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c. 280s Antony withdraws to the Egyptian desert

312/313 Constantine becomes a Christian; Edict of Milan calls for persecution of Christians to end

c. 320 Pachomius, founder of cenobitic (communal) monasticism in Egypt, receives his first disciples

325 Council of Nicaea approves creed proclaiming that Christ is divine in the same way as the Father

356 Antony dies; Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, writes The Life of Antony

370 Basil the Great, monastic founder in Cappadocia, becomes bishop of Caesarea; he writes principles of ascetic life

early 370s Semi-hermits gather around Martin of Tours in Gaul; he later establishes a monastery that eventually becomes Benedictine

374 Melania the Elder establishes a monastery of women in Jerusalem; Rufinus follows in 380 and establishes a monastery of men

385 Jerome leaves Rome to follow monastic life in the East; his colleague Paula follows soon after

386 Augustine reads Latin translation of The Life of Antony and converts to Christianity soon after

c. 395 Paulinus removes to Nola, where he leads an ascetic life

404 Jerome translates rules of Pachomius into Latin

407-8 Destruction of Scetis, major center of hermits in Egyptian desert

410 Fall of Rome (city sacked by Goths)

410 Cassian writes Conferences in Latin, allowing Westerners to read about Eastern monastic traditions

451 Council of Chalcedon defines the two natures of Christ

455 Rome sacked again by Vandals

476 Romulus, the last Western Roman emperor, deposed by barbarian leader Odoacer

c. 480 Benedict is born in Nursia, Italy

489 Theodoric the Great, king of Ostrogoths, invades Italy and deposes Odoacer

c. 493 Benedict leaves Nursia to study in Rome

c. 502-505 Benedict lives as a hermit in a cave

c. 507-529 Benedict builds 13 monasteries

526 Theodoric dies, opening Italy to more invasions

c. 529 Benedict moves his monks to Monte Cassino

c. 530 Benedict writes his Rule

540 Gregory (the Great), Benedict's first biographer, is born

547 Traditional date of Benedict's death (March 21)

558 Abbey of Germain-des-Pres founded in France

563 Irish missionary monk Columba goes with 12 companions to Iona, Scotland; Celtic Christianity spreads to Scotland and other Anglo-Saxon territories

568 Lombards invade Italy

c. 580s Monte Cassino is destroyed by Lombards; monks flee to Rome, carrying a copy of Benedict's Rule

590 Gregory, by now a Benedictine monk, becomes pope (reluctantly)

c. 590 Irish missionary monk Columbanus leaves Ireland for Gaul; later writes rule at Luxeuil, one of the Celtic monasteries that he established in the region

593 Pope Gregory writes Dialogues, including account of Benedict's life

597 Pope Gregory sends Augustine of Canterbury as missionary to England

629-670 Abbacy of Walbert of Luxeuil, who ushered in the period of "mixed rules" in Gaul by combining Columbanus's Rule with Benedict's

632 Mohammed dies in Mecca

663 Synod of Whitby convenes to work out conflicts between Celtic and Roman Christian practices in England; decides in favor of Roman practices, including date of Easter

680 Bede enters the cloister at Jarrow, England

c. 696 Rupert of Worms founds St. Peter's Abbey in Salzburg as part of mission to the South Alps

c. 717 Monte Cassino is refounded; revives observance of Benedict's Rule in Italy

720s English missionary monk Boniface sets up monastic foundations in present-day Germany

731 Bede completes Ecclesiastical History of the English People

782 Charlemagne, King of the Franks, invites Alcuin to lead palace school, where he teaches the seven liberal arts

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