 ™ |
– subject to continuing refinement –
In Spain – The Eighth Church Council of Toledo demands that converted Jews sign a written promise not to marry within the forbidden degrees of family relations and that they themselves inflict the death penalty on any person who disobeys the observance of the Catholic faith.
In Egypt – Revolt and death of UTHMAN (end June); first civil war among Muslims as the Umayyads take revenge for the murder of the Caliph.
Caliph ALI IBN ABU TALEB (MOHAMMAD's cousin and son-in-law) rules Islam.
Caliph ALI enters Firuz-Shapur in Iran; the Gaon of Pumbedita and thousands of Jews welcome him with enthusiasm.
Jewish prosperity under Islam
Caliph MU'AWIYA (first Umayyad caliph) rules the Islamic world and settles Jews whom he considers faithful allies in Tripoli and in Syria. He transforms the Arab world into a secular state in which religion takes second place.
This begins a period of prosperity for Jews and Christians in Palestine.
This begins a period of prosperity for Jews and Christians in Palestine.
Siege of Constantinople.
In Greece – The Avars and Slavs invade.
October 6: In Karbala, in present day Iraq – Supporters and relatives of Muhammad's grandson Hussein ibn Ali, who refuse to recognise YAZID I as the Umayyad caliph, are killed, including Hussein's six-month-old infant son, Ali al-Asghar ibn Husayn, and the women and children taken as prisoners.
| 2nd Islamic Civil War |
In Spain – The Eleventh Council of Toledo is called upon to destroy "the Jewish pest", prohibits Jewish festivals, and institutes a surveillance of converted Jews.
In Jerusalem – Tenth caliph, 'ABD AL-MALIK IBN MARWAN, commissions the rebuilding of the shrine on the Rock as Islam's answer to the monumental churches of the city that surround the rocks and caves of Christian significance. (The Rock is almost certainly the site of Roman emperor Hadrian's equestrian statue of himself after their conquest of Jerusalem in 70 AD/CE; and was previously the site of a pagan statue (Tammuz/Adonis) in the time of the prophet Ezekiel (8:5,14) before destruction of the first Jewish temple).
In Jerusalem – The Dome of the Rock is built by Caliph ABD AL-MALIK.
(i.e. that calling Jesus 'Son of God' implies God had sex with Mary and is therefore blasphemous; whereas the phrase itself is simply
a Jewish messianic title from Psalm 2:7, and does not in any way imply deity as some Christians mistakenly assume).
In 'Christian' Spain – Jews are accused of treason and reduced to slavery.
See Leviticus 25.
Bible written in Latin, one of the great treasures of the Anglo-Saxon world, is to return to Britain after more than 1300 years.
Codex Amiatinus was written by monks at Wearmouth-Jarrow monastery, in the north-east of England, in the early eighth century. It was one of three produced: one is lost, one exists only in fragments. The surviving Bible was carried to Rome as a gift for Pope Gregory II - quite an undertaking, as the book weighs 35kg and measures a foot thick. For centuries it was housed at the Abbey of the Saviour in Monte Amiata in Tuscany, before passing to the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence.
Codex Amiatinus was written by monks at Wearmouth-Jarrow monastery, in the north-east of England, in the early eighth century. It was one of three produced: one is lost, one exists only in fragments. The surviving Bible was carried to Rome as a gift for Pope Gregory II - quite an undertaking, as the book weighs 35kg and measures a foot thick. For centuries it was housed at the Abbey of the Saviour in Monte Amiata in Tuscany, before passing to the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence.
The Laurenziana has agreed to lend it to the British Library for a 2018 exhibition, Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms.
Byzantine Emperor LEONTIUS is decapitated.
Byzantine Emperor TIBERIUS III is decapitated.
Byzantine Emperor TIBERIUS III is decapitated.
In Jerusalem – Caliph AL-WALID I repairs and extends Temple Mount's retaining walls upward with smaller rocks, and constructs many other buildings in the vicinity, including a mosque on the southwest corner of the Haram (Temple Mount).
In Spain – The Muslim invasion under TARIK brings respite to the Jews and leads to a golden era for Spanish Jewry.
In Constantinople – Byzantine Emperor JUSTINIAN II is decapitated.
In Constantinople – Byzantine Emperor JUSTINIAN II is decapitated.
In Constantinople – Byzantine Emperor PHILIPPUCUS is blinded and murdered.
In Palestine – Caliph SULEIMAN IBN ABD AL-MALIK builds Ramleh; a quarter of the town is reserved for dyers, a distinctly Jewish industry.
Caliph 'UMAR (II) AL-AZIZ orders all Jews and Christians (so-called dhimmis) across the Muslim empire to wear distinctive clothing. Jewish women are required to wear tinted shoes with bells. He is reported to have excluded Jews from Temple Mount and restricted them to praying at only one gate.
Byzantine Emperor LEO III begins the iconoclast movement (destruction of venerated/worshipped images). (Probably influenced by its offensiveness to the Islamic world).
He is opposed by Pope GREGORY II.
Beginning of the rift between Byzantine and Roman Christianity.
He is opposed by Pope GREGORY II.
Beginning of the rift between Byzantine and Roman Christianity.
The Franks under CHARLES MARTEL defeat Moorish (Islamic) invaders at the battle of Tours (or Poitiers).
In southern Russia – The Khazar rulers convert to Judaism. (The Khazars were a Turkic-speaking people of Central Eurasia).
September 11: An earthquake wrecks Jerusalem, collapsing the eastern and western sides of the Dome of the Rock. The 'Nea' church complex is also destroyed and not rebuilt. (see 527)
The 'ABBASID dynasty of caliphs destroy the last UMAYYADs and, in 762 AD/CE, move their capital from Damascus to the newly founded city of Baghdad, with serious economic consequences for Jerusalem.
Islam begins to move away from Qur'anic inclusivity of Jews and Christians and proclaim Islam as the one and only true faith.
Islam begins to move away from Qur'anic inclusivity of Jews and Christians and proclaim Islam as the one and only true faith.
the beginning of Islam's
golden age of learning
In South America – The Moche people, who had controlled coastal Peru for centuries, until a dramatic collapse around 750AD, have a history of sacrificing captured warriors. The Sicán, who developed Chotuna-Chornancap around then, shared some of those evil practices.
July: An Islamic army defeats the Tang Dynasty Chinese on the Talas river, Kyrgyzstan, for control of Syr Darya.
The art of paper-making (from mulberry bark, a closely guarded secret by the Chinese) is obtained from prisoners taken at the battle, resulting in paper mills being built in the Islamic cities of Samarkand and Baghdad. The Arabs improve upon the Chinese techniques by using starch which leads to the Muslim preference for pens versus the Chinese for brushes.
The art of paper-making (from mulberry bark, a closely guarded secret by the Chinese) is obtained from prisoners taken at the battle, resulting in paper mills being built in the Islamic cities of Samarkand and Baghdad. The Arabs improve upon the Chinese techniques by using starch which leads to the Muslim preference for pens versus the Chinese for brushes.
King PEPIN of the Franks promises central Italy to the Pope. The beginning of the temporal power of the papacy.
King PEPIN III, in overcoming the last stronghold of the Moors in his Frankish empire, gives half of this city, Narbonne, to the Jews in recognition of their help.
In Babylon – the Jewish 'chief in exile' of the Bustanai family dies without an heir. Two candidates to replace him are the brothers ANNAN and YOSHIYAHU, allegedly descended from King David. ANAN BEN DAVID founds the Kairite movement in Judaism as a protest against rabbinic law and to assert the unique authority of Holy Scripture. However,the heads of the Jewish yeshivas (theological schools) choose his younger brother YOSHIYAHU, known for his piety, to be their new 'chief in exile'.
In Jerusalem – Caliph Al-MANSOUR in agreement recognises YOSHIYAHU as the Jewish head and imprisons his older brother ANNAN. The division between the two brother tears apart the unity of the Jewish community. Both groups are expelled from Jerusalem.
In Jerusalem – Another earthquake destroys the Temple Mount (Haram) Mosque.
Caliph AL-MAHDI commissions the rebuilding of the Temple Mount (Haram) Mosque on a larger scale than ever before with a beautiful dome. It is now called al-masjid al-aqsã – 'the Remote Mosque' – identifying it with MOHAMMAD's 'Night Journey with [angel] Gabriel'.
In Mecca, Arabia – An uprising against the ABBASIDS is followed by widespread bloodshed and the flight of many Shi'a to the Maghreb, where the survivors established the Idrisid kingdom. The ABBASIDS also execute the direct descendants of the Prophet MUHAMMED who were also the Shia Imams, which includes Imam JAFAR SADIQ and other respected nobles.
In Britain – The Vikings attack and sack the monastery of Lindisfarne in Northumbria. The following year they attack the northern areas now called Scotland.
In Constantinople – Byzantine Emperor CONSTANTINE VI is blinded and killed.
See Leviticus 25.
In Jewish communities, it now becomes increasingly popular to date the year from the "creation of the world" (anno mundi, AM) as calculated by the rabbis, in a range 3762-3758 BC/BCE.
However, Jewish communities in the East still continue to use the Hellenistic dating (Minyan Shetarot, Era of Contracts) until about the 16th century AD/CE.
Year-date equivalents for the same year are –
However, Jewish communities in the East still continue to use the Hellenistic dating (Minyan Shetarot, Era of Contracts) until about the 16th century AD/CE.
Year-date equivalents for the same year are –
The Various Calendars |
Equivalence |
|
rabbinic anno mundi (AM) |
3830 |
AM |
| Hellenistic Era (Era of Contracts) |
381 |
|
| Era of Destruction |
1 |
|
| Common Era / Christian Era |
69/70 |
AD |
Jews in northern France and northern Italy migrate into the German Rhineland.
Jewish pamphleteer, HIWI AL-BALKHI, scandalizes Jewish communities by openly attacking the morality of Scripture and issuing an expurgated version for use in schools that omits "offensive" materials.
Jewish pamphleteer, HIWI AL-BALKHI, scandalizes Jewish communities by openly attacking the morality of Scripture and issuing an expurgated version for use in schools that omits "offensive" materials.
December 23: In Rome – In a secret meeting at the Lateran Palace Pope LEO III humiliates himself before CHARLES the Frank in denying accusations against himself of various crimes and vices, in the presence of Frankish, Lombard and Roman clergy and generals, and two representatives of abbot ALCUIN of Yorkshire (senior adviser to CHARLES).
CHARLES eventually accepts his pleas of innocence after the Pope swears a series of oaths that he is guiltless.
December 25: In Rome, St Peter's Basilica – Pope LEO III, without warning insists on performing a Roman ritual in which he places a crown on CHARLES' head and prostrates himself before him as his emperor, as the Frank celebrates Christmas in the church.
CHARLES eventually accepts his pleas of innocence after the Pope swears a series of oaths that he is guiltless.
December 25: In Rome, St Peter's Basilica – Pope LEO III, without warning insists on performing a Roman ritual in which he places a crown on CHARLES' head and prostrates himself before him as his emperor, as the Frank celebrates Christmas in the church.
In Spain – The Franks push back the Muslims and capture Barcelona for Christendom, ending little more than 80 years of Muslim control.
In Bethlehem – Riots break out in the Nativity Church between Eastern (Greek) and Western (Latin) Christians over doctrinal differences.
In Jerusalem – An earthquake seriously damages the dome of the Anastasis, and a locust plague devastates the countryside which leads to severe famine in Palestine. The repairs to the Christian Anastasis increased the size of its dome and lead friction with local Muslims. Also, the ceremony of Holy Fire in the Anastasis that now begins to be practiced appears to supernaturally produce fire to prove the superiority of Christianity to the extreme irritation of Muslims.
The Muslim name for Jerusalem is now al-Quds – "the Holy."
The Muslim name for Jerusalem is now al-Quds – "the Holy."
In Khazaria – King BULAN of the (Turkic) Khazars converts to Judaism and is followed by his people. Khazaria becomes a place of refuge to many oppressed Jewish communities under Byzantine and Persian rule.
The Jewish Exilarch of (Islamic) Babylonia demands financial support from the Jewish communities of (Islamic) North Africa and Spain.
Virtually the whole population of Jerusalem (Jews, Christians, Muslims) flee in panic from a peasants revolt led by TAMIM ABU HARB. The city is plundered, including mosques and churches. The Anastasis escapes destruction by a large bribe paid by the Christian Patriarch.
The Gaon (sage/principal) of the Talmudic academy at Sura in Babylonia, NATRONAI II, teaches that to vocalize the scrolls of the Pentateuch (Torah) in use in the synagogue is a violation of the law of lo toseph: "thou shalt not add thereto" (Deut.13:1). (Chomsky 1957:95).
However, within fifty years the 'antiquity theory' of the vowel-signs used in reading the Torah is becoming accepted.
However, within fifty years the 'antiquity theory' of the vowel-signs used in reading the Torah is becoming accepted.
In Britain – The city of York with its defensible Roman walls (the only town north of the Humber river) is captured by a Viking army. It becomes known as Yorvik as is ruled by them until 954 when Anglo-Saxons take control.
In Constantinople – Byzantine Emperor MICHAEL III is stabbed to death.
Under DANIEL AL-QUMUSI the Kairite settlement in Palestine prospers and spreads to north-western Africa and non-Muslim Spain. A barrage of Kairite treatises stimulates renewed study of the Hebrew Scriptures and the Hebrew language, resulting in the development of vocalization systems and eventually the Massoretic text acceptable to both Kairites and Rabbinites in the 10th cent. by BEN NAFTALI and BEN ASHER.
CYRIL, who together with METHODIUS, is known as a Christian apostle to the Slavs, and who invented the Cyrillic Alphabet for their language, dies.
In Iceland – Norwegian chieftain Ingólfur ARNARSON becomes the first permanent settler.
In England – Vikings from Denmark, Norway and Sweden settle permanently.
The great Viking/Norman siege of Paris, during which the church of Sainte-Geneviève des Ardents is founded on Ile de la Cité in the city.
In Tiberius, Palestine – MOSES BEN ASHER copies and vocalizes a manuscript of the Nebi'im (Prophets). (It is kept today in the Kairite synagogue in Cairo).
See Leviticus 25.
A loose federation of East Slavic tribes known as Kievan Rus, ias based in Kiev and other towns along the Dnieper River, in what is now Ukraine.
In Babylonia – The Rabbinite Jewish community is in a state of chaos and dissolution.
In Palestine – The Jewish rabbinic academy is headed by the Meir family of gaon MEIR, his son AARON, and his grandson ABRAHAM.
In Palestine – SHLOMO BEN BUYA'A makes a copy of the entire T'nach (Old Testament). (The text is later verified, vocalized, and provided with Massoretic notes by Aaron ben Asher, the last and most prominent of the Ben-Asher dynasty of grammarians from Tiberias).
The Aleppo Codex
In Babylonia – Exilarch DAVID BEN ZAKKAI (reigns 916/917-940) appoints SA'ADIA BEN JOSEPH to head the Sura rabbinic academy. SA'ADIA's translation of the Jewish Bible (T'nach) into Arabic and his Arabic commentaries make the rabbinic (Pharisaic) understanding of the Tenach accessible to masses of Jews.
Islamic Qarmatian sect (founded by HAMDAN QARMAT in Bahrain) attacks Mecca and seizes the Black Stone of the Ka'bah, taking it to their Bahraini homeland (Bildad al-Qadim). It is returned after a ransom is paid. (See 1076).
In Sura Jewish Academy, Babylonia – A power struggle develops between SAADIAH GAON and the Jewish exilarch who had appointed him.
See Leviticus 25.
In Wales – Vikings from Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Hebrides raid the coastal monasteries.
In Constantinople – Byzantine Emperor CONSTANTINE VII dies by poisoning.
In China – The coronation of Zhao Kuangyin as Emperor TAIZU of Song, initiating the Song Dynasty period of China that would last more than three centuries.
February 2: In Rome – OTTO I is crowned emperor of Sacrum Romanum Imperium/Heiliges Römisches Reich (Holy Roman Empire) by Pope John XII.
In Constantinople – Byzantine Emperor ROMANUS II dies by poisoning.
In Poland – King MIESZKO (I) accepts Christianity.
In Palestine – Shi'ah caliphs of Egypt (Fatimids) take control of Jerusalem.
In Constantinople – Byzantine Emperor NICEPHORUS II is stabbed, decapitated, and his head displayed publicly.
In Constantinople – Byzantine Emperor NICEPHORUS II is stabbed, decapitated, and his head displayed publicly.
In Constantinople – Byzantine Emperor JOHN I is poisoned to death.
Great Slav rebellion against German eastward expansion.
In Kiev – king VLADIMIR accepts Christianity.
In Sweden – King OLOF SKUTKONUNG accepts Christianity.
Europe enjoys 300 years of warmer weather that increases harvests and allows wheat to be cultivated much further north and at higher elevations.
World-wide warm period begins
shows a three thousand year temperature variance in climate, ending in 1975, measured by isotope ratios in the remains of marine organisms in sediment at the bottom of the Sargasso Sea. 23° centigrade is the average sea temperature for the full period. The 'Little Ice Age' seriously affected the Norwegian colony of Iceland, and triggered the Eskimo wars which annihilated the Norwegian settlements in Greenland.
Viking chief LEIF (the Lucky) ERICSSON (son of Erik the Red) discovers North America after being blown off course in a storm during this 'Medieval Climate Optimum' (see above) and establishes a settlement in the coastal area of northern Newfoundland which becomes known as Vinland, and Labrador which he calls Markland.
In Vinland he makes his crew build a small colony named Leifsbuðir.
The first time the Norsemen explore Vinland (Newfoundland) they detected four boats. They take them away and find under each two Beothuk people sleeping.
The Norsemen kill all but one escaped.
So he returns in vengence with about one hundred Beothuk with stone axes, but they were defeated.
The Vikings traded much more than they raided.
The following attempts to illustrate the range and the nature of their trade.
In Vinland he makes his crew build a small colony named Leifsbuðir.
The first time the Norsemen explore Vinland (Newfoundland) they detected four boats. They take them away and find under each two Beothuk people sleeping.
The Norsemen kill all but one escaped.
So he returns in vengence with about one hundred Beothuk with stone axes, but they were defeated.
The Vikings traded much more than they raided.
The following attempts to illustrate the range and the nature of their trade.
In Hungary – (St.) STEPHEN is crowned king with a crown sent by the Pope.
November 13: In England – King AETHELRED authorises the massacre of all Danish settlers in an attempt to exterminate them.
In Jerusalem – The 6th Fatimid caliph, AL-HAKIM, orders the destruction of all Christian shrines, and persecutes Sunni Muslims, Christians, and Jews.
In Germany – Jews are expelled from Mainz in the Rhineland.
In Spain – in the caliphate of Cordova, the Jew 'AVICEBRON' (SALOMON IBN GEBIROL), poet, moralist and philosopher, writes 'Fountain of Life' (a mixture of Aristotelian, Neoplatonic and Jewish thought) which significantly influences the development of medieval thought.
In Palestine – Bedouin revolts ('second war of the sons of Jarrah') continue badly affecting Jewish communities in Ramleh and Jerusalem.
An earthquake disturbs the surface area of Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The subsidence around 'Solomon's Stables' is filled up with archaeologically rich debris.
In Constantinople – Byzantine Emperor ROMANUS III is poisoned and drowned.
greatest invader of Britain was Swen Forkbeard and his son Cnut the Great, who ruled until 1035 AD/CE and is simultaneously king of Denmark, England and Norway, known as the Anglo-Scandinavian or North Sea Empire
In Constantinople – Byzantine Emperor MICHAEL V is blinded to end his rule.
See Leviticus 25.
A star explodes in the constellation of Taurus, later forming the Crab nebula.
Christendom, led by Pope LEO IX, and Eastern Christendom, led by Patriarch CERULARIUS of Constantinople, mutually excommunicate each other, causing a schism in Christendom which is only ends in 1965.
| Christendom Divides |
the Norman Invasion
of Britain
9AM, Saturday, October 14: In a field seven miles from Hastings, East Sussex, England – The so-called Battle of Hastings takes place between the Norman-French army of Duke William II of Normandy and an English army under the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson, beginning the Norman conquest of England (King Harold of England had been elected to the throne by royal advisors, but Duke William of Normandy claimed the throne had been promised to him). The battle begins with Norman archers firing on the English, who had formed a protective "shield wall" (The fact that the English army was composed almost entirely of infantry, with very few archers of their own, hampered the French attack because the Norman archers were unable to gather up arrows from the field to reuse).
The story that King Harold died from and arrowin his eye is a myth.
In Britain – Jews (from Rouen in France) enter, in the wake of the Norman invasion authorized by the Pope.
In Egypt – A seven year famine begins during which the Nile does not rise. (1066-1073) see 1876 BC
In Egypt – A seven year famine begins during which the Nile does not rise. (1066-1073) see 1876 BC
In Palestine – Seljuq Turks displace Egyptian rule and cut off Christian pilgrim routes to Jerusalem, which later stimulates the military Crusade movements to Palestine.
August 26: In Eastern Asia-Minor at Manazkert (modern Malazgirt in Muş Province, Turkey) – Seljuq Turks led by Alp Arslan defeat the Byzantine army and capture their Emperor ROMANUS IV DIOGENES. (Alp Arslan treats Romanos with kindness and again offers the terms of peace which he had offered previous to the battle).
In Constantinople – Byzantine Emperor ROMANUS IV is poisoned, blinded, and exiled to the island of Proti.
GREGORY VII is elected Pope: beginning the conflict between Empire and papacy.
In Bahrain – Local tribesmen massacre the Qarmatians. (See 930).
In Italy – Pope GREGORY VII issues a bull banning Jews from holding any official positions in Christian countries.
The Bishop Rüdiger of Speyer grants privileges to the Jews according to the model of the protection letters of LOUIS the Pious.
September: In England – WILLIAM II begins his reign, has a Jewish personal physician, and is friendly with the Jewish community.
See Leviticus 25.
In Britain – CADWGAN/CADOGAN ap/son-of BLEDDYN* (Prince of Powys) rallies the Crymric/Welsh princes to retaliate against the Normans invaders. In the years that follow the Cymric/Welsh repeatedly defeat the Normans in direct battle confrontation (in spite of Norman King William II/William Rufus/the Red swearing to wipe Cymru/Wales clean of the Cymric/Welsh) but eventually it is establishing their castles that give the Normans the upper hand.
*my ancestor through
his son Maredudd
The official crusader armies set off from France and Italy on the papally ordained date of 15 August 1096. The armies journey eastward by land toward Constantinople, where they received a wary welcome from the Byzantine Emperor. Pledging to restore lost territories to his empire, the main army, mostly French and Norman knights under baronial leadership of Godfrey of Bouillon (1060–1100), Baldwin of Flanders, Raymond of Toulouse, Robert of Normandy, and Bohemond of Taranto, march south through Anatolia (modern Turkey). They capture Antioch (June 3, 1098) and finally Jerusalem (July 15, 1099) in savage battles.
They create four crusader states along the Syria and Palestine coast.
Trier, France – The first pogrom against the Jews by the Catholic Crusaders.
| Jews murdered in various other towns en route – | |
| Spier: | 12 |
| Worms: | 500 |
| Mainz: | 1 000 |
| Metz: | 22 |
| Etc. | |
Pope URBAN II calls for the 'reconquest' of the Holy Land from the Muslims.
Crusader Latin kingdom of Jerusalem is set up, and the Byzantine Dome of the Rock becomes the Christian 'Templum Domini' church.
Crusader Latin kingdom of Jerusalem is set up, and the Byzantine Dome of the Rock becomes the Christian 'Templum Domini' church.
European Crusaders (Fourth Crusade) conquer the port of Acre in Palestine.
German eastward expansion resumes.
The Crusader States after the first Catholic Crusade –
 |
In England – a separate exchequer and special justices are set up at Westminster to deal with the extensive activities of the Jewish community.
Se Leviticus 25.
In England – Interest rates of Jewish money-lenders averages 50%, rising to a high of 66²/³%.
In England – Norwich monk, THOMAS of Monmouth, accuses Jews of the ritual murder of a child (WILLIAM of Norwich), encouraged by monks of monasteries heavily indebted to Jewish money-lenders, causes anti-Jewish riots and murders. THOMAS' book on the subject launches the 'blood libel' against Jews across Europe.
In Morocco, north Africa – Under the Almohade dynasty, Jews and Christians must now choose between conversion to Islam or emigration. Synagogues and churches are destroyed or turned into mosques. Many Jews and Christians migrate but others agreed to say the formula of the Moslem creed while secretly continuing the observance of their own religion. MAIMUN BEN JOSEPH (father of Maimonides, see 1180AD) who had settled at Fez with his family, writes his "Epistle of Consolation" in which he advises his fellow Jews not to lose heart and faith. His son MOSES writes his "Letter concerning Conversion" to encourage those who felt the gravity of even this outward desertion from the faith of their fathers.
In England – HENRY II's re-establishment of law and order allows Jewish communities to flourish again.
In Morocco – ABU YUSUF YA'QUB AL-MANSUR (ابو يوسف يعقوب المنصور) forces Jews to wear distinguishing clothing of a black tunic with long sleeves, and a yellow scarf as head-covering. (His successor Abu Abdallah changed the colour of the gaberdine also to yellow).
GENGHIS (CHINGIS) KHAN, founder of the Mongol Empire, is born.
In England – A group of 20 Christian evangelists arrive in England from the Continent, and are publicly branded as heretics, chained and left to die by the established 'Christian' Church (Danziger & Gillingham, 2003 p.201).
In England – The rumour of the crucifixion of the boy (HAROLD of Gloucester) causes a massacre of Jews.
Madoc/Madog (ap Owain Gwynedd) lands at Mobile Bay, North America, with a fleet of ten ships from Porthmadog, North Wales. (See: Lloyd Thomas Family Tree)
In Egypt: Jewish MAIMONIDES (MOSES BEN MAIMON or RAMBAM) becomes the foremost intellectual figure of medieval Judaism. His greatest work, 'Guide for the Perplexed' is an attempt to accommodate philosophy to revealed religion.
In England – Jews receive permission to create cemeteries outside the walls of the city in which they reside rather than having to bring their dead to London for burial.
As related by astronomers Clube and Napier in their book The Cosmic Serpent, a strange event is observed to affect the Moon, which may be explained by a large impact on its hidden face, originating the Giordano Bruno crater.
A number of observations suggest that catastrophic cometary or meteoritic impacts around the same time also affects the Pacific Ocean basin:
• Maori legends of great fires destroying forests and the moa bird, to be associated to the recently found Tapanui craters;
• dynastic changes and migrations throughout Polynesia;
• very intense El Niño activity with flooding of the coastal Peruvian regions;
• demise of the local Moche civilizations, and the birth of the Incas civilization higher in the Andes;
• the emigration of the Aztects from the Pacific coast to the interior in the most well protected area from tsunams;
• unusually intense typhoon activity in the Chinese-Japanese sea;
• unusually strong floods in Northern China with diversion of the course of the Huang Ho river;
• unusually cold wheather in the Mongolian plateau, probably a main reason for the Mongolians invading nearby areas;
• a great sign in the sky seen by the boy Gengis Khan forecasting his future of world master;
• the number of comets seen in the sky as recorded by Chinese astronomers is unusually high.
A number of observations suggest that catastrophic cometary or meteoritic impacts around the same time also affects the Pacific Ocean basin:
• Maori legends of great fires destroying forests and the moa bird, to be associated to the recently found Tapanui craters;
• dynastic changes and migrations throughout Polynesia;
• very intense El Niño activity with flooding of the coastal Peruvian regions;
• demise of the local Moche civilizations, and the birth of the Incas civilization higher in the Andes;
• the emigration of the Aztects from the Pacific coast to the interior in the most well protected area from tsunams;
• unusually intense typhoon activity in the Chinese-Japanese sea;
• unusually strong floods in Northern China with diversion of the course of the Huang Ho river;
• unusually cold wheather in the Mongolian plateau, probably a main reason for the Mongolians invading nearby areas;
• a great sign in the sky seen by the boy Gengis Khan forecasting his future of world master;
• the number of comets seen in the sky as recorded by Chinese astronomers is unusually high.
meteor impacts
Jewish Rabbi MAIMONIDES completes his Mishneh Torah (Code of the Torah) in 14 systematic volumes.
Unfortunately it also contains inflammatory statements such as –
Unfortunately it also contains inflammatory statements such as –
"It is a religious duty (mitzvah), however, to eradicate Jewish traitors, minnim, and apikorsim and to cause them to descend to the pit of destruction [Hell], since they cause difficulty to the Jews and sway the people away from God, as did Jesus of Nazareth and his students, and Tzadok, Baithos, and their students. May the name of the wicked rot." |
Jewish Propaganda
is now entrenched
In England – the rumour of the crucifixion of the boy (ROBERT of Edmonsbury) by Jews causes a massacre of Jews.
In France – King PHILIP AUGUSTUS, using the pretext that Jews had crucified a Christian child, expels all Jews from his realm and confiscated their goods.
In Constantinople – Byzantine Emperor ALEXIUS II is strangled and decapitated.
In England – The Jewish financier AARON of Lincoln dies, who had financed the building of Lincoln Cathedral, Peterborough and St Albans Abbeys, and at least nine Cistercian convents (his clients included the king of Scotland and Archbishop of Canterbury). The Crown sets up a special exchequer, the Scaccarium Aaronis, to collect his debts, a process which takes 20 years, and is probably the largest windfall ever received by an English government (Johnson 1972:107).
| Interest rates charged were usually around 50% and sometimes even 66²/³%. |
In Constantinople – Byzantine Emperor ANDRONICUS I is mutilated and tortured to death.
October 2: SALADIN conquers Jerusalem. He closes all 12 entrances to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre but one door is only sealed off, and the key to this remaining entrance is entrusted to a Muslim family. The key has stayed in the same family ever since.
In England – RICHARD I's cruel treatment of Jews after his coronation sparks a massacre of Jews in London, Norwich, Lincoln, Stamford, and York, where 500, shut up in the castle, commit suicide with their wives and children in utter despair.
March 16, Friday night: In England – the Jewish community of York is massacred, but HUGH of Lincoln provides protection. 150 Jews of York, after seeking protection in the Royal Castle (Clifford's Tower) from a mob, incited by Richard Malebisse and others, choose to die at each other's hands rather than renounce their faith and they set the castle ablaze.
In Scotland – Bishop of Glasgow forbids his churchmen to "ledge their benefices for money borrowed from Jews".
In Scotland – Bishop of Glasgow forbids his churchmen to "ledge their benefices for money borrowed from Jews".
In Constantinople – Byzantine Emperor ISAAC II is blinded.
In Jerusalem – SALADIN removes the Christian cross from the top of the Dome of the Rock.
FIBONACCI, a mathematician born in the Republic of Pisa, Italy, who had studied in Bejaia (Bougie) in Algeria, North Africa, writes his book Liber Abaci to promote the use of Arabic numerals in Europe (originally derived by the Arabs from India).
In Constantinople – Byzantine Emperor ALEXIUS V is blinded and maimed.
December 13: MAIMONIDES (Moses ben Maimon), Jewish philosopher and physician to Sultan SALADIN, dies.
Pope INNOCENT III writes to ALFONSO of Castile that, like Cain the murderer, Jews are to wander the earth in slavery by their guilt till the time shall come in the last days for their conversion.
| One of the world's oldest and most historically important trade routes. Chinese soldiers protect travelers after entering China at Jiayuguan from the desert by the Gate of Reconciliation in the Great Wall and customs officials register the merchant and his goods, but West of Jiayuguan there is no protection and so commercial caravans of goods needed their own defence forces, and this is an added cost for the merchants making the trip.  |
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| The | Mongol expansion throughout the Asian continent from around 1207 to 1360 helped bring political stability and re-establish the Silk Road (via Karakorum) and also brought an end to the Islamic Caliphate's monopoly over world trade. |
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| Because | the Mongols dominated the trade routes, it allowed more trade to come in and out of the region. Merchandise that did not seem valuable to the Mongols was often seen as very valuable by the west. As a result, the Mongols received in return a large amount of luxurious goods from the West. However, they never abandoned their nomadic lifestyle. |
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| Soon | after Genghis Khan died, the Silk Road was in the hand of Genghis Khans' daughters. The Mongol diplomat Rabban Bar Sauma visited the courts of Europe in 1287–1288 and provided a detailed written report back to the Mongols. Around the same time, the Venetian explorer Marco Polo became one of the first Europeans to travel the Silk Road to China, and his tales, documented in The Travels of Marco Polo, opened Western eyes to some of the customs of the Far East. |
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| But | he had been preceded by numerous Christian missionaries to the East, such as William of Rubruck, Benedykt Polak, Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, and Andrew of Longjumeau. |
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In England – King JOHN brutally extorts £44,000 from Jews, using mass arrests and other means.
Christian reformers/'heretics' arriving from the continent are arrested and burnt at the stake.
In England – Archbishop LANGTON assists in engineering the Magna Carta and helps insert three of what some would call anti-Jewish clauses.
November: The Fourth Lateran Council (12th Ecumenical Council) under Pope INNOCENT III decrees that Jews are to wear different clothing to others for easy identification, be banned from holding civil office or owning land, and are to be confined indoors during passion week.
November: The Fourth Lateran Council (12th Ecumenical Council) under Pope INNOCENT III decrees that Jews are to wear different clothing to others for easy identification, be banned from holding civil office or owning land, and are to be confined indoors during passion week.
Jews "whether men or women, must in all Christian countries distinguish themselves from the rest of the population in public places by a special kind of clothing. ...henceforth in case of such [sexual] criminal intercourse no mistake can be alleged as an excuse." |
• In France, St. Louis orders a badge to be made of red felt or saffron-yellow cloth, cut in the shape of a wheel and worn on the upper garment, one in front and one in back
• Germany institutes the rotella, a patch of yellow cloth in the shape of a wheel or an O.
• In some countries a simple badge is considered inadequate, and the wearing of a hat of a specified colour is also prescribed
April: The city of Nishapur (of present day Iran) during a rebellion within the city walls, a lone archer strikes down Genghis Khan's favourite son-in-law with an arrow to the heart, Tradition says that the Khan's daughter was so incensed that she demanded the heads of every man woman and child in the city. The executions were actually carried out with terrifying efficiency and the heads of the poor Nishapurians, numbering some 1.7 million were arranged in a series of pyramids over the next 10 days.
Which probably makes this the bloodiest day in history.
In England – The Synod of Oxford at the request of Archbishop STEPHEN LANGTON prescribes that all Jews must wear a distinctive woollen patch on their clothing.
In France – The Council of Narbonne orders Jews to wear a distinguishing badge.
Crusader troops gain control of Jerusalem.
Emperor FREDERICK II (excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX) who led this Crusade crowns himself king of Jerusalem in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Emperor FREDERICK II (excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX) who led this Crusade crowns himself king of Jerusalem in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
He sentences all Jews to perpetual slavery for the crucifixion of CHRIST, yet is also reported as saying that, CHRIST, MOSES and MOHAMMED were all self-deceived impostors. |
He fortifies the castle of Jaffa and leaves two inscriptions in its walls, one in Latin and the other in Arabic.
Jewish Rabbi SOLOMON of Montpelier, in southern France, instigates the church authorities to burn MAIMONIDES' "Guide for the Perplexed" as a dangerously heretical book.
Pope GREGORY 9th condemns the Talmud.
Islamic re-conquest of Jerusalem.
In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, Jews in France and England and the German lands (there was no unified 'Germany' until 1870) still lived in semi-voluntary Jewish quarters for reasons of safety as well as communal activity and self-help. They created these neighborhoods near synagogues, and often in the center of towns and near the cathedral, as in Paris. Yet though the synagogue lay at the center of their social existence, the quarters in which Jews lived were hardly cut off from the surrounding city. Medieval Jews had substantial freedom to come and go as they pleased. They were aware of doings in other communities spread throughout the area we call Western and Central Europe. They traveled and had regular contact with Jewish travelers. Some also read local and vernacular literature, and the elite knew Latin and even canon law, the law of the Church.
ghetto was established to segregate the Jewish residents of Venice. The area was called ghetto because of its association with the municipal copper foundry previously located across the canal in the Ghetto Vecchio (the Old Ghetto). Il ghetto or getto is derived from gettare, which means 'the pouring or casting of metal'.