List of medieval great powers

Main article: Middle Ages

Further information: List of ancient great powers

Not to be confused with Empires of the Middle Ages.

This is a list of great powers during the medieval period. The term "great power" has only been used in historiography and political science since the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Lord Castlereagh, the British Foreign Secretary, first used the term in its diplomatic context in 1814. Use of the term in medieval historiography is therefore idiosyncratic to each author. In historiography of the pre-modern period, it is more typical to talk of empires (itself a poorly-defined term, see list of empires).

Muslim states

Further information: Islamic conquests, Golden Age of Islam, Turkic expansion, and Greater Persia

Further information: List of Muslim empires and dynasties

The Middle Ages proper begin with the collapse of the remnants of Late Antiquity in the 7th century due to the Islamic conquests. The Old World is largely dominated by Muslim caliphates during the mid-7th to 10th centuries.

Name	Duration	Notes and references
Rashidun Caliphate	632–661
Umayyad Caliphate	661–750
Abbasid Caliphate	750–1518	Reduced to Baghdad and the surrounding area by the 10th century. Fell to the Mongols in 1258.
Fatimid Caliphate	909–1171	Mostly ruled the former lands of the eastern Umayyad.
Ghaznavid Empire	10th c.
Great Seljuk Empire	1037–1194
Ayyubid Sultanate	1171–1260	Mostly ruled the former lands of the Fatimids. Became a divided realm in the 1230s and fell to the Mamluks and Mongols by 1260.
Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt	1250–1518	Mostly ruled the former lands of the Ayyubids.
Ilkhanate	1256-1353
Timurid Empire	1370–1507

Christian states

Eastern Christianity

Name	Duration	Notes and references
Byzantine Empire	4th.–13th c.	The Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire) was the foremost Christian power in the early medieval period, but under pressure from the Islamic conquests and the Turkic expansion it declined in the high medieval period. It fell to Frankish conquest in 1204 and although restored in the 1260s it did not regain its former stature.
Bulgarian Empire	681–1018 and 1185–1396/1422, zenith in the 10th c.	In the medieval history of Europe, Bulgaria's status as the Bulgarian Empire, wherein it acted as a key regional power (particularly rivaling Byzantium in Southeastern Europe) occurred in two distinct periods: between the seventh and eleventh centuries, and again between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. The two consecutive Bulgarian Empires are not treated as separate entities, but rather as one state restored after a period of Byzantine rule over its territory.
Kievan Rus'	882-c.1054
Grand Duchy of Moscow	13th–16th c.
Ethiopian Empire	12th–16th c.
Serbian Empire	1346-1371

Latin Christianity

Name	Duration	Notes and references
Frankish Empire/Carolingian Empire	8th c.-843
North Sea Empire	1016-1035
Kingdom of Germany/Holy Roman Empire	962-16th c.
Kingdom of Hungary	1000-1490s
Kingdom of Jerusalem/Crusader states	1099-1187
Kingdom of France	987-16th c.
Angevin Empire/Kingdom of England	1157-16th c.
Republic of Genoa	1099-1380
Republic of Venice	1204-1489
Crown of Castile	1230-1480s
Crown of Aragon	1282-1480s
Poland-Lithuania	1386-1572
Papal States	14th/15th c.
Kalmar Union	1397-1523
Kingdom of Sicily	1130-1282
Kingdom of Portugal	1415-16th c.

East and Southeast Asia

Name	Duration	Notes and references
Sui dynasty	581–618
Tang dynasty	618–907
Liao dynasty	907–1125	Liao was initially named the Khitan State. Its name was changed to Liao in 947.
Song dynasty	960–1279
Jin dynasty	1115–1234
Yuan dynasty	1206–1368	The Mongol Empire was founded in 1206. Kublai Khan proclaimed it to be the Yuan dynasty in 1271.
Ming dynasty	1368–1644

Inner Asia and Mongolia

See also: Golden Horde, Chagatai Khan, and Ilkhanate

Name	Duration	Notes and references
Göktürk Turkic Khaganate	7th/8th c.
Uyghur Khaganate	8th c.
Qara Khitai	12th c.
Mongol Empire	1206–1368	The Mongol Empire was the largest contiguous empire in the history of the world.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Further information: Sahelian kingdoms, Islamization of the Sudan region, and Pre-colonial African kingdoms

Name	Duration	Notes and references
Ghana Empire	700-1240
Kanem-Bornu Empire	700–1380
Mali Empire	1300–1450
Kongo Empire	1390–1857
Songhai Empire	15th/16th c.

Medieval India

Further information: Middle kingdoms of India and Indianized kingdoms

Name	Duration	Notes and references
Chola Empire	300-1279
Pandian Empire	300-1650
Chalukya Empire	543-753
Srivijaya Empire	650-1377
Pala Empire	750-1174
Rashtrakuta Empire	753-982
Khmer Empire	802-1431
Delhi Sultanate	1192-1506
Majapahit Empire	1293-1527
Bengal Sultanate	1352-1576
Bagan Empire	849-1297
Ava Kingdom	1364-1555
Gajapati Kingdom	1434-1541

Pre-Columbian Americas

Name	Duration	Notes and references
Toltec Empire	674-1122
Maya Civilization (Classic period)	250–900
Wari Empire	6th-11th c.
Chimor	9th-1470 c.
Inca Empire	1438-1533
Aztec Empire	1430-1521
Tarascan state	1300-1530
Tlaxcala (Nahua state)	1348-1520
Tlatelolco (altepetl)	1337-1473

See also

• Middle Ages
• List of ancient great powers
• List of modern great powers
• Great power
• Superpower
• Middle power
• List of largest empires
• List of historical countries and empires spanning more than one continent

External links

• Cooper, F. (2008). Empires and Political Imagination in World History. Princeton [u.a.]: Princeton University Press.
• Doyle, M. W. (1986). Empires. Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell University Press.
• English, Edward D. ed. Encyclopedia Of The Medieval World (2 vol. 2004).
• Farrington, K. (2003). Historical Atlas of Empires. London: Mercury.
• Harrison, T., & J. Paul Getty Museum. (2009). The Great Empires of the Ancient World. Los Angeles, Calif: J. Paul Getty Museum.
• Khan, A. (2004). A Historical Atlas of India. New York: Rosen Pub.
• Jordan, William Chester. (1996) The Middle Ages: An Encyclopedia for Students (4 Volumes)
• Labberton, R. H. (1884). An historical atlas: A chronological series of one hundred and twelve maps at successive periods. New York.
• Litwin, H. (2016), Central European Superpower, BUM Magazine, October 2016.
• Loyn, H. R. (1989) The Middle Ages: A Concise Encyclopedia. (1989)
• Morris, I., & Scheidel, W. (2009). The Dynamics of Ancient Empires: State power from Assyria to Byzantium. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Pella, John & Erik Ringmar, History of International Relations Open Textbook Project, Cambridge: Open Book, forthcoming.
• Petitjean, P., Jami, C., Moulin, A. M., & Equipe REHSEIS (Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France)). (1992). Science and Empires: Historical Studies about Scientific Development and European Expansion. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
• Shepherd, W. R., & C.S. Hammond & Company. (1911). Historical Atlas. New York: Henry Holt and Co.
• Stearns, Peter N. ed. The Encyclopedia of World History (2001).

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