Brief History 1400 - 1599

1407 Casa di San Giorgio, one of the first public banks, founded in Genoa. 1415 Henry V defeats French at Agincourt. Jan Hus, Bohemian preacher and follower of Wycliffe, burned at stake in Constance as heretic. 1418-1460 Portugal's Prince Henry the Navigator sponsors exploration of Africa's coast. 1420 Brunelleschi begins work on the Duomo in Florence. 1428 Joan of Arc leads French against English, captured by Burgundians (1430) and turned over to the English, burned at the stake as a witch after ecclesiastical trial (1431). 1438 Incas rule in Peru. 1450 Florence becomes center of Renaissance arts and learning under the Medicis. 1453 Turks conquer Constantinople, end of the Byzantine empire, beginning of the Ottoman empire. 1455 The Wars of the Roses, civil wars between rival noble factions, begin in England (to 1485). Having invented printing with movable type at Mainz, Germany, Johann Gutenberg completes first Bible. 1462 Ivan the Great rules Russia until 1505 as first czar; ends payment of tribute to Mongols. 1492 Moors conquered in Spain by troops of Ferdinand and Isabella. Columbus becomes first European to encounter Caribbean islands, returns to Spain (1493). Second voyage to Dominica, Jamaica, Puerto Rico (14931496). Third voyage to Orinoco (1498). Fourth voyage to Honduras and Panama (15021504). 1497 Vasco da Gama sails around Africa and discovers sea route to India (1498). Establishes Portuguese colony in India (1502). John Cabot, employed by England, reaches and explores Canadian coast. Michelangelo's Bacchus sculpture. First black slaves in America brought to Spanish colony of Santo Domingo. c.1503 Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa. Michelangelo sculpts the David (1504). 1506 St. Peter's Church started in Rome; designed and decorated by such artists and architects as Bramante, Michelangelo, da Vinci, Raphael, and Bernini before its completion in 1626. 1509 Henry VIII ascends English throne. Michelangelo paints the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. 1513 Balboa becomes the first European to encounter the Pacific Ocean. Machiavelli's The Prince. 1517 Turks conquer Egypt, control Arabia. Martin Luther posts his 95 theses denouncing church abuses on church door in Wittenbergstart of the Reformation in Germany. 1519 Ulrich Zwingli begins Reformation in Switzerland. Hernando Cortes conquers Mexico for Spain. Charles I of Spain is chosen Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan sets out to circumnavigate the globe. 1520 Luther excommunicated by Pope Leo X. Suleiman I ("the Magnificent") becomes Sultan of Turkey, invades Hungary (1521), Rhodes (1522), attacks Austria (1529), annexes Hungary (1541), Tripoli (1551), makes peace with Persia (1553), destroys Spanish fleet (1560), dies (1566). Magellan reaches the Pacific, is killed by Philippine natives (1521). One of his ships under Juan Sebastián del Cano continues around the world, reaches Spain (1522). 1524 Verrazano, sailing under the French flag, explores the New England coast and New York Bay. 1527 Troops of the Holy Roman Empire attack Rome, imprison Pope Clement VIIthe end of the Italian Renaissance. Castiglione writes The Courtier. The Medici family expelled from Florence. 1532 Pizarro marches from Panama to Peru, kills the Inca chieftain, Atahualpa, of Peru (1533). Machiavelli's The Prince published posthumously. 1535 Reformation begins as Henry VIII makes himself head of English Church after being excommunicated by Pope. Sir Thomas More executed as traitor for refusal to acknowledge king's religious authority. Jacques Cartier sails up the St. Lawrence River, basis of French claims to Canada. 1536 Henry VIII executes second wife, Anne Boleyn. John Calvin establishes Reformed and Presbyterian form of Protestantism in Switzerland, writes Institutes of the Christian Religion. Danish and Norwegian Reformations. Michelangelo's Last Judgment. 1541 John Knox leads Reformation in Scotland, establishes Presbyterian church there (1560). 1543 Publication of On the Revolution of Heavenly Bodies by Polish scholar Nicolaus Copernicusgiving his theory that the earth revolves around the sun. 1545 Council of Trent to meet intermittently until 1563 to define Catholic dogma and doctrine, reiterate papal authority. 1547 Ivan IV ("the Terrible") crowned as czar of Russia, begins conquest of Astrakhan and Kazan (1552), battles nobles (boyars) for power (1564), kills his son (1580), dies, and is succeeded by his weak and feeble-minded son, Fyodor I. 1553 Roman Catholicism restored in England by Queen Mary I. 1556 Akbar the Great becomes Mogul emperor of India, conquers Afghanistan (1581), continues wars of conquest (until 1605). 1558 Queen Elizabeth I ascends the throne (rules to 1603). Restores Protestantism, establishes state Church of England (Anglicanism). Renaissance will reach height in EnglandShakespeare, Marlowe, Spenser. 1561 Persecution of Huguenots in France stopped by Edict of Orleans. French religious wars begin again with massacre of Huguenots at Vassy. St. Bartholomew's Day Massacrethousands of Huguenots murdered (1572). Amnesty granted (1573). Persecution continues periodically until Edict of Nantes (1598) gives Huguenots religious freedom (until 1685). 1568 Protestant Netherlands revolts against Catholic Spain; independence will be acknowledged by Spain in 1648. High point of Dutch Renaissancepainters Rubens, Van Dyck, Hals, and Rembrandt. 1570 Japan permits visits of foreign ships. Queen Elizabeth I excommunicated by Pope. Turks attack Cyprus and war on Venice. Turkish fleet defeated at Battle of Lepanto by Spanish and Italian fleets (1571). Peace of Constantinople (1572) ends Turkish attacks on Europe. 1580 Francis Drake returns to England after circumnavigating the globe; knighted by Queen Elizabeth I (1581). Montaigne's Essays published. 1582 Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian calendar. 1583 William of Orange rules the Netherlands; assassinated on orders of Philip II of Spain (1584). 1587 Mary, Queen of Scots, executed for treason by order of Queen Elizabeth I. Monteverdi's First Book of Madrigals. 1588 Defeat of the Spanish Armada by English. Henry, King of Navarre and Protestant leader, recognized as Henry IV, first Bourbon king of France. Converts to Roman Catholicism in 1593 in attempt to end religious wars. 1590 Henry IV enters Paris, wars on Spain (1595), marries Marie de Medici (1600), assassinated (1610). Spenser's The Faerie Queen. El Greco's St. Jerome. Galileo's experiments with falling objects. 1598 Boris Godunov becomes Russian czar. Tycho Brahe describes his astronomical experiments.