486- Clovis became king of the Franks and founded the Merovingian dynasty, ruler of the First Frankish State.
527-565 Justinian I ruled the Byzantine Empire and developed the famous Justinian Code of Laws.
622- Muhammad, founder of the Muslim religion, fled from Mecca to Medina. Muhammad's flight, called the Hegira, marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar.
661- The Umayyad caliphate established the capital of the Muslim empire in Damascus.
711- The Muslims invaded Spain and started the occupation that lasted about 700 years.
732- Charles Martel led the Franks in defeating the Muslim invaders at Tours. This victory prevented the Muslims from conquering Europe.
750- The Abbasid caliphate replaced the Umayyads as rulers of the Muslim empire and later established the new capital in Baghdad.
750- Charlemagne became ruler of the Franks.
770 - The Chinese invented woodblock printing.
800- Pope Leo III crowned Charlemagne Emperor of the Romans.
843- The Treaty of Verdun divided Charlemagne's empire into three parts, beginning the national development of France, Germany and Italy.
862- Rurik, chief of the Varangians (Vikings), established his government in Novgorod and founded the Russian empire.
878- Alfred the Great of England defeated the Danes at the Battle of Edington.
969- The Fatimids conquered Egypt and made Cairo the center of the Muslim empire.
987- Hugh Capet became King of France and founded the Capetian dynasty that ruled until 1328.
1000- Leif Ericson sailed westward from Greenland to the North American continent. He commanded what was probably the first European expedition to the continent of the Americas.
1016 - Canute became King of England and submitted the whole country to Danish rule.
1037 - The Seldjuk Turks conquered most of the Iranian kingdoms.
1066- Norman forces, under William the Conqueror, defeated the Anglo-Saxons at the Battle of Hastings, ending Anglo-Saxon rule in England.
1099- Christian forces conquered Jerusalem at the end of the First Crusade.
1187- Muslim troops under Saladin's command reconquered Jerusalem.
1192- Yorimoto became the first shogun to rule Japan.
1215- Barons of England forced King John to sign the Magna Carta.
1279- Kublai Khan led the Mongols in completing the conquest of China.
1368- The Ming dynasty began their 300-year rule in China.
1440- Johannes Gutenberg, a German printer, invented movable type.
1453- The Ottoman Turks conquered Constantinople (Istanbul) and overthrew the Byzantine Empire.
The question of who can marry and have sex with whom has always been a pressing issue. But the answers were different. What was considered incest in the Middle Ages? Endogamy and the inevitably accompanying incest have been taboo since the dawn of time. People almost always got married or got marr