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The Pax Romana was a period of peace and prosperity throughout the Roman Empire. It lasted 200 years.

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Pax Romana | Imperial Age, Mediterranean World & Roman Peace

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Pax Romana, (Latin: "Roman Peace") a state of comparative tranquillity throughout Classical antiquity and the Mediterranean world from the reign of Augustus (27 bce-14 ce) to the reign of Marcus Aurelius (161 -180 ce). Augustus laid the foundation for this period of concord, which also extended to

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Roman Empire splits into two Eastern and Western Empires 395 C.E.

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Roman Empire splits into two Eastern and Western Empires 395 C.E.

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As the Roman Empire continues to grow and expand. Emperor Diocletian splits the empire in two. The empires were called the Byzantine Empire and the Roman Empire. Byzantine was the Eastern and Roman was the Western.

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The Visigoths sacked Rome after years of holding the city over siege.

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in 410 A.D. Alaric and the Visigoths sack Rome after years of holding the city under siege.

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Fall of Roman Empire, marking the beginning of the Middle Ages

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Fall of Roman Empire, marking the beginning of the Middle Ages

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As the Roman Emperor gets overthrown and the Western Empire comes to an end, then there's the beginning of the Medieval or Dark Ages in Europe.

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Hagia Sophia was a 108 foot wide, 18 story tall church. It was a Roman Architecture. The church has marble columns, large windows, and beautiful mosaics.

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Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Empire 800 CE

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Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Empire 800 CE

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Charlemagne was crowned on Christmas Day by Pope Leo the third as a reward for his defense of faith. He then becomes known as " Holy Roman Emperor".

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Coming form Scandinavia the Vikings were brutal warriors willing to kill anyone that is in the way. They did this because they lacked natural resources to care for their people.

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Who Were the Vikings?

Contrary to some popular conceptions of the Vikings, they were not a "race" linked by ties of common ancestry or patriotism, and could not be defined by any particular sense of "Viking-ness." Most of the Vikings whose activities are best known come from the areas now known as Denmark, Norway and Sweden, though there are mentions in historical records of Finnish, Estonian and Saami Vikings as well. Their common ground-and what made them different from the European peoples they confronted-was that they came from a foreign land, they were not "civilized" in the local understanding of the word and-most importantly-they were not Christian.

The exact reasons for Vikings venturing out from their homeland are uncertain; some have suggested it was due to overpopulation of their homeland, but the earliest Vikings were looking for riches, not land. In the eighth century A.D., Europe was growing richer, fueling the growth of trading centers such as Dorestad and Quentovic on the Continent and Hamwic (now Southampton), London, Ipswich and York in England. Scandinavian furs were highly prized in the new trading markets; from their trade with the Europeans, Scandinavians learned about new sailing technology as well as about the growing wealth and accompanying inner conflicts between European kingdoms. The Viking predecessors-pirates who preyed on merchant ships in the Baltic Sea-would use this knowledge to expand their fortune-seeking activities into the North Sea and beyond.

Early Viking Raids

In A.D. 793, an attack on the Lindisfarne monastery off the coast of Northumberland in northeastern England marked the beginning of the Viking Age. The culprits-probably Norwegians who sailed directly across the North Sea-did not destroy the monastery completely, but the attack shook the European religious world to its core. Unlike other groups, these strange new invaders had no respect for religious institutions such as the monasteries, which were often left unguarded and vulnerable near the shore. Two years later, Viking raids struck the undefended island monasteries of Skye and Iona (in the Hebrides) as well as Rathlin (off the northeast coast of Ireland). The first recorded raid in continental Europe came in 799, at the island monastery of St Philibert's on Noirmoutier, near the estuary of the Loire River.

For several decades, the Vikings confined themselves to hit-and-run raids against coastal targets in the British Isles (particularly Ireland) and Europe (the trading center of Dorestad, 80 kilometers from the North Sea, became a frequent target after 830). They then took advantage of internal conflicts in Europe to extend their activity further inland: after the death of Louis the Pious, emperor of Frankia (modern-day France and Germany), in 840, his son Lothar actually invited the support of a Viking fleet in a power struggle with brothers. Before long other Vikings realized that Frankish rulers were willing to pay them rich sums to prevent them from attacking their subjects, making Frankia an irresistible target for further Viking activity.

Did you know? The name Viking came from the Scandinavians themselves, from the Old Norse word "vik" (bay or creek) which formed the root of "vikingr" (pirate).

Conquests in the British Isles

By the mid-ninth century, Ireland, Scotland and England had become major targets for Viking settlement as well as raids. Vikings gained control of the Northern Isles of Scotland (Shetland and the Orkneys), the Hebrides and much of mainland Scotland. They founded Ireland's first trading towns: Dublin, Waterford, Wexford, Wicklow and Limerick, and used their base on the Irish coast to launch attacks within Ireland and across the Irish Sea to England. When King Charles the Bald began defending West Frankia more energetically in 862, fortifying towns, abbeys, rivers and coastal areas, Viking forces began to concentrate more on England than Frankia.

In the wave of Viking attacks in England after 851, only one kingdom-Wessex-was able to successfully resist. Viking armies (mostly Danish) conquered East Anglia and Northumberland and dismantled Mercia, while in 871 King Alfred the Great of Wessex became the only king to decisively defeat a Danish army in England. Leaving Wessex, the Danes settled to the north, in an area known as "Danelaw." Many of them became farmers and traders and established York as a leading mercantile city. In the first half of the 10th century, English armies led by the descendants of Alfred of Wessex began reconquering Scandinavian areas of England; the last Scandinavian king, Erik Bloodaxe, was expelled and killed around 952, permanently uniting English into one kingdom.

Viking Settlements: Europe and Beyond

Meanwhile, Viking armies remained active on the European continent throughout the ninth century, brutally sacking Nantes (on the French coast) in 842 and attacking towns as far inland as Paris, Limoges, Orleans, Tours and Nimes. In 844, Vikings stormed Seville (then controlled by the Arabs); in 859, they plundered Pisa, though an Arab fleet battered them on the way back north. In 911, the West Frankish king granted Rouen and the surrounding territory by treaty to a Viking chief called Rollo in exchange for the latter's denying passage to the Seine to other raiders. This region of northern France is now known as Normandy, or "land of the Northmen."

In the ninth century, Scandinavians (mainly Norwegians) began to colonize Iceland, an island in the North Atlantic where no one had yet settled in large numbers. By the late 10th century, some Vikings (including the famous Erik the Red) moved even further westward, to Greenland. According to later Icelandic histories, some of the early Viking settlers in Greenland (supposedly led by the Viking hero Leif Eriksson, son of Erik the Red) may have become the first Europeans to discover and explore North America. Calling their landing place Vinland (Wine-land), they built a temporary settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows in modern-day Newfoundland. Beyond that, there is little evidence of Viking presence in the New World, and they didn't form permanent settlements.

Danish Dominance

The mid-10th-century reign of Harald Bluetooth as king of a newly unified, powerful and Christianized Denmark marked the beginning of a second Viking age. Large-scale raids, often organized by royal leaders, hit the coasts of Europe and especially England, where the line of kings descended from Alfred the Great was faltering. Harald's rebellious son, Sven Forkbeard, led Viking raids on England beginning in 991 and conquered the entire kingdom in 1013, sending King Ethelred into exile. Sven died the following year, leaving his son Knut (or Canute) to rule a Scandinavian empire (comprising England, Denmark, and Norway) on the North Sea.

After Knut's death, his two sons succeeded him, but both were dead by 1042 and Edward the Confessor, son of the previous (non-Danish) king, returned from exile and regained the English throne from the Danes. Upon his death (without heirs) in 1066, Harold Godwinesson, the son of Edward's most powerful noble, laid claim to the throne. Harold's army was able to defeat an invasion led by the last great Viking king-Harald Hardrada of Norway-at Stamford Bridge, near York, but fell to the forces of William, Duke of Normandy (himself a descendant of Scandinavian settlers in northern France) just weeks later. Crowned king of England on Christmas Day in 1066, William managed to retain the crown against further Danish challenges.

End of the Viking Age

The events of 1066 in England effectively marked the end of the Viking Age. By that time, all of the Scandinavian kingdoms were Christian, and what remained of Viking "culture" was being absorbed into the culture of Christian Europe. Today, signs of the Viking legacy can be found mostly in the Scandinavian origins of some vocabulary and place-names in the areas in which they settled, including northern England, Scotland and Russia. In Iceland, the Vikings left an extensive body of literature, the Icelandic sagas, in which they celebrated the greatest victories of their glorious past.

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The Vikings were a group of Scandinavian seafaring warriors who left their homelands from around 800 A.D. to the 11th century, and raided coastal towns. Over the next three centuries, they would leave their mark on much of Britain and the European continent, as well as parts of modern-day Russia, Iceland, Greenland and Newfoundland.

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William the Conqueror invades England in the Battle of Hastings 1066 CE

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William the Conqueror invades England in the Battle of Hastings 1066 CE

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William the Conqueror defeats King Harold in the battle and crowns himself king of all clans. Feudalism now comes to England and a new language is in England.

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William the Conqueror (c. 1027-1087 CE), also known as William, Duke of Normandy and William the Bastard, led the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 CE when he defeated and killed his rival Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings. Crowned King William I of England on Christmas Day 1066 CE, William would only secure his new realm after five years of hard battles against rebels and foreign invaders. Continuing to reign over Normandy, William's policies of land redistribution amongst the Norman elite ensured the history of both England and France would be inseparable in the following centuries. An accomplished diplomat, gifted military commander, and ruthless overlord, William died of natural causes in 1087 CE at Caen, Normandy where his tomb still lies.

Family & Personal Life

William was born in Falaise, Normandy c. 1027 CE. He was the illegitimate son of Duke Robert I of Normandy (1028-1035 CE), hence he is sometimes referred to as William the Bastard. William's mother was Herleve of Falaise, daughter of a wealthy merchant in Rouen who also performed the duties of a chamberlain to the ducal court. William's half-brothers (they shared the same mother) were Odo of Bayeux, the bishop of that city and future Earl of Kent, and Robert (future) Count of Mortain. In 1053 CE (or 1050 CE in some sources) William married Mathilda (d. 1083 CE), the daughter of the Count of Flanders and the niece of Henry I of France (r. 1031-1060 CE) in a marriage which conveniently cemented the burgeoning diplomatic relations between the three regions. Together they would have four sons and four (or five) daughters.

William of Poitiers, an informed but obviously pro-Norman contemporary, describes the young duke in the following glowing terms in his 11th-century CE chronicle, History of William the Conqueror:

Now at last the most joyful and longed-for gladness dawned for those especially who desired peace and justice. Our duke, already adult in sagacity and bodily strength if not in years, took up the arms of knighthood whereat a tremor ran through all France. Armed and mounted he had no equal in all Gaul. It was a sight at once both delightful and terrible to see him managing his horse, girt with sword, his shield gleaming, his helmet and his lance alike menacing.

(Allen Brown, 18)

The description may sound like a eulogy but it is perhaps significant that the seal of the duke was a knight on horseback, the first such device employed by a European ruler and much-copied thereafter. William had other talents besides military ones, though, as he would show throughout his career. The duke was a meticulous planner, a master of seizing political opportunities for maximum gain, and an able administrator. William was also a great lover of hunting, and the strict forest laws he would much later introduce into England were, in part, aimed at ensuring his beloved deer were not molested by poachers. William also had a reputation as a fine archer.

Duke of Normandy

When Duke Robert died in Asia Minor while on pilgrimage, William became the Duke of Normandy in 1035 CE. Fortunately for William, his father had already secured oaths of loyalty from his barons regarding his son as his chosen heir. In reality, though, William was still only a child and so a guardian ruled in his name, Gilbert of Brionne. In 1040 CE, a civil war broke out in Normandy when Gilbert was murdered and rebel barons sought to expand their own lands, often by building castles. It would take seven long years for William to sort out his dukedom but he could at least call on powerful friends, notably the Archbishop of Rouen, William's uncle Mauger, and the powerful husband of his mother, Herluin de Conteville. Finally, in 1047 CE and with the help of Henry I - who sought to protect the vital trade routes through Normandy and the future of one of his vassals - the rebels suffered a significant defeat at Val-ès-Dunes near Caen. There were still more battles to come and some notable sieges, including a three-year effort against the castle of Brionne, held by Guy of Burgundy, which ended in success for William.

William used any method available, including terror & mutilations, to eventually become the most powerful noble in France.

The next 20 years would see a great increase in the power of the dukedom, not without a struggle, but the years of war would train William into one of the most formidable military strategists and field commanders of the Middle Ages (and also one of the luckiest ones). Embarking on a sustained campaign of war and expansion, especially against long-time rivals like Flanders and Anjou, William used any method available, including terror and mutilations as well as arranged marriages of political convenience for key members of his inner circle, to eventually become the most powerful noble in France.

William was now almost too powerful and, in 1053 CE, the French king chose to side with the Norman duke's uncle, William of Arques, then a rebel baron. The duke, though, attacked the enemy's supply train, and his uncle was obliged to surrender. There had to be a robust defence of Normandy in 1054 CE when a French force, looking for revenge for the events of the previous year, invaded. The French army was defeated at Mortemer, and again, against the same enemy but with an even more emphatic result, at Varaville in 1057 CE. King Henry barely escaped with his life at Varaville; the French king, stranded from half his army by a river in flood was furious but he could do nothing to prevent a massacre. William was unstoppable. In the coming years, he added to his dukedom several notable personal dependencies, including the Channel Islands (aka Îles Normandes), and the duchies of Brittany and Maine. This, along with the death of Henry of France and the fact that his young son was under the guardianship of William's father-in- law, Robert of Flanders, meant William's duchy was secure from its neighbours. The duke's ambitions could now extend beyond France.

William set his sights on the throne of England but, still technically a vassal to the King of France, he could not attack without some prior justification and diplomacy. The Norman barons also had to be persuaded of the value of invading England but the promise of land, titles, and riches proved sufficient motivation there.

William proposed a justification for his invasion of England with no less a claim than he was the rightful king. This claim was based on the Duke's relationship with Edward the Confessor, king of England from 1042 to 1066 CE. Count Richard I of Normandy was Edward's grandfather and William's great-grandfather. William put it around that Edward, without children of his own, had once promised the Norman he would be Edward's official heir. As it turned out, on his deathbed Edward selected the Anglo- Saxon Harold Godwinson, a member of the enormously powerful Godwine family and then the foremost military commander in England, as his successor.

In another twist to William's claim (at least according to Norman chroniclers), Harold had visited Normandy c. 1064 CE, where he had been captured by Count Guy of Ponthieu and then handed over to William (who put him to good use in his battles to subdue Conan, the count of Brittany). A condition of Harold's release was that Harold promised to become William's vassal and prepare the way for an invasion. Thus, William felt wronged when Harold was crowned Harold II of England in January 1066 CE. The Anglo-Saxon sources dispute much of this story but it was enough to convince other European kings that William had some right to invade. In addition, William even received the blessing of the Papacy, which had been at loggerheads with England's Archbishop of Canterbury for some years, refusing to acknowledge he had any right to the role. Convinced he had both right and God on his side, William made meticulous preparations for an invasion of southern England in the summer of 1066 CE.

The Norman Conquest of England

It must be said that William was rather lucky in his invasion of England because his enemy Harold II was obliged to face another invasion just a few weeks before the Conqueror arrived, this one by Harald Hardrada, the king of Norway (aka Harold III, r. 1046-1066 CE). Harold saw off Harald at the Battle of Stamford Bridge near York on 25 September 1066 CE and then marched south to face William's army of 5-8000 men including 1-2,000 cavalry. The two armies, probably similarly sized, clashed at Hastings on 14 October. With archers and cavalry against Anglo-Saxon infantry, William was victorious and Harold was killed. When reinforcements arrived from Normandy, William marched on London, first taking such key strongholds as Romney, Dover, Winchester, and Canterbury. Many of the Anglo-Saxon nobles and the archbishop of Canterbury swore allegiance to their new king, who was crowned on Christmas day 1066 CE in Westminster Abbey.

Now William I of England and Duke of Normandy, the Conqueror had to fight on for five more years before England was fully subdued. Scorched earth tactics, building hundreds of motte and bailey castles, imprisonments and mutilations of rebels at such key cities as Exeter and York, the seeing off of two mini-invasions from Ireland by Harold's sons, the quashing of a Danish-rebel force in East Anglia, and the complete redistribution of estates into the hands of loyal Normans, all ensured William did eventually secure his new realm. The church was restructured, with Norman bishops getting the plum jobs, many important religious centres were moved closer to cities, and new cathedrals were built such as those at Winchester, York, and Canterbury.

Post-Conquest Reign

William might have got himself a rich new kingdom but he did not ignore his lands in France, and he frequently returned there, often leaving England to be ruled by his half-brother Odo of Bayeux, Earl of Kent and his close friend William FitzOsbern, Earl of Hereford. Indeed, sometimes William had to fight to maintain his lands in France, notably against Fulk, count of Anjou in 1073 CE. Philip I, king of France (r. 1060-1108 CE), also became ambitious to nibble at William's dukedom and support rebels within it, notably in Brittany. There was, too, a failed rebellion in England in 1075 CE. Led by Ralph de Gael, this minor conspiracy was put down without William even having to leave Normandy. Still, it was a sign of the inherent strains involved in having to juggle both a kingdom and a dukedom with plenty of nobles ever-eager to expand their interests in one or the other or both territories.

Then William's long run of military victories came to a sudden end. In 1077 CE the duke was defeated near Dol in Brittany. Within a year another rebellion broke out, this time led by William's own eldest son Robert, who felt he was not being given enough power of his own. Again, Philip of France took the opportunity to destabilise the situation and gave a castle - Gerberoi on the border with Normandy - for Robert to use as a base. William attempted a siege of Gerberoi, but his son seems to have learned rather too well the ways of war from his father, and William was defeated in a field engagement. Fortunately, William and Robert were reconciled and the younger man was needed, too, as he was sent to repel the raids into Northumbria coming from Scotland in 1079 CE.

Far from being a mere warlord, William was an able administrator. In 1086-7 CE the king ordered a comprehensive survey and record of all the landowners, property, tenants, and serfs of England. After the changeover of the Anglo-Saxon elite to Normans and massive redistributions of estates, the king was likely interested to know who owned what in his kingdom. The findings of the survey would be assembled into a single document, the Domesday Book (actually two books because one, Little Domesday, seems to be a more detailed record which was never condensed into the format of the larger volume, Great Domesday). It may be that Domesday Book was compiled so that a new tax could be accurately levied and to ensure landowners provided the correct feudal military service expected of them. The record could then be a very useful tool to ultimately pay for an army in order to face the threat of a Danish invasion of England which had looked imminent in 1085 CE. Domesday Book, the most comprehensive survey ever undertaken in a medieval kingdom and an invaluable insight into many aspects of daily life in medieval England, is today kept in the UK National Archives, London. It remains one of William's greatest achievements.

Death & Legacy

Fortunately for William, the Danish invasion never materialised. Canute IV of Denmark (r. 1080-1086 CE), who was planning the escapade, was murdered as part of a rebellion that was fuelled by the king's imposition of taxes and fines to pay for his invasion fleet and army. Then, out of the blue, disaster struck while William was attacking the town of Mantes in retaliation for its raids on Normandy. On 9 September 1087 CE, William died from illness, perhaps from an injury riding his horse and exacerbated by the obesity that afflicted him in later life. He was buried in St. Stephen's monastery in Caen, which he himself had built, although the funeral had its problems: a fire in neighbouring houses interrupted the procession, a man shouted out during the ceremony that the cathedral had been built on his father's lands without any compensation, and the sarcophagus was so small that when they tried to push the corpulent corpse in the stomach burst and filled the cathedral with a noxious smell.

According to one medieval manuscript, the king's epitaph went as follows:

Who governed the proud Normans, by his firm hand

constrained the Bretons vanquished by his arms;

The warriors of Maine he curbed by valour,

Kept in obedience to his rule and right.

The great king lies here in this little urn,

So small a house serves for a mighty lord.

( De obitu Willelmi, Allen Brown, 49)

The anti-Norman Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (entry for 1087 CE) gives the following, perhaps more balanced summary of William's reign:

This king William of whom we speak was a very wise man, and very powerful and more worshipful and stronger than any predecessor of his had been. He was gentle to the good men who loved God, and stern beyond all measure to those people who resisted his will.

(quoted in Allen Brown, 79)

After William's death, his English kingdom was taken over by his son William II Rufus (r. 1087-1100 CE). Meanwhile, William's other son, Robert Curthose, took over the family lands in Normandy. Both rulers would struggle to keep their respective domains from usurpers and ambitious nobles. England and Normandy would only be ruled again by a single monarch from 1106 CE, six years into the reign of Henry I of England (r. 1100-1135 CE), another son of William the Conqueror.

William the Conqueror, then, lived an eventful life of more or less non-stop warfare and travel between England and northern France. It is perhaps the subsequent interlocking history of these two countries where we see William's greatest legacy, for good and bad. By joining the two together, mixing the ruling elites and greatly increasing trade, the political and cultural repercussions of William's conquest of England would be felt for centuries to come.

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William the Conqueror (c. 1027-1087 CE), also known as William, Duke of Normandy and William the Bastard, led the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 CE when he defeated and killed his rival Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings.

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King John is forced to sign the Magna Carta 1215 CE

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King John is forced to sign the Magna Carta 1215 CE

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Signing the Magna Carta helped to bring an end to Feudalism. The king had to honor certain rights of the people nobility. It also guaranteed protection of the law for all.

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Black rats carried a bacteria which caused the plague. The rats then spread it to fleas that lived in their bodies. The fleas began to swallow harmful bacteria, they passed it to humans by biting them.