The Fifteenth Century 1400-1449
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c1400 Johann
Gutenberg (Johannes Gensfleisch zur Laden zum Gutenberg d.1468), was
born in Mainz. He was the inventor of movable, metal type, a stamping
mold for casting type, the alloy of lead, tin, and antimony for the
cast letters, the printing press itself, and a printing ink with an oil
base. The first books were printed around 1450 on rag paper.
(V.D.-H.K.p.153-154)(SFC, 2/15/97, p.D1)(WSJ,
9/14/00, p.A24)
1400 Feb 14, Richard II (33),
deposed king of England (1377-99), was murdered in Pontefract Castle in
Yorkshire.
(HN, 2/14/99)(MC, 2/14/02)
1400 Oct 25, Geoffrey Chaucer,
author (Canterbury Tales), died in London.
(AP, 10/25/97)(WSJ, 9/18/00, p.A36)
c1400 “The Edifying Book of Erotic
Chess,” in effect a manual of seduction, was published.
(Econ, 7/10/04, p.76)
c1400 The first gold balls were
made of stitched leather which was soaked and filled with feathers.
(SFEC, 6/14/98, p.A12)
c1400 The Ahwahneechee, a Southern
Sierra Miwok band, first began to inhabit Yosemite in California.
(SFEC, 5/18/97, Z1 p.4)
1400 Occupants of the Towosaghy
site near New Madrid, Missouri, burned their temple about this time.
Later evidence indicated that this coincided with a major earthquake in
the area.
(Arch, 1/06, p.34)
c1400 In Washington state the 6
yard deep Electron Mudflow came down from Mount Rainier where the town
of Orting was later established.
(SFEC, 7/12/98, p.A22)
1400 From about this time Dubai
became a major crossing point on int’l. trading routes in silk, pearls,
spices and gold.
(WSJ, 6/20/06, p.C12)
1400 Plague broke out again in
Europe.
(HN, 1/20/01)
1400 Mali (Africa) was under
attack from all four sides and gradually weakened in power.
(ATC, p.120)
1400 In Cracow, Poland, the
Jagiellonian University was re-founded with funds and a permanent
income by the royal couple. [see 1364]
(WSJ, 7/13/00, p.A24)(PG-Comm)
c1400 The Toraja people came to
Sulawesi (later part of Indonesia) by boat from a island to the
southwest and settled on the banks of the Sa’dan River.
(SFEC, 6/11/00, p.T8)
c1400 In Wales Owain Glyndwr (Owen
Glendower c1359-c1460) led the warriors of Gwynned in a bloody revolt
against Henry IV. The event was marked by a comet.
(SFEC, 6/22/97, p.D2)
c1400 Stone buildings were erected
at Zimbabwe in central Africa and continued to be enlarged until about
1830.
(Enc. of Africa, 1976, p.169)
1400s Kongo’s king, the
Mani-Kongo, ruled six provinces and about two million people. The
capital of the Kongo was Mbanza, built on a fertile plateau 100 miles
east of the coast and 50 miles south of the Congo River in southwest
Africa.
(ATC, p.150)
c1400-1425 Yong Le, the 3rd Ming emperor, created a
permanent imperial residence in Beijing. Work was done by some 200,000
laborers and in time became the 8,886-room complex called the
"Forbidden City."
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R36)
1400-1450
http://www.donsweb.com/History/Timeline/12--1400-1450ad.htm
1400 Roger Van Der Weyden
(d.1464), Flemish painter, was born.
(AAP, 1964)(WUD, 1994, p.1624)(Econ, 10/3/09, p.107)
c1400-1471 Sir Thomas Malory, English author. His
work included "Le Morte Darthur."
(WUD, 1994, p.868)
c1400-1474 Guillaume Dufay [Du Fay], Flemish
composer. His work included the "Ecclesie militantis," which has four
texts going simultaneously.
(WUD, 1994, p.440)(WSJ, 7/29/97, p.A12)
1400-1500 The 15th cent Urbino Bible was produced.
(WSJ, 7/12/96, p.A9)
1400-1500 In China a Shang Xi 15th cent. painting
portrayed "The Xuande Emperor on an Outing."
(WSJ, 2/19/98, p.A20)
1400-1500 Europeans began producing ethereal sounds
from wine glasses containing liquids.
(SFEC,12/28/97, DB p.17)
1400-1500 In 2005 Tim Parks authored “Medici Money:
Banking, Metaphysics, and Art in Fifteenth Century Florence.”
(Econ, 4/23/05, p.81)
c1400-1500 The 15th century German "Housebook" was
produced. It taught the rules and etiquette of jousting, and contained
remedies, cooking recipes, information on love and horoscopes.
(SFEC, 1/10/99, p.T3)
c1400-1500 In Germany Cardinal Nikolaus Cusanus,
philosopher, founded a religious and charitable institution complete
with vineyard at Kues, across from Bernkastel on the Mosel River.
(SFEC, 4/30/00, p.T8)
1400-1500 The Vietnamese from the north pushed the
Chams south and opened the port of Hoi An to foreign traders.
(SFEC, 4/26/98, p.T4)
1400-1500 Porcelain from this period was recovered
from a sunken ship in the South China Sea in 1999. 10% of the 150,000
pieces were kept by the Vietnamese government and the rest was
scheduled for auction on eBay.
(WSJ, 6/22/00, p.W10)
1400-1500 The city of Bagerhat was founded in
southern Bangladesh by Ulugh Khan-i-Jahan as a Muslim colony.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.B)
1400-1500 In the Philippines Vigan historic town on
Luzon was established by Chinese traders by this time.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.F)
1400-1500 Giovanni Spinetti of Venice built the first
small piano called the spinet.
(SFEC, 4/20/97, Z1 p.5)
1400-1500 In Romania Vlad Tepes, aka Vlad the
Impaler, the son of Vlad Dracul (Vlad the Dragon), was a 15th century
gruesome Wallachian nobleman. Dracula means son of the dragon. He
punished disobedient subjects and "unchaste" women by impaling them on
sharpened logs, often dining amid the victims as they died. The family
name changed to Kretzulesco and grew in stature with members upgraded
to princes and princesses.
(WSJ, 10/30/97, p.A20)
1400-1600 Researchers in 1997 announced that sometime
in this period the Sauvignon Franc grape crossed with Sauvignon Blanc
grape to produce the Cabernet Sauvignon grape.
(SFC, 6/4/97, Z1 p.4)
1400-1600 Hoi An, Vietnam, flourished at the end of
the 2nd Cham (Vijaya) Empire of this time. It attracted Japanese, then
Portuguese, Dutch and Chinese merchants.
(AM, Mar/Apr 97 p.H)
1400-1850 This was a frigid period in Europe and came
to be called the Little Ice Age.
(NG, 7/04, p.28)
1401 Jan 9, In Marienburg some 80
Lithuanian barons were baptized to Catholicism.
(LHC, 1/9/03)
1401 Jan 18, In Lithuania Vytautas
and the country’s dukes submitted documents to Poland that Vytautas
would rule Lithuania as a vassal to Poland and return the country to
Poland upon his death.
(LHC, 1/18/03)
1401 Feb 19, William Sawtree, 1st
English religious martyr, was burned in London.
(MC, 2/19/02)
1401 Mar 13, The 1st
Samogitian uprising supported by Vytautas took place against the German
knights.
(LHC, 3/13/03)
1401 Jul 9, Timur Lenk, Mongol
monarch, destroyed Baghdad.
(MC, 7/9/02)
1401 In England King Henry IV
passed the medieval statute De Heretico Comburendo.
(MWH, 1994)
1401 A giro bank was established
in Barcelona, making it Europe’s first bank.
(Econ, 1/10/09, p.74)
1401-1428 Tomasso di Giovanni, Italian artist, also
known as Masaccio. His only know documented work is the Pisa altarpiece
of 1426.
(WSJ, 9/27/01, p.A16)
1402 Mar 2, In Marienburg
Svitrigaila crossed over to the Knights of the Cross and promised to
uphold the Salyn treaty that was broken by Vytautas.
(LHC, 3/1/03)
1402 Jul 20, In the Battle of
Angora the Mongols, led by Tamerlane "the Terrible," defeated the
Ottoman Turks and captured Sultan Bayezid I. The Turks eventually
regained control of the city and it remained a part of the Ottoman
Empire for the next five centuries. Around 2,000 BCE the site of the
present day city was a Hittite village known as Ancyra. It was
conquered in 333 BC by Macedonians led by Alexander the Great. Because
of its central Anatolian Plateau location on the Ankara River, it
became an important commercial center. Angora’s name was changed to
Ankara in 1930.
(HN, 7/20/98)(Ot, 1993, p.6)(HNQ, 4/15/02)
1402 Sep 3, Gian Galeazzo
Visconti, duke and tyrant of Milan (1395-1402), died at 51.
(MC, 9/3/01)
1402 The English Bedlam
institution, a former monastery whose named derived from Bethlehem,
began to house the poor and incurably mad. From 1728-1853 it was
presided over by a family of doctors all descended from James Monro. On
2003 Jonathan Andrews and Andrew Scull published their 2-volume study:
"Undertaker of the Mind" and "Customers and patrons of the mad-Trade,"
based on Monro’s Case Book.
(WSJ, 1/29/03, p.D10)
1402 In Scotland the Duke of
Rothesay, son of King Robert III and heir apparent, died under
mysterious circumstances while in the custody of Robert Stewart, the
1st Duke of Albany. Stewart had built Duane Castle at the end of the
14th century.
(SSFC, 11/23/03, p.C6)
1403 Feb 22, Charles VII, King of
France (1422-1461), was born.
(HN, 2/22/98)(MC, 2/22/02)
1403 Jul 21, Henry IV defeated the
Percys in the Battle of Shrewsbury in England. Henry IV fought down an
insurrection from Henry Percy, the Earl of Northumberland and Ralph
Neville, the Earl of Westmorland, the same men who had helped him
overthrow Richard II. Henry Percy (39), [Harry Hotspur] was killed in
the battle.
(WUD, 1994, p.1671)(MWH, 1994)(HN, 7/21/98)
1403 Gjergj Kastrioti (d.1468)
was born. He became the Albanian leader known as Skanderbeg.
(www, Albania, 1998)(HNQ, 10/5/98)
1403-1413 The Ottoman Empire fell into 11 years of
civil war between the 4 sons of Beyazid.
http://www.osmanli700.gen.tr/english/sultans.html
1403?-1482 Giovanni di Paolo, painter. He painted
"Expulsion from Paradise."
(AAP, 1964)
1404 Feb 9, Constantine XI
Dragases, last Byzantine Emperor, was born.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1404 Feb 18, Leon Battista Alberti
(d.1472), Italian humanist, architect (Della Pittura), was born in
Genoa, the illegitimate son of a Florentine merchant.
(WSJ, 11/30/00, p.A20)(MC, 2/18/02)
1404 Sep 27, William of Wykeham,
chancellor and Bishop of Winchester, died.
(MC, 9/27/01)
1404 In Wales Owain Glyndwr
convened a parliament in Macchynlleth.
(SFEC, 6/22/97, p.D2)
1404-1423 China controlled the price of tea and was
able to increase its stock of horses from 20,000 to 1,600,000.
(WSJ, 8/15/00, p.A24)
1405 Feb 14, Timur, aka Tamerlane
(b.1336), crippled Mongol monarch, died in Kazakhstan. In 2004 Justin
Marozzi authored “Tamerlane: Sword of Islam, Conqueror of the World.”
(V.D.-H.K.p.172)(http://au.encarta.msn.com)(Econ,
8/28/04, p.76)
1405 Andrei Rublev, Russian icon
painter, painted the iconostasis of the Cathedral of the Gospel with
Theophan the Greek; this was the 1st work executed in the classical
Russian style, distinguished from the Byzantine by its great height and
width and organization of multiple, varied icons along axes.
(DVD, Criterion, 1998)
1405 Admiral Zheng He, a Muslim
eunuch, led a Ming dynasty fleet with 28,000 men through Southeast Asia
to India and on to Africa and the Middle East.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R51)(WSJ, 11/18/06, p.P11)
1406 Apr 4, Robert III, King of
Scotland (1390-1406), died.
(MC, 4/4/02)
1406 In Beijing the Palace of
Heavenly Purity, later renamed the People’s Cultural Palace, was built.
(SFC,12/22/97, p.E7)
1406 The Signoria of Florence
decreed that the city’s 12 guilds had 10 years to fulfill their
obligations to decorate an exterior niche of the Orsanmichele guild
center.
(WSJ, 12/22/05, p.D8)
1407 Oct 26, Mobs attacked the
Jewish community of Cracow.
(MC, 10/26/01)
1407 Genoa established a private
bank to consolidate its debts and called it the Bank of Saint George.
It also operated as a giro bank with direct transfer between accounts
without checks, and stayed in business for 400 years.
(Econ, 1/10/09,
p.74)(www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bankgirotransfer.asp)
1408 Feb 14, Vytautas gave
self-rule status to Kaunas, which was 1st mentioned in the summer of
1361.
(LHC, 2/14/03)
1408 Feb 19, Henry IV led a
victory in the Battle of Brabham Moor that marked the end of domestic
threats. The revolt of Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, against
King Henry IV, ended with his defeat and death at Bramham Moor.
(MWH, 1994)(HN, 2/19/98)
1408 Sep 22, Johannes VII
Palaeologus, Byzantine Emperor (1376-77, 90/1404-8), died.
(MC, 9/22/01)
1408 The Yongle Encyclopedia was
published in China. It consisted of thousands of volumes containing the
knowledge of some 2,000 scholars.
(WSJ, 3/18/09, p.A13)
1408 A law was enacted making it
illegal to translate any part of the scriptures into English. It was
declared a capital offense to possess an English Bible.
(WSJ, 12/22/94, A-20)(WSJ, 4/4/01, p.A18)
1408 A marriage at the Hvalsey
Church in the East Settlement was the last record of the Norse in
Greenland.
(SFEM, 11/15/98, p.25)(AM, 7/00, p.66)
1409 Jan 9, Rene' d'Anjou (d.1480)
was born the son and 3rd child of Duke Louis II of Anjou and Yolande of
Aragon at Angers in the Maine-and-Loire region of western France. King
René, poet and wine lover, demonstrated how all our leaders
ought to be.
(http://www.guice.org/reneharr.html)(WSJ, 2/13/04,
p.A12)
1410 May 18, Ruprecht, Roman
Catholics German king, died.
(SC, 5/18/02)
1410 Jul 15, Lithuanian-Polish
forces defeated the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of Tannenberg,
Prussia, thereby halting the Knights’ eastward expansion along the
Baltic and hastening their decline. Vytautas and Jogaila with hired
mercenaries from Belarus along with Tartars and Czechs defeated the
Teutonic Knights between Grunvald (Zalgiriai) and Tannenberg southeast
of Malburg. Grand Master Ulrich von Jungingen and many of his nobles
were killed. The war officially ended with the Treaty of Thorn in which
the Knights gave up Zemaitija to Vytautas.
(COE)(H of L, 1931, p.52)(DrEE, 11/9/96, p.6)
1410 Andrei Rublev, Russian icon
painter, painted the icon “The Old Testament Trinity,” which showed
Abraham’s 3 angels. This is the only work known to be entirely his own.
(DVD, Criterion, 1998)
c1410 The French "Book of the
Chase" depicted hunting dogs and snares.
(SFEM, 4/6/97, p.16)
1411 Feb 1, Lithuania, Poland and
the Knights of the Cross signed the Torun Peace Treaty. Samogitia was
returned to Lithuania. The Teutonic Knights had regrouped and gone to
battle against Vytautas and Jogaila. Peace was signed at Torun and
western Lithuania was returned, but not Klaipeda (Memel).
(Ist. L.H., 1948, p. 71)(LHC, 1/31/03)
1411-1437 Sigismund became the Holy Roman Emperor.
[see 1433]
(WUD, 1994, p.1325)
1412 Jan 6, According to
tradition, French heroine Joan of Arc was born Jeanette d'Arc, in the
French village of Domrémy. When she was 12 years old, she began
hearing what she believed were voices of saints, sending her messages
from God. When she was 17, the voices told her to leave her village and
save Orléans. Joan convinced the dauphin that she could lead
French troops in resistance against their English invaders, and she was
given a force of several hundred men to command, whom she led to
victory at Orléans in 1429. Wearing her white enameled armor
suit, she continued to fight against the English. Joan was captured by
Burgundians and then burned at the stake by the English on May 30,
1431, for the offenses of witchcraft, heresy and wearing male clothing.
The Roman Catholic Church recognized Joan of Arc as a saint in 1920.
(CFA, '96,Vol 179, p.38)(AP, 1/6/98)(HNPD, 1/6/99)
1413 Mar 20, Henry IV (b.1367),
King of England (1399-1413), died in the house of the Abbot of
Westminster. He was succeeded by Henry V (b.1387).
(AP,
3/20/97)(www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/henry_iv_king.shtml)
1413 Iceland used dried fish for
money.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)
1414 Feb 19, Thomas Arundel,
archbishop of Canterbury, chancellor of England, died.
(MC, 2/19/02)
1414 Nov 16, A council of bishops
opened in Constance Germany under Emp. Sigismund. When the council of
Constance opened, Christians owed obedience to three different popes:
Gregory XII of the Roman party, Benedict XIII of the Avignon party, and
John XXIII, who had been elected after the death of Alexander V. John
XXIII and Benedict XIII were deposed by the council, and Gregory XII
voluntarily resigned. Then Martin V was elected pope on 11 November
1417 and he was regarded as the legitimate pontiff by the church as a
whole.
(www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/CONSTANC.HTM)(WUD,
1994 p.313)
1415 Jun 13, Henry the Navigator,
the prince of Portugal, embarked on an expedition to Africa. This
marked the beginning of Portuguese dominance of West Africa.
(HN, 6/13/98)
1415 Jul 4, Angelo Correr became
Pope Gregory XII.
(Maggio)
1415 Jul 6, Jan Huss, Bohemian
(Czech) religious reformer, was burned as a heretic at the stake at
Constance, Germany. He had spoken out against Church corruption.
(NH, 9/96, p.23)(HN, 7/6/98)
1415 Aug 13, King Henry V of
England took his army across the English Channel and laid siege on Port
Harfleur.
(ON, 6/08, p.9)
1415 Sep 21, Frederick III, German
Emperor (1440-1493), was born in Innsbruck Austria.
(MC, 9/21/01)
1415 Oct 25, An English army under
Henry V defeated the French at Agincourt, France. The French had out
numbered Henry’s troops, but Welsh longbows turned the tide of the
battle. The French force was under the command of the constable Charles
I d’Albret. Charles I d’Albret, son of Arnaud-Amanieu d’Albret, came
from a line of nobles who were often celebrated warriors. His ancestors
had fought in the First Crusade (1096-99) and his father had fought in
the Hundred Years War himself--first for the English before joining the
side of France. Charles’ own exploits in the ongoing conflict came to
an end at the Battle of Agincourt. The decisive victory for the
outnumbered English saw the death of not only Charles, but a dozen
other high-ranking nobles as well. But Charles’ fate did not end the
Albrets as his descendants went on to become kings of Navarre, and
later, France. In 2005 Juliet Barker authored “Agincourt: The King, the
Campaign, and the Battle.”
(MH, 12/96)(HN, 10/25/98)(Econ, 10/22/05, p.88)(ON,
6/08, p.10)
1415 Oct 25, Edward (b.1373), duke
of York, died at the Battle of Agincourt.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_of_Norwich,_2nd_Duke_of_York)
1415 In 2009 Ian Mortimer authored
“1415: Henry V’s Year of Glory.”
(Econ, 11/21/09, p.86)
1415-1439 The city of Angkor Wat (Cambodia) went into
rapid decline as a period of severe drought extended over South East
Asia.
(Econ, 3/14/09, p.82)(http://tinyurl.com/d84z56)
1416 Feb 6, A Samogitian complaint
against the Knights of the Cross was read at the Catholic Church
Council at Constance.
(LHC, 2/6/03)
1416 Apr 2, Ferdinand I (52) the
Justified, king of Aragon and Sicily, died.
(MC, 4/2/02)
1416 May 7, Monk Nicolaas
Serrurier was arrested for heresy at Tournay.
(MC, 5/7/02)
1416 May 30, Jerome of Prague was
burned as a heretic by the Church.
(HN, 5/30/98)
1416 Jun 15, St. Francesco de
Paolo, was born.
(HT, 6/15/00)
1416 Jun 15, Joannes Argyropoulos,
Greek scholar, was born.
(HT, 6/15/00)
1416 Nanni di Banco, guild member
of the Masters of Stone and Wood, installed his “Four Crowned Martyr
Saints” at the Orsanmichele guild center in Florence.
(WSJ, 12/22/05, p.D8)
1416 The Drepung Loseling
Monastery was founded in Lhasa, Tibet, as a center for Buddhist
teaching. It was the home for early Dalai Lamas and a place where
multiphonic singing was nurtured.
(SFC, 10/10/96, p.E1)
1416-1469 Piero de Medici, son of Cosimo de Medici.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R8)
1417 Feb 23, Pietro Barbo, later
Pope Paul II (1464-1471), was born in Venice.
(PTA, 1980, p.418)
1417 Nov 11, Martin V was elected
pope and was regarded as the legitimate pontiff by the church as a
whole.
(www.ewtn.com/library/COUNCILS/CONSTANC.HTM)
1417-145 This period was covered by Juliet Barker in
her 2009 book: “Conquest: The English Kingdom of France 1417-1450.”
(Econ, 11/28/09, p.100)
1418 Feb 25, At the
Constance church synod the Orthodox Metropolitan of Kiev and Lithuania,
Gregory Camblak, proposed a union between the Orthodox and Catholic
church.
(LHC, 2/25/03)
1418 In China a book was published
about this time titled “The Marvelous Visions of the Star Raft.” It
documented some of the exploits of Admiral Zheng He, who roamed the
oceans from 1405-1435.
(Econ, 1/14/06, p.80)
1418 In 2006 Liu Gang, a Beijing
lawyer and amateur map collector, unveiled a map that proclaimed to be
a 1763 copy of an older Chinese map dating to 1418. The map showed the
world in 2 hemispheres, but its authenticity was questioned.
(SSFC, 1/22/06, p.A9)(Econ, 1/14/06, p.80)
1418 In Florence Brunelleschi and
Ghiberti submitted plans for the dome of the Cathedral of St. Mary of
the Flower. The cathedral had been under construction for 125 years and
was designed to be capped by the largest dome since the golden age of
ancient Rome.
(ON, 9/00, p.6)
1418 The Gawhar Shad Mosque in
Meshed, Iran was completed by the wife of Shah Rukh.
(NG, Sept 1939, Baroness Ravensdale, p.353)
1418 The Church Council at
Constance, Germany, begun in 1414, ended.
(WUD, 1994 p.313)
1419 Jul 30, Anti-Catholic
Hussites, followers of executed reformer Jan Hus, stormed the town hall
in Prague and threw 3 Catholic consuls and 7 citizens out the
window. This episode has been called "The Defenestration in Prague."
The out-the-window gentlemen all landed safely in a manure pile.
(NH, 9/96, p.23)(MC, 7/30/02)
1419 Aug 16, Wenceslas (b.1361),
son of Charles IV and King of Germany, died. He served as King
Wenceslas IV of Bohemia (1363) and King of the Romans (1376).
(www.arts.gla.ac.uk/Slavonic/Czech_Hist5.html)
1419 Aug 16, Sigismund, Holy Roman
Emperor, became king of Bohemia following the death of Wenceslaus IV,
but was ejected by the Hussites due to the execution of Jan Huss.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigismund%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor)
1419 Sep 10, John the Fearless
(48), Burgundy and French warrior, was murdered at Montereau, France,
by supporters of the dauphine.
(HN, 9/10/98)(MC, 9/10/01)
1419 Dec 11, Heretic Nicolaas
Serrurier was exiled from Florence.
(MC, 12/11/01)
1419 The marble Fonte Gaia in
Siena was sculpted by Jacopo della Quercia.
(WSJ, 4/29/03, D5)
1419 An English army under Henry V
captured the duchy of Normandy.
(ON, 6/08, p.11)
1419 Prince Henry (d.1460), as
governor of Portugal’s southernmost province, attracted shipbuilders,
cartographers and other nautical experts. His patronage was
instrumental in stimulating European exploration in the first half of
the 15th century.
(HN, 6/21/01)
1420 Mar 1, Pope Martinus I called
for a crusade against the Hussieten (Bohemia).
(SC, 3/1/02)
1420 May 21, King Charles VI of
France signed the Treaty of Troyes. It recognized all the territorial
gains of King Henry V, gave Henry the daughter of Charles, Catherine of
Valois, in marriage, and acknowledged Henry as the legitimate heir to
the French throne.
(ON, 6/08, p.11)
1420 Jul 14, Jan Zizka
(1360?-1424) led the Taborites in Battle at Vitkov Zizka's hill
(Prague). The Taborites beat forces under Sigismund, the pro-Catholic
King of Hungary and Bohemia. This was part of the Hussite Wars
(1419-1436).
(http://user.intop.net/~jhollis/janzizka.htm)
1420 Jul, The Hussites agreed on
the Four Articles of Prague, which were promulgated in the Latin,
Czech, and German languages. In summery they stated: 1) Freedom to
preach the Word of God. 2) Celebration of the Lord's Supper in both
kinds (bread and wine to priests and laity alike). 3) No profane power
for the clergy. And 4) The same law for laity and priests.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hussite)
1420 Dec 1, Henry V, King of
England and de facto ruler of France, entered Paris.
(http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/famouspeople/a/personhenryveng_4.htm)
1420 Siennese artist Giovanni di
Paolo painted a tiny gold-ground triptych.
(SFEC, 1/11/98, p.D7)
1420 The main character of
Janacek’s opera "The Excursions of Mr. Broucek" was cast into a setting
of religious wars from this time and forced to fight with the Hussite
fanatics in Prague.
(WSJ, 6/13/96, p.A12)
c1420 Francesco di Antonio,
Florentine artist, painted "St. John the Baptist" and "St. Anthony
Abbot." The panels later made their way to St. Philip’s in the Hills
parish in Tucson, Ariz.
(WSJ, 8/9/96, p.A8)
1420 Prince Henry the Navigator
(b.1394) gathered cartographers, navigators and shipbuilders in a
fortress in Sagres, Portugal, to invent navigation technology to reach
India, China and the Americas. He later sailed south of the
Canary Islands to the great eastward curve of West Africa at Sierra
Leone. The search for Prester John as an ally against the Muslims
helped inspire his explorations. Henry began dispatching expeditions
from the nearby port of Lagos. Although dubbed "Henry the Navigator" by
English writers, he never embarked on the voyages of exploration he
himself sponsored. Nevertheless, the prince helped advance European
cartography and the accuracy of navigation tools as well as spurring
maritime commerce.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)(HN, 3/4/98)(WSJ, 1/28/00,
p.A18)(HNQ, 6/21/01)
1420 Portuguese sailors and
soldiers begin fighting the natives of the Canary Islands, 800 miles
southwest of the southern tip of Portugal.
(V.D.-H.K.p.173)
1420 Scotland's Duke of Albany
died. The governorship of Scotland and Doune Castle passed to his son,
Murdoch.
(SSFC, 11/23/03, p.C6)
1420-1433 Time of the Hussite wars in Bohemia.
(WUD, 1994, p.1671)
1420-1480 The Portuguese explored the west coast of
Africa along the Gold Coast, so named because here could be found
plenty of gold to buy pepper.
(V.D.-H.K.p.173)
1420-1492 Piero della Francesca, painter, born in
Borgo Sansepolcro, but trained in Florence. In Urbino under the
patronage of Federico da Montefeltro, he produced some of his best
works including the "Flagellation," the "Resurrection" and "St.
Apollonia." His paintings incorporated the new aspect of perspective
and earthly matters dominate over religious feeling.
(V.D.-H.K.p.130)(AAP, 1964)(WUD, 1994, p.563)
1420-1500 The Paston Letters comprise 1,000 documents
involving an English family over this period. The collection is held by
the Univ. of Michigan and is being made electronically available under
the Humanities Text Initiative (HTI) program that was begun in 1989.
(MT, 6/96, p.8,9)
1421 Mar, Admiral Zheng He of the
Ming dynasty embarked on a voyage that took him to the east coast of
Africa. In 2002 an amateur historian proposed that he continued his
voyage around the world. [see 1431]
(SSFC, 3/17/02, p.A3)
1421 May 11, Jews were expelled
from Styria, Austria.
(MC, 5/11/02)
1421 May 23, Jews of Austria were
imprisoned and expelled.
(MC, 5/23/02)
1421 May 26, Mohammed I, Ottoman
sultan (1413-21), died.
(MC, 5/26/02)
1421 Nov 18-1421 Nov 19, In the
St. Elizabeth flood the Southern sea flooded 72 villages killing
some 10,000 in Netherlands.
(www.rijksmuseum.nl/aria/aria_assets/SK-A-3147-B?lang=en)
1421 Dec 6, Henry VI, the youngest
king of England, was born. He acceded the thrown at 269 days of age.
(HN,
12/6/02)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VI_of_England)
1421 The Republic of Florence
passed a law giving Brunelleschi what is thought to be the first true
patent of an invention. The first recorded patent was granted for a
barge with hoisting gear used to transport marble.
(http://tinyurl.com/c3teab)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R14)
1421 In Vienna a medieval
synagogue burned with its Jewish occupants. Its remains were found in
1996 in the Judenplaz during preparation work for the installation of a
new statue for the Holocaust Memorial project.
(WSJ, 11/7/96, p.A18)
1422 Mar 30, Ketsugan, a Zen
teacher, performed exorcisms to free the Aizoji temple.
(MC, 3/30/02)
1422 Aug 13, William Caxton
(d.1491), 1st English printer, was born.
(http://en.thinkexist.com/birthday/August_13/)(WSJ,
5/12/05, p.D8)
1422 Aug 31, Henry V (b.1387),
King of England (1413-22) and France (1416-19), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_V_of_England)
1422 Sep 6, Sultan Murat II ended
a vain siege of Constantinople.
(HN, 9/6/98)
1422 Oct 21, Charles VI, King of
France (1380-1422), died at 54.
(MC, 10/21/01)
1422-1482 Federico da Montefeltro, a distinguished
warrior and scholar, commissioned 2 intarsia studiolas (1478-1483). A
history of Federico and his studiola is in the 6/6/96 issue of "The
Bulletin," the NY Met museum’s newsletter for members
(WSJ, 6/6/96, p.A12)
1423 Mar 30, Lithuania and Poland
reached an agreement at Kezmark with Emperor Sigismund, who agreed to
recall Sigismund Kaributa from Poland.
(LHC, 3/30/03)
1423 May 23, Benedict XIII, [Pedro
the Luna], Spanish Pope (1394-1423), died. He had been elected by the
Avignon cardinals during the Great Western Schism.
(MC, 5/23/02)(PTA, 1980, p.402)
1423 Ghiberti’s sculpture of St.
Matthew was installed at the Orsanmichele guild center in Florence.
(WSJ, 12/22/05, p.D8)
1424 Oct 11, Jan Zizka (b.c1370),
Czech army leader (Hussite), died of plague.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Zizka)
1424 Dec 6, Don Alfonso V of
Aragon granted Barcelona the right to exclude Jews.
(MC, 12/6/01)
1424 Masolino sculpted his Pieta.
(WSJ, 1/20/02, p.D8)
1424 A Portuguese navigation chart
showed a land called Antilia in the vicinity of the West Indies.
(SFEC, 5/28/00, Z1 p.2)
1424 James I returned from exile
and was crowned King of Scotland. He tried but failed to ban golf. He
wanted his troops to practice more archery.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34)(SSFC, 11/23/03, p.C6)
1425 Feb 27, Moscow's
Grand Duke Vasilii died and his brother-in-law, Vytautas, became
guardian of his son, Vasilii, and daughter, Sophia.
(LHC, 2/27/03)
1425 Jul 21, Manuel Palaeologus,
Byzantine Emperor (1391-1425), writer, died. He ended his days after
signing a humiliating peace with the Ottoman Turks.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_II_Palaeologus)(Econ, 9/23/06,
p.59)
1425 Aug 25, Countess Jacoba of
Bavaria escaped from jail.
(chblue.com, 8/25/01)
1425 Robert Campin painted the
altarpiece "The Merode Triptych."
(WSJ, 1/14/00, p.W12)
1425 Dame Juliana Berner described
fly fishing in her "Treatyse of Fysshynge Wyth an Angle." [see 1496]
(SFEM, 11/7/99, p.6)
1426 Sep 18, Hubert [Huybrecht]
van Eyck, painter, died.
(MC, 9/18/01)
1426 Vietnam provided a defeated
Chinese army with boats and horses to carry home its soldiers.
(NG, May, 04, p.94)
1427 May 10, Jews were expelled
from Berne, Switzerland.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1427 Gentile De Fabriano
(b.~1378), Italian painter, died about this time. His work included
“The Adoration of the Kings” (1423).
(WSJ, 12/19/08, p.W9A)(
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/06421a.htm)
1428 Feb 5, King Alfonso V ordered
Sicily's Jews to convert to Catholicism.
(MC, 2/5/02)
1428 Dec 22, Richard Neville
Warwick, 2nd earl of Salisbury, was born.
(MC, 12/22/01)
1428 John Wycliffe (1328-1384),
English theologian and biblical translator, was posthumously declared a
heretic and his body was exhumed for burning.
(WSJ, 4/4/01, p.A18)
1428-1430 Andrei Rublev, Russian icon painter, took
part in painting the frescoes of the Andronikov Monastery’s Church of
the Savior.
(DVD, Criterion, 1998)
1429 Jan 9, The conference at Luck
began (Jan 9-29). Vytautas hosted a grand Congress at Luck ostensibly
to unite the region against threats from the Turks to the south.
Emperor Sigismund of Hungary agreed to the formation of the Kingdom of
Lithuania and dispatched a crown from Hungary.
(DrEE, 11/9/96, p.6)(LHC, 1/9/03)
1429 Jan 10, Order of Golden
Fleece was established in Austria-Hungary & Spain.
(MC, 1/10/02)
1429 Jan 23, At the Congress of
Luck Emp. Sigismund of Luxembourg offered to crown Vytautas as King of
Lithuania.
(LHC, 1/23/03)
1429 Apr 29, Joan of Arc led
French troops to victory over the English at Orleans during the Hundred
Years’ War. Legend has it that King Charles VII of France had a suit of
armor made for Joan at a cost of 100 war horses. In 1996 a suit of
armor was found and proposed to be Joan’s armor.
(ATC, p.107)(SFC, 6/19/96, p.A10)(AP, 4/29/98)(HN,
4/29/98)
1429 May 7, English siege of
Orleans was broken by Joan of Arc.
(HN, 5/7/98)
1429 May 8, French troops under
Joan of Arc rescued Orleans.
(MC, 5/8/02)
1429 May 9, Joan of Arc defeated
the besieging English at Orleans.
(HN, 5/9/98)
1429 Jul 16, Joan of Arc led
French army in the Battle of Orleans. [see May 9]
(MC, 7/16/02)
1429 Jul 17, The dauphin, son of
Charles VI, was crowned as king of France.
(PCh, 1992, p.144)(MC, 7/17/02)
1429 Aug 26, Joan of Arc makes a
triumphant entry into Paris.
(HN, 8/26/99)
1429 Nov 6, Coronation of Henry
VI, King of England.
(HN, 11/6/98)
1429 Dec 21, Jacquemart de
Blaharies, Tournay "heretic", was burned to death.
(MC, 12/21/01)
1429 The beginning of coal mining
in the Saarland (Germany) dates to this time.
(Econ, 3/1/08, p.71)
1429 Two monks reportedly went
fishing in Russia’s northern Solovetsky Islands and soon established a
year-round settlement usually referred to as Solovki.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.83)
1429 The kingdom of Ryukyu was
unified under the court at Shuri (later part of Naha, Okinawa).
(NH, 9/01, p.56)
1430 Jan 29, Andrei Rublev,
Russian icon painter, died and was buried in the Andronikov Monastery.
In 1966 the Russian film “Andrei Rublev” was made by Andrei Tarkovsky.
(DVD, Criterion, 1998)
1430 May 5, Jews were expelled
from Speyer, Germany.
(MC, 5/5/02)
1430 May 23, Joan of Arc was
captured by the Burgundians, who sold her to the English.
(AP, 5/23/97)(HN, 5/23/98)
1430 Jul 14, Joan of Arc, taken
prisoner by the Burgundians in May, was handed over to Pierre Cauchon,
the bishop of Beauvais.
(HN, 7/14/98)
1430 Oct 3, Jews were expelled
from Eger, Bohemia.
(MC, 10/3/01)
1430 Oct 27, Lithuanian Grand Duke
Vytautas had been preparing for coronation but Polish forces
interrupted the arrival of his crown to Trakus. He began to ride to
Vilnius but fell from his horse and was returned to Trakus where he
died at the age of 80.
(H of L, 1931, p.58)
1430-1432 In Lithuania Svitrigaila served as Grand
Duke.
(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1430s Jan van Eyck painted 2 works
titled "St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata." For a time he was
considered the inventor of oil painting, but later lost that
distinction. He is still regarded as the inventor of a type of
landscape painting with figures in realistic scale that influenced the
entire Northern school of painting. Only 9 signed and dated works
survive. In 2001 painter David Hockney and physicist Charles Falco
alleged that Eyck and other artists of this period began using optical
devices to project pictures and produce detailed tracings.
(WSJ, 5/7/98, p.A21)(SFC, 1/5/01, p.C9)
1430 Hans Memling (d.1494),
painter of the Flemish school, was born in Seligenstadt, Germany.
(AAP, 1964)(WUD, 1994, p.894)
1430?-1498? Cosimo Tura, Italian painter. He painted
"Renaissance Nobleman."
(AAP, 1964)(WUD, 1994, p.1525)
1430-1516 Giovanni Bellini, Venetian painter son of
Jacopo. He painted "Portrait of the Doge Loredano."
(AAP, 1964)(WUD, 1994, p.136)
1431 Jan 1, Rodrigo Borgia Lanzol
(d.1503), member of the Borgia family, was born in Xativa, Spain. His
mother was the sister of Pope Calixtus III. He was elected Pope
Alexander VI in 1492 and amassed a fortune by pocketing church funds.
His reign helped inspire the Protestant reformation. He fathered
numerous children including Lucrezia Borgia. Machiavelli based "The
Prince" on him.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R8)(PTA, 1980, 424)
1431 Feb 21, The interrogation of
Joan of Arc (1412-1431) began France.
(Sm, 2/06, p.38)
1431 Mar 3, Bishop Gabriele
Condulmer (1383-1447) was elected as Pope Eugene IV (1431-1447).
(WUD, 1994 p.491)(PTA, 1980, p.410)(SC, 3/3/02)
1431 May 30, Joan of Arc
(19), condemned as a heretic [as a witch], was burned at the stake in
Rouen, France. A silent movie of her life was made in 1927 by Carl
Theodor Dreyer.
(CFA, '96, p.46)WSJ, 1/23/96, p.A-12)(AP,
5/30/97)(HN, 5/30/98)
1431 Dec 16, Henry VI of England
(10) was crowned King of France.
(HN, 12/16/98)(Econ, 11/28/09, p.100)
1431 Andrea Mantegna (d.1506),
Italian painter and engraver, was born.
(WUD, 1994, p.1534)(WSJ, 6/6/96, p.A12)(SFEC,
7/13/97, p.T11)
1431 Admiral Cheng Ho of the Ming
dynasty led a fleet of 52 ships with nearly 30,000 men to the east
coast of Africa. Shortly thereafter the Mings halted all voyages and
begin to foster an attitude of antiforeign conservatism.
(V.D.-H.K.p.172)
1431 Thai armies invaded and
plundered the Khmer civilization at Angkor Thom in Cambodia. The court
moved south of the great lake Tonle Sap and later to Phnom Penh.
(SFEC, 7/26/98, p.T6)
1431 Cosimo de Medici was arrested
for seeking to elevate himself higher than others. With bribes he
reduced his sentence from execution to banishment. His absence led to a
financial crises in Florence and he was quickly invited back.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R8)
1431-1463? Francois Villon, French
poet. The 1938 film "If I Were King" starred Ronald
Colman and Basil Rathbone and was directed by Preston Sturges. It was
about the French poet and revolutionary Francois Villon.
(WUD, 1994, p.1593)(SFEC, 8/2/98, DB p.49)
1432 Jan 15, Afonso V "the
African", king of Portugal (1438-1481), was born.
(MC, 1/15/02)
1432 Zeeland became part of the
Low Countries possession of Phillip the Good (1396-1467) of Burgundy.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeeland)
1432-1440 In Lithuania Zygimantas Kestutaitis served
as Grand Duke.
(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1433 Apr 14, Liduina van Schiedam
(53), Dutch mystic (Christ's Bride), saint, died.
(MC, 4/14/02)
1433 May 31, Sigismund was crowned
emperor of Rome.
(HN, 5/31/98)
1434 Mar 1, Jacoba of Bavaria
married Frank van Borselen.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1434 May 30, The Battle of Lipany
virtually ended the Hussite Wars. Prokopius leader of Taborites, died
in battle.
(http://tinyurl.com/ckgv5)
1434 Nov 24, The Thames River
froze.
(MC, 11/24/01)
1434 Jan van Eyck painted "the
Arnolfini Marriage." It is now at the London National Gallery.
(Cont, 12/97, p.60)(SFEC, 2/1/98, p.T8)
1434 The imperial kiln at
Jungdezhen in south-central China produced 250,000 porcelain pieces.
(SFEC, 10/6/96, DB p.37)
1434 Gil Eannes, Portuguese
explorer, made the first successful rounding of Cape Bojador, off
Western Sahara, in a lug-rigged boat.
(www.enchantedlearning.com/explorers/page/e/eannes.shtml)
1435 Sep 21, Treaty of Atrecht.
Philippe le Bon of Burgundy and French king Charles VII signed a treaty
at Arras. Philippe broke with the English and recognized Charles as
France’s only king.
(PCh, 1992, p.145)
1435 Oct 20, Andrea Della Robbia,
sculptor, nephew of Luca, was born in Florence.
(MC, 10/20/01)
1435 A Songhai prince, Sunni Ali,
declared Gao’s independence [West Africa]. Aided by Songhai warriors,
he successfully fought off Mali’s attempt to regain the city.
(ATC, p.122)
1436 Jun 6, Regiomontanus
(Johannes Muller), prepared astronomical tables, was born.
(MC, 6/6/02)
1436 The 350-foot high dome of
Santa Maria del Fiore, the cathedral of Florence, by Filippo
Brunelleschi was completed. The cathedral was consecrated by the Pope
following 140 years of construction. In 2000 Ross King authored
"Brunelleschi’s Dome: How a Renaissance Genius Reinvented Architecture."
(Hem., 10/97, p.130)(SSFC, 12/24/00, BR p.12)
1436 Emperor Sigismund (1368-1437)
was accepted as king of Bohemia.
(WUD, 1994, p.1672)(WUD, 1994, p.1325)
1436 Johannes Gutenburg of Germany
invented the printing press with movable type.
(SFC, 7/26/04, p.F4)
1437 Sep 18, Farmers revolted in
Transylvania.
(MC, 9/18/01)
1437 Dec 9, Sigismund, Holy Roman
Emperor, died. Major Czech factions had accepted Sigismund as king of
Bohemia prior to his death.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigismund%2C_Holy_Roman_Emperor)
1438 Oct 20, Jacopo di Piero della
Quercia (64), Italian sculptor, died.
(MC, 10/20/01)
1438 Jan van Eyck (1385-1440)
painted his "Portrait of Cardinal Niccols Albergati."
(SFC, 1/5/01, p.C9)
1438 Filippo Lippi created the
painting "Woman with a Man at a Window."
(WSJ, 12/14/01, p.W20)
1438 The Incas established an
imperial state in the Andes (Peru) and Cusco was rebuilt. They went on
to build over 25,000 miles of roads.
(SFC, 3/19/02, p.A2)(NG, Feb, 04, p.72)
1438 The shipbuilding firm of
Camuffo was founded in Portogruaro, Italy.
(SFC, 4/14/06, p.D1)
1439 Jul 16, Kissing was banned in
England in order to stop germs from spreading.
(MC, 7/16/02)
1439 Oct 21, Traversari Ambrosius
(53), Italian humanist and leader, died.
(MC, 10/21/01)
1439 Oct 27, Albrecht II von
Habsburg (42), king of Bohemia, Hungary and Germany, died.
(MC, 10/27/01)
1439-1440 Donatello (1386-1466), Florentine artist,
completed his bronze statue of David about this time. It was
commissioned by Cosimo de Medici.
(WSJ, 1/11/99,
p.R53)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_%28Donatello%29)
1439 Byzantium formally submitted
to Rome. [see 330AD]
(WSJ, 11/14/95, p. A-12)
1439-1448 Felix V served as the last antipope. He was
born as Amadeus VIII, duke of Savoye in 1383.
(MC, 9/4/01)
1440 Jan 22, Ivan III (the Great),
grand prince of Russia, czar from 1462-1505, was born. He conquered
Lithuania.
(HN, 1/22/99)(MC, 1/22/02)
1440 Feb 22, Ladislaus V
Posthumus, King of Hungary and Bohemia, was born.
(MC, 2/22/02)
1440 Jun 29, Florentine troops
fought the Milanese in the Battle of Anghiari. After the battle of
Anghieri, Andrea del Castagno (1421-1457), a Medici protege, painted
effigies of the hanged rebels.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Anghiari_(1440))(http://tinyurl.com/3baplj)
1440 Oct 26, Gilles de Rais,
French marshal, depraved killer of 140 children, was hanged over slow
fire. A brilliant young French knight, he was believed to have cracked
over the torture and death of his true love, Jeanne d'Arc, the Maid of
Orleans (d.1431).
(MC, 10/26/01)
1440 Dec 22, Bluebeard, pirate,
was executed.
(MC, 12/22/01)
c1440 The Book of Hours of
Catherine of Cleves was made.
(SFC, 2/15/97, p.D1)
c1440 Lief Eriksson drew a map of
America about this time. The "Vinland Map" was introduced in 1965 by
Yale University as being the 1st known map of America, drawn about 1440
by Norse explorer Lief Eriksson.
(MC, 10/10/01)
1440 Eton, the top British public
school, was established by Henry VI.
(Hem, 4/96, p.68)
1440-1492 In Lithuania Casimir served as Grand
Duke.
(TB-Com, 10/11/00)
1440-1870 This period is covered in the 1997 book by
Hugh Thomas: "The Slave Trade, The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade:
1440-1870."
(SFEC,11/16/97, BR p.4)(WSJ, 2/26/02, p.A22)
1441 Jun, Jan/Johannes van Eyck
(b.1395), Flemish painter (Lamb Gods), died in Brugge.
(www.wga.hu/tours/flemish/eyck/brothers.html)
1441 In Korea King Sejong called
for better water management in his agricultural based economy and
Yeong-sil Jang responded with the first rain gauge.
(LSA, Spring, 2009, p.17)
1441 Portuguese kidnapped several
noble-born Africans, who in turn offered African slaves to the captors
as ransom. In 1998 John Reader published "Africa: A Biography of a
Continent."
(SFEC, 6/28/98, BR p.12)
1442 Apr 20, Edward IV, King of
England (1461-83), was born. [see Apr 28]
(MC, 4/20/02)
1442 Apr 28, Edward IV was born.
He became king of England (1461-1470) and first king of the House of
York (1471-1483). [see Apr 20]
(HN, 4/28/02)
1442 Jun 12, Alfonso V of Aragon
was crowned King of Naples.
(HN, 6/12/98)
1442 The Pazzi Chapel in Florence
was begun. Its design was suspected to be by Michelozzo di Bortalommeo,
a follower of Brunelleschi.
(SFC, 1/2/97, p.C3)
1443 May 9, Niccolo d'Albergati,
Italian cardinal, died.
(MC, 5/9/02)
1443 Jun 5, Ferdinand, Portuguese
saint, slave to Fez, died.
(MC, 6/5/02)
1443 Dec 5, Giuliano della Rovere,
later Pope Julius II (1443-1513), was born in Liguria.
(www.newadvent.org/cathen/08562a.htm)
1443 After losing a battle near
Nis, Skenderbeg with a group of Albanian warriors defected from the
Ottoman army and return to Kruja. Albanian resistance to Turkish rule
was organized under the leadership of Skander Beg in Kruja. He was able
to keep Albania independent for more than 20 years. A baronial museum
in his honor was later was designed by the daughter of Enver Hoxha.
(CO, Grolier’s Amer. Acad. Enc./ Albania)(WSJ,
4/14/98, p.A21)(www, Albania, 1998)
1443 Cardinal Beaufort (1375-1447)
lent the English monarchy funds to finance 300 ships to carry 6
knights, 592 men-at-arms, and 3,949 archers to keep the French at bay.
(Econ, 11/28/09,
p.100)(www.nashfordpublishing.co.uk/bishops/henry_beaufort.html)
1444 May 20, Bernardinus van Siena
(63), Italian saint, died.
(MC, 5/20/02)
1444 Aug 26, In the Battle of St.
Jakob an der Birs, fought near Basel in Switzerland, a Swiss force of
some 1,600 soldiers stopped some 30,000 French mercenaries on their way
to relieve a siege of Zurich.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_St._Jakob_an_der_Birs)
1444 Nov
10, During the Hungarian-Turkish War (1444-1456) , Sultan Murad II beat
the Crusaders in the Battle at Varna on the Black Sea.
(DoW, 1999, p.217)
1444 Murad II, Ottoman ruler,
abdicated and Mehmet II (13) briefly succeeded him until 1446.
(Ot, 1993, p.7)
1444 The Albanian people organized
a league of Albanian princes in this year under George Kastrioti, also
known as Skanderbeg. As leader of this Christian league he effectively
repulsed 13 Turkish invasions from 1444 to 1466, making him a hero in
the Western world.
(HNQ, 10/5/98)(www, Albania, 1998)
1444 Cossacks were first mentioned
in Russian history.
(SFC,10/28/97, p.A8)
1444 Slaves from Africa were first
carried to Portugal.
(WSJ, 12/1/97, p.A20)
1445 Charles VII introduced
France’s first standing army and within 2 years crushed the
overstretched English.
(Econ, 11/28/09, p.100)
1445 Giovanni di Paolo, Italian
painter in Siena, painted "The Creation," and the Expulsion of Adam and
Eve from Paradise. In this painting Paolo depicted the universe as a
set of nesting concentric spheres.
(NOHY, Weiner, 3/90, p.244)
1445 The Council of Florence
ended. It established the date for the Great Schism between the Eastern
and Western (Orthodox and Catholic) churches as July, 1054. An official
date was needed so that talks could begin on reunion.
(WSJ, 7/16/97, p.A23)
1445-1510 Sandro Botticelli, Italian painter, was
born in Florence as Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi. His work included
"The Birth of Venus" "Madonna of the Eucharist" (c1472-1475) and
"Portrait of a Man with a Medal." His work "Venus and Mars" is at the
London National Gallery. He belongs to the era of the Quattro cento,
when artists were still struggling to break free of the rigid outlines
of the Middle Ages. His solution was the use of curved lines. Vasari
later claimed that Botticelli was a follower of Savonarola, the
religious zealot.
(AAP, 1964)(WUD, 1994, p.173)(WSJ, 2/5/97,
p.A16)(SFEC, 2/1/98, p.T8)
1446 Apr 16, Filippo Brunelleschi
(69), architect, sculptor and goldsmith, died and was buried in the
Cathedral of St. Mary of the Flower in Florence. In the 1490s Antonio
di Tuccio Manetti authored "The Life of Brunelleschi." In 1974 Isabelle
Hyman authored "Brunelleschi in Perspective."
(ON, 9/00, p.8)(MC, 4/16/02)
1446 Oct 9, The Korean alphabet,
created under the aegis of King Sejong, was first published.
(AP, 10/9/07)
1446 In Scotland Sir William St.
Clair, a grand master in the Knights Templar, founded the Rosslyn
Chapel. It was built in the shape of a cross in the Pentland Hills
outside Edinburgh. It became famous as part of the Dan Brown’s 2003
thriller “The Da Vinci Code.”
(SFC, 5/25/06, p.E2)
1446 Mehmet II, Ottoman ruler, was
deposed and Murad II was recalled to the throne.
(Ot, 1993, p.7)
1446-1521 A Gothic choir with buttresses and
pinnacles was added to the abbey Mont St. Michel off the coast of
Normandy, France. It replaced one that had collapsed.
(WSJ, 10/7/06, p.P18)
1446-1523 The Italian painter Perugino, born as
Pietro di Cristoforo di Vannucci, was a student of Pierro della
Francesca and Andrea Verrochio. He won a papal commission for frescoes
on the sidewalls of the Sistine Chapel along with Botticelli and
Ghirlandaio. His work included the late weird allegory "The Combat
Between Love and Chastity."
(WSJ, 1/6/98, p.16)
1446-1524 Il Perugino (Pietro Vannucci), painter,
worked in Umbria and died of the plague. His work includes: "The
Baptism," "Mary in Glory," "Adoration of the Magi," Martyrdom of St.
Sebastian," " Madonna and Child," and "The Virgin in Glory."
(WUD, 1994, p.1076)(SFEM, 10/12/97, p.49)
1447 The winged altarpiece of
Stephensdom in Vienna, Austria was completed.
(Hem., Dec. '95, p.67)
1448 Oct
31, Johannes VIII Palaeologus (b.1390), Emperor of Byzantium, died.
(www.freeglossary.com/John_VIII_Palaeologus)
1448 In China hyperinflation hit
and paper money lost 97% of its value. China soon abandoned paper money.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)
1448 The Portuguese established
the first European trading post in Africa.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R49)
1449 Jan 1, Lorenzo de Medici [The
Magnificent] of Florence was born.
(MC, 1/1/02)
1449 Albanians, under Skenderbeg,
routed the Ottoman forces under Sultan Murat II.
(www, Albania, 1998)
1449 Ashikaga Yoshimasa (14)
inherited the office of Shogun, the chief military and civic leader of
feudal Japanese society. His leadership focused on the arts and
depleted the national treasury which led to social and political
anarchy.
(ON, 7/01, p.3)
1449 Rodrigo Borgia Lanzol
(b.1431), father of Cesare and Lucretia, arrived in Rome from Spain and
Italianized his name from Borja to Borgia. His rise in the church was
helped a great deal when his uncle became Pope Calixtus III.
(HN, 8/10/98)(PTA, p.424)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R4)(MC,
8/11/02)
1449 The giant Scottish bombard
known as Mons Meg was built. It was retired from active service in
1680, after splitting her barrel while firing a ceremonial shot. She
can still be seen in Edinburgh castle.
(HNQ, 6/20/02)
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