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The History of Christianity (since 1400)

By Timelinemaker69
  • Period: 1378 to 1417

    Western Schism of the Catholic Church

  • 1409

    Pope Alexander V elected

    After his election, there were three existing popes.
  • 1414

    Council called at Constance

    Its purpose was to discuss the excess of Popes
  • 1417

    Pope Martin V elected

  • 1428

    Joan of Arc hears voices

    A young peasant girl, Joan of Arc, is said to have heard the voices of saints, telling her to take up arms against the English in Orléans.
  • 1431

    Joan of Arc burned at the stake

    The English tried her as a heretic and sentenced her to death
  • 1439

    Florence experiences Greek influence

    Greek orthodox priests joined in the debate of theology, particularly regarding the procession of the holy ghost from the Son as well as the Father.
  • 1475

    Moscow begins to be centre of Orthodox Christianity

    This is due to Constantinople being under Turkish rule.
  • 1491

    Savonarola critiques the Pope and the Medicis

    He is made the new prior of San Marco.
  • 1492

    160,000 Jews expelled from Spain

    Torquemada, the Grand Inquisitor of Spain, persuades Ferdinand and Isabella to expel Jews not willing to convert to Christianity.
  • 1492

    Rodrigo Borgia elected as Pope Alexander VI

  • 1497

    Savonarola creates a 'Bonfire of Vanities'

    He encourages the people of Florence to throw playing cards and offensive images into the fire, before Lent.
  • 1498

    Savonarola killed by Florentine mob

    A Florentine mob which despised Savonarola for his puritanism attack the convent of San Marco and drag him out to be hanged and burned.
  • 1516

    First Ghetto established, for Jews in Venice

  • 1516

    Erasmus publishes his edition of the New Testament

    Written in its original Greek.
  • 1517

    Johann Tetzel's sale off indulgences outrages Martin Luther

  • 1517

    Martin Luther, nails his 95 Thesis to the Wittenberg church door

  • Period: 1517 to

    The Reformation

  • 1520

    New printing press technology starts first pamphlet war

    Pamphlets arguing for and against the Reformation.
  • 1520

    Luther's writings are burnt in Rome, on order of the Pope.

  • 1521

    Martin Luther excommunicated

  • 1521

    Martin Luther presents his case to the Imperial Diet of Worms

  • 1522

    Sentenced to death, Martin Luther hides out in Wartburg under an assumed name

  • 1522

    Huldreich Zwingli launches the Swiss Reformation

  • 1525

    Conrad Grebel baptises an adult in Zurich, causing uproar

  • 1525

    Spanish Muslims are ordered to convert or be expelled

  • 1527

    Gustavus I of Sweden profits massively from confiscating the holdings of the Catholic Church in Sweden

  • 1528

    Henry VIII fights for his divorce

  • 1531

    The Aztec Virgin of Guadalupe appears to a Native American and says she is one of his kind

    This occurred near Mexico City.
  • 1531

    German Protestant princes form the League of Schmalkalden

  • 1534

    Henry VIII's 'Act of Supremacy' declares that English nobles must recognise him as the head of the Church of England, under an oath

  • 1536

    Henry VIII begins extracting wealth from England's monasteries

  • 1540

    Pope Paul III establishes the Jesuit order

  • 1541

    John Calvin establishes strict Christian law in Geneva

  • 1542

    Pope Paul III establishes the Roman Inquisition

    Its task was to fight against Protestant heresy.
  • 1542

    Francis Xavier, sets sail for Portugal to spread the ideas of the Counter-Reformation

  • 1546

    St Andrews Archbishop David Beaton burns a protestant heretic and is murdered in return

  • 1549

    Book of Common Prayer published

    Thomas Crammer wrote this English prayer book
  • 1553

    Mary I takes the British throne

    She vows to restore Catholicism in England
  • 1555

    The Peace of Augsburg mitigates the tensions and conflict caused by the Reformation

  • 1555

    Mary I marries the Catholic heir to the Spanish Throne

  • 1555

    Persecution of Protestants starts to give Mary I a murderous reputation

    'Bloody Mary'
  • 1564

    The Bishop of Transylvania establishes Unitarianism

    It teaches that only God the father is divine
  • 1570

    Pope Pius V excommunicates Elizabeth I

    This causes much tension among her Catholic followers.
  • 1572

    Massacre of the Huguenots begins in Paris

    The Huguenots were French protestants.
  • 1580

    Jesuits arrive in England

  • In a reversal, the Catholics are now martyred in England

  • The fifth Sikh guru begins building the holy city of Amritsar

  • Henry IV becomes Catholic to secure the French throne

  • Edict of Nantes ends the French persecution of the Huguenots

  • The Gunpowder Plot fails and damages the Catholic cause in England

  • A Baptist church is established in London

  • Japan expels its Jesuit missionaries and Christians are ordered to convert to Buddhism

  • Rhode Island is founded on the principle of religious tolerance

  • Charles I attempts to impose Anglicanism on Presbyterian Scotland

  • Riots erupts in Edinburgh in response to Charles I attempt to reform the Church of Scotland

  • Nikon takes power in Russia and introduces religious reforms, causing opposing sects to form

  • George Fox preaches in England, and establishes the Society of Friends, or Quakers.

  • Series of reforms in England restrict non-Anglican faiths

  • Charles II establishes Act off Indulgence, ending restrictions non-Anglican faiths

  • English parliament bars non-Anglicans from holding public office

  • Louis XIV begins to persecutes the Huguenots

  • Religious freedom is enacted in Pennsylvania with the Great Law

  • James II takes the British throne and introduces pro-Catholic reforms

  • Louis XIV revokes the Edict of Nantes, prompting 400,000 Huguenots to leave France

  • Church of Scotland gains recognition as a Presbyterian body

  • The Act of Settlement ensures that no Catholic can inherit the English Throne

  • John and Charles Wesley establish Methodism

  • A revivalist movement, known as the the Great Awakening

    It is led by Jonathan Edwards.

  • Portugal's Brazil expels the Jesuits

  • Pope Clement XIV abolishes the Jesuit order

  • A second great revivalist movement sweeps America

  • Pope Pius VI is captured by French troops.

  • Napoleon reconciles France's relationship with the Catholic Church

  • Napoleon imprisons Pope Pius VII for his excommunication

  • Napoleon annexes the Papal States and is excommunicated

  • Pope Pius VII returns to Rome

    He then proceeds to restore the Jesuit Order.

  • Joseph Smith establishes the Mormon Church

  • Catholics are now allowed to hold public office

    This was due to the emancipation act.

  • Joseph Smith publishes the book of Mormon

  • Joseph Smith is murdered by an angry mob

  • The Young Men's Christians Association is founded in London

  • Brigham Young leads the Mormon migration and establishes Salt Lake City

  • Pope Pius IX declares the Immaculate Conception is an Article of Faith for Catholics

  • Mary Baker Eddy founds Christian Science

  • Pope Pius IX declares the pope infallible when speaking on matters of faith

  • European Jews returning to their promised land reestablish their first sentence in Palestine

  • Utah is made the 45th state of the United States, after the Mormons give up polygamy

  • Pope Pius X elected

  • Pope Pius XI

  • The Lateran Treaty establishes Vatican City as a free state

  • The Rastafarian Cult evolves in Jamaica

  • Pope Pius XI condemns Nazi ideologies of racism

  • Martin Niemöller is arrested and sent to a concentration camp for defying the Nazis

  • Pope Pius XII is elected

  • United States evangelist, Billy Graham, forms the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association

  • A missionary, Mother Theresa, establishes a mission in Calcutta

  • Korean evangalist Sun Myung Moon establishes the Unification Church

  • Civil war breaks out in Sudan between the Christian south and the Muslim north

  • John XXIII is elected pope

  • Pope John XXIII begins the second Vatican Council

  • Neo-Pentecostalism becomes in important in several Christian denominations

  • Beginning of The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican

  • Pope Paul VI is elected

  • The Second Vatican Council is concluded, making significant changes to the practices of the Catholic Church

  • Pope Paul VI condemns all methods of artificial birth control

  • Catholic bishops in South America challenged by oppressive governments develop liberation theology

  • Pope John Paul I is elected but dies a month later

  • Polish Pope John Paul II is then elected

  • Pope John Paul II returns to Poland during an influential trip

  • Archbishop Oscar Romero is murdered in San Salvador

    He was an advocate of liberation theology.

  • Sun Myung Moon is convicted of tax fraud in the United States

    She was the founder of the Unification Church.

  • Desmond Tutu is the first black Archbishop, in South Africa

  • John Paul II forbids any discussion of ordaining women

  • John Paul II dies, making him the third longest serving pope in history

  • Pope Benedict XVI is elected

  • Pope Benedict XVI resigns, the first pope to do so in over 600 years

  • Pope Francis is elected, the first Jesuit and first Latin American pope. He is also the first non-European pope in almost 1300 years