European History: Renaissance Timeline Quiz

Answer: 1414

The Medici family of Florence rose from modest origins to become the most powerful banking dynasty in Europe. In 1414 they became bankers to the Pope. This gave them enormous political and financial influence across the continent. Florence flourished as a result, attracting artists, architects and scholars from across Europe.

Their money funded some of the greatest artists of the age, including Botticelli, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. Lorenzo de' Medici, known as 'The Magnificent', was the family's most celebrated patron of the arts.

Answer: Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc was a French peasant girl from Domrémy. She claimed to hear the voices of saints urging her to drive the English from France during the Hundred Years' War. In 1429, aged just seventeen, she led French forces to a remarkable victory at Orleans, turning the tide of the war in France's favour.

She was later captured by Burgundian forces and handed to the English, who tried her for heresy. She was burned at the stake in Rouen in 1431 at the age of nineteen. A retrial in 1456 declared her innocent, and she was canonised as a saint in 1920.

Answer: Moveable type

Johannes Gutenberg was a German craftsman who developed a system of movable-type printing in Europe around 1436. Before this, books were painstakingly copied by hand by monks and scribes. This made them rare, slow to produce and very expensive.

Gutenberg's invention allowed books to be produced quickly and in large numbers for the first time. Knowledge spread rapidly across Europe as a result, which fuelled the Renaissance and the Reformation. Education, religion and politics were all affected in the years that followed.

Answer: Florence Cathedral

The magnificent dome of Florence Cathedral, known as the Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, was designed by the brilliant architect Filippo Brunelleschi and completed in 1436. It was a feat of engineering that had stumped architects for over a century before he devised his revolutionary solution.

What made the achievement so remarkable was that Brunelleschi centred the dome without using traditional wooden centring supports, which would have required an impossibly vast amount of timber. Instead, he developed an ingenious double-shell design with interlocking herringbone brickwork that allowed the structure to support itself during construction.

It remains the largest brick dome ever constructed and is one of the defining masterpieces of Renaissance architecture.

Answer: 1474

'The Recuyell of the Histories of Troye' was printed in 1474 by William Caxton. It's a translation of a French work about the legends of Troy. It holds the distinction of being the first book ever printed in the English language, a landmark moment in literary history.

Caxton went on to establish the first printing press in England at Westminster in 1476. Over the following years, he printed over a hundred books, including works by Chaucer. His press transformed English literacy and had a lasting impact on the standardisation of the English language.

Answer: Da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci painted 'The Last Supper' on the wall of the refectory of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan between 1495 and 1498. It depicts the moment Jesus announces that one of his apostles will betray him and captures the varied reactions of the twelve disciples with great psychological depth.

Unlike traditional frescoes which were painted directly onto wet plaster, da Vinci used tempera and oil on a dry plaster surface. This gave him greater control and detail, but it made the work far more vulnerable to deterioration over time. Despite extensive restoration efforts across the centuries, it remains one of the most famous paintings in the world.

Answer: Michelangelo

Michelangelo was commissioned by Pope Julius II to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. The project was completed between 1508 and 1512. The ceiling covers over 500 square metres and depicts scenes from the Book of Genesis.

The most famous section is 'The Creation of Adam'. It remains one of the most recognised images in Western art. Michelangelo painted while standing on specially designed scaffolding high above the chapel floor, a physically demanding task that caused him considerable discomfort.

Answer: Copernicus

Nicolaus Copernicus was a Polish astronomer and mathematician. He proposed that the Earth and planets orbit the Sun. By the early 1510s, he had developed and circulated the basic ideas of his heliocentric model. This challenged the long-held belief that Earth sat at the centre of the universe.

His major work, 'De Revolutionibus', was published in 1543, the year of his death. The Church later placed it on its Index of Prohibited Books. His ideas were later built upon by Galileo, Kepler and Newton.

Answer: 1536

The potato was brought to Spain from South America in 1536 by Spanish conquistadors returning from the Andes. It had been cultivated there by indigenous peoples for thousands of years. It was initially viewed with deep suspicion across Europe, with some believing it caused disease.

Over the following century, attitudes changed as its value as a reliable, nutritious crop became clear. It spread across Europe and eventually became a key part of the diet, particularly in Ireland and northern Europe. The potato's introduction transformed European agriculture and population growth.

Answer: Galileo

Galileo Galilei was an Italian physicist, mathematician and astronomer who made major contributions across several fields of science. Around 1596, he developed a thermoscope, an early device for measuring temperature changes, which laid the groundwork for modern heat measurement.

He is probably best known for his support of Copernicus's heliocentric theory, which brought him into direct conflict with the Catholic Church. He was tried by the Inquisition and spent the remainder of his life under house arrest.