20 September: He defeats the English at the Battle of Fulford

28 September: William of Normandy lands at Pevensey on the south coast of England

25 December: William of Normandy is crowned king William I of England

First Norman stone castle is built in Wales
The Normans quickly advanced into Wales, using castles to subdue the surrounding countryside.

Bayeux Tapestry illustrating the Battle of Hastings is completed
The Bayeux Tapestry is the primary visual source for the Battle of Hastings and the most important pictorial document of the 11th century.

9 September: William the Conqueror dies at Rouen, Normandy

26 September: William II is crowned at Westminster Abbey
William Rufus, second son of William the Conqueror

July: Malcolm Canmore, King of Scotland, unsuccessfully invades England
Malcom was killed in an ambush by Robert de Mowbray, Earl of Northumbria, in 1093.

16 November: Margaret, Queen of Scotland, dies at Edinburgh Castle
Margaret was the daughter of Edward the Ætheling, an Anglo-Saxon claimant to the English throne in 1066. She fled to Scotland after the Norman conquest and married Malcolm Canmore (Malcolm III) of Scotland in about 1070.

Oxford University is founded

2 August: William II is killed while hunting in the New Forest
William's brother had himself rapidly crowned Henry I.

5 August: Henry I is crowned in Westminster Abbey

25 July 1110 Henry I of England marries his daughter Matilda to the German emperor, Henry V. She was only eight years old.

25 November Henry I's only son, William, drowns while returning from Normandy to England on the 'White Ship'. The succession is thrown into crisis.

25 December: Henry I settles the accession on his daughter, Matilda

22 December Stephen (Henry's nephew) is crowned king after the death of Henry I in Normandy instead of Matilda. Many considered a woman unfit to rule and further resentment was generated by her marriage into the Anjou family in 1127.

30 September 1139 Matilda lands at Arundel, West Sussex, to claim the throne of England. A long civil war followed, but neither side was strong enough for outright victory.

May 1152 Henry of Anjou (Matilda's son and the future Henry II of England) marries Eleanor of Aquitaine. The marriage brought a vast area of France into Henry's possession.

24 May: David I, King of Scotland, dies
David I had succeeded to the throne of Scotland in 1124.

19 December Henry II, the first 'Plantagenet' king, accedes to the throne
He was not only king of England, but also ruled over most of Wales, Normandy, Anjou, Gascony and other parts of France (acquired through his marriage to Eleanor of Aquitaine). Henry, son of Empress Matilda, established stability after civil war between his mother and her rival Stephen. He asserted his authority over the barons and enforced law and governance. Regular financial rolls of government began in his reign.

6 July: Henry II dies and is succeeded by his son Richard I

Richard I joins the Third Crusade
The Crusades were a series of nine religious wars waged from 1095 to liberate Jerusalem and the Holy Land from Islamic rule. Richard raised taxes, sold assets and emptied the treasury to raise funds for his army.

Richard I dies and is succeeded by his brother John

University at Cambridge is established
A group of scholars migrated from the established centre of learning at Oxford to Cambridge, where they set up a new university.

15 June The Magna Carta is signed by King John and his barons at Runnymede on the River Thames.

28 October: Henry III is crowned king of England

Henry III begins to rebuild Westminster Abbey
The first abbey at Westminster was built by Edward the Confessor in the 1040s in the Romanesque style. Henry III ordered the rebuilding of the abbey in a Gothic style, with a central shrine to honour Edward the Confessor.

20 November: Henry III dies and is succeeded by his son Edward
He was crowned Edward I in August 1274.

Edward I conquers Wales. Llywelyn ap Gruffyd, the country's last prince is killed

July: Edward I expels all Jews from England

23 August: Scottish rebel William Wallace is executed by the English

7 July: Edward I dies and is succeeded by his son Edward II
Two years after Edward's accession, he married Isabella, daughter of the French king.

1315 - 1322 Millions die in the Great European Famine
The famine was the product of a cooler and damper climate, coupled with the medieval inability to dry and store grain effectively.

September: Isabella invades England and overthrows Edward II
Edward II's wife, Isabella, had left England for France in 1325 on the pretext of helping to settle a dispute over territory. But she had been badly treated by Edward's favourites, the Despensers, and declined to return. Instead, she remained in Paris, where she found a lover, Roger Mortimer. In 1326, she returned to England with a large force, whereupon the king's supporters deserted him. Edward was captured, as were the Despensers who were executed in the autumn of the same year.

20 January: Edward II is murdered and Edward III becomes king
Edward II abdicated in favour of his son. He was later murdered at Berkeley Castle in Gloucestershire on the orders of Isabella and her lover, Roger Mortimer. Isabella and her lover Mortimer ruled while her son Edward III was in his minority (too young).

19 September: Edward the 'Black Prince' (Edward III's son) defeats and captures John II, King of France

22 June: Edward III dies and is succeeded by Richard II
Edward III's eldest son, Edward the 'Black Prince', had died in 1376, so the succession passed to Edward's grandson, Richard II, who was only 10 years old. In the first part of his reign, because he was so young, the country was ruled by his uncle, John of Gaunt whose son Henry Bolingbroke eventually murdered Richard and became king as Henry IV.

15 June: Peasants' Revolt
In the aftermath of the catastrophic Black Death, agricultural workers were in demand but landlords were reluctant to pay higher wages or allow migration for work. Coupled with heavy taxation and an unpopular government, it caused an uprising. The rebels converged on London. The Tower of London was stormed and prominent individuals were executed. After rebel leader Wat Tyler was killed, Richard II successfully defused the situation by promising concessions. Reprisals followed instead.

30 September: Henry IV is proclaimed king of England

St Andrews is established as the first Scottish university

20 March: Henry IV dies and is succeeded by his son, Henry V

25 October: Henry V defeats the French at the Battle of Agincourt

31 August: Henry V dies suddenly, leaving his son Henry VI, who was less than a year old and now king of England and France under the terms of the Treaty of Troyes (1420). He is today still the youngest ever king of England.

England was ruled by a Regency Council. In France, the king's uncle, John, Duke of Bedford, gradually extended English control. Henry VI of England was crowned king of France in Paris in December 1431.

Henry VI assumes power as king of England
Henry VI, who had acceded to the throne before his first birthday, was now considered old enough to rule for himself.

22 May: Civil War: The War of the Roses begin with first Battle of St Albans
York was then driven out by Henry VI's wife, Margaret. York marched on London and defeated Henry's supporters (the Lancastrians) at St Albans. This relatively small battle marks the beginning of a civil war between two branches of the royal family - York and Lancaster - that lasted intermittently until 1485.

The Duke of York was the main figure on the Yorkist side and Margaret, Henry's queen, took charge of the Lancastrian cause.

29 March: Lancastrians are defeated at Towton and Edward IV (Duke of York's son) is proclaimed king. Henry VI and Margaret flee to Scotland.
Edward was crowned in June 1461.

30 October 1470 Henry VI is briefly restored to the throne

4 May 1471 Yorkists defeat the Lancastrians and kill Edward, Prince of Wales
and heir of Henry VI. Henry VI himself survived little more than a fortnight after the battle. He was murdered, probably in the Tower of London, on 21 May 1471. Edward IV was king of England again.

William Caxton publishes the first printed book in England

9 April: Edward IV dies and is succeeded by his 12-year-old son, Edward V
Edward’s uncle, his father’s brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was named protector. Gloucester met the new king on his journey to London and when they reached the capital, lodged him in the Tower of London with his younger brother, also called Richard. In June the boys were declared illegitimate. It was alleged that their father's marriage to their mother, Elizabeth Woodville, had been invalid.

July 1483 Richard III becomes king and the 'Princes in the Tower' disappear
Both his nephews, the 12-year-old Edward V and his brother, were not seen alive after this time. They had been imprisoned in the Tower of London and were presumed murdered, although it is not clear who was responsible.

22 August Henry Tudor defeats Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth