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Jan 1, 1341
Francesco Pettarch is named poet laureate of Rome
Petrarch started humanism, the practise of learning from the Ancient Greek and Romans that dominated the Renaissance. Knowledge was rediscovered, and it motivated more people to be more educated. -
Jan 1, 1434
Return of Cosimo de Medici from exile
The Medici family held power over Florence, a major city of Europe, for centuries. They were extremely wealthy and powerful. Cosimo de Medici was noted also for his patronage of culture the arts. He sponsored the famous statue <i>David</i> by Donatello, and the bankrupt Brunelleschi. -
Jan 1, 1436
Invention of the printing press
Johannes Gutenberg, a blacksmith, goldsmith, printer, and publisher, invented the printing press. This made accessing text much more easy and cheap, because texts did not have to be labouriously copied out by hand.
Distribution of texts enabled greater expansion of general knowledge, sort of like the invention of the newspaper. -
Jan 1, 1450
Francesco Sforza takes power in Milan
Fracesco Sforza took power in Milan after a brief period of uncertainty and confusion after the lack of direct male heirs in the Visconti line, who had ruled Milan until 1477.
Sforza modernized Milan, introducing a novel tax system that collected much money for the coffers With this he encouraged culture and learning amongst the people. His court became the center of renaissance. -
Apr 15, 1452
Birth of Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer. He created and detailed inventions that were hundreds of years before his time. He is most famous for his painting <i>Mona Lisa</i>.
Da Vinci was concerned with the laws of science and nature, which greatly influenced his many works, and has influenced countless people. -
Jan 1, 1453
Fall of Constantinople
After the Ottomans conquered Constantinople and renamed it Istanbul, many Greek scholars fled the city and came to Italy, where they were welcomed. With them they brought books and manuscripts written in Greek, which were then translated to Latin. The books and manuscripts played an influential role of the intellectual life in Italy as texts from Classical Greece were reintroduced. -
Jan 1, 1468
Coronation of Ferdinand II (Sicily)
Ferdinand II/V/III became the king of Sicily, Castile, Aragon, Naples, and Navarre. He united seperate, smaller, kingdoms into one large one.
Ferdinand started the Spanish Inquisition, sponsored Columbus for his trip around the world, and was one of the most powerful men in the Renaissance. -
Jan 1, 1478
Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition (Spanish Inquisition) established
The Spanish Inquisition was a forceful conversion of people to Catholicism. It was started by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain.
The Spanish Inquisition was an organization of priests who severely punished heretics, people not being Catholic Christians, and many found guilty were tortured, fined, or killed. -
Jan 1, 1492
Christopher Columbus discovered America
Columbus was sponsored by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain for a way to the Middle East by the west, by water. This was when the knowledge that the Earth was not, indeed, flat, was still coming around.
Instead of discovering India, Columbus came upon the Americas. He didn't know this, however; that is why natives of the Americas are now called "Indians". Columbus went back jubilant and successful. -
Jan 1, 1503
Mona Lisa starts getting painted
<i>Mona Lisa</i> is, without a doubt, the most well-known painting in history. It was painted by Leonardo da Vinci, who worked on it for years. He never believed it to be 'finished' truly.
<i>Mona Lisa</i> has intruged people for centures. Her mysterious smile seems to hide many secrets; there are hidden symbolisms in the painting that are not seen at first glance, and the subject of it has never been quite defined. -
Jan 1, 1517
Martin Luther writes 95 theses
Martin Luther started the reformation when he posted 95 theses on the walls of a castle in Wittenburg. They contained points that he thought the Roman Catholic Church was not correct on, and how it was too much of a political power than a holy organization.
The reformation later became one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Renaissance. People started to think for themselves, and the Roman Catholic Church stopped being the greatest power in Europe as many branches of religion sprung up -
Jan 1, 1532
De Principatibus (Niccolo Machiavelli)
Machiavelli was a studier of politics.
<i>De Principatibus</i> was a detailed text by Machiavelli concerning royalty and administrators who governed. It influenced generation after generation of people who governed. -
Jan 1, 1536
The Act of Supremacy (King Henry VIII)
King Henry had many wives. Because the Roman Catholic Church didn't allow divorces, King Henry changed wives mainly by execution of the former under trumped-up charges.
The King took direct control of the Roman Catholic Church mainly because he wanted divorce to be permitted. The monarch from there on became the official head of the Roman Catholic Church. It became less of an independent power. -
Jan 1, 1543
De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (Copernicus)
Copernicus proposed the heliocentric model of the universe - that the Eath revolved around the Sun, and not the other way around. He published this in a book called <i>De revolutionibus orbium coelestium</i>.
Copernicus delayed on publishing it for as long as he could, knowing what the reactions to it would be. He was condemned, especially by churchpeople who thought he was uprooting their beliefs. -
Aug 8, 1558
Defeat of the Spanish Armada
The Spanish Armada were the 'invincible fleet' of Europe. It was huge, strong, and very, very powerful.
It was deployed by King Phillip II of Spain as part of a land/navy invasion on England, of political and religious reasons - England was Protestant, while Spain was still Catholic.
England defeated the Spanish Armada, securing Protestantism, strengthening national English pride under Queen Elizabeth's rule, and causing the decline of the Spanish Empire. -
Nov 17, 1558
Coronation of Queen Elizabeth I
Queen Elizabeth I was the first effective female monarch of England and Ireland until her death in 1603. She was nicknamed "Good Queen Bess", "Gloriana", and "The Virgin Queen", because she never married. She was the last of the Tudor dynasty.
After short reigns of her half-sisters, Queen Elizabeth I ruled the kingdom and provided 44 years of relative stability. Her reign was known as the Elizabethan era, with a flourishing of English drama. -
Invention of the flush toilet
Sir John Harington was a godson and a prominent member of the court of Queen Elizabeth I. He was a courtier and author and master of art.
Harington's design of a flush toilet is similar to the modern toilet: it had a flush valve to let water out of the tank, and a wash-down design to empty the bowl. -
Romeo and Juliet
Shakespeare's play <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> is probably his most famous one, with <i>Hamlet</i> a close second.
<i>Romeo and Juliet</i> is about a pair of star-crossed young lovers who cannot be together. This tale has become archetypal and the form of countless works following. -
Invention of the telescope
Hans Lippershey was a German-Dutch spectacle maker. Although there are many claims to the invention of the telescope, Lippershey's mention "to have a certain device by means of which all things at a very great distance can be seen as if they were nearby, by looking through glasses" through a letter to the government of Zeeland is the earliest found document. -
Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus
The best-known work of physician William Harvey, <i>Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus</i>, established the circulation of blood in a body using detailed diagrams and descriptions.
It marked a significant landmark in the history of physiology (the scientific study of function in living systems).
