The Renaissance

  • Gutenberg prints the first Bible
    1445

    Gutenberg prints the first Bible

    First book ever printed. It was a Latin language Bible.
  • Birth of Lorenzo de’ Medici
    Jan 1, 1449

    Birth of Lorenzo de’ Medici

    Patron of the arts
  • Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa
    Nov 21, 1503

    Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa

    a half-length portrait painting that has been described as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world"
  • Michelangelo sculpts the David
    Feb 13, 1504

    Michelangelo sculpts the David

    17 foot statue made of marble.
  • Thomas More writes Utopia
    Dec 25, 1516

    Thomas More writes Utopia

    A work of satire, indirectly criticizing Europe's political corruption and religious hypocrisy. More was a Catholic Humanist.
  • Martin Luther posts 95 Theses on the door of Castle Church
    Oct 31, 1517

    Martin Luther posts 95 Theses on the door of Castle Church

    Luther defiantly nailed a copy of his 95 Theses to the door of the Wittenberg Castle church.
  • King Henry VIII begins Protestant Anglican church
    Jun 21, 1534

    King Henry VIII begins Protestant Anglican church

    Declared himself to be supreme head of the Church of England
  • Nicolas Copernicus publishes On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres
    Jul 16, 1543

    Nicolas Copernicus publishes On the Revolution of the Celestial Spheres

    Placed the sun at the center of the universe and argued that the Earth moved across the heavens as one of the planets.
  • William Shakespeare is born
    Sep 9, 1564

    William Shakespeare is born

    An English poet, playwright and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist.
  • Galileo invents a thermometer

    Galileo invents a thermometer

    Merely indicated temperature differences.