1450-1469 Gutenberg Invents Printing Press, Constantinople Falls

This twenty year period covers the reign of Henry VI whose kingship was usurped in 1461 by the Plantagenet Edward IV. In this period there was constant warfare in the world, but this period was glorious for the 1454 invention of the printing press by Gutenberg and the 1450 Italian invention of spectacles for short sightedness.

The 1425-1454 Wars in Lombardy were ongoing, and then came the 1453 Fall of Constantinople, the 1454-1466 Thirteen Years' War and the 1455-1485 Wars of the Roses.

The Turkish capture of Constantinople in 1453 was significant because it brought to an end the Byzantium Empire which, in 641, was all that remained of the former eastern Roman Empire. It was just a small area around Constantinople, exclusively Greek, which had reverted to its former Greek name - Byzantium. From 641 to 1453 the Byzantium emperors had ruled continuously.

In 1450 spectacles for short sightedness were invented in Italy and in 1454 Gutenberg invented the printing press (which later allowed humanism to spread throughout northern Europe). 

1430-1449 Portuguese Begin West Africa Slave Raids

This twenty year period covers the reign of Henry VI of England in the last year of the Roman Pope Martin V -- of the Colonna family -- who was succeeded in 1431 by Pope Eugene IV and immediately made enemies by requiring the Colonna family to relinquish wealth and land the former pope had conferred upon them.

In 1433 Eugene IV crowned the German king Sigismund Holy Roman Emperor and in 1439 -- the same year in which the Russian Orthodox church became a separate entity -- the eastern emperor John VIII Paleologus went to Florence to seek papal help against the Turks, but nothing eventuated because Eugene was experiencing a lot of trouble with the French cardinals who had appointed an antipope, Felix.

In 1447 Nicholas V succeeded Eugene with a lot of German support, and in 1449 the antipope Felix abdicated and peace was restored.

In this period there was only war in the world -- the continuing 1425-1454 Wars in Lombardy -- and considering the periods before and after, it was a relatively peaceful time.

Of course, it was anything but peaceful for the Africans because in 1433 the Portuguese begin slave-raiding along the West Africa coast and thousands of poor souls were sold into slavery, ending up in the fields or kitchens of wealthy aristocrats.

1410-1429 Venice at war with the Muslim Turks

This twenty year period covers the reign of Henry IV who died in 1413 and was succeeded by his son Henry V who died of dysentery in 1422 and was succeeded by his infant son Henry VI.

In this period there was constant warfare in the world, the most terrible war being the 1416 war between Venice and the Turks.

Venice was a thriving and very wealthy city, doing trade with all parts of the known world, and a Turkish victory would have thrown Europe even further into the Dark Ages than it was already.

Henry V's reign began and ended with bloody wars in France to claim the kingdom of France which he considered to be rightfully his in that he was married to Catherine, the daughter of the French King Charles VI.

In 1415 the Battle of Agincourt, followed by a systematic conquest of Normandy in 1417, a civilian massacre at Caen and the surrender of Rouen in 1419. 

In 1420 he entered Paris under the Treaty of Troyes -- by which Henry was to rule France -- but the Dauphin rejected the treaty. Then Henry died, leaving the succession to his infant son Henry VI.

As well as Henry V's wars, the 1409-1410 Teutonic-Polish War was coming to an end and then came the 1416 war between Venice and the Turks, the 1420-1436 Hussite Wars and the 1425-1454 Wars in Lombardy.