RENAISSANCE

1300 - 1400 Proto-Renaissance 

1305 - Giotto completes his work on the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. 

1308 - Dante writes his epic poem the Divine Comedy. 

1341 - The first great humanist, Petrarch, is named the poet laureate of Rome. 

1400 - 1500 Early Renaissance 

1419 - Architect Brunelleschi designs the dome for the Florence Cathedral. 

1434 - The Medici family becomes the head of the city-state of Florence. 

1450 - Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press. 

1453 - The Ottoman Empire captures the city of Constantinople, signaling an end to the Byzantine Empire. 

1469 - Lorenzo de Medici becomes head of the city-state of Florence. He is one of the great patrons of the arts. 

1485 - Henry VII becomes king of England beginning the reign of the House of Tudor. 

1486 - Boticelli completes the painting The Birth of Venus. 

1492 - Explorer Christopher Columbus discovers the Americas. 

1495 - 1527 High Renaissance 

1495 - Leonardo da Vinci paints the Last Supper. 

1498 - Vasco da Gama arrives in India after sailing around the southern tip of Africa from Portugal. 

1501 - Michelangelo begins his work on the sculpture David. 

1503 - Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa. 

1508 - Michelangelo begins his painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. 

1509 - Henry VIII becomes king of England. 

1509 - Humanist author Erasmus writes Praise of Folly. 

1511- Raphael paints his masterpiece The School of Athens. 

1516 - Sir Thomas More publishes his work Utopia on political philosophy. 

1517 - Martin Luther posts his 95 theses on the door of the Church of Wittenberg. This signals the start of theReformation. 

1519 - Ferdinand Magellan begins his voyage around the world. 

1527-1600 Mannerism 

1527 - Rome is sacked by the troops of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. 

1534 - Henry VIII separates the Church of England from the Catholic Church of Rome so that he can divorce Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn. 

1558 - Elizabeth I becomes Queen of England. 

1588 - The Spanish Armada is defeated by the English navy. 

1599 - William Shakespeare builds the Globe theatre. He will write many of his great plays over the next few years including Hamlet and Macbeth. 

1610 - Galileo discovers the moons of Jupiter. 

1618 - The Thirty Years War begins.