Media History Project
mediahst@umn.edu

1400-1599

  • 1400: In England, allegorical poem Piers Plowman criticizes upper class corruption.
  • 1400: From Florence comes the Italic script, a flowing handwriting.
  • 1401: Italian Renaissance in architecture begins in Florence under the Medicis.
  • 1408: Italian sculptor Donatello’s David.
  • 1415: Czech reformer Jan Hus is burned at the stake in Germany.
  • 1418: The earliest surviving dated woodcut in Europe.
  • 1420: Life is fine for royalty. One recipe calls for 300 doves, 200 chickens, four pigs.
  • 1420: European artists begin painting with oils.
  • 1423: Europeans use xylography (block printing) to produce books.
  • 1430: Block-printed books published in Holland, Germany.
  • 1430: Start of Renaissance music era: sacred music, secular madrigals; lute is favored.
  • 1434: Artist Jan van Eyck paints Arnolfini Wedding Portrait.
  • 1436: Leone Alberti writes first book on painting to consider both theory and technique.
  • 1440: Possible date of Johnannes Gutenberg’s first printing effort.
  • 1441: Painter Fra Filippo Lippi, The Coronation of the Virgin.
  • 1441: First artist to use oil-based paints, Jan van Eyck, dies.
  • 1446: The simplifed Korean phonetic alphabet, hangul, with 11 vowels, 28 consonants.
  • 1447: Italian painter Fra Guido Angelico’s frescoe, The Annunciation.
  • 1448: Gutenberg sets up a printing shop in Mainz.
  • 1450: A few newsletters begin circulating in Europe.
  • 1450: In Germany, Nicholas of Cusa invents concave lenses for near-sightedness.
  • 1450: In England, high point of miracle plays.
  • 1450: Africans carry culture with them as 400 years of slave exports to West begins.
  • 1450: Korea’s King Sejong leads a golden age of scientific and humanist learning.
  • 1451: Gutenberg’s press prints an old German poem.
  • 1452: Metal plates are used in printing.
  • 1452: Gutenberg begins printing the 42-line Bible in two volumes.
  • 1453: Turks capture Constantinople. Many books disappear from Constantine Library.
  • 1455: First block-printed Bible, the Biblia Pauperum, published in Germany.
  • 1454: Gutenberg prints indulgences, advance pardons for future sins.
  • 1456: Gutenberg’s 42-line Bible is illuminated and bound.
  • 1456: Italian painter Piero della Francesca, The Flagellation of Christ.
  • 1457: First known color printing, a psalter in Mainz.
  • 1464: The king of France establishes a postal system.
  • 1464: Alberti writes pioneering treatise on sculpture.
  • 1465: The Doubting of Thomas, sculpture by Andrea del Verrochio.
  • 1465: French poet, also thief and rogue, Francois Villon dies.
  • 1465: Printed music.
  • 1467: Rome gets a printing press.
  • 1468: Paris gets a printing press.
  • 1472: Dante’s epic poem, The Divine Comedy, is printed.
  • 1474: German astronomer "Regiomontanus" is the first to use printing for science.
  • 1475: Vatican librarian writes first printed recipes. Hummingbird livers, anyone?
  • 1476: William Caxton brings Gutenberg’s invention of printing to England.
  • 1477: Caxton prints Sayengis of the Philosophres, the first of a hundred books.
  • 1477: An advertising poster in England.
  • 1477: Hamburg archduke gives diamond to future wife, starting the tradition.
  • 1477: In Florence, the first book with intaglio illustration, Il Monte Sancto di Dio.
  • 1480: Caxton prints English fiction by Chaucer, Malory, others.
  • 1482: Marsilio Ficino’s Theologica Platonica combines Christianity, Platonic thought.
  • 1482: An advertising poster in France.
  • 1484: From Portugal, a manual of sea navigation; tables identify latitudes.
  • 1485: Thomas Malory’s, Morte d’Arthur creates new legend of King Arthur, knights.
  • 1486: Church-supported The Hammer of the Witches attacks witchcraft.
  • 1486: Pico della Mirandola’s Oration on the Dignity of Man states humanistic view.
  • 1482: Artist Sandro Botticelli, The Birth of Venus.
  • 1482: Leonardo da Vinci begins filling notebooks with ideas, sketches.
  • 1485: Alberti’s study of architecture is the first printed book on the subject.
  • 1486: Two German monks write a handbook to help identify witches.
  • 1488: A Bible is printed in the Czech language.
  • 1489: German mathematician John Widmann’s book introduces "+" , "—" signs.
  • 1489: Aldus Manutius begins career as the greatest publisher of the Renaissance.
  • 1490: Printing of books on paper becomes more common in Europe.
  • 1490: Da Vinci describes principles of the camera obscura.
  • 1492: Great patron of knowledge and art, Lorenzo de Medici, dies at 44.
  • 1492: Columbus sets sail, with Arab geography book, underestimates Earth’s diameter.
  • 1492: German map-maker Martin Behaim constructs the first globe.
  • 1492: Profession of book publisher combines type maker, printer, bookseller.
  • 1495: A paper mill is established in England.
  • 1497: In Florence, Savonarola burns books, paintings.
  • 1498: Leonardo da Vinci completes The Last Supper.
  • 1498: The toothbrush.
  • 1498: In Venice, the printer Aldus Manutius publishes a book catalogue with prices.
  • 1498: Music is printed in Venice using movable type.
  • 1499: Michelangelo Buonarroti sculpts the Pietà.
  • 1500: In England, the growth of middle class literacy.
  • 1500: In England, lead pencils.
  • 1500: Aldus Manutius creates italics.
  • 1500: Book title pages show publisher’s imprint, date, page numbers.
  • 1500: In Europe, a portable clock.
  • 1500: Music notation printed with movable type.
  • 1500: During Ming Dynasty China, letter carriers serve private citizens.
  • 1500: By now approximately 35,000 books have been printed, some 10 million copies.
  • 1501: Papal bull orders burning of books that challenge the Church.
  • 1501: Aldo Manuzio designs a small book to replace large codex.
  • 1502: The pocketwatch.
  • 1504: Michelangelo completes his sculpture, David.
  • 1506: Leonardo da Vinci finishes painting the Mona Lisa.
  • 1507: Map shows the New World, called America, as a separate continent.
  • 1508: Lucas Cranach adds to art of chiaroscuro woodcut engraving prints.
  • 1509: Desiderius Erasmus, The Praise of Folly, satirizes behavior of Church clergy.
  • 1510: Venice leads a new art renaissance.
  • 1510: Morality plays are popular in Europe.
  • 1510: The viola da bracchio, earliest form of the violin, appears in Italy.
  • 1510: Dutch artist Hieronymous Bosch completes The Garden of Earthly Delights.
  • 1511: Raphael completes the Vatican frescoe, The School of Athens.
  • 1512: After five years, Michelangelo completes work on the Sistine Chapel ceiling.
  • 1513: Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince offers cold-blooded advice for getting, keeping power.
  • 1514: German artist Albrecht Dürer’s engraving, St. Jerome in His Study.
  • 1515: Military incursions into Italy help bring the Florentine Renaissance to France.
  • 1516: Sir Thomas More’s Utopia describes an ideal state, a humanist vision.
  • 1516: Arguably the best poetry of the Renaissance: Ariosto’s epic, Orlando Furioso.
  • 1517: Martin Luther nails his "Ninety-five Theses" to a church door in Wittenberg.
  • 1517: Luther’s Theses are printed in vernacular German, starting the Reformation.
  • 1519: Leonardo da Vinci dies after lifetime of incomparable art and inventive writing.
  • 1520: A written history in Arabic of a city state in East Africa.
  • 1520: One of the world’s greatest artists, Raphael, dies at age 37.
  • 1521: Machiavelli’s On the Art of War intertwines politics and battle.
  • 1521: The Roman Church burns Protestant books.
  • 1521: Cambridge University Press is founded.
  • 1522: Martin Luther publishes German translation of New Testament.
  • 1523: Hans Holbein the Younger, Portrait of Erasmus.
  • 1524: The New Testament is published in the Swiss German vernacular.
  • 1524: Erasmus’ Freedom of the Will attacks Luther’s doctrine, upholds moral freedom.
  • 1525: William Tyndale publishes first translation of the New Testament into English.
  • 1526: A Bible is published in Dutch.
  • 1527: A Protestant printer is burned at the stake.
  • 1528: Baldassare Castiglione’s book, The Courtier, promotes education for women.
  • 1529: In Italy, women appear on stage.
  • 1530: In Rome, the first printed book of madrigals.
  • 1530: A French Bible.
  • 1530: Antonio Correggio paints Jupiter and Io.
  • 1533: A postmaster is appointed in England.
  • 1534: Martin Luther finishes translating Old Testament into German vernacular.
  • 1534: With Gargantua, physician Rabelais gives his name to debauchery.
  • 1535: Miles Coverdale publishes first English translation of the entire Bible.
  • 1535: John Calvin, Institution of Christian Religion, explains idea of elect, damned.
  • 1536: New Testament translator William Tyndale is strangled, burned at the stake.
  • 1536: A newspaper is printed: the Gazetta in Venice.
  • 1536: Francesco Guicciardini is first author to consider Italy as one country.
  • 1537: French publishers commanded to send a copy of every book to the royal library.
  • 1537: Henry VIII permits selling of 1,500 Bibles in the English language.
  • 1538: Henry VIII orders a Bible placed in every church in England.
  • 1539: Another Bible appears in the English vernacular, the Great Bible.
  • 1539: In India, mystic poet Guru Nanak dies after founding Sikh religion.
  • 1539: First printer in the Americas, Juan Pablos, brings equipment to Mexico.
  • 1540: Swiss physician Paracelsus argues for pharmaceutical treatment of illness.
  • 1541: A Bible is printed in Swedish.
  • 1541: In Italy, publication of illustrations of human muscles and bones.
  • 1543: In Italy, publication of careful anatomical drawings, especially organs.
  • 1543: Andreas Vesalius’ De Fabrica Corporis Humani corrects Greek medical errors.
  • 1543: Nicolas Copernicus’ De revolutionibus places sun at the center of our universe.
  • 1544: Spanish and German couriers are allowed to carry private letters.
  • 1544: Illustration of a camera obscura, used to trace scenes, is published in Holland.
  • 1545: Garamond designs his typeface.
  • 1547: In England, The Fyrst Boke of the Introduction of Knowledge.
  • 1549: In England, the first complete edition of The Book of Common Prayer.
  • 1550: Chinese wallpaper brought to Europe.
  • 1550: A Danish Bible is published.
  • 1550: A type maker arrives in Mexico, first in the New World.
  • 1550: Milanese scientist Geralamo Cardano describes a camera obscura with a lens.
  • 1552: In Geneva, John Calvin bans dancing, folk medicine, certain clothing.
  • 1553: Michael Servetus burned at stake for On the Errors of the Trinity.
  • 1553: Papers are written on blood circulation.
  • 1554: Sculptor Benvenuto Cellini completes Perseus with the Head of Medusa.
  • 1554: Anonymous Spanish novel has picaresque theme of wandering rogue.
  • 1555: Popal Vuh, holy book of Toltec-Maya, is translated and published in Europe.
  • 1555: In France, Nostradamus publishes his rhymed quatrain prophecies.
  • 1556: Stationers’ Company of London gets printing monopoly for all England.
  • 1557: George Wickram writes the first German novel, Der Goldfaden.
  • 1557: Estienne du Terte composes a kind of musical suite.
  • 1557: In England, a play is censored: The Sack-Full of Newes.
  • 1558: In Elizabethan age, John Knox, a Scot, publishes blast at female monarchs.
  • 1558: Giovanni della Porta recommends camera obscura as an aid to artists.
  • 1558: Child’s speller written in England as spelling consistency gradually emerges.
  • 1559: Pope Paul IV creates an Index of Prohibited Books; bans books of Erasmus.
  • 1560: The Geneva Bible, supported by dissidents; will influence King James version.
  • 1560: In Italy, the camera obscura shrinks from room-sized to portable.
  • 1560: French diplomat Jean Nicot brings tobacco to France. Name gives us "nicotine."
  • 1560: Legalized, regulated private postal systems spread across Europe.
  • 1561: Spanish priest Rúy López writes a book about chess.
  • 1561: A Polish vernacular Bible.
  • 1562: Counter-Reformation attacks secular music; organ will be only church instrument.
  • 1563: In Elizabethan England, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs, an anti-Catholic propaganda tract.
  • 1563: The word "Puritan" is coined as an insult to strict Protestant English.
  • 1564: Moscow gets a printing press.
  • 1565: The graphite pencil.
  • 1565: Women forbidden to sing in church or on stage; castrati replace them.
  • 1567: Pieter Bruegel paints The Peasant Wedding.
  • 1568: Cartographer Gerardus Mercator draws a projection map of the world.
  • 1568: Daniele Barbari describes camera obscura with lens and diaphragm.
  • 1568: The Bishops’ Bible is printed for Anglican Church.
  • 1569: A Spanish vernacular Bible is printed, but in Switzerland, not in hostile Spain.
  • 1569: Mercator draws a world map with cylindrical projections.
  • 1570: Women forbidden to sing on stage; castration imitates female voice.
  • 1570: The Counter-Reformation of the Roman Catholic Church uses printing heavily.
  • 1572: Dutch pigeons carry messages during war with Spain.
  • 1573: Artist Paolo Veronese, The Feast in the House of Levi.
  • 1576: Titian paints the Pietà in the last year of his life.
  • 1577: Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicle will give Shakespeare material for plays.
  • 1577: Giovanni Palestrina composes his most famous mass, Missa Papae Marcelli.
  • 1579: El Greco completes painting The Disrobing of Christ.
  • 1579: Thomas North’s translation of Plutarch gives Roman material to Shakespeare.
  • 1580: The first of humanist Michel de Montaigne’s essays is published.
  • 1580: Referance made to the English folk song Greensleeves. Was Henry VIII composer?
  • 1582: The Gregorian calendar improves on the Julian calendar. Not all adopt it.
  • 1582: Roman Catholic scholars publish Douay version of the New Testament.
  • 1582: A dictionary of hard English words is published.
  • 1584: Printing introduced to the New World, in Peru.
  • 1586: Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedie may influence Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
  • 1588: In England, Timothy Bright invents a shorthand.
  • 1588: Christopher Marlowe’s play, Dr. Faustus.
  • 1588: Signal fires report the arrival of the Spanish Armada in the Engish Channel.
  • 1588: English madrigals, songs of love and sadness, are popular.
  • 1589: Marlowe’s play, The Jew of Malta.
  • 1590: Hungarians get their own vernacular Bible.
  • 1591: Algebra text by Franciscus Vieta of France introduces x and y.
  • 1593: William Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis.
  • 1593: A book is printed in the Philippines, Doctrina Christiana.
  • 1594: Performances of: Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, The Taming of a Shrew.
  • 1594: Shakespeare’s performance of The Comedy of Errors.
  • 1594: In Venice, artist Jacopo Tintoretto finishes The Last Supper.
  • 1595: Shakespeare’s Richard II (possible date).
  • 1596: Edmund Coote writes an English spelling book, arbitrarily chooses spellings.
  • 1596: A Midsummer’s Night Dream, King John (possible date).
  • 1596: Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene is published.
  • 1597: Shakespeare completes the Sonnets (possible date).
  • 1597: The Merchant of Venice (possible date).
  • 1597: Listing of Romeo and Juliet in Stationers’ Register.
  • 1597: Publication of Richard III.
  • 1597: Love’s Labor’s Lost performed.
  • 1597: Henry IV, parts one and two (possible date)
  • 1597: The Merry Wives of Windsor may have been performed at court.
  • 1597: First real chemistry text published by Libavus of Germany.
  • 1598: First Italian opera, Dafna, is performed.
  • 1598: In Denmark, Tycho Brahe’s writings advance astronomy.
  • 1598: Reference made to Two Gentlemen of Verona.
  • 1598: Possible date of Shakespeare’s Henry V.
  • 1598: Michelangelo Caravaggio paints The Calling of St. Matthew.
  • 1599: The Globe Theatre is built.
  • 1599: In Germany, fixed postal rates.
  • 1599: Julius Caesar is performed.
  • 1599: Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It (estimated date).