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Period: Jan 1, 1483 to Jan 1, 1546
Life of Martin Luther
The lifespan of Martin Luther -
Period: Jan 1, 1509 to Jan 1, 1565
Life of John Calvin
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Jan 1, 1517
(HRE) Luther's Ninety-Five Theses
Martin Luther nails his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of the Castle Church of Wittenberg - a criticism of the Catholic Churches use of indulgences for people to buy forgiveness for sins. -
Jan 1, 1518
(HRE) "On Improving the Studies of the Young"
In 1518, Philip Melanchton arrived at the University of Wittenberg and stressed a new, humanistic view of education. For example, students were encouraged to study primary sources and make up their own mind on historical topics. -
Jan 1, 1521
(HRE) Diet of Worms
In 1521, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V ordered Luther to retract his writings about the Catholic Church. Luther refused, saying it would be an act against Scripture, reason, and his conscience. Charles V declared Luther an outlaw afterwards. -
Jan 1, 1530
(HRE) Charles V - Diet of Augsburg
In 1530, Charles V ordered all Lutherans within the Holy Roman Empire to revert to Catholicism. The order was largely ignored by Lutherans and unenforced by Charles V (who was fighting two external wars during the 1530's - one against the Ottomans, another against the French.) -
Jan 1, 1534
(England) Henry VIII - Act of Supremacy
In 1534, Henry VIII and the Reformation Parliament issued the Act of Supremacy; placing Henry VIII as the head of the Church of England. When Catholic bishops refused to recognize the Act, Henry VIII had them executed. -
Jan 1, 1540
(Swiss) Geneva converts to Calvanism
Geneva invites John Calvin to return to Geneva (he had left in 1537 to live in Strasbourg.) Within months he had reorganized the city's churches in a Calvinist model. -
Jan 1, 1540
(Spain) Jesuits recognized by Pope
The Jesuits (Society of Jesus) was organized by Ignatius of Loyola, a Spanish soldier wounded in a war with France. As an arm of the Catholic Counter Reformation, the Jesuits stressed self discipline, a vow of poverty, and allegience to the Pope (although the Jesuits have, over the years, stood against corruption within the Church.) -
Period: Jan 1, 1545 to Jan 1, 1563
Council of Trent
The Council of Trent (actually three seperate meetings) was a Catholic response to the popularity of the Protestant Reformation - ending the selling of Church offices, requiring high ranking Church official to be public figures, and requiring more educated/public local priests. The Council was considered the first step in the Catholic Counter Reformation to gain back followers following the Protestant Reformation. -
Period: Jan 1, 1547 to
Life of Miguel de Cervantes
Miguel de Cervantes (Author: Don Quixote) wrote in Spain during the Reformation. While Spain remained a deeply Catholic nation during this time period, Cervantes stressed a need for balance between traditional religious idealism and secular realism. -
Jan 1, 1555
(HRE) Charles V - Peace of Augsburg
After a few, futile attempts by Charles V to force Lutherans to revert to Catholism, Charles orders the Peace of Augsburg - allowing the individual rulers of a land in the Holy Roman Empire to determine if their region would be Catholic or Protestant. -
Period: Jan 1, 1558 to
Elizabethen England
Following Mary I's short and controversal reign as Queen of England, Elizabeth I would return England to a strong position on the map of Europe. -
Period: Jan 1, 1564 to
Life of William Shakespeare
Shakespeare was involved in the theatre as an actor, an owner, and a playwright. Shakespeare wrote comedies, tragedies, and history plays. -
Jan 1, 1572
(France) St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre
Following a marriage of (Catholic) Margeret De Medici (sister to King Charles IX) and (Protestant) Henry III, King Charles was convinced that French Hugenots (Calvinsts) were plotting an assassination attempt. As a response, mob violence breaks out in Paris and across France - anywhere between 5,000 and 30,000 French (Calvinists) were murdered. -
(England/Spain) The Sinking of the Spanish Armada
After the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots - Spain declared war on England. They gathered up 130 ships and 25,000 soldiers for a Spanish invasion of England. The English - although vastly outnumbered - were aided by the weather and were able to beat the enormous Spanish fleet. The defeat of the Spanish Armada would signal the end of Spain's role as a major power. France would steadily replace Spain as the main power of western Europe and the Spanish would steadily lose influence abroad. -
(France) Henry IV - Converts to Catholicism
"Paris is worth a Mass" The French Catholic population outnumbered the Protestant population aproximately 15:1 - Henry IV believed that a tolerant Catholic ruler would best solidify his country. While the Pope remained skeptical, Henry IV converted to Catholicism in 1593. -
(France) Edict of Nantes
Henry IV issued the Edict of Nantes in 1598 - paving the way for increased secularism in France; the Edict gave full civil rights to French Protestants. -
(France) Assassination of Henry IV
Henry IV would be assassinated by a Catholic zealot in 1610. -
(HRE) Defenistration of Prague
In 1618, Ferdinand (a staunch Catholic) became king of Bohemia and rejected the rights of Bohemian Protestants. His Protestant lords responded by throwing the kings regents out the window of the royal palace ("defenestrating" them.) The following year, Ferdinand would be raised to Holy Roman Emperor and the Bohemians would rise in revolt - beginning the Thirty Years War. -
Period: to
Thirty Years War
The splintering of religious unity in Europe eventually culminated in a series of wars collectively known as the "Thirty Years War" - a whirlwind of intense fighting that drew in most major nations from Western Europe. -
(HRE) Treaty of Westphalia
The Treaty of Westphalia ended the Holy Roman Empire's involvement in the Thirty Years War. It also guaranteed the political identities of the Holy Roman Empire's many small kingdoms - leaving a series of very weak Germanic nations in the center of Germany (with the exception of Prussia and Austria)
