West and the World

Bubonic Plague beigns

Jan 1, 1347

The black death originated central Asia and spread to Europe. It started because of unclean rodents who had infected fleas.

Renaissance Begins

Jan 1, 1350

The Renaissance was considered a rebirth in intellectual and artistic ideas and concepts.

Brunelleschi creates Linear Perspective

Jan 1, 1413

Linear perspective works by representing the light that passes from a scene through an imaginary rectangle (the painting), to the viewer's eye.

Joan of Arc and the Siege of Orleans

Oct 12, 1429

During the Hundred Years' War, the 17-year-old French peasant Joan of Arc leads a French force in relieving the city of Orleans, besieged by the English since October.

Johann Gutenberg invents the printing press

Jan 1, 1439

Johann was a German blacksmith, goldsmith, printer, and publisher who introduced printing to Europe.

Cosimo de Medici dies

Aug 1, 1464

Cosimo de' Medici, was the first member of the Medici family to combine running the Medici bank with leading the Republic.

Spanish Inquisition begins

Jan 1, 1478

The Spanish Inquisition was used for both political and religious reasons. Spain is a nation-state that was born out of religious struggle between numerous different belief systems including Catholicism, Islam, Protestantism and Judaism.

Sandro Botticelli paints the Birth of Venus

Jan 1, 1486

It depicts the goddess Venus, having emerged from the sea as a fully grown woman, arriving at the sea-shore. The painting is held in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Columbus discovers the America's

Jan 1, 1492

Christopher Columbus was a navigator and an admiral for Castile, a country that later founded modern Spain. He made four voyages to the Americas, with his first in 1492, which resulted in what is widely referred to as the Discovery of America.

Da Vinci paints The Last Supper

Jan 1, 1495

A work three years in the making, Leonardo Da Vinci's The Last Supper remains one of the greatest masterpieces of all time.

Raphael paints The School of Athens

Jan 1, 1510

The School of Athens portrays Plato, Aristotle, and other ancient philosophers engaged in philosophic inquiry.

Michealangelo paints The Sistine Chapel

Jan 1, 1512

In 1508 the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel was painted by request of Pope Julius II, then covered by golden stars on a blue sky. The ceiling measures 40 by 130 feet with the center of the curved ceiling more than 60 feet above the floor creating a space of 5000 square feet.

Machiavelli write The Prince

Jan 1, 1514

The Prince is a political treatise by the Italian diplomat, historian and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli.

Thomas More Utopia

Jan 1, 1514

Sir Thomas More, also known by Catholics as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist.

Martin Luther 95 theses

Jan 1, 1517

Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen. (posted his 95 theses)

Start of the European Wars of Religion

Jan 1, 1524

The European wars of religion were a series of wars waged in Europe from ca. 1524 to 1648, following the onset of the Protestant Reformation in Western and Northern Europe.

Henry VIII of England Excommunicated

Jan 1, 1533

On this day in 1538, Pope Paul III announced that Henry VIII had been excommunicated from the Catholic Church. He was excommunicated because he wanted to divorce his wife and marry Anne Boleyn

Ivan the Terrible is born

Aug 24, 1533

Ivan IV, know as Ivan the Terrible, is most known for his brutal ruling, centralised administration of Russia and expantion of the boundaries of the Russian Empire.

Jesuit Order founded by Ignastius Loyola

Jan 1, 1534

Society of Jesus: a Roman Catholic order founded by Saint Ignatius of Loyola in 1534 to defend Catholicism against the Reformation and to do missionary work among the heathen; it is strongly committed to education and scholarship

Desiderius Eramus dies

Jul 12, 1536

Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus , known as Erasmus of Rotterdam, was a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, social critic, teacher, and theologian.

Scientific Revolution/ Copernicus

Jan 1, 1543

The Scientific Revolution was nothing less than a revolution in the way the individual perceives the world. As such, this revolution was primarily an epistemological revolution -- it changed man's thought process. It was an intellectual revolution -- a revolution in human knowledge.

Spain declares Bankruptcy for the 1st time

Jan 1, 1557

Philip II of Spain had to declare four state bankruptcies in 1557, 1560, 1575 and 1596.

Corontation of Queen Elizabeth I

Jan 1, 1559

Elizabeth set out to rule by good counsel, and she depended heavily on a group of trusted advisers led by William Cecil, Baron Burghley. One of her first moves as queen was the establishing of an English Protestant church, of which she became the Supreme Governor.

Saint Bartholomew's Massacre

Aug 23, 1572

The St. Bartholomew's Day massacre was a targeted group of assassinations, followed by a wave of Roman Catholic mob violence, both directed against the Huguenots

Edict of Nantes

Apr 13, 1598

Created by Henry IV of France, it gave French Protestants their religious freedom - taken away by Louis XIV of France who then took away the Protestants' religious freedom. It is an example of absolute power because it was created and then taken away on the whim of a king.