Dreaming of the Virgin Mary

Medieval Timeline

Nigel Bruce

• 2 min read
Medieval Timeline
Francesco Hayez: "Pope Urban II Preaching the First Crusade in the Square of Clermont" (1835), Gallerie di Piazza Scala, Milan
  • 1095 Pope Urban II preaches the First Crusade at the Council of Clermont (the massacre of Jews in Mainz and other cities follows...)
  • 1099 Capture of Jerusalem and massacre of its Muslim inhabitants
  • 1140-44 St. Denis Cathedral
  • 1147 Second Crusade begins (till 1149)
  • 1153 Death of St. Bernard of Clairvaux
  • 1170 Murder of St. Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral
  • 1174 Circulation of first influential Kabbalist book, Sefer Ha-Bahir, in southern France
  • 1179 Death of Hildegard of Bingen
  • 1187 Capture of Jerusalem by Saladin; Third Crusade begins (till 1192)
  • 1194 Fire destroys much of Chartres Cathedral; Gothic style rebuilding takes till 1260
  • 1204 Sack of Constantinople during Fourth Crusade: seeds of the Great Schism
  • 1209 Albigensian Crusade begins; massacre of Cathars in Béziers
  • 1209 Foundation of Franciscan order
  • 1211 Reims Cathedral
  • 1212 Children's Crusade
  • 1215 King John signs the Magna Carta
  • 1216 Foundation of the Dominican order
  • 1217 Fifth Crusade begins (till 1221)
  • 1220 Frederick II becomes Holy Roman Emperor
  • 1220-30 Bible moralisée appears (one of the first "picture" Bibles)
  • 1221 Death of St. Dominic
  • 1223 Chartres Cathedral construction largely complete
  • 1225-35 Roman de la Rose (part I)
  • 1226 Death of St. Francis of Assisi
  • 1228 Sixth Crusade (till 1229)
  • 1229 Foundation of the Inquisition
  • 1240's Bartholomew the Englishman writes On the Properties of Things
  • 1243-44 Massacre of Cathars at Montségur
  • 1248 Seventh Crusade (till 1254)
  • 1260 Jacopo de Voragine’s Golden Legend tells of the lives of the saints and the True Cross
  • 1267 Roger Bacon, Franciscan monk and scientist, completes Opus Majus
  • 1271 Marco Polo begins journeys to China
Fouquet-Madonna
Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp

This extraordinary work is the right-hand part of the Melun diptych by the French court painter Jean Fouquet, created around 1452. This part shows the Virgin and Child Surrounded by Angels. Or alternatively, it's the madonna breastfeeding. Although art critics enjoy pointing out the model was King Charles VII's mistress Agnes Sorel, said at the time to be one of the most beautiful women in the world, it's the boldness and confidence of the painting that impresses me.