MAHE Timeline2
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TIMELINE 2, From the Norman Conquest to the Renaissance: Middle English1066Duke William (the Bastard) of Normandy leads a Norman army into England. At the Battle of Hastings he defeats King Harold, who is slain.William becomes William I (“the Conqueror”) of England (1066-87).The Normans speak Norman French, which as spoken in the British Islesdevelops its own peculiarities – a dialect called Anglo-Norman, used bythe aristocracy and some town-dwellers for centuries, till it dies out inthe late 1300s.1086The Domesday Book, a detailed tax census of the realm, is completed. 1093-1109St Anselm, an Italian intellectual of key importance in European culture, is archbishop of Canterbury.1093The Normans annex southern Wales; the rest is under “English”suzerainty.1096-99The First Crusade against the Saracens in the Holy Land ends with the capture of Jerusalem from the Muslims and the foundation of theFrench-speaking Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. It is the main Crusaderstate in the Levant.1100The conventional date for the beginning of Middle English (or 1150) ca. 1130 The University of Oxford is created on the model of the University of Paris.1147-1148The Second Crusade1171Henry II invades Ireland, occupying Dublin, and gains loose control over the whole island. Norman barons are granted fiefs in Ireland.1187 Saladin reconquers Jerusalem for Islam. Western Christendom is aghast. 1189-1192The Third Crusade attempts to recover Jerusalem from the Muslims under Saladin. Richard I of England, called the Lionheart or the Lion-Hearted (reigned 1189-1199), is at the centre of the effort – and itsfailure. A fierce and capable but quarrelsome man with considerabletalent as a troubadour, he becomes in folk memory a paragon of chivalry.1204The Fourth Crusade is diverted to Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman (= Byzantine) Empire. The Crusaders conquerConstantinople. The ensuing bitterness makes permanent the splitbetween Eastern (Orthodox) Catholicism and Western (Roman)Catholicism. The “Franks” are not driven out by the resurg entByzantines till 1261. This is the last of the more serious crusades.King John loses Normandy. Many aristocratic families split.1209The University of Cambridge is founded.1214-92Roger Bacon, an English philosopher-theologian who played animportant role in the rise of experimental science. His career was on thecontinent. He can be considered the first great English scientist, though itwas his attitudes, not his discoveries, that proved significant.1250The heyday of Anglo-Norman French in England is past. Decline sets in as Parisian gains prestige at the expense of other dialects, includingNorman. French comes to seem increasingly “foreign” among Englisharistocrats and burghers.1266-1308Dun Scotus, a great Scottish philosopher-theologian who spent much of his career in England. Thinkers from Britain are major figures in thetheological, philosophical and scientific movements of the Middle Ages.ca. 1275 The Hanseatic League (a loose alliance of semi-independent trading cities from the mouth of the Rhine along the southern shore of the North Seaand the Baltic Sea) establishes the Steelyard, a trade depot withextraterritorial rights, in London. This endures till 1598 and anchorsEngland’s role as a player in the North Sea and Baltic Sea trade (leadingto adoption of many Low German or Netherlandish loanwords.)1285?-1349? William of Ockham, a great English philosopher-theologian, with a controversial career chiefly on the continent1290The Jews are expelled from England, not to return till the 1600s.ca. 1300-49 Richard Rolle, author of mystical devotional writings for women in English1337The Hundred Years’ War among the nobility of England, France and Burgundy begins, with the fighting taking place on the continent. It lastsintermittently till 1453 and thoroughly anglicizes the Anglo-Normanaristocracy, rooting it firmly in England.1342?-1400 Geoffrey Chaucer, author of The Canterbury Tales1347-51The Black Death rages throughout Europe; a third to a half of thecontinent’s population perishes. England is badly affected; its populationbefore the plague of a little over 6 million is not reached again till the1700s. Urban populations are especially badly hit, and replacements arenew people from the countryside, often former serfs.1362English becomes the official language of Parliament and the law courts.1375Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a long alliterative poem by anunknown author, recounting an Arthurian legend, is a classic ofchivalric literature, and still admired today.1382The first translation of the Bible into English since King Alfred’s time appears. It is wrongly ascribed to the pre-Protestant reformer JohnWycliffe (1330-84). (Wycliffe’s scattered followers are called theLollards.)ca. 1400 The Great Vowel Shift begins.1430 French is abandoned as the language of royal administration. InWestminster, just outside London, the administrative office known as theChancery develops certain preferences in the English used by its officialsand clerks – the first “standard” form of written English, ChanceryEnglish, the ancestor today’s standard written English. Cf. 1474 & 1475.1451The University of Glasgow is founded.1453 Christian Constantinople (Byzantium) falls to the Ottoman Turks;learned Byzantine Greek refugees in Italy spark renewed interest in boththe Greek language & in Hellenic and Early Christian (Patristic) culture –a major feature of the Renaissance. By this time the Ottoman Empire hasalready occupied extensive lands in the Balkan Peninsula.1455The War of the Roses, a civil conflict between the Houses of York and Lancaster for the throne of England, begins. It lasts till 1485 andprobably promotes the ongoing change in English pronunciation.1468Denmark cedes the Shetlands and Orkneys to Scotland. Norn (the local Norwegian dialect) is doomed to extinction within the next 300 years.1469-1536Desiderius Erasmus, the greatest humanist of the Renaissance. ADutchman, he spends considerable time in England, often in thecompany of his great friend Sir Thomas More (1477-1535).1470Le Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory (died 1471), the most complete presentation of the Arthurian legends in English, later printed by Caxtonand enormously popular1474William Caxton prints the first book in English at Bruges, Flanders: The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, a translation from French.1475Caxton moves his press to Westminster, where his publications become a major factor in spreading Chancery English and raising its prestige. 1477-1535Sir Thomas More, statesman and philosopher (and canonized Catholic martyr), produces some of the first indisputably great prose in earlymodern English. He still, however, wrote primarily in Latin for aninternational readership.1485Henry VII, a Welshman, becomes king, founding the Tudor Dynasty.1492Paper is manufactured in England for the first time. Printing takes off.1495The University of Aberdeen(Scotland) is founded.1500The conventional date for the emergence of Modern English (or 1450) 1507Scotland has its first printing press.1509-14Erasmus has his long sojourn in England.1512 A close alliance is established between Scotland and France.1517The Protestant Reformation is launched in Germany by the monk Martin Luther. His rendering of the Bible into German is a tremendous stimulusto translation into vernacular languages in all of Western Christendom. 1534Henry VIII, angry at the refusal of the pope to grant him a divorce from his Spanish wife, ends the ties of the English church with Rome. TheAnglican Church is founded, but its character is still unclear. HowCatholic will it remain? How Protestant will it become? 150 years ofintense religious, political and social controversy follow.。
