Our Family History

The Genealogy of Robert and Christina Barritt

1440 - 1498 (58 years)

	Date	Event(s)
1	1441	1441: Africa - Portuguese navigators cruise West Africa and reestablish slave trade
2	1444	1444: Italy - Nicholas of Cusa denied that the earth could be at the center of the universe since the universe is unbounded and made several astronomical claims including that the Earth moved around the sun, the stars were other suns, and had inhabited worlds. He also performed the first modern, formal biological experiment from which he concluded that plants absorb nourishment from the air. 1444: Germany - Any merchant caught selling adulterated saffron in Bavaria was burned alive.
3	1449	1449: Italy - Lorenzo de Medici of Florence was born. Many in this Italian noble family were patrons of learning and the arts. Lorenzo's great granddaughter, Catherine, is known as the 'mother of French haute cuisine' because when she married the French king Henry II, she brought the finest Italian chefs, and her passion for fine food, with her to France.
4	1450	1450: England - Insurrection of Jack Cade in Kent, marches to London, beheads several of King's ministers.
5	1452	1452: England - Wars of the Roses (to 1497), N and W = Lancaster, S and E = York
6	1453	1453: France - Bordeaux falls to the French, Hundred Years' War ends; England's only French possession is Calais 1453: Turkey - Turks overrun Constantinople, shutting off the overland trade route
7	1454	1454: England - Henry VI becomes insane; Richard, Duke of York, becomes regent
8	1455	1455: England - Henry VI recovers. Richard of York is replaced by Somerset and excluded from the Royal Council; Battle of St. Albans. Somerset defeated and killed
9	1459	1459: England - William Caxton invents printing press with movable type, starts printing books in English and Latin
10	1460	30 Dec 1460: England - Battle of Wakefield. Richard of York is defeated and killed; Earl of Warwick (the Kingmaker) captures London for the Yorkists; Battle of Northampton: Henry VI is captured by Yorkists
11	1461	1461: England - Edward IV, ruler of England to 1483. House of York: Great-great-grandson of Edward III, son of Duke of York. 2 Feb 1461: England - Battle of Mortimer's Cross and Battle of Towton: Richard's son, Edward of York, defeats Lancastrians and becomes king
12	1465	1465: Germany - Drypoint engraving invented. 1465: England - The first written account of knitting appears in England.
13	1467	1467: France - Silk industry established in Lyon with Italian workers.
14	1470	1470: Africa - Portuguese explorations begin to discover Africa's Gold Coast and the Congo River 1470: England - Edward IV deposed by Earl of Warwick, Henry VI restored to throne
15	1471	1471: England - Battle of Barnet. Edward IV defeats and kills Warwick; Henry VI dies, probably murdered in the Tower of London
16	1475	1475: Turkey - World's first coffee shop opens in Constantinople 1475: Italy, Germany - Muzzle-loaded rifles invented in Italy and Germany. 29 Aug 1475: France - Edward IV invades France; Treaty of Picquigny between England and France
17	1476	1476: Westminster, England - William Caxton sets up printing press
18	1482	1482: Italy - Leonardo da Vinci began his notebooks in pursuit of evidence that the human body is microcosmic, which, by 1510-1511, included dissections of the human body. These notebooks, which circulated in manuscript copies, also contained his thoughts on the impossibility of perpetual motion, dynamics, statics, numerous machines, and other matters.
19	1483	1483: England - Death of Edward IV; Edward V, King of England; he is deposed by his uncle, Richard III, King of England (to 1485); Edward V and his brother are murdered in the Tower of London 1483: Italy - Leonardo da Vinci sketches an early parachute.
20	1484	1484: England - William Caxton prints Morte D'Arthur, the poetic collection of legends about King Arthur compiled by Sir Thomas Malory
21	1485	1485: England - Battle of Bosworth Field: Henry Tudor, with men, money and arms provided by Charles VIII of France, defeats and kills Richard III in the decisive (but not final) battle of the Wars of the Roses. 1485: England - Henry VII Gaunt, ruler of England to 1508. House of Tudor: Son of Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, whose father had married the widow of Henry V; descended from Edward III through his mother, Mary Beaufort, via John of Gaunt. By marriage with daughter of Edward IV he united Lancaster and York.
22	1486	1486: South Africa - Bartolomeu Dias sailed around the Cape of Good Hope, initiating an era of sea faring discoveries. 1486: Italy - In Venice, the first known copyright is granted.
23	1487	1487: England - Passage of Enclosure Act, fencing of formerly common lands deprives peasants of livelihood, causes roaming bands of vagabonds,leads to Poor Laws. 1487: England - Bell chimes invented. 16 Jun 1487: England - Battle of Stoke Field: In final engagement of the Wars of the Roses, Henry VII, defeats Yorkist army 'led' by Lambert Simnel (who was impersonating Edward, the nephew of Edward IV, the only plausible royal alternative to Henry, who was confined in the Tower of London).
24	1492	1492: Italy - Leonardo da Vinci first to seriously theorize about flying machines. 1492: England - Martin Behaim invented the first map globe. 12 Oct 1492: America - Christopher Columbus 'discovers' America at 2am
25	1494	1494: Tordseillas, Spain - The Treaty of Tordesillas divides the world between Spain and Portugal for the alleged purpose of spreading Christianity 1494: Scotland - Whisky invented in Scotland. 1494: Jamaica - Columbus landed and met the Arawak Indians. The Arawak used Jamaican pimento (allspice) to season and smoke meat (usually pigs), the foundation upon which Jamaican Jerk developed.
26	1495	1495: Scotland - The first written mention of Scotch whisky is in the Exchequer Rolls of Scotland. A Friar John Cor was the distiller.
27	1496	1496: England - Henry VII joins the Holy League; commercial treaty between England and Netherlands.
28	1497	1497: Canada - John Cabot discovers Newfoundland 1497: South Africa - In a two-year voyage, Vasco da Gama rounds the Cape of Good Hope and reaches India

Our Family History

The Genealogy of Robert and Christina Barritt

Anton VON MEERSCHEIDT GENANNT HUELLESSEM