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Jan 22, 1200
Transition to Cenrtalized Governments
The transition occured directley following the feudal period leading into the renaissance. A centralized government was very favorable to multiple feudal states because of how fast decisions could be made. Central government was much more powerful because of its ability to oversee such a large area and combine inland and sea resources to develop a stronger country. The first large monarchies originated in northern europe, including Great Britian and France. -
Period: May 18, 1265 to Sep 13, 1321
Dante Alighieri
Dante was borm in Florence and stayed there til his exile after a Rome invasion. During his exile he wrote his most known literature, La Commedia, or "The Devine Comedy". The Devine Comedy is a set of books depicting the three realsms of the afterlife. Dante wrote in the vernacular allowing many more people to read his ideas. -
Period: Jul 20, 1304 to Jul 19, 1374
Petrarch
Petrarch was one of the earliest humanists of the renaissance. He is often reffered to as the "Father of Humanism". His writings sparked the ideas of humanism later to be a driving factor in the reformation. -
Period: Jan 23, 1346 to
The Black Death
The black plauge affect all of europe at one point or another. The reason behind its fast spreading nature is that rats carried it. It is believed to have come from China along the silk road in the early 1340's. Once it it italy in 1346, it only took 7 years to infect every part of europe. During this short period, one in three people died from the plauge. It took over 150 years for europe to recover from the outbreak. It came back in many succesions through the 18th century. -
Period: Jan 1, 1350 to
Renaissance
The Renaissance is the rebirth of greek and roman ideas. It originated in Italy and grew north eventually reaching as far north as Russia. The Renaissance included the exploration and questioning of many new ideas including science, art, and religion. In general, nothing in the Renaissance was taken for granted, everything was questioned until an answer was found. -
Jan 23, 1350
Humanism
The idea of Humanism re surfaced with writings by Petrarch and other early renaissance thinkers. Humanism was the overall belief in humans. Ususally humanists opposed the church, or poked fun at how governments were being run. Humanists were redily killed by the church for spreading wrong ideas. -
Period: Dec 27, 1389 to
Medici House
The family came to power in Florence after being sucessful wool traders. The family started the Medeci Band giving them connections with europ's elite groups. The Medici family supported the arts and invited famous painters to depict them alongside religious characters. Throughout their rule, they had influence on many parts of europe, having a pope, multiple queens and other rulers of multiple countries. -
Period: Jan 1, 1398 to Feb 3, 1468
Johannes Gutenberg
Johannes Gutenberg is best known for the invention of the Printing press with movable type. He also created an oil based ink and produced the first printed book, his 42 lined bible. His inventions played a key role in the Renaissance, Reformation, and Scientific revolution by allowing for the spread of ideas to people of all classes. -
Period: Jan 23, 1419 to
Age of Discovery
The age of descovery is the time period on which major countries funded expeditions to explore new land and spread ideas and collect riches. It is seen as a subset of the Renaissance. Shortly after the americas were discovered, it became apparent that the countries which were exploring were the most powerful. Power soon shifted from those on the Meteteranian to those on the Atlantic. -
Jan 19, 1420
Astrolabe
An astrolabe is a device used to determine the latitude while at sea using the sun, moon, or stars. Its use allowed for better sea navigation before the invention of the sextant. -
Period: Jan 23, 1430 to Jan 23, 1516
Giovanni Bellini
Bellini was one of the most influential artist of his time. He was an Italian Renaissance painter who depicted many religions scenes with special attention to natural light. His best known painting is "The Agony in the Garden". -
Jan 22, 1435
Perspective in Art
Perspective was used to translate the 3D world onto a 2D painting. The painter Leon Battista Alberti wrote a paper on liner perspective in artwork. This paper is what many other rennaissance artists used to better replicate the real world. -
Jan 19, 1440
Printing Press
The printing press was invented by Gutenberg in 1440. The printing press included movable type which allowed for fast printing of books, flyers, and newspapers. The first major book printed with the press was the Gutenberg bible. -
Period: Oct 31, 1451 to May 20, 1506
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, popularily known for being the first to reach the "New World" in 1492. He sailed predomanatley for Spain. When he recieved the funds to fund a voyage to the east indies, he came back believing he got there by sailing west. Although he never admited it, Columbus had not found the east indies, but a new continent. -
Period: Apr 15, 1452 to May 2, 1519
Leonardo Da Vinci
Da Vinci was known as the Renaissance Man. Da Vinci did work in all fields of the Renaissance. He painted, sculpted, wrote, and explored new ideas in science. His drawings of the human body are still used in todays top medical journals and books. -
Period: Sep 21, 1452 to May 23, 1498
Girolamo Savonarola
Savonarola was an influential politition in Florence until he was executed in 1498. He was a philosopher who helped to reform the currupted church. He never held a public office, but had a great influence of the events in Florence. He sucessfully predicted the death of many people, which all came true. The pope arrested Savonarola for his actions in 1498. -
Period: Jan 28, 1457 to Apr 21, 1509
Henry VII of England
Henry was the king of England before his son Henry VIII. In his time as king, he restored political stability in England. -
Period: Oct 28, 1466 to Jul 12, 1536
Desiderius Erasmus
Erasmus was a pronound northern humanist. He is best known for his criticality of the Roman Catholic Church. He wrote "In Praise of Folly" which made fun of Christains and their rituals. His writings were published using the newly invented printing press and would influence the Reformation. -
Period: May 3, 1469 to Jun 21, 1527
Machiavelli
Machiavelli lived in Florence for his whole life. He was a historian, philosopher, humanist and writer. In 1513 he wrote his most important piece was titled "The Prince", yet it was not published until 1532 after his death. It depicted how a republic should be structured. -
Period: Feb 19, 1473 to May 24, 1543
Nicolaus Copernicus
Copernicus was an early renaissance astronomer. He is best known for his in depth description of the univerce without the earth at its center. His Heliocentric ideas directly conflicted with the accepted religious idea of an earth centered universe. -
Period: Mar 6, 1475 to Feb 18, 1564
Michelangelo
Michelangelo was a Renaissance artist born in florence doing very notable works with his sculpture and large paintings. Some of his most notable works include Pieta, a marble stature depicting Mary grieving over Jesus, and David, his most well known statue. In 1508 he was asked to paint the celieng of the sistine chapel by Pope Julius II. -
Period: Apr 6, 1483 to Apr 6, 1520
Raphael
Raphael was born in Urbino but moved to Florence in 1504. Soon after he was invited to Rome to be the chief architect of St. Peters Basilica. Some of his most notable works include the School of Athens, St. George and the Dragon, and St. Catherine of Alexandria. His work was most known for Harmony and Balance. -
Period: Nov 10, 1483 to Feb 18, 1546
Martin Luther
Martin Luther is known as being a main protaganist for the reformation. His paper the 95 thesis, was submited to the church telling it of what it was doing wrong. As a result of his thesis, he was excamunicated from the Catholic church. After this, he created the Lutheran church bassed on his ideals of justification through faith. -
Jan 22, 1487
Vitruvian Man
The Vitruvian Man represents the combination of science and art. Davinci was known for exploring both. The Vitruvian Man is well known due to its medical accuracy. -
Period: Jan 1, 1491 to Jul 31, 1556
Saint Ignatius of Loyola
Loyola is most known for his foundation of the Jesuits. He was able to use his millitary background to lead the Jesuits on missions to build schools and colleges throughout europe. His organization played a major role in the counter reformation -
Period: Jun 28, 1491 to Jan 28, 1547
Henry VIII
King Henry VIII of Englend was king from 1509 until his death in 1547. Durring his rule, he is best known for having six seperate wives. Upon requesting a divorce from his first wife, he seperated from the Roman Catholic Curch and created the Curch of England to grant his divorce with him at its head. His desire for a male heir drove most of his actions during his rein. -
Period: Jul 10, 1509 to May 27, 1564
John Calvin
John Calvin is the founder of Calvinism durring the Protestant Reformation. His big idea found in calvinism not found elsewhere is that of predestination. His belief was that at the time of birth it was known where one would end up. -
Period: Mar 11, 1513 to Dec 1, 1521
Pope Leo X
Born a Medici, Leo X was acustomed to power. During his 8 year time as pope, he is mainly known for his granting of indulgences. Pope Leo X was the target for Luther's 95 thesis. -
Period: Jan 1, 1517 to
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation is a time period in which the Roman Catholic Church is questioned and looses most of its power in europe. The Reformation is said to begin with the posting of Luther's 95 thesis. Soon after, John Calvin split from the church as well. Another large split from the church is the creation of the Anglican Church of England. -
Period: Apr 16, 1523 to May 3, 1532
Thomas More
Thomas Moore was a notable Renaissance humanist. He wrote the book "Utopia" in which a fictional island society is depicted. The island depicted both suports and contradicts many of More's beliefs. It is thought to be written to show how a perfect world was not possible as part of the humanist movement. -
Jan 23, 1524
Peasants War
The war was sparked by a series of economic and religious revolts. It took place in the germanic states of the Holy Roman Empire. Ultimatley the revolt failed, but it marked the first large scale revolution in europe, only to be surpased in size by the French Revolution. -
Period: Jan 23, 1543 to
Scientific Revolution
Durring the scientific revolution, every aspect of nature was questioned. Many descoveries were produced during this period of new ideas. It started with the exploration of our own solar system with Copernicus's theory of a sun centered solar system and ended with the descovery of electricity in the early 1700's. During this time, physics, chemistry, astrology, and medicine were greatly improoved. -
Period: Jan 23, 1543 to
Counter Reformation
The counter reformation in europe came too late for the total reconstruction of the Roman Catholic Church. The Counter Reformation consisted of multiple events culminating from the Roman Catholic Church. It started with the council of trent and ended after the 30 years war. During the Counter Reformation, the church defined its principles and why they believe what they believe. -
Jan 22, 1550
Galleon
The Galleon was a sailing ship developed durring the 16th century. Distinguishing fetures of a Galleon include the flat stern and lateen sail on the last mast. The invention of the Galleon provided for much safer transport for long distance travels on the atlantic. The Galleons were most notably used by the Spanish armada for trade and millitary use. -
Period: Feb 15, 1564 to
Galileo Galilei
Galileo was one of the few contribuitors to the scinetific revolution from Italy, the heart of the Roman Catholic Church. He is most well known for his development of the refracting telescope. He was able to use the telescope to observe Jupitor's planets, and determine that the earth was not at the center of the solar system. He also invented a thermometer based on floating globes which would rise or fall based on temperature. -
Period: Jun 19, 1566 to
James I of England
James took the throne in England following Elizabeth's death in 1603. He started a power battle between the devine right of the king and the power of Parliment. The conflict was not resolved until the end of the English Civil War. -
Jan 22, 1569
Mercator Map
Gerardus Mercator of spain created the first map to use an equal scale on both the latitude and longatude. Although latitude and longatude scales had been invented starting in 1502 by a portugese map maker, it was not until the Mercator map was produced that it became viable to use the latitude and longatude for navigational calculations. -
Period: Dec 27, 1571 to
Johannas Kepler
Hohannas Kepler was a German Mathmatician. He is best known for his laws surrounding planatary motion. He used mathmatics to describe how plantets rotate about the sun in an elipse with one foci being the sun, and the other being a point in space. Latter his theories would be prooved to be true with the invention of Calculus. -
Period: to
Thomas Hobbes
Hobbes is best known for his social contract theory. He believed that humans had to give up freedom for security and that balance was the key. He also believed that government had nothing to due with God or religion, but it was the people's job to place a person or group in power. -
Period: to
Age of Absolutism
The age of Absolutism is the group of monarch leaders ruling much of europe under absolute rule. Mainly in England and France, absolute rule meant quick decisions, but made it easy for rulers to loose sight of their people. Many absolute monarchies ended with a revolution of enlightenment ideas -
Period: to
Oliver Cromwell
Cromwell is the english leader mainly responsible for the overthrowing of the english monarchy during the English Civil War. He was a leader in the New Model Army. Upon Charles I's execution, he lead england through a Comonwealth period as Lord and protector. -
Period: to
Charles I of England
Charles I was known for his power struggle with Parliment. He believed he had devine right as monarch. His ignorance to the Parliment sparked the English Civil War resulting in his execution in 1649 for Treason. -
Refracting Telescope
The refracting telescope uses lenses to magnify what is being viewed. It was first invented by Galileo Galilei to examine the planets and moon phases. His telescope paved the way for future designs, notably Keplar's which included a different lense to give a better field of view. The telescope was used by scientists to examine the sky and lead to revolutionary laws regarding the solar system. -
30 Years War
The 30 years war was sparked by the Bohemian Revolt in 1618. In general, it was a conflict fighting for the rights of protestants under the rule of a Catholic. It ended with the peace of Westphalia. -
Period: to
Charles II of England
Charles II's fater, Charles I, was executed durring the English Civil War. He had a very short reign before he fled to mainland europe. -
Period: to
John Locke
John Locke is regarded as on of the most influential enlightenment thinkers. He believed in a binding social contract to which all people would be bound to. He believed in natural rights to Life, Health, Liberty, and Possessions. -
English Civil War
The English Civil War was the result of the conflict between Roundheads and Cavaliers. The conflict was that of power. The roundheads believed the king did not have the devine right to power and that the Parliment should hold the power for taxing and other governmental functions while the Cavaliers held that the power should be in the king. The roundheads were victorious in 1651 with the execution of king Charles I with the establishment of the commonwealth. -
Period: to
Isaac Newton
Issac Newton is known for his works in may branches of mathmatics and physics. He is known as the "father of calculus" for creating a easier way to determine the slope or area of a curve. This new type of math was designed to accompony and explain his laws of motion. He also worked with optics. Many of his equations are still used today to describe the motion of objects and behavior of lights through a lense. -
New Model Army
The army was created by parliment to defeat the kings army durring the English Civil War. Headed by General Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell, it instituded positions bassed on their ability instead of their rank in society. The army also instituded new stratigies which the king's army were not prepaired for. Given the thorough and disciplined traning and organization of the New Model Army, it became a model for future armies to look up to. -
Treaty of Westphalia
The treaty ended the 30 years war by allowing the prince on an estate to choose the religion for the state. -
Pendulum Clock
The pendulum clock uses weights to propel a pendulum with a constant period. The pendulum clock replaced many previous methods of keeping time. Advantages the clock had which previous devices lacked included accuracy over long periods of time. The pendulum clocks could run for days without needing to be reset. It remained the standard of time keeping until the early 1900's. -
Calculus
The ideas of calculus were first described in depth by Issac Newton in his paper dealing with the laws of motion. In his paper, he uses these ideas to describe relations between objects and their environment. The use of calculus shaped how mathmatics was viewed. With the new methods of Calculus, many new scientific ideas were mathmatically explained. -
Period: to
Peter the Great
Peter the Great was the exact thing Russia needed to help it catch up to the rest of europe. Going into the 18th century, Russia was heavily dependent on the age old feudal system. Peter the great during his reign as Tsar created an army, a new capitol in St Petersburg, began to westernize the Nobility of Russia, and made Russia a new european force to be reconed with. -
Gravity
The proclamation of gravity was made by Newton with his law of universal gravitation in which he describes the gravity originates from the mass of an object and affects every other object in the universe. This idea that everything has gravity revolutionized how the world was looked at by scientists. -
Period: to
Age of Enlightenment
The age of enlightenment was a time where the power of reason was saught. Many new ideas surfaced about government and politics. These include those of Locke and Hobbes with the social contract. From these enlightened ideas, the idea of a democracy resurfaced in the United States in 1776. -
Constitutional Monarchy
The first large constitutional marnarchy was created by the English Bill of Rights following the Glorious Revolution. The constitutional monarchs of europe were created out of dissatisfaction of its people usually with a revolt. The affects of the limited monarch included more liberty and civil rights for the people. -
Period: to
Montesquieu
Montesquieu was an enlightened political thinker from France. He is most famous for his ideas on the seperation of powers. He believed in a constitution that defined three branches, very similar to our own constitution in the USA. -
Period: to
Voltaire
Voltaire was a french born writer producing a number of works on Social Reform. He spread his enlightenment ideas through writing. One of his biggest ideas was that for civil liberties, including the freedom of religion, free trade, and freedom of expression. He also supported a seperation of church and state, but noted that each played a large role in society. -
Peter the Great's Imperial Army
Russia's Imperial army was the result of studying millitary procedures of other contries and personally inspecting each official before they took service. The army before Pter the Great consisted of unorganized malitia groups. Peter turned it around with ranks and organization creating one of the strongest armies in europe. -
Period: to
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Rousseau was a french enlightened thinker. His ideas helped guide the French Revolution, dispite his death before it started. He believed greatly in a social contract and a democratic form of government. -
Sextant
The sextant was invented to replace previous methods of measuring the height of the sun or stars for navigation. The sextant is based on Newton's navagational instrument and is based on aligning the object with the horizon using a double reflecting set of mirrors. With sun tables or star tables, the sextant could be used to determine the position in latitude and longatude at any point on earth.
