| Term | Definition |
| 1341 | Francesco Petrarch crowned poet laureate in Rome |
| 1415 | John Huss burned at the stake |
| 1453 | Constantinople falls to the Ottoman Turks and the Hundred Years' War between France and England ends |
| 1492 | Christopher Columbus founds the New World |
| 1511 | Erasmus's The Praise of Folly is published. It became a major catalyst for the Protestant Reformation |
| 1517 | Martin Luther nails his 95 theses to the church door in Wittenburg, Germany |
| 1519 | Magellen unintentionally circumnavigates the world |
| 1519 | Cortez conquers the Aztecs in Mexico |
| 1519 | Charles the I of Spain becomes Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire |
| 1534 | Henry VIII breaks with Rome and becomes head of the Church of England |
| 1588 | The Spanish Armada is defeated by the British |
| 1492 | Spain finishes the Reconquista under Ferdinand and Isabella with the capture of Granada and the expulsion of Jews |
| 1492 | Death of Lorenzo de Medici leaves his son Piero "the Unfortunate" in power |
| 1492 | Rodrigo Borgia becomes Pope Alexander VI, infamous as a corrupt and manipulative pope. |