Media History Timeline: 1100

12th - 14th Centuries

Gallery

Chinese Calligraphy,
A Seven Word Poem
ca. 1190-1244,
Yeh-lu Ch'u-ts'ai

Mayan Codex
ca. 1250

Late 13th Century
medical text,
translation of
Hippocrates,
with glosses

Chinese calligrapher
Zhao Mengfu
landscape, 1294

Chinese calligrapher
Ni Zan
landscape, c.1350

1100-1399

1100: The Bayeux Tapestry depicts the Norman conquest.; 1100: Art and poetry flourish under China's Sung dynasty.; 1100: Romanesque architecture dominates Europe's churches, abbeys.; 1100: Anselm's writings; they will influence Scholastic thought for centuries.; 1100: Gothic Textus script introduced when quill pen is cut at an angle.; 1104: Gospel of St. John, written in 687 in uncial, found in St. Cuthbert’s casket.; 1115: Byzantine art, notably mosaics, reaches a peak.; 1116: Chinese sew pages to make stitched books.; 1126: In Korea, palace fire destroys library with tens of thousands of books.; 1131: Persian mathematician Omar Khayyam dies after writing the Rubáiyát.; 1140: In Egypt, cloth is stripped from mummies to make paper.; 1140: Winchester Bible written, with Romanesque illumination.; 1140: The University of Bologna, is founded as a center for the study of law.; 1142: French logician Peter Abelard dies; best known for doomed love of Héloïse.; 1147: Crusader taken prisoner escapes with papermaking art, according to a legend.; 1147: Benedictine nun, Hildegard of Bingen, publishes visionary Scivias.; 1148: Anna Comnena, daughter of Byzantine emperor, writes history of her time.
: 1150: England's Adelard of Bath dies after translating Arabic algebra book into Latin.; 1150: Cambodia's Hindu temple at Angkor Wat is completed.; 1150: Start of 350 years of Middle English.; 1150: Caliph of Baghdad orders burning of books by philosopher Avicenna.; 1150: Koreans start printing books from movable type.; 1151: French abbot Suger dies after developing Gothic architecture.; 1151: Papermill built at Jativa, Spain, under the Moors may be first in Europe.; 1154: Monks discontinue Anglo-Saxon Chronicle after 183 years.; 1158: Hildegard completes "symphony" of 77 songs.; 1158: Peter Lombard's Four Books of Sentences are grounding for Scholasticism.; 1161: Ibn Daud's works establish him as the first Jewish Aristotelian.; 1168: Oxford University is founded.; 1168: Maimonides' Commentary on the Mishnah shows Aristotelian influence.; 1180: German minnesingers entertain with love songs.; 1190: Aristotelian views of Islamic philospher Ibn Rushd; they will influence Aquinas.; 1190: Maimonides' Guide to the Perplexed reconciles Judaism, Aristotelianism.; 1194: Emir of Seville, Spain, begins burning of books of philosophy and logic.; 1195: Pictorial encyclopedia composed and illustrated by Herrad of Landsberg.
1198: Averro‘s, Spanish-Arab philosopher, dies; work on Aristotle preceded Renaissance.
: 1200: The University of Paris is granted its charter, starts mail, messenger service.; 1200: Books are copied and sold for profit by stationers, usually at universities.; 1200: Tales of love and chivalry, based on an Arab practice, are sung by troubadors.; 1200: European monasteries communicate by letter system.; 1200: French Dominicans begin the Inquisition to snuff out heresy.; 1200: Some religious texts are written in the English vernacular.; 1202: Leonardo Fibonacci's Liber Abaci establishes Arabic numerals in Europe.; 1204: Maimonides dies, revising his 14-volume Mishneh Torah to the last.; 1204: Crusaders pillage Eastern Orthodox Constantinople, burning art.; 1215: The Magna Carta sets limits on a king's power.; 1222: The University of Padua is founded.; 1224: The University of Naples is founded.; 1225: "The Fibonacci series" introduced in his Book of Square Numbers.; 1228: Zen Buddhist-based calligraphy spreads from China to Japan.; 1229: The University of Toulouse is founded.; 1229: In Toulouse, the Inquisition forbids laymen to read the Bible.; 1231: Cambridge University is founded.; 1229: The Bezels of Wisdom explain Sufi faith, an Islamic offshoot.; 1234: Koreans use movable metal type.; 1244: The University of Rome is founded.
: 1253: In Paris, the Sorbonne University is founded.; 1262: Birth of Guan Daoshang, most famous of Chinese women artists.; 1267: Roger Bacon builds a camera obscura to show optical illusions.; 1268: Roger Bacon's On Experimental Science supports inductive reasoning.; 1270: Bishop of Paris formally condemns doctrines of radical Aristotelians.; 1270: Syrian scholar compiles an encyclopedia.; 1273: Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica melds Christian, Aristotelian thought.; 1273: Persian poet Mawlana, creator of "whirling dervishes" hypnotic dancing, dies.; 1276: At Fabriano, Italy, the first paper mill is built in Christian Europe.; 1280: Mechanical clocks using weights and gears gradually replace water clocks.; 1280: In China, Kublai Khan establishes a pony express.; 1282: In the Fabriano mill, watermarks are added to paper.; 1283: Thailand gets its own alphabet.; 1285: Eyeglasses are invented in Italy, but correcting only for far-sightedness.; 1290: Beatrice, the inspiration of Dante, dies.; 1290: French astronomer Guillaume de Saint Cloud describes concept of a camera.; 1298: Marco Polo tells of paper money in China. Few Europeans believe such nonsense.
: 1300: Wooden type is used in central Asia.; 1300: British monk John Duns Scotus writes Treatise on God as First Principle.; 1305: Taxis family begins private postal service in Europe.; 1309: Paper is made in England.; 1313: In Florence, Giotto prefigures modern painting.; 1321: Dante Alighieri dies after completing his epic poem, The Divine Comedy.; 1325: Legends of King Arthur are written.; 1328: In England, William of Occam postulates "Razor" law of parsimony, simplicity.; 1333: Petrarch's discovery of classical manuscripts helps bring on the Renaissance.; 1337: Giotto dies. His paintings will influence the great Renaissance artists.; 1338: A paper mill operates in France.; 1340: The madrigal, a form of vocal chamber music, originates in northern Italy.; 1342: In France, mathematician Levi ben Gershon writes theory of photography.
: 1350: In Milan, a public striking clock.; 1353: Giovanni Boccaccio's Decameron tells tales of earthy love and intrigue.; 1373: The Bibliotheque Nationale housed in the Louvre, catalogues 1,000 volumes.; 1378: In England, the Great Schism; Lollards say lay people can interpret the Bible.; 1382: French scholar Nicolas Oresme dies. His Book of Divinations attacks astrology.; 1384: John Wyclif dies after overseeing completion of Bible translated into English.; 1387: Geoffrey Chaucer writes The Canterbury Tales.; 1390: The first paper mill in Germany.; 1392: Koreans have a type foundry to produce bronze characters.; 1395: Improved version of the Wyclif Bible is completed.; 1399: Johannes Gutenberg born; his invention will usher in the "modern age ".