West and the World- Becca Jefferson

Renaissance Begins

Jan 1, 1347

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. Though availability of paper and the invention of metal movable type sped the dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century, the changes of the Renaissance were not uniformly experienced across Europe.

Bubonic Plague Begins

Jan 1, 1348

The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350, and killing between 75 million and 200 million people. The Black Death is thought to have started in China or central Asia.[6] It then travelled along the Silk Road and reached the Crimea by 1346. From there, it was probably carried by Oriental rat fleas living on the black rats that were regular passengers on merchant ships. Spreading throughout the Mediterranean and Europe, the

Brunelleschi creates Leanear Perspective

Jan 1, 1420

Brunelleschi observed that with a fixed single point of view, parallel lines appear to converge at a single point in the distance. Brunelleschi applied a single vanishing point to a canvas, and discovered a method for calculating depth. In a famous noted experiment, Brunelleschi used mirrors to sketch the Florence baptistry in perfect perspective. He was able to mathematically calculate the scale of objects within a painting in order to make them appear realistic. It was a monumental discovery,

Joan of Arc and the Siege of Orleans

Oct 12, 1429

The battle of Orleans took place in Orléans, France. It was part of the Hundred Years’ War. The victory turned out to be a victory for the French army. It involved the ruling houses of France and England fighting for supremacy over France.

Johann Gutenberg invents the printing Press

Jan 1, 1450

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. The Gutenberg printing press developed from the technology of the screw-type wine presses of the Rhine Valley. It was there in 1440 that Johannes Gutenberg created his printing press, a hand press, in which ink was rolled over the raised surfaces of moveable hand-set block letters h

Cosimo de Medici dies

Aug 1, 1464

Còsimo di Giovanni degli Mèdici (27 September 1389 – 1 August 1464) was the first of the Medici political dynasty, de facto rulers of Florence during much of the Italian Renaissance; also known as "Cosimo 'the Elder' and "Cosimo Pater Patriae". Cosimo married Contessina de' Bardi. They had two sons: Piero the Gouty and Giovanni de' Medici. Cosimo also had an illegitimate son, Carlo de' Medici (1430-1492) by a Circassian slave who became a prelate.

Scientific Revolution/Copernicus

Jan 1, 1473

Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer and the first person to establish the position of the Earth in relation to the universe. He was born February 19, 1473. Copernicus was a mathematician, astronomer, jurist with a doctorate in law, physician, quadrilingual polyglot, classics scholar, translator, artist, Catholic cleric, governor, diplomat and economist. He is thought to have started the modern ideas of astrology and the scientific revolution. He died May 24, 1543.

Spanish Inquisition Begins

Sep 27, 1478

The Spanish Inquisition was used for both political and religious reasons. Spain is a nation-state that was born out of religious struggle between numerous different belief systems including Catholicism, Islam, Protestantism and Judaism. Following the Crusades and the Reconquest of Spain by the Christian Spaniards the leaders of Spain needed a way to unify the country into a strong nation. Ferdinand and Isabella chose Catholicism to unite Spain and in 1478 asked permission of the pope to begin t

Sandro Botticelli paints Birth of Venus

Jan 1, 1486

The Birth of Venus is a 1486 painting by Sandro Botticelli. Botticelli was commissioned to paint the work by the Medici family of Florence, specifically Lorenzo de' Medici. It depicts the goddess Venus, having emerged from the sea as a fully grown woman, arriving at the sea-shore (which is related to the Venus Anadyomene motif).The painting is on display at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.

Columbus discovers the America's

Aug 3, 1492

With permission from the monarchs of Spain, Columbus sailed on the ships, Pinta, La Niña and La Santa María. He sailed in 1492 to discover the New World, now known as North America.

da Vinci paints The Last Supper

Jan 1, 1495

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, 1509

The School of Athens, or Scuola di Atene in Italian, is one of the most famous frescoes by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. It was painted between 1510 and 1511 as a part of Raphael's commission to decorate with frescoes the rooms now known as the Stanze di Raffaello, in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. The Stanza della Segnatura was the first of the rooms to be decorated, and The School of Athens the second painting to be finished there, after La Disputa, on the opposite wall. The pi

Michelangelo paints the Sistine Chapel

Jan 1, 1512

Sistine Chapel is the best-known chapel in Vatican City. It is famous for its architecture and its decorations. Michelangelo was the artist responsible for painting 1,100 m2 of the chapel ceiling between 1508 and 1512. The ceiling is believed to be his best work.

Machiavelli writes the Prince

Jan 1, 1513

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

Aug 25, 1514

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

Out of love and concern for the truth, and with the object of eliciting it, the following heads will be the subject of a public discussion at Wittenberg under the presidency of the reverend father, Martin Luther, Augustinian, Master of Arts and Sacred Theology, and duly appointed Lecturer on these subjects in that place. He requests that whoever cannot be present personally to debate the matter orally will do so in absence in writing.

Start of the European Wars of Religion

Jan 1, 1524

The European wars of religion were a series of wars waged in Europe from ca. 1524 to 1648, following the onset of the Protestant Reformation. All of these wars were strongly influenced by the religious change of the period. Some of the wars were the German Peasants' War, the battle of Kappel in Switzerland, the Schmalkaldic War, the Eighty Years' War, the French Wars of Religion, the Thirty Years War, the Wars of the Three Kingdom.

Ivan the Terrible is born

Aug 25, 1530

Ivan the Terrible was born on August 25, 1530. Ivan the Terrible was crowned as Tsar of Russia in 1533. He had a very complex personality.He was described as intelligent and devout, yet given to rage and outbreaks of mental illness. One outburst resulted in the death of heir Ivan Ivanovich.

Jesuit Order founded by Ignatius Loyola

Aug 15, 1534

Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556) was a devout Catholic who lived during the time of the Catholic and Protestant Reformations. He was a Spanish soldier who, after suffering a war injury, underwent a spiritual conversion which eventually led him to join the priesthood. One of the most significant aspects of the Jesuit Order was the work that they did in the name of God and the church. They were involved in foreign missions under the guidance of the pope. They ministered to needy groups in society such

Desiderius Erasmus dies

Jul 12, 1536

Erasmus was a classical scholar who wrote in a pure Latin style. He was an early proponent of religious toleration, and enjoyed the sobriquet "Prince of the Humanists"; he has been called "the crowning glory of the Christian humanists". Using humanist techniques for working on texts, he prepared important new Latin and Greek editions of the New Testament. These raised questions that would be influential in the Protestant Reformation and Catholic Counter-Reformation. He also wrote The Praise of F

Henry VIII of England excommunicated

Dec 17, 1538

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.

Spain declares bankruptcy for the 1st time

Jan 1, 1557

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 Queen Elizabeth I

Jan 5, 1559

The coronation of the first Elizabeth is of considerable interest to us and of greater historical importance than most. Not only was it the last occasion on which the Latin service was used, as throughout Plantagenet times, and with the Roman mass, but what happened on the occasion was a portent of the policy the new Queen would pursue, a pointer to the Elizabethan religious settlement which has subsisted essentially unchanged ever since. It is precisely that that has given rise to some controve

Saint Bartholomew's Massacre

Aug 24, 1572

The massacre began on 23 August 1572, two days after the attempted assassination of Admiral Gaspard de Coligny, the military and political leader of the Huguenots. The king ordered the killing of a group of Huguenot leaders, including Coligny, and the slaughter spread throughout Paris. Lasting several weeks, the massacre expanded outward to other urban centres and the countryside. Modern estimates for the number of dead vary widely, from 5,000 to 30,000.

Edict of Nantes

Apr 13, 1598

The Edict of Nantes, issued on 13 April 1598, by Henry IV of France, 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. The Edict separated civil from religious unity, treated some Protestants for the first time as more than mere schismatics and heretics, and opened a path for secularism and tolerance. The Edict offered many specific concessions to the Protestants, such as