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west and the world

  • Bubonic Plague begins
    Jan 1, 1347

    Bubonic Plague begins

    Bubonic plague is a disease that is spread by fleas on black rats brought to Europe by merchant ships. Swollen lymph nodes (buboes) are signs of a person suffering from bubonic plague. The Black Death swept through Europe and killed an estimated 25 million people, or 30-60% of the European population.
  • Renaissance begins
    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. it was a time when fine art peaked.
  • Brunelleschi creates Leaner Perspective
    Jan 1, 1420

    Brunelleschi creates Leaner Perspective

    Brunelleschi is famous for two panel paintings illustrating geometric optical linear perspective. Around this time linear perspective, as a novel artistic tool, spread not only in Italy but throughout Western Europe. It quickly became, and remains, standard studio practice.
  • Joan of Arc and the Siege of Orleans
    May 8, 1429

    Joan of Arc and the Siege of Orleans

    Joan lived during the period of the Hundred Years War. This war was between the English and the French, who both believed they had sovereignty over territories of Aquitaine. She lead the Siege into Orleans and the English retreated.
  • Johann Gutenberg Invents the Printing Press
    Jan 1, 1450

    Johann Gutenberg Invents the Printing Press

    The Gutenberg press with its wooden and later metal movable type printing brought down the price of printed materials and made such materials available for the masses. It remained the standard until the 20th century
  • Cosimo de Medici dies
    Aug 1, 1464

    Cosimo de Medici dies

    He ruled the City of Florence, and made Florence the most powerful state in Italy and possible the most beautiful city in history. Father of Giovanni.
  • Spanish Inquisition Begins
    Sep 27, 1480

    Spanish Inquisition Begins

    The Spanish Inquisition was a religious tribunal or court established in Spain. It was responsible for the jailing, trial, torture, and execution of "heretics," mostly Jews accused of not completely converting to Catholicism. During its activities many thousands of Jews had to flee the country.
  • Sandro Botticelli paints Birth of Venus
    Jan 1, 1486

    Sandro Botticelli paints Birth of Venus

    The Birth of Venus was painted by Sandro Botticelli in 1486 . It depicts the goddess Venus, emerging from the sea as a fully grown woman. The painting is held in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
  • Columbus discovers the America's
    Jan 1, 1492

    Columbus discovers the America's

    The Spanish monarchs gave Columbus permission to go discover the New World and he was given three ships. the Pinta, La Nina, and the La Santa Maria. As we all know he was successful and discovered the America's.
  • da Vinci Paints The Last Supper
    Jan 1, 1495

    da Vinci Paints The Last Supper

    The painting potrays Jesus with his apostles during the Last Supper before Jesus' death. it was painted by Da Vinci in 1495.
  • Raphael paints The School of Athens
    Jan 1, 1510

    Raphael paints The School of Athens

    The "School of Athens" is one of a group of four main frescoes on the walls of the Stanza that depict distinct branches of knowledge. Each theme is identified above by a separate tondo containing a majestic female figure seated in the clouds.
  • Michelangelo paints the Sistine Chapel
    Jan 1, 1512

    Michelangelo paints the Sistine Chapel

    The best known chapel in Vatican City, the Sistine Chapel is famous for its architecture and the painting inside. Painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512.
  • Machiavelli writes the Prince
    Jan 1, 1514

    Machiavelli writes the Prince

    The Prince is a political treatise by political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli. The Prince is sometimes called one of the first works of modern philosophy. It was also in direct conflict with Catholic doctrines of the time.
  • Thomas More Utopia
    Jan 1, 1514

    Thomas More Utopia

    Utopia was completed and published in 1516. It contrasts the contentious social life of European states with the perfectly orderly, reasonable social arrangements of Utopia. In Utopia, with communal ownership of land, private property does not exist, men and women are educated alike, and there is almost complete religious toleration.
  • Martin Luther 95 Theses
    Jan 1, 1517

    Martin Luther 95 Theses

    The 95 Theses is commonly known as 95 rules to follow written by Martin Luther in 1517 and is widely regarded as the initial catalyst for the Protestant Reformation. The disputation protests against clerical abuses, especially the sale of indulgences.
  • Start of the European Wars of Religion
    Jan 1, 1524

    Start of the European Wars of Religion

    A series of wars that took place in Europe that involed religion. This started by protesters putting up anti- Catholic posters.
  • Ivan The Terrible was born
    Aug 25, 1530

    Ivan The Terrible was born

    He was crowned the Tsar of Russia in 1533 and had a very complex personality, he was both intelligent, but was quick to rage and this due to a mental illness and evidently was the death of him.He is known for his brutal ruling, centralized administration of Russia and expanding the boundries of the Russian Empire.
  • Jesuit Order Founded by Ignatius Loyola
    Jan 1, 1534

    Jesuit Order Founded by Ignatius Loyola

    Roman Catholic order of religious men, founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola, known for its educational, missionary, and charitable works, Played a large role in the Counter-Reformation and later modernizing the church. The Jesuits have always been a controversial group and are feared and condemed by many.
  • Desiderius Erasmus Dies
    Jul 12, 1536

    Desiderius Erasmus Dies

    Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, was a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, social critic, teacher, and theologian. he was a classical scholar who wrote in a pure Latin style
  • Henry VIII Excommunicated
    Dec 17, 1538

    Henry VIII Excommunicated

    Henry VIII upset the Pope of the Catholic Church by annulling his marriage to Catherine of Aragon and marrying Anne Boleyn, declaring himself "Supreme Head of the Church of England, persecuting those who opposed the Acts of Supremacy and Succession, dissolving the monasteries and his handling of the Pilgrimage of Grace. The final act of Henry VIII was attacking the religious shrines in England that contained religious relics. Because of these actions he was excommunicated.
  • Scientific Revolution
    Jan 1, 1543

    Scientific Revolution

    Beginning in Europe near the end of the Renaissance and through the 18th century. This time was later known as The Enlightenment. Free thinking began. Copernicus had the idea that the planets did not revolve around the Earth, but rather the sun.
  • Spain declares bankruptcy for the 1st time
    Jan 1, 1557

    Spain declares bankruptcy for the 1st time

    Resistance against the Emperor of Spain rose because of the heavy taxation. The money was being used to pay of debts from wars and to sponsor current wars. The enormous budget deficit accumulated during Charles' reign resulted in Spain declaring bankruptcy during the reign of Philip II.
  • Coronation of Elizabeth 1
    Jan 15, 1559

    Coronation of Elizabeth 1

    Elizabeth the first was crowned on January 15th 1559, at 12pm, She was the third of Henry VIII’s children to become monarch and she was the last of the Tudor dynasty. She inherited the crown shortly after her half sister Mary had died.
  • Saint Bartholomew Massacre
    Aug 24, 1572

    Saint Bartholomew Massacre

    The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre was directed against the Huguenots (French Calvinist Protestants), during the French Wars of Religion. The massacre began on 23 August 1572, two days after the attempted assassination of Admiral Gaspard de Coligny. The massacre lasted several weeks and estimates for the number of dead vary from 5,000 to 30,000. The massacre marked a turning point in the French Wars of Religion.
  • Edict of Nantes

    Edict of Nantes

    Henry IV granted the Huguenots (Calvinist Protestants of France) substantial rights in a nation still considered Catholic. Marks the end of France's Wars of Religion.