Test your basic knowledge |

Timeline Of The Middle Ages

Subjects : trivia, history
Instructions:
  • Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
  • If you are not ready to take this test, you can study here.
  • Match each statement with the correct term.
  • Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.

This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. The Taira clan are driven out of Kyoto by Minamoto Yoshinaka.The two-year conflict which follows ends at the Battle of Dan no Ura (1185).






2. The Empire of Trebizond falls to the Ottoman Turks.Last Roman outpost to be conquered by the Ottomans.






3. North South States Period begins in Korea.






4. Byzantines - under Belisarius - retake North Africa from the Vandals.






5. JingkangIncidentThe Jurchen soldiers sack Kaifeng - bringing an end to the Northern Song Dynasty in China; the Song moves further south and makes Lin'an their new capital.






6. The University of Cambridge is founded.






7. Earliest known printed book in China with a date.






8. The Second Crusade was in retaliation for the fall of Edessa - one of the first Crusader States founded in theFirst Crusade. It was an overall failure.This was the first Crusade to have been led by European Queens.






9. Reconquista ends.Marks end of Moorish/Muslim rule within Iberian Peninsula; Unification of Spain and Portugal - respectively.






10. Alfred the Great assumes the throne - the first king of a united England.He defended England from Viking invaders - formed new laws and fostered a rebirth of religious and scholarly activities.






11. The Great Seljuk Empire is founded by Tughril Beg.Would be a major force during the first two Crusades - and an antagonist to the Byzantine Empire over the next century.






12. Viking 'Great Army' arrives in England.Northumbria - East Anglia - and Mercia were overwhelmed.






13. Minamoto Yoritomo is appointed Sei-i Taishogun - or shogun for short.He is the first of a long line of military dictators to bear this title. The institution would last until 1913.






14. Edward the Elder - son of Alfred - defeats the Northumbrian Vikings at the Battle of Tettenhall; they never raid south of the River Humber again.






15. Henry the Fowler - Duke of Saxony elected German King.First king of the Ottonian Dynasty.Henry I considered the founder and first king of the medieval German state.






16. December 25thCharlemagne is crowned Holy Roman Emperor.With his crowning - Charlemagne's kingdom is officially recognized by the Papacy as the largest in Western Europe since the fall of the Roman Empire.






17. Saladin recaptures Jerusalem.Would lead to the Third Crusades.






18. August 24Rome is sacked by Alaric - King of the Visigoths.Decisive event in the decline of the Western Roman Empire






19. The East-West Schism which divided the church into Western Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.Tensions will vary between the Catholic and Orthodox churches throughout the Middle Ages.






20. Trial and execution of Joan of Arc.Death of the woman who helped turned the Hundred Years' War in favor of the French over the past two years.






21. North South States Period begins in Korea.






22. Dictatus Papae in which Pope Gregory VII defines the powers of the pope.Peak of the Gregorian Reform - and an immense factor in theInvestiture Controversy.






23. The Synod of Kells-Mellifont established the present diocesan system of Ireland (with later modifications) and recognized the primacy of Armagh.This synod marks the inclusion of the Irish Church into western European Catholicism.






24. Arrival of the disciples of Saints Cyril and Methodius in BulgariaCreation of the Cyrillic script; in the following decades the country became the cultural and spiritual centre of the whole Eastern Orthodox Slavic World.






25. Richard II abdicates the throne to Henry of Bolingbroke - who becomes Henry IV of England.End of Plantagenet Dynasty - beginning of the Lancaster lineage of kings.






26. Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV walks to Canossa where he stands barefoot in the snow to beg forgiveness of the Pope for his offences - and admitting defeat in theInvestiture Controversy.This helps establish Papal rule over European heads of state for an






27. Founding of the Franciscan Order.One of the more significant orders in the Roman Catholic church - founded by Saint Francis of Assisi.






28. Battle of Lechfeld. Otto the Great - son of Henry the Fowler - defeats the Magyars.This is the defining event that prevents the Hungarians from entering Central Europe.






29. The Aztecs find the city of Tenochtitlan.This would be the epicenter and capital of the Aztec kingdom for nearly 200 years until the Siege of Tenochtitlan led by Hernan Cortes.






30. August 24Rome is sacked by Alaric - King of the Visigoths.Decisive event in the decline of the Western Roman Empire






31. Dictatus Papae in which Pope Gregory VII defines the powers of the pope.Peak of the Gregorian Reform - and an immense factor in theInvestiture Controversy.






32. Chaucer begins to write The Canterbury Tales.Chaucer's greatest work - and one of the foundations towards the formation of the Modern English language






33. Prince Dmitry Donskoy of Moscow led a united Russian army to a victory over the Mongols in the Battle of Kulikovo.






34. Battle of Bannockburn.Robert the Bruce restores Scotland's de facto independence.






35. Harold Fairhair becomes King of Norway.






36. In Japan - the Soga clan falls.This initiates a period of imitation of Chinese culture - The Nara period begins a year later.






37. Synod of Whitby.Roman Christianity triumphs over Celtic Christianity in England.






38. St. Norbert and 29 companions make their solemn vows marking the beginning of the Premonstratensian Order.This order played a significant role in evangelizing the Slavs - the Wends - to the east of the Holy Roman Empire.






39. Battle of St. AlbansTraditionally marks the beginning of the War of the Roses.






40. The Ninth Crusade occurs.Considered to be theLast Major Crusade to take place in the Holy Land.






41. Rudolph I of Germany is elected Holy Roman Emperor.This begins the Habsburg de facto domination of the crown that lasted until is dissolution in 1806.






42. The Western Schism during which three claimant popes were elected simultaneously.The Avignon Papacy ends.






43. Battle of Nineveh.The Byzantines - under Heraclius - crush the Persians.






44. The Bible is translated into English by John Wycliffe.First print published in English (Vulgate)






45. Iconoclast movement begun in the Byzantine Empire under Leo III. This was opposed by Pope Gregory II - and an important difference between the Roman and Byzantine churches.






46. At the Battle of Legnano - the cavalry of Frederick Barbarossa is defeated by the infantry of the Lombard League.This is the first major defeat of cavalry by infantry - signaling the new role of the bourgeosie.






47. AprilThe Second Lateran Council declared clerical marriages invalid - regulated clerical dress - and punished attacks on clerics by excommunication.Enforces the major reforms that Gregory VII began to heavily campaign for several decades earlier.






48. August 22ndBattle of Bosworth Field.Richard III dies in battle - and Henry Tudor becomes king of England; last shift of Houses/kingship during the War of the Roses.






49. Muslims take Carthage.






50. Reconquista ends.Marks end of Moorish/Muslim rule within Iberian Peninsula; Unification of Spain and Portugal - respectively.