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

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

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

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'

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.'

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

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

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

1533 Henry VIII divorces Catherine
Thomas Cranmer, the archbishop of Canterbury, declares Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon null and void

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 Tyndale dies at the stake
William Tyndale is captured in Antwerp, condemned as a heretic and strangled at the stake

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

1539 Henry VIII's Great Bible
The Great Bible, commissioned by Henry VIII for use in every Anglican church, is published

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

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

1549 Cranmer burnt at the stake
Thomas Cranmer is burnt at the stake in Oxford, after reasserting his Protestant beliefs

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

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

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

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

1620 September 16 Pilgrims sail west
The Pilgrims (or Pilgrim Fathers), a group of 102 English settlers, sail in the Mayflower to the new world

1634 Passion play in Oberammergau
A Passion play is performed for the first time at Oberammergau, in the spirit of the Counter-Reformation

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

1638 Covenant in Edinburgh churchyard
A National Covenant, first signed in an Edinburgh churchyard, commits the Covenanters to oppose Charles I's reforms of the Church of Scotland