West and the World

Bubonic Plague Begins

Jan 1, 1347

Bubonic plague is a zoonotic disease, circulating mainly among small rodents and their fleas. Without treatment, the bubonic plague kills about two out of three infected humans within 4 days. Bubonic plague—along with the septicemic plague and the pneumonic plague, which are the two other manifestations of Y. pestis—is generally believed to be the cause of the Black Death that swept through Europe in the 14th century and killed an estimated 25 million people, or 30-60% of the European population

14th Century to 16th Century

Period: Jan 1, 1347 to Dec 31, 1598

Renaissance begins

Jan 1, 1350

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the period roughly from the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. Though the invention of printing sped the dissemination of ideas from the later 15th century, the changes of the Renaissance were not uniformly experienced across Europe. As a cultural movement, it encompassed innovative flowering of Latin and vernacular literatures.

Brunelleschi creates Linear Perspective

Jan 1, 1413

Brunelleschi is famous for two panel paintings illustrating geometric optical linear perspective made in the early 1400s. His biographer, Antonio Manetti, described this famous experiment in which Brunelleschi painted two panels: the first of the Florentine Baptistery as viewed frontally from the western portal of the unfinished cathedral, and second the Palazzo Vecchio as seen obliquely from its northwest corner. These were not, however, the first paintings with accurate linear perspective.

Joan of Arc and the Siege of Orleans

Apr 28, 1429

Joan of Arc arrived with the relief army on the outskirts of Orléans on April 28, 1429, and after spending the night at Checy entered the city, to much rejoicing, the next day.

Johann Gutenberg invents the printing press

Jan 1, 1439

Johann Gutenberg was a German blacksmith, printer, and publisher who introduced printing to Europe. His invention of mechanical movable type printing started the Printing Revolution and is widely regarded as the most important event of the modern period. It played a key role in the development of the Renaissance, Reformation, the Age of Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution and laid the material basis for the modern knowledge-based economy and the spread of learning to the masses.

Cosimo de Medici dies

Aug 1, 1464

Careggi, Republic of Florence

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. Ferdinand and Isabella chose Catholicism to unite Spain and in 1478 asked permission of the pope to begin the Spanish Inquisition to purify the people of Spain. They began by driving out Jews, Protestants and other non-believers.

Sandro Botticelli paints 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 (which is related to the Venus Anadyomene motif). The painting is held in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

Columbus discovers the America's

Oct 12, 1492

On the evening of 3 August 1492, Columbus departed from Palos de la Frontera with three ships; one larger carrack, Santa María, nicknamed Gallega (the Galician), and two smaller caravels, Pinta (the Painted) and Santa Clara, nicknamed Niña after her owner Juan Niño of Moguer. Columbus first sailed to the Canary Islands, which were owned by Castile, where he restocked the provisions and made repairs. After stopping over in Gran Canaria, he departed from San Sebastián de La Gomera on Sept 6th.

da Vinci paints The Last Supper

Jan 1, 1495

The Last Supper is a 15th century mural painting in Milan created by Leonardo da Vinci for his patron Duke Ludovico Sforza and his duchess Beatrice d'Este. It represents the scene of The Last Supper from the final days of Jesus as it is told in the Gospel of John 13:21, when Jesus announces that one of his Twelve Apostles would betray him.

Raphael paints The School of Athens

Jan 1, 1510

The School of Athens, or Scuola di Atene in Italian, is one of the most famous frescoes by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. It was painted between 1510 and 1511 as a part of Raphael's commission to decorate with frescoes the rooms now known as the Stanze di Raffaello, in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. The Stanza della Segnatura was the first of the rooms to be decorated, and The School of Athens the second painting to be finished there.

Michelangelo paints the Sistine Chapel

Jan 1, 1512

The Sistine Chapel ceiling, painted by Michelangelo between 1508 and 1512, at the commission of Pope Julius II, is a cornerstone work of High Renaissance art. The ceiling is that of the large Papal Chapel built within the Vatican between 1477 and 1480 by Pope Sixtus IV after whom it is named. The chapel is the location for Papal Conclaves and many important services.

Machiavelli writes the Prince

Jan 1, 1514

The Prince is a political treatise by the Italian diplomat, historian and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli. But the printed version was not published until 1532, five years after Machiavelli's death. This was done with the permission of the Medici pope Clement VII, but "long before then, in fact since the first appearance of the Prince in manuscript, controversy had swirled about his writings".

Thomas More Utopia

Jan 1, 1514

Utopia is a work of fiction and political philosophy by Thomas More published in 1514. The book, written in Latin, is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs.

Martin Luther 95 Theses

Jan 1, 1517

The Ninety-Five Theses was written by Martin Luther, 1517 and is widely regarded as the primary catalyst for the Protestant Reformation. The disputation protests against clerical abuses, especially the sale of indulgences.

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. Although sometimes unconnected, all of these wars were strongly influenced by the religious change of the period, and the conflict and rivalry that it produced.

Ivan the Terrible is born

Aug 25, 1530

Ivan the Terrible was Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 until his death. His long reign saw the conquest of the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia, transforming Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state spanning almost one billion acres. Ivan managed countless changes in the progression from a medieval state to an empire and emerging regional power, and became the first ruler to be crowned as Tsar of All Russia.

Henry VIII of England excommunicated

Jan 1, 1533

Henry VIII is known for his role in the separation of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church. Henry's struggles with Rome led to the separation of the Church of England from papal authority, the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and establishing himself as the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Yet he remained a believer in core Catholic theological teachings, even after his excommunication from the Catholic Church.

Jesuit Order founded by Ignatius Loyola

Jan 1, 1534

The Society of Jesus (Latin: Societas Iesu, S.J., SJ, or SI) is a Catholic male religious order that follows the teachings of the Catholic Church. The members are called Jesuits and are also known colloquially as "God's Marines"[2] and as "The Company", these being references to founder Ignatius of Loyola's military background and members' willingness to accept orders anywhere in the world and live in extreme conditions. Jesuits are known for their work in education (founding schools, colleges)

Desiderius Erasmus dies

Jul 12, 1536

Desiderius Erasmus known as Erasmus of Rotterdam, was a Dutch Renaissance humanist, Catholic priest, social critic, teacher, and theologian. Erasmus died in Basel in 1536 and was buried in the formerly Catholic cathedral there, which had been converted to a Reformed church in 1529.

Scientific Revolution/ Copernicus

Jan 1, 1543

Nicolaus Copernicus was a Renaissance astronomer and the first person to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe. His work stimulated further scientific investigations, becoming a landmark in the history of science that is often referred to as the Copernican Revolution.

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. Charles V had left Philip with a debt of about 36 million ducats and an annual deficit of 1 million ducats. This debt was caused by Phillip II defaulting on loans in 1557, 1560, 1575, and 1596. This happened because the lenders had no power of the king and could not force him to repay his loans. These defaults were just the beginning of Spain's economic troubles as Spain's kings would default many more times.

Coronation of Queen Elizabeth I

Jan 15, 1559

Elizabeth was crowned and anointed by Owen Oglethorpe, the Catholic bishop of Carlisle, at Westminster Abbey. She was then presented for the people's acceptance, amidst a deafening noise of organs, fifes, trumpets, drums, and bells.

Saint Bartholomew's Massacre

Aug 24, 1572

The Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre in 1572 was a targeted group of assassinations, followed by a wave of Roman Catholic mob violence, both directed against the Huguenots (French Calvinist Protestants), during the French Wars of Religion.

Edict of Nantes

Apr 1, 1598

The Edict of Nantes, issued on 13 April 1598, by Henry IV of France, granted the Calvinist Protestants of France (also known as Huguenots) substantial rights in a nation still considered essentially Catholic. In the Edict, Henry aimed primarily to promote civil unity. The Edict separated civil from religious unity, treated some Protestants for the first time as more than mere schismatics and heretics, and opened a path for secularism and tolerance.