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Jan 1, 1347
Bubonic Plague begins
Bubonic plague is a zoonotic disease, circulating mainly among small rodents and their fleas, and kills about two out of three infected humans within 4 days. -
Jan 1, 1350
Renaissance begins
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the period roughly from the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. -
Jan 1, 1420
Brunelleschi Creates Leanear Perspective
Filippo Brunelleschi created linear perspective. This is something that works by representing the light that passes from a scene through an imaginary rectangle (the painting), to the viewer's eye. -
Jan 1, 1428
Joan of Arc and the Siege of Orleans
The Siege of Orleans marked a turning point in the Hundred Years' War between France and England. This was Joan of Arc's first major military victory and the first major French success to follow the crushing defeat at Agincourt in 1415 -
Jan 1, 1442
Columbus Discovers the America's
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in what is today northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the Western Hemisphere. -
Jan 1, 1450
Johann Gutenburg Invents the Printing Press
The printing press was invented in the Holy Roman Empire by the German Johannes Gutenberg, based on existing screw presses. Gutenberg, a goldsmith by profession, developed a complete printing system, which perfected the printing process through all of its stages by adapting existing technologies to printing purposes. -
Jan 1, 1464
Cosimo de Medici dies
Cosimo di Giovanni degli Medici was the first of the Medici political dynasty, de facto rulers of Florence during much of the Italian Renaissance; also known as "Cosimo 'the Elder" and "Cosimo Pater Patriae", meaning father of the nation. -
Jan 1, 1478
Spanish Inquisition Begins
The Spanish Inquisition was a tribunal established by Catholic Monarchs Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. It was intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms, and to replace the Medieval Inquisition which was under Papal control. -
Jan 1, 1486
Sandro Botticelli Paints Birth of Venus
The Birth of Venus is a 1486 painting by Sandro Botticelli. It depicts the goddess Venus, having emerged from the sea as a fully grown woman, arriving at the sea-shore. -
Jan 1, 1510
Raphael Paints The School of Athens
The School of Athens, is one of the most famous frescoes by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. It was painted as a part of Raphael's commission to decorate with frescoes the rooms now known as the Stanze di Raffaello, in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. -
Jan 1, 1512
Michelangelo Paints the Sistine Chapel
The Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo at the commission of Pope Julius II, is a cornerstone work of High Renaissance art. -
Jan 1, 1514
Thomas More Utopia
Thomas More coined the word utopia – a name he gave to the ideal and imaginary island nation, the political system of which he described in the book Utopia. He opposed the king's separation from the Catholic Church and refused to accept the king as Supreme Head of the Church of England, a status the king had been given by a compliant parliament through the Act of Supremacy of 1534. -
Jan 1, 1517
Martin Luther 95 Theses
The Ninety-Five Theses on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences, commonly known as The Ninety-Five Theses, was written by Martin Luther, 1517 and is widely regarded as the primary catalyst for the Protestant Reformation. -
Jan 1, 1524
Start of the European Wars of Religion
The European wars of religion were a series of wars waged in Europe, following the onset of the Protestant Reformation in Western and Northern Europe. Although sometimes unconnected, all of these wars were strongly influenced by the religious change of the period, and the conflict and rivalry that it produced. -
Jan 1, 1530
Ivan the Terrible is Born
Ivan IV Vasilyevich, known in English as Ivan the Terrible, was Grand Prince of Moscow until his death. His long reign saw the conquest of the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia, transforming Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state spanning almost one billion acres. Ivan managed countless changes in the progression from a medieval state to an empire and emerging regional power, and became the first ruler to be crowned as Tsar -
Jan 1, 1532
Machiavelli Writes the Prince
The Prince is a political treatise writen by the Italian diplomat, historian and political theorist Niccolo Machiavelli. -
Jan 1, 1533
Henry VIII of England Excommunicated
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the second monarch of the House of Tudor, succeeding his father, Henry VII. -
Jan 1, 1536
Desiderius Erasmus Dies
Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, known as Erasmus of Rotterdam, was a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, social critic, teacher, and theologian. -
Jan 1, 1539
Jesuit Order Founded by Ignatius Loyola
The Jesuit order, otherwise known as the Society of Jesus (S.J.), has been the military enforcement arm of the Catholic Church since it was first founded by Ignatius of Loyola of Spain in 1534 during the reign of Pope Paul III, ostensibly to combat Protestant heresy -
Jan 1, 1557
Spain Declares Bankruptcy for the 1st Time
Spain was the first country to declare bankruptcy and declared bankruptcy four times in the 1500s, which was the first of many. -
Jan 1, 1572
Saint Bartholomew's Massacre
The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations, followed by a wave of Roman Catholic mob violence, both directed against the Huguenots, during the French Wars of Religion. -
Scientific Revolution / Copernicus
The scientific revolution is an era associated primarily with the 16th and 17th centuries during which new ideas and knowledge in physics, astronomy, biology, medicine and chemistry transformed medieval and ancient views of nature and laid the foundations for modern science. -
Da Vinci Paints The Last Supper
The Last Supper is a 15th century mural painting in Milan created by Leonardo da Vinci for his patron Duke Ludovico Sforza and his duchess Beatrice d'Este. It represents the scene of The Last Supper from the final days of Jesus as it is told in the Gospel of John 13:21, when Jesus announces that one of his Twelve Apostles would betray him. -
Edict of Nantes
The Edict of Nantes, issued on 13 April 1598, by Henry IV of France, granted the Calvinist Protestants of France (also known as Huguenots) substantial rights in a nation still considered essentially Catholic.
