15th Century Timeline: 1401 to 1450

15th Century Timeline: 1401 to 1450

1406 The geography of Ptolemy, an ancient Greek, is introduced in Europe. This holds that the earth is the center of the universe and that all heavenly bodies revolve around it in perfect circles.

1407 London has a new institution – a place for the insane called Bethlehem hospital

1409 Prelates meet at Pisa to name a pope to replace the two claiming to be pope. The two existing popes refuse to step aside.

1410 A Germanic force, the Teutonic Knights, are trying to gain control of Poland. The knights are allied with the kings of Bohemia and Hungary. Their army has volunteer "crusaders" and numbers around 27,000. An army of 39,000 fighting for the Polish king, Wladyslaw Jagiello, includes Lithuanians, Ruthenians and Tatars in addition to Poles, and they defeat the Germans. The Teutonic Knights decline in power and Eastern Europe does not become a German colony.

1413 In England, followers of John Wyclif, dead since 1384, hold that the Bible is the only rule of faith. They appeal to the Catholic clergy to return to the simple life of the early Church. They oppose war, the doctrine of transubstantiation, confession, and images in worship. They march on London, and Henry V, fearing social disorder, suppresses the movement.

1415 John Hus, a Czech and former dean of philosophy at the University of Prague, travels to the Council of Constance to propose his reforms for the Church. Upon his arrival he is tried for heresy and burned at the stake.

1415 Prince Henry of Portugal, with a fleet of 200 ships and 20,000 men, captures the port of Ceuta from the Moors.

1416 Dutch fishermen are using drift nets.

1419 Lately the Portuguese have been building latine-rigged ships, which can tack into the wind. They are are exploring waters off the coast of northern Africa, and they lay claim to the island of Madiera.

1420 The Portuguese are fighting inhabitants of the Canary Islands, south of Madiera.

1421 In Austria, Jews are imprisoned and expelled.

1421 In Florence, the first patent is granted – for a barge with hoists, used for hauling marble.

1428 Pope Martin V orders John Wyclif's bones exhumed and burned.

1428 King Alfonso V, king of Naples and Sicily, orders Jews in Sicily to convert to Catholicism.

1429 The Hundred Years' War is still on, and, in May, Joan of Arc defeats the English at Orleans. In August she enters Paris in triumph.

1431 Some Englishmen see Joan of Arc as truly a witch and as an agent of the devil – a common response to adversity in this age. Joan is captured. The English turn her over to ecclesiastic authorities -- the Inquisition – and at the French town of Rouen, then under English rule, Joan is burned at the stake.

1434 In this pre-industrial age the biggest business is banking, and in the Tuscan city of Florence a banking family, the Medici, begins to dominate the city politically.

1434 Portuguese start sailing past Cape Bojador, beyond which had been considered a "Sea of Darkness" from which no European had returned.

1435 Amid rebellion and turmoil, Sweden's parliament meets for the first time, to be dominated by noble families and the body that maintains Swedish national identity.

1439 Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church leaders agree to reunify these two branches of Christianity. The Russians do not agree and the Russian Orthodox Church is to remain independent of the Vatican in Rome.

1441 In one of their caravels, the Portuguese transport around 200 slaves from Africa to Portugal.

1448 On a small island known as Arguin (Arguim), rougly 700 kilometers south of Cape Bojador, the Portuguese build a castle and establish the first European trading post in Africa.

1448 The Russian Orthodox Church becomes independent of the Patriarch of Constantinople. 

Sources:
Compilation from various web sources including Wikipedia.