Timeline and Key Dates of the Early Middle Ages

The Early Middle Ages covers roughly five centuries of European and Mediterranean history, conventionally dated from around 500 to around 1000. Within that span, four great transitions stand out: the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire and the formation of the Germanic successor states; the rise of the Islam and the transformation of the Mediterranean; the Carolingian renovation of the Latin West; and the Viking expansion that reshaped northern Europe. The timeline below organizes the major events of these centuries into a single chronology, with cross-references to the relevant articles elsewhere on this site.

The fifth century: dissolution and settlement (c. 410–500)

The fifth century is the hinge between the Roman world and the medieval. The conventional date of 476, when the Germanic general Odoacer deposed the last Western emperor, Romulus Augustulus, has long been treated as the moment of the fall of the Western Roman Empire, but the actual transition was long, complex, and uneven across regions.

410 CE: Alaric’s Visigoths sack the city of Rome, an event that shocked contemporaries and signaled the vulnerability of the imperial heartland. The sack is described in detail by the contemporary Christian author Orosius and in Augustine’s City of God. For more, see the What Was the Sack of Rome in 410?.
429 CE: The Vandals, having moved from Spain to North Africa, cross from Spain into Roman North Africa under King Geiseric.
432 CE: St. Patrick’s mission in Ireland establishes the foundations of an Irish Christian church that will play a major role in the conversion and education of post-Roman Britain.
439 CE: The Vandals capture Carthage, the principal city of Roman North Africa, and establish a kingdom that will rule the region for a century.
451 CE: The Battle of the Catalaunian Plains (in modern France) halts the westward advance of Attila the Hun. The Roman general Flavius Aetius, often called “the last of the Romans,” leads a coalition of Romans and Visigoths against the Hunnic army.
455 CE: The Vandals sack Rome, an event that contributes to the lasting association of the Vandals with destructive plunder.
476 CE: Odoacer, a Germanic general, deposes the last Western Roman emperor, Romulus Augustulus, and rules Italy as king. For more, see the Who Was Odoacer?.
480s–490s: The Frankish king Clovis I consolidates power in northern Gaul, defeats the last Roman governor at Soissons (486), and converts to Catholic Christianity (c. 496-508), an event of central importance for the future of Frankish-Western European Christianity. See Who Was Clovis I?.
496 CE: The traditional date of Clovis’s baptism at Reims by St. Remigius.

The sixth century: consolidation and transformation (c. 500–600)

The sixth century saw the consolidation of the Germanic kingdoms of Western Europe, the dramatic reconquest efforts of the Emperor Justinian in the Mediterranean, and the beginnings of a distinct English Christian culture under the Anglo-Saxons.

507 CE: The Frankish king Clovis defeats the Visigoths at the Battle of Vouillé, killing their king Alaric II and effectively ending Visigothic power in Gaul.
525–534 CE: Completion of the Codex Justinianus, the great Roman law code compiled under the Byzantine emperor Justinian. The Codex would become the foundational text of European legal tradition. See What Was the Code of Justinian?.
527–565 CE: Reign of Justinian I, the most ambitious of the early Byzantine emperors. He oversaw the reconquest of Italy, North Africa, and parts of Spain; the construction of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople; and the codification of Roman law.
532 CE: The Nika Riot, a violent uprising in Constantinople that nearly overthrew Justinian, is suppressed with the death of perhaps thirty thousand rioters. See What Was the Nika Riot?.
536 CE: A volcanic eruption in Iceland (or possibly North America) triggers a volcanic winter that affects the entire Northern Hemisphere. The resulting famine and disease may have killed millions and weakened late antique societies across Eurasia.
541–542 CE: The Plague of Justinian, a bubonic pandemic that sweeps through the Mediterranean and may have killed tens of millions. Recurrences of the plague will continue for two centuries.
552–568 CE: The Byzantine reconquest of Italy, completed by the general Narses, restores imperial authority over much of the peninsula. The conquest leaves Italy devastated and vulnerable to the Lombards.
568 CE: The Lombards, a Germanic people, invade Italy under King Alboin. They will rule much of the peninsula in a fragmented set of duchies for the next two centuries. See Who Were the Lombards?.
590–604 CE: Pontificate of Pope Gregory I (Gregory the Great), one of the most influential of the early medieval popes. Gregory organized the papacy’s temporal affairs, corresponded with the Byzantine emperor and the Lombard kings, and sent the Gregorian mission to convert the Anglo-Saxons. See Who Was Pope Gregory the Great?.
596–597 CE: Gregory sends Augustine of Canterbury and a group of monks to convert the Anglo-Saxons in Kent. The mission is successful, and the conversion of Anglo-Saxon England begins. See Who Was St. Augustine of Canterbury?.

The seventh century: the rise of Islam and the conversion of the West (c. 600–700)

The seventh century was one of the most transformative in the history of Europe and the Mediterranean. Within a hundred years of the death of Muhammad in 632, Arab armies had conquered the Sassanid Persian Empire and most of the Byzantine provinces in the East, and the foundations of a new Islamic civilization were being laid. The same century saw the gradual Christianization of the Anglo-Saxons, the conversion of the Visigoths from Arianism to Catholicism, and the consolidation of the Lombard duchies in Italy.

610–632 CE: The lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad, founder of Islam. The Hijra - the migration of Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Medina in 622 - is conventionally taken as the first year of the Islamic calendar. See What Is the Hijra?.
622 CE: The Hijra.
632–661 CE: The period of the Rashidun, or “Rightly Guided,” caliphs. Within thirty years, Arab armies conquer Syria, Egypt, North Africa, Persia, and most of Spain. See Who Were the Rightly Guided Caliphs?.
636 CE: The Battle of Yarmouk, a decisive Arab victory over the Byzantines that opens Syria to Muslim conquest.
637 CE: Arab armies capture the Sassanid capital Ctesiphon, ending the Sassanid Persian Empire.
642 CE: The Byzantine province of Egypt falls to the Arabs after the Battle of Heliopolis.
661 CE: The assassination of Ali, the last of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, leads to the establishment of the Umayyad Caliphate.
661–750 CE: The Umayyad Caliphate, ruled from Damascus, extends Islamic power from Spain to the Indus. The Great Mosque of Damascus, completed in 715, exemplifies the new Islamic architecture.
680–681 CE: The Sixth Ecumenical Council at Constantinople, which clarifies the relationship between the divine and human wills of Christ, ending the Monothelite controversy.
698 CE: The fall of Carthage to the Arabs ends Byzantine rule in North Africa.
711 CE: The Umayyad general Tariq ibn Ziyad crosses from North Africa into Spain, defeating the Visigothic king Roderic at the Battle of Guadalete and beginning the conquest of Iberian lands that will become al-Andalus.
718–720 CE: The Christian reconquest begins in the mountains of Asturias in northern Spain.
732 CE: The Frankish mayor of the palace, Charles Martel, defeats an Umayyad army at the Battle of Tours (also called the Battle of Poitiers), halting the northward advance of the Caliphate into Western Europe. See What Was the Battle of Tours?.
c. 750 CE: The Abbasid revolution overthrows the Umayyad Caliphate and transfers the caliphate to the Abbasid family, who will rule from Baghdad until 1258. See The Abbasid Caliphate.

The eighth century: the Carolingian renovation and the conversion of the pagans (c. 700–800)

The eighth century was the era of the Carolingian transformation of the Frankish kingdom, the centralization of the papacy, and the great Anglo-Saxon and continental missionary movements.

711–718 CE: Muslim conquest of Visigothic Spain.
718 CE: The Byzantine emperor Leo III begins the first phase of Byzantine iconoclasm, the destruction of religious images, which will dominate Byzantine religious policy for over a century. See Why Were Byzantine Icons Destroyed?.
726–787 CE: First period of Byzantine iconoclasm. The Council of Nicaea (787) restores icons, only for iconoclasm to be reimposed in 814.
732 CE: Battle of Tours (or Poitiers).
751 CE: The Lombard king Aistulf captures Ravenna, the last Byzantine foothold in northern Italy. The same year, the papacy turns to the Frankish kingdom for protection.
751 CE: The Frankish kingdom, ruled by the Carolingian mayor of the palace Pepin the Short, deposes the last Merovingian king and becomes the dominant power in Francia.
754 CE: The Donation of Pepin, in which Pepin the Short grants the pope the lands of central Italy, creating the Papal States. See What Was the Donation of Constantine? for the famous forgery that influenced later papal claims.
768–814 CE: Reign of Charlemagne, the most important ruler of the early Middle Ages. Charlemagne conquered the Lombard kingdom, waged a thirty-year war against the Saxons, extended Frankish authority into Bavaria and northern Spain, and was crowned emperor by the pope in Rome on Christmas Day, 800. See When Was Charlemagne Crowned Emperor? and Charlemagne and His Reign.
782–785 CE: The Saxon Wars, in which Charlemagne forcibly converts the Continental Saxons to Christianity.
787 CE: The Second Council of Nicaea restores the veneration of icons, ending the first phase of Byzantine iconoclasm.
793 CE: The raid on the English island of Lindisfarne by Norse pirates marks the conventional beginning of the Viking Age. See What Was the Lindisfarne Raid?.
795 CE: St. Boniface, the “Apostle of the Germans,” is killed by pagan Frisians. His organization of the German church had been central to the Christianization of central Europe.
800 CE: Charlemagne is crowned “Emperor of the Romans” by Pope Leo III in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome on Christmas Day. The coronation establishes the precedent of a Christian emperor ruling in the West, a precedent that will shape European politics for centuries.

The ninth century: the Carolingian Empire and the Viking crisis (c. 800–900)

The ninth century was the age of the Carolingian Renaissance and the Carolingian crisis. Charlemagne’s empire was held together by his successors for a time, but it faced the combined challenges of Viking attacks, Magyar raids, Muslim pressure, and internal dynastic conflict. The century also saw the emergence of Slavic states, the great missionary activity of the Cyril and Methodius, and the consolidation of Anglo-Saxon England under Alfred the Great.

800–814 CE: Reign of Charlemagne.
814–840 CE: Reign of Louis the Pious, Charlemagne’s son. His reign was marked by frequent rebellions by his sons and the formulation of the Divisio Imperii (partition of the empire).
820 CE: The Abbasid caliph al-Ma’mun founds the Bayt al-Hikma (House of Wisdom) in Baghdad, the great center of translation and learning in the Islamic world. See What Was the House of Wisdom?.
827 CE: The Aghlabid invasion of Sicily, beginning the gradual Islamic conquest of the island that will last until the late eleventh century.
829–842 CE: Byzantine iconoclasm is finally ended under the empress regent Theodora, restoring the veneration of icons in the Eastern Church.
843 CE: The Treaty of Verdun divides the Carolingian Empire among the three sons of Louis the Pious: Charles the Bald receives West Francia, Louis the German receives East Francia, and Lothair I receives the Middle Kingdom, stretching from the Low Countries to Italy. See The Treaty of Verdun.
843 CE: The same year, the Treaty of Verdun is signed, leading to a divided Europe; and Byzantine iconoclasm ends.
845 CE: The persecutions of Christians under the Abbasid caliph al-Mutawakkil, who imposed distinctive clothing on Christians and Jews and restricted their social roles.
862 CE: According to the Primary Chronicle, the Rus chieftains Rurik, Sineus, and Truvor are invited to take power in Novgorod, traditionally marking the beginning of the Rus state in Eastern Europe.
863–885 CE: The mission of the Cyril and Methodius to Moravia and the Balkans introduces Slavic literacy and liturgy, leading to the creation of the Glagolitic and Cyrillic scripts.
871–899 CE: Reign of Alfred the Great of Wessex, the only English king to bear the title “the Great.” Alfred halted the Viking advance in England, reformed the legal and educational systems, and laid the foundations for a united English kingdom. See Who Was Alfred the Great?.
882 CE: The Rus prince Oleg captures Kiev and makes it the center of a powerful trading state that will link the Baltic to the Byzantine Empire.
896 CE: The Magyars, a Finno-Ugric people, settle in the Carpathian Basin, founding what will become the kingdom of Hungary.
911 CE: The Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte grants the Viking leader Rollo the territory that becomes Normandy.

The tenth century: the making of medieval Europe (c. 900–1000)

The tenth century was the period in which many of the structures of the High Middle Ages were first visibly emerging. The Carolingian successor kingdoms consolidated into the kingdoms of France, Germany, and Italy. England was unified under a line of kings descended from Alfred. The Scandinavian kingdoms adopted Christianity. The Slavs of Eastern Europe, the Magyars, and the Poles were converted. Castles, cathedrals, and towns multiplied. The century is sometimes called “the long tenth century” because many of the institutions we associate with the High Middle Ages were already in place by 1000.

900 CE: The last Carolingian emperor of effective authority in Italy, Berengar I, is crowned Emperor.
911 CE: Treaty of Saint-Clair-sur-Epte; foundation of Normandy.
919 CE: Henry the Fowler, a Saxon duke, becomes king of East Francia, founding the Ottonian dynasty that will lead the German kingdom and eventually the Holy Roman Empire.
936–973 CE: Reign of Otto I (Otto the Great), the most important of the Ottonian rulers. He consolidated German power, intervened in Italy, and was crowned Emperor in 962.
950s CE: Harald Bluetooth, king of Denmark, is conventionally credited with the Christianization of Denmark.
955 CE: The Battle of Lechfeld, in which Otto I defeats the Magyars, ending their raids into Western Europe and opening the way for their Christianization.
960 CE: The missionary work of St. Vladimir of Kiev begins the Christianization of Kievan Rus.
962 CE: Otto I is crowned Emperor by Pope John XII in Rome, establishing what historians will later call the Holy Roman Empire.
966 CE: The Christianization of Poland, traditionally dated to the baptism of Mieszko I.
973 CE: The first documented use of the term “Holy Roman Empire” in a German source.
c. 980 CE: The conversion of the Norse colonies in Iceland and Greenland, and the settlement of Vinland in North America by Leif Erikson. See Who Was Leif Erikson?.
988 CE: The Christianization of Kievan Rus, traditionally dated to the baptism of Vladimir I.
999 CE: The Hungarian prince Stephen (later St. Stephen) consolidates his rule and will be crowned the first king of Hungary in 1000/1001.
1000 CE: The conventional end of the Early Middle Ages. The year is associated with millennial anxieties in Western Europe, the Christianization of the Hungarians and Scandinavians, and the beginning of the second millennium.

The long view

This chronology is necessarily selective. It includes the events that modern historians have generally treated as the most important turning points of the period. Many of the events not included here - the foundation of specific monasteries, the careers of particular kings and bishops, the composition of important manuscripts - are discussed in the relevant articles on this site. For an overview of the regional and thematic history of the period, see the The Early Middle Ages: A Complete Overview and Post-Roman Geography of Europe.