6 BC Jesus born in Bethlehem
According to the Gospel account, Jesus Christ is born in Bethlehem two years before the death of Herod the Great - making the date 6 BC

4 BC Massacre of infants in Bethlehem?
Herod, according to the Gospel account, orders all newly born infants in Bethlehem to be killed

20 Well-connected Jewish boy in Tarsus
Saul of Tarsus, later known as St Paul, has a Greek-speaking Jewish father who is a Roman citizen

29 Jesus preaches in Galilee
Jesus begins his ministry in Galilee, gathering disciples, preaching and healing

31 Jesus rides into Jerusalem
Jesus rides into Jerusalem with a crowd of followers, then attacks the traders in the courtyard of the Temple

31 Last Supper
Jesus, at the Last Supper, associates the bread and wine with his own body and blood, establishing the sacrament of the Eucharist

31 Jesus before Pontius Pilate
Jesus is brought before Pontius Pilate who reluctantly sentences him to death for blasphemy

31 Jesus crucified
Jesus Christ is crucified, according to the accounts of his followers, outside the city wall of Jerusalem

31 Peter leads Christians in Jerusalem
Peter becomes the leader of the small community of Christians in Jerusalem

35 Stephen stoned to death
Stephen is stoned outside the city wall of Jerusalem - the first Christian martyr

35 Saul sees light on road
On the road to Damascus, where he intends to persecute the Christians, Saul sees a blinding light

48 Paul goes on his travels
St Paul, taking ship to Cyprus, begins the first of his great missionary journeys

48 Paul turns Gentiles into Christians
St Paul, on his travels within the Roman empire, begins converting non-Jews (or Gentiles) to the new Christian faith

50 Paul's first epistle
The Thessalonians receive the first of Paul's epistles - the earliest text in the New Testament, written in Greek

50 Is circumcision necessary?
The leaders of the Christian church gather in Jerusalem to decide an urgent question - must Gentile converts undergo circumcision?

60 Peter is pope
St Peter, believed to have come to Rome as leader of the Christian community, is subsequently considered the first pope

60 Paul a prisoner in Rome
St Paul arrives in Rome a prisoner, but then spends two years freely preaching Christianity

64 Christians in Rome victims of Nero
Early Christian tradition states that both Peter and Paul meet death in Rome as martyrs, possibly as a result of the fire of AD 64

75 Acts of Apostles
The Acts of the Apostles are written, probably by Luke – the evangelist and companion of Paul on his final journey to Rome

80 St Mark's Gospel
The earliest of the Christian gospels, that of St Mark, is written down - possibly in Asia Minor or Syria

177 Christians in Lyons tortured to death
On the order of Marcus Aurelius, Christians in Lyons are tortured to death - an instance of persecution unusual at this time

232 Christian worship at Doura-Europus
A house in Doura-Europus is adapted for Christian worship - the earliest surviving example of its kind

245 Origen's Testament in six columns
Origen, living in Caesarea, compiles the Hexapla, displaying versions of the Old Testament in six columns for comparative study

250 Christians paint catacombs
The Christians of Rome use the catacombs as tomb chambers, and decorate the walls with murals on New Testament themes

258 Cyprian martyred in Carthage
Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, is one of many Christians martyred for refusing to sacrifice to the Roman gods

300 Anthony hallucinates in desert
St Anthony, one of the early Christian hermits in the Egyptian desert, is tempted by terrifying hallucinations

303 Christians now seriously persecuted
The emperor Diocletian initiates a sustained persecution of Christians in the Roman empire

312 Constantine wins with Christian emblem
Constantine, preparing for battle against a rival at the Milvian Bridge, orders his men to wear a Christian symbol, the Chi-Rho, on their shields

313 Constantine favours Christians
Constantine meets his co-emperor Licinius in Milan, and persuades him to follow a policy of encouraging the Christians

314 Constantine summons council at Arles
Warming to his new Christian role, Constantine summons more than 300 bishops to Arles to discuss the controversial issue of Donatus

315 Constantine's first churches
Constantine founds several churches in Rome, among them the first St Peter's

320 First Christian monastery
Pachomius organizes in Egypt the first community of Christian monks, at Dandara on the Nile

325 Constantine's council at Nicaea
Constantine convenes a council of 200 bishops at Nicaea to discuss the beliefs of Arius, which are deemed to be heresy

327 Helena finds True Cross
Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine, discovers in Jerusalem the cross on which Christ died - or so it is later claimed

330 Constantine's new Christian city
Constantine's new Christian city on the site of Byzantium is inaugurated, as Constantinople

337 Constantine baptized - just in time
Constantine is at last baptized a Christian in Nicomedia, just a few days before his death

350 Christian bishop in Ethiopia
Frumentius, brought to Ethiopia as a slave, becomes the kingdom's first Christian bishop

350 Greece finds new Christian role
Greece begins to find a new and influential role in a Christian context, through the Byzantine empire

360 St Martin founds monastery
St Martin founds the first monastery in western Europe, at Ligugé near Poitiers

363 Julian said to see error of ways
An apocryphal story states that Julian the Apostate, dying at Tarsus, acknowledges the victory of the Galilean, Jesus Christ

367 New Testament - contents agreed
A document is distributed by the bishop of Alexandria, formally establishing the contents of the New Testament

380 Earliest surviving New Testament
The Codex Sinaiticus, the earliest surviving manuscript of the complete New Testament, is copied out - probably in Egypt

386 Saint and holy women in Bethlehem
St Jerome settles in Bethlehem, where his holy women organize a monastery for his residence and a nearby convent for themselves

390 Emperor rebuked by bishop
St Ambrose asserts the authority of the church, refusing communion to the emperor Theodosius in Milan until he does penance for a massacre

400 Chaste, but not yet
St Augustine reveals that as a young man, studying and teaching in Carthage, he often prayed for 'chastity and continence, but not yet'

405 Jerome completes Vulgate
St Jerome, in Bethlehem, completes the Latin translation of the Bible which later becomes known as the Vulgate

413 Augustine emphasizes City of God
Prompted by the fall of Rome to the Visigoths, St Augustine undertakes a great work of Christian philosophy, the City of God

431 Nestorius pronounced a heretic
A council is convened at Ephesus to consider the theology of Nestorius, which is judged to be heretical

450 St Patrick preaches in Ireland
St Patrick creates a strong tradition of Celtic Christianity in Ireland, from his base in Armagh

475 Hermits live on pillars
The Syrian desert is full of hermits living on pillars, following the example of St Simeon Stylites

500 Celtic monks in beehive cells
Monks in Ireland live in stone beehive cells on rocky islands, to achieve maximum discomfort

500 Christian ivories
Small ivory panels, with Gospel scenes carved in relief, provide a delicate beginning to the story of Christian sculpture

500 Clovis baptized at Reims
Clovis and some 3000 of his soldiers are baptized in a massive ceremony at Reims

525 Monk selects AD 1
Dionysius Exiguus, commissioned by the pope to improve chronology, makes an error of at least four years in his selected event for AD 1

525 St Benedict at Subiaco
St Benedict gathers fellow hermits at Subiaco into a series of small monasteries

527 St Catherine's in Sinai
The monastery of St Catherine's in Sinai is founded by Justinian, and will accumulate one of the world's greatest collections of icons

530 Irish monastery at Clonard
St Finnian founds the first of Ireland's great Celtic monasteries, at Clonard

530 St Benedict at Monte Cassino
St Benedict founds a monastery at Monte Cassino and writes a Rule for the monks which becomes the basis of the Benedictine order

543 Christianity in Sudan
Christianity reaches the kingdom of Dongola, in present-day Sudan

563 St Columba on Iona
St Columba establishes a monastery on the island of Iona, from which Celtic Christianity is carried to Scotland and northern England

580 St David in St David's
St David founds monasteries in Wales and makes his base at Mynyw, a place now known after him as St David's

589 Filioque splits east and west
The word filioque ('and from the Son') becomes a major bone of contention between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches

597 Augustine's warm welcome in Canterbury
Augustine, arriving with a party of monks from Rome, reaches Canterbury and is well received by the pagan king of Kent

600 Gregorian chant from Jewish sources
Ritual intoning of the psalms, derived from Jewish synagogues, is formalized in Christian worship as Gregorian chant

610 St Columban reaches Bobbio
St Columban founds a monastery at Bobbio, the furthest outpost of Celtic Christianity

615 Persians remove True Cross
When the Persians sack Jerusalem, they carry off to Ctesiphon Christianity's most sacred relic - the True Cross

620 Monastery on Lindisfarne
The Irish monk St Aidan moves from Iona to establish a monastery on Lindisfarne

627 Byzantines recover True Cross
The Byzantine emperor Heraclius recovers the True Cross from Ctesiphon

643 Coptic Christians isolated
The Coptic Christians of Egypt become isolated after the Muslim conquest

650 Celts illuminate manuscripts
The Book of Durrow, one of the earliest of the great Celtic manuscripts, is written and illuminated in Ireland

650 Jews and Christians favoured in Qur'an
Jews and Christians, sharing with Muslims the status of 'people of the book', are promised religious tolerance in the Qur'an

664 Northumbria chooses England's Christianity
The king of Northumbria summons a synod at Whitby to hear the arguments of Roman and Celtic Christians, then opts for Rome

695 Willibrord in Utrecht
Willibrord, recently arrived from England to convert the Frisians, is consecrated archbishop of a new see in Utrecht

698 Lindisfarne Gospels
The Lindisfarne Gospels are written and illuminated by Celtic monks on the Scottish island of Lindisfarne

726 Christian emperor destroys image of Christ
The emperor Leo III launches the iconoclastic controversy, sending soldiers to smash the great image of Christ over the gateway to his palace

732 Charles Martel stops Muslim advance
The Muslim advance into France is halted when Charles Martel defeats the Arabs between Poitiers and Tours

743 Boniface preaches to Germans
Boniface, working as a missionary among pagan Germans, makes his headquarters at Mainz

753 Pepin and Charlemagne anointed by pope
Pope Stephen II anoints Pepin III and his two sons (one of them Charlemagne) in the abbey church of St Denis

796 Alcuin moves to Tours
Alcuin leaves the palace school at Aachen to become abbot of the monastery of Tours

800 Christmas surprise for Charlemagne
In St Peter's in Rome, on Christmas Day, pope Leo III crowns Charlemagne emperor - supposedly to Charlemagne's surprise

805 Pope consecrates Charlemagne's chapel
Pope Leo III consecrates Charlemagne's new palace chapel in Aachen, modelled on San Vitale in Ravenna

825 Bones of St James
The discovery of the supposed remains of the apostle St James makes Santiago de Compostela a new centre of European pilgrimage

828 Bones of St Mark
The Venetians, acquiring from Alexandria some bones believed to be those of St Mark, build St Mark's to house the valuable relic

843 Iconoclasm smashed
The iconoclastic controversy ends when Theodora, widow of the emperor Theophilus, officially sanctions the veneration of icons

863 Cyril and Methodius in Moravia
The missionary brothers Cyril and Methodius arrive in Moravia, where they introduce the Greek Orthodox faith in a special Slavonic liturgy

865 Bulgarians become Orthodox
The Bulgarian king Boris I is baptized in the Greek Orthodox faith, bringing his people within the Byzantine fold

870 Gospels in Slavonic
Cyril and Methodius translate the Gospels and parts of the Old Testament into Slavonic for the Moravians.

909 Reform at Cluny
Monastic reform, begun at Cluny, is so successful that more than 1000 Benedictine houses eventually follow the Cluniac example

929 Wenceslas murdered
Wenceslas, a prince of the Premsylid family, is murdered on his way into church - and becomes Bohemia's patron saint

950 Slavs become Orthodox
The Byzantine empire enjoys a revival, bringing the Slavs within the Greek Orthodox fold and winning victories against the Muslims

960 Harald Bluetooth unites Denmark
Harald Bluetooth is baptized a Christian and unites the whole of Denmark as a single kingdom.

962 Otto I crowned in Rome
The imperial coronation of Otto I by Pope John XII in St Peter's puts in place the formal role of a Holy Roman emperor

965 Poles become Catholic
Mieszko, pagan chieftain of the Poles, marries a Christian Czech princess and brings all his people into the Roman Catholic fold

975 Hungarians become Catholic
The Hungarian king Gezá and his family are baptized as Roman Catholics, beginning a long link between Hungary and Rome

987 Russians become Orthodox
Vladimir, the prince of Kiev, decides that Greek Orthodoxy is the most suitable religion for the Russian people

1000 Population baptized in Iceland
Iceland's parliament, the althing, passes a resolution that everyone on the island is to be baptized

1075 Investiture controversy
Pope Gregory VII decrees that only the church may make ecclesiastical appointments, thus initiating the investiture controversy between pope and emperor

1078 Anselm claims to prove that God exists
Anselm includes in his Proslogion his famous 'ontological proof' of the existence of God

1084 St Bruno founds Carthusians
St Bruno and six companions retire to Chartreuse, in the French Alps, and establish the Carthusian order

1085 Toledo captured by Christians
Toledo is captured from the Muslims by Alfonso VI of Castile, who continues the city's traditions of religious tolerance

1095 Pope preaches first crusade
Pope Urban II preaches the first crusade, urging the Christians of Europe to march east to recover Jerusalem from the Muslims

1096 Peter the Hermit
Peter the Hermit, an old monk on a donkey, leads the largest of the popular groups from Germany on the first crusade

1098 Cistercian order founded
Benedictine monks, wishing to return to the early ideals of the order, form a community at Cîteaux which becomes the Cistercian order

1098 Crusaders capture Antioch
After a siege of seven months, the city of Antioch falls to the knights of the first crusade

1099 Crusaders capture Jerusalem
Crusaders capture the holy city of Jerusalem and massacre the Muslim and Jewish inhabitants

1113 Knights of St John
The Knights of St John of Jerusalem become an established order under papal protection

1115 Bernard at Clairvaux
St Bernard establishes a new monastery at Clairvaux, from which he presides over the rapid expansion of the Cistercian order

1120 Knights Templar
The Knights Templar are founded, to protect pilgrims from the Muslims on the journey to Jerusalem

1144 Pope calls for new crusade
The fall of Edessa prompts the pope, Eugenius III, to call for a second crusade to defend the Latin kingdom

1145 Cult of carts at Chartres
A new form of pious devotion is seen in Chartres, with people painfully dragging wagons of stone to enlarge the cathedral

1145 Prester John expected
A bishop in the crusader territories of the Middle East has news of a fabulously wealthy Christian king, Prester John

1147 English bishop for see of Lisbon
Gilbert of Hastings, an English priest, becomes bishop of the recovered see of Lisbon - the first of many such links between England and Portugal

1147 Second crusade
The second crusade is led east by two kings, Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany

1148 Two bedraggled kings reach Holy Land
By the time Louis VII and Conrad III reach the Holy Land they have lost more than half their joint armies to Muslim attacks

1148 Disastrous attack on Damascus
Louis VII and Conrad III do grave harm to the Latin Kingdom by a feeble attack that merely alienates the previously friendly city of Damascus

1150 Charlemagne a saint in France and Germany
In feudal France and Germany Charlemagne is by now venerated as a saint

1182 Roman Catholics massacred in Constantinople
Resentment of western merchants results in a massacre of Roman Catholics by fellow Christians in Constantinople

1190 Richard I goes on crusade
A year after succeeding to the throne of England, Richard I sets off east as one of the leaders of the third crusade

1190 Frederick Barbarossa dies on crusade
The third crusade suffers an early disaster when its first leader, the emperor Frederick Barbarossa, is drowned crossing the Calycadnus river

1191 Richard I takes Acre
The Muslim garrison of Acre surrenders to Richard I, who orders the massacre of 2700 of its members

1191 Teutonic Knights
The Teutonic Knights are founded to run a hospital in Acre, in the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem

1200 Jews accused of desecrating Host
The new Christian doctrine of Transubstantiation prompts rumours that the Jews desecrate the consecrated Host

1200 Cathars pure heretics
The heresy of the Cathars (meaning 'pure' ones) is now so well established in southern France that they have bishops of their own

1202 Fourth crusade sails from Venice
The fleet of the fourth crusade departs from Venice - only to be diverted from its purposes by Venetian guile

1202 German knights of the sword
A German order, the Knights of the Sword, begins the forcible conversion of Latvia and Estonia to Christianity

1204 Crusaders destroy Constantinople
The crusaders of the fourth crusade besiege, take and destroy the Christian city of Constantinople

1205 Loot for Venice
Many of the treasures adorning the church of San Marco in Venice are loot taken from Constantinople during the fourth crusade

1208 Pope's man assassinated
The murder of the pope's legate to Toulouse provokes the Albigensian crusade, which aims to wipe out the Catharist heresy

1210 St Francis visits the pope
St Francis and eleven companions tell Innocent III of their wish for a life of holy poverty in the bustle of the towns

1212 Children's Crusade
Participants in the Children's Crusade suffer disaster after the waters of the Mediterranean fail to part for them

1215 St Dominic visits the pope
St Dominic and his companions tell Innocent III of their wish to teach and preach in the bustle of the towns

1216 Dominican friars - official
The Dominicans are formally established by Pope Honorius III as Ordo Fratrum Praedicatorum, the Order of the Friars Preachers

1219 St Francis in Egypt
St Francis of Assisi joins a crusading army in Egypt and attempts to convert the sultan Melek-el-Kamel and his followers to Christianity

1223 Franciscan friars - official
The Franciscans are formally established by Honorius III as Ordo Fratrum Minorum, the Order of the Friars Minor

1228 Frederick II bargains for Jerusalem
Frederick II, leader of the sixth crusade, briefly recovers Jerusalem for the Christians by negotiating with the Muslims

1233 Inquisition begins work
Gregory IX sends Dominican friars to root out the remains of the Catharist heresy in France, thus launching the Inquisition

1244 200 heretics burnt in wooden stockade
The siege of the Catharist stronghold of Montségur ends when 200 heretics are herded into a wooden stockade and are burnt

1253 Churches for St Francis in Assisi
Construction begins of two basilicas, one above the other on a hillside in Assisi, in memory of St Francis

1256 Augustinian friars established
Pope Alexander IV establishes a third order of preaching friars, the Augustinians

1290 Jews expelled from England
The Jews in England are driven out of the country, soon to be followed by those in France

1300 Pope promotes Holy Year
Boniface VIII declares a Jubilee or Holy Year, with plenary indulgences for pilgrims who make their way to Rome

1309 Pope moves to Avignon
Clement V moves the papacy to Avignon, in a move which is expected to be temporary but which lasts for nearly seventy years

1310 Templars burnt at stake
Fifty-four Knights Templars are burned at the stake, during the campaign of the French king to destroy the order

1315 Islam replaces Christianity in Sudan
Islam replaces Christianity as the religion of the kings of Dongola, in present-day Sudan

1326 Metropolitan moves to Moscow
Moscow acquires new prestige when the metropolitan (or patriarch) of the Russian Orthodox church moves his residence from Vladimir

1376 Wycliffe critical of corrupt church
John Wycliffe, writing mainly in Oxford, is critical of the contemporary church and can find no basis for the pope's authority

1377 Pope returns to Rome
The papal curia returns to Rome in what would seem a conclusive move if there were not, two years later, two popes - one of them elected back in Avignon

1379 Great Schism in papacy
The French cardinals, objecting to the new Italian pope, elect their own man as Clement VII - and thus inaugurate the Great Schism of the papacy

1386 Lithuania becomes Christian
Jogaila, baptized a Roman Catholic before marrying Jadwiga, brings Lithuania into the Christian fold - the last part of Europe to be converted

1400 Lollards follow Wycliffe
The followers of Wycliffe, after his death, become known as Lollards or 'mutterers'

1402 Bethlehem Chapel gets new preacher
John Huss, known for his radical approach to Christianity, is put in charge of the Bethlehem Chapel in Prague

1409 Two popes too many
The Council at Pisa elects a new pope, Alexander V, without persuading the other two to resign - bringing the total to an unprecedented three

1414 Council called at Constance
A council is called at Constance, to consider the radical views of John Huss and to deal with the present excess of popes

1415 Huss burnt at stake
John Huss, invited to Constance under a promise of safe conduct, is arrested, tried and burnt at the stake as a heretic

1417 Three popes reduced to one
The Council of Constance, having done its best to dispose of the three existing popes, elects a new one - Martin V

1428 Peasant girl hears voices
A peasant girl, Joan of Arc, hears the voices of saints urging her to relieve the siege of Orléans

1429 Joan face to face with Charles
Joan of Arc wins her way into the presence of Charles VII at Chinon and persuades him, eventually, to trust her

1429 Orléans falls to Joan and the French
Joan of Arc leads French forces in the successful relief of Orléans

1429 Anointing of king at Reims
Joan of Arc stands nearby while Charles VII is anointed at Reims, then kneels before him and for the first time calls him her king

1430 Joan captured in skirmish
Joan of Arc is captured in a skirmish with the Burgundians, who subsequently hand her over to the English

1431 Joan burned as a heretic
Joan of Arc, tried by the Inquisition on behalf of the English in Rouen, is burned at the stake as a relapsed heretic

1433 Sacrament in both kinds for Prague
The Compacts of Prague, agreed with the papacy in 1433, allow the Hussite laity to receive the sacrament in both kinds

1438 French clergy make anti-papal stand at Bourges
The French clergy pass a resolution at Bourges, limiting the power of the papacy within France, which is adopted by the king as a 'pragmatic sanction'

1439 Greek Orthodox attend church council in Florence
Florence acquires first-hand experience of Greek culture when Greek Orthodox priests join in a debate on theology, in particular the question of Filioque

1475 Moscow seen as third Rome
With Constantinople in Turkish hands, Moscow begins to see itself as the centre of Orthodox Christianity - or the third Rome

1480 Torquemada appointed Grand Inquisitor
Tomas de Torquemada, from a family of converted Jews, is appointed Spain's first Grand Inquisitor

1491 Savonarola attacks morals of the mighty
Savonarola, the new prior of San Marco, is a stern critic of both the pope in Rome and the Medici in Florence

1492 Jews expelled from Spain
Torquemada persuades Ferdinand and Isabella to expel from Spain all Jews (about 160,000) who will not convert to Christianity

1492 Pope has four illegitimate children
Rodrigo Borgia, elected pope as Alexander VI, already has four illegitimate children and possibly sires three more while pope

1497 Savonarola's bonfire of vanities
Savonarola, in the carnival before Lent, urges the people of Florence to throw playing cards and lewd images on a great bonfire of vanities

1498 Savonarola hanged and burnt
The Florentine mob, weary of puritanism, attacks the convent of San Marco and drags Savonarola away to be hanged and burnt

1516 Erasmus's New Testament in Greek
Erasmus publishes an influential edition of the New Testament in its original Greek

1517 Luther outraged by sale of indulgences
The local sale of indulgences by Johann Tetzel outrages a friar teaching in Wittenberg, Martin Luther

1517 Luther nails document to church door
Martin Luther nails his 95 Theses to the door of the castle church in Wittenberg

1518 Melanchthon inspires Luther's New Testament
Philipp Melanchthon joins the Wittenberg university to teach Greek and inspires Luther to translate the New Testament

1520 First pamphlet war
Europe's new printing presses make possible the first pamphlet war, spreading instant arguments for and against the Reformation

1520 Luther's writings burnt
Luther's writings are burnt in Rome by order of the pope

1521 Luther excommunicated
Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther after he has refused to recant

1521 Diet of Worms
Luther travels to the German city of Worms to present his case to an imperial diet

1521 Here I stand, says Luther
Luther bears witness to a Protestant conscience, stating at Worms: 'Here I stand, I can not do otherwise.'

1521 Ignatius inspired to be a saint
Ignatius of Loyola, recovering from a wound received as a soldier at Pamplona, is inspired by reading the lives of the saints

1522 Luther in disguise as Junker Georg
Outlawed by the Edict of Worms, Luther lives secretly in the Wartburg as Junker Georg

1522 Swiss sausage in Lent
Huldreich Zwingli eats sausage in Lent in Zurich, launching the Swiss Reformation

1523 Hans Sachs calls Luther a nightingale
Hans Sachs, popular poet and master singer, describes Luther as the Wittenberg nightingale

1524 Tyndale at Wittenberg
William Tyndale studies in the university at Wittenberg and plans to translate the Bible into English

1525 Friar marries nun
Luther, a former friar, marries Catherine von Bora, a former nun who has just emerged from her convent

1525 Adult baptism in Zurich
Conrad Grebel baptises an adult, causing outrage in Protestant Zurich

1525 Peasant War appals Luther
Thomas Müntzer leads the rebels in the Peasant War, to the profound displeasure of Luther

1525 Muslims in Spain forced to convert
Muslims throughout Spain are ordered to convert to Christianity or to leave the kingdom

1527 Swedish king plunders monasteries
Gustavus I of Sweden fills his coffers by appropriating the property of Catholic churches and monasteries

1528 Bible studies affect divorce
Discussion of Henry VIII's proposed divorce hinges on rival verses from the Old Testament, in Deuteronomy and Leviticus

1529 Protestants acquire their name
The 'Protestation' of various princes and imperial cities at Speyer identifies them as Protestants

1529 Luther and Zwingli clash on Eucharist
Protestant reformers Luther and Zwingli disagree at Marburg on the nature of the Eucharist

1530 Muslim holy war against Ethiopia
Ahmad ibn Ibrahim leads Muslim Somalis in a holy war against Christian Ethiopia, destroying churches and shrines

1530 Lutheran confession at Augsburg
The Augsburg Confession, presented by Melanchthon to the imperial diet, defines the Lutheran faith

1531 Aztec Virgin seen at Guadalupe
The Aztec Virgin of Guadalupe appears to an Indian near Mexico City and tells him she is 'one of his kind'

1531 Protestant princes form league
The Protestant princes of Germany form the defensive League of Schmalkalden

1531 Zwingli killed in battle
Zwingli is killed at Kappel in a battle between Protestant and Catholic cantons

1534 Henry VIII head of English church
Henry VIII's Act of Supremacy forces prominent figures in English public life to accept him on oath as head of the Church of England

1534 Placards all over Paris
Paris wakes up to find Protestant placards all over the place, mocking the sacrament of the mass

1536 English king plunders monasteries
Henry VIII begins the process of gathering in the wealth of England's monasteries

1536 Danish king plunders monasteries
Christian III seizes the wealth of Danish churches and monasteries, before turning his attention to those of Norway

1540 Jesuits are official
Pope Paul III establishes Ignatius Loyola and his followers as the Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits

1541 Calvin's school of Christ
Protestant reformer John Calvin settles in Geneva and submits the city to a strict Christian rule

1541 Francis Xavier sets sail
Francis Xavier, companion of Ignatius Loyola and the first missionary of the Counter-Reformation, sets sail from Lisbon

1542 Francis Xavier in Goa
Francis Xavier reaches Goa, at the start of the great mission to the east that will last the nine years until his death

1542 Roman Inquisition
Pope Paul III establishes the Roman Inquisition, with the specific task of fighting against the Protestant heresy

1545 Waldenses massacred
3000 Waldenses are massacred as heretics in the villages of Provence

1545 Council of Trent
A council of the Roman Catholic church is convened in Trent, to establish the tenets of the Counter-Reformation

1546 Archbishop of St Andrews murdered
David Beaton, the archbishop of St Andrews, burns a leading Protestant, George Wishart, as a heretic and is murdered in retaliation

1547 John Knox a galley slave
John Knox is captured in St Andrews and is sent to serve in the French fleet as a galley slave

1549 First English prayer book
The first version of the English prayer book, or Book of Common Prayer, is published with text by Thomas Cranmer

1553 Mary I tries to restore Catholic England
Mary I succeeds to the English throne, and devotes her energies to the restoration of the Catholic faith

1554 Mary I marries Catholic heir to Spain
Mary I causes grave offence in England by her marriage to the Catholic heir to the king of Spain

1555 Religious compromise at Augsburg
The Peace of Augsburg achieves a compromise which for a while solves the religious tensions deriving from the Reformation

1555 The original Bloody Mary
The Protestant martyrs, though few in number, ensure the reputation of Bloody Mary in English history

1559 Knox back in Scotland
John Knox returns to Scotland from Geneva and inspires the Protestants to march on Edinburgh

1559 Huguenots get together in Paris
A national synod of France's Protestants, the Huguenots, is convened in Paris

1561 Knox and Mary disagree
Mary Queen of Scots returns from France to Edinburgh, and to an inevitable clash with John Knox

1567 New Testament in Welsh
The Book of Common Prayer and the New Testament are published in Welsh, to be followed by the complete Bible in 1588

1570 Pope excommunicates English queen
Pope Pius V excommunicates the English queen, Elizabeth I, causing a severe crisis of loyalty for her Catholic subjects

1572 Massacre on St Bartholomew's Day
A massacre of French Protestants, known as the Huguenots, begins in Paris on St Bartholomew's Day

1579 Netherlands split on religious lines
The Union of Arras and the Union of Utrecht split the Netherlands into Catholic and Protestant camps

1580 Jesuits target England
The first Jesuit missionaries arrive in England, with Edmund Campion among their number

1585 Catholic martyrs in England
Catholics are now the martyrs in England, their numbers almost matching the Protestant martyrs of the previous reign

1593 French king converts to secure throne
Henry IV becomes a Catholic so as to secure Paris and the throne of France

1598 Edict of Nantes protects Huguenots
The Edict of Nantes secures the civil rights of France's Protestants, the Huguenots

1604 Authorized version commissioned
James I commissions the Authorized version of the Bible, which is completed by forty-seven scholars in seven years

1605 Gunpowder Plot damages Catholic cause
The Gunpowder Plot, attempting murder and treason, severely damages the Catholic cause in Britain

1608 English Puritans sail to Holland
A shipload of Puritans, among them some of the future Pilgrim Fathers, sail from Boston in Lincolnshire to seek religious freedom in Holland

1612 Baptist church in London
The establishment of a Baptist church in London is a defining moment for the Baptist sect within Christianity

1614 Christianity banned in Japan
An edict is passed expelling Jesuit missionaries from Japan, and ordering their converts to revert to Buddhism

1619 Protestant elected king in Bohemia
The Protestant Frederick V (elector palatine of the Rhine) is elected king by the rebellious Bohemian nobles

1636 Religious freedom in Rhode Island
Rhode Island is founded by Roger Williams as a colony based on the principle of religious tolerance

1637 Bishops imposed on Scotland
Charles I and his archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, attempt to impose the full Anglican hierarchy on presbyterian Scotland