1095 - 1099
The First Crusade is called by Pope Urban II and Antoich and Jerusalem are retaken.
1097
Sugar is discussed in the Gesta Francorum recording the First Crusade. Crusaders bring back 'sweet reeds' and the knowledge of how to refine sugar.
1098
The first Cistercian monastery is founded in Molesme, France. Cistercian and Benedictine monasteries become major wine producers in France.
1099
The first sugar is recorded in England.
1100
Tea bricks are used as currency on the Silk Road.
1100
The cog (one mast, square rigged vessel) is in common use in European trade.
1100
The Distillation of alcohol is carried out at the School of Salerno in southern Italy.
1100
The Anasazi people abandon their pueblos for cliff dwellings.
1100 - 1500
Significant deforestation occurs in Europe as nations build wooden ships and need more timber for fuel, houses and carts.
1107
Emperor Huizong writes his Treatise on Tea. Chinese tea gardens start to proliferate.
1119
The Knights Templar are formed and specialise in warfare and banking.
1126 - 1198
Averroes.
1147 - 1149
The Second Crusade led by King Louis VII of France.
1154 - 1453
The Bordeaux region is controlled by England and the wine trade expands rapidly.
1154
Muhammad Al-Idrisi creates a world map for the Norman King Roger II of Sicily.
1154
The first reference to pasta made from durum wheat appears in a Sicilian manuscript.
1155
Frederick I Barbarossa is made Holy Roman Emperor.
116
A letter from 'Prester John' is spread around Europe talking of the riches of Asia.
1169
Norman Invasion of Ireland.
1171
Later hero of the crusades Saladin sends his master Nourredin, the Caliph of Syria, a service of chinaware to congratulate him on his conquest of Egypt.
1174
Monreale Cathedral is built in Palermo district by William II of Sicily. The Abbey estates grow sugar cane and have mills to process it.
1175
Avicenna's Canon of Medicine is translated into Latin, making European scientists aware of the power of opium.
1179
Portugal is recognised by the Pope as an independent state.
1180
The Guild of Pepperers is founded in London.
1182 - 1226
St Francis of Assisi.
1184
Only a handful of beavers are recorded as surviving in Britain.
1185
A vertical windmill is built in Yorkshire to grind grain.
1187 - 1192
The Third Crusade called by Pope Gregory VIII and led by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, King Philip Augustus of France and King Richard I of England, but fails to retake Jerusalem.
1187
Muslim leader Saladin retakes Jerusalem.
1191
Myoan Eisai returns from China and introduces Zen Buddhism and tea drinking to Japan.
1191
Henry VI, King of the Germans, becomes Holy Roman Emperor and later King of Sicily, expanding the domains of the Empire.
1193 - 1280
Albertus Magnus.
1193
Muhammad of Ghor (Afghanistan) captures Delhi.
1200
The French Guild of Spicers is established around this time.
1200
Indian medical texts mention the medicinal uses of opiates.
12
Coal smoke begins to foul the air in England.
1202 - 1204
Venetian funded Fourth Crusade results in the sack of Constantinople, ending the power of the Byzantine Empire.
1206 - 1227
Genghis Khan unifies the tribes and forms the Great Mongol State.
1206
Qutb-ud-din Aibek succeeds Muhammad of Ghor and establishes the Delhi Sultanate, which lasts for over 300 years.
1207 - 1273
Rumi, Sufi cleric.
1211
Myoan Eisai writes the Kissa Yojoki or 'Staying Healthy by Drinking Tea' in Japan.
1211
Japanese artist learns the secrets of Chinese hard-paste porcelain production and Japan begins to produce better specimens. Japan comes to compete with China on quality.
1214 - 1294
Roger Bacon.
1215
Genghis Khan sacks Beijing.
1217 - 1221
The Fifth Crusade.
1225 - 1274
St Thomas Aquinas.
1225 - 1240
Cotton becomes a major crop in China.
1228 - 1229
The Sixth Crusade led by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.
1229 - 1259
Ogedai, Guyuk and Mongke Khan enforce the Pax Mongolica.
1231
Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II encourages sugar production, which produces valuable tax revenues.
1234
Northern China is invaded by Mongol armies.
1240 - 1249
Work commences on the building of Cologne Cathedral. It is completed in 1880.
1240
Wool felting techniques spread west following the Fall of Kiev.
1240
The Mongol forces capture Kiev.
1240
Arab soldiers and scientists learn of gunpowder from China and spread it throughout the Caliphate and into Europe.
1241
Mongol forces use canon at the Battle of Mohi.
1245 - 1248
Italian priest, Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, leads the first embassy from the Pope to the Great Khan and travels to Poland, Russia and Mongolia.
1248 - 1279
Muslims are expelled from Portugal.
1248 - 1250
The Seventh Crusade.
1250 - 1300
Polynesian explorers settle in New Zealand.
1250
Albertus Magnus and other alchemists describe gunpowder.
1257
The spindle wheel is in use in Persia.
1258
Hulagu Khan sacks Baghdad, causing a hiatus in the Caliphate.
1259 - 1270
Venetian merchants, Niccolo and Maffeo Polo (Marco's father and uncle), travel from Constantinople to the Black Sea, to the court of Kublai Khan.
1260 - 1294
Reign of Kublai Khan over the Mongol Empire including China.
1261
Michael VIII Palaiologos takes Constantinople.
1265 - 1321
Dante Alighieri.
1267 - 1337
Giotto.
1269
Timber framed houses are built in Boxted in Kent and still survive today. These are amongst the earliest survivals from the medieval period when timber construction was ubiquitous.
1270
A basic spinning wheel for cotton is in use in China.