Timeline of the Renaissance

Date	Historical Events	People Events
		Giotto di Bondone (1267/75–1337)
1337	Hundred Years' War between France and England (to 1453)
		Petrarch (1304–1374)
1348	Black Death devastates population of Europe (to 1350)
		Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375)
	Giovanni Boccaccio writes the Decameron (to 1351)
		Christine de Pizan (1364–ca. 1430)
1378	Great Western Schism within Roman Catholic Church (to 1417)
		Leonardo Bruni (ca. 1370–1444)
		Filippo Brunelleschi (1377–1446)
1397	Manuel Chrysoloras begins teaching Greek in Florence
		Donatello (ca. 1386–1466)
1401	City of Florence hires Lorenzo Ghiberti to design bronze doors for Baptistery
		Cosimo de' Medici (1389–1464)
		Jan van Eyck (before 1395–1441)
1408	Donatello sculpts David
		Rogier van der Weyden (ca. 1399–1464)
		Fra Angelico (ca. 1400–1455)
1420	Filippo Brunelleschi constructs dome for Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence (to 1436)
		Lorenzo Valla (1407–1457)

1436	Leon Battista Alberti publishes On Painting
		Piero della Francesca(ca. 1412–1492)
1450	Pope Nicholas V founds Vatican Library
		Andrea Mantegna (ca. 1430–1506)
1453	Turkish invaders capture Constantinople
		Marsilio Ficino (1433–1499)
ca. 1454	Johann Gutenberg prints Bible
		Sandro Botticelli (ca. 1444–1510)
1464	First printing press in Italy
1469	Marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon to Isabella of Castile unites two Spanish kingdoms
		Donato Bramante (ca. 1444–1514)
1476	First printing press in England

1478	Inquisition established in Spain
		Pope Julius II (ca. 1445 1513)
	Sandro Botticelli paints Primavera

1484	Marsilio Ficino publishes translation of Plato's complete works

1485	Henry VII founds Tudor Dynasty in England
		Lorenzo de' Medici (1449–1492)
1486	Giovanni Pico della Mirandola publishes Conclusions, including the introduction now known as Oration on the Dignity of Man

1487	Bartolomeu Dias sails around southern tip of Africa
		Isabella of Castile (1451–1504)

		Girolamo Savonarola (1452–1498)
1492	Spanish expel Moors from Granada,completing unification of Spain
		Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
	Christopher Columbus sails to Americas
		Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I (1459–1519)

1494	Charles VIII of France invades Italy, beginning Wars of Italy
		Hans Holbein the Elder (ca. 1460–1534)
	Uprising in Florence drives out Medici family
		Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463–1494)
	Treaty of Tordesillas divides New World territories between Spain and Portugal
		Desiderius Erasmus (ca. 1466–1536)
	Aldine Press established in Venice
		Niccolò Machiavelli (1469–1527)
1497	Vasco da Gama sails to India (to 1499)
		Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528)
1500	Álvares Cabral claims Portugal for Brazil
1502	Spain establishes first European colony in the Americas on island of Hispaniola
		Thomas Wolsey (ca. 1472–1530)
1503	Spanish take control of Naples
		Ludovico Ariosto (1474–1533)
1504	Michelangelo Buonarroti sculpts David
1506	Leonardo da Vinci paints Mona Lisa
1508	Michelangelo Buonarroti paints ceiling of Sistine Chapel in Rome (to 1512)
1511	Desiderius Erasmus publishes Praise of Folly
1512	Council of Lateran V (to 1517)
		Pope Leo X (1475–1521)
1514	Raphael paints Sistine Madonna
		Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564)
	Albrecht Dürer engraves St. Jerome in His Study
1517	Thomas More publishes Utopia
1517	Martin Luther attacks the Roman Catholic Church in his 95 Theses
		Baldassare Castiglione (1478–1529)

1518	Titian paints Assumption of the Virgin
		Thomas More (ca. 1478–1535)
1519	Charles V elected Holy Roman Emperor, making him ruler of much of central Europe in addition to Spain
		Raphael (1483–1520)
1521	Spanish forces conquer Mexico
1522	Ships under the command of Ferdinand Magellan complete first voyage around the world
		Martin Luther (1483–1546)
		Thomas Cromwell (ca. 1485–1540)
1524	Peasants' War in Germany (to 1526)
		Heinrich Agrippa of Nettesheim (1486–1535)
1525	Forces from Holy Roman Empire take French king Francis I prisoner at Battle of Pavia
1527	Imperial troops capture and loot Rome and take Pope Clement VII prisoner
		Titian (ca. 1488–1576)
1528	Baldassare Castiglione publishes The Book of the Courtier
	Francis I of France begins expansion and renovation of château of Fontainebleau
1529	Turkish forces gain control of Hungary
		Correggio (1489–1534)
1531	Franáois Rabelais publishes Pantagruel
		Henry VIII of England (1491–1547)
1532	Niccolò Machiavelli publishes The Prince
		Francis I of France (1494–1547)
	Ludovico Ariosto publishes Orlando Furioso
1533	England breaks away from Roman Catholic Church
		François Rabelais (ca. 1494–1553)
1540	Pope Paul III approves Society of Jesus
		Philipp Melanchthon (1497–1560)

1542	Francis Xavier performs missionary work in India and Japan (to 1552)
		Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (1500–1558)
		Benvenuto Cellini (1500–1571)
		Parmigianino (1503–1540)
1543	Nicolaus Copernicus publishes heliocentric theory of the universe
		Andrea Palladio (1508–1580)
	Andreas Vesalius publishes On the Structure of the Human Body
		John Calvin (1509–1564)
		Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564)
		Petrus Ramus (1515–1572)
		Mary I of England (1516–1558)
1545	Council of Trent (to 1563)
		Pierre de Ronsard (1524–1585)
1550	Giorgio Vasari publishes Lives of the Artists
		Pieter Brueghel the Elder (ca. 1525–1569)
		Philip II of Spain (1527–1598)
1554	Mary I of England marries Spanish prince who later becomes King Philip II of Spain
		Paolo Veronese(1528–1588)
1556	Charles V abdicates, dividing Spain and the Holy Roman Empire
1559	Pieter Brueghel the Elder paints Carnival and Lent
		Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
	Wars of Italy end with Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis
		Elizabeth I of England (1533–1603)
1562	Wars of Religion in France (to 1598)
		El Greco (ca. 1541–1614)
1563	Construction of El Escorial palace begins
		Mary Stuart (1542–1587)

1569	Gerhard Mercator publishes new world map
		Torquato Tasso (1544–1595)
1570	Andrea Palladio publishes Four Books on Architecture
1571	Christian forces defeat Turkish fleet at Battle of Lepanto
		Tycho Brahe (1546–1601)
1572	St. Bartholomew's Day massacre in France
		Miguel de Cevantes Saavedra (1547–1616)
1579	Netherlands splits into Spanish Netherlands and Dutch Republic
1580	Sir Francis Drake completes voyage around world
		Giordano Bruno (1548–1600)
	Union of Spain and Portugal under Philip II
		Edmund Spenser (ca. 1552–1599)
	Michel de Montaigne's Essays published
1581	Torquato Tasso publishes Jerusalem Delivered
1582	Catholic nations adopt Gregorian calendar
		Henry IV of France (1553–1610)
1583	Matteo Ricci becomes first Catholic missionary in China
		Philip Sidney (1554–1586)
1588	England defeats the Spanish Armada
		Francis Bacon (1561–1626)
1590	Edmund Spenser publishes The Faerie Queene
		Christopher Marlowe (1564–1593)
1592	First performance of Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta
		William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
1595	William Shakespeare writes A Midsummer Night's Dream

1598	Edict of Nantes allows practice of Protestant faith in France
		Galileo Galilei (1564–1642)
	Daphne, the first known opera, performed in Florence
		James I of England (1566–1625)
1599	Globe Theater opens in London
		Tommaso Campanella (1568–1639)
1600	William Shakespeare writes Hamlet
		Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571–1610)
1608	Zacharias Jansen invents telescope
		Johannes Kepler (1571–1630)
1609	Twelve Years' Truce in Netherlands (to 1621)
1611	Peter Paul Rubens paints Descent from the Cross
		Ben Jonson (1572–1637)
1618	Thirty Years' War within Holy Roman Empire (ended with Peace of Westphalia in 1648)
		Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640)
1628	William Harvey publishes theory on circulation of blood
1633	Roman Catholic Church condemns Galileo for publishing defense of the Copernican system
		Charles I of Britain (1600–1649)
1642	English Civil War (to 1648)
		John Milton (1608–1674)
1667	John Milton publishes Paradise Lost