1450 ---------- Mercenary leader, Francesco Sforza, seizes power in Milan.
1451-1481 ----Mohammed II, the Conqueror, Ottoman sultan
1452-1519 ----Leonardo da Vinci
1453 ---------- Constantinople falls to the Turks
1455 ---------- Gutenberg Bible printed
1455-1485 ----Wars of the Roses
1461-1483 ----Louis XI rules France
1469 ---------- Marsilio Ficino publishes Theologia Platonica
1469-1492 ----Lorenzo de' Medici ("the Magnificent") rules Florence.
1471-1484 ----Pontificate of Sixtus IV
1475-1564 ----Michelangelo Buonarroti
1476 ---------- William Caxton sets up printing press at Westminster
1478 -----------Spanish Inquisition persecutes Jews, Muslems, and heretics.
1480 -----------Lodovico Sforza seizes power in Milan.
1482 -----------First great Renaissance villa is built for Pope Leo X
1483---------Raphael Santi Born
1483 -----------Martin Luther born.
1484 -----------Bull condemns withcraft. Inquisitors sent to Germany
1485 -----------Battle of Bosworth Field
1485-1495 ---- Ivan III brings Italian architects to Moscow t
1485 -----------Botticelli paints The Birth of Venus
1487 -----------Bartholomew Diaz sails around Cape of Good Hope-
1492 -----------Christopher Columbus reaches the West Indies.
1494 -----------Treaty of Tordesilla.
1495 -----------French capture Naples
1495-1497 ----Leonardo da Vinci paints The Last Supper.
1496 -----------Santo Domingo founded
1497 -----------John Cabot discovers Newfoundland .
1498 -----------Vasco da Gama reaches India
1499 -----------Louis XII of France seizes Milan.
1501-1504 ----Michelangelo sculpts statue of David
1503 -----------Leonardo da Vinci paints Mona Lisa
1505---------Raphael paints Madonna and Child
1508-1512 ----Michelangelo paints ceiling of Sistine Chapel in Rome
1511---------Raphael paints The Triumph of Galaitia
1513-1514--Raphael paints The Sistine Madonna
1509-1511--Raphael paints stanzas for the Vatican
1518-1520 -Raphael paints The Transfiguration
1517 ---------- Luther posts his 95 Theses  in Wittenberg.
1519 ---------- Charles of Spain becomes Emperor Charles V.
1519-1521 --- Magellan's ship first to sail around the world
1519-1521 ----Hernan Cortes conquers the Aztecs.
1520---------Raphael Santi Dies
1521 ---------- Diet of Worms. Luther refuses to back down.
1521 ---------- Suleiman II, the Magnificent, takes Belgrade
1527 ---------- Imperial troops sack Rome.
1529 ---------- The Turks besiege Vienna
1534 ---------- Henry VIII of England breaks with Roman Catholic Church.
1535 ---------- Jacques Cartier sails up the St. Lawrence River.
1538 ---------- Titian paints Venus of Urbino
1540 ---------- St. Ignatius Loyola founds the Society of Jesus
1540 ---------- Hernando de Soto discovers the Mississippi River.
1543 ---------- Copernicus publishes heliocentric theory
1541 ---------- John Calvin founds "City of God" in Geneva.
1545 ---------- Council of Trent begins. Aims to reform Catholic Church.
1555 ---------- Peace of Ausgburg.
1556 ---------- Charles V of Spain abdicates.
1556 ---------- Son, Phillip II, rules Spain; brother, Ferdinand I, is Emperor.
1559 ---------- Peace of Cateau-Cambresis ends Franco-Spanish war.
1562-1578 --- French religious wars between Catholics and Protestants.
1564 ---------- William Shakespeare born
1571 ---------- Italian painter, Caravaggio born in Milan
1577-1580 --- Francis Drake sails around the world.