How many times did Siena suffer from plague in the 15th century? Give up? Check out the timeline below that gives highlights of the births, deaths, plagues, arts, philosophies, wars and architecture of the first Renaissance century. The timeline is far from complete, but works as a survey of the century. Most of the entries are Italian, with some tidbits added from other parts of Europe.
1400 Plague in Siena, Lombardy and Masse. Colleoni Bartolomeo is born.
1401 Giovanni I Bentivoglio signore of Bologna. Nicholas of Cusa born. Foscari heads Council of Forty in Venice.
1402 Sep 3: Giangaleazzo Visconti dies of typhoid or malaria. Giovanni Maria takes over. Medici open wool shop in Florence. Plague in Lombardy.
1403 Bentivoglio murdered. Giovanni Rucellai born in Florence.
1404 Pope Boniface IX dies. Innocent VII takes over. Leon Battista Alberti born in Genoa.
1406 Innocent VII dies. Gregory XII becomes pope. Humanist Coluccio Salutati dies at 75.
1407 Gianfrancesco Gonzaga becomes marquis of Mantua. Lorenzo Valla is born in Rome. Oddone Colonna is made Pope Martin V.
1409 Council of Pisa elects third Pope. Florence at war with Pisa.
1411 Sigismund of Bohemia made ‘King of the Germans.’
1412 Giovanni Maria Visconti, oldest son of Giangaleazzo, murdered in church S. Gottardo for his cruelty. His brother Filippo Maria Visconti becomes last Visconti duke of Milan. 1414 Council of Constance opens to end Great Schism.
1415 Pope Gregory XII dies. July 6: Jan Hus burned for heresy at Council of Constance. Council deposes Pope Benedict. Anti-pope John resigns. Henry V fights Battle of Agincourt.
1417 Pope Martin V. elected.
1418 Filippo Maria´s wife Beatrice murdered by husband for adultery. Council of Constance closes; Great Schism ends.
1419 ‘Hussite’ War begins.
1420 Leonardo Bruni translates Aristotle´s ‘Economics’ for Cosimo di Medici.
1421 Plague in Siena. Population 15,000 for next 2 generations.
1422 Venice captures Genoa Charles VI of France dies.
1423 Milan violates agreement on borders with Florence, war breaks out. Doge Tommaso Mocenigo dies. Francesco Foscari leads Venice. Council of Pavia opens.
1424 Anti-pope Benedict XIII, Pedro de Luna, dies in Spain.
1427 Antonio is most popular male name in Tuscany. Population of city of Florence is 40,000. Florentine Catasto. 246,000 people in lands controlled by Florence.
1429 April 29: Joan of Arc frees Orlean from seige.
1431 Pope Martin V. dies. Eugenius IV becomes pope. May 30: Joan of Arc burned in Reims as a witch. Henry VI Lancaster crowned in Paris. Council of Basel opens.
1432 Revolt in Rome. Pope Eugenius flees to Florence. Order restored by warlike Cardinal Giovanni Vitteleschi. Sigismondo Malatesta becomes duke of Rimini.
1433 Gonzagas of Mantua raised to Marquis by emperor. Cosimo di Medici ransomed for 1800 florins. Sigismund crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Eugenius in Rome. Humanist Marsilio Ficino born.
1434 Then Cosimo di Medici controls Florence. In Milan, King Alfonso of Naples is prisoner of Filippo Maria. Was set free without ransom, alliance formed.
1436 ‘Hussite’ War ends. Brunelleschi´s dome completed in Florence.
1437 Dec: Emperor Sigismund I dies.
1438 Bologna revolts against papacy. Medici open silk shops in Florence.
1439 Greek and Russian Orthodox churches split.
1440 Plague in Siena. Jan Van Eyck dies. Frederick III Habsburg becomes Holy Roman Emperor. Poggio writes ‘Nobilitate’ about nobility of spirit over birth. Valla calls Donation of Constance a forgery.
1441 Niccolo III d´Este dies. Leonello d´Este becomes duke of Ferrara.
1442 Alfonso I becomes King of Naples.
1444 Gianfrancesco Gonzaga dies. Luigi III becomes marquis of Mantua. Condotierre Frederico II di Montefeltro becomes duke of Urbino. May 20: Bernardino dies at Aquila on his way to preach in Naples. Humanist Bruni dies at 74.
1445 Gutenburg printing press. Anibale Bentivoglio assassinated in Bologna by papal officials. Sante takes over in Bologna. Sandro Boticelli born.
1446 Rucellai Palace finished in Florence. Vittorino da Feltre dies. Filippo Brunelleschi dies.
1447 April: Filippo Maria Visconti dies at age xxx. Aug. 14: Milan becomes the Ambrosian Republic. Milan makes Francesco Sforza military commander of the Republic. Eugenius IV dies. Nicholas V. Parentucelli made pope.
1448 Vienna Concordat. Astorgio II Manfredi made papal/military signore in the Romagna. Anti-pope Felix V resigns. Valla to Rome at papal see; translates Thucidydes and Herodotus.
1449 Council of Basel forcibly disbanded. Lorenzo di Medici born.
1450 Milanese Ambrosian Republic ends. Mar 11: Francesco Sforza becomes duke of Milan. Leonello Déste dies. Borso becomes duke of Ferrara. Turks cut off Black Sea slave routes to Genoa and Venice. Rome Jubilee year. May 24: St. Bernardino canonized. Ucello begins 9 years painting Battle of San Romano.
1452 Leonardo da Vinci is born. Emperor Frederick III to Rome for coronation. Jerome Savonarola is born. Ludovico Sforza ‘il Moro’ is born.
1453 Hundred Years War between England and France ends. Constantinople falls to the Turks. Stefano Porcari´s plot against pope Nicholas V. fails.
1454 Peace of Lodi: 5 great powers sign 25 year pact. ‘Italian League.’ Florence expands to papal-controled coastline by taking Pisa and Piombino.
1455 War of the Roses begins in England. Lancaster v. York. Painter Pisanello dies. Nicholas V dies; Pope Calixtus III (Borgia) becomes pope. Fra Angelico (John of Fiesole) dies.
1456 Calixtus declares Joan of Arc was not a witch.
1457 Deposed by council of Ten (Oct. 23), Francesco Foscari dies in Venice. St. Rita of Cascia dies. Lorenzo Valla dies in Rome.
1458 Calixtus III dies. Aeneas Silvius becomes Pope Pius II
1459 Poggio Bracciolini dies.
1464 Cosimo di. Medici dies.
1466 Francesco Sforza dies. Brunelleschi dies at 89. Sculptor Donatello dies.
1469 Niccolo Machiavelli is born.
1475 Cesare Borgia is born. Giovanni di Medici, later Pope Leo X is born.
1481 Pope Sixtus IV.
1482 Da Vinci´s Adoration of the Magi left incomplete . 1484-85 Plague in Milan.
1490 Da Vinci´s Lady with an Ermine.
1492 Lorenzo di Medici dies. Alexander VI becomes second Borgia pope.
1494 Charles VIII French invade Italy. Dominican Girolamo Savonarola influences restoration to Republic in Florence.
1498 The Last Supper completed. Savonarola burned at the stake in Florence.
