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1440
Invention of the Printing Press
During the Renaissance Age, the printing press was very important and a huge success. The printing press revolutionized the way ideas were spread. Martin Luther's message was able to spread during the reformation due to the printing press. -
1455
The Gutenberg Bible is Published
The Gutenberg Bible was one of the first books printed after the creation of the printing press. Johannes Gutenberg made the Bible much more accessible to laypeople, which meant that more people could form their own opinions about Christianity. This made more people call for Church reform and helped start the Reformation. -
1492
Christopher Columbus
In 1492, Christopher Columbus left Europe in search of a new route to Asia but instead found the new world of the Americas. Columbus started to mistreat the Indians and the Natives saw them as a new threat to their world. Columbus used math from a Greek Mathmatician that had been rediscoverd from the Renissance to calculate the distance of the voyage. -
1495
Columbian Exchange
After the discovery of the existence of the Western Hemisphere, many items were transferred between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres. This completely changed both Eurasian lives and the lives of the indigenous people in the Americas. The exchange between hemispheres became one of the most influential actions in history because of the age of Discovery and the Renaissance. -
1501
Amerigo Vespucci discovers that the New World is not Asia
Shortly after Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci was an explorer of the New World. Unlike Columbus, he discovered that he was not in Asia, but an entirely new continent. He had the desire to understand the world around him which led to the exploration of the Americas and was a part of the humanistic philosophy that spread through Europe during the Renaissance. -
1505
Martin Luther's Humanistic Education
During the Renaissance, humanistic education was one of the most important achievements. When Martin Luther received his master's degree in 1505, he became a monk. He used knowledge to create the Protestant Reformation and to make logical arguments against the church. -
1513
Niccolo Machiavelli publishes "The Prince"
Niccolo Machiavelli was a Renaissance thinker and political scientist. He is well known for "The Prince" which disregarded the need for rulers to be Christian, which was a controversial opinion before the Protestant Reformation when the pope's authority was questioned. -
1517
Martin Luther's 95 Theses
When Martin Luther wrote his argument again the Church, the Protestant Reformation started. He questioned the morality of the Church because of his humanistic education, which was a practice that started during the Renaissance. -
1534
Henry Vlll
Henry VIII is responsible for the separation of the Catholic Church and England. He created the Church of England, the new state religion of England, and Anglican Christianity. A major cause for his actions was so he could divorce his first wife and take another. His actions changed Christianity's future as well as the Holy Roman Church. -
1545
The Catholic Reformation
The Catholic Reformation was the change to counterforce Protestantism. Catholics began to recognize that the Catholic Church was corrupt and had many faults within the papacy. It was successful in helping the church show that they had changed and were not corrupt like before. -
Summary
The Protestant Reformation and the Age of Discovery can be seen as extensions of the Renaissance because neither would've happened without the ideas first created during the Renaissance.