The Cambridge History of English and American Literature in Eighteen Volumes (1907–21).
Volume I. From the Beginnings to the Cycles of Romance.

Table of Principal Dates.



4th to 6th cent.North Sea Migrations.
373–463St. Patrick.
449English Invasion of Britain.
c 470–525Boëthius.
516?–570?Gildas.
516?Battle of Mount Badon.
537Battle of Camlan “in which Arthur and Medraut fell.”
563St. Columba at Iona.
570–632Mohammed.
590–604Papacy of St. Gregory the Great.
597St. Augustine’s mission to Kent.
628?–690Benedict Biscop.
630?–679St. Etheldreda (founded monastic house at Ely, 673).
633The Koran collected.
635St. Aidan sets forth for Lindisfarne (d. 653).
640?–709Aldhelm.
664Synod of Whitby.
668Coming of abp. Theodore (d. 690) and abbot Hadrian to Canterbury.
669St. Wilfrid as bp. at York.
673–735Bede.
679–800Historia Brittonum (rev. by Nennius).
684St. Cuthbert, bp. of Lindisfarne (d. 687).
c 700Lindisfarne Gospels.
701Establishment of the festival of the exaltation of the cross.
732Egbert abp. of York (d. 766).
735–804Alcuin.
742–814Charles the Great (at Roncevaux, 778).
781–809Caliphate of Haroun arRashid.
787Danish irruptions begin.
c 825The Heliand.
849–901?Alfred (in Rome, 853).
fl 850John Scotus Erigena.
fl 881Otfried.
886–911Normans besiege Paris and take Rouen.
908?–984St. Aethelwold (bishop of Winchester, 963).
918?Death of Aethelflaed, the lady of Mercia.
924–988St. Dunstan (abbot of Glastonbury, c. 945).
937Battle of Brunanburh.
954–1012Aelfeah (St. Alphege).
991Battle of Maldon.
994?–1035Canute (king, 1017).
fl 1000Byrhtferth.
1000–1100Chanson de Roland.
fl 1006Aelfric.
1043King Edward the Confessor (d. 1066).
1066Battle of Hastings.
1070Lanfranc, abp. of Canterbury (d. 1089).
1070Hereward’s rising at Ely.
fl 1071–1115Peter the Hermit.
1079–1142Abelard.
1086Domesday Survey ended.
1087–1100.King William Rufus.
1091–1153Bernard of Clairvaux.
1093St. Anselm, abp. of Canterbury (d. 1109).
12th cent. ff.Miracle plays.
1100–1135King Henry I.
1100Henry’s Charter of Liberties.
1100–1164Peter Lombard.
1100?–1154Geoffrey of Monmouth.
1119P. de Thaun’s Comput.
c 1130P. de Thaun’s Bestiaire.
1135–1154King Stephen.
1135–1204Maimonides.
fl 1141–1143Robert de Retines.
1143?Death of William of Malmesbury.
1146?–1220?Giraldus Cambrensis.
1147Death of Robert Earl of Gloucester.
c 1148Gaimar’s History.
1126?–1198Averroës.
c 1150Nibelungenlied.
1154–1189King Henry II.
1157–1217Alexander Neckam.
fl 1160–1180Chrètien de Troyes.
1162St. Thomas á Becket, abp. of Canterbury (murdered, 1170).
fl 1165 ff.Benoit de Ste. More.
c 1167Canute Song.
fl 1169–1175Peter Comestor.
fl 1170Wace.
1175?–1234?Michael Scot.
1179–1241Snorri Sturlason.
fl 1180Marie de France.
1180Death of John of Salisbury.
c 1185Hue de Roteland.
1189–1199King Richard Coeur de Lion.
fl 1189–1220Hartmann v. Aue.
fl 1190Joseph of Exeter.
fl 1190Nigel Wireker.
1193–1280Albertus Magnus.
1198Death of Richard Fitz-Neale.
1199–1216King John.
fl 1200Layamon.
fl 1200Walter Map.
fl 1200?Orm.
fl 1200Saxo Grammaticus.
1200–1225Acren Riwle.
fl 1203–1217Wolfram von Eschenbach.
1204Loss of French provinces.
fl 1206Walther von der Vogelweide
c 1213Villehardouin; Conquête de Constantinople.
fl 1210Gottfried von Strassburg.
1214?–1294Roger Bacon.
1215Great Charter.
1216–1272King Henry III.
c 1220Owl and Nightingale.
c 1220Queste del St. Graal.
c 1240Grand St. Graal.
1221Dominicans at Oxford.
c 1250The Flemish recension of Roman de Renart.
1221–1274St. Bonaventura.
1224Franciscans at Oxford and Cambridge.
c 1226–1274St. Thomas Aquinas.
1230?–1294?Brunetto Latini.
fl 1230–1250Bartholomaeus Anglicus.
1230?–1298Jacobus a Voragine.
1236Marriage of Henry to Eleanor of Provence.
c 1237Romance of the Rose, William of Lorris, continued (c 1278) by John Clopinel of Meun.
c 1240Thomas de Hales; Luve Ron.
1245Death of Alexander of Hales.
1247Death of Odo of Cheriton.
c 1250Dies Irae.
c 1250Genesis and Exodus.
1253Death of Robert Grosseteste.
1259Death of Matthew Paris.
1265?–1308?Joannes Scotus Duns.
1265–1321Dante.
1264–5Battles of Lewes and Evesham, Simon de Montfort.
1268Death of Henry de Bracton.
fl 1270–1287Guido delle Colonne.
1272–1307King Edward I.
1272?–1305Sir William Wallace.
1274Dominicans at Cambridge.
fl 1288–1338Robert Mannyng of Brunne.
1290?–1349Richard Rolle of Hampole.
1290–1349Thomas Bradwardine.
c 1300Robert of Gloucester.
c 1300Cursor Mundi.
1300–1325Auchinleck MS.
1300?–1352?Laurence Minot.
1304–1374Petrarch.
1305–1377The Popes at Avignon.
1307–1327King Edward II.
c 1310Lyrics of the Harleian MS.
1313–1375Boccaccio.
1314Battle of Bannockburn.
1316?–1395John Barbour.
1326–1412John Trevisa.
1327–1377King Edward III.
1325–1408John Gower.
c 1337–1410?Froissart.
1340?–1400Geoffrey Chaucer.
c 1340Tale of Gamelyn.
1346Battle of Crècy.
1349, 1361, 1369.The Black Death.
1349?Death of William Ockham.
c 1350The Alliterative Revival.
1351Statute of Labourers.
fl 1350The author of Sir Gawayne and the Grene Knight, etc.
1362 ff.Piers Plowman.
1363–1429Jean Gerson.
1364Death of Ranulf Higden.
1372Death of (?) John Mandeville.
1377–1399King Richard II.
1378Beginning of the Great Schism.
1379–1471Thomas á Kempis.
1381Peasants’ Revolt: Wat Tyler, John Ball.
1384Death of John Wyclif.