Timeline

Great Famine (1315-1322)

Black Death (1347-1349)
The onset of the Plague caused mass death throughout Europe. Repeated epidemics for the next few centuries meant that the population declined by half by 1400, and only began to increase again in mid-15th century.
Text: Boccaccio. The Plague from The Decameron
Text: Jean de Venette. The Plague in Paris
Text: The Black Death and the Jews 1348-1349 CE
Photo: Death Triumphant
Weblink: Discovery Online: The Black Death

Papal Schism (1378-1415)
When the pope decided to return to Rome in 1377, there was much opposition, especially from French cardinals. At the papal election of 1378, a new Italian pope was elected, but the French cardinals refused to accept his election and elected their own candidate as pope, thus creating a schism that lasted over forty years and severely damaged the reputation and power of the papacy.
Text: The Great Schism: Manifesto of the Revolting Cardinals, 1378.

Fall of Constantinople (1453)
The conquest of Constantinople marked the end of the Byzantine Empire, but not the end of Byzantine culture, which continued in the traditions of the Greek Orthodox Church, in Serbia, and in Russia.
Text: The Fall of Constantinople 1453
Text: Eulogy of Istanbul, from The Counsels of Nabi Efendi to his Son Aboul Khair
Image: Growth of the Ottoman Empire From the Early 14th Century Till 1512
Weblink: Byzantine Studies Site

Conquest of Granada (1492)
Following the conquest of Granada by Ferdinand and Isabella, Muslims and Jews living in Spain were forced to convert or leave.
Text: The Expulsion from Spain, 1492 Account by an Italian Jew.
Image: Spanish Jews, 14th Cent: Fresco with Jews Wearing the Roule.