Other Considerations

1501
Laus stultitiae, also called Moriae enconium (In praise of folly), by Desiderius Erasmus (b Holland, 1466) offers a satire on human nature

1512
French soldiers massacre Italians who have fled to the Brescia cathedral for sanctuary; among the dead is the father of the wounded Niccolo Fontana, b Brescia (Italy), 1499; as a result of his saber wound, young Niccolo develops a stammer that causes him ­ a mathematical genius ­ to be known to posterity as Tartaglia (Stutterer)

1513
Machiavelli's II principe (The prince) presents a study in how to rule and remain in power

1517
Martin Luther initiates the Protestant Reformation by posting 95 Theses about the Catholic church on the door of the Schlosskirche in Wittenberg (Germany)

1520
A smallpox epidemic among the Aztec demoralizes them and helps Hernando Cortes and a small group of Spaniards, immune to the disease from childhood exposure, to take over the Aztec empire

1543
Copernicus's De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the revolutions of celestial bodies) is a convincing recasting of planetary motions based on the assumption that Earth and other planets revolve around the sun

1558
Elizabeth I becomes queen of England

1562
Witchcraft is made a capital offense in England

1564
Shakespeare b; Michelangelo d

1583
The University of Edinburgh is founded in Scotland as a secular institution

1598
Henry IV of France proclaims the Edict of Nantes, granting civil rights to French Protestants