1353
Giovanni Boccaccio writes the Decameron, inventing the Italian novella.

1395
Earliest known English poet, Geoffrey Chaucer, publishes Canterbury Tales.

c.1400
Renaissance begins in northern Italy; all of Europe is now Christian.

1414
The Medici family of bankers becomes the most powerful family in Florence, Italy, ruling it for several generations.

1430
Modern English develops from Middle English.

1431
After leading French troops against the English army in France during the Hundred Years' War (1337–1453), Joan of Arc (1412–1431) is captured and burned at the stake for heresy and witchcraft.

1450
Under the rule of the Medici family, patrons of some of the most illustrious artists and architects, Florence becomes the artistic center of the Renaissance.

1453
The Turks conquer Constantinople, ending the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire; end of the Hundred Years' War between England and France.

1454
German goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg invents the printing press with movable type; the Gutenberg Bible is published.

1466
Johann Mentel prints the...