Representatives from across the Holy Roman Empire would gather at the Reichstag, where these politicians would choose the next king who would be declared emperor only after he was crowned by the Pope. The emperors depended on the Reichstag to supply him money for war and other activities. In 1314, there was a disagreement between two factions on whether Louis of Bavaria or Frederick of Austria should be crowned king. Pope John XXII didn’t recognize either as emperor, so they went to war. 

In 1322, Louis defeated Frederick, but refused to appear at the Papal court so the Pope excommunicated him. Incensed, Louis proceeded to call Pope John a heretic and marched with his army to Rome. Once in Rome, Louis declared Nicholas V the new Pope, causing Romans to riot against Louis. Further outrage ensued after German soldiers stole bread from the market, resulting in rioting. This caused Louis to be forced to return to Germany and Pope John was able to take control of the papacy again.

After this incident, support of Louis dissolved, so he tried desperately to apologize to the Pope, but this failed. Instead, Charles IV was crowned Holy Roman Emperor instead and governed respectably, lowering taxes and managing the realm adeptly. Emperor Frederick III (r. 1440-1493) lost many lands to Hungary during his long reign, but these territories would be taken back during the reign of Maximilian I (r. 1508-1519).

In 1469, the Iberian kingdoms of Aragon and Castile were brought together when Queen Isabella of Castile and King Ferdinand of Aragon married. This alliance unified Spain as a singular nation and consolidated it into a strong, centralized government. Unlike other European nations, Spain did not pay much attention to the Pope, and enjoyed broad tax exemptions, independent court systems, and kings that were able to choose their own bishops. From 1482-1492, the Spanish conquered Grenada, which was the last Muslim stronghold on the Iberian peninsula. This completed the Reconquista, an era lasting from 718 to 1492. 

Previously, the Emirate of Granada paid tribute to Spain, but in 1466, this practice stopped. After a 10 year war, the Spanish sieged out Granada, which fell in 1492. The Spanish allowed Muslims keep their religion and let them be governed by their own rulers, that is, until the Spanish Inquisition. During this famous period, Spain sought to cleanse the country of all non-Christians, so they forcibly converted or deported hundreds of thousands of Muslims, making Spain a fully Catholic nation. In 1492, King Ferderinad also issued a decree which exiled all Jews from Spain, sending 200,000 of them to North Africa. 

After the fall of the Byzantine Empire to the Ottomans in 1453, the Ottomans blocked the Silk Road to Europe in order to prevent Europeans from trading with India and China. The Silk Road had been used all throughout the late middle ages, and supplied Europe with valuable goods like gunpowder and silk. Therefore Europeans looked for a different route to Asia, preferably by sea. 

A Portuguese explorer named Prince Henry the Navigator (1394-1460) tried to sail around the horn of Africa to get to India. Although he never made it to his destination, Henry established trading outposts in Western Africa and traded with sub-Saharan Africans, eventually buying slaves from them and bringing them to Europe for the first time. In 1488, another Portuguese explorer Bartholomew Dias discovered the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa and made it to the Indian Ocean multiple times to trade with the locals in India. 

Vasco Da Gama (1460-1524) took four ships to Africa and India in 1497 and was the first European to successfully sail to India by sea. The Portuguese occupied Eastern India and Macao in Southern China, and started trading spices with the locals. Since Portugal dominated the eastern sphere, Spain decided to find a sea route in the West. 

Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) was an Italian merchant who was assigned by the Spanish crown the task of sailing westward through the Atlantic. On the 12th of October, 1492, Columbus and his crew landed on the Island of San Salvador, in the Bahamas, marking (possibly) the first discovery of the Americas by Europeans. Columbus later discovered the island of Cuba and Hispaniola (Haiti), where he established trading outposts and brought West African slaves to the Caribbean since the Spanish had outlawed enslaving the natives. 

The city of Florence, Italy, was an industrial and banking center during the Renaissance and was known for its production of wool. The city-state had an oligarch-republican government and all legislation had to be approved by two assemblies. Starting in 1434 Florence was ruled by a group of rich families and civic humanism became popular within the Florentine culture during the era. To get into political office, you had to be received for eligibility. Girolamo Savonarola was an influential figure there, and preached against corruption and the loss of morality in the Church.

Also republican, the northern city of Venice was a hub of trade, shipbuilding, and commerce. By the 16th century, Venice had become a rich industrial center as well. Venice’s ships were built and owned by the government, and the city had a large Byzantine influence rather than a western one. Built on an island, Venice had to be expanded due to its growth. 

North central Italy was home to the major medieval city of Milan, which was Italy’s strongest land-based city with the power of trade and manufacturing. Exceedingly wealthy, Milan was often fought over by France and the Holy Roman Empire. The city was ruled by influential families, notably the Visconti family. Gian Galeazzo Visconti expanded the power of Milan to Tuscany and even to Florence before his death in 1402. In 1494, King Charles VIII of France was successful in taking Naples from Spain. France also gained Pisa, Florence, and Rome, but only before French troops succumbed to disease. Undeterred, France would continue to try to get a foothold in Italy in the coming years. 

Louis XI of France (r. 1461-1483) was committed to centralizing his country, so he sought to take power from all local leaders such as barons, dukes, bishops, and princes. Led by his brother Charles, a force of 500 nobles revolted against him in 1465, forcing the king to give Charles control over Normandy. Louis soon regained Normandy and accomplished his goal of centralizing France by the end of his reign. King Charles VIII (r. 1483-1498) dreamed of recapturing Jerusalem, but instead made a claim on the Italian city of Naples, where the people welcomed him as ruler. However, Charles left Naples after an alliance of nations compelled him to flee, and he died soon after in 1498. 

The French crown passed to Charles’s nephew, Louis XII (r. 1498-1515). Under Louis’s reign, there was tremendous prosperity, reduced taxation, and a stamping out of corruption. Louis attempted to invade Italy multiple times, but none of these wars yielded much of anything for France.

In 1422, King Henry V of England passed away, and his 9-month-old son Henry VI was crowned king. Thirty years into his reign, King Henry VI was impelled to resign after losing his sanity and regents plunged England into debt after the loss in the Hundred Years War. This caused two houses to fight over the English crown: the House of Lancaster and the House of York, sparking the War of the Roses (1455-1487).

Henry Tudor of Lancaster was victorious over Richard III of York and took the English throne as King Henry VII. He also married Elizabeth of York, Richard’s sister, uniting the two houses. Henry VII increased taxes but based it on class and kept expenses lower than income. He restored order and helped to make England stable again after years of conflict.