Renaissance TimelineBy Laura Kabbabe (8D Orange)

Dante (1265-1321)Dante Alighieri was an Italian Florentine politician and poet. He wrote a poem called “Diving Comedy” which vividly describes his journey through the nine sins/circles of hell.

He gave his perspective by describing with precipitation that hell is flames of eternal torment. This gave a general idea for the people of what hell is like, as the bible doesn’t comment on it. People tried to redeem themselves by paying money to the priests or monks of the church. The poem also really helped persuade people to convert or become a Christian.

It causes an impact for us now because it gave us a deep insight of what life was like and what people feared during the Renaissance. It is still the very foundation of our understanding of hell. His descriptions of suffering, depending on the nature of the crime are probably still relevant as some crimes are still considered worse than others, today. A lot of games, movies, and TV shows are inspired by Dante’s Inferno.

A picture of Dante reading about the 9 circles of hell

The Black Death Outbreak (1348)

Even though the Black Death only peaked in Europe for 2 years, it killed over 40% of the population and took at least 150 years for Europe to recover. The Black plague helped create the time of “rebirth” as by almost 1/3 of the population dead in Europe, the feudal system was altered a little bit as the serfs began to become more important.

It inspired many doctors and medical related people to research about medicine and enhance their knowledge of the human body. Without this even, this planet might not have the vaccines to cue many of the new viruses that cause sickness today.

A medieval painting of the Black Death

Brunelleschi (1410)Famous Architect, Filippo Brunelleschi invented the first portable clock in Florence, Italy.

It impacts us today because before this time, mechanical clocks were large, heavy, and chunky, fixed devices. The spring-driven clock made it possible to carry the time around with you. It enabled people to mobile with greater flexibility and ease instead of being bound to the nearest clock. Today, we have the opportunity to know and keep track of time more than before, and it has allowed us to make many other forms of clocks (that may be shown in devices like phones for example).

A replica of Brunelleschi’sPortable Clock

Printing Press (1440) The printing press is a mechanical device for producing many copies of text on paper. The German craftsman and printer, Johannes Gutenberg, invented it. In 1455, the first book was printed on this machine and is called the Gutenberg Bible. Gutenberg’s invention drastically quickened the pace and quality at which texts were copied, as before people hand-wrote things such as bibles.

The printing press affects us today because it helped to publish work and let thoughts be transferred across generations and countries, worldwide, affordably. Because of this, Martin Luther created Protestantism, a different group of Christianity. Back during the time before the press was created, the Catholic Church controlled religion, science, politics, etc. but this changed due to the people being able to read the translated bible and realize that the church was doing things to get people to pay money. It allowed people to know more information about the universe and have their own ideas. It also made other languages to be commonly practiced, rather than just Latin. Now, books are published in mass distribution, and we don’t have monks spending years carving out letters.

The Printing Press at work

Christopher Columbus (1451-

1506)In 1492, Columbus “discovered” America and the “New World”. He intended to go to Japan for trade, but he ended up in the Bahamas, Caribbean. Later on, he made three more voyages and initially explored most of the western hemisphere. He also discovered that the world was round when he sailed from the Atlantic and ended up where he started.

 

Even though Christopher Columbus wasn’t really the first person to go to America (the first were the Vikings, led by Leif Ericson), he still changed and influenced it. Though there was already natives in North America, Columbus claimed the territory for Spain, and without the Spanish Colonization, there wouldn’t be as much of a Spanish influence, and the culture would be different. When the people rebelled, it taught them to fight for their rights. It also spread Christianity and new foods were found. America is very influential to other countries too as most products and ideas originate there (it opens up a world of trade), so if Columbus didn’t discover America, we would be living in a very different world too. Also, in preparation for his voyages, he created new navigational techniques.

Christopher Columbus’ route to America

Leonardo Da Vinci (1453-1519)

Leonardo was a very curious Italian polymath. He is known as the “Renaissance Man” because he was perhaps the most widely intelligent person who’s ever lived.

 His design of the parachute was way ahead of his time that the technology was not able to sustain his ideas, and thus the parachute was only invented in 1783. We can now be dropped off at nearly any height and safely land to the ground. The parachute also benefits the economy for some countries that offer it as a tourist attraction (skydiving). A lot of air flying machines are inspired by his design.

 The Mona Lisa is a “priceless” world famous painting. She is an object of curiosity due to her famous smile. The brush strokes are so well painted that they don’t look visible. He used the idea of painting only the top half of the body, which influenced other artists to do the same.

 The military tanks impacted World War I and II because it saved many men. Leonardo’s idea was the seed of an invention that was perfected later on.

 Leonardo’s FamousMona Lisa (1504)

Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527)

Niccolo is a politician and author from Florence. He wrote the famous book called “The Prince.” It’s about traits of what makes a good leader and about power. The popular quote, “the end justifies the means” is very famous and is extracted from it. He supports the idea of having power and being sly.

He is an example of human ingenuity because he is like an inspiration to dictators such as Hitler, Bin Laden, and Stalin. Machiavelli’s last name has also been made into the adjective, Machiavellian, which is used to describe someone malicious. The ideas of how he rules are still used today by communist leaders across the world. Without him, this world would not have any communist political parties to run countries.

“The Prince,” by Niccolo Machiavelli

Girolamo Fracastoro (1478)

In 1478, Fracastoro coined the word Syphilis and discovered that some diseases are contagious. This was a major breakthrough in both science and medicine because doctors & scientists found out where diseases came from (before they thought God was punishing them). He came upon the idea during an epidemic (which later was known as syphilis), and only affected people who worked closely with the patient. He realized that syphilis is spread through physical contact. This helped pave a way for prevention by treatments being made for contagious diseases. It helped create further medicines to heal diseases, and helped educate us on how to know the true cause when a disease was spread.

Portrait of Girolamo Fracastoro

Martin Luther posted his 95 theses on a

Church (1517)This is one of the most significant reasons the Church of England was born. On October 1517, Luther wrote down 95 statements (these), which reflected his discontent with the Catholic Church. He really wanted people to start thinking and encourage Church leaders to consider changing their ways.

The act of him posting his 95 theses on a church door in Wittenberg, Germany guided many people (including Henry VIII), to the reformation and the birth of the Church of England, which is still a big part of Christianity today.

Luther posting the 95 theses

Henry VIII divorces Catherine (1533)

Henry had 6 different wives; Catherine of Arogon was the first one he divorced. This divorce caused henry to separate from the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England was reformed to Protestantism, and he was the head of it as the Catholic Church wouldn’t allow him to divorce.  

This is very important because a lot of people are Protestant, which is another branch of Christianity. The Church of England is still active today, and it has a big widespread. It is estimated that there is 500 million Protestants.

Henry VIII Depictedwith is 6 wives

William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

William Shakespeare is regarded as one of the most famous writers in the English language. His plays, poems, and sonnets are very memorable and still entertain a vast variety of people. They still play a dominant role in entertainment today.  

He has a lasting impact on this world because first, he has left behind many works. We are still preforming his plays regularly and students from all levels study them; copies of the plays still sell briskly in bookstores and people write new books about them all the time. He has influenced our language and vocabulary too, for example, if someone uses the expression, ‘bated breadth,” they are using something from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice.” He also taught many morals such as love can conquer and destroy, human believes are easily manipulated, and that people trust what they cannot see. He inspired people to peruse literature. Shakespeare established 1,700 English words. He is one of the most helpful people in history to have grown another branch of the English language.

Portrait of William Shakespeare

The Invention of the Microscope (1590)

When Two Dutch spectacle makers (Zacharias Jansen and his father Hans) experimented with several lenses in a tube, they discovered that nearby objects appeared enlarged, although blurry and upside down which was known as the first microscope.

This impacted a significant change in history, because without this invention, many other “scopes”, such as the telescope wouldn’t have been invented or rather would’ve probably been invented at a much later time. Therefore the idea of the Earth being at the center of the universe would still be believed, and science wouldn’t be thought the way it is today and would be wrong.

A replica of the first microscope

Flush Toilet Invented (1596)

The first flush toilet was invented by John Harrington for Queen Elizabeth I. The flush toilet is one of the most commonly used objects in the world today.

It has created a lasting impact because we use it in our everyday lives. It will help create a free waste atmosphere and as a result less infections and diseases will be spread. Without it, many people would probably be disgusted by the smell of a non-flush toilet. We would also have to urinate in a pot and throw it (probably out the window).

 Flush toilet during the Renaissance

First Thanksgiving (1621)

Thanksgiving is about thanking the many people that help you and today it is a festival of family reunion. A thanksgiving feast has always consisted of cranberry, roast turkey and corn.

In the first thanksgiving, the British and the natives gave food to each other. The British had helped the Native American’s that were starving due to a famine that arised, and therefore the native Americans showed peace and friendship by thanking them with food. This is the reason they got along well for that period of time. Without Thanksgiving, America might not be in good terms with the Native Americans today and without the Native Americans, the early settlers would not have survived and the United States, as it is today would not have existed.

Thanksgiving with the Native Americans