From the Renaissance to the Enlightenment By aliciaruiz1501 Period: 1300 to 1300 • Rise of city-states in Italy leads to the Italian Renaissance Period: 1325 to 1374 • Francesco Petrarca, Canzionere Period: 1346 to 1346 • Gunpowder probably first used in Europe during the Battle of Crécy between England and France 1353 • Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameron Period: 1378 to 1417 • Great Schism divides the Roman Catholic Church as two Italians and a Frenchman vie for the papacy 1429 • Joan of Arc defeats the English at Orleans Period: 1452 to 1519 • Leonardo da Vinci 1453 • Turkish conquest of Constantinople ends Byzantine Empire 1454 • Johann Gutenberg, develops printing by movable type 1455 • Gutenberg Bible is printed 1492 • Columbus reaches the Americas 1497 • Vasco da Gama rounds the Cape of Good Hope Period: 1500 to 1600 • Rise of absolute monarchs and modern science in Europe; flowering of English Renaissance 1509 • Erasmus, leader of the humanist school of philosophy, satirizes the church in In Praise of Folly 1513 • Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince Period: 1515 to 1582 • Teresa of Avila, religious poet 1517 • Martin Luther posts Ninety-Five Theses; beginning of Protestant Reformation 1532 • François Rabelais, Gargantua and Pantagruel 1534 • Henry VII breaks with Rome and becomes head of the Church of England 1543 • Nicholas Copernicus demonstrates that the earth revolves around the sun Period: 1580 to 1588 • Michel de Montaigne, Essays 1588 • England defeats the Spanish Armada, signaling England’s rising power 1590 • Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene Period: 1600 to 1750 • Age of Absolute Monarchs; baroque style in visual arts, architecture and music 1605 • Ben Jonson, Volpone, Period: 1605 to 1615 • Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote 1611 • William Shakespeare, The Tempest Period: 1618 to 1648 • Thirty Years’ War between German Catholics and Protestants 1633 • Italian physicist Galileo is tried by the Inquisition for supporting Copernicus’s view of the universe 1637 • René Descartes, Discourse on Method, founds Cartesian school of rational philosophy Period: 1642 to 1649 • English Civil wars Period: 1650 to 1800 • Age of Enlightenment; science makes rapid advances; England, France and Spain become world powers 1660 • Theaters reopen in England; Restoration comedies become popular Period: 1660 to 1688 • Restoration in England 1662 • Blaise Pascal, Pensées (Thoughts) 1665 • John Milton, Paradise Lost 1666 • Molière, The Misanthrope Period: 1668 to 1694 • Jean de la Fontaine, Fables 1687 • Sir Isaac Newton describes the universe as a machine governed by absolute laws in The Mathematical Principle of Natural Philosophy 1700 • Molière, The Misanthrope Period: 1700 to 1700 • The novel becomes popular in England 1726 • Jonathan Swift, Guiller’s Travels 1733 • Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man Period: 1739 to 1740 • David Hume shapes modern metaphysics in A Treatise of Human Nature Period: 1747 to 1748 • Samuel Richardson, Clarissa Period: 1750 to 1850 • Neoclassicism in the arts and architecture 1759 • Voltaire, Candide 1762 • Jean Jacques Rousseau influences late eighteenth-century political developments with The Social Contract 1775 • Richard Sheridan, The Rivals Period: 1775 to 1783 • American Revolution 1787 • U.S. Constitution is written Period: 1789 to 1799 • French Revolution 1791 Bill of Rights is added 1799 • Napoleon comes to power