| Date |
Event |
Significance to the Reformation in England |
|---|
| 1496 |
Catherine of Aragon's hand secured for Arthur, Prince of Wales, son of Henry VII |
|
| 1501, October |
Arthur marries Catherine |
|
| 1502, April |
Arthur dies of tuberculosis |
|
| 1503 |
Henry VII's wife dies; considers taking Catherine, but decides to pass her to his son Henry VIII |
|
| 1504 |
Pope Julius II dissolves marriage between Catherine and Arthur |
|
| 11 June 1509 |
Henry VIII marries Catherine |
|
| 1514, December |
Boy born to Catherine; dies 6 weeks later |
|
| 18 February 1516 |
Princess Mary born |
|
| 31 October 1517 |
Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses on the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany, formally beginning the Protestant Reformation |
|
| 1521 |
Pope Leo X rewards Henry VIII for his written attack on Luther by granting him the title "Defender of the Faith" |
Henry remains allied with Rome |
| 1524, May |
William Tyndale expelled |
|
| 1525 |
Thomas Cromwell helps to suppress 29 monasteries |
|
| 1527 |
Henry VIII sure of intentions to divorce Catherine |
|
| 1527, May |
Catherine appeals to Rome |
|
| 1529, June |
Court opens in England for divorce case |
|
| 1529, August |
Peace of Cambrai |
|
| 9 August 1529 |
Writs for new parliament; Thomas Wolsey removed as Lord Chancellor |
|
| 9 October 1529 |
Wolsey charged on Praemunire |
|
| 1529, 22 October |
Wolsey confessed his guilt |
|
| 1529, November |
'Reformation parliament' comes into being |
|
| 1529, 3 November |
Bill of Attainder against Wolsey |
|
| 1530 |
Cromwell becomes member of King's council |
|
| 1530, Spring |
Wolsey returns to his see at York |
|
| 1530, Summer |
Writs of Praemunire against 15 clergy |
|
| 1530, November |
Wolsey in correspondence with French, Holy Roman Emperor, Catherine, Pope |
|
| 29 November 1530 |
Wolsey dies on way to trial |
|
| 1530, December |
Cromwell part of the King's council's inner ring |
|
| 1531 |
Henry makes claims to imperial title |
|
| 1531 |
Henry extends protection to clergymen denying papal supremacy |
|
| 1532 |
Duke of Norfolk, Duke of Suffolk, Earl of Wiltshire fall out of favour |
|
| 1532, March |
Supplication Against the Ordinaries |
|
| 1532, March |
Act in Conditional Restraint of Appeals |
|
| 1532, May |
Submission of the Clergy |
|
| 16 May 1532 |
Thomas More resigns |
|
| 1532, December |
Anne Boleyn becomes pregnant |
|
| 1533, January |
Thomas Cranmer appointed Archbishop of Canterbury |
|
| 1533, 25 January |
Henry VIII marries Anne Boleyn at Whitehall |
|
| 1533, March |
Statute in Restraint of Appeals |
|
| 1533, May |
Cranmer declares Henry's marriage null and void |
|
| 1533, 4 July |
John Frith burned at the stake |
|
| 1533, September |
Princess Elizabeth born |
|
| 1534 |
Henry begins negotiations with Paul III |
|
| 1534, January to March |
Act Concerning Ecclesiastical Appointments and Absolute Restraint of Annates, Act Concerning Peter's Pence and Dispensations, Act of Succession |
|
| 1534, March |
Clement VII pronounces marriage valid |
|
| 1534, April |
Elizabeth Barton ('Nun of Kent') executed |
|
| 1534, November |
Act of Supremacy, Treason Act, Act of First Fruits and Tenths |
|
| 1535 |
Henry adds "of the Church of England in Earth, under Jesus Christ, Supreme Head" to his royal style. Henry proclaims himself, not the Pope, to be the head of the Church of England |
|
| 1535 |
Bishop Gardiner's De Vera Obedientia published |
|
| 1535 |
Cromwell appoints Hugh Latimer, Edward Foxe, Nicholas Shaxton to episcopacy |
|
| 1535, May |
Middlemore, Exmere, Newdigate locked up for seventeen days. Ten more starve |
|
| 1535, 22 June |
John Fisher executed |
|
| 1535, 6 July |
Thomas More executed |
|
| 1536 |
Ten Articles; Act Extinguishing the Authority of the Bishop of Rome; Campeggio visits England |
|
| 1536, January |
Anne miscarries again |
|
| 1536, March |
First Act of Dissolution |
|
| 19 May 1536 |
Anne Boleyn is executed |
|
| 1536, April |
'Reformation parliament' dissolved |
|
| 1536, 1 October |
Pilgrimage of Grace, Phase One |
|
| 1536, 4 October |
Pilgrimage of Grace led by 18 members of the gentry |
|
| 1536, 13 October |
York taken by 10,000 'pilgrims' |
|
| 1536, 8 December |
Duke of Norfolk offers pardon to rebels |
|
| 1537 |
Bishops' Book, John Rogers produces the Matthew Bible |
|
| 1537, January |
Bigod's Rebellion, a further phase of the Pilgrimage of Grace, led by Sir Francis Bigod |
|
| 1538 |
'Exeter Conspiracy' |
|
| 1539 |
Second Act of Dissolution; Henry VIII intervenes to halt the doctrinal reformation |
|
| 1540, 6 January |
Henry marries Anne of Cleves |
|
| 1540, 9 July |
Henry's marriage to Anne of Cleves is annulled |
|
| 1540, 28 July |
Thomas Cromwell is beheaded |
|
| 1540, 30 July |
Robert Barnes is burned at the stake |
|
| 1540, 30 July |
Thomas Abel is hanged, drawn and quartered. |
|
| 1543 |
Cranmer is arrested on grounds of heresy, The King's Book is published |
|
| 1544 |
Bishop Gardiner is targeted |
|
| 1546 |
'Creeping to the Cross' added to the list of forbidden practises |
|
| 1547, 28 January |
Henry VIII dies |
|
| 1547 |
The First Book of Homilies introduced by Thomas Cranmer |
|
| 1549 |
The First Book of Common Prayer is introduced by Thomas Cranmer, accompanied by the Act of Uniformity 1549 which makes it the only lawful form of worship |
|
| 1549 |
Putting away of Books and Images Act orders the removal of religious books and the destruction of images in churches |
|
| 1549, June-August |
The Prayer Book Rebellion in the West Country against the imposition of the new liturgy, especially amongst Cornish speakers who knew no English |
|
| 1552 |
The Second Book of Common Prayer is introduced by Thomas Cranmer, the use of which is enforced by the Act of Uniformity 1552 |
|
|
| 1554, 12 February |
Lady Jane Grey is executed |
|
|
| 1554, 30 November |
Restoration of Roman Catholicism by Queen Mary I |
|
|
| 1554, November |
Revival of the Heresy Acts restored the death penalty for those that denied the principles of Catholicism. |
More than 300 people would be executed during Mary's reign, mostly by burning at the stake. |
|
| 1555, 16 October |
Former bishops Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley were burned at the stake in Oxford. |
|
|
| 1556, 21 March |
Thomas Cranmer burned at the stake in Oxford. |
|
|
| 1558 |
Elizabeth I crowned queen |
|
|
| 1558-59 |
Elizabethan Religious Settlement, a compromise which secured Protestant reforms but allowed some Catholic traditions to continue. |
|
|
| 1558 |
Act of Supremacy 1558 confirmed Elizabeth as Head of the Church of England and abolished the authority of the Pope in England. |
Final break with the Roman Church |
|
|
| 1558 |
Act of Uniformity 1558 required attendances at services where a newly revised Book of Common Prayer was used. |
|
|
| 1570, 27 April |
Regnans in Excelsis a papal bull declaring Elizabeth a heretic and threatening those who obeyed her laws with excommunication. |
|
|
| 1587, 8 February |
Mary, Queen of Scots is executed |
|
|
| 1588, 8 August |
The Spanish Armada is defeated by the English fleet, aided by high winds |
|
|
| 1597 |
Irish Rebellion led by Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone |
|
|
| 1603, 11 July |
James VI of Scotland crowned King of England |
|
|
| 1605 |
Gunpowder Plot foiled, Guy Fawkes is executed(1606) |
|
|
| 1609 |
Plantation of Ulster |
|
|
| 1611 |
King James Bible first published and used throughout the English speaking world. |
|
|
| 1625, 27 March |
Charles I crowned King of England, Scotland, and Ireland. |
|
|
| 1642 |
English Civil War breaks out |
Issues largely centered on the Church of England's being seen as too Catholic |
|
|
| 1649, 30 January |
Triumph of the Puritans, execution of King Charles I |
|
|
| 1660 |
Restoration of King Charles II |
|
|
| 1688 |
The Glorious Revolution |