Other European History from 500 C.E. to 1500 C.E. - SAT Subject Test in World History

The Code of Justinian was issued by an Eastern Roman Emperor called Justinian I in the sixth century CE. The Eastern Roman Empire is also called the Byzantime Empire (with its capital called Byzantium or Constantinople and then later, after conquest by the Ottomans, Istanbul). It is considered one of the most important legal documents in history. It provided certain freedoms to the poor and protections to slaves. It also made Christianity the only legal and official religion of the Byzantine Empire.

The Battle of Hastings (1066) pitted the Saxon King Harold against the Norman invader William the Conqueror. It ended with the death of Harold and William controlling the territory of England. It was a turning point moment in British history and is considered the last succesful invasion of Britain by a foreign power.

El Cid was a military commander in Spain during the eleventh century. He is most famous in Castille for fighting against the Moors (the Islamic people who lived in Spain at the time).

The Black Death devastated populations in parts of the world connected by trade in the fourteenth century-Africa, Asia, and Europe. Italy and China were particularly hard hit. The Black Death, however, helped end serfdom in parts of Europe (although not in Russia) and inspired works of literature, like Boccaccio's Decameron (1353).

The Portuguese capture of Ceuta (a port city in Morocco) in 1415 began the age of exploration as the Portuguese from this point began overseas exploration to the south and west, and were the first Europeans since the Vikings to do this. The Crusades occurred long before this, and simply led to increased European contact and interest in overseas lands, which eventually led to the age of exploration. Columbus' "discovery" of the Americas and the Portuguese reaching and circumnavigating southern Africa all occurred decades after the capture of Ceuta, once the age of exploration was well underway.

The Black Death of the mid 14th century killed so many Europeans that it caused a labor shortage, allowing peasants and urban workers to demand greater economic rights and freedoms in exchange for their labors, leading to the end of serfdom in western Europe and the erosion of medieval feudalism. The collapse of the Roman empire and the invasions of Europe by the Arabs, Vikings, and Magyars were all events that occurred centuries before the Black Death. Europeans would not develop the germ theory of disease until the 19th century, centuries after the Black Death.