Rachel Dearth
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Timeline of the Crusades: Fifth Crusade 1215 - 1221
1215 - 1221 The Fifth Crusade is launched as an attack on Egypt but it ultimately ends in failure.
April 1215 The Fifth Crusade is proclaimed by Pope Innocent III in the bull Quia maior. Innocent does not want European leaders to go off on the Crusade because in the past they had managed to mess things up by looking out for their own interests more than those of the church. Instead, Innocent hopes that individual Christians will answer his call and gather under his own command. Every crusader is promised an indulgence for their sins, even if they simply help fund the expedition and don't enter into any danger themselves.
December 14, 1215 The Fourth Lateran Council accepts the Constitution Ad Liberandum in order to help fund the Fifth Crusade.
1216 Italian Crusaders arrive at Acre.
1216 Frederick is crowned Holy Roman Emperor in Rome by Pope Honorius III.
April 1216 Raymond of Toulouse and his son, both Cathar heretics, return to southern France, raise a large force from the various Cathar towns that had been captured by the Crusaders, and begin to strike back.
1217 The Swordbrothers, a Christian army first organized in 1202, invades the region which today makes up Estonia for the purpose of wiping out local pagan beliefs.
1217 Leopold VI of Austria and Andrew II of Hungary leave for Acre to mount a Crusade against the Muslims. In the Holy Land they are joined by John of Brienne, nominal king of Jerusalem. Hugh I of Cyprus, and Prince Bohemund IV of Antioch. Andrew II ends up leaving without accomplishing anything. German Emperor Frederick II wants to join, but he is barred by Pope Honorius III because he is already powerful enough to challenge the position of the papacy and Honorius doesn't want his power or popularity to grow.
1217 Birth of Baldwin II, last Latin Emperor of Constantinople.
April 09, 1217 Peter of Courtenay is crowned Latin Emperor of Constantinople at Rome by Pope Honorius III.
September 1217 Raymond of Toulouse recaptures the city of Toulouse from the Crusaders.
December 1217 Armies of the Fifth Crusade attack Mount Tabor.
1218 Newgate Prison, London's infamous debtor prison, is completed.
1218 Al-Adil, Saladin's brother, is succeeded as Sutan of Egypt by his son Malik Al-Kamil.
1218 The Swordbrothers begin their conquest of Estonia.
May 27, 1218 Crusaders under the command of John of Brienne, king of Jerusalem. lay siege to the city of Damietta with the aid of a Frisian fleet. Even after they are reinforced and their numbers reach 35,000, they are outnumbered by 70,000 Muslims. In an interesting twist, the Crusaders form an alliance with Kay Kaus I, Seljuk Sultan of Rum in Anatolia. Kaus attacks the Ayyubids in Syria so that the Crusaders won't have to fight on two fronts.
June 25, 1218 Death of Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester and leader of the Crusade against the Cathars in southern France. Montfort had been attacking the city of Toulouse in order to recapture it from Raymond.
August 25, 1218 Crusaders laying siege to Damietta take one of the towers outside the city.
1219 Mongol armies led by Genghis Khan invade Muslim territories, reaching Persia by 1221 and are only stopped in Syria in 1260.
1219 Pope Honorius III sends Cardinal Pelagius of Albano to the Holy Land to lead the Fifth Crusade.
June 03, 1219 The French town of Marmande falls to the Crusaders.
November 05, 1219 The Crusaders' siege of Damietta finally succeeds.
1220 Muslim lands in central Asia begin to be overrun by the Mongols under Genghis Khan. The first places captures are Bukhara and Samarkand.
1220 During the Baltic Crusade, Conrad of Masovia drives the pagan Prussians out of Chelmno Land.
November 22, 1220 Pope Honorius III crowns Holy Roman Emperor Frederick in the expectation that Frederick would support the Church and participate in the Fifth Crusade.
09, 1221 Crusaders are driven out of the city of Damietta by Malik Al-Kamil.
July 1221 Crusaders under the command of Cardinal Pelagius set out for Cairo.
August 30, 1221 Battle of al-Mansura: Crusaders under the command of Cardinal Pelagius, Papal Legate, are defeated in the Nile Delta and are forced to surrender. The Crusaders had been offered control of Jerusalem and other Christian sites in Palestine in exchange for the return of Damietta, but Cardinal Pelagius refuses and turns a potential victory into a stunning defeat that effectively ends the Fifth Crusade.
Timeline of the Crusades: Sixth Crusade 1222 - 1244
1222 Now in his seventies, John of Brienne travels to Europe in order to find a husband for his eleven-year-old daughter, Yolanda. The task is difficult because whoever marries her will rule the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. becoming not only responsible for what little remains of it but also for the recapture of the many cities controlled by Muslims - including Jerusalem itself. This is an honor that few desire, but Frederick II decides to accept, even though an actual marriage would not occur until she reached the legal age of 14.
1222 Death of Theodore I Lascaris, founder of the Byzantine Empire of Nicaea. He is succeeded by John III Ducas Vatatzes.
1223 Pagans from the island of Saaremaa revolt against new Christian leaders, recapturing most of Estonia. They would lose it all again by the next year.
July 14, 1223 Philip II Augustus of France dies. Philip had been one of the leaders of the Third Crusade and leaves an inheritance of 50,000 marks to the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem.
1224 Amaury de Montfort, leader of the Crusade against the Cathars, flees Carcassonne. The son of Raymond-Roger de Trencaval returns from exile and reclaims the area.
October 1225 Yolanda, Queen of Jerusalem. arrives in Brindisi with her father, John of Brienne, for her marriage to Frederick II of Hohenstaufen.
November 1225 Raymond, son of Raymond of Toulouse, is excommunicated.
November 09, 1225 Frederick II of Hohenstaufen marries Yolanda (Isabella) of Jerusalem. daughter of John of Brienne, nominal king of Jerusalem. Many expected this marriage to turn the tide in Palestine against the Muslims. For years the local barons had been selling off their estates to the military monastic orders which did little to press the Christian cause against Islam.
June 1226 The Crusade against Cathars in southern France is renewed.
1227 Medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas is born. Aquinas codified Catholic theology in works like Summa Theologica, marking the high point of the medieval scholastic movement.
1227 Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen is excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX for having failed thus far to honor his promise to launch the Sixth Crusade
1228 - 1229 The Sixth Crusade is led by Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, King of Jerusalem through his marriage to Yolanda, daughter of John of Brienne, king of Jerusalem. Frederick had promised to participate in the Fifth Crusade but failed to do so, thus he was under a great deal of pressure to do something substantive this time around. This Crusade would end with a peace treaty granting Christians control of several important holy sites, including Jerusalem.
1228 Baldwin II is crowned emperor of the Latin Empire in Constantinople, with John of Brienne as regent.
April 25, 1228 While in Palermo, Yolanda, Queen of Jerusalem. gives birth to Conrad, son of Frederick II of Hohenstaufen. The delivery is hard on the sixteen-year-old and she dies a few days later.
May 01, 1228 Death of Yolanda, Queen of Jerusalem. Yolanda was sixteen years old and had just given birth to Conrad, son of German emperor Frederick II. With her death, Jerusalem was now ruled by Frederick alone, a man with no blood ties to the first families that had captured Jerusalem and the Holy Lands. In effect, Jerusalem was now ruled by foreigners again.
June 28, 1228 Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen officially (and finally) sets forth on a Crusade.
July 21, 1228 Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen arrives in Cyprus to participate in the Sixth Crusade. An outbreak of fever among the Crusaders forces Frederick to return, but Pope Gregory IX doesn't accept this as a valid reason - besides, Gregory was looking for an excuse to punish Frederick because for years he had been infringing up on papal lands and power throughout Italy. Frederick is excommunicated and a Crusade is actually preached against him, with his lands around Naples occupied by the pope.
1229 The Teutonic Order launches a Crusade to conquer Prussia.
1229 - 1231 James I of Aragon launches a Crusade in Spain, conquering Valencia and the Balearic Islands.
1229 Death of Albert, the third Bishop of Buxtehude (Uexküll). Albert had been a major driving force behind the Baltic Crusade.
February 18, 1229 Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen signs a treaty with Sultan Malik Al-Kamil of Egypt and thus acquires controls of Jerusalem. Nazareth, and Bethlehem from Muslim forces. Al-Kamil had been impressed with Frederick's knowledge of Arabic language and culture, leading to a mutual exchange of ideas and respect which allowed the dramatic and unexpected peace treaty to be signed. In exchange, Frederick agrees to support Al-Kamil against his own nephew, al-Nasir. Frederick had been essentially forced to negotiate because at the time he had been excommunicated by Pope Gregory IX and most of the Crusaders in the region (for example, Patriarch Gerald of Lausanne, the Knights Hospitaller, and the Knights Templar) simply failed to obey his commands. Gregory refuses to accept the treaty as valid and doesn't support it.
March 18, 1229 Frederick II crowns himself king of Jerusalem in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Conrad IV of Germany had become titular King of Jerusalem the previous year with his father Frederick II as regent. Frederick's wife, Yolanda of Jerusalem and titular Queen of Jerusalem. had died the previous year, so Frederick took the crown for himself.
April 12, 1229 A peace treaty formally ends the Albigensian Crusade in southern France.
May 1229 Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen returns home and regains control of his lands around Naples from Pope Gregory IX.
August 1229 Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen arrives at a peace treaty with Pope Gregory IX.
November 1229 The Inquisition is established in Toulouse to eliminate the last of the Cathars hiding in the Languedoc region.
1230 Returning Crusaders bring leprosy to Europe.
1233 The Inquisition launches a ruthless campaign against the Cathars, burning any that they find and even digging up bodies to burn.
1234 The Teutonic Knights arrive in the Baltic region to assist in fending off invasions from pagan Prussians.
1236 The city of Cordova, controlled to the Moors, falls to the Christian kingdom of Castile.
1237 Death of John of Brienne, former regent of Jerusalem and Latin Emperor of Constantinople. His successor is Baldwin II.
1237 Batu Khan, son of Ghengis Khan, crosses the Volga river with an army of at least 150,000 horsemen. In short order he conquers all of the Russian principalities and defeats both the Hungarians and the Poles. Later he would be stopped from marching right into the heart of Europe only by the news of his father's death, causing him to immediately return home.
May 12, 1237 By decree of Pope Gregory IX, the crusading order "The Swordbrothers" is merged into the order,"The Teutonic Knights." Both orders had been heavily involved in Crusades against pagan Prussians; the Swordbrothers, however, had experienced numerous defeats (especially at the Battle of Saule in 1236) and their growing weakness necessitated that they join with the Teutonic Knights.
1238 Malik Al-Kamil, Sultan of Egypt and nephew of Saladin, dies.
February 18, 1239 The truce between Emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen and Sultan Malik Al-Kamil, signed to end the Sixth Crusade, officially ends.
1240 Mongols capture Moscow and destroy Kiev.
1240 The Sultan of Egypt agrees to turn over control of all lands west of the Jordan earlier captured by Saladin to the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
October 1240 Raymond-Roger de Trencavel is defeated at Carcassonne by Crusaders going after Cathars.
1241 The first person recorded to be hanged, drawn, and quartered in England is pirate William Marise.
April 09, 1241 Battle of Wahlstatt (Polish: Legnickie Pole): A Crusade against the Mongols is proclaimed after the Teutonic Knights and Henry II the Pious, duke of Poland, are defeated by the Mongols. Mongol leader Batu Khan, son of Ghengis Khan, is only stopped from continuing into the heart of Europe by the news of his father's death, causing him to immediately return home.
April 05, 1242 Battle on Lake Peipus (Chudskoye): Russian forces under Prince Alexander Nevsky utterly defeat an army of Teutonic Knights on the frozen Lake Peipus.
1243 The Sultan of Syria and Egypt offers to withdraw Muslims from the Temple Mount area in Jerusalem in order to get the Franks to support him.
March 16, 1244 Montsegur, the largest Cathar stronghold, falls after a nine month siege.
July 11, 1244 Khorezmian Turkish horsemen launch an attack on Jerusalem. Khwarezmia is at this time a state located around the Aral Salt Flats near the Caspian Sea.
August 23, 1244
http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/christian/blxtn_jerusalem.htm falls to the Khorzmian horsemen who had begun attacking the city the previous month. Large numbers of the city's inhabitants are slaughtered.
October 17, 1244 Battle of LaForbie: A large army of Crusaders is utterly destroyed by Muslims near Gaza. Egyptian forces are commanded by Baibars, a Mamluk soldier who would later lead a revolt against the Egyptian Sultan and take control of the region.
Timeline of the Crusades: Seventh, Eighth, and Ninth Crusades 1245 - 1300
July 11, 1244 Khorezmian Turkish horsemen launch an attack on Jerusalem. Khwarezmia is at this time a state located around the Aral Salt Flats near the Caspian Sea.
August 23, 1244
http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/christian/blxtn_jerusalem.htm falls to the Khorzmian horsemen who had begun attacking the city the previous month. Large numbers of the city's inhabitants are slaughtered.
October 17, 1244 Battle of LaForbie: A large army of Crusaders is utterly destroyed by Muslims near Gaza. Egyptian forces are commanded by Baibars, a Mamluk soldier who would later lead a revolt against the Egyptian Sultan and take control of the region.
1245 King Louis IX of France (Saint Louis) declares his intent to launch a Crusade against the Muslims in the Middle East. By this point the Crusade against the Cathars in southern France is basically over and his relative Alphonse was in charge in Toulouse.
1247 Traditional date for the death of Robin Hood.
1247 Egypt captures Jerusalem from the Khorezmians.
1248 Muslim control of Spain is reduced to the Kingdom of Granada which survives for over two more centuries.
1248 - 1254 The Seventh Crusade is led by King Louis IX of France (Saint Louis). The Great Khan even sends representatives to Louis to let him know that he is willing to help in the conquest of the Holy Land and the restoration of Jerusalem to Christian control - in reality, though, the Mongols were negotiating with both sides and had no intention of helping anyone. In this, his first of two Crusades, Louis would end up capturing the Egyptian city of Damietta, but it was given up as ransom when he himself was captured during the battle for Cairo.
November 23, 1248 Ferdinand III of Castile captures Seville, Spain. Muslim control of Spain is reduced to the Kingdom of Granada which would survive for over two more centuries.
June 06, 1249 King Louis IX of France reaches and occupies the Egyptian city of Damietta. Louis focuses first and foremost on Egypt rather than sites in Syria because he hopes that this will provide a solid base from which to attack the rest of the Holy Land.
November 1249 King Louis IX of France begins to march his troops from Damietta to Cairo.
February 08, 1250 Battle of al-Mansurah: Crusaders led by King Louis IX of France move from Damietta to Cairo along the Nile River until they meet Emir Fakr-ed-din at the head of a army of 70,000 at Ashmoun Canal by the town of al-Mansurah. This is the same spot where the Fifth Crusade had met defeat. After a standoff of six weeks, a local Coptic Christian shows the Crusaders a way to cross the canal and in a surprise attack they route the Egyptians still in their encampment. Unfortunately, the French choose to follow the fleeing Egyptians to al-Mansurah despite the lack of reinforcements and they suffer heavy casualties in the process. Robert of Artois (brother of Louis IX) and William of Salisbury (leading an English force) are both killed along with most of the Knights Templar who had followed them.
April 06, 1250 Battle of Fariskur: King Louis IX is captured along with his army and ransomed in exchange for the surrender of Damietta - the only real achievement of the Crusade. Louis is lucky to be released at all because the difficulty with caring for the large numbers of prisoners led to the Egyptians executing many of them. This is the final battle in the Seventh Crusade.
May 1250 Turanshah, the last Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt in a dynasty founded by Saladin, is murdered and replaced by his Mamluk slave-general Aibek, founder the Mamluk Dynasty. King Louis IX would actually form an alliance with the Mamluks shortly after this. The word "Mamluk" literally means "one who is owned," or "slave," a reference to the fact that the Mamluks started out as slaves.
1251 The last of the Egyptian-based dynasties, the Mamluk dynasty, took over the caliphate until 1517 when Egypt fell under the control of the Ottoman Turkish Empire.
1251 The "Crusade of the Shepherds" is launched.
1251 The last of the Egyptian-based dynasties, the Mamluk dynasty, takes over the caliphate until 1517 when Egypt falls under the control of the Ottoman Turkish Empire.
1252 The Teutonic Knights capture the Lithuanian city of Klaipeda from local pagans. Lithuania would be access to the Baltic Sea until the 20th century.
1253 Pagan leader Mindaugas of Lithuania agrees to convert to Christianity.
1253 Friar William of Rubruck visits the court of the Great Mongol Khan Mongke, creating a detailed description of Mongol customs and beliefs before their conversion to Islam.
November 03, 1254 Death of John III Ducas Vatatzes, Byzantine emperor (Empire of Nicaea). He is succeeded by Theodore II Lascaris.
1255 The Teutonic Knights build their stronghold of Königsberg.
May 1255 The last Cathar stronghold - an isolated fort at Quéribus - is captured.
January 1256 Hulagu, son of the Great Khan, wipes out the Assassins of Persia.
1258 Birth of Osman, founder of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. His father was Etrogrul, commander of a tribe of Oghuz Turks near the Sea of Marmara.
February 10, 1258 The Abbasid period ends with the destruction of Baghdad by the Mongols. The Mongols had tried and failed to take Baghdad in 1245. Now, after a series of devastating floods, the city's defenses had been weakened, and Hülegü, grandson of Genghis Khan, leads the victorious invasion - one which kills an estimated 800,000 citizens of the city. Thus begins a long period of economic, political, and cultural decline in Iraq that is only overcome in the sixteenth century.
August 1258 Death of Theodore II Lascaris, Byzantine emperor (Empire of Nicaea). He is succeeded by John IV Lascaris, just eight years old. Michael Palaeologus is made regent and later he makes himself co-emperor as Michael VIII.
1259 The Great Khan dies.
1259 Battle of Pelagonia: Greek forces defeat the Latins of Achaea.
1260 Battle of Durbe: Lithuanians defeat the Livonian Teutonic Knights
September 03, 1260 Battle of Ain Jalut: The Mamluks of Egypt defeat the invading Mongols, thus preventing any further Mongol advance into Egypt and North Africa.
October 23, 1260 Baibars, a Mamluk leader, is named Sultan of Egypt.
July 25, 1261 Michael VIII Palaeologus (1224 - 1282) finally drives the Latin rulers out of Constantinople and reestablishes Eastern Orthodox rule after 50 years. To solidify his own position he has John IV Lascaris, last of the Lascaris line and his co-emperor, blinded and thus rendered ineligible to become emperor.
1263 Mindaugas, first and only Christian king of Lithuania, is assassinated by his pagan cousin Treniota.
1265 Dante Dante Alighieri is born.
1265 Baibars, Mamluk Sultan of Egypt, captures Caesarea and Haifa.
February 26, 1266 The Battle of Benevento takes place.
1267 Kublai Kahn establishes the city of Beijing.
1267 King Louis IX of France, disturbed by the many gains of the Mamluks in Egypt, calls for a new Crusade.
1268 Baibars, Sultan of Egypt, captures the city of Jaffa.
May 18, 1268 The Mamluks of Egypt under the command of Sultan Baibars take the city of Antioch and kill most of its inhabitants. The physical destruction of the city is so extensive that it would never again play an important strategic or commercial role in the region, eventually being overtaken by the port city of Alexandretta (Iskenderun).
August 23, 1268 The Battle of Tagliacozzo occurs.
1269 The Almohad (al-Muwahhidun) Dynasty falls. Taking the name "the Unitarians," this was a group of Berber Muslims which had supplanted the Almoravid (al-Murabitun) Dynasty in 1147 and was inspired by the teachings of reformist Berber scholar Ibn Tumart.
June 30, 1270 King Louis IX of France (Saint Louis) leads the Eighth Crusade (his second Crusade) as an attack against Tunisia.
August 25, 1270 King Louis IX of France dies in Tunisia while on the Eighth Crusade, his second Crusade. He is reluctantly replaced by his brother Charles of Anjou, King of Sicily.
1271 Marco Polo sets off to visit the court of Kublai Khan (grandson of Genghis Khan).
1271 - 1272 King Edward I of England launches the Ninth Crusade against Mamluk sultan Baibers. Edward had travelled to Tunis to join Louis IX but arrived too late, so continued into the Holy Land on his own.
1271 Thomas Agni of Cosenza becomes the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.
April 08, 1271 Mamluk sultan Baibars conquers the Krak des Chevaliers, headquarters of the Knights Hospitaller in Syria.
November 21, 1272 Edward returns home to England when he hears that his father Henry III has died.
October 1273 Death of Baldwin II, the last emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople. Baldwin's reign had effectively ended when Michael VIII Palaeologus recaptured Constantinople in 1261, but European leaders continued to recognize his claim. Once he dies, however, the Latin Empire of Constantinople also ceases to exist.
1274 Mongols, led by Kublai Khan, attempted to invade Japan.
May 07, 1274 In France the Second Council of Lyons opens.
May 18, 1274 The Second Council of Lyon issues its Crusade decree, Constitutiones Pro Zelo Fidei. At this same Council Michael VIII Palaeologus, Byzantine Emperor, agreed to a unification of the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Churches.
July 01, 1277 Baibars, Sultan of Egypt, dies.
September 1277 With the arrival of the Vicar of Charles of Anjou in Acre, the Kingdom of Jerusalem is split.
1279 Syrian leader Qalawun succeeds Baibars as Sultan of Egypt.
1280 Eyeglasses are invented and later improved upon in the late medieval period.
1281 Qalawun, Sultan of Egypt, defeats a Mongol army near Homs.
1283 - 1302 A Crusade against Sicilians and Aragonese is launched.
1284 The Teutonic Knights complete their conquest of Prussia, eliminating the local Prussian population as an independent ethnic group. The Prussians would be assimilated by the Germans, Poles, and Lithuanians while the Prussian name would be adopted by the Germans for themselves.
1285 French forces launch a Crusade against Aragon.
June 04, 1286 The Kingdom of Jerusalem is reunited under the rule of King Henry II of Cyprus.
April 26, 1289 Mamluks from Egypt capture the city of Tripoli.
1290 Margaret, Maid of Norway, dies and leaves a struggle for the throne of Scotland - 13 people claim title of King.
1290 Qalawun, Sultan of Egypt, dies and is succeeded by his son, Al-Ashraf Khalil.
May 18, 1291 Acre, the last territory in Palestine taken by the first Crusaders, falls to invading Muslim forces. Around 60,000 Christians are believed to have perished. This is the end of a Christian military presence in the Near East and the task of spreading Christianity is left to friars who preach among the people.
July 1291 The Mamluks capture Beirut and Sidon.
August 1291 Crusaders are forced to evacuate their fortresses at Tortosa and Chateau Pelerin.
1292 Birth of John VI Cantacuzene, Byzantine Emperor who would allow Turkish military forces to first cross into Europe in order to get their aid against a rival for the Byzantine throne.
1295 Mongol leader Ghazan Khan converts to Islam, ending the line of Tantric Buddhist rulers.
1296 Edward I of England deposes John Balliol from the Scottish throne, taking control of Scotland.
1297 At the Battle of Cambuskenneth, Scottish patriot William Wallace defeats an English army.
1298 The longbow revolutionizes warfare at the Battle of Falkirk.
1299 The city of Venice signs a peace treaty with the Turks.
1299 - 1326 Reign of Othman, founder of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. He defeats the Seljuks.
1300 The last Muslims in Sicily are forcibly converted to Christianity. Although Sicily had been reconquered by the Normans in 1098, Muslims had been allowed to continue to practice their faith and even formed important elements of various Sicilian military forces.
http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/christian/blchron_xian_crusadesmap.htmTimeline of the Crusades: Ottoman Empire on the Offensive, 1300 - 1600
1299 - 1326 Reign of Othman, founder of the Ottoman Turkish Empire. He defeats the Seljuks.
1300 The last Muslims in Sicily are forcibly converted to Christianity. Although Sicily had been reconquered by the Normans in 1098, Muslims had been allowed to continue to practice their faith and even formed important elements of various Sicilian military forces.
1302 Mamluk Turks destroy the garrison of the Order of the Temple on the island of Ruad (off the Syrian coast).
1303 Mongols are defeated near Damascus, thus ending the Mongol threat on Europe and the Middle East.
1305 First reported act of displaying a head on the London Bridge occurs: Sir William Wallace, Scottish patriot.
1309 The Teutonic Order moves its headquarters to Marienburg, Prussia.
1310 The Hospitallers.htm">Hospitallers move their headquarters to Rhodes.
1310 First reported use of official torture in England occurs: against the Templars.
May 12, 1310 On charges of heresy, fifty-four Knights Templar are burned at the stake in France.
March 22, 1312 The Order of the Knights Templar is officially suppressed
1314 Battle at Bannockburn: Robert Bruce defeats the armies of Edward I and gains Scottish independence. Edward I dies in 1307 during a march north to defeat Bruce.
March 18, 1314 Thirty-Nine French Knights Templar are burned at the stake.
1315 Bad weather and crop failures result in famines across northwestern Europe. Unsanitary conditions and malnutrition increase the death rate. Even after the revival of agricultural conditions, weather disasters reappear. A mixture of war, famine and plague in the Late Middle Ages reduce the population by half.
1317 Osman I, founder of the Ottoman Empire, lays siege to the Christian city of Bursa. It would not finally surrender until 1326, the year of Othman's death.
1319 Birth of Murad I, grandson of Osman I. Murad would be the terror of Christian Europe, sending large military forces against the Balkans and tripling the size of the Ottoman Empire.
1321 The Inquisition burns its last Cathar.
1325 Aztecs found Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City).
1326 Death of Osman I, founder of the Ottoman Empire. His son, Orkhan I, makes Bursa his capital and it is from here that the growth of the Ottoman Empire is generally marked. In addition to leading the first Muslim Turks into Europe, Orkhan creates the Janissaries (Yani Sharis, Turkish for "New Soldiers), teenaged boys captured from Christian villages and forcibly converted to Islam. A thousand would be "recruited" every year and sent to Constantinople for training. They are considered at the time to be the finest and fiercest fighting force available.
1327 With the disintegration of the Seljuk Empire, the Arab and Persian regions are fragmented into several military kingdoms until 1500. The Ottoman Turkish Empire establishes its capital at Bursa.
1328 England recognizes Scottish independence, with Robert Bruce as King.
1330 - 1523 Although not officially supported by the church hierarchy, the Hospitallers.htm">Hospitallers continue intermittent Crusading from their base in Rhodes.
1331 The Ottoman Turks capture Nicaea and rename it Iznik.
1334 Crusader ships defeat a group of Turkish pirates operating in the Gulf of Edremit.
1336 The Hundred Years' War between France and England begins.
1337 Birth of Timur-i Lang (Tamerlane, Timur the Lame), brutal ruler of Samarkand who cuts a wide swath of destruction across Persia and the Middle East. Timur founds the Timurid Dynasty and becomes infamous for building pyramids out of the skulls of his slain enemies.
1340 Battle of Rio Saldo: Alfonso XI of Castile and Alfonso IV of Portugal defeat a much larger force of Muslims from Morocco.
1341 Death of Oz Beg, Mongol leader who converted his people to Islam.
1345 Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, is completed.
1345 The Ottoman Turks are asked for help by John Cantacuzene against a rival for the Byzantine throne. John would become John VI and gives his sixteen-year-old daughter Theodora to Orkhan I as a wife. This is the first time Muslim Turks crossed the Dardanelles into Europe.
1347 The Black Death (bubonic plague) reaches Cyprus from eastern Asia.
c. 1350 The Renaissance begins in Italy.
1354 The Turks capture Gallipoli, creating the first permanent Turkish settlement in Europe.
1365 Led by Peter I of Cyprus, Crusaders sack the Egyptian city of Alexandria.
1366 Adrianople (Edirne) becomes the Turkish capital.
1368 The Ming Dynasty is established in China by a peasant's son who had become a monk but later led a 13-year long rebellion against corrupt and ineffectual Mongol rulers. Ming means "brightness."
09, 1371 Battle of Maritsa: A force consisting of Serbs and Hungarians is sent to counter the encroaching Ottoman Turks in the Balkans. They march on Adrianople but they only get as far as Cenomen, on the Maritsa River. During the night they are surprised by an Ottoman attack led by Murad I personally. Thousands are slain and more drown when they try to flee. This was the first major action take by the Janissaries against Christians.
1373 The Ottoman Turks force the Byzantine Empire, now under John V Palaeologus, into vassalage.
1375 The Mamluks capture Sis, ending Armenian independence.
1380 The last holdings of the Byzantine Empire in Asia Minor are captured by the Turks.
1380 Battle of Kulikovo Field: Dmitri Donskoy, Grand Prince of Moscow, defeats the Muslim Tartars and is able to stop paying tribute.
1382 The Turks capture Sofia.
1382 The Tartars ride north, capture Moscow, and reimpose the tribute on the Russians.
June 13, 1383 Death of John VI Cantacuzene, Byzantine emperor who allowed Turkish military forces to first cross into Europe because he needed their aid against a rival for the Byzantine throne.
1387 Poet Geoffrey Chaucer begins work on his masterpiece The Canterbury Tales.
1387 Birth of John Hunyadi, Hungarian national hero whose efforts against the Ottoman Turks would do much to prevent Turkish rule from being extended into Europe.
1389 Death of Orhan I, son of Osman I. Orhan's son, Murad I, takes over the Ottoman Empire. Murad becomes the terror of Christian Europe, sending large military forces against the Balkans and tripling the size of the Ottoman Empire.
June 15, 1389 Battle of Kosovo Polje: Murad I demands that Lazar Hrebeljanovic, prince of Serbia, step down and surrender or be killed when his lands are invaded. Hrebeljanovic chooses to fight and raises an army that consists of soldiers from all over the Balkans but is still only half the size of the Turkish force. The actual battle takes place on the "Field of Blackbirds" or Kosovo Polje, and Murad I is killed when Milosh Obilich, posing as a traitor, stabs Murad with a poisoned knife. The Christians are utterly defeated and even Hrebeljanovic is captured and killed. Thousands of Christian prisoners are executed and Serbia became a vassal state of the Ottomans, but this also represents their farthest reach into Europe. With Murad's death his son, Bajazet, has his own brother Yakub killed and becomes the Ottoman sultan. Killing brothers upon becoming sultan would become an Ottoman tradition for the next couple of centuries.
February 16, 1391 Death of John V Palaeologus, Byzantine emperor. He is succeeded by his son, Manuel II Palaeologus, who is at this time is a hostage at the court of the Ottoman emperor Beyazid I at Bursa. Manuel is able to escape and return to Constantinople.
1395 King Sigismund of Hungary sends emissaries to various European powers to request help to defend his borders against the Ottoman Turks. Bajazet, Ottoman sultan, had boasted that he would drive through Hungary, into Italy, and turn St. Peter's Cathedral into a stable for his horses.
1396 Ottoman Turks conquer Bulgaria.
April 30, 1396 Thousands of French knights and soldiers set out from the Burgundian capital Dijon to aid the Hungarians against the Ottoman Turks.
September 12, 1396 A combined force of French and Hungarian soldiers arrive at Nicopolis, Ottoman Turk city in Europe, and begin to lay siege.
September 25, 1396 Battle of Nicopolis: A Crusader army of around 60,000 men and made up of from the Hungarian army of Sigismund of Luxembourg along with French, German, Polish, Italian, and English forces enter Ottoman Turkish territory and lay siege to Nicopolis in Bulgaria. The Ottoman sultan, Bajazet, gathers together a massive army of his own (made up mostly of soldiers who had been besieging Constantinople) and relieves the besieged city, defeating the Crusaders. The Turkish victory is due largely to French inexperience and pride - although a French cavalry charge is successful at first, they are forced into a trap which leads to their own slaughter. Bulgaria becomes a vassal state and, like Serbia, would remain one until 1878.
1398 Dehli is conquered by Timur the Lame (Tamerlame), king of Samarkand. Timur's Turkish army devastates the sultanate of Dehli, exterminates the local Hindu population, and then leaves.
1400 The Northern provinces of Italy devise their own systems of government. The government of Venice becomes a merchant oligarchy; Milan is ruled by dynastic despotism; and Florence becomes a republic, ruled by the rich. The three cities expand and conquer most of Northern Italy.
1401 Baghdad and Damascus are conquered by Timur.
July 20, 1402 Battle of Ankara: The Ottoman sultan Bajazet, great-grandson of Osman I, is defeated and taken prisoner by Mongol warlord Timur at Ankara.
1403 With the death of Bajazet, his son Suleiman I becomes the Ottoman Sultan.
1405 Death of Timur-i Lang (Tamerlane, Timur the Lame), brutal ruler of Samarkand who had cut a wide swath of destruction across Persia and the Middle East. Timur founded the Timurid Dynasty and had become renowned for building pyramids out of the skulls of his slain enemies.
July 25, 1410 Battle of Tannenberg: Forces from Poland and Lithuania defeated the Teutonic Knights.
1413 Mahomet, son of Bajazet, becomes Ottoman sultan Mahomet I after defeating his three brothers in a civil war that had lasted over 10 years.
1415 The Portuguese capture the city of Ceuta on the north coast of Morocco, the first time that the Crusade against the Muslims was taken to the northwestern region of Africa.
July 06, 1415 Jan Hus was burned for heresy in Constance, Switzerland.
1420 Supporters of John Hus defeat German "crusaders." The lower-class Hussites are led by General John Zizka.
March 01, 1420 Pope Martin V called for crusade against followers of John Hus.
1421 Ottoman sultan Mahomet I dies and is succeeded by his son, Murad II.
July 21, 1425 Death of Manuel II Palaeologus, Byzantine emperor. Shortly before dying Manuel is forced by the Ottoman Turks to begin paying them a yearly tribute.
1426 Egyptian forces take control of Cyprus.
April 29, 1429 Joan of Arc led French forces to victory over the English army by raising the siege at Orleans.
March 30, 1432 Birth of Mehmed II, the Ottoman sultan who would succeed in capturing Constantinople.
1437 Hungarians under the leadership of John Hunyadi drive the Turks from Semendria.
1438 Johann Gutenberg invents the printing press and pioneers the technology of movable type, creating the first Bible printed with movable type in Mainz, Germany.
1442 John Hunyadi leads a Hungarian army to relieve the Turkish siege of Hermansdat.
July 1442 Hungarian national hero John Hunyadi defeats a large Turkish army, thus ensuring the liberation of Wallachia and Moldavia.
1443 Ladislaus III of Poland signs a ten-year peace treaty with the Ottoman empire. The truce would not last, however, because many Christian leaders see an opportunity to finally defeat a broken Turkish army. Had Ladislaus not made peace with the Turks at this time, Murad II might have been utterly defeated and Constantinople would not have fallen 10 years later.
1444 The sultan of Egypt launches an invasion of Rhodes, but he is unable to take the island from the Knights Hospitallers (now known as the Knights of Rhodes).
November 10, 1444 Battle of Varna: An army of at least 100,000 Turks under sultan Murad II defeats Polish and Hungarian Crusaders numbering around 30,000 under Ladislaus III of Poland and John Hunyadi.
June 05, 1446 John Hunyadi is elected governor of Hungary in the name of Ladislaus V
1448 Constantine XI Palaeologus, the last Byzantine Emperor, takes the throne.
October 07, 1448 Battle of Kosovo: John Hunyadi leads Hungarian forces but is defeated by the more numerous Turks.
February 03, 1451 Ottoman sultan Murad II dies and is succeeded by Mehmed II.
April 1452 Ottoman sultan Mehmed II has a fortress built in Ottoman territory just north of Constantinople. Finished in six months, it threatens to cut off the city's communications with Black Sea ports and becomes the launching point of the siege of Constantinople a year later.
1453 Bordeaux falls to French forces and the Hundred Years' War ends without a treaty.
April 02, 1453 Ottoman sultan Mehmed II arrives at Constantinople. Mahomet will be successful in his siege of the city largely because of the acquisition of over sixty artillery pieces, making the siege one of the first successful uses of gunpowder in this fashion. Use of this artillery is improved with the help of gunnery experts sent by Hungarian national hero John Hunyadi who is eager to end the heresy of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, even if it means helping the hated Turks.
April 04, 1453 Seige of Constantinople begins. By this time the authority of the Byzantine Empire had shrunk to little more than the city of Constantinople itself. Sultan Mehmed II breaches the walls after only 50 days. The walls protecting Constantinople had stood for more than a thousand years; when they fall, the Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantium) also ended. After the Ottomans defeat the Byzantine Empire they continued expanding into the Balkans. The Ottoman Turkish Empire will move its capital from Bursa to Istanbul (Constantinople). After 1500, the Moguls (1526-1857 CE) and the Safavids (1520-1736 CE) follow the military example set by the Ottomans and created two new empires.
April 11, 1453 Ottoman guns cause the collapse of a tower at the gate of St. Romanus during the siege of Constantinople. This breach in the walls would become a central focus of the fighting.
May 29, 1453 Ottoman Turks under the command of Mehmed II break into Constantinople and capture the city. With this, the last remnant of the Roman Empire is destroyed. Constantine XI Palaeologus, the last Byzantine emperor, dies. By this point there isn't much to the empire - just the city of Constantinople and some land around it in the Greek province of Thrace. Both the culture and the language had long since become Greek rather than Roman. The Ottomans, however, consider themselves to be the legitimate successors of the Byzantine emperors and commonly use the title Sultan-i Rum, Sultan of Rome.
May 15, 1455 Pope Callistus III proclaims a crusade against the Turks in order to recapture the city of Constantinople. Despite pleas for help, few European leaders had sent any assistance to Constantinople when the siege began and even the papacy sent a mere 200 knights. Thus, this new call for a Crusade was too little, too late.
1456 Athens is captured by the Turks.
July 21, 1456 John Hunyadi" width="89" height="150" border="0" align="right"> Ottoman Turks attack Belgrade but are beaten back by Hungarians and Serbs under the command of John Hunyadi. Christians capture several hundred canon and massive amounts of military equipment, sending the Turks into full retreat.
August 11, 1456 Death of John Hunyadi, Hungarian national hero whose efforts against the Ottoman Turks had done much to prevent Turkish rule from being extended into Europe.
1458 Turkish soldiers sack the Acropolis in Athens, Greece.
August 18, 1458 Pius II is elected pope. Pius is an enthusiastic supporter of Crusades against the Turks.
1463 Bosnia is conquered by the Turks.
June 18, 1464 Pope Pius II launches a short crusade against the Turks in Italy, but he falls ill and dies before much can happen. This would mark the death of the "crusading mentality" which had been so important in Europe over the previous three centuries.
August 15, 1464 Pope Pius II dies. Pius had been an enthusiastic supporter of Crusades against the Turks
1465 Birth of Selim I, Ottoman sultan. Selim would become the first Ottoman caliph and would double the size of the Ottoman empire, mostly in Asia and Africa.
1467 Herzegovina is conquered by the Turks.
November 19, 1469 Guru Nanak Dev Ji was born. On this date Sikhs commemorate the birth of the founder of the Sikh faith and the first of the Ten Gurus.
1472 Sophia Palaeologus, niece of Constantine XI Palaeologus, the last Byzantine Emperor, marries Ivan II of Moscow.
February 19, 1473 Nicolaus Copernicus was born.
1477 The first book is printed in England.
April 1480 A Turkish attack against the Hospitallers.htm">Hospitallers in Rhodes is unsuccessful - not because the Hospitallers are superior fighters but because the Janissaries go on strike. Mehmed II orders that they not loot any cities they capture so that he could have all the booty for himself. The Janissaries balk at this and simply refuse to fight.
August 1480 Mehmed II Conqueror sends a fleet commanded by Gedik Ahmed Pasha westward. It captures the Italian port city of Otranto. Further incursions into Italy ends with the death of Mehmed and fighting among his sons over the leadership of the Ottoman Empire. Had the Turks pressed forward, it is likely that they would have conquered most of Italy with little trouble, a feat accomplished by the French a few years later in 1494 and 1495. Had this occurred at this time, just as the Renaissance was getting off the ground, the history of the world would have been dramatically different.
May 03, 1481 Death of Mehmed II, the Ottoman sultan who had succeed in capturing Constantinople.
September 10, 1481 The Italian port city of Otranto is recaptured from the Turks.
1483 The Inca Empire is established in Peru.
1487 Spanish forces capture Malaga from the Moors.
1492 Christopher Columbus discovers the Americas in the name of Spain, launching an era of extensive European exploration and conquest.
1492 Bajazet II, Sultan of Turkey, invades Hungary and defeats the Hungarian army at the Save River.
January 02, 1492 Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, later benefactors of Christopher Columbus, end Muslim rule in Spain by conquering Granada, last Muslim stronghold. Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, later benefactors of Christopher Columbus, end Muslim rule in Spain. With the help of Torquemada, Grand Inquisitor, they also force the conversion or expulsion of all Jews in Spain.
1493 Dalmatia and Croatia are invaded by the Turks.
November 06, 1494 Birth of Sulieman (Süleyman) "the Magnificent," sultan of the Ottoman Empire. During Sulieman's reign the Ottoman Empire would reach the height of its power and influence.
1499 Venice goes to war with the Turks and the Venetian fleet is defeated at Sapienza.
1499 Francisco Jime'nez forces the mass conversion of Moors in Spain despite the earlier agreement of Ferdinand and Isabella that Muslims would be allowed to keep their religion and their mosques.
1500 Moors in Granada revolt over the forced conversions but are suppressed by Ferdinand of Aragon.
May 26, 1512 Ottoman sultan Beyazid II dies and is succeeded by his son, Selim I. Selim would become the first Ottoman caliph and would double the size of the Ottoman empire, mostly in Asia and Africa.
1516 The Ottoman Turks overthrow the Mamluk Dynasty of Egypt and capture most of the country. The Mamluks do, however, remain in power under the command of the Ottomans. It is not until 1811 that Muhammad Ali, an Albanian soldier, undermines the power of the Mamluks completely.
May 1517 The Holy League is created. A union of several European powers, it is a Christian fighting force designed to combat the growing threat of Turkish expansion.
1518 Khayar al-Din, better known as Barbarossa, assumes command of the Muslim corsair fleet of the Barbary pirates. Barbarossa would become the most feared and most successful of all the Barbary pirate leaders.
September 22, 1520 Death of Selim I, Ottoman sultan. Selim became the first Ottoman caliph and doubled the size of the Ottoman empire, mostly in Asia and Africa.
February 1521 Suleiman the Magnificent leads a massive army out of Instanbul for the purpose of conquering Hungary from king Louis II.
July 1521 Ottoman Turks under Suleiman the Magnificent capture the Hungarian town of Sabac, killing the entire garrison.
August 01, 1521 Suleiman the Magnificent sends his Janissaries to assault Belgrade. Defenders manage to hold out in the citadel until the end of the month, but they were finally forced to surrender and all the Hungarians were killed - despite a promise that none would be harmed.
September 04, 1523 Suleiman the Magnificent leads the Ottoman Turks in an assault on the Hospitallers.htm">Hospitallers in Rhodes who are able to hold out until the end of the year, despite numbering just 500 knights, about 100 fighting chaplains, a thousand mercenaries, and a thousand islanders. The Turkish force, in comparison, numbers some 20,000 troops and 40,000 sailors.
December 21, 1523 The Hospitallers.htm">Hospitallers on Rhodes formally surrender to Suleiman the Magnificent and they are able to secure the right to evacuate to Malta, despite having killed tens of thousands of Turkish troops.
May 28, 1524 Birth of Selim II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire and favorite son of his father, Suleiman I. Selim had little interest in warfare and would end up spending much of his time with his harem.
January 01, 1525 The Hospitallers.htm">Hospitallers set sail from Rhodes to Malta. the capital of Malta, Valletta, is named after one of the knights at this time, Jean Parisot de al Valette from Provencal. Valette would later become head of the Order.
August 29, 1526 Battle of Mohacs: Suleiman the Magnificent defeats Louis II of Hungary after just two hours of fighting, leading to the Ottoman annexation of much of Hungary.
1529 Turkish calvary arrive at the Bavarian town of Regensburg. This is the farthest West that Turkish forces ever reach.
May 10, 1529 Suleiman the Magnificent sets off with 250,000 soldiers and hundreds of canon to lay siege to Vienna, capital of Charles V's Holy Roman Empire.
September 23, 1529 The vanguard of the Turkish army arrives outside the gates of Vienna, defended by just 16,000 men.
October 16, 1529 Suleiman the Magnificent gives up on the siege of Vienna.
1530 The Hospitallers.htm">Hospitallers move their base of operations to the island of Malta.
1535 Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, lands in Tunisia and sacks Tunis.
1537 Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent has construction of the walls surrounding the Old City of Jerusalem begun.
1537 Imperial troops under Charles V sack Rome.
1541 Construction of the walls surrounding the Old City of Jerusalem is completed.
July 04, 1546 Birth of Murad III, sultan of the Ottoman Empire and eldest son of Selim II. Like his father Murad would not care much for political matters, preferring instead to spend time with his harem. He fathers 103 children.
1552 Russians capture the Tartar city of Kazan.
1556 Russians capture the Tartar city of Astrakhan, far south along the Volga river, giving them access to the Caspian Sea.
May 19, 1565 Suleiman the Magnificent attacks the Hospitallers.htm">Hospitallers on Malta but is unsuccessful. Numbering just 700, the knights were aided by several European nations who saw Malta as the gateway to Europe. Tens of thousands of Turks landed at the bay of Marsasirocco.
May 24, 1565 Ottoman Turks assault the fort of St. Elmo on Malta.
June 23, 1565 The Maltese fort of St. Elmo falls to Turkish forces, but not until the defenders are able to inflict casualties that number in the thousands.
September 06, 1565 Reinforcement from Sicily finally arrive at Malta, demoralizing the Turkish troops and inciting them to abandon the siege of the remaining Christian forts.
1566 Sultan Selim II gives the Janissaries permission to marry.
May 26, 1566 Birth of Mehmed III, future sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
September 05, 1566 Death of Sulieman (Süleyman) "the Magnificent," sultan of the Ottoman Empire. During Sulieman's reign the Ottoman Empire reached the height of its power and influence.
September 06, 1566 Battle of Szigetvar: Despite having killed Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent the night before in a surprise raid, the Hungarians lose to Turkish forces.
December 25, 1568 A Morisco (Muslim convert to Christianity in Spain) uprising began when two hundred men wearing Turkish turbans entered the Moorish quarter of Madrid, killed a few guards, and looted some shops.
October 1569 Philip II of Austria orders his half-brother, Don Juan of Austria, to quell a Morisco (Muslim converts to Christianity) uprising in Alpujarras with a "war of fire and blood."
January 1570 Don Juan of Austria attacks the town of Galera. He had been instructed to kill every person inside, but he refused and let several hundred women and children go.
May 1570 Hernando al-Habaqui, commander of the garrison of Tijola, surrenders to Don Juan of Austria.
July 1570 On orders from Selim II, Ottoman sultan, Turkish forces commanded by Kara Mustafa land on Cyprus with the intent of reconquering it. Most of the island falls relatively quickly and thousands are massacred. Only Famagusta, ruled by governor Macantonia Bragadion from Venice, holds out for about a year.
September 1570 Luis de Requesens, vice-admiral for king Philip II of Austria, leads a campaign into Alpujarras that ends the Morisco uprising by devastating the entire countryside.
November 1570 A royal council in Spain decides to deal with the Moriscos by deporting them out of Grenada and scattering them all around Spain.
August 01, 1571 The Venetians under governor Macantonia Bragadion agree to surrender Famagusta on Cyprus to the Turkish invaders.
August 04, 1571 Famagusta's governor Macantonia Bragadion is taken captive by the Turks, contrary to the peace treaty already signed.
August 17, 1571 Macantonia Bragadion, his ears and nose already cut off, is flayed alive by the Turks as a signal to the people of Cyprus that a new order was upon them.
October 07, 1571 Battle of Lepanto (Aynabakhti): Muslim Turks commanded by Ali Pasha are defeated in the Gulf of Corinth by an alliance of European forces (The Holy League) under the command of Don Juan of Austria. This is the biggest naval battle in the world since the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE. The Turks lose at least 200 ships, devastating their naval forces. The morale of European Christians is significantly raised while that of Turks and Muslims is lowered. At least 30,000 soldiers and sailors die in about three hours, more casualties than in any other naval battle in history. The battle does not, however, result in any major territorial or political shifts. The famous Spanish author Cervantes participates in the battle and is wounded in his right hand.
December 24, 1574 Death of Selim II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire and favorite son of his father, Suleiman I. Selim did nothing to expand the empire, preferring instead to spend his time with his harem.
1578 Battle of al-Aqsr al-Kabir: Moroccans defeat the Portuguese, ending the latter's military excursions into Africa
October 01, 1578 Don Juan of Austria dies in Belgium.
1585 The Ottoman Empire signs a peace treaty with Spain. This would hinder the Ottomans from answering the calls for help from Queen Elizabeth I of England. Elizabeth had hoped to get the Ottomans to send several dozen galleys to aid in the defense of England against the Spanish Armada.
April 18, 1590 Birth of Ahmed I, future sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
January 15, 1595 Death of Murad III, sultan of the Ottoman Empire and eldest son of Selim II. Murad didn't care much for political matters, preferring instead to spend time with his harem. He had fathered 103 children. One, Mehmed III, succeeds Murad and has his sixteen brothers strangled to death in order to avoid any fights over who would rule.
1600 The Austrians lay siege to the town of Canissa. Among the Austrians is an English volunteer by the name of John Smith. He would later go on to help in the colonization of Virginia and marry the Indian princess Pocahontas.
December 22, 1603 Death of Mehmed III, sultan of the Ottoman Empire. He is succeeded by his 14-year-old son, Ahmed I.
Timeline of the Crusades: Ottoman Empire on the Defensive, 1600 - 1800
January 15, 1595 Death of Murad III, sultan of the Ottoman Empire and eldest son of Selim II. Murad didn't care much for political matters, preferring instead to spend time with his harem. He had fathered 103 children. One, Mehmed III, succeeds Murad and has his sixteen brothers strangled to death in order to avoid any fights over who would rule.
1600 The Austrians lay siege to the town of Canissa. Among the Austrians is an English volunteer by the name of John Smith. He would later go on to help in the colonization of Virginia and marry the Indian princess Pocahontas.
December 22, 1603 Death of Mehmed III, sultan of the Ottoman Empire. He is succeeded by his 14-year-old son, Ahmed I.
November 03, 1604 Birth of Osman II, future sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
1609 Ahmed I, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, orders the construction of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque (in English commonly called the Blue Mosque) in Istanbul.
June 16, 1612 Birth of Murad IV, future sultan of the Ottoman Empire and brother of Osman II.
November 05, 1615 Birth of Ibrahim I, future sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
November 22, 1617 Death of Ahmed I, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, apparently due to typhus. He is briefly succeed by his brother, Mustafa I, until he is deposed in favor of his young nephew and son of Ahmed I, Osman II.
1619 Ottoman sultan Osman II leads the Janissaries to defeat at the Battle of Chotin in Poland. Osman would blame the defeat on the Janissaries. Osman recognizes that the Janissaries, as a semi-autonomous force, pose a serious threat to him so he tries to have their power cut.
May 22, 1622 Death of Osman II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire - he is strangled by his own Janissaries because he had tried to limit their power. He is briefly succeed by Mustafa I, his uncle, whom he had been deposed several years earlier.
1623 Persian armies invade Iraq, capturing the capital of Baghdad.
1625 According to some estimates, there are around 20,000 Christian slaves in Algiers alone.
1627 Barbary Corsairs appear in Iceland and carry off hundreds of captives for the slave markets in North Africa. For Europeans, the Turkish and Muslim threat to their existence was very real and very frightening.
1638 Ottoman Turks recapture Baghdad, Iraq, and execute nearly the entire 30,000 man garrison.
1638 Murad IV abolishes the tribute of Christian children from the Balkans, requiring the Janissaries to find new recruits elsewhere.
1640 Death of Murad IV, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, due to cirrhosis of the liver. He is succeeded by his brother, Ibrahim I, despite Murad's last-minute order to have Ibrahim executed.
January 02, 1642 Birth of Mehmed IV, future sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
April 15, 1642 Birth of Suleiman II, future sultan of the Ottoman Empire and brother of Mehmed IV.
February 25, 1643 Birth of Ahmed II, future sultan of the Ottoman Empire and son of sultan Ibrahim I.
1645 Ottoman Turks attack the island of Crete, at the time ruled by Venice, and lay siege to the city of Candia. In response Venice sends a fleet to blockade Istanbul.
1646 Venetian forces capture Tenedos (today: Bozcaada), gateway to the Dardanelles.
August 1648 Death of Ibrahim I, sultan of the Ottoman Empire, who is strangled by his own Janissaries. He is succeeded by his son, Mehmed IV, who is just 6 years old.
1656 Battle of the Dardanelles
1664 Battle of St. Gothard: Count Raimundo Montecuccoli smashes a much larger Ottoman army east of Budapest.
February 06, 1664 Birth of Mustafa II, future sultan of the Ottoman Empire and son of Mehmed IV.
1669 After more than 20 years, Ottoman Turks finally capture the city of Candia, ensuring that Crete becomes a part of the Ottoman Empire.
1672 The Ottoman Turks launch a war against Poland, defeating the armies under John Sobieski. The Ottoman Empire would annex Podolia and the Ukraine while Poland would be forced to pay an annual tribute.
December 30, 1673 Birth of Ahmed III, future sultan of the Ottoman Empire and son of Mehmed IV
1681 Combined Polish and Russian forces recapture territory lost to the Ottoman Turks.
March 31, 1683 An army of at least 250,000 troops, the last great Ottoman assault on Christian Europe, departs Edirne for Vienna, Austria.
July 14, 1683 Second siege of Vienna by the Ottoman Turks begins, this time ostensibly in support of a Hungarian uprising against Austrian rule. It would end so quickly and disastrously that large amounts of money and equipment is left behind in the rush to retreat.
September 05, 1683 Around sixty thousand Polish and German soldiers, mostly volunteers, gather together on the Kahlenberg mountain (northwest of Vienna) under the command of Polish leader John Sobieski (now King John III of Poland). Their intent is to help lift the siege against Vienna.
September 12, 1683 Polish and German forces attack the encamped Turks who had been besieging Vienna for the past two months. It is a complete rout and the Turks flee back to Istanbul in a panic.
1685 Battle of Gran: Charles of Lorraine defeats the Ottoman Turks.
1687 Ottoman sultan Mehmed IV is deposed and replaced with his younger brother, Suleiman II.
1688 Budapest is recaptured from the Turks by Prince Max Emmanuel of Bavaria.
1690 Turkish forces occupy Kosovo, forcing thousands of Serbs to flee to Hungary.
1691 Death of Suleiman II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire. He is succeed by his brother, Ahmed II.
1691 Battle of Slankamen: Austrians under Prince Louis of Baden crush the Ottoman Turks and are thus able to liberate large portions of Hungary.
1693 Death of Mehmed IV, deposed sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
1695 Death of Ahmed II, sultan of the Ottoman Empire. He is succeeded by Mustafa II.
August 02, 1696 Birth of Mahmud I, future sultan of the Ottoman Empire and son of Mustafa II.
1697 Battle of Zenta: In an effort to reconquer Hungary, Sultan Mustafa II personally leads the Ottoman Turks to a crushing defeat at the hands of Eugene of Savoy. This loss causes the Turks to sue for peace with European powers.
January 26, 1699 Peace Treaty of Carlowitz: Signed between the Hapsburgs of Austria and the Ottoman Turks, the Turks surrender Hungary, Transylvania, Croatia, and Slovenia to the Hapsburgs, Morea in Greece to the Venetian Republic, and Moldavia to Poland. For most historians this marks the real beginning of the end for the Ottoman Empire. With this treaty, European fears of the Turks come to a close.