Renaissance/Reformation Timeline Project

Inquisition

Jan 1, 1184

The Inquisition was a judicial procedure and a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, apostasy, blasphemy, witchcraft, and customs considered deviant.

Humanism

Jan 1, 1300

Humanism is a system of education and mode of inquiry that originated in northern Italy during the 13th and 14th centuries and later spread through continental Europe and England. The term is alternatively applied to a variety of Western beliefs, methods, and philosophies that place central emphasis on the human realm.

Petrarch

Jul 20, 1304

Petrarch was a scholar from Arezzo and poet of the early Italian Renaissance and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch wrote 366 poems. Petrarch was a great admirer of ancient Classical writers, and he understood their work to be in continuity with Christian history and values.

Johan Gutenberg

Jan 1, 1395

Gutenberg was a German inventor and craftsman who invented the movable type printing press. In 1455 he used it to print the Gutenberg Bible, which is one of the earliest books in the world to be printed from movable type.

Perspective

Jan 1, 1415

Art of drawing solid objects on a two-dimensional surface so as to give the right impression of their height, width, depth, and position in relation to each other when viewed from a particular point. Many people during the Renaissance loved perspective drawings.

Printing Revolution

Jan 1, 1440

In Germany, around 1440, the goldsmith Johannes Gutenberg invented the movable-type printing press, which started the Printing Revolution.

Lorenzo de Medici

Jan 1, 1449

Lorenzo manifested a clear plan to stem the territorial ambitions of Pope Sixtus IV, in the name of the balance of the Italic League of 1454.

Leonardo da Vinci

Apr 5, 1452

Leonardo was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. Leonardo is most famous for his paintings such as the Mona Lisa and the Last Supper. He invented so much a lot of stuff.

Pope Paul III

Feb 29, 1468

Pope Paul III was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 13 October 1534 to his death, in November 1549. The worldly Paul III was a notable patron of the arts and at the same time encouraged the beginning of the reform movement.

Erasmus

Oct 27, 1469

Erasmus is most famous for writing two major works: "In Praise of Folly" and "Discussion on Free Will". Erasmus was a reformer who nevertheless was committed to remaining a member of the Catholic Church.

Michelangelo

Mar 6, 1475

Michelangelo was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. He was born in the Republic of Florence. His work was inspired by models from classical antiquity and had a lasting influence on Western art.

Raphael

Jan 1, 1483

Raphael was one of the most talented painters of the Italian Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur. He was also a popular architect during his lifetime.

Martin Luther

Nov 10, 1483

Martin Luther was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and Augustinian friar. Luther was the seminal figure of the Protestant Reformation, and his theological beliefs form the basis of Lutheranism. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in Western and Christian history.

Henry VIII

Jun 28, 1491

Henry VIII was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage annulled. Infamously, he sent two of his wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, to their deaths on the executioner's block at the Tower of London.

Scientific Method

Jan 1, 1500

Renaissance scientists were the first to adopt Francis Bacon's system of the scientific method, which relied on observation and hypothesis to establish its claims. Based on new and expanding knowledge, Renaissance scientists made discoveries in astronomy, matter, and medicine.

Elizabeth I

Sep 7, 1533

Queen Elizabeth I was the last monarch of the Tudor dynasty, who ruled England between 1558 and 1603. Elizabeth became Queen aged 25, at a time of political crisis. The 'Virgin Queen' never married, but instead pledged her body to England itself.

Council of Trent

Jan 1, 1545

The Council of Trent was the formal Roman Catholic reply to the doctrinal challenges of the Protestant Reformation. It served to define Catholic doctrine and made sweeping decrees on self reform, helping to revitalize the Roman Catholic Church in the face of Protestant expansion.

William Shakespeare

Apr 1, 1564

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist.