Renaissance

The **Renaissance** was a period in Olden Times of the history of Earth. In 1300 CE, it followed the Gothic Era, and lasted until 1492 with the beginning of the Age of Exploration.

## Individuals

### Asia

* Tamerlane (1336–1405)
* Sultan Osman I (1258–1326) Monarch of Ottoman Empire
* Zheng He (1371–1433), Chinese eunuch admiral and explorer
* King Sejong the Great of Korea

### Britain

William of Occam (1285–1347)

Geoffrey Chaucer (1343–1400), author

Robert the Bruce (1274–1329), King of Scotland

Prince Edward aka The Black Prince (1330–1376)

Henry V (1387–1422), English King

Henry VII (1457–1509), English King

Richard III (1452–1485), English King

Sir Thomas Malory (c. 1405 – 1471), author

Harry Hotspur (b. 1364)

Jack Falstaff

### Eastern Europe

Jan Hus (c. 1369–1415), Bohemian religious thinker and reformer .

Vlad the Impaler (1431–1476), Prince of Wallachia

Andrei Rublev (c. 1360 – c. 1430), Russian painter.

### France

Nicholas Flamel (1330-1418)

Joan of Arc (1412–1431), military commander and national heroine

Jacques de Molay (1245-1314)

Quasimodo

Gilles de Rais (1405-1440)

### Germany

Johannes Gutenberg (1398 – 1468), inventor of printing press

Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) printmaker Nuremberg, Germany.

Hans Holbein the Elder (c. 1460 – 1524), woodcut artist

Christian Rosenkreuz (1378-1484)

### Italy

Dante Alighieri (1265–1321), poet

Francesco Petrarch (1304–1374), poet

Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375), writer

Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)

Sandro Botticelli (c. 1445 – 1510), painter.

Amerigo Vespucci (c. 1454 – 1512), explorer for Spain

John Cabot (c. 1450 – 1499), explorer for England

Christopher Columbus (1451–1506), explorer for Spain

Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494), philosopher

Donatello (1386-1466)

Cosimo de Medici

Lorenzo de Medici (1449-92)

Beatrice

Laura

### Portugal

Afonso de Albuquerque (1453–1515), admiral

Henry the Navigator (1394–1460)

Bartolomeu Dias (c. 1450 – 1500), explorer

Vasco da Gama (c. 1469 – 1524), explorer

João Fernandes Lavrador (1445?–1501), explorer

### Spain

King Ferdinand II (1452–1516), co-ruler of Spain

Isabella I (1451–1504), co-ruler of Spain

Tomas de Torquemada (1420-1498)

## Timeline

**1300**

Dante, guided by Virgil, travels through Hell and Purgatory; the spirit of Beatrice escorts him through Heaven.

**1307**

**October 13:** Suppression of the Knights Templar by the King of France.

**November 18:** William Tell shoots an apple off his son's head, inspiring the battle for Swiss independence--Altdorf, Switzerland

**1314**

**March 18:** Execution of Jacques de Molay, last head of the Templars.

**June 24:** Robert the Bruce (1274-1329) wins Scottish independence at the Battle of Bannockburn.

Dante publishes an account of his cosmic voyage as *The Divine Comedy*.

**1317**

William of Occam proposes his razor--Oxford

**1325**

Tenochtitlan founded in the Valley of Mexico, launching the Aztec Empire.

**1327**

**April 6:** Petrarch (1304-1374) falls in love with Laura, goes on to launch the Renaissance in her honor.

### 100 Years' War

**1337**

Hundred Years' War begins between England and France.

**1347**

**October:** The Black Death lands in Sicily, touching off an outbreak that kills off a third of Europe’s population over the next four years.

**1348**

**April:** The Black Death hits Florence, forcing ten young people to flee to a villa in Fiesole, where the stories they tell over ten days are recorded by Giovanni Bocaccio (1313-1375).

Prince Edward of England, the Black Prince, founds the Order of the Garter.

**1368**

Ming Dynasty founded in China--lasts until 1644. Reconstruction of Great Wall of China begins.

**1369**

Tamerlane (1336-1405) becomes ruler of Samarkand

**1378**

 The Antipope establishes a rival papacy--Avignon, France.

**1380**

**April:** Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) collects tales on a pilgrimage from Southark to Canterbury.

**1381**

**June 15:** The Peasant’s Revolt is crushed--Smithfield, England

**1382**

The alchemist Nicholas Flamel uses the Philosopher’s Stone to transmute lead into silver, and later gold.

**1385**

**August 14:** Poland and Lithuania are united--Kreva, Belarus

**1389**

**June 15:** The Ottoman Turks defeat the Serbs at the Battle of Kosovo.

**1397**

Invention of the harpsichord--Padua, Italy

**1400**

Beginning of Little Ice Age, a period of global cooling that lasts until 1850

**1403**

**July 21:** The rebel Harry Hotspur (b. 1364) killed by Prince Hal (1387-1422); Jack Falstaff (born 1350) given credit--Shrewsbury, England

**1405**

**July 11:** Zheng He (1371–1433) begins exploring the Western Ocean with a fleet of 300 ships.

**1406**

Construction of Forbidden City begins in Peking; it will be completed by 1420.

**1407**

Christian Rosenkreuz (1378-1484) founds the Order of the Rosy Cross, later known as the Rosicrucians.

**1409**

Donatello (1386-1466) begins his career as a sculptor, reviving the classical tradition of psychological naturalism--Florence

**1411**

Andrei Rublev (1360-1430) paints the Trinity--Moscow

**1413**

Prince Hal becomes King Henry V, banishes Falstaff.

**1415**

**July 6:** Reformer Jan Hus burned at the stake as a heretic--Constance, Germany

**1415**

**October 25:** King Henry V wins the Battle of Agincourt against France. Falstaff dies shortly before.

**1424**

Joan of Arc (1412-1431) begins to see visions.

**1429**

**May 8:** Joan breaks the Seige of Orleans.

**February 28:** Cosimo de Medici becomes head of the Medici banking family--Florence.

**1430**

Henry the Navigator explores Africa for Portugal.

**1431**

Joan, captured by the British, is burnt at the stake.

**1438**

Kingdom of Cuzco expands to create the Inca Empire.

**1440**

Gilles de Rais is burnt at the stake as a murderer, a sorcerer and a werewolf--Nantes, Brittany

**1441**

First enslaved Africans are brought to Portugal.

**1446**

King Sejong the Great of Korea invents the Korean alphabet.

**1448**

Vlad the Impaler (1431-76) becomes Prince of Wallachia.

**1450**

Machu Picchu built.

**1453**

The Hundred Years' War comes to an end.

With the fall of Byzantium to the Turks, Constantinople becomes Istanbul.

**1454**

Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press, publishes his Bible

**1455**

War of the Roses begins, with the Red Rose of Lancaster and the White Rose of York vying for control of England.

**1462**

The Turkish Sultan turns back from an invasion of Wallachia after seeing 20,000 skewered victims of Vlad the Impaler--Targoviste, Wallachia

**1468**

Sonni Ali captures Timbuktu, making it the capital of the Songhay Empire.

**1469**

**October 19:** Marriage of Prince Ferdinand of Aragon (1452-1517) and Princess Isabella of Castile (1451-1504)--Vallodolid, Castile

**December 2:** Lorenzo de Medici, known as Lorenzo the Magnificent (1449-92), becomes head of the Medici family and de facto ruler of Florence.

**1470**

Sir Thomas Malory writes *Le Morte D’Arthur*.

**1475**

**January 15:** Ferdinand and Isabella becomes King and Queen of Castile and Leon. When Ferdinand inherits the throne of Aragon on January 20, 1479, the Kingdom of Spain is united.

**1476**

Death of Vlad the Impaler (b. 1431), prince of Wallachia, who returns as the vampire Dracula, Count of Transylvania.

**1478**

**November 1:** Establishment of the Spanish Inquisition--something nobody expected.

**1482**

Tomas de Torquemada (1420-1498) becomes Inquisitor General of the Spanish Inquisition.

**January 6:** Quasimodo the Hunchback is crowned King of Fools--Paris

**1483**

**July 6:** Richard Plantagenet places his nephews in the Tower of London and has himself crowned Richard III.

**1485**

Henry Tudor defeats Richard III to become King Henry VII of England, ending the War of the Roses.

**1486**

Botticelli paints *The Birth of Venus*--Florence, Italy.

**1487**

Publication of the *Malleus Maleficarum*, the witch-hunter's guidebook.

Star Chamber established in Britain, conducts secret trials until abolished in 1641.

**1488**

Bartolomew Dias reaches the Cape of Good Hope.