Timeline (Ethelred the Pious)

Ninth Century

 * 871: At the Battle of Ashdown, Halfdan Ragnarsson leads a great army of Danes into the territory of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Wessex. King Ethelred of Wessex lingers at his morning devotions and his brother Alfred does not take command of the Saxon army, giving the Danes time to seize the high ground and the initiative.  The Saxons are routed.  Halfdan declares himself King of Lundun and Jorvik.
 * 871-872: Ethelred makes a series of counterattacks, some successful, but most of them not. He and his forces are driven into Kent.
 * 873: The Battle of Headcorn (Kent) is the last stand of the Wessex kingdom, and by extention of the Anglo-Saxon rulers of England. Ethelred is killed.  Alfred assumes the kingship and goes underground.
 * 877: Halfdan removes the puppet king Ceolwulf II of Mercia from his throne, adding the remainder of English Mercia to his territory.
 * 881: Alfred is captured and killed, ending major Saxon resistance to Viking rule in England.
 * 897: Establishment of the Angelagen, or English Law, in the southern part of the Kingdom of Jorvik. It preserves many of the Anglo-Saxon legal concepts, including the concept of ruling based on legal precedent.
 * Growing conflict between the Kingdoms of Jorvik and Østangeln (East Anglia), led by descendants of the brothers Halfdan and Ivar Ragnarsson.

Tenth Century

 * Massive immigration to England from Denmark and Norway
 * Norway remains pagan.
 * Norwegian invaders take advantage of the conflict between Østangeln and Jorvik.  Østangeln  falls to Norwegian adventurers, creating a united kingdom of Østangeln, Man, and Dublin.
 * Beowulfssaga composed in Mercia.

Europe

 * Empire of Knut (Canute) the Great
 * Jorvik and Østangeln united into Kingdom of England
 * English colonists depart for Greenland.
 * Guillaume the Conqueror, the Nordo-French Duke of Normandy, invades and conquers Brittany by taking advantage of a dynastic dispute. He consolidates his rule in northwestern France through administrative reforms and building projects, including the famous Tour de Rennes.

North America

 * Greenlandic Norse establish Vinland colony.

Europe

 * Bjørn III of England restricts Christian missionaries to the Angelagen and Østanglian lands, then expels the Archbishop of Jorvik and seizes northern monasteries.
 * Henri I and Pope Paschal II reach an agreement under which Henri relinquishes the right of investiture, in return for which Paschal gives him blessing to invade England: the British Crusade. Henri conquers much of the South of England.
 * Foundation of the Cantuaric Order and the Order of Glastenborg, two crusading orders of knights in England.
 * Alfredssaga composed in South England.

North America

 * Waves of Anglo-Norse refugees head to Iceland, Greenland, and Vinland, fleeing the crusade.
 * An expedition of Anglo-Nordic colonists reach mainland North America.
 * Introduction of the sheep and horse to North America. They reach the Cahokian state late in the century.

Europe

 * Maize, beans, and squash reach Europe and the Mediterranean.
 * Evolution of the Kentish language in Norman-controlled England.
 * German traders found the Osthansa in the Baltic.

North America

 * Norse traders reach Great Lakes.
 * Sheep and horses reach spread outward from Cahokia, reaching Mesoamerica within a few decades.

Fourteenth Century

 * The Black Death infects China (1330s), Central Asia, the Middle East, and Europe (1340s), East Africa and North America (1350s), and Mesoamerica (1360s).
 * The Hansa expands: mainly German trading guilds create the Mittelhansa in the North Sea and the Westhansa in North America.

Europe

 * The Caunterbory Tales composed in London.

North America

 * Cahokian territorial expansion.