Riata in Argyll fights for Flaithbertach mac Loingsig,
chief of the Cenél Conaill (overlords of the eastern Dal Riata), in his war
with Áed Allán of the Cenél nEógan, and suffers heavy losses. Dúngal mac
Selbaig of the Cenel Loairn is deposed and replaced with Muiredach mac
Ainbcellaig.
734 – The Cenel Connaill abdicate the overlordship
of the northern Ui Neill, and the Cenel nEogan step into their place.
735 –
Ithael ap Morgan unites his kingdom of Gwent and Glywysing with Ergyng once
again.
736-839 - The Eoghanachta
Mag Geirginn/Cenel Loairn rule the North.
736 – Second campaign of Oengus of Fortrenn against
Dal Riata, defeating both Dungal and Muiredach, ending the kingdom’s
independence, making him the first king of both Picts and Scots.
739 – Talorgan ap Drostan, king of Ath Fodhla, is
executed by drowning; first mention of Ath Fodhla.
740-1335 - The Uighyr State in northern Mongolia and Central Asia.
740 - Death of Rhain of Dyfed and Brycheiniog. His kingdoms are divided between his two
sons.
741 – Oengus of Fortrenn replaces the cult of St.
Peter with that of St. Andrew, establishing a cathedral in his name at the
royal site of Cenrigmonaid.
743 - Aethelbald of Mercia and Ceolred of Wessex
join forces to attack Gwent and Powys.
The Clann
Cholmain supercede the Sil nAeda Slaine as overlords of the southern Ui Neill.
744 - Construction of Wat's Dyke on the border
between Mercia and Powys.
745 –
After the death of Ithael, his kingdom divides back into the separate kingdoms
of Gwent and Glywysing, with Ergyng now absorbed by the first.
750-1258 – The (Khorasani) Abbasid Caliphate, based in Baghdad, brings
about the Islamic Golden Age. Scientists, philosophers, artists, writers,
and engineers flourish in all parts of the far-flung and often in-fighting empire.
750 – The Alt Clut Britons under Teudebur defeat Talorcan
mac Oengusa at the Battle of Mugdock. Decline of the power of Oengus I of Fortrenn.
Elidyr ap
Sandde moves the exiled royal house of Argoed from Powys to the Isle of
Man.
Tewdr of
Brycheiniog breaks the peace with his cousin, Elwystl, and murders him.
Eadberht of Northumbria
dissolves the subkingdom of Leudian.
751 – The Exarchate of Italiae comes to an end when
it’s conquered by the Lombards. The holdings of the Basilea Rhomaion in
Italia are reduced to the Themata of Sicilia, Calabria, and Lucania, along with
the Ducatas Venetia.
752 - Death of Teudebur of Alt Clut. His son, Dumnagual,
succeeds to the throne and promptly loses Kyle to Eadberht of Northumbria.
Pope
Zachary, Bishop of Rome and Pontifex Maximus, desposes Childeric III of the
Francii, ending the Merovingian dynasty.
754 - Death of Rhodri Molwynog ap Idwal of
Gwynedd. Caradog ap Meirion succeeds
him.
Pope
Zachary anoints Pepin the Short as king of the Francii, beginning the
Carolingian dynasty, and bestows on him the title of Patricius Romanorum.
756-929 – The Emirate of Cordoba, nominally subordinate
to the Abbasid Caliphate, begun when a prince of the former Umayyad dynasty
overthrows the ruler of Al-Andalus.
756 - Oengus I of Fortrenn and Eadberht of
Northumbria successfully attack Dumnagual of Alt Clut at Dinas y Brython;
however, Alt Clut subsequently wipes out Eadberht's entire force at the Battle
of Newburgh-on-Tyne.
758 – A portion of the Ducatas Neapolitanus secedes
as the independent Ducato di Amalfi.
760 - Battle of Hereford is fought between Mercia
and Brycheiniog under Nowy Hen.
761 – Death of Oengus mac Fergusa of Fortrenn.
763 – The Ducatas Neapolitanus switches its
allegiance from Konstantinopoulos to Roma.
766 - A
branch of the Ui Bruin founds the kingdom of Breifne.
768 - Archbishop Elfoddw of Gwynedd persuades the Church
of North Cymru to accept the Continental dating of Easter as agreed by the
Northumbrian Church at the Synod of Whitby.
Waifer,
last duke of independent Aquitaine, loses a war against Pepin the Short and is
killed by his own troops, who in turn pledge their fealty to the king of the
Franci.
771 – Mercia takes Sussex from Wessex.
774-821 - The Icelingas of
Mercia rule all England.
774 - Offa of Mercia unites
all England for the first time.
Charle le
Magne of the Franci conquers the Lombard Kingdom of Italy.
777-813 -
Abbasid-Carolingian Alliance. The Abbasids first seek an alliance with
Charle le Magne against the Umayyads in Iberia. Charle le Magne's motive
is to have a counter-weight against the Basilea Rhomain, which is resisting his
moves in Italia.
777 – The churches of South Cymru adopts Continental
practice
780 – The last king of the Hwicce dies, and the
kingdom is absorbed by Mercia.
781 – The Ducatas Romanus disappears when Charle le
Magne grants it to Pope Benedict VII as part of his temporal domains, the Papal
States.
784 - Construction of Offa's Dyke, the artificial
bank and ditch boundary between England and Cymru, is begun at the command of
Offa of Mercia.
787-1030 – The Viking Age in
Europe and the Mediterranean Sea.
787-877 – Carolingian Renaissance.
787 – The Seventh Ecumenical Council at Nicaea condemns Iconoclasm
and the doctrine of Purgatory, and also decrees that every altar in every
church should contain a holy relic.
789 – Accession to the throne of Fortrenn by
Caustantin mac Fergusa, nephew of Alpin ap Feredach, who is credited with
founding the church at Dun Chaillean.
793-1066 – The Viking Age in Northern Europe
793 - Lindisfarne is
destroyed by the Norse.
795 - Quarrels between Cynan Dindaethwy ap Rhodri
Molwynog and his brother Hywel leave the way open for Caradog ap Meirion (of
the House of Rhos) to usurp the throne of Gwynedd.
797 - Cymric forces clash with Mercia at Battle of
Rhuddlan, when Coenwulf of Mercia tries to re-assert his domination of
northeast Cymru. Maredydd of Dyfed is
killed in the fighting. Mercians push on
westward.
798 - Caradog of Gwynedd is killed fighting
Mercians of Coenwulf in Snowdonia. Cynan Dindaethwy succeeds to the throne.
800-1000 – Golden Age of Toltec civilization.
800 – The region of Rhwng Gwy a
Hafren, or Cynllibiwg (roughly the same as Radnorshire), breaks away from Powys
to become the tiny kingdoms of Buellt, Gwrtheyrnion, Maelienydd, and Elfael.
Vikings
found Wexford in Eire.
Pope Leo I
crowns Charle le Magne as Imperator Augustus, nominally subordinate to
Basilissa Irene Sebastos. Charle le Magne and his successors use the less
presumptuous title Imperator Romanum gubernans Imperium.
802-1511 – The Khmer Empire dominates Indochina,
covering modern Kampuchea, Thailand, southern Viet Nam, Laos, and parts of
Burma and Malaysia. The empire is Hindu
at first, later Buddhist. At its height in the 12th century, it is the largest and wealthiest empire n Earth.
805 - Egbert of Wessex formally establishes
kingship over the people of Dyfneint after a gradual integration over many
years.
806 – Vikings massace 68 monks at Martyrs’ Bay on
Iona.
807 - Death of of Arthwyr of Ceredigion.
810 - St. David’s is burnt.
811 – The former Ducatas Venetia of the Basilea
Rhomain becomes independent as the Republic of Venice.
812 - Degannwy, capital of Gwynedd, is struck by
lightning and burnt to the ground.
Vikings
found Limerick.
Basileus
Michael I Rangabe Sebastos recognizes Charle le Magne as Imperator in the West.
813 - Hywel and Cynan Dindaethwy of Gwynedd quarrel
again and meet in battle. Hywel is
victorious.
814 - Gryffydd of Powys is slain through the
treachery of his brother Elisedd.
Cynan
Dindaethwy of Gwynedd invades Anglesey and attacks his brother, Hywel. Hywel is victorious and Cynan is driven from
his shores.
815 - Kernow is raided by Egbert of Wessex and his
Saxon armies.
816 - Hywel of Gwynedd is again attacked by his
brother Cynan, on Anglesey. Cynan is
killed.
The
English successfully invade Rhufoniog and also ravage the Snowdonia Mountains.
818 - Coenwulf of Mercia raids Dyfed.
819-999 – Samanid Empire in Greater Iran.
820-834 – Vicious attacks by the Vikings against the
north of Scotland.
820 – Death of Caustantin of Fortrenn; succession of
Oengus II mac Fergus.
Feidlimid
mac Cremthanin of the Eóganacht Chaisil, a Celi De who is abbot of Cork and
Clonfert, becomes king of Mumha; he is the first in centuries not of the Ui
Neill to be called Ard Ri Eireann.
821 - Coenwulf of Mercia dies in Basingwerk while
preparing for another assault on Powys.
823 - The Mercians invade Powys, but are beaten
back by Cyngen. They also destroy the
Gwynedd capital, Degannwy.
824 – St. Blathmac leads a group of Columban monks
back to Iona. The next year, there is
another raid in which they are all massacred and the abbey burned.
825 - Death of Rhodri of Gwynedd. The kingdom is seized by his grand-nephew,
Prince Merfyn Frych of Mann and Argoed.
The men of
Kernow make a push into Saxon Devon and the two armies clash at the Battle of
Galford. The Cornish are
victorious.
Wessex
defeats Mercia and takes from it Kent, Essex, Sussex, and Suthrig.
829-1014 - The Cerdicingas
of Wessex rule all England.
829 - Egbert of Wessex
invades Mercia and drives Wiglaf, its king, into exile, becoming Bretwalda, or
King of all England.
830-1235 – Empire of Ghana. One of the strongest governments in the
history of Africa.
830 – Nynniaw, abbot of Bangor Fawr, compiles the Historia Britonum.
Britonia
in Gallaecia is attacked by Vikings.
834 – Death of Oengus II of Fortrenn.
836 – Gofraid mac Fergusa of Clann Cholmain in Midhe
marries the heiress of Cenel Comgaill to become ruler of Ceann Tir and whose
descendants later found the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles; probable ancestor of
the Ui Imhair.
838 - The Britons of Kernow join forces with the
Vikings and attack Wessex. Egbert
defeats them at the Battle of Hingston Down.
839 – Deaths of Eóganan mac Óengusa of Fortrenn and
Áed mac Boanta of Dal Riata in battle against the Vikings along with a large
portion of their leading warriors; succession of Feradach mac Bargoit in Fortrenn.
Thorgest
founds the Norse kingdom of Dublin.
843 - Cináed mac Ailpín of Cenel Gabrain becomes Ri Cruithintuath, largely with the help of his Finn Gall and Gall-Gaidheal allies in the Hebrides; he moves the seminary from Dull in Glen Lyon to Dun Chaillean (from which it is moved to Cenrighmonad, later St. Andrew’s).
The Treaty of Verdun
between the sons of Louis the Pious divides the empire of Charle le Magne into
Francia Occidentalis (ruled by Charles the Bald, Francia Orientalis (ruled by
Louis the German out of Bavaria), and Francia Media (ruled by Lotheir I out of
Italy).
Francia
Occidentalis is divided into the fiefdoms of Aquitaine, Brittany, Catalonia,
Flanders, Gascony, Gothia (Septimania), Ile-de-France, western Burgundy, and
Languedoc. This marks the beginning of the modern state of France, though
it was still called both Francia Occidentalis and Gallia for more than a
century.
Francia
Media is divided into the fiefdoms of Lotharingia, Frisia, eastern
Burgundy, Provence, and Italy.
Francia
Orientalis is divided into the fiefdoms of Swabia (Alamannia), Franconia (eastern
Austrasia), Saxony, and Bavaria.
844-878 – Reign of Rhodri Mawr ap Merfyn over Gwynedd.
844 – Rhodri Mawr succeeds to the throne of Gwynedd.
845 – First unified kingdom of Breizh/Bertaeyn is
declared by Nominoe after the defeat of Charles the Bald, King of the Franks,
in the Battle of Ballon.
846 – Death of Niall Caille mac Áeda of the Cenel
nEogain, who defeated Feidlimid mac Cremthanin of Mumhan; succession of Máel
Sechnaill mac Máele Ruanaid to the throne of Tara. The annals of Mael Sechnaill’s reign refer to
him as Ri h’Eireann Uile, his warriors as Fir Eireann (men of Ireland) rather
than either Fir Midhe (men of Meath) or Clann Cholmain, and the terms Goidel and
Gall-Gaidheal first come into use.
847 – Arab armies captured the realm of the
Lombards in southern Italiae in 847, and the region becomes the Emirate of
Bari.
848-1279 – The Chola Empire dominates southern India.
848-1034 - The Cenel
nGabhrain rule Alba.
848 - The armies of Brycheiniog and Gwent clash at
the Battle of Ffinnant. Ithel of Gwent
is killed in the fighting.
849-1298 - The Empire of
Pagan in Burma.
849 – Cináed mac Ailpín, Ri Cruithintuath, moves the primacy of the Pictish Church to Dunkeld, along with relics of St. Colmcille.
850 – “Eliseg's Pillar” is erected in Llantysilio-yn-Ial
by Cyngen ap Cadel of Powys as a memorial to his great grandfather Elisedd ap
Gwylog and the power of the Powysian dynasty.
Bishop
Censteg of Dingerein (in Kernow) accepts the authority of Archbishop Ceolnoth
of Canterbury.
The Abbasids
in Baghdad begin to lose supreme military control, and politically the
Caliphate subdivides into autonomous and independent emirates, such as the
Umayyads in Al-Andalus, Idrisids, Aghlabids, Tulunids, Sajids, Hamdanids,
Buyahids, Alids, Samanids, and Saffarids, though all at least nominally
acknowledge the authority of the Caliph.
853 - Mercia and Wessex attack Powys.
Conquest
by Breizh/Bertaeyn of the territory of Naoned/Naunnt (Nantes), which becomes
Britannia Nova.
Vikings
found Waterford.
854 - Cyngen of Powys dies on a pilgrimage to
Rome. His throne is seized by his
nephew, Rhodri Mawr of Gwynedd, and his sons expelled.
855 – Ynys Mons (Anglesey) is ravaged by Dublin Vikings.
855 –
Rhodri Mawr of Gwenydd conquers Powys.
856 - Rhodri Mawr of Gwynedd and Powys repels a
major Viking invasion of Cymru and kills their king, Gorm.
858 – Death of Cinaed at the palace of
Cinnbelachoir (Forteviot). His oldest daughter, Maelmuire, first marries
Aed Finnliath of Cenel nEogain, to whom she bore Niall Glundubh, ancestor of
the O’Neills, and secondly Flann Sinna of Clann Cholmain. His youngest daughter marries Rhun of Alt
Clud.
860 – Kent is completely absorbed into Wessex,
losing its separate identity.
862 - Rurik of the
Varangians establishes a kingdom in Rus and founds the Rurikid dynasty which
will rule Russia until 1612.
863-867 - Photian Schism between Konstantinopoulis and Roma, largely over politics and the refusal of Patriach Photios to erect a new patriarchate for the newly converted Bulgars, who then applied to the Pope of Rome. The schism ended with the Patriarch's deposition.
866 - Devastation of Fortrenn by the Norse.
867 – Northumbria is conquered by the Great Heathen Army; Deira is
ruled directly while Beornicia is given an English earl.
869 - Eight Ecumenical Council (Catholic) at Konstantinopoulis affirms the desposition of Photios and reaffirms veneration of icons and other images.
870 – The Great Heathen Army
conquers East Anglia.
871 – Dinas y Brython, seat of Alt Clut and its king,
Artgal, is destroyed by Olaf of the Norse kingdom of Dublin and his Viking
warriors. The capital of Alt Clut is moved to Govan and the kingdom
becomes referred to as Ystrad Clud, or Strathclyde.
Alfred the
Great becomes king of Wessex, later expanding his realm to include all of that
held by the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes and pushing back, though not driving out,
the Danish invaders, and begins using the titles “King of the Angles and
Saxons” and “King of the Anglo-Saxons”.
Rhodri Mawr conquers
Seisyllwg.
The
Basilea Rhomaion retakes its lost lands in southern Italiae and forms them into
the Thema of Longobardia.
872 - Death of Gwrgon of Seisyllwg by drowning.
Throne of Seisyllwg taken by his son-in-law, Rhodri Mawr (Raudri Mor) of
Gwynedd and Powys.
Artgal of
Ystrad Clud is slain through the connivance of Causantin mac Cinaeda, Ri
Cruithintuath, and his Viking allies.
Artgal's son, Rhun, succeeds to the throne.
873 - Death of Imar, according to the Annals of Ulster,
“king of the Northmen of all Britain and Ireland” and founder of the Ui Imair
dynasty which became the most powerful political entity in the Isles.
874 - The Great Heathen Army, joined by the Great Summer Army,
conquers Mercia.
875 – Haralde Harfagre of Norway annexes Orkney and Shetland to his kingdom because Vikings based there have been raiding not only the Pretanic Isles and Normandy but also Norway. Turf-Einar, son of Ragnvald Eysteinsson, Jarl
of More in Norway, becomes Jarl of Orkney, a territory including Shetland.
876 - Death of Donyarth, the last king of Kernow,
drowned during a hunting accident and buried at St. Cleer.
877 - The Vikings invade Cymru once more, and
Rhodri Mawr of Gwynedd, Powys and Seisyllwg is forced to flee to Ireland.
878 – The Annals
of the Four Masters, Annals of Ulster,
and Chronicum Scotorum mark this as
the year in which the relics of St. Colmcille were removed from the abbey of
Iona to Kells in Ireland, though the
Coarb of St. Colmcille in Ireland and Scotland remains as abbot of Iona.
Death of
Aed, Ri Cruithintuath; succession of Giric (Cyric) MacRath mac Dúngail of the Cineal Loairn, ancestor
of Clann Grioghar and of Siol Alpin, as king of Fortrenn.
Death of Rhun
of Ystrad Clud; succession of his son, Eochaid, who also rules Circinn by right of descent from his mother, a daughter of Kenneth I MacAlpin.
Rhodri
Mawr of Gwynedd, Powys, and Seisyllwg returns to his kingdoms, but is killed
fighting the army of Ceolwulf II of Mercia; his kingdoms are divided amongst
his three sons, Gwynedd going to Anarawd, Powys to Merfyn and Seisyllwg to
Cadell.
The
Vikings winter in Dyfed.
879 – Eight Ecumenical Council (Orthodox) reinstates Photios as Patriarch of Konstantinopoulis and implicitly condemns the addition of the Filoque clause to the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed.
The Danes in the Danelaw form the kingdoms of
Jorvik (York), of (Danish) East
Anglia, and of the Five Burghs (of Mercia).
880 - Anarawd of Gwynedd initiates a revenge attack
on the Mercian armies and defeats them on the River Conwy.
881 - Anarawd of Gwynedd and his brothers begin
extensive military campaigns to quell resistance in Powys and Seisyllwg.
882-1240 – The Varangians of the Rus Khaganate,
originally colonists from Sweden, establish Kyavan Rus at Kiev and dominate
Central Russia until being overwhelmed by the Mongol hordes.
885-886 - Viking siege of
Paris, then seat of the West Franci.
885 - Asser, a relative of Nobis, bishop of St.
Davids, is summoned to the court of King Alfred of England. He agrees to spend
six months of the year in the King's service. Asser helps to enhance the
literary status of the English Court and to negotiate the recognition of Alfred
as overlord of the southern Welsh kings Hyfaidd of Dyfed, Elisedd of
Brycheiniog, and Hywel of Glywysion who are harassed by the armies of Anarawd
of Gwynedd and seek his protection.
Anarawd seeks an alliance with the Norse kings of York.
889 - Eochaid and Giric Mac Rath of the Picts and Ystrad
Clud are deposed by Viking invaders. Domnall
mac Caustantin becomes Ri Cruithintuath, the last to be so called.
890 - Domnall Ri Cruithintuath expels the Briton
aristocracy of Ystrad Clud. They flee
south to North Cymru (Gwenydd).
Ketil Flatnose Bjornsson establishes the Kingdom of the Isles.
894 - Anarawd of Gwynedd's shaky alliance with the
Vikings collapses. His kingdom is
ravaged by the Norsemen. Anarawd is
forced to ask for help from Alfred of England and submits to his overlordship.
Alfred imposes oppressive terms and forces Anarawd to confirmation in the
Catholic Church with Alfred as godfather.
Bishop
Asser of Sherborne writes his Life of
King Alfred.
895 - Anarawd of Gwynedd is supplied with English
troops to assist in reconquest of Seisyllwg. He is successful and his brother,
Cadell, is finally able to take his rightful place on the Seisyllwg throne.
896 - Brycheiniog and Gwent are ravaged by Hastein
and his Viking pirate army.
900-1589 – Luzon Empire in the Philippine Islands, originally an
outpost of the Srivijaya Empire. Also known as the Kingdom of Tondo, it
includes all Manila north of the Pasig River and the Kapampangans made up the
bulk of its population.
900-1250 – The Early Mississippian Period in North
America.
900 - Tewdr of Brycheiniog establishes his court on
a crannóg in the middle of Llangorse Lake.
Death of Domnall,
Ri Cruithintuath; succession of Caustantin mac Aeda, the first to use the title
King of Alba.
Fortrenn,
now also called Moireabh, begins refusing to acknowledge the king of Alba at Scuin,
and its rulers are referred to as either Ri Fortrenn or Ri Moireabh in the
Irish Annals.
902 - The Norse are expelled from Dublin. They
attempt to settle in Seisyllwg, but are driven off by Clydog. They move on and
settle in the Wirral.
903 - The Vikings raid Anglesey.
904 - Marriage of Hywel Dda ap Cadell of Seisyllwg to Elen,
daughter of Llywarch ap Hyfaidd, of Dyfed.
Death of her father. Llywarch's brother, Rhodri, tries to claim the
throne, but is forced to flee.
905 - Rhodri, nominally King of Dyfed, is caught
and executed, at Arwystli, probably by his niece's husband, Hywel Dda, who
claims the throne of Dyfed.
909-1171 – The Fatimid Caliphate, based in Cairo. Ismaili (a sect of Shia) in thought, it begins
in Tunis but soon transfers to Egypt before spreading across North Africa and
down the east coast of the Arabian peninsula.
909 – The church of Cornwall becomes the last in
the Isles to accept Continental practice
910 - Death of Cadell of Seisyllwg; his son, Hywel
Dda, succeeds him.
911 – Rollo, descendant of Ragnald of More, becomes
Count of Rouen and ancestor of the later Dukes of Normandy, with the northern province
of Neustria, contiguous with the old Ducatas Noviodunum, as his territory.
914 - Vikings harry the Welsh coast and move up the
Severn, but are driven out by Saxon levies from Hereford and Gloucester.
915 – Defeat of Alba and the Bernician exiles from
Lothian by the Vikings of Dublin in the First Battle of Corbridge.
916 - Death of Anarawd of Gwynedd.
English
raiders attack the court of Tewdr of Brycheiniog at Llangorse and make off with
the queen and 33 of her courtiers.
Death of
Flann Sinna, first King of all Ireland; succession of Niall Glúndub mac Áedo of
Cenel nEogain, ancestor of the O’Neills, as Ard Ri.
917 - Brycheiniog is ravaged by the armies of Aethelflaed,
Lady of the Mercians, in revenge for the killing of one Abbot Ecgberht.
918 - Idwal Foel of Gwynedd and Hywel Dda of
Seisyllwg submit to Edward the Elder of England.
The
Vikings raid Anglesey.
The Second
Battle of Corbridge, this time between Alba against the Danes and the English,
is indecisive.
Vikings
found Cork.
920 - Hywel Dda merges Seisyllwg with Dyfed to
create the kingdom of Deheubarth.
(Note: The oldest British writers, from the days when the Hen Ogledd was
still a power, used the term Deheubarth to refer to the kingdoms of what is now
Wales collectively.)
924 – Berengar I, King of Italy and last successor
of the imperial line of Charle le Magne, dies with no successor appointed or
crowned.
Athelstan, son of Edward
the Elder, becomes King of the Anglo-Saxons.
927 - On 12 July, Constantine II
of Alba, Owain ap Dyfnwal of Cumbria, Hywel Dda of Deheubarth, Owain ap Hywel of Glywysion and Gwent, and Ealdred of Bamburgh (Bernicia) submit to Athelstan of
England at Eamont Bridge, after which Athelstan uses the title King of the
English. This event is considered the
beginning of the Kingdom of England.
The border
between England and Cymru is set at the River Wye.
Kernow
falls to Athelstan and is given the same status as Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria,
and East Anglia as an earldom.
Athelstan
also subdues the Danelaw.
928 - Hywel Dda of Deheubarth, Gwynedd and Powys
begins the codification of Welsh law.
929-1031 – The Umayyad Caliphate of Cordoba.
929 – Emir Abd-al-Rahman III of Cordoba proclaims
himself Caliph, in opposition to the rival Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad and the
Shia Caliph in Tunis.
931 - Morgan Hen of Glywysion and Gwent submits to
Athelstan of England and attends his court with Hywel Dda of Deheubarth and
Idwal Foel of Gwynedd.
932-1212 - The Karahan Empire, north of the Ghaznevid Empire in the Trans-Oxus area.
934 - Tewdr of Brycheiniog attends the court of
Athelstan of England and signs English land charters.
Hywel Dda
of Deheubarth, Idwal Foel of Gwynedd, and Morgan Mwynfawr of Morgannwg are compelled to accompany Athelstan on his
campaign against Constantine II of the Alba.
937 - Athelstan of England defeats a combined
Northern Army under Olaf of Dublin, Constantine II of Scots, and Owen I of
Strathclyde at the Battle of Brunanburh.
Idwal Foel
of Gwynedd distances himself from his English overlord.
The Britons
in Cymru begin to use the term “Cymry” to speak of themselves.
938 – Ngo Quyen defeats the Chinese at the Battle
of Bach Dang River and at last established Vietnamese independence and the
Empire of Viet Nam along with it.
940 – The Cyrillic script is invented in the First
Bulgarian Empire.
Birth of
Ferdowsi, revered national poet of Iran.
942 – Morgan
the Old reunites Gwent and Glywysing as Morgannwg.
Hywel Dda of Deuheubarth
gains Gwynedd and seizes Powys, becoming sole ruler or overlord of all Wales.
943 – Dunstan is appointed Abbot of Glastonbury.
950-1250 – The Medieval Warm Period.
950 – Hywel Dda dies, and united
Wales breaks up into its parts.
Morgan Hen Fawr unites Gwent and Glywssing as
Glamorgan.
951-1002 – Ottonian Renaissance
951 – The Dal gCais displace the Eoganachta as
kings of Mumhan.
954 – Eadred becomes first recognized king of all
England when the Danish kingdom of Jorvik falls to his armies.
Maolcuim I
invades Moireabh to put down a revolt led by its Mormaer. After killing
Cellach, he is himself killed by the Moravians. This is the first known
outbreak of hostilities since central political power shifted to the east.
Dunstan's protege Aethelwold is appointed Abbot of Abingdon.
959 – With the installation of Dunstan as Archbishop of Canterbury (959-988), the English Benedictine Reform begins, with his chief support coming from Aethelwold, Bishop of Winchester (963-984), and Oswald, Archbishop of York (971-992) and Bishop of Worchester (961-992).
960 – Alba captures Edinburgh/Dunedin, the former
Din Eidyn.
962-1183 - Gazneli Empire, between the Trans-Oxus and the Ganges River.
962 – Pope John XII crowns Otto I, Duke of Saxony ,
as Imperator Romanorum, founding the Imperium Romanum Sacrum, or Holy Roman
Empire, which includes the territories of not only Francia Orientalis but those
of Francia Media also.
963-1187 – Ghazvanid Empire in Iran and Central Asia.
965 – Sicilia falls to Muslim invaders who
establish the Emirate of Sicily. In
response, the Basilea Rhomaion unites the themata of Calabria, Lucania, and
Longobardia under the Strategos of Bari as Kapetan and Patricius, forming the
Katepenate of Italia.
966-1939 – The Kingdom of Poland, the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth after 1569, and those areas of the Russian Empire after 1795
(including western Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine) serve as the main center of
the Ashkenazi culture.
967-1328 – The House of Capet rules France.
967-1014 - The War of the
Irish with the Foreigners, led on the Irish side by Brian Borumha, king of
Mumha and later Ard Ri Eireann.
973 – Maccus mac Arailt of the Isles, Kenneth III
of Alba, and Malcolm of Strathclyde form a defensive alliance.
Edgar I the Peaceful is
anointed as head of the “Anglo-Saxon Empire” at Bath. One of his first acts is to grant Laudian
(Lothian) to Kenneth III of Alba as a fief.
974 –
After the death of Morgan the Old, Morgannwg again divides back into Gwent and Glywysing.
977-present – Rajahnate, then Sultanate, of Brunei.
977-1010 - Ferdowsi
composes the 60,000-verse Shahnameh, a literary masterpiece which
defines the politico-historical identity of Greater Iran and traces the history
of Zoroastrianism.
980 – At this
time the population of Konstantinopoulis is around 800,000.
987-1328 - The House of Capet rules the kingdom of France, beginning with
Hugh Capet, Duke of France and Count of Paris.
988 – Basileus Basil II Sebastos of the Basilea Rhomain forms the Varangian Guard with 6000 warriors sent as a gift from Vladimir Viatoslavich, prince of Kyavan Rus.
1000-1538 - The Kingdom of
Hungary dominates Central Europe.
1001-1521 – Rajahnate of Butuan in Mindinao.
1002 - Brian Bórumha mac Cennétig, king of Mumha, is
recognized as Ri hEireann Uile or “Imperator Scottorum”.
1014 – Battle of Clontarf between the forces of Brian
the Ard Ri, including Irish warriors of Connacht and Munster, Manx mercenaries,
gallowglasses from the Hebrides, and military forces sent by Brian’s son-in-law,
Maolchaluim II of Alba, versus the forces of Máel Mórda mac Murchada of
Leinster, Sigtrygg Silkbeard of Dublin, Brodir of the Isle of Mann, and Jarl
Sigurd Lodvesson of Orkney.
Brian’s
forces are victorious, but he is killed in the fighting and the high kingship
falls to Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill of Midhe, whom he had deposed. Domnall mac Malcolm and two of Alba’s Mormaers
also die at Clontarf; their heads form part of the guard of honor on Brian’s
bier on the way to Armagh, where they are buried with him.
1015 - Cnut the Great of
Denmark invades England with 200 longships and 10,000 Viking warriors.
1016-1042 – The Danish House of Harthacanute rules in England.
1018 – Malcolm II mac Kenneth (Máel
Coluim mac Cináeda) brings Bernicia north of the Tweed, the area later known as
the Merse and the Earldom of Dunbar, under his control after the Battle of
Carham against Eadwulf Cudel, Ealdorman of Bernicia.
War
between the Basilea Rhomain and the First Bulgarian Empire ends in the
dissolution and surrender of the latter.
1020 – The Jarl of Orkney makes the Mormaerdom of
Caithness a fiefdom.
c.1025 - Suibne mac Cinaeda becomes the first king of
the Gallgaidheal in Galloway.
1031 – The Caliphate of Cordoba begins to disintegrate.
Maolcuilm
II of Alba, Macbethad mac Findlaech of Moireabh, and Echmercach mac Ragnaill of
Mann and the Isles submit to Cnut the Great at the River Tay.
1034-1040
- The
Cenel Connaill rule Alba.
1034 – The Cenel Conaill take the throne of Alba
when Donnchad mac Crínáin becomes king at Scuin; his father Crinan, abbot of
Dun Chaillean, Mormaer of Athfodhla, Abthane of Dull, Kirkmichael, and
Madderty, Seneschal of the Isles, and head of the Cenel Conaill in Scotland, is
the son-in-law of Maolchaluim II.
1037-1194 - The Great Seljuk Empire.
1039 – Gruffydd
ap Llywelyn becomes king of Gwenydd and Powys.
1040 – MacBethad mac Findlaich of the Cenel Loairn,
king of Moireabh/Fortrenn, becomes king of Alba, when his predecessor dies in
battle after having invaded Moireabh. In
contrast to his portrayal by Shakespeare, he is widely acknowledged as an excellent ruler, and is
the first king in Scotland to import Norman knights and petty lords.
The Berber
Almoravid dynasty of Morocco eventually rules the Western Maghreb and
Al-Andalus from Marrakesh.
1042-1066 - The Cerdicingas rule
England for the second time.
1042 – Edward the Confessor, last ruling king of the Cerdicingas, assumes
the throne of England. Edward utilizes
numbers of Norman soldiers in his campaigns against the Danes.
1045 – Crinan of Dun Chaillean is killed in battle
against MacBethad.
Brychneiniog divides into the
separate kingdoms of Selyf, Tewdos, and Talgarth, which are almost immediately
absorbed into Deheubarth.
1048 – Aedh O’Connor, king of Connacht, defeats in
battle, the O’Flahertys, kings of Iar Connacht reigining in Magh Seola, and
sacks their seat at Inis Loch. Two years
later, Aedh moves his seat from the ancient capital of Cruachan to Tuam in Magh
Seola, the great plain of Iar Connacht west of the River Galway.
Birth of
Iranian polymath Omar Khayyam, poet, philosopher, mathmetician, astronomer,
mechanical engineer, geographer, mineralogist, musician, and theologian who
lived until 1131.
1050-1250 – 12th Century Renaissance, which
among other things spawned the genre of literature known as the Matter of
Britain, or the Arthurian cycle.
1054 – Sigurd the Dane, Jarl of Northumbria, leads a
large scale invasion of Scotland.
The Great
Schism of the Christian Church takes place when the Patriarch of Roma and the
Patriarch of Konstantinoupolis excommunicate each other.
1055 –
Gruffydd ap Llywelyn conquers Deheubarth.
After this, he is known as King of Wales. He allies himself with Ælfgar, exiled Earl of
Mercia, against Edward the Confessor, King of England, eventually resulting in Ælfgar’s
reinstatement to the earldom.
1057 – MacBethad of Alba is killed in battle against
the sons of Donnchad I, and is succeeded by his stepson Lulach, who rules only
one year, after which the Cenel Conaill of Alba retake the throne in the person
of Maolchaluim III Ceannmor mac Donnchad.
1058-1290 - The Cenel
Connaill rule Alba.
1058 – Gruffydd
ap Llywelyn conquers Gwent and Glywysing and reunites them as Morgannwg.
1061 – Following their defeat at the Battle of Glen
Patrick and the beheading of their chieftain, Ruadri, the O’Flahertys remove
their seat west of the River Galway.
1062-1063 – Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex, conducts a
series of campaigns against Gwynedd.
1063 – Harold
Godwinson invades southern Wales from the sea while his brother Tostig invades
the north. Gruffydd flees to Snowdonia,
where he is betrayed and beheaded by his own people. Afterwards, his kingdom splits, Bleddyn ap
Cynfyn becoming king of Gwenydd and Powys, Caradog ap Gruffydd (ap Rhydderch)
king of Glywysing, Cadwgan ap Meurig king of Gwent, and Mareddud ap Owain king
of Deuheubarth.
1064 – Harold of Wessex accompanies William, Duke of
Normandy, on his campaign against Conan II, Duke of Breizh/Bertaeyn.
1065 – Harold of Wessex supports rebels in
Northumbria against his own brother, Tostig, then Earl of Northumbria, whom he
replaces with Morcar of Mercia.
1066-1154 - The House of
Normandy rules England.
1066 – Edward the Confessor of England dies, leaving
vacant a disputed throne; the Witengamot names Harold as his successor. Harald III of Norway invades England with
Harold’s brother Tostig as his ally, and Harold defeats them at the Battle of
Stamford Bridge. William of Normandy,
accompanied by a sizable number of Normans, Flemings, and Bretons, invades
England, defeating and killing Harold at the Battle of Hastings.
1068 – After joining a failed rebellion, Edgar the
Aetheling, last remaining male member of the Cerdicingas, flees to the court of
Maolchaluim III in Scotland. The next
year Maolchaluim marries Edgar's sister, the later St. Margaret, and joins an invasion
of England along with Sweyn Estridson of Denmark under Edgar’s leadership to
attempt to regain his throne. The effort
is unsuccessful.
1069-1070 – The Harrying of the North. The forces of William the Conqueror devastate
Northumbria by killing 100,000 outright and causing another 100,000 to die of
exposure, starvation, and disease by destroying everything in sight.
1071 - The Katepanate of Italiae, last vestige of
the Imperium Romanum in the West, comes to an end when the forces of the
Basilea Rhomaion there are overrun by the Normans.
1077-1256 – Khwarzemid Empire
in Iran, southern Caucasus, Afghanistan, and Central Asia.
1077 – Seljuk leader Suleyman bin Kutalmish
establishes the Sultanate of Rum in Anatolia in territory taken from the
Basilea Rhomain.
1080 –
Robert fitz Hamon, baron of Gloucester, establishes the Lordship of Glamorgan
in the eastern section of Morgannwg (Gwent), while the Lordship of Morgannwg is
confined to Glywysing.
1081-1086 – Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, the former
alfarez to Alfonso VI of Leon and Castile better known as El Cid (from al
Seyyed), fights as general of the forces
of the Muslim rulers of Zargosa, leading Muladis, Moors, Berbers, and Malians.
1091 –
Glywysing falls to Robert fitz Hamon.
1094-1099 – El Cid conquers Valencia and establishes a
multi-ethnic principality where Moor and Christians lived side-by-side.
1095 – The First Crusade begins in 1095 when
Basileus Alexios I Komnenos Sebastos in Konstantinoupolis asks
Pope Urban II, as a fellow Roman, for assistance against the Seljuk Turks, and
he responds with the Council of Clermont to call up volunteers.
1099 – The victorious Crusaders establish the
Kingdom of Jerusalem, Principality of Antioch, County of Edessa, and County of
Tripoli.
The
Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem is founded.
Edgar
Aetheling and many of his companions serve the Imperium Romanum in the
Varangian Guard for a number of years.
1111 – The the Synod of Fiadh-mic-Oenghusa aims to reduce
the number of sees and begin to plan organization of regular territorial
dioceses. Later in the year, the Synod
of Usnagh divides Meath between the bishops of Meath and of Clonmacnoise.
1113 – The Hospitaller Order of Saint John of
Jerusalem is chartered.
1118 – The Synod of Rath Breasil attempts to
establish territorial dioceses with secular clergy as the norm in Ireland, 24
dioceses divided between the metropolitan sees of Armagh and Cashel, both of
which claim primacy. Three already existing territorial dioceses, Dublin,
Wexford, and Waterford, are not part of the synod, already having joined
themselves to Canterbury.
1119 – The Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of
Solomon is founded in Jerusalem.
1120 – The Almohad Berbers establish a Caliphate
that soons covers the remaining Muslim territories in the Iberian peninsula.
1124-1230 – The MacWilliams-MacHeth Wars. The former descend from William, son of
Duncan II, while the latter descend from Alexander mac Crinan, Maolcuim Ceanmor’s
elder brother. Both William and
Alexander married into the royal dynasty of Moireabh, and the wars, often
fought with the two families as allies, are a continuation of the Fortrenn-Circinn/Verturones-Caledonii rivalry that goes back to the 2nd century CE.
1124 – David I mac Maolcoluim
usurps the throne of nephew Maolcoluim mac Alexander I and takes the throne of
Scone, uniting Alba with Cumbria (Strathclyde) and Dunbar as the Kingdom of
Scotland, using the title “King of the Brets & Scots”. The influx of
Norman, Breton, and Flemish nobles increases exponentially. David
promulgates the Laws of the Brets and Scots, which last until 1305.
1125-1571 –
Originally an outpost of the Srivijaya Empire, the
Kingdom of Namayan dominates the area of Luzon along the north shore of Lake
Laguna to Manila Bay, and includes the modern Santa Ana de Sapa (its
capital), Paco, Pandacan, Sampaloc, Quiapo, San Miguel, San Juan, Taytay, Ermita, Malate, Makati, Pasay, Paranaque, Pateros, Taguig, and Mandaluyong.
1125 – The Lordship of Galloway, the former Novant, annexed to Scotland.
1126 – Edgar the Atheling, last of the Cerdicingas
in the male line, dies in Scotland.
1130-1134 - Maolcoluim mac
Alasdair rises against David I in Alba with the support of Oengus mac mheic
Lulach, king of Moireabh. After David's Mercian general, Edward Siwardson,
defeats the Moravian forces, William fitz Duncan, son of Donnchad II and
son-in-law of Oengus mac mheic Lulach, becomes ruler of Moireabh and progenitor
of the MacWilliams.
1135-1154 – The Anarchy.
The Kingdom of England and the Duchy of Normandy are consumed by civil
war between Matilda, daughter of Henry I, Empress of the Imperium Romanum
Sacrum, and Countess of Anjou, and Stephen of Blois, who usurped the throne of
England upon Henry I’s death. Matilda was supported by her half-brother Robert of Gloucester and her uncle David I of Scots. The fighting ends with Stephen accepting Matilda’s son by Geoffrey of Anjou, Henry FitzEmpress, as his
heir.
1140 – Somerled mac Gillebride, grandson of
Gilledomnan of the Isles who was expelled to Ireland, becomes king of Kintyre by
marrying Ragnailt, daughter of Olaf, king of Mann and the Isles.
Turlough
O'Connor, king of Connacht, makes himself Ard Ri Eireann.
1142 – The Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus is
founded in Jerusalem.
1147-1149 – The Second Crusade attempts to reconquer
Edessa, but fails.
1147 – The conservative Almohads replace the
Almoravids on the Iberian peninsula.
The North
German and Danish Crusade against the Wends fails.
1152 – The Synod of Kells establishes 32 dioceses in
Ireland, including those formerly subject to Canterbury (Dublin and Waterford),
distributed among 4 provinces headed by Dublin, Cashel, Tuam, and Armagh, which
is given the primacy of all Ireland.
1154-1485 - The House of
Plantagenet rules England, in three branches, the House of Anjou, the House of
Lancaster, and the House of York.
1154-1242 - The Angevin Empire in England, Anjou, Normandy, Ireland,
Gascony, Aquitaine (Guyenne), Poitou, Maine, Touraine, Saintonge, Marche,
Perigord, Limousin, Nantes, and Quercy. Clients include Wales, Britanny,
Cornwall, and Toulouse.
1154 – With the succession
of Henry of Anjou as to the throne England as Henry II of England, the rule of
the House of Plantagenet in England begins.
1155 – Pope Adrian IV, the first and only English Bishop
of Rome, issues a Papal Bull granting Henry II of England lordship over
Ireland.
Turlough
O’Connor, High King of Ireland, king of Connacht, and king of Teora Connacht,
assembles the most massive fleet in the history of Ireland to invade the
kingdom of Ailech and bring it to heel.
The northerners defend themselves with a fleet hired from Godred
Olafsson, of Mann and the Isles, Fergus of Galloway, and Somerled of Kintyre,
led by Mac Skellig. After plundering
most of Tir Connaill then Inishowen, O’Connor’s fleet meets the Hebrideans off the peninsula and begins a naval battle that
lasts two days. They defeat the
mercenaries, but have so many causalites, including their commander, Rory Mor
O’Dowd, they have to return south.
1156 – After the major but indecisive Battle of the
Epiphany against Godred, Somerled mac Gillebride, king of Kintyre, becomes king
of the South Isles when Godred agrees to cede the islands south of
Ardnamurchan: Islay, Jura, Mull, Tiree, Coll, Iona, Arran, and Bute.
Muirchertach
Mac Lochlainn of Aileach becomes Ard Ri Eireann upon the death of his old
nemesis, Turlough O’Connor.
1158 – Somerled drives Godred from his seat on the
Isle of Mann to become king of Mann and all the Isles as well as lord of
Kintyre.
1160 –
Powys divides into the kingdoms of Powys Fadog and of Powys Wenwynwyn.
1164 – Death of Somerled in Renfrew at the hands of
the House of Stewart after he comes ashore under a flag of truce. Godred regains his pre-1158 territories.
1166 – Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn dies, and Ruaidhri
O Conchobhair, king of Connacht, becomes Ard Ri Eireann. Ruaidhri and his allies, Tiernan O’Rourke of
Beifne and the Vikings of Dublin, depose Muirchertach’s former ally Diarmud MacMurrough
of Leinster, who seeks assistance among the Cambro-Normans in Cymru.
1169 – Armies of Cambro-Normans under Richard de
Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, also known as Strongbow, invade Ireland, taking
Waterford, Wexford, and Dublin at the invitation of Diarmud, former king of
Leinster, to help him regain his throne.
MacMurrough is reinstated as king of Leinster and Strongbow marries his
daughter Aoife of Leinster.
1171-1341 – The Kurdish Ayyubid Sultanate. Founded by Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub and
based in Egypt, this Sunni sultanate spread over Libya and Tunisia as well as
the Levant and western Arabia.
1171 – Diarmuid dies and Strongbow becomes king of
Leinster.
1172 - Henry II, worried about Strongbow’s growing
power, invades Ireland in force and secures submission of all the
Hiberno-Norman lords and many of the Gaelic ones as well. Henry proclaims himself Lord of Ireland. The Synod of Cashel declares the Roman Church
to be the only religion allowed in Ireland and that tithes be sent to Rome,
resulting in Ireland’s adoption of the feudal system in order to pay them.
1173-1174 – Revolt of Eleanor of Aquitaine against her
husband Henry II of England, along with three of their sons and their
supporters, including the kingdom of Breizh/Bertaeyn. It ends with the rebels’ defeat and ultimate
reconciliation with Henry.
1185-1868 – Feudal period of the Empire of Japan,
dominated by the Shogunate.
1185-1550 – The Medieval Inquisition.
1185 – John, younger brother of Richard the
Lionheart, King of England, is made ruler of Ireland but stays only eight
months, leaving under threat of a revolt.
The Second
Bulgarian Empire frees itself from the Basilea Rhomain and reasserts itself as
master of the Balkans, this time even more so.
1187-1192 – The Third Crusade, against the armies of
Saladin, by Imperium Romanum Sacrum ruler Frederick I Barabossa, French king
Philip II Augustus, and English king Richard Coeur d’ Leon.
1190 – The Order of the Hospital of Saint Mary of
Jerusalem is founded. Its members become
better known as the Teutonic Knights.
1192 – The Treaty of Ramla between Richard the
Lionheart and Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub (Saladin) effectively ends the rule
of the Crusaders, who have already lost nearly all their territories in the
Levant to Saladin. A tiny portion of the
Mediterranean coast around the city of Acre, held by the Knights Templar,
maintains the title of Kingdom of Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, the French establish the Kingdom of Cyprus.
1194 - The last sultan of the
Great Seljuq Empire falls to the armies of Ala ad-Din Tekish of Khwarezim in
the extreme east of Greater Iran.
1196 –
Former Crusader William Fitz Osbert, better known as William Longbeard, leads a
revolt of the poor against a group of corrupt rich Londoners that included his
own brother. Longbeard travelled to
Normandy to make clear to Richard his loyalty to him, but Hubert Walter,
Archbishop of Canterbury, had him arrested, tried for disturbing public order,
and hanged after being dragged through the streets. His followers promptly declared him a martyr.
1198-1290 – The Livonian Crusade by the Teutonic Knights.
1198 – Death of Ruaidri mac Tairrdelbach Ua
Conchobair of Connacht, last of the old High Kings of Ireland.
1200-1450 – The Middle Mississippian Period in North
America.
1200-1240 – Reign of Llywelyn the Great over Gwynedd and
Wales.
1202-1214 - Anglo-French
War, between France and England, Normandy, and the Imperium Romanum Sacrum.
During the war, England loses Normandy to France and the Imperium Romanum
Sacrum gives up its quest to reunite the Carolingian Empire by annexing the
former Francia Occidentalis.
1202 - The Fourth Crusade begins in 1202 with the
intention of reconquering the Holy Land, but instead attacked the Basilea
Rhomain.
1204 – After the capture of Konstantinoupolis,
the Crusaders divide the conquered territory into the possessions of the
Republic of Venice (primarily Crete) and those of the Imperium Romaniae (Latin Empire) and its vassel states:
Kingdom of Thessalonika, Principality of Achaea, Duchy of Athens, and Duchy of
Naxos. Rhodes becomes the headquarters of the Knights Hospitaller.
The
surviving “Greek” portions of the empire include the Empire of Nicaea, the
Empire of Trebizond, and the Despotate of Epirus.
1206-1527 – The Dehli Sultanate dominates northern India.
1206-1368 – The Mongol Empire, founded by Ghenghis Khan.
1207 – Birth of Iranian poet, jurist, theologian,
and Sufi mystic Jalal al-Din Muhammad Balki, aka Rumi and Molana, of the
Sultanate of Rum who died in 1273.
1209-1229 – The Albigensian Crusade against the wealthy
Cathari of the Languedoc.
1212 – The Children’s Crusade.
1213-1569 – Confederation of Madyaas on the Visayan
island of Panay, founded by the “Twelve Datus” fleeing Rajah Makatunao of
Borneo.
1213 - John I Plantagenet,
king of England, submits to the universal rule of the See of Rome.
1214 - A joint invasion by
Domnall Ban mac Domnaill of the MacWilliams, Cinaed of the MacHeths, and an
Irish prince is defeated by Ferchar mac in t-Sagairt, Abbot of Applecross, who
becomes Mormaer of the new territory of Ross.
The Battle
of Bouvines ends the Anglo-French War.
1215 – With the support of Prince Louis of France
and Alexander II, king of Scots, the twenty-five Barons of Runnymede seize
London and force John I, king of England, to sign the Magna Carta;
however, he breaks his word almost as soon as hostilities cease.
1215-1217 - First Barons' War. The barons invite Prince Louis, son and heir
of Philip Augustus of France to intervene and take over the throne, which he
does, not only sending troops but coming himself. Although Louis comes to control nearly all
the country, save for two castles, the reason for the nobles support of him
dies along with John in late 1216, and the war ends early the next year with
the Treaty of Lambeth.
1216 – Llywelyn
the Great ap Iorweth of the House of Aberffraw, king of Gwenydd, becomes Prince
of Wales at the Council of Aberdyfi.
1217-1221 – The Fifth Crusade, by the kings of Austria,
Hungary, Jerusalem, and Antioch, attempting to take back Jerusalem.
1220-1450 – Kingdom of Zimbabwe, succeeded by Butua.
1220 - The Khwarazmian
dynasty in Iran falls to the armies of Ghengis Khan. Within three decades
after this, famine, disease, and mass murder reduce the population of Iran by
90%
1223 - Fearchar
mac an t-Sagairt, abbot of Applecross, delivers a final defeat to the MacHeths,
sending them north, where they become the Mackays of Strathnaver.
1224-1502 - Golden Horde in Eastern Europe, western Urals, Crimea, region north of the Volga.
1224 – The “Greek” Despotate of Epirus conquers the
“Latin” Kingdom of Thessalonika.
1228-1229 – The Sixth Crusade, by Frederick II of the
Imperium Romanum Sacrum.
1228 – First mention of Robin Hood of Barnsdale in
Yorkshire.
1230-1600 – The Mali Empire of the Mandinka in West
Africa, renowned for the wealth of its rulers.
1230-1272 – The Prussian Crusade, by the Teutonic
Knights.
1230 – After the defeat of Gillescop, last of the MacWilliam
claimants, Alexander II of the King of Scots, orders that his surviving
three-year old daughter be brought to the town of Forfar. Following the king’s explicit instructions,
William Comyn, Earl of Buchan and Justiciar of Scotland, takes the toddler into
the town square in full view of the people, and read the king’s command for the
little girl’s fate. Finished, Comyn grabs
the innocent girl’s ankles, and dashes her head against the town pillar,
destroying the poor young girl in a smear of brains and blood and crushed bone,
as per the royal instructions.
1234 – Death of Alan, last of the independent Lords
of Galloway.
1235 - Gille Ruadh leads the Galwegian
Revolt in the name of Thomas mac Alan against the takeover and partion of
Galloway by Alexander II.
1237 – The Hebrides and other Scottish isles break
away from Mann to become an independent kingdom.
1238-1492 – The Emirate of Granada of the Nasrid dynasty,
at least nominally vassal to the Crown of Castilla.
1238 – Mohammad I ibn Nasr establishes the Emirate
of Granada.
1240 –
Dafydd ap Llywelyn becomes Prince of Wales upon the death of his father
Llywelyn the Great.
1246 –
Dafydd ap Llywelyn dies, and his realm is shared between Owain Goch and
Llywelyn, sons of his half-brother Gruffydd.
1248-1254 – The Seventh Crusade, by Louis IX of France, attempting
to relieve the Knights Templar in the Levant.
1250-1487 - The Karamanid
Empire. Founded by Hoca Saddedin from Azerbaijan, the empire of the
former Seljuq general which is finally conquered by the Ottomans is notable for
having a six-pointed blue star, which the State of Israel now calls the Star of
David, on its flag, which in medieval times is called the Seal of Suleiman, or
Solomon, and is a symbol for Jewish, Muslim, and Christian mystics.
1252 –
Owain’s and Llywelyn’s younger brother Dafydd comes of age and demands a share
of the principality, which leads to a civil war which ends the next year with
Llywelyn as sole Prince of Wales.
1254-1450 – Gaelic Resurgence in Ireland, in which Gaelic
culture and rulers roll back English influence until it is confined mostly
inside The Pale, with most of the Hiberno-Norman houses “Beyond The Pale” going
native and adopting a Gaelic lifestyle.
1258 - A group of seven barons under the leadership
of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester force Henry III of England to sign
the Provisions of Oxford, handing over much of his power and authority to a
council of fifteen nobles, under the supervision of Parliament, which was to
meet three times a year. These
provisions were reinforced and expanded the next year by twenty-four barons in
the Provisions of Westminster.
The Mongol
armies of Hulagu Khan destroy Baghdad, including the Great Library, and bringing an end to the independent Abbasid Caliphate.
1258-1260 – Reign of Brian Ua Neill as Ard Ri Eireann.
1261 – The “Greek” Empire of Nicaea reconquers the
“Latin” Imperium Romaniae and reestablishes the Basilea Rhomaion.
1261-1517 - The Shadow Caliphate.
The Mamluk Sultanate supports an Abbasid survivor of the Mongol invasion
to continue the Caliphate in Cairo.
1263-1267 - Second Barons' War. Waged in response to Henry III's
recalcitrance, de Montfort leads his fellow barons in a rising against the
crown. After Henry and his son Edward
(later to become Edward I of England) are captured at the Battle of Lewes,
England is governed without a monarch until Edward escaped fifteen months later
and begins the ultimately successful drive to restore his father to the throne.
1263 – Battle of Largs between the Scots under
Alexander II, King of the Scots and Britons, and the forces of Hakon Hakonson,
King of Norway, overlord of Mann and the Isles.
Though indecisive, it leads to the cession of Mann to the Scottish crown
two years later upon the death of Magnus
Olafsson, last ruler from the Ui Imhoir.
1267 – In the Treaty of Montgomery, Llywelyn ap
Gruffydd obtains recognition of his title Prince of Wales, though he remains
subject to the Edward I of England as his overlord.
1270 – The Eight Crusade, by Louis IX of France,
targeting Tunis in North Africa.
1271-1290 - Sojourn of Marco
Polo at the court of Kublai Khan in Beijing with his father Niccolo and uncle
Maffeo.
1271-1272 – The Ninth Crusade, by Edward I of
England, against the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt in attempted coordination with
the Mongol Ilkhanate.
1282 – Llywelyn ap Gruffydd of
Wales dies in the Battle of Orewin Bridge and is succeeded as Prince of Wales
by his brother Dafydd.
1283 – A war between England and Wales ends with the
conquest of the latter by Edward I of England, the overthrow of the long-ruling
House of Cunedda, the execution of Dafydd by hanging, drawing, and quartering,
an execution especially devised by Edward for him. Edward incorporates Wales into England by
statute the following year.
1285-1415 – Ifat Sultanate in the Horn of Africa.
1286-1290 - The House of
Sverre in Alba. Margaret, Maid of Norway, is titular Queen of Scots, but
the realm is governed by Guardians.
1286 – Death of Alexander III, last King of the
Scots and Britons from the House of Dunkeld, the Cenel Conaill in Scotland.
1291 – Enraged at the death of his father, Malcolm,
at the hands of English “peace-keeping” troops, William Wallace of Ellerslie
leaves the seminary in St. Andrews and begins a guerrilla campaign based in
Selkirk Forest.
The Mamluk
Sultanate captures Acre, the last territory of the Crusaders in the Levant,
ending the Kingdom of Jerusalem, though the monarchs of Cyprus claim the title
of King (Queen) of Jerusalem until their own fall (to Venice) in 1489.
1292-1296 - The House of
Balliol rules Alba.
1292 – John Balliol, Lord of Galloway, is crowned
King of Scots at Scone, the last King of Scots to be crowned on the Stone of
Destiny.
1293-1527 – The Majapahit Empire covers Indonesia,
Singapore, Malaysia, Borneo, southern Thailand, the Philippines, and East
Timor. The empire promotes Hinduism and
Buddhism, but also supports Islam.
1294 – Leading a rising planned
months in advance that launches on across Wales simultaneously on Michaelmas,
Madog ap Llywelyn of a cadet branch of the House of Aberffraw becomes Prince of
Wales.
1295 –
The Welsh rising ends at the Battle of Maes Moydog on 5 March, and while Madog
is captured later, he is not executed but only kept prisoner.
1296-1304 – First War of Scottish Independence.
1296 – Sack of Berwick. Battle of Dunbar. Edward I of England removes the Stone of
Destiny from Caislean Credi (Moot Hill) and takes it to Westminister Abbey.
1297 – Andrew Murray of Petty escapes from Chester
Castle and begins a rising against the English in the north to match that of
Wallace in the south. Battle of Stirling
Bridge. Wallace and Murray are
proclaimed Guardians of Scotland; Murray dies shortly thereafter.
1298-present – The Warsangali Sultanate has governed
most of Somalia since the 13th century.
1298 – Battle of Falkirk. Wallace resigns and resumes the guerrilla
warfare that he had begun earlier in 1291, while the armies of the great lords
fight more conventional warfare.
1299-1923 – The Ottoman Sultanate. At one time the most powerful state in the
world, the empire covered Anatolia, the Levant, Arabia, Mesopotamia, Egypt,
North Africa, the Caucausus, Crimea, the Balkans, and the Danube Valley
in its peak.
1302 – The island of Arwad off the coast of Syria,
the very last stronghold of the Knights Templar in the Levant, falls.
1303 - Scottish forces led by John Comyn, Simon Fraser, Henry Sinclair, William Wallace, and former Templar knight Prior Abernethy inflict a devastating defeat upon English forces led by John Seagrave at the Battle of Roslin, which takes place in three stages, with the Scots each time obliterating a force equal in size to their own.
1305-1378 - The “Babylonian Captivity of the Church”, with
the move of the Papacy to Avignon, France.
1305 – Wallace is betrayed and captured at
Robroyston, outside of Glasgow, by a servant of John Stewart of Mentieth then
taken to London to be hanged, drawn, and quartered.
1306-1328 – Second War of Scottish Independence.
1306 – Robert the Bruce is crowned King of Scots at
Scone, but is later defeated at the Battle of Methven, after which he takes up
Wallace’s guerrilla tactics for some time.
1307 – Philip IV of France arrests all the Knights
Templar in his kingdom and begins torturing false confessions out of them. During their inquisition, several of the
Templars are recorded to have confessed to following “Bafomet”, later rendered
Baphomet, with the accounts giving various descriptions of this demon or false
god; Bafomet, however, is a French corruption of the name Muhammad dating back
to the 13th century.
The Seljuk
Sultanate of Rum falls to the Ottomans.
1310 – The English province of the Knights Templar,
up to this point one of England’s strongest allies in its fight to re-subdue
Scotland, is dissolved, with Edward II of England seizing their assets in
England and Ireland; a large number of the Templars join the Scottish
cause. There they merge with their
sister Knights Hospitaller as the “Order of St. John and the Temple” until the
Reformation.
1312 - Philip intimidates Pope Clement V into
disbanding the entire Templar order and turning over its assets and surviving
personnel to the Hospitallers, though the order still survives in Portugal as
the Knights of Christ and in Aragon as the order of Montessa.
1314 – Battle of Bannockburn. Fall of Stirling Castle. For all intents and purposes, this is the end
of English domination of Scotland until 1603.
Jacques de
Molay and other senior Templar leaders in France are burned at the stake.
1315-1318 – Edward Bruce, brother of Robert of Scots, is
made High King of Ireland by all the major Gaelic ruling families and several
of the Hiberno-Norman ones.
1320 – Declaration of Arbroath by the “Community of
the Realm” of Scotland to Pope John XXII of unconditional support for Robert
the Bruce as King of Scots.
1328-1589 – The House of Valois, a cadet branch of the House of Capet,
rules France.
1328 – Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton ends the war
between Scotland and England.
1329 – Only a year after the treaty, Robert the
Bruce dies, and his minor son succeeds him as David II, with Thomas Randolph, 1st
Earl of Moray, as regent, who is succeeded as regent by the Domhnall II, Earl
of Mar, in 1332.
1330 – The Battle of Teba, between Castile and
Granada, in which a large number of Scottish knights led by James Douglas,
veterans of the Wars of Independence on their way to the Levant with the heart
of Robert the Bruce, take part.
1332-1357 – Third War of Scottish Independence.
1332 – Edward Balliol, son of John, and the
“Disinherited” invade Scotland in the minority of David, landing in Fife.
1336-1646 – The Vijayanagara Empire rules southern India.
1336 - Iain mac Donald
of Islay becomes the first Lord of the Isles. The Lordship of the Isles
eventually grows to include the Western Isles, Earldom of Ross, Moidart,
Knoydart, Garmoran, Morvern, Kintyre, Ardnamurchan, and the Glens of
Antrim.
1337-1453 – The Hundred Years' War between the House of
Valois and the House of Plantagenet, which breaks out after the House of Capet
dies out. Burgundy, Aquitaine, Anjou,
and Normandy fight for the Plantagenets.
1337-1360 – The Edwardian War phase of the Hundred
Years’ War.
1340-1591 – Songhai Empire in West Africa, which
ultimately falls to the Moroccans.
1340 – The Basilea Rhomaion reabsorbs the “Greek”
Despotate of Epirus.
1341-1364 – Breton War of Succession, an initially
unrelated conflict which became part of the Hundred Years’ War because of the
involvment of England and France.
1345-1600 – The Italian Renaissance.
1354 – The Ottoman Turks cross into Europe.
1356-1375 – The War of the Two Peters between Castille
and Aragon, into which both France and England were dragged.
1349 – The Black Death arrives in the Isles,
striking England first.
1357 – The Third War of Scottish Independence ends
with the Treaty of Berwick and the restoration of David II.
1360-1890 – Jolof Empire in Senegal.
1365 - Murad I of the
Ottoman Sultanate institutes the Janissary Corps, the elite standing troops
made up of promising adolescent conscripts from Christian families under the
devsirme (blood tax) system. The corps
is abolished in 1826.
1366-1369 – The Castilian Civil War, which becomes a part
of the Hundred Years’ War because of the involvment of England and France,
though it is fought entirely in Castille.
1368-1564 – The Ming dynasty rules the Empire of China.
1369-1389 – Caroline War phase of the Hundred Years’ War.
1370-1526 – The Timurid Empire covers Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Mesopotamia, and Anatolia.
1372-1378 – Rising of Owain Lawgoch, grandson of Rhodri,
brother of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, against England.
1375 – The Earldom of Caithness passes to the
Scottish Crown.
1378-1417 – The Papal Schism, with one Pope in Rome and
another in Avignon; England supports the former while Scotland, along with
France, supports the latter.
1381 – The Peasants' Revolt under Wat Tyler takes
place in England.
1390 – The Barbary Crusade, a joint
venture of the Republic of Genoa and the Kingdom of France against the pirate
stronghold of Mahdia on the coast of Tunisia.
1396 – The Ottomans finish conquering the Second
Bulgarian Empire.
1400-1914 – Kingdom of Kongo, covered modern day
Angola, Cabinda, Congo-Brazzavile, and western Zaire.
1400-1600 – The Late Mississippian Period in North
America.
1400-1415 – Rising of Owain Glyndwr of Wales against
England.
1402-1511 – The Muslim Sultanate of Malacca dominates the
region until invasion by the Portugese.
1415-1429 – Lancastrian War phase of the Hundred Years’
War.
1418-1660 – The Age of Exploration.
1418 – Creation of the Garde Écossaise, or Scottish
Guard, by Charles VII of France to be the chief bodyguards of the French
monarchy. It remains intact as an
organization until dissolved in 1830.
1420-1750 - Witch-hunt
Crusades in Western Europe and later also in the colonies of the New World. The body count from these is estimated at up
to 60,000.
1427-1521 – The Aztec Empire.
1427 – Formation of the Triple Alliance of
Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan in what becomes Mexica.
1429 – Joan of Arc appears at the Siege of Orleans
and begins her military career at the age of seventeen. Roughly two years later, when she is
nineteen, the English army burns her at the stake as a heretic after capturing
her when she stayed behind with the rear guard of the retreating French army
after a skirmish. In spite of shortness
of her career, it begins the drive in which the French eventually won the long
war.
1431-1445 – The Council of Florence defines Papal
Supremacy and attempts to resolve differences between the Patriarchate of Rome
and those of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem to affect a reunion,
but it ultimately fails. The chief
sticking points are the Filioque clause in the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed,
Purgatory, and Papal Primacy, the first being the question on which agreement
is never reached.
1432 – The Basilea Rhomaion reconquers the “Latin”
Principality of Achaea.
1438-1572 – The Inca Empire.
1442-1443 - The Crusade of
Varna, a disastrous defeat for the Kingdom of Hungary, the
Principality of Wallachia, the Serbian Despotate, and the Kingdom of
Poland at the hands of the Ottoman sultanate, which leads to the
swift conquest of the Balkan nations.
1450-1850 – The Little Ice Age.
1450-1683 – Kingdom of Butua, which replaces that of
Zimbabwe. It is conquered and absorbed
by the Rozwi Empire.
1450-1600 – The Northern Renaissance.
1450-1565 – Rajahnate of Cebu, founded by Sumatra’s Chola
dynasty.
1453 – With the defeat of the English in the Battle
of Castillon, the Hundred Years’ War ends; the French population has been
reduced by two-thirds due to various causes stemming directly from the war,
while the English have been kicked out of every part of France save for the
Pale of Calais.
Konstantinoupolis falls
to the armies of the Ottoman Sultanate and the Basilea Rhomain, or Imperium
Romanum, comes to an end. At the time of its capture, the city’s
population has fallen to under 50,000. Mehmed
II, Sultan of the conquering Ottomans, assumes the title Kaysar-I Rum (Caesar Romanus).
1455-1485 – The Wars of the Roses in England, between the
House of Lancaster and the House of York.
1456 – The Ottomans conquer the “Latin” Duchy of
Athens.
1457-1917 – The Sultanate of Sulu, founded by explorer
Abu Bakr Abirin, whose sultans ruled the Sulu Sea, western Mindinao, and
northern Borneo.
1461 – The “Greek” Empire of Trebizond, fragment of
the Basilea Rhomain independent since 1204, falls to the Ottoman Sultanate.
1470 – James III takes the Jarldom of Orkney for the
Crown of Scots.
1474-1477 - Burgundian Wars
between the duchy of Burgundy and the kingdom of France.
1477 - The Duchy of Burgundy
is formally incorporated into the kingdom of France.
1480-1834 – The Spanish Inquisition.
1485-1603 - The House of
Tudor rules England.
1485 – Henry Tudor lands in Wales with a large
contingent of French and Scottish troops and eventually overcomes the forces Richard
III to become Henry VII, King of England and Lord of Ireland, beginning the
Tudor dynasty.
1486 - The county of
Provence, at one time the kingdom of Lower Burgundy in the Imperium Romanum
Sacrum, is absorbed by the kingdom of France.
1489 – The French sell the Kingdom of Cyprus to the
Republic of Venice.
1492 – Isabella
I of Castille and Ferdinand II of Aragon, having finished the Reconquista with
the defeat of the Emirate of Granada, last of the Muslim kingdoms in the
Iberian peninsula, become rulers of all Spain.
They immediately issue decrees expelling Jews from the
peninsula; most of the Sephardim flee to the Ottoman Sultanate.
The noted
Templar pilot Christopher Columbus of Genoa, under Spanish flag, lands on the
shores of Hispaniola.
1493 – James IV, King of Scots takes the Lordship of
the Isles away from Clan Donald and ends its independence. The territory of Scotland now extends to its
modern limits.
1497 - The Cornish Rebellion takes place, involving
poor Cornish farmers in protest against taxes imposed by Henry VII to support
his war against Scotland.
1500-1898 – The Sultanate of Maguindinao in western
Mindinao.
1500-1800 – The Age of Mercantilism.
1500-1571 - The Sultanate of
Brunei establishes the city of Selurong near the mouth of the Pasig River as a
counter to Tondo. It eventually becomes Maynila.
1501-1722 – The Safavid dynasty rules Greater Iran,
including all of Baluchistan, western Afghanistan, all of Kurdistan, all of
Azerbaijan, most of Armenia, and most of Mesopotamia.
1501 – Ismail I establishes the Safavid Empire in
Iran, which makes Athnashariyyah Shia Islam its official religion.
1502 - Ferdinand decrees that all Muslims be expelled unless they convert to Christianity; those doing so become known as Moriscos.
1510-1752 - The Toungoo
Empire in Burma.
1517-1924 – The Ottoman Caliphate, based out of
Konstantinople.
1517 – The Reformation begins.
1526-1764 – The Mughal Empire controls nearly all the
Indian subcontinent and modern Pakistan.
1531 – The Spanish
establish El Nuevo Reyno de Galicia.
1532 – Francis I of France incorporates Breizh/Bertaeyn
into his kingdom in the Edict of Union.
1534 – Henry VIII, King of England, declares the
Church of England independent of the See of Rome and himself head of the Church
as Defender of the Faith.
1536-1821 – The Portugese Inquisition.
1536 – The Fitzgeralds of Kildare rebel against
England. After putting them down, Henry
VIII, as Lord of Ireland, forces the Irish Parliament to declare him head of
the Church of Ireland as well. Most of
the population, however, does not adopt the new faith and remains Catholic. It
is entirely plausible that if he had not attempted the imposition, Ireland
would have gone Protestant or Reformed on its own, as Scotland did under John
Knox. The Portugese Inquistion begins
and will last until 1821.
Spain
establishes the Viceroyalty of Nuevo España.
1538 - Under pressure from
the Ottoman Sultanate, the Kingdom of Hungary collapses and breaks into three
parts: Royal Hungary, Ottoman Hungary, and the Principality of Transylvania.
1540 – The Spanish
found the Captaincy-General of Guatemala, which includes all of Central
America.
1541 – Henry VIII has himself declared King of
Ireland by the Irish Parliament, and begins the Tudor reconquest of Ireland
with the aim of Anglicizing its gentry. The “pacification” begins with an attempt
to plant voluntary colonies of English around Ireland on land leased from
landowners.
1542-1860 – The Roman Inquisition.
1542 – Death of James V Stuart, King of Scots;
succession of his daughter, Mary, as Queen of Scots, though she returns to
France, only coming back after her husband, the Dauphin of France then King of
France, dies.
Pope Paul
III establishes the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal
Inquisition, which is now called the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.
Spain
creates the Viceroyalty of Nuevo Castillo, later the Viceroyalty of Peru.
1543-1700 - The Scientific
Revolution.
1543 - In the Rough Wooing, Henry VIII of England
attempts to force the realm of Scotland to allow marriage between his son, the
future Edward VI, to the infant Mary, Queen of Scots. The war ends with the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh,
the last pitched battle between the Kingdom of Scots and the Kingdom of England. The Scottish forces are led by James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran and Regent, and Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl
of Angus, while the English forces are led by Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset. The disaster for the
Scots is so bad it becomes known to their history as Black Saturday.
Posthumus publication of Nicolaus Copernicus' magnum
opus, On the Revolutions of the Heavenly
Spheres, supporting the scientific theory of Heliocentrism, the novel
idea that Terra, the Earth, revolves around Sol, the Sun, rather than vice
versa.
1547 – Death of Henry VIII Tudor of England and of
Ireland; succession of his son as Edward VI Tudor.
1553 – Death of Edward VI Tudor of England and of
Ireland; succession of his eldest sister as Mary I Tudor. Mary, a staunch
Roman Catholic who is also Queen of Spain by virtue of her marriage to Philip
II Hapsburg, launches a severe backlash against Protestants in the realm,
including the burning at the stake of nearly 300 people for heresy.
However, she shows no favor towards her co-religionists in Ireland and the
plantations continue.
1556 – The attempted Plantation of Offaly and Laois
begins in the face of overwhelming resistance from the O’Connors and O’Moores,
the targets of the Plantation, but ultimately fails, despite the massacre of
the leaders of the latter clan under a flag of truce in 1578.
1558 – Mary I of England and Ireland cedes the Pale
of Calais, the final Continental territory of the English crown, to
France. Death of Mary later in the year and succession of her sister as
Elizabeth I Tudor.
1560-1603 - Reign of Grainne
ni Mhaille as ri ban Umaill.
1560 – The Church of Scotland separates from Rome by
vote of the Scottish Parliament.
The
Counter-Reformation begins.
1561 – Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, finally returns
to her realm.
1562-1598 - The French Wars
of Religion, between the Catholic Church and the House of Bourbon on one side
and the Protestant Huguenots on the other.
1564 – Spain
establishes the Captaincy-General of New Granada at Bogota, taking in roughly
the territory of modern Colombia.
1565 - In five months of
brutal fighting, the Knights Hospitaller break the Ottoman Sultanate attempt to
conquer the Isle of Malta.
1565 – Spain establishes
the colony of La Florida at Santa Elena on Parris Island, a capital which later
moves to San Agustin. Spain’s Legazpi establishes the Spanish East Indies (Philippines,
Carolines, Marianas, Palau, Sabah, parts of Formosa and Moluccas) the same year. Both fall under the Viceroyalty of Nueva España.
1567 – Mary of Scots is forced to abdicate in favor
of her infant son by the deceased Henry Henry Stuart, Earl of Lennox, who is
proclaimed James VI Stuartof Scots. She
seeks refuge with Elizabeth I of England.
1569-1792 – Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The union of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
(1263) and the Kingdom of Poland (966), the commonwealth was the largest
country in Europe both in population and landmass in its time.
1569 -1573 – First Desmond Rebellion.
1570 – The Ottomans conquer the Republic of Venice’s
Kingdom of Cyprus.
1570’s – The attempted Plantation of County Antrim,
which the O’Neills of Clandeboy and MacDonnells of Antrim, the targets, resist
fiercely with help from the Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland. After the murder of 200 of the O’Neills,
including the chief and his family, by the Earl of Essex in 1574 and the massacre
of 600 MacDonnells on Rathlin Island by Francis Drake, Elizabeth I, appalled at
the slaughter, calls a halt.
1579 – The Ottomans annex the “Latin” Duchy of
Naxos, last remaining vassal state of the former “Latin” Imperium Romaniae.
1579-1583 – Second Desmond Rebellion.
1583 – John Cabot establishes a colony on New
Foundland.
1584 – Beginning of the Plantation of Munster, more
widespread than earlier efforts but ultimately no more successful, at least
until after the end of the Nine Years’ War, when it is reinstituted.
1585-1889 – Luba Empire, which dominates the Congo region
later known as Zaire until its conquest by the Kingdom of Belgium.
1585 – Walter Raleigh establishes a colony on
Roanoke Island, but it disappears three years later.
1587 – Mary Stuart, former Queen of Scots, is
beheaded in England for her part in a revolt planned to overthrow Elizabeth and
execute her.
1588 - Blessed as a Crusade
by Pope Sixtus V, Patriarch of Roma, Spain launches an ill-fated expedition to
England to depose Elizabeth I that becomes known as the Spanish
Armada.
1589-1792 – The House of Bourbon, a cadet branch of the
House of Capet, rules France.
1591-1901 – Dendi Kingdom of the Songhai, which replaces
their empire after it is conquered by the Moroccans. The French conquered
the kingdom in 1901.
1593-1603 – Nine Years' War. Although fought all over the country in
resistance to Plantations, most of the action takes place in the North, under
the Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone and Hugh Roe O’Donnell, Lord of Tyrconnell, Hugh Maguire, Lord of Fermanagh, and others, including Grainne Ni Mhaille, who lead the Irish
side.
1598 - The Edict of Nantes
grants Huguenots considerable rights and freedoms.
Nueva
España establishes the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico.
1599-present – Sultanate of Toporog (Lanao, Mindinao,
Philippines).
1599 -
The Governor and Company of Merchants trading with the East Indies
(British East India Company) is organized in London.
1600-present – The Age of
Modern Freethought.
1600 – The
execution of former Dominican monk Giordano Bruno after being found guilty of
heresy by the (Roman) Inquisition marks the beginning of modern Freethought.
Bruno, a mathmetician, astronomer, and philosopher went beyond
Copernicus' heliocentric model to propose that Sol is merely another star and
that countless other such systems with planets inhabited by sentient,
intelligent beings exist throughout the universe, in which space and time are
infinite. His philosophy was influenced by Islamic astrology,
Neoplatonism, and Renaissance Hermeticism, and contained many elements of
pantheism, and laid the groundwork for the Age of Reason and the Age of Enlightenment
which followed.
1603-1649 – The House of Stuart rules over England,
Scotland, and Ireland.
1603 – Union of Crowns: James VI of Scots becomes
James I of England and of Ireland as well upon the death of Elizabeth I of
England and of Ireland.
1604 – France
establishes the first settlement in what later becomes Acadie.
1605 – On 5 November, a group of provincial English
Catholics observe the inaugural Guy Fawkes Night with a failed attempt to blow
up King James along with the House of Lords.
1606 – Following a deal with O’Neill of Clandeboy,
the “unofficial” plantation of Cos. Antrim and north Down by Hamilton and
Montgomery begins.
1607 – Flight of the Earls (Tyrone and
Tyrconnell). The intention of Hugh O’Neill
and Rory O’Donnell is to secure Spanish assistance for a new rising, but their
lands are declared forfeit and seized, along with those of all native
landowners following the insurgency of Cahir O’Doherty in 1608.
The
English establish the Commonwealth of Virginia at Jamestown.
1608 – France
establishes the colony of Canada at Quebec.
1609 – Philip III of Spain issues a decree expelling the Moriscos from the peninsula.
1610 – Beginning of the Ulster Plantation under
James VI and I; the targetted counties include Antrim, Down, Tyrone, Cavan, Fermanagh,
and Donegal, with the settlers being removed from the Borders, Galloway, and
Ayrshire regions of southwest Scotland, and the corresponding areas in northern
England. After this year, the Stuarts
sponsor more and more plantations, as well as Protestant immigration from
Continental Europe. It is worth noting
that prior to this, Catholic landlords in Ireland had already been importing
tenants from these very same regions, and that many of those planted were
Catholic as well as Protestant and Dissenter.
1613 – Through the creation of numerous
Protestant-dominated burghs, the crown manages to overthrow the Catholic majority
in the Irish parliament. County
Coleraine in Ulster is dissolved and along with additional territory becomes
County Londonderry. A new walled city of
Londonderry is built across from the destroyed city of Derry.
1618 – The Thirty Years’ War begins with the
Bohemian Revolt.
1620 – The English establish the Colony of New
Plymouth.
1621 – Scots, primarily Highlanders, begin arriving
in the French colony of Acadie.
1624 – The United
Provinces of the Netherlands establishes Nieuw-Nederland.
1625 - James VI and I dies; Charles I of England, of
Scots, and of Ireland takes the throne.
The tribes of Iar Connacht, (O’Flahertys, O’Malleys, MacThomas Joyces,
MacConroys, MacConnors, MacDonoughs, O’Hallorans, MacConneelys, O’Duans, and O’Lees), the last remaining
holdouts against legal Anglicization, are forced to give up governing their lands and people under native Irish law.
1627 – France joins
Acadie and Canada into Nouvelle France.
1629 – The Scots establish the colony of Nova
Scotia.
1630 – English Puritans establish Massachusetts Bay
Colony.
1633 - The Roman
Inquisition convicts philosopher, mathmetician, physicist, and astronomer
Galileo Galelei of heresy for promoting Heliocentrism as fact rather than as
hypothesis. The judges sentence him to house arrest for the remainder of
his life.
1637-1688 – The Age of Reason.
1638 – Sweden
establishes Nya Sverige.
1639-1652 - Wars of the Three Kingdoms, listed
individually below.
1639-1640 - Bishops Wars in Scotland. The Covenanters, led militarily by James
Graham, Marquis of Montrose, take power in Scotland.
1639 – The English Colony of Connecticut is formed.
1640-1649 – Years of the Long Parliament.
1641-1652 - Irish Confederate Wars, or Eleven Years War. It starts with an attempted coup d’etat by
the Catholic gentry, but quickly turns to sectarian violence in the face of the
vast overreaction by Dublin Castle and subsequent attack on the civilian
population. In reponse, the native Gaelic
majority rises, massacring “settlers” in numbers which the latest estimates
give as 4,000, with another 12,000 dying from starvation, exposure, and
disease.
In an
attempt to regain control and halt the atrocities, the early leaders of the
rebellion establish the Catholic Confederation of Ireland, composed of
previously antagonistic native Gaelic and Hiberno-Norman or “Old English”
populations. The Confederates fight as
allies of the Royalists, but only in their own country, against English Parliamentarians
and Scottish Covenanters sent by the government of Edinburgh, in the midst of
internecine strife.
Owen Roe
O'Neill, son of Hugh, returns from Spain to take command of the Confederate
armies, but dies of disease in 1649 not long after Oliver Cromwell lands with a
huge army and undertakes the thorough reconquest of the country, accompanied by
widespread atrocities condoned and encouraged by him, most notably the horrific
massacre of the the Confederate defenders at Drogheda, in what are acknowledged
as the most ruthless parts of the Wars.
1642-1646 - First English Civil War.
1644-1911 – The Manchu Qing dynasty rules the
Empire of China. Before its demise, it
spreads its rule to Tibet and Xingxiang.
1644-1645 - Scottish Civil War. Realizing the threat to Charles I, Montrose
comes out of retirement and leads the Covenanters against the allies of
Cromwell’s Roundheads in Scotland. He is
assisted by a 2000-man contingent of well-disciplined troops lent from the
Irish Confederation under Alistair MacColla.
After securing the country in a series of six battles, Montrose is
appointed Lord Lieutenant of Scotland.
Ultimately, though, the effort fails and Montrose departs for Norway, to
return after Charles’ regicide only to be captured and hanged.
1647 – The English form the colony of Rhode Island
and Providence Plantations.
1648-1649 - Second English Civil War.
1648 – The Peace of Westphalia ends the Thirty
Years’ War, the Eight Years War, the Reformation, and the
Counter-Reformation. Signatories include
the Imperium Romanum Sacrum, the Princes of the Imperium, Spain, France, the
Dutch Republic, and the free imperial cities of the Imperium. Among other provisions, the territories of
Alsace and Lorraine (the former Upper Lotharingia) are awarded to France.
1649-1660 -
The Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
1649 - At the end of the latest war, Cromwell orders
the execution of Charles I. His son, Charles, is almost immediately recognized
as King of Scots by the Scottish Parliament, in Jersey, and some of the
American colonies, most notably the Commonwealth of Virginia. Meanwhile, Cromwell’s New Model Army purges
the Long Parliament of members who do not acceed to Charles’ execution and what
is left is known as the Rump Parliament.
1650-1730 –
The Golden Age of Piracy, based in the Caribbean Sea
but spreading out to the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean,
the Red Sea, the Atlantic seaboard of North America, and the eastern and
western coasts of Africa.
1650-1651 - Third English Civil War. Charles Stuart, son of Charles I, is
enthroned as King of Scots in Edinburgh, but is driven out shortly thereafter
by an army under Cromwell.
1652 - Beginning of the Cromwellian Plantation, the
harshest of all Plantations, with Catholic landowners banished to Connacht, all
Catholics banned from living in any towns, and thousands transported to the
West Indies as indentured servants, which was the 17th century equivalent of
sending them to concentration camps.
Catholics are also banned from serving in Parliament.
1653-1654 - Glencairn's Rising, led by William Cunningham, Earl of Glencairn,
under commission by Charles II, King of Scots.
A large part of the reason for its failure was dissension between
Glencairn’s Lowlanders and the Highlanders under John Middleton, Earl of
Middleton.
1653 – Cromwell dismisses the Rump Parliament by force
and sets in its place a Barebones Parliament controlled by the New Model Army. Six months later, he likewise dismisses this
Parliament and declares himself Lord Protector.
1655 – The Dutch
conquer Nya Sverige and add it to Nieuw-Nederland.
1659 – Oliver Cromwell dies and his son Richard
succeeds him for a short time before the New Model Army overthrows him and
re-establishes the Rump Parliament, which implodes along with the Council of
State the next year.
1660-1866 – Rozwi Empire in Zimbabwe.
1660-1714 - The House of
Stuart rules England, Scotland, and Ireland.
1660 - Restoration of the monarchy. Charles I of
Scots becomes Charles I of England and of Ireland also.
1663 – The English establish the Colony of Carolina.
1664 – The British capture
Nieuw-Nederland, comprising territory of the later colonies of New York, New
Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.
1665-1887 – Lunda Empire, between Luba Empire and kingdom
of Kongo.
1666 – The brief Pentland Uprising of Covenanters led by James Wallace of Auchens ends after just two weeks with their defeat at the Battle of Rullion Green by the Scots Army led by Tam Dalyell of the Binns.
1669 – The Republic of Venice loses Crete to the Ottoman
Sultanate.
1679 - In the Covenanter
Rising of 1679 in Scotland, the rebels defeat the forces of James Graham of
Claverhouse at Drumclog, then are defeated in turn at the Battle of Bothwell
Bridge by forces under James Scott, Duke of Monmouth and Buccleuch.
1680 - The Killing Time
begins in Scotland when Presbyterian minister Richard Cameron publishes the
Sanquhar Declaration renouncing allegiance to the crown and denouncing the
designation of James Stuart, Duke of York, as heir presumptive to the throne.
It ends with the Glorious Revolution.
1681 – William Penn
establishes the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
1684 – Stuarts Town and
two counties carved out of the English colony of Carolina are settled by
colonists from Scotland.
1685 - Charles I dies. His brother succeeds him as
James VII of Scots and James II of England and of Ireland.
1688-1800 – The Age of Enlightenment.
1688-1697 – War of the Grand Alliance, which includes the
Williamite War in Ireland and King William's War in the Americas.
1688 – In the face of an invasion by Holland with 53
warships and 20,000 troops under Prince William Nassau of Orange, James VII and
II abdicates his throne in London. The
London Parliament invites Mary Stuart, his daughter, and her husband, William
of Orange, to take the throne as Mary II of England, Scots, and Ireland, and as
William III of England and Ireland and William II of Scots.
1689-1691 - Williamite War in Ireland and Dundee's Rising
in Scotland. In contrast to popular
belief, the war is about politics rather than religion or ethnicity, with the
Williamite and Jacobite armies both sometimes nearly equally composed of
Catholics and Protestants; it is William of Orange, however, who has the
Vatican’s blessing, along with a contingent of the Swiss Guard which includes
its musicians, who are in the vanguard of his army at the Battle of the Boyne,
a relatively minor battle now celebrated as a major Protestant triumph by the
Orange Order.
1689 – The Claim of Right Act is passed by the Parliament
of Scotland, recognizing William II and Mary II as sovereigns over Scotland and
returning the Kirk to Presbyterian order.
1690s - Huge influx of Scots into Ulster from the
southern Lowlands and Borders, and from the northern counties of England, due
to widespread famine. Beginning of a majority of those in Ulster being of
Scottish descent.
1690 – The first Irish Brigade is formed in France;
it remains active until 1792.
1691 – The English found the Colony of Albemarle
(later North Carolina).
1692 – Infamous Massacre of Glencoe of the MacDonalds
of Glencoe by Williamite troops who had been quartered among them as guests, on
orders of William III and II himself.
1694 – Mary II dies of smallpox, leaving William III
and II as sole ruler.
1695 – Beginning of the Penal Laws in Ireland,
directed mostly against Catholics but effecting non-Anglicans such as Presbyterians
and Episcopalians as well.
1697 – Thomas Aikenhead becomes the last person
executed for blasphemy in Scotland, his most damning crime being that he
admitted preferring Muhammed to Jesus.
Scotland establishes the Colony of Caledonia in
the Gulf of Darien region of Panama. Its
town is called New Edinburgh and its fort is named Fort St. Andrew, but it
fails within a few years due to lack of support from Edinburgh and interference
from the East India Company.
1698 – Elspeth McEwan of St. John’s Town of Dalry in
Galloway, is the last witch to be burned to death in southern Scotland.
1699 – The French establish
La Louisiane in the Mississippi Valley at the present Ocean Springs (aka Old
Biloxi), later moving the capital to New Orleans
1701 – Death of the former James VII and II; his
son, James Francis Edward, inherits his claims and is called James VIII and III
by the Jacobites.
1702 – William III and II dies, and Anne, Mary II’s
younger sister, assumes the thrones of England, of Scots, and of Ireland.
1704 – A law is passed requiring officeholders to be
members of the Established (Anglican) Church of Ireland. Presbyterians in Ireland are banned from
serving in Parliament, and their marriages not legally recognized. The Registration Act for Catholic clergy.
1706 - Robert Wylie, staunchly presbyterian minister of Hamilton parish, publishes the pamphlet A 1706 manifesto for an armed rising against incorporating union, addressed to James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton. Meanwhile, Jacobite leader George Lockhart of Carnwath conspires with Cameronian leader Cunningham of Eckatt for just such a rising, to include an attempt to disperse the Scottish Parliament and thereby prevent the Union, but it never materializes after they are dissuaded by John Ker of Kersland, agent for James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry.
English buccaneers establish the Republic of Pirates on the island of New Providence in the Bahamas. It lasts until 1718.
1707 – Act of Union 1707, uniting the Parliaments of
England and Scotland. Queen Anne's title is now Queen of Great Britain and
Ireland.
1708 - First Jacobite Rising in Scotland, led by James Douglas, Duke of Hamilton, with the support of the Cameronians, the most
extreme of the Covenanters. The primary
motive is to destroy the Union; restoration of the Stuart dynasty in the person
of James VIII and III is only a secondary goal.
The Rising never gets off the ground, however, reported most widely due to the dithering of Hamilton.
France
dissolves Nouvelle France into Canada, Acadie, and La Louisiane.
1713 – Great Britain
gains the former territory of Nova Scotia (Acadie), Rupert’s Land, and
Newfoundland in the Treaty of Utrecht.
1714-1901 - The House
of Welph of Hanover rules Great Britain and Ireland.
1714 – Queen Anne dies; Parliament invites George
Welph, Prince-elector of Hanover and Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg, to take the
throne as George I of Great Britain and Ireland.
1715 - Second Jacobite Rising in Scotland, led by
the John Erskine, 23rd Earl of Mar.
1717-1775 – The period of the Great Migrations from
Ulster. In all, some 250,000 from Ulster
make the trans-Atlantic crossing, compared to a mere 100,000 from all the rest
of Ireland. Another 150,000 emigrate to
America from the Borders and northern England. The majority came into Pennsylvania, with many later migrating south down the Great Valley and into the Piedmont.
1717-1718 – First wave of the Great Migrations from Ulster, due mostly to years of famine and the landlord practice of rack-renting.
1719 - Third Jacobite Rising in Scotland, led by
Murray of Tullibardine and George Keith, 10th Earl Marischal.
1721 – Tsar Peter I establishes the Russian Empire.
1725-1729 – Second wave of the Great Migrations from Ulster, due almost entirely to the landlord practice of rack-renting.
1727 – Death of George I; he is succeeded by his son
as George II of Great Britain, of Ireland, and of Hanover.
The
Disenfranchising Act in Ireland prohibits Catholics from voting.
Janet
Horne of Dornoch, Sutherland, becomes the last person in Scotland and in the
Isles to be burned as a witch.
1730-1800 – Approximate years of the Scottish
Enlightenment. The political ferment
inside the Enlightenment spreads across the Irish Sea to Dublin via Belfast and
Ulster, leading to an liberal awakening among Irish intellectuals. It is in this sea of intellectual fervor that
the seeds of both Scottish and Irish republicanism are sown. One of the major influences on the Scottish
philosphers at this time is the work of the Iranian poet Saadi.
1733 – Oglethorpe
establishes the Colony of Georgia, originally as a slave-free colony of former
indentured servants and penal prisoners.
1736 – Scottish
Highlanders settle Darien District in Georgia (the town is originally called
New Inverness), at the request of James Oglethorpe to serve as a buffer between
the English colony and the Spanish in La Florida.
Nader
Afshari overthrows the moribund Safavid Empire and becomes the last great
conqueror of the region, but his empire dissipates after his assassination in
1747.
1740-1750 – Third wave of the Great Migrations from Ulster, due to a massive famine across Ireland that kills 400,000.
1744 – Lord John Drummond of Perth raises the
Regiment Royal Ecossais in France; the unit is disbanded in 1763.
1745-1746 - Fourth Jacobite Rising, led by Bonnie Prince
Charlie, the Young Pretender (in the name of his father, James VIII and III,
the Old Chevalier), and Lord George Murray, and supported by 800 men from the
Royal Scots and Irish Brigade regiments of France, with half their force made
up of Scottish Episcopalians from the Lowlands.
Harsh penal laws follow for the Highlanders, with no exemptions even for
Hanoverian supporters: Gaelic is
forbidden to be spoken, the wearing of tartan and kilts and the playing of bagpipes
are outlawed, clans are broken up, lands are seized, etc.
1750-1850 – The First Industrial Revolution.
1752-1885 – The Konbaung Empire in Burma.
1754-1755 – Fourth wave of the Great Migrations from Ulster, due mostly to a calamitous drought but also to strong encouragement from the royal governor of North Carolina.
1755 – Le Grand
Dérangement: Great Britain expels over 12,000 Acadians from Nova Scotia, most
to the Mississippi River delta where they become known as Cajuns.
1760-1830 – The Lowland Clearances.
1760 – Death of George II; succession of George III Welph
as King of Great Britain, King of Ireland, and Elector of Hanover.
In
Ireland, Henry Flood founds the Irish Patriot Party to fight for the rights of
the Irish Parliaments and against the Penal Laws targeting Catholics and
Dissenters.
1761-1764 – First wave of activity by the Whiteboys, a
clandestine agrarian resistance group fighting for tenant rights primarily
against the (Anglican) Church of Ireland.
1762-1870 – The Highland Clearances.
1762 – The first major wave of Highland Clearances
begins under John Ross of Balnagowan Castle, with crofters being transported to
Nova Scotia, Jamaica, Ontario, and the Carolinas, and sheep-farming being
introduced to the Highlands.
France
cedes La Nouvelle-Orleans and La Louisiane west of the Mississippi to Spain.
1763 – At the
conclusion of the Seven Years’ War, France cedes Nouvelle France, La Grenade,
and La Louisiane east of the Mississippi to Great Britain. Spain cedes its territory east of the
Mississippi, including La Florida and Nueva Orleans, to Great Britain.
Portugal
establishes the Viceroyalty of Brasil.
1766 – Death of James the Old Chevalier; succession
to his claims of his son, called Charles III Stuart of England, of Scots, and
of Ireland by his supporters.
1770s-1880s – The Haskalah, or Jewish Enlightenment,
begins in Central European Galicia and spreads throughout Europe. Begun as a movement under Moses Mendelssohn
seeking freedom from the suffocating Talmud-only education of Orthodox rabbis, it
leads to Reform Judaism and assimilationism on one hand and to Zionism on the
other.
1770-1776 – Second wave of Whiteboy activity in Ireland.
1771-1775 – Fifth and final wave of the Great Migrations from Ulster, due in this case to the sharp increase in rents after the expiration of the leases on the large estate of the Marquis of Donegal in Co. Antrim.
1772 - The British East India
Company establishes its rule over all of India, complete with a
governor-general and its own armed forces.
1775-1783 – American Revolution. The Patriot side is widely supported among
the recent settlers from Ulster who came over during the Great Migrations, and
likewise by the Jacobite underground in the colonies; in fact, secret
negotiations are carried out between Bonnie Prince Charlie and a secret
delegation from the Continental Congress (under Alexander Hamilton), but they
come to naught.
1776 – 1776 - The
majority of its colonies in North America declare independence from the United
Kingdom as the united States of America.
The
Spanish establish the Viceroyalty of La Plata, which includes what is now
Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia.
1777 - The Kingdom of Morocco
becomes the first nation to recognize the new U.S.A.
1778 – Establishment of the first Irish Volunteers,
which remain as a force until 1793; in the beginning the members are almost
entirely Protestant and Dissenter, with Protestant Ascendancy leaders, but
gradually Catholics are admitted as well.
1781-1794 - Arturo O'Neill de
Tyrone serves the Empire of Spain as Governor of West Florida.
1782 – Henry Grattan persuades the London Parliament
to grant the Dublin Parliament greater powers.
1783 – Treaty of Paris between the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland and the United States of America.
1784-1786 – Third wave of Whiteboy activity in Ireland.
1784 – Organization of the Catholic Defenders and of
the Protestant (Anglican) Peep O'Day Boys in Co. Armagh.
1788 – Death of Charles, the Young Pretender; succession
to the Stuart claims of his brother Henry Cardinal Stuart as Henry IX to his
supporters.
1789-1794 – French Revolution.
1789 – Storming of the Bastille. Louis XVI Valois of France forced to
abdicate.
1791 – Publication of Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man.
Society of
United Irishmen founded by Theobald Wolfe Tone and Thomas Russell, both from
the Established Church of Ireland, at the invitation of a group of Belfast
Presbyterians.
Abortive
working-class revolution in England.
1792 – The infamous “Year of the Sheep” Highland
Clearances take place.
Two groups
calling themselves the Friends of the People Society are organized in London
and in Edinburgh respectively, the latter by Thomas Muir, under the inspiration
of Thomas Paine.
1793-1794 -
The Reign of Terror in the Republic of France.
The Montagnards under Maximilian Robespierre, Jean Paul Marat, and
Georges Danton expel the Girondins from the Jacobin Clubs and seize control of
the National Convention and the Committee for Public Safety and begin
exterminating their enemies. It ends with the Thermidoran Reaction in
1794.
1794 – Organization of the United Scotsmen to
replace the Friends of the People decimated by the arrests of all its leaders.
1795 – United Irishmen change their goal to complete
sovereignty.
The Peep O’Day
Boys reorganize as the Orange Order to oppose both the United Irishmen and the
proposed Union of the Dublin Parliament with that of London; membership is
limited to members of the Church of Ireland.
1796 – The Qajar dynasty comes to power in Iran.
1797 – Organization of the United Englishmen.
The “Red Flag”
is first used as a symbol of workers’ resistance by rebellious sailors of the
Royal Navy. Second aborted rising of the
English working-class.
Rising of
the United Scotsmen.
The last
Doge of the Republic of Venice, founded as the Ducatas Venetia of the Exarchate
of Italiae of the Basilea Rhomain in 697 and independent since 814, abdicates
in 1797 after surrendering to Napoleon Bonaparte of France.
1798-1800 - The
Franco-American War fought entirely at sea in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans
and the Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas.
1798 – First Rising of the United Irishmen, under
Tone. It includes the short period of
the Republic of Connacht. After the
defeat of the main forces, those left continue as guerrillas in some places
until 1804.
1800 – United Irish Rising in Newfoundland.
Spain
returns (western) La Louisiane to France.
1801-1805 – First Barbary (or Tripolitan) War, between
the United States and the Barbary Corsairs.
1801 – Act of Union, uniting the Parliaments of
Great Britain and Ireland. The realm is
now known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
1803-1815 – The Napoleonic Wars, concurrent with the
First French Empire, ending with the Battle of Waterloo.
1803 – Second Rising of the United Irishmen, under
Robert Emmet.
The United
States purchases La Louisiane from France
1804 - Francis
II Hapsburg, destined to be the last ruler of the Imperium Romanum Sacrum,
establishes himself as Francis I of the new Empire of Austria.
1806 – Under threat from Napoleon I of France and
his armies, the Imperium Romanum Sacrum ceases to exist and reorganizes as the Confederation
of the Rhine.
1807 – Death of Henry, Cardinal-Duke of York; end of
serious Stuart pretentions.
The Highland Clearances in Sutherland
commence, and continue for the next four years.
1813-1914 – The Great Game, between the Russian Empire
and the British Empire for control of Central Asia.
1815 – The Second Barbary (or Algerian) War, between
the United States and the Barbary Corsairs.
1817 – The Ribbon Society first makes its prescence
felt in the countryside of Ireland.
Their activities continue past mid-century.
1818 -
Bernardo O'Higgins, Jose de San Martin, Thomas
Cochrane (Lanarkshire), and Manuel Rodriguez lead Chile to independence.
1819 - The Peterloo Massacre takes place in
Manchester when cavalry charge a demonstration called by the Manchester
Patriotic Union to demand suffrage reform for parliamentary representation,
killing 11-15 and wounding 400-700.
1820 – Radical War in Scotland and declaration of a Scottish Provisional Government. The rising lasts only through the first octave of April.
George III dies, and his son succeeds him as
George IV Welph, who becomes fond of the writings of Walter Scott and relaxes
the penal laws against Highland dress and language.
1822 – The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) is
established.
1823-1824 – Thomas Cochrane commands the Brasilian
Navy during its War for Independence from Portugal.
1823 – Daniel O’Connell establishes the Catholic
Association in Dublin for emancipation from the Penal Laws.
1829 – The Catholic Relief Act passed this year
(there have been others in previous years) removes most of the remaining Penal
Laws.
1830-1836 – The Tithe War in Ireland against the Church
of Ireland, primarily supported by the Ribbonmen.
1830 – Death of George IV; succession of his brother
as William IV Welph.
1832 - Reform Act is passed by Parliament. The act adjusts representation to account for
population movements due to the Industrial Revolution and extends suffrage to a
broader range of citizens, provided they are male; it specifically disenfranchizes
women. Although this act only covers
England and Wales, separate acts are passed for Scotland and Ireland later in
the year.
1834 – The Tories, a loose political coalition
dating back to the 17th century, organize as a political party under the name Conservative
Party.
Presbyterians,
Episcopalians, and other “Dissenters” first admitted to the Orange Order.
1835 - The ejection of a number of tenants by Lord Horton leads to the establishment of the secret vigilante group the Molly Maguires.
1836 – Organization in New York City of the Ancient
Order of Hibernians (AOH), which later spreads to Ireland.
Ernest Augustus Welph, Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale and Imperial Grand Master of the Orange Order, fifth son of George III, conspires with his fellow Orangemen to depose his cousin William IV and take his place. The plot is revealed in the House of Commons, leading to the dissolution of all the Orange lodges.
1837 – Death of William IV; succession of his
daughter Victoria Wettin as queen, the last monarch in London from the family
Welph and House of Hanover. At her succession, the connection with the Kingdom of Hanover is
lost, as under Salic Law women cannot inherit the throne. Instead, her cousin the former plotter becomes
Ernest Augustus I of Hanover.
1839-1842 – The First Opium War in China, resulting from
the opium trade by the British and Americans for the benefit of the British
East India Company. In the Treaty of
Nanking ending the war, China ceded Hong Kong to the United Kingdom.
1838 - Pitcairn Island
becomes the first government in the modern world to grant suffrage and equal
rights to women.
1839 - The Whigs, a loose political faction dating back
to the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, adopt the name Liberal Party as they begin
to become more organized.
1840 - O'Connell founds the Repeal Association with
an aim toward repealing the Union of Parliaments of 1800.
1841 – Repeal of the Union Movement is formed; Young
Ireland Movement is later formed for more radical goals and actions.
1845-1849 – The Great Irish Potato Famine. Due to a blight on the potato crop, the
staple of the Irish diet, between 1 ½ to 2 million Irish starve to death even
while enough food to feed the entire country twice over is exported from the
country by the corporate interests which control the island’s trade, with
another 1 million emigrating to other countries.
1845 - The ban on the Orange Order is lifted and it revives, as does the rivalry of its members with the Ribbon Society.
1846-1857 – The Highland Potato Famine. Death rates are much less severe than in
Ireland, but more emigrate, 1.7 million.
The Highland Clearances intensify.
1847 – The Irish Confederation is organized, with
Young Irelanders as its backbone.
1849 - The Battle of Dolly's Brae in County Down between 1400 Orangemen and 1000 Ribbonmen leads to the suppression of Orange marches for over two decades.
1848 – Young Ireland Rising, part of the Springtime of Nations, the revolts in France, Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, Venetia, Italy, Sicily, Rome, Baden-Wurttemberg, Bavaria, Saxony, Prussia, Denmark, Poland, Lithuania, Schleswig, Wallachia, Moldavia, and Rumania.
1853-1856 – The Crimean War, of the Russian Empire versus
France, the United Kingdom, and the Ottoman Sultanate.
1856-1860 – The Second Opium War, resulting from
Chinese resentment over the Treaty of Nanking.
1857 - The Molly Maguires in America began operating as a resistance organization among Irish-born colliers in the Pennsylvania coalfields.
1858 – Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa begins organizing
the Phoenix National and Literary Society, which later merges with the IRB.
The Fenian
Brotherhood (FB) is organized in America and the Irish Republican Brotherhood
(IRB) in Ireland.
After the
Sepoy Rebellion, the British East India Company loses its rule in India, its
possessions there, and its armed forces, though it maintains its monopoly over
the tea trade. India devolves to the Crown as the Empire of India.
1862-1865 – The American Civil War.
1861-1863 – France, United Kingdom, Spain, Austria-Hungary,
Belgium, and Sudan intervene in Mexico over unpaid debts.
1864-1867 – The Second Mexican Empire, under the
Frenchman Maximilian I.
1864 – Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels organize the
International Workingmen’s Association, aka the First International, in London.
1866 – FB splits into the O'Mahony (or Presidential) Wing and the Roberts (or Senate) Wing. The O'Mahony Wing is later known as the Savage Wing.
1866-1871 – The Fenian Raids into Canada by the U.S.-based and FB-sponsored Irish Republican Army. The first of these in 1866 led directly to the formation of the Dominion of Canada, uniting the previously independent colonies of British North America.
1867-1915 – The Second Industrial Revolution.
1867 – The Fenian Rising in Eire. Clan na Gael (CnG) is organized in America.
The Empire
of Austria becomes the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
1870-1914 – The Age of Imperialism.
1870 – The Franco-Prussian War.
1871 – The Church of Ireland is at last
disestablished by Parliament.
The
territories of the former Holy Roman Empire are reorganized as the German
Empire, save for Austria, whose Habsburg rulers continue as Emperors of Austria
and Kings of Hungary.
1873-1896 – The Long Depression on the Continent.
1873 – Home Rule League founded.
1876 – The CnG, the IRB, and the Australian Irish
community establish the Revolutionary Directory, with three representatives
each from the CnG and IRB, plus one from the Australian Irish expat community.
1877-1914 – The Belle Epoque in Europe.
1877-1893 – The Gilded Age in the United States.
1878 - France forms the Union
of Indochina from Tonkin, Annam, Cochin China, and the Kingdom of Cambodia.
It adds Laos in 1893.
In America, two years of trials and hangings of suspected leaders of the Molly Maguires in Pennsylvania, who had been operating under cover of the AOH, comes to an end.
1879 – Irish National Land League founded.
1880 – Fenian Brotherhood finally collapses.
1882-1883 – Campaign of the Invincibles, led by O’Donovan Rossa.
1882 – Charles Stewart Parnell founds the Irish National League, which subsequently forms the
Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) to replace the Home Rule League as the official nationalist party in the London parliament. The Irish Unionist Party is founded in opposition.
1884 – Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) founded.
1886 – The Highland Clearances finally end with
passage of the Crofters’ Act.
The
Liberal Unionist Party splits from the Liberal Party over the question of Irish
Home Rule.
At the end
of the Third Anglo-Burmese War, the United Kingdom annexes Burma and adds it to
the Empire of India.
1889 – The Socialist International is organized in
Paris.
1891 - A rift within the IPP over Parnell's long-term relationship with a separated woman leads to a majority of former INL members forming the anti-Parnell Irish National Federation under Justin McCarthy and John Dillon.
1892 – John Redmond assumes leadership of IPP.
1893 – Gaelic League founded by Douglas Hyde, a
Protestant from County Roscommon.
1896-1915 – The Progressive Era in the United States.
1896 – Irish Socialist Republican Party founded by
James Connolly.
1898 - William O'Brien organizes the nationalist United Irish League, which aims to achieve its goals by agrarian agitation and land reform, as well as unite the nationalists under one banner.
1898-1901 – The nationalist Boxer Rebellion in China,
with the empire facing off against Austria, Hungary, Great Britain, America,
France, Japan, and Russia.
1899-1902 – Nationalist and Unionist Irish and
Irish-Americans fight on the side of the Afrikaaners against the British during
the Second Boer War, often in the same units.
1900 - Largely through the leadership of O'Brien and his UIL, the sundered factions INL and INF reunite under the leadership of Redmond but with UIL as their main support, which also brought the divided sections of the IPP back together.
1901-1952 - The House of Wettin of
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha rules Great Britain and Ireland, Great Britain and Northern
Ireland after 1922.
1901 – The United Irish League of America is founded
to support the goals of the Irish Parliamentary Party.
Death of
Queen Victoria; succession of her son Edward VII Wettin.
1902 - After encountering members of the AOH in America on a political trip for the IPP, Joseph Devlin establishes the Irish wing of the order as a militant support group for the IPP.
1905 – Sinn Fein Party founded. Ulster Unionist Council founded.
1906 - A coalition of leftist political groups
(Independent Labour Party, Fabian Society, Social Democratic Federation,
Scottish Labour Party, and the Trade Union Congress) organized to stand for
elections under one banner adopts the name Labour Party.
1907 – Hibernian Rifles break away from Ancient
Order of Hibernians. The Red Hand
Commandos are formed in Belfast.
Pope St.
Pius X promulgates an encyclical condemning the heresy of Modernism: rational
interpretation of the bible, secularism, separation of church and state, and
modern philosophy.
1908 – Irish Transport and General Workers Union
founded by James Larkin.
1909 – Fianna Eireann founded by Constance Markievicz
and Bulmer Hobson.
1910 – Death of Edward VII; his son succeeds him as
George V Wettin.
1911 – The first Parliament Act removes the veto
power of the House of Lords over legislation passed by the House of Commons.
1912 - The Conservative and Liberal Unionist Parties
merge to form the Conservative and Unionist Party.
1913 – Ulster Volunteers founded by Edward Carson
and James Craig under the Ulster Unionist Council. Irish National Volunteer Corps (INVC) is
founded. Irish Citizen Army founded by
James Larkin and James Connolly.
1914-1919 - The Great War, also known as the First World
War.
1914 – INVC splits into the National Volunteers
under Redmond, who support Great Britain during WWI, and the Irish Volunteers
under Eoin MacNeill. Cumann na mBan
founded as the women’s auxiliary to the Volunteers.
1916 – The Easter Rising by the Provisional
Government of the Irish Republic (“Saorstat Eireann”) and the Army of the Irish
Republic composed of the Irish Volunteers, Irish Citizen Army, Fianna Eireann,
Cumann na Bann, and AOH’s Hibernian Rifles.
After the
Rising, the Friends of Irish Freedom is founded in America to support the
republican prisoners-of-war from the Easter Rising in the aftermath of the
sixteen executions which follow.
1917 – The Russian Revolution.
1919-1922 – Irish War of Independence, with the Irish
republican side directed mostly from behind the scenes by the IRB under its
President, Michael Collins.
1919 – In January, 60,000 workers in Glasgow stage a general strike for a forty-hour week; Churchill sent troops and tanks into George Square, and in the resulting riot, scores of men, women, and children were injured, many seriously. The incident is known as Black Friday.
The Irish Volunteers officially becomes the Irish
Republican Army, and includes a Scottish Brigade.
1920 – The RIC organizes the RIC Reserve Force
(Black and Tans), the Auxiliary Division (Auxies), and the Ulster Special
Constabulary (A-, B-, and C- Specials, USC) to provide support against the IRA.
1921-1929 – The Roaring Twenties.
1921 – Anglo-Irish Treaty; Partition of Ireland into
Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State or “Saorstat Eireann”. The Supreme Council of the IRB, with one
exception (Liam Lynch) votes to accept the Treaty. The CnG does likewise; however, it splits
into a Devoy wing and a McGarrity wing called Clan na Gael Reorganized.
1922-1923 – Irish Civil War.
1922 – The IRA divides into the Free Staters and the
Irregulars, both using the names IRA until the Free State forces officially
change their English designation to Irish Defense Forces; however, both
continue using the Irish designation Óglaigh na hÉireann. Redmondites returning from service with the
British army on the continent are recruited en masse into the IDF. The Royal Ulster Constabulary is established
in Northeast Ulster. Michael Collins dies
in a firefight in County Cork.
1923 – The IRA reorganizes itself as a clandestine
organization, allied with Sinn Fein as its political arm. Pro-Treaty former members of Sinn Fein under
William Cosgrave form the Cumann na nGaedheal.
Seamus Reader, former deputy commander of the Scottish Division of the IRA, forms the Scottish Republican Army, hoping to repeat in Scotland what was accomplished in Ireland, but the effort fails to take hold.
1924-1925 – The Sharifian Caliphate.
1924 – The IRB votes to dissolve, after which the
Devoy wing of CnG does likewise; the McGarrity wing, however, continues on as
the sole CnG.
Mustafa
Kemal Attaturk overthrows the Ottoman Sultanate to establish the Republic of
Turkey. He abolishes both the Sultanate and the Caliphate along with the title
Kaysar-i-Rum and changes the name of Konstantinople to Istanbul, moving the
capital to Ankara.
1925 – The IRA severes its relationship with Sinn
Fein.
Plaid
Cymru is formed in Wales.
The
Pahlavi dynasty comes to power in Iran.
1926 – CnG formally associates with the reorganized
IRA.
Eamon
DeValera establishes the Fianna Fail to contest elections, which later
separates completely from the IRA. The
A- and C-Specials of the USC are disbanded.
1927 – The London government changes its name to the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
1929 - Roddy Connolly organizes the Workers Defense Corps, which is proscribed two years later.
Early 1930s - The Scottish Self-Defense Corps forms to protect Scottish workers and poor people protesting conditions of the Great Depression.
1931 – Peadar O’Donnell and others organize Saor
Eire as a left-leaning nationalist political party, but the effort fizzles.
1932 – Hundreds of working-class Catholics and
Protestants across Northeast Ulster unite to form the Outdoor Workers Relief
Committee; in spite of massive assaults by the B-Specials on Shankhill Road and
Falls Road, the resulting strike is successful and the movement spreads. Richard Mulcahy and others form the Army
Comrades Association, made up of former IRA men who supported the Treaty side
during the Civil War, to provide support for former Free State soldiers and to
protect Cumann meetings from attack by members of the IRA.
1933 – Eoin O'Duffy is expelled from his post as
head of the Garda Síochána, then takes over the ACA and changes its name to the
National Guard (aka Blueshirts). When
that is banned a few months later, the former ACA members, Cumann na nGaedheal,
and National Centre Party band together to form Fine Gael.
1934 – O’Donnell and his allies reorganize under the
name Republican Congress and are expelled from the IRA, which splits down the
middle. The RC eventually gains
adherents even in the Shankill section of Belfast, and includes a delegation
from Shankhill calling themselves the James Connolly Club in its march at
Bodenstown this year, but collapses two years later due to lack of funds.
The RC includes as its armed wing a revived Irish Citizen Army, which splits into two factions the following year, both of which fade with the parent organization.
The
National Party of Scotland and the Scottish Party unite to form the Scottish
National Party.
1935 – O’Duffy loses control of Fine Gael and withdraws
from it, founding the National Corporate Party (aka Greenshirts).
1936 – Death of George V; succession of his son as Edward
VIII Wettin. Within a year, he abdicates
the throne to his brother, who succeeds as George VI Wettin.
1936-1939 – Republicans and loyalists fight in the
Spanish Civil War in the same unit of the International Brigades (many in the
Connolly Column), while Blueshirts and Greenshirts under O’Duffy fight on the
side of Franco’s Nationalists.
1939-1945 – The Second World War.
1939-1940 – IRA’s Sabotage Campaign in England.
1942-1944 – IRA’s Northern Campaign in the Six Counties.
1942 - On 26 January,
troops from the 26th Philippine Scouts led by Lt. Edwin Price
Ramsey performed the last cavalry charge in U.S. military history, at the Pasig
River border between Bataan and Pampanga provinces on the island of Luzon, near
the town of Morong. Ramsey's single squadron routed an entire Japanese infantry
division.
1945-1971 – The Golden Age of Capitalism.
1945-1954 - The First
Indochina War. After the war ends, the Union is dissolved into Cambodia,
Laos, South Vietnam, and North Vietnam.
1946 – On the heels of the Second World War, IRA
leader Sean MacBride organizes the leftist republican Clann na Poblachta.
1949 – Brendan O'Boyle, formerly of IRA's Northern Command, organizes Laochra Uladh, which ended with his death in action in 1955.
The second Parliament Act limits the power of
the House of Lords to delay legislation from two years to one.
The
Commonwealth of Nations succeeds the British Commonwealth.
1950 – An Irish
Republican Brotherhood is formed in Dublin and disbanded by Cathal Goulding the
next year.
1951 – Liam Kelly organizes Saor Uladh after being
expelled from the IRA. Raymond O'Cianain's Arm na Saoirse is absorbed into IRA.
Mebyon
Kernow is formed in Cornwall.
1952 – Death of George VI, last of the House of
Wettin; succession of his daughter Elizabeth II Hesse, wife of Philip Hesse of
Brandenberg.
1953 – Kelly establishes Fianna Uladh as the political
wing of Saor Uladh.
1954-1962 - The Algerian
Revolution, including the Cafe Wars in mainland France.
1955-1975 - The Second
Indochina, or Viet Nam, War.
1955 - The Christle Groups forms around its eponymous founder, Joe Christle, after he is expelled from IRA. The group allies with Saor Uladh.
1956-1962 – IRA’s Border Campaign.
1956 – IRA publishes its first Green Book, in which
individual members are referred to as Guerrillas.
Ian Paisley
forms the Ulster Protection Action.
1957 – Richard Behel founds the Saor Eire Action
Group.
1965 – Paisley forms the Ulster Constitution Committee
and the paramilitary Ulster Protestant Volunteers.
1966 – A new Ulster Volunteer Force is
established. Ulster Protestant Action
becomes the Protestant Unionist Party.
1967 – Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association is
organized.
Saor Eire,
with a Trotskyite orientation, is organized by former IRA members headed by
ex-Dublin Brigade OC Frank Keane.
A group of ultra-nationalists within the Scottish National Party form the 1320 Club.
1968 – SNP expels the 1320 Club after some of its members begin to advocate paramilitary activity. In response, Fred Boothby, one of the founders, establishes the Army of the Provisional Republic.
1969-1998 – The Troubles.
1969 – The Battle of the Bogside.
The IRA
splits into two, the Official Irish Republican Army and the Reorganized IRA following
the “Provisional” Army Council (later called the Provisional IRA).
Foundation
in the USA of the Irish Northern Aid Committee (NORAID) by Martin Galvin.
1970 – A split in republican ranks over policy in
Northeast Ulster and the turn toward Marxism-Leninism results in an Official
Sinn Fein and a Provisional Sinn Fein.
The
B-Specials are finally dissolved and most join the new Ulster Defense Regiment.
1971 – The Democratic Unionist Party succeeds the
Protestant Unionist Party.
Beginning
of internment of both republican and loyalist suspects in the cages at Long
Kesh.
Provos wishing to carry out sectarian attacks against Protestants organize the Red Flag Avengers (RFA) in Belfast, and remain active thru 1976.
The Irish Citizen Army forms in Belfast and Newry, but dies out by the mid-1970's.
1972 – The 1st Battalion of the Royal Parachute
Regiment fires on a NICRA civil rights march in the city of Derry, killing
fourteen and wounding many others, an incident now known as Bloody Sunday.
The Ulster
Defense Association/Ulster Freedom Fighters is organized as an umbrella group of
loyalist paramilitaries. The (new) Red
Hand Commando is organized.
Tinnelly's Brigade forms in south Co. Down out of OIRA volunteers opposed to the Official Army Council's ceasefire. It remains active for two years.
1973 – Formation of the Scottish Republican
Socialist Clubs (SRSC).
1973-1978 – Activities of the South Derry Independent
Republican Unit, which includes Francie Hughes, Dominic McGlinchey, Thomas
McElwee, Joe Sheridan, Ian Milne, et al.
1974 – Three simultaneous bombings in Dublin and
another in Monaghan one and a half hours later, the work of the UVF, kill 33
and wound over 300.
Seamus
Costello organizes the Irish Republican Socialist Party and the Irish National
Liberation Army.
The Ulster
Workers Council Strike destroys the Sunningdale Agreement.
The Armagh People's Republican Army (APRA) is founded in Co. Armagh and remains active into 1977.
1975 – A group from Saor Eire breaks away, calling
itself Saoirse Eire, when the former decides to dissolve itself.
An independent republican outfit called the South Armagh
Republican Action Force (SARAF) becomes active and remains so for the next three years.
Near the
end of the year, secret talks take place between the Combined Loyalist Military
Command (CLMC) and the Provisional Army Council through intermediaries Desmond
Boal and Sean MacBride, with the top leaders on both sides fully informed; the
talks eventually reach an agreement to a mutual ceasefire and joint demand for
British Army withdrawal, but are scuttled by a second workers strike
orchestrated by Paisley for unrelated reasons.
Boothby's Army of the Provisional Republic collapses when he is convicted of conspiracy and leaves the group.
1976 – Under recommendation from the Gardiner Committee,
British Secretary of State Merlyn Rees orders an end to Special Category Status
for political prisoners in Northern Ireland beginning 1 March. Kieran Nugent,
the first prisoner to arrive in the H-Blocks at Long Kesh under the new rules,
refuses to wear prison clothes, beginning the blanket protest, which many
loyalists join.
1977 – Official Sinn Fein becomes Sinn Fein-The
Workers’ Party; the Provos issue a new Green Book which refers to members as
Volunteers, revives the term Oglaigh na h’Eireann, and reorganizes the order of
battle from brigades and battalions into smaller Active Service Units.
1978 – Beginning of the no wash protest and later
the dirty protest in the republican wing of the H-blocks and of Armagh Women's
Prison, where many of the inmates have already joined the blanket protest.
Tom Moore founds Siol nan Gaidheal (SnG) in Scotland.
1979 – Progressive Unionist Party is organized in
the Shankill as the political arm of the UVF.
Adam Busby
founds the Scottish National Liberation Army (SNLA), claiming the referendum that year
on devolution is fixed; no relationship with the similarly named Irish
organization, nor with the SRSC (nor its successors).
Republican socialists within SNP, mostly members of SRSC, form the intra-party 79 Group.
The
Iranian Revolution takes place.
1981-2009 – Era of the neoliberal Washington Concensus.
1981 – The Hunger Strike for political status takes
places in the republican wing of the H-blocks at Long Kesh, with seven PIRA and
three INLA prisoners dying.
The Social
Democratic Party is organized in London.
The Ulster
Democratic Party is organized as the political arm of the UDA/UFF.
A group called the Dark Harvest Commando of the Scottish Citizen Army appears demanding the central UK government clean up the anthrax-contaminated soil on Gruinard Island. It may have been a front for Busby's SNLA. Rumors of the group last until the early 21st century.
1982 – SF-WP becomes simply the Workers’ Party.
SNP bans SnG and most of the 79 Group.
The
Scottish Republican Socialist Clubs reorganize as the Scottish Republican Socialist
Party (SRSP); despite the similarity of name to the IRSP, neither the SRSP nor its
successor, the crossparty Scottish Republican Socialist Movement (1998), has never had a paramilitary counterpart.
The remaining members of the 1320 Club merge with SnG. More radical members of the merged organization organize a paramilitary named the Arm nan Gaidheal.
1983 – The Catholic Reaction Force of INLA dissidents forms in Co. Armagh.
1985 – Arm nan Gaidheal dissipates due to internal conflicts, which effect the parent organization, Siol nan Gaidheal, which also dissolves.
1986 – The Gerry Adams wing of the Provisional
Republican Movement launches a successful coup d’etat against the national
leadership, which then forms Republican Sinn Fein and the Continuity IRA to
oppose Adams’ abandonment of abstentionism.
The DUP
founds Ulster Resistance in opposition to the Anglo-Irish agreement.
Persons
expelled or forced to resign from the INLA form the Irish People’s Liberation
Organization, which serves mostly as a vehicle for criminal profit.
About a hundred Provo prisoners in the H-Blocks resign in protest over the movement's abandonment of abstentionism, and later in the year many of these form the League of Communist Republicans (LCR), which last about five years.
1987 - Formation in America of the National Irish
Freedom Committee by Michael Flannery, George Harrison, Joe Stynes and others,
to provide American support for RSF.
Dessie O'Hare forms the Irish Revolutionary Brigade (IRB) as a splinter from INLA.
Revolutionary Struggle, a small leftist republican outfit with paramilitary capability, forms in Dublin.
1988 - The Liberal Party and the Social Democratic
Party merge as the Liberal Democrats.
Jackie Stokes refounds Siol nan Gaidheal.
1989 – The Autumn of Nations Revolutions in China, Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Czchoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Albania.
At the end of the year, the Irish National Congress (INC) is organized to commemorate the Easter Rising, but after that continues as a non-party, non-sectarian vehicle to campaign on various left republican issues.
1992 – The UDR is amalgamated with the Royal Irish
Regiment.
The IPLO is wiped out by PIRA after a number of clashes.
The SnG again dissolves when its leader, Jackie Stokes, suffers a major heart attack.
1994 - The Irish National Republican Army organizes this year, and later dissolves to join the CIRA.
1995 – The CLMC, led by Gusty Spence, announces a
cease-fire.
Adam Busby
founds the Scottish Separatist Group (SSG) to serve as the legal political arm for his SNLA. This same year former members and supporter of the SNLA form both the Scottish Freedom Party and the John Maclean Society.
1996 – The Stone of Destiny is returned to Scotland.
Billy
Wright secedes from UVF and organizes the Loyalist Volunteer Force.
1997 – A group of OIRA members secede to form the
Official Republican Movement over the direction the Workers’ Party is then
taking.
Scots vote
overwhelmingly for a national parliament of their own.
The CnG
splits into Republican CnG and Provisional CnG factions; eventually both fade
into virtual nonexistence. A group
calling itself by the old name Fenian Brotherhood organizes to replace the two dying
organizations.
Jackie Stokes again revives the Siol nan Gaidheal.
1998 – The PIRA and the INLA both announce
cease-fires, ending The Troubles. The
Provos sign the Good Friday Agreement with the United Kingdom and the Republic
of Ireland.
The Orange
Volunteers are formed, and the 32 County Sovereignty Movement and the Real IRA
form, in opposition to the Good Friday Agreement.
Formation
in America of the Irish Freedom Committee, based on the former Chicago camp of
NIFC, to support the 32CSM.
A bombing
carried out by RIRA in Omagh, Co. Tyrone, kills 29, including one woman
pregnant with twins, and injures 220.
The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) is organized. The SRSP transforms itself into the crossparty Scottish Republican Socialist Movement (SRSM) in order to maintain relationships with both the new SSP and the SNP.
2001 – The UDP is succeeded by the Ulster Political
Research Group.
The RUC is
incorporated into the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
The online
magazine The Blanket is founded in
Belfast to provide alternative views from across the political spectrum to not
only events in the Northeast and the rest of Ireland, but in the rest of the
world as well.
2002 – 32CSM/RIRA dissidents, including Michael
McKevitt and Bernadette Sands-McKevitt, renounce violence and along with others
form the New Republican Forum.
2004 – SNP bans SRSM and expels its members over the group's affiliation with SSP.
2005 – Former members of the CIRA form two splinter groups, the Oglaigh Na hEireann (ONH) and the Saoirse na hÉireann (SNE), now the Republican Network for Unity (RNU).
The PIRA
disarms.
2006 – Dissidents from PIRA, INLA, and CIRA form the
Irish Republican Liberation Army and the Continuity Liberation Movement.
Dissidents from PIRA form an Independent
Republican Unit, modelled on the one from South Derry.
Republican socialist dissidents from PSF form
“eirigi”.
The Republican Defense Army (RDA) breaks away from PIRA.
The
Liberal Vannin Party is founded on the Isle of Mann.
SRSM disaffiliates from SSP over the party's handling of the Tommy Sheridan debacle and over the growing presence of Unionist elements inside the party.
2007 – A group calling itself the Real Ulster
Freedom Fighters appears.
The
UDA/UFF and the UVF both announce the demilitarization of their respective
groups.
The
Scottish National Party becomes the dominant party in the Scottish Parliament.
The
Republican Network for Unity forms to oppose the PRM’s support for the PSNI.
The Republican Defense Association forms from volunteers expelled from the 2006 RDA.
The Irish Republican Brotherhood forms in Dublin.
2008 – The Republican Defense Association and
Republican Defense Army are formed in Northeast Ulster. The
Blanket ceases publication.
The
Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) forms in Derry from former PIRA
volunteers.
Saor Uladh forms in West Belfast and North Armagh.
2009 – The Irish National Liberation Army disarms.
The 1916 Societies begin to form around the slogan, "One Ireland, One Vote".
The Real Continuity IRA (RCIRA) breaks away from CIRA and allies with RSF.
The Green
Revolution takes place in Iran against the Islamic Republic.
2011-present – The Arab Spring in Algeria,
Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Morocco, Libya, Kurdistan, Bahrain, and Syria.
2011 – The PIRA dissolves.
Widespread
protests take place in Israel, with marches and demonstrators camping in the
streets and public squares. Meanwhile,
the nonviolent civil disobedience movement moves to the fore in Palestine.
The Occupy
Wall Street movement begins at Liberty Square in Manhattan, then spreads across
the U.S. and world-wide, including Dublin, Belfast, Galway, Cork,
Letterkenney, Limerick, Waterford, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Cardiff, and
several other cities in England.
2012 – First Minister Alex Salmon of Scotland and
Prime Minister David Cameron of the UK agree to hold a referendum for the
independence of Scotland in 2014
Two Irish republican factions—RIRA and RAAD—come together with several smaller splinter groups in summer as the New
Irish Republican Army (NIRA).
2014 – Gerry Adams, current leader of
Sinn Fein, former COS of PIRA, former commander of PIRA’s Northern Command, and
former leader of the Belfast Brigade’s security unit, is arrested in connection
with the murder of Jean McConville, a widowed mother of ten killed in 1972, a
few days after the arrest of Ivor Bell, OC of the Belfast Brigade at the time
of the murder. He is subsequently released.
In September, the people of Scotland vote on independence, but
the Yes Scotland vote fails, 45% v. 55%.
2015 - The IRSP publishes a paper from an internal discussion declaring that the CIRA, RIRA, and ONH should end their armed struggle.
Action Against Drugs, made up of former Provos, announces its presence with the assassination of former Provo and ex-DAAD member Kevin McGuigan and formally in the Irish News.
A series of unfortunate events forces the PSNI to admit that not only does the PIRA still exist, but that it is still armed.
2016 - The political party Saoradh, supported by
the New IRA, is established.
2017 - The vote by the Tory-dominated Westminster Parliament to exit the European Union reignites the movement for Scottish independence and widens the possibility of the union of all Ireland.
