Medieval France: The castle at Dourdan, built by Philip Augustus Philip Augustus, King of France Louis VII's son, Philip Auguste, was much more ambitious and smarter than his father. Philip [...]
Outer walls of Caen castle, Normandy, France The Vikings settle in northern France Around 1000 AD, some of the Vikings who had been raiding France got permission from the French king to settle down and live [...]
Matilda of Flanders had this church built: Nave of Abbaye aux Dames (Caen, 1050 AD) Who was Matilda of Flanders? About 1050 AD, William the Conqueror married Matilda of Flanders. They were both [...]
Prince John on a coin Why did people hate King John? When Richard the Lionhearted died of gangrene in 1199 AD (when he was 42), his younger brother John became king. The [...]
Medieval Italy: Matilda of Canossa (ca. 1100 AD) Matilda of Canossa By about 900 AD, the Holy Roman Emperors started to lose power over Northern Italy. The Counts of Canossa controlled most of Northern [...]
Early medieval Italy: Lombard shield boss (to make spears slide off it) (Metropolitan Museum, New York) Northern Italy and France In 774 AD, Charlemagne conquered northern Italy from the Lombards. Soon after that [...]
Medieval Hungary: Stephen, the first Christian King of Hungary ca. 1000 AD The Magyars invade Hungary When the invading Magyars conquered land in Eastern Europe from the Slavs about 900 AD, and started the [...]
The place where the British burned Joan of Arc alive in Rouen during the Hundred Years' War The last Capetian king When the last French king in the direct Capetian line died [...]
Empress Agnes of the Holy Roman Empire holding Henry IV Agnes and the Pope After the death of Henry III in 1056 AD, his widow Agnes ran the Holy Roman Empire. With the [...]
Henry II of England: Matilda's son Queen Matilda of England When William the Conqueror died in 1087 AD, he left the throne of England to his sons William II and then Henry, [...]
