Medieval History

Jovian was crowned emperor by the army after Julian died in battle. After becoming emperor, he took away all of Julian's anti-Christian rules. But he wasn't very popular and died mysteriously in his tent.

Valens was Valentinian's brother and ruled alongside him for several years. But when Valens allowed some Goth refugees to come in, the Goths grew angry when they began to starve and attacked. Valens went to defend his city but was killed in battle.

The emperor the army crowned after Jovian was killed. Valentinian made his brother the emperor of the eastern part of the Empire, and he took the west.

Valentinian had to fight many wars during his years of rule, including the Gothic War (367-370). He eventually died of a stroke in 375.

Gratian was one of Valentinian I's sons. After Valentinian died, Valens announced Gratian would rule in the west with Valentinian II as co-emperor.

Gratian didn't want to have anything to do with the old Roman religion, and in 382 removed the Altar of Victory from the Senate building in Rome. He also removed the title pontifex maximus, and refused to wear the sacred robes.

He died after a battle with Magnus Maximus.

Valentinian ruled in the more western part of the empire, but he never really did much ruling himself. His mother and generals did most of it, until he supposedly killed himself in 392, with one of Theodosius's generals (Arbogast) "helping."

After the death of Valens, Gratian announced Theodosius as emperor of the east.

Theodosius did his best to unite the Christians of the empire. He tried to do this by turning to law. He announced Nicene Christianity as the one, true faith, and in doing this formed a single, unified, catholic church. He threatened to expel heretics, those who did not hold the Nicene Creed, but never actually carried the threats out.

He also had to fight the Goths while all this was going on, and Gratian had even given him some of his own Goth-infested land to deal with. Theodosius chose a strategy of making his army stronger by recruiting barbarians from some regions to fight against others in other regions.

In 382, after four years of fighting, he made a treaty with the Goths. The treaty allowed them toe exist and rule under their king within the borders, but the king had to listen to the emperor. And when they fought, the Goths would be allies, not regular Roman soldiers.

He also had a large part in the Battle of Frigidus, though he died the year after the battle.

Ardashir was Shapur I's brother, but he didn't hold onto the throne for very long.

In 383, the Roman army in Britain rebelled and crowned Magnus Maximus emperor. His name pops up in Welsh legends, where he is known as Macsen Wledig. Maximus believed in the old Roman beliefs.

Maximus marched to Gaul and met Gratian at Lutetia Parisiorium. Part of Gratian's army, who wanted a Roman emperor, joined Maximus's side, so Gratian had to flee and died not long afterwards.

He managed to get an alliance with Theodosius, until Theodosius turned against him for a beautiful wife. Theodosius marched to Milan and scared the soldiers of Maximus's army so much that they just handed him over, and Maximus was killed.

Shapur III came after Ardashir II. He established a treaty with Theodosius that split Armenia evenly so there wouldn't be constant fights over it.

Niall of the Nine Hostages was one of the first High Kings of Ireland. He was named Niall of the Nine Hostages because he took hostages from the 9 tribes around him to reassure their loyalty.

Eugenius was set up by the senators and Arbogast to help restore the Roman past, but was killed in the Battle of Frigidus when he went up against Theodosius's army.

After Valentinian II supposedly killed himself, Theodosius's wife said he couldn't have. Arbogast, the one who may have helped with Valentinian's death, worried that Theodosius would turn to him.

Arbogast went to the senators, said he'd help restore the Roman past, and together, he and the senators set up an emperor (Eugenius). Theodosius named his 8-year-old son, Honorius, co-emperor and marched west with one of his most trusted aids, Stilicho.

Theodosius met Arbogast and the senators in the battle of Frigidus in 394 AD. Theodosius's army won the victory, with Stilicho and another man named Alaric leading two of the wings in battle. Eugenius was killed and Arbogast killed himself the next day.

Arcadius, after Theodosius's death, divided the empire as co-Augusti with his brother, Honorius. Arcadius took the throne in Constantinople, and Honorius took the west under his guardian Stilicho.

At this time, Alaric, who had helped Theodosius a great deal in the Battle of Frigidus, wanted recognition and power. He united the Goths under him and called it the Visigoths. He started invading the lands in the empire, so Stilicho sent some soldiers to help Arcadius.

When the soldiers got there, they attacked and killed Arcadius's officer, Rufinus, and Stilicho became an outlaw to the east.

Honorius was Theodosius's son, but when Theodosius died he was too young to rule. So Stilicho, one of Theodosius's aids, acted as his guardian for several years.

Alaric had been in charge of one of Theodosius's main wings in the Battle of Frigidus, and he and the other Goths in the battle wanted recognition and the role magister militum, but got it from neither emperor when Theodosius died.

He united the Goths and called the new kingdom the Visigoths, and there was a newborn kingdom inside the empire. He had the Goths start attacking Roman cities in search of a homeland.

He died of illness after attacking the African province.

Yazdegerd was king of Persia. And when Arcadius wanted to keep his son, Theodosius II, safe from the challengers for the throne in the Roman empire, he gave his son to Yazegerd to act as his guardian.

When Arcadius of the east died, Yazegerd got behind the Roman throne, but this made him unpopular to his people. He was given the name "Yazegerd the Sinner" because of his peaceful policies with the Romans.

After Magnus Maximus, the soldiers in Britannia were struggling to survive against the Germanic tribes that constantly invaded. In 407, they announced Constantine III, one of their generals, emperor. He started to go east with his army.

Theodosius II was Arcadius I's son. He was given to the Persian ruler, Yazegerd I, for safe keeping until he was old enough to rule by himself.

He created the Codex Theodosianus as a general law as well as dealt with conflict in the Council of Ephesus, which was again arguing over the two natures of Christ.

Ataulf led the Visigoths to Gaul to try to take their land. He had a short rule, because emperor Honorius of the Roman Empire harassed his people and made it very tough, causing them to kill Ataulf in desperation.

After Alaric stripped the puppet emperor (that he had set up with the senate) of power, he angrily marched to Rome and told his soldiers they could loot it.

This was a realization to many people that Rome was not the city it once was because Visigoths could easily storm into it.

Wallia came after Ataulf, and managed to make a deal with Honorius, finally giving the Visigoths a homeland.

Bahram V came after Yazegerd, and avoided Yazegerd's mistake of not persecuting the Christians, but also made a peace with Theodosius II, since a war would be long and pointless.

The Council of Ephesus was another council where the leaders couldn't agree about the Christ with two natures topic. The assertion of a single nature became known as monophysitism, while the thought that it was two natures together was called Nestorianism, after Nestorius a bishop who was its main supporter. People also were worried about Persian influence.

Attila had led the Huns to fight the Romans several times, but after his unexpected death in 453 the Huns disbanded.

Yazdegerd declared during his rule that the religion all over Persia would be Zoroastrianism, and he refused the accept Christianity at all. This started the battle of Vartanantz (451), in Armenia, when the Armenians questioned him.

In 454 he started creating decrees that stopped Jews from recognizing the Sabbath and made it harder for Jewish children to be educated.

Vortigern, king of Britain, invited some barbaric tribes to come stay in Britain as long as they helped him fight off the Picts. But afterward, these tribes revolted and the war that followed went on for several years.

Marcian came after Theodosius II. He was a Roman soldier who had sworn not to attack the Vandals again after a fight in North Africa. This was fine except near the end of the eastern Roman empire he should have helped fight against the Vandals who were attacking but said he had this oath he had to keep. This was another sign that Rome was no longer worth it.

He also had some religious debates during his reign. He had to deal with arguments made by several of the bishops and Pope Leo. He tried to create orthodoxy like several emperors had tried to do before him.

This was the battle between the Romans, Visigoths, and some other tribes, and the Huns led by Attila. Aetius had a strategy where he had the weaker and less trustworthy soldiers in the middle so they couldn't run from battle, and the strategy worked. The Romans prevailed.

When Yazdegerd II announced that all of Persia and the Persian half of Armenia had to follow Zoroastrianism, Armenia revolted with their general Vartan. This was the Battle of Vartanantz, and the Persians won.

Petronius Maximus, after having Valentinian III assassinated, took the throne but was killed after less than a year in a riot.

Avitus stepped up after Maximus and reigned for a bit longer. But a general called Ricimer grew more and more popular, while Avitius got less and less popular. Eventually, when Avitus tried to flee, Ricimer captured him and locked him up, he died of unknown causes.

Petronius Maximus, the current emperor, is killed in riots of panic as the Vandals approach Rome. When the Vandals get there they sack Rome for the 2nd time since 410.

Leo the Thracian came after Marcian in the eastern Roman empire. He was supposed to just be a puppet but outsmarted the generals trying to control him. He also made an alliance with the Isaurians, a mountain people, by having his daughter marry the Isaurian leader Zeno.

Majorian was general Ricimer's puppet since Ricimer was a barbarian and couldn't rule as emperor. He helped organize a sneak attack against the Vandals in 460, but the message about it was leaked and it failed. Majorian marched back, but Ricimer caught him on the way and killed him.

Peroz came after Yazdegerd II. He had a long reign but a hard one. The Hephthalites were invading, and when he attacked them in 471, they tricked them. After making peace and having to pay a huge tribute, he invaded again in 484. They tricked him again and he was killed.

Livius Severus was the puppet that came after Majorian, and there isn't much about him except he died in 465 either to sickness or poison. Ricimer didn't bother getting a replacement for a little while.

Anthemius was appointed again by Ricimer when he needed help against the Visigothic king Euric.

But in 470, Anthemius fell ill and blamed it on black magic, and started putting men to death. In 472 Ricimer came and put him to death.

Ricimer died two months later, and the western empire was barely hanging on.

Ambrosius was in Britain when the war was going on between the natives and the Saxon invaders. After Vortigern had died, he had become chief warlord. He was defeated several times But in 485 he had a great victory at Mount Badon, and it pushed the Saxons back quite a bit. But the problem was, Britain was only built on keeping the Saxons out, and without anything to fight, they soon ended up fighting each other. In 511, Ambrosius was killed by one of his own men.

After the death of Leo the Thracian, Leo II ruled for a few months before dying. Then Zeno was on the throne, and even though he wasn't Roman, he was part of the former emperor's family.

He did have to fight off Leo's brother in law, Bascilius, who ruled briefly but was so unpopular Zeno was able to come back.

During his rule, the Ostrogoths invaded, and Zeno decided he would solve the problem by having them look at Odovacer of Italy and try to get rid of them.

Julius Nepos was one of the emperors after Anthemius that didn't really last long. When a barbarian named Orestes advanced, though, Nepos fled and Orestes appointed his son, Romulus, as emperor.

After Romulus was appointed, though, Odovacer of the Germanic tribes demanded pay for some mercenaries. When Orestes, Romulus's father, resisted, they fought in Placentia and Orestes was killed.

Odovacer went and captured Romulus and locked him up.

After killing Orestes and getting rid of Romulus, Odovacer took Italy and named himself king of Italy. The western Roman empire was gone.

Clovis united the Frankish tribe and became a "Frankish Constantine" when his wife converted him to Christianity and he made his tribe Christian in 496, he went and conquered several places and drove the Visigoths out of their land in 507.

In 508, the Ostrogoths, the Visigoth's allies, were able to push the Franks off. Clovis headed back in victory, and there was a letter from Constantinople waiting in Tours from the Byzantine emperor. It said he was the "shining light of the barbarian west." Clovis misinterpreted it slightly, naming himself Augustus, Consul of the West, but it didn't matter too much. From 509 to his death, he ruled from his capital, Paris.

Balash was one of Peroz's sons, and he struggled in a civil war during his rule against his brother Kavadh. In the end, Kavadh managed to get some Hephthalite allies because of his time spent there and won in 488.

Kavadh, after conquering his brother, took the throne and tried to unite it under one religion. He didn't believe in Zoroastrianism, he believed in a cult under the prophet Mazdak, that believed there were two powers, good and evil. The only way to get rid of the evil was to end suffering, so men should share resources equally.

This made him unpopular, and in 496 the nobles put his brother Zamasb on the throne and Kavadh was sent to the Fortress of Oblivion. But after two years he escaped. He came back and blinded his brother and then imprisoned him in 498.

After that, he didn't try to unite Persia under the prophet Mazdak anymore, instead, he invaded the eastern Roman empire. But after a few years both sides negotiated a treaty.

After Zeno had died in 491, his wife married Anastasius, the "Two-Eyed" for having two different colored eyes. He was a court official.

Anastasius had to deal with Slavs and other barbarians invading from the north, and he did this by exiling the Isaurians.

There were also the Bulgars, and finally, after having enough in 512, Anastasius decided to build a wall against them. It was called the Long Wall and gave away Thracia, but protected Constantinople.

Dhu Nuwas was an Arabian king of the Himyar kingdom. He converted his country to Judaism and started killing Christians. When Justin, with Justinian, heard about this, they put their forces behind Caleb of Axum to destroy Dhu Nuwas and Himyar. Caleb won, Dhu Nuwas was killed, and the kingdom of Himyar was no more.

Justin came after Anastasius, and was loyal to this one group of chariot racers, and allowed street riots to continue in Constantinople. It got worse and worse.

Justinian took over after Justin died in 527. He had married the actress Theodora and ruled with her. He was the most devout Christian emperor since Theodosius I and in 528 appointed a committee to rewrite all the laws into a single code. During his reign, he also tried to take back the old Roman empire, and succeeded in several areas like Africa and Italy, but after he died the emperor who came after him lost control of it.

In 529, Justinian released the first volume of his new code of law, which helped make the Byzantine kingdom's laws more clear and it showed his power.

Benedict, a Christain monk, converted many people and was the first abbot of Monte Cassino, a monastery. Benedict seeked the grace of God through solitude and made sets of rules and laws for the monks who lived in the monastery.

Theudis was a king of the Visigoth kingdom after Amalaric. But unlike the kings before him, he was an elected king, because the Visigoths had gone back to their old barbaric ways, and it would stay that way for a while. It wasn't about the blood as much as it was about the strength.

Khrosru of the Persian empire tried to attack the Byzantine empire several times, but in 542 he was called off because of the plague. When he returned in 544, the Romans were able to fight him off in Edessa, and they finally established a treaty.

The Nika Revolt was a revolt of the Blue and Green chariot racer teams against the government. It was during Justinian's rule, and Justinian tried to flee, but Theodora convinced him to stay. Soon, they made a complicated plan that stopped the rebellion.

In 542, a ship arrived with food for Constantinople, but it also carried a deathly illness called the Bubonic plague. It killed thousands of people and those who came down with it rarely survived, though it was possible. It went on for several months until it ran out of victims and the city began to recover.

Justin II succeeded Justinian, but he wasn't the best ruler. He lost a lot of the land that Justinian had conquered and was pretty much mad. It was so bad that his wife, Sophia, convinced him to put a court official named Tiberius as Caesar, and later was declared emperor.

Justin II ruled after his uncle Justinian's death, but he was thought to be mad and his wife had him appoint an official named Tiberius as Caesar. After his death, Tiberius was made emperor.

Brunhilda ruled in the Frankish kingdom alongside many of her relatives, and sometimes was the real power. She had been a Visigothic princess but married Sigebert of Austrasia and became queen, though even after his death she stayed alongside his brothers and sons until she was killed by one of her granchildren in the early 600s.

Tiberius ruled after Justin II for a few years before dying and his rule going over to Maurice.

Hurmuz was an agressive Persian ruler that constantly attacked the Byzantine empire, but one of his generals revolted and then his son Khosru II took the throne with Maurice's help.

Maurice was emperor after Tiberius and managed to make peace with Persia and Khosru II for a little while, but he grew unpopular with his western conquests and the army and was removed by Phocas in 602.

Pope Pelagius II died and the churchmen of Rome needed to choose a successor. They offered the position to Gregory, a monk who did not want it because he preferred the abbey. But at that point Rome was a mess, and the priests all wanted Gregory as pope. Gregory tried to say otherwise, but the people of Rome forced him into it. He took the burden and found that many people depended on him.

Agilulf of the Lombards was moving towards Rome, and the dukes of Spoleto and Benevento were coming too. By 593 they were at the walls. Gregory sent messages to Constantinople for help.

Tiberius had died in 582, leaving the throne to his son-in-law, Maurice, and he was dealing with Avars and Persians, so no troops came. Gregory paid some troops with money from the church and negotiated with Agiluf, paying him money from the church as well. He had saved Rome and earned the name Gregory the Great, but the exarch of Ravenna complained that he had overstepped his authority. Gregory said he had no other choice, and tried to convince the exarch to agree so that they could make complete peace with the Lombards.

Gregory spent the rest of his time sending missionaries over to Britain to evangelize there.

Khosru II was able to take the throne with the help of the Byzantine emperor Maurice, but later attacked the empire when it was ruled by Phocas and then Heraclius. He conquered a lot of the Byzantine empire until he sent a letter that offended Christianity and the Byzantine army got stronger and were able to invade Persia. Khosru considered fleeing but was killed by his own officials before he could do so.

After overthrowing Maurice, Phocas was popular just because he was someone other than Maurice, but he fell into another war with Persia and Khosru II. Phocas then killed several people related to Maurice and previous emperors because he was worried about his throne. Then North Africa rebelled, and Hercalius easily took the city .

Heraclius came to the throne of an empire that was under attack and had an army that needed training. He trained his army and helped fight back, but started to lose hope as the Persians continued. But when Khosru II offended Christianity, the army had new inspiration and was able to fight the Persians off, led by Heraclius.

Muhammad, born in Mecca, had a vision from the Muslim God Allah, and after a little while began preaching about it and uniting Arabia under a new Muslim faith.

In 615, Chlothar II issued the Edict of Paris that promised that the king of the Franks would not overule the local palaces of Austrasia, Neustria, and Burgundy, they would be united with no centralized government, instead each mayor of the palace would govern.

Abu Bakr, after Muhammad united Medina and Mecca under Islam, was elected as “Caliph of the Messenger of God" and he ruled as a general. He expanded with his right-hand man, Khalid, and conquered several nearby tribes, within a year Arabia was united under him. He then had a tribe that wasn’t strong with the faith of Islam, so he decided that the best way to unite them was through war. He went against Persia and the Byzantine empire, and they started making progress when Bakr died in 634.

After the Arabs invaded and invaded, Yazdegerd kept fleeing and claiming he was still king of what was left in Persia, but he was finally killed in 651, and Persia was completely taken by the Arabs.

Umar came after Abu Bakr and was called Commander of the Faithful. The invasions continued, and the army invaded the Yarmuk River in Syria, and the fighting went on for 6 days, and the Arabs won, forcing Byzantium to give up some provinces. Meanwhile, the general Khalid stormed through Persia, and expansions went on and on.

After the death of Heraclius (while the Arabian invasions were going on) there were some small conflicts over the throne between the half brothers Constantine III and Constans II. Originally Constantine III was ruler, but he died after a few months so Constans took the throne, but the power was really in the Senate.

The empire continued to shrink in several areas, though, in 642 the Lombard king carried out a short conquest of the remaining Byzantine lands in Italy, leaving only Ravenna. Then, Alexandria fell to the Arabs, Egypt was completely gone, Hispania had disappeared years ago, Italy was out of reach, North Africa was cut off, and only Asia Minor and the land around Constantinople remained.

The new caliph of the Arabs, Umar, sent his army to conquer their way through Persia, all the way to Makran, the bare land that lay past the far eastern border. There was no food or water there, just sand and rock.

Rothari, king of the Lombards, establishes a written code and starts creating a real Lombard kingdom.

By 643, the armies of Islam had conquered more territory, but Umar’s enormous gain ends in 644 when he died, and he wasn’t able to choose a successor. He appointed 6 Muslims from Mecca to pick the next caliph.

They once again suggested Muhammad’s son in law Ali, but the council ended up deciding on one of Muhammad’s old companions Uthman a Meccan of the Quraysh tribe. The council wanted to ensure that the Quraysh stayed in control. So Uthman was selected. He began the job of turning the extended empire into a centralized empire.

After overthrowing Uthman, Ali became the next caliph of the Arabs. But soon after he did, he had to fight against other Muslims in the Fitna, or Trials, over power. Though he managed to make peace in 661 AD.

After his father was killed by his own servants, Constantine IV took the throne. In the 680s he was able to make peace with the Arabs before dying, though the peace wouldn't last long.

Abd-al-Malik did a lot during his rule, but one of the most important things he did was declare Arabic the official language of the Arab empire in the early 700s. This not only helped unite the large empire but it also tied Islam and Arabic close together.

Gregory II was opposed to Leo III's icon destroying and refused to destroy the images of Christ in the church. He made an alliance with the Lombards to help him go against Leo, and Leo gave him a large amount of money from the church in exchange for some land. This was called the Sutri Donation (728).

Leo III came after Theodosius III. He had to fight off the Arab empire, and later issued laws against icons, which caused a lot of rebellion and conflict that did not help the empire.

Charles Martel had to fight for control, but eventually became the mayor of the palaces. He later had to fight off the Arabs, but most of the credit for that should have gone to Odo of Aquitane, not Charles.

The Sutri Donation wasn't exactly a donation. Liutprand of the Lombards had been taking some of the lands around Rome and offered to give them to Pope Gregory II if he paid an amount of money. Gregory agreed and owned the first of the Papal States that belonged to him.

Khan Bihar of the Khazars decided to make Judaism the religion of his empire in the 730s. He also made an alliance with the Byzantine empire in 732 AD.

After Gregory II's death, Gregory III held a council and excommunicated all icon-destroyers, and Leo III retaliated by saying that the possessions of the church belonged to the patriarch.

Constantine V of the Byzantine empire came after his father during the iconoclasm controversy. He fought some battles against the Arabs and during his rule the 754 2nd Council of Nicea happened.

Marwan II inherited the caliphate after a couple of bad rulers, but as soon as he was getting organized, Constantine V of the Byzantine empire attacked. He also faced rebellion in Syria and Khorasan. He was killed in 750 AD and Al-Abbas succeeded him.

Empress Irene was originally regent for young Constantine VI, but seized power for herself and tried to exercise it by holding the 2nd Council of Nicea to throw off the Iconoclastic decrees. She was removed in 802 and replaced with Nikephoros I.

The Second Council of Nicea was called by empress Irene to claim that icons were fine, but it was probably more of a way to show her power.

Charlemagne was a ruler of the Franks before 800 AD but wasn't coronated until 800 AD as Imperator et Augustus. Charlemagne wanted his conquered kingdoms to be Christian, and he thought of himself as the one to bring people to the faith no matter what.

Krum was the Bulgarian khan that almost took down Constantinople. He was named the "new Sennacherib" after an Assyrian king that had wiped out many kingdoms. He was planning to attack Constantinople again, but he died in 814.

Michael Rangabe was one of the rulers of the Byzantine empire that came while Krum was attacking, His father was Nikephoros I, and his oldest brother was injured in a battle against Krum and had to abdicate. Michael Rangabe soon had to give up the throne too because of his unpopularity and Leo the Armenian was put on the throne instead.

al-Mamun was an Abbasid caliphate who had a particular interest in Mu-tazilism, which said there was no uncertainty in God's intentions, which had political benefits of claiming that men knew right and wrong.

After a civil war between brothers al-Amin and al-Mamun concluded, al-Mamnun's general, Tahir, rose up against him and started the Tahirid dynasty that ruled in the east, splitting the Arab empire.

Michael III sent two missionaries to try and occupy Moravia before the Frankish missionaries could take over. He sent Cyril and Methodius, and upon their arrival, they realized they needed to create a written Slavic language. They worked for years, but eventually were driven out and weren't able to complete their work completely, though people eventually did use it.

The Treaty of Verdun was when the three sons of Louis the Pious agreed to split up the land of the Franks. It wasn't exactly an even split, but it brought peace, right when the vikings were coming.

The Vikings were in search of new land when the weather began to change in their homeland, so they attacked Pamplona and later the Franks.

Basil I came after Michael III because Michael III "adopted" him, even though Basil was older. Basil later killed Michael and took the throne, planning to publish updated laws, called "Purification of the Old Law" but it was never finished. Basil I died in 886 during a hunting accident.

Alfred spent many years fighting the Vikings in Britain until finally, they agreed to a truce in 878.

Charles the Landless of the Frankish kingdom managed to become emperor of the Romans by simply bribing the pope, though he only ruled for two years.

After fighting the Vikings for years, Alfred and Viking chief Guthrum agreed to the Treaty of Wedmore because both sides were tired of fighting.

Charles the Fat received the Frankish kingdom by chance when all the other kings around him died. However, this didn't make him a good ruler, and he had trouble with the Vikings. He eventually abdicated and his throne went to three different people. Arnulf of Carinthia took Eastern Francia, and Berengar of Friuli and Guy of Spoleto argued over Italy.

Leo the Wise was called Leo the Wise because of how he involved himself in books and histories of Byzantium. He had to marry three times before he had an heir and had a bit of a mix-up with monk Nicholas Mystikos. He made sure his son was as royal as possible.

Charles the Simple ruled Western Francia from 893-923. During that time he had to deal with many Viking raids and as a result, gave away a piece of land to the Viking chief Rollo in 911.

Rollo, chief of the Vikings, agreed to convert to Christianity and be baptized with the name Robert in exchange for a piece of land called Normandy. He also had to take oaths of allegiance to Charles the Simple, but in some ways he was still independent.

Henry the Fowler became the leader of the dukes of Eastern Francia or Germany after the previous leader the dukes had elected died. He ruled in a way that united the dukes and their duchies but also let them be independent.

Romanos was able to get himself to co-emperor position while Zoe was acting as regent for young Constantine, the son of Leo the Wise. He made alliances with the caliphs and tried to use the language of faith to subdue Bulgaria, which worked, temporarily.

Another dynasty sprang up from the many caliphs if the Arab empire and took Baghdad in 945 AD.

In the Battle of Riade, Henry the Fowler and the combined forces of the duchies of Germany fought off the Magyars and sent them into a retreat for a while, making a temporary peace.

The Buyid empire sweeps into the chaotic city of Baghdad and takes it for their own.

Constantine became the sole emperor of the Byzantine empire in 945, but he had been co-emperor before that (since 913).

Olga took over as regent of Svyatoslav after Igor's death. She started turning the Rus into a state, and in 957 she visited Constantinople. At the end of the visit she was baptized, and when her son started ruling for himself she encouraged her fellow Rus to become Christians, though they mocked her.

Otto I was king of Germany and parts of Italy until after the Battle of Lechfield against the Magyars when he proved to his people that he had God on his side. In 962, he was able to claim the title of Holy Roman Emperor.

At the battle of Lechfield, Otto I of Germany fought back the Magyars and proved himself to his people.

Basil II, or Basil the Bulgar Slayer, ruled from 976 to 1025. He was very careful about security in his government. In 1014 he fought the Bulgars and won, but at the same time was ignoring the persecution of Christians in Jerusalem.

Sebuk Tigin took what his father had left, a single city as an outlaw king, and turned it into a state slowly but surely.

Otto III of Germany was also the Holy Roman Emperor, and with the help of his pope Sylvester II he started tying religion into more of the country to make it more Holy.

After being kicked out by basically all his friends from both Denmark and Iceland, Eric the Red found Greenland which was a barren place. He called it Greenland so that people would come and settle there anyway (GENIUS).

Sweyn Forkbeard, after coming to the throne, inherited Denmark and the Danish controlled lands in Norway. They attacked Wessex and eventually accepted payment from England in exchange for retreating, and he used this money to continue his conquests.

Basil II kept Rus mercenaries by his side after a battle for his own protection and they were called the Varangian Guard.

Opposite of what Otto III had did, Henry of Bavaria, Germany, thought that Germany was more important than Rome. He was careful about what positions he gave to people and helped settle fights between monasteries.

In 1016, Canute and Edmund in England agreed to stop fighting and split the country. Soon after the agreement, Edmund died and Canute took England for himself.

Sancho the Great did a good deal for his kingdom, but then he continued thinking like his kingdom was small and split it among his sons.

Zoe, though aged, helped three different men get to the throne at Constantinople. She was said to be beautiful, even in her later years, but she couldn't have any more children.

In 1034 a rebel named Mac Bethad went against the English court. He ruled a small kingdom called Moray and later Shakespeare would write about him as Macbeth.

Edward was ruler of Britain from 1042 to 1066. He was a strict ruler, but he soon realized the earls held all the power. For many years he struggled to keep his power until he died in 1066.

Harold Godwinson was one of the earls in England that desperately tried for power during Edward the Confessor's rule. However, William of Normandy came and snatched the throne away from him once Harold had it.

The Battle of Manzikert was an embarassing and devastating loss for the Byzantine army when they were defeated by the Turks. At the end of the battle, Romans Diogenes, the emperor at the time, was treated with respect by Alp Arslan, the Turk's leader, and sent him away, hurting Romanos's pride.

El Cid was a general and mercenary on multiple sides in Spain. In the 1090s he just wanted it all to end, so he established a place in Valencia where everyone could live in peace.