13 Kingdoms and Empires That Shaped Medieval Europe, 500–1500 CE

The powers below are grouped by the period in which they were founded or reached their medieval height, and selected for territorial reach, duration and lasting influence on Europe's political map between 500 and 1500 CE. Dates, founders and endpoints are drawn from the sources listed at the end of this piece.

Early Middle Ages (c. 500–1000)

1. Byzantine Empire (c. 330–1453) — the Eastern Roman Empire was centred on Constantinople and, per World History Encyclopedia, reached an early peak of territorial expansion under Justinian I (527–565); it lasted until Ottoman forces under Mehmed II took Constantinople on 29 May 1453.
2. Carolingian Empire (800–888) — Frankish king Charlemagne was crowned emperor in Rome on Christmas Day 800, and the realm he assembled across western and central Europe split among rival heirs after his son Louis the Pious died in 840, according to Medievalists.net.
3. Kievan Rus' (862–1242) — founded by the Norse leader Rurik and expanded by Oleg, who moved the capital to Kyiv around 882, the federation reached its height under Yaroslav the Wise (1019–1054) before falling to Mongol conquest between 1237 and 1242, World History Encyclopedia reports.
4. First Bulgarian Empire (681–1018) — built by Bulgar settlers in the 7th century, it controlled much of the Balkans under Simeon I (893–927) before Byzantine forces conquered it in 1018, according to Medievalists.net.

High Middle Ages (c. 1000–1300)

1. Holy Roman Empire (962–1806) — Otto I was crowned emperor in 962, reviving Charlemagne's title; World History Encyclopedia describes it as a confederation of small and medium-sized political entities rather than a unified state, one that at its 13th-century height under the Staufer dynasty reached in theory from Denmark's southern border to Sicily.
2. Kingdom of France (987– ) — an assembly of Frankish magnates elected Hugh Capet king in 987, founding the Capetian dynasty; Philip II became the first ruler to adopt the title king of France in 1190, and the Capetians gave way to the Valois in 1328 after Charles IV died without a male heir, according to Wikipedia.
3. Kingdom of England and the Angevin Empire (1066–1485) — William, Duke of Normandy, defeated Harold II at the Battle of Hastings on 14 October 1066 and was crowned king that Christmas, per World History Encyclopedia; from 1154, Henry II's Angevin realm stretched from Scotland's border to the Pyrenees, Medievalists.net notes, before collapsing under King John.
4. Christian kingdoms of Iberia and the Reconquista (8th century–1492) — Castile, Aragon, León, Navarre and Portugal fought a campaign against Muslim rule in Iberia that World History Encyclopedia describes as a roughly 770-year effort; a coalition of Spanish kings won the decisive Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in 1212, and the effort ended with the fall of Granada in 1492.
5. Republic of Venice (697–1797) — a maritime republic rather than a kingdom, Venice expanded across the Adriatic and eastern Mediterranean, holding mainland Italian territory, the Dalmatian coast and Crete by the late Middle Ages, according to Medievalists.net.
6. Crown of Aragon (1137– ) — formed when the Kingdom of Aragon united with the County of Barcelona, it expanded through Mediterranean conquest to include the Balearic Islands, Sicily, Sardinia and Naples, Medievalists.net reports.

Late Middle Ages (c. 1300–1500)

1. Polish–Lithuanian union (1386–1569) — the 1386 marriage of Lithuania's Grand Duke Jogaila and Poland's Queen Jadwiga created one of the largest political powers in late medieval Europe, extending from the Baltic toward the Black Sea according to Medievalists.net; it was formalized as the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569.
2. Rise of the Ottoman Empire (1299–1453) — Osman founded the Ottoman sultanate in Anatolia in 1299, and under Mehmed II the Ottomans captured Constantinople on 29 May 1453, ending Byzantine rule and extending Ottoman territory across Anatolia and much of the Balkans by 1500, World History Encyclopedia states.
3. End of the Plantagenets in England (1455–1485) — the Houses of York and Lancaster, both descended from the Plantagenets, fought the Wars of the Roses until Henry Tudor defeated Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field on 22 August 1485, ending Plantagenet rule and founding the Tudor dynasty, History.com reports.

A few patterns recur across these states. Elective or contested successions destabilized the Holy Roman Empire, Kievan Rus' and ultimately the Plantagenets in England. Dynastic marriage rather than conquest created the Polish–Lithuanian union and the Crown of Aragon. External conquest — by Mongol armies in the 1230s and Ottoman forces in 1453 — ended Kievan Rus' and the Byzantine Empire, closing out two of the era's longest-running powers.