About the same time, the second part of the Jewish Talmud, the Gemarra, is written down 476 Deposition of Romulus Augustulus, the last Roman emperor in the West 480-547 Life of St. Benedict of Nursia, author of the monastic Rule of St. Benedict and famous Christian saint ca. Franks begin a long ascent to the most powerful nation in Europe. Iconoclasm controversy begins in Byzantium under Leo III, in response to Muslim criticism of icons. The resulting rift between Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic Christians will one day cause a complete separation between the two churches. Popes move from Rome to Avignon, causing the Great Schism from 1378 to 1415, in which first two then three popes claimed the Throne of Peter 1328 Death of Ibn Taymiyya, Muslim thinker who believed that Islam's troubles could be removed through a return to the pure doctrines of the early Ummah ca.
European countries begin colonizing.