Medieval Europe timeline (1187–1453)
13th-century Europe was the age of the crusades. In 1204 the Fourth Crusade sacked Constantinople, a Christian city; in 1215 Magna Carta was issued in England; and in 1237–1242 the Mongols conquered Rus' and invaded as far as Poland and Hungary. With the fall of Acre in 1291 the crusader states of the Holy Land disappeared.
The 14th century brought together the Great Famine (1315–1317), the Hundred Years' War that began in 1337, the Black Death, which landed in 1347 and took around a third of Europe's population, and the Great Schism. In 1453 the Ottoman Empire took Constantinople and the Hundred Years' War ended the same year, commonly seen as the end of the Middle Ages.
Late 12th–13th century (1187–1291)
The period of the Third to the Eighth Crusades, Magna Carta and the Mongol advance west.
| Year | Event | Region |
|---|---|---|
| 1187 | Battle of Hattin; Saladin takes Jerusalem The army of the Kingdom of Jerusalem was destroyed and Jerusalem passed to Saladin. | Holy Land |
| 1189 | Third Crusade Richard the Lionheart, Philip II and Frederick Barbarossa set out. Barbarossa drowned crossing a river in Asia Minor the next year. | Holy Land |
| 1202 | Fourth Crusade attacks Zara Crusaders unable to pay Venice their fare attacked the Christian city of Zara. | Adriatic |
| 1204 | Sack of Constantinople; Latin Empire founded The crusaders sacked Constantinople and founded the Latin Empire. Byzantine governments in exile withdrew to Nicaea and elsewhere. | Byzantium |
| Play this scene Scenario The Galleys of Venice · What if…? What if Constantinople had held against the Fourth Crusade? · Person Enrico Dandolo | ||
| 1209 | Albigensian Crusade begins The pope proclaimed a crusade against the Cathars, and southern France came under the northern French nobility and the crown. | Southern France |
| 1212 | Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa Castile, Aragon and Navarre together inflicted a great defeat on the Almohads. | Iberia |
| 1214 | Battle of Bouvines King Philip II of France defeated the allied army of Otto IV and King John of England. England failed to recover Normandy and Anjou. | Flanders |
| Play this scene What if…? What if King John's allies had won at Bouvines? | ||
| 1215 | Magna Carta In June at Runnymede King John agreed to a charter setting out the barons' demands. The Fourth Lateran Council met the same year. | England |
| Play this scene Scenario The road to Runnymede · Person William Marshal | ||
| 1217 | Fifth Crusade King Andrew II of Hungary and others set out, and the expedition attacked Damietta at the mouth of the Nile (failing in 1221). | Egypt |
| 1229 | Frederick II's treaty regaining Jerusalem The excommunicated emperor got Jerusalem back without a fight by negotiating with the Egyptian sultan al-Kamil. | Holy Land |
| 1237 | Mongol invasion of Rus' Batu's army destroyed Ryazan and Vladimir. | Rus' |
| 1240 | Fall of Kyiv Kyiv fell to the Mongols, and most of Rus' came under the rule of the Kipchak Khanate (the Golden Horde). | Rus' |
| 1241 | Battles of Legnica and Mohi The Mongols defeated the Polish and Hungarian armies one after the other. | Poland · Hungary |
| Play this scene Scenario Winter in Kiev · What if…? What if the Mongols had stayed in Hungary in 1242? · Person Danylo Romanovych | ||
| 1242 | Mongol withdrawal After news of the Great Khan Ögedei's death, Batu's army turned back east. | Hungary |
| 1244 | Loss of Jerusalem Khwarazmian horsemen sacked Jerusalem, and it never returned to crusader hands. | Holy Land |
| 1248 | Seventh Crusade King Louis IX of France attacked Egypt and was taken prisoner in 1250. | Egypt |
| 1261 | Byzantium recovers Constantinople Michael VIII of Nicaea retook Constantinople, ending the Latin Empire. | Byzantium |
| 1270 | Eighth Crusade; death of Louis IX Louis IX died of illness in the camp besieging Tunis. | Tunis |
| 1291 | Fall of Acre The Mamluks destroyed the last crusader stronghold in the Holy Land. | Holy Land |
14th century (1307–1396)
A period called “the crisis of the 14th century”, when famine and plague, war and schism came all at once.
| Year | Event | Region |
|---|---|---|
| 1307 | Arrest of the Templars Philip IV had all the Templars in France arrested at once, and in 1312 Pope Clement V dissolved the order. | France |
| Play this scene Scenario The Galleys of Venice · What if…? What if Constantinople had held against the Fourth Crusade? · Person Enrico Dandolo · What if…? What if King John's allies had won at Bouvines? · Scenario The road to Runnymede · Person William Marshal · Scenario Winter in Kiev · What if…? What if the Mongols had stayed in Hungary in 1242? · Person Danylo Romanovych | ||
| 1309 | Papacy moves to Avignon The popes resided at Avignon until 1377. | France |
| 1315 | Great Famine The rain did not stop until 1317; harvests failed year after year and many starved. | Northern Europe |
| 1337 | Hundred Years' War begins The war began with Edward III's claim to the French throne. | France · England |
| Play this scene Scenario The Black Dog of Brocéliande · Person Bertrand du Guesclin | ||
| 1346 | Battle of Crécy The English longbowmen defeated the French knights. Calais fell the next year. | France |
| Play this scene What if…? What if France had won at Crécy? | ||
| 1347 | Black Death arrives Spreading with ships from the Black Sea, it is estimated to have killed between a third and a half of Europe's population by around 1351. | Mediterranean · Europe |
| 1356 | Battle of Poitiers Edward the Black Prince captured King John II of France. | France |
| 1361 | Second great outbreak of plague So many children born after the first outbreak died that it was also called “the children's plague”. | Europe |
| 1377 | Ragusa's quarantine ordinance Arriving ships and people had to be kept apart for 30 days, counted an early case of quarantine. | Dalmatia |
| 1378 | Western Schism Two popes were set up, in Rome and in Avignon (resolved by the Council of Constance in 1417). | Rome · Avignon |
| 1380 | Death of Bertrand du Guesclin The Constable of France who had won back most of the land lost to England died in camp. | France |
| 1396 | Battle of Nicopolis The crusade of King Sigismund of Hungary and French and Burgundian knights was crushed by the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I. | Bulgaria |
First half of the 15th century (1415–1453)
The last phase of the Hundred Years' War, the rise of the Medici in Florence, and the end of Byzantium.
| Year | Event | Region |
|---|---|---|
| 1415 | Battle of Agincourt Henry V's English army won a great victory over the French. | France |
| Play this scene Scenario The Galleys of Venice · What if…? What if Constantinople had held against the Fourth Crusade? · Person Enrico Dandolo · What if…? What if King John's allies had won at Bouvines? · Scenario The road to Runnymede · Person William Marshal · Scenario Winter in Kiev · What if…? What if the Mongols had stayed in Hungary in 1242? · Person Danylo Romanovych · Scenario The Black Dog of Brocéliande · Person Bertrand du Guesclin · What if…? What if France had won at Crécy? | ||
| 1429 | Siege of Orléans lifted The French army joined by Joan of Arc saved Orléans, and Charles VII was crowned at Reims. | France |
| Play this scene What if…? What if Orléans had fallen in 1429? | ||
| 1434 | Cosimo de' Medici returns to Florence Exiled by the Albizzi faction in 1433, he returned the next year and began Medici rule in Florence. | Italy |
| Play this scene Scenario The Ledger of the City of Flowers · Person Cosimo de' Medici | ||
| 1453 | Fall of Constantinople; end of the Hundred Years' War In May the Ottoman Mehmed II took Constantinople, ending the Byzantine Empire, and in July the Battle of Castillon effectively ended the Hundred Years' War. | Byzantium · France |
This era in the game
The Middle Ages of Crown & Plough begin around 1200, in a Europe where Plantagenets and Capetians, Hohenstaufen and popes face off. The crusade appeals and waves of plague on this timeline come in the game as events that demand a choice: whether to take the cross, and whether to flee the plague or stay and nurse the sick.
Constantinople in 1204, Bouvines, the Mongols in 1242, Crécy and Orléans in 1429 are turning points whose outcomes can differ from reality.
Be born in the Middle Ages → Middle Ages guide
Frequently asked questions
When did the Hundred Years' War begin and end?
It began in 1337 with King Edward III of England's claim to the French throne and ended with the Battle of Castillon in 1453. It lasted 116 years, but the fighting was not continuous, with several truces. The main battles were Crécy (1346), Poitiers (1356), Agincourt (1415) and Orléans (1429).
What were the biggest events of 13th-century Europe?
Commonly cited are the Fourth Crusade's sack of Constantinople in 1204, Magna Carta in 1215, the Mongol invasion of 1237–1242 and the fall of Acre in 1291.
When did the Black Death spread in Europe?
In 1347 it landed in Sicily and Italian ports on ships plying the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, spread across Europe by around 1351, and returned every few decades after that, as in 1361.