A History of the Whoniverse

The Middle Ages.

500

GENESIS OF THE DALEKS

Towards the end of the thousand year Neutronic War between the Kaleds (or Dals) and the Thals, the Kaled scientist Davros accelerates Kaled mutations and houses his creatures in Mark III travel machines. These Daleks are entombed and their development set back by a thousand years by the intervention of the Time Lords.

The Doctor puts back Dalek development by a thousand years at the end of the story. I assume, for no good reason, that it takes them about 50 years after the bulk of Daleks emerge (1450) for them to get back on course

c. 514

The Recruiter, a highly advanced weapon, is damaged by a plasma bolt. It lands on the Q'ell planet and begins a war using brainwashed beings from other planets so that the natives can develop the technology to repair it.

The war started 1504 years local time before Toy Soldiers. I assume, with no justification, that Q'ell years are similar to Earth ones.

c. 550

A Zygon spaceship containing the cyborg Skarasen crashes near Loch Ness. The Zygons feed off the Skarasen's milk. For centuries, the Skarasen is seen as the Loch Ness Monster.

Terror of the Zygons. Recorded sightings of the Loch Ness Monster date back to the middle ages. The earliest recorded sighting was by St. Columba in 565.

The Rani visited Earth during the Dark Ages and stole more brain fluid, thus promoting aggression.

Mark of the Rani.

The [Vikings] knew of the Timewyrm, and called her Hel.

According to the Timewyrm in Timewyrm: Revelation. Hel was the Viking goddess of death, hence my approximate dating.

Date unknown

The location of the Relic is entrusted to the Little Sisters of Mount Excelis. It may be that this was when they took over a long-abandoned fortress for use as their convent.

This was 'centuries' before Excelis Dawns episode 1. The convent's origins are also given, though there is no indication when the fortress was built or when the sisters took it over.

c. 705

The Doctor claims to have slain a dragon in Krakow.

He says this was 1300 years ago on page 38 of Only Human (set 2005).

731

Bede completes his Ecclesiastical History of the English People.

According to Holmes in All Consuming Fire.

The Doctor claims to have caught a huge salmon in Fleet and shared it with the Venerable Bede (673-735).

The Talons of Weng Chiang. In reality Bede only once left Jarrow, on a visit to Canterbury.

733

The fourth Doctor defeated the Tzun at Mimosa II.

According to First Frontier page 123, this was 1224 years ago (from 1957). Lords of the Storm confirms that this was the fourth Doctor and Leela.

The Doctor learns an 8^th Century Japanese dialect that will become the formal tongue of the Japanese Royal Family.

According to Transit page 91, though his vocabulary is clearly limited.

A church is built in Crook Marsham.

In Nightshade (page 32) the Doctor claims it was originally 8^th Century.

785

Egfrith, King of Mercia, is the first English Monarch to undergo anointing as part of his coronation ceremony.

According to the priest in The Dying Days chapter 10 page 12.

Merlin

c. 887

The Catholic Church founds the library of St. John the Beheaded to act as a secret repository of unique, suppressed and pagan texts, including information on "alternative zoology and phantasmagorical anthropology." By the 19th Century, it was based in St. Giles Rookery, London.

This was 1,000 years before All Consuming Fire page 15. The Empire of Glass hints that this may eventually evolve into the Braxiatel Collection.

9th Century AD

Fenric, despite being contained in a flask, was able to bring forward the Ancient One, a Haemovore from half a million years in the future, to ninth century Constantinople. The Fenric flask was stolen from Constantinople and taken to Northumbria by Vikings. By the 10th Century, a nine-letter Viking alphabet was in use rather than the later sixteen-letter one. Carvings in this earlier language claimed that the Vikings who took the flask were cursed. The flask was buried under the site of St. Jude's Church.

The Curse of Fenric.

c. 890

The Doctor claimed to have met Alfred the Great (r. 871-900) and his cook Ethelburg.

The Ghosts of N-Space.

c. 900

INVASION OF THE CAT PEOPLE

The second Doctor, Ben, Thorgarsuunela and the Cat People used an RTC to travel back to Baghdad at this time. Adoon, a boy from this time, recalled how he helped Djinn Dok-Ter and Prince Ben-Jak (who was trapped in the form of a sand-demon) defeat the evil sand-demon Thor-Sun and five night demons (who were planning to destroy Baghdad) by turning them against each other.

Although Lotuss and Thorgarsunella both estimate that this is 2,000 years ago, this is inconsistent with the Islamic Baghdad that we see. No other date is given in the book, so I adopt Parkin's date, approximately 50 years before Arabian Nights was written.

10th Century AD

The Doctor visits the Yoruba tribe. Whilst in Ife, he becomes known as Shango, their thunder god after an incident involving static electricity.

This was during the tenth century according to the Doctor in Transit page 204. It is also referred to by a Yoruba major on page 200.

The seventh Doctor, Ace, and Benny are on a Viking longboat when it raids an Angle settlement.

According to Sky Pirates! pages 222-223. This must have been well before 1066, as by that time the Angles and Saxons were no longer thought of as separate groups.

Late 10th Century

On the planet Artaris, a child called Grayvorn was taken from his home by a slaver. When he was old enough to kill his bondmaster, he did, and began enslaving people himself, eventually becoming one of Artaris's foremost warlords.

Grayvorn relates this in Excelis Dawns episode 1. There is no indication how long ago this happened.

c. 981

The penultimate Keeper of Traken is inaugurated.

1,000 years before The Keeper of Traken.

c. 1000

EXCELIS DAWNS

On Artaris, Lord Grayvorn commissions the Convent of the Little Sisters of Excelis to help him find the Relic - an ancient artefact the whole planet is talking about. He travels to Excelis to collect the results of their research, which includes a map of its location. They send one of their sisters to accompany him on his quest to find it. They overcome several obstacles to reach the centre of the forest where the zombie king lives. Grayvorn retrieves the relic, and returns to the convent. However, he and the Mother Superior argue about the relic and fall off a tower of the convent. The sisters discover the relic in the nearby swamp a few days later, but there is no sign of Grayvorn or the Mother Superior.

This is said to be 1000 years before Excelis Rising. A couple of details are taken from the sequel. The Doctor claims to be from the future, but that's most likely referring to the fact of this story taking place in the middle of Frontios.

1017-1033

The Cathedral of St. Sophia is built in Kiev. Whilst it is being built, some peasants in a nearby village discover a casket that has fallen from the sky. The casket contains a creature that is believed to be an angel. The casket is placed in the catacombs of the cathedral, and its arrival is recorded by a man who was there.

According to Bunker Soldiers. The account of its arrival is on pages 5-7 and 225-228, and it is said to have happened while the cathedral was being built on page 72. The dates given for this is that it was 'long ago' (page 72), generations ago (page 29) and about 6 generations ago (page 222). The dates here are historical.

1033

Clancey's Comet is believed to be the Star of the West, sent to commemorate the anniversary of the crucifixion.

The Ghosts of N-Space.

c. 1060 (Summer)

The Doctor meets King Tenkamenin at Kumbi Selah. The Doctor was given Kola nuts and a place to sleep in the Royal Palace. They spend the night talking about philosophy and the old gods. The Doctor leaves as the sun breaks over the hills. Nobody dies.

According to the Doctor in Transit, page 66. Tenkamenin was king of Ghana/Aoukar between 1037 and 1075.

1066

January 6th

King Edward (the Confessor) dies and Harold II (Harold Godwinson) is crowned King of England.

The Monk (Mortimus) sets up a base in an abandoned monastery and places an atomic cannon on a hillside ready to destroy Harald Hadrada's Viking invasion fleet.

Summer 1066

THE TIME MEDDLER

The first Doctor, Vicki and Steven thwart Mortimus' plan to destroy Harald Hadrada's Viking invasion fleet. If the plan had succeeded, there would have been no Battle of Stamford Bridge and Harold would have had a fresh army for the Battle of Hastings. Removing the dimensional controls of Mortimus' TARDIS, the Doctor strands him temporarily in that timezone.

September 25th: Harold Godwinson defeats Harald Hadrada's Vikings at Stamford Bridge and force-marches his army south to fight William of Normandy.

October 14th: Harold's army is defeated by William at the Battle of Hastings. Harold is killed during the battle.

All this is from The Time Meddler and historical sources.

A monastery was established on the site of Forgill Castle in the 11th century.

Terror of the Zygons.

c. 1075

The church at Crook Marsham held its first Christmas Day service.

They have been having them for nearly 900 years by Nightshade page 173 (set 1968).

9th September 1087

Joanna Harris is born in Canterbury on the same day as King William dies.

This is just before the end of the first millennium according to Vampire Science page 151, 900 odd years ago on page 145, before the invention of science on page 147, the day William the Conqueror died on page 168, and she has been a vampire for 900 years on page 176.

The Convent of the Little Sisters of St. Guilda was founded in the 12th century. Cessair of Diplos posed as its mother superior.

The Stones of Blood.

1145

The legend of Prester John, a Christian king outside of Europe, probably in the East, is first written down.

Prester John is referred to in Bunker Soldiers (page 24). In mediaeval Europe, he was a hoped-for ally against Islam. It is possible that the legend originally referred to the Christian kingdom in Abyssinia/Ethiopia or the Mar Thomas Christian Church in India.

1156

Sir Brian De Fillis builds Marsham Castle just outside the village of Crook Marsham.

According to the Abbot in Nightshade, pages 65-66.

c.1160

Brian De Fillis goes mad as his wife comes back from the dead to haunt him. Following this, Marsham Castle is abandoned, being believed to be haunted.

According to local legend in Nightshade, page 72. This is confirmed by the Sentience on page 227.

c.1167

The Doctor acts as a midwife for Temujin (also spelt Temuchin), who was later known as Genghis Khan. At some point after this, he heard Genghis speak.

The delivery is mentioned by the Doctor in Tragedy Day (page 115), and his date of birth given in Bunker Solders. The speaking is mentioned in The Dæmons, and must have happened before 1227 - when Genghis died. In the Doctor's timeline, both happen after Marco Polo.

c. 1168

The Aztecs leave their original home of Aztlan and become nomads, carrying around the Xiuhcoatl, an Exxilon artefact that they believe to be a holy relic.

The Left Handed Hummingbird page 66.

1179

The time corridor formed by the Timelash ended. This is probably when the Borad materialised in Loch Ness.

Timelash.

c. 12^th Century

Additions are made to the church in Crook Marsham.

According to the Doctor in Nightshade, page 32, the additions are Norman, and page 65 suggests that this was after the castle was built.

The Crusades

1191

Emir El Akir has Haroun Ed Diin's wife and son killed, his house destroyed and his eldest daughter added to the Emir's harem.

A year before The Crusade.

1192

THE CRUSADE

A group of strangers arrives at the court of King Richard in Jaffa. One is knighted Sir Ian of Jaffa and rides off to search for their missing companion. The party of strangers is later spirited away by sorcerers. Meanwhile, Richard's sister Joanna refuses to make peace by marrying Saladin's brother Saphadin.

The story happens about a year after Richard I took Jaffa.

About the same time, Whittaker's time scoop kidnaps a peasant from England. The Master used TOM-TIT to kidnap a mediaeval knight, possibly from this period.

Invasion of the Dinosaurs & The Time Monster respectively. The peasant mentions that King Richard is away at the crusades. There is no indication when the knight is from.

Scaroth's seventh segment posed as a crusader.

Although Scaroth looks very similar to King Richard, they are unlikely to be the same person as then he would most likely have commented that he had met the Doctor twice.

c. 1202

The Mongols destroy the Tartar clan, [amongst others].

According to Bunker Soldiers, page 164. No date is given, so I have used the approximate historical date.

The assembled hordes of Ghengis Khan attempt to break through the TARDIS doors.

Or so the Doctor claims in Rose.

1204

THE TIME WARRIOR

A Sontaran called Linx is attacked by a squadron of Rutan fighters, who damage his ship and force him to land on Earth. Trapped there, he uses an Osmic projector to kidnap scientists from 1973. The Third Doctor intervenes, rescuing the scientists. Meanwhile, an archer called Hal kills Linx. Linx had, however, reactivated his ship and begun the launch sequence. The launch of his ship destroys Irongron's castle, located somewhere in Wessex.

I haven't actually seen this one. According to The Discontinuity Guide, it's during Richard 1st's reign (1189-1199). According to A History of the Universe it's either during the crusades ("interminable wars abroad") or soon after the conquest (there's an inconclusive reference to Normans). The Doctor dates it as the early middle ages. In The Sontaran Experiment Sarah says it was in the 12th century (1100-1199) & in The Paradise of Death it's 800 years ago (hence the 1170's). Parkin concludes it's 1273. The Terrestrial Index goes for c.1190. I've gone for something in the middle.

1205

King John orders a man to be boiled in oil.

Ten years before The Kings Demons.

1206

Genghis Khan unites the Mongol tribes, and turns them into a massive invasion force.

This is mentioned in Bunker Soldiers on page 19. No date is given, so I have used the historical one.

1210

Genghis Khan conquers the Chin Empire. This invasion reduces the population from 50 million to less than 9 million.

In Bunker Soldiers the Doctor claims that this was 30 years before 1240. (page 167). Further details are provided by Ling on page 169. Historically, the campaign started in 1210 and finished in 1214.

4th-5th March 1215

THE KINGS DEMONS

On the 3rd of March, an impostor arrived at Fitzwilliam Castle claiming to be King John, accompanied by the French knight Sir Giles Estram. Due to the intervention of some strangers, the impostor was revealed, resulting in the Fitzwilliams' remaining loyal to King John.

The date is given by the Doctor.

13th Century

The man who would later be known as St Anthony of Padua lost everything he owned in a shipwreck and spent the rest of his days living like a Spartan in a cave in San Paolo.

According to the Doctor in Short Trips Companions: The Canvey Angels page 184-185. St Anthony lived from 1195 to 1231.

1227

Ghengis Khan dies, and is succeeded by Ogedai Khan.

The Doctor claims that this was "a decade or more ago" in Bunker Soldiers (page 19). The exact year is historical.

1239

Olexander is asked to translate a document concerning the catacombs of the Cathedral of St. Sophia in Kiev. When Olexander questions the wisdom of trusting this document, Yehven frames him for heresy - alleging he has translated the Bible into Russian. Olexander is imprisoned.

This was "over a year" before Bunker Soldiers (page 71).

1240

The Russian towns of Chernigov and Pereislav fall to the Mongols, under Batu Khan, in quick succession. [Following this,] Prince Michael flees to Hungary. Previously, the Mongols had captured Bulgar, Riazan, Kolumna, Kostroma, and Torzhok.

As mentioned in Bunker Soldiers. The cities' fall is on pages 9 & 25. This was clearly a recent event, but no date is given. Prince Michael's destination is mentioned on page 25, and his desertion is mentioned several times in the novel.

BUNKER SOLDIERS

Some strangers arrive in Kiev a blue box. They are detained because they will not give Governor Dmitri the secrets of this box. After many weeks in Kiev, one of them is imprisoned for murder, and another goes to plead with the invading Mongols to spare the city. The governor soon discovers that the murder was the first of several caused by a strange beast, but has also to deal with a plague. The governor is turned mad after an encounter with the creature, and advisor Yehven takes over, too late to stop the execution of Mongol emissaries and throwing plague victims at the Mongol army.

The Doctor states the year on page 16, and the travellers have been in Kiev for "many weeks" by page 19.

December 1242

SANCTUARY

The Cathares were a mediaeval Gnostic sect, who believed that creation was evil but spirits were good. Hunted down by the inquisition, they were finally destroyed at the Rocc fortress near Beziers in what is now France. The fortress had reputedly contained such rare items as a manuscript proving Homer was a woman, King Arthur's crown, and Jesus' skull.

The date is given on page 88. Winter is encroaching on page 4.

c. 1251

Mongke, grandson of Ghengis Khan, becomes Great Khan.

The Doctor claims that this will happen in "1250, 1251, something like that" on Bunker Soldiers page 19.

1252

Marco Polo is born.

Barbara says this in Marco Polo. In the real world he was born 2 years later.

1264

English Crusaders occupy the African port of Accra.

When Marco Polo was 12. Marco Polo.

1270

A mysterious Doctor who tended King Alexander sent his stableboy Tom away.

Birthright.

1271

Marco Polo, his father Niccolo and his uncle Maffeo leave Venice to explore China.

Marco Polo.

1273/4

Marco Polo and family arrive at the court of Kublai Khan. At the same time Ping-Cho is born.

Marco Polo.

1276/7

Marco Polo enters the service of Kublai Khan

Marco Polo.

The Forgill family claim to have faithfully served the nation of Scotland since the late 13th century. The complex that later became Stangmoor prison was a fortress during the middle ages.

Terror of the Zygons and The Mind Of Evil respectively.

c.1273

In the time of the Ba'ira Caliphs, a merchant called Ibrahim visited the Hul-al Hatar. He returned to the Caliph at Giltat bearing news of magical creatures called Al Harwaz who offered to imitate anything made by men in return for the payment of dancing the code. The Caliph used this to help war against the neighbouring Kebiriz. The Caliph realised that dancing the code was impossible and attacked the Al Harwaz. The Al Harwaz responded by using flying monsters to destroy him.

700 years before Dancing the Code.

1287

Marco Polo and family ask Kublai Khan for permission to return home and are refused.

Marco Polo.

1289

MARCO POLO

Marco Polo is in charge of taking a caravan across the Pamir Plateau to Kublai Khan. He is accompanied by Tegana,an emissary from Mongol warlord Noghai, and Ping-Cho, a young girl travelling to meet her husband-to-be. En route, they discover a party of Europeans with a blue box and take them along with them as well. Arriving at the court, Tegana fails in an attempt to assassinate the Khan.

Barbara calculates the date.

At around this time, Jared Khan fails to acquire the TARDIS from the Khan.

Birthright.

c. 1300

Roger Mortimore builds the earliest part of Trentillys Castle.

Decalog 3: Past Reckoning, page 102.

c. 1300

The Jax move to Saturnia Regna, where their humanoid hosts are killed off by the local wolves. The wolves go into hibernation, waiting for humanoids to arrive on the planet. The Jax would leave legends across the fourteen worlds of the Chronus System.

This is stated to be over a thousand years before Kursaal page 102.

c. 1307

The Doctor meets Robert the Bruce and tells him 'If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.'

Lords of the Storm page 92. No year is given, but this is the year he returned to Scotland and defeated the English at Carrick.

c.1310

The Doctor obtained Dante's (1265-1321) business card.

The Two Doctors.

The Doctor met William Tell.

The Face of Evil. Tell lived in the early 14th century. This must have been during the Doctor's first four incarnations.

1346

The Mongols attack Kaffa. When disease attacks the Mongol camp, their commander orders the corpses to be catapulted over the walls. This act starts the spread of the Black Death into Europe.

According to the Doctor in Bunker Soldiers (page 219).

14th Century

Buriden develops the metaphor of Buriden's Ass. Give a rational donkey two equally large piles of straw and place him the same distance from both of them, and he will starve to death because he can't choose which one to go to first.

According to the fifth and eighth Doctors in The Eight Doctors (page 172) this was in the 14th Century. Buriden lived 1300-1358.

1350

Rudolf de Nuremberg develops a water-powered wire-drawing method.

The Masque of Mandragora.

About this time, the first Ark Royal was commissioned.

A millennium and a quarter before Cold Fusion (c.2600).

c. 1387

The Doctor acquires his ticket to the library of St. John the Beheaded.

Five hundred years before All Consuming Fire.

1388

Chaucer presents the Doctor with a copy signed of his The Doctour of Science's Tale.

This is mentioned and dated in Cats' Cradle: Times Crucible, page 43. Chaucer wrote The Canterbury Tales from 1386 - 1400.

Date Unknown

A psychic probe from Hakol known as the Malus arrived in the English village of Little Hodcombe.

The Awakening. This was centuries before the village was destroyed in the English Civil War (13th July 1643).

Late 14th Century

The Xaranti instigate a stellar explosion that destroys Zygor, homeworld of their enemies the Zygons. The Zygons become a nomadic race searching the galaxy for new worlds to colonise.

According to Tuval, on page 155 of The Bodysnatchers, this was five centuries before 1894.