2 of 3

1543 Writes On the Jews and Their Lies

1544 Writes against Schwenckfeld’s interpretation of the Lord’s Supper

1545 Writes Against the Papacy at Rome, an Institution of the Devil

1546 Dies in Eisleben, February 18

1552 Katherine von Bora dies

1469 (probably) Erasmus born

1484 Ulrich Zwingli born

1491 Henry VIII born

1496 Menno Simons born

1497 Melanchthon born

1498 Savonarola burned at the stake in Florence

1505 John Knox born

1509 John Calvin born; Henry VIII of England begins reign and marries Catherine of Aragon

1516 Erasmus publishes Greek New Testament

1518 Melanchthon becomes professor of Greek at Wittenburg

1519 Zwingli begins New Testament sermons; Swiss reformation is born

1521 Religious unrest in Wittenberg: private masses abolished, Karlstadt serves Communion in both elements, religious statues destroyed; Melanchthon writes Loci Communes; Pope titles Henry VIII “Defender of the Faith” for attacking Luther’s views of the sacraments; “Zwickau prophets,” early Anabaptists, arrive in Wittenberg

1522 Zwingli’s first Reformation debates; Ignatius Loyola begins work on Spiritual Excercises

1523 First two Reformation martyrs burned at the stake in Belgium

1524 Erasmus’s On Freedom of the Will

1525 Anabaptist movement begins in Zurich, spreads to Germany

1526 Reformation spreads to Sweden and Denmark

1527 First Protestant university (Marburg) founded

1528 Bern, Switzerland, becomes Protestant

1529 Name Protestant first used

1531 Zwingli killed in battle

1534 Henry VIII becomes supreme head of Church of England

1535 Anabaptist uprising at Münster put down, and Anabaptists executed

1536 First edition of Calvin’s Institutes; William Tyndale, Bible translator, burned at stake; Denmark and Norway become Lutheran; Erasmus dies

1538 Calvin expelled from Geneva

1540 Society of Jesus (Jesuits) formed

1541 Calvin returns to Geneva from exile

1547 Henry VIII dies

1452 Leonardo da Vinci born

1453 Turks capture Contantinople

1455 Gutenberg completes printing the Bible using movable type

1469 Lorenzo de’ Medici rules Florence;
Ferdinand and Isabella marry

1470 Portuguese explorers discover Gold Coast of Africa

1471 Thomas á Kempis, author of The Imitation of Christ, dies

1473 Copernicus born

1478 Spanish Inguisition set up

1485 Treaty of Leipzig divides Saxony

1492 Spanish forces conquer city of Granada, expelling Islamic Moors from Iberian peninsula; Columbus’s first voyage to the Americas

1493 The pope divides the New World between Spain and Portugal

1495 Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper”

1497 John Cabot reaches coast of Newfoundland; Vasco de Gama discovers west coast of India

1498 Albrecht Durer paints Apocalypse

1499 Swiss gain independence

1500 Future Charles V born

1502 Frederick, elector of Saxony, founds Wittenberg University

1506 Pope Julius orders work on St. Peter’s in Rome; Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa”

1508 Michelangelo begins painting Sistine Chapel ceiling

1509 Erasmus writes In Praise of Folly

1510 First shipload of African slaves arrives in Hispaniola (Haiti)

1513 Leo X (Giovanni Medici) pope; Balboa discovers the Pacific Ocean

1514 Albert of Brandenburg becomes elector and archbishop of Mainz

1516 Thomas More publishes Utopia; Concordat of Bologna assures French Catholic autonomy

1517 Tetzel hired by Albert of Mainz to sell indulgences

1519 Charles I of Spain is elected Holy Roman Emperor Charles V; Cortes enters Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan

1520 Suleiman I becomes sultan of the Ottoman Empire (Turks)

1521 Pope Leo X dies, succeeded by Hadrian VI

1522 Magellan’s expedition completes circumnavigation of globe; German knights organize against the emperor; France attacks Charles V; Diet of Nuremberg defers action on Edict of Worms

next page... |  2 of 3

share this page

FREE E-Newsletter Sign up for the ChristianHistory.net e-mail newsletter. Discover more about your Christian heritage with this weekly e-newsletter that features key people, topics, and events from the history of Christianity.      RSS Feed   RSS Help