A.D. (C.E.)

9. The Germans under Arminius inflict an overwhelming defeat on the Romans under Varus which secures the independence of the German States. Augustus Caesar Emperor of Rome.

43. Romans commence the conquest of Britain. Claudius was then Emperor of Rome and the inhabitants of England, Celts.

64. First persecution of the Christians at Rome under Nero.

325 ? Council of Nicea adopts the Nicaean creed.

330.Constantine makes Constantinople the seat of the Roman Empire instead of Rome.

364-365. The Roman Empire is divided, Valentinian taking the Empire of the West and Valens the East.

375-395. Yielding to attacks from the Huns, the Goths are allowed to pass the Danube and settle in Roman provinces. They soon engage in war with the Romans and destroy Emperor Valens and his army, Finally subdued by Emperor Theodosius.

410. Alaric king of the Visigoths captures the city of Rome

414. Spain invaded by the Visigoths. Britain abandoned by the Roman Empire of the West.

451. Attila the king of the Huns, called " The Scourge of God," checked at the battle of Chalons, France, by the allied Goth and Roman armies

455-582. Anglo-Saxons invade England and found petty kingdoms.

476. The Empire of the West crushed and extinguished by Odoacer, who becomes the first barbarian ruler of Italy

533-568. Justinian, Emperor of Constantinople, conquers Italy and nortlIern Africa; issues "Code of Justinian," which formed the basis of the law of the empire for centuries, and has had great influence on the law of all nations with which the empire came in contact.

622. Mohammed driven from Mecca. This constitutes the Hegira or "Flight," from which date Mohammedans reckon their time.

632. Mohammed becomes supreme in Arabia

651.The Mohammedans complete the conquest of Persia.

709. Mohammedans complete the conquest of northern Africa and plan the invasion of Spain.

768-814. Reign of Charlemagne. His empire extended into Spain as far as the Ebro; into Germany as far as the Elbe; and into Austria nearly to Vienna. "In a life restlessly active we see him reforming the coinage, establishing the legal divisions of money, gathering about him the learned of every country, founding schools and collecting libraries, and trying to harmonize the discordant codes of Barbarian and Roman law."

786. Accession of Haroun al-Raschid, famous Caliph of Bagdad.

787. Danes invade Englan

800. Accession of Egbert, the first to call himself "King of the English."

871-900. Reign of Alfred the Great.

911. The Northman Hrolf (Duke Rollo) invades France and secures from its king the province called after them, Normandy, and the people and their desendants, Normans.

1017. Canute becomes king of England and Denmark.

1041. Edward the Confessor king of England.

1066 Battle of Hastings. William, duke of Normandy, defeats Harold, last Saxon king of England, and becomes William I of England, and first of the Norman dynasty.

1096. First Crusade. Peter the Hermit, its apostle; Godfrey de Bouillon, Defender of the Holy Sepulchre; Robert, duke of Normandy first son of William the Conqueror; Tancred; and Baldwin, brother of Godfrey de Bouillon, were the chief leaders. Jerusalem captured. "So terrible, it is said, was the carnage which followed, that the horses of the Crusaders rode up to the Mosque of Omar through a stream of blood; infants were seized by their feet and dashed against the walls or hurled over the battlements, while the Jews were all burned alive in their synagogue. In the midst of these horrors Godfrey entered the Church of the Sepulchre clothed in a robe of pure white, barefooted and bareheaded, and knelt at the tomb to offer his thanksgiving for the Divine Goodness that had granted the realization of the yearning of their hearts."

1140. Feuds in Italy between the Guelfs and Ghibellines.

1146. Second Crusade. St. Bernard its popular preacher as Peter the Hermit had been of the first. Crusade a failure.

1154. Henry II, king of England, first of the Plantagenets. Thomas a Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. First Saxon since the Conquest to hold high office.

1189-1199. Reign of Richard I. Third Crusade; Richard and Philip take part. Saladin had captured Jerusalem 88 years after Godfrey had been proclaimed "Defender of the Holy Sepulchre." He treated the captives with marked leniency considering the custom of the times. He held Jerusalem in spite of the Third Crusade, which resulted in a truce by which the pilgrims for 3 years and 8 months might visit the Holy Sepulchre, untaxed.

1212. Children's Crusade; 50,000 children perish or are sold into captivity.

1215. The barons and freeholders of England compel John to sign Magna Carta. This was a formal acknowledgment by the crown of the rights which for many years had been claimed by the people.

1346. War between France and England. Edward III gains a decided victory at Crecy. The blind king of Bohemia, fighting for France, was slain, together with the flower of the French chivalry. The Black Prince, son of Edward III, distinguished himself and adopted the crest and motto 'Ich Dien," of the Bohemian king, still worn by the Prince of Wales.

1356. English gain battle of Poitiers and take King John of France, prisoner.

1399. Richard the Second deposed; Henry IV, son of John of Gaunt, first of the Lancaster line of kings, crowned.

1415. Henry V of England defeats the French at battle of Agincourt.

1420. Treaty of Troyes, by which it was agreed that Henry should succeed Charles VI of France to the French throne. The people of France refused to acknowledge the treaty.

1422. Henry V of England and Charles VI of France die and part of France acknowledge Henry VI. War ensues.

1429. Joan of Are victorious at Orleans and the French Dauphin crowned as Charles VII of France.

1431. Joan of Arc tried before an Ecclesiastical Tribunal on the charge of witchcraft, and burned alive at the marketplace at Rouen.

1452. English finally driven out of France.

1453. Mohammed II captures Constantinople and the Roman Empire of the East is destroyed.

1455. Beginning of "War of the Roses" in England, between the Houses of York and Lancaster. The House of York was descended, through a daughter, from Lionel, third son of Edward III. The House of Lancaster from John of Gaunt, fourth son of Edward III. The white rose was the badge of York, the red rose, that of Lancaster.

1461. Henry VI, last of House of Lancaster, deposed; Edward IV, first of House of York, crowned by aid of the Duke of Warwick, styled "King Maker."

1470. Warwick restores Henry VI. to the English throne.

1471. Edward wins battle of New Barnet, and Warwick is defeated and slain.

Next: Chapter 2: Period of Discovery and Conquest: 1492-1598AD