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Jan 1, 1348
Bubonic Plague begins
A disease that spread quickely through Europe during this time period due to uncleanliness and close quarters with other people and animals. The disease was extremely deadly and killed anybody that contracted it. Within a couple of years it killed a third of the population. -
Jan 1, 1350
Renaissance begins
A cultural movement. It influenced literature, philosophy, art, music, politics, science, religion and several other aspects of life. Renaissance means a rebirth or revival. The renaissance was the revival of art and literature under the influence of classical models during 14th - 16th centuries. -
Jan 1, 1400
Brunelleschi creates Linear Perspective
Early 1400s. Linear perspective is a depth cue that is related to both relative size and the next depth cue, texture gradient. Parallel lines that go further into the distnace appear to get closer together or converge. -
Jan 1, 1428
Joan of Arc and the Siege of Orleans
1428-1429. This was a turning point in the Hundred Years War between France and England. This was Joan of Arc's first major military victory. For half a year the english appeared to be winning however the siege collapsed nine days after Joan's arrival. -
Jan 1, 1450
Johann Gutenberg invents the printing press
Gutenberg was a goldsmith. He made the printing press by adapting existing technologies and making his own. The printing press displaced earlier methods for printing and led to the first mass production of books. -
Aug 1, 1464
Cosimo de Medici dies
He was the first of the Medici political dynasty. He represented the Medici bank, managed the papacy's finances and became the wealthiest man of his time. Even though he never held office he controlled Florence with his wealth. Cosimo was an important patron of Renaisance art. -
Sep 27, 1480
Spanish Inquisition begins
The Spanish Inquisition was a tribunal. It was intended to maintain Catholic orthodoxy in their kingdoms. It became the most substantive of the three different manifestations of the wider Christian Inquisition. -
Jan 1, 1486
Sandro Botticelli paints Birth of Venus
Botticelli was commisioned to paint the Birth of Venus by Lorenzo de Medici. It is a painting of the goddess Venus. -
Jan 1, 1492
Columbus discovers the America's
He was not the first European to reach the America's. However his voyage led to the first lasting European contact with the America's. -
Jan 1, 1495
Da Vinci paints The Last Supper
Ca. The painting was commisioned as part of a scheme of renovations to the church and it's convent buildings. The painting represents the scene of The Last Supper of Jesus with his disciples. Leonardo has depicted the consternation that occurred among the Twelve Disciples when Jesus announced that one of them would betray him. -
Jan 1, 1511
Raphael paints The School of Athens
The School of Athens is one of the most famous paintings by Raphael. The picture has long been seen as "Raphael's masterpiece and the perfect embodiment of the classical spirit of the High Renaissance." -
Jan 1, 1512
Michelangelo paints the Sistine Chapel
The painting took approximately 4 years to complete (1508-1512). Michelangelo was originally commissioned to paint the 12 Apostles against a starry sky, but lobbied for a different and more complex scheme, representing creation, the Downfall of Man and the Promise of Salvation through the prophets and Genealogy of Christ. -
Jan 1, 1513
Machiavelli writes the Prince
This was Machiavelli's best known book. It concerns politics but concentrates on the possibility of a new prince. -
Jan 1, 1516
Thomas More Utopia
Utopia is a work of fiction and political philosophy. The book, written in Latin, is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs. -
Jan 1, 1517
Martin Luther 95 Theses
Martin Luther was a German Augustinian friar. Luther's propositions challenged some portions of Roman Catholic doctrine and a number of specific practices. -
Jan 1, 1533
Henry VIII of England excommunicated
Henry VIII was excommunicated for several reasons including that he wanted to divorce his current wife and marry another woman whom he had already gotten pregnant. -
Jan 1, 1535
Jesuit Order founded by Ignatius Loyola
The Society of Jesus is a Christian male religious order of the Roman Catholic Church. -
Jul 12, 1536
Desiderius Erasmus dies
Desiderius Erasmus was a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, social critic, teacher, and theologian. He died suddenly from an attack of dysentery. -
Jan 1, 1543
Scientific Revolution / Copernicus
The scientific revolution was the dawning of modern science during the early modern period, when developments in mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology, medicine, and chemistry transformed views of society and nature. Copernicus' publication of On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres is often cited as the beginning of the revolution. -
Jan 1, 1557
Spain declares bankruptcy for the first time
Philip II and his debt were responsible for the four seperate state bankruptcies in 1557, 1560, 1575, and 1596. -
Jan 15, 1559
Coronation of Queen Elizabeth I
She became queen at the age of 25. On the eve of her coronation ceremony she was welcomed wholeheartedly by the citizens and greeted by orations and pageants. Elizabeth was crowned and anointed by Owen Oglethorpe -
Jan 1, 1560
Start of the European Wars of Religion
Ca. The European wars of religion were a series of wars waged in Europe from ca. 1524 to 1697. 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, 1572
Saint Bartholomew's Massacre
The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre was a targeted group of assassinations, followed by a wave of Roman Catholic mob violence. -
Ivan the Terrible is born
Ivan's legacy is complex: he was an able diplomat, a patron of arts and trade, founder of the Russia's first Print Yard, but he is also remembered for his apparent paranoia and arguably harsh treatment of the nobility. -
Edict of Nantes
Issued by Henry IV granted the Calvinist Protestants of France substantial rights in a nation still considered essentially Catholic. In the Edict, Henry aimed primarily to promote civil unity.
