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1494
Italian War
When King Charles VII of France invaded Italy it started a series of wars, during these wars the power over Italy traded between France and Spain. The most important impact of these wars was that they exposed Europe to the Italian Renaissance and its ideas. -
1517
Martin Luther writes the 95 Theses
This document included Luthers thoughts and opinions regarding the Catholic Churches abuses, a main point being the wrongful selling of indulgences. -
1521
Edict of Worms
The Edict of Worms was a order by Charles V that stated Luther as a outlaw and heretic, it also said that no one was to give him food or shelter. -
1524
Pesants War
With new ideas spreading, peasants were becoming more enraged with high taxes and lack of power. Due to this the peasants stormed castles and monasteries, this created the rebellion called the Peasants War. -
1531
Swiss Civil War
Religious reform in Switzerland led by Zwingli lead to a war between Swiss Catholics and Protestants, during this war Zwingli died and John Calvin began to speak his religious beliefs. -
1533
Anabaptists settle in Münster
Because the Anabaptists were viewed as a threat to society, the Protestants and Catholics prosecuted them, the Anabaptists fled and settled in Münster, Germany. -
1534
Act of Supremacy in England
This act made people take an oath to recognize Henrys divorce and accept him as the head of Englands Church. -
1535
Thomas More executed
Thomas More said his religion would not allow for him to take the oath, so Henry had him arrested and eventually executed for treason. -
1536
John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion
John Calvin published a book called Institutes of the Christian Religion, in this book he talked about god, salvation, and human nature. His main idea was predestination, the belief that god has always known who will be saved. -
1540
Jesuit order founded
Due to Ignatius gathering followers the pope created an order called the Society of Jesus, the members were called Jesuits. They founded schools, converted non-christians to Catholicism, and tried to stop the spread of Protestantism. -
1542
Start of Roman Inquisition
The Roman Inquisition was a Church court made to battle Protestantism, to do this they enforced religious uniformity, mainly on converted Jewish and Muslim people, but later, Protestants became a target for this as well. -
1545
Council of Trent
Paul iii took multiple steps to reform the Catholic Church, the most important being calling a council of church leaders to meet in Trent. This council agreed on several doctrines to help the reform of the Church. -
1555
Peace of Augsburg
Charles was tired of fighting so he demanded all the German princes to Augsburg, where each prince decided the religion for their own state. -
1558
Reign of Elizabeth I
During her reign, Elizabeth was determined to restore England to Protestantism, to do this she decided to take ideas from both Catholicism and Protestantism. This brought some religious peace, however many were angry with the situation, because of this the Catholics tried to overthrow her and replace her with a Catholic ruler. -
1559
Scotland becomes Calvinst
John Knox admired Calvins teachings, because of this he brought Calvinism over to Scotland, and made it the official religion of Scotland, getting rid of their Catholic ruler. -
1572
St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre
Huguenots and Catholics hated each other, due to this most of their interactions were very violent. On St. Bartholomew’s Day the Catholics hunted and murdered Huguenots, this spread through other cities and lasted 6 months. -
Edict of Nantes
When Huguenots leader, Henry of Navarre, became Catholic, it led to political stability. In 1598 Henry passed the Edict of Nantes granting religious freedom to protestants.