I think Chichen Itza is a super fascinating topic within the Middle Ages timeline as it is outside of the general scope that people think of when they think of the Middle Ages. It is a city of the Mayan and Toltec culture in the Americas and is largely separated from the rest of the world and its influence so it is really interesting to see in what ways they advanced and what inspired them in contrast to the rest of the world.

there is some speculation that Chichen Itza had been abandoned by the time that the league became a recognized power.

here are a few important buildings within Chichen Itza that are usually looked at the most. The first one is El Castillo. El Castillo is a large pyramid structure with 91 steps on each side of it and then a larger step as a sort of platform at the top which totals 365 steps. This is equal to the same number of days there are in a solar year which they knew at the time. The pyramid also has some functions during the spring and fall equinoxes where it creates shapes with the shadows that are cast onto it. The other notable building is El Caracol or ‘the observatory’. This building really highlights how advanced the people who built it were as it is built with its doors and windows perfectly aligned with the movements of the Sun, stars and planets, especially Venus. The final major spot was a cenote where the Mayan people would conduct a ritual to the rain god Chaac. During this ritual, people would be thrown into the cenote along with valuables such as Gold and Jade as sacrifices. The legends of this ritual were confirmed when bones and valuables were dug up from one of the major cenotes in 1904. 

Chichen Itza is an old Mesoamerican city that was built by the Mayan people in the year 600 and then was expanded upon by the Toltec people in the year 900. It is around 16 square kilometers in size. Eventually by the year 1200 Chichen Itza was slowly abandoned due to mostly unknown reasons all though there are some reasons that could be viable. Overall Chichen Itza is a larger city in south western Mexico in the Yucatan Peninsula. It was one of the greatest Mayan cities and was a large economic hub all throughout the Americas which was proven by the different forms of silks as well as currencies that have been excavated from the city.

In his 1520 Prelude on the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, Luther examined the validity of the seven sacraments as they were practiced by the Roman Catholic church.[4] When one of the sacraments, the communion, was performed in the church, the priests would consume both the wine and the bread; believed to become the blood and body of Christ through a process conducted by priests called Transubstantiation. The common folk were only permitted to consume the bread, further emphasizing that the priests were closer to the divine than the rest of the Christians and should be afforded special privileges. Luther argued that all believers should be able to partake in communion of both kinds. He also countered popular belief by arguing that the bread and wine became the body and blood of Christ not due to intervention by priests but because of God’s will.4   It was these beliefs that undermined the authority of the clergy and set the stage for the Reformation to occur and spread throughout Western Europe, inciting events and changes that still impact our lives in the 21st century.

The Reformation was a movement within Western Christianity that questioned papal authority and the Catholic belief of redemption through good deeds, confession, and penance.1 The reformation began with Martin Luther’s posting of the 95 theses, a doctrine that outlined Luther’s disagreement with the Catholic practice of selling indulgences.[3] Selling indulgences was a practice in which members of the clergy would accept payment in exchange for the promise of forgiveness for sins. Martin Luther argued in his 95 theses that not only was this practice corrupting the church, it was also indicative of a larger problem.3 Luther believed that it was impossible to guarantee forgiveness from sins and that the only thing that could grant salvation was the grace of God. This was in contrast to the prevailing belief at the time. Importantly, this belief that only God himself could grant salvation took away from the papal authority that had been established in the church. If priests could not grant pardons or influence God’s will, there was less reason for reverence. Luther’s ideas continued to attack papal authority after his 95 theses.

The Protestant Reformation took place in the 16th century. Although it is generally agreed that the reformation officially begun when Martin Luther openly questioned the authority of the clergy by posting his 95 theses on October 31, 1517, Luther was not the first to express disagreement with the acts of the Catholic church at the time.[1] Historic opinion of what can be considered the ending of the reformation varies. The earliest possible ending can be placed in 1555 with the Peace of Augsburg that officially ended the religious struggle between Roman Catholicism and Lutheranism. The latest ending is thought to be the end of the 30 years war.[2]