User:Dbachmann/Timeline of the British Isles

Timeline of the British Isles.

Antiquity
c. 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”.

58 BCE–51 BCE – The Gallic Wars of Julius Caesar, during which he not only conquers all of Gaul, but also invades Britannia and Germania.

55 BCE – Caesar’s first invasion of Britain. At this time, Ireland is divided into five provinces, or coicids: Midhe, Ulaidh, Ol-nEchtmachta, Laighin, and Mumhan.

54 BCE – Caesar’s second invasion of Britain.

52 BCE – The Gauls rise up against Roman occupation under Vercingetorix.

43 CE – Beginning of the Roman conquest of Britain, under Claudius.

60 CE – The revolt of the Britons led by the Iceni queen Boudica begins. Three Roman towns are entirely destroyed and 50,000 colonists killed, nearly convincing Nero to abandon Britain, but Boudica’s army is annihilated at the Battle of Watling Street the following year.

80 CE – Agricola reaches the River Tay and begins building a fortress at Inchtuil which he plans to be the largest in the Roman Empire, and other fortifications north of the Forth and Clyde, but construction soon halts and the sites are abandoned.

83 CE – Battle of Mons Graupius between the Romans under Agricola and the Caledonians under Calgacus.

122-157 – Reign of Conn Cétchathach (of the Hundred Battles) as High King of Ireland.

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.

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

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

180 – The Caledonii (Coille Daon) cross over Hadrian’s Wall to attack the Romans.

196 – Clodius Albinus, governor of Britannia, declares himself emperor and invades Gaul in a revolt against Septimus Severus.

197 – Severus defeats Albinus at the Battle of Lugdunum. The province of Britannia is divided into Britannia Superior (in the south) and Britannia Inferior (in the north).

209 – Due to supposed provocations by the Maetae (Miathi), Severus invades the North with three legions, 9000 imperial guards with cavalry support, and numerous auxiliaries but is eventually forced back behind Hadrian’s Wall after losing too many men to guerilla tactics.

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

226-266 – Reign of Cormac mac Airt (Art) as High King of Ireland, which includes the activites of Fionn mac Cumhaill as head of the Fianna Eireann.

259 – The Gallic Empire, including the provinces of Gallia, Hispania, and Britannia, is established when Postumus rebels against Gallienus, son of emperor Valerian, who is a prisoner of the Sassanids.

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

274 – The Gallic Empire is reunited with the Roman Empire.

285 – Diocletian divides the Empire into Eastern and Western halves under himself, in the east, and Maximian, in the west as Augusti.

286 – Carausius, commander of the Classis Britannica, sets himself up as emperor of Britain and northern Gaul.

293 – Diocletian divides the Empire into four parts, known as the Tetrarchy, two of which fall under an Augustus, and two smaller of which fall under a Caesar. Constantius Chlorus is appointed as Caesar over Gallia, Britannia, and Hispania by Maximian. In a letter to his superior, Constantius mentions raiding by the Frisians along the eastern coasts of Britain.

294 – Carausius is murdered by his treasurer, Allectus, who takes his place.

297 - Allectus is defeated in battle and killed by the Roman army and his dominions are reunited with the Empire. Caesar Constantius divides Britannia Superior into Maxima Caesariensis and Britannia Prima, and Britannia Inferior into Britannia Secunda and Flavia Caesariensis, making it a diocese headed by a vicarius, under the Prefecture of Gaul.

305 – Reportedly 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. If true, most or all of these may be colonies of foederati.

306 – Constantine the Great, son of Constantius Chlorus, is proclaimed Augustus by his troops at Eboracum (York).

326 - Cairill mac Cairbre, aka Colla Uais, High King of Ireland, 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 – Constantine establishes Nova Roma, later Constantinopolis, at the site of the city of Byzantium, making it the senior capital of the whole Empire as well as the seat of the East Roman Empire.

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

c. 350 – The military in the British diocese is reorganized under three overall commands: Comes Litoris Saxonici, Dux Britanniarum, and Comes Britanniarum.

350-353 – Revolt of Magnentius, who usurped Constans, Augustus in the West, actively supported by Britannia, Gallia, and Hispania.

357 – Maine Mor establishes in Connacht the kingdom later known as Ui Maine.

360 – First wave of serious raids on the diocese of Britannia by the Scoti, Picti, Attacotti, and Saxons.

366 – Damasus I, Bishop of Rome, convinces the emperor to give him the title Pontifex Maximus, becoming the first Pope in the modern sense of the word.

367-368 – The year-long war against the confederation of Picts, Scots, Attacotti, Saxons, and Franks attacking Britain and northern Gaul. It begins after The Roman garrisons along Hadrian’s Wall rebel; the northern and western areas of Britain are overwhelmed. In the midst of the chaos, Valentinus and other exiles begin planning a revolt. The so-called Great Conspiracy, and the incipient revolt from within, is finally defeated by a force under Comes Theodosius.

369 – An additional province, Valentia, is added in the north, probably in southern Scotland between the Walls, with its seat at Luguvalium (Carlisle).

376 – Death of Crimthann mac Fidaig, first of the great raiding High Kings of Ireland who preyed on the Picts, Britannia, Armorica, and Gaul; succession of Niall Noígíallach (of the Nine Hostages), son of previous High King Eochaid Mugmedón and Cairenn Chasdubh, daughter of the Pictish king of Fortriu, or Uerturio, at Inverness. His half-brothers Brion, Ailill, and Fiachrae, found dynasties in Ol-nEchtmachta, which takes their family name of Connachta.

382 – Third wave of raiding by Scots, Picts, and Saxons. Aed Brosc of the Deisi is brought over to help repel the raids. After their defeat, Magnus Maximus, the Magister Militum, assigns Roman generals, praefecti gentium, to commands in the north: Quintilius son of Clemens at Alt Clut, 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 at first but later in Demetia in Wales. Ruling dynasties later trace their descent back to these praefect'.

383 to 388 – Revolt of Magnus Maximus. First wave of Briton colonists to Armorica.

395 – Following the death of Theodosius I, the Empire is permanently split into Eastern and Western halves, with the Western Emperors usually being puppets of the military.

Migration period and Christianization
397 - Death of St. Martin of Tours, who would become one of the most important saints in Celtic Christianity.

402 – Stilcho withdraws some legions from Britain to face the Goths in Italy.

405 – Fourth wave of raiding by Scots, Picts, and Saxons. The Dal Riata, pressured by the Ulaidh who are retreating before the northern Ui Neill, begin to colonize Argyll. Death of Niall of the Nine Hostages, High King of Ireland, ancestor of the Ui Neill, and second of the great raiding High Kings; succession of Feradach Dathi mac Fiachrae, his nephew.

406 – In response to the invasion of Gaul by the Suebi, Alans, Vandals, and Burgundians, the legions of Britain revolt and nominate 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 Gaul to help stop the “barbarians”. The Roman troops in Britain then nominate Constantine III, who moves to Gaul with the remaining legions.

409 – Saxons begin raiding Britain’s shores. The Britons arms themselves and overthrow their civilian magistrates.

410 - Coelistius, aka Coel Hen, becomes the last Dux Britanniarum. Emperor Honorius tells the civitates of Britain to attend to their own affairs; presumably this occurs under the Council and the Vicarius. Zosmius reports that Roman officials are expelled and the native government establishes "independence". Irish incursions into Venedotia, Cornovia, Siluria, Demetia, and the Gower Peninsula.

411 - Capture at Arles of Constantine, last emperor of Britain, who is executed at Ravenna soon afterward.

411-429 – Raiding of Britain by Picts, Irish, and Saxons.

413 - Pelagian heresy said to begin.

417 – Possible return of some kind of imperial presence to Britain.

418 - Pelagian “heresy” outlawed in Rome, but in Britain and Ireland enjoys much support from "pro-Celtic" faction. Traditionalists support Roman Catholic Church.

420 - Death of Coel Hen, the last Dux Brittanniarum in the Roman imperium. The lands of his office in Northern Britain are divided between his descendants, becoming the kingdoms of Ebrauc, Bryneich (seat at Din Guardi), and Deifr. About this time, 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 Brittany; division into Cornouaille and Domnonée.

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

425 – Flavius Aetius becomes Magister Militum in Gaul. Vortigern comes to power, possibly as head of the Council of Britain, but almost certainly as the supreme political figure.

425-450 – Marcus Conor Mor flourishes in Dumnonia.

427 – Council of Britain appeals to Aetius, but gets no support.

428 – Council invites a number of Germanic foederati and laeti to aid in repelling the Irish and the Picts, settling them in the Dorchester-upon-Thames area. Death of Feradach Dathi, High King of Ireland, 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 Britain to combat the Pelagian heresy. While in Britain, Germanus leads Britons to victory near the Welsh border.

430 – Kingdom of Gwerthifyrwig evolves out of Ewyas, the territory of Siluria, eventually becoming Gwent.

432 - Death of Saint Ninian, Bishop of Whithorn.

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

435 - Tibatto leads Armorican movement for independence from Roman Gaul. 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.

437 – Ambrosius appears as leader of the pro-Roman faction in Britain. Vitalinus (probably Vortigern) fights against Ambrosius at the Battle of Wallop. Triffyn Farfog of the Deisi takes Demetia by marrying Gweldyr, daughter of King Clotri, and the kingdom then takes it name from his tribe as Dyfed. Glywissing founded in southern Wales.

440 - St. Patrick escapes from his captors and returns to Britain, probably to Alt Clut. Caer Gwinntguic is founded.

440-450 - Civil War and famine in Britain, caused by Council's weakness and inability to deal with Pictish incursions, and tensions between Pelagian/Roman factions. Migration of pro-Roman citizens toward west. Glywys flourishes in Glywysing.

441 – German foederati rise in revolt

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

446 - Britons appeal to Aetius, Magister Militum of Gaul, for military assistance in their struggle against the Picts and the Irish/Scots, 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 Angles are given a little land in the later Lincolnshire that later becomes the Kingdom of Lindsey (from Linnuis).

447 - Second visit of Germanus (accompanied by Severus, Bishop of Trier). Germanus expels the Irish from mountain territory of the Cornovii and establishes Paganes (Powys), with Catellius, son of Categirn (Cadell Ddernllwg) as Tribune, who is later succeeded by Bruttius, grandson of Vortigern. The Britons, aroused to heroic effort, defeat their enemies, the Picts and Irish, decisively and are left in peace for a brief time.

448 - Civil war and plague ravage Britain.

450 - In the first year of the emperor Marcian, Hengest and Horsa arrive on shores of Britain with "3 keels" of warriors, are welcomed by Vortigern. Rheged is formed out of Northern Britain.

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

452 - Increasing Saxon settlement in Britain. 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 Gwynedd, called Venedotia in Latin (probably from Feni, the tribe of the invaders); Germanius ap Coelistius is transferred from Gododdin to Manaw; Ochta and Ebissa are sent to replace Germanius.

453 - Raids on British towns and cities becoming more frequent. Increasing Saxon unrest. Method of dating Easter altered by Pope Leo I.

454 – Flavius Aetius is assassinated in Rome by the emperor, Valentinian III.

455 - Vortimer rebels against the pro-Saxon policies of his father, Vortigern, and fights Hengest at the Battle of Crayford. Hengest is victorious and the British army flees back to Londinium.

456 - Battle of Aylesford (in Kent) between Hengest's Jutes and the British under Vortimer in which Catigern ap Vortigern and Horsa of Kent are killed. Aegidius establishes himself as Dux of the Domain of Soissons, approximately the same Continental territory as that of the Suessiones of Diviciacus in the 1st century BCE. St. Patrick leaves Britain once more to evangelise Ireland.

458-460 - Full-scale migration of British aristocrats and city-dwellers across the English Channel to Armorica, in north-western Gaul (the "second migration"), led by Riothamus.

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

c. 460 – Aurelius Ambrosius takes full control of Britain and leads Britons in years of back-and-forth fighting with Saxons. British strategy seems to be to allow Saxon landings and to then contain them there.

464 - Aegidius dies in battle against the Visigoths as ally of Childeric I of the Salian Franks to his immediate east, and is succeeded by his second-in-command, Paulus, Comes of Angers, who subsequently also dies in battle against the Visigoths to be succeeded as Dux by Syagrius, son of Aegidius.

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

466-473 - Period of minimal Saxon activity. Re-fortification of ancient hillforts and possibly construction of the Wansdyke during this time.

469 - Emperor Anthemius appeals to Britons in Armorica for help against the Visigoths. A 12,000 man force under Riothamus responds. The bulk of the British force is wiped out in battle against Euric, the Visigothic king.

470 – End of the Visigoth War. Establishment of the kingdom of Peak in the southern Pennines.

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.

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

476 – Odoacer of the Ostrogoths, after overthrowing the last of the western emperors who had appointed him Magister Militum of the Western Empire, invites Zeno, the Eastern Emperor, to become sole ruler of the Roman Empire and to recognize him as King of Italy under his authority. Odoacer maintained imperial institutions and the Senate, and extended imperial authority to Sicily and Dalmatia.

477 - Saxon chieftain, Aelle, lands on southern coast with his sons and founds the Kingdom of Sussex. Britons 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.

480 - King & Saint Erbin of Dumnonia abdicates in favour of his son, Geraint Llygesoc. Death of Glywys of Glywysing; his kingdom is divided into Gwynllwg, Penychen, Gorfynedd, Edeligion and others.

c. 485 - 'Arthur the Soldier’ becomes "dux bellorum" (perhaps as Comes Britanniarum, Imperator, or Magister Militum) in Britain.

485-496 - Period of Arthur’s "twelve battles", during which he gains a reputation for invincibility.

486 - Aelle and his sons overreach their normal territory and are engaged by Britons at the Battle of Mercredesburne. Battle is bloody but indecisive, and ends with both sides pledging friendship. The Domain of Soissons is conquered by Clovis I, son of Childeric; Syagrius is executed the following year after Alaric II of the Visigoths, with whom he’d taken refuge, betrays him.

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.

493 - Death of St. Patrick. The Ostrogoths under Theodoric the Great complete their conquest of Odoacer’s domain, and Theodoric, like his predecessor, continues to rule ostensibly as a viceroy to the emperor, maintaining Roman law and institutions, with Romans in his administration.

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 narrowly avoided by the intercession of Arthur; the couple marry. The Angles of Caerwent divide into the North Folk and the South Folk.

496 - Siege and Battle of Mons Badonicus. Britons under the command of Arthur defeat the Angles under Esla of Bernicia and the Saxons under Cerdic of the Gewissae.

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. Corrupt leadership, more civil turmoil, public forgetfulness, and individual apathy further erode Romano-British culture over next fifty years.

497 - Death of Erbin of Dumnonia.

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

500 – Agricola reconquers Dyfed from the Irish and becomes its Tribune. Calchwynedd founded in the Midlands.

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

504 – Muircheartach mac Erc, brother of Fergus Mor, becomes High King of Ireland.

507 – Death of Domangart Reti mac Fergus “of Ceann Tir” (Dal Riata); succession of Comgall mac Domangairt, ancestor of Cenel Comgaill. Campaign of Theodoric, commander of the Classis Britannica, in Armorica.

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 Brittany murders his brother, Maeliaw, and usurps the Breton throne. Many of the Breton royal family flee to Britain, including Prince Budic, who seeks refuge at the court of Aircol (Agricola) Lawhir in Dyfed. Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, re-establishes the Prefecture of Gaul, in its former capital of Arelate (Arles)

515 - Death of Aelle of Sussex. Kingdom of Sussex 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 tribe known as the Meonwara.

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

517- King & Saint Constantine ruling in Dumnonia. 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 Anglesey. Death of Riwal Mawr Marchou of Domnonée. Budic II of Brittany returns to Cornouaille to claim the Breton throne. Middle Angles first branch out from East Anglia.

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

525 - St. Samson founds the Monastery of Dol. Duonting, or Dent, is established in the Pennines. 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.

528 - King & Saint Cadoc of Glywysing 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.

530 - Britons of the Isle of Wight defeated by Cerdic of the Gewissae at the Battle of Carisbrooke.

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 Argoed (aka South Rheged). Death of St. Illtud, abbot of Llanilltud Fawr and reported cousin of Arthur the Soldier.

535-554 – The Gothic War between the forces of emperor Justinian under Belisarius and the Ostrogoths finally destroys the last remnants of Roman civilization and administration.

536 – The Ostrogoth prefecture of Gaul falls to the Franks.

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 Domnonée is murdered by Conomor of Kernow and Poher. Conomor marries Jonas' widow and rules Domnonée. 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.

c. 540 - 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.

545 - Deaths of the joint-kings Budic II and his son Hoel I Mawr of Brittany. Tewdwr Mawr succeeds to the throne, but is quickly ousted from Cornouaille by Macliau of 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. Saint David becomes Archbishop of South Wales. Prince Judwal of Domnonée flees from his murderous step-father to the court of Childebert I of the Franks.

546 - St. Gildas returns to Brittany with St. Cadoc.

547 - The king of Bryneich is expelled from his fortress of Din Guardi (Bamburgh) by the Angles and Frisians, whose leader, Ida, becomes king of Bernicia. Death of the joint-king Hoel II Fychan of Brittany. The bubonic plague hits Britain, having travelled from Constantinopolis.

548 - Conomor of Kernow, Poher, and Domnonée marries Princess Triphine of Broërec.

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

550 - Judwal of Domnonée retakes his throne. Conomore of Kernow, Poher and Domnonée flees to Kernow. Pompeius Regalis (aka Riwal) leads a third wave of emigration from Britain to Armorica. Some Britons in Armorica migrate further to Galicia in the northwest of Hispania. War between Alt Clut and Gwynedd.

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

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

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

558 - 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 – 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.

561 – Battle of Cul Dreimhe between the forces of St. Columcille of the Cenel Conaill, Abbot of Derry (Doire), and those of St. Finnian of Clann Cholmain, Abbot of Moville, over a psalter, resulting in the voluntary exile of the former from Ireland.

562 – Saint Moluag founds the abbey of Lismore.

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

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

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

569 - St. David holds 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. Kingdom of Elmet founded. Kingdom of Pengwern founded. Aodh Caomh of the Dal gCais carves the kingdom of Tuadh Mumhan out of Connacht and adjoins it to Mumha; at about this time, Mumha further divides into Iar Mumhan, Deas Mumhan, and Oir 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.

574 – Death of Conall of the Dal Riata; succession of Aedan mac Gabrain of Cenel Gabrain, who is reportedly enthroned by St. Columcille 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 Man, mainland Scotia (Ireland), 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 of Gwynedd. Reportedly, he leaves Manaw in the capable hands of his son, Artuir.

575 - Owein of Rheged kills Theodoric of Bernicia at the Battle of Leeming Lane. North Folk and South Folk of Caer Went combine to become the Kingdom of East Anglia. Council of Druim Ceatt, hosted by Columcille 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, ruler of Ulster, and agree that the Dal Riata in Alba have no tribute 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 Cirencester area. Tewdwr Mawr of Brittany returns to Cornouaille, reclaims his throne and kills Macliau of the Vannetais in battle. Baetan of Ulster invades Yns Manaw (Isle of Man), 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. 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 Circinn. Aedan of Dal Riata leads an expedition against the Picts of Orkney.

580 – In its last recorded act, the Senate of Rome sends two ambassadors to the court of Tiberius II at Constantinoplis.

583 – Aedan of the Dal Riata attacks the Ulstermen who have recently conquered Yns Manaw/Eilean Manannan (Isle of Man), allegedly ending their occupation of the island.

584 - 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).

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

589 - Death of Saint and King Constantine of Dumnonia. Death of St. David, Archbishop of St. David’s.

590 - Siege of Lindisfarne. Northern British Alliance (Rheged, Alt Clut, Bryneich, Elmet) lays siege to Hussa of Bernicia and almost exterminates Northumbrians from Northern Britain. Urien Rheged 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. Battle of Miathi, or Leithri, over Manaw between the southern Picts and Aedan of the Dal Riata, with the latter victorious.

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.

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.

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

597 – Death of St. Columcille.

598 - Mynyddog Mwynfawr of Din Eidyn and Cynan of Gododdin (apparently two separate kingdoms) 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. Expansion of Rheged to fill the vacuum. Battle of Circinn at Mearns (Magh Geirginn?), possibly over Gowrie, between Aedan of the Dal Riata and the southern Picts, lost by the former, who also loses son Eochaid Find.

c.600 - Welsh bard, Aneirin of Dent, writes the poem, Y Gododdin, recording the events of the Battle of Catterick.

600 – Essex subjugates Middlessex and Suthrig.

601 - Synod of Chester.

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.

603 - Battle of Degastan 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, the High King) and Fiachnae mac Báetáin of the Dal nAraidi, king of Ulster, resulting in a devasting defeat for the “Scots” in which Artuir mac Aedan dies, along with Aethelfrith’s brothers Theodbald and Eanfirth.

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.

606 – The Middle Angles form the kingdom of Mercia.

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

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

610 – Caer Celimon falls to the Gewissae.

612 - Death of Saint Mungo, Bishop of Glasgow.

613 - Aethelfrith of Bernicia invades Gwynedd in order to route 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. Battle of Bangor-is-Coed follows in quick succession. Bledric of Dyfneint is killed in the fighting. Argoed falls to Mercia.

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 Fortriu, 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 Glywysing & 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.

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 Brittany.

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.

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 Brittany. 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. British ransack Northumbria and bring the kingdom to its knees.

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.

634 - Cadwallon 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 poet, Llywarch Hen of Argoed, supposedly aged one hundred.

635 - Judicael of Domnonée 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 Lindisfarne. Meurig of Glywysing & Gwent invades Ergyng and re-unites the two kingdoms in the right of his wife.

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

637 - Defeat of Domnall Brecc of the Dal Riata and Congal Caech of Dal nAraidi, supported by Oswald of Northumbria, at the Battle of Mag Rath by High King Domnall mac Aedo and the Cenel Conaill along with the Sil nAedo Slaine. That same day the High King’s fleet defeats a combined fleet of the Dal Riata and the Cenel nEogain near Ceann Tir (Kintyre)

638 – Din Eidyn is taken by Northumbria and Gododdin/Lothian 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 the southern Picts.

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.

645 - Gwynedd and much of Wales in the grasp of famine. Would-be king Cadwaladr Fendigaid of Gwynedd flees to Brittany; 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.

653 – Talorgan ap Eanfrith becomes king of Fortriu.

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

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. Morfael of Pengwern retakes the Wall.

656 - Oswiu of Northumbria invades Pengwern and kills Cynddylan in battle. His brother, Morfael, and the remains of the family flee to Glastenning. The Mercians take control of Pengwern and may have invaded Powys at this time.

658 - Cenwalh and the Gewissae make a push against Dyfneint. They are victorious at Battle of Penselwood and Dyfneint-Wessex border is set at the River Parrett. Glastenning ceases to exist and the Wessex occupy its territory.

661 - Cenwalh of the Gewissae invades Dyfneint and is victorious at the Battle of Posbury. Saxon settlers found Somerset, Dorset, and Wiltset (Wiltshire) 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 (Strathearn).

664 - Plague devastates Gwynedd. Probable death of Cadafael Cadomedd. Cadwaladr Fendigaid of Gwynedd reasserts himself in his kingdom by sending his son, Ifwr, from Brittany to be regent. Synod of Whitby determines that the northern kingdom should comply with the doctrines of Rome, at which St. Colman resigns his see and returns to Iona.

665 - Second Battle of Mount Badon.

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

671 – Northumbria establishes the sub-kingdom of Din Baer (Dunbar) in the former territory of Gododdin (Lothian).

672 – Drest of the southern Picts is desposed 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.

679 – St. Adomnan becomes abbot of Iona.

680 – Bridei of the southern Picts begins a campaign to conquer Fortriu.

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

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.

696 – Death of Taran of Fortriu; 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 Saint Columcille to Saint Peter.

697 – Council of Birr, a gathering of Irish and Pictish notables led by St. Adamnan, Abbot of Iona, enacts the Cáin Adomnáin (known in Latin as 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. The sub-kingdom of Deisi Mumhain is founded by the Deisi; the other non-Eoghanachta kingdom in Munster is Ernaibh Mumhan, of the Ernai.

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

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.

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

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.

711 – Northumbria invades the southern Picts and is defeated in Manaw.

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

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 Fortriu retires to a monastery in favor of his nephew Drostan mac Talorcan.

726 – Drostan imprisons Nechtan and is deposed by Alpin. Kent falls under the sway of Mercia.

729 – Oengus mac Fergus defeats Alpin in battle and restores Nechtan to the throne of Fortriu.

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 of the Eóganachta Mag Geirginn becomes king of Fortriu; 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 – A fleet from eastern Dál Riata in Argyll fights for Flaithbertach mac Loingsig, chief of the Cenél Conaill (overlords of the Dal Riata), in his war with Áed Allán of the Cenél nEógan, and suffers heavy losses. Final separation of the western Dal Riata from those in Argyll, with Indrechtach, ancestor of the O’Quinns, as king over the former; Eochaid mac Echdach of the Cenél nGabráin, perhaps the last native overking of the Dal Riata, dies this same year. Meanwhile, Dúngal mac Selbaig of the Cenel Loairn is deposed and replaced with Muiredach mac Ainbcellaig.

736 – Second campaign of Oengus of Fortriu 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 (or Drest), king of Ath Fodhla, is executed by drowning; first mention of Ath Fodhla.

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

741 – Oengus of Fortriu replaces the cult of Saint Peter with that of Saint 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.

744 - Construction of Wat's Dyke on the border between Mercia and Powys.

750 – Alt Clut Britons under Teudebur defeat Talorcan mac Oengusa at the Battle of Mugdock. Decline of the power of Oengus I of Fortriu. 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.

752 - Death of Teudebur of Alt Clut. His son, Dumnagual, succeeds to the throne and promptly loses Kyle to Eadberht of Northumbria.

754 - Death of Rhodri Molwynog ap Idwal of Gwynedd. Caradog ap Meirion succeeds him.

756 - Oengus I of Fortriu and Eadberht of Northumbria successfully attack Dumnagual of Alt Clut at Dinas y Brython (Dumbarton); however, Alt Clut subsequently wipes out Eadberht's entire force at the Battle of Newburgh-on-Tyne. A prince of the Umayyad dynasty which was ousted from Baghdad six years before overthrows the ruler of Al-Andalus and establishes the Emirate of Cordoba.

760 - Battle of Hereford is fought between Mercia and Brycheiniog under Nowy Hen.

761 – Death of Oengus mac Fergusa of Fortriu.

768 - Archbishop Elfoddw of Gwynedd persuades the Welsh church to accept the Roman dating of Easter as agreed by the Northumbrian Church at the Synod of Whitby.

771 – Mercia takes Sussex from Wessex.

780 – The last of the kings of the Hwicce dies, and the kingdom is absorbed by Mercia.

784 - Construction of Offa's Dyke, the artificial bank and ditch boundary between England and Wales, is begun at the command of Offa of Mercia.

789 – Accession to the throne of Fortriu of Caustantin mac Fergusa, nephew of Alpin ap Feredach, who is credited with founding the church at Dun Chaillean and moving Alba’s share relics of St. Columcille there, the remainder going to the abbey at Kells.

Middle Ages
795 - Quarrels between Cynan Dindaethwy and his brother Hywel leave the way open for Caradog ap Meirion (of the House of Rhos) to usurp the throne of Gwynedd.

797 - Welsh forces clash with Mercia at Battle of Rhuddlan, when Coenwulf of Mercia tries to re-assert his domination of northeast Wales. 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 – Buelt is absorbed by Seissylwg and ceases to exist. Charlemagne of the Franks is crowned “King of the Romans” on Christmas Day, becoming the first ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, nominally under the emperor of the Byzantine Empire.

802 – Dyfneint ceases to exist as a sovereign kingdom.

805 - Egbert of Wessex formally establishes kingship over the people of Dyfneint after a gradual integration over many years.

807 - Death of of Arthwyr of Ceredigion.

810 - St. David’s is burnt.

812 - Degannwy, capital of Gwynedd, is struck by lightning and burnt to the ground.

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.

820-834 – Vicious attacks by the Vikings against the north of Scotland.

820 – Death of Caustantin of Fortriu; 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 Mumhan; he is the first in centuries not of the Ui Neill to be called High King of Ireland.

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.

825 - Death of Rhodri of Gwynedd. The kingdom is seized by his grand-nephew, Prince Merfyn Frych of Man 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.

830 – Nynniaw or Nennius, abbot of Bangor Fawr, compiles the Historia Britonum.

834 – Death of Oengus II of Fortriu.

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 Fortriu 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 Fortriu. Thorgest founds the Norse kingdom of Dublin.

844-878 – Reign of Rhodri Mawr ap Merfyn over Gwynedd.

844 – Rise of the kingdom of Deheubarth, which includes Dyfed, Ceredigion, Brycheiniog, and, at times, Gwynedd. Rhodri Mawr succeeds to the throne of Gwynedd.

845 – First unified Kingdom of Brittany 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 Fir Midhe (men of Meath) or Clann Cholmain, and the terms Goidel (or Gaill; see Gaels), and Gall-Gaidheal first come into use.

848 - The armies of Brycheiniog and Gwent clash at the Battle of Ffinnant. Ithel of Gwent is killed in the fighting. Cináed mac Ailpín of Cenel Gabrain becomes King of the Picts largely with the help of his Finn Gall (Norse and Gall-Gaidheal allies in the Hebrides; he moves the seminary from Dull in Glen Lyon to Dun Chaillean (from which it is subsequently moved to Cenrighmonad, which is later renamed St. Andrew’s).

c.850 - "Eliseg's Pillar" is erected in Llantysilio-yn-Ial by Cyngen ap Cadell 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.

853 - Mercia and Wessex attack Powys. Conquest by Brittany of the territory of Nantes, which becomes Britannia Nova.

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 - Anglesey is ravaged by Dublin Vikings.

856 - Rhodri Mawr of Gwynedd & Powys repels a major Viking invasion of Wales and kills their king, Gorm.

858 – Death of Cinaed of the Picts at the palace of Cinnbelachoir (Forteviot). His oldest daughter, Maelmuire, first married 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 married Run of Strathclyde.

860 – Kent is completely absorbed into Wessex, losing its separate identity.

867 – Northumbria is conquered by the Danes; Deira is ruled directly while Bernicia is given an English earl.

871 – 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".

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.

872 - Death of Gwrgon of Seisyllwg by drowning. Throne of Seisyllwg taken by his son-in-law, Rhodri Mawr (Raudri Mor) of Gwynedd & Powys. Artgal of Ystrad Clud is slain through the connivance of Causantin mac Cinaeda of the Kingdom of Alba 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".

874 - The Danes overrun most of England.

875 – Turf-Einar, son of Ragnvald Eysteinsson, Jarl of More in Norway, becomes Jarl of Orkney, a territory including Shetland, and, after 1020, the Mormaerdom of Caithness as a fiefdom.

876 - Death of Donyarth, the last king of Kernow, drowned during a hunting accident and buried at St. Cleer.

877 - The Vikings invade Wales once more. and Rhodri Mawr of Gwynedd, Powys & Seisyllwg is forced to flee to Ireland.

878 – Death of Aed of the Picts; succession of Giric (Cyric) Mac Rath mac Dúngail (of Fortriu), eponymous ancestor of Clann Grioghar and of Siol Alpin. Death of Run of Strathclyde; his son, Eochaid, succeeds to the throne and allies himself with his mother's cousin, Giric of of the Picts. 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, with Gwynedd going to Anarawd, Powys to Merfyn and Seisyllwg to Cadell. The Vikings winter in Dyfed.

879 – 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.

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 also to negotiate the recognition of Alfred as overlord of the southern Welsh kings Hyfaidd of Dyfed, Elisedd of Brycheiniog, and Hywel of Glywysing 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 of Strathclyde & the Picts are deposed by Viking invaders. Domnall mac Caustantin becomes King of Picts, the last to be so called.

890 - Domnall of the Picts expels the Briton aristocracy of Strathclyde. They flee south to North Wales (Gwenydd).

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, King 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 - Tewdr of Brycheiniog establishes his court on a crannóg in the middle of Llangorse Lake. Death of Giric of the Picts; succession of Caustantin mac Aeda, the first to use the title King of Alba. Also at this time, Fortriu, now also called Moireabh, begins refusing to acknowledge the king of Alba at Scone, 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 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.

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 post-Empire Domain of Soissons, 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, 1st King of all Ireland; succession of Niall Glúndub mac Áedo of Cenel nEogain, ancestor of the O’Neills, as High King.

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. Second Battle of Corbridge, this time between Alba against the Danes and the English, is indecisive.

920 - Hywel Dda merges Seisyllwg with Dyfed to create the kingdom of Deheubarth.

927 - Hywel Dda of Deheubarth and Owain of Glywysing & Gwent submit to Athelstan of England at Hereford. The border between England and Wales 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 & Powys begins the codification of Welsh law.

929 – Emir Abd-al-Rahman III of Cordoba proclaims himself Caliph, in opposition to the rival Sunni Caliph in Baghdad and the Shia Caliph in Tunis.

931 - Morgan Hen of Glywysing & Gwent submits to Athelstan of England and attends his court with Hywel Dda of Deheubarth and Idwal Foel of Gwynedd.

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 begin to use the term "Cymry" to speak of themselves.

950 – Morgan Hen Fawr unites Gwent and Glywssing as Glamorgan.

954 – Eadred becomes first recognized king of all England when the Danish kingdom of Jorvik falls to his armies.

973 – Maccus mac Arailt of the Isles, Kenneth III of Alba, and Malcolm of Strathclyde form a defensive alliance.

1013-1042 – The Danes again rule in England briefly, except for a brief interregnum.

1014 – Battle of Clontarf between the forces of Brian Bórumha mac Cennétig, High King of Ireland, 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 Man, and 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.  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.

1018 – Máel Coluim mac Cináeda brings Bernicia north of the Tweed, the former territories of Lothian and Dunbar, under his control.

c.1025 - Suibne mac Cinaeda becomes the first king of the Gallgaidheal in Galloway.

1034 – The Cenel Conaill take the throne of Alba when Donnchad mac Crínáin becomes king at Scone; his father Crinan, Abbot of Dun Chaillean, Mormaer of Athfodhla, Abthane of Dull, Kirkmichael, & Madderty, Seneschal of the Isles, and head of the Cenel Conaill in Scotland, is the son-in-law of Maolchaluim II.

1040 – MacBethad mac Findlaich of the Cenel Loairn, King of Moireabh/Fortriu, becomes King of Alba, when his predecessor dies in battle after having invaded Moray. 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.

1042 – Edward the Confessor, the 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.

1054 – Sigurd the Dane, Earl of Northumbria, leads a large scale invasion of Scotland. The Great Schism (of the Christian Church) takes place when the Patriarch of Rome and the Patriarch of Constantinople excommunicate each other.

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.

1062-1063 – Harold Godwinson, Earl of Wessex, conducts a series of campaigns against Gwynedd.

1064 – Harold of Wessex accompanies William, Duke of Normandy, on his campaign against Conan II, Duke of Brittany.

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 – 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 number of Norman and Flemish and a sizable number of 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.

1095-1099 – The First Crusade begins when the emperor in Constantinopolis asks the Pope for assistance against the Seljuk Turks, and the Pope responds with the Council of Clermont which calls up volunteers. At the end of the war, the Crusaders establish the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the County of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch, and the County of Tripoli.

1119 – The Poor Knights of Christ and the Temple of Solomon is founded in Jerusalem.

1124 – David I mac Maolchaluim assumes the throne of Scone and unites Alba with Strathclyde and Dunbar into the Kingdom of Scotland; his former title given to him by his brother, Prince of the Cumbrians, included all Scotland south of the Firths save for a small area around Edinburgh held by the king himself. It’s likely that David’s title was the same as that later used by Alexanders II & III (as seen on the latter's seal), “King of the Scots and Britons”. The influx of Norman, Breton, and Flemish nobles increases exponentially.

1126 – Edgar the Atheling, last of the Cerdicingas in the male line, dies in Scotland.

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.

1154 – With the succession of Henry of Anjou as to the throne England as Henry II of England, the Plantagenet, or Angevin, dynasty of England begins. Plantagenet possessions include England, Normandy, Anjou, and, through his wife Elizabeth, Aquitaine.

1155 – Pope Adrian IV, the first and only English Pope, issues a Papal Bull granting Henry II of England lordship over Ireland.

1156 – Somerled becomes King of the Isles, eventually conquering the Isle of Man and the North Isles as well.

1164 – Death of Somerled in Renfrew at the hands of the Clan Stewart after he comes ashore under a flag of truce.

1166 – Diarmuid MacMorrough of Leinster is deposed and asks Henry II of England for assistance in regaining his kingdom.

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. MacMorrough is reinstated as king of Leinster and Strongbow marries his daughter Aoife of Leinster.

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 be the only religion allowed in Ireland and that tithes begin being 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 Brittany. It ends with the rebels’ defeat and ultimate reconciliation with Henry.

1185 – Prince 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.

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's, except for a tiny portion of the Mediterranean coast around the city of Acre.

1198 – Death of Ruaidri mac Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair of Connacht, last of the old High Kings of Ireland.

1200-1240 – Reign of Llywelyn the Great over Gwynedd and Wales.

1215 – The twenty-five Barons of Runnymede 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 thr 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.

1228 – First mention of Robin Hood.

1234 – Death of Alan, last of the independent Lords of Galloway.

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.

1258-1260 – Reign of Brian Ua Neill as High King of Ireland.

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 Man and the Isles. Though indecisive, it eventually leads to the cession of the Isles to the Scottish crown a couple of years later.

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) at the Battle of Lewes, England was governed without a monarch until Edward escaped fifteen months later and began the ultimately successful drive to restore his father to the throne.

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.

1282 – Death of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd; succession of his brother, Dafydd ap Gruffydd.

1283 – A long 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.

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 Mamluks capture 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 – 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.

1294 – Rising of Prince Madog ap Llywelyn of Wales against Edward I.

1296-1304 – First War of Scottish Independence, part one.

1296 – Sack of Berwick. Battle of Dunbar. Edward I of England seizes the Stone of Destiny and takes it to Westminister Abbey.

1297 – Andrew Moray of Petty escapes from Chester Castle and begins a rising against the Enlighs in the north to match that of Wallace in the south. Battle of Stirling Bridge. Wallace of Ellerslie and Moray proclaimed Guardians of Scotland; Moray dies shortly thereafter.

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.

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, then taken to London, where he is hanged, drawn, and quartered.

1306-1328 – First War of Scottish Independence, part two, or 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.

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 Englandseizing their assets in England and Ireland; a large number of the Templars join the Scottish cause. According to some reports, the Templars in Scotland 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.

1314 – Battle of Bannockburn. Fall of Stirling Castle. For all intents and purposes, this is the end of English domination of Scotland. 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 – 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 was succeeded as regent by the Domhnall II, Earl of Mar in 1332.

1332-1357 – Second War of Scottish Independence, or Third War of Scottish Independence.

1332 – Edward Balliol, son of John, and the “Disinherited” invade Scotland in the minority of David, landing in Fife.

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 and Aquitaine, as well as Normandy and Anjou, fight for the Plantagenets.

1337-1360 – The Edwardian War phase of the Hundred Years’ War.

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.

C. 1345 – The Renaissance begins in Italy.

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 current War of Scottish Independence ends with the Treaty of Berwick and the restoration of David II.

1366-1369 – The Castilian Civil War, which became a part of the Hundred Years’ War because of the involvment of England and France, though it is fought entirely in Castille.

1369-1389 – Caroline War phase of the Hundred Years’ War.

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.

1400-1415 – Rising of Owain Glyndwr of Wales against England.

1415-1429 – Lancastrian War phase of the Hundred Years’ War.

1418 – Creation of the Garde Écossaise, or Scottish Guard, by King Charles VII of France to be the chief bodyguards of the French monarchy. It remains intact as an organization until dissolved in 1830.

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 began the drive in which the French eventually won the long war.

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. Constantinopolis falls to the armies of the Seljuk Turks and the old Roman Empire comes to an end.

1455-1485 – The Wars of the Roses in England, between the House of Lancaster and the House of York.

1470 – James III takes the Earldom of Orkney for the Crown of Scots.

Early Modern period
1485 – Henry Tudor lands in Wales with a large contingent of French and Scottish troops and eventually overcomes the forces of Richard III to become Henry VII, King of England and Lord of Ireland, beginning the Tudor dynasty.

1492 – Isabella I of Castille and Ferdinand II of Aragon, having finished the Reconquista with the defeat of the Emirate of Grenada, last of the Muslim kingdoms in the Iberian peninsula, become rulers of all Spain. 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 the Clan Donald and ends its independence. The territory of Scotland now extends to its modern limits.

1497 - The Cornish Rebellion of 1497 takes place, involving poor Cornish farmers in protest against taxes imposed by Henry VII to support his war against Scotland.

1517 – The Reformation begins.

1532 – Francis I of France incorporates Brittany 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 – 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.

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 – 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. The Roman Inquisition begins and will lasts until 1860.

1547 – Death of Henry VIII of England and of Ireland; succession of his son as Edward VI.

1553 – Death of Edward VI of England and of Ireland; succession of his eldest sister as Mary I. Mary, a staunch Roman Catholic, 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 to France. Death of Mary later in the year and succession of her sister as Elizabeth I.

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.

1567 – Mary of Scots is forced to abdicate in favor of her infant son by the deceased Henry Stuart, Earl of Lennox, who is proclaimed James VI of Scots. She seeks refuge with Elizabeth I.

1569-1573 – First Desmond Rebellion.

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.

1579-1583 – Second Desmond Rebellion.

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.

1587 – Mary Stuart, former Queen of Scots, is beheaded in England for her part in a revolt planned to overthrow Elizabeth and execute her. This prompts the expedition to England of the ill-fated Spanish Armada to depose Elizabeth I.

1594-1603 – Nine Years' War. Although fought all over the country in resistance to Plantations, most of the action takes place in the North, under the O’Neills of Tyrone and the O’Donnells of Tyrconnell, who lead the Irish side.

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.

1605 – On 5 November this year, 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 O’Neill and O’Donnell was to secure Spanish assistance for a new rising, but their lands were declared forfeit and seized, along with those of all native landowners following the insurgency of Cahir O’Doherty in 1608.

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.

1625 - James VI & I dies; Charles I of England, of Scots, and of Ireland takes the throne.

1639-1652 - Wars of the Three Kingdoms, listed individually below.

1639-1640 - Bishops Wars in Scotland. The Covenanters, led militarily by James Graham, 1st Marquis of Montrose, take power in Scotland.

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.

1644-1645 - 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 is 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.

1648 – The Peace of Westphalia ends the Thirty Years’ War, the Reformation, and the Counter-Reformation.

1648-1649 - Second English Civil War.

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.

1650-1651- Third English Civil War. Charles Stuart, son of Charles I, is enthroned as King of Scots in Edinburgh, but its driven out shortly thereafter by a republican 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 – 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.

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 - Restoration of the monarchy. Charles I of Scots becomes Charles I of England and of Ireland also.

1685 - Charles I dies. His brother succeeds him as James VII of Scots and James II of England and of Ireland.

1688-1697 – War of the Grand Alliance, which includes the Williamite War in Ireland (see below) 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 & 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 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 government.

1690 – The first Irish Brigade is formed in France; it remains active until 1792.

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 & II himself.

1694 – Mary II dies of smallpox, leaving William III & 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. The Scots attempt to plant a colony, which they name Darien, in Panama, but the effort fails due to interference from their English neighbors.

1690's - Huge influx of Scots into Ulster from the southern Lowlands and the Borders, and from the northern counties of England, due to widespread famine. Beginning of a majority of those in Ulster being of Scottish descent.

1701 – Death of the former James VII & II; his son, James Francis Edward, inherits his claims and is called James VIII & III by the Jacobites.

1702 – William III & 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. Registration Act for Catholic clergy.

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 William 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 & III is only a secondary goal. The Rising never gets off the ground, however.

1714 – Queen Anne dies; Parliament invites George Welph, Prince-elector of Hanover and Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg, to take the throne as King 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, most, but not all, of people from families of Scots origin, to settle in North America. In all, some 250,000 from Ulster make the trans-Atlantic crossing, as compared to a mere 100,000 from the rest of Ireland, while another 150,000 also emigrate to America from the Borders and northern England.

1719 - Third Jacobite Rising in Scotland, led by Murray of Tullibardine and George Keith, 10th Earl Marischal.

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.

1730-1800 – Approximate years of the Scottish Enlightenment. The political ferment inside the Enlightenment spread 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.

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 & 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 all outlawed, clans are broken up, lands are seized, etc.

1760-1830 – Years of the British Agricultural Revolution Scottish Agricultural Revolution and the Lowland Clearances.

1760 – Death of George II; succession of George III as King of Great Britain, King of Ireland, and Elector of Hanover.

1761-1764 – First wave of activity by the Whiteboys, an clandestine agrarian resistance group fighting for tenant rights primarily against the (Anglican) Church of Ireland.

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.

1766 – Death of James the Old Chevalier; succession to his claims of his son, called Charles III of England, of Scots, and of Ireland by his supporters.

1770-1776 – Second wave of Whiteboy activity in Ireland.

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.

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.

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.

1789-1799 – French Revolution.

1789 – Storming of the Bastille. Louis XVI, King 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. The initial goal is to reform the Dublin Parliament, but this changes in 1795 to seeking independence. 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.

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. Peep O’Day Boys reorganized as the Orange Order to oppose the United Irishmen and the proposed Union of the Dublin Parliament with that of London as well; at this time membership is limited to members of the Church of Ireland.

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.

1798 – First Rising of the United Irishmen, under Tone.

19th century
1800 – United Irish Rising in Newfoundland.

1801 – Act of Union 1800, uniting the Parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland. The realm is now known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

1803 – Second Rising of the United Irishmen, under Robert Emmet.

1806 – Under threat from Napoleon I of France and his armies, the Holy Roman Empire 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.

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. George III dies, and his son succeeds him as George IV, 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 – Daniel O’Connell establishes Catholic Association in Dublin for Catholic 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 – Death of George IV; succession of his brother as William IV.

1831-1836 – The Tithe War in Ireland against the Church of Ireland.

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.

1836 – Organization in New York City of the Ancient Order of Hibernians (AOH), which later spreads to Ireland.

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.

1839 - The Whigs, a loose political faction dating bck 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 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.

1846-1857 – Highland Potato Famine. The Highland Clearances intensify.

1847 – Irish Confederation is organized, with Young Irelanders as its backbone.

1848 – Young Ireland Rising.

1858 – Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa begins organizing the Phoenix National and Literary Society, which later merges with the IRB (see next).

1858 – Fenian Brotherhood (FB) is organized in America, while the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) is organized in Ireland

1866 – FB splits into the John O'Mahony Wing and the William R. Roberts, or Senate, Wing; each wing launches its own invasion of Canada and both fail.

1867 – Aborted IRB Rising. Clan na Gael (CnG) organized in America.

1873 – Home Rule League founded.

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.

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.

1879 – Irish Land League founded.

1880 – Fenian Brotherhood finally collapses.

1882 – Irish National League reorganized as Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP); Irish Unionist Party founded in opposition.

1882-1883 – Campaign of the Invincibles, led by O’Donovan Rossa.

1884 – Gaelic 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.

1892 – John Redmond assumes leadership of IPP.

1893 – Gaelic League founded by Douglas Hyde, a Protestant from Co. Roscommon.

1896 – Irish Socialist Republican Party founded by James Connolly.

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.

20th century
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.

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.

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.

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 nationalist 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 (referred to in the Irish version as “Saorstat Eireann”) and Army of the Irish Republic composed of the nationalist 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 – George V officially changes the name of the royal family from Wettin to Windsor and drops the designation “of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha”. The family of the future Prince Philip changes its name from Battenberg to Mountbatten (except the family’s name is actually Hesse}.

1919-1922 – Irish War of Independence (or Anglo-Irish War), with the Irish republican side directed mostly from behind the scenes by the IRB under its President, Michael Collins.

1919 – Irish Volunteers officially become the Irish Republican Army, and includes a Scottish Brigade; beginning of the Irish War for Independence.

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 – 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 John Devoy wing and a Joseph 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.

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.

1925 – The IRA severes its relationship with Sinn Fein. Plaid Cymru is formed in Wales.

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.

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 even includes a delegation from Shankhill calling themselves the James Connolly Club in its march at Bodenstown, but collapses two years later due to lack of funds. 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. Within a year, he abdicates the throne to his brother, who succeeds as George VI.

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 – Second World War.

1939-1940 – IRA’s Sabotage Campaign in England.

1942-1944 – IRA’s Northern Campaign.

1946 – On the heels of the Second World War, IRA leader Sean MacBride organizes the leftist republican Clann na Poblachta.

1949 – 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.

1951 – Liam Kelly organizes Saor Uladh after being expelled from the 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.

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.

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 Irish Republican Army). 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.

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 and Ulster Freedom Fighters are organized as an umbrella group of loyalist paramilitaries. The (new) Red Hand Commando is organized.

1973 – Formation of the Scottish Republican Socialist Clubs.

1973-1978 – Activities of the South Derry Independent Republican Unit, which includes Francie Hughes, Dominic McGlinchey, Thomas McElwee, Joe Sheridan, Ian Milne, and others.

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.

1975 – A group from Saor Eire breaks away, calling itself Saoirse Eire, when the former decides to dissolve itself. 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 the British Army to withdraw, but are scuttled by a second workers strike orchestrated by Paisley for unrelated reasons.

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 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.

1979 – Progressive Unionist Party is organized in the Shankill as the political arm of the UVF. Adam Busby founds the Scottish National Liberation Army, claiming the referendum that year on devolution was fixed; there is no relationship whatsoever with the similarly named Irish organization, nor is there one with the SRSP, which strongly condemns Busby’s later actions.

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.

1982 – SF-WP becomes simply the Workers’ Party. The Scottish Republican Socialist Clubs become the Scottish Republican Socialist Party; despite the similarity of name to the IRSP, neither the SRSP nor its successor, the crossparty Scottish Republican Socialist Movement (1998), has ever had a military counterpart.

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 Irish Republican Army 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.

1987 - Formation in America of the National Irish Freedom Committee by Michael Flannery, George Harrison, Joe Stynes and others, to provide American support for Republican Sinn Fein.

1988 - The Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party merge as the Liberal Democrats.

1992 – The UDR is amalgamated with the Royal Irish Regiment. The IPLO is wiped out by PIRA after a number of clashes.

1995 – The CLMC, led by Gusty Spence, announces a cease-fire. Adam Busby founds the Scottish Separatist Group to serve as a political arm for his SNLA.

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.

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. Orange Volunteers are formed, and the 32 County Sovereignty Movement and the Real Irish Republican Army 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, County Tyrone, kills 29, including one woman pregnant with twins, and injures 220.

2000s
2001 – The UDP is succeeded by the Ulster Political Research Group. 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.

2005 – Former members of the CIRA and the RIRA form Oglaigh Na hEireann, with a political arm, the Saoirse na hÉireann.

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 Liberal Vannin Party is founded on the Isle of Man.

2007 – A group calling itself the Real Ulster Freedom Fighters appears on the scene. 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.

2008 – The Republican Defense Association and Republican Defense Army are formed in Northeast Ulster. The Blanket ceases publication.