Martin Luther
1483: Born at Eisleben, November 10
1484: Parents, Hans and Margaretha Luder, move family to Mansfeld, where Hans works in copper mines
1492: Attends school in Mansfeld
1497: Attends school in Magdeburg
1498: Attends school in Eisenach
1501: Enters University of Erfurt
1502: Receives B.A. at Erfurt
1505: Earns M.A. at Erfurt; begins law studies; in thunderstorm on July 2, vows to become a monk; enters Order of Augustinian Hermits
1507: Ordained and celebrates first Mass
1509: Becomes bachelor of Bible
1510: Visits Rome
1511: Transferred to Augustinian house at Wittenberg
1512: Becomes doctor of theology
1513: Begins lecturing on The Psalms
1515: Lectures on Romans; appointed district vicar over ten monasteries
1516: Begins lecturing on Galatians
1517: Begins lecturing on Hebrews; on October 31, posts “95 Theses” on indulgences
1518: At meeting of Augustinians in Heidelberg, defends his theology; in October, appears before Cardinal Cajetan at Augsburg, but refuses to recant; in December, Frederick the Wise protects Luther from being handed over to Rome.
1519: Understands the “righteousness of God” as “passive righteousness with which God justifies us by faith”; in July, debates Professor John Eck at Leipzig and denies supreme authority of popes and councils
1520: Papal bull “Exsurge Domine” gives Luther 60 days to recant or be excommunicated; writes 3 seminal documents: To the Christian Nobility, On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, and The Freedom of a Christian; burns papal bull and canon law
1521: Excommunicated by the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem; at Diet of Worms in April, he refuses to recant writings, and edict (in May) condemns him as heretic and outlaw; he is “kidnapped” and hidden at Wartburg Castle; begins translating the New Testament
1522: In March, comes out of hiding and returns to Wittenberg
1523: Writes On Temporal Authority
1524: Debates Karlstadt on the Lord’s Supper; Luther’s former superior, Staupitz, dies
1525: Writes Against the Heavenly Prophets; writes Against the Robbing and Murdering Hordes, criticizing the Peasants’ Revolt; marries Katherine von Bora; writes Bondage of the Will (against Erasmus).
1526: Writes German Mass; becomes a father (son Hans)
1527: Fights sickness and intense depression; writes “A Mighty Fortress”; daughter Elizabeth born; writes against Zwingli’s views on the Lord’s Supper
1528: Writes Great Confession Concerning Christ’s Supper; grieves over Elizabeth’s death; visits churches
1529: Attends Marburg Colloquy with Zwingli, but no agreement reached on the Lord’s Supper; publishes Large Catechism and Small Catechism; daughter Magdalena born
1530: Luther’s Father, Hans, dies; Luther, as outlaw, cannot attend the Diet of Augsburg, held in attempt to end religious division in the empire; Melanchthon presents Augsburg Confession, a statement of Lutheran beliefs
1531: Begins lecturing on Galatians; son Martin born; mother, Margaretha, dies
1532: Writes On Infiltrating and Clandestine Preachers; is given the Augustinian cloister in Wittenberg for his home
1533: Son Paul born
1534: Publishes German Bible; daughter Margaret born
1536: Agrees to Wittenberg Concord on the Lord’s Supper, in attempt to resolve differences with other reformers, but Zwinglians do not accept it
1537: Draws up Schmalkaldic Articles as his “theological last will and testament”
1538: Writes against the Jews in Against the Sabbatarians
1539: Writes On the Councils and the Church
1541: Writes Admonition to Prayer against the Turks
1542: Drafts his will; daughter Magdalena dies
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 , February 18
Other Reformers
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
1540: Calvin returns to Geneva from exile
World Events
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 à 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
1523: Clement VII becomes pope
1524: Peasant Wars begin; Diet of Nuremberg fails to enforce Edict of Worms condemning Luther
1525: Charles V defeats Francis I; Elector Frederick the Wise dies; France makes pact with Suleiman I
1526: League of Torgau formed; First Diet of Speyer postpones enforcement of Edict of Worms
1527: Imperial troops sack Rome; plague strikes Wittenberg
1529: Second Diet of Speyer decides to enforce Edict of Worms; Turks lay siege to Vienna
1531: Schmalkaldic League, a body of German Protestant groups, forms in self-defense against Charles V
1532: Elector John the Steadfast dies; Diet of Regensburg and Peace of Nuremberg guarantee religious toleration in face of Turkish threat
1533: Pizarro conquers Peru; Ivan “the Terrible” (age 3) ascends Russian throne
1534: Paul III becomes pope
1535: Emperor forms Catholic Defense League; France makes pact with Suleiman I; Thomas More beheaded for opposing Henry VIII
1539: Catholic Duke George of Saxony dies;Frankfurt Truce declared between Catholic and Protestant territories
1540: Philip of Hesse, German prince, enters bigamous marriage with consent of Luther; conferences at Hagenau and Worms fail to reconcile Protestants and Catholics
1541: At Conference of Regensburg, Melanchthon and Bucer reach agreement with Catholics on most doctrines, but Luther and Rome reject their work; Karlstadt dies
1543: Copernicus writes that earth revolves around sun; John Eck dies
1545: Ferdinand I and Suleiman I agree to truce; Council of Trent, for reform of Catholic Church, opens
1555: Peace of Augsburg allows rulers to determine religion of their region
Ken Schurb is assistant professor of religion and philosophy at Concordia College, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Copyright © 1992 by the author or Christianity Today/Christian History magazine.Click here for reprint information on Christian History.
