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Period: 1095 to 1291
Crusades are Fought
The Crusades were a series of religious wars sanctioned by the Latin Church in the medieval period. -
1300
Renaissance Begins
The Renaissance was basically the birth of the philosophy of humanism. An Early humanist, Francesco Petrarch, studied works of ancient Greeks and Romans for inspiration and idealology. Under the influence of humanists, literature and the arts flourished. -
1337
100 Year War
The 100 Year War was a series of conflicts waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Plantagenet, rulers of the Kingdom of England, against the House of Valois, rulers of the Kingdom of France, over the succession to the French throne. -
1340
Black Death Begins in Europe
The Black Death arrived in Europe by sea in October 1347 when 12 Genoese trading ships docked at the Sicilian port of Messina after a long journey through the Black Sea. When the people gathered to see the boats, they were surprised to see that most of the people on the ships were dead, those who were left alive were terribly ill. Black Death received its name when people were seen covered in black boils oozing blood and pus. -
May 30, 1341
Joan of Arc Burned at the Stake
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1440
Johannes Gutenberg Printing Press
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May 29, 1453
Fall of Constantinople
The Hundred Year War came to an end with the Fall of Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire lost to the Ottoman Turks. It's also quoted as the end of the European Middle Ages. It was also a huge blow for the Christian World. -
Nov 1, 1478
Start of the Spanish Inquisition
The Spanish Inquisition served to consolidate power in the monarchy of the newly unified Spanish kingdom, but it achieved that end through infamously brutal methods. -
Period: 1492 to 1492
Columbian Exchange
The Columbian Exchange was the widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, technology, disease, and ideas between the Americas and the Old World in the 15th and 16th centuries -
Aug 1, 1498
Christopher Columbus land in the New World
After sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, Christopher Columbus sights a Bahamian island, believing he has reached East Asia. His expedition went ashore the same day and claimed the land for Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain, who sponsored his attempt to find a western ocean route to China, India, and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia. -
Period: 1503 to
Slave Trade
The Atlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly from Africa to the Americas, and then their sale there -
1507
Mona Lisa completed
Leonardo da Vinci Begins painting the Mona Lisa in 1503, to be completed 4 years later. -
1508
Michelangelo begins painting the Sistine Chapel
The Sistine Chapel is one of the most famous interior spaces in the world. The Chapel was built in 1479 under the direction of Pope Sixtus IV, who gave it his name. One of the functions of the space was to serve as the gathering place for cardinals of the Catholic Church to gather in order to elect a new pope. It was even used recently in the election of Pope Francis in March 2013. -
Period: Apr 21, 1509 to Jan 28, 1547
King Henry VIII Reign
Henry is best known for his six marriages and, in particular, his efforts to have his first marriage, to Catherine of Aragon, annulled. His disagreement with the Pope on the question of such an annulment led Henry to initiate the English Reformation, separating the Church of England from papal authority and appointing himself the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Despite his resulting excommunication, Henry remained a believer in core Catholic theological teachings. -
Oct 31, 1517
Martin Luther post 95 Theses
In 1517 Luther penned a document attacking the Catholic Church’s corrupt practice of selling “indulgences” to absolve sin. His “95 Theses,” which propounded two central beliefs—that the Bible is the central religious authority and that humans may reach salvation only by their faith and not by their deeds—was to spark the Protestant Reformation. -
1521
Cortez Conquers the Aztecs
The Spanish conquest of the Aztecs in 1521, led by Hernando Cortes, was a landmark victory for the European settlers. Following the Spanish arrival in Mexico, a huge battle erupted between the army of Cortes and the Aztec people under the rule of Montezuma. The events that occurred were crucial to the development of the American lands. -
1532
"The Prince"
The Prince is sometimes claimed to be one of the first works of modern philosophy, especially modern political philosophy, in which the effective truth is taken to be more important than any abstract ideal. It was also in direct conflict with the dominant Catholic and scholastic doctrines of the time concerning politics and ethics. -
Period: 1533 to 1547
Ivan the Terrible's Reign
During his reign, Russia conquered the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan and Sibir, becoming a multiethnic and multicontinental state spanning approximately 1,560,000 sq mi. He exercised autocratic control over Russia's hereditary nobility and developed a bureaucracy to administer the new territories. He transformed Russia from a medieval state into an empire, though at immense cost to its people, and its broader, long-term economy. -
Period: Sep 7, 1533 to
Queen Elizabeth Reign
Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death on 24 March 1603. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the last monarch of the House of Tudor. -
Period: 1545 to
Counter Reformation
The Counter-Reformation, also called the Catholic Reformation, was the period of Catholic resurgence initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation, beginning with the Council of Trent and ending at the close of the Thirty Years' War . The Counter-Reformation was a comprehensive effort composed of five major elements: Reactionary defense of Catholic sacramental practice,
Ecclesiastical or structural reconfiguration, Religious orders, Spiritual movements, and Political dimensions. -
1555
Peace of Augsburg
The Peace of Augsburg, also called the Augsburg Settlement, was a treaty between Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and the Schmalkaldic League, signed on September 1555 at the city of Augsburg. It officially ended the religious struggle between the two groups and made the legal division of Christendom permanent within the Holy Roman Empire, allowing rulers to choose either Lutheranism or Roman Catholicism as the official confession of their state. -
Spanish Armada
The Spanish Armada was a Spanish fleet of 130 ships that sailed from La Coruña in August 1588, under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia with the purpose of escorting an army from Flanders to invade England. -
Edict of Nantes
The Edict of Nantes, signed in April 1598 by King Henry IV of France, granted the Calvinist Protestants of France substantial rights in the nation, which was still considered essentially Catholic at the time. -
Period: to
Era of the Samurai
The samurai were the warriors of premodern Japan. They later made up the ruling military class that eventually became the highest ranking social caste of the Edo Period. Samurai were supposed to lead their lives according to the ethic code of bushido. Strongly Confucian in nature, bushido stressed concepts such as loyalty to one's master, self discipline and respectful, ethical behavior. Many samurai were also drawn to the teachings and practices of Zen Buddhism. -
William Shakespeare dies
By the spring of 1616, Shakespeare fell ill with some kind of illness; his precise ailment has been lost to history. On 23 April 1616, his 52nd birthday, William Shakespeare died. He was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford, the same place he was baptized. -
Petition of Rights
The Petition of Right is a major English constitutional document that sets out specific liberties of the subject that the king is prohibited from infringing. -
King Charles the First Executed
Charles was tried, convicted, and executed for high treason in January 1649. The monarchy was abolished and a republic called the Commonwealth of England was declared. The monarchy was restored to Charles's son, Charles II, in 1660. -
Period: to
Opium War
The Opium Wars were two wars in the mid-19th century involving Anglo-Chinese disputes over British trade in China and China's sovereignty. The disputes included the First Opium War and the Second Opium War.
