Drafted c. 1995. Last revision, 2024.
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1100 c. b. Peter Lombard (1160). Magister Sententiae).
1155–58 Lombard publishes Sententiarum libri quatuor (Sentences in Four Books), which will be mandated in at the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) as the standard textbook for the theology faculties. Scholars will comment on the Sentences into the late 16th century.
1200 c. Albertus Magnus (d.1280)
1215 Fourth Lateran Council
c. 1225 b. Thomas at Aquino (d. 1274)
1231 Heidelberg becomes capitol of Palatinate
1239 Thomas studies in Naples.
1240–42 Thomas studies with Albertus Magnus.
1244 Thomas becomes a Domincan Friar.
1252 Thomas joins the faculty of Theology as Magister in Paris.
1255 The Faculty of Arts in the University of Paris makes the study of Aristotle compulsory.
1261 William of Muerbecker makes a new translation of Aristotle from Greek.
1263–65 c. b. Duns Scotus Johannes just over the border in Scotland (d.1308).
1274 d. Thomas Aquinas
1285 c. b. in Surrey, William of Ockham (Occam) Venerabilis Inceptor
1291 Duns Scotus ordained in Northampton
1298–1301 Duns Scotus teaches in the Faculty of Theology in Oxford
1302 Boniface VIII issues Unam Sanctam
1308 d. John Duns Scotus in Cologne.
1327 Ockham charges Pope John XXII with heresy.
1328 c. (d.1384), John Wycliffe is born in Yorkshire.
Ockham is excommunicated and forced to flee from Pope John XXII to the protection of Louis of Bavaria to 1347.
1331 Ockham expelled from the Franciscans.
b. Geert (Gerard) de Groot (1340–84) founder of the Brethren of the Common Life.
1341 Petrarch is made poet laureate in Rome.
1347 d. William of Ockham in Bavaria.
1348 First University founded at Prague
1349 d. Thomas Bradwardine
d. Robert Holcot
1353 Boccaccio’s Decameron.
1358 d. Gregory of Rimini
1365 University of Vienna founded
1372 b. Jan Hus (1372–1415)
1374 Conversion of Geert de Groot, foundation of the Brethren of the Common Life
1378–1417 Papal schism at Avignon etc.
1380 b. Thomas a Kempis (1380–1471) most famous member of the Brethren of the Common Life, author of Imitatio Christi.
1384 d. John Wycliffe
d. Geert Groot, founder of the Brethren of the Common Life.
1386 Heidelberg University organized
1388 University of Cologne organized
1392 University of Eurfurt founded
1396 (d.) Marsilius of Ingehen, associated with the introduction of Nominalism to the University of Heidelberg.
1400 b.Nicolas of Cusa (c.1400–64)
1406 (d. 1457) Lorenzo Valla.
1409 University of Leipzig founded.
1414–19 Council of Constance ending the Papal Schism
1420 Pierre d’ Ailly d.
b. circa. Gabriel Biel (d. 1495)
1425 University of Louvain founded
1429 d. Jean Gerson
1433 b. Alexander Hegius (von Heek), German humanist.
1437 Council of Basle
1440 Lorenzo Valla’s On the True Good.
1441 Thomas a’ Kempis (van Kempen) publishes Imitatio Christi the primary example of the Devotio moderna.
1453 Fall of Constantinople: increased migration westward of Greek speaking scholars and their MSS.
1454 circa. First printing press at Mainz
1455 b. c. Jacques de d’Etaples (LeFevre/Faber Stapulensis d. 1536), French humanist and precursor to the Reformation (c.1455–1536)
Johannes Reuchlin (d. 1522), German humanist and Hebrew scholar and great uncle to Philip Melanchthon.
1450 Pope Nicholas V founds the Vatican Library.
1452 b. Leonardo daVinci (d. 1519).
1456 Johann Gutenberg publishes Latin Bible.
1460 b. Johannes von Staupitz (d. 1524 ).
Pius II issues Execrabilis on 18 Jan. forbidding those who resist papal commands to appeal to a council.
1460 University of Basle founded.
1463 b. Giovanni Pico Della Mirandola (d. 1494), Italian humanist.
1466 b. [d. 1536 d. Erasmus]
b. [1466–1540] Guillame Bude, French legal humanist.
1469 b. (d. 1527) Niccolo Machiavelli
1470 (d. 1519) Johann Tetzel.
1471 Sixtus IV (d. 1484) reigns, who extended plenary indulgences to the dead.
Thomas Wolsey (d. 1530)
1474 Condemnation of the Via Moderna at Paris. Those sympathetic to the Via Moderna migrate to Germany.
1475 b. Michelangelo (d. 1564).
1477 War breaks out between France and the Hapsburgs.
1480 Karlstadt (aka Andreas von Bodenstein, (c.1480–1541)
1481 b. Balthasar Hubmaier (d. 1528)
Decree against Via Moderna rescinded.
1482 b. Johann Oecolampadius (d. 1531). Perhaps the earliest Reformed covenant theologian, humanist, pastor, patrologist, and supporter of Zwingli, is born
1483 b. (prob.) Martin Luther (d. 1546). This is the date calculated by Philipp Melanchthon.
b. Gasparo Contarini (d. 1542), leader of the Augustinians at the Council of Trent. Early in his career he attended the Diet of Worms and wrote critically of Luther. By 1541 in Epistola De Iustificatione he moves formally closer to the Protestant position and was considered by some Roman Catholics to have capitulated. In truth, however, he continued to posit intrinsic, Spirit–wrought sanctity as the principal ground of justification and imputation as an augmenting ground.
1484 (d. 1531) Huldrych Zwingli born at Wildhaus, in NE Switzerland.
Gabriel Biel appointed to the chair at Tubingen.
1485 (d. 1555 )Hugh Latimer.
Henry (Tudor) VII to 1509.
d. Rudolph Agricola.
1486 Pico della Mirandola, Oration on the Dignity of Man.
Wendelin Steinbach (d. 1519) follows G. Biel at Tubingen until 1517.
1489 (d. 1565) William Farel is born.
Thomas Muntzer (1489–1525).
Thomas Cranmer to 1556.
1490 Albertus Pighius (d. 1542).
(c.1490–1553) Francois Rabelais, French Humanist.
1491 b. (d. 1551) Martin Bucer.
Ignatius of Loyola. b.1491 (d.1556).
J. Froben starts printing at Basle.
1492–1503 Pope Alexander VI reigns (Rodrigo de Borgia). Alexander openly kept a mistress, tried to assure his son, Cesare’s ascension to papacy, which only failed because he died of syphilis!
Christobal Colon (Christopher Columbus) discovers the New World.
1493 (d. 1573) Philippist Johann Pfeffinger who proposed synergy in salvation contra Gnesio–Lutherans.
1493–1519 Maximillian I reigns.
1494 b. (d. 1536) William Tyndale
1497 (d. 1563) Wolfgang Musculus (Muslin).
Staupitz arrives at Tubingen.
b. [d.1560] Philip Melanchthon
1498 Zwingli begins study at the University of Vienna.
b. Andreas Osiander (d. 1552) Lutheran, participant in the Marburg Colloquy and the Diet of Augsburg.
1499 b. (d. 1560) John a’ Lasco (Laski)
Johann Brenz (d. 1570) Lutheran controversialist who opposed Calvin and Beza and others over the Eucharist.
1500–1524 There are eighteen major “peasant revolts” in Swabia, Thuringuria and Austria. Most of them are suppressed by the Swabian League.
b.Peter (Pietro) Martyr Vermigli (1500–1562).
1501 Luther matriculates in the University of Eufurt.
1502 Luther takes his B.A. from the University of Eurfurt.
Elector Frederick of Saxony founds the University of Wittenberg.
1503 Erasmus publishes his Enchiridion.
22 Sept –18 Oct Pius III reigns.
Julius II reigns to 1513. Julius allowed Henry VIII to marry Catherine of Arragon and began charging general indulgences to pay for the Sistine Chapel.
1504 Henry Bullinger, Swiss successor to Zwingli born.
b. Matthew Parker, Abp of Canterbury (1504–75).
1505 Lorenzo Valla’s Annotationes published.
Pico Mirandola publishes commentary on the Psalter.
Luther receives his M.A. and enters the Augustinian monastery at Eurfurt as a result of his vow to St. Anne.
Erasmus publishes Valla’s Annotations on the New Testament.
1506 Reuchlin publishes the first major modern Hebrew grammar.
Publication of the Amerbach edition Opera Omnia Augustini.
1507 Luther becomes a priest.
1508 Luther transferred to the University of Wittenberg where he lectures in moral philosophy.
1509 (d.1564) John Calvin born at Noyon (France).
Henry VIII (d.1547) born.
Erasmus publishes, In Praise of Folly (Enconium Moriae).
Luther obtains Bachelor of Biblical Studies degree. To 1511 Luther teaches at the University of Eurfurt.
Melanchthon enters Heidelberg University.
1510 Joachim Westphal, Lutheran critic of Calvin, particularly on the supper.
Luther goes to Rome to 1511.
1511 Michael Servetus (1511–1553).
11 June, Melanchthon receives his B.A. from the University of Heidelberg.
1512 Fifth Lateran Council meets to 1517.
d’ Etaples publishes his commentary on Romans.
Luther receives his Th.D and visits Rome (January/February).
Luther begins lecturing on the Bible at Wittenberg.
His application for an M.A. rejected by Heidelberg (because of his youthful appearance), Melanchthon arrives at Tubingen to take his Master’s degree.
1513 Pope Leo X (Giovanni de Medic) reigns to 1521.
Luther lectures on the Psalms at Wittenberg to 1515.
(c.1513–1572) John Knox.
Machiavelli publishes The Prince.
1514 Erasmus settles in Basle to 1529.
Miles Coverall ordained.
25 January, Melanchthon completes his M.A. Tubingen and begins a four year stint as Privatdocent lecturing on the Classics and publishing translations.
1515 (d.1576) 14 February Frederick III Elector of the Palatinate born at Pfalz–Simmern of the house of Wittelsbach.
Francois I rules France until 1547.
Luther lectures on Romans to 1516.
Sept. Defeat of the Swiss Confederation at the Battle of Marignano which announces that it will enter into no more foreign alliances.
Tyndale receives his MA at Oxford.
Peter Ramus (Pierre de la Ramee; 1515–72).
1516 (d.1590) Jerome Zanchi(us) born in Italy.
Erasmus publishes the first edition of his Novum Instrumentum Omne
Mary Tudor b. (d.1558).
Luther lectures on Galatians to 1517.
Luther and Karlstadt clash over the interpretation of Augustine.
Concordat of Bologna is reached giving Francois I effective control over the French Church.
G. Farel joins the reforming circle of Jacques Lefevre/d’Etaples in the court of the Bishop of Meaux.
1517 26 April, Karlstadt defends 151 Augustinian theses
October 31, All Saints Eve, Luther proposes ninety–five thesesat Wittenberg.
Luther Lectures on Hebrews.
Staupitz publishes Libellus de exsecutione aeternae praedestinationis
1518 March, Karlstadt reforms the theological curriculum at Wittenberg.
April, Luther attends Heidelberg Disputations.
Oct–Nov Luther appears before Cajetan at Augsburg.
Zwingli called to Zürich as Luetpriest.
Melanchthon publishes Rudiements of the Greek Language.
25 August, he arrives at the newly created University of Wittenberg.
29 August Melanchthon delivers his inaugural address De corrigendis adolescentiae studiis.
1519 Zwingli begins public preaching at the Grossmunster, Zürich.
Theodore Beza (d.1605), is born.
Charles V, elected German Emperor reigns to 1555.
27 June – 8 July, Luther and Melanchthon attend Leipzig Disputation vs. Eck.
Melanchthon begins and completes B.D. at the University of Wittenberg.
Luther condemned by the University of Cologne, 30 Aug.
Luther condemned by the University of Louvain, 7 November.
Edmund Grindal (1519–83).
Crato of Crafftheim b. 20 Nov. (d.1585/86)
1520 b. (d.1575) Matthias Flacius Illyricus, leader of the Gnesio–Lutheran faction at the Magdeburg School.
Luther condemned by the University of Paris, 15 April.
Pope Leo gives Luther sixty days to recant in Exsurge Domine, 15 June. Luther responds with a bonfire of the papal decrees and canon law.
Luther publishes On Christian Liberty; The Babylonian Captivity of the Church; Address to the Christian Nobility.
b. Suleiman I (d.1566) ruler of the Ottoman Empire.
Zürich city council issues a mandate requiring all preaching to be based on Scripture.
1521 Luther defends himself at Diet of Worms (27 January to 25 May). 18 April he gives the famous speech.
While he is gone, Zwilling and Karlstadt persuaded the Wittenberg Augustinians to burn all their images and mutilate their stone statues. The City Council promised to
abolish all images and altars, save three, to “avoid idolatry.”
The Edict of Worms is issued on 26 May. Luther is excommunicated. and placed under Imperial ban and sequestered in Wartburg. When he returns to Wittenburg, Luther partly reverses this Karlstadt’s reforms and established a more tolerant attitude toward the images.
The First Italian War begins between Charles V (Holy Roman Emperor of the German Nation) and François I. The war for control of Northern Italy (Milan, Naples), lasting to 1526, essentially provides time for Luther to gather support after the Edict is issued. It effectively prevents prosecution of Luther. From 1521 to 1531 Germany is effectively governed by the Second Imperial Governing Council in the absence of Charles V.
April 19, Bucer is released from his monastic vows.
Melanchthon publishes the first edition of the Loci Communes.
Calvin goes up to college (Montaigu) a stronghold of the Via Moderna.
1522 Guido De Bres, born in Belgium.
Jan – Sept 1523 Hadrian VI.
Bucer marries and is excommunicated.
b. Martin Chemnitz (d. 1586) Lutheran theologian who responded to the Canons and Decrees of Trent.
Breaking of the Lenten fast at Zürich, defended by Zwingli on the basis of Sola Scriptura.
Luther publishes his German language New Testament, September.
b. Martin Micronius (1522–1559)
1523 Zwingli publishes his 67 Articles in Zürich, 29 January. These articles were prepared for the First Zürich Disputation against the Roman Church before the magistrate. Zwingli’s theses won the day, and secured one of the first major Swiss cantons for the Reformation. The Zwinglian preaching produces an orderly removal of images under the direction of the City Council.
June 24, Zwingli publishes On Divine and Human Righteousness.
The Second Zürich disputation on the mass and images in the Church, 26–8, October.
d. Thomas Müntzer (?)
1523–34 Clement VII (Guilio de Medici) reigns.
Calvin matriculates in the University of Paris where he studies the Arts and Philosophy.
Bucer settles in Strasbourg, where his father is a citizen, and begins lecturing in the home of Matthew Zell.
O.T. scholar, Wolfgang Capito declares himself for the reformation.
1524 Erasmus begins conflict with Luther over freedom of the will.
The Ansbach Recommendations are the first Protestant confession.
Battle of Novara, 30 April. Zürich city council issues decree permitting removal of icons, 15 June.
German peasant wars reach their apex.
d. Johannes Staupitz
b. (d.1590) François Hotman
1525 Tyndale’s N.T. is printed at Cologne and Worms.
Friedrich III (1525–76).
Anabaptism breaks out in Zürich, first re–baptisms in January.
Zwingli publishes his Commentary on True and False Religion.
Zürich abolishes the mass.
Twelve articles of Memmingen set forth the grievances of the German peasantry.
Thomas Muntzer executed, 27 May with fifty–three others.
13 June Luther secretly marries Katharina von Bora, a former nun and follows with a public ceremony 27 June.
Luther publishes De Servo Arbitrio.
Guillame Farel publishes his Summary and Brief Description of All that is Necessary for Every Christian to Have Confidence in God and Help His Neighbor in 42 articles, in Basle.
1526 First German Reformed Congregation organized at Emden.
Charles V concludes the Peace of Madrid with Francois I of France ending the First Italian War.
Suleiman I defeats King Ludwig of Hungary, capturing a third of Hungary. The Hapsburgs have another war to fight, this time in the east.
Reichstag (Diet) convened at Speyer.
1527 Henry VIII sues for divorce from Catherine of Arragon.
The Second Italian War (François I, Henry VIII and Clement VII, allied against the Hapsburgs) until 1529. Charles sacks Rome this year.
Schleitheim Confession published, February.
d. Niccolo Machiavelli
1528 The Ten Theses of Bern are produced after a disputation between Zwingli and Eck which begins in 1526, accepting the reformation.
d. Balthasar Hubmaier
Calvin moves to Orleans and Bourges to read Law.
Patrick Hamilton martyred (b. 1504)
Charles V authorizes the death penalty for Anabaptists.
1529 Second Diet/Reichstag of Speyer ends toleration of Lutheranism in Catholic districts, 21 February.
Marburg Colloquy
Luther produces Larger and Smaller catechisms.
The Schwabach Articles drafted, the product of negotiations between Nuremberg and Saxony.
Luther, Melanchthon, Justus Jonas, Johann Brenz take the as yet unpublished Schwabach Articles to the Marburg Colloquy (1–3 October) to meet with Zwingli, Oecolampius, Bucer and Heidio. The meeting produces the 14 Marburg Articles. Article 15, on the Eucharist, failed agreement. Agreement might have made a Swiss–South German union possible against the Hapsburgs.
Catherine of Arragon appeals to Rome contra Henry VIII.
Henry replaces Wolsey with Thomas More. Wolsey failed to secure a divorce for him.
The Peace of Barcelona is concluded between Charles V and Pope Clement VII in June. The Peace of Cambrai is brokered in August by Francois’ mother an Charles’ V’s aunt [hence it is known as the ‘Ladies’ Peace’] between Charles V and François I preventing Charles from putting into effect the Edict of Worms.
Suleiman I attacks Vienna in September and October. Trouble at home forces him to withdraw.
[c.1529/30 – d. 1596] Jean Bodin, French political philosopher.
1530 The Reichstag meets at Augsburg. Confessio Augustana [Articles 1–21 are the Schwabach Articles and 22–28 are the Torgau Articles] is presented by Melanchthon.
The Tetrapolitan Confession is presented and published.
Zwingli presents the Confession of Faith to the German Emperor Charles V, to be considered at Diet at Augsburg, but like the Tetrapolitan, it failed to gain a hearing.
Pope Clement VII crowns Charles V Emperor in Bologna.
d. Cardinal Wolsey
Peter Viret and William Farel lead a reformed coup of Strasbourg.
John Whitgift (1530–1604).
1531 Zwingli publishes an Exposition of the Christian Faith to King Francis I of Francis.
Melanchthon produces his Apology for the Augsburg in response to the Roman Catholic Confutatio.
11 October, Zwingli dies in the second battle of Kappel.
Calvin returns to Paris to study theology.
The Schmalkald League is formed 27 February, by the signatories to the Confessio Augustana, Saxony, Hesse, Anhalt, Brandenburg, in protest to the proposed coronation of Ferdinand as ‘King of the Romans’. The league unites Lutherans and Zwinglians as well as princes from the north and south to become one of the first strong anti–Hapsburg elements in Germany.
1532 Calvin publishes his commentary on De Clementia.
Charles introduces the Religious Peace of Nuremberg to assure Protestant princes that no proceedings would be taken against them for religious reasons at the Imperial Cameral Tribunal. The Nuremberg Standstill effectively kills the Edict of Worms (1521).
Thomas Cranmer marries Margaret Osiander.
1533 Henry secretly marries Anne Boleyn. Elizabeth Tudor is born.
Thomas Cranmer is made Archbishop of Canterbury.
Calvin and Nicholas Cop with other Protestants flee from Paris after Nicholas Cop gives a “Lutheran” (i.e., evangelical) rectorial sermon.
Osiander issues his catechism.
b. [d.1592] Michel de Montaigne, French humanist.
1534 Oecolampadius publishes the First Confession of Basle.
Affair of the Placards provokes Francois I against the evangelicals, 18 October.
18 July Zacharias Ursinus (Beer/Baer) is born at Breslau (d. 6 March 1583).
1534–1549 Pope Paul III.
British parliament passes a law to prohibit appeals to Rome, also acts of supremacy, submission and of succession.
May, Calvin returns to Noyon to renounce his benefices and later in the year publishes Psychopannychia.
Martin Bucer issues his catechism.
Luther’s draft translation of the Bible is finished.
December, Bucer, Melanchthon, Bullinger attend a secret colloquy on the Lord’s Supper at Constance attempting to resolve differences. Bullinger’s formula that Christ is present and eaten “by faith” is accepted. Bucer submits ten articles which are also accepted.
Anabaptists taker over the city of Münster.
A. Osiander becomes Professor of Theology at Koenigsburg
1535 d.Thomas More.
Calvin begins, in Basle, his first draft of the Institutes.
Coverdale’s first translation appears.
Thomas Cartwright (1535–1603).
Bucer recalled to Augsburg where he confesses that in the Supper the “true body and the true blood are distributed, given and received in order to strengthen our faith.” Luther accepts this revision.
Geneva declares itself a republic.
b.Thomas Cartwright (d.1603) a student in Heidelberg and English Presbyterian–Puritan divine.
Osiander publishes De Iustificatione rejecting imputed righteousness grounded on the indwelling Christ.
1536 b. Caspar Olevian (von Olewig) at Trier
The Second Confession of Basle or The First Helvetic Confession is published.
On his way to Strasbourg to study Calvin is forced through Geneva by the war, July.
The Lausanne Articles of 1536 are published, October.
First Genevan Confession published.
First Edition of Calvin’s Institutes published.
Calvin prepares and publishes a brief catechism in French.
27 March, H. Bullinger, Bucer, Capito, Myconius, present to the General Council of the Swiss Churches the First Helvetic Confession.
Bucer, Melanchthon, Capito and Luther reach the Wittenberg Accord, 25 May and celebrate the Supper together. Key issue of manducatio indignorum is resolved by substituting “unworthy” for “unfaithful.” Apparently, Bucer and the Lutherans each placed different their own interpretations on the word. Significantly, Luther is willing to sign it and reach an understanding with the South Germans. However Luther does not see the Helvetic Confession until 27 May. The Zwinglians will not be moved and the sharp division over hoc est corpus meum re–emerges.
Cranmer convinces Henry of the Ten Articles.
Anne Boleyn is Beheaded.
d.Erasmus
d.Jacques Lefevre d’Etaples (Faber Stapulensis)
1537 Luther draws up the Schmalkaldic Articles for the Diet of Schmalkalden. Melanchthon adds Tractatus De Poteste Papae refuting the historical claims of the papacy but also saying that for the sake of peace in Christendom he would not object to the human power of the Pope over his Bishops if he (the Pope) did not object to the gospel. Both the Articles and the Tractatus were approved. The papal nuncio was rejected by the Protestant princes on the principle of judicial independence from the pope.
Henry marries Jane Seymour who dies giving birth to Edward. Marries Catherine Howard who died as did Anne.
A general council is called for Mantua, but not held due to political and military difficulties. Later re–convened at Trent, 1545.
21 October Frederick III marries Maria of Brandenburg–Anspach.
1538 Calvin refuses the Lord’s Supper to prominent Genevans and is forced to leave Geneva, and he flees to Strasbourg where he pastors a French speaking church until 1541.
1539 Bucer helps the syphilitic Philip (Landgraf) of Hesse, who was trapped in a loveless contracted marriage, make a secret bigamous marriage to a lady in waiting in his court. Luther and Melanchthon give approve by granting a private dispensation. Their fear is that the Landgraf will seek a dispensation from the pope if they don’t cooperate. It was later discovered the Landgraf also had a mistress, under which conditions Luther would not have cooperated, had he known. Unfortunately, his advice after the marriage was to cover it up with a “big, strong lie.”
Coverdale revises Matthew’s Great Bible and takes his doctorate at Tubingen.
Luther publishes Against the Antinomians contra Agricola.
Second edition of the Institutes is published.
First edition of Luther’s Works appears.
1540 Philip issues his privately revised edition of (the Variata) of the Augsburg Confession. The edition of 1530 (Invariata) says, “the body and blood of Christ are truly present, and are distributed…” (Vere adsint, et distribuantur) Whereas the Variata says that “with bread and wine are truly exhibited the body and blood of Christ…” (quod cum pane et vino vere exhibeantur corpus et sanguinis Christi vescentibus in coena domini).
d. Thomas Cromwell.
Henry married Anne of Cleves.
Conference of Hagenau June –July, called by Charles V to discuss points of disagreement between Rome and Protestants. Calvin attends with the Strasbourg theologians, Melanchthon is ill. The conference fails to reach any accords.
Disputation of Worms, a colloquy arranged to reunite Protestants and Catholics in Germany. The Protestant side is represented by P. Melanchthon and Catholics by J. Eck.
Beginning 25 November, the colloquy ends in January 1541 with an agreement over the nature of original sin, but the colloquy ended in view of the upcoming Reichstag at (Regensburg) Ratisbon. Calvin is present.
Calvin marries the widow Idelette de Bure.
The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) founded.
Calvin publishes his Reply to Sadoleto and his Commentary on Romans.
b. Sir Francis Drake (d. 1596)
d. G. Bude
1541 Calvin publishes a second, larger, revision of the French Catechism of 1536/7. It was translated into Latin in 1545, German 1556. Comparison with the Heidelberg, shows a good deal of similarity.
April 27 to May 22 Diet of Regensburg (Ratisbon) convened by Charles V. J. Eck, Julius Pflug (1549–1564), Johann Gropper (1503–59) with Gasparo Contarini (1483–1542) meet Melanchthon, Bucer and Pistorious (1503–83). Agreement is reached on justification (Calvin, who attended, was amazed at Catholic capitulation here. He felt the article was unclear in places) in May but they fail to reach agreement on the Eucharist, absolution, penance and the papacy. Both Luther and the Roman Curia rejected the draft compromises reached. The agreement on justification was a chimera.
Calvin returns to Geneva in September.
Calvin publishes first French edition of the Institutes.
1542 John a’ Lasco [1499–1560]](Laski, pronounced Waski from i.e., from the west) serves as Pastor to GRC at Emden until 1549. Laski organizes what may have been the first
Coetus in the Palatinate of 200 Ministers who met weekly for forty years.
R. Bellarmine: (d.1621).
Mary Stuart ascends, in her minority, in Scotland.
1543 Melchior Hoffmann d.
The threat from the Moslem empire is so grave that Schmalkald League offers aid to the hated Hapsburgs.
1544 November 1544 The Council of Trent is convened
The Imperial Diet meets at Speyer. Charles requests help against the French and Suleiman I. The Protestants agree on the condition that “Christian reformation” will be discussed at a future “general, Christian and free council.” The pope accuses Charles of overstepping his competence and Calvin, ironically, writes in his defense.
Charles leads a campaign into France winning concessions. The Peace of Crepy signed in 14 September. On 19 September he concluded a secret treaty with the Turks. Charles is now in a position to move against the Protestant princes.
1545 Zürich Confession of Faith published.
Slaughter begins of the Waldensian (Vaudois) communities of the Luberon in Provence.
Imperial Diet of Worms meets and although he is promised by the pope military and financial support, Charles decides to hold another religious conference. War against the Protestants is postponed.
Elector Frederick II receives communion in two kinds and petitions for admission to the Schmalkald League and was refused.
John Fielde (1545–88).
Andrew Melville (1545–1622)
First session of the Council of Trent opens, 13 December.
1546 Luther dies in Eisleben, 18 February.
January Frederick II introduces the Reformation to the Palatinate with the first German Mass in Heidelberg. Masses without communicants end. Devotion and reservation of the Sacrament forbidden. Easter, he receives communion in two kinds.
The evangelical reformer George Wishart, burned in Scotland.
The Schmalkalkic War erupts. Frederick III governs Anspach for his brother––in–law who has joined the Emperor’s armies against the Princes.
Luther releases the final version of his Bible translation after revision with the help of a committee (consisting of Melanchthon, Cruciger, Bugenhagen, Jonas, Aurogallus [a Hebraist] and Roer [Secretary]).
Melanchthon refuses invitation to Heidelberg University.
Fourth Session of the Council of Trent 8 April.
b. Tycho Brahe (d.1601).
1547 Edward VI ascends the English throne as a ten year old. Edward was well tutored in the classics was able to translate Cicero’s De Philosophia into Greek and could read Aristotle’s Ethics in Greek! Edward supported the reformation with the help of Cranmer and the Duke of Northumberland.
P.M. Vermigli becomes the Regius Professor of Theology, Oxford until the Marian exile in 1553.
Schmalkaldic Princes are defeated.
1548 (to 1549) Consensus Tigurinus signed at Zürich.
April, Charles V having crushed the evangelical forces, imposes the Interim at the armed Diet of Augsburg. In the Palatinate, communion in two kinds is retained and married clergy.
Miles Coverdale abandons his order.
d. Mattheus Zell, a co–worker with Wolfgang Capito in Strasbourg.
1549 Cranmer issues the first edition of the Book of Common Prayer.
Martin Bucer is called to Cambridge as Regius Professor of Divinity.
P. M. Vermigli made Regius Professor of Divinity, Oxford.
1550 Ursinus begins seven years study with Melanchthon at the University of Wittenberg. He will study and travel with Melanchthon until 1557.
Olevianus goes to Paris, Orleans and Bourges to study law to 1557.
1550–1555 Julius III (Giovanni Maria Ciocchi del Monte).
Marian persecution begins.
Pamphlet is published at Magdeburg justifying the Protestant doctrine of resistance.
Peter Dathenus flees the Lowland persecutions for Edwardian England.
1551 Bucer dies at Cambridge
In the ‘Bishop’s Wars [1551–1552] Charles V’s power is broken.
1552 Joachim Westphal, begins attacks on both Calvin and the Consensus Tigurinus over the Lord’s Supper.
1553 Cranmer issues the Forty Two Articles.
Edward VI dies.
Bloody Mary Tudor reigns in England until 1557. and drives the Reformed and Protestant to the Netherlands and elsewhere.
John Laski and 175 Reformed brethren, driven from England under Mary, are denied entrance in several countries, eventually settling in East Friesland.
November, Cranmer is tried for treason and sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered.
Cranmer, Ridley and Latimer are arrested and taken to Oxford where they appear before a commission to be investigated for heresy.
Girolamo Zanchi succeeds Peter Martyr at Strasbourg as Professor of Theology. He is later able to obtain suppression of Hesshius’ attack against the Heidelberg Reformers and Frederick III on the Supper, and was attacked as a defector from the Augsburg Confession.
Servetus killed by the decree of the City Council in Geneva.
b. Josias Nichols (d.1639)
d. Rabelais.
1554 A catechism is prepared at Emden by John a’ Lasco, following the model of Calvin’s catechisms.
Osiander is condemned at the Naumberg Assembly for confusing justification for union with Christ.
Mary Tudor marries Philip II of Spain.
March, Cranmer, Ridley and Latimer and taken to the Bocardo, Oxford to await trial for heresy. 14 April, they dispute at St. Mary’s. 20 April all three were individually told to recant.
Count Simon of Lippe (1554–1613) one of the Calvinist Counts. Lippe is north of Hesse–Kassel and south of Braunschweig–Kalenberg.
Richard Hooker (1554–1600).
(d. 1586) Sir Philip Sidney, English diplomat and poet who served Queen Elizabeth’s efforts to establish a Protestant League.
Summer, English refugees form a congregation in Frankfurt. Autumn, they call John Knox as pastor. A conflict between Presbyterians and Anglicans soon erupts. Knox, Whittingham et al appeal to Calvin regarding the Anglican service.
Knox publishes, Faithful Admonition to the Professors of God’s Truth in England.
1555 The Peace of Augsburg is established which will last until the Thirty Years War (1618).
The peace is a result of an assault of the princes upon the Emperor, and resulted in recognition of two religious groups, the Roman Catholic Church and adherents of the
Augsburg Confession. The question will arise in the Palatinate, are the Reformed to be considered adherents to the Augsburg Confession? The “High” (Gnesio) Lutherans said absolutely not. Frederick seems to have held to the Augsburg after conversion to Evangelical Protestantism.
Charles V abdicates his throne. Replaced in 1556 by Ferdinand I.
9 April – 1 May Marcellus II.
23 May to 1559 Paul IV (Giampietro Carafa)
From now until 1559 there is an explosion of new Calvinist churches in France, centering South and west of Paris.
Early in the year until 1558 Mary and Archbishop Reginald Pole begins trying Protestants as heretics.
September, Cranmer is tried in St. Mary the Virgin before Papal Commissioners. Two days later the proceedings are sent to Rome. Cranmer has eighty days to appeal.
16 October Bishops Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley are tried for heresy, convicted and burned at the stake on Broad Street in Oxford.
Between 1555–62 Geneva sends eighty–eight pastors from the Company of Pastors to France as missionaries.
4 February John Rogers, editor of Matthew’s Bible, becomes the first Marian Martyr, burned at the stake at Smithfield.
b. Robert Rollock (d.1598/99).
Martin Micronius ordains Peter Dathenus to the Reformed ministry in Frankfurt.
Knox forced from Frankfurt to Geneva. In October he is followed by fifteen English families.
1556 Ferdinand I begins rule (to 1564) Holy Roman Empire.
21 March Thomas Cranmer burns at the stake on Broad Street in Oxford.
Olevianus in boating accident with Herman Louis at Bourges France.
Otto Henry introduces a Protestant church order including superintendents.
Frederick II receives communion in a Protestant service on the Sunday before his death. Otto Heinrich, in ill health, succeeds from 1556–59. Otto encourages Reformation, abolishing the Mass and Catholic ceremonies in the Palatinate and is the Protestant leader at the Imperial Diet of 1556–57.
As heir to the Palatinate Frederick III takes up residence in Amberg as governor of the Upper Palatinate.
Beza publishes an annotated translation of Greek Testament.
The English congregation in Geneva adopts The Book of Order.
1557 Ursinus makes a study tour of Europe with Melanchthon, attending the Colloquy of Worms and including Geneva, where he receives all of Calvin’s works.
Ursinus returns to Wittenberg but receives a call to Breslau to teach at Elizabeth College until 1559.
Melanchthon heads the reorganization of Heidelberg University as an Evangelical University under Otto Henry.
Calvin responds to Westphal.
1558 Melanchthon, without a knowledge of Tilemann Hesshusen’s’ (Hesshius/Heshusius) character, recommends him for the Chair of Theology at Heidelberg.
Electors officially accept abdication of Charles V and accession of Ferdinand I.
At the death of Mary Tudor, Anne Boleyn daughter Elizabeth I ascends and reigns to 1603.
Mary Stuart abdicates to James VI and is executed in Scotland.
d. Charles V
b. Dudley Fenner (d.1587)
12 June, Elizabeth, Frederick III’s oldest daughter marries John Frederick, Duke of Saxony.
Zacharias Ursinus gives his inaugural lecture at the Elizabeth Gymnasium in Breslau, An Exhortation to the Study of Christian Doctrine.
1559 Frederick III accedes to the Electorship in the Palatinate.
John Knox returns to Scotland from Geneva.
Olevian returns to Treves to teach.
Calvin publishes final Latin edition of the Institutes.
The first National Synod of the French Reformed Church is held, embracing four hundred thousand followers, and would hold twenty–nine national Synods to 1659 at Loudun after which it was banned by Louis XIV in 1660.
Henri II dies, leading to domination of the French court by the anti–Protestant Guise family.
Genevan academy founded.
The Gallican Confession of Faith is published.
1559–65 Pius IV (Giovanni Angelo Medici)
Count Johann VI of Nassau Dillenberg (1559–1606).
British Parliament passes the Elizabethan Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity and restores an edited version of Edward VI’s 1552 Prayer Book.
Elizabeth makes Matthew Parker the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Elizabethan settlement is enacted.
d. Johann Gropper.
Ursinus publishes Theses on the Doctrine of the Sacraments at Breslau which led to his dismissal.
1560 Philip Melanchthon in Wittenberg. Ursinus goes to Zürich a second time and studies with Peter Martyr.
John a’ Lasco dies in Poland.
Frederick III ransoms Olevianus from prison in Trier (for preaching the gospel against state orders) to come to Heidelberg.
3–8 June Heidelberg Disputation of the question, is Hoc est corpus meum literal or metaphysical? H. Alting reports that Frederick said that the “Lutherans won in force and repartee, and the Reformed in simplicity and modest defense of the truth.”
Frederick orders the simplification of calendar and ornaments in Palatinate churches and imposes the Augustana Variata as the standard of discipline on the Palatinate. Those who are unable to subscribe (gnesio–Lutheran pastors) are forced to leave.
The Scottish Reformation Parliament meets and adopts the Scots Confession of Faith.
Jacobus Arminius (Jakob Hermandszoon; 1560–1609).
The Conspiracy of Amboise (by French Calvinist pastors to kidnap Francis II) fails.
Final French edition of Calvin’s Institutes is published.
Musculus publishes his Loci Communes.
1561 20 January to 8 February Protestant princes meet at Naumberg to bring Frederick ‘back from his errors.’ Frederick signs the Invariata of 1531 with the proviso that it was further explained in the Variata (1540). Civil war was thus prevented.
Guido de’Bres publishes the Belgic confession.
Frederick III orders the Roman Altars, baptismal fonts, pictures, removed from the churches and establishes the use of plain white bread in communion.
Philip of Hesse and Freidrich III attempt to have their adherence to the Augustana Variata accepted as falling within the terms of the Peace of Augsburg.
1562 Frederick orders a committee including Ursinus (age 28) and Olevian (age 26) to begin the Heidelberg Catechism. The Synod at Heidelberg (probably) adopted a draft of the Catechism.
Edict of January touches off the First (French) War of Religion. Seventy four Protestants killed while attending a sermon near Vassy.
d. Peter Martyr Vermigli
Ursinus publishes Catechisis Minor.
25 August Ursinus receives Doctorate from the University of Heidelberg, replaces Olevianus as Professor of Dogmatic Theology and gives his inaugural address on September 1.
1563 19 January The Heidelberg Catechism is approved and Johann Mayer prints the first edition in Latin and German.
The Canons of the Council of Trent are promulgated.
19 March, Peace of Amboise is signed.
Foxe’s Book of Martyrs (Acts and Monuments) appears in English.
The Anglican Church adopts the Thirty Nine Articles.
d. Seripando.
1564 Calvin dies in Geneva, 27 May.
Maximillian II succeeds Ferdinand I (to 1576).
Additional standards of church discipline are added for the Palatinate church council, the Kirchenrat.
Edmund Grindal becomes Archbishop of Canterbury.
b. Galileo Galilei (1564–1642)
b. William Shakespeare (d. 1616)
The Scottish General Assembly adopts the Genevan (English congregation) Book of Order as Book of Common Order.
1565 M. Chemnitz begins publishing Examen concilii Tridentini (1565–73) against Trent.
1566 25 March Frederick III addresses Diet at Augsburg defending his Protestantism gaining quasi–legal status for Calvinism in the Empire.
The Belgic Confession is adopted by Synod at Antwerp.
The Second Helvetic Confession is published by Henry Bullinger.
The Bildenstorm, a wave of iconoclasm sweeps over the Low Countries.
Pius V (St.; Michele Gislieri) to 1572.
1567 The Duke of Alva, with the cooperation of the House of Savoy, marches on the Netherlands to crackdown on all forms of religious deviation in the Netherlands.
Guido de Bres hanged in Belgium for his faith.
Mary Stuart is defeated at Carberry Hill in June, imprisoned, and abdicates in July to the Protestant Lord James Stewart.
The Second War of Religion begins in France with the Conspiracy of Meaux.
Thomas Aquinas is made the fifth Doctor Ecclesiae
1568 The battle over ecclesiology begins in Heidelberg and Thomas Erastus (Zwinglian) advances 75 theses.
A Synod at Wesel adopts the Belgic Confession.
June–August Beza and Bullinger cooperate in a failed attempt to raise Swiss troops for the Third War of Religion (1568–70).
1569 d. Miles Coverdale.
Thomas Cartwright serves briefly as Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity (to 1570) during which time he proposes reformed style Presbyteries or Classes.
1570 The Palatinate Kirchenrat supplements the previous order for church discipline.
Thomas Cartwright is forced to Geneva.
August, the Peace of St. Germain is signed ending the Third War of Religion.
1571 A Synod at Emden adopts the Belgic Confession.
Beza serves as President of the Synod of La Rochelle.
b. Johannes Kepler (1571–1630).
1572 24 August, the assassination of Admiral Gaspard de Coligny under the supervision of the Duke of Guise sparks the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacres in France, killing between 5,000–30,000 Huguenots.
Gregory XIII (Ugo Boncompagni) –1585.
d. John Knox.
John Field begins a pamphlet campaign for Presbyterian church government in England.
The revolt of the northern provinces begins which will lead to the creation of an independent Dutch republic.
1573 The Swabian Concord toward Lutheran (Philippist and Gnesio–Lutheran) unity.
François Hotman publishes Franco–Gallia.
1574 Elector Augustus of Saxony suppresses forcefully four allegedly ‘crypto–Calvinist’ Philippists touching off a wave of violent anti–Calvinist sentiment among German Lutherans.
A national Synod at Dordtrecht adopts the Belgic Confession.
Francois Hotman publishes Francogllia, expounding a theory of resistance to unjust rulers.
Beza publishes De Jure Magistratuum (Du droit de Magistrats)
Andrew Melville is recruited from Geneva to become the head of Glasgow University. Melville leads the Erastian forces in Scotland until his exile.
1575 d. H. Bullinger.
The Swabian–Saxon Concord is signed and also the Maulbronn Formula.
Leiden University founded
1576 26 October d. Frederick III.
Louis (Ludwig), son of Frederick, ascends and re–places Lutheranism in the Palatinate, only Lutheran books to be sold and read. Olevianus preaches against him and is jailed then exiled to Nassau–Dillenberg.
John Casmir returns from leading an army in support of the Huguenots.
Ursinus and Tossanus (court preacher) are deposed by Louis VI and with six hundred pastors and teachers flee the Palatinate to Neustadt. In Heidelberg they are replaced by gnesio–Lutherans.
14 October d. Maximillian II who is succeeded by the sometimes insane Rudolf II (to 1612).
The Torgau Book amalgamates Lutheran accords.
Vermigli’s Loci Communes published posthumously.
b. William Ames (d.1633).
Bodin publishes Six livre de la Republique.
1577 September, an international Reformed conference meets in Frankfurt, in anticipation of the Formula of Concord. Participants try to draw up a common confession for the Reformed Churches of Europe and arrange to send a delegation to the German Lutheran princes urging them not to adopt the Formula of Concord.
Lutheran form of Concord compiled in Bergen, near Magdeburg.
1580 25 June 25 Liber Concordiae signed by the electors Saxony, Brandenburg and Palatinate. The Elector Augustus of Saxony publishes the Liber Concordiae.
Michel de Montaigne publishes his Essays.
Drake navigates the globe.
1581 English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism
A General Assembly in Nassau–Dillenberg adopts the Palatine Church order and the Heidelberg Catechism.
b. James Ussher (d.1656)
Zacharias Ursinus publishes his Admonitio, a reply to the Book of Concord.
1582 Calendar changes
Julian calendar abandoned in favor fo the Gregorian calendar.
General Synod established using Palatinate Order of Worship of 1563 and Heidelberg Catechism.
b. Johann Gerhard (Lutheran orthodox theologian (d. 1637)
d. Theresa of Avila
d.Pierre Boquin. Boquin had made an attempt to reconcile the Augustana Variata to Calvinism at the Heidelberg Disputation in 1560.
1583 A company of actors stages Christopher Marlowe’s play, The Massacre at Paris rehearsing the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacres.
John Whitgift becomes Elizabeth’s third Archbishop of Canterbury.
b. Simon Episcopius (d. 1643)
b. Hugo Grotius (d. 1645)
J. H. Alting (d. 1644)
b. Hendrick Alting, the first historian of the Heidelberg Reformation (d.1644).
d. Zacharias Ursinus
1584 Count Johann of Nassau and Wittgenstein establishes Johannea University in Herborn headed by Olevianus and including Johannes Piscator. Olevianus teaches Dogmatics from his Epitome of Calvin’s Institutes
1585 Edict of Nantes is revoked.
Sixtus V (Felice Peretti) succeeds Gregory XIII as Pope to 1590.
Beza publishes his Greek NT. Added to it the Vulgate and his own translation. Makes Codex Bezae.
Colloquy of Montbeliard.
Sir Walter Raleigh sends expedition to Roanoke Island, off N. Carolina.
England enters 80 Years War
Louis Cappel (d. 1658)
b. John Cotton (d.1652)
Olevianus publishes De Substantia.
1586 Johann VI converts the five Counts of the Wetterau, whose lands are included in the Herborn Synod.
Colloquy of Montbeliard.Christian I of Saxony, under the influence of Philippist Nikolas Krell, openly encourages Calvinism, suspending his allegiance to the Formula of Concord.
Mary Queen of Scots makes Philip II her heir
b. Thomas Hooker (d.1647)
d. Lucas Cranach (painter)
d. Martin Chemnitz (b. 1522)
d.Sir Philip Sidney
1587 Mary (Queen of Scots) Stuart is executed in London on Queen Elizabeth’s order after participating in a plot against Elizabeth.
d. Caspar Olevianus
d. Dudley Fenner (b.1558)
d. John Foxe (b.1516)
1588 Duke of Guise enters Paris, forcing Henri III to flee the city.
Duke of Guise and the Cardinal of Guise murdered at the orders of King Henry III. The people, however, revolted against the move and Parlement acted against him and he fled (again) to join Henri III of Navarre.
Spanish Armada defeated by England.
17 March, d. Dathenus
b. J H Alsted (d.1638)
b. E. Pascal (d.1651)
b. Thomas Hobbes (d. 1679)
1589 King Henri III assassinated.
French political intrigue and violence escalates
b. G. Voetius (d.1676)
1590 d. Girolamo Zanchi.
Anne of Denmark becomes Queen of Scotland
Urban VII succeeds Sixtus V for 12 days.
Gregory XIV succeeds Urban VII
d. Francois Hotman
1591 Dutch military forces are gradually gaining territory in the NL from the Spanish.
Innocent IX succeeds Gregory XIV.
b. Anne Hutchinson (b.1643)
D. David Blondel (d. 1655) – Fr. Prot. theologian
1592 d. Count Johann Casmir.
Clement VIII succeeds Innocent IX
Henri of Navarre converts to Catholicism in order to take the throne to become Henri IV.
Landgraf Moritz, the “Learned” of Lower Hesse becomes a Calvinist. He rules until 1627.
b. Johannes Amos Comenius (d. 1670). Comenius, a Bohemian Brethren, (Moravian) studied at Herborn and Heidelberg where he was influenced by millenarianism.
d. Michel de Montaigne
1593 d. Christopher Marlowe (b. 1564)
1594 Nikolas Krell tried for heresy after the death of Christian I of Saxony.
Henry IV crowned King of France
Richard Hooker publishes the first part of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity defending the Elizabethan settlement.
1595 The Lambeth Articles are drafted and completed. The articles were compiled under a committee under Archbishop Whitgift to defend double predestination. They were not formally authorized.
Romeo and Juliet first performed
1596 Ukranian Church renounces the authority of the pope
Plague hits parts of Europe
b. Rene Descartes (d. 1650)
b. Frederick V, Elector Palatine (d. 1632)
b. Moises Amyraut (d. 1664)
d. Sir Francis Drake (b. 1540)
1597 d. Peter Canisius (b. 1521) influential Jesuit
1598 Edict of Nantes formally ends the French Wars of Religion
Peace of Vervins ends the war between France and Spain
d. Philip II of Spain (b. 1526)
b. Oliver Cromwell (d. 1658)
d. Edmund Spenser (b. 1552)
d. Robert Rollock (b. 1555)
1600 b. Friedrich Spanheim (d. 1649)
b. Edward Calamy (d. 1666)
b. Charles I (d. 1649)
b. Samuel Rutherford (d. 1660)
d. Richard Hooker (b. 1554)
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