The Second Millenium

[Vince53]

Okay, we've had three bad years in a row. Now it's time for 1557 to give it a try.

China gives Macau, on its southeastern tip, to Portugal. This helps Portugal and the Chinese work together against piracy. In 1999, Portugal gives it back.

The Mapuche Indians of South America had been fighting the Spanish for a few decades. This year, Spain beats them in a surprise attack, but the Mapuche never give up. Unconquered for two centuries, they will eventually force Spain to accept Chilean independence.

After decades of chaos and civil war, Ogimachi begins his 29 year reign as Emperor of Japan. One of Japan's most revered rulers, he painfuly ended the wars, financial chaos, and political disunity of the nation.

Spain and England defeat France, but then Spain goes bankrupt.

Three famous math signs (+ - =) are first used in a book.

A popular book falsely describes the Brazilian Indians as cannibals.

 

[Vince53]

We've reached 1558.

France starts the year off well, seizing the major seaport of Calais. England now holds no territory in France.

Mary, Queen of Scots, marries the heir to the French throne. Their goal is to unite Scotland and France into one Catholic kingdom.

Bloody Mary dies. Her half-sister, Queen Elizabeth, takes the Throne. Her 44 year reign is a masterpiece of great government. She quickly surrounds herself with competent advisors, and re-establishes the Protestant Church of England. Over time, she would move cautiously between warring Europeans, expand the British Empire, end persecution of Catholics, survive several Catholic plots after the Pope "freed" English Catholics from obeying her, build a great navy, and keep finances in order.

 

[Vince53]

It's 1559!

Pius IV begins his five year reign as Pope. He immediately pardons the people who had rioted against the former Pope, arrests the former Pope's nephews, and executes two of them.

Pius is a moderate, cautious, and intelligent diplomat. He re-opens the Council of Trent for its third (and last) major session. He gets most of what he wants from the Council, despite strong political opposition. He backs down to political rulers when he has to, easily crushes a minor revolt, and cleans up various Church abuses.

He was criticized for reigning in expenses and raising taxes when finances were tight, but he left the Catholic Church in good financial shape. One of his greatest achievements was promoting his nephew, Charles Borromeo, to a cardinal. Charles would later become one of the greatest of the Catholic saints.


Bloody Mary died last year, leaving the King of Spain a widower. So this year he marries a fourteen year old member of France's royal family. He is a good husband, though, even giving up his mistress for her.


Menas begins his difficult four year reign as King of Ethiopia. He has to battle Moslems, Portuguese, and rebels, but he wins every battle before dying of sickness caught on the battlefield.


Spain founds St. Augustine, Florida, but a massive hurricane soon destroys most of the colony.



England begins a 177 year long witch hunt, eventually executing almost 1,000 people.

 

[Vince53]

1560 is a very bad year for Mary, Queen of Scots, who is also Queen of France.

France executes over 1,000 people, many of them guilty, for conspiring to assassinate the King and Queen (Mary, Queen of Scots).

A peace treaty ends the Auld Alliance between Scotland and France and brings peace to England and Scotland. The Scots quicly overthrow the Catholic Church and turn Protestant.

The king of France dies suddenly. Moving quickly, his mother makes herself Regeant the same day and crowns her ten year old son as King the next day. Suddenly, 17 year old Mary, Queen of Scots, is no longer Queen of France, and her goal of uniting the two nations as one Catholic kingdom ends.

Spain invades Portugal and will occupy it for the next sixty years.

A total solar eclipse is visible in most of Europe.

The Geneva Bible is published. Translated into English by a Godly group of Calvinists, it is better in many ways than the King James Version. But 1/3 of it is commentary, and this turns many Christians against it. However, it is the Bible of John Bunyan, who quotes it heavily in Pilgrim's Progress. And it is the Bible of the Pilgrims who later land at Plymouth Rock in the United States. Notable for its accuracy, its outmoded spelling has been updated in several editions, and it is available free online.

A tulip bulb is brought to the Netherlands, and a massive flower industry begins.

 

[Vince53]

Welcome to 1561.

On April 14, Nuremberg, Germany is the site of a spectacular sky spectacle. Beginning at dawn, the sky is filled with hundreds of shapes, mostly spheres. A large black triangle is the most prominent object. Many of the fast-moving objects appeared to be fighting each other, and more objects constantly appeared. Many of the objects eventually fell to the earth, where they quickly burned. One object made a loud crash when it landed outside the city.

What happened? The best explanation is falling ice crystals were reflecting sunlight, possibly accompanied by meteorites.

in Chile, Mapuche Indians kill three of their tyrannical Spanish rulers and rebel a second time.

Mary, Queen of Scots, returns to Scotland by boat after England refuses to let her pass through. She returns to a kingdom in which John Knox has the Protestant Reformation too strong for her to stop.

Between 1561 and 1670 3,229 alleged witches are executed in southwestern Germany, most by burning.

Menno Simmons, a former Catholic priest who was saved under the influence of the Anabaptists, had gone on to found the Mennonite religion. This year he dies of natural causes.

 

[Vince53]

1562 is a monumental year for a bloodthirsty Catholic nobleman. He murders eighty Huguenots after the French government has granted them freedom of religion. France plunges into a civil war between Catholics and Protestants that kills about 3 million people. Noble families enter the war for personal gain, and foreign nations provide assistance to both sides. When peace is made, the Huguenots gain a lot of rights, but the civil war continues for another few decades.

England begins a trans-Atlantic African slave trade. This upsets Spain, who had held a monopoly on it.

 

[Vince53]

1563

"To Whom the Angel Bows" becomes King of Ethiopia. He will now spend 34 years defeating Moslem invaders and rebellions by his cousins. Ethiopia had included an independent Jewish kingdom that allied with the Moslems against Ethiopia. When the Moslems betrayed them, Ethiopia and Portugal helped the Jews, and then conquered their kingdom, ending it permanently.

The Council of Trent officially closes. It had re-affirmed all major Catholic doctrines while ending the abuse (such as sale of indulgences) of those doctrines.

The potato is introduced to Ireland, eventually becoming a major crop. Originating in South America, there are over 1,000 varieties today. Today, China and India grow about 1/3 of the world's potatoes, and the average person eats 73 pounds of potatoes every year.

 

[Vince53]

It's 1564!

The once mighty Mali Empire of western Africa is conquered by the Songhai Empire.

French settlers abandon their first US colony but build a second one.

A Spanish fleet sets sail from western Mexico to conquer the Philippines and other Pacific islands.

Galileo and Shakespeare are both born this year.

 

[Vince53]

1565 is a good year for Ivan the Terrible. He is already Czar of Russia, but now he institutes a seven year reign of terror under his secret police.

Using diplomacy, three Moslem kingdoms in India trick a Hindu kingdom into peace and then destroy it, leaving no large Hindu kingdom in southern India.

Spain invades the Philippines.

Saint Augustine, Florida is founded. It is the oldest surviving European city in the United States. There are some older Indians settlements in the US.

First written record of the pencil (Get it?)

 

[Vince53]

It's now 1566!

Sixty-two year old Pius VI begins his successful (from a Catholic viewpoint) six year reign as Pope. Having previously worked in the Council of Trent and in standardization of the Catholic Mass (church service), he had rebuked the prevous Pope to his face for appointing the Pope's thirteen year old nephew as a cardinal.

Pius rejected nepotism, appointing only men whom he regarded as competent. He organized "The Holy League" of Catholic nations that smashed the Turkish navy off the western coast of Greece, ending Moslem expansion into Europe. He excommunicated England's famous Queen Elizabeth, excusing English Catholics from obeying her. Elizabeth, who had previously protected Catholics from persecution, then began moderate persecution of them for fear of rebellion. He rigorously brought Church expenses under control, fought corruption, and strictly enforced the decrees of the Council of Trent.


Turkey defeats a major Austrian fort after a month-long siege, but their losses are so heavy that they are not able to advance. This decisive battle may have saved central Europe from Turkish conquest.


Spain begins minting the doubloon, a gold coin that will help set world standards.


The Dutch call it "The Statue Storm." Calvinist mobs, police, and organized citizenry methodically destroy much of the artwork and statues in Catholic churches.

 

[Vince53]

1567 is a really bad year for Mary, Queen of Scots.

She had returned to Scotland as Queen, where she struggled against John Knox as she tried to turn her kingdom Catholic again. Then her husband gets murdered. She remarries three months later, and is captured shortly afterwards by Scottish nobles. And that's only the first half of the year.

"Great Celebration" begins his five year reign as Emperor of China. He quickly re-opens China to foreign trade, fires corrupt officials, strengthens the military, and hires competent leaders even if he disagrees with them. And then he turns his back on the government and devotes himself to seeking pleasure, dying at the age of 35.

Mary, Queen of Scots, is forced to abdicate to her one year old son, James VI. He is the "King James" who authorized the translation of the "Authorized Version" so successfully that it is nicknamed "The King James Bible."

Civil war returns to France, with the Protestants capturing several cities. Meanwhile, Spain (which had inherited the Netherlands through royal marriage) sends a large army to arrest Dutch leaders and keep the nation under control.

William Salesbury had already written the first English-Welsh dictionary. This year he publishes his Welsh New Testament.

 

[Vince53]

May is an interesting month for Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1568.

In May, she escapes from the island castle where she was imprisoned.

Eleven days later, she personally leads a Catholic army against her Protestant half-brother, loses, and flees to England.

When she gets to England, Queen Elisabeth arrests her. All of this happens within 17 days.

It's a better year for French Protestants, who sign a peace treaty with the Catholics after they get a lot of concessions. Five months later, Catholics break the peace, and the war resumes.

The Netherlands open their Eighty Years War for independence with a victory over a Dutch army loyal to Spain. The war actually has a lot of peacetime gaps in it, but the Netherlands eventually wins.

Spain discovers the Solomon Islands. It has 11,000 square miles of a people so fierce that the Spanish couldn't conquer them. In the late 19th century, Britain and Germany divided them. During World War 2, the US freed them from Japan and returned them to Britain, who later gave them independence.

 

[Vince53]

And in 1569...

A massive plague breaks out in Portugal, killing 60,000 in Lisbon alone.

Poland and Lithuania merge into a giant country that includes much of the modern Ukraine. and some of modern Germany. One of the world's most populated nations, it provided peace and stability but failed to get a truly unified government. It collapsed after two and a third centuries, although modern Poland considers itself the survivor.

Catholics in northern England stage an unsuccessful revolt in an attempt to put Mary, Queen of Scots, on the throne.

 

[Vince53]

1570

The Catholic Church declares England’s Queen Elizabeth a heretic, and releases her subjects from obedience to her. Having avoided persecution of the Catholics, Elizabeth begins restricting them out of fear of civil war.


Insane with paranoia, Ivan the Terrible decides that the city of Novgorod is planning to betray him. He invades this loyal Russian city, massacring between 2,500 and 60,000 inhabitants over the next five weeks, destroying the churches and monasteries, destroying 90% of the farmland, and looting as much as possible.

Chile is struck by a major earthquake.

With the assassination of the regent, Scotland is thrown into civil war.

 

[Vince53]

Folks, I apologize. We lost our internet service for five days.

1571

Ivan the Terrible is at war with Crimea, and the Crimeans capture the outskirts of Moscow. Unable to hold the suburbs, they set them on fire. But to the surprise of everyone, the wind changes and drives the flames into Moscow itself. About 45,000 people are killed in one of the worst arsons in history.

Spain effectively conquers the Philippines, making Manila the capital. Small kingdoms, however, still survive on various islands.

Turkey conquers Cyprus and begins moving colonists to the island. But a few months later, a Catholic coalition smashes the Turkish navy so badly that Turkey will never again expand westward in the Mediterranean. Losing 17 ships, the Catholics sink fifty Turkish ships and capture 137 more.

 

[Vince53]

[FONT=&quot]It's 1572, and we're still having internet problems.[/FONT]
Gregory XIII begins his thirteen year reign as Pope. He refines the Julian Calender, mostly to bring the celebration of Easter into accord with the Council of Nicea's decree in 325. Today it is the most universally accepted calendar.[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
Gregory rigidly enforces Papal authority, steadily reducing the power of the Cardinals. He sends two unsuccessful armies to invade Ireland and fails to get Queen Elizabeth overthrown.[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
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August 23--The Catholic Church in France begins a several week long massacre of Huguenot Protestants. About ten thousand are killed, and European Protestants will harden in their anti-Catholic resolve as a result. Drunk with the blood of the saints, Pope Gregory XIII celebrates a Mass in honor of the event, three paintings are added to the walls of the Vatican, and a medal is struck, all honoring the massacre.[FONT=&quot][/FONT]
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Calvinist rebels in the Netherlands capture a major seaport and most of the country, freeing them from Spanish rule. However, the Spanish still hold Amsterdam.


And the Calvinists arrest nineteen Catholic priests and friars, hanging them when they refuse to repudiate Catholicism. The Catholic Church later declared them to be martyrs and saints.


A supernova appears and stays visible for two years, proving that stars do change.


Ivan the Terrible kills 100,000 Turks and Crimeans, losing 5,000 Russians in the battle.
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[Vince53]

Welcome to 1573!

Spanish silver mines in the Philippines replace Portuguese mines as the leading exporters of silver to China.


Poland grants freedom of religion. The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth will have some religious strife, but far less than the rest of Europe.


A series of wars and battles produces a new government in Japan.


A little more than 1/3 of Ethiopia are the "Sons of Men." They are also a large minority in bordering African nations. This year, Ethiopia conquers and absorbs many of them.

 

[Vince53]

It is now 1574

With the death of the King of France, the King of Poland inherits the Throne. Despite doing well in Poland, the new King is plagued by religious wars and civil wars in France. After fifteen difficult years, he is assassinated by a Catholic fanatic.

Spain discovers a small group of islands off the Chilean coast. With 900 inhabitants today, they are part of Chile. But they are famous for the adventures of a marooned sailor who survived there for four years, inspiring the Robinson Crusoe novel.

 

[Vince53]

1575


A drought in Ireland produces disease and plague.


Not trusting each other, Scotland and England each send an army to a truce meeting at the border. Insults start flying, fighting starts, and Scotland wins the last major battle between the two countries. After executing captured English leaders, the Scots release the other English prisoners.


A major earthquake on South America's southwestern coast kills a large number of Indians.


Venice suffers heavy fatalities in an outbreak of the Black Death.

 

[Vince53]

And now that 1576 has arrived...

For the fifth time, French Catholics and Protestants make peace, giving the Protestants freedom of religion. Again. In December, they go to war with each other. Again. The Catholic League had demanded a war, both sides armed themselves, no battles were fought, and the war ended after nine months with the Protestants being restricted.

Tycho Brahe begins building the last great observatory built before the invention of the telescope. As a Catholic, Brahe will insist that the Earth is the center of the universe, but he will not persecute his Protestant pupils, including Copernicus.



You never heard of Martin Frobisher? This English explorer, pirate, and privateer discovers Greenland this year. On his way to Canada to find gold, he ignores Greenland.

The Spanish and Dutch tear into each other as the Netherlands struggles for independence.