Time Line of Key Events

in the
Ottoman Advance

1302 Death of Osman, founder of the Ottoman Dynasty

1345 1352 Ottomans ally with Byzantine Empire and begin establishing a foothold
in Europe
1389 Battle on the Kosovo Field (June 15th)
1396 Crusade of Nicopolis defeated by Ottoman forces
1400 1402 Byzantine emperor Manuel II visits Western courts seeking aid against
the Ottomans
1439 Union between Eastern Orthodox and Latin churches proclaimed at the
Council of Florence
1444 Crusade of Varna defeated by Ottoman forces under Murad
1451 1481 Reign of Sultan Mehmed II
1453 Constantinople besieged and captured by Mehmed II (May 29th)
1458 1464 Reign of Pope Pius II; Congress of Mantua (1459/1460) and aborted
crusade that ends in Ancona with Piuss death
1463 Bosnia annexed by Ottoman Empire
1463 1479 Venice at war with Ottoman Empire
1470 Loss of Venetian colony of Negroponte to Ottoman forces
1480 Rhodes successfully defended by Knights of Saint John; Otranto in
southern Italy falls to Ottoman invaders
1481 Otranto recovered by Christian forces
1499 1503 Venice at war with Ottoman Empire
1529 Vienna besieged by Suleiman I; successfully defended by Christian
forces
1571 Battle of Lepanto (October 7th): A fleet of the Holy League, of which
the Venetian Empire and the Spanish Empire were the main powers,
inflicted a major defeat on the fleet of the Ottoman Empire in the Gulf
of Patras, where the Ottoman forces sailing westwards from their naval
station in Lepanto (the Venetian name of ancient Mapajtor) met the
fleet of the Holy League sailing east from Messina, Sicily.
The Holy League credited the victory to the Virgin Mary, whose intercession with
God they had implored for victory through the use of the Rosary. Andrea Doria had
kept a copy of the miraculous image of Our Lady of Guadalupe given to him by King
Philip II of Spain in his ships state room. Pope Pius V instituted a new Catholic feast
day of Our Lady of Victory to commemorate the battle, which is now celebrated by
the Catholic Church (on the first sunday of October) as the feast of Our Lady of the
Rosary/Festum [now Memoria] B. Mariae Virginis a Rosario (formerly known as the
feast of Our Lady of Victory/Festum Sanctae Mariae de Victoria).