West and the World

Bubonic Plague Begins

Jan 1, 1347

Plague caused a fever, and black spots on your chest sometimes, and sometimes great big black swellings on your armpits and at the top of your legs. That's why they called it the Black Death. These swellings got hard like rocks and hurt, and then in a day or two people usually died. There was no effective treatment, though of course people tried all kinds of things, from magic to surgery.

Renaissance Begins

Jan 1, 1350

The renaissance marked a great cultural change throughout Europe and is viewed as a bridge between the medieval and modern ages. Scholars schooled in literature, notably the intellectual movement known as the humanists, rediscovered Greek and Latin texts and began to teach Latin literature. Beginning in Italy the new thinking eventually spread to the rest of Europe.

Brunelleschi Created Linear Perspective

Jan 1, 1413

Filippo Brunelleschi, demonstrated the geometrical method of perspective, used today by artists, by painting the outlines of various Florentine buildings onto a mirror.

Joan of Arc and the Siege of Orleans

Jan 1, 1429

This was Joan of Arc's first major military victory and the first major French success to follow the crushing defeat at Agincourt.

Johann Gutenberg Invents the Printing Press

Jan 1, 1439

Johannes Gutenberg created his printing press, a hand press, in which ink was rolled over the raised surfaces of moveable hand-set block letters held within a wooden form and the form was then

Cosimo de Medici Dies

Aug 1, 1464

Cosimo de Medici (27 September 1389 – 1 August 1464) was the first of the Medici political dynasty, and ruler during much of the Italian Renaissance.

Spanish Inquisition Begins

Jan 1, 1478

The Spanish Inquisition was a religious tribunal or court. It was responsible for the jailing, trial, torture, and execution of "heretics," mostly Jews accused of not completely converting to Catholicism. During its activities many thousands of Jews had to flee the country.

Sandro Botticelli Paints Birth of Venus

Jan 1, 1486

Sandro Botticelli was a master of Renaissance art and The Birth of Venus, one of his most famous works, now hangs in the Uffizi gallery in Florence. The painting shows Venus, the goddess of love, in an interpretation of classical myth. Botticelli painted this pagan theme at a time when most paintings depicted Christian ideals and the vast majority of women in paintings were depicted as a chaste Virgin Mary, so it is surprising that he chose to paint Venus as a nude.

Columbus Discovers the America's

Jan 1, 1492

*Completed four voyages across the Atlantic ocean.*He lead the the first lasting contact with America.*He saw his accomplishment primarly in the light of spreading the Christian religion.

Da Vinci Paints The Last Supper

Jan 1, 1495

Painted for Duke Ludovico Sforza and his duchess Beatrice d'Este
The painting represents Jesus' last days when Jesus announces that one of his twelve apostals would betray him.

Raphael Paints The School of Athens

Jan 1, 1510

In 1508 the young native of Urbino had been recommended to Julius II by Donato Bramante, the pope's architect, and also a native of Urbino. So enthusiastic was the pope when he saw the fresco that Raphael received the commission to paint the entire papal suite. The Stanza della Segnatura was to be Julius' library, Bibiotheca Iulia, which would house a small collection of books intended for his personal use. The Fresco of Raphael's School of Athens is a masterpiece of Art.

Michael Angelo Paints The Sistine Chapel

Jan 1, 1512

Commissioned by Pope Julius II
This was a visual metaphor of humankind's need for a covenant with God.

Machiavelli Writes The Prince

Jan 1, 1514

The original title was in latin, "De Principatibus"*The first printed version was published fives years after his death. This was done by the permission of the Medici Pope Clement VII

Thomas More Utopia

Jan 1, 1514

*Meaning: Ideal and imaginary island naton.
*Wrote a book describing a fictional island in the Atlantic Ocean.

Martin Luther 95 Theses

Jan 1, 1517

The background to Luther's Ninety-Five Theses centers on practices within the Catholic Church regarding baptism and absolution. Significantly, the Theses rejects the validity of indulgences (remissions of temporal punishment due for sins which have already been forgiven).

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.

Henry VIII of England Excommunicated

Jan 1, 1533

He was excommunicated because he wanted a divorce with Catherine, and marry Anne Boleyn. He needed a son and Catherine couldn't give him one.

Ivan the Terrible is Born

Jan 1, 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 Ignatius Loyola

Jan 1, 1534

Otherwise known as Society of Jesus, and is considered the enforcement arm of the Catholic Church.

Desiderius Erasmus Dies

Jan 1, 1536

Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam was the most famous and influential humanist of the Northern Renaissance, a man of great talent and industriousness who rose from obscure beginnings to become the leading intellectual figure of the early sixteenth century, courted by rulers and prelates who wanted to enhance their own reputations by association with the greatest scholar of the age.

Scientific Revolution/Copernicus

Jan 1, 1543

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.

Spain Declares Bankruptcy for the 1st Time

Jan 1, 1557

-Philip inherited the throne in 1556, with many economical problems
-He appeared to be Europe's wealthiest monarchy
- He never raised enough cash to cover his expenditure and as a result had to declare state ‘bankruptcies’.
-After the bankruptcies, Spain's dept just got worse.

Coronation of Queen Elizabeth I

Jan 1, 1559

The coronation of the first Elizabeth is of considerable interest to us and of greater historical importance than most. Not only was it the last occasion on which the Latin service was used, as throughout Plantagenet times, and with the Roman mass, but what happened on the occasion was a portent of the policy the new Queen would pursue, a pointer to the Elizabethan religious settlement which has subsisted essentially unchanged ever since.

Saint Bartholomew's Massacre

Jan 1, 1572

The St. 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

Jan 1, 1598

The Edict of Nantes marked the end of France’s Wars of Religion. Over the course of these wars a series of treaties had been negotiated that provided certain privileges to the Huguenots. However, all had been broken. The Edict of Nantes integrated the various religious provisions of this series of broken treaties and provided a number of additional ones.