Renaissance Timeline

Humanism

1400

humanism was a revival in the study of classical antiquity, at first in Italy and then spreading across Western Europe in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. The term humanism is contemporary to that period, while Renaissance humanism is a retronym used to distinguish it from later humanist developments.

Lorenzo de Medici

1449

Lorenzo de' Medici was an Italian statesman, de facto ruler of the Florentine Republic and the most powerful and enthusiastic patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Also known as Lorenzo the Magnificent by contemporary Florentines, he was a magnate, diplomat, politician and patron of scholars, artists and poets.

Leonardo da Vinci

1452

Leonardo da Vinci, was an Italian polymath of the Renaissance whose areas of interest included invention, drawing, painting, sculpture, architecture, science, music, mathematics, engineering, literature, anatomy, geology, astronomy, botany, paleontology, and cartography.

Scientific Method

1452

The Scientific Method was further developed during the Renaissance. Galileo used controlled experiments and analyzed data to prove, or disprove, his theories. The process was later refined by scientists such as Francis Bacon and Isaac Newton.

Johan Gutenberg

1468

was a German blacksmith, goldsmith, inventor, printer, and publisher who introduced printing to Europe with the printing press.

Copernicus

1473

Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance-era mathematician and astronomer, who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than Earth at the center of the universe, in all likelihood independently of Aristarchus of Samos, who had formulated such a model some eighteen centuries earlier

Michelangelo

1475

Michelangelo was a famous artist that made sculptures of many religious people.

Thomas More

1478

Thomas More, was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He was also a Chancellor to Henry VIII, and Lord High Chancellor of England from October 1529 to 16 May 1532.

Raphael

1483

Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur.

Thomas Cranmer

1489

Thomas Cranmer was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I

Henry VIII

1491

Henry VIII was the king of England between blank and blank he broke away from the church of Italy and made the church of England.

Inquisition

1500

The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy. The Inquisition started in 12th-century France to combat religious dissent, in particular the Cathars and the Waldensians.

John Calvin

1509

John Calvin was a French theologian, pastor and reformer in Geneva during the Protestant Reformation.

Printing Revolution

1515

A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium, thereby transferring the ink.

Elizabeth I

1533

First female to become the ruler of England daughter of Henry VIII

William Shakespeare

1564

William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's greatest dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon".

Galileo

1564

Galileo Galilei was an astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath from Pisa. Galileo has been called the "father of observational astronomy", the "father of modern physics", the "father of the scientific method", and the "father of modern science"

Sale of Indulgences

1600

Although reformers had many complaints about the Catholic Church of the 16th century, the practice of selling "indulgences" raised the most opposition. An indulgence was a payment to the Catholic Church that purchased an exemption from punishment (penance) for some types of sins.

Isaac Newton

1643

was one of the few that were categorized as a Renaissance man. He was very intelligent in various subjects like mathematics and science. He was the founder of the famous laws of motion and calculus. He also discovered theories about gravity that were used today as the foundations of modern physics.