Timeline of the English Reformation
This is a Timeline of the Protestant Reformation in England. The list is not complete and you are welcome to expand it. For more information, try:
| Date | Event | Significance to the Protestant 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 | ||
| 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, October 22 | Wolsey confessed his guilt | ||
| 1529, November | ‘Reformation parliament’ comes into being | ||
| 1529, November 3 | 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, March | Statute in Restraint of Appeals | ||
| 1533, May | Cranmer declares Henry's marriage null and void | ||
| 1533, June 25 | Henry VIII marries Anne Boleyn at Whitehall | ||
| 1533, July 4 | 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 | 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 | ||
| 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, June 22 | John Fisher executed | ||
| 1536, July 6 | Thomas More executed | ||
| 1536, April | ‘Reformation parliament’ dissolved | ||
| 1536, October 1 | Pilgrimage of Grace, Phase One | ||
| 1536, October 4 | Pilgrimage of Grace led by 18 members of the gentry | ||
| 1536, October 13 | York taken by 10,000 ‘pilgrims’ | ||
| 1536, December 8 | Duke of Norfolk offers pardon to rebels | ||
| 1537 | Bishops' Book, John Rogers produces ‘Matthew Bible’ | ||
| 1537, January | Phase Three of 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, January 6 | Henry marries Anne of Cleves | ||
| 1540, July 9 | Henry’s marriage to Anne of Cleves is annulled | ||
| 1540, July 28 | Thomas Cromwell is beheaded | ||
| 1540, July 30 | Robert Barnes is burned at the stake | ||
| 1540, July 30 | Thomas Abel is burned at the stake | ||
| 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, January 28 | Henry VIII dies | ||
| 1554, February 12 | Lady Jane Grey is executed | ||
| 1554, November 30 | Restoration of Roman Catholicism by Queen Mary I | ||
| 1558 | Elizabeth I crowned queen, final break with the Roman Church | ||
| 1587, February 8 | Mary, Queen of Scots is executed | ||
| 1588, August 8 | 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, July 11 | James VI of Scotland crowned King of England | ||
| 1605 | Gunpowder Plot foiled, Guy Fawkes is executed | ||
| 1625, March 27 | Charles I crowned King of England, Scotland, and Ireland. | ||
| 1642 | English Civil War breaks out | ||
| 1649, January 30 | Triumph of the Puritans, execution of King Charles I | ||
| 1660 | Restoration of King Charles II |