Renaissance Interactive Time Line
The Days of Rebirth: Women Composers Living Through the Events and Society of the
Renaissance Era (1450-1600)
1450: Battle of Formigny
see: The Hundred Years War
1453:
*England loses Continental possessions (excluding Calais)
*Battle of Castillon: English driven from France; Turks capture Constantinople
(see "The Hundred Years War" link above)
ca. 1455: Gutenberg, first printed Bible
1455-1487: Wars of the Roses, England (see "The Hundred Years War" link above)
1467-1477: Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgandy
1471-1528: Albrecht Dürer, German artist (see his artwork)
1474-1539: Isabella d'Este, "First Lady of the Renaissance"
1477:
*Death of Charles the Bold (last duke of Burgandy) in Battle of Nancy
*Burgandy becomes part of the Austrian Empire
*First book printed in England: William Caxton's Dicets and Sayings of the Philosophers
*Sandro Boticelli (1444-1510), Primavera
*Johannes Tinctoris, Liber de arte contrapuncti
ca. 1477-1576: Titian (painter)
1478: Ferdinand and Isabella establish Inquisition
***1479: Marriage of Ferdinand V of Aragon and Isabella of Castile
1478-1535: Sir Thomas More
***1516: Utopia published
***1536: executed (read about: the trial)
more on More
1480-1530: Margaret of Austria (granddaughter to Charles the Bold)
***1497: marries Prince John of Aragon (heir to Spanish throne);
widowed
***1501: marries Duke Philibert II of Savoy
***1504: widowed
***1508-1530: regent of the Netherlands
ca. 1480-1530: Anna von Köln
1485:
*Battle of Bosworth, death of Richard III, Wars of the Roses ends
*Henry Tudor crowned King of England (Henry VII)
ca. 1485: Botticelli, The Birth of Venus
1487: Bartholomew Diaz sails around the southern tip of Africa
1491-1492: Siege of Granada: Christian Spanish capture Granada in Spain from Muslims
1492: Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) arrives in the new world (Bahamas)
1493:
*Columbus'second journey to Caribbean
*Maximilian I becomes Austrian Emperor
1495-1498: Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) paints his Last Supper in the refectory of
Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan
1497-98: Vasco da Gamba finds sea route to India
1498-1450: Columbus' third voyage to Trinidad and coast of South America
1499: Amerigo Vespucci and Alonso Hojeda sail to mouth of Amazon River
c. 1500: Italian Renaissance: Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1520); Botticelli (1444-1510);
Machiavelli (1468-1527)
1500: Peter Henlein invented the pocket watch (Nuremburg)
1501: Ottaviano Petrucci (1466-1539) publishes first printed book of music in Venice
entitled Harmonice musices Odhecaton A
1501-1502: Amerigo Vespucci sails along coast of South America
1501-1504: Michelangelo (1475-1564) sculpts the statue David
ca. 1502: Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) paints Mona Lisa
1502-1504: Columbus' fourth and final voyage to Honduras and Panama
1507: Margaret of Austria appointed Regent of the Netherlands
ca. 1507-1536: Anne Boleyn (Queen of England; English lutenist and singer)
***1514-1522: educated at the French Court
*** January 25, 1533: married Henry VIII
*** May 19, 1536: executed
1508-1512: Michelangelo paints the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel
1509: Accession of Henry VIII (King of England)
1515: Battle of Marignano
1516:
*Charles V (1500-1556) becomes Emperor of Austria and Spain (greatest empire in the
world)
1517: Martin Luther's Wittenberg Theses; beginning of the Reformation
1521: Martin Luther outlawed
1525-1594: Palestrina (click here for picture)
***1554: first masses published
1529: Turkish Siege of Vienna
1530: Madrigali novi, Rome: first publication to use the term "madrigal"
1532-1594: Orlando di Lasso
1533-1603: Queen Elizabeth I
***1558: accession to throne, reigned 45 years
1534: Henry VIII breaks with Rome
1534-1539: Henry VIII dissolves monasteries, sells their lands to the gentry: largest shift
in ownership of property in modern history
1535-1541: Michelangelo paints the Last Judgement in the Sistine Chapel (also: the
ceiling)
ca. 1540-ca. 1590: Maddalena Casulana
***1566: began career as composer
***1566: first published compositions (4 madrigals) in Il Desiderio I (a madrigal
anthology)
1541: John Calvin (1509-1564) founds reformed church at Geneva
1542-1576: Isabella de' Medici Orsini
***1576: murdered by husband, Paolo Giordano Orsini, duke of Bracciano
1542: 1st edition of Geneva Psalter published
1542-1543: Portugese become first Europeans to visit Japan
1542-1587: Mary Queen of Scots
1543: Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543) publishes On the Revolutions of the Celestial
Orbs
1544-1595: Torquato Tasso, poet
1545-1551: First Council of Trent
***1562: begins discussions of Music
1545: beginning of Counter-Reformation
1547: Heinrich Glareanus, Dodecachordon
1549: English Book of Common Prayer
1552-1599: Edmund Spenser
***1590: The Faerie Queen published (books 1-3)/ 1596: books 1-6)
1553-1558: Mary Tudor (1516-1558), Queen of England (reign)
***1554: marries Philip of Spain
1555: Peace of Augsburg: legalized the Lutheran-Roman Catholic split in Germany
fl.1557: Gracia Baptista, Spanish nun; keyboard composition (Conditor alme) included
in Libro
de Cifra Nueva para tecla, harpa, y vihuela (one of the first printed collections of
Spanish
keyboard music by Luys Venegas de Henestrosa)
1559:
*Tobacco first introduced into Europe
*Sarum rite abolished
ca. 1560-1634: Leonora Orsini (daughter of Isabella de' Medici), born in Florence
***moved to Rome; with cousin (Maria de' Medici) established musical ensemble of
women
singers
***1592: marries Alessandro Sforza, count of Santa Fiora and duke of Segni
***1609 or 1621: separates from husband; following separation founded the monastery
of
Santa Chiara delle Cappucine in Santa Fiora
1562:
*Pope Pius IV's Counter Reformation
*Palestrina (1525-1594) writes Pope Marcellus Mass
1562-1598: Huguenot Wars: wars of religion in France
1563: formal establishment of the Church of England
1564-1616: William Shakespeare
*** ca. 1585: begins career as actor/playwright
***1594: joins Lord Chamberlain's company of actors
***1600-1601: Hamlet
also: The Shakespeare Mystery
1564-1593: Christopher Marlowe
1565:
*St. Paul's dictum prohibits women from singing on stage and in churches
*Castration before puberty begins to emerge in Italy as a way of preserving the sound of
a boy's voice.
1567-1643: Claudio Monteverdi, Italian composer
***1582: first publication of music by Monteverdi
1568-1648: Dutch Wars of Independence
1571: London Stock Exchange established
1574: 1646: Vittoria Aleotti/Raffaela Aleotta
1576: Building of The Theatre, first permanent structure in England for the presentation
of plays
1577-1580: Francis Drake sails around the world
1579: Union of Utrecht: establishment of Dutch Republic
1580: Luca Marenzio, first book of madrigals
1584: Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618) established first English colony in Virginia
1587-ca. 1640: Francesca Caccini
more info on Francesca Caccini
1588:
*English defeat Spanish Armada, under Queen Elizabeth I
*English Madrigal School established, led by Thomas Morley (1557-1603)
1590-1662: Lucretia Vizzana
1590-1604:
*Count Giovanni de Bardi's camerata (salon): group of intellectuals gather to discuss and
experiment with music drama
*Opera is born
1597: John Dowland (1563-1626), The First Booke of Songes or Ayres, London (more
info)
1598: Jacopo Peri's Dafne produced, performed in Florence; first Italian opera
1599: Lord Chamberlain's company builds the Globe Theatre
c. 1600: signals the end of the Renaissance, the Baroque period begins
1603: Accession of James I, first of the Stuart kings in England
More Time Lines
I compiled my time line from gathering information from other time lines on the web.
They are worth checking out.
A Chronology of Music Events
Music Timeline
World History Chart
Composer Timeline
Bibliography
Johnson, Calvert. "Gracia Baptista." Women Composers-Music Through the Ages (Vol.
1). Ed. Martha Furman Schleifer and Sylvia Glickman. New York: G.K. Hall, 1996.
The following are articles from the same source:
Lerner, Ellen D. "Madalena Casulana."
Picker, Martin. "Margaret of Austria."
Smith, Candace. "Leonora Orsini."