476 – 1499
Middle Ages
- c. 496Clovis, king of the Franks, is baptised a Catholic
Clovis I, who united the Frankish kingdoms in Gaul, converted to Catholic Christianity. Tradition says December 496 at Reims; modern scholars propose dates between 498 and 508.
- c. 510Boethius translates Aristotle's logic into Latin
Before his execution around 524, Boethius plans to translate all of Aristotle and Plato into Latin. He completes Aristotle's logical works and Porphyry's Isagoge, with commentaries. They are the only large part of Aristotle in Latin Christendom until the 12th century.
- c. 700Codex Amiatinus, the oldest complete Vulgate, is made in Northumbria
Ordered by Abbot Ceolfrith in 692 and made at Monkwearmouth–Jarrow around 700, the Codex Amiatinus is the oldest complete Vulgate Bible. It leaves for Italy in 716 and is now in Florence.
- 711 – 718Umayyad army defeats the Visigoths at Guadalete and conquers most of Iberia
A Muslim army under Tariq ibn Ziyad crosses from North Africa in 711 and defeats and kills the Visigothic king Roderic at Guadalete. Most of the peninsula comes under Umayyad rule by about 718, and al-Andalus begins.
- c. 722Pelayo's Asturians defeat an Umayyad force at Covadonga
A small Asturian force led by Pelayo defeats an Umayyad detachment in the Picos de Europa. Traditionally the start of the Kingdom of Asturias and of the Reconquista, though its size and date (718 or 722) are uncertain.
- c. 750Baghdad translates Greek philosophy into Arabic
From the mid-8th to the late 10th century the Abbasids sponsor translation of Greek science and philosophy at Baghdad, often via Syriac. Al-Mansur is credited with the House of Wisdom and al-Ma'mun with its peak. Hunayn ibn Ishaq and his circle are the main translators.
- 751The Abbasids defeat the Tang at Talas
In 751 Abbasid and Tang forces fight near the Talas River in Central Asia, and the Abbasids win. A later tradition that Chinese prisoners taken there introduced papermaking to Samarkand is doubted, since paper was already in use in the region.
- February 4, 781The Nestorian Stele is erected at Chang'an
On 4 February 781 a Chinese and Syriac stele at Chang'an records the Church of the East in Tang China, from the arrival of Alopen in 635. Composed by the monk Jingjing, it was buried probably in 845 and found in the 1620s. It was long suspected a forgery; scholars now accept it.
- 794Baghdad builds its first paper mill
In 794-795 Baghdad gets its first paper mill, and paper soon spreads across the Islamic world and begins to replace papyrus. The tradition that Chinese prisoners taken at Talas (751) brought papermaking to Samarkand is doubted, since paper was already used in Central Asia.
- 799 – 801Alcuin revises the Vulgate text at Tours
Around 799–801 Alcuin of York, abbot of Marmoutier at Tours under Charlemagne, has Bibles prepared from a corrected Vulgate. The aim is to recover Jerome's text, though his changes were probably modest.
- c. 808Hunayn ibn Ishaq translates Galen into Arabic
Hunayn ibn Ishaq, a Nestorian Christian physician in Baghdad (born c. 808-809, died 873 or 877), translates 129 works of Galen and others from Greek via Syriac into Arabic. His Ten Treatises on the Eye is the first known systematic work on ophthalmology.
- c. 820Al-Khwarizmi writes the book that names algebra
Around 820 Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi writes in Baghdad his Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing, classing quadratic equations into six types. The word "algebra" comes from its title. Robert of Chester translates it into Latin in 1145.
- c. 833Al-Kindi works Aristotle into Arabic philosophy
Al-Kindi (c. 801-873) oversees translations at Baghdad under al-Ma'mun and al-Mu'tasim. In On First Philosophy, dedicated to al-Mu'tasim, he blends Aristotelian and Neoplatonic ideas into an Islamic framework. Much standard Arabic philosophical vocabulary traces to him.
- August 10, 843Treaty of Verdun divides the Carolingian Empire
Grandsons of Charlemagne split his empire into three; Charles the Bald received West Francia, the territory that would become the Kingdom of France.
- c. 859The Qarawiyyin mosque is founded at Fez
Most sources date the Qarawiyyin mosque to 857-859 and credit Fatima al-Fihri; an inscription naming Dawud ibn Idris says 877, and some doubt Fatima. Clear evidence of teaching dates from 1121. It is called the oldest university, though scholars call it a madrasa.
- 863Cyril and Methodius begin translating the Gospels into Slavonic
Arriving in Great Moravia in 863, the brothers Cyril and Methodius translate the Gospels and liturgical books into Old Church Slavonic, using the Glagolitic script they devised.
- c. 865Al-Razi, physician and critic of Galen
Al-Razi (born 864 or 865 at Ray, died 925 or 935) heads hospitals at Ray and Baghdad. He writes on smallpox and measles and in Doubts about Galen challenges humoral theory. His al-Hawi and Liber Almansoris reach Latin in 1279 and c. 1180.
- c. 920The Aleppo Codex, a model Masoretic Hebrew Bible, is written in Tiberias
Around 920 the scribe Shlomo ben Buya'a copies the consonants of the Hebrew Bible in Tiberias. Aaron ben Asher later adds vowels and Masoretic notes, making it a reference text for the Hebrew Bible.
- c. 950Al-Farabi, "the Second Teacher", dies
Al-Farabi (c. 870-950), who works at Baghdad and Aleppo, is called the Second Teacher, after Aristotle. He writes commentaries on Aristotle's logic, De Interpretatione, Poetics and Nicomachean Ethics, and shapes Avicenna, Averroes and Maimonides. He dies at Damascus.
- 961Al-Hakam II builds a great library at Córdoba
Caliph al-Hakam II (r. 961-976) collects books at Córdoba from Damascus, Baghdad, Cairo and elsewhere. Accounts claim over 600,000 volumes and a 44-volume catalogue, figures only reported, not verified. After his death Almanzor is said to have destroyed "ancient science" books.
- 970The Fatimids found Al-Azhar in Cairo
The Fatimids begin the Al-Azhar mosque at Cairo in 970 and finish it in 972. In 988 the vizier Ya'qub ibn Killis makes it a centre of higher learning with 35 scholars. Saladin later turns it Sunni. Whether it was a university before 1961, or a madrasa, is disputed.
- 987Hugh Capet becomes king of the Franks, founding the Capetian dynasty
After the death of the last Carolingian king, Louis V, the great lords backed Hugh Capet, Duke of the Franks, in 987. His line ruled France, in direct or cadet branches, until 1848.
- 1008The Leningrad Codex, the oldest complete Hebrew Bible, is copied
A colophon dates the Leningrad Codex to 1008 (possibly 1009) in Cairo. It is the oldest known complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible and the base text of most modern scholarly editions.
- 1011Ibn al-Haytham writes the Book of Optics
Ibn al-Haytham (c. 965-c. 1040) writes the seven-book Book of Optics in 1011-1021, arguing that sight occurs when light enters the eye, not through rays sent from it, with experimental arguments. Its Latin version, De aspectibus, appears c. 1200 and is printed in 1572.
- 1025Avicenna completes the Canon of Medicine
Avicenna completes the Canon of Medicine in 1025 at Hamadan: five books, from principles and some 800 simple drugs to diseases and 650 compound drugs. Gerard of Cremona is credited with the Latin version. It is printed in 1472 and used in universities for centuries.
- 1027Avicenna publishes the Book of Healing
Begun in 1014 and published in 1027, Avicenna's Book of Healing is an encyclopedia in four parts: logic, natural sciences, mathematics and metaphysics. A partial Latin version, Sufficientia, appears some fifty years later and influences Albertus Magnus and Aquinas.
- c. 1030Al-Biruni completes his study of India
Al-Biruni (973-c. 1050), taken to Ghazni in 1017 and soon on Mahmud's campaigns in India, completes his Kitab al-Hind around 1030. His earth-radius measurement at Nandana, by horizon dip, survives; its accuracy depends on a cubit length that is unclear.
- c. 1030Guido of Arezzo completes his antiphoner prologue on staff notation
The Italian monk Guido of Arezzo, teacher at Arezzo cathedral, set out a method of notating pitch on a ruled staff and of teaching singers with the ut-re-mi syllables. The work is dated to about 1030.
- 1031The Caliphate of Córdoba collapses into the taifa kingdoms
The last Umayyad caliph, Hisham III, is deposed in 1031 and the Caliphate of Córdoba splits into small taifa states. Their rivalry lets the Christian kingdoms of the north demand tribute and, later, take territory.
- 1065Nizam al-Mulk founds the Nizamiyya of Baghdad
In 1065 Nizam al-Mulk founds the Nizamiyya madrasa at Baghdad, one of a network across Seljuk lands and among the first well-organised higher schools. Al-Ghazali later teaches there. Some scholars see the network as meant to counter Ismaili influence.
- c. 1077Constantine the African translates Arabic medicine
Constantine the African, a monk at Monte Cassino (1077 by one account), translates Arabic medical works into Latin, among them the Pantegni and Viaticum. He often omitted the authors' names, so Renaissance scholars called him a plagiarist. He died before 1098.
- 1085Alfonso VI of León and Castile captures Toledo
Alfonso VI takes the taifa city of Toledo, the old Visigothic capital, in 1085. It is the first great Christian gain in central Iberia and prompts the taifa kings to ask the Almoravids of North Africa for help.
- October 23, 1086Almoravids defeat Alfonso VI of Castile at Sagrajas
Called in by the taifa kings, Yusuf ibn Tashfin's Almoravid army defeats Alfonso VI near Badajoz on 23 October 1086. The Almoravids do not follow up at once, but in 1091 they end the taifa period and rule al-Andalus.
- 1095Al-Ghazali writes The Incoherence of the Philosophers
In 1095, as a professor at Baghdad, al-Ghazali attacks Avicenna and al-Farabi for following Greek philosophy against Islam. Of its 20 points, 17 are called heretical and three disbelief: the world's eternity, God knowing only universals, and denial of bodily resurrection.
- c. 1126Adelard of Bath brings Arabic science into Latin
Adelard of Bath, who travelled in Sicily and the East, is back in the West by 1126. He translates al-Khwarizmi's astronomical tables and makes the oldest surviving Latin Euclid, from an Arabic text. His death is placed anywhere from c. 1142 to c. 1160.
- c. 1126Toledo becomes a translation centre
After Toledo falls in 1085, Archbishop Raymond (1126-51) starts translation work there. Gerard of Cremona arrives in 1167 and renders Aristotle's Posterior Analytics and Physics; Michael Scot translates Averroes and the History of Animals (1220). Jews and Mozarabs help.
- c. 1130A Byzantine circle writes new Aristotle commentaries
A circle around Anna Komnene in Constantinople, including Eustratius of Nicaea and Michael of Ephesus, writes extended commentaries on neglected works of Aristotle, among them the Nicomachean Ethics (completed 1138 or later). Robert Grosseteste later translates the Ethics set.
- 1147Portugal takes Lisbon from the Almoravids with help from crusaders
King Afonso Henriques of Portugal captures Lisbon after a siege in 1147, helped by northern European crusaders on their way to the Holy Land. The conquest roughly doubles the size of the young Portuguese kingdom.
- 1154Al-Idrisi completes the Tabula Rogeriana
In 1154, weeks before Roger II of Sicily dies, al-Idrisi finishes at Palermo a world atlas that took about 15 years: 70 sectional maps and a silver planisphere, with south at the top. The originals were destroyed in a 1160 rebellion; the oldest copy dates to about 1300.
- c. 1160Léonin compiles the Magnus liber organi at Notre-Dame, Paris
Léonin, working at the Paris cathedral then under construction, gathered polyphonic settings of the chant for the liturgical year, the foundation of the Notre Dame school. The date is approximate.
- 1169Averroes begins his commentaries on Aristotle
In 1169 Ibn Tufayl introduces Averroes (1126-1198) to the Almohad caliph Abu Yaqub Yusuf, who asks him to explain Aristotle. His commentaries follow. In the Latin West he becomes known as "the Commentator". He is also appointed qadi of Seville that year.
- 1178Averroes answers al-Ghazali
In 1178 Averroes writes On the Harmony of Religions and Philosophy, arguing that Islam and philosophy are compatible. In 1180 his Incoherence of the Incoherence answers al-Ghazali, defending the philosophers passage by passage as a dialogue.
- c. 1190Maimonides writes the Guide for the Perplexed
Maimonides (d. 1204) composes the Guide c. 1185-1190, seeking to reconcile Aristotelianism and science with the Torah. It is highly controversial in his day; French rabbis burn copies at Montpellier.
- 1195Averroes is condemned and his books burned
In 1195 a tribunal at Córdoba condemns Averroes's teachings, orders his works burned and banishes him to Lucena. He is later recalled to Marrakesh and restored to favour, and dies there in 1198.
- c. 1198Pérotin writes four-voice polyphony for Notre-Dame
Pérotin, who revised Léonin's collection, composed the four-part gradual Viderunt omnes, probably for Christmas 1198 under Bishop Odo of Paris. The date is inferred from episcopal edicts and may be a year or two later.
- c. 1200The Inca found the Kingdom of Cusco in the Andes
In the early 1200s, Manco Capac leads the Inca in forming the Kingdom of Cusco. It later grows into the Inca Empire.
- 1202Fibonacci writes the Liber Abaci
Leonardo of Pisa (Fibonacci), who studied arithmetic at Bugia in North Africa, writes the Liber Abaci in 1202, helping bring Hindu-Arabic numerals and place-value notation to Europe. A revised version follows in 1228. Adoption was slow, widespread only by the late 16th century.
- c. 1205Stephen Langton's chapter divisions shape the modern Bible
Around 1205 the English theologian Stephen Langton divides the Vulgate into the chapters still used in most Bibles. They spread through the Paris Bibles of the 13th century. Verse numbers come only in the 1550s.
- 1210Paris bans Aristotle's natural philosophy
In 1210 a provincial synod at Sens, with the Bishop of Paris, forbids reading Aristotle's natural philosophy and its commentaries at Paris, in public or private, on pain of excommunication. The ban is local and binds only the Arts faculty; theologians may still read them.
- July 16, 1212Christian kings defeat the Almohads at Las Navas de Tolosa
On 16 July 1212 a coalition of Castile, Aragon, Navarre and Portugal defeats the Almohad caliph al-Nasir in the Sierra Morena. The Almohads' power in Iberia collapses, opening Andalusia to Castilian conquest.
- July 27, 1214Philip II defeats the emperor and his allies at Bouvines
Philip II Augustus routed a larger coalition led by Emperor Otto IV in Flanders. The victory sealed the loss of Anjou and Normandy by the English crown and strengthened royal authority in France.
- c. 1215Aristotle enters the Paris arts course
Robert de Courçon's 1215 statutes for Paris require Aristotle's logic and make the Ethics optional, while metaphysics and natural philosophy stay barred. By about 1254-55 the arts masters are to lecture on the New Logic, Ethics, Metaphysics and natural works.
- September 23, 1215Birth of Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan
Kublai is born on 23 September 1215, a son of Tolui and grandson of Genghis Khan. He becomes the fifth Great Khan of the Mongol Empire and the first Yuan emperor of China.
- 1219Genghis Khan invades Khwarazmia
After the Khwarazmian governor of Otrar kills a Mongol caravan in 1218, Genghis Khan invades in 1219-1221. Bukhara, Samarkand and Gurganj fall; Shah Muhammad II flees toward the Caspian and dies there around December 1220. Traditional death tolls are held exaggerated.
- May 31, 1223The Mongols defeat the Rus' and Cumans at the Kalka
On 31 May 1223 Jebe and Subutai, after riding through the Caucasus and beating the Cumans, defeat the Rus' princes and Cumans at the Kalka River. The raid covers some 8,900 km in three years. Subutai returns with Batu in 1237 and conquers Kievan Rus'.
- 1236Ferdinand III of Castile conquers Córdoba
Ferdinand III of Castile takes Córdoba, the former capital of the Umayyad caliphate, in 1236. The conquest is followed by much of the Guadalquivir valley and by Granada's submission as a Castilian vassal.
- 1238James I of Aragon conquers Valencia
James I of Aragon takes the city of Valencia, the last taifa of the east coast, in 1238, ending Muslim rule in the Valencia region. Settlers from Aragon and Catalonia follow.
- April 1241The Mongols defeat Poles and Hungarians
In April 1241 the Mongols beat Henry II of Silesia at Legnica (9 April) and Béla IV of Hungary at Mohi on the Sajó (11 April), destroying the Hungarian royal army; Béla flees to the Adriatic coast. They withdraw in 1242. Army sizes in the sources are disputed.
- 1245Carpini carries a papal mission to the Mongols
Giovanni da Pian del Carpine leaves Lyon on 16 April 1245 on Innocent IV's mission, witnesses Güyük's enthronement on 24 August 1246, and returns in 1247 with the khan's demand that Europe submit. His Ystoria Mongalorum is the oldest European account of the Mongols.
- 1248Ferdinand III of Castile conquers Seville
After a siege Seville falls to Ferdinand III of Castile in 1248, taking the largest city of al-Andalus. Only the Nasrid Emirate of Granada remains under Muslim rule in the peninsula.
- 1251Möngke becomes Great Khan and Kublai takes charge of northern China
After his brother Möngke is elected Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, Kublai is given authority over the Mongols' Chinese territories. His Chinese advisers and administration there become the base of his later power.
- 1253 – 1256Kublai Khan conquers the Dali Kingdom in Yunnan
On his brother Möngke's orders, Kublai leads a campaign from 1253 against the Dali Kingdom in southwest China. Yunnan is pacified by the end of 1256, outflanking the Song dynasty from the southwest.
- 1253William of Rubruck reaches Karakorum
Sent by Louis IX in 1253, the Flemish Franciscan William of Rubruck reaches Karakorum in December and is received by Möngke on 4 January 1254. He watches a debate among Christians, Buddhists and Muslims in May and returns in 1255. His route shows the Caspian is an inland sea.
- c. 1254Birth of Marco Polo in Venice
Marco Polo, future merchant and traveller to the court of Kublai Khan, is born in Venice into a merchant family. His exact birth date and place are not documented; Venice and 1254 are the usual attribution.
- February 1258The Mongols take Baghdad
Hulegu's army besieges Baghdad from late January 1258, and Caliph al-Musta'sim surrenders on 10 February. The caliph is executed, ending Abbasid rule in Baghdad. Casualty claims of up to two million are exaggerated; whether the House of Wisdom was destroyed is not confirmed.
- c. 1260William of Moerbeke translates Aristotle from the Greek
William of Moerbeke (d. c. 1286) translates much of Aristotle directly from Greek, including On the Parts of Animals (1260), the Politics (c. 1260) and On the Soul (1267). Much earlier Latin Aristotle came via Arabic. An Aquinas request is assumed, not documented.
- May 5, 1260Kublai Khan is proclaimed Great Khan at Kaiping, splitting the Mongol Empire
After Möngke's death in 1259, Kublai is proclaimed Great Khan at Kaiping (later Shangdu) in 1260, as his brother Ariq Böke is at Karakorum. The rival claims start a civil war and the empire never again has one ruler.
- 1264Ariq Böke surrenders to Kublai Khan, ending the Toluid Civil War
Blockaded and starving, Ariq Böke submits to his brother Kublai at Shangdu in 1264. Kublai becomes the undisputed Great Khan in the east, while the western khanates go their own way.
- 1265Aquinas joins Aristotle to Christian doctrine
Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225-1274), who studied under Albertus Magnus, seeks to combine Aristotelian philosophy with Christian principles. He writes the unfinished Summa Theologiae (1265-74) and, in Paris (1268-72), On the Unity of the Intellect against the Averroists.
- c. 1266 – c. 1293Kublai Khan begins building Dadu (Khanbaliq), the future Beijing, as the Yuan capital
Kublai orders a new capital, Dadu, built beside the old Jin capital Zhongdu. Sources date the start to 1264, 1266 or 1267; the city becomes the Yuan capital in the 1270s and is finished around 1293.
- c. 1269Kublai Khan's court introduces the 'Phags-pa script for the Mongol empire
The Tibetan monk Drogön Chögyal Phagpa devises a new alphabet at Kublai Khan's request to write Mongolian and other languages of the empire. Sources date it to 1269 or 1270.
- 1271Kublai Khan proclaims the Yuan dynasty in China
Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, adopts the Chinese dynastic name Yuan for his Mongol empire in China and rules from Dadu (Beijing). The Polos later served at his court.
- c. 1271Marco Polo leaves Venice with his father and uncle for the Mongol court
Aged about 17, Marco Polo sets out from Venice with his father Niccolò and uncle Maffeo on an overland journey across Asia to Kublai Khan. The date rests largely on Polo's own account.
- 1273Fall of Xiangyang opens the Yangtze to the Mongols
After a siege of several years, the Song twin fortress of Xiangyang and Fancheng surrenders to Kublai Khan's army in 1273. The defeat opens the Yangtze and leaves the Southern Song open to invasion.
- November 1274Kublai Khan's first invasion of Japan reaches Hakata Bay
A Yuan and Korean fleet takes Tsushima and Iki and lands near Hakata in Kyushu in November 1274, but withdraws after a storm and strong samurai resistance. Kublai had demanded Japan's submission since 1266.
- c. 1275Marco Polo reaches Kublai Khan's court at Shangdu
After a journey of about three and a half years the Polos arrive at Kublai Khan's summer capital, Shangdu (Xanadu). Marco serves the khan for some 17 years; his exact role is disputed.
- February 1276Mongol army enters Lin'an; the Southern Song court surrenders
General Bayan enters the Song capital Lin'an (Hangzhou) in 1276 and the dowager empress and child Emperor Gong of Song submit to Kublai Khan. Loyalist resistance continues in the south.
- March 7, 1277Tempier condemns 219 propositions at Paris
On 7 March 1277 Bishop Étienne Tempier condemns 219 propositions, mainly from Aristotle and Averroes, after a narrower 1270 ban on 13. Twenty are Thomistic, which hurts Aquinas's reputation for years; the condemnation is later partly annulled as far as it touched him.
- March 19, 1279Battle of Yamen ends the Song dynasty; Yuan rules all China
The Yuan navy under Zhang Hongfan destroys the last Song fleet at Yamen on 19 March 1279; the child emperor Zhao Bing dies. Kublai Khan now rules all China, the first time non-Han rulers hold it all.
- 1281Kublai Khan's second invasion of Japan is wrecked by a typhoon
A far larger Yuan force in two fleets attacks Kyushu in 1281. After weeks held at the coast by samurai defences, a typhoon destroys much of the fleet. The storm becomes known as kamikaze, or 'divine wind'.
- 1285Yuan army invades Đại Việt (Vietnam) for the second time
Kublai Khan's forces invade Vietnam again in 1285, after incursions from 1257, and once more in 1287. The Trần dynasty resists and ends by accepting nominal tributary status.
- 1287Rabban Bar Sauma travels from China to Europe
Born near Beijing, the Church of the East monk Rabban Bar Sauma travels west for the Ilkhan Arghun in 1287-88, seeking an alliance against the Mamluks. He meets Andronicus II, Philip IV and Edward I, and Pope Nicholas IV in Rome. The alliance fails.
- c. 1291Marco Polo leaves China from Zaitun with a Mongol princess's party
The Polos depart from the port of Zaitun by sea, escorting the princess Kököchin to Persia. Sources give 1291 or 1292.
- 1293Yuan expedition to Java fails after Kublai Khan's last overseas campaign
In 1293 Kublai Khan sends a fleet to punish King Kertanegara of Singhasari in Java. It is drawn into local politics and withdraws, and the Majapahit kingdom emerges. Kublai dies the following year.
- 1294John of Montecorvino reaches Khanbaliq
The Franciscan John of Montecorvino reaches China in 1294, just after Kublai's death, and builds a church at Khanbaliq in 1299 and a second in 1305. He translates the New Testament and Psalms into Uyghur and is consecrated archbishop of Peking in 1308.
- February 18, 1294Death of Kublai Khan, ruler of the Mongol Empire and Yuan China
Kublai Khan dies at Dadu (Beijing) on 18 February 1294 after ruling China for over two decades, weakening the unity of the Mongol Empire.
- 1295Marco Polo returns to Venice after about 24 years in Asia
Marco Polo, his father and his uncle return to Venice in 1295 after about 24 years away, having travelled across Asia and served at Kublai Khan's court.
- c. 1298 – 1299Marco Polo dictates his Travels to Rustichello da Pisa in a Genoese prison
Held prisoner by Genoa, Polo dictates an account of his journeys to the romance writer Rustichello da Pisa. The book, in French, is later known as Il Milione. Tradition links his capture to Curzola (1298).
- 1302Philip IV convenes the first assembly of the Estates General
In his conflict with Pope Boniface VIII, Philip IV of France summoned representatives of the clergy, nobility and towns to Paris to back him, creating the model for the Estates General.
- c. 1302Francesco Pipino translates Marco Polo's Travels into Latin
The Dominican friar Francesco Pipino produces a Latin version of the Travels, one of the earliest translations and a source for the book's wide circulation in manuscript across Europe.
- September 1303French agents seize Pope Boniface VIII at Anagni
Agents of Philip IV of France and the Colonna family attacked Boniface VIII at Anagni and held him for days. The pope died soon after, marking the shift of power from papacy to the French crown.
- c. 1308Dante meets Aristotle in Limbo
In Inferno IV, written about 1306-1310, Dante places Aristotle in Limbo among the virtuous pagans, with Socrates and Plato beside him, and calls him "the master of those who know". Avicenna and Averroes are also there.
- 1309Clement V moves the papal court to Avignon
The French pope Clement V settled the papacy at Avignon, beginning a period (1309-1376) in which the popes were widely seen as under French royal influence.
- 1324Death of Marco Polo in Venice
Marco Polo dies in Venice, usually dated to 8 January 1324 and buried at San Lorenzo. The Venetian calendar makes the day 8 or 9 January, and some sources conflict, so only the year is given.
- c. 1325The Mexica found Tenochtitlan on an island in Lake Texcoco
Tradition dates the foundation of the Mexica capital to 1325, though the exact date is unclear and 13 March 1325 was fixed only in 1925 for the city's 600th anniversary. It grows into the centre of the Aztec Empire.
- June 14, 1325Ibn Battuta sets out from Tangier
Ibn Battuta leaves Tangier on 14 June 1325 for the hajj and does not return to Morocco for 24 years, travelling about 117,000 km. He serves six years as a qadi at Delhi. Doubts remain about parts of his account, including his chronology and whether he reached China.
- May 24, 1337 – October 19, 1453The Hundred Years' War between France and England
Philip VI moved to seize English-held Gascony and Edward III responded by claiming the French throne. The war ended in 1453 with England losing all its continental lands except Calais.
- 1341Niccoloso da Recco leads a Portuguese-backed expedition to the Canary Islands
The Genoese navigator Niccoloso da Recco sails to the Canary Islands in 1341 in an expedition backed by the Portuguese crown. It is the first well-documented European voyage to the archipelago since antiquity.
- November 1344Pope Clement VI grants the Canary Islands to Luis de la Cerda as 'Prince of Fortune'
In November 1344 Clement VI gives the islands, still unconquered, to the Castilian noble Luis de la Cerda with the title Prince of Fortune. A January 1345 bull makes the conquest a crusade, but Luis dies in 1348 without leading one.
- c. 1361Guillaume de Machaut composes the Messe de Nostre Dame
Machaut, the leading figure of the French ars nova, wrote the earliest known complete setting of the Mass Ordinary by a single composer, probably for Reims Cathedral in the early 1360s.
- 1371Birth of Zheng He (Ma He) in Yunnan
Zheng He is born as Ma He in 1371 in Yunnan, in southwest China, to a Muslim family. He later becomes a Ming court eunuch and the admiral of the treasure fleet.
- 1377Death of Guillaume de Machaut
The composer and poet Guillaume de Machaut died, probably in April 1377. Musicologists often use his death to mark the end of the ars nova and the start of the ars subtilior.
- January 17, 1377Gregory XI returns the papacy from Avignon to Rome
Pope Gregory XI, who left Avignon in September 1376, enters Rome on 17 January 1377, ending the papal residence in France. He dies fourteen months later, and the disputed election that follows splits the Church.
- September 20, 1378The Western Schism begins with two rival popes
After the cardinals elect Urban VI in April 1378, dissident cardinals meeting at Fondi elect Clement VII on 20 September. Two popes, in Rome and Avignon, claim the Church's obedience until 1417.
- c. 1381Ma He (Zheng He) is captured in the Ming conquest of Yunnan
As a boy of about 10, Ma He is taken prisoner when Ming armies conquer Yunnan in 1381 or 1382. He is made a eunuch and placed in the household of Zhu Di, the Prince of Yan and future Yongle Emperor.
- c. 1382 – c. 1388The first complete English Bible, the Wycliffite Bible, is made
Around 1382 a first English Bible is translated from the Latin Vulgate in the circle of John Wycliffe at Oxford; a freer revision follows c. 1388. Wycliffe's own part in the translation is disputed.
- 1387Bishop Adhémar Fabri grants Geneva its franchises
In 1387 Adhémar Fabri, Bishop of Geneva, grants the town its great charter of franchises. It becomes the basis of Geneva's communal self-government, which later underpins the city's claim to be a republic.
- 1397Manuel Chrysoloras begins teaching Greek in Florence
Invited by the chancellor Coluccio Salutati, the Byzantine scholar Manuel Chrysoloras starts teaching Greek in Florence, reviving the study of Greek literature in the Latin West. He stays until 1400.
- 1397Giovanni di Bicci founds the Medici Bank in Florence
Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici separates his bank from that of his nephew Averardo and moves it from Rome to Florence. The bank funds the family's rise and is liquidated in 1494, after Charles VIII's invasion.
- 1402Jean de Béthencourt and Gadifer de la Salle land in Lanzarote
The Norman knights Béthencourt and La Salle reach Lanzarote in 1402, and Henry III of Castile makes Béthencourt lord of the islands. Sources date the conquest of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura between 1402 and 1405.
- 1402Zhu Di takes Nanjing and becomes the Yongle Emperor
After the Jingnan Campaign (1399-1402) against his nephew, the Jianwen Emperor, Zhu Di captures the capital Nanjing in 1402 and takes the throne as the Yongle Emperor. His supporter Zheng He is made an admiral.
- 1403Clavijo's embassy from Castile to Timur
Henry III of Castile sends Ruy González de Clavijo to Timur. The party sails from Cádiz on 22 May 1403, crosses Constantinople and Trebizond, and reaches Samarkand on 4 September 1404. Back in Castile on 24 March 1406, Clavijo writes the Embajada a Tamorlán.
- September 4, 1403The Yongle Emperor orders 200 ocean-going ships built
On 4 September 1403 the Yongle Emperor orders 200 seagoing transport ships, the start of the Ming treasure fleet. The fleet is built at Nanjing's Longjiang shipyard and others on the Yangtze.
- July 11, 1405 – October 2, 1407Zheng He's first treasure voyage to Southeast Asia, Ceylon and India
Zheng He sails from Nanjing on 11 July 1405 with about 255 ships and 27,800 men, calling at Champa, Java, Malacca, Ceylon and Calicut. The fleet returns on 2 October 1407.
- c. 1406Jacopo d'Angelo translates Ptolemy's Geography into Latin in Florence
Jacopo d'Angelo, a pupil of Chrysoloras, translates Ptolemy's Geography in Florence (c. 1406-07), opening its coordinate-based map-making to Latin readers. The first printed edition with maps followed in Bologna in 1477.
- 1407 – 1409England restricts unlicensed Bible translation
In 1407–1409 Archbishop Thomas Arundel's constitutions, issued at Oxford, require church approval for any new English translation of Scripture and bar the public reading of Wycliffe's writings.
- 1407Zheng He's fleet defeats Chen Zuyi's fleet at Palembang
On the first voyage Zheng He defeats the Chinese-led fleet of Chen Zuyi at Palembang in Sumatra in 1407. Chen is sent to China and executed on 2 October 1407. Whether he was a pirate or a local ruler is debated.
- c. 1409Zheng He erects a Chinese, Persian and Tamil stele at Galle, Ceylon
A trilingual stele in Chinese, Persian and Tamil is set up at Galle in Sri Lanka, dated 15 February 1409 in most sources (one says 1411). It records offerings to Buddha, Allah and the Hindu god Tenavarai Nayanar.
- 1413 – August 12, 1415Zheng He's fourth treasure voyage reaches Hormuz and the Persian Gulf
The fourth voyage leaves Nanjing in autumn 1413, extends the usual route to Hormuz and the Maldives, and returns on 12 August 1415. Detachments visit Bengal and the Arabian coast.
- 1414A giraffe from Malindi in East Africa is presented to the Yongle Emperor
An envoy from Malindi, on the East African coast, brings a giraffe to Bengal, from where the Chinese fleet takes it to the Yongle Emperor in 1414. The court treats it as a qilin, a sign of imperial virtue.
- November 16, 1414 – April 22, 1418The Council of Constance meets to end the Western Schism
Convened in 1414, when three men claimed to be pope, the council sidelines all three and elects Martin V in 1417. It also has the Czech reformer Jan Hus burned for heresy on 6 July 1415.
- August 21, 1415Portugal conquers Ceuta in Morocco
King John I of Portugal and his sons, including Prince Henry, capture the Marinid port of Ceuta on 21 August 1415. It is commonly treated as the start of Portugal's overseas expansion.
- January 1417Poggio Bracciolini finds Lucretius' De rerum natura
The humanist Poggio Bracciolini discovers a manuscript of Lucretius' poem De rerum natura in a German monastery, probably Fulda. Poggio never named the place, and the find became a landmark of Renaissance manuscript hunting.
- 1417 – August 8, 1419Zheng He's fifth treasure voyage reaches Aden and the East African coast
The fifth voyage leaves in autumn 1417 and visits Hormuz, Aden, Mogadishu, Barawa and Malindi, the farthest the Ming fleets sail, and returns on 8 August 1419.
- November 11, 1417Martin V is elected pope, ending the Western Schism
At Constance on 11 November 1417, 23 cardinals and 30 council delegates elect Oddone Colonna as Martin V, reuniting the Church under one pope. He enters Rome in September 1420.
- c. 1419Portuguese captains reach Madeira and Porto Santo
Captains João Gonçalves Zarco and Tristão Vaz Teixeira, serving Prince Henry, reach Porto Santo and Madeira around 1418-1419. Settlement on Madeira begins in the 1420s, with sugar and wine later its main products.
- 1420 – March 25, 1436Brunelleschi builds the dome of Florence Cathedral
Construction of Filippo Brunelleschi's dome over Florence Cathedral begins in 1420. Pope Eugene IV consecrates the church with the completed dome on 25 March 1436.
- 1421 – September 3, 1422Zheng He's sixth treasure voyage sails to the Indian Ocean and East Africa
The sixth voyage, ordered in March 1421, takes the fleet to Ceylon, Hormuz, Aden and East Africa and returns to Nanjing on 3 September 1422. On 14 May 1421 the Yongle Emperor suspended further voyages.
- 1424The Hongxi Emperor halts the Ming treasure voyages
When Zhu Gaozhi becomes the Hongxi Emperor in 1424, he ends the treasure voyages after the Yongle Emperor's death, citing costs. Some sources say 1426. Zheng He is posted to Nanjing.
- c. 1427Portuguese navigators reach the Azores
The Azores are reached by Portuguese ships around 1427-1431; Diogo de Silves is credited with 1427 on a disputed map inscription, and Gonçalo Velho Cabral officially claims them in 1431. Settlement begins in the 1430s-40s.
- c. 1428Tenochtitlan, Tetzcoco and Tlacopan form the Aztec Triple Alliance
After defeating Azcapotzalco in 1428, the three cities ally to dominate central Mexico. The article gives 1428 for the foundation, while another passage dates the treaty to 1430.
- July 17, 1429Charles VII is crowned at Reims after Joan of Arc relieves Orléans
Inspired by Joan of Arc's lifting of the siege of Orléans, Charles VII was crowned at Reims, restoring the legitimacy of his claim against the English-backed Henry VI and turning the tide of the war.
- January 19, 1431 – July 7, 1433Zheng He's seventh and last treasure voyage
Zheng He sails from Nanjing on 19 January 1431 under the Xuande Emperor and visits Southeast Asia, India, Hormuz and East Africa. The fleet returns to China on 7 July 1433, and no more are sent.
- c. 1433Death of Zheng He on the return from the seventh voyage
Zheng He dies in 1433, probably near Calicut on the way home from his seventh voyage; a few sources give 1435. A tomb in Nanjing is said to hold only his clothes, as he was reportedly buried at sea.
- 1434Cosimo de' Medici returns from exile and takes control of Florence
Imprisoned in September 1433 and then exiled, the banker Cosimo de' Medici returns to Florence in 1434. He begins the family's long dominance of the city, which lasts until 1494.
- c. 1434Gil Eanes sails beyond Cape Bojador
On Prince Henry's orders Gil Eanes sails past Cape Bojador on the West African coast and returns, in 1434 (some sources say 1435), after a failed attempt in 1433. The voyage opens the coast south of the cape to Portuguese ships.
- c. 1435Alberti writes De pictura, setting out linear perspective
Leon Battista Alberti writes his treatise on painting, De pictura (Della pittura in Italian), setting out the rules of linear perspective and crediting Brunelleschi. Sources date the versions between 1435 and 1441.
- January 13, 1435Pope Eugene IV orders the release of enslaved Canary Islanders in Sicut dudum
Eugene IV issues Sicut dudum on 13 January 1435, threatening excommunication for those who keep Canarians enslaved after Christian conversion. It follows Creator omnium and is partly reversed for Portugal in 1436.
- 1438Pachacuti begins the expansion that creates the Inca Empire
In 1438 Pachacuti, the ninth Sapa Inca, starts the conquests that turn the Cusco state into Tawantinsuyu. He reigns until 1471, and his successors extend the empire north and south.
- 1438Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges asserts royal control of the French church
Charles VII issued an ordinance limiting papal authority in France and giving the crown and French clergy control of church appointments and revenues.
- July 6, 1439The Council of Florence proclaims the union of the Latin and Greek churches
On 6 July 1439 Pope Eugene IV and Emperor John VIII Palaiologos sign the decree Laetentur caeli at Florence. The East rejected it, and it never took effect, even after Constantinople fell in 1453.
- 1444Cosimo de' Medici founds the Library of San Marco in Florence
Founded in 1444 and designed by Michelozzo, the Library of San Marco is the first public library in Florence. It was built with Cosimo de' Medici's support.
- 1444 – 1484Cosimo de' Medici has Michelozzo build the Palazzo Medici
Construction of the Palazzo Medici, designed by Michelozzo for Cosimo de' Medici, begins in 1444 and runs to 1484. It is the family's main residence until Piero de' Medici is exiled in 1494.
- August 1444Lançarote de Freitas lands the first large group of enslaved Africans at Lagos
A fleet of six caravels returns to Lagos from the Arguin coast in August 1444 with over 200 captured Africans, who are sold at a public market. It is seen as the start of Portugal's slave trade from West Africa.
- c. 1450Fra Mauro draws his world map in Venice, drawing on Marco Polo
The Camaldolese monk Fra Mauro makes a large world map at San Michele in Isola, Venice. Its Asian annotations draw on travellers such as Marco Polo and Niccolò de' Conti.
- April 15, 1452Birth of Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo is born near the town of Vinci, in the Republic of Florence.
- May 29, 1453Fall of Constantinople
The Ottomans take the Byzantine capital, ending the Eastern Roman Empire.
- May 1454Diet of Regensburg debates a crusade against the Ottomans
Emperor Frederick III's imperial diet at Regensburg takes up a crusade after the fall of Constantinople but only agrees to the war in principle. Frankfurt (Oct 1454) and Wiener Neustadt (1455) follow.
- 1455 – 1456Alvise Cadamosto makes two voyages to West Africa for Prince Henry
The Venetian Alvise Cadamosto sails along the West African coast in 1455 and 1456, reaching the Gambia River. His voyages are traditionally linked to the sighting of the Cape Verde Islands.
- c. 1455Gutenberg Bible printed
Movable-type printing in Mainz produces the first major book in Europe.
- July 4, 1456 – July 22, 1456John Hunyadi relieves Belgrade and halts Mehmed II's advance
Hungarian forces under János Hunyadi and a crusader army raised by John of Capistrano break the Ottoman siege of Belgrade. Mehmed II, wounded, retreats; the Ottoman push up the Danube is checked for decades.
- 1459 – 1460Pius II calls the Congress of Mantua to organise a crusade
Pope Pius II gathers European princes at Mantua to answer the Ottoman advance; the crusade he proclaims in January 1460 for three years stays largely on paper.
- May 29, 1460Mehmed II conquers the Morea; Mistra falls
Ottoman forces take Mistra, seat of the Despotate of the Morea ruled by the Palaiologos family, ending the last Byzantine holdout in Greece. The despots had been brothers of the last emperor, Constantine XI.
- November 13, 1460Death of Prince Henry the Navigator
Prince Henry, son of John I and patron of Portuguese voyages along the Atlantic coast of Africa, dies on 13 November 1460. The 'school of Sagres' attached to him is now seen as a legend; Lagos was his main base.
- August 15, 1461Mehmed II takes Trebizond, ending the last Byzantine successor state
Emperor David Komnenos surrenders the Empire of Trebizond on the Black Sea to Mehmed II after a month's siege. Historians treat it as the end of Byzantine continuity.
- c. 1462Cosimo de' Medici sets Marsilio Ficino to translate Plato
Cosimo de' Medici gives Marsilio Ficino Greek manuscripts of Plato, and Ficino begins translating the whole corpus into Latin (published 1484). His circle is later called the Platonic Academy, though the name is debated.
- August 1, 1464Death of Cosimo de' Medici, 'Father of the Fatherland'
Cosimo de' Medici dies at the family villa of Careggi on 1 August 1464. The Florentine Signoria awards him the title Pater Patriae, 'Father of the Fatherland', which is carved on his tomb.
- 1465The first dated books printed in Italy appear at Subiaco
German printers Konrad Sweynheym and Arnold Pannartz, working at Subiaco near Rome, print Cicero's De oratore (September 1465) and Lactantius' Divinae institutiones (October 1465), the first dated books printed in Italy.
- 1466Mentelin prints the first German Bible in Strasbourg
In 1466 Johannes Mentelin prints in Strasbourg the first Bible in German, a High German translation from the Vulgate. It is reprinted at least thirteen times before 1518, well before Luther.
- c. 1467Leonardo apprenticed to Verrocchio
At about fifteen, Leonardo is sent to Florence to train under the artist Andrea del Verrocchio. Sources date the start anywhere from 1464 to the late 1460s.
- 1468Cardinal Bessarion gives his Greek manuscripts to Venice
Basilios Bessarion, a Greek refugee cardinal, donates his library of Greek and Latin manuscripts to the Republic of Venice (letter of 31 May 1468); it becomes the core of the Marciana library and a hub for Greek learning in Italy.
- 1469John of Speyer begins printing in Venice
John of Speyer, granted a five-year printing monopoly by the Venetian Senate, prints Cicero's Epistolae ad familiares, the first book printed in Venice and the start of the city's printing trade.
- October 19, 1469Isabella of Castile marries Ferdinand of Aragon
Isabella, heir to Castile, marries Ferdinand, heir to Aragon, in Valladolid on 19 October 1469 without her half-brother Henry IV's consent. Their union leads to the joint rule of the Catholic Monarchs.
- December 1469Lorenzo de' Medici, aged 20, takes the lead in Florence
After the death of his father Piero in December 1469, the 20-year-old Lorenzo de' Medici, later called 'the Magnificent', assumes the family's leading role in Florence. He rules until his death in 1492.
- 1472Ivan III of Moscow marries Sophia Palaiologina, niece of the last Byzantine emperor
Raised in Rome under Cardinal Bessarion, Sophia marries the grand prince of Moscow (proxy ceremony in Rome in June, wedding in Moscow in November). The match fed Moscow's later claim to be the 'Third Rome'.
- 1472Leonardo joins the Florentine painters' guild
Leonardo is accepted into the painters' guild of Florence.
- 1473 – August 15, 1483Sixtus IV builds the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican
Built for Pope Sixtus IV between 1473 and 1481, the chapel receives wall frescoes by Botticelli, Perugino, Ghirlandaio and Rosselli in 1481–82. It is consecrated on 15 August 1483.
- 1475Toscanelli sets up a gnomon in Florence Cathedral
Astronomer Paolo dal Pozzo Toscanelli opens a hole in the cathedral's dome, about 91 metres above the floor, to cast a meridian line for observing the sun around the summer solstice.
- June 15, 1475Sixtus IV formally establishes the Vatican Library
By the bull Ad decorem militantis ecclesiae of 15 June 1475, Sixtus IV formally founds the Vatican Library. It grew from the Greek, Latin and Hebrew codices that Nicholas V gathered from 1451.
- 1478Ferdinand and Isabella obtain papal approval for a Spanish Inquisition
In 1478 the Catholic Monarchs request, and Pope Sixtus IV approves, an Inquisition in Castile under royal control, aimed at conversos suspected of secretly practising Judaism. Sources date its start to 1478, 1480 or 1483.
- April 26, 1478The Pazzi conspiracy strikes the Medici in Florence Cathedral
On 26 April 1478, conspirators backed by Pope Sixtus IV kill Giuliano de' Medici at High Mass; Lorenzo survives. Sixtus excommunicates Lorenzo (1 June) and puts Florence under interdict (20 June).
- June 24, 1478Juan Rejón lands on Gran Canaria and founds Las Palmas
A Castilian force under Juan Rejón lands at La Isleta on 24 June 1478 and founds the camp that becomes Las Palmas, opening the royal conquest of Gran Canaria against its Indigenous inhabitants.
- September 4, 1479Treaty of Alcáçovas divides Atlantic claims between Castile and Portugal
The treaty of 4 September 1479 ends the Castilian succession war. Castile keeps the Canary Islands, while Portugal gets the Guinea coast and the Atlantic south of the Canaries. It was ratified in 1480.
- August 11, 1480Ottoman fleet captures Otranto in southern Italy
Gedik Ahmed Pasha's Ottoman force takes Otranto in Apulia, alarming Italy and Rome. Mehmed II's death in 1481 ends the campaign and the town is retaken that year.
- June 21, 1481Pope Sixtus IV confirms the Alcáçovas division in the bull Aeterni regis
Sixtus IV issues Aeterni regis on 21 June 1481, confirming the Treaty of Alcáçovas, including Portugal's rights to African lands. John II of Portugal later cites it against Columbus's claims.
- c. 1482Diogo Cão reaches the mouth of the Congo River
Diogo Cão, sailing for John II, reaches the Congo River in 1482 (the date is not fully settled) and sets up a stone padrão to mark Portugal's claim. His later voyage carries him further south along the African coast.
- c. 1482 – January 1492The Granada War: Castile and Aragon against the Emirate of Granada
Ferdinand and Isabella's war against the Nasrid Emirate of Granada begins around 1482 (some sources say 1481) and ends with Granada's surrender on 2 January 1492.
- c. 1482Leonardo moves to Milan
Leonardo leaves Florence for Milan and finds work at the court of the Sforza family. Most sources say 1482; the National Gallery gives about 1482-3.
- 1482Erhard Ratdolt prints the first edition of Euclid's Elements
The printer Erhard Ratdolt, working in Venice, issues the first printed edition of Euclid's Elements, solving the problem of reproducing geometric diagrams in print.
- January 1482Portugal builds São Jorge da Mina (Elmina) on the Gold Coast
Diogo de Azambuja lands in January 1482, gets permission from local ruler Kwamina Ansa and starts building the fort of São Jorge da Mina. It is the first permanent Portuguese fort in sub-Saharan Africa.
- 1483Castile completes the conquest of Gran Canaria under Pedro de Vera
After years of resistance, mostly in the island's interior, the last Gran Canaria leaders submit to Pedro de Vera in 1483. Rejón had been removed by this time. It is the first of the major islands taken by the Crown of Castile.
- 1483Van der Goes's Portinari Altarpiece arrives in Florence
Hugo van der Goes's oil triptych, painted in Flanders for the Portinari family, is installed in Florence in 1483. Florentine painters admire and imitate it, as Ghirlandaio does in 1485.
- November 10, 1483Birth of Martin Luther at Eisleben
Martin Luther is born at Eisleben in the County of Mansfeld, in the Holy Roman Empire. He becomes the theologian whose challenge to the Church launches the Protestant Reformation, and he dies in the same town in 1546.
- c. 1484John II of Portugal's advisers reject Columbus's plan to sail west to Asia
A committee of mathematicians and cosmographers appointed by King John II judges Columbus's estimate of the distance to Asia too small and turns down his proposal, in 1484 or 1485. Columbus then goes to Castile.
- 1484Birth of Bartolomé de las Casas in Seville
Bartolomé de las Casas is born in Seville in 1484 (11 November in the sources I found). Archival research in the 1970s showed that the long-accepted date of 1474 was wrong. He later becomes the leading critic of Spanish colonial abuses.
- c. 1485Botticelli paints The Birth of Venus, later at the Medici villa of Castello
Sandro Botticelli paints The Birth of Venus, probably in the mid-1480s (c. 1484–86). It hung at the Medici Villa di Castello, though no record of its commission survives and the old attribution to Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco is now doubted.
- c. 1485Hernán Cortés is born in Medellín, Extremadura
The future conqueror of the Aztec Empire is born around 1485 to a minor noble family; the exact year is uncertain, since sources give his age at death as 61 or 62. His mother is Catalina Pizarro.
- c. 1486 – c. 1490Hernando de Talavera's commission examines Columbus's proposal in Castile
From about 1486 a commission headed by Hernando de Talavera, confessor to Queen Isabella, considers Columbus's plan. It meets only now and then and advises against it in 1490 (some sources say 1491); the monarchs overrule it in 1492.
- 1488Bartolomeu Dias rounds the southern tip of Africa
Sent by John II, Bartolomeu Dias rounds the southern tip of Africa in early 1488 and reaches Mossel Bay on 3 February, proving the Indian Ocean can be reached by sea. He first calls the Cape the Cape of Storms.
- 1488The first complete printed Hebrew Bible appears at Soncino
In 1488 the Soncino printers in northern Italy publish the first complete printed Hebrew Bible, without commentary. Most sources date its completion to 22 April 1488; some give February.
- 1489 – April 8, 1492The young Michelangelo joins Lorenzo de' Medici's household
In 1489 Lorenzo de' Medici asks Ghirlandaio for his two best pupils, and Michelangelo and Francesco Granacci are sent. Michelangelo stays with the Medici until Lorenzo's death in 1492 and attends the Medici Platonic Academy.
- June 1489Josquin des Prez joins the papal choir in Rome
The Franco-Flemish composer Josquin des Prez, previously in the service of Cardinal Ascanio Sforza in Milan, sang in the papal choir from June 1489 until at least 1494 under Innocent VIII and Alexander VI.
- c. 1490Leonardo draws the Vitruvian Man
Leonardo draws a male figure inscribed in a circle and a square, a study of ideal human proportions, probably in Milan.
- June 28, 1491Birth of Henry VIII at Greenwich
Henry VIII is born at the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, the second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. He becomes king in 1509 and breaks with the papacy in the 1530s.
- January 1492Boabdil surrenders Granada to Ferdinand and Isabella
Muhammad XII (Boabdil) hands Granada and the Alhambra to the Catholic Monarchs in January 1492, ending Muslim rule in Iberia after almost 800 years. Most sources give 2 January, one gives 1 January.
- 1492Antonio de Nebrija publishes the first grammar of Castilian
Antonio de Nebrija publishes his Gramática de la lengua castellana in Salamanca, the first grammar of a modern European vernacular. 1492 is the conventional start of the Spanish Golden Age.
- March 31, 1492Alhambra Decree expels the Jews from Castile and Aragon
Ferdinand and Isabella order all Jews who will not convert to Christianity to leave Castile and Aragon, in a decree dated 31 March 1492, less than three months after the fall of Granada.
- April 8, 1492Death of Lorenzo de' Medici, 'the Magnificent'
Lorenzo de' Medici dies at the family villa of Careggi on 8 April 1492. He had patronised Botticelli and the humanists Ficino, Landino and Poliziano; his son Piero succeeds him, and the Medici are expelled in 1494.
- April 17, 1492Ferdinand and Isabella sign the Santa Fe Capitulations with Columbus
On 17 April 1492, outside conquered Granada, the Catholic Monarchs make Columbus Admiral, Viceroy and Governor of any lands he finds, with a tenth of the profits. A copy in the Archive of the Crown of Aragon survives.
- August 3, 1492 – March 1493Columbus's first voyage across the Atlantic and back
Sailing for Castile with three ships, Columbus crosses the Atlantic, reaches the Bahamas on 12 October 1492 and returns in March 1493, beginning sustained contact between Europe and the Americas.
- August 3, 1492Columbus sails from Palos de la Frontera with the Santa María, Pinta and Niña
Columbus leaves the Andalusian port of Palos on 3 August 1492 with three ships and about 90 men, heading for the Canary Islands. Some sources give 2 August.
- August 11, 1492Rodrigo Borgia is elected Pope Alexander VI
Rodrigo Borgia is elected pope on 11 August 1492 after a costly conclave, amid rumours of vote-buying that were never proven. His son Cesare Borgia later employed Leonardo da Vinci as a military engineer.
- September 1492 – May 1493Alonso Fernández de Lugo conquers La Palma
Fernández de Lugo lands at Tazacorte in September 1492 and completes the conquest of La Palma in 1493, founding Santa Cruz de La Palma. The campaign dates vary between sources.
- September 6, 1492Columbus leaves La Gomera in the Canary Islands for the open Atlantic
After repairing the Pinta's rudder at Gran Canaria, Columbus stops at La Gomera and sails west on 6 September 1492, the last land before the Atlantic crossing. The Castilian conquest of the Canaries gave him a base.
- October 12, 1492Columbus's fleet sights land at Guanahani in the Bahamas
A lookout on the Pinta sights land in the early hours of 12 October 1492. The island, Guanahani to its Lucayan Taíno people and renamed San Salvador by Columbus, is in the Bahamas; which modern island it was remains debated.
- March 1493Columbus returns to Europe and Portugal disputes Castile's claim
Storm-driven, Columbus's Niña reaches Lisbon on 4 March 1493 before going to Palos. John II of Portugal says the discoveries fall under earlier treaties, which leads to the papal bulls and the Treaty of Tordesillas.
- May 4, 1493Pope Alexander VI issues Inter caetera granting Castile lands in the west
On 4 May 1493 Pope Alexander VI grants the Catholic Monarchs the lands discovered or to be discovered west and south of a line near the Azores and Cape Verde. It is revised by the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494.
- September 1493Columbus sails on his second voyage with 17 ships to settle Hispaniola
A fleet of 17 ships and over a thousand men, including settlers, soldiers and priests, leaves Cádiz in late September 1493. It is the first Spanish colonising expedition to the Americas.
- 1494Aldus Manutius founds the Aldine Press in Venice
The scholar-printer Aldus Manutius founds the Aldine Press in Venice. Its first publication, in March 1495, is Constantine Lascaris' Greek grammar Erotemata with a Latin translation.
- c. 1494 – July 1496Castile conquers Tenerife, the last of the Canary Islands
Alonso Fernández de Lugo invades Tenerife in 1494 against the Guanche kingdoms (menceyatos). After defeat at the first Acentejo, he wins at Aguere and the second Acentejo, and the island submits in July 1496.
- c. 1494Columbus founds La Isabela on Hispaniola, the first European town in the Americas
At the turn of 1493-94 Columbus founds La Isabela on the north coast of Hispaniola, in today's Dominican Republic, as the first Spanish colonial town in the Americas. Sources give late December 1493 or early January 1494.
- 1494Luca Pacioli's Summa de arithmetica is printed in Venice
Luca Pacioli's Summa de arithmetica, printed in Venice, is the first published description of double-entry bookkeeping. Its fame brings him to Ludovico Sforza's court in Milan, where he works with Leonardo da Vinci.
- June 7, 1494Treaty of Tordesillas divides the world between Spain and Portugal
Spain and Portugal agree on 7 June 1494 on a line 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. Lands to the west are Spain's to explore and claim; those to the east are Portugal's. It replaces a papal line set the year before.
- September 1494Charles VIII of France invades Italy, opening the Italian Wars
Claiming the Angevin right to Naples, Charles VIII crossed the Alps with a large army and artillery, starting the Italian Wars (1494-1559) between France, Spain, the Empire and Italian states.
- November 1494After the Medici are expelled, Savonarola dominates Florence
Following Charles VIII's invasion of Italy, the Florentines expel the Medici. The Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola urges them to form a republic and gains great influence over it from November 1494.
- 1495Aldus prints Aristotle in Greek
The Aldine Press issues the first printed Greek edition of Aristotle in five volumes: the Organon first, dated 1 November 1495, and the rest by 1498. It includes works of Theophrastus and ancient commentators. Sources differ on when volumes two to five appeared.
- 1495Columbus sends hundreds of enslaved Taíno to Spain
In 1495 Columbus's men round up over 1,000 Taíno and ship about 500 to Spain to be sold; many die on the voyage, and the numbers vary by source. Queen Isabella soon orders an inquiry into whether they may be enslaved.
- c. 1495 – 1498Leonardo paints The Last Supper
For Duke Ludovico Sforza, Leonardo paints The Last Supper on a wall of the Santa Maria delle Grazie convent in Milan. The exact dates are undocumented; sources range from 1493 to 1498.
- c. 1495Spanish colonists impose a gold tribute on the Taíno of Hispaniola
After Vega Real, Columbus's government makes Taíno adults pay a regular tribute in gold, or in cotton or food where there is no gold. Villages that fail to pay are punished, and many Taíno flee or die.
- March 1495Spanish forces defeat the Taíno at the Battle of Vega Real on Hispaniola
Columbus's brother Bartholomew and Spanish troops with dogs and cavalry defeat a large Taíno force on Hispaniola in March 1495 (24 March in most sources), ending organised Taíno resistance on the island.
- February 7, 1497Savonarola's followers burn the 'vanities' in Florence
On Shrove Tuesday, 7 February 1497, followers of Girolamo Savonarola burn mirrors, cosmetics, playing cards, musical instruments, books and artworks in Florence's public square.
- July 8, 1497 – May 1498Vasco da Gama sails from Lisbon to India
Vasco da Gama leaves Lisbon on 8 July 1497 with four ships, rounds the Cape, crosses the Indian Ocean with a pilot from Malindi and reaches Calicut in May 1498, the first sea route from Europe to India.
- 1498Aristotle's Poetics reaches print
Giorgio Valla's 1498 Latin translation is the first printed Poetics, and the Aldine Press prints the Greek text in 1508. Medieval readers had known the work through Averroes, whose reading made tragedy the art of praise. Castelvetro's Italian editions follow in 1570 and 1576.
- May 23, 1498Savonarola is hanged and burned in Florence
Excommunicated by Alexander VI in May 1497 and arrested after a failed trial by fire in April 1498, Girolamo Savonarola and two fellow friars are hanged and burned in Florence's main square on 23 May 1498.
- c. 1499La Celestina is printed in Burgos
The earliest known edition of the Comedia de Calisto y Melibea, later called La Celestina and attributed to Fernando de Rojas, appears in Burgos c. 1499; some scholars date it 1500.
- 1499French army drives Ludovico Sforza from Milan
A French army removes Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan and Leonardo's patron, from power.