Seventh to Fourteenth Century Timeline (600 to 1399)
Britain Unlimited “Timelines” show the birth and deaths of the 250 famous British people covered in this site, together with the works they were associated with as well as other significant historical events of the time.
Era of the early Anglo-Saxon Kings
635: Aidan a monk from Iona founds the monastery of Lindisfarne in Northumbria.
657: Whitby Abbey is founded.
664: Synod of Whitby held by the Abbess Hilda marks the decline of the Celtic church over Roman christianity
673: Birth of Venerable Bede.
674: Ethelred becomes King of Mercia.
680: Venerable Bede entered St. Peter’s Monastery at Monkwearmouth.
686: Venerable Bede went to Jarrow, where he spent much of the rest of his life.
687: Death of St Cuthbert.
698: Creation of the Lindisfarne Gospels by a monk called Eadfrith.
725: Venerable Bede writes “De Temporum Ratione” which gave the reckoning for
the date for Easter.
731: Venerable Bede writes “Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Angolurum” (An Ecclesiastical History of the English People) and became known as the “Father of English History”.
735: Death of the Venerable Bede.
757: Offa takes the Kingdom of Mercia.
789: Building of Offa’s dyke to keep out the Welsh from England.
793: First Viking attack on Northumbria.
796: Death of Offa marks the end of Mercian dominance.
800: The Book of Kells is written in Ireland.
825: At the Battle of Ellandon Egbert King of Wessex defeats the Mercians and becomes the major power in the region.
836: Egbert is defeated by the Danes at Carhampton, Somerset.
The Synod of Aachen posthumously awarded the title “Venerable” to the Venerable Bede.
838: Egbert defeats the Danes at Hingston Down in Cornwall.
840: The stone of Destiny is moved from Iona to Scone in Scotland.
841: The Vikings found Dublin as a stronghold in Ireland.
851: Vikings attack London and Canterbury.
853: Alfred visits Rome with his father King Ethelwulf.
865: Ethelred the third son of Ethelwulf becomes King of
Wessex.
866: Vikings attack York.
871: Ethelred dies of his wounds at the Battle of
Ashdown.
Era of King Alfred the Great (871-899)
878: King Alfred defeats the Danes at the Battle of Edington. England is effectively cut into two with Wessex in the south and “The Danelaw” north of Watling Street.
886: King Alfred takes London from the Danes.
891: The Anglo Saxon Chronicle was begun.
895: Alfred captures the Danish fleet and they retreat to Northumbria.
Era of Edward the Elder (899-924)
902: The Danish ruler of East Anglia Eric is killed at the Battle of Holme.
903: Monks bury St Edmund at Beodricsworth which is renamed Bury St Edmunds.
920: After several victories Edward rules England and Scotland from the South Coast as far North as the Rivers Forth and Clyde.
Era of Athelstan (924-939)
927: The River Tees now marks the Northern frontier of England.
937: Athelstan defeats Scots, Danes and Celts and takes title of King of Britain.
Era of Edmund (939-946)
943: Malcolm becomes King of the Scots.
Era of Edred (946-955)
946: Edmund is murdered by Leofa when he tries to have him thrown out of a party.
952: The Dane Eric Bloodaxe recaptures York.
954: Edred drives Eric out of York and this is the end of the viking period.
Era of Edwy (955-959)
955: Edwy the son of Edmund becomes King of England.
Era of Edgar the Peaceful (959-975)
959: Edwy’s younger brother Edgar succeeds to the throne.
973: Dunstan the Archbishop of Canterbury crowns Edgar Emperor of England.
Era of Edgar the Martyr (975-978)
975: Edgar’s son Edward becomes King at the age of thirteen.
Era of Ethelred the Second (The Unready) (978-1013)
978: Edward is murdered at Corfe Castle in Dorset and Edward’s younger bother Ethelred takes on the throne.
980: Further Danish invasions and Ethelred is unable to unite the Kingdom against them.
991: Ethelred buys off the Danes with £10,000 worth of silver known as the Danegeld.
994: Ethelred buys off Sweyn the Dane and Olaf Trygvesson as they besiege London.
1002: The St Brices Day Massacre. Ethelred tries to exterminate all the Danes in England.
1003: Sweyn extracts revenge and then retreats.
1006: Sweyn again returns and sends armies through Berkshire and Hampshire.
1007: Ethelred buys two years peace for £36,000 of silver.
1009: The Danes return.
1010: Attacks on Oxford and East Anglia.
1012: Canterbury is sacked and Archbishop Alphege is murdered. The Danes are bought off for £48,000 of silver.
1013: Sweyn lands in England and is proclaimed King.
Ethelred flees to Normandy.
Era of Ethelred (1014-16)
Era of Canute (1013-35)
1014: On the Death of Sweyn his son Canute is elected King by the army. Ethelred is called on by the English and Canute leaves.
1015: Canute again invades England.
Era of Edmund Ironside (1016)
1016: Edmund Ironside becomes King of England south of the Thames. He is assassinated and Canute becomes undisputed King.
Era of Canute (1016-35)
1017: Canute divides the Kingdom again into Northumbria, Wessex, Mercia and East Anglia.
1028: Canute also becomes King of Norway.
1031: Canute becomes Overlord of Scotland.
1035: Harold “Harefoot” becomes Regent of England at the Death of Canute.
Era of Edward the Confessor (1042-1066)
1042: Edward half brother of Harthacanute and son of Ethelred becomes King. The english royal line is restored after a period of twenty-nine years.
1045: Edward marries Edith daughter of one of the powerful nobles of Wessex.
1051: Duke William comes to England from Normandy and is promised the throne by Edward after a quarrel with Earl Godwin Edith’s father.
1052: Edward founds Westminster Abbey. Harold succeeds Earl Godwin as Earl of Wessex after he chokes to death.
1057: Lady Godiva rides naked through Coventry.
1064: Harold is shipwrecked in Normandy and swears a solemn oath that William should succeed him.
1065: Westminster Abbey is finished.
Era of Harold the Second (1066)
1066: 25th September: Harold defeats his brother Tostig and Harold Hardraada at the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Both are killed.
Norman Era founded by King William of Normandy (The First and nicknamed the Conqueror (1066-87)
1066: 14th October: William of Normandy lands at Pevensey and marches south to meet Harold at the Battle of Hastings. Harold is slain.
1066-77: Commissioning of the Bayeaux Tapestry.
1073: Uprising of Hereward the Wake against the Normans near Ely.
1077: St Albans Cathedral is begun.
1078: Work is started on the Tower of London.
1086: Domesday Book compiled.
Era of King William the Second (1087-1100)
1096: Launch of the First Crusade.
Era of King Henry the First (1100-1135)
1110: First mystery play is performed at Dunstable.
1118: Birth of Thomas a Becket.
Era of King Stephen (1135-1154)
1141: King Stephen captured by the Scots at Lincoln but the fight was continued by his wife Matilda.
1147: Start of the Second Crusade.
1154: Thomas a Becket appointed Chancellor of England.
Nicholas Brakspear becomes the only English Pope.
Era of King Henry the Second (1154-1189)
1160: Birth of Robin Hood.
1162: Thomas a Becket Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by King Henry.
1170: 29th December: Murder of Thomas a Becket in Canterbury Cathedral.
1180: Glass windows begin to appear in English houses for the first time.
1185: Lincoln Cathedral is destroyed during an earthquake.
Era of King Richard the First (“The Lionheart”) (1189-1199)
1191: First Lord Mayor of London appointed.
Era of King John (1199-1216)
1202: The fourth crusade is launched.
1215: 5th June: Signing of the Magna Carta, charter of liberties, at Runnymede.
Era of King Henry the Third (1216-1272)
1220: The building of Salisbury Cathedral is begun.
1228: The sixth crusade is launched.
1233: Coal is mined at Newcastle commercially for the first time.
1235: The monk Matthew Paris begins his “Historia Major”.
1245: Westminster Abbey is begun to be rebuilt.
1247: Death of Robin Hood in December.
Wales comes under the authority of the English crown at the Treaty of Woodstock.
1248: The Seventh Crusade is launched.
1249: Founding of University College, Oxford.
1258: Simon de Montfort and the English Barons force the King to recognise the powers of Parliament. He starts the first directly elected parliament in Europe.
1265: 4th August: Simon de Montfort is killed at the Battle of Evesham.
1269: The first Toll roads are built in England.
1270: Birth of William Wallace.
The eighth crusade is launched.
1271: The ninth crusade is launched.
Era of King Edward the First (1272-1307)
1274: Birth of Robert the Bruce on the 11th July.
1275: First customs duties levied on wool and leather.
1276: The Welsh are led by Llewelyn the Last into the first Welsh war against the English.
1283: Llewelyn is killed and King Edward the First conquers Wales.
1284: 3rd March: Statute of Rhuddlan granting system of government to the Principality of Wales.
1290: Expulsion of the jews from England.
1294: The first Customs Officers are appointed in England.
1296: 27th April: Battle of Dunbar.
1297: William Wallace slays Haselrig, the English Sherrif of Lanark.
11th September: At the Battle of Stirling Bridge William Wallace defeats the English Army.
1298: 22nd July: Battle of Falkirk. William Wallace is defeated by the English.
1305: William Wallace is captured at Robroyston just outside Glasgow by Sir John Menteith and his men.
25th March: The crown of Scotland was placed on Robert the Bruce’s head at Scone.
23rd August: Execution of William Wallace.
1306: Robert the Bruce slays John Comyn in a church at Dumfries.
Era of King Edward the Second (1307-1327)
1309: Robert the Bruce holds his first parliament at St Andrews.
1314: 24th June: Battle of Bannockburn. Robert the Bruce defeats King Edward’s much larger English army.
1320: Robert the Bruce makes the “Declaration of Arbroath” which stated he was King of Scots and their defender rather than King of Scotland.
1323: A thirteen year truce is agreed on between England and Scotland.
Era of King Edward the Third (1327-77)
1328: Robert the Bruce is finally recognised as the rightful King of Scotland at the Treaty of Northampton.
1329: Death of Robert the Bruce on the 7th June.
1332: The first recording of the English parliament being divided into two houses.
1340: England defeats a French fleet at Sluys and gains control of the English Channel.
1342: Birth of Geoffrey Chaucer.
1346: The English defeat the French at the Battle of Crecy.
1347: The English capture Calais in France which becomes a colony.
1348: The Black Death. Serious outbreak of Bubonic Plague. King Edward begins his Order of the Garter with himself, his
son the Black Prince and twenty four knights.
1351: Parliament passed the Statute of Labourers in an effort to hold down wages.
Rebuilding of Windsor Castle is begun.
1356: 19th September: Battle of Poitiers. Edward the Black Prince defeats the French.
1359: Geoffrey Chaucer served in the army of King Edward the Third in France.
Birth of Owen Glendower.
1361: Second major outbreak of the Black Death.
1369: William Langland writes “Piers Plowman”.
1373: English Merchants legally have to use tunnage and poundage weights.
Era of King Richard the Second (1377-1399)
1380: The implementation of the Third and major “Poll Tax” by an impoverished government.
1381: The Peasant’s Revolt led by Wat Tyler against the Poll Tax.
1382: John Wycliffe is expelled from Oxford due to opposing the church’s doctrines.
1384: First English Bible produced.
1385: Geoffrey Chaucer writes “Troilus and Criseyde”.
1386: Geoffrey Chaucer becomes a Member of Parliament for Kent.
1387: Geoffrey Chaucer begins writing “The Canterbury Tales”.
1398: Winchester College is founded by William of Wykeham.
1399: The Wilton Diptych is painted.
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