The Crusaders

Medieval and pre-modern Europe

520 to 1632 A.D.

By the 5th Century AD the western Roman Empire was disintegrating and "barbarian" tribes were setting up their own kingdoms in Europe; the Ostrogoths in Italy, the Visigoths in Spain and the Franks in Gaul. The take-over wasn't always by conquest. Settlement of Roman lands by treaty and the use of barbarian mercenaries by them, contributed to the new order. The newcomers, by and large, adopted the Christian religion of the Romans.

The Frankish lands, roughly present-day France and western Germany were ruled over by the Merovingian dynasty. However, rule was weakened by the sub-division between a rulers' sons and other relatives. Charlemagne (768 - 814) managed to create a strong Frankish empire, extending across most of central Europe, while suppressing the Saxons to the east. This empire was once more sub-divided by the "Partition of Verdun" in 843, when Charles the Bald took the western half, Louis the German the eastern half and Lothar, a strip between them. Although Lothar was nominally emperor, over the centuries, Lotharingia as it was known, shrunk to the present-day province of Lorraine. Charles's section, though, eventually became France and Louis's, Germany.

In 711 AD, most of Spain fell to the Muslims, or Moors as history has called them. They were not expelled until the "Reconquista" (1085 - 1340).

Christianity was important in medieval Europe and governed the actions of kings and emperors. Kings and bishops were twin pillars of power and any king claiming divine rule, needed the Pope's cooperation.

Medieval Bibliography

Click on image for more details and history
Carolingian France
Charles II le Chauve (the Bald)
843-877 (875-877 as Emperor)
Feudal France
Duke Richard I of Normandy
943-996 AD
Carolingian France
Conrad the Peaceful
834-993
Feudal France -Paris
Philip II
1180 AD - 1223 AD
Feudal France
Philip VI de Valois
1328-1350
Feudal France: Duchy of Lorraine
Charles II (the Bold)
1391 - 1431
France
Henri II
1547 AD - 1559 AD
Germany - Holy Roman Empire
Friedrich I Barbarossa
1152-1190
Germany - Bishop of Constance
Diethelm von Krenkingen
1190-1206
Bavaria -Regensburg
Bishop Heinrich II and Duke Otto III
1277 AD - 1296 AD
Italy -Lucca
Conrad II
King of Germany 1024 - 1039 AD
Sicily
William II 1166 - 1189
AE15 Arabic/Latin
Naples
Charles II of Anjou
1285 AD - 1309 AD
Venice
Doge Pietro Gradinego
1289 AD - 1311 AD
Spain: Castile and Leon
Alphonso X
1252 AD - 1284 AD
Spain: Aragón
Jaime II
1291 AD - 1327 AD
Spain: Castile and Leon
Henry (Enrique) IV
1454 AD - 1474 AD
Spain
Ferdinand and Isabella
1474 AD - 1504 AD
Spain
Philip II or III
1556 AD - 1598 AD
Hungary
Stephen I (Saint Stephen)
997-1038 AD
Hungary
Bella III
1172 - 1196 AD
Hungary
Sigismund
1387 AD - 1437 AD
Luxembourg, Bohemia, Poland
John the Blind
1309-1346
Poland/Lithuania
Stephen Báthory, (Stefan I)
1576-1586
Poland
Sigismund III (Zygmunt Wasa)
1587 - 1632 AD
Free city of Riga
autonomous
1561 - 1581 AD
Austria
Archduke Leopold V of Tirol
1619-1632
Holy Roman Empire
Leopold I, The Hogmouth
1619-1632
Scotland
William I 'the Lion'
1165-1214
Scotland
Alexander III
1249-1286
Scotland
Mary & Francis
1542-1567
Scotland
Charles I
1625-1649
Low Countries -Brabant
John I Duke of Brabant
1267-1294
Low Countries -Hainaut
William III Count of Hainaut,
"the Mad"; 1356-1389
Bulgaria
Ivan Alexander and Mihail
1330-1355(65?)
Armenia
Levon I
1196 AD - 1219 AD
Russia: Ivan IV (the Terrible)
1534-1584
AR wire Kopek
        

Medieval and pre-modern Europe
The Crusaders