Timeline of Historical Events and Art

Gothic period (1150-1500)


Historical Events and Intellectual Life Art and Architecture
1150-1200
1170 Assassination of Thomas á Becket in Canterbury cathedral 1137-40 St. Denis, west front and choir
1173 Canonisation of St. Thomas á Becket c. 1150 Chartres cathedral, west portals
1180 Accession of Philip Augustus as King of France 1175 Canterbury cathedral rebuilt by William of Sens
1182 Birth of St. Francis of Assisi 1180-1212 Soissons cathedral
1182 Capture of Jerusalem by Saladdin    
1200-1250
c. 1200 University of Paris founded 1211-41 Rheims cathedral, choir and transepts
1202-04 Fourth Crusade c. 1220 Chartres, Miracles of the Virgin window
1204 Capture and Sack of Constantinople by the crusaders, founding of the Latin empire of Constantinople c. 1220 Canterbury cathedral, Trinity chapel
1209 Foundation of Franciscan order by St. Francis of Assisi 1220-30 Amiens cathedral, west front and nave
c. 1214 Birth of Roger Bacon, Franciscan monk and scientist, in England c. 1220-30 Bible Moralisée
1215 King John of England forced to sign Magna Carta, codifying individual, social, and commercial reforms 1228-53 San Francesco, Assisi
1220 Election of Frederick II as Holy Roman Emperor. Relations with the papacy deteriorate throughout his reign c. 1230 Rheims, Virgin of the Annunciation
c. 1220 Oxford University founded c. 1230-33 Rheims, Visitation group
1223 Death of Philip Augustus c. 1230-40 William de Brailes LastJudgment
1225 Birth of St. Thomas Aquinas, pre-eminent Catholic theologian of the Gothic period 1230-50 Wells cathedral, sculpture on the west front
1225-35 Roman de la Rose (part I) written by Guillaume de Lorris (d. c. 1235) c. 1235 Amiens cathedral, triforium and clerestorey
1226 Death of St. Francis of Assisi 1235-40 The Bamberg Rider
    1241-48 Sainte Chapelle, Paris
    c. 1245-55 Rheims, Angel of the Annunciation
    c. 1250 Rathaus, Lübeck
1250-1300
1250 Death of Frederick II c. 1260 Saint Louis Psalter
c. 1268 The Livre des metiers (regulations of the city's guilds) published in Paris by Etienne Boileau c. 1267 Birth of Giotto di Bondone
1271-95 Marco Polo journeys to China 1278 Duccio di Buoninsegna in Siena
1274 Death of St. Thomas Aquinas 1285 Duccio: Rucellai Madonna
1275-80 Roman de la Rose (part II) written by Jean de Meung or Clopinel (c. 1240-c. 1305) 1288-1309 Palazzo Publicco, Siena
c. 1292 Death of Roger Bacon 1290-93 William de Torel: tomb of Eleanor de Castile
    1294 Building begun of Santa Croce, Florence
1300-1350
c.1300 Birth of St Bridget of Sweden 1305-10 Giotto di Bondone: frescoes in the Arena Chapel, Padua
1303 Pope Boniface VIII imprisoned 1306-45 Pietro Lorenzetti active in Siena
1304 Birth of Petrarch 1308-11 Duccio di Buoninsegna: Maestà
1307 Dante begins the Divine Comedy 1317 Life of St. Denis (MS)
1309 Papacy forced to leave Rome, which is in the hands of the Holy Roman Emperors. Establishes papal court at Avignon in southern France 1330 Abbey church of St Peter, Gloucester, begun
1314 First public clock (in Italy) 1330-34 Taddeo Gaddi: Baroncelli chapel, Santa Croce, Florence
1328 Death of Charles IV of France. Edward III of England asserts dynastic claim to throne of France, and precipitates Hundred Years' War (1330-1453) 1334-42 Papal palace, Avignon
1348-49 Epidemic in Europe of bubonic plague (the Black Death) 1338-40 Ambrogio Lorenzetti at work on the frescoes in the Palazzo Publicco, Siena
1349 Death of William of Ockham before 1339 Psalter of Robert de Lisle
    1343 Wall-paintings in the Chambre du Cerf, Avignon
    1346-52 Tommaso da Modena: chapter hall of S. Niccolo, Treviso
1350-1400
1356 English defeat the French at the Battle of Poitiers c. 1365 Master Theodoric: murals in the chapel of the Holy Cross, Karlstein castle
1364 Accession of Charles V as King of France c. 1373 Designs for the Apocalypse tapestries commissioned from Jean de Bondol, painter to the King, by Louis I of Anjou
1373 Death of St Bridget of Sweden 1385 Claus Sluter enters the service of the Dukes of Burgundy
1374 Death of Petrarch 1386 Birth of Donatello (Donato di Nicolo)
1377 Papal court returns to Rome 1399 Tower of Strasbourg cathedral begun
1377 Death of Edward III, accession of Richard II, King of England    
1380 Death of Charles V, King of France    
1399 Death of Richard II, King of England    
1400-1450
1400 Death of Geoffrey Chaucer, author of The Canterbury Tales c. 1400 Revelations of St. Bridget of Sweden
1403 Christine de Pisan writes the Livre de la Mutation de Fortune c. 1402 Tomb of Cardinal de la Grange
1415 The religious reformer Jan Hus is burned at the stake as a heretic in Konstanz on the Swiss border c. 1410 Salle de Fortune manuscript (Paris)
1415 English defeat French at the Battle of Agincourt c. 1410 Master of the Middle Rhineland Virgin in a Garden
1416 Death of Jean, Duc de Berry c. 1415 Trés Riches Heures of the Duc de Berry by the Limbourg brothers
1417 Great papal Schism ended by election of Martin V as Pope c. 1420 Meister Francke Man of Sorrows
1431 Joan of Arc burnt at the stake by English forces in France 1434 Jan van Eyck paints The Arnolfini Marriage
1432 The Council of Basel discusses church reform c. 1443 Work begun on the house of Jacques Coeur, Bruges
1435 Leon Battista Alberti writes Della Pittura 1445 Werk begun on the choir of St. Lawrence, Nuremberg
1446-50 Gutenberg invents movable type and printing press    
1450-1500
1451 Downfall of Jacques Coeur 1471 Birth of Albrecht Durer
1453 Fall of Constantinople to the Turks 1489 Bendict Ried begins work on Prague castle

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