| 406-7 |
The Romans withdraw from Britain. |
| c. 500 |
The legendary Arthur defeats the Anglo-Saxons at the Battle of Mount Badon. |
| c. 597 |
The missionary Augustine, sent by Pope Gregory I, lands in Britain. |
| 1076 |
Jerusalem is captured by the Turks. |
| 1095 |
Pope Urban II proclaims the First Crusade; Usamah ibn-Munqidh, friend of Saladin and author of Memoirs, is born. |
| 1096-1102 |
The First Crusade |
| 1099 |
The crusaders capture Jerusalem. |
| c. 1118 |
Enrico Dandolo, Doge of Venice, is born. |
| 1122 |
Eleanor of Aquitaine is born. |
| 1134 |
Sir William de Gortanore is born. |
| 1136 |
Geoffrey of Monmouth completes his History of the Kings of Britain. |
| 1138 |
Saladin is born. |
| 1147-9 |
The Second Crusade |
| c. 1150 |
Geoffrey de Villehardouin, Marshal of Champagne and author of Conquest of Constantinople, is born. |
| 1154 |
Henry II is crowned. |
| 1158 |
Richard I (Coeur-de-Lion) is born. |
| 1170s |
Chrétien de Troyes, author of Erec and Enide, begins to write his Arthurian romances. |
| 1180s |
Marie de France writes her lais or short story poems. |
| 1183 |
Saladin unites Syria and Egypt; ibn Jubayr chronicles his pilgrimage to Mecca (1183-5); Serle de Caldicot is born. |
| 1185 |
Tom de Gortanore is born. |
| 1186 |
Arthur de Caldicot is born on March I. |
| 1187 |
The Sultan Saladin captures Acre and Jerusalem; Gatty is born; Lady Tilda de Gortanore dies in giving birth to Grace de Gortanore. |
| 1188 |
The Saladin Tithe (tax) is levied to help finance the Third Crusade; Gerald, author of The Journey Through Wales and The Description of Wales, travels with Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury; Sir William de Gortanore marries Lady Alice; Winifred de Verdon is born. |
| 1189 |
Henry II dies, and Richard I (Coeur-de-Lion) is crowned. |
| 1189-92 |
The Third Crusade, led by Frederick Barbarossa of Germany, Philip Augustus of France, and Richard Coeur-de-Lion of England |
| 1191 |
Sian de Caldicot is born. |
| 1192 |
Richard Coeur-de-Lion leaves the Holy Land and is imprisoned by Leopold of Austria until 1194. |
| 1193 |
Saladin dies, aged 54. |
| 1199 |
Richard Coeur-de-Lion is wounded at Chalus and dies; his brother John (b. 1167) is crowned; Pope Innocent III proclaims the Fourth Crusade, and Fulk de Neuilly preaches it. |
| 1200 |
Lord Stephen de Holt chooses Arthur de Caldicot as his squire, and they take the Cross at Soissons. |
| 1201 |
The Venetians agree to build the crusader fleet, and Arthur de Caldicot and Lord Stephen return from Venice in April; Thibaud de Champagne dies, and Boniface de Montferrat is chosen to lead the Fourth Crusade. |
| 1202 |
Arthur de Caldicot and Winifred de Verdon are betrothed in April; the crusaders muster in Venice; on July 27, Arthur de Caldicot is knighted Sir Arthur de Gortanore; the crusaders sail for Zara early in October. Zara falls on November 24. |
| 1203 |
Sir Arthur de Gortanore returns to the Middle March. |
| 1204 |
Christian Constantinople is wrecked and looted by the crusaders; Eleanor of Aquitaine dies. |
| 1205 |
The crusaders return home without reaching Jerusalem. |