slug: duchy-of-bohemia

label: Duchy of Bohemia

description: historical country

text: Bořivoj I, duke of Bohemia (approximate date)

title: 852

text: Bořivoj I declares himself duke (knyaz) of Bohemia, and founds the Přemyslid Dynasty (approximate date).

title: 867

text: Bořivoj I, duke of Bohemia, makes Levý Hradec (modern Czech Republic) his residence. Around this time Prague Castle is founded (approximate date).

title: 870

text: Spytihněv I, duke of Bohemia (approximate date)

title: 875

text: Vratislaus I, duke of Bohemia (approximate date)

title: AD 888

title: 889

text: Spytihněv I, duke of Bohemia, together with the Slavník prince Witizla, breaks away from Great Moravia, and swears allegiance to Arnulf of Carinthia in Regensburg.

title: 895

text: Boleslaus I, duke of Bohemia (approximate date)

title: 915

text: February 13 – Vratislaus I, duke of Bohemia

title: 921

text: Early 929 – Henry the Fowler invades Bohemia from the north and marches on Prague. Duke Arnulf I of Bavaria invades Bohemia from the south. The Bohemians capitulate.

title: 929

text: Boleslaus II, duke of Bohemia (d. 999)

title: 930

date: September 28

text: September 28 – Wenceslaus I, duke of Bohemia (b. c. 907), assassinated

title: 935

text: Boleslav I, duke of Bohemia, signs a peace treaty with King Otto I of the East Frankish Kingdom. He becomes his ally, but he probably wasn't forced to resume the payment of tribute.

title: 950

text: Boleslaus I (the Cruel), duke of Bohemia, expands his territory into the Polish territories of Upper Silesia and Lesser Poland. By occupying the city of Kraków, he controls important trade routes from Prague to Kiev and Lviv. Prince Mieszko I of Poland makes an alliance with Boleslaus and marries his daughter Dobrawa.

title: 965

text: Boleslaus I (the Cruel), duke of Bohemia (or 967)

title: 972

text: Emperor Otto II (the Red) leads a punitive expedition against Boleslaus II, duke of Bohemia (approximate date).

title: 975

text: Oldřich, duke of Bohemia (approximate date)

title: 975

date: July

text: July – Emperor Otto II (the Red) occupies Regensburg, forcing his rebellious cousin Henry II (the Wrangler) (who claims rulership over the Holy Roman Empire) to flee to Bohemia. Henry is deposed and Bavaria is handed over to Otto I of Swabia (a grandson of the late Emperor Otto I). He sets up the new "Grand Duchy of Carinthia" covering modern-day Austria.

title: 976

text: Vladivoj, duke of Bohemia (approximate date)

title: 981

text: Empress Theophanu, accompanied by the 6-year-old King Otto III and Henry II of Bavaria, leads a campaign against Bohemia and the Slavs on the Elbe frontier.

title: 986

text: September 28 – Boleslaus II (the Pious), duke of Bohemia, storms Libice Castle and massacres the members of the Slavník Dynasty.

title: 995

section: Events › Europe

date: February 7

text: February 7 – Boleslaus II ("the Pious"), duke of Bohemia (b. c.932)

title: AD 999

text: Fall – A revolt organized by Bohemian nobles of the rivalling Vršovci clan, forces Duke Boleslaus III ("the Red") to flee to Germany. He is succeeded by Vladivoj (until 1003).

title: 1002

text: German–Polish War: Bolesław I annexes Bohemia and parts of Moravia (modern Slovakia). German nobles under Henry of Schweinfurt revolt against Henry II (who has been promised the Duchy of Bavaria).

title: 1003

text: German–Polish War: Duke Bolesław I of Poland loses Bohemia. With German support, Jaromír occupies Prague and proclaims himself the new duke. At Merseburg, he promises to hold Bohemia as a vassal of Henry II.

title: 1004

date: April 12

text: April 12 – Oldřich, Duke of Bohemia, deposes his brother Jaromír, who flees to Poland. Oldřich recognises the suzerainty of King Henry II of Germany over Bohemia. He secures his rule by suppressing the Vršovci insurgents.

title: 1012

date: January 30

text: January 30 – The Peace of Bautzen: Emperor Henry II signs a peace treaty with Bolesław I the Brave, Duke of Poland, ending the German–Polish War. Poland keeps Lusatia – the Holy Roman Empire keeps Bohemia. With this peace agreement, Bolesław redirects his forces on an offensive against the Kievan Rus'.

title: 1018

text: Duke Bretislav I (Bohemian Achilles) of Bohemia of the Přemyslid Dynasty reconquers Moravia from Poland (approximate date).

title: 1029

text: Spytihněv II, duke of Bohemia (House of Přemyslid) (d. 1061)

title: 1031

text: Vratislaus II (or Wratislaus), king of Bohemia (d. 1092)

title: 1032

date: November 9

text: November 9 – Oldřich (or Odalric), duke of Bohemia

title: 1034

date: November 4

text: November 4 – Jaromír, duke of Bohemia (Přemyslid dynasty)

title: 1035

text: Boleslaus III (the Red), duke of Bohemia

title: 1037

text: Duke Bretislav I of Bohemia invades Poland. He captures and destroys the cities of Gniezno and Poznań.

title: 1038

date: August 22

text: August 22–23 – Battle at Brůdek: Duke Bretislav I of Bohemia defeats the German forces under King Henry III ("the Black") in the Bohemian Forest.

title: 1040

text: Casimir I, duke of Poland, succeeds in reuniting the realm which earns him the name "the Restorer". He signs a treaty with Bretislav I, duke of Bohemia, at Regensburg.

title: 1042

date: January 10

text: January 10 – Bretislav I, duke of Bohemia

title: 1055

date: August 2

text: August 2 – Judith of Schweinfurt, duchess of Bohemia

title: 1058

date: January 28

text: January 28 – Spytihněv II, duke of Bohemia (b. 1031)

title: 1061

text: Bořivoj II (or Borivoi), duke of Bohemia (approximate date)

title: 1064

text: Vladislaus I, duke of Bohemia (approximate date)

title: 1065

text: Soběslav I (Sobeslaus), duke of Bohemia (d. 1140)

title: 1075

text: January 14 – Vratislaus II, duke and king of Bohemia

title: 1092

text: September 6 – Conrad I, duke of Bohemia

title: 1092

text: December 22 – Bretislav II, duke of Bohemia

title: 1100

text: Spring – Duke Bolesław III along with his ally King Coloman of Hungary, invades Bohemia in order to aid Duke Svatopluk in gaining the Bohemian throne. The Polish expedition is a complete success: on May 14 Svatopluk is installed as Duke of Bohemia in Prague. King Henry V demands tribute from Svatopluk as his overlord and vassal of the Holy Roman Empire.

title: 1107

text: September 21 – Svatopluk, duke of Bohemia

title: 1109

text: The dukedom of Bohemia is secured for Vladislaus I following the death of Svatopluk ("the Lion") who is assassinated. Vladislaus receives support from Henry V and will rule until 1125.

title: 1110

text: Vladislaus I, duke of Bohemia, abdicates in favor of his brother Bořivoj II, but retains much of the actual power.

title: 1117

text: April 12 – Vladislaus I, duke of Bohemia (b. 1065)

title: 1125

text: February 18 – Battle of Chlumec: Duke Soběslav I defeats a German army under King Lothair III and his Moravian ally, Duke Otto II the Black. Soběslav becomes the head of the Bohemian Principality.

title: 1126

text: Wenceslaus II, duke of Bohemia (approximate date)

title: 1137

text: February 14 – Soběslav I, duke of Bohemia

title: 1140

text: Summer – Conrad III enters Bohemia to reinstate his brother-in-law Vladislaus II as duke, whose half-sister Gertrude of Babenberg he is married. Conrad lays siege to the Prague Castle.

title: 1142

text: Władysław II ("the Exiled"), High Duke of Poland, suffers a defeat against the coalition forces under his brother Bolesław IV ("the Curly"). Władysław and his family escape across the border to Bohemia and later seek refuge in Germany. Bolesław captures Silesia and the Senioral territories, and becomes the new ruler of Greater Poland.

title: 1146

text: Ottokar I, duke of Bohemia (approximate date)

title: 1155

text: January 11 – Vladislav II becomes king of Bohemia. He is crowned by Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor, with a diadem (called by the chroniclers a diadema or circulus). Vladislaus is also invested with Upper Lusatia, and accompanies Frederick to Milan to suppress the rebellion in Lombardy (northern Italy).

title: 1158

text: Vladislaus III, duke of Bohemia (approximate date)

title: 1160

text: August – Frederick I claims imperial authority over Bohemia, Greater Poland and Hungary. He installs his 3-year-old son Frederick V as duke of Swabia, after Frederick's cousin, Frederick IV, dies of disease at Rome.

title: 1167

text: January 18 – Vladislaus II, duke of Bohemia (b. 1110)

title: 1174

text: January 29 – Soběslav II, duke of Bohemia (b. 1128)

title: 1180

text: March 25 – Frederick, duke of Bohemia (House of Přemyslid)

title: 1189

text: September 9 – Conrad II, duke of Bohemia (b. 1136)

title: 1191

text: Winter – Duke Ottokar I forces his brother, Vladislaus III, to abandon Bohemia. Ottokar restores power and Vladislaus accepts the margravial title of Moravia.

title: 1197

text: August 13 – Hellicha of Wittelsbach, duchess of Bohemia

title: 1198


slug: duchy-of-brabant

label: Duchy of Brabant

description: state of the Holy Roman Empire

section: Births

text: Henry I ("the Brave"), duke of Brabant (d. 1235)

title: 1165

section: Deaths

date: October 16

text: October 16 – Matilda of Boulogne, duchess of Brabant

title: 1210

date: August 15

text: August 15 – Marie of France, duchess of Brabant (b. 1198)

title: 1224

date: March 20

text: March 20 – Sophie of Thuringia, duchess of Brabant (d. 1275)

title: 1224

text: Adelaide of Burgundy, duchess of Brabant (d. 1273)

title: 1233

date: February 28

text: February 28 – Henry III ("the Good"), duke of Brabant (b. 1230)

title: 1261

date: May 29

text: May 29 – Sophie of Thuringia, duchess of Brabant (b. 1224)

title: 1275

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: April 11

text: April 11 – The three sons of Philip the Bold—John the Fearless, Philip II, and Anthony— agree at Arras to partition the Burgundian lands of their father between themselves, with John to retain Flanders, Philip to take the County of Nevers, and Anthony to retain Rethel as well to purchase the Duchy of Brabant from John.

title: 1405

section: Events › April–June

date: January 6

text: January 6 – The first assembly ever of the States General of the Netherlands is held as representatives from at least 17 provinces of the Burgundian Netherlands gather at Bruges. At least 81 delegates come from the clergy, nobility and general public from the Duchy of Brabant, the County of Flanders, Lille, Douai and Orchies, the County of Artois, the County of Hainaut, the County of Holland, the County of Zeeland, the County of Namur, the Lordship of Mechelen, and the Boulonnais, all with the reluctant assent of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy.

title: 1464

section: Events › January–March

section: Conflict & Security

date: June 9

text: June 9 – Rebels of the Dutch Union of Utrecht, aided by French soldiers, make a surprise attack on the Spanish Netherlands city of Diest in the Duchy of Brabant, and overwhelm the strategic location, now in Belgium, in one day.

title: 1580

section: Climate & Environment

date: September 8

text: September 8 – An earthquake in Brabant of scale 5.8 is felt across the Low Countries, Germany and England.

title: 1692

section: Events › July–September

section: Disasters & Accidents

date: February 3

text: February 3 – A fire in Brussels at the Coudenberg Palace, at this time the home of the ruling Austrian Duchess of Brabant, destroys the building, including the state records stored therein.

title: 1731


slug: duchy-of-brittany

label: Duchy of Brittany

description: former European sovereign state 939–1547, then dukedom of the Kingdom of France

text: Morman, chieftain and king of Brittany

title: 818

section: Religion & Belief

text: Nominoe, duke of Brittany, is designated missus imperatoris (imperial emissary) by Louis the Pious, at Ingelheim (modern Germany).

title: 831

section: Events › By place › Europe

date: November 22

text: November 22 – Battle of Ballon: Frankish forces (3,000 men) led by Charles the Bald are defeated by Nominoe, count of Vannes, near Redon, Ille-et-Vilaine. After the battle, Brittany becomes a regnum 'kingdom' within the Frankish Empire.

title: 845

text: August 22 – Battle of Jengland: Duke Erispoe takes command of the Breton forces after his father Nominoe, king of Brittany, dies. He continues an offensive against the Franks in alliance with Lambert II of Nantes. In Ille-et-Vilaine near Grand-Fougeray (Brittany), Erispoe defeats a Frankish-Saxon army (4,000 men) led by King Charles the Bald.

title: 851

date: March 7

text: March 7 – Nominoe, king (or duke) of Brittany

title: 851

text: King Charles the Bald cedes the county of Maine to Erispoe, ruler (duke) of Brittany—this in return for an alliance against the Vikings.

title: 856

date: March

text: March – Robert the Strong is appointed margrave of Neustria by King Charles the Bald. He re-establishes the Breton March, and extends his remit by campaigning against Salomon, duke 'king' of Brittany. Robert hires a combined Seine-Loire fleet for 6,000 pounds of silver, 'before Salomon can ally with them against him'. In return, Salomon enlists 12 Viking ships under the command of Hastein, to raid the county of Maine, which, with Anjou, becomes squeezed between Brittany and Neustria.

title: 861

date: August

text: August – Treaty of Compiègne: King Charles the Bald cedes the Cotentin Peninsula to Salomon, duke ('king') of Brittany, after he had sent his son-in-law Pascweten to negotiate a peace. Charles orders the fortification of the cities of Tours, Le Mans and Compiègne.

title: 867

text: Salomon, duke ('king') of Brittany, leads a joint campaign against the Loire Vikings. He is forced to defend southeastern Brittany unaided, and mobilizes levies raised at Poitiers to defeat the Vikings.

title: 868

section: Crime & Justice

text: Salomon, duke ('king') of Brittany, is murdered by a faction which includes his son-in-law Pascweten and Gurvand, son-in-law of late ruler Erispoe. After Salomon's death they divide the country, and Pascweten and Gurvand co-rule Brittany.

title: 874

text: Salomon, duke ('king') of Brittany

title: 874

text: Gurvand, duke ('king') of Brittany

title: 876

text: Judicael, duke of Brittany (or 889)

title: AD 888

date: October

text: October – Alan I (the Great), count of Vannes, and his rival Judicael, unite their forces to defeat the Vikings at Questembert (or 889). Judicael is killed, in a notable victory for the Bretons, with 15,000 Vikings crushed, some few 400 escaping to their ships. In command of a 'united' Breton force, Alan is able to drive the Vikings back to the Loire River. Alan becomes sole ruler of Brittany, and over the Frankish counties of Rennes, Nantes, Coutances and Avranches.

title: AD 888

text: Judicael, duke of Brittany (or 888)

title: 889

text: Alan II (Wrybeard), duke of Brittany

title: 952

date: June 27

text: June 27 – Battle of Conquereuil: The Angevins under Fulk III "the Black", Count of Anjou, defeat the forces of Conan I, duke of Brittany, who is killed in the battle at Conquereuil (France).

title: 992

text: June 27 – Conan I, duke of Brittany

title: 992

text: Alan III (de Bretagne), duke of Brittany (d. 1040)

title: 997

text: Odo, Count of Penthièvre, duke and regent of Brittany (approximate date) (d. 1079)

title: AD 999

date: November 20

text: November 20 – Geoffrey I, duke of Brittany (b. 980)

title: 1008

text: Hoël II (or Houel), duke of Brittany (approximate date)

title: 1031

text: Conan II, duke of Brittany (approximate date)

title: 1033

text: Hawise, duchess of Brittany (approximate date)

title: 1037

date: October 1

text: October 1 – Alan III, duke of Brittany (b. 997)

title: 1040

date: December 11

text: December 11 – Conan II, duke of Brittany

title: 1066

text: Ermengarde of Anjou, duchess of Aquitaine and Brittany (d. 1146)

title: 1068

date: August 19

text: August 19 – Hawise, duchess of Brittany

title: 1072

text: Odo of Rennes, duke and regent of Brittany (b. 999)

title: 1079

text: Bertha of Blois, duchess of Brittany (approximate date)

title: 1080

text: Hoël II, duke of Brittany (House of Cornouaille)

title: 1084

date: August 13

text: August 13 – Constance of Normandy, duchess of Brittany

title: 1090

date: October 13

text: October 13 – Alan IV, duke of Brittany (b. 1063)

title: 1119

text: Conan IV (the Young), duke of Brittany (d. 1171)

title: 1138

date: September 17

text: September 17 – Conan III, duke of Brittany (b. 1095)

title: 1148

date: September 23

text: September 23 – Geoffrey II, duke of Brittany (d. 1186)

title: 1158

text: Constance, duchess of Brittany (approximate date)

title: 1161

date: February 20

text: February 20 – Conan IV ("the Young"), duke of Brittany (b. 1138)

title: 1171

date: March 29

text: March 29 – Arthur I (or Arzhur), duke of Brittany (d. 1203)

title: 1187

text: Summer – Philip II renews his war against England, supporting the rival claim to the English throne of John's 12-year-old nephew Arthur I, duke of Brittany.

title: 1199

text: May 22 – The Kings John of England and Philip II of France, sign a peace treaty at Le Goulet, an island in the middle of the Seine River, near Vernon in Normandy. The agreement recognizes John as overlord of most of the English owned lands in France, but John has to give Philip the lands of Norman Vexin and Évreux and a large sum of money (some 20,000 marks) – a "relief" payment for recognition of John's sovereignty of Brittany.

title: 1200

text: March 25 – Constance, duchess of Brittany, founds Villeneuve Abbey and gives it a charter.

title: 1201

text: September 5 – Constance, duchess of Brittany (b. 1161)

title: 1201

text: Blanche of Navarre (or Champagne), duchess of Brittany (d. 1283)

title: 1226

text: April 30 – English invasion of France: King Henry III embarks from Portsmouth with a large expeditionary force. On May 2, he arrives on the island of Guernsey, and the next day the English army lands at Saint-Malo, where Peter I (de Dreux), duke of Brittany, meets Henry to pay him homage. The English forces march through the County of Anjou, taking the castle of Mirebeau in late July.

title: 1230

text: The Breton War of Succession begins, over the control of the Duchy of Brittany.

title: 1341

text: March 26 – War of the Breton Succession: Combat of the Thirty – Thirty chosen knights each, from the Kingdoms of France and England, fight to determine who will rule the Duchy of Brittany; a Franco-Breton victory is assured by the squire Guillaume de Montauban.

title: 1351

text: February 21 – Jean, County of Montfort, Duke of Brittany makes a secret agreement with the Kingdom of England to allow English troops to pass through the lands he owns during the English war with France, event though he had previously allied with King Charles V of France in the same war.

title: 1372

text: February 16 – King Edward III of England appoints Lord Salisbury to command a fleet of English and Genoese galleys and 1,700 soldiers to fight in the Duchy of Brittany.

title: 1373

text: July 1 – King Charles VI of France, outraged at an attempt to assassinate his advisor Olivier V de Clisson, leads an invasion against the Duchy of Brittany and Duke Jean V for harboring the perpetrator, Pierre de Craon.

title: 1392

text: November 1 – At Nantes, Jean V of the House of Montfort begins his reign of 43 years as the Duke of Brittany (Bretagne), an independent duchy that is now part of France, upon the death of his father, Jean IV.

title: 1399

text: February 3 – The coronation of François II as Duke of the semi-independent Duchy of Brittany takes place in Nantes.

title: 1459

text: January 3 – King Louis XI buys the succession rights to the Duchy of Brittany from the Countess Nicole de Châtillon for 50,000 livres

title: 1480

text: June 19 – French–Breton War: The siege of the city of Nantes in the Duchy of Brittany is started by King Charles VIII of France, but fails after less than two months and is lifted on August 6.

title: 1487

text: December 6 – King Charles VIII of France marries the Duchess Anne of Brittany, forcing her to break her marriage contract with Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, and incorporating the Duchy of Brittany into the kingdom of France.

title: 1491

text: August 13 – Union of Brittany and France: The Duchy of Brittany is absorbed into the Kingdom of France.

title: 1532

text: August 13 – The Duchy of Brittany unites with the Kingdom of France.

title: 1547

text: March 20 – The Duchy of Brittany in France is conquered by King Henry IV, who forces the surrender of Philippe Louis de Lorraine-Mercœur, Duke of Brittany. Merceur is then exiled to Hungary.

title: 1598


slug: duchy-of-burgundy

label: Duchy of Burgundy

description: vassal territory of France, 918–1482

text: Richard, duke of Burgundy (approximate date)

title: 858

text: Richard, duke of Burgundy (b. 858)

title: 921

date: June 15

text: June 15 – Battle of Soissons: King Robert I is killed; the Frankish army, led by Charles the Simple, is defeated and routed near Soissons. Charles is captured and imprisoned at Péronne. The nobles elect Robert's son-in-law Rudolph, duke of Burgundy, as king of the West Frankish Kingdom (until 936).

title: 923

text: Henry I, duke of Burgundy (d. 1002)

title: 946

date: December 17

text: December 17 – Hugh the Black, duke of Burgundy

title: 952

date: April 8

text: April 8 – Gilbert, duke of Burgundy

title: 956

text: Otto-William, count of Burgundy (approximate date)

title: 958

text: Alice of Normandy, countess of Burgundy (d. 1038)

title: 1002

date: October 15

text: October 15 – Henry I, duke of Burgundy, dies and is succeeded by his stepson, Otto-William. He inherits the duchy; this is disputed by King Robert II of France ("the Pious").

title: 1002

text: King Robert II (the Pious) invades Burgundy, but fails. After this fiasco Robert repudiates his second wife, Bertha of Burgundy, and marries Constance of Arles who becomes queen consort of France.

title: 1003

text: Robert I (the Old), duke of Burgundy (d. 1076)

title: 1011

text: Odo I (the Red), duke of Burgundy (d. 1102)

title: 1060

text: Sibylla of Burgundy, duchess of Burgundy (approximate date)

title: 1065

text: Hugh I, duke of Burgundy, supports Sancho Ramírez (or Sancho V) in his conquest of the Castle of Muñones from Emir Ahmad al-Muqtadir, who rules the Taifa of Zaragoza.

title: 1077

text: Odo I, duke of Burgundy (b. 1060)

title: 1102

text: Sibylla of Burgundy, duchess of Burgundy (b. 1065)

title: 1103

text: Beatrice of Albon, duchess of Burgundy (d. 1228)

title: 1161

date: September 27

text: September 27 – Odo II, duke of Burgundy (b. 1118)

title: 1162

text: Odo III (or Eudes), duke of Burgundy (d. 1218)

title: 1166

text: Alice of Vergy, duchess and regent of Burgundy (d. 1251)

title: 1182

date: July 6

text: July 6 – Odo III (or Eudes), duke of Burgundy (b. 1166)

title: 1218

text: Beatrice of Navarre, duchess of Burgundy (d. 1295)

title: 1242

text: Philip the Bold becomes duke of Burgundy.

title: 1363

section: Events › Date unknown

date: September 20

text: September 20 – Unhappy with Pope Urban's critical attitude towards them, the majority of the cardinals meet at Fondi, elect Clement VII as antipope, and establish a rival papal court at Avignon. This split within the Catholic Church becomes known as the Western Schism, also known as the Great Schism. France, Aragon, Castile and León, Cyprus, Burgundy, Savoy, Naples and Scotland choose to recognise Antipope Clement VII. Denmark, England, Flanders, the Holy Roman Empire, Hungary, northern Italy, Ireland, Norway, Poland and Sweden continue to recognise Pope Urban VI.

title: 1378

date: October 5

text: October 5 – Christine de Pizan writes a letter to Queen Isabeau, urging her to intervene in the political struggle between the dukes of Burgundy and Orléans.

title: 1405

section: Events › October–December

date: July 31

text: July 31 – Hundred Years' War – Battle of Cravant: The French army is defeated at Cravant, on the banks of the River Yonne near Auxerre, by the English and their Burgundian allies.

title: 1423

section: Culture & Society

date: October 19

text: October 19 – Princess Isabella of Portugal, daughter of King João I, departs her homeland, accompanied by a flotilla of 20 ships and 2,000 Portuguese troops and royal officials, to make the voyage to the Duchy of Burgundy, where she is to formally marry Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. Because of storms, the voyage takes more than two months.

title: 1429

section: Exploration & Expansion

date: June 18

text: June 18 – Mary of Guelders arrives in Scotland at Leith after being escorted from the Duchy of Burgundy to Scotland following her selection by Lord Crichton

title: 1449

date: January 30

text: January 30 – An alliance between the Duchy of Burgundy (ruled by Charles the Bold), the Duchy of Savoy (ruled by Filiberto the Hunter) and the Duchy of Milan (ruled by Galeazzo Maria Sforza) is created by the signing of a treaty at the city of Moncalieri, in Savoy near Turin.

title: 1475

date: July 4

text: July 4 – Burgundian Wars: Edward IV of England lands in Calais, in support of the Duchy of Burgundy against France.

title: 1475

date: January 5

text: January 5 – At the Battle of Nancy in France, Charles the Bold of Duke of Burgundy, who had begun the siege of the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine on October 22, is forced to retreat from a larger force of troops from Lorraine, Alsace and the Swiss Army. During the retreat, the Burgundians pursued and then surrounded by the Swiss. Charles is struck in the head by a halberd and killed, while most of the Burgundian troops are slaughtered. The defeat brings an end to the Burgundian Wars.

title: 1477

date: August 7

text: August 7 – The Battle of Guinegate is fought in the Duchy of Burgundy at what is now the French town of Enguinegatte, as at least 12,000 French infantry, 4,000 cavalry and 8,000 archers commanded by Philippe de Crèvecœur d'Esquerdes are confronted by Maximilian, Duke of Burgundy whose 16,000 men have superior weapons, including the pike. With 11,000 troops grouped in formations of 100 men apiece using the pike square formation" borrowed from Switzerland, the Burgundian troops defeat the French invasion.

title: 1479

text: Perkin Warbeck claims to be the son of King Henry VII of England, at the court of Burgundy.

title: 1490

date: August 5

text: August 5 – Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and Francis I of France sign the Treaty of Cambrai, or Ladies' Peace in the War of the League of Cognac: Francis abandons his claims in Italy, but is allowed to retain the Duchy of Burgundy. Henry VIII of England accedes on August 27.

title: 1529


slug: duchy-of-carinthia

label: Duchy of Carinthia

text: Two Hungarian armies invade Bavaria and Carinthia. One of them is defeated at Flozzun in the Nordgau by Henry I, duke of Bavaria.

title: 948

date: July

text: July – Emperor Otto II (the Red) occupies Regensburg, forcing his rebellious cousin Henry II (the Wrangler) (who claims rulership over the Holy Roman Empire) to flee to Bohemia. Henry is deposed and Bavaria is handed over to Otto I of Swabia (a grandson of the late Emperor Otto I). He sets up the new "Grand Duchy of Carinthia" covering modern-day Austria.

title: 976

text: War of the Three Henries: Henry III (the Younger), duke of Carinthia, gets involved in a conflict over the Patriarchate of Aquileia (March of Verona) in northeastern Italy. Emperor Otto II (the Red) decides in Aquileia's favor, prompting Henry III to go into revolt. He joins forces with Henry II (the Wrangler), duke of Bavaria. They are both joined by Henry I, bishop of Augsburg.

title: 977

text: War of the Three Henries: Emperor Otto II (the Red) supported by his nephew Otto I, duke of Bavaria and Carinthia, attacks Passau, where the rebels have assembled. In September, the town surrenders due to Otto's siege tactics, which includes a bridge of boats. Ending of the revolt of Henry II (the Wrangler) against Otto II.

title: 978

date: April 1

text: April 1 – Pope John XV dies of fever after an 11-year reign. Meeting a Roman embassy at Ravenna, Otto appoints his cousin Bruno of Carinthia (a grandson of the late Emperor Otto I), who duly ascends as Gregory V. He becomes the 138th pope – and the first German pope of the Catholic Church.

title: 996

section: Events › By topic › Religion

text: Berthold II, duke of Carinthia (approximate date)

title: AD 1000

date: June 7

text: June 7 – Henry II, a cousin of Otto III, is elected and crowned as King of Germany by Archbishop Willigis at Mainz. Henry does not recognise the coronation of Arduin. Otto of Worms withdraws his nomination for the title of Holy Roman Emperor and receives the Duchy of Carinthia (modern Austria) - Henry is the first King to be elected away from the Cathedral of Aachen since the tradition was begun by Otto I in 936.

title: 1002

text: Conrad II (the Younger), duke of Carinthia (d. 1039)

title: 1003

date: November 4

text: November 4 – Otto I, duke of Carinthia

title: 1004

text: Welf III, duke of Carinthia (approximate date)

title: 1007

text: King Henry II enfeoffs Adalbero with Carinthia (including the rule over the March of Verona) after the death of Duke Conrad I.

title: 1011

text: Conrad I, duke of Carinthia (approximate date)

title: 1011

date: July 20

text: July 20 – Conrad II ("the Younger"), duke of Carinthia

title: 1039

date: December

text: December – Conrad I, duke of Bavaria, is summoned to a Christmas court at Merseburg, and deposed by Emperor Henry III. He flees to King Andrew I in Hungary, and joins a coalition with the rebellious Welf III, duke of Carinthia. Henry's 4-year-old son Henry becomes the new duke of Bavaria.

title: 1053

date: November 13

text: November 13 – Welf III, duke of Carinthia

title: 1055

date: November 6

text: November 6 – Berthold II, duke of Carinthia

title: 1078

date: December 4

text: December 4 – Henry III, duke of Carinthia

title: 1122

date: December 12

text: December 12 – At Sankt Veit an der Glan, Engelbert II of the House of Sponheim becomes the new Duke of Carinthia and the Margrave of Verona (an area encompassing parts of Austria, Slovenia and Italy) upon the death of his older brother Henry IV.

title: 1123

section: Events › By date › October–December

date: December 14

text: December 14 – Henry IV, duke of Carinthia (House of Sponheim)

title: 1123

date: October 12

text: October 12 – Henry V, duke of Carinthia (House of Sponheim)

title: 1161

text: Meinhard II, duke of Carinthia (House of Gorizia) (d. 1295)

title: 1238

date: January 7

text: January 7 – Agnes of Merania, duchess of Carinthia (b. 1215)

title: 1263

text: King Ottokar II of Bohemia inherits Carinthia and part of Carniola, making him the most powerful German prince within the Holy Roman Empire; the empire lacking an emperor during the ongoing “Great Interregnum”.

title: 1269

date: July 2

text: July 2 – Peace of Pressburg: Kings Ottokar II and Stephen V sign a peace agreement at Pressburg, settling territorial claims, following the failed invasion of Hungary by Ottokar in April. In the agreement, Stephen promises not to support Ottokar's opponents in Carinthia, and Ottokar renounces the castles he and his partisans occupy in Hungary.

title: 1271

date: July 15

text: July 15 – Ernst der Eiserne of the Habsburg line becomes the new Duke of Austria, specifically for Inner Austria comprising the duchies of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola, succeeding his father, the late Wilhelm the Courteous.

title: 1406

text: Ernest, Duke of Austria (head of the Leopoldian line of the House of Habsburg) is the last duke to be enthroned in the Duchy of Carinthia, according to the ancient Carantanian ritual of installing dukes at the Prince's Stone; he adopts the title of Archduke.

title: 1414

date: June 26

text: June 26 – The Battle of Kokovo takes place when 600 peasants and miners in the Duchy of Carinthia, led by King Matjaž, attempt to defend their territory against a force of 20,000 Ottoman Turkish invaders.

title: 1478


slug: duchy-of-croatia

label: Duchy of Croatia

description: medieval state in the former Roman province of Dalmatia

text: Prince (or duke) Višeslav, with the support of Pope Adrian I and the Byzantine Empire, becomes ruler of Dalmatian Croatia (approximate date).

title: 785

text: Autumn – Siege of Trsat: Višeslav, prince or duke of Dalmatian Croatia, decisively defeats an invading Frankish army under Eric of Friuli, during the siege at the fortress city of Trsat (Rijeka).

title: 799

section: Deaths

text: Višeslav, duke of Croatia (or 810)

title: 802

text: Battle of Kupa: Ljudevit defeats the Frankish forces led by Borna, a vassal of Louis I. He escapes with the help of his elite bodyguard. Ljudevit uses the momentum and invades the Duchy of Croatia.

title: 819

text: Mislav, duke of Croatia (approximate date)

title: 845

date: March 4

text: March 4 – Trpimir I, duke (knez) of Croatia, and founder of the Trpimirović dynasty, issues a first state document in Bijaći of all Slavonic peoples. In this Latin document Trpimir refers to himself as the "duke of the Croats" (dux Chroatorum), and to his country as the "state of the Croats" (regnum Chroatorum).

title: 852

text: Trpimir I, duke (knez) of Croatia

title: 864

text: Domagoj, duke (knyaz) of Croatia

title: 876

text: Iljko, duke (knyaz) of Croatia

title: 878

text: Zdeslav, duke (knyaz) of Croatia

title: 879

text: June 7 – Pope John VIII recognizes the Duchy of Croatia, under Duke (knyaz) Branimir, as an independent state.

title: 879

text: Branimir, ruler (knyaz) of Croatia (approximate date)

title: 892

text: Autumn – The Principality of Nitra ceases to exist, after King Coloman of Hungary, deposes its last ruler, Álmos, duke of Croatia.

title: 1108


slug: duchy-of-franconia

label: Duchy of Franconia

description: medieval stem duchy in the Kingdom of Germany

section: Births

text: Eberhard III, duke of Franconia (d. 939)

title: 885

date: February 27

text: February 27 – Battle of Fritzlar: The Conradines defeat the Babenberg counts, to establish themselves as dukes of Franconia (modern-day Bavaria). Count Conrad the Elder is killed in the battle; his son Conrad the Younger becomes duke of Franconia.

title: 906

date: June 22

text: June 22 – Battle of Rednitz: The Hungarians defeat the East Frankish army near the Rednitz River, killing its leader Gebhard, Duke of Lotharingia (Lorraine). After the battle Louis IV, together with the East Frankish duchies Franconia, Lotharingia, Bavaria and Saxony, agrees to pay tribute to the Hungarian state.

title: 910

text: German dukes Henry the Fowler of Saxony and Arnulf I (the Bad) of Bavaria claim themselves to be sovereign princes, not recognizing the authority of their overlord, King Conrad I of the East Frankish Kingdom, as he is not a Carolingian. Duke Erchanger II of Swabia and Conrad's brother, Duke Eberhard III of Franconia, support the Conradines.

title: 912

text: King Otto I refuses to give land to his older (illegitimate) half-brother Thankmar, who gains the support of Eberhard III (duke of Franconia) and Wichmann the Elder, and seizes the fortress of Eresburg. Otto assumes direct rule over Franconia, and dissolves it into smaller counties.

title: 937

date: July

text: July – King Otto I besieges the fortress of Eresburg. He defeats his half-brother Thankmar and kills him as he tries to find sanctuary. Eberhard III, duke of Franconia, is banished and replaced by his uncle Berthold.

title: 938

date: October 2

text: October 2 – Battle of Andernach: Otto I crushes a rebellion against his rule, by a coalition of Eberhard III, duke of Franconia, and other Frankish dukes, in Andernach on the Rhine River. Otto prevails, with support from Odo of Wetterau. Eberhard is killed while Gilbert, duke of Lotharingia (or Lorraine) drowns when trying to escape.

title: 939

text: October 2 – Eberhard III, duke of Franconia

title: 939

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: October

text: October – Conrad III, duke of Franconia, gives up his title as King of Italy in opposition with Lothair III. He receives a pardon and recovers his estates.

title: 1135


slug: duchy-of-friuli

label: Duchy of Friuli

description: Italian polity (568–828)

text: The Avars invade the Duchy of Friuli, an important buffer between the Kingdom of the Lombards in Italy and the Slavs. During the fighting Gisulf II dies and his duchy is overrun (approximate date).

title: 610

text: Duke Lupus of Friuli revolts against King Grimoald I, with allied Avars. Grimoald takes and devastates Friuli, tracks down Lupus's son Arnefrit (allied with the Slavs), and beats him and kills him in battle at the castle of Nimis. Grimoald appoints Wechtar as the new duke of Friuli.

title: AD 666

text: Arnefrit, duke of Friuli (Northern Italy)

title: AD 666

text: Wechtar, Lombard duke of Friuli

title: 678

text: King Charlemagne spends Easter in Treviso (northern Italy), after putting down a rebellion in Friuli and Spoleto. He removes Hrodgaud of Friuli from power, and reforms the duchy as the March of Friuli (military frontier district). Co-conspirators who support the revolt are Arechis II, duke of Benevento, and Adalgis, son of former Lombard king Desiderius. Frankish counts are placed in the cities of Friuli.

title: 776

text: Hrodgaud, duke of Friuli (Italy)

title: 776

text: The Avars, a pagan Asian nomadic horde that has settled down in what is today Hungary, invade Friuli and Bavaria. King Charlemagne assembles a Frankish army, and marches down the Danube River to ravage Avar territory. A Frankish-Lombard expeditionary force, under his son Pepin, (king of the Lombards) invades the Drava Valley and devastates Pannonia.

title: 791

text: Unruoch III, margrave of Friuli (approximate date)

title: 840

date: June 15

text: June 15 – Louis II, eldest son of Emperor Lothair I, is crowned king at Rome by Pope Sergius II, and becomes co-ruler of Middle Francia, and over Lombardy, Friuli, and Tuscany in Italy.

title: 844

text: Unruoch III, margrave of Friuli

title: 874

text: An East Frankish expeditionary force under Zwentibold, the eldest son of King Arnulf of Carinthia, crosses the Alps into Friuli. He makes junction at Verona, with the army of the deposed king Berengar I, and proceeds to lay siege to Pavia. After a three-month campaign, Zwentibold receives orders to head back to Bavaria, in case of a Magyar intervention.

title: 893


slug: duchy-of-gascony

label: Duchy of Gascony

description: medieval duchy of the Aquitaine region

text: Lupus I, duke of Gascony, is assassinated in his attempt to seize Limoges (France). Eudes becomes ruler over both Gascony and Aquitaine.

title: 710

text: Summer – Emperor Louis I issues an Ordinatio Imperii, an imperial decree that lays out plans for an orderly succession. He divides the Frankish Empire among his three sons: Lothair, the eldest, is proclaimed co-emperor in Aachen, and becomes the overlord of his brothers. He receives the dominion of Burgundy (including German and Gallic parts). Pepin, the second son, is proclaimed king of Aquitaine, and receives Gascony (including the marche around Toulouse and parts of Septimania); Louis (the youngest son) is proclaimed king of Bavaria, and receives the dominions of East Francia.

title: 817

text: Lupo III, duke of Gascony (approximate date)

title: 820

text: Aznar Sánchez, duke of Gascony

title: 836

text: Sancho III Mitarra (or Menditarra) becomes the founder and first 'king' of the independent Duchy of Gascony, with loose ties to the Frankish Kingdom.

title: 872

text: García II Sánchez, duke of Gascony (approximate date)

title: 930

date: October 4

text: October 4 – Sancho VI, duke of Gascony

title: 1032

text: Troubadours begin playing in western Aquitaine (Poitou and Saintonge) and Gascony (approximate date).

title: 1090

section: Events › By topic › Arts and Culture

date: May 5

text: May 5 – King Louis VIII (the Lion) declares war on King Henry III of England. He allies himself with Hugh X of Lusignan and invades first Poitou and then Northern Gascony. The English forces in Poitou are under-strength and lack support from the Poitevin nobles; as a result, the province quickly falls into French hands by the end of June.

title: 1224

section: Events › April – June

text: King Henry III of England grants his eldest son the Lord Edward areas of land including crown lands in Wales, Ireland, the Channel Islands and Gascony. He is also given the cities of Bristol, Stamford and Grantham. The reason for these concessions is to give Edward experience of governing lands of his own before becoming a king. Edward is granted the Three Castles in Wales, Skenfrith Castle, White Castle and Grosmont Castle.

title: 1254

section: Events › By place › England

text: King Edward I of England ("Longshanks") orders the people of Bayonne in Gascony (as part of the only English possessions in France) to provide Castile with warships "to resist the Saracens by sea", but excuses himself from personal participation against the Marinid invasion in Spain because of his wars in Wales and his plan to lead a Crusade to the Holy Land.

title: 1276

date: June

text: June – King Edward I (Longshanks) and Queen Eleanor of Castile travel to France. There they pay homage to Philip IV (the Fair) and attend to other matters. Edward travels around in the duchy of Gascony and orders the rebuilding of fortifications in the region (between 1286 and 1289).

title: 1286

section: Events › By place › England & Scotland

date: July 22

text: July 22 – The Great Exile of 1306: King Philip IV of France turns his attentions to Italian bankers and orders the Jews to be exiled in France. The Jewish quarter in Paris is cleared and goods are confiscated – to regain money spent on expanding the domains of Flanders and Gascony. Meanwhile, rumors of a secret initiation ceremony of the Knights Templar create distrust, and Philip – while being deeply in debt to the Order for loans from his war against England, uses this distrust for political and religious motivations against the Templars.

title: 1306

section: Events › July – September

date: June 25

text: June 25 – Piers Gaveston is exiled for the second time by the Parliament, due to possible corruption and exploited personal gains. As compensation for the loss of the Earldom of Cornwall, which is another condition of his exile, Gaveston is granted land worth 3,000 marks annually in Gascony. Further to this, he is appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland – so that a certain amount of honour can be maintained despite the humiliation of the exile. Gaveston is also threatened with ex-communication by Pope Clement V. Edward II accompanies him to Bristol, from where he sets sail for Ireland.

title: 1308

date: October 16

text: October 16 – Lord Raymond-Bernard, of the Aquitaine town of Montpezat, burns the village of Saint-Sardos to the ground and hangs the French royal sergeant who acted as agent for King Charles IV. France's government blames the England's Baron Basset of the Duchy of Gascony, for hiring Lord Raymond-Bernard.

title: 1323

section: Events › October – December

date: March 31

text: March 31 – King Charles IV of France makes a peace treaty with England. He returns Aquitaine and Gascony to English rule. Charles receives 50,000 livres. The territories of Limousin, Quercy and Périgord county come under control of France.

title: 1327

section: Events › January – March

date: August 31

text: August 31 – In France, the Siege of Tartas is commenced in Gascony by troops of the Kingdom of England and the English-controlled Duchy of Gascony in an attempt to oust a French supporter of King Charles VII, Charles II d'Albret, who has taken control of Tartas. The siege lasts for almost two years before being abandoned by the English.

title: 1440


slug: duchy-of-limburg

label: Duchy of Limburg

description: duchy in Western Europe between 1065-1795

text: Henry I, count of Limburg and Arlon (approximate date)

title: 1059

text: Waleran I (or Walram), count of Arlon and Limburg

title: 1082

text: Henry II, Duke of Limburg (House of Ardenne) (d. 1167)

title: 1111

text: Waleran III (or Walram), duke of Limburg (d. 1226)

title: 1165

date: July 2

text: July 2 – Waleran III (or Walram), duke of Limburg (b. 1165)

title: 1226

section: Health & Medicine

date: August

text: August – Emperor Frederick II musters a German expeditionary force in Apulia. The crowded conditions and high heat contribute to discontent and disease among the assembled troops. On September 24, an epidemic of malaria enfeebles the army at Brindisi. Several thousand Crusaders led by Henry IV, duke of Limburg, and French and English mercenaries under the bishops Peter des Roches and William Briwere, arrive at Acre.

title: 1227

section: Events › By place › Europe

date: February 25

text: February 25 – Henry IV, duke of Limburg (House of Limburg)

title: 1247

section: Conflict & Security

date: June 5

text: June 5 – War of the Limburg Succession – Battle of Worringen: Brabantian forces under Duke John I defeat the coalition army of Cologne, Luxemburg, and Nassau at Worringen (in a struggle to conquer the Duchy of Limburg). John liberates the city of Cologne from rule by the Electorate of Cologne, which has previously been one of the major ecclesiastical principalities of the Holy Roman Empire.

title: 1288


slug: duchy-of-lorraine

label: Duchy of Lorraine

description: former state

text: Reginar I, duke of Lorraine (approximate date)

title: 850

text: Gilbert, duke of Lotharingia (or Lorraine) (approximate date)

title: 890

text: The nobles of Lotharingia under Gilbert, duke of Lorraine, revolt against King Charles III ("the Simple"). They recognize King Henry I ("the Fowler") as their sovereign. Charles invades Lotharingia as far as Pfeddersheim (near Worms), but retreats when he learns that Henry is mobilizing an army to attack the West Frankish Kingdom.

title: 920

text: October 2 – Battle of Andernach: Otto I crushes a rebellion against his rule, by a coalition of Eberhard III, duke of Franconia, and other Frankish dukes, in Andernach on the Rhine River. Otto prevails, with support from Odo of Wetterau. Eberhard is killed while Gilbert, duke of Lotharingia (or Lorraine) drowns when trying to escape.

title: 939

text: Summer – Liudolf, duke of Swabia, and his brother-in-law Conrad the Red rebel against King Otto I. Otto and his army fail to capture the cities of Mainz and Augsburg. He declares Liudolf and Conrad as outlaws in absentia. His brother Bruno I, archbishop of Cologne, restores royal authority in Lorraine, but some of the rebellious dukes receive support from the Hungarians. They seize the opportunity to invade Bavaria.

title: 953

text: Spring – A Hungarian army led by Bulcsú crosses the Rhine. He camps at Worms in the capital of his ally Conrad the Red, duke of Lorraine. Bulcsú heads west, attacking the domains of King Otto I, by crossing the rivers Moselle and Maas.

title: 954

section: Religion & Belief

text: Bruno I, archbishop and duke (archduke) of Lotharingia resigns. His brother, King Otto I divides the duchy in two parts – Upper Lorraine and Lower Lorraine. He appoints Frederick I and Godfrey I as margraves (vice-duke).

title: 959

section: Culture & Society

date: May 26

text: May 26 – Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor elects his 6-year-old son Otto II as heir apparent and co-ruler at the Imperial Diet in Worms. He is crowned at Aachen, and placed under the tutelage of his grandmother Matilda and his half-brother William of Mainz. Otto's own brother Bruno I is charged with the provisional government of Lorraine again.

title: 961

text: Theodoric I, duke of Upper Lorraine (approximate date)

title: 965

text: Gothelo I, duke of Lorraine (approximate date)

title: 967

text: August – Otto II appoints his cousin Charles, illegitimate son of the late King Louis IV (d'Outremer), as duke of Lorraine. King Lothair III – who claims the duchy as his own territory – declares war to the Holy Roman Empire. He leads an expedition into Lorraine accompanied by Hugh Capet. Lothair crosses the Meuse River and takes Aachen, sacking the imperial palace.

title: 977

text: Frederick II, duke of Upper Lorraine (approximate date)

title: 995

text: Frederick II, duke of Upper Lorraine (Lotharingia)

title: 1026

date: November 15

text: November 15 – Battle of Bar-le-Duc: Odo II, Count of Blois and Champagne, while invading the Duchy of Lorraine dies in battle with forces loyal to Gothelo I.

title: 1037

date: November 11

text: November 11 – Adalbert, duke of Upper Lorraine (b. 1000)

title: 1048

text: Gertrude of Flanders, duchess of Lorraine (b. 1070)

title: 1117

text: Matthias I, duke of Lorraine (approximate date)

title: 1119

date: January 13

text: January 13 or January 14 – Simon I, duke of Lorraine (b. 1076)

title: 1138

text: Simon II, duke of Lorraine (approximate date)

title: 1140

text: March 31 – Bernard of Clairvaux, commissioned by Pope Eugene III, preaches the Second Crusade at Vézelay, in Burgundy. King Louis VII of France and his wife, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, take up the cross. In a repeat of the events of 1096, Crusaders attack and massacre Jewish communities along the Rhine. Encouraged by his success, Bernard undertakes a tour in Burgundy, Lorraine and Flanders – preaching the Crusade as he goes.

title: 1146

date: May 13

text: May 13 – Matthias I, duke of Lorraine (b. 1119)

title: 1176

text: July 2 – In the Battle of Bulgnéville over who will be the next Duke of Lorraine, Count Antoine de Vaudémont, supported by Burgundian and English troops, defeats René of Anjou, who is supported by the Kingdom of France.

title: 1431

section: Events › July–September

date: October 8

text: October 8 – Burgundian Wars: Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, begins the Siege of Nancy, capital of the Duchy of Lorraine, in an attempt to regain control of it after Rene II, Duke of Lorraine, had captured it earlier. Rene II, aided by the Swiss Confederation, makes plans to break the siege, leading to the Battle of Nancy on January 5, 1477.

title: 1476

section: Events › October –December

date: January 5

text: January 5 – At the Battle of Nancy in France, Charles the Bold of Duke of Burgundy, who had begun the siege of the capital of the Duchy of Lorraine on October 22, is forced to retreat from a larger force of troops from Lorraine, Alsace and the Swiss Army. During the retreat, the Burgundians pursued and then surrounded by the Swiss. Charles is struck in the head by a halberd and killed, while most of the Burgundian troops are slaughtered. The defeat brings an end to the Burgundian Wars.

title: 1477

section: Events › January–March

date: September 25

text: September 25 – King Louis XIII enters into Nancy, marking the occupation of the Duchy of Lorraine by France.

title: 1633

date: October 30

text: October 30 – The Nine Years' War, between France and the Grand Alliance comes to an end with the signing of the last pacts of the Peace of Ryswick in the Dutch city of Rijswijk as Leopold I of Austria accedes two days before a deadline that had been set by the other members of the Grand Alliance. The areas of the Duchy of Lorraine (Lotharingen), Freiburg im Breisgau, and Vieux-Brisach (Breisach) are returned by France to Leopold's control.

title: 1697

section: Events › October–December


slug: duchy-of-milan

label: Duchy of Milan

description: former duchy in Italy (1395–1447; 1450–1796)

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: July 13

text: July 13 – Matteo I Visconti is restored to rule over the Duchy of Milan after purchasing the title of imperial vicar from the new King of Italy, Henry VII.

title: 1311

date: July 6

text: July 6 – In northern Italy, troops of the semi-independent Patriarchate of Aquileia, led by Bishop Pagano della Torre, are routed in a battle at Bassignana against the Duchy of Milan, led by Duke Galeazzo I Visconti.

title: 1322

date: May 6

text: May 6 – Gian Galeazzo Visconti leads a coup d'etat against his uncle, Bernabò Visconti, Lord of Milan and begins conquests to transform Milan into a Duchy, with himself as the Duke of Milan.

title: 1385

section: Events › April–June

date: October 19

text: October 19 – The Scaliger rule over the independent Lordship of Verona comes to an end after 125 years when the dictator Antonio I della Scala is forced by the nobles of the Lordship of Milan, led by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, to flee the city.

title: 1387

date: September 22

text: September 22 – The Republic of Siena and the Duchy of Milan enter into a 10-year alliance.

title: 1389

date: April 11

text: April 11 – In order to prevent an attack by the Duchy of Milan, led by Lord Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the Republic of Florence forms the League of Bologna, a defensive alliance with other Italian city-states of Bologna, Padua, Ferrara, Imola, Faenza and Ravenna.

title: 1392

date: January 20

text: January 20 – A treaty halts the first of the Florentine–Milanese Wars after the Republic of Florence has liberated Padua from control by the Duchy of Milan. The treaty confirms the boundaries of Florence and Milan as they existed before the war, with the exception of Padua's new independence.

title: 1392

date: May 1

text: May 1 – The Duchy of Milan is created, after Lord Gian Galeazzo Visconti of Milan buys the title of Duke from Wenceslaus, King of the Romans.

title: 1395

date: September 5

text: September 5 – Gian Galeazzo Visconti is crowned as the first Duke of Milan.

title: 1395

date: December 31

text: December 31 – The Peace of Breno is signed in Val Camonica to temporarily halt the fighting between the Guelphs (who favor the Republic of Venice) and the Ghibellines (who favor the Duchy of Milan) in the fighting between the two nations.

title: 1397

section: Events › July–December

date: March 18

text: March 18 – The Duchy of Milan, led by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, declares war against the Republic of Florence, led by Chancellor Coluccio Salutati, on the Italian peninsula.

title: 1397

date: May 11

text: May 11 – The Treaty of Pavia is signed between the Republic of Florence and the Duchy of Milan to end the Mantuan War after 14 months.

title: 1398

date: February 19

text: February 19 – The Principality of Piombino is formed after Prince Gherardo Appiani sells the city of Pisa to the Duchy of Milan for 200,000 florins and possession of five cities and three islands (including Elba).

title: 1399

section: Deaths

date: June 26

text: June 26 – Battle of Casalecchio: Gian Galeazzo Visconti, the Duke of Milan, crushes the forces of Bologna and Florence. He dies from a fever less than three months later.

title: 1402

date: July 28

text: July 28 – The army of the Duchy of Milan, led by the Duke Filippo Maria Visconti, defeats the Republic of Florence's army, led by Carlo I Malatesta, in the Battle of Zagonara.

title: 1424

section: Events › July –September

date: December 30

text: December 30 – A peace treaty is signed in Venice between the Republic of Venice (led by the Doge Francesco Foscari) and the Duchy of Milan (ruled by the Duke Filippo Maria Visconti), through the mediation the papal envoy, Cardinal Niccolò Albergati. Milan is required to relinquish control of Brescia and Vercelli to Venice, but regains control of its former lands in Liguria.

title: 1426

date: April 19

text: April 19 – A truce is reached to halt the Wars in Lombardy six months after the Venetian Army destroyed the Milanese town of Maclodio on October 11. The Duchy of Milan cedes the city of Bergamo to the Republic of Venice and the war halts for two years.

title: 1428

date: June 6

text: June 6 – The Battle on the Po takes place on the Po River in Italy near Cremona as the navy of the Duchy of Milan defeats a fleet of 85 galleys of the Republic of Venice. The Venetians lose over 2,500 men, as well as 28 of the galley warships and 42 transport ships.

title: 1431

date: November 19

text: November 19 – At the Battle of Delebio, Niccolò Piccinino, leader of Milanese Army defeats the Venetian troops of Taddeo d'Este after a two-day battle in which more than 5,300 Venetian cavalry and infantry are killed.

title: 1432

date: August 5

text: August 5 – In the Battle of Ponza, the navy of the Duchy of Milan decisively defeats King Alfonso V of Aragon who is captured.

title: 1435

date: March 28

text: March 28 – In Italy, the Republic of Genoa is revived after having been under the control of the Duchy of Milan for almost 15 years, and the 56-year-old mercenary leader Isnardo Guarco is elected as the Doge of Genoa, with a lifetime appointment, but is deposed only one week later.

title: 1436

date: December 13

text: December 13 – The siege of Brescia in Italy, started on September 25 by troops of the Duchy of Milan under condottieri Niccolò Piccinino to liberate the city from its control by the Republic of Venice, is raised after the arrival of Scaramuccia da Forlì. According to tradition, two Brescian martyrs from the second century, Saints Faustinus and Jovita, appear on the top of the city walls and repel the cannonballs fired at the city, and the Milanese abandon the siege.

title: 1438

date: April 12

text: April 12 – In a battle on Lake Garda in Italy, a passage to the Adriatic Sea, ships from the Duchy of Milan defeat those of the Republic of Venice in battle and take control of the lake.

title: 1439

date: June 29

text: June 29 – The League of Italian States (Florence, Venice and the Papal States) defeats the army of the Duchy of Milan at the Battle of Anghiari in Tuscany.

title: 1440

date: November 20

text: November 20 – The Peace of Cremona (1441) ends the war between the Republic of Venice and the Duchy of Milan.

title: 1441

date: August 13

text: August 13 – The Milanese War of Succession begins in Italy when Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan since 1412, dies from natural causes. In that Visconti had no male heir, he had bequeathed the Duchy to King Afonso V, ruler of the Kingdom of Naples (in Italy) and the Crown of Aragon (in Spain), as well as his son-in-law Francesco I Sforza and Sigismund, Archduke of Austria.

title: 1447

date: September 15

text: September 15 – At the Battle of Caravaggio, the armies of the Ambrosian Republic of Milan, led by Francesco Sforza, defeat those of the Republic of Venice, commanded by Micheletto Attendolo.

title: 1448

date: April 9

text: April 9 – Treaty of Lodi: Francesco Sforza forms a triple alliance between the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence and Kingdom of Naples.

title: 1454

date: August 30

text: August 30 – The Italic League is concluded in Venice as an alliance between the Republic of Venice, the Papal States, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, and the Kingdom of Naples.

title: 1454

date: March 2

text: March 2 – After an agreement reached in Venice on August 30, the Italic League (Lega Italica) comes into being as a 25-year truce and mutual defense agreement between the Republic of Venice, the Papal States, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, and the Kingdom of Naples.

title: 1455

date: January 30

text: January 30 – An alliance between the Duchy of Burgundy (ruled by Charles the Bold), the Duchy of Savoy (ruled by Filiberto the Hunter) and the Duchy of Milan (ruled by Galeazzo Maria Sforza) is created by the signing of a treaty at the city of Moncalieri, in Savoy near Turin.

title: 1475

date: December 28

text: December 28 – In the Battle of Giornico, Swiss troops defeat the army of Duchy of Milan, leading to the cession of the Leventina District by Milan to the Canton of Uri.

title: 1478

date: March 3

text: March 3 – The Treaty of Lucerne is signed between the Duchy of Milan and the Old Swiss Confederation, 15 months after the Battle of Giornico. Milan cedes the Leventina District to the Canton of Uri.

title: 1480

text: November 3 – Ludovico Sforza succeeds his sister-in-law, Bona of Savoy, as regent of Milan for his 12-year-old nephew Gian Galeazzo Sforza, Bona's son and the Duke of Milan.

title: 1480

text: July 19 – The League of Venice (with troops from Venice, Milan and Mantua) begins the two-month Siege of Novara in the Duchy of Milan to drive out the French occupiers led by the Duke of Orleans.

title: 1495

text: June 11 – Louis, Duke of Orleans, at the time a French general, opens a new front in the Italian War as he and his troops are allowed to occupy the city of Novara in the Duchy of Milan.

title: 1495

text: February 9 – The Treaty of Blois is signed between the Kingdom of France and the Republic of Venice as a secret military alliance between the two nations to attack the Duchy of Milan.

title: 1499

text: June 6 – Italian Wars: Battle of Novara – Swiss mercenaries supporting the Milanese defeat the French under Louis II de la Trémoille, forcing the French to abandon the Duchy of Milan and Italy.

title: 1513

text: May 25 – Giano II di Campofregoso resigns as Doge of the Republic of Genoa as plots by two opposing families restore the influence of France. Campogregoso leaves the city on a ship to serve the Republic of Venice in its war against the Duchy of Milan.

title: 1513

text: September 14– The Battle of Marignano concludes after two days as the army of Francis I of France defeats the Swiss mercenaries, thanks to the timely arrival of a Venetian army. The French Army enters the Duchy of Milan on September 17 and reclaims it for King Francis.

title: 1515

text: April 18 – The widowed Sigismund I the Old, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, marries Milanese noblewoman Bona Sforza in Wawel Cathedral and she is crowned as Queen consort of Poland.

title: 1518

text: January 14 – Treaty of Madrid: Peace is declared between Francis I of France and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Francis agrees to cede Burgundy and abandons all claims to Flanders, Artois, Naples, and Milan.

title: 1526

text: November 1 – Eighteen days after the death of Francesco II Sforza, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain Charles V claims the Duchy of Milan as his inheritance under Sforza's will. King François of France disputes the claim of Charles, citing the French right to rule Milan, Genoa and Asti, and the dispute leads to war between France and the Empire.

title: 1535

text: March 7 – The Treaty of Rastatt is signed between Austria and France, concluding the War of the Spanish Succession between them. Austria receives the Spanish territories in Italy (the Kingdom of Naples, Duchy of Milan and Kingdom of Sardinia), as well as the Southern Netherlands; and from France, Freiburg and Landau. The Austrian Habsburg Empire reaches its largest territorial extent yet, with Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor succeeding Philip V of Spain, as ruler in the ceded territories.

title: 1714


slug: duchy-of-naples

label: Duchy of Naples

description: Italian state (661–1137)

text: King Charles the Younger, son of Charlemagne and ruler of Aquitaine, visits Monte Cassino and Capua, both in Beneventan territory. Prince Arechis II, feeling threatened by the Franks, decides that he needs to stop quarrelling with the Byzantine Duchy of Naples so he can focus on the Frankish foe. Prince Arechis II therefore signs a peace agreement, or 'pactum', with the Duchy of Naples.

title: 786

date: July 4

text: July 4 – Pactum Sicardi: Prince Sicard of Benevento signs a 5-year armistice with the duchies of Sorrento, Naples and Amalfi. He recognizes the trade of merchants among the three cities in Southern Italy.

title: 836

text: Summer – Battle of Ostia: A Saracen Arab fleet from Sardinia sets sail towards Rome. In response, Pope Leo IV forms a coalition of maritime Italian cities, including Naples, Amalfi and Gaeta, led by Admiral Caesar — which is assembled off the re-fortified port of Ostia — and repels the Saracen marauders. Their navy is scattered, resulting in many sunken vessels. Rome is saved from plunder and the expansion of the Aghlabids.

title: 849

text: Athanasius, bishop and duke of Naples

title: 898

text: Duke Atenulf I (the Great) of Benevento attacks the Saracens at the Garigliano River, with the assistance of Naples and Amalfi. Crossing the river, Atenulf defeats an Arab army and reaches the walls of their fortified camp. However, the sudden withdrawal of the Neapolitans renders the siege useless.

title: 908

text: A Hungarian army invades Burgundy, and burns the city of Tournus. Then they go southwards to Italy, pillaging the environs of Naples, Benevento and Monte Cassino. When the Hungarians return home, they are attacked in the Apennine Mountains by Lombard forces, losing their plunder (approximate date).

title: 937

text: John III, duke of Naples (approximate date)

title: 968

text: Pandulf Ironhead, duke of Benevento and Capua, leads the siege of Bovino. He is captured by the Byzantines and taken in chains to Bari, and jailed in Constantinople. Neapolitan forces under Marinus II, duke of Naples, invade Benevento-Capua, capture the city of Avellino and then lay siege to Capua.

title: 969

text: Prince Pandulf IV of Capua becomes the de facto ruler of southern Italy – holding Capua and Naples himself – this in support with his powerful allies Amalfi, Salerno and Benevento. Only the Duchy of Gaeta remains out of his grasp.

title: 1029

text: Summer – In Naples, Duke Sergius IV abdicates and retires to a monastery; he is succeeded by his son John V.

title: 1036

date: September

text: September – Roger II of Sicily gains recognition as duke at Melfi from the Norman nobles of Naples, Bari, Capua, Salerno and other cities that have resisted him.

title: 1129

date: October 30

text: October 30 – Battle of Rignano: Sergius VII, duke (magister militum) of Naples, is defeated by the Sicilian forces under King Roger II of Sicily. Sergius is killed and Roger establishes direct control over Naples – nominating his 17-year-old son Alfonso of Capua as the new duke.

title: 1137

text: October 30 – Sergius VII, duke of Naples

title: 1137


slug: duchy-of-normandy

label: Duchy of Normandy

description: former European sovereign state, then dukedom of France

text: King Rudolph I loses the support of Herbert II, count of Vermandois, who controls the prison at Péronne in which former King Charles III (the Simple) is imprisoned. Herbert brings him before William I (Longsword), count of Rouen, for homage and then to Rheims as leverage to blackmail Rudolph to make him cede sovereignty over Laon (Northern France).

title: 928

text: Rollo, duke of Normandy, dies at Rouen after an 11-year reign. He is the first leader of the Viking settlers to establish an independent dukedom (a vassal of the West Frankish Kingdom). His eldest son, William Longsword, becomes the second ruler of Normandy (approximate date).

title: 931

section: Births

date: August 28

text: August 28 – Richard I, duke of Normandy (d. 996)

title: 932

text: William I ("Longsword"), duke of Normandy, recognises King Rudolph as his overlord. In turn he gives William the Cotentin Peninsula and the Channel Islands.

title: 933

text: Gunnor, duchess consort of Normandy (approximate date)

title: 936

text: Hugh the Great, count of Paris, rebels against King Louis IV ("d'Outremer") and gains support from William I, duke of Normandy. Hugh, along with Herbert II, count of Vermandois, Arnulf I, count of Flanders and William pay homage to King Otto I (ruler of the East Frankish Kingdom), and support him in his struggle against Louis.

title: 939

date: December 17

text: December 17 – William I ("Longsword"), duke of Normandy, is ambushed and assassinated by supporters of Arnulf I ("the Great"), count of Flanders, while the two are at a peace conference at Picquigny (on an island on the Somme) to settle their differences. William is succeeded by his 9-year-old son Richard.

title: 942

text: December 17 – William I, duke of Normandy (b.c. 893)

title: 942

text: Emma of Paris, duchess consort of Normandy (d. 968)

title: 943

text: Richard I (the Fearless), duke of Normandy, marries Emma of Paris. She is the daughter of Hugh the Great, former Duke of the Franks. The union gives him a permanent status to the House of Capet.

title: 960

date: March 19

text: March 19 – Emma of Paris, duchess of Normandy (b. 943)

title: 968

date: February 9

text: February 9 – Luitgarde, duchess consort of Normandy

title: 978

text: Judith of Brittany, duchess of Normandy (d. 1017)

title: 982

text: November 20 – Richard I, duke of Normandy (b. 932)

title: 996

text: November 20 – Richard I (the Fearless), duke of Normandy, dies after a 55-year reign. He is succeeded by his young son Richard II. During his minority, Rodulf of Ivry (his uncle), who wields the power as regent puts down a peasants revolt at the beginning of Richard's reign.

title: 996

date: June 22

text: June 22 – Robert I, duke of Normandy (d. 1035)

title: AD 1000

text: Judith of Brittany, duchess of Normandy (b. 982)

title: 1017

date: January 6

text: January 6 – Cnut ("the Great") is crowned king of England. In July he marries Emma of Normandy, the widow of Æthelred the Unready, securing his ties with Normandy.

title: 1017

section: Events › England

text: August 28 – Richard II, "the Good", duke of Normandy

title: 1026

date: August 6

text: August 6 – Richard III, duke of Normandy (House of Normandy)

title: 1027

text: August 6 – Robert the Magnificent becomes duke of Normandy after the death of his brother Richard III.

title: 1027

section: Events › By Place › Europe

date: January 5

text: January 5 – Gunnor, duchess consort of Normandy

title: 1031

text: c. July 3 – 8-year-old William I becomes duke of Normandy after his father Robert I ("the Magnificent") dies on a pilgrimage at Nicaea (modern Turkey). Robert's death leads to a period of instability in Normandy, as William is too young to take his father's place. The Norman nobles in the region take the opportunity to settle old feuds and to increase their private wealth.

title: 1035

text: King Harthacnut invites his half-brother Edward the Confessor to return to England from exile in Normandy as his heir as king of England, with the support of Godwin, Earl of Wessex.

title: 1041

section: Events › By place › England

date: August 10

text: August 10 – Battle of Val-ès-Dunes: Norman duke William I secures control over Normandy with assistance from King Henry I of France by defeating rebel Norman barons at Caen. Later in October, William promulgates the "Truce of God" throughout his duchy.

title: 1047

text: Approximate date – Robert Curthose, duke of Normandy (d. 1134)

title: 1051

text: Spring – William of Normandy consolidates his power in Normandy. He fights over the control of Maine (after the death of Count Hugh IV), and lays siege to the fortresses of Alençon and Domfront (Western France).

title: 1051

section: Events › By place › Continental Europe

text: Battle of Mortemer: The Normans, led by Duke William the Conqueror, defeat a French army (near Mortemer), as it is caught pillaging and plundering. King Henry I of France withdraws his main army from the Duchy of Normandy as a result. Guy I, Count of Ponthieu, is captured during the course of the battle.

title: 1054

date: August

text: August – Battle of Varaville: Norman forces under William the Conqueror defeat a Franco-Angevin army at the mouth of the Dives. King Henry I of France on campaign in Normandy is forced to retreat his army.

title: 1057

text: Anselm enters the Benedictine Bec Abbey in Normandy, as a novice (approximate date).

title: 1060

section: Events › By topic › Religion

text: Spring – Robert de Grandmesnil, his nephew Berengar, half-sister Judith (future wife of Roger I), and eleven monks of the Abbey of Saint-Evroul, are banished by Duke William II ("the Bastard") of Normandy for violence, and travel to Southern Italy.

title: 1061

section: Disasters & Accidents

text: Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex, is shipwrecked on the shores of Ponthieu (Normandy). He is captured by Count Guy I who takes him as hostage to his castle of Beaurian.

title: 1064

text: Spring – King William I (the Conqueror) returns to Normandy and takes with him Edgar Ætheling (grandson of Edmund Ironside), Archbishop Stigand, and the brothers Morcar and Edwin.

title: 1067

text: Robert Curthose instigates his first insurrection against his father, King William the Conqueror in the Normandy.

title: 1077

text: Anselm is elected abbot of Bec Abbey, in Normandy.

title: 1078

text: Summer – William II lays siege to Rochester Castle and puts down the revolt. Odo of Bayeux and the rebels surrender (agreeing only that their lives will be spared). William takes Odo's lands and exiles him to Normandy.

title: 1088

date: February 2

text: February 2 – King William II of England invades western Normandy with a large army. His brothers, Henry and Robert Curthose, mobilize mercenary forces to resist him during a siege at Mont-Saint-Michel. Under terms of the Treaty of Caen, estates on the Cotentin Peninsula of Normandy are surrendered to William, matters being concluded in August.

title: 1091

section: Events › By place › Britain and France

date: October

text: October – Robert Curthose, duke of Normandy (a brother of King William II of England), sets off to join the First Crusade. He assembles his army at Pontarlier and travels through Italy to Rome. To raise money for the Crusade Robert mortgages the Norman duchy to William, for the sum of 10,000 pennies.

title: 1096

section: Events › By place › First Crusade

date: January 16

text: January 16 – The Crusaders, under Raymond IV, count of Toulouse (Raymond of Saint-Gilles), leave Antioch, and head south towards Jerusalem. They are joined by forces of Tancred (a nephew of Bohemond I) and Robert II, duke of Normandy. Raymond is given free passage and supplies, and accepts guides from the Emir of Shaizar (modern Syria), who conducts the army (6,000 men) across the Orontes River (between Shaizar and Hama).

title: 1099

date: February 3

text: February 3 – Ranulf Flambard, bishop of Durham, escapes from the Tower of London and flees to Normandy. There he joins Robert Curthose, duke of Normandy, who has just returned from the Crusades.

title: 1101

text: King Henry I captures Arundel Castle after having besieged Earl Robert of Bellême. Robert loses his English lands (as did his brothers Roger the Poitevin and Arnulf de Montgomery) and is banished to Normandy.

title: 1102

text: August 5 – William Adelin, duke of Normandy (d. 1120)

title: 1103

text: Summer – King Henry I invades Normandy, takes Bayeux (after a short siege) and Caen. He advances on Falaise, and starts inconclusive peace negotiations with Duke Robert II. Henry withdraws to deal with political issues at home.

title: 1105

text: Matilda of Anjou, duchess of Normandy (d. 1154)

title: 1106

text: September 28 – Battle of Tinchebray: King Henry I defeats and imprisons his older brother Robert II, duke of Normandy, in Devizes Castle. Edgar Atheling (uncle of Henry's wife) and the 3-year-old William Clito, son of Robert, are also taken prisoner. Henry places his nephew William in the custody of Helias of Saint-Saens, count of Arques.

title: 1106

text: August 20 – Battle of Brémule: King Henry I of England defeats King Louis VI ("the Fat") of France and his 400 knights in Normandy. A skirmish that begins with the French launching a fierce but disordered attack, and ends with the French turning tail. Louis agrees to make peace and formally recognizes William Adelin as duke of Normandy.

title: 1119

text: November 24 – Waverley Abbey is founded by Bishop William Giffard in the south of England. The first abbot and 12 Cistercian monks are brought from L'Aumône Abbey in Normandy.

title: 1128

text: December 1 – King Henry I dies at Lyons-la-Forêt in Normandy after a 35-year reign. He is succeeded by his nephew Stephen of Blois (grandson of William the Conqueror), who asserts his claim to the throne in opposition to claims by Henry's daughter Matilda (prolonged in a civil war known as The Anarchy).

title: 1135

text: Spring – King Stephen sails to Normandy to confront Geoffrey V (the Fair) and the Angevins, who are attacking the southern areas of Normandy. Although Stephen has some success, he is not able to recapture Normandy from Matilda, daughter and heiress of the late King Henry I.

title: 1137

text: May – Earl Robert FitzRoy rebels against King Stephen, supporting Matilda (his step-sister) in her claim for the English throne. Matilda is given refuge by Earl William de Albini at Arundel Castle. Stephen builds siege works around the castle, but is unable to break the castle's defences. In France, Matilda's husband Duke Geoffrey V (the Fair) takes advantage of the situation by re-invading Normandy.

title: 1138

text: Summer – Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou ("the Fair", husband of Empress Matilda) completes his conquest of Normandy, which comes under Angevin control. In exchange for being recognised as Duke of Normandy by King Louis VII of France, Geoffrey surrenders half of the county of Vexin – a region vital to Norman security – to Louis.

title: 1144

text: October – Queen Matilda returns to Normandy, partially due to her difficulties with the Catholic Church. Without the support of Robert of Gloucester her personal fight for the English throne is over.

title: 1148

text: November 6 – The Treaty of Wallingford: Henry of Anjou and Stephen ratify the terms of a permanent peace under the direction of Archbishop Theobald of Bec. Ending the civil war (The Anarchy) – between England and Normandy after 18-years. The treaty grants the throne to Stephen for the duration of his life, but makes Henry the heir apparent.

title: 1153

text: 12-year-old William Marshal is sent from England to the Château de Tancarville in Normandy to be brought up in the household of William de Tancarville, a cousin of William's mother. He begins his training as a knight; this also includes academic studies, practical lessons in chivalry and courtly life, and warfare and combat (using wooden swords and spears).

title: 1158

text: September 30 – The Revolt of 1173–1174: After a year and a half of rebellion, Henry II achieves peace agreements with his sons Henry the Young King, Richard, Geoffrey, and John at Montlouis, on the basis of the pre-war status quo. Before he returns to Normandy, Henry orders the rebel castles in England and Aquitaine to be destroyed.

title: 1174

text: November – Richard of Poitou, son of Henry II, allies himself with Philip II and pays him homage. He promises to concede his rights to both Normandy and Anjou. Henry is overpowered by Richard's supporters, who chase him from Le Mans to Angers. They force him to accept peace by conceding to all demands, including the recognition of Richard as his successor.

title: 1188

text: August – William Marshal marries the 17-year-old Isabel de Clare (daughter of Richard de Clare). Through this marriage, he becomes 1st Earl of Pembroke, acquiring huge estates in England, Normandy, Wales and Ireland.

title: 1189

text: May – Richard I calls for a council in Nottingham to raise funds for an expedition to France. On May 12, he leaves for Normandy with a large fleet (some 300 ships), to reclaim lands lost to King Philip II of France ("Augustus").

title: 1194

text: King Richard I of England (the Lionheart) has Château Gaillard (Normandy) built on the Seine River as he fights to restore Angevin power in northern France (approximate date).

title: 1197

text: January 8 – Pope Celestine III dies at Rome, after a pontificate of nearly 7 years. He is succeeded by Innocent III, as the 176th pope of the Catholic Church. Shortly after he lays an interdict on Laon, in an attempt to create independent beliefs there. This will be followed by interdicts against France in 1199, and Normandy in 1203.

title: 1198

text: May 22 – The Kings John of England and Philip II of France, sign a peace treaty at Le Goulet, an island in the middle of the Seine River, near Vernon in Normandy. The agreement recognizes John as overlord of most of the English owned lands in France, but John has to give Philip the lands of Norman Vexin and Évreux and a large sum of money (some 20,000 marks) – a "relief" payment for recognition of John's sovereignty of Brittany.

title: 1200

text: August 1 – Battle of Mirebeau: Arthur of Brittany, supported by the Lusignans, lays siege to Mirebeau Castle trapping Eleanor of Aquitaine inside. John launches a rescue mission to free his mother, and with a mercenary army defeats the Breton-Lusignan forces. Arthur is captured by William de Braose and is handed over to John who imprisons him in the Château de Falaise in Normandy. Many other important knights are captured and shipped to England (where John treats them badly and keeps them as prisoners in dungeons).

title: 1202

text: Spring – King Philip II of France invades Normandy and attacks a number of castles in the surrounding region. In April, John, King of England loses the support of his French vassals who desert him. Philip enters Rouen, leading to the eventual Treaty of Paris (1259) and unification of Normandy and France.

title: 1203

text: September 12 – Treaty of Kingston: The First Baron's War ends. After the defeat of the French fleet, Prince Louis is without hope of taking the English throne. William Marshal blockades London from the sea and land. At Lambeth Louis accepts peace terms. He waives his claim for the throne and promises to restore Normandy to Henry III but does not. The French and Scots are to leave England, and an amnesty is granted to the rebels.

title: 1217

text: October 13 – King Henry III calls for an army to be assembled at Portsmouth to be transported to Normandy to regain lost territories from the French. A large army of knights turns up ready to go but not enough ships have been provided. Henry blames Hubert de Burgh, Earl of Kent for the fiasco and in his rage will have killed him if Ranulf of Chester has not intervened. This marks the beginning of the rift between Henry and Hubert de Burgh. Meanwhile, the expedition is postponed until mid-1230.

title: 1229

text: October 27 – Henry III signs a truce with King Louis IX of France ("the Saint") and returns to Portsmouth. He leaves a small force under Peter I and Ranulf de Blondeville, to act against the French in Brittany and Normandy.

title: 1230

text: January 25 – King Charles VI the Beloved re-confirms the 1315 Charter to the Normans (Charte aux Normands), recognizing the rights and privileges of the residents of the Duchy of Normandy to self-government within France. The Charter had lapsed in 1364 when King Charles V the Wise declined to confirm it after ascending the throne.

title: 1381

text: November 9 – King Louis XI, having taken back the Duchy of Normandy from the control of his inept younger brother, Charles of Valois, Duke of Berry, pledges at Rouen that the Duchy will never be ceded again. In a ceremony before the Exchequer of Normandy, the Duchy's administrative court, King Louis places the ducal ring (symbolic of the office as a ring worn by the Duke) upon an anvil and the ring is smashed.

title: 1469

text: April 27 – King Charles VIII of France convenes a lit de justice, a special session of the Parlement de Paris at Rouen, confirms the Charter to the Normans, the French acknowledgment of the autonomy of the Duchy of Normandy within the Kingdom of France.

title: 1485


slug: duchy-of-pomerania

label: Duchy of Pomerania

description: state in west-central Europe from 1121 to 1637

text: Wartislaw I (or Warcisław), duke of Pomerania (approximate date)

title: 1092

section: Culture & Society

date: August 15

text: August 15 – Emperor Lothair III receives homage from Eric II, and makes him an imperial prince at the Reichstag. His diplomatic missions to Hungary and Poland result in a tribute payment. Duke Bolesław III Wrymouth is given Pomerania and Rügen as German fiefs.

title: 1135

section: Events › By place › Europe

date: August 9

text: August 9 – Wartislaw I, duke of Pomerania (b. 1091)

title: 1135

date: March 18

text: March 18 – Bogusław I, duke of Pomerania (b. 1130)

title: 1187

date: June 20

text: June 20 – Treaty of Kremmen: Duke Wartislaw III recognizes the seignory of Henry Borwin III, lord of Rostock, after his successful expedition against Wartislaw, in which he has conquered Circipania, including the cities of Gnoien and Kalen. Meanwhile, Swietopelk II, Duke of Pomerania ("the Great") conquers Schlawe and Stolp, the eastern part of Pomerania. To ease the tensions with Brandenburg, Wartislaw signs the Kremmen agreement.

title: 1236

section: Conflict & Security

date: June 24

text: June 24 – Louis IV, King of the Romans, gives the Duchy of Pomerania (part of modern-day Germany and Poland) to his son, Louis, Margrave of Brandenburg, exacerbating the Brandenburg–Pomeranian conflict.

title: 1324

section: Events › April – June

date: May 25

text: May 25 – The Duchy of Wolgast, created more than 200 years earlier in 1160 as part of the division of the Duchy of Pomerania, is divided among the heirs of the late Barnim IV, who had been co-ruler with his brothers Wartislaw V and Bogislaw V.

title: 1368

date: May 8

text: May 8 – In Germany, the Electorate of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Pomerania enter into an alliance against the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Stargard.

title: 1442

date: May 3

text: May 3 – The Treaty of Prenzlau is signed between in Germany by the Margraviate of Brandenburg and the Duchy of Pomerania, both principalities within the Holy Roman Empire. The treaty partitions the disputed territory of the Uckermark, with Brandenburg receiving the southern part and Pomerania the northern part, with rights for Brandenburg to receive the north if Pomerania's ruling house should become extinct.

title: 1448

date: July 12

text: July 12 – Within the Duchy of Pomerania in Germany, the Hanseatic League town of Stralsund ends its resistance to the Pomeranian dukes and enters into a peace agreement.

title: 1454

section: Events › July–September

date: September 4

text: September 4 – Thirty Years' War: the Treaty of Stettin is signed by Sweden and the Duchy of Pomerania, forming a close alliance between them, as well as giving Sweden full military control over Pomerania.

title: 1630

date: July 28

text: July 28 – Thirty Years' War: Swedish Army Field Marshal Johan Banér begins a destructive campaign against the Duchy of Pomerania, held by the Holy Roman Empire.

title: 1638


slug: duchy-of-savoy

label: Duchy of Savoy

description: state in Western Europe that existed from 1416 to 1848

date: November 2

text: November 2 – At Chambéry (now in France), Amadeus the Peaceful becomes the new Count of Savoy at the age of 8 upon the death from tetanus of his 31-year-old father, Amadeus VII, the Red Count, who was injured in a hunting accident. Bonne of Bourbon, the mother of the older Amadeus, serves as regent for her grandson until 1397.

title: 1391

section: Events › October–December

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: February 9

text: February 9 – Sigismund, King of Germany, creates the independent Duchy of Savoy with Count Amadeus the Peaceful becoming the first Duke of Savoy and taking the regnal title Amadeus VIII.

title: 1416

section: Events › January–March

date: January 29

text: January 29 – Amadeus IX becomes Duke of Savoy.

title: 1465

date: January 30

text: January 30 – An alliance between the Duchy of Burgundy (ruled by Charles the Bold), the Duchy of Savoy (ruled by Filiberto the Hunter) and the Duchy of Milan (ruled by Galeazzo Maria Sforza) is created by the signing of a treaty at the city of Moncalieri, in Savoy near Turin.

title: 1475

date: November 13

text: November 13 – Burgundian Wars – In the Battle on the Planta, near Sion in the Swiss Canton of Valais, forces of the Old Swiss Confederacy are victorious against those of the Duchy of Savoy.

title: 1475

date: October 13

text: October 13 – The Swiss Confederacy Canton of Bern invades the Canton of Vaud, at the time under the control of Jacques of Savoy, one of the nobles in the Duchy of Savoy.

title: 1475

date: April 14

text: April 14 –The Treaty of Fribourg is signed by representatives of the Swiss Confederation and the Duchy of Savoy after France's King Louis XI intervenes to stop the war in Switzerland over former Savoyard territories in the Canton of Vaud.

title: 1476

section: Events › April–June

date: April 16

text: April 16 – Filippo II becomes the new ruler of the Duchy of Savoy upon the death of his 6-year-old great-nephew, Duke Carlo II Giovanni Amedeo.

title: 1496

section: Religion & Belief

date: December 4

text: December 4 – A fire strikes the cathedral in Chambéry, now a part of France, but at the time a part of Italy's Duchy of Savoy. The fire burns several holes in the Shroud of Turin, believed by some Roman Catholics to be the burial shroud of Jesus of Nazareth after the crucifixion, and to have a miraculous imprint of Jesus, but the shroud is repaired by nuns at the cathedral.

title: 1532

text: May 25 – The Holy League is established as an alliance of the Papal States, the Republic of Venice, the Republic of Genoa, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, the Duchy of Savoy, the Duchy of Urbino, the Kingdom of Naples and Kingdom of Sicily under the rule of the Spanish Empire and the Knights of Malta for mutual defense against attacks by the Ottoman Empire on ships in the Mediterranean Sea.

title: 1571

date: January 1

text: January 1 – The Duchy of Savoy adopts the Gregorian Calendar, replacing the Julian Calendar.

title: 1583

date: December 13

text: December 13 – At the Morača monastery in Kolašin, in what is now the nation of Montenegro, Patriarch Jovan Kantul assembles the rebel leaders of Montenegro and Herzegovina. The group agrees with a representative of the Duchy of Savoy to deliver Duke Charles Emmanuel I a monarchy within the Balkans, in return for special privileges to the Serbian Orthodox Church.

title: 1608

date: June 21

text: June 21 – The Peace of Asti is concluded between the Spanish Empire and Savoy.

title: 1615

date: March 28

text: March 28–April 24 – First Savoine War – Relief of Genoa: The Spanish fleet aids the Republic of Genoa, by overcoming the Franco-Savoyard occupation of the city of Genoa.

title: 1625

date: December 27

text: December 27 – Christine of France, Duchess of Savoy (b. 1606)

title: 1663

date: February 14

text: February 14 – A peace treaty is signed in Turin in Italy to end the War of the Banished between the Duchy of Savoy and the Waldensians.

title: 1664

date: February 15

text: February 15 – After the Valdesi in the Duchy of Savoy decline to obey the edict to convert to Catholicism, Duke Victor Amadeus dispatches a force of 9,000 French and Piedmontese soldiers to enforce the edict.

title: 1686

date: January 3

text: January 3 – With the end of latest of the Savoyard–Waldensian wars in the Duchy of Savoy between the Savoyard government and Protestant Italians known as the Waldensians, Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy, carries out the release of 3,847 surviving prisoners and their families, who had forcibly been converted to Catholicism, and permits the group to emigrate to Switzerland.

title: 1687


slug: duchy-of-saxony

label: Duchy of Saxony

description: (804-1260) duchy of Holy Roman Empire

section: Births

text: Liudolf, duke of Saxony (approximate date)

title: 805

text: Otto I, duke of Saxony (approximate date)

title: 851

section: Crime & Justice

text: Summer – Emperor Charles the Fat summons a meeting of officials at Lobith (modern Netherlands), and accuses Hugh, an illegitimate son of former king Lothair II, and his vassal Godfrid, Duke of Frisia, of plotting against him. Hugh is blinded, and exiled to the Abbey of Saint Gall (modern Switzerland). Godfrid is killed by a group of Frisian and Saxon nobles, at the connivance of Henry of Franconia. The local count, Gerolf, takes over the West Frisian coastline from the Danish, after the murder.

title: 885

section: Deaths

date: December 24

text: December 24 – Hedwiga, duchess of Saxony

title: 903

date: June 22

text: June 22 – Battle of Rednitz: The Hungarians defeat the East Frankish army near the Rednitz River, killing its leader Gebhard, Duke of Lotharingia (Lorraine). After the battle Louis IV, together with the East Frankish duchies Franconia, Lotharingia, Bavaria and Saxony, agrees to pay tribute to the Hungarian state.

title: 910

text: German dukes Henry the Fowler of Saxony and Arnulf I (the Bad) of Bavaria claim themselves to be sovereign princes, not recognizing the authority of their overlord, King Conrad I of the East Frankish Kingdom, as he is not a Carolingian. Duke Erchanger II of Swabia and Conrad's brother, Duke Eberhard III of Franconia, support the Conradines.

title: 912

date: November 30

text: November 30 – Otto I, duke of Saxony

title: 912

date: December 23

text: December 23 – King Conrad I, injured at one of his battles with Arnulf I (the Bad), dies at his residence in Weilburg Castle after a 7-year reign. On his deathbed Conrad persuades his younger brother Eberhard III to offer the East Frankish crown to Henry the Fowler, the duke of Saxony. Conrad is buried in Fulda Cathedral (also the burial place of Boniface) in Germany.

title: 918

date: May 24

text: May 24 – The nobles of Franconia and Saxony elect Henry the Fowler at the Imperial Diet in Fritzlar as ruler of the East Frankish Kingdom. He recognizes the stem duchies (uniting them in a German confederation) and all their sovereign privileges. Two of the four most influential duchies, Bavaria and Swabia, do not accept his rule. Henry fortifies Magdeburg against the Magyars.

title: 919

section: Events › By Place › Europe

text: Winter – The Hungarians invade Saxony and force King Henry I (the Fowler) to retreat into the Castle of Werla. He makes a pact and agrees to pay them tribute for 9 years. They return to the Po Valley and sack the cities of Bergamo, Brescia and Mantua (Northern Italy).

title: 924

date: September 4

text: September 4 – Battle of Lenzen: Slavic forces (the Redarii and the Obotrites) are defeated by a Saxon army near the fortified stronghold of Lenzen (modern Germany).

title: 929

date: June 1

text: June 1 – Thietmar, duke of Saxony

title: 932

text: Fall – Otto I defeats in two campaigns a series of uprisings in Saxony, Franconia and Lotharingia. He signs a "friendship pact" with King Louis IV ("d'Outremer") of the West Frankish Kingdom.

title: 938

date: June 24

text: June 24 – Battle of Cedynia: The Polans under prince (or Duke) Mieszko I, defeat the German forces of the Saxon count Odo I at their stronghold in Cedynia (with the help of hidden reinforcements). The battle – one of the first in Polish history – strengthens Mieszko's hold over Western Pomerania.

title: 972

text: Battle of Danevirke: Emperor Otto II defeats the rebel forces of King Harald I, who has invaded Nordalbingia (modern-day Holstein), to shake off imperial overlordship. Otto's armies swiftly subdue the Danes, consolidating the frontier between Scandinavia and Northern Germany. Meanwhile, Henry II begins a rebellion against his cousin Otto. He forges alliances with Bavarian and Saxon nobles.

title: 974

text: Wulfhild of Norway, duchess consort of Saxony (d. 1071)

title: 1020

text: Ordulf, duke of Saxony (approximate date)

title: 1022

text: Sophia of Hungary, duchess of Saxony (approximate date)

title: 1050

text: May 24 – Wulfhild of Norway, duchess of Saxony (b. 1020)

title: 1071

text: March 28 – Ordulf (or Otto), duke of Saxony

title: 1072

date: June 18

text: June 18 – Sophia of Hungary, duchess of Saxony

title: 1095

text: Otto ("the Rich"), count of Ballenstedt, is appointed duke of Saxony by Emperor Henry V, but is later stripped of his title.

title: 1112

text: Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony and Bavaria (d. 1195)

title: 1129

text: December 4 – Emperor Lothair III dies at Breitenwang in Tyrol, while retreating from Italy after a mutiny among his troops. His son-in-law Henry X (the Proud), duke of Bavaria, inherits the Duchy of Saxony.

title: 1137

date: May

text: May – Conrad III makes a peace agreement with the 13-year-old Henry the Lion at Frankfurt. He is appointed as duke of Saxony, which territories are deprived from his father, the late Duke Henry the Proud.

title: 1142

date: February 8

text: February 8 – Battle of Flochberg: German forces under Henry VI defeat the army of the House of Welf at Bopfingen. At the same time, King Conrad III besieges Welf forces at Braunschweig in Saxony, but he lifts the siege when confronted by Henry the Lion.

title: 1150

text: Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony, has the Brunswick Lion created at Dankwarderode Castle in Braunschweig (modern Germany). (Mentioned by Albert of Stade, a German abbot and chronicler, as the year of origin.)

title: 1166

text: Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony, marries the 12-year-old Matilda (or Maud), daughter of King Henry II of England.

title: 1168

text: Clementia of Zähringen, duchess of Bavaria and Saxony

title: 1175

date: June 30

text: June 30 – Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) is crowned King of Burgundy at Arles. He will repeat the ceremony in 1186. Returning to Germany, he begins proceedings against Henry III (the Lion), duke of Saxony, who has been charged by Saxon noblemen with breaking the king's peace.

title: 1178

section: Health & Medicine

text: June 24 – Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony, is put under the ban of the empire when he refuses to appear before Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) to answer charges of misgovernment.

title: 1179

text: Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony, submits to Emperor Frederick I (Barbarossa) at an Imperial Diet in Erfurt. He is banished to England and retains only Brunswick among his former lands.

title: 1181

section: Events › Europe

date: September

text: September – Henry the Lion, duke of Saxony, returns to Germany after being banished for three years by Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor.

title: 1185

date: June 28

text: June 28 – Matilda of England, duchess of Saxony (b. 1156)

title: 1189

text: Spring – Henry VI persuades a diet at Würzburg. He manages to convince the majority of the German nobles and clergy to recognize his 2-year-old son, Frederick II, as king of the Romans and heir to the imperial throne. However, Archbishop Adolf of Cologne thwarts the will of the diet and arouses the resistance of several Saxon and Thuringian nobles against Henry, who realizes that he is unable to establish a hereditary monarchy (his Erbreichsplan) in the Holy Roman Empire without resistance.

title: 1196

text: The Duchy of Saxony is divided into Saxony-Lauenberg and Saxony-Wittenberg, marking the end of the first Saxon state.

title: 1260

date: September 7

text: September 7 – At Leipzig, Ernest, Landgrave of Thuringia, 23, becomes the new Elector of Saxony upon the death of his father, Friederich II, while his younger brother Albert III, 21, succeeds his father as the new Duke of Saxony.

title: 1464

date: May 25

text: May 25 – The inaugural declaration of the Protestant Reformation takes place in Leipzig (now part of Germany) with Martin Luther present, as Duke Henry IV pledges to adopt Lutheranism as the official religion of make the Duchy of Saxony.

title: 1539