23 February 2012

Ancient connections among the Pretanic Isles

Connections between the Scots and the Irish and the Britons go back centuries, even before the rise of the Roman Empire.

In medieval times, even as late as negotiations between Brian O’Neill, King of Tir Eoin, and Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, for the latter’s brother Edward to take the throne as High King of Ireland, Ireland and Scotland were referred to as Scotia Major and Scotia Minor respectively.

Recent genetic research has determined that, genetically speaking, the people of the British Isles predominantly descend from immigrants out of northwest Iberia (with a 75-95% genetic match), with their closest genetic relatives outside the area being the Galicians and the Basque.

This is more true in some parts than others, say western and northern Ireland and northwestern Scotland versus southern England, but even the latter on average are genetically more Insular (75%) than they are Northwest European (25%).

In the most ancient times, geographers in the Mediterranean called the British Isles by the name Pretanic Isles, after the dominant Celtic people who lived there, the Pretani.  From Pretani comes not only the Latin word Britannia and the English words Britain and Britons, but the later P-Celtic words Prydain and Brithwyr as well as the Q-Celtic word Cruithin, by which the Goidels referred to those whom the Romans called the Picts, groups of whom could be found on both islands.

In the days of Julius Caesar, many of the tribes in Gaul moved at least parts of their numbers to the south of Britain to escape the Roman legions, which proved futile after the invasion and conquest of the isle by the Empire.

Only one part of the island remained unconquered, and near the end of the 3rd century, Roman writers began to refer to these peoples as the Pictii, and distinguished between two confederations: the Caledonii (Coille Daon) and the Maetae (Miathi).

The only time Scotland north of the Firths (of Forth and of Clyde) came under Roman domination was during Agricola’s campaign of 80-84 CE.  This included beginning of the largest legionary fortress in the Imperium Romanum, Pinnata Castra, at Inchtuthil and forts as far north as Cawdor.  After retiring south, the general gave the name Vespasiana to the area in honor of the Imperator Augutus at Rome.  His gains, however, fell apart when he was recalled to Rome in 85 CE. Septimus Severus attempted to repeat Agricola’s gains in the 3rd century, even giving himself the title Britannicus, but these too were short-lived.

In later decades, there were also two confederations, referred to by classical writers as the Di-Caledones and the Uerturiones, the latter of which became known to the Irish as Fortriu. These two tribes or groups were to dominate the politics of the island north of the Firths (Clyde and Forth) for centuries as the kingdoms of Circinn (later Alba) and Moireabh.

A clue to their origins, culture, and language can be seen in one of the pejorative names the Romans used for them, Brittunculi, or Little Britons.

There were also many tribes of the Picts, or Cruithne, in Ireland, surviving into the Middle Ages as the Dal nAraidi, the Ui Eachach Cobo, the Connaill Muirtheimhne, the Cenel Foghartaigh, the Loigis, the Sogain, and the Fothairt.  In modern times these families have “conventional” family names such as O’Lynch, MacCartan, MacGenis, O’Mannin, O’More, O’Nolan, O’Doran, O’Lawlor, O’Dowling, others.

In the latter half of the Roman Empire, several tribes had groups on both islands. 

The Dumnonii of southwest Britain had a branch in Ireland (originally in Leinster but moved to Connacht) called the Fir Domnann. The Fir Domnann were said by some to have come to Ireland from the area of Gwynedd (formerly Caernarfonshire) in Wales. 

Another branch were the Damnonii of later southwest Scotland who formed the core of the post-Roman kingdom of Alt Clud, called Ystrad Clud after its seat moved to Govan. Its Gaelic name was Strath Cluid, anglicized as Strathclyde. 

At one time, this kingdom extended all the way down to the southern borders of the former kingdom of Rheged (present-day Cumbria) after that kingdom had been absorbed. It also extended farther north than is usually assumed, bordering the Strath Eireann, or Ystrad Aeron, the “valley of the Irish” now commonly called Strathearn. 

The Wallaces and the Galbraiths certainly descend from its gentry, and the Olivers, Buchanans, and possibly Campbells may have some connection as well. Strathclyde was itself absorbed by the kingdom of Alba in the 12thcentury under David I of Scots, whose title before ascension was Prince of the Cumbrians. 

The Galeion were another early invading tribe from the east according to the early legends, and survived as the Galenga of the north of Leinster.

The Gangani of Munster were a branch of the Gangani in North Wales.

Likewise, the Brigantes (Ui Bairrche of Leix), the Corieltauvi (Coraind of Sligo, Cuirenrige and Dal Cuirind of Wexford), the Manapii (Fir Manach of Fermanagh), and Belgae (Builg, or Fir Bolg, of Cork) of Britain all had branches in their neighbor to the west.

Others have noted the similarity of the tribal names of the Vennicnii (Fineachan) of west Ulster and the Venicones of southeast Alba, i.e. the area of Fife and Strathearn, which Ptolemy placed on his map of the Pretanic Isles in 140 CE.

It’s not unthinkable that the Cornovii of the Midlands, the Cornovii of the Cornish peninsula, and the Cornovii of Caithness were related also. 

Several tribes in Britain were branches of groups on the Continent, such as the Parisii, the Suessoines, the Redones, the Atrebates, the Belgae, and the Menapii, the latter two of which also having branches in Ireland.

Incidentally, the autonomous Ducatas Noviodunum (aka Domain of Soissons; 457-486) that existed in northern Gaul during the time of Vortigern, his son Vortimer, and Aurelius Ambrosius, ending about the same time Arthur became supreme commander of the Britons, was seated at the city of the same name that earlier served as the seat of the Suessoines. More on that below.

The earliest settlement of the Gaelic Irish in the isle to the east mentioned in legends was supposedly led by Cairpre Riata himself, founder of the Dal Riata. He was supposedly one of four sons of Conaire Mor, according to legend High King of Ireland, c. 100-40 BCE. 

The kingdom was established in what is now Co. Antrim, then spread to what is now Argyll. Since the kingship was seated in Ireland until Fergus Mor mac Erc migrated across the Hebridean Sea at the end of the 5th century, we can assume Cairpre eventually returned west.

The next mention of a colony from the west in the east is by Lugaid mac Con of the Corco Loigde in Munster, later High King of Ireland (195-225 CE). According to legend, he fled to Alba with most of his warriors and their families after losing a war for the kingship of southern Ireland to the forces of Eogan mac Ailill Ollamh mac Mog Nuadat (ancestor of the Eoganachta). 

When the “King of the Picts”, probably at Inverness, learned who Lugaid really was, he raised a group of warriors from among his own people and sent them with Lugaid and his warriors to fight his enemies. After killing Eogan during the Battle of Maigh Mucruimhe, Lugaid became High King since Art mac Cuinn had also died there. In the meantime, he left a colony in the Hebrides under his son, Fothaid Canan.

Upon becoming High King, Lugaid fostered Cormac mac Art, son of the man whose place he’d taken. 

Cormac later succeeded to the High Kingship, after a brief reign by Lugaid’s immediate successor, Fergus Dubdetach, ruling 226-266 CE. It was during his reign that Demna Fionn mac Cumhail served as head of the Fianna of Ireland.

After the power of the Fianna was broken by the High King at the Battle of Gabhra in 284, the survivors, according to legends told in Argyll down to the 19th century, retreated across the Sea of the Hebrides as others had done before.

One story even tells of how the warriors of the Fianna, including Fionn himself, sleep in the hills surrounding Glen Etive awaiting their call to return.

Archaeological evidence discovered recently indicates that German warriors may have been imported into Roman Britannia as foederati as early as the late 3rd century. Certainly Dumfries, from Dun Phris or Fort of the Frisians, would indicate this, since it is an area held by Brythonic kingdoms long after the mass invasions began in the 5th century. 

The main reason for the establishment of these colonies of foederati was an attempt to supplement legionaires to stop raiding by the Irish (called Scotti, the word from whence “Scot” comes), the Picts, the Attacotti, and other Saxons. Small groups of Sarmatians, Saxons, Frisians, Angles, Franks, Jutes, and possibly even Irish took part.

Some of the earliest reports of Irish settlement in the southern parts of the island of Britain were probably of groups of just such foederati. In addition to the well-known extension of the territory into northwest Scotland by the Dal Riata of Ulster, who then held land on both sides of the Hebridean Sea, other groups in Ireland also planted colonies in Britain beginning in the 4th century.

The Lleyn peninsula of northwest Wales is named for the Laighin from Leinster who colonized it, at least for a time, while Gwynedd gets its name from Feni, one of several names for the people of Ireland.

A group of Ui Laithin from Munster settled in Dumnonia, while a group of Eoganachta led by a chieftain named Cairbre from the vicinity of Kerry settled in the Pictish region of Circinn. 
Supposedly about this same time, the Ui Bairrche, the Irish branch of the British Brigantes, are also supposed to have begun colonizing what later became Scotland.

Not long afterward, in approximately 326 CE, Cairill mac Cairbre, aka Colla Uais, High King of Ireland, was overthrown by his uncle, Muiredach Tirech, son of the previous High King, and expelled to Alba. A previous king of Alba had been their mother’s father. 

Colla Uais, fled there along with his two brothers, Aed, aka Colla Menn, and Muiredach, aka Colla Fo Crith, and three hundred warriors. A year or two later, thirty returned, including the Three Collas, and in 331 CE, defeated the last Ulaidh high king of Ulster, destroyed Emain Macha, and established the kingdom of Airghialla out of part of it.

Other areas of the north colonized by Irish immigrants or ruled by Irish dynasties include Angus (Oengus), The Mearns (Magh Geighinn, or “Plain of Circinn”), Atholl (Ath Fodhla, or “New” Ireland), Strathearn (Strath Eireann, “Valley of the Irish”, in Brythonic, Ystrad Aeron), Gowrie (Gabhrain), and Lennox, so named for the dynasty who ruled there, the Lemnaig, who had previously held Ath Fodhla.

A group of the Deisi, who also named Desmond (Deisi Mumha), settled in what is now southwest Wales under a king named Ilan and gave their name to Dyfed. The son of a later Dyfed king called Brychan (Briocan in Irish) gained the neighboring rival Brythonic kingdom of Garth Madrun by marriage to the king’s daughter and left it with his name as Brycheiniog.

The earliest post-Roman ruler of Dumnonia is called Conor Mor, obviously Irish, at least in name.

Even Arthur the Soldier, in later legend “King” Arthur, may himself have been Irish; the earliest mention of him calls him not king, but “dux bellorum”, meaning, literally, “commander of the battles”, and says specifically that he was a military commader, not one of the kings. 

While there is no record of anyone in Roman or previous post-Roman Britain with the name Arthur or its equivalent, examples of men named Art in Ireland go back to at least the 2nd century CE; Art mac Cuinn, High King of Ireland, for example.

The Ui Echach Cobo, previously mentioned as one of the Cruithne tribes of Ireland, invaded and colonized the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea. 

A group of the Ulaidh (or Dal Fiatach, aka MacDonlevys, as they were later known), for whom Ulster is named, settled in the southwest part of Scotland called Galloway for the later Norse-Gaelic invaders who conquered them called the Gall-ghaidheal, or Stranger Gaels.

The Dal Riata previously mentioned were fully active in the politics and tribal warfare of Ulster, with some of the monarchs dying in battle there. The kingdom declined after the middle 8th century CE when they were conquered by the armies of Oengus I mac Fergus. They never regained a position of real power after that, though the early decades of the 8th century saw them temporarily regain a measure of independence; they did, however, leave their name on their territory as Earr a’ Gaidheal, or Seacoast of the Gaels.

Of all these groups of Irish/Scotti invaders, the Eoganachta Maigi Dergind (Magh Geirginn), are probably the most important since one of their members, Oengus I mac Fergus, was the first to dominate all of Scotland north of the Firths, the area later called Alba. 

The kingdom which formed the base of his power was Fortriu, previously thought to have been centered on Strathearn between Atholl and Lennox but now known to be the area later called Moray, or Moireabh (meaning the Mormaerdom of the Early Middle Ages rather than the greatly reduced later county of the High Middle Ages).

In addition to Oengus I, mention should also be made of an earlier Gael who ruled Fortriu, Bridei mac Dargart, son of a Pictish princess named Der-Ilei and Dargart mac Finnguinne of the Cenel Comghall of Dal Riata. Bridei succeeded to the throne in 696 CE and was succeeded by his brother Nechtan in 706. Nechtan ruled until 732 (except for an interregnum where a usurper ruled from 724-728), when he died and was succeeded by the afore-mentioned Oengus mac Fergus. 

Meaning, that the throne of Inverness (Inbhir Nis) was in the hands of Gaelic rulers from 696 CE.

The reasons Bridei couldn’t become king over both the Picts and the Scots were twofold.

First, his kindred, the Cenel Comghall of Cowall and Knapdale, were, by the time of his ascension, one of the minor kindreds of Dal Riata, the others being the Cenel Baodan (Clan Gillean) of Morvern, the Cenel nOengusa of Islay and Mull, and the Cenel Choncride (or Conraig) of Islay. The major powers were the Cenel nGabhrain of Kintyre (Ceann Tir) and the Cenel Loairn of Argyll (Earr a’ Gaidheal) and Lorn. 

Second, Oengus I became ruler of all the north by conquest, not by succession, an accomplishment of which Bridei apparently was incapable.

By the way, Bridei mac Dargart was also grandson of Bili ap Nechtan, King of Alt Clud. Nor was he the first king of Fortriu from the ruling family of Strathclyde (Ystrad Clwd); the brothers Garnait, Bridei, and Talorg, sons of Gwid son of Nechtan (d. 630) of Strathclyde, had earlier held the throne of Inverness. 

The three brothers were in turn succeeded by the son of the Earl of Beornicia, Talorcan, who was succeeded by Garnait and Drest (both Brythonic names), both sons of one Dungal; while Dungal is not identified, his name is Gaelic.

The Britons of Alt Clud/Strathclyde, and their cousins in Manaw, Eidyn, Gododdin, Rheged, Argoed, Dent, Peak, Bryneich, Deifr, Elmet, and Ebrauc (York), were known to the Welsh, or Cyrmry, as the Gwyr y Gogledd, or Men of the North, and their lands the Y Hen Gogledd. 

Alt Clud, renamed Ystrad Clud after the capital was moved to Govan, was the longest surviving of these kingdoms, including the territory of Rheged for a time, only losing its identity on the succession of David I mac Malcolm III to the throne of Alba, by which time it also included most of Lothian and Scottish Bernicia. 

Yet even then they did not entirely lose their identity; as late as the reign of Alexander III, Scotland’s monarch was using the title “Rex Scotorum et Britanniarum” on official documents.  A century and a half before that, David I upon his accession to the throne promulgated a codification of Scottish law called Leges inter Brettos et Scottos (Laws of the Brets and Scots) that lasted until they were discontinued by Edward I after his victory in the First War of Scottish Independence.

In the early records, the kingship of Dal Riata did alternate back and forth between the descendants of Comgall, the elder son of Domangart mac Fergus Mor, and those of his younger brother Gabran. By the 7th century, the Cenel Comghall’s fortunes had apparently receded and the Cenel Loairn moved much more to the forefront, more often occupying the seat of kingship than Cenel nGabhrain. 

However, only a few chiefs in Dal Riata were strong and capable enough to be recognized as sovereign over all the various Cenels, the first being Aedan mac Gabhrain (574-606) and the next being Ferchar Fada of Cenel Loairn (680-697) although it is possible that Fergus Mor mac Erc (d. 501) also achieved this recognition; these were, in fact, the only overkings to achieve that goal in any realistic definition.

Even the alleged member of that dynasty who Middle Age geneaologists claimed was the first king of the Scots and Picts, Kenneth I (Cinaed) mac Alpin, reigned as Rex Pictorum from 848 CE, as did his successors until 900 CE.

Constantine (Causantin) mac Aeda, who took the throne that year, ruled as “King of Alba” ”, the Pictish name for the country, rather than “King of Picts”, as did his own successors to the time of David I. 

And speaking of David I, contrary to popular belief it was neither he nor his father Malcolm III who first introduced Norman lords into the Lowlands and Highlands of Scotland, but the reputed last of the Gaelic kings himself, MacBethad mac Findlaech, predecessor of Malcolm III.

Around this time, the title of Mormaer appeared, probably of Pictish rather than Gaelic origin, since the word itself is not Gaelic. Mormaers appear to be roughly the equivalent of Anglo-Saxon Earls at the time when the kingdom of England was composed of four earldoms: Northhumbria, Mercia, Wessex, and East Anglia. 

Mormaerdoms of the kingdom of Alba included: Moray (Moireabh, sometimes still called Fortriu), Fife (Fibh), Buchan, Marr, Angus (Oengus), Mearns (Magh Geighinn, or Circinn), Atholl (Ath Fodhla), Caithness (Cait), Strathearn (Strath Eireann), Lennox (Lemnaig), Menteith (Teadhaich), and Ross (Ros), even the later Carrick (Carraig) and Dunbar (Din Baer); the title is still used in Irish annals for Robert the Bruce as Earl of Carrick in the 14thcentury. 

Other provinces mentioned, without giving the men who ruled them the title of Mormaer, include Forthriff, Gowrie, Galloway (Gall-ghaidheal), the Isles, and Orkney, the latter of which may have had a Mormaer separately from Caithness.

The reason I mention the Mormaers is because Irish annals cite three of them as dying in battle during a war between rival kings in the north of Ireland. In addition, Malcolm (Maelcoluim) II, king of Alba at the time, sent a sizable contingent to fight with Brian Borumha, High King of Ireland, (to whose daughter he was married) at the Battle of Clontarf in 1014. 

Brian styled himself in Latin “Imperator Scotorum”, or Emperor of the Irish, Scotorum being the name by which the inhabitants of both Alba and Ireland were known at the time. 

Among those Malcolm sent were Domnall, his son and heir, and several Mormaers, two of whom died along with his son; the heads of all three served as part of the honour guard on the High King’s bier carried from the battlefield to Armagh (Ard Macha) for the funeral and were subsequently buried with him, in the style of ancient Irish kings.

After Malcolm II, with the death of his son at Clontarf, the Cenel Connaill came to power as Kings of Alba in the person of Duncan (Donnchaidh) mac Crinan, his son-in-law. The Cenel Connaill, called the Kindred of St. Columba in Scotland, had first come to that country when St. Colmcille, or Columba (Crimthann mac Felimid of Cenel Connaill), established the great abbey of Iona in the 6th century. 

Colmcille was held as the patron saint of Alba, as well as of Dal Riata, until the Pictish king Nechtan mac Dargart of 696-706 changed the patron to St. Peter, which was changed to St. Andrew in 820 by Oengus II mac Fergus, brother of the Causantin who founded the church at Dunkeld (Dun Chaillean) and moved Alba’s share relics of St. Colmcille there, the remainder going to Kells.

The Cenel Connaill shared an ancestor with some of the kings of Dal Riata, the Cenel Loairn, for Loarn himself was great-grandfather to St. Colmcille as much as Conall Gulban, his daughter having married the latter’s son, Feidlim. 

The Cenel Connaill and the Dal Riata remained close allies until 637, when the king of Dal Riata, Domnall Brecc (629-642), crossed the Irish Sea to fight alongside the Cruithnic Dal nAraide against the forces of the High King, who also happened to be head of the Cenel Connaill.

After the primacy was moved from Iona to Dunkeld, the abbot became more and more a temporal lord as well as an abbot. By the time of Duncan’s father Crinan, the comarbha of St. Colmcille, head of the Kindred of St. Columba in Scotland, was Abbot of Dunkeld, Mormaer of Atholl, Abthane of Dull, Kirkmichael, & Madderty, and Seneschal of the Isles.

After Duncan was killed in battle near Inverness, the throne of Alba was assumed by MacBethad mac Findlaech of Moray, who previous to this was referred to as King of Moray and King of Fortriu in Irish annals of the time.

The rulers of Moray had broken from the kings of Alba at Scone in the time of Malcolm I (942-954) and held their territory more or less independently since that time, and may have even held sway over Buchan and Marr.

There was, however, apparently still some acknowledgement of the king at Scuin since MacBethad received Duncan at Inverness, the capital of Fortriu and of Moray since ancient times, at least back to the days of Bridei mac Maelchon, to whom Columcille travelled to get permission for his abbey to remain. 

Macbethad was the great-grandson of the Morgan who initiated the break. His father, Findlaech mac Ruadri (d. 1020) and his father’s successor, Malcolm mac Maelbride (1020-1029), as rulers of Moray were both called King of Alba in the Irish annals; Gillecomgan mac Maelbride (1029-1032), who succeeded Malcolm, was called merely Mormaer of Moray; Macbethad (King of Moray 1032-1057) was his successor; Lulach mac Gillecomgan (1057-1058) was also called King of Alba; Maelsnechtai mac Lulach (1058-1085), his immediate successor in Moray, King of Moray, as are his successors down to Oengus, grandson of Maelsnechtai, who died in 1130 during the invasion of the south.

Traditionally, Kenneth I mac Alpin, who, until recently, was held to be the first king of the Scots and the Picts, was thought to be a member of the Dal Riata dynasty of the Cenel nGabhrain, and was said to have moved the seat of the Picts from Inverness to Scone because of the depredations of the Norse. 

However, since the rulers of Moray continued with Inverness as their seat, this explanation, while still possible, seems more and more implausible, especially in light of the fact that claims he moved St. Colmcille’s relics to Dunkeld have been shown to be false. 

Furthermore, given the existence of the historical district of Gowrie between Perth and Dundee, belonging to Atholl but just across the Firth of Tay from Fife, it’s possible that either the Cenel nGabhrain by the time of Kenneth I had moved east, or even that the Cenel nGabhrain always existed in the east.

The annals do, in fact, identify the "sons of Connad Cerr (mac Connaill; d. 629)" of Cenel nGabhrain with the men of (Fife) Fibh, in contrast to the main line of Cenel nGabhrain, whose territory lay in Kintyre. What’s more, all of the locations identified with Kenneth I mac Alpin—Scone, Forteviot, St. Andrews, Dunkeld—are within Atholl. 

It is entirely possible that the junior line of Cenel nGabhrain, having married into the dynasties which ruled Atholl and Fife separately or together, stepped into the vacuum left by the deaths of so many leading men of Fortriu and Dal Riata in the northern battle against the Vikings in 839.

The story about how Kenneth I invited all the Pictish nobles to a banquet and massacred them has been so disproven by so many and so well that only its falsehood needs to be mentioned here. 

Pictish dynasties ruled Mormaerships and smaller territories well into the High Middle Ages; indeed, Garnait of Mar was one of Robert the Bruce’s strongest supporters. The families of Brodie, MacRae, MacMillan, Buchan, Erskine, Rattray, Forbes, Urquhart, Mackenzie, Nicholson, Matheson, MacLaren, Balquhidder, Tyrie, Logie, Glencairie, Burie, Strathearn, and MacLeish all have Pictish roots.

The Cenel nGabhrain and their rivals the Cenel Loairn had long fought over the kingship of Dal Riata. According to legend, the Cenel nGabhrain married into the southern Pictish royal house while the Cenel Loairn moved north up Glen Mor and married into the house of the rulers of Fortriu/Moray. 

Given the proven falsehood of the other stories, it seems possible a member of a relatively minor Dal Riatan dynasty may have have married into a southern Pictish dynasty and that upon his succession Kenneth I switched the seat of the kingdom of the Picts to Scone because that was his base of power already.

The power of Fortriu had been shattered at the battle against the Norse in which both Eoghan mac Oengus of the Picts and Aed mac Boanta of Dal Riata, along with a large part of their forces, had been killed in 839, leading to ten years of civil strife that allowed Kenneth I to seize power.

The possibility of this conclusion becomes more likely when you take into account the fact that the latest reliable reference in the annals to a King of Dal Riata from the Cenel nGabhrain is of the death of Eochaid mac Eochaid in 733 CE, which, by some coincidence, is the very year that Dal Riata were allegedly divided into two separate kingdoms, the western of which fell under the dominion of Indretach, king of the Cruithni tribe Dal nAraide, who later took the surname O’Lynch.

The Dal Riata in Antrim were ruled directly by the O’Quinns of Cary in the Glens of Antrim. The O’Quinns later lost their claims by marriage to a Scoto-Norman exile named John Bisset, whose heirs became MacKeown, who in turn and by the same way lost to the MacDonnells of Antrim, a branch of the great Clan Donald of the Isles.

If true, this might explain the long-standing rivalry between the kings in the south and the rulers of the north, which continued until the time of David I, who killed the remaining members of the dynasty and broke up the territory.

The claims of the northern line, by the way, were continued by MacWilliams claimants, who were descended from a daughter of Oengus, King of Moray, married to William fitz Duncan, son of Malcolm III Ceannmor mac Duncan, until the last of their number, an infant girl, had her brains bashed out publicly in 1230 by the head of the Scoto-Norman House of Comyn.

Godfraidh mac Fergus, of the southern Ui Neill Clann Cholmain of Midhe (rivals of their cousins, Sil Aeda Slaine of Brega) and likely part Norse himself, became about this time Ri Innes Gall, or King of the Foreigners’ Isles (the Hebrides, or Eilean na Bride).

Godfraidh was the probable ancestor to the Kings of Man and the Isles who ruled the Hebrides until the time of Somerled, who married the daughter of the heiress of Kintyre (Ceann Tir), and used that as a platform to conquer their kingdom. 

Somerled became the ancestor, in the male line, of the Clan Donald, the Clan Dougall, and the Clan Ruari.

The Cenel Connaill families in Scotland include Wemyss (senior line of Clan Duff), Camerons, Dunbars, Moncreiffes, Robertsons, MacDuffs, Mackintoshes, Scrymgeours, Spens, Abernethys, Bannermans, Syrases, Scotts of Balweary, Duffs of Muldavit, Shaws, Farquharsons, McCombies, and MacThomases.

The Cenel nEoghan are represented in the Clan Rose, who are connected to the O’Cahans of Tyrone, the Clan Ross (who descend from the O’Beolains of Cenel nEoghan, abbots of Applecross and comharbas of St. Maelrubha), and the O’Briodys of the Isles, who are a branch of the ecclesiastical O’Brollaghans of Cenel nEoghan.

There are claims that the Cenel nGabhrain survives in the groups of clans known as the Siol Alpin (Clan Gregor, Clan Grant, Clan na Aba or Macnabs, Clan Ferguson of Strachur, Clan Kersey, Clan Fingon or Mackinnons, Clan t’Saoir or Macintyres, Clan Duffie or Macfie, and Clan Guaire or Macquarrie). However, strong claims have lately been made that these clans descend from the Pictish inhabitants of the western Highlands and/or the Cenel Loairn.

From the Cenel Loairn are supposedly descended the Ui Duibhne/Campbells (who are demonstrably a Scoto-Norman house in the male line), MacArthurs, MacGillivrays, MacInneses, MacNachtans, Clan Chattan (MacPhersons, Davidsons, Cattanachs, MacBeans), Camerons, MacMartins, MacGillonies, and MacSorleys. 

The chiefs of the Camerons, also a branch of Clan Duff, married into the Cenel Loairn clan descended from Gilleoin of the Aird which also includes the MacMartins, MacGillonies, and MacSorleys. 

The Ui Duibhne, into which the Scoto-Norman Campbells (de Campo Bello) married, were the junior branch of the Siol Diarmid, of which the MacArthurs were the senior branch, though their premier position had already been lost to the O’Duins before the coming of the Campbells. 

According to the Senchus fer n-Alban, Cenel Loairn was further subdivided into Cenel Shalaig, Cenel Cathbath, Cenel nEchdach, and Cenel Murerdaig.

The Clan Aodh, or Clan Morgan, i.e. the Mackays, descend directly from the MacHeths and MacWilliams of the High Middle Ages whose ancestor of the Clan Duff (from Alexander, or Aodh, first Abbot of Abernethy) had married into the old House of Moray, making them descendants of both the Cenel Connaill (in Scotland) and the Cenel Loairn.

The Cenel Comghall survive as the Siol Gillivray, and are descended from the marriage of Aedh Androdhan O’Neill of Airghialla to the heiress of Cenel Comghall around the year 1100 CE. The Cenel Comghall/Siol Gillivray includes MacLachlan, Lamont, MacSorley, MacNeill of Barra, McNeill of Gigha, MacEwen, MacSweeney of Donegal, MacSween of Skye, MacQueen of Strathdearn, and Macleay/Livingstone.

The Cenel Baodan of Morvern, descended from a younger son of Cenel Loairn, became known as Clan Gilleoin from the 13th century after Gille Eoin of the Battle Axe, and moved from Morvern to Mull, with branches in Duart, Lochbuie, and Urquhart (the latter of which joined the Clan Chattan confederation).

Of the Cenel nOengusa, supposedly descended from Oengus Mor mac Erc, nothing is known other than that they had lands in Islay and Mull; perhaps Godfraidh mac Fergus was one of their number.

The Cenel Conchride also lived on Islay, descended from Conchriath mac Bolc mac Setna mac Fergus Bec mac Erc.

The Scots in the east also migrated west prior to the Plantations, including entire clans being set up, most notably in the MacKeowns (descended from the Bissets of Scotland) and MacDonnells of Antrim (a branch of Clan Donald), the MacSweeneys of Donegal (one of the Siol Gillivray clans), the MacSheehys of Desmond in Munster (another branch of Clan Donald), the MacCoys of Moylurg in Connaught (a branch of Clan Aodh/Clan Morgan), and a MacGuaire clan related to the Macquarries of Ulva. 

Individuals and small groups no doubt also made the move, all before the 1600’s.
Interestingly, Ranald the Wise, Jarl of More, was father of both Rolf the Granger, Count of Rouen, ancestor of the Dukes of Normandy, and Einar, ancestor of the Norse Jarls of Orkney and Earls of Caithness who were closely related to the Kings of Dublin and Kings of Man and the Isles. 

Therefore the Normans rulers, at least, were closely related to at least a part of the people whom they later subjugated, though the greater part of the Viking invaders who settled Normandy were Danes as opposed to Norse, with a few Swedes in the mix, even some Orcadians and Hiberno-Norse. The colonization, however, was spread thin over a population mostly of local origin.

The region of France that later became Normandy had been a quasi-independent state ruled from Noviodunum (Soissons), by two successive Roman magisters militum of Gaul, Aegidius and Syragius, from 457 to 486 CE. Saxons raiders and Frankish invaders had only sparsely settled Normandy, and most inhabitants were descendants of the original Gaulish tribes who lived in the area, with some spillover from Armorica (Gaulish: Aremorica), which came to be known as Brittany. 

Under the Franks, the area of the later Normandy was called Neustria. Before the Roman conquest, the area had been the seat of the kingdom of the Suessoines which straddled the English Channel.

Speaking of Brittany, two of its traditional provinces bear witness to its immigrants of the Early Middle Ages: Dumnonie and Cornouaille. In addition, another of its traditional regions, Vannetais, is called Gwened in Breton.

In modern times, Irish immigrants to Scotland are Irish-Scots. Conversely, Scottish immigrants to Ireland may be called Scots-Irish, but this term is usually reserved for those who immigrated to Ireland during the Plantation period, at first meaning strictly the Scots, but later including English and Welsh too, if they fell under the Dissenter (non-Anglican) umbrella. 

The Protestant Ascendancy, or Anglican Ascendancy in later terms, wore the term Anglo-Irish, meaning those who came over during the Plantations. The earlier wave of invaders/immigrants from the island to the east fall in the category of Hiberno-Normans, though many were of Flemish or Welsh origin as well as Cambro-Norman. 

In Northeast Ulster, many now prefer the term Ulster-Scots to Scots-Irish, and both are used colloquially to refer to Protestants there as a group.

“Green Irish” is a term sometimes used for Catholics and/or nationalists/republicans, while “Orange Irish” is a term sometimes used for Protestants and/or unionists/loyalists.  “Black Irish” is a term originating in Canada, the designation “Black” being a diminuitive form of “Blackfeet”, the term given by the Catholic terror group Whiteboys to fellow Catholics who did not boycott Anglo-Irish business and/or the Ascendancy government. It is a pejorative reference in the same vein as the epithet “souper” for those converted to Protestantism during the Great Potato Famine in order to be fed.

Prior to the large influx during the Potato Famine, all newcomers in America from the island of Ireland were simply referred to as “Irish”, regardless of their origin or religion in the home country. Even later this was often the case, so the Protestant John Henry “Doc” Holliday of post-bellum West fame was regarded as much Irish as his cousin and love interest the very Catholic Mattie Holliday, who later became Sister Mary Melanie of the Sisters of Mercy.

The star-crossed Doc and Mattie were the inspirations respectively for Margaret Mitchell’s Rhett Butler and Melanie Hamilton Wilkes in her epic novel,Gone With The Wind. Both were Mitchell’s cousins by marriage.

Many today lament the partition of Northeast Ulster (aka Six Counties, aka Northern Ireland) from the Republic, but historically Ulster has never really been a part of the rest of Ireland at any time, at least not in the past two millennia. 

At one time, the area (as well as Connacht) was literally and physically separate from Ireland: along with the north part of the island of Britain from the mouth of the River Tyne to the Solway Firth, it was once part of the Laurentian craton that now forms most of North America.

The afore-mentioned Attacotti were most likely dispossessed tributary tribes (Aithechthuatha in Irish), mostly from Munster, referred to in some annals as the Deisi (Deisi Mumhan, Deisi Tuisceart, Deisi Becc, & Deisi Temro, not to mention the group who bequeathed their name to Dyfed). 

Anthropologists once thought that the modern Irish Travellers (Pavees in Shelta) are the direct descendants of these Attacotti/Deisi,  In fact, DNA analysis shows that the Irish Travellers originated as a population from different groups in the mid-17th century, around the time of or just after the Confederation Wars.  The nearly identical in culture Tinkers/Travellers/Summer Walkers of the Scottish Highlands (Ceardannan in Gaelic) are similarly descended from likewise dispossessed crofters and clansmen. The name Tinker, also applied sometimes to Irish Travellers, is derived from the Gaelic word “tincuer”, which literally means “craftsman”, and is also the English translation of “Ceardannan”, their name in Scottish Gaelic.

“Irish” groups in Britain

Ulaidh in Novant (Rhinns of Galloway) & Mann
Dal Riata (Earra Gaidheal)
Ath Fodhla
Eoghanachta Magh Geirginn
Strath Eireann
Gowrie
(Cenel n)Oengus(a)
Lemnaig
Laighin in Lleyn
Feni in Gwynedd
Deisi in Dyfed & Brycheneoig
Eoghanachta in Dumnonia
Ui Liathin in Dumnonia
Cenel Eoghan
Cenel Connaill
Airghialla
Corcu Loigde (in Alba; aka Dairine, of Ptolemy)
Ui Bairrche (Irish Brigantes) in Alba

“British” groups in Ireland

Galeion/Galenga of northern Leinster
Gangani of Munster (Gangani in North Wales)
Ui Bairrche of Leix (Brigantes)
Coraind of Sligo (Corieltauvi)
Cuirenrige of Wexford (Corieltauvi)
Dal Cuirind of Wexford (Corieltauvi)
Fir Manach of Fermanagh (Manapii)
Builg/Fir Bolg of Cork (Belgae)
Fir Domnan of Connachta (rel. to Damnonii & Dumnonii)

“Pictish” groups in Ireland


Fineachan of Ulster (Venicones)
Dal nAraidi of Ulster
Ui Eachach Cobo
Connaill Muirtheimhne
Cenel Foghartaigh
Loigis
Sogain
Fothairt
Caerini

“Belgae” in the Pretanic Isles
Atrebates
Menapii
Ambiani
Suessiones
Belgae

Kingdoms of Y Hen Gogledd

Ystrad Aeron/Strath Eireann (?-?)
Gododdin (420-638)
Din Eidyn (545-638)
Manaw (?-?)
Alt Clut/Ystrad Clud (410-1124)
Novant/Wyr Enouant (535-1025)
Caer Guendoleu (505-573)
Rheged (450-616)
Argoed (535-613)
Ebrauc (420-580)
Bryneich (420-c. 600)
Deifr (420-559)
Pennines (470-525)
Dunoting (525-595)
Peak (525-590)
Elmet (470-617)

Urban centers of Y Hen Gogledd

Din Eidyn (Edinburgh)
Caer Eidyn (Carriden)
Din Guardi (Bamburgh)
Dinas y Brython (Dunbarton)
Din Paladur (Traprain Law)
Din Baer (Dunbar)
Din Gefron (Yeavering Bell)
Caer Ligualid (Carlisle)

The Delbhna

At one time a major power in the island, this population was broken into several parts and scattered across central Ireland. What makes this group interesting to me is (1) the MacConroys are my ancestors and (2) the Dealbhna are according to legend descended from Delbaeth mac Ogma of the Tuatha De Danaan, the race of gods driven underground, literally, by the Milesians.

Delbaeth mac Ogma is the same as Tuireann, the Irish god of thunder, and Ogma, his father, is/was god of eloquence, inspiration, language, magic, music, physical strength, poets, and writers.

1. Delbhna Tir Dha Locha (of the Two Lakes), or Delbhna Feadha (of the Heather), were based in the area of Co. Galway between Lough Corrib and Lough Lurgan (Galway Bay).  Their chiefs took the surname MacConraoi, or MacConroy, later Anglicized to King.  The MacConraoi held Gno Mor while their cadets, O'hEanna or O'Heney, held Gno Beg, but in the annals MacConraoi is always styled Ri (King of) or Tighearna (Lord of) Thira Da Locha.  As chiefs of the name they were styled Mac Mheic Con Raoi.

2. Delbhna Cuile Fabhair once held Maigh Seóla, the area east of Lough Corrib in County Galway, until conquered by the Ó Flaithbertaighs/O’Flahertys (and who were in turn later driven into Connemara, where they became known as Kings of Iar Connacht). Their chiefs took the surname O'Fathairtaigh or Faherty

3. Delbhna Nuadat, or Delbhna Ui Maine, were lords of a large section that is now Athlone in Co, Roscommon, situated between the Suck and Shannon Rivers. From the early historic era they were a subject people of the Ui Maine.  Their chiefs took the surname O'Flannagain or Flannagan

4. Delbhna bEthra may have once formed a single kingdom with the Delbhna Nuadat until subjugated by the Ui Maine. By the late 5th century they had fallen under the control of the Uí Néill.  Their chiefs took the surname MacCochluinn or Coughlan, and their territory was what is now Garrycastle in Co. Offaly

5. Delbhna Mor were located in what is now Devlin in Co. Westmeath.  Their chiefs took the surname O'Finnallain or Fenelon.

6. Delbhna Bheag, or Delbhna Bec, were based in what is now Demifore in Co, Westmeath.  Their chiefs took the surname Ua Maoilchallan, or Mulholland.

7. Delbhna Sith Neannta ruled over the area now called Fairymount in Co. Roscommon.  Their chiefs took the name O'Laoghog or Logue.

8. Delbhna Teannmhagh, or Delbhna Iarthair Mhidhe, at one time controlled what is now Rathconrath in Co. Westmeath.  Their chiefs took the surname Ua Scolaidhe or O'Scully.

The Dal Riata dynasties/tribes in Argyll

Corcu Reti
            Cenel nGabhrain (Kintyre)
            Cenel Comgaill (Cowall)
                        Clann Connad Cerr (Fibh)
            Cenel nGarnait (Skye)
            Cenel Conaing (Mull)
Cenel Chonride (Islay; short-lived)
Cenel nOengusa (Islay; poss. Dal Fiatach related to Ui Ibdaig)
Cenel Loairn (later Fortriu/Moireabh)
            Cenel Shalaig (Nether Lorn)
            Cenel Cathboth (Mid Lorn)
            Cenel nEchdach (Upper Lorn)
            Cenel Baetain (Morvern; aka Clann Gilleion)
            Cenel Murerdaig

Alex Woolf has demonstrated that by the time of Malcolm II, Cenel nGabhrain had moved to Gowrie and Forthriff, Cenel Loairn to Fortrenn-Moray (marrying into the remnants of the Eoghanachta Maigi Dergind or E. Magh Geirginn), Cenel nOenghusa to Circinn, Cenel Comghaill to Strathearn, and Cenel Conaing to Marr and/or Buchan.  Meanwhile, the more temporal branch of Cenel Connaill in Scotland had by this time long taken over Atholl and Fife.

Fortuatha:

The Fortuatha were descended from older populations dominant in Ireland in pre- and proto- historic times.  Many of these, like the Debhna above, were themselves divided into a number of sub-groups, often widely dispersed.  They were “kingdoms not ruled directly by members of the dominant dynasty of a province” (Francis John Byrne) and/or “people belonging to a different stock from that of the rulers of the territory” (T.F. O’Rahilly).  Their fortunes varied, some being classed as Aithechthuatha.

  1. Calraige, found mostly in northern Connacht but also in Cos. Westmeath and Longford
  2. Ciannachta, originally from Mumha, found in Brega, Tir Eoghain, and Co. Louth
  3. Ciarraige, several branches in Laighin, Connacht, and Mumha
  4. Conmaicne, several branches, all in Connacht
  5. Corca Fhir Tri, found in northern Connacht
  6. Dal Messin Corb, former rulers of Laighin
  7. Dartraighe, found in Co. Monaghan
  8. Delbhna, several branches, see their section above
  9. Deisi, mentioned briefly above, there were several branches
  10. Forthairt, found under this name in several branches in Laighin
  11. Gailenga, found in Connacht and Brega
  12. Grecraige, found in coastal Co. Clare and Coolavin in Co. Sligo
  13. Luighne, originally from Brega, migrated to north central Connacht
  14. Masraige, from Magh Slecht in Co. Cavan
  15. Osraighe, a small semi-independent kingdom between Laighin and Mumha

21 February 2012

Timeline of the Pretanic Isles, in context

The Pretanic Isles include Britain, Ireland, Mann, Angelsey, the Hebrides, the Orkneys, the Shetlands, the Channels, the Friesans, and others.  This outline is an attempt to put events in those Isles into context of other events in the world throughout history.

13,800,000,000 BCE - The Big Bang creates the Universe and all that is in it.

13,200,000,000 BCE - The Milky Way galaxy is born.

4,560,000,000 BCE - The Solar system forms from the collapse of a giant molecular cloud.

4,540,000,000 BCE - Planet Earth, aka Terra, forms from one of the plantessimals drawn into Sol's gravity well.


4,100,000,000 BCE - Earliest discovered life on Terra arise through abiogensis at the cusp of the Hadean Eon with the Eoarchaean Era.

3,900,000,000 BCE - The microplanet Theia collides with Terra and disintegrates, creating the satellite Luna out of a mixture of material from both Terra and Theia.

612,000,000 BCE - The Laurentian craton rises above the Great Ocean and remains today the oldest dry landmass on Terra.

540,000,000 BCE - The microcontinent Avalonia breaks off of supercontinent Pannotia.

425,000,000 BCE – The islands of Great Britain and Ireland are formed by the collision of Laurentia and Avalonia.  On Great Britain, the divide is roughly the same as that later followed by Hadrian’s Wall, while on Ireland the divide roughly corresponds to that between Ulster-Connacht and Leinster-Munster.

950,00,000 BCE - Members of the race Homo antecessor make their home on the island of Britain.

700,000 BCE – Connected to the Continent by a land bridge, the Isles are inhabited by representatives of Homo erectus.

500,000 BCE – Representatives of Homo bodoensis arrive in the Isles.

210,000 BCE – Representatives of Homo neanderthalensis arrive in the Isles.

130,000-60,000 BCE – No evidence of human occupation of the Isles.

70,000 BCE – The Topa supervolcano erupts, plunging temperatures world-wide for centuries.  Human population is reduced to possibly as low as 15,000 individuals.

41,000-24,000 BCE – Aurignacian Culture; Homo sapiens first enter Europe.

31,000-22,000 BCE – Gravettian Culture spreads across Europe.

8500 BCE – Reoccupation of the Isles by Humans begins, this time by representatives of H. sapiens.

8000 BCE – The end of the last Great Ice Age.

6200 BCE – The Storegga Slide off the coast of Norway causes a tsunami that destroys Doggerland, the land bridge connecting the island of Great Britain with France, the Netherland, northwestern Germany, and Jutland.

6000-2500 BCE – Holocene Climatic Optimum.

4200 BCE – First Indo-Europeans migrate from the Eurasian Steppe into the Danube Valley.

4000-2000 BCE – Neolithic Age in the Isles.  It was during this time that the great complex at Stonehenge was built.  Beginning with this era and lasting until the end of the Bronze ages of both Britain and Ireland, barrows of various types are used for burials.  In Irish Gaelic, these structures are called Sidhe, in Scottish Gaelic this becomes Sith.

4000 BCE – Mass migration of Early European Farmers (80%) and Western European Hunter-Gatherers (20%) into Britain.

3200 BCE – Stonehenge is first erected in the Preseli Hills of Wales with bluestone monoliths taken from a nearby quarry.

3150 BCE – Upper and Lower Egypt are first unified under the Pharoah Menes.

2800-1800 BCE – Bell Beaker Culture in Great Britain and Ireland.

2800-2300 BCE – Bell Beaker Culture in Continental Europe.

2800 BCE – Stonehenge is dismantled, transported to Wiltshire, and re-erected on Salisbury Plain.


2700-1450 BCE – The Minoan civilization on Crete dominates the eastern Mediterranean.

2686-2134 BCE – The Old Kingdom period in Egypt.

2500-2000 BCE – The Copper Age in the Isles.

2500 BCE – Proto-Indo-Europeans of the Yamnaya culture, the Kurgans of the Pontic steppes of Russia, begin flooding into Central Europe.

2400 BCE – Immigration of pastoralists of Steppe ancestry into Britain, eventually displacing up to 90% of the existing population of the island.

2200-750 BCE – The Bronze Age on Great Britain.

2030-1640 BCE – The Middle Kingdom period in Egypt.

2000-500 BCE – The Bronze Age on Ireland.

1800-1600 BCE – The Unetice Culture in Central Europe.

1800 BCE – Beginnings of Mayan civilization.

1700 BCE - The Battle of Tailtiu in which the Milesians under Erimon mac Mil Espaine, Eber Finn, and Amergin Gluingel defeat the Tuatha De Danaan under Ethur Mac Cuill, Tethur Mac Cecht, and Cethur Mac Graeine, after which the latter are driven underground to dwell in the Sidhe, or barrows, of Eire, where they become the Daoine Sidhe under the kingship of Manannan mac Lir, according to the Lebor Gabala Erenn.

1620-1530 BCE – Hyksos rule in Egypt.

1600-1200 BCE – The Tumulus Culture in Central Europe.

1595-1180 BCE – The Hatti Empire in Anatolia and the Levant.

1550-1069 BCE – The New Kingdom period in Egypt.

1500-400 BCE – Olmec civilization in Mesoamerica.

1450 BCE – A natural disaster believed to be the eruption of the Thera volcano on Crete destroys the seat of Minoan civilization, giving birth to the legend of Atlantis.  Knossos enjoys a brief hegemony before being conquered by the rising power of Mycenae.

1300-700 BCE – Atlantic Bronze Age in western France, Great Britain, Ireland, and Iberia.

1206-1150 BCE – Collapse of the Late Bronze Age civilizations such as Mycenaean Hellas, Hatti Empire, Kemitic Empire, Cyprus, Mesopotamia, Amurru, and Ugarit.  Southern Kana’an becomes deserted except for Philistia on the coast.

1200-539 BCE – The merchant-warriors of the coastal city-states of Kana’an, from Arvad in the north to Ashekelon in the south, dominate the Mediterranean region culturally and economically, including giving the world the alphabet.  Including Byblos, Tyre, Sidon, Beirut, Tripoli, Haifa, and Jaffa, among others, this collection of coastal city-states come to be referred to as Phoenicia by outsiders.

1200-700 BCE – The Urnfield Period on the Continent; proto-Celtic culture.

1194-1184 BCE – The Trojan War of the Achaeans of Mycenean Hellas (Greece) against the Wilusa confederation in Anatolia at the south side mouth of the Dardanelles Strait, with its seat at Troy, or Illion.  The Fall of Troy at the end of the war.

1000-1 BCE – The Early Woodland Period in North America.

1000-875 BCE – Peak immigration of proto-Celtic speakers into Britain, confined genetically to southern Britain, though their language and culture spreads across the islands.

860-800 BCE - Reign of Leir, son of Bladud and great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Brutus, great-grandson of Aeneas of Troy, as King of Britain, according to Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regnum Britanniae.

831 BCE – The city of Qarthadast (Carthage, or New City) is established by colonists from the Kananayite city of Tyre.

800-475 BCE – The Halstatt Period on the Continent; early classic Celtic culture.

800-300 BCE – The Golasecca Period in northern Italy.

753 BCE – Foundation of the village of Roma by Latins in Italia.

750-43 BCE – The Iron Age on Great Britain.

722 BCE – The Assyrian Empire conquers the Samaritans and the Philistines.  Refugees flood into southern Palestine, inhabiting it in large numbers for the first time in more than five centuries.

714 BCE – According to tradition, the Laws of the Fenechas (Landtillers), or Brehon Laws, are first gathered into one body this year by order of Ard Ri na Eireann Ollamh Fodhla and govern all Ireland until the English Conquest and Ulster and Connacht until the 17th century.

700-450 BCE – The Hallstatt Culture in Central Europe.

678-549 BCE – The Median Empire in Iran, southwestern Central Asia, northern Mesopotamia, eastern Anatolia.

650 BCE – Warriors from southern Kana’an establish a military colony on the island of Yeb (Elephantine) in Kemi, complete with a fully functioning temple to Yahu and Anath, presided over by a high priest of the Zadokite dynasty, which sits side-by-side with the Kemitic temple to Khnum.

600 BCE - Greeks from Phocaea establish the city of Massalia (Marseilles) and ally with the Roman Republic for defense and trading, eventually becoming a main point of contact between Gaul and Rome.

590 BCE – Establishment of the Republic of Roma.

586 BCE – The Chaldean Empire conquers the Southern Levant and establishes Yehuda Medinata, the “province of Yehud” in Aramaic, named after the range of hills called Har Yehuda (“mountains of the gorges”) by the locals.

549-336 BCE - The Achaemenid Empire in Greater Iran and beyond, with Aramaic as its official language.

549 BCE - Koroush conquers the Median Empire and unites it with his own.  One of his first acts is to severely restrict the power of the Zoroastrian Magi, though it is during the Achaemenid dynasty that classical Zoroastrianism makes great headway.

547 BCE – Iran conquers Ionia in western Anatolia.

539 BCE – Iran conquers Phoenicia, Yehud, and Samaria.

500 BCE-400 CE – The Iron Age on Ireland.

499-449 BCE – Greco-Persian Wars.

450-1 BCE – The La Tene Period on the Continent; high classic Celtic culture.

401-399 BCE – Journey of the Ten Thousand back to Hellas after the death of Cyrus the Younger at the Battle of Cunaxa, as recorded by Xenophon.

400 BCE-1521 CE – Zapotec civilization.

387 BCE – The Gaulish Senones under Brennus invade Italia seeking land and defeat the Romans at the Battle of the Allia.  They subsequently sack Roma.

334-323 BCE – Conquest of the Achaemenid Empire by Alexander the Great of Macedonia, including the Levant, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Iran, Bactria, and northern India.

332 BCE – Alexander conquers Syria, Palestine, Phoenicia, and Kemi.  In Kemi, he founds the city of Alexandria, which has a large Jewish section from its very beginning, two of the five districts of the city.

330 BCE – The Achaemenid dynasty falls to Alexander.

325 BCE – Pytheas of Massalia (Marseilles) becomes the first to mention the “Pretanic Isles” by name; he refers to the island of Great Britain as “Albion” and Ireland as “Ierne”.

322-172 BCE – Wars of the Diadochi, the successors of Alexander.

321-63 BCE – The Seleucid Empire in Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, Iran (until thrown out by the Arcasids), and Central Asia (until the rise of Greco-Bactria).

320-185 BCE - The Maurya Empire in northern India, officially Buddhist after the conversion of Ashoka, who ruled 273-232, though it tolerated all religions.  Ashoka sent out missionaries as far east as China and as far west as Egypt.

305-30 BCE – The Ptolemaic Empire in Egypt and the Levant.

300 BCE-325 CE - Dominance in the Mediterranean and Southwest Asia of Hellenistic philosophy: Pythagoreanism, Sophism, Cynicism, Cyrenaicism, Platonism, Peripateticism, Skepticism, Epicureanism, Stoicism, Electicism, Hellenistic Judaism, Neopythagoreanism, and Plotinism.
281 BCE – Gauls under Brennus invade Greece.

270 BCE – Gauls from the Balkans settle Galatia.

264-241 BCE – First Punic War, between the republics of Qarthadast and Roma.

256 BCE-650 CE – Greco-Buddhism in Central Asia influences philosophy and religious thought over a wide range, west to the Mediterranean and east to China along the Silk Road.

256-125 BCE - Greco-Bactrian Kingdom in Central Asia.

250 BCE-400 CE – The Roman Warm Period.

247 BCE-224 CE - The Arsacid Empire in Iran.  Parthian is its official language and classical Zoroastrianism its officially supported religion, but again tolerance is also official.  Many aspects of the culture take on Hellenistic themes.

238 BCE – The Roman Republic establishes the province of Gallia Cisalpina in northern Italy.  The province is later divided into Gallia Cispadana, between the Rubicon and the Po, and Gallia Transpadana, between the Po and the Alps.

221 BCE – The Qin dynasty first unifies China.

218-201 BCE – Second Punic War.

218 BCE – Roma begins the long conquest of Hispaniae.

204 BCE-216 CE - The Great Hun Empire, between Siberia, the Pacific Ocean, Tibet and Kashmir, and the Caspian Sea.

192 BCE – The Romans conquer the last part of Gallia Cisalpina.

180-125 BCE - Graeco-Indian Kingdom in the northern Indian subcontinent.

168 BCE – Greece falls to the armies of Roma and Hellas becomes Graecia.

150 BCE-300 CE - Peak of the Mediterranean/Southwest Asian Mystery Cults, including the mysteries of Isis (Serapis), Eleusis (Demeter and Persephone), Orpheus, Dionysus, Mithras, Cybele (Attis), Sabazius (Thrace), Adonis (Syria, Palestine), and Iesous (Alexandria).

149-146 BCE – Third Punic War.

135-132 BCE - First Servile War against the Roman Republic, led by Eunus.

118 BCE – The Roman Republic establishes the province of Gallia Transalpina in southeastern Gaul, known in Rome as Provincia Nostra and outside Rome as Provincia Romana, whence the name of the French region of Provence.  The province is later known as Gallia Narbonensis.

104-100 BCE - Second Servile War against the Roman Republic, led by Salvius.

100 BCE-650 CE – Civilization of Teotihuacan in the Valley of Mexico.

100 BCE-300 CE - Eire's Heroic Age.

73-71 BCE - Third Servile War against the Roman Republic, led by Spartacus.  It was defeated by Marcus Licinis Crassus, with some assistance from Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus.  Crassus' legions capture 6,000 surviving rebels and crucify all of them along the Appian Way from Roma to Capua.

60 BCE – Conspiracy of Dumnorix of the Aedui, Casticus of the Sequani, and Orgetorix of the Helvetii to seize control of Gaul and rule it as a triumvirate, beginning with the migration of the Helvetii to southwestern Gaul (Gallia Aquatanica) from Switzerland.  The plans for the triumvirate are aborted after the Helvetii learn of them, but two years later they attempt the relocation, instigating Caesar’s invasion.

58 BCE–50 BCE – The Gallic Wars of Imperator Gaius Iulius Caesar and Legatus Titus Atius Labienus, during which he not only conquers all of Gallia Comata, but also invades Britannia and Germania.  Caesar's initial motive is to get himself out of debt.

56 BCE – Caesar conquers the Veneti, the dominant Gaulish tribe of the Armorican peninsula.

55 BCE – Caesar’s first invasion of Britannia. 

At this time, Eire is divided into five provinces, or coicids:  Midhe, Ulaidh, Ol-nEchtmachta, Laighin, and Mumhan.

54 BCE-428 CE – A branch of the Arsacid dynasty rules the kingdom of Armenia.

54 BCE – Caesar’s second invasion of Britannia, to which the chief resistance is led by Cassivellaunus of the Catuvellauni.  He sets up Mandubracius of the Trinovantes as a client of Rome and makes the Catuvellani a tributary state.

Indutiomarus of the Treveri, rival to the king Cingetorix, instigates the uprising of the Belgae under Ambiorix of the Eburones.  Indutiomarus dies in battle, but Ambiorix destroys the enhanced Legio XIV Gemina (15 cohorts) under legati Quintus Titurius Sabinus and Lucius Aurunculeius Cotta at the Battle of Atuatuca.  Rome immediately reconstituted the legion.

The revolt ends in 53 BCE with the destruction of the Eburones as an entity and the flight of Ambiorix and his men east over the Rhine.  Many of the other Belgic leaders cross the Channel to take refuge in Britain.

53-52 BCE – The Galli rise up under Vercingetorix, first and only King of the Galli.  The Battle of Lutetia on the plain of Garanella.   The Battle of Gergovia.  The Siege and Battle of Alesia.

After this, the only action in the Gallic Wars is mopping up, which continues until the outbreak of the Roman Civil War in 50 BCE.  Gaul is divided into three provinces: Gallia Celtica (later Gallia Lugudensis),
Gallia Belgae, and Galla Aquitania (plus Gallia Narbonensis)
.

One of the leaders of the Galli, Commius of the Atrebates, escapes to Britain, where he establishes himself as king of the Atrebates there.

49-45 BCE - Great Roman Civil War, between Caesar's Populares and Pompey's Optimates.

43-33 BCE - Government of Roma by the legally-recognized (Second) Triumvirate made up of Gaius Iulius Caesar Octavius, Marcus Antonius, and Marcus Ameilius Lepidus.

43-42 BCE – Liberators Civil War, of the Triumvirate against Marcus Iunius Brutus and Gaius Cassius Longinus.

36 BCE - Lepidus is expelled from the Triumvirate, left with only the title Pontifex Maximus.  Octavius has control of Gallia, Hispania, Italia, and Africa, while Antonius controls Aegyptus, Graecia, Asia, and Syria.

32-30 BCE – Anthony’s Civil War, of Octavius against Antonius and Cleopatra VII Philopater of Aegyptus.

30-29 BCE – Revolt of the Treveri and the Morini with German help.

27 BCE-284 CE - The Principate period of the Imperium Romanum.

27 BCE - The Senate of Roma grants Octavius the cognomen of Augustus and he adopts the title “princeps senatus, princeps civitas”, making him the first emperor and changing the Roman Republic into the Imperium Romanum.

The population of the city of Rome at this time is one million.

22 BCE – Roma divides Gallia Comata into the provinces of Gallia Aquitania, Gallia Lugdunensis, and Gallia Belgica.

21 BCE – Revolt of the Treveri under Julius Florus and the Aedui under Julius Sacrovir.

20 BCE – Tincomarus succeeds his father Commius as King of the Atrebates in Britain and becomes a client of the Roman Empire.

19 BCE – Gaius Iulius Caesar Octavius Augustus finishes the conquest of Hispaniae.

16 BCE – Octavius Caesar Augustus establishes the city of Augusta Terverorum (now the German city of Trier) as the capital of the province of Gallia Belgica.  The city later became the second capital of the Gallic Empire 271-274, served as a seat of the western emperor 293-395 and as seat of the Praetorian Prefecture of Gaul 318-407.

12 BCE-100 CE - The Buddhist Indo-Parthian Kingdom in roughly the same area as modern Pakistan.

1 BCE-500 CE – The Middle Woodland Period in North America.

1 CE – Conchobar mac Nessa reigns as high king of the Ulaidh at Emain Macha, Setanta Cu Chulain mac Sualtam is his champion, and Ailill and Medb of the Ol-nEchtmachta in Cruachain are his chief rivals.  The island of Ireland is at the time dominated by the Fir Domnann and the Osraige in the southeast, the Fir Mumhan in the southwest, the Fir Ol nEchmachta in the west, and the Ulaidh in the north.

9 CE – Battle of Teutoburg Forest, in which the army of Legatus Publius Quinctilius Varus (three legions, three alae, six auxiliary cohorts, plus cavalry) is destroyed in the forests east of the Rhine River after being ambushed by German (Cherosci, Marsi, Bructeri, Sicambri, Suebi) warriors led by Arminius of the Cherusci.  After this disaster, Rome never again uses the designations Legio XVII, Legio XVIII and Legio XIX.

10 CE – By this time, Cunobelinus rules over both the Catuvellani and the Trinovantes; Suetonious calls him Britannorum Rex.

Hellenistic domination of Central Asia and northern India ends.

30-375 CE – The Kushan Empire dominates northern India and Central Asia, a branch of the Yuezhi confederation.

36 CE - According to the Ecclesiastical Annals of Caesar Cardinal Baronius, Joseph of Arimathea lands this year at Glastonbury in southwestern Britannia, with passengers that include Mary the mother of Jesus, the apostles Philip and James bar Alphaeus, Lazarus, Mary, and Martha of Bethany, Marcella the handmaid, Mary wife of Clopas, Salome, Maximin, Eutropius, Cleon, Saturninus, Marial, Trophimus, and Sidonius.

40-43 CE – The Two Trung sisters liberate the Vietnamese people from their domination by the Empire of China.

40 CE – Caratacus son of Cunobelinus overthrows Verica, another son of Commius, and adds the Atrebates to his kingdom.  Verica takes refuge in Rome, and this ultimately leads to the Claudian invasion.

42 CE - Imperator Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus establishes the Classis Britannica at Bononia Gesoriacum (Boulogne-sur-Mer) in preparation for the invasion of Britannia.

43 CE-84 CE – The Roman conquest of Britain.

43 CE – Beginning of the Roman conquest of Britannia, under Claudius Augustus, with Legio II Augusta, Legio IX Hispana, Legio XIV Gemina Martia Victrix, and Legio XX Valeria Victrix.  The territories under the power of the Catuvellauni are the first to fall, and become the nucleus of the new provincia of Britannia, with its first capital at Camulodunum, formerly the seat of the subdued Catuvellauni and before that of the Trinovantes.  Verica is restored as king of the Atrebates, but is soon succeeded by his son, Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus, who rules over the Regni, a people carved out of the original territory, with the two others bearing the names Atrebates and Belgae.  Besides these and the Catuvellauni, the provincia includes the Cantiaci and the Trinovantes.  Legio XX is based in the capital.

48-216 CE - The Western Hun Empire in Central Asia, under the overlordship of the Chinese Empire.

60 CE – Legatus Gaius Suetonius Paulinus, legatus Augustus pro praetore (propraetor) of Britannia, destroys the druidic school and sacred groves on Ynys Mon (Anglesey) in an attempt to eradicate their influence.

The Boudican revolt of the Britonici led by the Iceni queen Boudica begins.  Three Roman towns are entirely destroyed and 50,000 colonists killed, nearly convincing Imperator Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus to abandon Britain, but Boudica’s army is annihilated at the Battle of Watling Street the following year.  Camulodounum is rebuilt as Colonia Claudia Victricensis and the capital of the province is moved to the also newly rebuilt commercial center on the Thames, Londinium.

66-73 – The Great Jewish Revolt.  Imperator Titus Flavius Caesar Vespasianus Augustus takes Jerusalem in 70 and utterly destroys it, including the Temple Mound, which is completely dismantled.  Masada falls in 73.

66 – Legio XX Victrix Valeria occupies Virconium Cornoviorum (Wroxeter, Shropshire).

67 – Legio XIV Gemina is recalled to the Continent in anticipation of the invasion of Parthia which never launches, but stays nonetheless.

70 – The Revolt of the Batavi (in Germania Inferior), which is joined by the Treveri under Julius Classicus and the Lingones under Julius Sabinus.

71 – Legio IX Hispana builds the fort at Eboracum which becomes its base.

73 - The temple built by former Jerusalem high priest Onias IV in Leontopolis in Aegyptus is destroyed because Vespasian fears it may become a center of dissent.

74 – Legio II Adiutrix begins building the fort of Deva Victrix (Chester, Cheshire).

75 – Legio II Augusta Antonina, previously at Alchester (43), Waddon Hill (49), Isca Dumnoniorum (Exeter, 55), and Glevum (Gloucester, 66), takes up quarters at Isca Augusta (Caerleon).

79-81 – Roman legions construct what is now called Dere Street from the fort at Eboracum to what is now Carmond village northwest of Edinburgh at the mouth of river Almond, a site possibly called Alaterva.  The road was used into the Late Middles Ages, the portion from Melrose to Ediburgh  known in Scotland as the Royal Way.

80 – Gnaeus Julius Agricola, propraetor of Britannia, reaches the River Tay and begins building a legionary fortress at Inchtuthil, which he plans to be the largest in the Imperium Romanum, and other fortifications north of the River Forth and River Clyde.

83 – Battle of Mons Graupius between the Romans under Agricola and the Caledonii under Calgacus.  Agricola marches as far into the north as Cawdor, where his troops build a fort, then orders his praefetus classis to sail around the north end of the island.

According to 18th century forger Charles Bertram, upon his return to Londinum, Agricola names the new territories (north of the firths) Vespasiana, but the work in which he made this claim, De Situ Britanniae, was proven a hoax in the 19th century.

The Battle of Mons Graupius marks the end of the conquest of Britain, and with all the territory south of the Solway and Tyne pacified, the native Britonici are organized into civitates based on the tribes

Atrebatum (Calleva/Silchester)
Belgarum (Venta/Winchester)
Brigantum (Isurium/Aldborough)
Cantiacorum (Durovernum/Canterbury)
Cornoviorum (Viroconium/Wroxeter)
Dobunnorum (Corinium/Circencester)
Dumnoniorum (Isca/Exeter)
Icenorum (Venta/Caistor)
Regnensium (Noviomagus/Chichester)
Silurum (Venta/Caerwent)
Catuvellaunum (Verulamium/St. Alban's)
Durotrigum (Durnovaria/Dorchester)
Parisorum (Petuaria/Brough)
Demetarum (Moridunum/Carmarthen)
Carvetiarum (Luguvalium/Carlisle)
Corieltavarum (Ratae/Leicester)
Ordovicarum (Segontium/Caernarfon)
Deceangliarum (Canovium/Caerhun)

In addition to the capitals of the civitates, four coloniae are established: Camulodunum (Colchester), Lindum (Lincoln), Glevum (Gloucester), and Eboracum (York).

Beginning of the uprising of the Aitheachtuatha in Ireland.  Battle of Tara; Agricola sends a unit of Auxiliae to Eire in support of the deposed Tuathal Techtmar. 

85 - The main base of the Classis Britannica is moved to Dubris (Dover).

87 – Legio II Adiutrix is recalled to the Continent to take part in the Dacian wars and becomes permanently stationed there.

88 – After returning south from Agricol’s campaign in the north, Legio XX Valeria Victrix takes up its base at the recently vacated Deva Victrix.

100-940 – Aksumite Empire on the west coast of the Red Sea, which in the 4th century is one of the four great powers of the world, the others being the Imperium Romanum, the Sassanid Empire, and the Empire of China.

115-117 – The Kitos War.  Revolt of the Jews in Cyrenaica, Aegyptus, Cyprus, and Mesopotamia.  It is quelled by Lusius Quietus, procurator of Iudea.  Contemporary sources report that Libya is virtually depopulated by slaughter and evacuation.   The Jewish quarter in Alexandria is completely destroyed at the end of the uprising.

117 – The Legio IX Hispana marches into the Highlands and disappears.

119 – Imperator Caesar Traianus Hadrianus Augustus relocates Legio VI Victrix Hispanesis Pia Fidelis Constans Britannica from Germania Inferior to northern Britannia, stationing it as Eboracum. 

122-157 – Reign of Conn Cétchathach as Ard Ri Eireann.

122-128 – Hadrian's Wall is built from the mouth of the River Tyne to the Solway Firth, originally anchored in the east by Pons Aelius (Newcastle-upon-Tyne) and in the west by Luguvalium (Carlisle), until it is extended to the fort of Segedunum (Wallsend) in the east and the fort of Mais (Bowness-on-Solway) in the west.  A total of twenty-five forts in all support the Wall.

132-135 – The Bar Kokhba War.  It begins after Imperator Publius Aelius Trajanus Hadrianus Augustus begins building Aelia Capitolina in placed of Jerusalem, destroyed in the Great Jewish Revolt, in 130. 

After the war’s conclusion, Hadrian merges all the provinces in the area as Syria-Palestina and finishes the building of Aelia Capitolina.  The new city includes a freshly rebuilt Temple Mount with a wall around it and temples to Jupiter (later claimed as the site of the Temple of Herod) and of Juno and Minerva (later claimed as the site of Herod’s Royal Stoa) atop it.  Nearby is a grotto to Venus (later claimed as the Holy Sepulchre), a shrine to Asclepius (later claimed as the pool of Bethesda), and a temple of Mercury (later claimed as the Upper Room).  Meanwhile in nearby Bethlehem, the cave later claimed to be the site of the Nativity serves the same function for followers of the god Mithras.

142-144 – The Antonine Wall is built between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde, with eleven forts along its length.

150 –  The population of the Imperium Romanum at this time is between 65 million and 130 million persons, 21% to 40% of the world’s total population of an estimated 300 million.

155-158 – Revolt in Britain led by the Brigantes results in depletion of the legions to the extent that replacements have to be transferred from the Rhine provinces.  After the rebellion is completely put down, the Brigantes find themselves bereft of their lands and with no monarch.

164 – The Romans abandon the Antonine Wall and fall back to Hadrian’s Wall.

175 - Imperator Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Augustus stations a unit of 5500 Sarmatian cavalry, Cuneus Sarmatarum, in Britannia at Bremetennacum.  Veterans are noted in the area as late as the 5th century.  No connection to the Roman commander Lucius Artorius Castus, Praefectus Castrorum of Legio VI Victrix at Eboracum.

180 – The Caledonii (Coille Daon) cross over the Antonine Wall to attack the Romans and stir up trouble among the Maetae.  Imperator Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus Augustus sends Lucius Ulpius Marcellus as propraetor to deal with the situation.

184 – Following a ruthless campaign north of the Antonine Wall, the legions rise up against Marcellus and Commodus over the former’s mistreatment of them, putting forward one “Priscus” as emperor, who declines.

185 – Marcellus is removed and replaced as propraetor of Britannia with Publius Helvius Pertinax, a former tribune of Legio VI Victrix.

192-1832 – The kingdom of Champa dominates modern southern Viet Nam.  At first Hindu, the kingdom becomes Muslim after the Dai Viet invasion of 1471.

192 – Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Commodus Antoninus Augustus is assassinated and Publius Helvius Pertinax, then urban prefect of Rome, is proclaimed his successor.

193 – After a brief reign of 87 days, Imperator Caesar Publius Helvius Pertinax Augustus is assassinated, after which Lucius Septimus Severus, legate of the Legio XIV Gemina Martia Victrix, is proclaimed emperor by his troops.  Meanwhile, the legions in Britanniae proclaim Decimus Clodius Albinus, propraetor of Britannia, emperor, but he ends up throwing his support to Severus to defeat the other two claimants, Marcus Didius Iulianus and Gaius Pescennius Niger.

196 – Albinus, still propraetor of Britannia, declares himself Imperator Caesar Decimus Clodius Septimius Albinus Augustus and invades Galliae in a revolt against Imperator Lucius Septimius Severus Augustus.

197 – Severus Augustus defeats Albinus at the Battle of Lugdunum.  He sends Virius Lupus as chief governor of Britannia, and he divides the single province of Britannia is divided into two:

Britannia Superior (Londinium)
Britannia Inferior (Eboracum)

Lupus arrives to find the Maeatae (Miathi) and the Caledonii have broken their treaties with Roma and begun raiding the south.  Lacking sufficient troops to halt them militarily, Lupus pays off the Maeatae, the southernmost of the two confederations, to cease.


Early 3rd century - The rise of the Connachta in the west of Ireland, displacing the Fir Ol nEchmachta and giving their name to the province.

208-211 – Severus invades the North with three legions, 9000 imperial guards with cavalry support, and numerous auxiliaries and defeats the Caledonii, who have begun another war but is eventually forced back behind Hadrian’s Wall after losing too many men to guerrilla tactics by the defeated comined with an uprising of the Maeatae.  He is preparing another invasion at Eboracum in 211 when he dies.

c. 220 - The Eóganachta dynasty is established in Mumhan.

224 – The Arsacid Empire in Iran falls to the armies of the Sassanids in Fars, and the Sassanid Empire is established by Ardashir I.  Though its state religion is officially Zurvanism (a branch of Zoroastrianism), it tolerates nearly all religions.  The language of the Iranian Empire becomes Pahlavi, or Middle Persian.

226-266 – Reign of Cormac mac Airt as Ard Ri Eireann, which includes the activities of Fionn mac Cumhaill as head of the Fianna Eireann, among which is the repulsion of a Roman incursion at the Cath Finntraga.

235-284 - Crisis of the Third Century in the Imperium Romanum: the empire nearly collapses under the weight of invasion, civil war, plague, and economic depression.

250-900 – Classic period of Mayan civilization in Mesoamerica.

260-274 – The Imperium Galliarum, with its seat at Augusta Trevorum and including Gallia Belgica, Gallia Lugdunensis, Gallia Aquitania, Gallia Narbonensis, Germania Superior, Germania Inferior, Britannia Superior, Britannia Inferior, Hispania Baetica, Hispania Lusitania, and Hispania Tarraconensis, is established when Postumus rebels against Imperator Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus Augustus, son of Imperator Publius Licinius Valerianus Augustus who at the time is a prisoner of the Sassanids.

Its rulers are:

Marcus Cassianius Latinius Postumus (260-269)
Ulpius Cornelius Laelianus (269)
Marcus Aurelius Marius (269)
Marcus Piavonus Victorinus (269-271)
Gaius Pius Esuvius Tetricus (271-274)

The provinces of Hispania realigned with Rome following the overthrow of Postumus in 269.  Rome retook Narbonensis and part of Aquitania briefly that same year, but those areas were recovered by Tetricus in 271.  The entire territory returned to the Imperium Romanum in 274 after the Battle of Chalon against Imperator
Lucius Domitius Aurelianus Augustus.


260-273 - Palmyrene Empire in Aegyptus, Syria-Palestina, and southeast and south central Anatolia.

270-420 - First kingdom of the Buddhist Indo-Sassanid Kushanshahs in Bactria and Gandhara.

270 – About this time, the system of forts late known as the Litus Saxonicum (Saxon Shore) start being built, based on the system of forts supporting the Classis Britannica (the coastal patrol), at first in defense against the Frisii, for whom the North Sea is at the time called Mare Frisicum.

274 – The Imperium Galliarum is reunited with the Imperium Romanum.

284-480 – Dominate period of the Imperium Romanum, so called for Imperator Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus Augustus demanding to be addressed as Dominus, a practice every ruler after him followed. 

284-285 - First uprising of the Bagaudae, in Galliae and Hispaniae, against the imposition of feudalism and serfdom.

285 - Imperator Gaius Aurelius Valerius Diocletianus Augustus divides the Imperium Romanum into Eastern and Western halves under himself at Nicodemia in the east and Imperator Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus Herculius Augustus, the lesser of two equals, in the west at Roma.

286 – Marcus Aurelius Mausaeus Valerius Carausius, commander of the Classis Britannica, sets himself up as emperor of Britanniae and northern Galliae, a state referred to by historians as the Imperium Britannicum, taking the title Restitutor Britanniae.

293 – Diocletianus Augustus divides the Imperium Romanum into four parts, known as the Tetrarchy, two of which fall under an Imperator Augustus, and two smaller under Caesars (Marcus Flavius Valerius Constantius Herculius at Augusta Terverorum and Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus at Sirmium).  He further moves the capital of the West from Roma to Meliandum (Milan) and reduces the size of the empire’s provinces and groups them into twelve dioceses, each under a vicarius.

294 – Imperator Caesar Marcus Aurelius Mausaeus Carausius Augustus is murdered by his treasurer, Allectus, who takes his place.

296 - As part of his tax reforms, Diocletianus Augustus institutes the legal status of colonus, tying formerly free laborers to the land of the latifundia, great landed estates of conquered territory, upon which they live and work, thereby creating serfdom.

297First reference to the Picti by that name.

Imperator Caesar Allectus Augustus is defeated in battle at Cavella Atrebatum (Silchester) and killed by the Roman army and his dominions are reunited with the Empire.  Caesar Marcus Flavius Valerius Constantius Herculius Chlorus divides Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior into four new provinces, making it a diocese headed by a vicarius, under the Prefecture of Galliae:

Britannia Maxima Caesariensis (Londinium)
Britannia Prima (Corinium)
Britannia Secunda (Eboracum)
Britannia Flavia Caesariensis (Lindum)

The governor of the first is a consularis, of the other three are praesides.

Britannia Maxima covered the densely-populated southeast; Britannia Prima roughly what became Wales and Dumnonia; Britannia Flavia the area of the later Mercia; and Britannia Secunda  the later part of Northumbria south of Hadrian’s Wall.  In addition, Londinium, the capital of the diocese as well as of Britannia Maxima, is renamed Augusta, though the designation never gained widespread usage.

In the same reform, the provinces of Gaul are divided into the Diocese of Galliae (Lugdunensis I, Lugdunensis II, Lugdunensis III, Lugdunensis IV Senonia, Belgica I, Belgica II, Germania I, Germania II, and Maxima Sequanorum) and the Diocese of Viennensis or Septem Provinciae (Aquitania I, Aquitania II, Aquitania III Novempopulana, Narbonensis I, Narbonensis II, Viennensis, Alpes Maritimae, and Alpes Poeninae et Graiae).

4th century – The Connachta tribe known as the Ui Neill moves north to occupy the west and north of Ulster.

305 – About this time a group of Deisi establishes a colony among the Demetae; a group of Laighin is granted land in Lleyn peninsula; and the Eoganachta are given lands in the later Ceredigion (under Lethan), Dumnonia (under Corpre), and Circinn in the north (under Fidig).  The Ui Laithin have a colony in Dumnonia.  A group of Ui Bairrche settle in Scotland.

305-306 – Constantius Chlorus Augustus crosses north of Hadrian’s Wall to campaign in the Lowlands north of the Antonine Wall, accompanied by his son Flavius Valerius Constantinus.

306-324 - Civil Wars of the Tetrarchy.

306 – Constantius Chlorus Augustus dies at Eboracum and his son is proclaimed Imperator Caesar Flavius Valerius Constantinus Augustus, known to history as Constantine the Great, by his troops.

313 – The Tetrarchy system falls, leaving Constantine sole emperor, though the system of smaller provinces grouped into twelve dioceses remains intact.

315 Imperator Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustus awards himself the title of Britannicus.

320-550 – The Gupta Empire dominates the Indian subcontinent, bringing about the Golden Age of India.

325 – Constantinus Augustus Britannicus, Comes Solis Invicti, convenes the First Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church at Nicaea, which upholds Trinitarianism, sets the method of calculating Easter, and condemns Arianism.  It also issues the original Nicene Creed, recognizes the See of Alexandria as nearly equal to Roma, affirms the same for the See of Antioch but with a little bit less equality, and establishes the status of the See of Jerusalem.

326 - Cairill mac Cairbre, aka Colla Uais, Ard Ri Eireann, is overthrown by Muiredach Tirech and expelled to Alba, along with his two brothers, Aed, aka Colla Menn, and Muiredach, aka Colla Co Frith, and three hundred warriors.

330 – Constantinus Augustus establishes Nova Roma (Constantinopolis) at the site of the city of Byzantium, making it the senior capital of the whole Imperium Romanum.

331 - The Three Collas return to Ireland, defeat the last Ulaidh high king of Ulster, destroy Emain Macha, and create the kingdom of Airgialla, with the Ulaidh now confined to the northeast of their former kingdom.

335 - The First Synod of Tyre called by Constantinus Augustus tries Athanasius, now Bishop of Alexandria, on several charges, the affair presided over by Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea.   Upon conviction, Athanasius travels to Constantinopolis to appeal to the emperor, who dismisses all charges but one.  That one, however, is sufficient to depose him, and with his deposition, Arianism regains some of its position.

337 – At the death of Constantinus Augustus, the Imperium Romanum is divided into three praetorian prefectures:

Prefecture of Galliae (including Galliae, Viennensis or Septem Provinciae, Britanniae, Hispaniae, Germaniae, and Tingitana)
Prefecture of Italiae (plus the Balkans and Africa)
Prefecture of the Orient (Thracia, Anatolia, Syria-Palestina, Aegyptus, Libya).  

The Praefecti of these units have authority only over civil administration.  In addition to these regions, Roma and Constantinopolis each have their own Praefectus. 

The Magister Militum per Galliae reports to the Magister Utriusquae Militiae, who answers to the western Augustus.  The military in the field is restructured too.

In the Diocese of Britanniae, there are three commands, who officially report to the Magister Militum per Galliae:

Comes Maritimi Tractus, under whom are Legio II Augusta, now at Ritupiae (Richborough), plus limitanei that include 3000 foot and 600 horse

Dux Britanniarum, under whom are Legio VI Legio VI Victrix at Eboracum, plus limitanei that include 14,000 foot and 900 horse

Comes (Rei Militaris) Britanniae, under whom are Legio XX Valeria Victrix at Deva Victrix, plus comitatenses that include 2200 foot, 200 horse

The Comes Maritimi Tractus supervises shore defense of both sides of the Mare Britannicum (English Channel) and also has under his command the Classis Britannica, which is based at both Dubris (Dover) in Britanniae and at Bononia Gesoriacum (Boulogne-sur-Mer) in Galliae.

The Classis Germanica, based at Castra Vestra (Xanten) then at Colonia Aggrippensis (Cologne), mostly patrols the Rhine River, but also the coast at its mouth on the Mare Frisicum (North Sea) under commanders in Galliae.

347 - The vicarius of Britanniae sets up a laeti colony of Frisii that later becomes known as Caer Peris or Dun Fries.

350-353 – Revolt of Flavius Magnus Magnentius, who usurps Imperator Caesar Flavius Julius Constans Augustus, actively supported by Britanniae, Galliae, and Hispaniae.

351-352 – Revolt of the Jews in Galilee against Caesar Flavius Claudius Constantius Gallus.

356 – The Imperium Romanum carves the Prefecture of Illyricum (Illyria, Dalmatia, Graecia, and Dacia) largely from Italiae.

357 – Maine Mor establishes in Ol-nEchtmachta the kingdom later known as Ui Maine.

360-363 - The reign of Imperator Caesar Flavius Claudius Iulianus Augustus, known as Julian the Apostate, the last pagan ruler of the Imperium Romanum.

360 - The Scoti and Picti raid the diocese of Britanniae.

363 – Iulianus Augustus orders the temple in Jerusalem to be rebuilt, but the effort fails largely due to sabotage by Christians, ambivilance by Jewish leaders in Palestina, and his own death in battle against the Sassanids in Iran.

364 – Raiding of the diocese of Britanniae by the Picti, Saxonici, Scoti, and Attacotti.

Imperator Caesar Flavius Jovianus Augustus orders the Library of Antioch burned and decrees the death penalty for ancestor worship and for taking part in any pagan ceremonies, even private ones.  He also forbids non-Christians from commanding Roman soldiers.

366 – Damasus I, Bishop of Roma, convinces Imperator Caesar Flavius Valentianus Augustus to give him the title Pontifex Maximus, becoming the first Pope in the modern sense of the word.

Second uprising of the Bagaudae, in Galliae, against feudalism and serfdom, in conjunction with an invasion of the Alemanni.

367-369 – War against the confederation of the Picti, Attacotti, and Scoti attacking Britanniae and the Saxonici and Franci attacking  northern Galliae.  At this time, Roman sources report the Picti have consolidated into two known confederations, the Verturiones and the Dicalydones, though a third likely exists in the far north dominated by the Catti.

It begins after the Roman garrisons along Hadrian’s Wall rebel in conjunction with native frontier troops known as areani; northern and western Britanniae are overwhelmed.  In the midst of the chaos, Valentinus and other exiles begin planning a revolt.   In the fighting both Nectadarius, Comes Maritimi Tractus, is killed, and Fullofades, Dux Britanniarum, captured.  The “Great Conspiracy” is finally defeated by a force under Flavius Theodosius, Comes Rei Militaris per Britanniarum.  Afterwards, Theodosius disbands the areani and organizes a new civil administration.

369 – An additional province, Valentia, is added to the Diocese of Britanniae in the north, its governor a consularis.  For centuries, general hypothesis held this to be in southern Scotland between the Walls, with its seat at Habitanicum (Risingham, Northumberlandshire) on Dere Street, or else at Luguvalium (Carlisle).  Since the late 20th century, dissenting opinions have suggested it was rather in Wales, with its seat at Deva, or else covered Cumberlandshire-Westmorelandshire, with its seat at Luguvalium.

Either at this time or shortly after, a sixth province likely existed in the Orkney Islands, called Orcades.  At least one source claims that the Lowlands north of the Antonine Wall was called Vespasiana Thule with the Highlands designated as Caledonia.

375-454 - European Hun Empire in southern Russia, Ukraine, Romania, northern Yugoslavia, Hungary, Austria, Czechoslvakia, southern and central Germany.

376-1022 - The Ui Neill rule as Ard Ri Eireann/Ri hEireann Uile, with the exception of the two decades of Brian Borumha.

376 – Death of Crimthann mac Fidaig, first of the great raiding Ard Ri Eireann who prey on the Pictii, Britanniae, Armoricae, and Galliae; succession of Niall Noígíallach, son of previous Ard Ri Eochaid Mugmedón and Cairenn Chasdubh, daughter of the Pictish king of Fortrenn, or Uerturio, at Inverness.  His half-brothers Brion, Ailill, and Fiachrae found dynasties in Ol-nEchtmachta, which takes their family name, Connachta.

380 - The Edict of Thessalonika, issued jointly by Flavius Theodosius Augustus, Flavius Gratianus Augustus, and Flavius Valentianus Augustus, makes Nicene Christianity the official religion of the Imperium Romanum.

381 – The Second Ecumenical Council at Constantinopolis condemns Apollinarianism and approves additions to the Creed to bring it to its present form and make it the Niceno-Constantinopolan Creed.  It mainly reaffirms the “official” Church’s anti-Arianism, but also recognizes the primacy of the See of Constantinopolis over any other save Roma.

382 – Third wave of raiding by Scotti, Pictii, and Saxonici.  Aed Brosc of the Deisi is brought over to help repel the raids. 

After their defeat, Magnus Maximus, Comes Britanniarum, assigns praefecti gentium to commands in the north:  

Quintilius son of Clemens at Alt Clut (Dinas y Brython/Dunbarton)
Paternus son of Tacitus at Din Paladur (Traprain Law)
Catellius Decianus at Din Gefron (Yeavering Bell)
Antonius Donatus Gregorius (son of Magnus Maximus) in Novant; he later transfers to Demetia in Wales. 

Ruling dynasties later trace their descent back to these praefecti.

383-388 – Revolt of Magnus Maximus, who becomes Imperator Caesar Augustus of the West.

383 – Comes Maximus establishes local rulers and Roman army officers as praefecti gentium across the later Wales.  Fed up with Imperator Flavius Gratianus Augustus favoring his Alani troops, the legions in Britanniae declare Maximus emperor.  Maximus crosses to the Continent and defeats Gratian when most of the latter’s forces change sides in the battle.  Now Imperator Flavius Magnus Maximus Augustus establishes Augusta Trevorum as his capital.  First wave of Britonici colonists to Armorica.

The deposed emperor, son of Imperator Flavius Valentinianus Augustus (Valentinian I), was named for his grandfather, Gratianus Funarius, who served as Comes Britanniarum in the 340s during the reign of Imperator Caesar Flavius Iulius Constans Augustus.

384 – On the northern coast of his native Gallaecia, Maximus Augustus establishes a military base that later becomes the foundation of the Britonic colony of Nova Britannia, or Britonia.

385 – Maximus Augustus has Priscillian executed for sorcery, though the true reason is for heresy.

387 – Maximus Augustus issues an edict condemning Christians who burned down a Jewish synagogue in Rome, for which he is criticized by St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan.  Maximus then invades Italia, captures Milan, and forces out junior emperor of the West Flavius Valentinianus (Valentinian II).

388 – Maximus is defeated by the forces of Valentinian II and Imperator Flavius Theodosius Augustus of the East (and son of the former Comes Britanniarum of the same name) at the Battle of Poetovio.  Surrendering at Aquileia, he is executed.


389-395 – Theodosian War on Paganism in the Imperium Romanum.

391 - The Theodosian Decrees outlaw several pagan religious practices.  The eternal fire at the temple of Vesta is extinguished and the Vestal Virgins disbanded.  The Serapeum in Alexandria, chief temple of the syncretic god Serapis, is destroyed completely by a mob of Christians inspired by a decree from Pope Theophilus, Bishop of Alexandria.  The mob also destroys the Musaeum of the city with its Great Library of Alexandria.

392 - Theodosius Augustus closes the sanctuaries of Demeter and Persephone at Eleusis, bringing the ancient Eleusinian Mysteries to an end.

393 - The last of the ancient Olympic Games, banned after this year by decree from Theodosius Augustus, who shuts down the Oracle of Delphi as well.

395 – Following the death of Imperator Caesar Flavius Theodosius Augustus in 395, the Imperium Romanum is once again split into Eastern and Western halves, only this time the division is permanent.

At this time, the office of Comes Maritimi Tractus becomes the Comes Litoris Saxonici per Britanniae, with responsibilities limited to the British side of the Mare Frisicum.  This is also the case for the Classis Britannica.

Across the Mare Britannicum, two new commands now guard the coasts of Armorica, Nervica, and Belgica Segunda.  The territory of the Dux Belgicae Secondae is limited to the province of the same name but includes the Classis Sambricae, based at Quartensis (Étaples-sur-Mer) and Cap Hornu (Saint-Valery-sur-Somme).  The territory of the Dux Tractus Armoricani et Nervicani includes Lugdunensis II, Lugdunensis III, Lugudnensis IV Senonia, Aquitania I, & Aquitania II.

396-398 – Stilicho’s Pictish War, named for Flavius Stilicho, the first Comes et Magister Utriusque Militiae.


397 - Death of St. Martin of Tours, who becomes one of the most important saints in Celtic Christianity.

400-1000 – The Medieval Cool Period.

400-800 – The Golden Age of Eire.  Learning, art, literature, culture, international influence reach its peak.

400 – Comes Stilicho orders Hadrian’s Wall repaired.

Early 5th century - Niall of the Nine Hostages, progenitor of the Ui Neill, establishes himself at Tara as the first true High King of Ireland along with Meath as a province.


402 – Flavius Stilcho, Magister Utriusquae Militiae, withdraws some legions from Britanniae to face the Gothi in Italiae.  Meanwhile, Imperator Caesar Flavius Honorius Augustus moves his seat from Meliandum to Ravenna for defensive purposes.

405 – Fourth wave of raiding by Scotti, Pictii, and Saxonici.  The Dal Riata, pressured by the Ulaidh who are retreating before the northern Ui Neill, begin to colonize Earr a’ Gaidheal. 

Death of Niall Noígíallach, Ard Ri Eireann, ancestor of the Ui Neill dynasty and second of the great raiding High Kings; succession of Feradach Dathi mac Fiachrae, his nephew.

406 – In response to the invasion of Galliae by the Suebi, Alani, Vandali, and Burgundi, the legions of Britain revolt and nominate a usurper named Marcus as emperor.

407 – Marcus is killed by his troops and replaced with Gratian.  Gratian is killed by the troops because he would not order them to cross over to Galliae to stop the “barbarians”.  The troops in Britanniae then nominate Flavius Claudius Constantinus, who moves to Galliae with the remaining legions.

409-417 - Third uprising of the Bagaudae, in the lower Loire Valley, against feudalism and serfdom.

409 – The Vandali, Buri, Suevi, and Alani ravage the Diocese of Galliae until driven into Iberia by the Visigothi.  The tribes establish kingdoms that are Arian rather than Catholic.

The Saxonici begin raiding the shores of Britanniae and Armorica in large numbers.  Cut off by the chaos, the people of Britanniae and of Armorica appeal to the central government for assistance.  Imperator Caesar Flavius Honorius Augustus tells them to attend their own affairs; therefore, they expel their imperial officials and declare independence.

410-650  - Sub-Roman Britain's Heroic Age.

410 - Coelistius, aka Coel Hen, assumes control of the North, the area known to the Cymry as Hen Ogledd, its people as the Gwyr y Gogledd.

Ceretic (Coroticus) Guletic, possibly a descendant of Quintilius ap Clemens, establishes the kingdom of Alt Clut (later Ystrad Clud, Strathclyde, Cumbria; Strað-Clota to the Angles), with its capital at Dinas y Brython (Dunbarton).

The kingdoms of Cernyw in the west and of Ewyas in the east are established among the Silures in what is now southeastern Wales, the first with its seat at Venta Silurum (Caerwent).

There are Irish incursions into Venedotia, Cornovia, Siluria, Demetia, and the Gower Peninsula.

The Visigothi under Alaric invade Italia and sack Roma.  Among other damage, they destroy significant parts of the aqueduct system of the city and other infrastructure.

411 - Capture at Arles of Capture at Arles of Imperator Caesar Flavius Claudius Constantinus Augustus, last emperor from Britanniae, who is executed at Ravenna soon afterward.

411-429 – Raiding of Britanniae by Pictii, Scotti, and Saxonici.

413 – Pelagian heresy said to begin.

415 - Mathmetician and widely-respected pagan philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria, daughter of Theon Alexandricus, the last director of the Great Library, is pulled from her chariot, stripped naked, dragged through the streets of the city to the Caesareum, where she is flayed with sea shells, dismembered, and burned by a crowd inspired by St. Cyril of Alexandra.

Honorius confiscates all pagan temples in the Imperium Romanum.

417 – The revolts in Armorica and Britanniae are suppressed, followed by the return of some level of imperial presence in both regions.

418Descendants of Antonius Donatus establish a sub-Roman kingdom in Wyr Enouant (Novant), the area of later Galwyddel or Galloway.

Ynys Weith, or the Isle of Wight, is given to a group of Geatish settlers as foederati.  They establish Vectis, becoming the Wihtwara.

Pelagian “heresy” outlawed in Roma after it is condemned at the Council of Carthage and the decision affirmed by Pope Zozimus, but in Britanniae and Hibernia, along with Gaul, enjoys much support from “pro-Celtic” faction.  Traditionalists support Roma.

Imperator Caesar Flavius Honorius Augustus grants his Visigothi allies land in Aquitania to settle as foederati.  Thus begins the kingdom of the Visigoths, which since the Visigoths were converted to that faith in the mid-300's is Arian, at least among the gentry.

420-567 - Hephthalite, or White Hun, Empire in Bactria, Gandhara (northwestern India), and Central Asia.

420Death of Coel Hen.  The lands of his office divide into the kingdoms of Gododdin (at Din Paladur or Traprain Law), Bryneich (at Din Guardi or Bamburgh), Ebrauc (at Eboracum or York), and Deifr (at Petuaria or Brough).  The descendants of Coel, called the Coelingas by the Germanic invaders, rule Ebrauc and Deifr, and later Rheged, Eidyn, and Elmet.  The rulers at Din Paladur trace their line back to Paternus ap Tacitus and the rulers at Din Guardi to Catellius Decianus of Din Gefron.

The kingdom of Ceint (Cantiacum) is established.

Eógan mac Néill establishes the kingdom of Aileach (aka Tir Eogain) while his brother Conall Gulban mac Neill establishes the kingdom of Tir Conaill, both in territory carved out of Ulster.

421 - Death of Gradlon Mawr of Armorica, which is now coming to be called Brittania Minor; division of Armorica into Kernev (Cornouaille) and Domnonea (Domnonée).

423 - Birth of St. Patrick in Banna Venta Burniae (near Birdoswald).

424 – The kingdom of Ceredigion is established north of Dyfed.

425-450 – Marcus Conor Mor flourishes in Dumnonia.

425 – Flavius Aetius, the “last of the Romans”, becomes Comes and Magister Militum per Galliae.

Vortigern comes to power, possibly as head of the Council of Britain, but almost certainly as the supreme political figure.

* * * * *

Approximate date the Notitia Dignatum is published, with its account of civil government and the military accurate to between 410 and 420.

At the top of the Diocese of Britanniae was the Vicarius, whose staff included a chief of staff, a chief deputy, two receivers of taxes, a chief clerk, a custodian, a chief assistant, a keeper of records, assistants, secretaries, notaries, and the rest of the staff.

At the next level were the governors of provinces.  Those of  Britannia Prima and Valentia each had a consularis, while those of Britannia Secunda, Flavia Caesariensis, and Maxima Caesariensis each had a praesides.

In addition to reaffirming the five province structure of the diocese, the ND lists the following military commands.  In the late Roman army, a numerus was a unit of 300.  A cohort was a unit of 480.  An ala was a special cavalry unit.  The legion of the late Roman army had 1000 infantry soldiers rather than the 5000 mostly infantry supported by cavalry.

Many of the local and tribal designations along with specialized functions such as “exploratorum” and “vigilum” were traditional and may have had little to do with the actual origin, composition, and duties at this date.

The ND did not include Roman forts in Valentia, between the Walls, nor in (North) Wales, probably because, as noted above, these had previously been turned over to local rulers and Roman officers.

Each of these commanders had as adminstrative staff a chief of staff, two paymasters, an assistant, a subassistant, an accountant and legal expert, administrator, lawyers, bodyguards, and other officials.

Comes (Rei Militaris) Britanniae

Includes military command over the diocese for all Roman Britain with direct charge of the comitatus, or field army, of which are the following units.

Primani iuniores
        (legiones comitatenses; heavy infantry)
Secundani iuniores
        (legiones comitatenses; heavy infantry)
Victores iuniores Britanniciani
        (an auxilia palatinae; medium infantry)
Equites cataphractarii iuniores
        (heavy cavalry)
Equites stablesiani
        (heavy cavalry)
Equites scutarii Aureliaci
        (heavy cavalry)
Equites Honoriani seniores
        (a vexillationes comitatenses)
Equites Syres
        (mercenary cavalry)
Equites Taifali
        (mercenary cavalry)

Comes litoris Saxonici per Britanniam

Includes command over the limitanei on the southern coast of the Oceanus Britannica and the eastern coast of the Mare Frisicum.

Praefectus legionis II Augustae, Rutupis
        (Richborough, Kent)
*Praefectus classis Britannicae, Dubris
        (Dover, Kent)
Praepositus numeri Fortensium, Othonae
        (Bradwell, Essex)
Praepositus militum Tungrecanorum, Dubris
        (Dover, Kent)
Praepositus numeri Turnacensium, Lemannis
        (Lympne, Kent)
Praepositus equitum Dalmatarum Branodunensium, Branoduno
        (Brancaster, Norfolk)
Praepositus equitum stablesianorum Gariannonensium, Gariannonor
        (Burgh Castle, Norfolk)
Tribunus cohortis primae Baetasiorum, Regulbio
        (Reculver, Kent)
Praepositus numeri Abulcorum, Anderidos
        (Pevensey, East Sussex)
Praepositus numeri exploratorum, Portum Adurni
        (reconnaissance; Portchester, Hampshire)

*Not listed in the Notitia Dignatum, but then neither are the forts in Valentia and Britannia Secunda.

Dux Britanniarum

Includes command over the limitanei in Maxima Caesariensis and along the Vallum (Hadrian’s Wall), with some authority over Valentia and possibly over Britannia Secunda.

Praefectus legionis VI, Eboracum
        (York, Yorkshire)
Praefectus equitum Dalmatarum, Praesidio
        (near Bridlington, Humberside)
Praefectus equitum Crispianorum, Dano
        (Doncaster, Yorkshire)
Praefectus equitum catafractariorum, Morbio
        (Ilkley, Yorkshire)
Praefectus numeri barcariorum Tigrisiensium, Arbeia
        (South Shields, Tyne & Wear)
Praefectus numeri Nevuiorum Dictensium, Dicti
        (Old Winteringham)
Praefectus numeri vigilum, Concangios
        (“watchmen”; Chester-le-Street, Durham)
Praefectus numeri exploratorum, Lavatres
        (Bowes, Durham)
Praefectus numeri directorum, Verteris
        (“guides”; Brough Castle, Cumbria)
Praefectus numeri defensorum, Barboniaco
        (“defenders”; Kirkby Thore, Cumbria)
Praefectus numeri Solensium, Maglone
        (Old Carlisle, Cumbria)
Praefectus numeri Pacensium, Magis
        (Burrow Walls or Drumburgh)
Praefectus numeri Longovicanorum, Longovicio
        (Lanchester, Durham)
Praefectus numeri supervenientium Petueriensium, Deruentione
        (Malton, Yorkshire)

Units along the Wall:

Tribunus cohortis quartae Lingonum, Segeduno
        (Wallsend, Tyne & Wear; Segedunum)
Tribunus cohortis primae Cornoviorum, Ponte Aeli
        (Newcastle, Tyne & Wear; Pont Aelius)
Praefectus alae primae Asturum, Conderco
        (Benwell, Tyne & Wear)
Tribunus cohortis primae Frixagorum, Vindobala
        (Rudchester, Northumberland)
Praefectus alae Sabinianae, Hunno
        (Halton Chesters, Northumberland; Onnum)
Praefectus alae secundae Asturum, Cilurno
        (Chesters, Northumberland; Cilurnum)
Tribunus cohortis primae Batavorum, Procolitia
        (Carrawburgh, Northumberland; Brocolitia)
Tribunus cohortis primae Tungrorum, Borcovicio
        (Housesteads, Northumberland; Vercovicium)
Tribunus cohortis quartae Gallorum, Vindolana
        (Chesterholm, Northumberland; Vindolanda)
Tribunus cohortis primae Asturum, Aesica
        (Great Chesters, Northumberland)
Tribunus cohortis secundae Dalmatarum, Magnis
        (Carvoran, Northumberland)
Tribunus cohortis primae Aeliae Dacorum, Amboglanna
        (Birdoswald, Cumbria; Camboglanna)
Praefectus alae Petrianae, Petrianis
        (Stanwix or Wreay, Cumbria; Vxelodunum)
Praefectus numeri Maurorum Aurelianorum, Aballaba
        (Burgh-by-Sands, Cumbria)
Tribunus cohortis secundae Lingonum, Congavata
        (Kirkbride or Drumburgh, Cumbria)
Tribunus cohortis primae Hispanorum, Axeloduno
        (Maryport or Netherby, Cumbria; Castra Exploratorum)
Tribunus cohortis secundae Thracum, Gabrosenti
        (Workington or Moresby, Cumbria)
Tribunus cohortis primae Aeliae classicae, Tunnocelo
        (Bowness or near Calder Bridge, Cumbria)
Tribunus cohortis primae Morinorum, Glannibanta
        (Ravenglass, Cumbria)
Tribunus cohortis tertiae Neruiorum, Alione
        (Lancaster, Lancashire; Calunium)
Cuneus Sarmatarum, Bremetenraco
        (Ribchester, Lancashire; Bremetenacum)
Praefectus alae primae Herculeae, Olenaco
        (Elslack, Yorkshire; Olenacum)
Tribunus cohortis sextae Neruiorum, Virosido
        (Brough-by-Bainbridge, Yorkshire; Virosidum)

The following two commands of territory in Galliae formerly under the Comes Maritimi Tractus coordinate with the Comes Litoris Saxonici.

Dux tractus Armoricani et Nervicani

Includes command over the limitanei Lugdunensis II, Lugdunensis III, Lugudnensis IV Senonia, Aquitania I, & Aquitania II

Tribunus cohortis primae novae Armoricanae, Grannona in litore Saxonico
        (Port-en-Bessin, France)
Praefectus militum Carronensium, Blabia
        (Blaye, France)
Praefectus militum Maurorum Benetorum, Venetis
        (Vannes, Brittany)
Praefectus militum Maurorum Osismiacorum, Osismis
        (Brest, Britanny)
Praefectus militum superventorum, Mannatias
        (Nantes, Britanny)
Praefectus militum Martensium, Aleto
        (Saint-Malo-de-Beignon, Britanny)
Praefectus militum primae Flaviae, Constantia
        (Countances, Normandy, France)
Praefectus militum Ursariensium, Rotomagus
        (Rouen, Normandy, France)
Praefectus militum Dalmatarum, Abrincatis
        (Avranches, Normandy, France)
Praefectus militum Grannonensium, Grannona
        (Port-en-Bessin, France)

Dux Belgicae Secundae

Includes command over the limitanei in Belgica Secunda and over the Classis Sambricae.

Equites Dalmatae, Marcis in litore Saxonico
        (prob. Marck, France; Marquise or Mardyck also poss.)
Praefectus classis Sambricae, in loco Quartensi siue Hornensi
        (Port d’Etaples and Cap Hornu or Saint-Valery-sur-Somme)
Tribunus militum Nerviorum, Portu Epatiacus
        (Oudenberg, Netherlands)
Praefectus laetorum Nerviorum, Fanomantis
        (Famars, Picardie, France)
Praefectus laetorum Batavorum Nemetacensium, Atrabatis
        (Arras, Pas de Calais, France)
Praefectus laetorum Batavorum Contraginnensium in Noviomago
        (Nijmegen, Netherlands)
Praefectus laetorum gentilium in Remo et Silvanectas
        (Durocotroum Remorum, now Riennes, and Senlis, France)


427 – The Council of Britanniae appeals to Comes Aetius, but gets no support.

428 – The Council of Britanniae invites a number of Germanic foederati and laeti to aid in repelling the Scotti and the Pictii, settling them in the Dorchester-upon-Thames area. 

Death of Feradach Dathi, Ard Ri Eireann, last of the great raiding High Kings, reportedly in battle among the Alps.

429 - At the request of Palladius, a British deacon, Pope Celestine I dispatches Bishops Germanus of Auxerre and Lupus of Troyes to Britanniae to combat the Pelagian heresy.  While in Britanniae, Germanus leads the Britonici to victory near the Welsh border.

Largely due to Comes Aetius’ campaigns, the Vandali and their client Alani cross from Hispaniae into North Africa, and within ten years conquer all of Roman Africa.  Meanwhile, Aetius is made Magister Militum Praesentalis.

430-752 – The Merovingian dynasty rules the Salian Francii, then the kingdom of France.

430 – Ewyas adopts the name Gwerthefyriwg, after its king Vortimer ap Vortigern Vorteneu.

431 – St. Palladius is sent as missionary bishop to Eire, making his seat in Mumha.

The Third Ecumenical Council at Ephesus condemns Nestorianism and affirms to Mary, mother of Jesus, the title “Theotokos”.  This precipitates the Nestorian Schism, the secession of the Church in Iran and in Mesopotamia.  The Council also affirms the condemnation of Pelagianism by the Council of Carthage and Pope Zozimus of Roma.

432 - Death of St. Ninian, Bishop of Whithorn.

Comes Aetius becomes Magister Utriusque Militiae.

434 – The later St. Patrick is captured by pirates and taken to Eire as a slave.

435 - Tibatto leads Armorican movement for independence from Galliae. 

War breaks out between the Irish settlers in Garth Madrun and Powys.  Anlach of Garth Madrun is defeated and forced to send his son, Brychan, as a hostage to the Powysian Court.

Aetius is raised to the rank of Patricius.

437 – Aurelius Ursicinus appears as leader of the pro-Roman faction in Britain.  Vitalinus fights against him  at the Battle of Wallop. 

Triffyn Farfog of the Deisi takes Demetia by marrying Gweldyr, daughter of Clotri, and the kingdom takes it name from his tribe as Dyfed. 

Glywissing is founded in southern Wales.

438 – Ard Ri na Eireann Loaghaire appoints a commission to study, revise, and codify Irish law which promulgates its code of the Laws of the Fenechas three years later as the Senchus Mor (criminal code) and the Lebhar Acaill (civil code).

439 – After conquering Africa Proconsularis and completing his conquest of Roman Africa, Genseric adopts the title King of the Vandals and Alans, making his seat at Cartago, the former seat of Roman government.  The kingdom is, of course, Arian rather than Catholic.

440-450 - Civil War and famine in Britanniae, caused by Pictish incursions and tensions between Pelagian/Roman factions.  Migration of pro-Roman citizens toward west. 

440 - St. Patrick escapes from his captors and returns to Britanniae, probably to Alt Clut.

The kingdom of Caer Lundein (Londinium) is established. 

The kingdom of Caer Gwinntguic (Venta Belgarum) is established.

Glywys flourishes in Glywysion.

441 – German foederati in Britanniae rise in revolt

443 - Death of Constantine Corneu of Dumnonia.  His realm is divided between his two sons as Dumnonia (Dyfneint; Dewnans in Cornish) and Cornubia (Kernow).

446 – The Britonici appeal to Patricius Aetius for military assistance against the Pictii and the Scotti, but he has his hands full with Attila the Hun.  Vortigern Vorteneu authorizes the use of German foederati for the defence of the northern parts against barbarian attack and to guard against further Irish incursions.  The Angli are given a little land in the later that later becomes the kingdom of Lindsey (Linnuis).

447 – The second visit of St. Germanus to Britannia, this time accompanied by St. Severus, Bishop of Trier.  They lead the Britonici, aroused to heroic effort, in defeat of their enemies, the Pictii and the Scotti, expelling the Scotti  from Teyrnllwg, the mountain territory of the Cornovii, and establish the kingdom of Paganes (Powys).  Its capital is at Viroconium Cornoviorum (Wroxeter), with Catellius son of Categirn (Cadell Ddernllwg) as Tribune, is later succeeded by Bruttius, grandson of Vortigern.

St. Patrick founds the church at Ard Macha.

448-1048 – The multi-ethnic Khazar Khaganate dominates the Pontic steppe and the Caucasus Mountains.  Officially Jewish, it is an ally of the Imperium Romanum against the Sassanids and the Abbasids, and has close relation with the Jewish communities of Iran and the Levant.  During the High Middle Ages, it is second only to Al-Andalus as a center of Jewish culture but tolerates all religions, including all sects of Christianity, Islam, Zoroastrianism, and various tribal cults.

448 - Civil war and plague ravage Britain.

450In the first year of Imperator Caesar Flavius Marcianus Augustus at Constantinopolis, Hengest and Horsa arrive in Britanniae with “3 keels” of Jutish warriors, settling on the Isle of Thanet as foederati at the invitation of Vortigern and the Council of Britanniae.

The kingdom of Rheged is established by a descendant of Coel Hen, carved out of Northern Britain.  The new domain reaches from the southern border of Alt Clud to the northern border of Gwynedd.

The kingdom of Garthmadrun, later Brycheneiog, is established in what is now central Wales.

451 – The armies of Patricius Aetius and of the Visigoth king Theodoric I turn back the army of Attila the Hun in the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains.

The Fourth Ecumenical Council at Chalcedon condemns Eutychian monophysitism, affirms the dual natures of Christ, and publishes the Chalcedonian Creed.  This brings on the Chalcedonian Schism of the Sees of Alexandria, Antioch, and Armenia.

452 - Increasing Saxonici settlement in Britanniae.  Vortigern marries  Hengist’s daughter, Rowena.  Hengist invites his son, Octha, from Germania with 16 keels of warriors. 

Cunedda Wledig ap Aeternus and his retinue are transferred from Manaw to what is now northern Wales, where they drive out the Irish establish the kingdom of Venedotia, or Gwenydd (from Feni, the Irish).  Meanwhile, Germanius ap Coelistius is transferred from Gododdin to Manaw; Ochta and Ebissa, sons of Hengist, are sent to replace Germanius.

453 - Raids on British towns and cities becoming more frequent.  Increasing Saxon unrest. 

The method of dating Easter is altered by Pope Leo I.

454 – Patricius Aetius is assassinated in Roma by Imperator Caesar Flavius Placidius Valentinianus Augustus.

455Vortimer rebels against his father, Vortigern, and fights Hengist at the Battle of Crayford.  Hengist is victorious and the British army flees back to Londinium.  Vortimer relocates westward and establishes the kingdom of Caer Gloui (Glevum) around what is now Gloucester.

The troops of Geiseric, king of the Vandali and Alani, invade Italiae and sack Roma.

The Visigothi invade and conquer Hispaniae in the name of Imperator Caesar Eparchius Avitus.

456 - Battle of Aylesford (in Kent) between Hengist’s Iutae and the Britonici under Vortimer in which Catigern ap Vortigern and Horsa of Kent are killed. 

Aegidius, one of Patricius Aetius’ generals is made Comes et Magister Militum per Gallias.

St. Patrick leaves Britain once more to evangelize Ireland.

457 – Ceint falls to the the forces of Hengist and Horsa.

458-460 – Full-scale migration of British aristocrats and city-dwellers across the Oceanus Britannicus to Armorica (the “second migration”), led by Riothamus.

458 - Saxon uprising is in full-swing.  Hengest finally conquers Ceint.

Imperial forces under Nepotianus, Comes et Magister Utrusque Militiae, and Comes Aegidius invade southern Galliae and reconquer all of it except for Aquitania, which is reduced from independence to foederati status.  Their armies also defeat the Bagaudae and recover the city of Lugdunum.

459 -  The armies of Comes Nepotianus and Sunieric, Comes Rei Militaris, force the Visigothi to surrender Hispaniae except for Gallaecia.

460 – Aurelius Ambrosius, whom Gildas calls the “last of the Romans”, takes full control of Britanniae and leads the Britonici in years of back-and-forth fighting with Saxonici.  British strategy seems to be to allow Saxon landings and to then contain them there.

Comes Nepotianus and Comes Sunieric reconquer Gallaecia from the Suebi.

461 - Cut off from the Imperium Romanum by the Visigothi and Burgundi and refusing to recognize Ricimer's puppet imperator, Comes Aegidius establishes an exclave of the empire in northern Galliae later called the Kingdom of Soissons, with its seat at Augusta Suessionum (formerly Noviodunum).  It remains in regular contact with pro-Roman elements in the Diocese of Britanniae.  The territory is roughly coextensive with the later Frankish kingdom of Neustria (511-751 CE), originally taking in the imperial provinces Belgica II, Lugundensis II, Lugundensis III, and Lugundensis IV Senonia, the last of which included the city of Lutetia Parisiorum.

Two other contiguous Roman domains, allied with Soissons but adhering to the empire, are civitas Andecavorum and civitas Trevorum.

462 – The Visigothi reacquire Narbonensis, leaving them in control of the entire of the Diocese of Viennensis (Septimania), i.e. southern Gaul.

464 - Aegidius dies in the Battle of Orleans against the Visigothi as ally of Childeric I of the Salian Francii to his immediate east, and is succeeded by his second-in-command, Paulus, Comes of Adecavus (Angers).

465 - Battle of Wippedsfleet (Richborough), in which the Britonici defeat the Saxonici, but with great slaughter on both sides.  The latter are confined to the Thanet and there is a respite from fighting.

Hispaniae falls back under control of the Visigothi.

466-473 - Period of minimal Saxonici activity.  Re-fortification of ancient hillforts and possibly construction of the Wansdyke.

468 – St. Brigid founds Kildare Abbey.

469 – Imperator Caesar Procopius Anthemius Augustus appeals to the Brittones for help against the Visigothi under Euric.  A 12,000 man force under Riothamus responds, travelling up the River Loire to land in the civitas Biturigum.   After being driven out of the stronghold of Avaricum, the bulk of the combined Brittones-Bituriges force is wiped out at vicus Dolensis, with survivors taking refuge with the Burgundians.

Comes Paulus of the civitas Andecavorum (Angers, or Juliomagus of the Adecavi) leads the Romans and Salian Franks under Childeric against the Visigothi, and is successful.  Saxons under Adovacrius attack Andecavorum and Paulus is killed in the fighting.  Childeric and the Salian Franks arrive soon after and defeat the Saxons.

470 – The kingdoms of Elmet and of the Pennines are established, possibly by dynastic offspring of Coel Hen.

Cernyw is renamed Glywysion after King Glywys.

The end of the Visigoth War. 

471-475 - Ecdicius Avitus rules the short-lived Ducatas Arvernorum as an autonomous part of the Imperium Romanum.  After 474, he becomes Magister Militum Praesentalis, but is deposed the next year.

471 - Ceretic of Alt Clut raids the Irish Coast and carries off some of St. Patrick's new flock and sells them into slavery, receiving a written reprimand from the Irish evangelist.

472 - Attempted rebellion against Anthemius Augustus by Arvandus, Praetorian Praefectus Galliae, averted by Riothamus.

Successful rebellion against Anthemius Augustus by Flavius Ricimer, Magister Utriusquae Militiae, whose troops sack Roma once again.

474 – Gwerthefyriwg divides into the kingdoms of Gwent and Ergyng.

475 – The Anglii begin arriving in the territory of Caer Went.  About the same time, the Middlesex and Suthrig begin to infiltrate the lower Thames River region.

Arvernia falls to the Visigothi when Imperator Caesar Iulius Nepos Augustus trades it in exchange for Septimania.

476-1461 – Byzantine period of the Imperium Romanum/Basilea Rhomain

476 – Odoacer of the Scirii, head of the foederati in the Prefecture of Italiae, captures Ravenna and overthrows Magister Utriusquae Militiae Flavius Orestes and Imperator Caesar Flavius Romulus Augustus.  He invites Imperator Caesar Flavius Zeno Augustus in Constantinopolis to become sole ruler of the reunited Imperium Romanum, with himself as King of Italy under Zeno.  Zeno grants Odoacer the pronomen Patricius and the title Dux Italiae, recognizing Imperator Caesar Flavius Julius Nepos Augustus as de jure ruler of the West.  Patricius Odoacer, the de facto ruler, maintains all of the imperial institutions, including the Senate at old Roma.

477 – The Saxon chieftain Aelle lands on southern coast with his sons and founds the kingdom of Sussex.  The Britonici engage him upon landing, but his superior force besieges them at Pevensey and drives them into the Weald.   Over next nine years, Saxon coastal holdings are gradually expanded in Sussex.

The kingdom of Rhegin is established at Noviomagus Reginorum (Chichester).

The Visigothi destroy the last remnants of the Prefecture of Galliae, except for the Ducatas Noviodunum in the north.

480 – St. Erbin, king of Dumnonia, abdicates in favour of his son, Geraint Llygesoc. 

Death of Glywys of Glywysion; his kingdom is divided into Gwynllwg, Penychen, Gorfynedd, Edeligion and others  which are all eventually reunited into a single kingdom.

The kingdom of Lindes (Linnius) falls to the Angles, who call their newly won territory Lindisfaras or Lindsey.

The kingdom of Caer Colun (Camulodunum or Colchester) is established.

Imperator Caesar Nepos Augustus is murdered in Dalmatia where he has had made his residence, after which Patricius Odoacer moves to take over Sicilia and Dalmatia.

484 – Samaritan Justa Uprising.  Afterwards, Flavius Zeno Augustus has the temple of the Samaritans on Mt. Gezirim destroyed.

485 – Arthurus Miles (Arthur the Soldier) becomes “dux bellorum” or Comes Britannorum in Britanniae.

Comes Arbogast of civitas Trevorum (Augusta of the Treveri, later Trier) manages to maintain his domain’s independence until becoming part of the realm of the Ripuarian Franks in 485.  Arbogast flees to Chartres (Autricum, capital of the civitas Carnutum), where he became its bishop.

486 - Aelle and his sons overreach their normal territory and are engaged by the Britonici at the Battle of Mercredesburne.  The battle is bloody but indecisive, and ends with both sides pledging friendship.  

The Kingdom of Soissons is conquered by Clovis I, king of the Francii, leaving him in control of all Galliae north of the River Loire.  Dux Syagrius flees to the protection of the Visigothi to the south, only to be executed by Alaric II.

488 - Hengest dies.  His son, Oesc, takes over and rules for 34 years, founding the Oescingas dynasty. 

Death of Einion Yrth of Gwynedd.  His kingdom is divided into Gwynedd and Rhos.

Theodoric, Consul of the Imperium Romanum at Constantinopolis and now king of the Ostrogothi, invades the Prefecture of Italiae at the behest of Zeno after Patricius Odoacer becomes too independent.

490 – The kingdom of Caer Lerion (Ratae Corieltauvorum or Leicester) is established.

493 – Death of St. Patrick. 

The Ostrogothi under Consul Theodoric complete their conquest of Odoacer’s domain, and the now Patricius Theodoric, like his predecessor, rules as viceroy with the title Dux Italiae.  In addition to promoting Roman culture and architecture, Theodoric, an Arian cognizant of maintaining good relations with the Bishop of Roma, promulgates a law establishing freedom of religion.

495 – Ealdorman Cerdic, son of Elesa, his son, Cynric, and 3 keels of the Gewissae land somewhere on the south coast, near the Hampshire-Dorset border, establishing the beginnings of Wessex. 

Gwynllyw of Gwynllwg carries off Princess Gwladys of Brycheiniog; war between the two kingdoms is narrowly avoided by the intercession of Arthur. 

The kingdom of Caer Went (Venta Icenorum or Caistor St. Edmund, Norfolk) falls to the East Angles.  The Angli of Caerwent divide into the Norfolk and the Suffolk.

St. Finnian establishes the abbey at Molville.

496Siege and Battle of Mons Badonicus.  The Britonici under Arthur defeat the Angli under Esla of Bernicia and the Gewissae under Cerdic.  However, Caer Lindein falls to the Middel Seax.

496-550 - Following the victory at Mt. Badon, the Saxon advance is halted with the invaders returning to their own enclaves.  A generation of peace ensues. 

497 - Death of Erbin of Dumnonia.

Late 5th century - The Fir Domnann in southeast Ireland are displaced by the Laighin, the former moving into the west, the latter giving its modern name to the province.


The Eoghanachta displace the Fir Mumhan, becoming rulers of what is now Munster.

500-1000 – The Late Woodland Period in North America.

500-517 – Cadwallon Lawhir expels the Irish from Anglesey.

500 – With help from Theodoric (Tewdrig), commander of the Classis Britannica, and Marcellus (Maeliaw) of Britannia Minor (Kernov), the Romano-British commander Agricola defeats the forces of the Deisi at the Battle of Porthmawr and reconquers Dyfed to become its governor as Tribune.  Theodoric makes his base in Gwent.

Theodoric defeats in invasion force under Irish king Fingar and his British ally Guiner.

By this time, the population of the city of Roma, which had been over one million since the beginning of the Imperium Romanum, has fallen to under 50,000.

501 – Death of Fergus Mor mac Eirc, who transferred the seat of the kings of the Dal Riata to Earr a’ Gaidheal.

Rhegin falls to Aelle of the Sud Seax.

504 – Muircheartach mac Erc, brother of Fergus Mor, becomes Ard Ri Eireann.

505 – The kingdom of Armterid (Arfderydd), or Caer Gwenddoleu, is established in what is now the Cumberlandshire parish of Arthuret between Rheged and Alt Clud with its seat at Carwinley.

507 – Death of Domangart Reti mac Fergus of Ceann Tir; succession of Comgall mac Domangairt, ancestor of Cenel Comgaill. 

Campaign of Theodoric, commander of the Classis Britannica, and Marcellus of Britannia Minor in Armorica and both sides of the Oceanus Britannica.

Imperator Caesar Flavius Anastasius Augustus raises Clovis of the Franci to the rank of Consul after he conquers the Visigothic kingdom of Toulouse under Alaric II in the Battle of Vouille, leaving only Septimania and Hispaniae in Visigothic hands.

508 - Cerdic of the Gewissae begins to move inland and defeats British king, Nudd-Lludd, at the Battle of Netley.

510 - Battle of Llongborth, where Geraint Llyngesoc of Dumnonia is killed. 

Rivod of Britannia Minor (Kernov) murders his brother, Marcellus, and usurps the throne.  Many of the royal family flee to Britannia Major, including Maeliaw's sons Maxentius and Budic, seeking refuge at the court of Agricola in Dyfed.  Maxentius expels Budic, who returns to Dyfed.  Agricola dispatches Theodoric to expel Maxentius and return Budic.  Upon his return to Britannia Major, Theodoric defeats a combined invasion force under Fingar mac Clito of Eire and Guiner, cousin of Maxentius.

Patricius Theodoric, Dux Italiae and king of the Ostrogothi, re-establishes the Prefecture of Galliae in its former capital of Arelate (Arles).

511 - After the death of Clovis I of the Franks, his realm is divided among his four sons, and the territory of the former Kingdom of Soissons/province of Gallia Lugdunensis becomes the Kingdom of Neustria.

515 - Death of Aelle of Sussex.  The kingdom passes to his son, Cissa and his descendents, but over time, diminishes into insignificance.  Eventually much of their coastal territory is taken over by the Jutish Meonwara.

517 - Battle of Camlann, where “Arthur and Medraut fell”. 

King and Saint Constantine ruling in Dumnonia/Dyfneint.

Death of Cadwallon Lawhir ap Einion of Gwynedd; his son Maelgwn takes the throne after murdering his uncle, probably Owain Ddantgwyn of Rhos, and re-unites the two kingdoms.

519 - Cerdic becomes King of the Gewissae, beginning the dynasty of the Cerdicingas which rules until 1066 CE.

520 - Pabo Post Prydain of Peak abdicates his throne and retires, as a hermit, to Ynys Mon. 

Death of Riwal Mawr Marchou of Domnonea.  Budic II of Brittania Minor returns to Kernev to claim the Breton throne. 

The Middle Angles first branch out from East Anglia.

523 - Death of Gwynllyw of Gwynllwg. Gwnllywg and Penychen are united under his son, St. Cadoc.

525 - St. Samson founds the Monastery of Dol-de-Bretagne. 

The kingdom of the Pennines splits into the kingdoms of Dunotion, Craven, and Peak.

Gabran mac Domangairt of Dal Riata, marries Lleian, daughter of Brychan (Briocan) of Manaw and niece of Cedric of Alt Clut, and settles with his men and their families in the region now known as Gowrie, from Gabhranaig.

527 – Aescwine founds the kingdom of Essex.

Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus becomes Imperator Caesar Augustus of the Imperium Romanum.  During his imperium, the population of Constantinopolis surpasses 500,000.

528 - King St. Cadoc of Glywysion abdicates in favour of Meurig ap Tewdrig of Gwent, who is joined in marriage to Cadoc's aunt. 

Banishment of Princess Thaney of Gododdin; birth of her son, St. Kentigern.

529 – Ben Sabar Revolt in Samaria.   Iustinianus Augustus puts down the revolt with the help of the Ghassanids, slaughtering and enslaving tens of thousands.  He also outlaws the practice of Samaritanism.

The Academy of Plato is closed by order of Justinian.

530 – The Britons of Ynys Wyth (Isle of Wight) are defeated by Cerdic of the Gewissae at the Battle of Carisbrooke.

Caer Lerion falls to the Middle Angles.

St. Brendan the Navigator leads 14-60 companions across the Atlantic Ocean to the Isle of the Blessed and back, reportedly travelling by curragh, a feat proven possible in 1976.

534 – Flavius Belisarius, Magister Militum Praesentalis, brings an end to the kingdom of the Vandals and Alans and establishes the Prefecture of Africa, which includes Tingitania, Corsica, and Sardinia, with its seat at Cartago.

535-554 – Magister Belisarius conducts the Gothic War against the Ostrogothi for control of the Prefecture of Italiae.

535 - Sawyl Penuchel of Peak is expelled from his kingdom by Bernicia and flees to Powys. 

Death of Meirchion Gul of Rheged; the southern part of the kingdom breaks away as the kingdom of Argoed. 

Death of St. Illtud, abbot of Llanilltud Fawr and reported cousin of Arthur the Soldier.

536 – The revived Prefecture of Galliae falls to the Francii. 

Magister Belisarius finishes reconquering Sicilia and establishes the Thema of Sicilia.

A massive volcanic in the Northern Hemisphere causes a severe protracted drop in temperature and extensive atmospheric dust that leads to crop failure followed by widespread famine.

538-1185 – Classical period in the Empire of Japan.

538 - Cynlas Goch of Rhos abandons his wife in favour of his sister-in-law, a nun who he drags from her convent.  Civil war between Cynlas and his cousin, Maelgwn Wledig.  Maelgwn enters a monastery, but soon returns to secular life and murders his nephew in order to marry his widow. 

Civil war also in Powys due to the tyranny of Cyngen Glodrydd. 

Gabran mac Domangairt returns to Dal Riata.

540 - Jonas of Domnonea is murdered by Conomor of Kernow and Poher.  Conomor marries Jonas' widow and rules Domnonea. 

Death of Comgall mac Domangairt of Dal Riata; succession of Gabran mac Domangart, ancestor of the Cenel Gabrain.

Caradoc Vreichfras of Gwent moves the royal court to Portskewett.

Probable date of St. Gildas' De Excidio Britanniae; in it he condemns Constantine of Dumnonia, Aurelius Caninus (Cynan Wledig) of Gwent (and/or Powys), Vortiporius ap Agricola (Aircol) of Dyfed, Cuneglas ap Owen Danwyn of Rhos (“charioteer to the Bear”), and Maglocunus ap Cadawallan (Maelgwn Wledig) of Gwynedd.

541-797 - The Plague of Justinian, Yersinia pestis, ravages Europe in periodic waves.

543 – St. Colmcille establishes the abbey of Durrow.

545The kingdom of Eidyn is established.

Deaths of the joint-kings Budic II and his son Hoel I Mawr of Britannia Minor.  Tewdwr Mawr succeeds to the throne, but is quickly ousted from Kernevby Macliau of Gwened (Vannetais).  Tewdwr flees to Kernow and sets himself up as king of the Penwith region. 

The Synod of Brefi is held at Llandewi Brefi to condemn the Pelagian heresy. 

St. David becomes archbishop of South Wales. 

Prince Judwal of Domnonea flees from his murderous step-father to the court of Childebert I of the Franks.

St. Ciaran founds the abbey and school of Clonmacnoise.

546 - St. Gildas returns to Breizh/Bertaeyn with St. Cadoc.

St. Ita founds her abbey at Kileedy.

547Ida, leader of a band of Angles and Frisians, establishes the kingdom of Bernicia after capturing the British stronghold of Din Guardi, renaming it Bebbanburg, which is later corrupted to Bamburgh

Death of the joint-king Hoel II Fychan of Breizh/Bertaeyn.  

The Plague of Justinian hits Britain, having travelled from Constantinopolis.

St. Brendan founds the abbey of Clonfert.

548 - Conomor of Kernow, Poher, and Domnonea marries Princess Triphine of Bro Waroch (Broërec).

549 - Yellow fever hits British territories, causing many deaths, including Maelgwn of Gwynedd.  Eire is also affected.  Saxons, for some reason, are unaffected.

550The kingdoms of Caer Ceri (Corinium or Cirencester) and of Caer Baddan (Aqua Sulis or Bath) split off from Caer Gloui.

Caer Colun falls to the East Seax.

Cyndrwyn Glas establishes Glastenning (the later Somerset) as a subkingdom of Dumnonia.

Judwal of Domnonea retakes his throne.   Conomore of Kernev, Poher, and Domnonea flees to Kernow. 

Pompeius Regalis (aka Pabo Riwal) leads a third wave of emigration from Britain to Armorica. 

Some Britons in Armorica migrate further to Gallaecia in the northwest of Hispaniae, where they establish Britonia. 

War between Alt Clut and Gwynedd.

552-743 - Gokturk, or Blue Turk, Empire, split into eastern and western states, from and including Mongolia to the Volga River.

552 - Cynric of the Gewissae lays siege to the British at Old Sarum and puts them to flight. 

Caer Gwinntguic falls to the Gewissae.

St. Comgall founds the abbey of Bangor.

The Imperium Romanum reconquers enough of Hispaniae to establish the autonomous province of Spaniae in the former Cathaginensis with its capital at Cartago Spartaria and most important city at Malaca under a Magister Militum Spaniae.

553 – The Fifth Ecumenical Council at Constantinopolis attempts to reconcile the Catholic Church with the Syrian and Coptic Monophysites by condemning the Three Chapters, the writings of Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoret of Cyprus, and Ibas of Edessa.  It results in a schism by the Sees of Aquilea, Liguria, Aemilia, Meliadunum, and Itria.

554 – Imperial forces under Magister Militum Praesentalis Narses, a scion of the Arsacid dynasty of Armenia, finally complete the conquest of the Prefecture of Italiae.  The remaining Ostrogothi, Arians, settle the region that later becomes Austria.

555 - Death of Erb of Gwent; kingdom is divided into Gwent and Ergyng.

556-572 – Revolt in Palestina begins with Jews and Samartians slaughtering the Christians of Caesarea.

556 - Cynric of the Gewissae lays siege to the British at Barbury Castle and is victorious.

558 – Bro Waroch (Broërec) is attacked by Childebert of the Franks.  Canao II leads resistance.

559 – Deifr falls to the Angles and Frisians under Aelle of the Angeln dynasty Icelingas, who renames it Deira.

560-920 - First Pandaya Empire in southern India.

560 – Last recorded Royal Feast at the Hill of Tara.

Elidyr of Alt Clut invades Gwynedd in right of his wife, trying to expel brother-in-law, Rhun Hir ap Maelgwn, but dies at the Battle of the Cadnant. 

Death of Gabran mac Domangairt of the Dal Riata; Conall mac Comgaill of the Cenel Comgaill succeeds him.

The sees of the Three Chapters Schism recognize as their leader the Patriarch of Aquilea, a title which ultimately becomes the Patriarch of Venice long after the reunification.
561 – Battle of Cul Dreimhe (Cooldrevny) between the Clann Cholmain and other southern Ui Neill under Diarmait mac Cerbhaill, Ard Ri na Eireann, and the Cenel Eoghan and Cenel Connaill led by Domhnall Ilchealgach, king of Aileach, over the killing of Cunan, son of Aed mac Echach, king of Connachta, who was under the protection of St. Colmcille (Crimthann mac Felimid) of the Cenel Conaill, abbot of Doire.  Cunan sought out Colmcille’s protection after accidentally killing the son of Diarmait’s steward in a hurley match.  The northern Ui Neill of Aileach were victorious.

A later church legend ascribed the cause of the battle to an unauthorized copy of a psalter belonging to St. Finnian of Clann Cholmain, abbot of Moville, scribed secretly by Columba.

562-796 - The Avar Empire, in the region between Hungary, the Volga River, and Bessarabia.

562 – St. Moluag founds the abbey of Lismore.

563 – St. Colmcille establishes an abbey on the Hebridean island of Iona, then travels to Inverness to meet with Bridei mac Maelchon (Maelgwn Wledig), king of Fortrenn, to gain his permission to stay there.

565 – Death of Diarmait mac Cerbaill, last pagan High King of Ireland and the last to reign from the Hill of Tara.

Riderch Hael of Alt Clut mounts a revenge attack on Rhun Hir of Gwynedd.  Rhun marches on Alt Clu and reinforces the armies of his half-brother, Bridei, in Pictland. 

Death of St. Samson.

567-647 - Second kingdom of the Buddhist Indo-Sassanid Kushanshahs in Bactria and Gandhara.

567 – The British settlements in Britonia in Gallaecia are recognized at the Council of Lugo.

568 – The Cenel Loairn and the Cenel nOengusa rise against Conall of Cenel Gabrain, but he defeats them with the aid of Coman Bec of Midhe.

The Lombards invade and conquer northern Italia, where they establish a kingdom that is officially Arian rather than Catholic.

569 - St. David holds the Synod of Victoria to denounce the Pelagian heresy.  

Áedán mac Gabráin of the Dal Riata establishes himself as king of Manaw by right through his mother; he is married to Demlech, daughter of Maelgwn Wledig of Gwynedd.

570 - Death of St. Gildas.

When power in Paganes (Powys) shifts to the west, the eastern half breaks off as the kingdom of Pengwern, taking the original capital with it. 

Aodh Caomh of the Dal gCais carves a kingdom out of the southernmost part of Connacht that in the 7th century becomes Deisceart Mumhan and later Tuadh Mumhan.

570-575 - The Northern British Alliance is forged between kingdoms of Rheged, Alt Clut, Bryneich, and Elmet.  They fight the Northumbrians at the Battles of Gwen Ystrad and the Cells of Berwyn.

571 - Cuthwulf of the Gewissae invades the Midlands and defeats the Britons, probably under the king of Calchfynedd, at the Battle of Bedford.

573 - Peredur and Gwrgi of Ebrauc ally themselves with Dunod Fawr of Dent and Riderch Hael of Alt Clut.  They march north to claim the fort at Caerlaverock from Gwendoleu of Caer-Gwendoleu.  The latter is killed in the Battle of Arthuret and his bard, Myrddin Wyllt, flees into the Coed Celyddon, where he goes mad and becomes a prophet.  Caer Gwenddoleu becomes dependent on Rheged.

St. Mungo founds an abbey at Govan that later becomes Glasgow.

574 – Death of Conall of the Dal Riata; succession of Aedan mac Gabrain of Cenel Gabrain, who is reportedly enthroned by St. Colmcille and perhaps is the greatest king of the Dal Riata, the first to truly unite under one rule its disparate small kingdoms, leading expeditions to the Isle of Mann, mainland Scotia (Eire), the Orkneys, and the east coast.  He is also the son of Luan, daughter of Brychan, and is married to Demlech, daughter of Maelgwn Wledig.  Reportedly, he leaves Manaw in the capable hands of his son, Artuir.

Colman Mor founds the kingdom of Osraige.

575 - Owein of Rheged kills Theodoric of Bernicia at the Battle of Leeming Lane. 

The North Folk and the South Folk of Caer Went combine to become the kingdom of East Anglia. 

The Council of Druim Ceatt, hosted by St. Colmcille between Aedan mac Gabrain of the Dal Riata in Alba, Colman mac Comgellan of the Dal Riata in Ulster, and Aedan mac Ainmuir of the northern Ui Neill; they form an alliance against Báetán mac Cairill of the Dál Fiatach, high king of Ulster, and agree that the Dal Riata in Alba have no obligation to the High Kings.

577 – The Gewissae invade the lower Severn Valley.  Ffernfael of Caer Baddan, Cyndyddam of Caer Ceri and Cynfael of Caer Gloui are killed at the Battle of Dyrham, and their kingdoms fall to the Gewissae.  The Gewissae overrun the Cirencester area, and the three kingdoms end. 

Tewdwr Mawr of Breizh/Bertaeyn returns to Kernev, reclaims his throne and kills Macliau of Gwened in battle.  

Baetan of Ulster invades Ellan Vannin completing his conquest the next year.

580 - The army of Peredur and Gwrgi of Ebrauc marches north to fight Bernicia.  Both are killed by Adda's forces at Caer Greu. 

The Deirans rise up under Aelle, and move on the city of Ebrauc.  Peredur's son Gwrgant Gwron is forced to flee; Ebrauc falls, with Catraeth going to Rheged.

Death of Galam (Cennalath), king of the Picts. 

Aedan of Dal Riata leads an expedition against the Picts of Orkney.

The Senate of Roma sent two ambassadors to the court of Imperator Caesar Flavius Tiberius Constantinus Augustus at Constantinopolis.

583 – Aedan of the Dal Riata attacks the Ulstermen who have recently conquered Ellan Vannin, allegedly ending their occupation of the island.

584 – The Britons are victorious over Ceawlin of the Gewissae at the Battle of Fethanleigh and kill his brother, Cuthwine. Ceawlin ravages the surrounding countryside in revenge. 

Death of Bridei of the Picts; accession of Garnait mac Dornelch (or mac Aedan).

Imperator Caesar Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus transforms the western holdings of the Imperium Romanum, creating two exarchates, with governors combining civil and military powers.  The Prefecture of Africa becomes the Exarchate of Africa, adding to it the formerly autonomous province of Spaniae and the Islas Baleares. The Prefecture of Italiae becomes the Exarchate of Italiae, with its constituent parts being the Ducatas Romanus, the Ducatas Pentapolis, the Ducatas Perusia, the Ducatas Neapolitanus, and the Ducatas Bruttium (Calabria).

588 - Edwin of Deira is ousted from his kingdom by the Bernicians and seeks refuge at the court of Iago ap Beli of Gwynedd.

Aedan mac Gabhrain wins the Battle of Leithri.

589 - Death of St. Constantine, king of Dumnonia. 

Death of St. David, archbishop of St. David’s.

The Third Council of Toledo marks the conversion of the Visigoths from Arianism to Catholicism.

590 - Siege of Lindisfarne. The Northern British Alliance (Rheged, Alt Clut, Bryneich, Elmet) lays siege to Hussa of Bernicia and almost exterminates the Northumbrians.  Urien Rheged is assassinated at the behest of his jealous ally Morcant Bulc of Bryneich.  Northumbrians recover while internal squabbles tear the British Alliance apart. 

Peak falls to Bernicia. 

591 - Dunod Mawr of Dent mounts an invasion of Rheged, but is repulsed by its king, Owein, and his brother, Pasgen.  Elffin of Rheged is simultaneously attacked by Gwallawc Marchawc Trin of Elmet.

St. Columbanus emigrates to the Continent.

593 - Morcant Bulc of Bryneich invades Rheged and kills Owein in battle.  Pasgen of Rheged flees to the Gower Peninsula.  A greatly diminished Rheged probably continues under the rule of their brother, Rhun.

594Battle of Manaw, or Miathi, between Aedan of the Dal Riata and Aodhan, with the former victorious, but with the loss of his sons Bran, Domangart, Eochaid Finn, and Artur.


595 - The aging Donud Mawr of Dunotion (Dent) dies fighting off a Bernician invasion.  His kingdom is overrun and his family flees to join his grandson in Gwynedd.

Erb ap Erbig unites Gwent, Glywysing, and Ergyng under one crown.

597 – Death of St. Columcille.  Succession of St. Blaithen as abbot.

598 - Mynyddog Mwynfawr of Din Eidyn and Cynan of Gododdin ride south to fight Bernicia against enormous odds at the Battle of Catterick, seat of Rheged.  The British are victorious, though Geraint of Dumnonia is killed in the fighting.

599 - Death of Taliesin, poet for Urien map Cynfarch of Rheged, great-great-great-grandson of Coel Hen, and for Owain map Urien.  His works are collected in the Llyfr Taliesin.

7th century - A branch of the Eoghanachta Ninussa conquers Deisceart Aidne, the area of modern Co. Clare, from the branch of the Connachta known as the Ui Fiachrach Aidne and establishes a kingdom of Tuadh Mumhan, or Thomond, there and in the Aran Isles.  Two centuries later, it is conquered by the Deisi Tuiasceart, who become the Dal gCais.

600Bryneich falls to the Angles of Bernicia.

Aneirin of Dunotion writes the poem Y Gododdin recording the events of the Battle of Catterick.

Pengwern divides into the autonomous subkingdoms of Caer Luitcoyt or Letocetum (Wall, Staffordshire); Caer Magnis or Carovan (Kenchester); and Caer Guricon or Viroconium.

Essex subjugates Middlessex and Suthrig.

601 - Synod of Chester.

The king of Dyfneint grants land in Glastonbury to Abbot Worgret upon which to build a monastery, which becomes Glastonbury Abbey.  The monks at the hermitage atop nearby Glastonbury Tor become part of the new congregation.

602-768 - Autonomous Duchy of Aquitania, comprising Bordeux, Gascony, Languedoc, and Provence, its people Gallo-Roman and Basque.  The laws of the region, based upon both Roman and Gallic sources, grant near equality to women that their sisters don't share until the 20th century.

602-628 – The Byzantine-Sassanid War, the last conflict between Iran and the Imperium Romanum, ends the centuries-old running conflict.

602 - St. Augustine of Canterbury meets with the Welsh bishops at Aust near Chepstow, accuses them of acting contrary to Church teachings, failing to keep Easter at the prescribed Roman time and not administering baptism according to the Roman rite, and he insists that they help in the conversion of the Saxons and look to Canterbury as their spiritual centre.  They decline.

The Merovingians establish the Duchy of Vasconia as a buffer against the Vascones, or Basques.

603 - Battle of Degsastan between Aethelfrith of Bernicia and Aedan of the Dal Riata, with support from Máel Umai mac Báetáin of the Cenél nEógain (son of Báetán mac Muirchertaig) and Fiachnae mac Báetáin of the Dal nAraidi, king of Ulster, resulting in a devasting defeat for the Scotti in which Artuir mac Aedan dies, along with Aethelfrith’s brothers Theodbald and Eanfirth.  (It is not out of the realm of possibility that this battle was fought in the vicinity of the former Roman fort of Camlann just north of the eastern end of the Antonine Wall.)

Pope Gregorius, Bishop of Roma and Pontifex Maximus, records the acclamation by the Senate of Roma of new statues of Imperator Caesar Flavius Phocas Augustus and his wife Imperatrix Leonitia Augusta, the last to be erected in the Roman Forum.

The kingdom of the Lombards, one of the the last remaining strongholds of Arianism, converts to Catholicism, though Arianism survives in Austria (to which the Ostrogothi removed) and in the Lombard Duchy of Benevento in southern Italia, cut off from their northern brethren by the Ducatas Romanus.

604 - Welsh bishops meet for a second time with St. Augustine of Canterbury.  He neglects to rise to greet them, lectures them again, and insists they submit.  The Welsh kick him out.

605-1410 – The Srivijaya Empire covers the Malay peninsula, Sumatra, and Java, but its influence is widespread across Southeast Asia.  Its religions are Hinduism and Buddhism.

606 – The Middle Angles form the kingdom of Mercia.

607 - Death of Judhael of Domnonea.  His son, Haelioc, takes the throne and attempts to exterminate his brothers.

608 - Death of Aedan mac Gabhrain of the Dal Riata. 

610 – Erb ap Erbig dies, and Ergyng becomes again a separate kingdom while Gwent and Glywysing remain together.

The kingdom of Caer Celemion (Calleva Atrebatum or Silchester, Hampshire) falls to the Gewissae.

With the succession of Imperator Caesar Flavius Heraclius Augustus, Greek becomes the official language of the Imperium Romanum.

612 - Death of St. Mungo, bishop of Glasgow.

613 - Aethelfrith of Bernicia invades Gwynedd in order to root out Edwin of Deira.  A united British force (Gwynedd, Powys, Pengwern and Dyfneint) clashes with his army at the Battle of Chester.  Iago of Gwynedd, Selyf Sarffgadau of Powys, and Cadwal Cryshalog of Rhos are all killed but the victor is unclear.  The Battle of Bangor-is-Coed follows in quick succession.  Bledric of Dyfneint is killed in the fighting. 

Argoed falls to Mercia.

614-629 – Revolt against Imperator Caesar Flavius Heraclius Augustus.  The Jews in the Levant rise up against the Imperium Romanum as allies of the Sassanids.  After the fall of Jerusalem in 614, the area becomes a Commonwealth under the Sassanid Empire.

614 - Cynegils of the Gewissae invades Dyfneint and defeats the local army at the Battle of Bindon. The Tarvin-Macefen boundary between Powys and Mercia is delineated.

616 – Rheged falls to Mercia. 

Aethelfrith of Bernicia is killed by Edwin of Deira at the Battle of the River Idle, and his children escape north, his heir, Eanfrith to Fortrenn while the rest go to Eochaid Buide of the Dal Riata.

617 - Edwin of Deira conquers Elmet.  Ceretic of Elmet is killed in the fighting.

620 - Tewdrig Fendigaid of Glywysion and Gwent abdicates in favour of son Meurig.

Llywarch Hen is expelled from Argoed, probably by Edwin of Deira, and flees to Powys to become a famous bard.

622 – Domnall Brecc, son of Eochaid Buide of the Dal Riata, and Conall Guthbinn mac Suibhne of Clann Cholmáin defeat a rival branch of the Ui Neill in the Battle of Cenn Delgthan.

623 - Edwin of Deira is baptised by Rhun of Rheged.

624 - Spaniae falls to the Visigothi.

625 - Cadfan ap Iago of Gwynedd dies and is buried at Llangadwaladr where his memorial stone can still be seen.  His son, Cadwallon, succeeds to the throne. 

Aodh Fionn mac Fergna establishes the kingdom of Breifne in Connacht.

626 - The rivalry between Cadwallon of Gwynedd and Edwin of Deira reaches a climax.  Edwin invades the Isle of Man and then Anglesey.  Cadwallon is defeated in battle and is besieged on Puffin Island.  He eventually flees to Breizh/Bertaeyn.

627 – The churches of Mumha and Laighin in Ireland accept Continental practice at the Synod of Mag Lene

628 – The forces of the Imperium Romanum decisively defeat those of the Sassanid Empire at the Battle of Nineveh, ending the Romano-Perisan Wars once and for all.

629 – Battle of Fid Eoin in Ireland in which Connad Cerr of the Dal Riata and his brother Failbe mac Eochaid Buide along with Rigullan mac Conaig and Osric, formerly of Bernicia, fall to Máel Caích, brother of Congal Cáech of the Dal nAraidi, king of Ulster, while fighting for Dicuil mac Eochaid.

St. Paulinus visits Lincoln (Lindum Colonia) to discover its governor named Blecca with the title Praefectus Civitates.

Imperator Caesar Flavius Heraclius Augustus assumes the title Basileus tuv Basileuv (Shahanshah) in honor of his defeat of the Sassanids.  He also changes the pronomen from Imperator Caesar to Basileus and the cognomen from Augustus to Sebastos so that he is now Basileus Flavius Heraclius Sebastos, with the empire now called the Basilea Rhomaion.

630 – The Gewissae invade Gwent.  Meurig defeats them, with the help of his aging father, at the Battle of Pont-y-Saeson. 

Calchwynedd falls to the Middle Angles and the Chiltern Saxons. 

Penda of Mercia besieges Exeter.  Cadwallon of Gwynedd lands nearby from his Deiran imposed exile in Breizh/Bertaeyn.  He negotiates an alliance with Penda, and a united British and Saxon force moves north to re-take Gwynedd.  The Deirans are defeated at the Battle of the Long Mountain and Cadwallon chases them back to Northumbria.   The British ransack Northumbria and bring the kingdom to its knees.

Morgan the Generous unites the kingdoms of Gwent and Glywysing as the kingdom of Morgannwg.

632-661 – The Rashidun Caliphate of the Islamic Empire.

632 - Idris of Meirionydd is killed fighting the Gewissae on the River Severn.

633 - The British under Cadwallon of Gwynedd meet the Northumbrians in the Battle of Hatfield Chase.  Edwin of Deira is killed in the fighting and Cadwallon is victorious.  Cadwallon is later besieged at Ebrauc by Edwin's cousin and successor, Osric and is again victorious.

The Celtic rite of Britonia is abandoned in favor of the Mozarabic rite.

634 - Cadwallon ap Cadfan has both Eanfrith of Bernicia and Osric of Deira assassinated rather than negotiate peace with them.  Eanfrith's half-brother, Oswald, succeeds to a united Northumbria.  He gathers a force, with support from Domnall Brecc of the Dal Riata which includes monks from Iona, and clashes with Cadwallon at the Battle of Heavenfield.  Cadwallon is killed and Oswald victorius. 

Cadafael Cadomedd ap Cynfeddw ousts Cadwaladr and usurps the Gwynedd throne.  Civil War ensues in the kingdom. 

Death of the great bard, Llywarch Hen of Argoed, supposedly aged one hundred.  His works include Canu Hedledd and Geraint son of Erbin.

635 – St. Judicael of Domnonea submits to the overlordship of Dagobert I of the Franks.  An alliance is drawn up and the borders of the Breton kingdom agreed. 

St. Aidan is sent out from Iona to the Angles of Northhumbria, where he founds a monastery on the island of Medcaut (Lindisfarena). 

Meurig of Glywysion and Gwent invades Ergyng and re-unites the two kingdoms in the right of his wife.

636 - Judicael of Domnonea abdicates in order to enter a monastery.

637 - Defeat of Domnall Brecc of the Dal Riata and Congal Caech of Ulaidh and Dal nAraidi, supported by Oswald of Northumbria, by Domnall mac Aedo, Ard Ri Eireann and king of Cenel Connaill along with the Sil nAedo Slaine at the Battle of Mag Rath (Moira).  Domnall Brecc’s force includes Scots, Picts, Angles, and Brythons.  That same day the Ard Ri’s fleet defeats a combined fleet of the Dal Riata and the Cenel nEogain at the Battle of Ceann Tir (Kintyre).  The outcome is domination of the north by the Ui Neill for the next thousand years along with their subjugation of western Dal Riata, while eastern Dal Riata becomes a client of Northumbria, then of Fortrenn.

Muslim Arab armies invade the Basilea Rhomaion and conquer Syria-Palestina, in which they erect  Bilad al-Sham, made up of five districts: Jund Dimashq (Damascus), Jund Filastin (southern Palestine), Jund al-Urdun (northern Palestine), Jund Hims (Homs), and, later, Jund Qinnasrin (Aleppo).
                                                                                                       
638 – Din Eidyn is taken by Northumbria and Gododdin ceases to exist, its aristocracy escaping to Alt Clut. 

Rhianfelt, heiress of Rheged, marries Oswiu of Northumbria.  Northumbria embraces Rheged in a peaceful takeover, and also becomes overlord of Circinn.

639 – Muslim armies conquer Armenia and Aegyptus from the Basliea Rhomain.

641-1025 - Golden Age of Byzantium

642 - Penda of Mercia commands a united force including Cadafael Cadomedd of Gwynedd, Eluan of Powys, and Cynddylan of Pengwern against Oswald of Northumbria.  Oswald is killed, and possibly Eluan also.  The Mercians become dominant in Midlands. 

Owen ap Beli of Alt Clut kills Domnall Brecc at the Battle of Strathcarron.

Muslim invaders defeat the Sassanid armies decisively at the Battle of Nihawand.

645 - Gwynedd and much of Cymru in the grasp of famine.  Would-be king Cadwaladr Fendigaid of Gwynedd flees to Breizh/Bertaeyn; civil war continues in his kingdom.

650 - Cloten of Dyfed marries Princess Ceindrech of Brycheiniog and unites the two kingdoms. 

Eanhere and Eanfrith establish the sub-kingdom of the Hwicce in the former territory of the Dobunni.

Mid 7th century – Vikings from Norway begin to colonize both Shetland and Orkney, in the later of which they find two tribes, the Peti and the Papae.

651 – After the fall of the Sassanid dynasty in this year, the Rashidun Caliphate adopts Iranian administration and customs, but gradually imposes the Arabic language on the former empire and its own new territories.

652 – Muslim armies conquer nearly all of North Africa from the Basilea Rhomain.

653 – Talorgan ap Eanfrith becomes king of Fortrenn.

654 – Death of Dunchad Bec of the Dal Riata in battle against Talorgan I of Fortrenn at Strath Ethairt. 

Muslim armies conquer Cyprus from the Basilea Rhomain.

655 - Cadafael ap Cynfeddw of Gwynedd and his army join Penda of Mercia, Athelhere of East Anglia, and Aethelwald of Deira to march on the Bernicians, but he and Aethelwald both withdraw before the battle begins.  Penda and Athelhere clash with Oswiu at the Battle of the Winwaed, but Oswiu defeats them and they are both killed; Oswiu then unites his kingdom with Deira to become Northumbria.

Northumbria establishes the subkingdom of Leudian (Lothian) or Din Baer in its territory north of the River Tweed.

Morfael of Pengwern retakes the Wall.

656Oswiu of Northumbria invades Pengwern and kills Cynfael of Caer Gloui, Ffernfael of Caer Ceri, and Cyndyddan of Pengwern and Caer Luitcoyt in battle.  Cyndyddan’s brother Morfael and the rest of the family flee to Glastenning.  The Mercians take control of Pengwern and may have invaded Powys at this time.  The three small kingdoms cease to exist.

The kingdom of Cynwidion (Bedfordshire to Northamptonshire) also falls to Mercia about this same time, but a part remains free as the kingdom of Calchwynedd (in the Chiltern Hills) until the end of the century.

658 - Cenwalh and the Gewissae make a push against Dyfneint.   They are victorious at Battle of Penselwood and Dyfneint-Gewissae border is set at the River Parrett. Glastenning ceases to exist and the Gewissae occupy its territory, which becomes known as Somersaetes.  Glastonbury Abbey lies within the conquered territory, but Cenwalh allows its abbot, Bregored, to continue in place.

661-750 - The Umayyad Caliphate of the Islamic Empire, based in Damascus.

661 - Cenwalh of the Gewissae invades Dyfneint and is victorious at the Battle of Posbury. 

Saxon settlers found Somerset, Dorset, and Wiltset in eastern Dyfneint. 

Wulfere of Mercia gives the territory of the Meonwara to the Sussex.

663 – Oswiu of Northumbria invades the southern Picts and establishes overlordship over Fibh, Circinn, and Strath Eireann.

Basileus Konstantinos Pogonatos Sabastos (Constans II) moves the imperial seat of the Basilea Rhomaion from Konstantinopoulis to Siracusa in Sicilia.  He also becomes the first emperor to visit Roma in 200 years.

664 - Plague devastates Gwynedd.  Probable death of Cadafael Cadomedd.  Cadwaladr Fendigaid of Gwynedd reasserts himself in his kingdom by sending his son, Ifwr, from Breizh/Bertaeyn to be regent. 

The Synod of Whitby at the conhospitae of St. Hilda at Streonshal determines that the northern kingdom (Northumbria) should comply with the doctrines and practices of Rome, at which St. Colman resigns his see and returns to Iona.

665-689 – Muslim conquest of North Africa from the Basilea Rhomain.

665 – Second Battle of Mount Badon.

668 – The seat of the Basilea Rhomain returns to Konstantinopoulis after Konstantinos Sabastos is assassinated.

670 – Ceannfaeld mac Blathmac conquers Cymru and he and his family rule it, at least as overlords, for 59 years.

671 – Northumbria establishes the sub-kingdom of Din Baer in the former territory of the Gododdin, also called Lleuddiniawn (Lothian).

672 – Drest of Circinn is deposed and replaced by Bridei, son of Beli I of Alt Clut.

673 – Domangart mac Domnaill of the Dal Riata submits to Northumbria as overlord upon his accession.

674 – Ecgfrith of Northumbria repels Wulfhere of Mercia and seizes control of Lindsey.

Muslim armies subdue Greater Khorasan, completing their conquest of the former Sassanid Empire.

679 – St. Adomnan becomes abbot of Iona.

Ecgfrith of Northumbria is defeated by the Mercians, now under Wulfhere's brother Aethelfred, at the Battle of Trent, and forced to return Lindsey.

680-692 – Second Islamic Civil War, ending with the Battle of Karbala, resulting in the permanent Sunni-Shia split.

680 – Bridei of Fortrenn attacks Dunnottar.

The Basilea Rhomain recognizes the First Bulgarian Empire as the dominant power in the Balkan peninsula.

681 – The Sixth Ecumenical Council at Konstantinopoulis condemns Monoernergism and Monothelitism.  It also declared both Pope Honorius of Roma and Patriarch Sergius of Konstantinopoulis to be heretics.

682 – Bridei destroys Orkney as an independent kingdom.

683 – After a successful seige of Dunadd, Bridei brings the Dal Riata under his hegemony.

The kingdom of Wyr Enouant ruled by the line of Antonius Donatus falls to invasion from Beornicia.


684 – Ecgfrith of Northumbria sends raiders to plunder coastal Brega.

685 - St. Cuthbert of Lindisfarne visits Carlisle. 

Ecgfrith of Northumbria marches his army north to engage the Picts at the Battle of Nechtansmere.  The Dal Riata and Alt Clut Britons join the Picts in a thorough defeat of the Anglish forces.  The latter lose much land south of the Forth to Dumnagual II of Alt Clut in the process.

The Gewissae take Suthrig from Essex.

686 – Sussex becomes subject to the Gewissae. 

Lindsey is absorbed by Mercia.

688 - Cadwaladr Fendigaid of Gwynedd dies on a pilgrimage to Rome.

Caedwalla of the Gewissae likewise dies on a pilgrimage to Rome and is succeeded by Ine, under whom the Gewissae become known as the West Seax, or Wessex.

692 – The Qunitisext Council in Trullo affirms the Pentarchy of the Church order (Roma, Konstantinopoulis, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem) and sets the Biblical canon.

696 – Death of Taran of Fortrenn; succession of Bridei, son of Dargart mac Finguine of Cenel Comgaill and of Der-Ilei, daughter of a Pictish king.  Bridei is the first of the Dal Riata to rule in Inverness, but he does not rule the Gaels of Argyll.  He changes the patron saint of the Picts from St. Columcille to St. Peter.

697 – Council of Birr, a gathering of Irish and Pictish notables led by St. Adamnan, abbot of Iona, enacts the Cáin Adomnáin (Lex Innocentium, or Law of Innocents), forbidding the killing and making captive of women and children, exempting women and clerics from compulsory military service, and setting forth harsh penalties for rape during wartime, among other provisions.  Also at this council, the churches of Ulaidh, Midhe, and Connacht, along with that of the Dal Riata in Earr a’ Gaidheal, adopt the practices of the Continental church.

The sub-kingdom of Deisi Mumhain is founded by the Deisi; the other non-Eoghanachta kingdom in Munster is Ernaibh Mumhan, of the Ernai.

Basileus Leontios Sebastos establishes the Ducatas Venetia in northeastern Italiae, under the Exarchate of Italiae at Ravenna, with Paolo Lucio Anafestom as Doux (Dux) and Hypatos (Consul).

698 - The Exarchate of Africa falls to the Muslim armies of the Umayyads, except the city of Septum (Ceuta), which remains in the Basilea Rhomaion under an autonomous comes.

700Ceredigion and Ystrad Tywy unite as Seisyllwg.

The kingdom of Calchwynedd, remnant of Cynwidion, falls to Mercia.

Geraint of Dyfneint receives a letter from St. Aldhelm of Malmesbury during a synod in Wessex insisting that the church of Dyfneint comply with the doctrines of Rome, as agreed previously at the Synod of Whitby.

The Eoganachta begin to rule Mumhan.

704 – Death of St. Adomnan, abbot of Iona.

705 - Geraint of Dyfneint grants land at Maker to Sherbourne Abbey in an attempt to strengthen his position in the disputed regions of Dorset

The churches of East Dyfneint and Somersaete, under the kings of Wessex, accept Continental practice.

706 – Death of Bridei mac Dargart of Fortrenn; Nechtan mac Dargart of the Cenel Comgaill ascends the throne.

710 - Geraint of Dyfneint clashes with Ine of Wessex who manages to establish a fortress at Taunton. 

Seisyll of Ceredigion invades Dyfed and conquers Ystrad Tywi to create the greater kingdom of Seisyllwg.  A reduced Dyfed and Brycheiniog both appear to have taken on the name of Rhainwg.  Rhain's kingdom is now sliced in two.

Julian, last Comes of Septum, switches his loyalty from the Basilea Rhomaion to the Umayyad dynasty when he needs closer allies in his fight against the Visigothi, leading to the invasion of Hispaniae.

The churches in Fortrenn and Circinn accept Continental practice

711-1492 – La Convivencia in Al-Andalus, coexistence of Christians, Muslims, and Jews.

711 – Northumbria invades Circinn and is defeated in Manaw.

The Mauri following the Umayyads invade Hispaniae.  Their conquest of the peninsula is complete by 718 and they establish Al-Andalus.

717 – Nechtan mac Dargart of Fortrenn expels the Ionan clergy from his kingdom.  Later that year, the church of Iona decides to follow Continental practice

718-1147 – The Golden Age of the Sephardim, the Jewish population of Iberia under the regimes of Al-Andalus.

720 - Contact between the Welsh church and Yvi of Breizh/Bertaeyn is the last known link between the two Celtic countries.

721 – The church of Alt Clut agrees to follow Continental practice

722 - Ine of Wessex attempts a takeover of Dyfneint.  His armies are crushed and have to withdraw. 

Death of Beli of Alt Clut; Teudebur ap Beli succeeds to the throne.

724 – Nechtan mac Dargart of Fortrenn retires to a monastery in favor of his nephew Drostan mac Talorcan.

725 – The Ui Bruin supercede the Ui Fiachrae in Connacht.

726 – Drostan imprisons Nechtan and is deposed by Alpin.

Kent falls under the sway of Mercia.

729 – Oengus mac Fergus of the Eoghanachta Mag Geirginn defeats Alpin in battle and restores Nechtan to the throne of Fortrenn.

St. Fillan founds the abbey of Glen Dochardt.

730 - Civil War between Tewdr of Brycheiniog and a rival claimant to his throne, his cousin Awst; the latter is slain and Tewdr is persuaded to live in peace with Awst's son, Elwystl. 

Mercia takes Middlesex.

731 – Elisedd ap Gwylog of Powys expels the Mercians from his kingdom.

732 – Oengus mac Fergusa, married to an heiress of the Cenel Loairn, becomes king of Fortrenn upon the death of Nechtan; the throne in Inverness remains in his family until the disaster of 839.

Abdul Rahman Al Ghafiqi of Al-Andalus invades over the Pyrenees into Aquitania, which he conquers before proceeding northward, only to be halted by Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours, Tours being a major holy site to the Franks as the burial place of St. Martin.

733 – With the death of Eochaid mac Echdach of the Cenél nGabráin, last overking of the Dal Riata, comes the final separation of the western Dal Riata from those in Argyll.  Indrechtach of the Dal nAraide becomes overlord over the western branch; his descendants are the O'Lynch clan.  The ancestor of the O’Quinns is direct king over the western Dal Riata in the Glens of Antrim.

A fleet from the eastern Dál Riata in Argyll fights for Flaithbertach mac Loingsig, chief of the Cenél Conaill (overlords of the eastern Dal Riata), in his war with Áed Allán of the Cenél nEógan, and suffers heavy losses. Dúngal mac Selbaig of the Cenel Loairn is deposed and replaced with Muiredach mac Ainbcellaig.

734 – The Cenel Connaill abdicate the overlordship of the northern Ui Neill, and the Cenel nEogan step into their place.

735 – Ithael ap Morgan unites his kingdom of Gwent and Glywysing with Ergyng once again.

736-839 - The Eoghanachta Mag Geirginn/Cenel Loairn rule the North.

736 – Second campaign of Oengus of Fortrenn against Dal Riata, defeating both Dungal and Muiredach, ending the kingdom’s independence, making him the first king of both Picts and Scots.

739 – Talorgan ap Drostan, king of Ath Fodhla, is executed by drowning; first mention of Ath Fodhla.

740-1335 - The Uighyr State in northern Mongolia and Central Asia.

740 - Death of Rhain of Dyfed and Brycheiniog.  His kingdoms are divided between his two sons.

741 – Oengus of Fortrenn replaces the cult of St. Peter with that of St. Andrew, establishing a cathedral in his name at the royal site of Cenrigmonaid.

743 - Aethelbald of Mercia and Ceolred of Wessex join forces to attack Gwent and Powys.

The Clann Cholmain supercede the Sil nAeda Slaine as overlords of the southern Ui Neill.

744 - Construction of Wat's Dyke on the border between Mercia and Powys.

745 – After the death of Ithael, his kingdom divides back into the separate kingdoms of Gwent and Glywysing, with Ergyng now absorbed by the first.

750-1258 – The (Khorasani) Abbasid Caliphate, based in Baghdad, brings about the Islamic Golden Age.  Scientists, philosophers, artists, writers, and engineers flourish in all parts of the far-flung and often in-fighting empire. 

750 – The Alt Clut Britons under Teudebur defeat Talorcan mac Oengusa at the Battle of Mugdock.  Decline of the power of Oengus I of Fortrenn

Elidyr ap Sandde moves the exiled royal house of Argoed from Powys to the Isle of Man. 

Tewdr of Brycheiniog breaks the peace with his cousin, Elwystl, and murders him.

Eadberht of Northumbria dissolves the subkingdom of Leudian.

751 – The Exarchate of Italiae comes to an end when it’s conquered by the Lombards.  The holdings of the Basilea Rhomaion in Italia are reduced to the Themata of Sicilia, Calabria, and Lucania, along with the Ducatas Venetia.

752 - Death of Teudebur of Alt Clut. His son, Dumnagual, succeeds to the throne and promptly loses Kyle to Eadberht of Northumbria.

Pope Zachary, Bishop of Rome and Pontifex Maximus, desposes Childeric III of the Francii, ending the Merovingian dynasty.

754 - Death of Rhodri Molwynog ap Idwal of Gwynedd.  Caradog ap Meirion succeeds him.

Pope Zachary anoints Pepin the Short as king of the Francii, beginning the Carolingian dynasty, and bestows on him the title of Patricius Romanorum.

756-929 – The Emirate of Cordoba, nominally subordinate to the Abbasid Caliphate, begun when a prince of the former Umayyad dynasty overthrows the ruler of Al-Andalus.

756 - Oengus I of Fortrenn and Eadberht of Northumbria successfully attack Dumnagual of Alt Clut at Dinas y Brython; however, Alt Clut subsequently wipes out Eadberht's entire force at the Battle of Newburgh-on-Tyne. 

758 – A portion of the Ducatas Neapolitanus secedes as the independent Ducato di Amalfi.

760 - Battle of Hereford is fought between Mercia and Brycheiniog under Nowy Hen.

761 – Death of Oengus mac Fergusa of Fortrenn.

763 – The Ducatas Neapolitanus switches its allegiance from Konstantinopoulos to Roma.

766  - A branch of the Ui Bruin founds the kingdom of Breifne.

768 - Archbishop Elfoddw of Gwynedd persuades the Church of North Cymru to accept the Continental dating of Easter as agreed by the Northumbrian Church at the Synod of Whitby.

Waifer, last duke of independent Aquitaine, loses a war against Pepin the Short and is killed by his own troops, who in turn pledge their fealty to the king of the Franci.

771 – Mercia takes Sussex from Wessex.

774-821 - The Icelingas of Mercia rule all England.

774 - Offa of Mercia unites all England for the first time.

Charle le Magne of the Franci conquers the Lombard Kingdom of Italy.

777-813 - Abbasid-Carolingian Alliance.  The Abbasids first seek an alliance with Charle le Magne against the Umayyads in Iberia.  Charle le Magne's motive is to have a counter-weight against the Basilea Rhomain, which is resisting his moves in Italia.

777 – The churches of South Cymru adopts Continental practice

780 – The last king of the Hwicce dies, and the kingdom is absorbed by Mercia.

781 – The Ducatas Romanus disappears when Charle le Magne grants it to Pope Benedict VII as part of his temporal domains, the Papal States.

784 - Construction of Offa's Dyke, the artificial bank and ditch boundary between England and Cymru, is begun at the command of Offa of Mercia.

787-1030 – The Viking Age in Europe and the Mediterranean Sea.

787-877 – Carolingian Renaissance.

787 – The Seventh Ecumenical Council at Nicaea condemns Iconoclasm and the doctrine of Purgatory, and also decrees that every altar in every church should contain a holy relic.

789 – Accession to the throne of Fortrenn by Caustantin mac Fergusa, nephew of Alpin ap Feredach, who is credited with founding the church at Dun Chaillean.

793-1066 – The Viking Age in Northern Europe

793 - Lindisfarne is destroyed by the Norse.

795 - Quarrels between Cynan Dindaethwy ap Rhodri Molwynog and his brother Hywel leave the way open for Caradog ap Meirion (of the House of Rhos) to usurp the throne of Gwynedd.

797 - Cymric forces clash with Mercia at Battle of Rhuddlan, when Coenwulf of Mercia tries to re-assert his domination of northeast Cymru.  Maredydd of Dyfed is killed in the fighting.  Mercians push on westward.

798 - Caradog of Gwynedd is killed fighting Mercians of Coenwulf in Snowdonia. Cynan Dindaethwy succeeds to the throne.

800-1000 – Golden Age of Toltec civilization.

800 – The region of Rhwng Gwy a Hafren, or Cynllibiwg (roughly the same as Radnorshire), breaks away from Powys to become the tiny kingdoms of Buellt, Gwrtheyrnion, Maelienydd, and Elfael.

Vikings found Wexford in Eire.

Pope Leo I crowns Charle le Magne as Imperator Augustus, nominally subordinate to Basilissa Irene Sebastos.  Charle le Magne and his successors use the less presumptuous title Imperator Romanum gubernans Imperium.

802-1511 – The Khmer Empire dominates Indochina, covering modern Kampuchea, Thailand, southern Viet Nam, Laos, and parts of Burma and Malaysia.  The empire is Hindu at first, later Buddhist.  At its height in the 12th century, it is the largest and wealthiest empire n Earth.

805 - Egbert of Wessex formally establishes kingship over the people of Dyfneint after a gradual integration over many years.

806 – Vikings massace 68 monks at Martyrs’ Bay on Iona.

807 - Death of of Arthwyr of Ceredigion.

810 - St. David’s is burnt.

811 – The former Ducatas Venetia of the Basilea Rhomain becomes independent as the Republic of Venice.

812 - Degannwy, capital of Gwynedd, is struck by lightning and burnt to the ground.

Vikings found Limerick.

Basileus Michael I Rangabe Sebastos recognizes Charle le Magne as Imperator in the West.

813 - Hywel and Cynan Dindaethwy of Gwynedd quarrel again and meet in battle.  Hywel is victorious.

814 - Gryffydd of Powys is slain through the treachery of his brother Elisedd. 

Cynan Dindaethwy of Gwynedd invades Anglesey and attacks his brother, Hywel.  Hywel is victorious and Cynan is driven from his shores.

815 - Kernow is raided by Egbert of Wessex and his Saxon armies.

816 - Hywel of Gwynedd is again attacked by his brother Cynan, on Anglesey.  Cynan is killed.

The English successfully invade Rhufoniog and also ravage the Snowdonia Mountains.

818 - Coenwulf of Mercia raids Dyfed.

819-999 – Samanid Empire in Greater Iran.

820-834 – Vicious attacks by the Vikings against the north of Scotland.

820 – Death of Caustantin of Fortrenn; succession of Oengus II mac Fergus. 

Feidlimid mac Cremthanin of the Eóganacht Chaisil, a Celi De who is abbot of Cork and Clonfert, becomes king of Mumha; he is the first in centuries not of the Ui Neill to be called Ard Ri Eireann.

821 - Coenwulf of Mercia dies in Basingwerk while preparing for another assault on Powys.

823 - The Mercians invade Powys, but are beaten back by Cyngen.  They also destroy the Gwynedd capital, Degannwy.

824 – St. Blathmac leads a group of Columban monks back to Iona.  The next year, there is another raid in which they are all massacred and the abbey burned.

825 - Death of Rhodri of Gwynedd.  The kingdom is seized by his grand-nephew, Prince Merfyn Frych of Mann and Argoed. 

The men of Kernow make a push into Saxon Devon and the two armies clash at the Battle of Galford.  The Cornish are victorious. 

Wessex defeats Mercia and takes from it Kent, Essex, Sussex, and Suthrig.

829-1014 - The Cerdicingas of Wessex rule all England.

829 - Egbert of Wessex invades Mercia and drives Wiglaf, its king, into exile, becoming Bretwalda, or King of all England.

830-1235 – Empire of Ghana.  One of the strongest governments in the history of Africa.

830 – Nynniaw, abbot of Bangor Fawr, compiles the Historia Britonum.

Britonia in Gallaecia is attacked by Vikings.

834 – Death of Oengus II of Fortrenn.

836 – Gofraid mac Fergusa of Clann Cholmain in Midhe marries the heiress of Cenel Comgaill to become ruler of Ceann Tir and whose descendants later found the Kingdom of Mann and the Isles; probable ancestor of the Ui Imhair.

838 - The Britons of Kernow join forces with the Vikings and attack Wessex.  Egbert defeats them at the Battle of Hingston Down.

839 – Deaths of Eóganan mac Óengusa of Fortrenn and Áed mac Boanta of Dal Riata in battle against the Vikings along with a large portion of their leading warriors; succession of Feradach mac Bargoit in Fortrenn.

Thorgest founds the Norse kingdom of Dublin.

843 Cináed mac Ailpín of Cenel Gabrain becomes Ri Cruithintuath, largely with the help of his Finn Gall and Gall-Gaidheal allies in the Hebrides; he moves the seminary from Dull in Glen Lyon to Dun Chaillean (from which it is moved to Cenrighmonad, later St. Andrew’s).

The Treaty of Verdun between the sons of Louis the Pious divides the empire of Charle le Magne into Francia Occidentalis (ruled by Charles the Bald, Francia Orientalis (ruled by Louis the German out of Bavaria), and Francia Media (ruled by Lotheir I out of Italy).  

Francia Occidentalis is divided into the fiefdoms of Aquitaine, Brittany, Catalonia, Flanders, Gascony, Gothia (Septimania), Ile-de-France, western Burgundy, and Languedoc.  This marks the beginning of the modern state of France, though it was still called both Francia Occidentalis and Gallia for more than a century.

Francia Media is divided into the fiefdoms of Lotharingia, Frisia, eastern Burgundy, Provence, and Italy.

Francia Orientalis is divided into the fiefdoms of Swabia (Alamannia), Franconia (eastern Austrasia), Saxony, and Bavaria.

844-878 – Reign of Rhodri Mawr ap Merfyn over Gwynedd.

844 – Rhodri Mawr succeeds to the throne of Gwynedd.

845 – First unified kingdom of Breizh/Bertaeyn is declared by Nominoe after the defeat of Charles the Bald, King of the Franks, in the Battle of Ballon.

846 – Death of Niall Caille mac Áeda of the Cenel nEogain, who defeated Feidlimid mac Cremthanin of Mumhan; succession of Máel Sechnaill mac Máele Ruanaid to the throne of Tara.  The annals of Mael Sechnaill’s reign refer to him as Ri h’Eireann Uile, his warriors as Fir Eireann (men of Ireland) rather than either Fir Midhe (men of Meath) or Clann Cholmain, and the terms Goidel and Gall-Gaidheal first come into use.

847 – Arab armies captured the realm of the Lombards in southern Italiae in 847, and the region becomes the Emirate of Bari.

848-1279 – The Chola Empire dominates southern India.

848-1034 - The Cenel nGabhrain rule Alba.

848 - The armies of Brycheiniog and Gwent clash at the Battle of Ffinnant.  Ithel of Gwent is killed in the fighting.

849-1298 - The Empire of Pagan in Burma.

849 – Cináed mac Ailpín, Ri Cruithintuath, moves the primacy of the Pictish Church to Dunkeld, along with relics of St. Colmcille.

850 – “Eliseg's Pillar” is erected in Llantysilio-yn-Ial by Cyngen ap Cadel of Powys as a memorial to his great grandfather Elisedd ap Gwylog and the power of the Powysian dynasty. 

Bishop Censteg of Dingerein (in Kernow) accepts the authority of Archbishop Ceolnoth of Canterbury.

The Abbasids in Baghdad begin to lose supreme military control, and politically the Caliphate subdivides into autonomous and independent emirates, such as the Umayyads in Al-Andalus, Idrisids, Aghlabids, Tulunids, Sajids, Hamdanids, Buyahids, Alids, Samanids, and Saffarids, though all at least nominally acknowledge the authority of the Caliph.

853 - Mercia and Wessex attack Powys. 

Conquest by Breizh/Bertaeyn of the territory of Naoned/Naunnt (Nantes), which becomes Britannia Nova.

Vikings found Waterford.

854 - Cyngen of Powys dies on a pilgrimage to Rome.  His throne is seized by his nephew, Rhodri Mawr of Gwynedd, and his sons expelled.

855 – Ynys Mons (Anglesey) is ravaged by Dublin Vikings.

855 – Rhodri Mawr of Gwenydd conquers Powys.

856 - Rhodri Mawr of Gwynedd and Powys repels a major Viking invasion of Cymru and kills their king, Gorm.

858 – Death of Cinaed at the palace of Cinnbelachoir (Forteviot).  His oldest daughter, Maelmuire, first marries Aed Finnliath of Cenel nEogain, to whom she bore Niall Glundubh, ancestor of the O’Neills, and secondly Flann Sinna of Clann Cholmain.  His youngest daughter marries Rhun of Alt Clud.

860 – Kent is completely absorbed into Wessex, losing its separate identity.

862 - Rurik of the Varangians establishes a kingdom in Rus and founds the Rurikid dynasty which will rule Russia until 1612.

863-867 - Photian Schism between Konstantinopoulis and Roma, largely over politics and the refusal of Patriach Photios to erect a new patriarchate for the newly converted Bulgars, who then applied to the Pope of Rome.  The schism ended with the Patriarch's deposition.

866 - Devastation of Fortrenn by the Norse.

867 – Northumbria is conquered by the Great Heathen Army; Deira is ruled directly while Beornicia is given an English earl.

869 Eight Ecumenical Council (Catholic) at Konstantinopoulis affirms the desposition of Photios and reaffirms veneration of icons and other images.

870 – The Great Heathen Army conquers East Anglia.

871 – Dinas y Brython, seat of Alt Clut and its king, Artgal, is destroyed by Olaf of the Norse kingdom of Dublin and his Viking warriors.  The capital of Alt Clut is moved to Govan and the kingdom becomes referred to as Ystrad Clud, or Strathclyde.

Alfred the Great becomes king of Wessex, later expanding his realm to include all of that held by the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes and pushing back, though not driving out, the Danish invaders, and begins using the titles “King of the Angles and Saxons” and “King of the Anglo-Saxons”.

Rhodri Mawr conquers Seisyllwg.

The Basilea Rhomaion retakes its lost lands in southern Italiae and forms them into the Thema of Longobardia.

872 - Death of Gwrgon of Seisyllwg by drowning. Throne of Seisyllwg taken by his son-in-law, Rhodri Mawr (Raudri Mor) of Gwynedd and Powys. 

Artgal of Ystrad Clud is slain through the connivance of Causantin mac Cinaeda, Ri Cruithintuath, and his Viking allies.  Artgal's son, Rhun, succeeds to the throne.

873 - Death of Imar, according to the Annals of Ulster, “king of the Northmen of all Britain and Ireland” and founder of the Ui Imair dynasty which became the most powerful political entity in the Isles. 

874 - The Great Heathen Army, joined by the Great Summer Army, conquers Mercia.

875 – Haralde Harfagre of Norway annexes Orkney and Shetland to his kingdom because Vikings based there have been raiding not only the Pretanic Isles and Normandy but also Norway.  Turf-Einar, son of Ragnvald Eysteinsson, Jarl of More in Norway, becomes Jarl of Orkney, a territory including Shetland.

876 - Death of Donyarth, the last king of Kernow, drowned during a hunting accident and buried at St. Cleer.

877 - The Vikings invade Cymru once more, and Rhodri Mawr of Gwynedd, Powys and Seisyllwg is forced to flee to Ireland.

878 – The Annals of the Four Masters, Annals of Ulster, and Chronicum Scotorum mark this as the year in which the relics of St. Colmcille were removed from the abbey of Iona to Kells in Ireland, though the Coarb of St. Colmcille in Ireland and Scotland remains as abbot of Iona.

Death of Aed, Ri Cruithintuath; succession of Giric (Cyric) MacRath mac Dúngail of the Cineal Loairn, ancestor of Clann Grioghar and of Siol Alpin, as king of Fortrenn.

Death of Rhun of Ystrad Clud; succession of his son, Eochaid, who also rules Circinn by right of descent from his mother, a daughter of Kenneth I MacAlpin. 

Rhodri Mawr of Gwynedd, Powys, and Seisyllwg returns to his kingdoms, but is killed fighting the army of Ceolwulf II of Mercia; his kingdoms are divided amongst his three sons, Gwynedd going to Anarawd, Powys to Merfyn and Seisyllwg to Cadell. 

The Vikings winter in Dyfed.

879 – Eight Ecumenical Council (Orthodox) reinstates Photios as Patriarch of Konstantinopoulis and implicitly condemns the addition of the Filoque clause to the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed.

The Danes in the Danelaw form the kingdoms of Jorvik (York), of (Danish) East Anglia, and of the Five Burghs (of Mercia).

880 - Anarawd of Gwynedd initiates a revenge attack on the Mercian armies and defeats them on the River Conwy.

881 - Anarawd of Gwynedd and his brothers begin extensive military campaigns to quell resistance in Powys and Seisyllwg.

882-1240 – The Varangians of the Rus Khaganate, originally colonists from Sweden, establish Kyavan Rus at Kiev and dominate Central Russia until being overwhelmed by the Mongol hordes.

885-886 - Viking siege of Paris, then seat of the West Franci.

885 - Asser, a relative of Nobis, bishop of St. Davids, is summoned to the court of King Alfred of England. He agrees to spend six months of the year in the King's service. Asser helps to enhance the literary status of the English Court and to negotiate the recognition of Alfred as overlord of the southern Welsh kings Hyfaidd of Dyfed, Elisedd of Brycheiniog, and Hywel of Glywysion who are harassed by the armies of Anarawd of Gwynedd and seek his protection.  Anarawd seeks an alliance with the Norse kings of York.

889 - Eochaid and Giric Mac Rath of the Picts and Ystrad Clud are deposed by Viking invaders.  Domnall mac Caustantin becomes Ri Cruithintuath, the last to be so called.

890 - Domnall Ri Cruithintuath expels the Briton aristocracy of Ystrad Clud.  They flee south to North Cymru (Gwenydd).

Ketil Flatnose Bjornsson establishes the Kingdom of the Isles.

894 - Anarawd of Gwynedd's shaky alliance with the Vikings collapses.  His kingdom is ravaged by the Norsemen.  Anarawd is forced to ask for help from Alfred of England and submits to his overlordship. Alfred imposes oppressive terms and forces Anarawd to confirmation in the Catholic Church with Alfred as godfather. 

Bishop Asser of Sherborne writes his Life of King Alfred.

895 - Anarawd of Gwynedd is supplied with English troops to assist in reconquest of Seisyllwg. He is successful and his brother, Cadell, is finally able to take his rightful place on the Seisyllwg throne.

896 - Brycheiniog and Gwent are ravaged by Hastein and his Viking pirate army.

900-1589 – Luzon Empire in the Philippine Islands, originally an outpost of the Srivijaya Empire.  Also known as the Kingdom of Tondo, it includes all Manila north of the Pasig River and the Kapampangans made up the bulk of its population.

900-1250 – The Early Mississippian Period in North America.

900 - Tewdr of Brycheiniog establishes his court on a crannóg in the middle of Llangorse Lake. 

Death of Domnall, Ri Cruithintuath; succession of Caustantin mac Aeda, the first to use the title King of Alba.

Fortrenn, now also called Moireabh, begins refusing to acknowledge the king of Alba at Scuin, and its rulers are referred to as either Ri Fortrenn or Ri Moireabh in the Irish Annals.

902 - The Norse are expelled from Dublin. They attempt to settle in Seisyllwg, but are driven off by Clydog. They move on and settle in the Wirral.

903 - The Vikings raid Anglesey.

904 - Marriage of Hywel Dda ap Cadell of Seisyllwg to Elen, daughter of Llywarch ap Hyfaidd, of Dyfed.  Death of her father.  Llywarch's brother, Rhodri, tries to claim the throne, but is forced to flee.

905 - Rhodri, nominally King of Dyfed, is caught and executed, at Arwystli, probably by his niece's husband, Hywel Dda, who claims the throne of Dyfed.

909-1171 – The Fatimid Caliphate, based in Cairo.  Ismaili (a sect of Shia) in thought, it begins in Tunis but soon transfers to Egypt before spreading across North Africa and down the east coast of the Arabian peninsula.

909 – The church of Cornwall becomes the last in the Isles to accept Continental practice

910 - Death of Cadell of Seisyllwg; his son, Hywel Dda, succeeds him.

911 – Rollo, descendant of Ragnald of More, becomes Count of Rouen and ancestor of the later Dukes of Normandy, with the northern province of Neustria, contiguous with the old Ducatas Noviodunum, as his territory.

914 - Vikings harry the Welsh coast and move up the Severn, but are driven out by Saxon levies from Hereford and Gloucester.

915 – Defeat of Alba and the Bernician exiles from Lothian by the Vikings of Dublin in the First Battle of Corbridge.

916 - Death of Anarawd of Gwynedd.

English raiders attack the court of Tewdr of Brycheiniog at Llangorse and make off with the queen and 33 of her courtiers. 

Death of Flann Sinna, first King of all Ireland; succession of Niall Glúndub mac Áedo of Cenel nEogain, ancestor of the O’Neills, as Ard Ri.

917 - Brycheiniog is ravaged by the armies of Aethelflaed, Lady of the Mercians, in revenge for the killing of one Abbot Ecgberht.

918 - Idwal Foel of Gwynedd and Hywel Dda of Seisyllwg submit to Edward the Elder of England.

The Vikings raid Anglesey.

The Second Battle of Corbridge, this time between Alba against the Danes and the English, is indecisive.

Vikings found Cork.

920 - Hywel Dda merges Seisyllwg with Dyfed to create the kingdom of Deheubarth.

(Note: The oldest British writers, from the days when the Hen Ogledd was still a power, used the term Deheubarth to refer to the kingdoms of what is now Wales collectively.)

924 – Berengar I, King of Italy and last successor of the imperial line of Charle le Magne, dies with no successor appointed or crowned.

Athelstan, son of Edward the Elder, becomes King of the Anglo-Saxons.

927On 12 July, Constantine II of Alba, Owain ap Dyfnwal of Cumbria, Hywel Dda of Deheubarth, Owain ap Hywel of Glywysion and Gwent, and Ealdred of Bamburgh (Bernicia) submit to Athelstan of England at Eamont Bridge, after which Athelstan uses the title King of the English.  This event is considered the beginning of the Kingdom of England

The border between England and Cymru is set at the River Wye. 

Kernow falls to Athelstan and is given the same status as Wessex, Mercia, Northumbria, and East Anglia as an earldom. 

Athelstan also subdues the Danelaw.

928 - Hywel Dda of Deheubarth, Gwynedd and Powys begins the codification of Welsh law.

929-1031 – The Umayyad Caliphate of Cordoba.

929 – Emir Abd-al-Rahman III of Cordoba proclaims himself Caliph, in opposition to the rival Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad and the Shia Caliph in Tunis.

931 - Morgan Hen of Glywysion and Gwent submits to Athelstan of England and attends his court with Hywel Dda of Deheubarth and Idwal Foel of Gwynedd.

932-1212 - The Karahan Empire, north of the Ghaznevid Empire in the Trans-Oxus area.

934 - Tewdr of Brycheiniog attends the court of Athelstan of England and signs English land charters.   

Hywel Dda of Deheubarth, Idwal Foel of Gwynedd, and Morgan Mwynfawr of Morgannwg  are compelled to accompany Athelstan on his campaign against Constantine II of the Alba.

937 - Athelstan of England defeats a combined Northern Army under Olaf of Dublin, Constantine II of Scots, and Owen I of Strathclyde at the Battle of Brunanburh.

Idwal Foel of Gwynedd distances himself from his English overlord. 

The Britons in Cymru begin to use the term “Cymry” to speak of themselves.

938 – Ngo Quyen defeats the Chinese at the Battle of Bach Dang River and at last established Vietnamese independence and the Empire of Viet Nam along with it.

940 – The Cyrillic script is invented in the First Bulgarian Empire.

Birth of Ferdowsi, revered national poet of Iran.

942 – Morgan the Old reunites Gwent and Glywysing as Morgannwg.

Hywel Dda of Deuheubarth gains Gwynedd and seizes Powys, becoming sole ruler or overlord of all Wales.

943 – Dunstan is appointed Abbot of Glastonbury.


950-1250 – The Medieval Warm Period.

950 – Hywel Dda dies, and united Wales breaks up into its parts.

Morgan Hen Fawr unites Gwent and Glywssing as Glamorgan.

951-1002 – Ottonian Renaissance

951 – The Dal gCais displace the Eoganachta as kings of Mumhan.

954 – Eadred becomes first recognized king of all England when the Danish kingdom of Jorvik falls to his armies.

Maolcuim I invades Moireabh to put down a revolt led by its Mormaer.  After killing Cellach, he is himself killed by the Moravians.  This is the first known outbreak of hostilities since central political power shifted to the east.

Dunstan's protege Aethelwold is appointed Abbot of Abingdon.


959 – With the installation of Dunstan as Archbishop of Canterbury (959-988), the English Benedictine Reform begins, with his chief support coming from Aethelwold, Bishop of Winchester (963-984), and Oswald, Archbishop of York (971-992) and Bishop of Worchester (961-992).

960 – Alba captures Edinburgh/Dunedin, the former Din Eidyn.

962-1183 - Gazneli Empire, between the Trans-Oxus and the Ganges River.

962 – Pope John XII crowns Otto I, Duke of Saxony , as Imperator Romanorum, founding the Imperium Romanum Sacrum, or Holy Roman Empire, which includes the territories of not only Francia Orientalis but those of Francia Media also.

963-1187 – Ghazvanid Empire in Iran and Central Asia.

965 – Sicilia falls to Muslim invaders who establish the Emirate of Sicily.  In response, the Basilea Rhomaion unites the themata of Calabria, Lucania, and Longobardia under the Strategos of Bari as Kapetan and Patricius, forming the Katepenate of Italia.

966-1939 – The Kingdom of Poland, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth after 1569, and those areas of the Russian Empire after 1795 (including western Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine) serve as the main center of the Ashkenazi culture.

967-1328 – The House of Capet rules France.

967-1014 - The War of the Irish with the Foreigners, led on the Irish side by Brian Borumha, king of Mumha and later Ard Ri Eireann.

973 – Maccus mac Arailt of the Isles, Kenneth III of Alba, and Malcolm of Strathclyde form a defensive alliance.

Edgar I the Peaceful is anointed as head of the “Anglo-Saxon Empire” at Bath.  One of his first acts is to grant Laudian (Lothian) to Kenneth III of Alba as a fief.

974 – After the death of Morgan the Old, Morgannwg again divides back into Gwent and Glywysing.

977-present – Rajahnate, then Sultanate, of Brunei.

977-1010 - Ferdowsi composes the 60,000-verse Shahnameh, a literary masterpiece which defines the politico-historical identity of Greater Iran and traces the history of Zoroastrianism.

980 – At this time the population of Konstantinopoulis is around 800,000.

987-1328 - The House of Capet rules the kingdom of France, beginning with Hugh Capet, Duke of France and Count of Paris.

988 – Basileus Basil II Sebastos of the Basilea Rhomain forms the Varangian Guard with 6000 warriors sent as a gift from Vladimir Viatoslavich, prince of Kyavan Rus.

1000-1538 - The Kingdom of Hungary dominates Central Europe.

1001-1521 – Rajahnate of Butuan in Mindinao.

1002 - Brian Bórumha mac Cennétig, king of Mumha, is recognized as Ri hEireann Uile or “Imperator Scottorum”.

1014 – Battle of Clontarf between the forces of Brian the Ard Ri, including Irish warriors of Connacht and Munster, Manx mercenaries, gallowglasses from the Hebrides, and military forces sent by Brian’s son-in-law, Maolchaluim II of Alba, versus the forces of Máel Mórda mac Murchada of Leinster, Sigtrygg Silkbeard of Dublin, Brodir of the Isle of Mann, and Jarl Sigurd Lodvesson of Orkney. 

Brian’s forces are victorious, but he is killed in the fighting and the high kingship falls to Máel Sechnaill mac Domnaill of Midhe, whom he had deposed.  Domnall mac Malcolm and two of Alba’s Mormaers also die at Clontarf; their heads form part of the guard of honor on Brian’s bier on the way to Armagh, where they are buried with him.

1015 - Cnut the Great of Denmark invades England with 200 longships and 10,000 Viking warriors.

1016-1042 – The Danish House of Harthacanute rules in England.

1018 – Malcolm II mac Kenneth (Máel Coluim mac Cináeda) brings Bernicia north of the Tweed, the area later known as the Merse and the Earldom of Dunbar, under his control after the Battle of Carham against Eadwulf Cudel, Ealdorman of Bernicia.

War between the Basilea Rhomain and the First Bulgarian Empire ends in the dissolution and surrender of the latter.

1020 – The Jarl of Orkney makes the Mormaerdom of Caithness a fiefdom.

c.1025 - Suibne mac Cinaeda becomes the first king of the Gallgaidheal in Galloway.

1031 – The Caliphate of Cordoba begins to disintegrate.

Maolcuilm II of Alba, Macbethad mac Findlaech of Moireabh, and Echmercach mac Ragnaill of Mann and the Isles submit to Cnut the Great at the River Tay.

1034-1040 - The Cenel Connaill rule Alba.

1034 – The Cenel Conaill take the throne of Alba when Donnchad mac Crínáin becomes king at Scuin; his father Crinan, abbot of Dun Chaillean, Mormaer of Athfodhla, Abthane of Dull, Kirkmichael, and Madderty, Seneschal of the Isles, and head of the Cenel Conaill in Scotland, is the son-in-law of Maolchaluim II.

1037-1194 - The Great Seljuk Empire.

1039 – Gruffydd ap Llywelyn becomes king of Gwenydd and Powys.

1040 – MacBethad mac Findlaich of the Cenel Loairn, king of Moireabh/Fortrenn, becomes king of Alba, when his predecessor dies in battle after having invaded Moireabh.  In contrast to his portrayal by Shakespeare, he is widely  acknowledged as an excellent ruler, and is the first king in Scotland to import Norman knights and petty lords.

The Berber Almoravid dynasty of Morocco eventually rules the Western Maghreb and Al-Andalus from Marrakesh.

1042-1066 - The Cerdicingas rule England for the second time.

1042 – Edward the Confessor, last ruling king of the Cerdicingas, assumes the throne of England.  Edward utilizes numbers of Norman soldiers in his campaigns against the Danes.

1045 – Crinan of Dun Chaillean is killed in battle against MacBethad.

Brychneiniog divides into the separate kingdoms of Selyf, Tewdos, and Talgarth, which are almost immediately absorbed into Deheubarth.

1048 – Aedh O’Connor, king of Connacht, defeats in battle, the O’Flahertys, kings of Iar Connacht reigining in Magh Seola, and sacks their seat at Inis Loch.  Two years later, Aedh moves his seat from the ancient capital of Cruachan to Tuam in Magh Seola, the great plain of Iar Connacht west of the River Galway.

Birth of Iranian polymath Omar Khayyam, poet, philosopher, mathmetician, astronomer, mechanical engineer, geographer, mineralogist, musician, and theologian who lived until 1131.

1050-1250 – 12th Century Renaissance, which among other things spawned the genre of literature known as the Matter of Britain, or the Arthurian cycle.

1054 – Sigurd the Dane, Jarl of Northumbria, leads a large scale invasion of Scotland. 

The Great Schism of the Christian Church takes place when the Patriarch of Roma and the Patriarch of Konstantinoupolis excommunicate each other.

1055 – Gruffydd ap Llywelyn conquers Deheubarth.  After this, he is known as King of Wales.  He allies himself with Ælfgar, exiled Earl of Mercia, against Edward the Confessor, King of England, eventually resulting in Ælfgar’s reinstatement to the earldom.

1057 – MacBethad of Alba is killed in battle against the sons of Donnchad I, and is succeeded by his stepson Lulach, who rules only one year, after which the Cenel Conaill of Alba retake the throne in the person of Maolchaluim III Ceannmor mac Donnchad.

1058-1290 - The Cenel Connaill rule Alba.

1058 – Gruffydd ap Llywelyn conquers Gwent and Glywysing and reunites them as Morgannwg.

1061 – Following their defeat at the Battle of Glen Patrick and the beheading of their chieftain, Ruadri, the O’Flahertys remove their seat west of the River Galway.

1062-1063 – Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex, conducts a series of campaigns against Gwynedd.

1063 – Harold Godwinson invades southern Wales from the sea while his brother Tostig invades the north.  Gruffydd flees to Snowdonia, where he is betrayed and beheaded by his own people.  Afterwards, his kingdom splits, Bleddyn ap Cynfyn becoming king of Gwenydd and Powys, Caradog ap Gruffydd (ap Rhydderch) king of Glywysing, Cadwgan ap Meurig king of Gwent, and Mareddud ap Owain king of Deuheubarth.

1064 – Harold of Wessex accompanies William, Duke of Normandy, on his campaign against Conan II, Duke of Breizh/Bertaeyn.

1065 – Harold of Wessex supports rebels in Northumbria against his own brother, Tostig, then Earl of Northumbria, whom he replaces with Morcar of Mercia.

1066-1154 - The House of Normandy rules England.

1066 – Edward the Confessor of England dies, leaving vacant a disputed throne; the Witengamot names Harold as his successor.  Harald III of Norway invades England with Harold’s brother Tostig as his ally, and Harold defeats them at the Battle of Stamford Bridge.  William of Normandy, accompanied by a sizable number of Normans, Flemings, and Bretons, invades England, defeating and killing Harold at the Battle of Hastings.

1068 – After joining a failed rebellion, Edgar the Aetheling, last remaining male member of the Cerdicingas, flees to the court of Maolchaluim III in Scotland.  The next year Maolchaluim marries Edgar's sister, the later St. Margaret, and joins an invasion of England along with Sweyn Estridson of Denmark under Edgar’s leadership to attempt to regain his throne.  The effort is unsuccessful.

1069-1070 – The Harrying of the North.  The forces of William the Conqueror devastate Northumbria by killing 100,000 outright and causing another 100,000 to die of exposure, starvation, and disease by destroying everything in sight.

1071 - The Katepanate of Italiae, last vestige of the Imperium Romanum in the West, comes to an end when the forces of the Basilea Rhomaion there are overrun by the Normans.

1077-1256 – Khwarzemid Empire in Iran, southern Caucasus, Afghanistan, and Central Asia.

1077 – Seljuk leader Suleyman bin Kutalmish establishes the Sultanate of Rum in Anatolia in territory taken from the Basilea Rhomain.

1080 – Robert fitz Hamon, baron of Gloucester, establishes the Lordship of Glamorgan in the eastern section of Morgannwg (Gwent), while the Lordship of Morgannwg is confined to Glywysing.

1081-1086 – Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, the former alfarez to Alfonso VI of Leon and Castile better known as El Cid (from al Seyyed), fights as general of  the forces of the Muslim rulers of Zargosa, leading Muladis, Moors, Berbers, and Malians.

1091 – Glywysing falls to Robert fitz Hamon.

1094-1099 – El Cid conquers Valencia and establishes a multi-ethnic principality where Moor and Christians lived side-by-side.

1095 – The First Crusade begins in 1095 when Basileus Alexios I Komnenos Sebastos in Konstantinoupolis asks Pope Urban II, as a fellow Roman, for assistance against the Seljuk Turks, and he responds with the Council of Clermont to call up volunteers.

1099 – The victorious Crusaders establish the Kingdom of Jerusalem, Principality of Antioch, County of Edessa, and County of Tripoli.

The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem is founded.

Edgar Aetheling and many of his companions serve the Imperium Romanum in the Varangian Guard for a number of years.

1111 – The the Synod of Fiadh-mic-Oenghusa aims to reduce the number of sees and begin to plan organization of regular territorial dioceses.  Later in the year, the Synod of Usnagh divides Meath between the bishops of Meath and of Clonmacnoise.

1113 – The Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem is chartered.

1118 – The Synod of Rath Breasil attempts to establish territorial dioceses with secular clergy as the norm in Ireland, 24 dioceses divided between the metropolitan sees of Armagh and Cashel, both of which claim primacy.  Three  already existing territorial dioceses, Dublin, Wexford, and Waterford, are not part of the synod, already having joined themselves to Canterbury.

1119 – The Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon is founded in Jerusalem.

1120 – The Almohad Berbers establish a Caliphate that soons covers the remaining Muslim territories in the Iberian peninsula.

1124-1230 – The MacWilliams-MacHeth Wars.  The former descend from William, son of Duncan II, while the latter descend from Alexander mac Crinan, Maolcuim Ceanmor’s elder brother.  Both William and Alexander married into the royal dynasty of Moireabh, and the wars, often fought with the two families as allies, are a continuation of the Fortrenn-Circinn/Verturones-Caledonii rivalry that goes back to the 2nd century CE.

1124 – David I mac Maolcoluim usurps the throne of nephew Maolcoluim mac Alexander I and takes the throne of Scone, uniting Alba with Cumbria (Strathclyde) and Dunbar as the Kingdom of Scotland, using the title “King of the Brets & Scots”.  The influx of Norman, Breton, and Flemish nobles increases exponentially.  David promulgates the Laws of the Brets and Scots, which last until 1305.

1125-1571 – Originally an outpost of the Srivijaya Empire, the Kingdom of Namayan dominates the area of Luzon along the north shore of Lake Laguna to Manila Bay, and includes the modern Santa Ana de Sapa (its capital), Paco, Pandacan, Sampaloc, Quiapo, San Miguel, San Juan, Taytay, Ermita, Malate, Makati, Pasay, Paranaque, Pateros, Taguig, and Mandaluyong.

1125 – The Lordship of Galloway, the former Novant, annexed to Scotland.

1126 – Edgar the Atheling, last of the Cerdicingas in the male line, dies in Scotland.

1130-1134 - Maolcoluim mac Alasdair rises against David I in Alba with the support of Oengus mac mheic Lulach, king of Moireabh.  After David's Mercian general, Edward Siwardson, defeats the Moravian forces, William fitz Duncan, son of Donnchad II and son-in-law of Oengus mac mheic Lulach, becomes ruler of Moireabh and progenitor of the MacWilliams.

1135-1154 – The Anarchy.  The Kingdom of England and the Duchy of Normandy are consumed by civil war between Matilda, daughter of Henry I, Empress of the Imperium Romanum Sacrum, and Countess of Anjou, and Stephen of Blois, who usurped the throne of England upon Henry I’s death.  Matilda was supported by her half-brother Robert of Gloucester and her uncle David I of Scots.  The fighting ends with Stephen accepting Matilda’s son by Geoffrey of Anjou, Henry FitzEmpress, as his heir.

1140 – Somerled mac Gillebride, grandson of Gilledomnan of the Isles who was expelled to Ireland, becomes king of Kintyre by marrying Ragnailt, daughter of Olaf, king of Mann and the Isles.

Turlough O'Connor, king of Connacht, makes himself Ard Ri Eireann.

1142 – The Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus is founded in Jerusalem.

1147-1149 – The Second Crusade attempts to reconquer Edessa, but fails.

1147 – The conservative Almohads replace the Almoravids on the Iberian peninsula.

The North German and Danish Crusade against the Wends fails.

1152 – The Synod of Kells establishes 32 dioceses in Ireland, including those formerly subject to Canterbury (Dublin and Waterford), distributed among 4 provinces headed by Dublin, Cashel, Tuam, and Armagh, which is given the primacy of all Ireland.

1154-1485 - The House of Plantagenet rules England, in three branches, the House of Anjou, the House of Lancaster, and the House of York.

1154-1242 - The Angevin Empire in England, Anjou, Normandy, Ireland, Gascony, Aquitaine (Guyenne), Poitou, Maine, Touraine, Saintonge, Marche, Perigord, Limousin, Nantes, and Quercy.  Clients include Wales, Britanny, Cornwall, and Toulouse.

1154 – With the succession of Henry of Anjou as to the throne England as Henry II of England, the rule of the House of Plantagenet in England begins.

1155 – Pope Adrian IV, the first and only English Bishop of Rome, issues a Papal Bull granting Henry II of England lordship over Ireland.

Turlough O’Connor, High King of Ireland, king of Connacht, and king of Teora Connacht, assembles the most massive fleet in the history of Ireland to invade the kingdom of Ailech and bring it to heel.  The northerners defend themselves with a fleet hired from Godred Olafsson, of Mann and the Isles, Fergus of Galloway, and Somerled of Kintyre, led by Mac Skellig.  After plundering most of Tir Connaill then Inishowen, O’Connor’s fleet  meets  the Hebrideans off  the peninsula and begins a naval battle that lasts two days.  They defeat the mercenaries, but have so many causalites, including their commander, Rory Mor O’Dowd,  they have to return south.

1156 – After the major but indecisive Battle of the Epiphany against Godred, Somerled mac Gillebride, king of Kintyre, becomes king of the South Isles when Godred agrees to cede the islands south of Ardnamurchan: Islay, Jura, Mull, Tiree, Coll, Iona, Arran, and Bute.

Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn of Aileach becomes Ard Ri Eireann upon the death of his old nemesis, Turlough O’Connor.

1158 – Somerled drives Godred from his seat on the Isle of Mann to become king of Mann and all the Isles as well as lord of Kintyre.

1160 – Powys divides into the kingdoms of Powys Fadog and of Powys Wenwynwyn.

1164 – Death of Somerled in Renfrew at the hands of the House of Stewart after he comes ashore under a flag of truce.  Godred regains his pre-1158 territories.

1166 – Muirchertach Mac Lochlainn dies, and Ruaidhri O Conchobhair, king of Connacht, becomes Ard Ri Eireann.  Ruaidhri and his allies, Tiernan O’Rourke of Beifne and the Vikings of Dublin, depose Muirchertach’s former ally Diarmud MacMurrough of Leinster, who seeks assistance among the Cambro-Normans in Cymru.

1169 – Armies of Cambro-Normans under Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, also known as Strongbow, invade Ireland, taking Waterford, Wexford, and Dublin at the invitation of Diarmud, former king of Leinster, to help him regain his throne.  MacMurrough is reinstated as king of Leinster and Strongbow marries his daughter Aoife of Leinster.

1171-1341 – The Kurdish Ayyubid Sultanate.  Founded by Salah al-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub and based in Egypt, this Sunni sultanate spread over Libya and Tunisia as well as the Levant and western Arabia.

1171 – Diarmuid dies and Strongbow becomes king of Leinster.

1172 - Henry II, worried about Strongbow’s growing power, invades Ireland in force and secures submission of all the Hiberno-Norman lords and many of the Gaelic ones as well.  Henry proclaims himself Lord of Ireland.  The Synod of Cashel declares the Roman Church to be the only religion allowed in Ireland and that tithes be sent to Rome, resulting in Ireland’s adoption of the feudal system in order to pay them.

1173-1174 – Revolt of Eleanor of Aquitaine against her husband Henry II of England, along with three of their sons and their supporters, including the kingdom of Breizh/Bertaeyn.  It ends with the rebels’ defeat and ultimate reconciliation with Henry.

1185-1868 – Feudal period of the Empire of Japan, dominated by the Shogunate.

1185-1550 – The Medieval Inquisition.

1185 – John, younger brother of Richard the Lionheart, King of England, is made ruler of Ireland but stays only eight months, leaving under threat of a revolt.

The Second Bulgarian Empire frees itself from the Basilea Rhomain and reasserts itself as master of the Balkans, this time even more so.

1187-1192 – The Third Crusade, against the armies of Saladin, by Imperium Romanum Sacrum ruler Frederick I Barabossa, French king Philip II Augustus, and English king Richard Coeur d’ Leon.

1190 – The Order of the Hospital of Saint Mary of Jerusalem is founded.  Its members become better known as the Teutonic Knights.

1192 – The Treaty of Ramla between Richard the Lionheart and Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub (Saladin) effectively ends the rule of the Crusaders, who have already lost nearly all their territories in the Levant to Saladin.  A tiny portion of the Mediterranean coast around the city of Acre, held by the Knights Templar, maintains the title of Kingdom of Jerusalem.  Meanwhile, the French establish the Kingdom of Cyprus.

1194 - The last sultan of the Great Seljuq Empire falls to the armies of Ala ad-Din Tekish of Khwarezim in the extreme east of Greater Iran.

1196 – Former Crusader William Fitz Osbert, better known as William Longbeard, leads a revolt of the poor against a group of corrupt rich Londoners that included his own brother.  Longbeard travelled to Normandy to make clear to Richard his loyalty to him, but Hubert Walter, Archbishop of Canterbury, had him arrested, tried for disturbing public order, and hanged after being dragged through the streets.  His followers promptly declared him a martyr.

1198-1290 – The Livonian Crusade by the Teutonic Knights.

1198 – Death of Ruaidri mac Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair of Connacht, last of the old High Kings of Ireland.

1200-1450 – The Middle Mississippian Period in North America.

1200-1240 – Reign of Llywelyn the Great over Gwynedd and Wales.

1202-1214 - Anglo-French War, between France and England, Normandy, and the Imperium Romanum Sacrum.  During the war, England loses Normandy to France and the Imperium Romanum Sacrum gives up its quest to reunite the Carolingian Empire by annexing the former Francia Occidentalis.

1202 - The Fourth Crusade begins in 1202 with the intention of reconquering the Holy Land, but instead attacked the Basilea Rhomain.

1204 – After the capture of Konstantinoupolis, the Crusaders divide the conquered territory into the possessions of the Republic of Venice (primarily Crete) and those of the Imperium Romaniae (Latin Empire) and its vassel states: Kingdom of Thessalonika, Principality of Achaea, Duchy of Athens, and Duchy of Naxos.  Rhodes becomes the headquarters of the Knights Hospitaller.

The surviving “Greek” portions of the empire include the Empire of Nicaea, the Empire of Trebizond, and the Despotate of Epirus.

1206-1527 – The Dehli Sultanate dominates northern India.

1206-1368 – The Mongol Empire, founded by Ghenghis Khan.

1207 – Birth of Iranian poet, jurist, theologian, and Sufi mystic Jalal al-Din Muhammad Balki, aka Rumi and Molana, of the Sultanate of Rum who died in 1273.

1209-1229 – The Albigensian Crusade against the wealthy Cathari of the Languedoc.

1212 – The Children’s Crusade.

1213-1569 – Confederation of Madyaas on the Visayan island of Panay, founded by the “Twelve Datus” fleeing Rajah Makatunao of Borneo.

1213 - John I Plantagenet, king of England, submits to the universal rule of the See of Rome.

1214 - A joint invasion by Domnall Ban mac Domnaill of the MacWilliams, Cinaed of the MacHeths, and an Irish prince is defeated by Ferchar mac in t-Sagairt, Abbot of Applecross, who becomes Mormaer of the new territory of Ross.

The Battle of Bouvines ends the Anglo-French War.

1215 – With the support of Prince Louis of France and Alexander II, king of Scots, the twenty-five Barons of Runnymede seize London and force John I, king of England, to sign the Magna Carta; however, he breaks his word almost as soon as hostilities cease.

1215-1217 - First Barons' War.  The barons invite Prince Louis, son and heir of Philip Augustus of France to intervene and take over the throne, which he does, not only sending troops but coming himself.  Although Louis comes to control nearly all the country, save for two castles, the reason for the nobles support of him dies along with John in late 1216, and the war ends early the next year with the Treaty of Lambeth.

1216 – Llywelyn the Great ap Iorweth of the House of Aberffraw, king of Gwenydd, becomes Prince of Wales at the Council of Aberdyfi.

1217-1221 – The Fifth Crusade, by the kings of Austria, Hungary, Jerusalem, and Antioch, attempting to take back Jerusalem.

1220-1450 – Kingdom of Zimbabwe, succeeded by Butua.

1220 - The Khwarazmian dynasty in Iran falls to the armies of Ghengis Khan.  Within three decades after this, famine, disease, and mass murder reduce the population of Iran by 90%

1223 - Fearchar mac an t-Sagairt, abbot of Applecross, delivers a final defeat to the MacHeths, sending them north, where they become the Mackays of Strathnaver.

1224-1502 - Golden Horde in Eastern Europe, western Urals, Crimea, region north of the Volga.

1224 – The “Greek” Despotate of Epirus conquers the “Latin” Kingdom of Thessalonika.

1228-1229 – The Sixth Crusade, by Frederick II of the Imperium Romanum Sacrum.

1228 – First mention of Robin Hood of Barnsdale in Yorkshire.

1230-1600 – The Mali Empire of the Mandinka in West Africa, renowned for the wealth of its rulers.

1230-1272 – The Prussian Crusade, by the Teutonic Knights.

1230 – After the defeat of Gillescop, last of the MacWilliam claimants, Alexander II of the King of Scots, orders that his surviving three-year old daughter be brought to the town of Forfar.  Following the king’s explicit instructions, William Comyn, Earl of Buchan and Justiciar of Scotland, takes the toddler into the town square in full view of the people, and read the king’s command for the little girl’s fate.   Finished, Comyn grabs the innocent girl’s ankles, and dashes her head against the town pillar, destroying the poor young girl in a smear of brains and blood and crushed bone, as per the royal instructions.

1234 – Death of Alan, last of the independent Lords of Galloway.

1235 - Gille Ruadh leads the Galwegian Revolt in the name of Thomas mac Alan against the takeover and partion of Galloway by Alexander II.

1237 – The Hebrides and other Scottish isles break away from Mann to become an independent kingdom.

1238-1492 – The Emirate of Granada of the Nasrid dynasty, at least nominally vassal to the Crown of Castilla.

1238 – Mohammad I ibn Nasr establishes the Emirate of Granada.

1240 – Dafydd ap Llywelyn becomes Prince of Wales upon the death of his father Llywelyn the Great.

1246 – Dafydd ap Llywelyn dies, and his realm is shared between Owain Goch and Llywelyn, sons of his half-brother Gruffydd.

1248-1254 – The Seventh Crusade, by Louis IX of France, attempting to relieve the Knights Templar in the Levant.

1250-1487 - The Karamanid Empire.  Founded by Hoca Saddedin from Azerbaijan, the empire of the former Seljuq general which is finally conquered by the Ottomans is notable for having a six-pointed blue star, which the State of Israel now calls the Star of David, on its flag, which in medieval times is called the Seal of Suleiman, or Solomon, and is a symbol for Jewish, Muslim, and Christian mystics.

1252 – Owain’s and Llywelyn’s younger brother Dafydd comes of age and demands a share of the principality, which leads to a civil war which ends the next year with Llywelyn as sole Prince of Wales.

1254-1450 – Gaelic Resurgence in Ireland, in which Gaelic culture and rulers roll back English influence until it is confined mostly inside The Pale, with most of the Hiberno-Norman houses “Beyond The Pale” going native and adopting a Gaelic lifestyle.

1258 - A group of seven barons under the leadership of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester force Henry III of England to sign the Provisions of Oxford, handing over much of his power and authority to a council of fifteen nobles, under the supervision of Parliament, which was to meet three times a year.  These provisions were reinforced and expanded the next year by twenty-four barons in the Provisions of Westminster.

The Mongol armies of Hulagu Khan destroy Baghdad, including the Great Library, and bringing an end to the independent Abbasid Caliphate.

1258-1260 – Reign of Brian Ua Neill as Ard Ri Eireann.

1261 – The “Greek” Empire of Nicaea reconquers the “Latin” Imperium Romaniae and reestablishes the Basilea Rhomaion.

1261-1517 - The Shadow Caliphate.  The Mamluk Sultanate supports an Abbasid survivor of the Mongol invasion to continue the Caliphate in Cairo.

1263-1267 - Second Barons' War.  Waged in response to Henry III's recalcitrance, de Montfort leads his fellow barons in a rising against the crown.  After Henry and his son Edward (later to become Edward I of England) are captured at the Battle of Lewes, England is governed without a monarch until Edward escaped fifteen months later and begins the ultimately successful drive to restore his father to the throne.

1263 – Battle of Largs between the Scots under Alexander II, King of the Scots and Britons, and the forces of Hakon Hakonson, King of Norway, overlord of Mann and the Isles.  Though indecisive, it leads to the cession of Mann to the Scottish crown two  years later upon the death of Magnus Olafsson, last ruler from the Ui Imhoir.

1267 – In the Treaty of Montgomery, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd obtains recognition of his title Prince of Wales, though he remains subject to the Edward I of England as his overlord.

1270 – The Eight Crusade, by Louis IX of France, targeting Tunis in North Africa.

1271-1290 - Sojourn of Marco Polo at the court of Kublai Khan in Beijing with his father Niccolo and uncle Maffeo.

1271-1272 – The Ninth Crusade, by Edward I of England, against the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt in attempted coordination with the Mongol Ilkhanate.

1282 – Llywelyn ap Gruffydd of Wales dies in the Battle of Orewin Bridge and is succeeded as Prince of Wales by his brother Dafydd.

1283 – A war between England and Wales ends with the conquest of the latter by Edward I of England, the overthrow of the long-ruling House of Cunedda, the execution of Dafydd by hanging, drawing, and quartering, an execution especially devised by Edward for him.  Edward incorporates Wales into England by statute the following year.

1285-1415 – Ifat Sultanate in the Horn of Africa.

1286-1290 - The House of Sverre in Alba.  Margaret, Maid of Norway, is titular Queen of Scots, but the realm is governed by Guardians.

1286 – Death of Alexander III, last King of the Scots and Britons from the House of Dunkeld, the Cenel Conaill in Scotland.

1291 – Enraged at the death of his father, Malcolm, at the hands of English “peace-keeping” troops, William Wallace of Ellerslie leaves the seminary in St. Andrews and begins a guerrilla campaign based in Selkirk Forest. 

The Mamluk Sultanate captures Acre, the last territory of the Crusaders in the Levant, ending the Kingdom of Jerusalem, though the monarchs of Cyprus claim the title of King (Queen) of Jerusalem until their own fall (to Venice) in 1489.

1292-1296 - The House of Balliol rules Alba.

1292 – John Balliol, Lord of Galloway, is crowned King of Scots at Scone, the last King of Scots to be crowned on the Stone of Destiny.

1293-1527 – The Majapahit Empire covers Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Borneo, southern Thailand, the Philippines, and East Timor.  The empire promotes Hinduism and Buddhism, but also supports Islam.

1294 – Leading a rising planned months in advance that launches on across Wales simultaneously on Michaelmas, Madog ap Llywelyn of a cadet branch of the House of Aberffraw becomes Prince of Wales.

1295 – The Welsh rising ends at the Battle of Maes Moydog on 5 March, and while Madog is captured later, he is not executed but only kept prisoner.

1296-1304 – First War of Scottish Independence.

1296 – Sack of Berwick.  Battle of Dunbar.  Edward I of England removes the Stone of Destiny from Caislean Credi (Moot Hill) and takes it to Westminister Abbey.

1297 – Andrew Murray of Petty escapes from Chester Castle and begins a rising against the English in the north to match that of Wallace in the south.  Battle of Stirling Bridge.  Wallace and Murray are proclaimed Guardians of Scotland; Murray dies shortly thereafter.

1298-present – The Warsangali Sultanate has governed most of Somalia since the 13th century.

1298 – Battle of Falkirk.  Wallace resigns and resumes the guerrilla warfare that he had begun earlier in 1291, while the armies of the great lords fight more conventional warfare.

1299-1923 – The Ottoman Sultanate.  At one time the most powerful state in the world, the empire covered Anatolia, the Levant, Arabia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, North Africa,  the Caucausus, Crimea, the Balkans, and the Danube Valley in its peak.

1302 – The island of Arwad off the coast of Syria, the very last stronghold of the Knights Templar in the Levant, falls.

1303 - Scottish forces led by John Comyn, Simon Fraser, Henry Sinclair, William Wallace, and former Templar knight Prior Abernethy inflict a devastating defeat upon English forces led by John Seagrave at the Battle of Roslin, which takes place in three stages, with the Scots each time obliterating a force equal in size to their own.

1305-1378 - The “Babylonian Captivity of the Church”, with the move of the Papacy to Avignon, France.

1305 – Wallace is betrayed and captured at Robroyston, outside of Glasgow, by a servant of John Stewart of Mentieth then taken to London to be hanged, drawn, and quartered. 

1306-1328 – Second War of Scottish Independence.

1306 – Robert the Bruce is crowned King of Scots at Scone, but is later defeated at the Battle of Methven, after which he takes up Wallace’s guerrilla tactics for some time.

1307 – Philip IV of France arrests all the Knights Templar in his kingdom and begins torturing false confessions out of them.  During their inquisition, several of the Templars are recorded to have confessed to following “Bafomet”, later rendered Baphomet, with the accounts giving various descriptions of this demon or false god; Bafomet, however, is a French corruption of the name Muhammad dating back to the 13th century.

The Seljuk Sultanate of Rum falls to the Ottomans.

1310 – The English province of the Knights Templar, up to this point one of England’s strongest allies in its fight to re-subdue Scotland, is dissolved, with Edward II of England seizing their assets in England and Ireland; a large number of the Templars join the Scottish cause.  There they merge with their sister Knights Hospitaller as the “Order of St. John and the Temple” until the Reformation.

1312 - Philip intimidates Pope Clement V into disbanding the entire Templar order and turning over its assets and surviving personnel to the Hospitallers, though the order still survives in Portugal as the Knights of Christ and in Aragon as the order of Montessa.

1314 – Battle of Bannockburn.  Fall of Stirling Castle.  For all intents and purposes, this is the end of English domination of Scotland until 1603.

Jacques de Molay and other senior Templar leaders in France are burned at the stake.

1315-1318 – Edward Bruce, brother of Robert of Scots, is made High King of Ireland by all the major Gaelic ruling families and several of the Hiberno-Norman ones.

1320 – Declaration of Arbroath by the “Community of the Realm” of Scotland to Pope John XXII of unconditional support for Robert the Bruce as King of Scots.

1328-1589 – The House of Valois, a cadet branch of the House of Capet, rules France.

1328 – Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton ends the war between Scotland and England.

1329 – Only a year after the treaty, Robert the Bruce dies, and his minor son succeeds him as David II, with Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray, as regent, who is succeeded as regent by the Domhnall II, Earl of Mar, in 1332.

1330 – The Battle of Teba, between Castile and Granada, in which a large number of Scottish knights led by James Douglas, veterans of the Wars of Independence on their way to the Levant with the heart of Robert the Bruce, take part.

1332-1357 – Third War of Scottish Independence.

1332 – Edward Balliol, son of John, and the “Disinherited” invade Scotland in the minority of David, landing in Fife.

1336-1646 – The Vijayanagara Empire rules southern India.

1336 - Iain mac Donald of Islay becomes the first Lord of the Isles.  The Lordship of the Isles eventually grows to include the Western Isles, Earldom of Ross, Moidart, Knoydart, Garmoran, Morvern, Kintyre, Ardnamurchan, and the Glens of Antrim.

1337-1453 – The Hundred Years' War between the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, which breaks out after the House of Capet dies out.  Burgundy, Aquitaine, Anjou, and Normandy fight for the Plantagenets.

1337-1360 – The Edwardian War phase of the Hundred Years’ War.

1340-1591 – Songhai Empire in West Africa, which ultimately falls to the Moroccans.

1340 – The Basilea Rhomaion reabsorbs the “Greek” Despotate of Epirus.

1341-1364 – Breton War of Succession, an initially unrelated conflict which became part of the Hundred Years’ War because of the involvment of England and France.

1345-1600 – The Italian Renaissance.

1354 – The Ottoman Turks cross into Europe.

1356-1375 – The War of the Two Peters between Castille and Aragon, into which both France and England were dragged.

1349 – The Black Death arrives in the Isles, striking England first.

1357 – The Third War of Scottish Independence ends with the Treaty of Berwick and the restoration of David II.

1360-1890 – Jolof Empire in Senegal.

1365 - Murad I of the Ottoman Sultanate institutes the Janissary Corps, the elite standing troops made up of promising adolescent conscripts from Christian families under the devsirme (blood tax) system.  The corps is abolished in 1826.

1366-1369 – The Castilian Civil War, which becomes a part of the Hundred Years’ War because of the involvment of England and France, though it is fought entirely in Castille.

1368-1564 – The Ming dynasty rules the Empire of China.

1369-1389 – Caroline War phase of the Hundred Years’ War.

1370-1526 – The Timurid Empire covers Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Mesopotamia, and Anatolia.

1372-1378 – Rising of Owain Lawgoch, grandson of Rhodri, brother of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, against England.

1375 – The Earldom of Caithness passes to the Scottish Crown.

1378-1417 – The Papal Schism, with one Pope in Rome and another in Avignon; England supports the former while Scotland, along with France, supports the latter.

1381 – The Peasants' Revolt under Wat Tyler takes place in England.

1390 – The Barbary Crusade, a joint venture of the Republic of Genoa and the Kingdom of France against the pirate stronghold of Mahdia on the coast of Tunisia.

1396 – The Ottomans finish conquering the Second Bulgarian Empire.

1400-1914 – Kingdom of Kongo, covered modern day Angola, Cabinda, Congo-Brazzavile, and western Zaire.

1400-1600 – The Late Mississippian Period in North America.

1400-1415 – Rising of Owain Glyndwr of Wales against England.

1402-1511 – The Muslim Sultanate of Malacca dominates the region until invasion by the Portugese.

1415-1429 – Lancastrian War phase of the Hundred Years’ War.

1418-1660 – The Age of Exploration.

1418 – Creation of the Garde Écossaise, or Scottish Guard, by Charles VII of France to be the chief bodyguards of the French monarchy.  It remains intact as an organization until dissolved in 1830.

1420-1750 - Witch-hunt Crusades in Western Europe and later also in the colonies of the New World.  The body count from these is estimated at up to 60,000.

1427-1521 – The Aztec Empire.

1427 – Formation of the Triple Alliance of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan in what becomes Mexica.

1429 – Joan of Arc appears at the Siege of Orleans and begins her military career at the age of seventeen.  Roughly two years later, when she is nineteen, the English army burns her at the stake as a heretic after capturing her when she stayed behind with the rear guard of the retreating French army after a skirmish.  In spite of shortness of her career, it begins the drive in which the French eventually won the long war.

1431-1445 – The Council of Florence defines Papal Supremacy and attempts to resolve differences between the Patriarchate of Rome and those of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem to affect a reunion, but it ultimately fails.  The chief sticking points are the Filioque clause in the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, Purgatory, and Papal Primacy, the first being the question on which agreement is never reached.

1432 – The Basilea Rhomaion reconquers the “Latin” Principality of Achaea.

1438-1572 – The Inca Empire.

1442-1443 - The Crusade of Varna, a disastrous defeat for  the Kingdom of Hungary, the Principality of Wallachia, the Serbian Despotate, and the Kingdom of Poland  at the hands of the Ottoman sultanate, which leads to the swift conquest of the Balkan nations.

1450-1850 – The Little Ice Age.

1450-1683 – Kingdom of Butua, which replaces that of Zimbabwe.  It is conquered and absorbed by the Rozwi Empire.

1450-1600 – The Northern Renaissance.

1450-1565 – Rajahnate of Cebu, founded by Sumatra’s Chola dynasty.

1453 – With the defeat of the English in the Battle of Castillon, the Hundred Years’ War ends; the French population has been reduced by two-thirds due to various causes stemming directly from the war, while the English have been kicked out of every part of France save for the Pale of Calais.

Konstantinoupolis falls to the armies of the Ottoman Sultanate and the Basilea Rhomain, or Imperium Romanum, comes to an end.  At the time of its capture, the city’s population has fallen to under 50,000.  Mehmed II, Sultan of the conquering Ottomans, assumes the title Kaysar-I Rum (Caesar Romanus).

1455-1485 – The Wars of the Roses in England, between the House of Lancaster and the House of York.

1456 – The Ottomans conquer the “Latin” Duchy of Athens.

1457-1917 – The Sultanate of Sulu, founded by explorer Abu Bakr Abirin, whose sultans ruled the Sulu Sea, western Mindinao, and northern Borneo.

1461 – The “Greek” Empire of Trebizond, fragment of the Basilea Rhomain independent since 1204, falls to the Ottoman Sultanate.

1470 – James III takes the Jarldom of Orkney for the Crown of Scots.

1474-1477 - Burgundian Wars between the duchy of Burgundy and the kingdom of France.

1477 - The Duchy of Burgundy is formally incorporated into the kingdom of France.

1480-1834 – The Spanish Inquisition.

1485-1603 - The House of Tudor rules England.

1485 – Henry Tudor lands in Wales with a large contingent of French and Scottish troops and eventually overcomes the forces Richard III to become Henry VII, King of England and Lord of Ireland, beginning the Tudor dynasty.

1486 - The county of Provence, at one time the kingdom of Lower Burgundy in the Imperium Romanum Sacrum, is absorbed by the kingdom of France.

1489 – The French sell the Kingdom of Cyprus to the Republic of Venice.

1492 Isabella I of Castille and Ferdinand II of Aragon, having finished the Reconquista with the defeat of the Emirate of Granada, last of the Muslim kingdoms in the Iberian peninsula, become rulers of all Spain.  They immediately issue decrees expelling Jews from the peninsula; most of the Sephardim flee to the Ottoman Sultanate.

The noted Templar pilot Christopher Columbus of Genoa, under Spanish flag, lands on the shores of Hispaniola.

1493 – James IV, King of Scots takes the Lordship of the Isles away from Clan Donald and ends its independence.  The territory of Scotland now extends to its modern limits.

1497 - The Cornish Rebellion takes place, involving poor Cornish farmers in protest against taxes imposed by Henry VII to support his war against Scotland.

1500-1898 – The Sultanate of Maguindinao in western Mindinao.

1500-1800 – The Age of Mercantilism.

1500-1571 - The Sultanate of Brunei establishes the city of Selurong near the mouth of the Pasig River as a counter to Tondo.  It eventually becomes Maynila.

1501-1722 – The Safavid dynasty rules Greater Iran, including all of Baluchistan, western Afghanistan, all of Kurdistan, all of Azerbaijan, most of Armenia, and most of Mesopotamia.

1501 – Ismail I establishes the Safavid Empire in Iran, which makes Athnashariyyah Shia Islam its official religion.

1502 - Ferdinand decrees that all Muslims be expelled unless they convert to Christianity; those doing so become known as Moriscos.

1510-1752 - The Toungoo Empire in Burma.

1517-1924 – The Ottoman Caliphate, based out of Konstantinople.

1517 – The Reformation begins.

1526-1764 – The Mughal Empire controls nearly all the Indian subcontinent and modern Pakistan.

1531 – The Spanish establish El Nuevo Reyno de Galicia.

1532 – Francis I of France incorporates Breizh/Bertaeyn into his kingdom in the Edict of Union.

1534 – Henry VIII, King of England, declares the Church of England independent of the See of Rome and himself head of the Church as Defender of the Faith.

1536-1821 – The Portugese Inquisition.

1536 – The Fitzgeralds of Kildare rebel against England.  After putting them down, Henry VIII, as Lord of Ireland, forces the Irish Parliament to declare him head of the Church of Ireland as well.  Most of the population, however, does not adopt the new faith and remains Catholic. It is entirely plausible that if he had not attempted the imposition, Ireland would have gone Protestant or Reformed on its own, as Scotland did under John Knox.  The Portugese Inquistion begins and will last until 1821.

Spain establishes the Viceroyalty of Nuevo España.

1538 - Under pressure from the Ottoman Sultanate, the Kingdom of Hungary collapses and breaks into three parts: Royal Hungary, Ottoman Hungary, and the Principality of Transylvania.

1540 – The Spanish found the Captaincy-General of Guatemala, which includes all of Central America.

1541 – Henry VIII has himself declared King of Ireland by the Irish Parliament, and begins the Tudor reconquest of Ireland with the aim of Anglicizing its gentry. The “pacification” begins with an attempt to plant voluntary colonies of English around Ireland on land leased from landowners.

1542-1860 – The Roman Inquisition.

1542 – Death of James V Stuart, King of Scots; succession of his daughter, Mary, as Queen of Scots, though she returns to France, only coming back after her husband, the Dauphin of France then King of France, dies.

Pope Paul III establishes the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition, which is now called the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith.

Spain creates the Viceroyalty of Nuevo Castillo, later the Viceroyalty of Peru.

1543-1700 - The Scientific Revolution.

1543 - In the Rough Wooing, Henry VIII of England attempts to force the realm of Scotland to allow marriage between his son, the future Edward VI, to the infant Mary, Queen of Scots.  The war ends with the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh, the last pitched battle between the Kingdom of Scots and the Kingdom of England.  The Scottish forces are led by James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran and Regent, and Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, while the English forces are led by Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset.  The disaster for the Scots is so bad it becomes known to their history as Black Saturday.

Posthumus publication of Nicolaus Copernicus' magnum opus, On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres, supporting the scientific theory of Heliocentrism, the novel idea that Terra, the Earth, revolves around Sol, the Sun, rather than vice versa.

1547 – Death of Henry VIII Tudor of England and of Ireland; succession of his son as Edward VI Tudor.

1553 – Death of Edward VI Tudor of England and of Ireland; succession of his eldest sister as Mary I Tudor.  Mary, a staunch Roman Catholic who is also Queen of Spain by virtue of her marriage to Philip II Hapsburg, launches a severe backlash against Protestants in the realm, including the burning at the stake of nearly 300 people for heresy.  However, she shows no favor towards her co-religionists in Ireland and the plantations continue.

1556 – The attempted Plantation of Offaly and Laois begins in the face of overwhelming resistance from the O’Connors and O’Moores, the targets of the Plantation, but ultimately fails, despite the massacre of the leaders of the latter clan under a flag of truce in 1578.

1558 – Mary I of England and Ireland cedes the Pale of Calais, the final Continental territory of the English crown, to France.  Death of Mary later in the year and succession of her sister as Elizabeth I Tudor.

1560-1603 - Reign of Grainne ni Mhaille as ri ban Umaill.

1560 – The Church of Scotland separates from Rome by vote of the Scottish Parliament. 

The Counter-Reformation begins.

1561 – Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, finally returns to her realm.

1562-1598 - The French Wars of Religion, between the Catholic Church and the House of Bourbon on one side and the Protestant Huguenots on the other.

1564 – Spain establishes the Captaincy-General of New Granada at Bogota, taking in roughly the territory of modern Colombia.

1565 - In five months of brutal fighting, the Knights Hospitaller break the Ottoman Sultanate attempt to conquer the Isle of Malta. 

1565 – Spain establishes the colony of La Florida at Santa Elena on Parris Island, a capital which later moves to San Agustin. Spain’s Legazpi establishes the Spanish East Indies (Philippines, Carolines, Marianas, Palau, Sabah, parts of Formosa and Moluccas) the same year.  Both fall under  the Viceroyalty of Nueva España.

1567 – Mary of Scots is forced to abdicate in favor of her infant son by the deceased Henry Henry Stuart, Earl of Lennox, who is proclaimed James VI Stuartof Scots.  She seeks refuge with Elizabeth I of England.

1569-1792 – Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.  The union of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (1263) and the Kingdom of Poland (966), the commonwealth was the largest country in Europe both in population and landmass in its time.

1569 -1573 – First Desmond Rebellion.

1570 – The Ottomans conquer the Republic of Venice’s Kingdom of Cyprus.

1570’s – The attempted Plantation of County Antrim, which the O’Neills of Clandeboy and MacDonnells of Antrim, the targets, resist fiercely with help from the Highlands and Western Isles of Scotland.  After the murder of 200 of the O’Neills, including the chief and his family, by the Earl of Essex in 1574 and the massacre of 600 MacDonnells on Rathlin Island by Francis Drake, Elizabeth I, appalled at the slaughter, calls a halt.

1579 – The Ottomans annex the “Latin” Duchy of Naxos, last remaining vassal state of the former “Latin” Imperium Romaniae.

1579-1583 – Second Desmond Rebellion.

1583 – John Cabot establishes a colony on New Foundland.

1584 – Beginning of the Plantation of Munster, more widespread than earlier efforts but ultimately no more successful, at least until after the end of the Nine Years’ War, when it is reinstituted.

1585-1889 – Luba Empire, which dominates the Congo region later known as Zaire until its conquest by the Kingdom of Belgium.

1585 – Walter Raleigh establishes a colony on Roanoke Island, but it disappears three years later.

1587 – Mary Stuart, former Queen of Scots, is beheaded in England for her part in a revolt planned to overthrow Elizabeth and execute her.

1588 - Blessed as a Crusade by Pope Sixtus V, Patriarch of Roma, Spain launches an ill-fated expedition to England to depose Elizabeth I that becomes known as the Spanish Armada. 

1589-1792 – The House of Bourbon, a cadet branch of the House of Capet, rules France.

1591-1901 – Dendi Kingdom of the Songhai, which replaces their empire after it is conquered by the Moroccans.  The French conquered the kingdom in 1901.

1593-1603 – Nine Years' War.  Although fought all over the country in resistance to Plantations, most of the action takes place in the North, under the Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone and Hugh Roe O’Donnell, Lord of Tyrconnell, Hugh Maguire, Lord of Fermanagh, and others, including Grainne Ni Mhaille, who lead the Irish side.

1598 - The Edict of Nantes grants Huguenots considerable rights and freedoms.

Nueva España establishes the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico.

1599-present – Sultanate of Toporog (Lanao, Mindinao, Philippines).

1599 - The  Governor and Company of Merchants trading with the East Indies (British East India Company) is organized in London.

1600-present – The Age of Modern Freethought.

1600 – The execution of former Dominican monk Giordano Bruno after being found guilty of heresy by the (Roman) Inquisition marks the beginning of modern Freethought.  Bruno, a mathmetician, astronomer, and philosopher went beyond Copernicus' heliocentric model to propose that Sol is merely another star and that countless other such systems with planets inhabited by sentient, intelligent beings exist throughout the universe, in which space and time are infinite.  His philosophy was influenced by Islamic astrology, Neoplatonism, and Renaissance Hermeticism, and contained many elements of pantheism, and laid the groundwork for the Age of Reason and the Age of Enlightenment which followed.

1603-1649 – The House of Stuart rules over England, Scotland, and Ireland.

1603 – Union of Crowns: James VI of Scots becomes James I of England and of Ireland as well upon the death of Elizabeth I of England and of Ireland.

1604 – France establishes the first settlement in what later becomes Acadie. 

1605 – On 5 November, a group of provincial English Catholics observe the inaugural Guy Fawkes Night with a failed attempt to blow up King James along with the House of Lords.

1606 – Following a deal with O’Neill of Clandeboy, the “unofficial” plantation of Cos. Antrim and north Down by Hamilton and Montgomery begins.

1607 – Flight of the Earls (Tyrone and Tyrconnell).  The intention of Hugh O’Neill and Rory O’Donnell is to secure Spanish assistance for a new rising, but their lands are declared forfeit and seized, along with those of all native landowners following the insurgency of Cahir O’Doherty in 1608.

The English establish the Commonwealth of Virginia at Jamestown.

1608 – France establishes the colony of Canada at Quebec.

1609 – Philip III of Spain issues a decree expelling the Moriscos from the peninsula.

1610 – Beginning of the Ulster Plantation under James VI and I; the targetted counties include Antrim, Down, Tyrone, Cavan, Fermanagh, and Donegal, with the settlers being removed from the Borders, Galloway, and Ayrshire regions of southwest Scotland, and the corresponding areas in northern England.  After this year, the Stuarts sponsor more and more plantations, as well as Protestant immigration from Continental Europe.  It is worth noting that prior to this, Catholic landlords in Ireland had already been importing tenants from these very same regions, and that many of those planted were Catholic as well as Protestant and Dissenter.

1613 – Through the creation of numerous Protestant-dominated burghs, the crown manages to overthrow the Catholic majority in the Irish parliament.  County Coleraine in Ulster is dissolved and along with additional territory becomes County Londonderry.  A new walled city of Londonderry is built across from the destroyed city of Derry.

1618 – The Thirty Years’ War begins with the Bohemian Revolt.

1620 – The English establish the Colony of New Plymouth.

1621 – Scots, primarily Highlanders, begin arriving in the French colony of Acadie.

1624 – The United Provinces of the Netherlands establishes Nieuw-Nederland.

1625 - James VI and I dies; Charles I of England, of Scots, and of Ireland takes the throne.

The tribes of Iar Connacht, (O’Flahertys, O’Malleys, MacThomas Joyces, MacConroys, MacConnors, MacDonoughs, O’Hallorans, MacConneelys, O’Duans, and O’Lees), the last remaining holdouts against legal Anglicization, are forced to give up governing their lands and people under native Irish law.

1627 – France joins Acadie and Canada into Nouvelle France.

1629 – The Scots establish the colony of Nova Scotia.

1630 – English Puritans establish Massachusetts Bay Colony.

1633 - The Roman Inquisition convicts philosopher, mathmetician, physicist, and astronomer Galileo Galelei of heresy for promoting Heliocentrism as fact rather than as hypothesis.  The judges sentence him to house arrest for the remainder of his life.

1637-1688 – The Age of Reason.

1638 – Sweden establishes Nya Sverige.

1639-1652 - Wars of the Three Kingdoms, listed individually below.

1639-1640 - Bishops Wars in Scotland.  The Covenanters, led militarily by James Graham, Marquis of Montrose, take power in Scotland.

1639 – The English Colony of Connecticut is formed.

1640-1649 – Years of the Long Parliament.

1641-1652 - Irish Confederate Wars, or Eleven Years War.  It starts with an attempted coup d’etat by the Catholic gentry, but quickly turns to sectarian violence in the face of the vast overreaction by Dublin Castle and subsequent attack on the civilian population.  In reponse, the native Gaelic majority rises, massacring “settlers” in numbers which the latest estimates give as 4,000, with another 12,000 dying from starvation, exposure, and disease. 

In an attempt to regain control and halt the atrocities, the early leaders of the rebellion establish the Catholic Confederation of Ireland, composed of previously antagonistic native Gaelic and Hiberno-Norman or “Old English” populations.  The Confederates fight as allies of the Royalists, but only in their own country, against English Parliamentarians and Scottish Covenanters sent by the government of Edinburgh, in the midst of internecine strife. 

Owen Roe O'Neill, son of Hugh, returns from Spain to take command of the Confederate armies, but dies of disease in 1649 not long after Oliver Cromwell lands with a huge army and undertakes the thorough reconquest of the country, accompanied by widespread atrocities condoned and encouraged by him, most notably the horrific massacre of the the Confederate defenders at Drogheda, in what are acknowledged as the most ruthless parts of the Wars.

1642-1646 - First English Civil War.

1644-1911 – The Manchu Qing dynasty rules the Empire of China.  Before its demise, it spreads its rule to Tibet and Xingxiang.

1644-1645 - Scottish Civil War.  Realizing the threat to Charles I, Montrose comes out of retirement and leads the Covenanters against the allies of Cromwell’s Roundheads in Scotland.  He is assisted by a 2000-man contingent of well-disciplined troops lent from the Irish Confederation under Alistair MacColla.  After securing the country in a series of six battles, Montrose is appointed Lord Lieutenant of Scotland.  Ultimately, though, the effort fails and Montrose departs for Norway, to return after Charles’ regicide only to be captured and hanged.

1647 – The English form the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

1648-1649 - Second English Civil War.

1648 – The Peace of Westphalia ends the Thirty Years’ War, the Eight Years War, the Reformation, and the Counter-Reformation.  Signatories include the Imperium Romanum Sacrum, the Princes of the Imperium, Spain, France, the Dutch Republic, and the free imperial cities of the Imperium.  Among other provisions, the territories of Alsace and Lorraine (the former Upper Lotharingia) are awarded to France.

1649-1660 - The Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

1649 - At the end of the latest war, Cromwell orders the execution of Charles I. His son, Charles, is almost immediately recognized as King of Scots by the Scottish Parliament, in Jersey, and some of the American colonies, most notably the Commonwealth of Virginia.  Meanwhile, Cromwell’s New Model Army purges the Long Parliament of members who do not acceed to Charles’ execution and what is left is known as the Rump Parliament.

1650-1730 – The Golden Age of Piracy, based in the Caribbean Sea but spreading out to the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, the Atlantic seaboard of North America, and the eastern and western coasts of Africa.

1650-1651 - Third English Civil War.  Charles Stuart, son of Charles I, is enthroned as King of Scots in Edinburgh, but is driven out shortly thereafter by an army under Cromwell.

1652 - Beginning of the Cromwellian Plantation, the harshest of all Plantations, with Catholic landowners banished to Connacht, all Catholics banned from living in any towns, and thousands transported to the West Indies as indentured servants, which was the 17th century equivalent of sending them to concentration camps.  Catholics are also banned from serving in Parliament.

1653-1654 - Glencairn's  Rising, led by William Cunningham, Earl of Glencairn, under commission by Charles II, King of Scots.  A large part of the reason for its failure was dissension between Glencairn’s Lowlanders and the Highlanders under John Middleton, Earl of Middleton.

1653 – Cromwell dismisses the Rump Parliament by force and sets in its place a Barebones Parliament controlled by the New Model Army.  Six months later, he likewise dismisses this Parliament and declares himself Lord Protector.

1655 – The Dutch conquer Nya Sverige and add it to Nieuw-Nederland.

1659 – Oliver Cromwell dies and his son Richard succeeds him for a short time before the New Model Army overthrows him and re-establishes the Rump Parliament, which implodes along with the Council of State the next year.

1660-1866 – Rozwi Empire in Zimbabwe.

1660-1714 - The House of Stuart rules England, Scotland, and Ireland.

1660 - Restoration of the monarchy. Charles I of Scots becomes Charles I of England and of Ireland also.

1663 – The English establish the Colony of Carolina.

1664 – The British capture Nieuw-Nederland, comprising territory of the later colonies of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Vermont.

1665-1887 – Lunda Empire, between Luba Empire and kingdom of Kongo.

1666 – The brief Pentland Uprising of Covenanters led by James Wallace of Auchens ends after just two weeks with their defeat at the Battle of Rullion Green by the Scots Army led by Tam Dalyell of the Binns.

1669 – The Republic of Venice loses Crete to the Ottoman Sultanate.

1679 - In the Covenanter Rising of 1679 in Scotland, the rebels defeat the forces of James Graham of Claverhouse at Drumclog, then are defeated in turn at the Battle of Bothwell Bridge by forces under James Scott, Duke of Monmouth and Buccleuch. 

1680 - The Killing Time begins in Scotland when Presbyterian minister Richard Cameron publishes the Sanquhar Declaration renouncing allegiance to the crown and denouncing the designation of James Stuart, Duke of York, as heir presumptive to the throne.  It ends with the Glorious Revolution.

1681 – William Penn establishes the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

1684 – Stuarts Town and two counties carved out of the English colony of Carolina are settled by colonists from Scotland.

1685 - Charles I dies. His brother succeeds him as James VII of Scots and James II of England and of Ireland.

1688-1800 – The Age of Enlightenment.

1688-1697 – War of the Grand Alliance, which includes the Williamite War in Ireland and King William's War in the Americas.

1688 – In the face of an invasion by Holland with 53 warships and 20,000 troops under Prince William Nassau of Orange, James VII and II abdicates his throne in London.  The London Parliament invites Mary Stuart, his daughter, and her husband, William of Orange, to take the throne as Mary II of England, Scots, and Ireland, and as William III of England and Ireland and William II of Scots.

1689-1691 - Williamite War in Ireland and Dundee's Rising in Scotland.  In contrast to popular belief, the war is about politics rather than religion or ethnicity, with the Williamite and Jacobite armies both sometimes nearly equally composed of Catholics and Protestants; it is William of Orange, however, who has the Vatican’s blessing, along with a contingent of the Swiss Guard which includes its musicians, who are in the vanguard of his army at the Battle of the Boyne, a relatively minor battle now celebrated as a major Protestant triumph by the Orange Order.

1689 – The Claim of Right Act is passed by the Parliament of Scotland, recognizing William II and Mary II as sovereigns over Scotland and returning the Kirk to Presbyterian order.

1690s - Huge influx of Scots into Ulster from the southern Lowlands and Borders, and from the northern counties of England, due to widespread famine. Beginning of a majority of those in Ulster being of Scottish descent.

1690 – The first Irish Brigade is formed in France; it remains active until 1792.

1691 – The English found the Colony of Albemarle (later North Carolina).

1692 – Infamous Massacre of Glencoe of the MacDonalds of Glencoe by Williamite troops who had been quartered among them as guests, on orders of William III and II himself.

1694 – Mary II dies of smallpox, leaving William III and II as sole ruler.

1695 – Beginning of the Penal Laws in Ireland, directed mostly against Catholics but effecting non-Anglicans such as Presbyterians and Episcopalians as well.

1697 – Thomas Aikenhead becomes the last person executed for blasphemy in Scotland, his most damning crime being that he admitted preferring Muhammed to Jesus. 

Scotland establishes the Colony of Caledonia in the Gulf of Darien region of Panama.  Its town is called New Edinburgh and its fort is named Fort St. Andrew, but it fails within a few years due to lack of support from Edinburgh and interference from the East India Company.

1698 – Elspeth McEwan of St. John’s Town of Dalry in Galloway, is the last witch to be burned to death in southern Scotland.

1699 – The French establish La Louisiane in the Mississippi Valley at the present Ocean Springs (aka Old Biloxi), later moving the capital to New Orleans

1701 – Death of the former James VII and II; his son, James Francis Edward, inherits his claims and is called James VIII and III by the Jacobites.

1702 – William III and II dies, and Anne, Mary II’s younger sister, assumes the thrones of England, of Scots, and of Ireland.

1704 – A law is passed requiring officeholders to be members of the Established (Anglican) Church of Ireland.  Presbyterians in Ireland are banned from serving in Parliament, and their marriages not legally recognized.  The Registration Act for Catholic clergy.

1706 - Robert Wylie, staunchly presbyterian minister of Hamilton parish, publishes the pamphlet A 1706 manifesto for an armed rising against incorporating union, addressed to James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton.  Meanwhile, Jacobite leader George Lockhart of Carnwath conspires with Cameronian leader Cunningham of Eckatt for just such a rising, to include an attempt to disperse the Scottish Parliament and thereby prevent the Union, but it never materializes after they are dissuaded by John Ker of Kersland, agent for James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry.


English buccaneers establish the Republic of Pirates on the island of New Providence in the Bahamas.  It lasts until 1718.

1707 – Act of Union 1707, uniting the Parliaments of England and Scotland. Queen Anne's title is now Queen of Great Britain and Ireland.

1708 - First Jacobite Rising in Scotland, led by James Douglas, Duke of Hamilton, with the support of the Cameronians, the most extreme of the Covenanters.  The primary motive is to destroy the Union; restoration of the Stuart dynasty in the person of James VIII and III is only a secondary goal.  The Rising never gets off the ground, however, reported most widely due to the dithering of Hamilton.

France dissolves Nouvelle France into Canada, Acadie, and La Louisiane.

1713 – Great Britain gains the former territory of Nova Scotia (Acadie), Rupert’s Land, and Newfoundland in the Treaty of Utrecht.

1714-1901 -  The House of Welph of Hanover rules Great Britain and Ireland.

1714 – Queen Anne dies; Parliament invites George Welph, Prince-elector of Hanover and Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg, to take the throne as George I of Great Britain and Ireland.

1715 - Second Jacobite Rising in Scotland, led by the John Erskine, 23rd Earl of Mar.

1717-1775 – The period of the Great Migrations from Ulster.  In all, some 250,000 from Ulster make the trans-Atlantic crossing, compared to a mere 100,000 from all the rest of Ireland.  Another 150,000 emigrate to America from the Borders and northern England.  The majority came into Pennsylvania, with many later migrating south down the Great Valley and into the Piedmont.

1717-1718 – First wave of the Great Migrations from Ulster, due mostly to years of famine and the landlord practice of rack-renting.

1719 - Third Jacobite Rising in Scotland, led by Murray of Tullibardine and George Keith, 10th Earl Marischal.

1721 – Tsar Peter I establishes the Russian Empire.

1725-1729 – Second wave of the Great Migrations from Ulster, due almost entirely to  the landlord practice of rack-renting.

1727 – Death of George I; he is succeeded by his son as George II of Great Britain, of Ireland, and of Hanover. 

The Disenfranchising Act in Ireland prohibits Catholics from voting.

Janet Horne of Dornoch, Sutherland, becomes the last person in Scotland and in the Isles to be burned as a witch.

1730-1800 – Approximate years of the Scottish Enlightenment.  The political ferment inside the Enlightenment spreads across the Irish Sea to Dublin via Belfast and Ulster, leading to an liberal awakening among Irish intellectuals.  It is in this sea of intellectual fervor that the seeds of both Scottish and Irish republicanism are sown.  One of the major influences on the Scottish philosphers at this time is the work of the Iranian poet Saadi.

1733 – Oglethorpe establishes the Colony of Georgia, originally as a slave-free colony of former indentured servants and penal prisoners.

1736 – Scottish Highlanders settle Darien District in Georgia (the town is originally called New Inverness), at the request of James Oglethorpe to serve as a buffer between the English colony and the Spanish in La Florida.

Nader Afshari overthrows the moribund Safavid Empire and becomes the last great conqueror of the region, but his empire dissipates after his assassination in 1747.

1740-1750 – Third wave of the Great Migrations from Ulster, due to a massive famine across Ireland that kills 400,000.

1744 – Lord John Drummond of Perth raises the Regiment Royal Ecossais in France; the unit is disbanded in 1763.

1745-1746 - Fourth Jacobite Rising, led by Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Young Pretender (in the name of his father, James VIII and III, the Old Chevalier), and Lord George Murray, and supported by 800 men from the Royal Scots and Irish Brigade regiments of France, with half their force made up of Scottish Episcopalians from the Lowlands.  Harsh penal laws follow for the Highlanders, with no exemptions even for Hanoverian supporters:  Gaelic is forbidden to be spoken, the wearing of tartan and kilts and the playing of bagpipes are outlawed, clans are broken up, lands are seized, etc.

1750-1850 – The First Industrial Revolution.

1752-1885 – The Konbaung Empire in Burma.

1754-1755 – Fourth wave of the Great Migrations from Ulster, due mostly to a calamitous drought but also to strong encouragement from the royal governor of North Carolina.

1755 – Le Grand Dérangement: Great Britain expels over 12,000 Acadians from Nova Scotia, most to the Mississippi River delta where they become known as Cajuns.

1760-1830 – The Lowland Clearances.

1760 – Death of George II; succession of George III Welph as King of Great Britain, King of Ireland, and Elector of Hanover.

In Ireland, Henry Flood founds the Irish Patriot Party to fight for the rights of the Irish Parliaments and against the Penal Laws targeting Catholics and Dissenters.

1761-1764 – First wave of activity by the Whiteboys, a clandestine agrarian resistance group fighting for tenant rights primarily against the (Anglican) Church of Ireland.

1762-1870 – The Highland Clearances.

1762 – The first major wave of Highland Clearances begins under John Ross of Balnagowan Castle, with crofters being transported to Nova Scotia, Jamaica, Ontario, and the Carolinas, and sheep-farming being introduced to the Highlands.

France cedes La Nouvelle-Orleans and La Louisiane west of the Mississippi to Spain.

1763 – At the conclusion of the Seven Years’ War, France cedes Nouvelle France, La Grenade, and La Louisiane east of the Mississippi to Great Britain.  Spain cedes its territory east of the Mississippi, including La Florida and Nueva Orleans, to Great Britain.

Portugal establishes the Viceroyalty of Brasil.

1766 – Death of James the Old Chevalier; succession to his claims of his son, called Charles III Stuart of England, of Scots, and of Ireland by his supporters.

1770s-1880s – The Haskalah, or Jewish Enlightenment, begins in Central European Galicia and spreads throughout Europe.  Begun as a movement under Moses Mendelssohn seeking freedom from the suffocating Talmud-only education of Orthodox rabbis, it leads to Reform Judaism and assimilationism on one hand and to Zionism on the other.

1770-1776 – Second wave of Whiteboy activity in Ireland.

1771-1775 – Fifth and final wave of the Great Migrations from Ulster, due in this case to the sharp increase in rents after the expiration of the leases on the large estate of the Marquis of Donegal in Co. Antrim.

1772 - The British East India Company establishes its rule over all of India, complete with a governor-general and its own armed forces.

1775-1783 – American Revolution.  The Patriot side is widely supported among the recent settlers from Ulster who came over during the Great Migrations, and likewise by the Jacobite underground in the colonies; in fact, secret negotiations are carried out between Bonnie Prince Charlie and a secret delegation from the Continental Congress (under Alexander Hamilton), but they come to naught.

1776 1776 - The majority of its colonies in North America declare independence from the United Kingdom as the united States of America.

The Spanish establish the Viceroyalty of La Plata, which includes what is now Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Bolivia.

1777 - The Kingdom of Morocco becomes the first nation to recognize the new U.S.A.

1778 – Establishment of the first Irish Volunteers, which remain as a force until 1793; in the beginning the members are almost entirely Protestant and Dissenter, with Protestant Ascendancy leaders, but gradually Catholics are admitted as well.

1781-1794 - Arturo O'Neill de Tyrone serves the Empire of Spain as Governor of West Florida.

1782 – Henry Grattan persuades the London Parliament to grant the Dublin Parliament greater powers.

1783 – Treaty of Paris between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United States of America.

1784-1786 – Third wave of Whiteboy activity in Ireland.

1784 – Organization of the Catholic Defenders and of the Protestant (Anglican) Peep O'Day Boys in Co. Armagh.

1788 – Death of Charles, the Young Pretender; succession to the Stuart claims of his brother Henry Cardinal Stuart as Henry IX to his supporters.

1789-1794 – French Revolution.

1789 – Storming of the Bastille.  Louis XVI Valois of France forced to abdicate.

1791 – Publication of Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man

Society of United Irishmen founded by Theobald Wolfe Tone and Thomas Russell, both from the Established Church of Ireland, at the invitation of a group of Belfast Presbyterians. 

Abortive working-class revolution in England.

1792 – The infamous “Year of the Sheep” Highland Clearances take place. 

Two groups calling themselves the Friends of the People Society are organized in London and in Edinburgh respectively, the latter by Thomas Muir, under the inspiration of Thomas Paine.

1793-1794 - The Reign of Terror in the Republic of France.  The Montagnards under Maximilian Robespierre, Jean Paul Marat, and Georges Danton expel the Girondins from the Jacobin Clubs and seize control of the National Convention and the Committee for Public Safety and begin exterminating their enemies.  It ends with the Thermidoran Reaction in 1794.

1794 – Organization of the United Scotsmen to replace the Friends of the People decimated by the arrests of all its leaders.

1795 – United Irishmen change their goal to complete sovereignty. 

The Peep O’Day Boys reorganize as the Orange Order to oppose both the United Irishmen and the proposed Union of the Dublin Parliament with that of London; membership is limited to members of the Church of Ireland.

1796 – The Qajar dynasty comes to power in Iran.

1797 – Organization of the United Englishmen. 

The “Red Flag” is first used as a symbol of workers’ resistance by rebellious sailors of the Royal Navy.  Second aborted rising of the English working-class. 

Rising of the United Scotsmen.

The last Doge of the Republic of Venice, founded as the Ducatas Venetia of the Exarchate of Italiae of the Basilea Rhomain in 697 and independent since 814, abdicates in 1797 after surrendering to Napoleon Bonaparte of France.  

1798-1800 - The Franco-American War fought entirely at sea in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans and the Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas.

1798 – First Rising of the United Irishmen, under Tone.  It includes the short period of the Republic of Connacht.  After the defeat of the main forces, those left continue as guerrillas in some places until 1804.

1800 – United Irish Rising in Newfoundland.

Spain returns (western) La Louisiane to France.

1801-1805 – First Barbary (or Tripolitan) War, between the United States and the Barbary Corsairs.

1801 – Act of Union, uniting the Parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland.  The realm is now known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

1803-1815 – The Napoleonic Wars, concurrent with the First French Empire, ending with the Battle of Waterloo.

1803 – Second Rising of the United Irishmen, under Robert Emmet.

The United States purchases La Louisiane from France

1804 - Francis II Hapsburg, destined to be the last ruler of the Imperium Romanum Sacrum, establishes himself as Francis I of the new Empire of Austria.

1806 – Under threat from Napoleon I of France and his armies, the Imperium Romanum Sacrum ceases to exist and reorganizes as the Confederation of the Rhine.

1807 – Death of Henry, Cardinal-Duke of York; end of serious Stuart pretentions.

 The Highland Clearances in Sutherland commence, and continue for the next four years.

1813-1914 – The Great Game, between the Russian Empire and the British Empire for control of Central Asia.

1815 – The Second Barbary (or Algerian) War, between the United States and the Barbary Corsairs.

1817 – The Ribbon Society first makes its prescence felt in the countryside of Ireland.  Their activities continue past mid-century.

1818 - Bernardo O'Higgins, Jose de San Martin, Thomas Cochrane (Lanarkshire), and Manuel Rodriguez lead Chile to independence.

1819 - The Peterloo Massacre takes place in Manchester when cavalry charge a demonstration called by the Manchester Patriotic Union to demand suffrage reform for parliamentary representation, killing 11-15 and wounding 400-700.

1820 – Radical War in Scotland and declaration of a Scottish Provisional Government.  The rising lasts only through the first octave of April.

George III dies, and his son succeeds him as George IV Welph, who becomes fond of the writings of Walter Scott and relaxes the penal laws against Highland dress and language.

1822 – The Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) is established.

1823-1824 – Thomas Cochrane commands the Brasilian Navy during its War for Independence from Portugal.

1823 – Daniel O’Connell establishes the Catholic Association in Dublin for emancipation from the Penal Laws.

1829 – The Catholic Relief Act passed this year (there have been others in previous years) removes most of the remaining Penal Laws.

1830-1836 – The Tithe War in Ireland against the Church of Ireland, primarily supported by the Ribbonmen.

1830 – Death of George IV; succession of his brother as William IV Welph.

1832 - Reform Act is passed by Parliament.  The act adjusts representation to account for population movements due to the Industrial Revolution and extends suffrage to a broader range of citizens, provided they are male; it specifically disenfranchizes women.  Although this act only covers England and Wales, separate acts are passed for Scotland and Ireland later in the year.

1834 – The Tories, a loose political coalition dating back to the 17th century, organize as a political party under the name Conservative Party. 

Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and other “Dissenters” first admitted to the Orange Order.

1835 - The ejection of a number of tenants by Lord Horton leads to the establishment of the secret vigilante group the Molly Maguires.

1836 – Organization in New York City of the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH), which later spreads to Ireland.

Ernest Augustus Welph, Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale and Imperial Grand Master of the Orange Order, fifth son of George III, conspires with his fellow Orangemen to depose his cousin William IV and take his place.  The plot is revealed in the House of Commons, leading to the dissolution of all the Orange lodges.

1837 – Death of William IV; succession of his daughter Victoria Wettin as queen, the last monarch in London from the family Welph and House of Hanover.  At her succession, the connection with the Kingdom of Hanover is lost, as under Salic Law women cannot inherit the throne.  Instead, her cousin the former plotter becomes Ernest Augustus I of Hanover.

1839-1842 – The First Opium War in China, resulting from the opium trade by the British and Americans for the benefit of the British East India Company.  In the Treaty of Nanking ending the war, China ceded Hong Kong to the United Kingdom.

1838 - Pitcairn Island becomes the first government in the modern world to grant suffrage and equal rights to women.

1839 - The Whigs, a loose political faction dating back to the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, adopt the name Liberal Party as they begin to become more organized.

1840 - O'Connell founds the Repeal Association with an aim toward repealing the Union of Parliaments of 1800.

1841 – Repeal of the Union Movement is formed; Young Ireland Movement is later formed for more radical goals and actions.

1845-1849 – The Great Irish Potato Famine.  Due to a blight on the potato crop, the staple of the Irish diet, between 1 ½ to 2 million Irish starve to death even while enough food to feed the entire country twice over is exported from the country by the corporate interests which control the island’s trade, with another 1 million emigrating to other countries.

1845 - The ban on the Orange Order is lifted and it revives, as does the rivalry of its members with the Ribbon Society.

1846-1857 – The Highland Potato Famine.  Death rates are much less severe than in Ireland, but more emigrate, 1.7 million.  The Highland Clearances intensify.

1847 – The Irish Confederation is organized, with Young Irelanders as its backbone.

1849 - The Battle of Dolly's Brae in County Down between 1400 Orangemen and 1000 Ribbonmen leads to the suppression of Orange marches for over two decades.

1848 – Young Ireland Rising, part of the Springtime of Nations, the revolts in France, Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, Venetia, Italy, Sicily, Rome, Baden-Wurttemberg, Bavaria, Saxony, Prussia, Denmark, Poland, Lithuania, Schleswig, Wallachia, Moldavia, and Rumania.

1853-1856 – The Crimean War, of the Russian Empire versus France, the United Kingdom, and the Ottoman Sultanate.

1856-1860 – The Second Opium War, resulting from Chinese resentment over the Treaty of Nanking.

1857 - The Molly Maguires in America began operating as a resistance organization among Irish-born colliers in the Pennsylvania coalfields.

1858 – Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa begins organizing the Phoenix National and Literary Society, which later merges with the IRB.

The Fenian Brotherhood (FB) is organized in America and the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) in Ireland.

After the Sepoy Rebellion, the British East India Company loses its rule in India, its possessions there, and its armed forces, though it maintains its monopoly over the tea trade.  India devolves to the Crown as the Empire of India.

1862-1865 – The American Civil War.

1861-1863 – France, United Kingdom, Spain, Austria-Hungary, Belgium, and Sudan intervene in Mexico over unpaid debts.

1864-1867 – The Second Mexican Empire, under the Frenchman Maximilian I.

1864 – Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels organize the International Workingmen’s Association, aka the First International, in London.

1866 – FB splits into the O'Mahony (or Presidential) Wing and the Roberts (or Senate) Wing.  The O'Mahony Wing is later known as the Savage Wing.

1866-1871 – The Fenian Raids into Canada by the U.S.-based and FB-sponsored Irish Republican Army.  The first of these in 1866 led directly to the formation of the Dominion of Canada, uniting the previously independent colonies of British North America.

1867-1915 – The Second Industrial Revolution.

1867 – The Fenian Rising in Eire.  Clan na Gael (CnG) is organized in America.

The Empire of Austria becomes the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

1870-1914 – The Age of Imperialism.

1870 – The Franco-Prussian War.

1871 – The Church of Ireland is at last disestablished by Parliament. 

The territories of the former Holy Roman Empire are reorganized as the German Empire, save for Austria, whose Habsburg rulers continue as Emperors of Austria and Kings of Hungary.

1873-1896 – The Long Depression on the Continent.

1873 – Home Rule League founded.

1876 – The CnG, the IRB, and the Australian Irish community establish the Revolutionary Directory, with three representatives each from the CnG and IRB, plus one from the Australian Irish expat community.

1877-1914 – The Belle Epoque in Europe.

1877-1893 – The Gilded Age in the United States.

1878 - France forms the Union of Indochina from Tonkin, Annam, Cochin China, and the Kingdom of Cambodia.  It adds Laos in 1893.

In America, two years of trials and hangings of suspected leaders of the Molly Maguires in Pennsylvania, who had been operating under cover of the AOH, comes to an end.

1879 – Irish National Land League founded.

1880 – Fenian Brotherhood finally collapses.

1882-1883 – Campaign of the Invincibles, led by O’Donovan Rossa.

1882 – Charles Stewart Parnell founds the Irish National League, which subsequently forms the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) to replace the Home Rule League as the official nationalist party in the London parliament.  The Irish Unionist Party is founded in opposition.

1884Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) founded.

1886 – The Highland Clearances finally end with passage of the Crofters’ Act. 

The Liberal Unionist Party splits from the Liberal Party over the question of Irish Home Rule.

At the end of the Third Anglo-Burmese War, the United Kingdom annexes Burma and adds it to the Empire of India.

1889 – The Socialist International is organized in Paris.

1891 - A rift within the IPP over Parnell's long-term relationship with a separated woman leads to a majority of former INL members forming the anti-Parnell Irish National Federation under Justin McCarthy and John Dillon.

1892 – John Redmond assumes leadership of IPP.

1893 – Gaelic League founded by Douglas Hyde, a Protestant from County Roscommon.

1896-1915 – The Progressive Era in the United States.

1896 – Irish Socialist Republican Party founded by James Connolly.

1898 - William O'Brien organizes the nationalist United Irish League, which aims to achieve its goals by agrarian agitation and land reform, as well as unite the nationalists under one banner.

1898-1901 – The nationalist Boxer Rebellion in China, with the empire facing off against Austria, Hungary, Great Britain, America, France, Japan, and Russia.

1899-1902 – Nationalist and Unionist Irish and Irish-Americans fight on the side of the Afrikaaners against the British during the Second Boer War, often in the same units.

1900 - Largely through the leadership of O'Brien and his UIL, the sundered factions INL and INF reunite under the leadership of Redmond but with UIL as their main support, which also brought the divided sections of the IPP back together.

1901-1952 - The House of Wettin of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha rules Great Britain and Ireland, Great Britain and Northern Ireland after 1922.

1901 – The United Irish League of America is founded to support the goals of the Irish Parliamentary Party. 

Death of Queen Victoria; succession of her son Edward VII Wettin.

1902 - After encountering members of the AOH in America on a political trip for the IPP, Joseph Devlin establishes the Irish wing of the order as a militant support group for the IPP.

1905 – Sinn Fein Party founded.  Ulster Unionist Council founded.

1906 - A coalition of leftist political groups (Independent Labour Party, Fabian Society, Social Democratic Federation, Scottish Labour Party, and the Trade Union Congress) organized to stand for elections under one banner adopts the name Labour Party.

1907 – Hibernian Rifles break away from Ancient Order of Hibernians.  The Red Hand Commandos are formed in Belfast.

Pope St. Pius X promulgates an encyclical condemning the heresy of Modernism: rational interpretation of the bible, secularism, separation of church and state, and modern philosophy.

1908 – Irish Transport and General Workers Union founded by James Larkin.

1909 – Fianna Eireann founded by Constance Markievicz and Bulmer Hobson.

1910 – Death of Edward VII; his son succeeds him as George V Wettin.

1911 – The first Parliament Act removes the veto power of the House of Lords over legislation passed by the House of Commons.

1912 - The Conservative and Liberal Unionist Parties merge to form the Conservative and Unionist Party.

1913 – Ulster Volunteers founded by Edward Carson and James Craig under the Ulster Unionist Council.  Irish National Volunteer Corps (INVC) is founded.  Irish Citizen Army founded by James Larkin and James Connolly.

1914-1919 - The Great War, also known as the First World War.

1914 – INVC splits into the National Volunteers under Redmond, who support Great Britain during WWI, and the Irish Volunteers under Eoin MacNeill.  Cumann na mBan founded as the women’s auxiliary to the Volunteers.

1916 – The Easter Rising by the Provisional Government of the Irish Republic (“Saorstat Eireann”) and the Army of the Irish Republic composed of the Irish Volunteers, Irish Citizen Army, Fianna Eireann, Cumann na Bann, and AOH’s Hibernian Rifles. 

After the Rising, the Friends of Irish Freedom is founded in America to support the republican prisoners-of-war from the Easter Rising in the aftermath of the sixteen executions which follow.

1917 – The Russian Revolution.

1919-1922 – Irish War of Independence, with the Irish republican side directed mostly from behind the scenes by the IRB under its President, Michael Collins.

1919 – In January, 60,000 workers in Glasgow stage a general strike for a forty-hour week; Churchill sent troops and tanks into George Square, and in the resulting riot, scores of men, women, and children were injured, many seriously.  The incident is known as Black Friday.

The Irish Volunteers officially becomes the Irish Republican Army, and includes a Scottish Brigade.

1920 – The RIC organizes the RIC Reserve Force (Black and Tans), the Auxiliary Division (Auxies), and the Ulster Special Constabulary (A-, B-, and C- Specials, USC) to provide support against the IRA.

1921-1929 – The Roaring Twenties.

1921 – Anglo-Irish Treaty; Partition of Ireland into Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State or “Saorstat Eireann”.  The Supreme Council of the IRB, with one exception (Liam Lynch) votes to accept the Treaty.  The CnG does likewise; however, it splits into a Devoy wing and a McGarrity wing called Clan na Gael Reorganized.

1922-1923 – Irish Civil War.

1922 – The IRA divides into the Free Staters and the Irregulars, both using the names IRA until the Free State forces officially change their English designation to Irish Defense Forces; however, both continue using the Irish designation Óglaigh na hÉireann.  Redmondites returning from service with the British army on the continent are recruited en masse into the IDF.  The Royal Ulster Constabulary is established in Northeast Ulster.  Michael Collins dies in a firefight in County Cork.

1923 – The IRA reorganizes itself as a clandestine organization, allied with Sinn Fein as its political arm.  Pro-Treaty former members of Sinn Fein under William Cosgrave form the Cumann na nGaedheal.

Seamus Reader, former deputy commander of the Scottish Division of the IRA, forms the Scottish Republican Army, hoping to repeat in Scotland what was accomplished in Ireland, but the effort fails to take hold.

1924-1925 – The Sharifian Caliphate.

1924 – The IRB votes to dissolve, after which the Devoy wing of CnG does likewise; the McGarrity wing, however, continues on as the sole CnG.

Mustafa Kemal Attaturk overthrows the Ottoman Sultanate to establish the Republic of Turkey. He abolishes both the Sultanate and the Caliphate along with the title Kaysar-i-Rum and changes the name of Konstantinople to Istanbul, moving the capital to Ankara.

1925 – The IRA severes its relationship with Sinn Fein. 

Plaid Cymru is formed in Wales.

The Pahlavi dynasty comes to power in Iran.

1926 – CnG formally associates with the reorganized IRA. 

Eamon DeValera establishes the Fianna Fail to contest elections, which later separates completely from the IRA.  The A- and C-Specials of the USC are disbanded.

1927 – The London government changes its name to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

1929 - Roddy Connolly organizes the Workers Defense Corps, which is proscribed two years later.


Early 1930s - The Scottish Self-Defense Corps forms to protect Scottish workers and poor people protesting conditions of the Great Depression.

1931 – Peadar O’Donnell and others organize Saor Eire as a left-leaning nationalist political party, but the effort fizzles.

1932 – Hundreds of working-class Catholics and Protestants across Northeast Ulster unite to form the Outdoor Workers Relief Committee; in spite of massive assaults by the B-Specials on Shankhill Road and Falls Road, the resulting strike is successful and the movement spreads.  Richard Mulcahy and others form the Army Comrades Association, made up of former IRA men who supported the Treaty side during the Civil War, to provide support for former Free State soldiers and to protect Cumann meetings from attack by members of the IRA.

1933 – Eoin O'Duffy is expelled from his post as head of the Garda Síochána, then takes over the ACA and changes its name to the National Guard (aka Blueshirts).  When that is banned a few months later, the former ACA members, Cumann na nGaedheal, and National Centre Party band together to form Fine Gael.

1934 – O’Donnell and his allies reorganize under the name Republican Congress and are expelled from the IRA, which splits down the middle.  The RC eventually gains adherents even in the Shankill section of Belfast, and includes a delegation from Shankhill calling themselves the James Connolly Club in its march at Bodenstown this year, but collapses two years later due to lack of funds.

The RC includes as its armed wing a revived Irish Citizen Army, which splits into two factions the following year, both of which fade with the parent organization.

The National Party of Scotland and the Scottish Party unite to form the Scottish National Party.

1935 – O’Duffy loses control of Fine Gael and withdraws from it, founding the National Corporate Party (aka Greenshirts).

1936 – Death of George V; succession of his son as Edward VIII Wettin.  Within a year, he abdicates the throne to his brother, who succeeds as George VI Wettin.

1936-1939 – Republicans and loyalists fight in the Spanish Civil War in the same unit of the International Brigades (many in the Connolly Column), while Blueshirts and Greenshirts under O’Duffy fight on the side of Franco’s Nationalists.

1939-1945 – The Second World War.

1939-1940 – IRA’s Sabotage Campaign in England.

1942-1944 – IRA’s Northern Campaign in the Six Counties.

1942 - On 26 January, troops from the 26th Philippine Scouts led by Lt. Edwin Price Ramsey performed the last cavalry charge in U.S. military history, at the Pasig River border between Bataan and Pampanga provinces on the island of Luzon, near the town of Morong. Ramsey's single squadron routed an entire Japanese infantry division.

1945-1971 – The Golden Age of Capitalism.

1945-1954 - The First Indochina War.  After the war ends, the Union is dissolved into Cambodia, Laos, South Vietnam, and North Vietnam.

1946 – On the heels of the Second World War, IRA leader Sean MacBride organizes the leftist republican Clann na Poblachta.

1949 – Brendan O'Boyle, formerly of IRA's Northern Command, organizes Laochra Uladh, which ended with his death in action in 1955.

The second Parliament Act limits the power of the House of Lords to delay legislation from two years to one. 

The Commonwealth of Nations succeeds the British Commonwealth.


1950 – An Irish Republican Brotherhood is formed in Dublin and disbanded by Cathal Goulding the next year.

1951 – Liam Kelly organizes Saor Uladh after being expelled from the IRA.  Raymond O'Cianain's Arm na Saoirse is absorbed into IRA.

Mebyon Kernow is formed in Cornwall.

1952 – Death of George VI, last of the House of Wettin; succession of his daughter Elizabeth II Hesse, wife of Philip Hesse of Brandenberg.

1953 – Kelly establishes Fianna Uladh as the political wing of Saor Uladh.

1954-1962 - The Algerian Revolution, including the Cafe Wars in mainland France.

1955-1975 - The Second Indochina, or Viet Nam, War.

1955 - The Christle Groups forms around its eponymous founder, Joe Christle, after he is expelled from IRA.  The group allies with Saor Uladh.

1956-1962 – IRA’s Border Campaign.

1956 – IRA publishes its first Green Book, in which individual members are referred to as Guerrillas. 

Ian Paisley forms the Ulster Protection Action.

1957 – Richard Behel founds the Saor Eire Action Group.

1965 – Paisley forms the Ulster Constitution Committee and the paramilitary Ulster Protestant Volunteers.

1966 – A new Ulster Volunteer Force is established.  Ulster Protestant Action becomes the Protestant Unionist Party.

1967 – Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association is organized.

Saor Eire, with a Trotskyite orientation, is organized by former IRA members headed by ex-Dublin Brigade OC Frank Keane.

A group of ultra-nationalists within the Scottish National Party form the 1320 Club.


1968 – SNP expels the 1320 Club after some of its members begin to advocate paramilitary activity.  In response, Fred Boothby, one of the founders, establishes the Army of the Provisional Republic.

1969-1998 – The Troubles.

1969 – The Battle of the Bogside. 

The IRA splits into two, the Official Irish Republican Army and the Reorganized IRA following the “Provisional” Army Council (later called the Provisional IRA). 

Foundation in the USA of the Irish Northern Aid Committee (NORAID) by Martin Galvin.

1970 – A split in republican ranks over policy in Northeast Ulster and the turn toward Marxism-Leninism results in an Official Sinn Fein and a Provisional Sinn Fein. 

The B-Specials are finally dissolved and most join the new Ulster Defense Regiment.

1971 – The Democratic Unionist Party succeeds the Protestant Unionist Party. 

Beginning of internment of both republican and loyalist suspects in the cages at Long Kesh.

Provos wishing to carry out sectarian attacks against Protestants organize the Red Flag Avengers (RFA) in Belfast, and remain active thru 1976.


The Irish Citizen Army forms in Belfast and Newry, but dies out by the mid-1970's.

1972 – The 1st Battalion of the Royal Parachute Regiment fires on a NICRA civil rights march in the city of Derry, killing fourteen and wounding many others, an incident now known as Bloody Sunday.

The Ulster Defense Association/Ulster Freedom Fighters is organized as an umbrella group of loyalist paramilitaries.  The (new) Red Hand Commando is organized.

Tinnelly's Brigade forms in south Co. Down out of OIRA volunteers opposed to the Official Army Council's ceasefire.  It remains active for two years.

1973 – Formation of the Scottish Republican Socialist Clubs (SRSC).

1973-1978 – Activities of the South Derry Independent Republican Unit, which includes Francie Hughes, Dominic McGlinchey, Thomas McElwee, Joe Sheridan, Ian Milne, et al.

1974 – Three simultaneous bombings in Dublin and another in Monaghan one and a half hours later, the work of the UVF, kill 33 and wound over 300.

Seamus Costello organizes the Irish Republican Socialist Party and the Irish National Liberation Army.

The Ulster Workers Council Strike destroys the Sunningdale Agreement.

The Armagh People's Republican Army (APRA) is founded in Co. Armagh and remains active into 1977.

1975 – A group from Saor Eire breaks away, calling itself Saoirse Eire, when the former decides to dissolve itself.


An independent republican outfit called the South Armagh Republican Action Force (SARAF) becomes active and remains so for the next three years.

Near the end of the year, secret talks take place between the Combined Loyalist Military Command (CLMC) and the Provisional Army Council through intermediaries Desmond Boal and Sean MacBride, with the top leaders on both sides fully informed; the talks eventually reach an agreement to a mutual ceasefire and joint demand for British Army withdrawal, but are scuttled by a second workers strike orchestrated by Paisley for unrelated reasons.

Boothby's Army of the Provisional Republic collapses when he is convicted of conspiracy and leaves the group.

1976 – Under recommendation from the Gardiner Committee, British Secretary of State Merlyn Rees orders an end to Special Category Status for political prisoners in Northern Ireland beginning 1 March. Kieran Nugent, the first prisoner to arrive in the H-Blocks at Long Kesh under the new rules, refuses to wear prison clothes, beginning the blanket protest, which many loyalists join.

1977 – Official Sinn Fein becomes Sinn Fein-The Workers’ Party; the Provos issue a new Green Book which refers to members as Volunteers, revives the term Oglaigh na h’Eireann, and reorganizes the order of battle from brigades and battalions into smaller Active Service Units.

1978 – Beginning of the no wash protest and later the dirty protest in the republican wing of the H-blocks and of Armagh Women's Prison, where many of the inmates have already joined the blanket protest.

Tom Moore founds Siol nan Gaidheal (SnG) in Scotland.

1979 – Progressive Unionist Party is organized in the Shankill as the political arm of the UVF. 

Adam Busby founds the Scottish National Liberation Army (SNLA), claiming the referendum that year on devolution is fixed; no relationship with the similarly named Irish organization, nor with the SRSC (nor its successors).

Republican socialists within SNP, mostly members of SRSC, form the intra-party 79 Group.

The Iranian Revolution takes place.

1981-2009 – Era of the neoliberal Washington Concensus.

1981 – The Hunger Strike for political status takes places in the republican wing of the H-blocks at Long Kesh, with seven PIRA and three INLA prisoners dying. 

The Social Democratic Party is organized in London.

The Ulster Democratic Party is organized as the political arm of the UDA/UFF.

A group called the Dark Harvest Commando of the Scottish Citizen Army appears demanding the central UK government clean up the anthrax-contaminated soil on Gruinard Island.  It may have been a front for Busby's SNLA.  Rumors of the group last until the early 21st century.

1982 – SF-WP becomes simply the Workers’ Party. 

SNP bans SnG and most of the 79 Group.  

The Scottish Republican Socialist Clubs reorganize as the Scottish Republican Socialist Party (SRSP); despite the similarity of name to the IRSP, neither the SRSP nor its successor, the crossparty Scottish Republican Socialist Movement (1998), has never had a paramilitary counterpart.


The remaining members of the 1320 Club merge with SnG.  More radical members of the merged organization organize a paramilitary named the Arm nan Gaidheal.

1983 – The Catholic Reaction Force of INLA dissidents forms in Co. Armagh.


1985 – Arm nan Gaidheal dissipates due to internal conflicts, which effect the parent organization, Siol nan Gaidheal, which also dissolves.

1986 – The Gerry Adams wing of the Provisional Republican Movement launches a successful coup d’etat against the national leadership, which then forms Republican Sinn Fein and the Continuity IRA to oppose Adams’ abandonment of abstentionism. 

The DUP founds Ulster Resistance in opposition to the Anglo-Irish agreement. 

Persons expelled or forced to resign from the INLA form the Irish People’s Liberation Organization, which serves mostly as a vehicle for criminal profit.

About a hundred Provo prisoners in the H-Blocks resign in protest over the movement's abandonment of abstentionism, and later in the year many of these form the League of Communist Republicans (LCR), which last about five years.

1987 - Formation in America of the National Irish Freedom Committee by Michael Flannery, George Harrison, Joe Stynes and others, to provide American support for RSF.

Dessie O'Hare forms the Irish Revolutionary Brigade (IRB) as a splinter from INLA.


Revolutionary Struggle, a small leftist republican outfit with paramilitary capability, forms in Dublin.

1988 - The Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party merge as the Liberal Democrats.

Jackie Stokes refounds Siol nan Gaidheal.

1989 – The Autumn of Nations Revolutions in China, Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Czchoslovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, and Albania.

At the end of the year, the Irish National Congress (INC) is organized to commemorate the Easter Rising, but after that continues as a non-party, non-sectarian vehicle to campaign on various left republican issues.

1992 – The UDR is amalgamated with the Royal Irish Regiment. 

The IPLO is wiped out by PIRA after a number of clashes.


The SnG again dissolves when its leader, Jackie Stokes, suffers a major heart attack.


1994 - The Irish National Republican Army organizes this year, and later dissolves to join the CIRA.

1995 – The CLMC, led by Gusty Spence, announces a cease-fire.

Adam Busby founds the Scottish Separatist Group (SSG) to serve as the legal political arm for his SNLA.  This same year former members and supporter of the SNLA form both the Scottish Freedom Party and the John Maclean Society.

1996 – The Stone of Destiny is returned to Scotland.

Billy Wright secedes from UVF and organizes the Loyalist Volunteer Force.

1997 – A group of OIRA members secede to form the Official Republican Movement over the direction the Workers’ Party is then taking. 

Scots vote overwhelmingly for a national parliament of their own. 

The CnG splits into Republican CnG and Provisional CnG factions; eventually both fade into virtual nonexistence.  A group calling itself by the old name Fenian Brotherhood organizes to replace the two dying organizations.

Jackie Stokes again revives the Siol nan Gaidheal.

1998 – The PIRA and the INLA both announce cease-fires, ending The Troubles.  The Provos sign the Good Friday Agreement with the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. 

The Orange Volunteers are formed, and the 32 County Sovereignty Movement and the Real IRA form, in opposition to the Good Friday Agreement. 

Formation in America of the Irish Freedom Committee, based on the former Chicago camp of NIFC, to support the 32CSM. 

A bombing carried out by RIRA in Omagh, Co. Tyrone, kills 29, including one woman pregnant with twins, and injures 220.

The Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) is organized.  The SRSP transforms itself into the crossparty Scottish Republican Socialist Movement (SRSM) in order to maintain relationships with both the new SSP and the SNP.

2001 – The UDP is succeeded by the Ulster Political Research Group.

The RUC is incorporated into the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI). 

The online magazine The Blanket is founded in Belfast to provide alternative views from across the political spectrum to not only events in the Northeast and the rest of Ireland, but in the rest of the world as well.

2002 – 32CSM/RIRA dissidents, including Michael McKevitt and Bernadette Sands-McKevitt, renounce violence and along with others form the New Republican Forum.

2004 – SNP bans SRSM and expels its members over the group's affiliation with SSP.

2005 – Former members of the CIRA form two splinter groups, the Oglaigh Na hEireann (ONH) and the Saoirse na hÉireann (SNE), now the Republican Network for Unity (RNU).

The PIRA disarms.

2006 – Dissidents from PIRA, INLA, and CIRA form the Irish Republican Liberation Army and the Continuity Liberation Movement.  

Dissidents from PIRA form an Independent Republican Unit, modelled on the one from South Derry.  


Republican socialist dissidents from PSF form “eirigi”.


The Republican Defense Army (RDA) breaks away from PIRA.

The Liberal Vannin Party is founded on the Isle of Mann.

SRSM disaffiliates from SSP over the party's handling of the Tommy Sheridan debacle and over the growing presence of Unionist elements inside the party.

2007 – A group calling itself the Real Ulster Freedom Fighters appears.

The UDA/UFF and the UVF both announce the demilitarization of their respective groups. 

The Scottish National Party becomes the dominant party in the Scottish Parliament.

The Republican Network for Unity forms to oppose the PRM’s support for the PSNI.

The Republican Defense Association forms from volunteers expelled from the 2006 RDA.


The Irish Republican Brotherhood forms in Dublin.

2008 – The Republican Defense Association and Republican Defense Army are formed in Northeast Ulster.  The Blanket ceases publication.

The Republican Action Against Drugs (RAAD) forms in Derry from former PIRA volunteers.

Saor Uladh forms in West Belfast and North Armagh.

2009 – The Irish National Liberation Army disarms.

The 1916 Societies begin to form around the slogan, "One Ireland, One Vote".


The Real Continuity IRA (RCIRA) breaks away from CIRA and allies with RSF.

The Green Revolution takes place in Iran against the Islamic Republic.

2011-present – The Arab Spring in Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Jordan, Morocco, Libya, Kurdistan, Bahrain, and Syria.

2011 – The PIRA dissolves.

Widespread protests take place in Israel, with marches and demonstrators camping in the streets and public squares.  Meanwhile, the nonviolent civil disobedience movement moves to the fore in Palestine.

The Occupy Wall Street movement begins at Liberty Square in Manhattan, then spreads across the U.S. and world-wide, including Dublin, Belfast, Galway, Cork, Letterkenney, Limerick, Waterford, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Cardiff, and several other cities in England.

2012 – First Minister Alex Salmon of Scotland and Prime Minister David Cameron of the UK agree to hold a referendum for the independence of Scotland in 2014

Two Irish republican factions—RIRA and RAAD—come together with several smaller splinter groups in summer as the New Irish Republican Army (NIRA).

2014 – Gerry Adams, current leader of Sinn Fein, former COS of PIRA, former commander of PIRA’s Northern Command, and former leader of the Belfast Brigade’s security unit, is arrested in connection with the murder of Jean McConville, a widowed mother of ten killed in 1972, a few days after the arrest of Ivor Bell, OC of the Belfast Brigade at the time of the murder.  He is subsequently released.

In September, the people of Scotland vote on independence, but the Yes Scotland vote fails, 45% v. 55%.


2015 - The IRSP publishes a paper from an internal discussion declaring that the CIRA, RIRA, and ONH should end their armed struggle.


Action Against Drugs, made up of former Provos, announces its presence with the assassination of former Provo and ex-DAAD member Kevin McGuigan and formally in the Irish News.

A series of unfortunate events forces the PSNI to admit that not only does the PIRA still exist, but that it is still armed.



2016 - The political party Saoradh, supported by the New IRA, is established.

2017 - The vote by the Tory-dominated Westminster Parliament to exit the European Union reignites the movement for Scottish independence and widens the possibility of the union of all Ireland.