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Biblical studies professor Martin Luther finds out that another religious leader has supposedly told followers that buying an indulgence, or making payments to the Roman Catholic Church, was a way to obtain forgiveness of a person’s sins. Luther writes the Ninety-five Theses. This document criticizes the selling of indulgences. Protestants consider publication of the theses to be the beginning of the Reformation. -
Luther debates Johann Eck (1486-1543), arguing that scripture alone is the basis for Christian faith and doctrine. -
To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, and On the Freedom of a Christian.
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Luther appears at the Diet before Charles V, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, to to answer charges of heresy. On refusing to recant, he is declared a heretic and formally excommunicated from the Catholic Church by Pope Leo X. Frederick III, Elector of Saxony ensures that Luther is taken to the Wartburg Castle for his own safety.
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After writing Assertio Septem Sacramentorum in opposition to Luther, Henry VIII of England is rewarded with the title Fidei Defensor (Defender of the Faith) by Pope Leo X.
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While at the Wartburg castle, Luther works on a translation of the Bible into German and publishes his New Testament translation (The Old Testament translation is posted later, in 1534).
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William Tyndale (c. 1494-1536) publishes a translation of the New Testament in English.
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Luther meets the Swiss Reformer Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531) to discuss the issue of the presence of Christ in the Eucharist. Both parties are unable to come to an agreement, with Luther defending his view of a Sacramental Union of the body and blood and the bread and wine as opposed to the symbolic view of Zwingli.
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Publication of the Confessio Augustana or Augsburg Confession, outlining Lutheran theology and practice.
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Following conflict between the Catholic and Protestant cantons of the Swiss confederacy, Zwingli is killed during the Battle of Kappel.
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The marriage of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon is declared null and void by Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury in defiance of the Catholic church. Henry later marries Anne Boleyn.