some world events to help orient the reader:
paper-making brought from China to Spain ca. 1350
printing press w/ moveable type, Gutenberg 1450
caravel w/hinged rudder used for sea voyages ca. 1470
matchlock gun trigger, Leonardo Da Vinci, (1466-1513?)
Byzantium: 476 fall of Rome––Constantinople falls 1453
Islam: conquest of North Africa, Spain 650-1200
Mongol Empire: Ghenghis Khan dynasty 1200-1300
China: Ming dynasty rules after Mongols defeated (1368-1644)
Japan: imperial feudalism, Ashikaga shoguns, (1336-1573)
Crusades 1100-1500; Ottoman Turks besiege Vienna 1529
Germany: Martin Luther (1483-1546) begins the reformation
Turkey: Sulieman Magnificent, Ottoman Empire 1520-1566
Persia: Safavid dynasty rules Iran 1501 – 1722
India: Babur founds the Mogul Empire (1526)
Russia: Livonian wars, Ivan IV (the Terrible), 1547-1584
Rome: Alexander VI (Borgia) 1492-1503 –Julius II 1503-15 –Leo X 1515-21 –Clement VII 1523-34
France: Louis 1498-1515 XII, Francis I 1515-47
Holy Roman Empire: Charles V (Carlos I of Spain) 1516-1556
Spain: Ferdinand V 1479-1515 (co-ruling in Castile with wife Isabella, daughter Juana Loca, and grandson Carlos I), Phillip II 1556-98
Netherlands: William of Orange revolt against Spanish rule begins 1566
England: Henry VII 1485-1509; Henry VIII 1509-47
1533, Henry VIII breaks with Rome, Elizabeth I born
Edward VI 1547-53; Mary I 1553-1558; Elizabeth I 1558-1603