Renaissance Timeline By taylor.mitchell Period: Jan 1, 1300 to May 20, 1600 Renaissance Jan 1, 1449 Birth of Lorenzo De Medici Jan 1, 1480 Spanish Inquisition is introduced Jan 1, 1492 Columbus discovers the new world May 20, 1500 Sir Walter Raleigh tries to establish Roanoke (Present day North Carolina) May 20, 1501 Michelangelo sculpts the David May 20, 1502 Vasco de Gama sails to India May 20, 1503 Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa May 20, 1516 Rapheal paints the Transfiguration May 20, 1516 Thomas More writes Utopia May 20, 1517 Martin Luther posts 95 Theses on the door of Castle Church May 20, 1532 Niccolo Machiavelli writes The Prince Jan 1, 1535 Gutenberg prints the first Bible May 20, 1535 King Henry VIII begins Protestant Anglican church May 20, 1536 John Calvin publishes Institutes of the Christian Religion May 20, 1540 Founding of the Society of Jesus by Ignatius of Loyola May 20, 1543 Nicolas Copernicus publishes On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres May 20, 1558 Elizabeth I begins rule in England May 20, 1564 William Shakespeare was born May 20, 1587 King Philip II of Spain assembles the Spanish Armada May 20, 1593 Galileo invents the thermometer