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Jan 1, 1400
The Black Death and the Rise of Florence
In 1347, the Black Death began ravaging Europe. Ironically, by killing a large percentage of the population, the plague improved the economy, allowing wealthy people to invest in art and display, and engage in secular scholarly study. Francesco Petrarch, the Italian humanist and poet called the father of the Renaissance, died in 1374. -
Jan 1, 1450
The Rise of Rome and the de Medici Family
The beginning of the 15th century (probably 1403) saw Leonardo Bruni offer his Panegyric to the City of Florence, describing a city where freedom of speech, self-government, and equality reigned. -
Period: Jan 1, 1451 to Jan 1, 1475
Leonardo da Vinci and the Gutenberg Bible
In 1452, the artist, humanist, scientist, and naturalist Leonardo da Vinci was born. In 1453, the Ottoman Empire conquered Constantinople, compelling many Greek thinkers and their works to move westward -
Period: Jan 1, 1476 to Jan 1, 1504
The Age of Exploration
The last quarter of the 16th century witnessed an explosion of important sailing discoveries in the Age of Exploration: Bartolomeu Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope in 1488, Columbus reached the Bahamas in 1492, and Vasco da Gama reached India in 1498. In 1485, Italian master architects traveled to Russia to aid in the rebuilding of the Kremlin in Moscow. -
Period: Jan 1, 1501 to Jan 1, 1550
Politics and the Reformation
By the first half of the 16th century, the Renaissance was impacting and impacted by political events throughout Europe. -
1550
The Peace of Augsburg
The Peace of Augsburg (1555) temporarily eased the tensions arising from the Reformation, by allowing the legal co-existence of Protestants and Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire.