This is a timeline of the Protestant Reformation in England. The list is not complete and you are welcome to expand it.
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 [1] |
|
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 |
|
1552 |
The Second Book of Common Prayer is introduced by Thomas Cranmer |
|
1554, 12 February |
Lady Jane Grey is executed |
|
|
1554, 30 November |
Restoration of Roman Catholicism by Queen Mary I |
|
|
1556 |
Thomas Cranmer Executed |
|
|
1558 |
Elizabeth I crowned queen |
final break with the Roman Church |
|
|
1571 |
The Second Book of Homilies introduced mainly written by John Jewel |
|
|
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 |