A Short History of the Middle Ages Fourth Edition

Chapter One Key Events

212 Roman citizenship granted to all free inhabitants of the provinces

235–284 Crisis of the Third Century

284–305 Reign of Diocletian

306–337 Reign of Constantine

313 Edict of Milan

325 Council of Nicaea

378 Battle of Adrianople; Emperor Valens killed by Visigoths

380 Edict of Thessalonica; Christian becomes the official religion of

the Roman Empire

410 Visigoths sack Rome

476 Deposition of Romulus Augustulus

c.530–560 The Benedictine Rule written

527–565 Emperor Justinian

541–750 The “Plague of Justinian”

590–604 Pope Gregory the Great