In the years leading up to the Edict of Expulsion, the Jewish population had faced widespread persecution and forced conversion in Spain. This all came to a head in 1492 when the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella issued the Edict of Expulsion, which declared that all Jewish people must leave the Kingdom within a few months or face severe consequences (including death without trial).

The Spanish Inquisition was launched during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella to try and ensure the continued supremacy of Catholicism in Spain. It quickly evolved (or devolved) into an institution of torture and intimidation that forced the Jewish and Muslim populations of Spain to convert, flee, or die. 

The Domesday Book is a record of the Norman survey of England carried out in 1086. The purpose of the book was to find out how much land, property, and so on was owned by each individual in the territory so as to facilitate taxation in William the Conqueror's new territory.

The Hanseatic League was created in the fourteenth century to encourage, protect, and facilitate trade in Northern Europe. It was an agreement designed to deter conflict and provide protections for various merchant classes. 

The Magna Carta, signed by King John II in 1215 and subsequently renewed on several occasions, is often cited as the beginning of democracy in England, or at least the beginning of the English Constitution. In practice, it effectively guaranteed the protection of the rights of some twenty-five members of the English aristocracy from the abuses of the King. The importance of the document comes from the precedent it established that in English society, the power of the King was never absolute.

The Magna Carta was signed in England in 1215. The document provides certain guarantees of the rights of the English nobility against the abuse of the king. It was signed by King John II of England.

The monastery at Lindisfarne in Northeast England was a center of learning and scholarship in the Anglo-Saxon period. In 793, a Viking raid destroyed the entire monastery, killing most of the monks and ruining many of the books held there. The sack of Lindisfarne is commonly regarded as the start of Viking raids in Northern Europe.

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 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.