History Pages - Part 14

Reformation and Restoration - AD 1,400-1,700


 

AD 1328-1384
John Wycliffe, English reformer and Bible translator
ca. AD 1350
English began to emerge as the national language of England
Rise of the Muslim Ottoman Dynasty in Turkey
AD 1371
Battle of Maritsa - the Ottoman Turks took Bulgaria
AD 1380
The New Testament translated into English by John Wycliffe. Wycliffe also preached against abuses of the Church and against celibacy of the clergy. His teachings were condemned by Church authorities
AD 1382
Completion of the whole Bible in English (including the Deuterocanonical Books) by John Wycliffe and Nicholas of Hereford
AD 1389
Battle of Kosovo - the Ottoman Turks took Serbia
AD 1397
Ottoman Turks captured Thessaloniki and Athens, and besieged Constantinople. Then they went to the Peloponese (Greek mainland) and forced 30,000 Greeks into exile in Asia. Turkoman and Tartar colonies settled in Lakonia, Messinia, Achaia, and the Argolis
ca.AD 1400
The Zohar, Jewish Kabalistic book
AD 1400
Tamurlane (Tamburlane, Timerlane, Timur the Lame) sacked Damascus
AD 1402
Mongols and Tartars from central Asia, led by Tamurlane, wiped out Ottoman army near Ankara
AD 1408
Council of Oxford forbade translations of the Scriptures into the vernacular unless and until they were fully approved by Church authority, sparked by Wycliffite Bible, Sir Thomas More said:
"It neither forbiddeth the translations to be read that were already well done of old before Wycliffe's days, nor damneth his because it was new but because it was naught; nor prohibiteth new to be made but provideth that they shall not be read if they be made amiss till they be by good examination amended."
AD 1412-1431
Joan of Arc, French national heroine and saint
AD 1413
Tamurlane's Empire broke up and the Turks recovered control
AD 1415
Council of Florence condemned all of Wycliffe's works, but the actual Bibles continued to be used after having the heretical prologue removed, and were used by religious houses and the nobility and were tacitly accepted by Roman Catholics
AD 1439
Council of Florence - John VIII unsuccessfully attempted the union of Roman Catholic and East Orthodox Churches under Papal supremacy
AD 1453, May 29
Fall of Constantipole to Sultan Mehmed II "the Conqueror" and the Ottoman Turks
AD 1456
Invention of the printing press and moveable type. Printing of the Gutenberg Bible
AD 1466-1536
Desiderius Erasmus, Dutch scholar, produced an edition of the Greek New Testament which was used as the source for many of the 16th century translations of the Bible
AD 1471-1484
Pope Sixtus IV
AD 1473-1481
Sistine Chapel built, under supervision of Giovanni de Dolci
AD 1478
The Inquisition established by Pope Sixtus IV
AD 1483-1530
Babur began his conquest of India
AD 1483-1546
Martin Luther, German reformer, taught that only faith in Jesus Christ leads to salvation, without the mediation of clergy or good works; recommended individual personal study of the Bible
AD 1488
First printing of a complete Hebrew Bible (equivalent to the Old Testament in Hebrew)
AD 1488-1569
Miles Coverdale, Augustinian friar who left the Order and became the first Protestant Bishop of Exeter
AD 1489-1556
Thomas Cranmer, English reformer, became Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry VIII, wrote the Book of Common Prayer, then was killed by Mary I
AD 1491-1556
Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuit order
AD 1492
The Muslim Moors driven out of Spain
The Ottoman Empire gave asylum to Sephardic Jews from Spain
Christopher Columbus' first voyage, discovered San Salvador - began Spanish colonization of the New World
AD 1493
Jews expelled from Spain
AD 1494-1536
William Tyndale, English reformer and Bible translator, betrayed and killed in Holland during the reign of Henry VIII of England
AD 1500-1800
Safavid Shiite Muslim Dynasty of Iran
Mughal Muslim Dynasty of India
AD 1505-1572
John Knox, Protestant reformer in Scotland
AD 1506
Pope Julius II ordered the Old St Peter's Basilica torn down and authorized Donato Bramante to plan a new structure, demolition completed in 1606
AD 1506-1552
Francis Xavier, missionary to India and Japan
AD 1508-1512
Michaelangelo painted the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel
AD 1509-1547
Henry VIII King of England
AD 1509-1564
John Calvin, French reformer, settled in Geneva and founded Christian communities based on a "Presbyterian" model (rule by Elders)
AD 1513-1522
Pope Leo X
AD 1517
Luther posted his 95 Theses for discussion, on the door of the church in Wittenberg
AD 1517
Selim I (Muslim Ottoman Turk) took Egypt
AD 1517-1917
Ottoman Turks ruled Palestine for 400 years
AD 1518-1532
Teresa of Avila, Spanish mystic and saint
AD 1520
Luther excommunicated
AD 1520-1566
Sulayman I (Sulayman the Magnificent, Suleman the Great)
AD 1522
Luther's translation of the New Testament into German, using the words for "elder" instead of "priest", and "congregation" instead of "church"
AD 1524
"The Peasants' Revolt" in Germany, expected Luther to support them, but he did not. This was the start of 150 years of Religious Wars in Europe
AD 1525-1534
Tyndale's translation of the New Testament from the Greek text of Erasmus (1466) compared against the Vulgate and Luther's German version
AD 1525-1609
The Maharal of Prague (Judah Loew ben Bezalel), Jewish talmudist and mathematician, made the "Golem" (a giant man of clay, to protect the Jews from the Christians)
AD 1530
The "Augsburg Confession" - foundation of the Lutheran Church
AD 1531
"The Virgin of Guadalupe" - The Virgin Mary appeared to a Mexican peasant, miraculous events followed
AD 1534
Henry VIII broke away from the Roman Catholic church, dissolved the monasteries and confiscated their property.
Independence of the Church of England (The Anglican or Episcopal Church)
AD 1534
Ignatius of Loyola founded the Jesuit order which re-evangelized large areas of Poland, Hungary, and Germany and sent missionaries to the New World, India, and China
AD 1534-1572
The Ari (the Lion), Isaac ben Solomon Luria, Jewish Tamud and Kabbalah scholar
AD 1535-1537
Coverdale's Bible, used Tyndale's (1525) translation along with Latin and German versions, placed the Apocrypha at the end of the Old Testament, as was done by Luther and also in later English versions. 1537 edition received royal license, but was banned in 1546
AD 1536
Tyndale, in hiding in Holland, was betrayed and put to death, left his Old Testament translation in manuscript. English ecclesiastical authorities ordered his Bible burned because it was thought to be part of the Lutheran reform. Tyndales prayer as he died was "O Lord, open Thou the King of England's eyes."
AD 1536-1541
Michaelangelo's painting of the Last Judgment
AD 1537-1541
Suleiman the Magnificent rebuilt and redecorated the city wall of Jerusalem and the Dome of the Rock
AD 1537-1551
The Matthew Bible, translation by John Rogers (1500-1555), based on Tyndale's and Coverdale's translations, received royal license but was not authorized for use in public worship, went through numerous editions, the 1551 edition contained offensive notes (based on Tyndale)
AD 1539-1569
The Great Bible, produced by Thomas Cromwell. The first English Bible to be authorized for public use in English churches. Based on Tyndale's NT of 1534-1535, corrected by reference to a Latin version of the Hebrew OT, the Latin Bible of Erasmus, and the Complutensian Polyglot.
AD 1542
Francis Xavier started missionary work in India
AD 1543
Parliament banned Tyndale's translation as a "crafty, false and untrue translation"
AD 1545-1563
The Council of Trent, Roman Catholic Reformation, or Counter-reformation, to meet the Protestant challenge
AD 1546
Francis Xavier started missionary work in Malaya
Henry VIII forbade anyone to have a copy of Tyndale's or Coverdale's New Testament
AD 1547
Ivan the Terrible became ruler of Russia, and drove the Jews out of Russia
AD 1547-1553
Edward VI King of England, brought up as a Protestant, favored the Protestant reformation
AD 1549
The "Book of Common Prayer" of the Church of England (Episcopal Church)
Francis Xavier started missionary work in Japan
AD 1553-1558
Mary I Queen of England. Mary was the daughter of Henry VIII and Katharine of Aragon, and was a staunch Roman Catholic. She tried to force England to go back to Roman Catholicism, and was called "Bloody Mary" because of the number of Protestants who were killed during her reign. Publication of English Scriptures ceased, and many Protestant clergy left England
AD 1555
The Peace of Augsburg - German princes were allowed to choose whether their lands (and people) would be Lutheran or Roman Catholic
AD 1556
Beza's Latin New Testament
AD 1558-1603
Elizabeth I Queen of England. Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. She had been brought up as a Protestant, but was liberal towards Roman Catholics until the Pope excommunicated her and said that anyone who killed her would not be guilty of mortal sin
AD 1560
The Geneva Bible, NT a revision of Matthew's version of Tyndale with use of Beza's NT, OT a thorough revision of the Great Bible, appointed to be read in Scotland (but not England), ran for at least 140 editions
John Knox disagreed with the Lutheran Church over the Sacraments and Church government, and founded the Presbyterian Church in Scotland
AD 1560-1618
Dutch wars of independence (from Spain)
AD 1563
The "Thirty-nine Articles" of the Church of England - articles of faith agreed upon by a panel of Bishops
AD 1564
Shulhan Arukh (Code of Jewish law) published
AD 1569
"The Kabalist" written by Isaac Luria in Safed (in the Galilee, northern Palestine)
AD 1571
The Turks tried to invade and conquer Christian Europe. At the Naval Battle of Lepanto, Spain, Venice, Genoa, and the Roman Papacy sent a combined armada and destroyed the Turkish navy. The sailors attributed their victory to their prayers to Our Lady of the Rosary
AD 1572-1606
The Bishop's Bible, a revision of the Great Bible checked against the Hebrew text, the first to be published in England by episcopal authority
AD 1573-1645
William Laud, became Archbishop of Canterbury, was executed during the English Civil War
AD 1582
Rheims NT, based on Coverdale, Bishops', Geneva, followed Wycliffe's version
AD 1585
Joachim Ganz, first known Jew to come to America, landed at Roanoke
AD 1588
England under Elizabeth I defeated the Spanish Armarda, resisted re-introduction of Roman Catholicism
AD 1588-1679
Thomas Hobbes, English philosopher
AD 1589
Creation of the Patriarchate of Moscow
AD 1590
Michelangelo completed the dome in St Peter's Basilica in Rome
AD 1596
The Ukranian Catholic Church formed when Ukranian subjects of the king of Poland were reunited with Rome, resulting in the largest Byzantine Catholic Church
AD 1596-1650
Rene Descartes, French philosopher and mathematician
AD 1598
The Edict of Nantes (in France) gave religious toleration to the Huguenots (Protestants) in some parts of France, while other parts remained Roman Catholic
AD 1598-1611
George Chapman translated Homer's "Iliad" into English
AD 1599-1658
Oliver Cromwell, Puritan leader, eventually became "Lord Protector" of England
AD 1603-1625
James I of England and VI of Scotland - James styled himself "King of Great Britain"
AD 1604
The Hampton Court Conference, called by James I to attempt to settle differences between Puritan and High Church factions in the Church of England.
One result of this conference was the decision to produce a new translation of the Bible - this became the King James Version, also known as the Authorized Version.
Another result was that small groups of Puritans decided to worship separately from the Church of England - the start of the "Separatist" movement
AD 1606
Carlo Maderno redesigned St Peter's Basilica in Rome into the shape of a Latin cross
AD 1607
Founding of the Colony of Virginia, first colonists at Jamestown
AD 1607-1676
Paul Gerhardt, German hymn writer
AD 1608
"Separatist" groups left England, to live and worship in Holland
AD 1609
John Smyth founded the Baptist Church, due to objections to infant baptism and the demands for separation of Church and State
AD 1609-1610
Rheims-Douay Bible, first Roman Catholic English translation, OT published in two volumes, based on an unofficial Louvain text corrected against the Sistine Vulgate of 1590, NT was Rheims text of 1582
AD 1611
The King James (Authorized) Version of the Bible, including the Apocrypha
James I dissolved Parliament, and ruled without it for 10 years
AD 1613
Elizabeth, daughter of James I, married Frederick V of the Palatinate (the leading Calvinist prince of Germany).
After the death of Queen Anne in 1714 the succession to the throne of England was traced through Elizabeth's daughter Sophia of Hannover, to Sophia's son George I
AD 1614-1642
Martyrdom of the Japanese Christians
AD 1618-1648
The Thirty Years' War, also called the Wars of Religion, ostensibly between Protestants and Roman Catholics in Europe. But the Swedes (Protestants) invaded and plundered some of the German Protestant lands, and the French (Roman Catholics) tried to grab some Roman Catholic lands. Everybody fought and plundered everybody else. Towns were destroyed and peasants were slaughtered. Nobody won. Everybody lost.
AD 1620
Puritans began emigrating to America. The Pilgrim Fathers sailed in the Mayflower and landed at Plymouth Rock
AD 1621
The World's Great Restoration, or Calling of the Jews by Sir Henry Finch, treatise calling for the restoration of Jews to their homeland
AD 1622-1629
Persian Jews were forced to become Moslems
AD 1625-1649
Charles I King of England and Scotland. His reign ended in civil war, the capture of the King, his trial and execution by beheading
AD 1626-1676
Shabbatai Zvi, Jewish Messianic leader
AD 1630
The Massachusetts Bay Company - Puritans started to settle in Boston
AD 1632-1677
Baruch (Benedict) Spinoza
AD 1636
Rhode Island granted religious liberty to Jews
AD 1643-1649
The Westminster Assembly produced the Westminster Confession of Faith, intended to replace the 39 Articles of Religion in the Church of England
AD 1644
The "Long Parliament" directed that only the Hebrew canon of the Old Testament be read in the Church of England (removed the Apocrypha and Deuterocanonical books from public reading)
AD 1645
Execution of William Law, Archbishop of Canterbury
AD 1648
The Peace of Westphalia - German princes were allowed to choose Lutheranism, Calvinism, or Roman Catholicism as their "state Church", and were also allowed to tolerate members of other denominations
AD 1649
Execution of Charles I
AD 1653-1658
Oliver Cromwell "Lord Protector" of England
AD 1655
Oliver Cromwell allowed Jews to return to England
AD 1657
Jews granted the rights of Citizens in America
AD 1658-1712
Richard Cromwell (son of Oliver Cromwell) inherited the position of Lord Protector, but did not lead well
AD 1660
The Restoration of the Monarchy in England and Scotland
The future James II, son of Charles I, married Anne Hyde. Their daughters, Mary and Anne, became Queens of England. Charles II (James II brother) insisted that the girls be brought up as Protestants, although both Charles II and James II favored Roman Catholicism
AD 1660-1685
Charles II, reversed of the decision of the Long Parliament, reinstated the Apocrypha and Deuterocanonical books, but the decision was not accepted by the non-conformists (those who did not accept Parliament's Act of Conformity)
AD 1666
The Great Plague, followed by the Great Fire of London
AD 1674-1748
Isaac Watts, English hymn-writer
AD 1678
John Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's Progress"
AD 1682-1791
The Hundred Years' War between the Hapsburg Monarchy and the Ottoman Empire
AD 1683
Second siege of Vienna (unsuccessful) by the Ottoman Turks. The Ottoman Empire began to decline
AD 1685
Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes - French protestants go into exile
AD 1685-1688
James II of England. James became a Roman Catholic, appointed Roman Catholic officers in the army, had controversies with parliament, and fled the country in 1688 (The Bloodless Revolution). After the death of Anne Hyde, his first wife, he had married a Roman Catholic princess, Mary of Modena. After he fled the country their reputed son, Charles, was brought up in Europe, and later tried to invade England and Scotland. He was know as "The Old Pretender". Charles' son, known as "Bonny Prince Charley" or "The Young Pretender", also tried to invade England and Scotland, but was eventually driven back to continental Europe
AD 1688-1689
Parliament invited William and Mary of Orange (Holland) to come to Britain as King and Queen. Mary (and Anne) were daughters of James II and Anne Hyde, daughter of the English Earl of Clarendon
AD 1689
The Act of Toleration allowed English Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, and Quakers to worship as they wished
AD 1689-1694
William and Mary ruled England and Scotland together
AD 1694-1702
After Mary's death, William of Orange ruled alone, as William III
AD 1701
Parliament passed the Act of Settlement, ruling that no Roman Catholic could become monarch of England, and that all monarchs after William III must become members of the Church of England
AD 1702-1714
Queen Anne, daughter of James II and Anne Hyde. Queen Anne had had ten miscarriages, had given birth to four children who died as infants, and a son who died in 1700. On coming to the throne she knew that she would not have another child to follow her
AD 1707
"Act of Union" : Scotland, Wales, and England were united as "Great Britain"
AD 1714-1727
George I king of England. George was the great-grandson of James I through James' daughter Elizabeth, and her daughter Sophia (see 1613)

Main Sources : Smithsonian Timelines of Ancient History, The Timetables of History (Bernard Grun)

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Dr. Rollinson

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Portales, NM 88130

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