The Second Millenium

[Vince53]

Welcome to 1577

The Great Comet of 1577 is clearly seen all over Europe. Tycho Brahe, the great Danish astronomer, is able to prove that comets travel above Earth’s atmosphere. He does this by recording the position of the comet relative to the moon, and comparing this to its location as seen from other parts of Europe. He is thus able to prove that the comet was about three times farther away than the moon. This convinced the scientific community that comets are orbiting objects in space.

Buddhists complete the Wanshou Temple in China. Still in use, it is a Buddhist Temple and government museum.


With unpaid Spanish soldiers pillaging the Netherlands, Dutch Catholics form a government. They soon let the Protestants join, and it's official--the Netherlands is in a war for independence from Spain.


Francis Drake was a privateer (licensed pirate) sent by England with five ships to attack Spanish possessions in the Pacific. He doesn't mean to, but he will sail around the world.

 

[Vince53]

It's not too late for 1578.

English explorers ship tons of pyrite (fool's gold) from Canada to England, thinking that it is gold.

The Battle of Three Kings is a Portuguese disaster. With the help of Turkey, the Sultan of Morocco had been overthrown. But he returns with an army, aided by a Portuguese army. But the two allies suffer a major defeat, the King of Portugal is killed in the battle, and Portugal goes into a secession crisis that will result in their conquest by Spain.

Sweden defeats Russia, seizing a northern city; and Ethiopia defeats a rebel army.

The Catacombs in Rome are rediscovered.

 

[Vince53]

1579

The Catholic Church incites a bloody and widespread rebellion in Ireland against English rule (which the Church had virtually forced on the Irish). The rebellion is defeated after four years.


Spain unites the southern Netherlands into one nation under Spanish rule, while the northern Netherlands unites into an independent nation. However, the war for independence continues in both parts of the Netherlands.


The Netherlands grants freedom or religion to individuals, but allows the government to regulate church services. Catholicism is quickly banned, and only members of the Dutch reformed Church could hold office.


English explorer Francis Drake lands in California and claims it for England. Later, England will use this to justify their claim that North America belongs to them, from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

 

[Vince53]

It doesn't happen often, but an earthquake hits the Dover Straits between England and France. With only 2 people killed, the quake causes damage in both countries and is even felt in Scotland.

The King of Spain becomes King of Portugal. Technically, he keeps Portugal independent, but in 1640 the Portuguese are able to regain true independence.

England signs a trade treaty with the Ottoman Empire.

The Jewish Council of Four Lands is formed in Poland. For almost two centuries it serves as a representative and even governmental body of Polish Jews.

 

[Vince53]

1581 is a rough year for Catholics.

England imposes heavy fines on anyone practicing Catholicism.

Edmund Campion was a Catholic priest and scholar who had helped win some freedom for English Catholics. While in hiding, he had published "Ten Reasons," a successful tract against the validity of the Anglican Church. Eventually captured, he refused to recant under torture, even turning down an offer to be made Archbishop of Canterbury. He was executed for treason and was later declared a Catholic saint.


Under the leadership of William of Orange, the Netherlands frees its northern provinces from Spain and forms the Dutch Republic. The King of Spain had inherited the Netherlands and the Dutch wanted to be free. The Netherlands immediately bans the public practice of Catholicism.

It's also a rough year for Russia, as Poland and Sweden launch separate invasions.



Morocco, on Africa's northwest coast, begins expanding into the Sahara and beyond. In the next ten years, they will conquer Tripoli to the east of them, and the Songhai Empire to the south of them.

 

[Vince53]

1582 is better year for Catholics than the last one.

The first Japanese ambassadors to Europe arrive in Portugal. Sent by a Catholic Japanese lord, they spend eight years visiting European leaders, including the Pope, and bring back useful information to their Emperor.

Jesuit missionaries arrive in China.


Pope Gregory implements the Gregorian Calendar. Similar to the Julian Calendar that it replaced, its major purpose was to keep Easter from drifting farther away from the Spring Equinox. It modified the length of the year, adjusted lunar cycles, and standardized leap years. Today it is the most widely-used calendar.

The Catholic Church finishes the The Douay–Rheims Bible New Testament. Translated from the Latin but consulting the original Greek, it is so accurate that even the King James translators will later consult it. Surprisingly, conservative fundamentalists still like it (although the spelling and some words have been modernized).

And speaking of King James, he is kidnapped by the Presbyterians, who rule Scotland through regents.

America's beloved "Pilgrims" leave England for the Netherlands, seeking religious freedom.

In history's first large ocean battle, Spain defeats a joint English, French, Dutch, and Portuguese rebel fleet. Spain then conquers the Azores Islands, which the Portuguese rebels had held.

 

[Vince53]

Well, let's see; it's 1583.

The Catholics of Cologne, Germany, break into civil war over who will be their archbishop. The archbishop was also a civil ruler of the Cologne area. The short-lived civl war devastates the entire Cologne area.

The Spanish navy wins a second victory over the English, French, and Portuguese rebel navies.

In India, Hindus rebel against their Portuguese conquerors, massacring about twenty Catholics. The Portuguese respond by massacring all the local leaders. Modern India regards this as their first attempt at independence from Europeans. Most of India was not under European control at the time.

Newfoundland is a large island off Canada's northeast coast. If a ship sails from Europe, it must stay far enough south to avoid Arctic ice, and the shortest possible route will take it to Newfoundland. This year, England claims Newfoundland, and the British Empire begins.

An amusement park known as "The Hill" opens in Denmark. Today it is the oldest amusement park in the world.

 

[Ariston]

wow. that is awesome.

 

[Vince53]

Thank you, Ariston. And now on to 1584!

The Bible is translated into Icelandic. Því að af náð sem þú ert hólpnir orðnir fyrir trú


After 51 years as Czar, Ivan the Terrible dies. His son, Feodor the Bellringer takes over. Simple-minded and in poor health, he does not resist having ministers appointed by his father rule Russia for him.


Spain has a good year in the Netherlands. William of Orange is assassinated, and the Spanish retake Ghent from the Protestants.

 

[Vince53]

It's time for 1585!

Sixtus V begins his five year reign as Pope. Because he was an enemy of the previous Pope, he had lived in enforced retirement as a Cardinal, managing his vast estate.
As Pope, he rapidly restored law and order in the Papal territories, bringing thousands of outlaws to justice. Short of money, he sold Church offices and raised taxes, putting the Papacy in a strong financial position while harming the economy. He rapidly built new water transport systems and roads, cleared away ruins, and repaired churches.
He tightened Church laws against abortion, birth control, and adultery.
His one great failure was his inability to manipulate international politics.
Although disliked by his subjects, he is regarded as one of the most successful of all the Popes.

Spain and England begin nineteen years of intermittent warfare. England does well at first, but when both sides finally get bogged down, they agree to stop.

In France, the Catholics and Protestants got to war. Again. This time, the Catholic League was to blame, forcing France to break its peace treaty with the Protestants.

As the Spanish continue to advance in the Netherlands, England officially enters the war, declaring the Netherlands to be under their protection.

In south-central Africa, the Kingdom of Luba is founded. Ruling well through a king and an elected council, Luba survives for three centuries before splitting in two and being conquered by Belgium.

 

[Vince53]

It's 1586. Really.

The imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots, is back in the news. She recognizes Spain's Philip II (who is technically the King of the Netherlands as well) as her heir. Thus, she disowns her son King James. If Philip can get his unwilling "empire" together, he will be King of Spain, England, Scotland, France, Portugal, the Netherlands, Mexico, Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. But his subjects can't stand him, and he never gets it together.

Meanwhile, England executes a group of Catholic conspirators who had tried to assassinate Queen Elizabeth.

With Japan being ripped apart by one civil war after another, Go-Yezei begins his eleven year reign as Emperor. He will produce 35 children and little else. But in 1603, he will initiate "The Great Peace of Japan," which will last about 250 years. He does this by appointing a Shogun (who will actually rule in the Emperor's name) who solves most of Japan's problems.

England's most famous legal pirate, Francis Drake, plunders and burns St. Augustine, Florida, and Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

 

[Vince53]

1587 is complete!

Li Shizhen was a “polymath,” an all-around genius. After 27 years, he completes his great volume of Chinese medicine. The book has details about more than 1,800 drugs, including 1,100 illustrations and 11,000 prescriptions. It also describes the type, form, flavor, nature and application in disease treatments of 1,094 herbs. To this day, it is the greatest reference work on herbal medicine.


This gets complicated. Queen Elizabeth signs a death warrant for her cousin, Mary, Queen of Scots, but later insists that it was only an emergency device in case Elizabeth should be assassinated by Catholics. But Mary's fiercely Protestant warder executes her. Even on his deathbed, he will swear that Elizabeth had never told him that he wasn't to carry out the execution unless Elizabeth were assassinated.

Francis Drake sails up to Spain's southwestern coast and sinks 23 warships.

Famine breaks out in China.

 

[Vince53]

1588 is a really, really bad year for the Catholic Church.

Hideyoshi, the general who actually rules Japan, bans peasants from owning weapons. This ends peasants’ revolts and stabilizes Japan.


With France in chaos from their religious wars, the moderately Catholic King hires Swiss Guards and other mercenaries to help him hold Paris. But the strongly-Catholic inhabitants spontaneously revolt, driving the King out. He begins executing Catholic leaders, producing revolts that cause most of France to reject him.

It's one of the greatest upsets in military history, as the Spanish Armada sets sail to restore Catholicism to England. Equipped with Papal blessing and indulgences, its 130 ships and 30,000 men are going up against a nation that doesn't even have a standing army. A hodge-podge collection of hopelessly-outclassed English ships sets out on a suicide mission to stop them.

Eight days of battles are highlighted by incredibly inept Spanish leadership, brilliant English naval strategy, and the winds changing at the wrong moments for Spain. As the Spanish try to escape by sailing north around Britain, they are accompanied by a hurricane. Less than 1/3 of the Spanish survived, and they were so sick that many of them died after reaching Spain.

More Spanish were killed by the weather than by the English. "The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, And will not at all acquit the wicked. The LORD has His way In the whirlwind and in the storm, And the clouds are the dust of His feet." Nahum 1-3

Spain lost 63 ships, while England lost none. England took 75 killed and 400 wounded, but lost more due to disease caught on ship that killed them after they returned to England.

 

[Vince53]

Welcome to 1589!

Moderate French Catholics ally with the Calvinists against the ultra-Catholics and they besiege Paris.

Job of Moscow is appointed the first Patriarch of Moscow and all of Russia (which was a lot smaller back then). With average intelligence but an incredible ability to memorize, he strives to purify the Russian Orthodox Church of all foreign influence. He keeps things honest and sends missionaries to newly-conquered Russian lands, and is later made a Russian Orthodox saint.

What? You've never heard of the Defeat of the English Armada? England slaps together a gigantic fleet and sets sail for Spain, where the English suffer a terrific defeat.

On Christmas Day, Sweden burns the northernmost (at that time) monastery in the world, massacring the Russian monks.

 

[Vince53]

It's 1590 today!

The English are astounded to find that their colony in Roanoke, Virginia, has been abandoned. There is no sign of violence, and no trace of the 100 or so settlers has ever turned up.

Urban VII is elected Pope, dying thirteen days later from malaria. He forbids smoking inside church buildings, which is the world's first known smoking ban. His election was welcomed joyfully by his subjects, because of his many achievements as an archbishop and cardinal. He began a vigorous program to aid the poor and is one of the better-loved of all Popes.

Gregory XIV begins his ten month reign as Pope. The King of Spain is in firm control of the election and makes sure that the new Pope will support Spain in its war against France. Gregory excommunicates the King of France for being a Protestant, and assembles an army to invade France. He orders all Filipino slaves to be set free, excommunicating their owners if they do not obey.


One of the four greatest Chinese novels, “Journey to the West,” is published. Based on a true story, it is a comic adventure and spiritual allegory describing the voyage of a Chinese monk to India to acquire sacred texts.

 

[Vince53]

Is Witchcraft Real?

We're still in 1590, as King James presides over one of the most bizarre trials/scientific investigations ever held. The investigation continues into next year.

While sailing from Denmark back to England, King James had been caught in a sudden and furious storm. When they reached England safely, the sailors testified that James had stood on the deck and commanded the winds and the waves to be still, and they had obeyed. In his own journal, James explained that they had brought him onto the deck, he had prayed loudly, and an hour later, everything was calm.

James explained that he did not know if God had stilled the storm in response to his prayers, but he used the "legend" to gain support for his reign. The rapid appearance and disappearance of such a furious storm was unusual, but it has happened at other times.

And then they caught some witches who claimed that they had sent the storm, but that Jesus had defeated them in response to James' prayer. Presiding personally over their trial, James (who was highly-educated) turned it into a scientific investigation of witchcraft. Under torture, the women clung to their story, and they probably really had prayed to Satan to kill James in a storm, and they really believed that they were the cause.

Authorities rounded up every witch they could find, and expert testimony was brought in for both sides on the validity of witchcraft. It became obvious that most accused women were innocent, and that most of the guilty had no real power. It became clear that most genuine witches were merely harmless crackpots.

But the three witches who believed they had caused the storm carried the day. James believed them. They were all executed, and several small-scale witch hunts began in Scotland. Although James gets criticism for what happened, he is the first person to conduct a large-scale scientific inquiry into witchcraft, and the testimony given at the investigation helped to eventually end witch hunts.

 

[Vince53]

We'll have some fun in 1591.

Innocent IX begins his two month reign as Pope. With the King of Spain in firm control of the Cardinals, he immediately continues to plan an invasion of France but dies before it is accomplished.

In India, Moslems build the Charminar to celebrate the end of a plague. This magnificent structure has four bases, lifting it up high enough for vehicles to pass through its arches. At different times, its upper three stories have held mosques and courts. Today it is one of India’s most famous tourist attractions.

Remember a + b = c from your high school algebra class? The use of letters to designate unknowns in algebra is introduced this year.


The Songhai Empire in western Africa has been one of the largest Moslem empires. But, outnumbered five to one, the Morocco army uses gunpowder to defeat them and sack their major cities. The Songhai Empire quickly collapses into several small kingdoms.

Morocco continues its expansion, capturing the major city of Timbuktu.

It's one of the worst years in hurricane history, as eight major hurricanes are recorded.

 

[Vince53]

It is now 1592. 100 years after being discovered by Europe, the American Indians have been decimated by disease, their two greatest empires have disappeared, and most of South and Central America are controlled by Spain or Portugal. All of the Caribbean has been conquered by Spain, and so many Indians have died of disease that they are bringing in large numbers of African slaves to replace them. Canada, the US, and most of Mexico are still independent.

Galileo invents the thermometer.

Korean astronomers report "guest stars." These stars suddenly appear where no star had been, and then they disappear. Scientists think that they were distant super-novas.

Clement VIII begins his thirteen year reign as Pope.
He successfully re-united many east European clergy to the Catholic Church. His greatest accomplishment was persuading France's Protestant King to turn Catholic, after which he negotiated peace between France and Spain.
He ruled brutally, decreasing bandit gangs in the Papal territories, executing several nobility, burning a few people at the stake, and persecuting Jews. He refused to ban coffee, even though Moslems liked it. He organized a league of Catholic nations to help Hungary fight the Turks, giving large donations to the league.


Japan invades Korea and quickly occupies the entire peninsula. But two Korean armies keep fighting, eventually driving out the Japanese six years later. And the Japanese suffer several major naval defeats as the Koreans use turtle ships. These cannon-armed ships have some armor plating as well as steel spikes to repel boarders.

 

[Vince53]

1593


A combined Chinese and Korean army drives the Japanese out of Pyongyang.


What? You've never heard of Giordano Bruno? This Dominican friar is a mathematician, philosopher, astrologer, and astronomer. He comes up with some incredible theories: the Sun is only one of many stars, and that other stars have planets orbiting them. They probably wouldn't have killed him for that, but he began denying the Catholic Church. This year, the Church begins a seven year trial for him, eventually burning him at the stake.

The Long War begins. Lasting thirteen years, it pits the Habsburgs, Hungary, and some Catholic nations against the Ottoman Empire. With heavy losses on both sides, it changes little.

 

[Vince53]

Join us in 1594!

A nine year civil war begins in Ireland. With massive military aid from England, the pro-English side eventually wins.
Since the Sun shines for six months straight over the Arctic Ocean, the ice must melt and allow a ship to sail north of the Americas into the Pacific. Right? Wrong. But Dutch mapmaker and explorer William Barents will eventually die finding out. He sets sail this year on the first of three Arctic voyages in which he discovers and maps frozen islands and even discovers polar bears.

Is there such a passage? Can you sail from the Atlantic to the Pacific by going north of the Americas? Global warming has made a difficult and shallow passage possible some of the time, starting around the beginning of the Twentieth Century. Canada claims the waters, while even the United States maintains that they are international waters.

Spain stabilizes the Philippines by recognizing the authority of the local ruling classes. This allied the local rulers with Spain and the Catholic Church, and the system lasted until the American occupation three centuries later.