400-409
610-619
670-679
680-689
690-699
Its main theme is the slow decline of British control throughout what we now call England and the warring among the Anglo-Saxons. The other theme is the position of the Christian church as the pagan Saxons push back the Christian British and are then in turn converted by the Roman Church.
Historical sources are very few: we rely heavily on Gildas writing about 550, Bede from 731, the Nennian collection of documents from the early ninth century and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles from the late ninth century.
• 406: A number of 'usurping' emperors are created by the Roman army in Britain: Marcus and Gratian in 406, both of whom are killed.
• 407: Another usurper, a soldier who styles himself Constantine III raises support. He takes most of the British garrison to Gaul to fight barbarian incursions across the Rhine. He is eventually executed in 411 by the Emperor Honorius.
• c407: St Patrick escapes from his slavery and is able to return to England. He later journeys to the continent to study for the priesthood.
• 447: St Germanicus, bishop of Auxerre, again visits Britain (see 420-429).
• 449: Vortigern, a British king, invites the Saxon leaders Hengest and Horsa to act as mercenaries on his behalf.
• 451: The Romano-British leader Ambrosius Aurelianus is successful in temporarily checking Saxon threat. Gildas, writing about 550, says he forced the Saxons back to the Isle of Thanet.
• 455: The Saxon chiefs and mercenaries, Hengest and Horsa, mutiny and fight the British king Vortigern. Horsa is killed, possibly at Aylesford. Bede, writing in the C8th, says that Hengest then 'took the kingdom' (Kent).
• 455: St Patrick writes Confessions, which tells of his mission in Ireland. He received the support of the high king Laoghaire, baptised many converts and ordained a priesthood. He established the see of Armagh, still the centre of Christian faith in Ireland.
• 457: Hengest fights the Britons at a place called Crecganford and slays 4000 of them. The Britons retreat to London.
• 477: Aelle lands in Britain with his three sons and goes on to establish the Saxon kingdom of Sussex.
•495: Cerdic and his son Cynric land in Dorset and establish the West Saxon kingdom of Wessex. This is one of three origin stories for the founding of Wessex, which by the 9th century had become the dominant Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is likely that this tide of Saxon immigration is caused, in part, by the expansion of the Franks into northern Gaul.
The victory has been attributed by some to the legendary King Arthur, but Gildas does not mention him. If he ever was a historical figure this is likely to have been the period in which he would have lived. The Nennian collection of writings (Welsh, ninth century) lists 12 battles which were fought by Arthur and describe him, not as a king, but as a dux belloram, a war leader. He is also referred to as being at the battle of Mons Badonicus.
• 500: Excavations at South Cadbury, a hill fort that was reoccupied in the post-Roman period, reveal that a wooden hall was erected at this time, leading to speculation that this was the base from which Arthur fought the Saxons.
• 519: Cerdicesford is again mentioned by the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as the place where Cerdic and Cynric fought a battle with the British. It is also dates the royal line of the kingdom of Wessex from this date.
• 534: Cerdic dies and his son Cynric becomes king of the West Saxon kingdom of Wessex.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle notes that Stuf and Wihtgar, the kinsmen of Cerdic who landed in 514, are given the Isle of Wight to rule.
• 552: Cynric, king of the West Saxons defeats the British at Old Sarum (Salisbury).
• 556: Cynric, this time with his son Ceawlin, defeats the British at Barbury, near modern-day Swindon.
• 565:The monastery of Iona is established at about this time by Columba, a monk from Ireland.
• 565: Aethelberht becomes king of Kent. He will become the first of the Saxon kings to be baptised as a Christian, following the mission of St Augustine in 597. He is the third on Bede's list of kings to have overlordship of all the Saxons.
• 593: Ceawlin dies.
• 597: St Augustine is sent with 40 monks to Britain by Pope Gregory. His mission is to evangelise among the Kentish people and his method is to convert their king Aethelbert first, after which the king's subjects will also become Christians. Aethelbert's support, as bretwalda or overlord of all the Saxon peoples, is crucial to the success of Augustine's mission. It is not known exactly when he did convert, but it would have been early in Augustine's ministry. The sees of Canterbury and Rochester are established in these years.
• c613: Aethelfrith, king of Northumbria, defeats a British force at Chester led by Solomon, son of Cynan of Powys. It marks to point at which the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of eastern Britain extend their power to the Irish Sea, dividing the British of Wales from those to the north.
• 616: Aethelbert, king of Kent, dies. According to Bede, he was the third bretwalda of the Saxon peoples. His son and successor is a pagan, as is the successor to the kingdom of Essex. Augustine's mission is at a critical point but receives a boost when the new king of Kent converts to Christianity. Essex remains pagan, its bishop being forced out.
• 616: Aethelfrith, king of Northumbria, is killed in battle at the River Idle by Redwald of East Anglia, the fourth on Bede's list of bretwalda's or overlords. The new king is Edwin, who had been in exile at Redwald's court.
• 627: Edwin of Northumbria converts.
• 625: Redwald, king of East Anglia, dies about this time. It is likely that Redwald was interred at the magnificent ship-burial at Sutton Hoo, discovered in 1938. The funeral was obviously pagan and Redwald had been baptised, but he allowed worship of pagan gods to co-exist with Christianity in his kingdom so this need not prevent the grave being his. Some attribute the burial to Ethelhere, who died in 656 while fighting Oswy of Northumbria.
• 628: Cynegils of Wessex, fights Penda of Mercia at Cirencester. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states that they came to terms after the battle; probably the area around Cirencester, indeed all of the land that Wessex had won from the British in 577, was ceded to Mercian control.
• 632: Penda becomes king of Mercia.
• 633: Oct 14, Battle of Hatfield Chase; Edwin is defeated and killed by Penda, the pagan king of Mercia, and the British king, Cadwallon. Paulinus is forced back to Kent when Edwin's successor renounces his Christian faith.
• 634: Oswald becomes king of Northumbria and defeats the British king Cadwallon of Gwynedd.
• 635: Oswald, who had been converted while exiled in the British kingdom of Dalriada (western Scotland), invites Aidan, a monk from Iona, to preach in Northumbria. Aidan founds the monastery of Lindisfarne, establishing Celtic Christianity in the north. Oswald is the sixth of Bede's bretwalda and his rule extended over the British, Pictish and Irish peoples.
• 635: Wessex converts to Christianity when its king Cynegils is baptised by bishop Birinus at Dorchester.
• 645: Penda of Mercia invades Wessex, forcing its king Cenwalh to flee. Although Mercian power is in the ascendant he is not listed by Bede as a bretwalda.
• 648: The first church at Westminster is completed.
• 651: The Northumbrian kingdom of Deira falls under Mercian control, after the death of its ruler Oswine. Penda of Mercia invades Bernicia.
• 656: Battle of the River Winwaed; Penda is defeated and killed by Oswy of Northumbria. He was the last major pagan king of the Saxons; his death marks the triumph of Christianity in Britain. Ethelhere of East Anglia is also killed in the same battle, having fought under Penda.
• Mercia is divided: the area north of the Trent comes under direct Northumbrian control; the south is held by Penda's son, Peada, who rules under Oswy's overlordship. This period is the high point of Northumbrian power. Oswy is the seventh and last of the bretwalda listed by Bede.
• 657: Peada is murdered and all of Mercia comes under the direct rule of Oswy.
• 657: Whitby Abbey is founded.
• 658: Wulfhere, another of Penda's sons becomes king of Mercia, which rises successfully against Northumbrian rule.
• 664: Synod of Whitby; called by King Oswy of Northumbria, the synod agrees the primacy of the Roman rather than the Celtic Church in Britain and defines the method for calculating the date of Easter. The outcome caused some priests to depart to the Irish, or Celtic, church, but was an important milestone in uniting the Anglo-Saxons and the eventual formation of an English nation.
• 664: After Whitby, the outcome of which he accepts despite holding contrary views, St Cuthbert removes to the monastery at Lindisfarne.
• 665: the kingdom of Essex comes under Mercian control.
• 665: Wilfred, who had argued for the Roman church at Whitby, becomes bishop for the Northumbrians.
• 669: Theodore of Tarsus is appointed Archbishop of Canterbury after the see had been vacant for five years.
• 672 : Synod of Hertford; Theodore calls the leaders of the English Church together for the first time. Church administration is regularised and divorce is made more difficult.
• 673: Bede is born.
• 674: Wulfhere of Mercia, now overlord of the southern Saxon peoples, invades Northumbria and is defeated by Oswy's son Ecgfrith.
• 674: Ecgfrith grants Benedict Biscop land to found the monastery and library at Wearmouth.
• 676: St Cuthbert retreats to Farne Island.
• 678: Mercians, led by Wulfhere's son Aethelred, defeat the Northumbrians by the River Trent, ending Northumbrian attempts to expand southwards.
• 678: Theodore reorganises the Northumbrian church after the expulsion of Wilfred, who leaves for the continent and appeals to the pope. A council restores him to his seat in York.
• 679, 17 Sept: Council of Hatfield; orthodoxy is declared on the Monothelete heresy.
• 685: St Cuthbert leaves Farne Island to become a bishop with his seat at Lindisfarne. After two years he returns to Farne Island.
• 684: Caedwalla, a noble exiled from Wessex contends for power, raiding Sussex then, in 685, Kent, the Isle of Wight and Wessex.
• 685: Ecgfrith of Northumbria's army is defeated by Picts and he is killed.
• 687: St Cuthbert dies on Farne Island.
• 688: Caedwalla, a pagan, leaves England to be baptised at Rome.
• 689: Caedwalla reaches Rome and is baptised on Easter Day, with the Pope in attendance. He dies ten days later. He is succeeded in Wessex by Ine, who becomes king despite the fact that his father is still alive. At this time, kings came from a number of the families of the Royal line and did not have to be a direct descendant or even the eldest in that family. It is likely that Ine was able to claim lineage from the legendary founder of Wessex, Cerdic.
During his 37 year reign Ine also supports the organisation of the church within his kingdom and founds the see of Sherbourne.
• 690: Willibrord, a Northumbrian monk who had spent twelve years studying in Ireland, journeys to Utrecht with twelve other monks to convert the Frisians - one of the Saxon peoples to emigrate to Britain in the fourth and fifth centuries. After a period in Rome he returns to his ministry and remains at its head for 40 years.
• 402: Battle of Pollentia; the Roman general Stilicho defeats Alaric, but the Visigoth threat remains strong.
• 402: Honorius, the emperor in the west makes Ravenna his capital.
• 403: Battle of Verona; Stilicho again defeats the Visigoths, who are paid to leave Italy.
• Vandals invade Gaul.
• 408: Alaric invades Italy.
• 409: Alaric lays siege to Rome.
• 412: The new Visigoth king, Ataulf, marries Honorius' half-sister Placidia and establishes a vassal kingdom in Gaul, within the Empire.
• 415: Wallia becomes king of the Visigoths.
• 418: the Visigoths settle in the Roman province of Aquitania with their capital at Toulouse.
• 419: Wallia fights in Spain to reestablish the Roman province and drives the Vandals into Andalusia (Vandalitia).
• 424: Aëtius, a Roman who had been a hostage of Goths and Huns, invades Italy at the head of a barbarian army in support of the usurper, John.
• 425:After John's defeat, Valentinian III is Emperor in the West, but power lies with his mother Placidia, widow of the Visigoth Ataulf. Aëtius has supreme command in Gaul.
• Augustine: City of God, about this date.
• 426-8: Gaul, Aëtius fights Goths and Franks.
• 429: Vandals under Genseric invade the Roman province of Africa, from Spain.
• c429: St Simeon Stylites begins his mission on a pillar erected near Antioch.
• 431: Chlodio, king of the Franks, establishes his capital at Tournai.
• 431: Council of Ephesus; Nestorius is condemned and excommunicated.
• 433: Carthage is sacked by the Vandals.
• 434: Attila becomes sole ruler of the Huns.
• 438: Codex Theodosianus; a codification of Roman law.
• 447: Attila devastates the eastern Empire, forcing Theodosius II to pay him tribute.
• 451: Battle of Chalôns; a Roman/Visigoth army under Aëtius defeats Attila, who retreats.
• 452: Attila invades Italy destroying Aquileia, whose inhabitants flee to the lagoons where Venice now stands.
• 453: Attila dies and his empire collapses.
• 454: Valentinian III, becomes suspicious of his general Aëtius, and murders him.
• 455: Valentinian III is himself murdered. Rome is looted by the Vandals under Genseric.
• 466: Visigoths conquer Spain.
• 472: Ricimer, Visigoth powerbroker in the west for twenty years, dies having seized Rome.
• 475: Julius Nepos, emperor in the west since 473, is overthrown by the soldier, Orestes, who puts his son, Romulus Augustus, on the throne.
• 475: Theodoric the Great becomes king of the Ostrogoths.
• 476: Odoacer, captain of the imperial bodyguard, leads a revolt against the emperor, Romulus Augustulus, who resigns his throne. Odoacer rules as king of Italy within a reunited empire based on Constantinople. Thus, the Roman Empire ends. Italy 476-526.
• 486: Battle of Soissons; Clovis defeats a Gallo-Roman army under Syagius.
• 488: Theodoric the Great leads an army into Italy to challenge Odoacer.
• 489: Theodoric the Great defeats Odoacer at Verona. Odoacer retreats to Ravenna and Theoderic lays siege.
• 493: Ravenna capitulates to Theoderic who breaks the terms of the peace by murdering Odoacer and his son.
• 507: Clovis defeats Alaric II, king of the Visigoths, at Voillé, extending his kingdom into southwest Gaul. He then moves his capital to Paris.
• 526: Theoderic the Great dies. His grandson, Altharic, a boy of 10, succeeds him. Italy 526-568.
• 527: Justinian becomes emperor in the east, having been regent.
• 529: Monté Cassino monastery is founded by St Benedict.
• 530: Belisarius, the Byzantine general, defeats the Persians at Daras.
• 532: Justinian uses Belisarius to suppress the Nika rebellion in Constantinople.
• 533: Belisarius reconquers north Africa form the Vandals, capturing Carthage.
• 535: Belisarius is sent to reconquer Italy from the Goths. He takes Sicily.
• 536: Belisarius southern Italy and Rome, where he is besieged by the Goth king Witigis.
• 538: Hagia Sophia is consecrated.
• 539: Persia attacks the Byzantine Empire.
• 542: Plague ravages the Byzantine empire.
• 543:Truce is agreed in the war between Byzantium and Persia.
• 543-549: The Goths, under Totila, rebel, defeating Belisarius and leaving only Ravenna and some coastal towns in Byzantine control.
• (About this time) the Avars sweep into central Europe and the Balkans.
• 554: Justinian issues the Pragmatic Sanction
restoring property in Italy to its pre-Gothic owners.
• 559: Belisarius is called from retirement to defend Constantinople from the Bulgars, which he does.
• 562: A long term peace is agreed between Justinian and Chosroes, for which Byzantium has to pay a large annual tribute.
• 563: Belisarus is held on suspicion of conspiracy and is then released.
• 565, Mar: Belisarius dies.
• 565, Nov: the Emperor Justinian dies, to be succeeded by his nephew Justin II.
• 568: Lombards, led by Alboin, cross the Alps and settle in what becomes known as Lombardy.
Italy 568-752.
• 572-3: The Lombards take Pavia after a three year siege and move south to capture the cities of northern and central Italy. Alboin is murdered in 572.
• 578: Justin II appoints a successor, Tiberius.
• 579: Chosroes of Persia dies.
• 594: St Gregory of Tours dies.