1003-1004

Pope John XVII rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1004-1009

Pope John XVIII, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1009-1012

Pope Sergius IV, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1012-1024

Pope Benedict VIII, rules the Catholic church in Rome

1016-1042

(Anglo-Saxon) British Monarchy, Danish king Sweyn's son Canute (1016-1035) became undisputed King of England, his rivals (Ethelred's surviving sons and Edmund's son) fled abroad.  In 1018, the last Danegeld of 82,500 pounds was paid to Canute.  Ruthless but capable, Canute consolidated his position by marrying Ethelred's widow Emma.  During his reign Canute also became King of Denmark and Norway; his inheritance and formidable personality combined to make him overlord of a huge Northern Empire.  Given that there was no political or governmental unity within his empire, it failed to survive his sons by his two queens, Harold Harefoot (reigned 1035-1040) and Harthacnut (reigned 1040-1042).

1019-1054

Grand Duke Jaroslav rules in Kiev

1024-1032

Pope John XIX, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1031-1060

(Capetian dynasty) France, king Henry I rules a territory that is part of modern day France. Son and successor of king Robert II and grandson of Hugh Capet, founder of the Capetian dynasty of kings in France. From the very beginning of his reign he was occupied with putting down rebellions led by members of his family and other French nobles. Between 1035 and 1047 he assisted his nephew William, duke of Normandy, later William the Conquerer, king of England, in establishing William's authority over rebellious Norman nobles.  Henry later grew jealous of William's power and waged an unsuccessful war against him in 1054 and 1058. Henry was succeeded by his son Philip I.

1025-1300

The Crusades Period in Nordic Countries.  The conversion of the "Pagans of the North" to Christianity effectively ended the Viking Era.  In reality the Church has never able to conquer this part of the world - but it was smart enough not to push and accept some "pagan" rites like whatever was related solstices and growing seasons, spirits of the forests and death, and birth of the world. In ealy 16th century the Swedish King, Gustav Vasa tried again, but ended only burning all Church records from the country.

1032-1045

Pope Benedict IX, rules the Catholic church in Rome

1038-1227

Western Xia Dynasty in China,

1042-1066

(Anglo-Saxon) British Monarchy,  Edward 'the Confessor' (1042-1066) Ethelred's surviving son, became King. With few rivals (Canute's line was extinct and Edward's only male relatives were two nephews in exile), Edward was undisputed King; the threat of usurpation by the King of Norway rallied the English and Danes in allegiance to Edward. Brought up in exile in Normandy, Edward lacked military ability or reputation. His Norman sympathies caused tensions with one of Canute's most powerful earls, Godwin of Wessex, whose daughter, Edith, Edward married in 1045, (the marriage was childless).  These tensions resulted in the crisis of 1050-52, when Godwin assembled an army to defy Edward with reinforcements from Mercia and Northumberland, Edward banished Godwin from the country and sent Queen Edith from court.

1045

Pope Sylvester III, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1045-1046

Pope Gregory VI, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1046-1047

Pope Clement II, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1047-1048

Pope Benedict IX, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1048-1049

Pope Damasus II, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1049-1055

Pope Leo IX, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1054

Eastern Orthodox church breaks away from the Catholic church in a major schism.  Final break between the Greek & Latin churches, when the pope's legates excommunicate Patriarch Michael Cerularius of Constantinople.  When this break occurred, this formed the Eastern Orthodox Church from which sprang the Russian Orthodox Church, the Greek Orthodox Church, the Romanian Orthodox Church & others.

1954

(Adherents) Veerashaivas (Lingayats)

1055-1057

Pope Victor II, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1057-1059

Pope Stephen IX (X), rules the Catholic church in Rome

1059-1061

Pope Nicholas II, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1060-1108

(Capetian dynasty) France, king Philip I  rules a territory that is part of modern day France. The eldest son of Henry I, king of France. The first six years of his reign were spent under the regency of his mother and uncle. Philip's reign was troubled by many clashes with his powerful vassels, particularly in Normandy, but he succeeded in enlarging his dominions. Philip was excommunicated by the Catholic church in 1095 because he had repudiated his wife, Bertha of Holland, and married Bertrada, the wife of the count of Anjou.

1061-1073

Pope Alexander II, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1066-1087

1066 brought the end to the Viking domination in Britain. (Anglo-Saxon) British Monarchy,  Harold II (1066) On Edwards death, his brother-in-law Harold, Earl of Wessex was confirmed as king by the King's Council (the Witenagemot). With no royal blood, and fearing rival claims from William Duke of Normandy and the King of Norway, Harold had himself crowned in Westminster Abbey on 6 January 1066, the day after Edward's death.  Meanwhile, William Duke of Normandy had landed at Sussex.  Harold rushed south to meet him on 14 October 1066.  His army of 7,000 infantry was defeated at the battle of Hastings.  Harold was hit in the eye by an arrow and was cut down by Norman swords.  (The Normans) William I (1066-1087) William 'the Conquerer' was coronated at Westminster Abbey 25 December 1066, though this did not give him complete control of England, there remained pockets of resistance, remaining resistance was, however, severely crushed and castles were built to control the country.

1073-1086

Pope Gregory VII, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1079

1086-1088

Pope Victor III, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1087-1100

(The Normans) British Monarchy,  William II (1087-1100) Extended his father's policies, taking royal power far to the north of England. Ruthless in his relations with his brother Robert, William extended his grip on the duchy of Normandy under an agreement between the brothers in 1091, (Robert went on crusade in 1096) Williams relations with the Catholic church were not easy; he took over Archbishop Lanfranc's revenues after his death in 1089, he kept other bishoprics vacant to make use of their revenues, and had many arguments with Lanfranc's popular successor Anselm. William died on 2 August 1100, after being shot by an arrow while hunting in the forest.

1088-1099

Pope Urban II, rules the Catholic church in Rome. Urban calls for the first Crusade in 1095, with claims to restore Asia Minor to Byzantium and to conquer the Holy Land from the Turks.

1096-1099

First Crusade, resulted in the recapture of Jerusalem and the establishment of four Latin states in the east: the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the County of Edessa, the Principality of Antioch, and the County of Tripoli. An authority quoted by H.G. Wells says of the capture of Jerusalem: "The slaughter was terrible; the blood of the conquered ran down the streets, until men splashed in the blood as they rode. At nightfall, 'sobbing for excess of joy,' the crusaders came to the Sepulchre from their treading of the winepress, and put their blood-stained hands together in prayer."

1099

The Order of the Knights of Templar, the Templars was founded by Hugues de Payns, a French knight, after the First Crusade of 1099 to protect pilgrims on the road to Jerusalem. Its headquarters was the captured Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount, which lent the Templars their name. 

1099-1118

Pope Paschal II, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1100-1135

(The Normans) British Monarchy,  Henry I (1100-1135) William's younger brother succeeded him to the throne. He was crowned three days after his brother's death, against the possibility that his eldest brother Robert might claim the English throne. After the decisive battle at Tinchebrai in 1106, in France, Henry completed his conquest of Normandy from Robert, who then (unusually for that time) spent the last 28 years of his life as his brother's prisoner. He established peaceful relations with Scotland, through his marriage to Matilda of Scotland.

1100-1137

(Capetian dynasty), France, king Louis VI, (the Fat), rules a territory that is part of modern day France. Son and successor of Philip I; he was married to Adelaide of Savoy. Almost his entire life was spent in subduing the robber barons, who preyed on the environs of Paris but were finally forced to yield to royal authority. For some 20-years during the period from 1109-1135, Louis waged war against Henry I, the Norman king of England, and against Henry's son-in-law, "Holy Roman Emperor" Henry V; he successfully repelled an invasion by Henry V in 1124. Louis greatly strengthened royal power in France, granted benefactions to the Catholic church and privileges to towns, and became known as the protector of the peasant and a fearless military leader. He is succeeded on the throne by his son Louis VII.

1115-1234

In Dynasty in China,

1118

Hugh de Payens with eight other fighters formed an organization called Knights Templars to provide protection for Christian visitors headed for Jerusalem.

1118-1314

Knights Templars swore allegiance to the Pope, but their beliefs were not exactly orthodox. They believed that Jesus Christ had conceived three children with Mary Magdalene, who moved to France after the crucifixion. Their progeny married into royalty; hence, there existed members of the French nobility who had divine blood in their veins. The Knights Templar eventually dedicated themselves to protecting the lives of these descendants of Jesus, the Merovingians.  But when they weren't busy doing that, they managed to amass a financial empire with vast holdings. By the dawn of the 14th century, the Knights Templar had become Europe's dominant religious order and a power struggle against Pope and Kings of France was inevitable.  The Pope Clement V disbanded the Templars organization in March 1312 forcing them underground.   Today, the Knights Templar is the name of a branch of Freemasonry. It seems rather doubtful that the modern organization could ever conclusively trace its lineage back to their medieval namesake... but again, everybody used to think the Coelacanth was extinct. So who knows?

1118-1314

The Templars created the first international banking system that has been hosted later on in Switzerland.  The Order was more than 7,000 members strong, held almost 900 castles. and they controlled unimaginable wealth in land and gold (- and the Ark of the Covenant as the legend tells).  Pilgrims heading off to the Holy Land would deposit money with a local branch, in exchange for a letter of credit, redeemable just about everywhere along their route.

1118-1119

Pope Gelasius II, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1119-1124

Pope Callistus II, rules the Catholic church in Rome

1124-1130

Pope Honorius II, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1130-1143

Pope "Innocent" II, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1135-1154

(The Normans) British Monarchy, Stephen and Matilda (1135-1154) Though charming, attractive and (when required) a brave warrior, Stephen lacked ruthlessness and failed to inspire loyalty. He could neither control his friends or subdue his enemies, despite the support of his brother Henry of Blois (Bishop of Winchester) and his able wife Matilda of Boulogne. Henry I's daughter Matilda invaded England in 1139, to claim the throne, and the country was plunged into civil war. Although anarchy never spread over the whole country, local feuds were pursued under the cover of civil war, the bond between the King and the nobles broke down, and senior figures (including Stephen's brother Henry) freely changed allegiances as it suited them. In 1141, Stephen was captured at Lincoln and his defeat was certain. However, Matilda's arrogant behavior antagonized even her own supporters (Angevins), and Stephen was released in exchange for her captured ally and illegitimate half-brother

1137-1180

(Capetian dynasty) France, king Louis VII, (the Young), rules a territory that is part of modern day France. Louis VII was son and successor of Louis VI. In the first year of his reign he married Elinore of Aquitaine, daughter of William X, duke of Aquitaine. Louis soon aroused the opposition of Pope "Innocent" II because of his support of a rival papal candidate for the archbishopric of Bourges, and his lands were placed under papal interdict. Louis next fought a two-year war and conquered Champagne in 1144. In 1147 he joined the unsuccessful Second Crusade as one of its two chief military leaders (the other was Conrad III of Germany), Louis returned to France two years later, and in 1152 his marriage to Elinore was annulled; in the same year she married Henry of Anjou, later Henry II, king of England. Louis warred with Henry for the possession of Aquitaine but renounced all rights to the duchy in 1154, the year Henry became king of England.

1138

Italy, Florence becomes an independent State

1143-1144

Pope Celestine II, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1144-1145

Pope Lucius II, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1145-1153

Pope Eugene III, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1147-1149

Second Crusade, was initiated because of the loss of the County of Edessa to Syrian Muslims in 1144; it ended when the Muslims successfully turned back Christendom's "infidels."

1153-1154

Pope Anastasius IV, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1154-1189

(The Angevins) British Monarchy, Henry II (1154-1189) ruled over an empire which stretched from the Scottish border to the Pyrenees. One of the strongest, most energetic and imaginative rulers, Henry was the inheritor of three dynasties who had acquired Aquitaine by marriage; his charters listed them: 'King of the English, Duke of the Normans and Aquitanians and Count of the Angevins' The King spent only 13 years of his reign in England, the other 21 years were spent on the continent in his territories in what is now France. Henry's rapid movements in carrying out his dynastic responsibilities astonished the French King, who noted 'now in England, now in Normandy, he must fly rather than travel by horse or ship.' By 1158, Henry had restored to the crown some of the lands and royal power lost by Stephen.

1154-1159

Pope Adrian IV, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1155-1156

The first Finnish Bishop, Henrik.  Henrik was killed with an ax by an angry farmer in the winter of 1156.  Henrik violated sexually the farmers wife and he chased and caught him on the ice of lake Koylio.

1159-1181

Pope Alexander III, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1162-1294

Genghis Khan, Temujin, (Чингис Хаан) 1162-1227, Qabul Khan, Genhis Father, his children and grandchildren created the Mongolian Empire.  The largest contiguous empire ever on Earth.   Temujin was the founder, Khan (ruler) and became posthumously-declared Khagan (emperor) of the Mongolian Empire.

Temujin came to power by uniting many of the nomadic tribes of North-East and Central Asia and with that he founded the Mongol Nation and was proclaimed "Genghis Khan".  He pursued an aggressive foreign policy by starting the invasion of China and Central Asia.  By the end of his reign the Mongol Empire occupied most of Asia.

Temujin died of unknown causes in 1227 after a campaign to subjugate the Xi Xia and Jin dynasties in China. He was buried in an unmarked grave somewhere in his native Mongolia. His descendants went on to stretch the Mongol Empire across most of Eurasia, conquering all of modern-day China, Mongolia as well as substantial portions of modern Russia, southern Asia, Eastern Europe and the Middle-East.

Temüjin was related on his father's side to Qabul Khan, Ambaghai and Qutula Khan who had headed the Mongol confederation. When the Jin Dynasty switched support from the Mongols to the Tatars in 1161 and destroyed Qabul Khan. Genghis' father, Yesukhei (leader of the Borjigin and nephew to Ambaghai and Qutula Khan) emerged as the head of the ruling clan of the Mongols, while this position was contested by the rival Tayichi'ud clan, who descended directly from Ambaghai.  When the Tatars grew too powerful in 1161, Jin Dynasty moved their support from the Tatars to the Keraits.

When Genghis Khan died he left behind a powerful army of more than 129,000 men; 28,000 were given to his various brothers and his sons. Tolui, his youngest son, inherited more than 100,000 men. This force contained the bulk of the elite Mongolian cavalry. By tradition, the youngest son inherits his father's property.  The others Jochi, Ogedei Khan, and Kulan's son Gelejian received armies of 4,000 men each. His mother and the descendants of his three brothers received 3,000 men each.

His Empire was governed by a civilian and military code, called the Yassa, created by Genghis Khan.  For the Mongol Empire ethnicity and race were not important in the administrative realm, instead adopting an approach grounded in demonstrated ability and skill to perform i.e. meritocracy. The exception was the role of Genghis Khan and his family. The Mongol Empire was one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse empires in history, as befitted its size. Many of the empire's nomadic inhabitants considered themselves as Mongols in military and civilian life, including Turks, Mongols, and others and included many diverse Khans of various ethnicities as part of the Mongol Empire such as Muhammad Khan.

The map below shows the Nations of the World just before Chingis Khan comes to power:

There were tax exemptions for religious figures and, to some extent, teachers and doctors. The Mongol Empire practiced religious tolerance to a large degree because Mongol tradition had long held that religion was a very personal concept, and not subject to law or interference. Sometime before the rise of Genghis Khan, Ong Khan, his mentor and eventual rival, had converted to Nestorian Christianity. Various Mongol tribes were Buddhist, Muslim, shamanist or Christian. Religious tolerance was a well established concept on the Asian steppe.

Modern Mongolian historians say that towards the end of his life, Genghis Khan attempted to create a civil state under the Great Yassa that would have established the legal equality of all individuals, including women. However, there is no contemporary evidence of this, or of the lifting of discriminatory policies towards sedentary peoples such as the Chinese. Women played a relatively important role in Mongol Empire and in family, for example Torogene Khatun was briefly in charge of the Mongol Empire when next male Khagan was being chosen. Modern scholars refer to the alleged policy of encouraging trade and communication as the Pax Mongolica.

Genghis Khan realized that he needed people who could govern cities and states conquered by him. He also realized that such administrators could not be found among his Mongol people because they were nomads and thus had no experience governing cities. For this purpose Genghis Khan invited a Khitan prince, Chu'Tsai, who worked for the Jin Dtnasty and had been captured by Mongol army after the Jin Dynasty were defeated. Jin had captured power by displacing Khitan. Genghis told Chu'Tsai, who was a lineal descendant of Khitan rulers, that he had avenged Chu'Tsai's forefathers. Chu'Tsai responded that his father served the Jin Dynasty honestly and so did he; he did not consider his own father his enemy, so the question of revenge did not apply. Genghis Khan was very impressed by this reply. Chu'Tsai administered parts of the Mongol Empire and became a confidant of the successive Mongol Khans.

(The late Capetian dynasty) France, The fortunes of the Capetian dynasty improved under Louis VII's successor, Philip II Augustus. Through his first marriage, Philip acquired new territories in northern France, Artois, Valois, and Vermandois. He also secured royal control of the Vexin, a small but critical area on the Sein at the juncture of Normandy and the lle-de-France. Philip served briefly in the Third Crusade (1190-1191). His chance to move against the Angevin Empire came when King John of England married a princess already betrothed to another of Philip's vassals. Philip summoned John to his court three times, and when John failed to appear, Philip was able to condemn John and declare his lands forfeited. In 1204 Philip undertook the military conquest of Anjou. Ten years later he secured his conquest by defeating the combined armies of England and the "Holy Roman Empire" at the Battle of Bouvines.

1181-1185

Pope Lucius III, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1185-1187

Pope Urban III, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1187

Novgorodians destroy Sigtuna, the capital of Sweden.  The Swedish sources report that Sigtuna was attacked by Baltic-Finnish raiders from Karelia, Couronia and Estonia. Among the casualties of this raid was the Swedish archbishop Johannes. Sigtuna was occupied for some time. This contributed to the diminishing of its commercial importance in the 13th century, in favor of Uppsala, Visby, Kalmar and Stockholm.

1187

Pope Gregory VIII, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1187-1191

Pope Clement III, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1188-1220

Jean de Gisors, Grand Master of Prieure de Sion

1189-1199

(The Angevins) British Monarchy, Richard I Coeur de Lion (the Lionheart) (1189-1199) Henry's elder son fulfilled his main ambition by going on a crusade in 1190, leaving the ruling of England to others. After his victories over Saladin at the seige of Acre and the battles of Arsuf and Jaffa, concluded by the treaty of Jaffa (1192), Richard was returning from the Holy Land when he was captured in Austria later that year. In early 1193, Richard was transferred to emperor Henry VI's custody. In Richard's absence, King Philip of France failed to obtain Richard's French possessions through invasion or negotiation. In England, Richard's brother John occupied Windsor Castle and prepared an invasion of England by Flemish mercenaries accompanied by armed uprisings. Their mother queen Elinor took firm action against John by strengthening garrisons and again exacting oaths of allegiance to the king. On his return to England, Richard was recrowned at Winchester in 1194. Five years later he died.

1189-1192

Third Crusade, was undertaken after the Muslims retook Jerusalem, (had as one of its leaders Richard I, "the Lionhearted," of England), this crusade soon "disintegrated," says the Encyclopedia of Religion, "through attrition, quarreling and lack of cooperation."

1191-1198

Pope Cellestine III, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1198-1216

Pope "Innocent" III, rules the Catholic church in Rome. Dominican Order begins in 1215 A.D.(J).

1199-1216

(The Angevins) British Monarchy, John (1199-1216) was an able administrator interested in law and government but he neither trusted others nor was trusted by them. Heavy taxation, disputes with the Catholic church (John was excommunicated by the pope in 1209, and unsuccessful attempts to recover French possessions made him unpopular. Many of his barons rebelled and in June, 1215 they forced the King to sign a peace treaty accepting their reforms. This treaty, later known as the Magna Carta, limited royal powers, defined feudal obligations between the King and the barons, and guaranteed a number of rights. The most influential clauses in the document concerned the freedom of the Catholic church; the redress of grievances of owners and tenants of land; the need to consult the Great Council of the Realm so as to prevent unjust taxation; mercantile and trading relationships; etc. (Things that were a concern of the people.) As a peace treaty Magna Carta was a failure.

1200

The Chinese invented gunpowder and began experimenting with explosive and incendiary devices. {R.1} {R.25.8}

1200-1494

Novgorod becomes a major trade center.  Cooperation with Hansa traders 1270-1494.

1202-1204

Fourth Crusade, was diverted for lack of funds from Egypt to Constantinople; material assistance was promised in return for helping enthrone Alexius, an exiled Byzantine pretender to the crown. "The [resulting] pillage of Constantinople by the crusaders is something that the Orthodox East has never forgotten or forgiven," says the Encyclopedia of Religion, adding: "If any single date is to be cited for the firm establishment of the schism, the most appropriate at least from a psychological standpoint is the year 1204"

1206-1280

German scholar Albertus Magnus, with the aid of Latin translations of some of the early Greek texts, laid a new foundation for the sciences. There was virtually no progress in any field of science from about 200 to about 1100

1209

The Franciscans organized

1212

Children's Crusade, brought death to thousands of German & French children before they even reached their destination

Inquisition system established by Pope "Innocent" III.

1215

Chingis Khan conquers Peking, and oliberates the Chinese 600,000 man army by mere 75,000 horsemen

1215

Magna Carta: Positioned on the north bank of the Thames River, covering an area of 677 acres or one square mile (known as the "wealthiest square mile on earth"), it has enjoyed special rights and privileges that enabled them to achieve a certain level of independence since 1191. In 1215, its citizens received a Charter from King John, granting them the right to annually elect a mayor (known as the Lord Mayor), a tradition that continues today.

Magna Carta required King John of England to proclaim certain rights (pertaining to freemen), respect certain legal procedures, and accept that his will could be bound by the law. It explicitly protected certain rights of the King's subjects, whether free or fettered — and implicitly supported what became the writ of habeas corpus, allowing appeal against unlawful imprisonment.

Magna Carta was the first document forced onto an English King by a group of his subjects (the barons) in an attempt to limit his powers by law and protect their privileges. It was preceded by the 1100 Charter of Liberties in which King Henry I voluntarily stated that his own powers were under the law. IMagna Carta is normally understood to refer to a single document, that of 1215. Various amended versions of Magna Carta appeared in subsequent years however, and it is the 1297 version which remains on the statute books of England and Wales.

1216-1227

Pope Honorius III, rules the Catholic church in Rome. Franciscan Order begins in 1223 A.D.(J

(The Plantagenets) British Monarchy, Henry III (1216-1272) John's son was only nine when he became King. By 1227, when he assumed power from his regent, order had been restored, based on his acceptance of the Magna Carta. However the King's failed campaigns in France (1230 and 1242), his choice of friends and advisers, together with the cost of his scheme to make one of his younger sons King of Sicily and help the Pope. against the "Holy Roman" Emperor, led to further disputes with the barons and united opposition in the Catholic church and State. Although Henry was extravagant and his tax demands were resented, the King's accounts show a list of many charitable donations and payments for building works. The provisions of Oxford (1258) and the provisions of Westminster (1259) were attempts by the nobles to define common law in the spirit of Magna Carta, control appointments and set up an aristocratic council. Henry renounced the provisions in 1262 and war broke out. Henry finally de

1217-1221

Fifth Crusade, the last under papal control, failed because of flawed leadership & clergy interference.

1220-1266

Marie de Saint-Claire, Grand Master of Prieure de Sion

1221-1280

Chingis Khan destroys Russian army of 80,000 horsemen. His rein covered now most of Asia and Eurasia.  No one had ever before, nor after him created and controlled so large empire.  By 1242 the whole Russia is subdued under Mongol rule. The Golden Orda in Russia 1240-1280.

1223-1226

(Capetian dynasty) France, king Louis VIII, (the Lion), rules a territory that is part of modern day France. The son and successor of Philip II (Philip Augustus), he was born in Paris. Before his succession he assisted his father in several campaigns to win control of French territories belonging to John, the Angevin, or Plantagenet, king of England. Philip II previously had conspired with John against John's brother, king Richard I of England, but later turned against him. In 1215 Louis was offered the crown of England by a group of barons in rebellion against king John; Louis led an expedition to England but was unsuccessful in claiming the throne; John died in the midst of the struggle and was succeeded by his son Henry III. The French invaders were excommunicated by the papal legate in England and were defeated in the battle at Lincoln. Louis returned to France in 1217 and there took part in the crusades against dissident religious sects called the Albigenses, or Cathars.

1226-1270

(Capetian dynasty) France, king Louis IX, (Saint Louis), rules France. Son and successor of Louis VIII. Louis IX ascended the throne in 1226 at the age of 12, with his mother Blanche of Castile, daughter of Alfonso IX, king of Castile, was regent during his minority and again from 1248 until her death in 1252. During the latter years Louis was in the "Holy Land" on the Seventh Crusade. Some of the French barons, thinking this an appropriate moment to rebel against the royal government, joined forces with the English, who were eager to regain their lost territories, but Blanche was able to put down all their plots and rebellions. Louis's great accomplishment at home was to gain the loyalty of the conquered provinces by means of a just and humane administration. He was careful to guard against corruption or the abuse of authority by sending out investigators from his court to hear complaints from his subjects about royal officials. Under him the royal government became larger.

1226-1227

Novgorodians attack Hame region, in Finland

1227-1241

Pope Gregory IX, rules the Catholic church in Rome

1228-1229

Sixth Crusade, was led by Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, whom Pope Gregory IX had previously excommunicated.

1229

During the 12th century Pierre Valdes (Peter Waldo), of Lyons, France engaged some scholars to translate the Bible into a regional language of the south of France, he studied the translation zealously, and concluded that Christians should live like the apostles without individual property. He started a preaching movement that became known as the Waldenses, these rejected the Catholic priesthood, indulgences, purgatory, transubstantiation, and other traditional Catholic practices & beliefs. In 1229, the Council of Toulouse tried to check them by banning the possession of Scriptural books.

1234

China, metal characters invented for printing press.  Printing technology in the form of movable type was invented by Bi Sheng in the 11th century. The work of Bi Sheng was written of by Shen Kuo (mentioned above), in his Writings Beside the Meng Creek (夢溪筆談 Mengxi Bitan). Movable type, alongside woodblock printing, increased literacy with the mass production of printed materials. This meant that parents could encourage sons to learn to read and write and therefore be able to take the imperial examination and become part of the growing learned bureaucracy. Movable type printing was further advanced in Joseon era Korea, where Bi Sheng's baked clay characters were scrapped for metal type characters in 1234.[10] Although movable type and woodblock printing would remain as the dominant types of printing methods for centuries, the European printing press (employing the Hellenistic screw-press) was eventually adopted by East Asian countries.  Gutenberg (1400-1468), built his first printing press in Germany almost about 200 years later than the chinese had their metal characters. By that time the Chinese had used the clay characters already over 400 years.

1240

Alexander Nevski, Grand Duke of Novogorod, wins the battle against the crusaders under the command of the fourth Finnish Bishop, Tuomas (1220-45).

1241-1243

Pope Cellestine IV, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1242

Alexander Nevski wins the German troops in a battle on the ice of lake Peipsjarvi.

1243-1254

Pope "Innocent" IV, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1244

Jerusalem fell to Muslim rule in 1244, and rumors surfaced that the knights were heretics who worshipped idols in a secret initiation ceremony. 

1248-1254

Seventh Crusade, led by Louis IX of France.

1252-1263

Alexander Nevski rules Novgorod as sovereign.  In 1257 he attacks the tribes in Hame, Finland.

1252

Infamous Catholic Inquisition begins, Pope "Innocent" IV issued the Papal bull "Ad extirpanda" which allowed torture of suspected "heretics" (being burned at the stake, the usual method employed to put heretics to death by the 13th century, ...had its symbolism, implying that by administering this kind of punishment, the church was not guilty of shedding blood.) The Catholic Inquisition went on for more than 600 years, in the pope's name [the inquisitors] were responsible for the most savage and sustained onslaught on human decency in the history of mankind. Of Dominican inquisitor Tomas de Torquemada in Spain, Peter De Rosa, in his book, "Vicars of Christ--The Dark Side of the Papacy" states: "Appointed in 1483, he ruled tyrannically for fifteen years. His victims numbered over 114,000 of whom 10,220 were burned at the stake."

1254-1261

Pope Alexander IV, rules the Catholic church in Rome

1256

Soju was first distilled around 1300s during the Mongol invasions of Korea. The Mongols had acquired the technique of distilling arak from the Pertsians during their invasion ofCentral Asia/ Middle East around 1256, then it was subsequently introduced to Koreans and distilleries were set up around the city of Kaesong. Indeed, in the area surrounding Kaesong, soju is known as arak-ju.

1258-1326

Ottoman Empire, Othman of the Ottoman Empire was Islamic in religion. During the 11th century, bands of nomadic Turks emerged from their home in Central Asia to raid lands to the west. The strongest of the Turkish tribes was the Seljuks.  In time they established themselves in Asia Minor along with other groups of Turks.  Following the defeat of the Seljuks by the Mongols in 1293, Othman emerged as the leader of local Turks in the fight against the tottering Byzantine Empire. The final conquest of the Byzantines was not achieved until 1453 with the fall of Constantinople (now Istanbul), but by that date all the surrounding territory was in Ottoman hands.

1260-1294

Kublai Khan rules the Mongolian Empire.

1262

Novgorodians under Alexander Nevski attack Tarto.

1265-1321

Dante, 1307-1321 "Divine Comedia".

1265-1271

Pope Clement IV, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1265-1271

Pope Clement IV, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1266-1307

Guillaume de Gisors, Grand Master of Prieure de Sion

1270-1272

Eighth Crusade, led by Louis IX of France, but collapsed following his death in North Africa. This was the final crusade.

1270-1285

(Capetian dynasty) France, Philip III, (the Bold), rules France. Philip III was the fifth French king in a row to go on a Crusade, this one to fight the Moors in Spain, He was also the third French king to die in a Crusade. Born in Poissy, near Paris, Philip was a weak ruler, he was dominated at various times by his chamberlain, his wife, his mother, and especially by his uncle Charles I of Anjou, king of the two Sicilies. In 1285, the last year of his reign, (having died in the Crusade), Philip made an unsuccessful attempt to annex the kingdom of Aragon. He had, however, arranged for the marriage of his son to the heiress of the county of Champagne, thus adding to the possessions of the royal house.

1271-1176

Pope Gregory X, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1272-1307

(The Plantagenets) British Monarchy, Edward I (1272-1307) who suceeded his father, was an able administrator and law maker. He re-established royal power, investigating many of the abuses resulting from weak royal government and issuing new laws. Edward was an effective soldier, gaining experience from going on a crusade to Syria before he became king. In 1277 Edward invaded Wales where Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, prince of Wales, had built up considerable power. In a series of campaigns Edward gained control of Wales, building strong castles to secure his conquest. Llewelyn was subdued before his death, by the 1277 treaty of Conway. In 1284, the Statute of Wales brought Wales under Edward's rule. In 1301, he created his oldest surviving son, Edward, the first Prince of Wales. In 1296 Edward invaded Scotland, successfully seizing the Stone of Scone; the king John Balliol abdicated and surrendered to Edward.  However, a guerrilla war broke out and William Wallace, the Scottish leader....

1276

Pope "Innocent" V, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1276

Pope Adrian V, rules the Catholic church in Rome

1276-1277

Pope John XXI, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1277-1294

Pope Nicholas IV, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1279-1368

Yuan  Dynasty in China,

1285-1314

(Capetian dynasty) France, king Philip IV, (the Fair), last of the great of kings, greatly strengthened the powers of royal government. He chose capable and ambitious advisors to serve his late 13-century administration, of whom the best known were William of Nogaret and Pierre Dubois. Together they sought to remove limitations on royal authority, a process that involved persistently chipping away at local practices, special privileges, or provincial prerogatives. Bishops, barons, and towns were compelled to cooperate with the king, whether in connection with the demands for royal justice or with those of the royal treasury. Philip successfully annexed Franche-Comte, Lyon, and parts of Lorraine, but failed in his attempt to gain control of Flanders. Philip's intervention in Flanders was one of the costly policies that led him to tax the clergy, and this in turn brought him into sharp conflict with Pope Boniface VIII.

1291

The Swiss Confederation was founded in 1291 as a defensive alliance among three cantons. In succeeding years, other localities joined the original three.

1293-1323

Continuous warfare between Novgorod and Sweden.

1294-1303

Pope Boniface VIII, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1299

The Orthodox Church leader moves from Kiev to Vladimir.

1300's

The Chinese invented the rocket powered arrow. This basically consisted of a bottle rocket, with an arrow for the stick. This proved to be a very effective weapon in battle, and was either adopted or invent by the people of India in the late 1300's. The basic technology remained essentially unchanged, but still in wide spread use, until the early 1800's

Pope Benedict XI, rule the Catholic church in Rome.

1305-1316

Pope Clement V, rules the Catholic church in Rome

1307-1314

The birth of the Switzerlands Banking system.  The founding of the embryonic Switzerland and it's final separation from the rule of Rome and France conforms well to the period when the Templars were being persecuted in France. Switzerland is just to the east of France and would have been particularly easy for fleeing Templar brothers from the whole region of France to get to. In the history of the first Swiss Cantons there are tales of white coated knights mysteriously appearing and helping the locals to gain their independence against foreign domination.  The Templars were big in banking, farming and engineering (of an early type). These same aspects can be seen as inimical to the commencement and gradual evolution of the separate states that would eventually be Switzerland.  Even the Swiss don't really know the ins and outs of their earliest history (or suggest that they don't.) They are famous for being secretive and we don't have to tell interested readers that this is something they share absolutely with the Templars.  The famous Templar Cross is incorporated into the flags of many of the Swiss Cantons. As are other emblems, such as keys and lambs, that were particularly important to the Knights Templar.  The Swiss were and are famous for their religious tolerance - and so were the Templars.

1307-1327

(The Plantagenets) British Monarchy, Edward II (1307-1327) had few of the qualities that made a successful Medieval king. Edward surrounded himself with favorites, and barons, being excluded from power, rebelled. Throughout his reign, different baronial groups struggled to gain power and control the King. The nobles' ordinances of 1311, which attempted to limit royal control of finance and appointments, were counteracted by Edward. Large debts (many inherited) and the Scots' victory at Bannockburn by Robert the Bruce in 1314 made Edward more unpopular. Edward's victory in a civil war (1321-1322) and such measures as the 1326 ordinance (a protectionist measure which set up compulsory markets or staples in 14 English, Welsh and Irish towns for the wool trade) did not lead to any compromise between the King and the nobles. Finally, Edward's wife Isabella of France, led an invasion against her husband. In 1327 Edward was made to renounce the throne in favor of his son Edward.

1307-1336

Edouard de Bar, Grand Master of Prieure de Sion

1307-2001

King Philip IV "the Fair" of France, owed the Templars a lot of money, which he didn't really feel like repaying. So he hatched a scheme with Pope Clement V. The Pope summoned Jacques de Molay, the group's Grand Master, to Paris. There they were supposed to enter negotiations on merging the Knights Hospitallers with de Molay's group. No such luck. Instead, he and his staff were arrested by King Philip and turned over to the Inquisition. After confessing various sins their leader, Jacques de Molay, was burnt at the stake.  Philip's men swept through the country, in just two days arresting 15,000 men associated with the accused. Some of the Templars escaped to Portugal, where (for a few years) they enjoyed the protection of its king. Others were rumored to have fled to Switzerland and Scotland, but there is no documentation of this.

Ever since, the Templars have been thought of as heretics.  The new book is based on a scrap of parchment discovered in the Vatican's secret archives in 2001 by Professor Barbara Frale. The long-lost document is a record of the trial of the Templars before Pope Clement, and ends with a papal absolution from all heresies.  Prof Frale said: "I could not believe it when I found it. The paper was put in the wrong archive in the 17th century."  The document, known as the Chinon parchment, reveals that the Templars had an initiation ceremony which involved "spitting on the cross", "denying Jesus" and kissing the lower back, navel and mouth of the man proposing them. The Templars explained to Pope Clement that the initiation mimicked the humiliation that knights could suffer if they fell into the hands of the Saracens, while the kissing ceremony was a sign of their total obedience.  The Pope concluded that the entrance ritual was not truly blasphemous, as alleged by King Philip when he had the knights arrested. However, he was forced to dissolve the Order to keep peace with France and prevent a schism in the church. "This is proof that the Templars were not heretics," said Prof Frale. "The Pope was obliged to ask pardon from the knights. "For 700 years we have believed that the Templars died as cursed men, and this absolves them."

1309 - 1377

Popes in Avignon.

1312

The Pope Clement V forcibly disbanded the Templars organization in March 1312, announced in a Papal Bull accusing the Templars of having fallen "into the sin of impious apostasy, the abominable vice of idolatry, the deadly crime of the Sodomites, and various heresies." Plus, renouncing Jesus and spitting on the cross.

1314

In March, Jacques de Molay (Templar) was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Inquisition. The sentence was announced during a public ceremony at Notre Dame cathedral. In exchange for his full confession, de Molay had received leniency. But before they could stop him, de Molay suddenly retracted his confession:  "I confess that I am indeed guilty of the greatest infamy. But the infamy is that I have lied. I have lied in admitting the disgusting charges laid against my Order. I declare, and I must declare, that the Order is innocent. Its purity and saintliness have never been defiled. In truth, I had testified otherwise, but I did so from fear of horrible tortures."  So, instead of life in prison, de Molay and his subordinate Geoffroy de Charnay were burned alive three days later. They were taken to the Isle of Javiaux in the Seine, not far from Notre Dame. There they were slow roasted over a pile of hot, smokeless charcoal. It took hours for them to die. Finally their ashes were collected for relics by Augustinian monks.  Eventually, the Church took possession of the assets belonging to the Templars. No word on whether the Ark of the Covenant was taken to Rome. 

1314-1316

(Capetian dynasty) France, king Louis X, (the Headstrong), rules territory that is part of modern day France. The son of Philip IV, influenced by his uncle, Charles de Valois, he was preoccupied for much of his short reign with unrest among the nobles, to whom he granted charters confirming their privileges, and with an indecisive campaign against Flanders that he led in 1315. Louis's posthumous son, John I, born in 1316, died shortly after his birth, and the succession went to Louis's brother, Philip V.

1316

The first book about human anatomy was published.

1316-1322

(Capetian dynasty) France, king Philip V, (the Tall), rules territory that is part of modern day France. Philip was the second son of king Philip IV. He became regent for his infant nephew John, king of France, and after the death of John proclaimed king. In 1320, at the conclusion of the war against Flanders begun during the reign of Philip IV, France acquired some Flemish territory. Philip frequently convoked the Estates-General. He made administrative reforms and attempted to unify coinage, weights, and measures but encountered strong opposition in the Estates-General. He imposed heavy fines on the Jews. Philip died without a male heir.

1316-1334

Pope John XXII, rule the Catholic church in Rome.

1318

The Novgorodians burn Turku in Finland.

1318

The Lithuanians conquer Kiev.

1322-1328

(Capetian dynasty) France, king Charles IV, (the Fair), the last of the Capetian dynasty of kings to rule France. Charles was the third son of Philip IV, king of France. In 1327 Charles helped his sister Isabella to dethrone her husband, king Edward II of England. During his reign Charles increased taxation, exacted burdensome duties, debased the coinage, and confiscated estates. He died without a male heir, thus ending the direct line of the Capetian dynasty of kings in France.

1323

The peace agreement of Pahkinasaari signed between Sweden and Novgorod.

1325-1341

Ivan I Kalita rules as Sovereign in Moscow.  In 1326 the Orthodox Church Metropolitan moves to Moscow.

1326-1359

Ottoman Empire, Orkhan, the successor of Othman I ruled the empire. The initial areas of expansion under Othman I and his successors were western Asia Minor and southeastern Europe, primarily the Balkan Peninsula. During Orkhan's reign the practice began of extracting a tribute in children from "Christian" subjects. The boys were trained to be soldiers and administrators. As soldiers they filled the ranks of the infantry, they were called Janizaries (also spelled Janissaries), they became the most fearsome military force in Europe for centuries.

1327-1377

(The Plantagenets) British Monarchy, Edward III (1327-1377) was 14 when he was crowned King and assumed government in his own right in 1330. In 1337, Edward created the Duchy of Cornwall to provide the heir to the throne with an income independent of the sovereign or the state. An able soldier, and an inspiring leader, Edward founded the Order of the Garter in 1348. At the beginning of the Hundred Years War in 1337, actual campaigning started when the King invaded France in 1339 and laid claim to the throne of France. Following a sea victory at Sluys in 1340, Edward overran Brittany in 1342 and in 1346 he landed in Normandy defeating the French King, Philip IV, at the battle of Crecy and his son Edward (the Black Prince) repeated his success at Poiters (1356). By successes consolidated the support of the nobles, lessened the criticism of the taxes, and improved relations with Parliament.

1328

Ivan I Kalita solidifies his power and the Mongols grant him the taxation power over the whole Russia.

1328-1350

(Valois dynasty) France, king Philip VI, begins the Valois dynasty of kings.  On the death of Charles IV, the crown passed to Philip IV's nephew, Philip of Valois, who reigned as Philip VI from 1328-50. The English king Edward II had married a daughter of Philip VI, and at first this marriage did not seem to pose any problem for the French succession. Later, however, Edward III (reigned 1327-1377) became the rival of Philip VI for control of Flanders, and Philip supported Scotland against Edward. In 1337 Edward put forward a claim to the French throne as the grandson of Philip the Fair. Philip VI replied by declaring void the English claim to Gascony, and the two kings began a war that would last for more than a century. (The Hundred Years War, 1337-1453) The English began by taking control of the English Channel with a smashing naval victory off Sluis in the Netherlands and then freely attacked northern France. The first major encounter on land took place near the channel coast at Crecy-en-Ponthieu in 1346.

1330-1384

SEEDS OF RELIGIOUS REFORM. John Wycliffe (1330?-84) a Catholic priest, translated the Latin Vulgate Bible into English. Wycliffe's writings and portions of the Bible were distributed throughout England by a body of preachers.

1334-1342

Pope Benedict XII, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1336-1351

Jeanne de Bar, Grand Master of Prieure de Sion

1342-1352

Pope Clement VI, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1348

The Black Death in Italy.

1350-1364

(Valois dynasty) France, king John II, (the Good), rules France. John, or in French Jean II, was the son of king Philip VI, during his reign he debased the coinage to raise funds for the Hundred Years' War with England. John was captured by the English in 1356 under Edward, the Black Prince, at the Battle of Poitiers and was imprisoned in England. His son Charles, later Charles V acted as regent during his captivity. John was returned to France in 1360 to raise his ransom under the terms of the Peace of Bretigny. Because he was unsuccessful in collecting the 3 million crowns required, in 1364 John honorably resumed his captivity in England where he died. The Black Death plague (bubonic plague) and the Hundred Years' War with England are devastating to France during this time. The plague returned in the years 1361-1362; 1369; 1372; 1382; 1388; and 1398. Children born after an outbreak were especially vulnerable in a new outbreak, which further affected the already great decline in population.

1351-1366

Jean de Saint-Clair, Grand Master of Prieure de Sion

1352-1362

Pope "Innocent" VI, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1359-1389

Ottoman Empire, Murad I, succeeds Orkhan. Murad I conquered Thrace, to the northwest of Constantinople, in 1361. He moved his capital to Adrianople (now Edirne), Thrace's capital and the second city of the Byzantine Empire. This conquest effectively cut off Constantinople from the outside world. The city of Adrianople also controlled the principle invasion route through the Balkan Mountains, giving the Ottoman Turks access to further expansion to the north. During Murad I's last victorious battle against Balkan allies, he was killed.

1362-1370

Pope Urban V, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1364-1380

(Valois dynasty) France, king Charles V, (the Wise), rules France. Born in Vincennes, he was the son of King John II. When John was captured in September 1356 by the English at Poiters during the Hundred Years' War, Charles assumed the regency. The most significant events of his regency were the Jacquerie (a peasant revolt) and the insurrection of Paris under Etienne Marcel. Upon the death of his father, Charles ascended the throne. War with the English continued for a number of years, but with results that were highly favorable to Charles, who stripped them of most of their conquest in France and strengthened the power of the monarchy. A generous patron of literature and the arts, Charles founded (1367) the first royal library in France. During his reign the Bastille was added to the fortifications of Paris. He was succeeded by his son Charles VI. The Black Death plague (bubonic plague) and the Hundred Years' War with England are devastating to France at this time.

1366-1398

Blance d'Evreux, Grand Master of Prieure de Sion

1367

The construction of Kremlin begins.

1368-1644

Ming Dynasty in China.

1370-1378

Pope Gregory XI, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1377-1399

(The Plantagenets) British Monarchy, Richard II (1377-1399), Edward III's son, the black prince, died in 1376. The King's grandson, Richard II succeeded to the throne at age 10, on Edward's death. In 1381 the Peasant's revolt broke out and Richard, aged 14, bravely rode out to meet the rebels at Smithfield, London. Richard pursued policies of peace with France (his second wife was Isabella of Valois); Richard still called himself king of France and refused to give up Calais, but his reign was concurrent with a 28 year truce in the Hundred Years War. His expeditions to Ireland failed to reconcile the Anglo-Irish lords with the Gaels. In 1399, while Richard was in Ireland, Henry of Bolingbroke returned to claim his father's inheritance. Supported by some of the leading baronial families (including Richard's former Archbishop of Canterbury), Henry captured and deposed Richard. Bolingbroke was crowned King as Henry IV. Risings in support of Richard led to his murder in Pontefract Castle.

1378-1389

Pope Urban VI, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1380

Dimitri, the Grand Duke of the Russian Empire defeated the Mongols in island of River Don.

1380-1422

(Valois dynasty) France, king Charles VI, (the Fool), rules France. Charles was the son of king Charles V. After his father's death in 1380, he was under the guardianship of a dual council until 1388, when he rejected its regency and began to reign in his own right. Charles ruled well until 1392, when he became insane. In the ensuing contest for control of the kingdom, France suffered grievously from civil wars between the Armagnacs (house of Orleans) and the Bourguignons. The English took advantage of this internal stife to invade France. They won the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, conquered Normandy in 1417, captured Rouen in 1419 and Paris in 1420, and imposed on king Charles VI the Treaty of Troyes (1420). Under this treaty Charles was compelled to marry his daughter to Henry V and to confer on Henry or his heir the right of succession to the French throne. though he ruled for 42-years, the country of France suffered. 

1382

Anne of Bohemia, possessed Wycliffe's translation, she married Richard II of England in 1382, she studied the Scripture constantly. When she became Queen, her favorable attitude helped to advance the cause of the Bible, not only in England, she encouraged students from Prague University in Bohemia to come to Oxford. There they studied the works of Wycliffe enthusiastically and some took them back to Prague.

1389-1402

Ottoman Empire, Bayezid I rules after the death of Murad I. Bayezid I was unable to make further European conquest. He was forced to devote his attention to eastern Asia Minor to deal with a growing Turkish principality, Karaman. He attacked and defeated Karaman in 1391, he put down a revolt of his Balkan subjects, and returned to consolidate his gains in Asia Minor. His successes attracted the attention of Timur Lenk (Tamerlane). Encouraged by Turkish princes who had fled to his court from Bayezid I's incursions, Timur Lenk attacked and overwhelmed him in 1402. Taken captive by Timur Lenk, Bayezid died within a year. Timur Lenk retired from Asia Minor, leaving Bayezid's sons to take up where their father had failed. The four sons fought for control until one of them, Mohammed I, killed the other three and took control. He reigned from 1413 to 1421.

1389-1404

Pope Boniface IX, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1394

de Medicis' Banking Empire was established in Florence

1398-1418

Nicolas Flamel, Grand Master of Prieure de Sion

1399-1413

(The Lancastrians) British Monarchy, Henry IV (1399-1413) spent much of the early part of his reign fighting to keep control of his lands. Exiled for life by Richard II in 1399, Henry's successful usurpation did not lead to general recognition of his claim (he remained unrecognized by Charles VI of France). An outbreak of the plague in 1400 was accompanied by a revolt in Wales led by Owen Glendower. In 1403, Henry's supporters, the Percys of Northumberland, turned against him and conspired with Glendower - the Percys and the Welsh were defeated by Henry at the Battle of Shrewsbury. This victory was followed by the exection of other rebels at York (including the Archbishop in 1405). By 1408 Henry had gained control of the country. Henry was dogged by illness from 1405 onwards; his son played a greater role in government (even opposing the King at times). In 1413, Henry died exhausted, in the Jerusalem Chamber at Westminster Abbey.

1400-1468

Gutenberg, a German born in Mainz;  invented the printing press that revolutionized the knowledge distribution in the world.  The information become available for the masses at "affordable" prices.  The world would never be the same after his invention!

1403

Jan Hus (1369?-1415), a Bohemian Catholic priest preaches against corruption of the Roman Catholic Church and stressed the importance of reading the Bible. In 1403 church authorities ordered him to stop preaching the anti-papal ideas of Wycliffe, whose books they also publicly burned. Hus wrote some of the most stinging indictments against the practices of the church, including the sale of indulgences. Hus was condemned and excommunicated in 1410, and in 1415 he was tried for heresy and burned at the stake.

1404-1406

Pope "Innocent" VII, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1406-1417

Pope Gregory XII, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1408

Council at Oxford, forbids translation of the Scriptures into the vernacular unless and until they were fully approved by the "church authority," which would never be granted.

1412-1431

(Valois dynasty) Joan of Arc, becomes a French national heroine. France's fortunes were not improved by the 42-year reign of the insane king Charles VI beginning in the late 14th century. The English king Henry V invaded France in 1415, crushed the French army at Agincourt, and took control of most of France north of the Loire. The French revival under king Charles VII (1422-1461) was begun by the inspired and charismatic peasant, Joan of Arc. She made her way to Charles's court in 1429 and took the lead in lifting the English siege of Orleans. The war dragged on for more than 20 years, but the French never lost the momentum gained from the brief intervention of this dynamic young woman from Lorraine. In 1453 Charles entered Bordeaux, and the English lost the Hundred Years' War and surrendered all their territory on the Continent except Calais.

1413-1421

Ottoman Empire, Mohammed I rules the empire after killing his three brothers for control.

1413-1422

(The Lancastrians) British Monarchy, Henry V (1413-1422). Soon after his accession, Henry V laid claim to the French crown. Stern and ruthless, Henry was a brilliant general who had gained military experience in his teens, when he fought alongside his father at the Battle of Shrewsbury. In 1415, Henry set sail for France, capturing Harfleur. His offer to the French Dauphin of personal combat (Richard I and Edward III had made similar offers in their time) was, like those of his predecessors, refused; he went on to defeat the French at the Battle of Agincourt, In alliance with unreliable Burgundy, and assisted by his brothers (the Dukes of Clarence, Bedford, and Gloucester), Henry gained control of Normandy in subsequent campaigns. By the treaty of Troyes (1420) he gained recognition as heir to the French throne, and married Charles VI's daughter Kathrine. However, Henry's success was short lived and he died of dysentery in 1422 in Bois de Vincennes, France.

1415

Council of Florence condemns all of Wycliffe's works, but the actual Bibles continued to be used after having, according to the Catholic church, the heretical prologue removed, and were possessed religious houses and nobility alike.

1417-1431

Pope Martin V, rules the Catholic church in Rome

1418-1480

Rene d'Anjou, Grand Master of Prieure de Sion

1421-1451

Ottoman Empire, Murad II rules the empire, he suppressed Balkan resistance and eliminated all but two of the Turkish principalities in Asia minor. The task of finishing the Balkan conquest and seizing all of Asia Minor fell to his successor, Mohammed II who ruled from 1451 to 1481.

1422-1461

(Valois dynasty) France, king Charles VII, (the Victorious), rules France. Born in Paris, he was the eldest surviving son of king Charles VI. When his father died in 1422, the throne did not pass to Charles but to the infant king Henry VI of England, who was his nephew. The English inheritance had been stipulated by the Treaty of Troyes (1420), which ended a phase of the Hundred Years' War. Northern France was thereafter ruled by John of Lancaster, regent for Henry, and southern France was governed by Charles, who was called the Dauphin. During the next six years, the English, strengthened by an alliance with Philip the Good, the powerful duke of Bourgogne, scored several military victories after England , under the rule of Henry VI, invaded France to claim the French crown. The tide of war changed when Joan of Arc lifted the seige of Orleans and won the Battle of Patay in the spring of 1429. This intervention by Joan of Arc produced in the French the momentum needed to defeat the England.

1422-1461

(The Lancastrians) British Monarchy, Henry VI was born at Windsor Castle (reigned 1422-1461, and 1470-71) succeeded to the thrones of England and France before the age of one, when his father Henry V and his grandfather Charles VI of France died within months of each other. Henry was crowned King of England in 1429 and in 1431, King of France. His minority was dominated by his uncles Cardinal Beaufort and the Duke of Gloucester (who opposed each other). Another uncle, the Duke of Bedford, was regent of France; his death in 1435, combined with Burgundy breaking the alliance with England, led to the collapse of English rule in northern France. The dual monarchy proved too difficult for the King and England to maintain; the succession of the Dauphin and Joan of Arc began to weaken England's grip on its French possessions and Normandy was lost in 1450. In 1453 the King became ill and Richard, Duke of York, was made Protector in 1454. The King recovered in 1455, but civil war broke out.

1430-1466

The Golden Orda of Mongols is finished.

1431-1447

Pope Eugene IV, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1447-1455

Pope Nicholas V, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1448-1453

The Russian Orthodox Church separates from the Byzantine Orthodox Church.  The Byzantine influence is finished in 1453.

1448-1453

Constantinople, Constantine P. XII was the last emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire, he ascended the throne in 1448, The Mohammedans had repeatedly tried to capture Constantinople. After centuries of attempts they at last succeeded. It was besieged fifty-three days by Turkish Sultan Mahomet (Mohammed) II and was taken on May 29, 1453. With its capture the Eastern Roman Empire definitely ended. Greek Patriarch of Constantinople is allowed to continue in office of the Eastern Orthodox church.

1450

Johannes Gutenberg began printing with movable type in Germany. His first great work was an edition of the Latin Vulgate Bible, completed circa 1455.  By 1495 all or part of the Bible had been printed in German, Italian, French, Czech, Dutch, Hebrew, Catalan, Greek, Spanish, Slavonic, Portuguese, and Serbian--in that order.

1451-1481

Ottoman Empire, Mohammed II rules the empire, he completes the seige of Constantinople in 1453 and made it the capital of the Ottoman Empire. The whole Balkan Peninsula south of Hungary was incorporated as well as Crimea on the north coast of the Black Sea. Asia Minor was completely subdued. In addition to conquering a large empire, Mohammed II worked strenuously for consolidation and an adequate administrative and tax system. He was assisted by the fact that the whole Byzantine bureaucratic structure fell into his hands. Although Islamic, Ottoman sultans were not adverse to using whatever talent they could attract or capture.

1455-1458

Pope Callistus III, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1458-1464

Pope Pius II, rules the Catholic church in Rome

1461-1483

(Valois dynasty) France, king Louis XI, (the Spider), rules France. Following the Hundred Years' War and The Black Death plague, economic and social recovery accompanied the political recovery. During the middle and later years of the 15th century the strength of the economy and the size of the population returned to their pre-plague levels. Louis XI consolidated royal authority to a greater extent than ever before, creating a paid standing army and acquiring the power to levy a tax, the taille, without the prior consent of those being taxed. He incorporated most of the duchy of Bourgogne into the kingdom and used royal revenue to protect, facilitate, and stimulate economic development.

1461-1483

(The Yorkist) British Monarchy, Edward IV (1461-1470 and 1471-1483) was able to restore order, despite the temporary returns to the throne of Henry VI, (during which time Edward fled to the Continent in exile) supported by the Earl of Warwick, 'the Kingmaker', who had previously supported Edward and who was killed at the Battle of Barnet in 1471. Edward also made peace with France; by a shrewd display of force to exert pressure, Edward reached a profitable agreement with Louis XI at Picquigny in 1475. At home, Edward relied heavily on his own personal control in government, reviving the ancient custom of sitting in person 'on the bench' (i.e. in judgment) to enforce justice. Edward died in 1483, leaving by his marriage to Elizabeth Woodville a 12-year-old son Edward to succeed him.

1462-1505

Ivan III rules Russia as Grand Duke in Moscow.  In 1972 he adopts the title of Czar, the ruler of the third Rome.  In 1478 he conquers Novgorod.  1480 the Mongol rule is finished, 1495-1497  war against Sweden ("vanha viha and Viipurin pamaus").

1464-1471

Pope Paul II, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1469

(Adherents) Sikh's and Sunni's separate in Islam

1471-1484

Pope Sixtus IV, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1480-1483

Iolande de Bar, Grand Master of Prieure de Sion

1481-1512

Ottoman Empire, Bayezid II rules the empire, he extended the empire in Europe, added outpost along the Black Sea, and put down revolts in Asia Minor. He also turned the Ottoman fleet into a major Mediterranean naval power. Late in life he became a religious mystic and was displaced on the throne by his more militant son, Selim I.

1483-1485

(The Yorkist) British Monarchy, Edward V (reigned April-June 1483) was a minor, and his uncle Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was made Protector. Richard had been loyal throughout to his brother Edward IV including the events of 1470-1471, Edward's exile and their brother's rebellion (the Duke of Clarence, who was executed in 1478 by drowning, reputedly in a barrel of Malmsey wine). However, he was suspicious of the Woodville faction, possibly believing they were the cause of Clarence's death. In response to an attempt by Elizabeth Woodville to take power, Richard and Edward V entered London in May, with Edward's coronation fixed for 22 of June. However, in mid-June Richard assumed the throne as Richard III (reigned 1483-1485 A.D.(J)). Edward V and his younger brother Richard were declared illegitimate, taken to the Royal apartments at the Tower of London (then a Royal residence) and never seen again. (Skeletons, allegedly theirs, found there in 1674 were later buried in Westminster Abbey.

1483-1498

(Valois dynasty) France, king Charles VIII rules France. The son of Louis XI, his sister Anne served as regent from 1483 to 1491, when he began to reign in his own right. In 1487, during Anne's regency, Charles's cousin Louis, who succeeded Charles as King Louis XII, was imprisoned for attempting to overthrow Anne and Charles. By Charles's marriage to Anne of Bretagne in 1491, that province was united to France. The chief event of his reign was the invasion of Italy in 1494 and his temporary occupation of Naples in 1495. Charles wanted to assert his reign over Naples, where his ancestors once ruled. However, the usually divided states of Italy united to defeat him; Charles and his army were forced to flee to France. His was the first in a series of French invasions into Italy that lasted more than five decades and introduced Italian cultural influence into France.

1483-1510

Sandro Botticelli, Grand Master of Prieure de Sion

1483-1546

Martin Luther,  October 31, 1517 he nails his 95-theses to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg,

1484-1492

Pope "Innocent" VIII, rules the Catholic church in Rome. Transfusion of blood dates as far back as the time of the ancient Egyptians. The earliest reported case is that practiced on Pope Innocent VIII in 1492, The operation cost the lives of three youths and the Pontiff's life was not saved. (The Encyclopedia Americana [1929 edition] Volume 4 pg. 113.) This blood transfusion was carried out even though it is in direct violation of God' Law on blood as recorded in the Scripture at Acts 15; 28 & 29 where it reads: "The holy spirit and we ourselves [the governing body of the Christian congregation] have favored adding no further burden to you, except these necessary things, to keep abstaining from things sacrificed to idols and from blood and from things strangled [or killed without draining their blood] and from fornication. ..."

1485-1509

(The Tudors) British Monarchy, Henry VII (1485-1509) Although supported by Lancastrians and Yorkist allienated by Richard III's usurpation, Henry VII's first task was to secure his position. In 1486 he married Elizabeth of York, eldest daughter of Edward IV, thus uniting the Houses of York and Lancaster. Henry's reign was troubled by revolts, sometimes involving pretenders (such as Perkin Warbeck and Lambert Simnel) who impersonated Edward V or his brother. In 1485, Henry formed a personal bodyguard from his followers known as the 'Yeomen of the Guard' (the oldest military corps in existence today). Henry used dynastic royal marriages to establish his dynasty in England, and help maintain peace. One daughter, Margaret, was married to James IV of Scotland (from whom Mary, Queen of Scots and her son, James VI of Scotland and James I of England, were descended); the other daughter married Louis XII of France. Henry spent money shrewdly and left a full treasury on his death in 1509.

1492-1503

Pope Alexander VI, rules the Catholic church in Rome. Pope Alexander who achieved this high office through simony (bribery) was one of the more corrupt popes in the history of the Catholic church, that in itself is saying much since the Catholic church is so corrupt. Alexander conducts wild drunken sex orgies in the Vatican. Alexander uses his power as pope to gain much wealth and property mainly through marriage alliances, using his illegitimate daughter, Lucrezia Borgia, in schemes of intrigue to gain territories, he annuls the marriages on a whim when a more lucrative suitor became evident. Alexander's papacy was one of political intrigue, murder, incest, all forms of debauchery and sexual perversions, and much, much more. He has several mistresses, though it was not an unusual thing for popes to have mistresses, or illegitimate children by them for that matter. Alexander's several illegitimate children by one of his married mistresses a daughter, Lucretia Borgia, who becomes quite notor

1492

Christopher Columbus in an effort to find a new route to India, thereby a new spice route to enrich European countries. Columbus's expedition was financed by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. Instead of a new route to India, Columbus discovered the America's, he lands at San Salvadore in the western hemisphere. Europe and the Catholic church exploit the wealth and the people of the New World virtually exterminating the Inca and the Aztec native tribes in South America and Mexico all in the name of Christianity, converting the populace with threat of torture and death. The greed for colonialism and for gold continued for centuries. This was "business as usual" for the Catholic church, bringing to the New World their brand of "civilization".

1494

de Medicis Banking Empire in Italy failed. The Medicis ignored the "banking rule No 1", never lend money to an English Monark, nor any sovereign. They did exactly that and over-extended their loans to Ewdrd IV, who lost a fortune in the wars of Roses, The same happened in Florence on 13th and 14th century to Bardi and Peruzzi banks which collapsed already in 1340's Edward III reneged his debts. Medicis were the major sponsors of arts, religion and architecture in Florence.

1497

Girolamo Savonarola (1452-98), a Dominican monk spoke out against corruption of both the Church and State, in 1497, the pope excommunicated him and the following year, he was arrested, tortured, hanged and burned to stake.

1498-1515

1499

The Swiss Confederation secured its independence from the Holy Roman Empire. Switzerland's sovereignty and neutrality have long been honored by the major European powers, and the country was not involved in either of the two World Wars.

16th Century

Reformation: Anglican Episcopal from which sprang the Methodist Church, [from which sprang the Salvation Army], the Baptist Church [from which sprang the Pentecostal Church, and the Congregational Church].

1503

Pope Pius III, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1503-1513

Pope Julius II, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1505-1533

Basil III, is Grand Duke of Moscow. He joins all remaining independent areas to Russia and creates the Russian Empoire.

1509-1547

(The Tudors) British Monarchy, Henry VIII (1509-1547) was 17 when he became king. His first wife, Catherine of Aragon, provided him with a daughter, Mary, but no male heir. In order to divorce her, he broke with the Roman Catholic Church and declared himself Supreme Head of the Church of England. Five subsequent marriages produced two children, Elizabeth and Edward. The break with Rome led to the Dissolution of the Monasteries (in which monastic lands and buildings were sold or disposed of, and the monks disbanded or imprisoned) and the beginnings of the English Reformation. Henry's involvement in European politics brought him into conflict with the Scots who were defeated at Solway Moss in 1542 (the Scots had been defeated before at the Battle of Flodden in 1513). Control of Wales was strengthened by the Acts of Union of 1536 and 1542 which united England and Wales administratively and legally, and gave Wales representation in Parliament. Henry died in 1547.

1510-1519

Leonardo da Vinci, Grand Master of Prieure de Sion

1512-1520

Ottoman Empire, Selim I rules the empire, his first task was to eliminate competition for his position. He had his brothers, their sons, and all but one of his own sons killed. He thereby established control over the army, which wanted to raise its own candidate to power. During his short reign the Ottomans moved south and eastward into Syria, Mesopotamia (Iraq), Arabia, and Egypt. At Mecca, the chief shrine of Islam, he took the title of caliph, ruler of all Muslims. The Ottoman sultans were thereafter the spiritual heads of Islam thereby replacing the centuries-old caliphate of Baghdad. By acquiring the holy places of Islam, Selim I cemented his position as the religion's most powerful ruler. This gave the Ottomans direct access to the rich cultural heritage of the Arab world. Leading Muslim intellectuals, artist, artisans, and administrators came to Constantinople from all parts of the Arab world. They made the empire much more of a traditional Islamic state than it had been.

1513-1522

Pope Leo X, rules the Catholic church in Rome.  He once stated: "It has served us well, this myth of Christ"

1515-1547

(Valois dynasty) France, king Francis I (Francois I) rules France, remembered for his rivalry with the Habsburg "Holy Roman Emperor" Charles V, for his patronage of arts and letters, and for his governmental reforms. He was born in Cognac, France on September 12, 1494, Francis represented the Angouleme branch of the Valois dynasty, succeeding Louis XII, the last of the Orleanist branch, in 1515. His mother Louise of Savoy, and his eldest sister, Margaret of Navarre, influenced his upbringing and remained close to him during his reign. His first wife was Louis XII's daughter Claudine. During the Valois-Habsburg Wars, in 1515 Francis commanded a spectacular victory over the Swiss at Marignano, which enabled him to seize the Italian duchy of Milan. In 1519 he was candidate for the throne of the "Holy Roman Empire", but the imperial electors chose Charles of Habsburg instead. Francis then embarked on a war against Charles of Italy, but was defeated and captured at Pavia in 1525.

1516

Dutch scholar Desiderius Erasmus produced the first complete printed edition of the Greek text.  Erasmus wished that the Scripture "were translated into all languages of all people." However, he hesitated to risk his great popularity by translating it himself.

1516-1517

Egypt becomes a Turkish province, governed by a pasha. When World War I broke out in 1914, Egypt belonged to Turkey and was ruled by a khediv or viceroy.

1517

Reformations beginning, on October 31, Martin Luther (1483-1546) nails his 95-theses to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany adding more branches to the false religious tree of Christendom. From which sprang the Lutheran Church i.e. the German, Swedish, American, and others. Though Luther spoke of reform, today's modern church is not much different from its predecessor.

1519-1527

Connetable de Bourbon, Grand Master of Prieure de Sion

1519

1519, 237 men under Ferdinand Magellan set out in five ships from Seville in Spain. Three years later, 18 men in one ship returned, having completed the first widely known historical circumnavigation of the earth. Even after this proof, many clung to the myth that the earth was flat. Some still do to this day.

1519

Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531), in Switzerland, began to preach against indulgences, Mariolatry, clerical celibacy, and other doctrines of the Catholic Church. Zwingli advocated the removal of all vestiges of the Roman Church, including images, crucifexes, clerical garb [sacerdotal vestments], even liturgical music.

1520-1566

Ottoman Empire, Suleyman I, (the Magnificent) rules the empire, the only surviving son of Selim I, Suleyman came to the throne in an enviable position. New revenues from the expanded empire left him with wealth and power unparalleled in Ottoman history. In his early campaigns he captured Belgrage (in 1521) and Rhodes (in 1522) and broke the military power of Hungary. In 1529 he laid seige to Vienna, Austria, but was forced to withdraw for lack of supplies. He also waged three campaigns against Persia (Iran). Algiers in North Africa fell to his navy in 1529 and Tripoli (now Libya) in 1551. In more peaceful pursuits he adorned the chief cities of Islam with mosques, aqueducts, bridges, and other public works. In Constantinople he had several mosques built, among them the magnificent Suleymaniye Cami named for him. During Suleyman's long reign the Ottoman Empire was at the height of its political power and close to its maximum geographical extent. The seeds of decline, however, were already planted.

1522

Spain, Esteban Gómez on the ship San Antonio of the Spanish expedition headed by Magellan, discovers the isles while returning to Spain.

1522-1523

Pope Adrian VI, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1523-1534

1523-1534, Pope Clement VII, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1523-1560

Gustav I, born Gustav Eriksson (Colloquial 15th century Upplandic, Gösta Jerksson) and later known as Gustav Vasa (12 May 1496 – 29 September 1560), was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death 1560. He was the first monarch of the House of Vasa, an influential noble familywhich came to be the royal house of Sweden for much of the 16th and 17th centuries. Gustav I was elected regent in 1521 after leading arebellion against Christian II of Denmark, the leader of the Kalmar Union who controlled most of Sweden at the time.

The area of Kalmar Union is shown on the right. It consisted of the lasds of Denmark, Sweden and Norway plus Island and some of the Finnish territiories.

When he came to power in 1523, he became the ruler of a still divided country without a central government. Though not as famous as most of his continental contemporaries, he became the first truly autocratic native Swedish sovereign and was a skilled propagandist and bureaucrat who laid the foundations for a more efficient centralized government. During his reign Protestantism was introduced in the country. In traditional Swedish history he has been labelled the founder of modern Sweden, and the "father of the nation".

Gustav Vasa may have been good for Sweden but he had no visionary forward and decided to treat the Finns living on those inherited areas as a treath that was to be subdued. Like most conquerers he used the same tactics - a Nation without history will disappear - and burned all Church records and banned all ancient customs including the practice of story telling in form of "poem singing" reaching back thousands of years. Disobedience especially the poem singing ment instant death. He considered the Finns with their strange language and customs who live behing his inherited territories as savages not worth his time. However, he must have known perfectly well their connections to the East and the history and the difficulties they had created for the Swedish Vikings a few hundred years earlier.

As said, Gustav Wasa, the Swedish King started a systematic process to eliminate all records and traces referring to Finns or Saami people from Northern Sweden and Finland.  The Finns and Saami people had since the beginning of the times controlled major parts of northern Sweden, Norway and the whole Cola Peninsula.  The Finns and Swedes form the fault line between the tribes from East and the Germanic tribes that migrated from the South to Sweden and Norway.

1527-1575

Fernidando de Gonzaque, Grand Master of Prieure de Sion

1529

Protestant movement is established by Luther's supporters, and the following year the Protestant League of Schmalkald is entered into.

1531

(The Tudors) King Henry VIII of England imposes royal supremacy on the English clergy.

1533-1584

Ivan IV, (Ivan the Terrible) is Grand Duke of Moscow (Sofia 1533-1547).  In 1547 Ivan IV is crowned to a Czar.  In 1553 the Briton Richard Chancellor visits Moscow.  In 1556 Russia Trading company is established in London. MORE TO COME!

1534

English Parliament passes acts declaring Henry VIII to be the supreme head of the Church of England, (Episcopal Church), with authority to redress errors, heresies, and abuses in the church. (The Puritans demanded more thorough reform to purify the church of Roman Catholic practices, many dissidents fled to the Netherlands or to North America, where they further developed their Congregational and Baptist Churches.) There also sprang up in England the Society of Friends (Quakers), under the leadership of George Fox (1624-91), and under John Wesley (1703-91), the Methodist Church was founded in 1738.

1534

John Calvin leaves Paris, France because of religious persecution settles in Basel, Switzerland, in defense of protestants he publishes "Institutes of Christian Religion" [French Calvinist Protestants were called Huguenots, from Calvinism sprang the Presbyterian Church, and the Reformed Churches.]

1534-1550

Pope Paul III, rules the Catholic church in Rome. Jesuit Order founded by Loyola in 1534 AD

1534-1918

Ottoman Empire; peaked at 1639; around Turkey, covered lands around Black Sea, in the East part of Iran; in the South Part of Iraq, excluded interiors of Saudi Arabia, all Egypt, and in the West all what was with Abbasid Caliphate all the way to Marocco.

1535

Miles Coverdale completes William Tyndale's work of translation, the entire English Bible appeared in 1535

1538

(The Tudors) King Henry VIII of England, for his own reasons ordered that Bibles be placed in every church in England. Though Tyndale is not credited, the translation that was chosen was essentially his

1540

(Valois dynasty) France. The Wars of Religion. The latter half of the century was a succession of difficult and agitated decades in France. Rising population, without a rise in productivity, and monetary inflation reduced much of the populace to poverty. The Protestant Reformation, spreading from Germany during the reign of Francois I, had attracted a few followers, but in the 1540's and 1550's the French Protestant John Calvin created the doctrine and the institutions of a distinctively French form of Protestantism, and it won many powerful followers in the nobility and thousands of lower rank. Henry II considered Calvinism a threat to royal authority, and he tried to stamp it out. Under his three sons, who succeeded him, the country was torn by Wars of Religion, wars in which religious, political, and dynastic conflicts were inextricably mixed. The fanaticism, (on both sides, Catholic and Protestant alike), of the religious combatants and the brutality of mercenaries made it a struggle in which pillage and cruelty ruled.

1543

Copernicus proposed that, instead of orbiting the earth as most people "Know", all of the planets, including the earth, are actually in orbit around the sun. Most "educated" people of the day considered him crazy. This event is now considered to be the beginning of the modern "Scientific Revolution".

1543

The first really accurate book about anatomy was published by Andreas Vesalius of Belgium.

1544

Francisco de Enzinas is imprisoned by the Catholic Inquisition for translating and publishing the Christian Greek Scriptures in Spanish.

1547-1553

(The Tudors) British Monarchy, Edward VI & Jane Grey (1547-1553) The King's Council, previously dominated by Henry, succumbed to existing factionalism. On Henry's death, Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford and soon to be Duke of Somerset, the new King's eldest uncle, became Protector. Seymour was an able soldier, he led a punitive expedition against the Scots, for their failure to fulfill their promise to betroth Mary, Queen of Scots to Edward, which led to Seymour's victory at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh in 1547- although he failed to follow this up with satisfactory peace terms Despite his military ability, Seymour was too liberal to deal effectively with Kett's rebellion against land enclosures in Norfolk. Seymour was left isolated in the Council and the Duke of Northumberland subsequently overthrew him in 1551. Seymour was executed in 1552. Northumberland took greater trouble to charm and influence Edward; his powerful position as Lord President of the Council was based on his person.

1547-1559

(Valois dynasty) France, king Henry II, second son of king Francis I, he was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. He married the Florentine noblewoman Catherine de Medicis in 1533, and when his father died in 1547, Henry succeeded to the throne. During his reign he was much influenced by his mistress, Diane de Poitiers, duchess de Valentinois, and by Duc Anne de Montmorency, constable of France. An ardent Catholic, Henry persecuted the Protestants or Huguenots, (as any ardent Catholic would), in the later years of his reign. He continued the war waged by his father against the "Holy Roman Emperor" Charles V, seizing from him the bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun in 1552. Engaging in war with England in 1556 to 1559 he was involved in a war with Charles V's son, Philip II of Spain, notable mainly for the Spanish victory at Saint Quentin, Picardy (1557). Peace with Spain and England was restored by the treaty of Cateau-Cambresis (1559), by which Henry agreed to give up France's possessions.

1547-1584

Ivan IV, (Ivan the Terrible) is Tsar of all the Russias. Conquest of Khanates of Kazan in 1552 A.D.(J), conquest of Astrakhan in 1554 AD

1550

Ambroise Paré revolutionized the treatment of wounds by using much less severe healing methods than were commonly in use at the time.

1550-1555

Pope Julius III, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1553-1558

(The Tudors) British Monarchy, Mary I (1553-1558) was the first Queen Regnant (that is, a queen reigning in her own right rather than queen through marriage to a king). Mary returned England to Roman Catholicism and revived the old heresy laws to secure the religious conversion of the country; heresy was regarded as a religious and civil offence amounting to treason (to believe in a different religion from the Sovereign was an act of defiance and disloyalty). As a result, around 300 Protestant heretics were burned at the stake in three years - apart from eminent Protestant clergy, these heretics were mostly poor and self-taught people. Apart from making Mary exceedingly unpopular, such treatment sanctioned by the Catholic Church demonstrated that people were prepared to die for what they believed. Aged 37 at her accession, Mary wished to marry and have children, thus leaving a Catholic heir, thus removing her half-sister Elizabeth (a focus for Protestant opposition) from direct succession line.

1553-1617

Prospero Alpini rediscovered that plants have male and female sexes.

1555-1557

Ivan IV, (Ivan the Terrible) Grand Duke of Moscow.  War against Sweden.

1555

Pope Marcellus II, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1555-1559

Pope Paul IV, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1558-1603

(The Tudors) British Monarchy, Elizabeth I (1558-1603) daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, returned England to Protestantism. She refused to marry or name her successor as marriage could have created foreign alliance difficulties or encouraged factionalism at home. Her rightful heir was her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, who, threatened by rebellion in Scotland, fled to England. Imprisoned by Elizabeth in 1567, Mary plotted with English and Roman Catholics and with Spain, France and the Pope. The threat that this posed to the English throne resulted in Mary's execution in 1587 and led to outright war with Spain. In 1588 Philip of Spain's invasion fleet, the 'Armada' , was defeated. There were two further Armadas in the 1590s, and an Irish revolt in 1595, assisted by Spain, which was eventually put down in 1601. Elizabeth died in 1603 still refusing to name her successor.

1559

Pope Paul IV rules that no Bible could be printed in the vernacular without church approval, and this the church refused to grant. [In 1564, Pope Pius IV stated: "Experience has shown that if reading the Bible in the vulgar tongue is permitted indiscriminately, ...more harm than good arises therefrom."]

1559-1560

(Valois dynasty) France, king Francis II (Francois II) born in Fontainbleau, the eldest son of Henry II. In 1558 Francis married Mary, queen of Scots. Francis was a mental and physical weakling and was dominated by Francois, duke of Guise, and Charles Cardinal of Lorraine, the uncles of his wife. These two men, who in effect were the rulers during Francis's brief reign, tried to repress the growing political power of the Protestants in France. Francis's death ended the ascendancy of the Guise's at court. The queen mother, Catherine de Medicis, was the virtual ruler during Francis II's reign. The Wars of Religion continued between Catholics and French Protestants with it's bloody history all in the name of Christendom's form of "Christianity."

Pope Pius IV, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1560-1574

(Valois dynasty) France, king Charles IX, born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye. The son of Henry II and Catherine de Medicis, he succeeded his older brother Francis II. During his minority and after 1563, when he assumed active rule, Charles remained under the dominion of his mother. The queen mother, Catherine de Medicis, was the virtual ruler during Charles IX's reign. Intrigues and religious wars between Roman Catholics and Huguenots (Protestants) marked the entire course of his reign. In 1572 he was persuaded by his mother, Catherine de Medicis, to approve the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre, in which thousands of Huguenots were killed by Roman Catholics in a massacre. The Wars of Religion continued between Catholics and French Protestants with it's bloody history all in the name of Christendom's form of "Christianity". Charles was succeeded by his brother Henry III.

1564 - 1642

Galileo Galilei

1566-1572

Pope Pius V, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1566-1574

Ottoman Empire, Selim II rules the empire. During his reign the combined fleets of Venice, Spain, and the Papal States of Italy defeated the Ottoman Turks in the great naval battle of Lepanto, off the coast of Greece. This defeat, which dispelled the myth of the invincible Turks, took place in 1571. But the empire rebuilt its navy and continued to control the eastern Mediterranean for another century.

1571

Spain, the battle at Lepanto, Turks were defeated by Spanish and Italian troops.

1572

The Tatars from Crimea burn Moscow.

1572

Gregorian calendar taken to use on October 15th.

1572-1585

Pope Gregory XIII, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1574-1589

(Valois dynasty) France, king Henry III the last king of the Valois dynasty to rule France. The queen mother, Catherine de Medicis, was the virtual ruler during Henry III's reign, Catherine's third son. Catherine's first concern was the defense of her son's royal authority, (this was also in the case of Francis II, and Charles IX). She repeatedly pressed the religious contenders, during the Wars of Religion being fought between Catholics and French Protestants, to compromise on a settlement that would enable both to believe and worship as they pleased, but unfortunately for France she was powerless against their fanaticism. Cartherine herself became religion's tool in sanctioning the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre in Paris of August, 1572, when Roman Catholics fell upon assembled Protestant leaders and their followers and murdered about 2,000 of them. Despite Henry III's considerable gifts, he failed to resolve the religious civil wars in France between Roman Catholics and Protestants.

1574-1595

Ottoman Empire, Murad III rules the empire. As the central government became weaker, large parts of the empire began to act independently, retaining only nominal loyalty to the Sultan. The army was still strong enough, however, to prevent provincial rebels from asserting complete control. Under Murad III's reign, new campaigns were undertaken. The Caucasus was conquered, and Azerbaijan was seized. This brought the empire to the peak of its territorial extent.

1575-1595

Louis de Nevers, Grand Master of Prieure de Sion

1581

Ivan the Terrible starts the conquest of Siberia.

1584-1598

Fedor/Theodore I, rules Russia.

1585-1590

Pope Sixtus V, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1587

Independent Russian Orthodox Church is established, with the Patriarch of Moscow as head.

1589-1610

(Bourbon dynasty) France, king Henry IV begins ruling as the first king of the Bourbon dynasty of kings in France, Henry III's last surviving brother died in 1584, and Henry of Bourbon, king of Navarre, a descendant of Louis IX and the leader of the Protestant, or Huguenot, party, became next in line to the throne. Henry was married to Marie de Medicis. Repelled by the prospect of a "heretic" king, (it seems as though Catholics brand everyone that is not a Catholic as a "heritic"), some members of the Roman Catholic party plotted to forestall his succession by replacing Henry III with Henry, duke of Guise, the leader of the "Holy" League. Warned of this, Henry III summoned Guise to a conference at Blois in 1588 and there had him assassinated. The following year, 1589 King Henry III, himself, the last of the Valois dynasty, fell victim to an assassin's blade. Henry IV of Bourbon succeeds him to the throne of France beginning the Bourbon dynasty of kings. Henry was, in fact, the only king of the Huguenots.

1590-1591

Pope Urban VII, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1591-1592

Pope "Innocent" IX rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1592-1605

Pope Clement VIII, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1595-1637

Robert Fludd, Grand Master of Prieure de Sion

1597

The first chemistry, textbook was published by Andreas Libavius. {R.25.44}

1598-1605

Boris Godunov, rules Russia.

1600

The telescope and the microscope were invented. {R.17.27-31}

1603

Ottoman Turks are driven out of the Caucasus and Azerbaijan.

1603-1625

(The Stuarts) British Monarchy, James I (1603-1625), son of Mary, Queen of Scots (and descended from Henry VII's daughter Margaret), had been King of Scotland for 36 years, when he became King of England. Although he was King of both countries, James's attempt to create a full governmental union proved premature. An able theologian, he ordered a new translation of the Bible which came to be known as the Authorized King James's Version of the Bible. James himself was fairly tolerant in terms of religious faith, but the Gunpowder Plot (an attempt by Guy Fawkes and other Roman Catholic conspirators to blow up the Houses of Parliament) in 1605 resulted in the reimposition of strict penalties on Roman Catholics (any "religious" persecution that the Roman Catholics may claim to have suffered came about from their own volition, they suffered due to their refusal to obey civil order [my comment]). The outbreak of the Thirty years war (1618-1648) in Europe spread with its financial pressures.

1604

Ottoman Turks are driven out of Iraq.

1605

Pope Leo XI, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1605

Fedor/Theodore II, rules Russia.

1605-1606

Dimitri I, (the Imposter) rules Russia.

1605-1621

Pope Paul V, rules the Catholic church in Rome

1606-1610

Basil IV Shuiski, rules Russia.

1610

Galileo made the first detailed studies of planetary motion. He also revolutionized basic science by advocating the use of "The Experimental Method".

1610

Flemish alchemist named Jan Baptista van Helmont made the first experiments in the field of biochemistry.

1610-1612

Ladislaus of Poland, rules Russia

1610-1643

(Bourbon dynasty) France, king Louis XIII, the nine-year-old son of Henry IV and his wife Marie de Medicis, born in Fontainbleau, rules France. During his minority from 1610 to 1617 his mother ruled as regent. She allied France with Spain and arranged the marriage in 1615 of Louis to Princess Anne of Austria, daughter of Philip III, king of Spain. For most of his reign Louis was dominated by Cardinal Richelieu, (the Catholic church it seems was always meddling in politics), who joined his council of ministers in 1624 through the efforts of his mother Marie de Medicis and served eventually as prime minister until his death in 1642. Under Cardinal Richelieu's anti-Habsburg foreign policy, France entered (1635) the Thirty Years' War as an ally of Sweden and the Protestant princes of Germany. Louis's reign was marked also by occasional strife between Roman Catholics and the French Protestants, or Huguenots, and by the many conspiracies against Cardinal Richelieu.

1613-1646

The Romanovs, Michael (or Mikhail), Tsar of all the Russias.

1621-1623

Pope Gregory XV, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1623-1640

Ottoman Empire, Murad IV rules the Sultanate, he takes back Iraq in 1638, but Iran remained a persistent military threat in the east.

1623-1644

Pope Urban VIII, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1625-1712

Italian Jean-Dominique Cassini discovered the Saturnian satellites Iapetus, Rhea, Tethys and Dione. In 1675 he discovered what is known today as the 'Cassini Division', the narrow gap separating Saturn's rings. 

1625-1649

(The Stuarts) British Monarchy, Charles I (1625-1649) was a shy, aloof man who lacked the qualities necessary to make him a successful ruler. Parliament refused to grant him taxes for his wars against France and Spain and he raised money by other means such as forced loans. His third Parliament criticized his management of the wars and condemned his illegal taxation, whereupon he dissolved Parliament and for the next 11 years governed without it. In 1640 Charles was forced to call Parliament to pay for his war against the Scots on whom he was trying to impose an Anglican prayer book. Parliament overturned many of Charles policies but had no wish to overthrow the King. However, Charles attempt to arrest five leading members of the House of Commons, and a Roman Catholic rebellion in Ireland helped to push the King and Parliament apart. In 1642 civil war broke out. By 1647 the King's army had been defeated.

1626

The Church of Peter in Vatican taken to service on November 18th.

1628

William Harvey published a book describing the human circulatory system.

1629-1695

Christiaan Huygens a Dutch scientist discovered Saturn's rings and, in 1655, its largest moon, Titan.

1632-1723

Anton van Leeuwenhoek made great improvement in lenses for microscopy, and made many fundamental discoveries in the microscopic world - including life forms consisting of a single cell.

1633

Galileo Galilei convicted of his heretic thoughts of the universe.

1637

Tulip mania or tulipomania (Dutch names include tulpenmanie, tulpomanie, tulpenwoede, tulpengekte, and bollengekte) was a period in the Dutch Golden Age during which contract prices fo bulbs of the recently introduced tulip varieties (actually infected by a virus) reached extraordinarily high levels and then suddenly collapsed. At the peak of tulip mania in February 1637, tulip contracts sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled craftsman. It is generally considered the first recorded speculative bubble. 

"Augustus" on the right was the most expensive variety of them all.

Bulbs can be uprooted and moved about from June to September, and thus actual purchases (in the spot market) occurred during these months.During the rest of the year, traders signed contracts before a notary to purchase tulips at the end of the season (effectively futures contracts). Thus the Dutch, who developed many of the techniques of modern finance, created a market for durable tulip bulbs. Short selling was banned by an edict of 1610, which was reiterated or strengthened in 1621 and 1630, and again in 1636. Short sellers were not prosecuted under these edicts, but their contracts were deemed unenforceable.

1637-1654

J. Valentin Andrea, Grand Master of Prieure de Sion

1638

1643-1715

(Bourbon dynasty) France, king Louis XIV, (the Sun King), imposed absolute rule on France and fought a series of wars trying to dominate Europe. His reign, the longest in European history, was marked by a great flowering of French culture. Louis was born on September 5, 1638, at Saint-Germain-en-Laye. His parents, king Louis XIII and Anne of Austria, grateful for an heir after 20 barren years of marriage, christened him Louis Dieudonne (literally, the "gift of God"). In 1643 Louis XIV died. Anne of Austria, aided by her minister, Cardinal Mazarin, ruled France as regent (this was a great opportunity for the Catholic church to meddle in French politics). His father's death spared Louis XIV the beatings and abuse usually given French princes; kindly but mediocre tutors gave him a feeble education. His mother formed his rules of conscience, teaching him a simple kind of Roman Catholicism laced with superstition. Cardinal Mazarin instructed him in court ceremony, war, and the craft of kingship.

1644-1655

Pope "Innocent" X, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1644-1911

Qing Dynasty in China.

Ottoman Empire, a war with Venice exposed Constantinople to an attack by the Venetian navy.

1645-1676

(Romanov dynasty) The Romanovs, Alexeis (or Aleksei), ruled as Tsar of all the Russias.

1648

Peace Treaty of Westphalia.  This is the first treaty to introduce international law and the fundamental principle of national sovereignty into the international arena.  This was the beginning of civilization in international relations, and it paved the way for establishing democracy in most of Europe.  There is no such thing as the common good of humanity. It’s every country for itself.  To pretend to be a law-abiding country and to treat other countries badly is sheer hypocrisy.

(Republic of England) Interregnum, (Between Reigns) Oliver Cromwell's convincing military successes at Drogheda in Ireland (1649), Dunbar in Scotland (1650) and Worcester in England (1651) forced Charles I's son, Charles, into foreign exile despite being accepted as King of Scotland. From 1649 to 1660, England was therefore a republic during a period known as the Interregnum ('between reigns'). A series of political experiments followed, as the country's rulers tried to redefine and establish a workable constitution without a monarchy. Throughout this period, Cromwell's relationship with Parliament was a troubled one, with tensions over the nature of the constitution and the issue of supremacy, control of the armed forces and debate over religious toleration. In 1653 Parliament was dissolved, and under the Instrument of Government, Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector, later refusing the offer of the throne. Further disputes in the House of Commons followed; at one stage Cromwell resorted to regional rule.

1650

The vacuum pump was first perfected in Germany by Otto von Guerick.

1654

Bishop Usher published a work in which he solemnly calculated the age of the earth to be 5659 years. According to the learned gentleman, “Creation” took place at nightfall on the “day” preceding October 23, 4004 BC. Both the Egyptians and the Babylonians had calendar systems which went back further than that. No matter, the “age” of the earth was still hotly contested in the “developed” world in the late 19th century during the debate over Darwin’s theory of evolution.

1654-1691

Robet Boyle, Grand Master of Prieure de Sion

1655-1667

Pope Alexander VII, rules the Catholic church in Rome

1658

Robert Boyle built his own vacuum pump and began experiments which eventually led to the isolation of individual gasses from the atmosphere.

1660-1685

(The Stuarts) British Monarchy,  Charles II (1660-1685) Although those who had signed Charles I's death warrant were punished (nine regicides were put to death, and Cromwell's body was exhumed from Westminster Abbey and buried in a common pit), Charles pursued a policy of political tolerance and power-sharing. The Militia Act of 1661 vested control of the armed forces in the Crown. The Bishops were restored to their seats in the House of Lords. The early years of Charles's reign saw an appalling plague that hit the country in 1665 with 70,000 dying in London alone, and the Great Fire of London in 1666.  Another misfortune included the second Dutch war of 1665 (born of English and Dutch commercial and colonial rivalry). Although the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam was overrun and renamed New York before the war started, by 1666 France and Denmark had allied with the Dutch. The war was dogged by poor administration culminating by the Dutch attack on the Thames in 1667.

1667-1670

Pope Clement IX, rules the Catholic church in Rome

1668

Franscesco Redi discovered that maggots were the result of flies laying eggs, instead of being spontaneously generated from decaying meat as was commonly believed.

1670-1676

Pope Clement X, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1676-1682

(The Romanovs), Theodore III (or Fedor III), Tsar of all the Russias.

1676-1689

Pope "Innocent" XI, rules the Catholic church in Rome

1682-1689

(The Romanovs), Ivan V, Tsar of all the Russias

1683

Ottoman Empire, the last attempt to conquer Vienna, Austria failed. Russia and Austria fought the empire by direct military attack and by fomenting revolt by non-Muslim subjects of the sultan. Beginning with the attack on Vienna, the Ottomans were at war with European enemies for 41 years. As a result, the empire lost much of its Balkan territory and all the possessions on the shores of the Black Sea. In addition, the Austrians and the Russians were allowed to intervene in the empire's affairs on behalf of the sultan's "Christian" subjects. The weakness of the central government, as manifested by its military decline, also showed itself in a gradual loss of control over most of the provinces. Local rulers, called notables, carved for themselves permanent regions in which they ruled directly, regardless of the wishes of the sultan of Constantinople. The notables were able to build their power bases because they knew the sultan's military weakness and because local populations preferred their rule.

1685

Isaac Newton discovered the Law of Gravitation and founded modern physics.

1685-1688

(The Stuarts) British Monarchy, James II (1695-1688), commanded the Royal Navy from 1660 to 1673. James converted to Catholicism in 1669. Despite his conversion, James II succeeded to the throne peacefully at the age of 51. A rebellion led by Charles's illegitimate son, the Duke of Monmouth, was easily crushed after the battle of Sedgemoor in 1685, and savage punishments were imposed by the infamous Lord Chief Justice, Judge Jeffreys, at the 'Bloody Assizes'. James's reaction to the rebellion was to plan the increase of the standing army and the appointment of loyal and experienced Roman Catholic officers. This, together with James's attempts to give civic equality to Roman Catholic and Protestant dissenters, led to a conflict with Parliament, as it was seen as James showing favoritism towards Roman Catholics. Fear of Catholicism was widespread (in 1685, Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes which gave protection to French Protestants).

1689-1725

(The Romanovs), Peter I (or Pyotor, Peter the Great), Tsar of all the Russias. Peter I fights two wars with Finland to give Russia a seaport, and to establish St. Petersburg as the capital city of Russia, at the cost of many lives since the area was basically at very low sea level and also loosing the first war with Finland. Peter I gets his seaport and builds his capital making way for Russia to begin building a navy and a commercial seaport.

1689-1691

Pope Alexander VIII, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1689-1702

(The Stuarts) British Monarchy, William III (reigned 1689-1702 C.E) and Mary II (reigned 1689-1694) in 1689 Parliament declared that James had abdicated by deserting his kingdom.  William III and Mary II were offered the thrones as joint monarchs. They accepted the Declaration of Rights (later a Bill), drawn up by a Convention of Parliament, which limited the Sovereign's power, reaffirmed Parliament's claim to control taxation and legislation, and provided guarantees against the abuses of power which James II and other Stuart Kings had committed. The exclusion of James II and his heirs was extended to exclude all Catholics from the throne, since 'it hath been found by experience that it is inconsistent with the safety and welfare of this protestant kingdom to be governed by a 'papist prince.' The Sovereign was required in his coronation oath to swear to maintain the Protestant religion. Mary II died of smallpox in 1694, aged 32 and childless. 

Pope "Innocent" XII, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1691-1727

Isaac Newton, Grand Master of Prieure de Sion

1700-1721

Pope Clement XI, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1702-1714

(The Stuarts) British Monarchy, Anne (1702-1714) On William's death in 1702, his sister-in-law Anne (Protestant younger daughter of James II and his first wife) succeeded him. Within months, another war in Europe had started (the war of Spanish Succession), which was to overshadow much of Anne's reign (1702-1714). A series of military victories by John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, strengthened England's negotiating position at the end of the war. Under the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, France recognized Anne's title (and exiled James II's Roman Catholic son, James Stuart from France) - the treaty also confirmed England's possession of Gibraltar. During the final years of the seventeenth century, the Parliaments of England and Scotland had conflicting foreign and economic policies. Difficulties reached a climax when England settled the succession on the Protestant Sophia of Hanover (Charles I's neice and cousin to James II), as Anne (the last of her line) despite 18 pregnancies had failed to have a child.

1714-1727

(The Hanoverians) British Monarchy, George I (1714-1727) As Sophia, Electress of Hanover, had died two months before Queen Anne, Sophia's eldest son George, Elector of Hanover, inherited the throne under the Act of Settlement (there were some 50 Roman Catholic relatives with stronger claims). His claim was challenged by James Stuart, Roman Catholic son of James II, who landed in Scotland in 1715, following a rising of Scottish clans on his behalf; this was unsuccessful and he soon withdrew. George I spoke German and French and a little English; he regularly visited Hanover to fulfill his duties there.  Family tensions (George imprisoned his wife in 1694) and political intrigue (opposition gathered around the Prince of Wales) led to differences and intense dislike between George and his son, George. In 1719 and 1720, and during most of the King's absences in Hanover, power was delegated to a Regency Council and not the Prince of Wales.

1715-1774

(Bourbon dynasty) France, king Louis XV of the rules France

1721-1724

Pope "Innocent" XIII, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

Pope Benedict XIII, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1725-1727

(The Romanovs), Martha Skavronksa, (Ekaterina or Catherine I) Tsarina of all the Russias.

1727

(Adherents) Moravian Church was established

1727-1730

(The Romanovs), Peter II, (or Pyotor II) Tsar of all the Russias.

1727-1746

Charles Radclyffe, Grand Master of Prieure de Sion

1727-1760

(The Hanoverians) British Monarchy, George II (1727-1760) at the age of 60, was the last British sovereign to fight alongside his soldiers, at the Battle of Dettingen in 1743 in Germany, against the French. Like his father, for much of his reign George's political options were limited by the strength of the Jacobite cause (James Stuart the Old Pretender, and then his son, Charles Edward Stuart), with which many of the Tories were linked. George's reign was threatened in 1745 when Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender, landed in Scotland. After some initial success (which led to the national anthem in the current form becoming popular among the Hanoverian loyalist), Charles was defeated at the Battle of Culloden in April, 1746 and the Jacobite threat was over. The foundations of the industrial revolution were laid during George's reign, with new levels of production in industries such as coal and shipbuilding and also in agriculture, together with a rapid rise in population.

1730-1740

(The Romanovs), Anna, Tsarina of all the Russias.

1730-1740

Pope Clement XII, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1733-1737

Karl Alexander (24 May 1684-12 March 1737) was a Duke of Württemberg from 1698 until his death. Born in Stuttgart, he was the eldest son of Friedrich Karl, Duke of Wurttenberg-Winnental and Eleanore Juliane, Princess of Brandenburg-Ansbach.

He succeeded his father as Duke of Württemberg-Winnental in 1698, and inherited the sovereign Dutchy of Wurttemberg, centered on Stuttgart, from his cousin, Eberhard Ludwig, in 1733, ruling until his death in 1737. He employed as his financier Joseph Oppenheimer, "Juden Suss", executed in 1738.

As a successful army-commander in service of the Holy Roman Emperor, he had converted to Catholism in 1712. He was militarily successful under Price Eugen of Savoy in the Spanish War of Succession as well as in the war against the Turks. In 1719 he was appointed imperial governor of Belgrade. As Duke of Württemberg he moved the court back from Ludwigsburg to Stuttgatrt. He married Maria Augusta Anna of Thurn and Taxis (11 August 1706 – 1 February 1756) and was succeeded by his nine-year-old son, Karl-Eugen.

Joseph Süß Oppenheimer (1698 Heidelberg - 1738 Stuttgart) was a Jewish banker and financial planner for Duke Karl Alexander. He was a nephew and stepson of the banker Samuel Oppenheimer, diplomat and Shtadlan to Kaiser Leopold of Austria. Throughout his career, Oppenheimer made scores of powerful enemies, some of whom conspired to bring about his arrest and execution after Karl Alexander's death.

As a financial advisor for Duke Karl Alexander, he also gained a prominent position as a court Jew and held the reins of the finances in his duchy. He established a duchy monopoly on the trade of salt, leather, tobacco and liquor and founded a bank and porcelain factory. In the process, he gained a number of jealous enemies who, among other things, claimed that he was involved with local gambling houses.

When his protector Karl Alexander died, Oppenheimer was arrested and accused of various things, including farus, embezzlement, treason, lecherous relations with the court ladies, accepting bribes and trying to re-establish Cathgolism. The Jewish community tried unsuccessfully to ransom him. Joseph Süß Oppenheimer was led to the gallows on February 4, 1738, and given a final chance to convert to Christianity, which he refused to do. Thereafter, he was hanged and died on Kiddush Hashem, with his last words being the Shema Yisrael.

1735

Carolus Linnaeus established the modern science of taxonomy, or the classification of species.

1740-1741

(The Romanovs), Ivan VI, Tsar of all the Russias.

1740-1758

Pope Benedict XIV, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1741-1762

The Romanovs, Elizabeth Petrovna, (or Elsaveta), Tsarina of all the Russias.

1743- 1812

Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1743-1812)was born in Frankfurt-on-the-Main in Germany, the son of Moses Amschel Bauer, a banker and goldsmith. No other name has become more synonymous with the Illuminati than the Rothschilds. It is believed that the Rothschild family used the Illuminati as a means to achieving their goal of world-wide financial dominance. Their name was derived from the 'red shield' ('rotschildt') that hung over the door of their shop, and had been the emblem of revolutionary Jews in Eastern Europe. A few years after his father's death, he worked as a clerk in a Hanover bank, which was owned by the Oppenheimers. He became a junior partner, and soon left to take over the business started by his father in 1750. He bought and sold rare coins, and later succeeded in buying out several other coin dealers.

In 1769, he became a court agent for Prince William IX of Hesse-Kassel, who was the grandson of George II of England, a cousin to George III, a nephew of the King of Denmark, and a brother-in-law to the King of Sweden. Soon Rothschild became the middleman for big Frankfurt bankers like the Bethmann Brothers, and Rueppell & Harnier. After expanding his business to antiques, wineries, and the importing of manufactured materials from England, the Rothschild family began to amass a sizable fortune. Prince William inherited his father's fortune upon his death in 1785, which was the largest private fortune in Europe. Some of this money had come from Great Britain paying for the use of 16,800 Hessian soldiers to stop the revolution in America, because the money was never given to the troops. In 1804, the Rothschilds secretly made loans to the Denmark government, on behalf of Prince William.

In June, 1806, when Napoleon's troops pushed their way into Germany, Prince William fled to Denmark, leaving his money with Mayer Rothschild. History tells us that Rothschild secretly buried William's ledgers, which revealed the full extent of his wealth, a list of debtors and the interest required from them, and 600,000 pounds ($3,000,000), to keep Napoleon from confiscating it. Buderus von Carlhausen (Carl Buderus), the Treasury official who handled William's finances, was given 'power of attorney,' and he in turn made Rothschild his chief banker, responsible for collecting the interest on the royal loans. Napoleon announced that all debts being paid to Prince William, were to go to the French Treasury, and offered a 25% commission on any debts that he would collect. Rothschild refused.

Mayer Rothschild had established banks in England, France, and Germany. His sons, who were made Barons of the Austrian Empire, were set up to continue and expand his banking empire. Amschel Mayer Rothschild (1773-1855, who in 1838 said: "Permit me to issue and control the money of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws.") was in charge of the bank in Frankfurt, Germany, which was known as M. A. Rothschild and Sons (which closed in 1901, after the deaths of Mayer Karl and his brother, Wilhelm Karl, the sons of Karl Mayer Rothschild). Salomon Mayer Rothschild (1774-1855) was the head of the bank in Vienna, Austria, known as S. M. Rothschild and Sons (which was closed during World War II after the Nazi occupation). Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777-1836, who once said: "I care not what puppet is placed upon the throne of England to rule the Empire on which the sun never sets. The man who controls Britain's money supply controls the British Empire, and I control the British money supply.") was the head of the bank in London, England, which was known as N. M. Rothschild and Sons (and has occupied the same premises since 1809, at 2 New Court, St. Swithin's Lane in London, near the Bank of England and Stock Exchange). Karl Mayer Rothschild (1788-1868) was the head of the bank in Naples, Italy (closed in 1861). James Mayer Rothschild (1792-1868) was in charge of the bank in Paris, France, which was known as Messieurs de Rothschild Freres (whose name was changed to La Banque Rothschild in 1967).

This was the beginning of the House of Rothschild, which controlled a fortune estimated to be well over $300,000,000. Soon the Rothschilds spanned Europe with railroads, invested in coal and ironworks, financed England's purchase of the Suez Canal, paid for oil exploration in Russia and the Sahara Desert, financed the czars of Russia, supported Cecil Rhodes' diamond operations, aided France in creating an empire in Africa, financed the Hapsburg monarchs, and saved the Vatican from bankruptcy. In this country, through their American and European agents, they helped finance Rockefeller's Standard Oil, Carnegie Steel, and Harriman's Railroad. Werner Sombart, in his book The Jews and Modern Capitalism, said that from 1820 on, it was the "age of the Rothschild" and concluded that there was "only one power in Europe, and that is Rothschild." In 1913, the family fortune was estimated to be over two billion dollars.

After Mayer Rothschild died on September 19, 1812, his will spelled out specific guidelines that were to be maintained by his descendants:

1) All important posts were to be held by only family members, and only male members were to be involved on the business end. The oldest son of the oldest son was to be the head of the family, unless otherwise agreed upon by the rest of the family, as was the case in 1812, when Nathan was appointed as the patriarch.

2) The family was to intermarry with their own first and second cousins, so their fortune could be kept in the family, and to maintain the appearance of a united financial empire. For example, his son James (Jacob) Mayer married the daughter of another son, Salomon Mayer. This rule became less important in later generations as they refocused family goals and married into other fortunes.

3) Rothschild ordered that there was never to be "any public inventory made by the courts, or otherwise, of my estate ... Also I forbid any legal action and any publication of the value of the inheritance."

1746-1780

Charles de Lorraine, Grand Master of Prieure de Sion

1752

RenÆ Antoine Ferchauld de RÆaumur, a French physicist, proved that digestion is a chemical, as opposed to a mechanical, operation.

1758-1769

Pope Clement XIII, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1760-1820

(The Hanoverians) British Monarchy, George III (1760-1820) was determined to appoint his own ministers and reassert some of the Monarch's independence lost under the first two Georges. However, George's accession in 1760 marked a significant change in Royal finances; it was agreed that the whole cost of the Civil List should be provided by Parliament in return for the surrender of hereditary revenues by the king for the duration of his reign. His reign saw the loss of the American colonies in 1783. After an uprising in Ireland in 1798, the Act of Union of 1801 linked Ireland and England and dissolved the Irish Parliament; instead Irish representatives went to the Westminster Parliament. George was a conscientious King and a devoted father and husband. In 1788 he became mentally deranged, although this may have been due to porphyria, a hereditary physical disorder. George recovered by 1789, but then relapsed, becoming permanently deranged in 1810

1762

1762-1796

(The Romanovs), Sophia Augusta (Ekaterina/Catherine II or Catherine the Great), Tsarina of all the Russias. In 1783 Khanate of Crimea is annexed.

1763

GREAT BRITAIN emerges as the SEVENTH WORLD POWER.

1765

Rothschilds; Meyer Aemschel Rothschild establishes his business in Frankfurt, Germany

1769-1775

Pope Clement XIV, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

English chemist named Joseph Priestly discovered oxygen, and that it can be produced by plants.

1772

1772 - The first traveler’s cheques, which can be used in 90 European cities, go on sale in London.

1773

Otto Friderich MÆller made some of the first observations and classifications of bacteria.

1774-1793

(Bourbon dynasty) France, king Louis XVI rules France. After his death there is a third interregnum, (a period without a king), this is between the years of 1793-1814, Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August 15, 1769, in Ajaccio, Corsica. He was the second of eight children of Carlo (Charles) and Letizia Buonaparte, both were Corsican-Italian gentry. No Buonaparte had ever been a professional soldier. Carlo was a lawyer who had fought for Corsican independence, but after the French occupied the island in 1768, he served as a prosecutor and judge and entered the French aristocracy as a count. Through his father's influence, Napoleon was educated at the expense of King Louis XVI, at Brienne and the Ecole Militaire, in Paris. Napoleon graduated in 1785, at the age of 16, and joined the artillery as a second lieutenant.

1775

American colonies of Britain, revolt, leading to the establishment of the United States of America. [Future ally of Britian the SEVENTH WORLD POWER]

1775-1800

Pope Pius VI, rules the Catholic church in Rome.

1776

Benjamin Franklyn, meets with French Foreign Minister Varennes, initiating a 2-1/2 year campaign to secure French support for the American Independence movement.

1778

(Bourbon dynasty) France, declares war on Britain, and sends an army to North America in support of the American Independence movement.

1779

U.S.A. and France enter a treaty in support of American independence from Britain. Benjamin Franklyn meets with King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette, to confirm the French- American treaty.

American and British Intelligence have documented evidence that the House of Rothschild, and other International Bankers, have financed both sides of every war, since the American Revolution. Financier Haym Salomon, who supported the patriots during the American Revolution, then later made loans to James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and James Monroe, was a Rothschild agent. As explained earlier, during the Napoleonic Wars, one branch of the family funded Napoleon, while another financed Great Britain, Germany, and other nations. Their boldest maneuver came prior to the Civil War.

1780

Antoine Laurent Lavoisier discovered the carbon dioxide exchange cycle between plants and animals. He also discovered nitrogen in the air.

1780-1801

Maximilian de Lorraine, Grand Master of Prieure de Sion

1781

Astronomer William Herschel discovered Uranus

1787

(Adherents) African Methodist Episcopal Church

1788

First edition of The Times of London, previously The Daily Universal Register, is published.

1789

(Adherents) Episcopal Church formally organized apart from the English Church

1789

(Bourbon dynasty) The 1st French Revolution, Parisian mob storms Bastille Castle, then functioning as a royal prison, hoping to find arms. The mob kills its governor, the Marquis de Launey, and releases its seven prisoners. Nobles and clergy in the National Assembly, out of fear, renounce their privileges, thus ending feudalism in France. ~ See Encarta '98.

1789-1797

(Republic of the USA) George Washington, 1st president of the United States and one of the most important leaders in United States history. His role in gaining independence for the American colonies and later unifying them under the new U.S. federal government cannot be overestimated. Laboring under great difficulties, he created the Continental Army, which fought and won the American Revolution (1775-1783), out of what was little more than an armed mob. After an eight-year struggle, his design for victory brought final defeat to the British at Yorktown, Virginia, and forced Great Britain to grant independence to its richest overseas possession. With victory won, Washington was the most revered man in the United States. A lesser person might have used this power to establish a military dictatorship or to become king. Washington sternly suppressed all such attempts on his behalf by his officers and continued to obey a weak and divided Continental Congress. However, he never ceased to work for a union of the states.

1789-1807

Ottoman Empire, Selim III attempted to reform the empire and its army, he failed and was overthrown.

1791-1796

(Bourbon dynasty) The 1st French Revolution, After the revolution began, Napoleon Bonaparte became a lieutenant Colonel in the Corsican National Guard. In 1793, however, Corsica declared independence, and Bonaparte, a French patriot and a Republican, fled to France with his family. He was assigned, as a captain, to an army besieging Toulon, a naval base that. aided by a British fleet, was in revolt against the republic. Replacing a wounded artillary general, he seized ground where his guns could drive the British fleet from the harbor, and Toulon fell. As a result Bonaparte was promoted to brigadier general at the age of 24. In 1795 he saved the revolutionary government by dispersing an insurgent mob in Paris. In 1796 he married Josephine de Beauhamais, the widow of an aristocrat guillotined in the Revolution and the mother of two children. Also in 1796, Bonaparte was made commander of the French army in Italy. He defeated four Austrian generals in succession, each with superior numbers, and forced Austria

1793

(Bourbon dynasty) The French Revolution, King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette are beheaded by the guillotine in Paris in 1793.

1793

England as a world power [being a seafaring and colonial power], certain Englishmen took the Bible with them on their journeys. This laid the groundwork for an extended Bible campaign. Missionary William Carey sailed to India, he eventually translated the entire Bible or parts of it into 35 Indian languages (ability to read is essential to scientific development).

1796-1801

(The Romanovs), Paul I, (or Pavel) Tsar of all the Russias.

1796-1801

(Republic of the USA) John Adams, 2nd president of the United States, and one of the great figures in American history. In the election year of 1796, Washington announced that he would not seek a third term. Thomas Jefferson was prevailed upon to accept the Republican nomination for president. John Adams, nominated by the Federalist, polled three more electoral votes than Jefferson. According to the system of election then prevailing, Adams became president of the United States and Jefferson became vice president. In the years before the American Revolution (1775-1783) Adams joined with other patriots in resisting British rule. When the revolution began, Adams was among the first to propose American independence. He served on the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence and then helped persuade the Second Continental Congress to adopt the declaration. Adams served the patriot cause in Congress and in diplomatic missions abroad.

1797-1925

Iran,Qajar dynasty of Shah's.

1798-1804

In 1798, (French Republic) to strike at British trade with the east Napoleon Bonaparte led an expedition to Turkish-ruled Egypt, which he conquered. His fleet, however, was destroyed by the British admiral Horatio Nelson (in the Battle of Trafalgar in which admiral Nelson was mortally wounded), leaving Bonaparte stranded in Egypt. In the coup d'etat of November 9-10, 1799 Napoleon Bonaparte and his colleagues seized power and established a new regime -- the Consulate. Under its constitution, Napoleon Bonaparte, as first consul, had almost dictatorial powers. The constitution was revised in 1802 to make Bonaparte consul for life and in 1804 to create him emperor. Each of these changes received the overwhelming assent of the electorate.

1798

Rothschilds; Nathan M Rothschild opens business in Manchester, UK