On the death of his father, William the Conqueror, William II becomes king of England

The Domesday Book provides the Normans with an inventory of England

On the death of his brother, William II, Henry I becomes king of England

On the death of Henry I, his nephew Stephen moves quickly to keep Henry's daughter Matilda off the English throne

Walter FitzAlan takes a post as steward with the Scottish king, thus establishing the Stewart family and later dynasty

Henry II, coming to the throne of England, is king or feudal overlord of an unbroken swathe of territory from the Tweed to the Pyrenees

Thomas Becket, Lord Chancellor to Henry II, is forced by the king to accept the vacant post of archbishop of Canterbury

Thomas Becket, having offended the king by his firm stand as archbishop of Canterbury, flees to a monastery near Paris

Henry II arranges for the archbishop of York to crown his son, the 'Young King', as a joint ruler

Thomas Becket, in France, suspends the English bishops who have participated in the coronation of the 'Young King'

After an apparent reconciliation with Henry II, Thomas Becket leaves France and returns to Canterbury

Four knights, acting on an unguarded hint from Henry II, murder Thomas Becket on December 29 in his cathedral at Canterbury

Construction begins on London Bridge, the first stone bridge to be built across a tidal waterway

The first known eisteddfod is held during Christmas festivities at Rhys ap Gruffydd's court in Cardigan castle

A year after succeeding to the throne of England, Richard I sets off east as one of the leaders of the third crusade

Richard I, returning from the Holy Land in disguise, is recognized in an inn near Vienna and is imprisoned until England pays a massive ransom

On the death of his brother, Richard I, John becomes king of England

The longbow, a weapon of great use to English armies, is probably first developed in Wales

In Magna Carta's lesser clauses (39 and 40) there are enshrined certain basic guarantees concerning the rule of law

On the death of his father, King John, Henry III becomes king of England

Llewellyn ap Iorwerth acquires such authority over other Welsh chieftains that he is informally referred to as the prince of Wales

Magna Carta is reissued slightly modified when Henry III comes of age; in the version which becomes enshrined in English law

The pope, eager to fill the vacant throne of Sicily, offers it to a son of Henry III of England but gets no firm response

Henry III accepts severe curtailment of his powers in the Provisions of Oxford, but then asks the pope to absolve him from his oath

Prince Edward, escaping from captivity, defeats and kills Simon de Montfort at Evesham