Timeline of the English Reformation

See also: Timeline of the Protestant Reformation, English Reformation, and Protestant Reformation

This is a timeline of the Protestant Reformation in England.

Background

Date	Event	Significance to the Reformation in England
c. 1328	Birth of John Wycliffe	Ordained in September 1351, Master of Balliol College in 1360, Warden of Canterbury College in 1365 and Rector of St Mary's, Lutterworth from 1374, John Wycliffe is earliest known teacher of evangelical ideas in England and a translator of the Bible into the vernacular Middle English. He is popularly known as the morning star or stella matutina of the English Reformation and both he and his followers (the Lollards) were much invoked by later reformers. Most notably they are a key topic of Foxes Book of Martyrs and their story did much to solidify the self understanding of the 16th century reformers.
1374	Wycliffe returned from Bruges with a new reforming outlook and soon published works such as De civili dominio (1377), De veritate sacrae scripturae (1378), De Eucharistia (1379), and many other texts criticising church property, clerical corruption, sacraments, and the infidelity of the church to scripture.	Earliest public declarations of positions that would become central to later reformers. His writings also radicalise many students and "poor preachers" outside the university who came into contact with his ideas (Lollards).
1381, 30 May	Peasants' Revolt begins.	Originating from dissatisfaction with taxes and rigid class hierarchy this rebellion did much to spread Wycliffite and more general Lollard thought among the ordinary population.
1381, 13 June	John Ball preached his famous Blackheath sermon during the Peasants Revolt.	John Ball’s career suggests that Wycliffe was merely the first man of rank in the university to express more widespread discontent.
1382, May 21	Earthquake Synod at Blackfriars, London condemns Wycliffe’s teachings
1382, 17 November	Anti-Wycliffe Synod at Oxford	Wycliffe defiantly reasserts his positions in a famous oration and is exiled to his Rectory at Lutterworth
c. 1383	Philip Repyngdon is deprived of his position at Oxford for defending Wycliffe’s teachings.	Repyngdon was later made Abbot of Leicester in 1394 and Bishop of Lincoln in 1404 and was elavated to the rank of Cardinal. This shows that Wycliffe’s thought had a wide influence even in the church hierarchy.
1384	Wycliffe's Bible probably completed around this time. Wycliffe also dies this year on on Holy Innocents' Day (28 December)	Earliest complete translation of the Latin Vulgate into English.
1395	Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards presented to Parliament and posted on the doors of Westminster Abbey and Old St Paul's
1414, 9 January	Oldcastle Revolt	Small popular uprising inspired by Lollard ideals.
1414, 30 April	Fire and Faggot Parliament. Symbolically the Parliament was held at Leicester, a stronghold of Lollardy.	The Parliament which passed the Suppression of Heresy Act in response to Lollardy. This act was used to justify the burning of many Lollards and many more radical reformers during the reign of Henry VIII. It was one of the acts restored by Mary I’s Revival of the Heresy Acts.
1496	Catherine of Aragon's hand secured for Arthur, Prince of Wales, son of Henry VII	Brought Catherine of Aragon to England.
1499-1500	First visit of Erasmus to England	The Renaissance Humanist scholar Erasmus was a key inspiration for many reformers and, while remaining a faithful Roman Catholic, articulated many of the criticisms of the Pre-Reformation Church that they shared. Notably he visits Oxford and Cambridge Universities where his ideas spread.
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 confirms the marriage between Catherine and Henry

Early reign of Henry VIII and Henrician Reformation

Date	Event	Significance to the Reformation in England
11 June 1509	Henry VIII marries Catherine
1514, December	A boy born to Catherine; dies 6 weeks later
1516, 18 February	Princess Mary born	The future Queen (1553-1558) who would reverse the Edwardian and Henrician Reformations restoring the Church of England to full communion with the Pope and earn the title "Bloody Mary" for her execution by burning of over 300 Protestants.
31 October 1517	Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses on the door of a church in Wittenberg, Germany, formally beginning the Protestant Reformation	Luther's protest was a landmark moment for all of Europe. In England news of his protest and his theology of sola fide and sola scriptura had a significant impact, especially in Cambridge and in towns where the ideas of Lollardy had remained strong.
c. 1521	A group of Cambridge University reformers begin meeting at the White Horse Inn to discuss Luther and other theories of reformation coming from the continent.	According to John Foxe William Tyndale, Miles Coverdale, Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer, Robert Barnes, Thomas Bilney, Matthew Parker, Nicholas Shaxton, and John Bale were among those who attended. Recent scholarship has suggested that the White Horse Inn meetings of Foxes account may be later hagiography. However it is the case that a large number of Cambridge students all present in the 1520's played significant roles in later reforms.
1521	Pope Leo X rewards Henry VIII for his publication of Assertio Septem Sacramentorum, an attack on reformed theology, by granting him the title Fidei Defensor or "Defender of the Faith"	The publication of this intensely orthodox work constrains Henry’s commitment to reformation in the years ahead.
c. 1523	Reformation in Zürich under the leadership of Ulrich Zwingli.	Together with Lutheranism, Zwinglianism was to have a major impact on the ideas of English reformers.
1524, May	William Tyndale expelled from the Catholic Church
1525	Cardinal Wolsey suppresses 29 monasteries aided by Thomas Cromwell	Provided a papally approved orthodox precedent for the later more widespread Dissolution of the Monasteries.
1525	The New Testament of the Tyndale Bible (in English) is published in Worms, Germany.	Although banned in England, Tyndale's work heavily influenced subsequent approved Bible translations.
1525, 24 December	Robert Barnes O.E.S.A, Prior of Cambridge Austin Friars, preached what is considered the first sermon of the Protestant reformation in England at Midnight Mass in the Church of St Edward King and Martyr, Cambridge.	First open deed of the growing Protestant movement at Cambridge University.
1527	Henry VIII sure of intentions to divorce Catherine
1527, May	Catherine appeals to Rome
1529, June	Court opens in England for divorce case
9 August 1529	Writs for new parliament; Thomas Wolsey removed as Lord Chancellor
9 October 1529	Wolsey charged on Praemunire
1530, April	Wolsey returns to his see at York
1530, Summer	Writs of Praemunire against 15 clergy
1530, November	Wolsey dies on his journey back to London and the Tower
1530	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
1531, 19 August	Thomas Bilney burned at the stake for promoting Protestant ideas.
1532	Duke of Norfolk and Duke of Suffolk 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 as Lord Chancellor of England
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 annuls Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon
1533, 4 July	John Frith burned at the stake
1533, 7 September	Princess Elizabeth born.	The future Queen (1558-1603) who would restore the Henrician and Edwardian Reformations and establish the Elizabethan Settlement, the foundation of the modern Church of England.
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	First Act of Supremacy, Treason Act, Act of First Fruits and Tenths	These acts clearly establish the principle of Royal Supremacy and the end of Papal supremacy in the Church of England
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	The Coverdale Bible, compiled by Myles Coverdale published in Antwerp.	The first complete Modern English translation of the Bible (not just the Old Testament or New Testament), and the first complete printed translation into English. Coverdale's translation of the Psalms was adopted by Cranmer for the 1549 Book of Common Prayer and remained for centuries the translation of the psalter prescribed for liturgical use in the Anglican church.
1535	Cranmer appoints Hugh Latimer, Edward Foxe, Nicholas Shaxton to episcopacy
1535, May	Humphrey Middlemore, William Exmew, and Sebastian Newdigate, all Carthusian monks of the London Charterhouse, locked up for seventeen days. Ten more starve
1535, 22 June	John Fisher executed
1535, 6 July	Thomas More executed
1536	John Calvin publishes his Institutes of the Christian Religion in Latin.	The most complete work of early Protestant systematic theology, the ideas contained in the Institutes, known as reformed theology or Calvinism, were those generally favoured in the Church of England from Henry's death until the reign of Charles I, even until the 19th century. Most of the central teachings of both the Forty-two and the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion and the Eucharistic theology implied by the Book of Common Prayer show clear inspiration from Calvin directly, especially on the question of predestination.
1536, January	Anne miscarries again
1536, 16 April	Royal Assent given to the First Suppression of Religious Houses Act	Initiated the first round of the Dissolution of the Monasteries
1536, April	'Reformation parliament' dissolved
1536, 19 May	Anne Boleyn is executed
1536, 30 May	Stephen Gardiner marries Henry VIII and Jane Seymour.	Jane will give birth to Prince Edward, Henry's long awaited son and heir.
1536, July	Ten Articles adopted	This was the first formulation of the doctrine of the Church of England after the separation from Rome. Affirmed Transubstantiation, prayers for the dead, the intercession of the saints, and justification by both faith and works.
1536, 18 July	Act Extinguishing the Authority of the Bishop of Rome passed	Reaffirmed the end of Papal Supremacy first expressed by the Act of Supremacy
1536, 1 October	Pilgrimage of Grace begins.	Part of the popular reaction to the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
1536, 4 October	Pilgrimage of Grace led by 18 members of the gentry.	Part of the popular reaction to the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
1536, 13 October	York taken by 10,000 'pilgrims'	Part of the popular reaction to the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
1536, 8 December	Duke of Norfolk offers pardon to rebels
1537	Bishops' Book published, John Rogers produces the Matthew Bible
1537, January	Bigod's Rebellion, a further phase of the Pilgrimage of Grace, led by Sir Francis Bigod	Part of the popular reaction to the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
1537, 12 October	Prince Edward born to Jane Seymour at Hampton Court Palace.	Henry VIII’s long desired male heir. The boy will come to be known as 'England's Josiah' (from the Old Testament reformer Josiah) as a result of the more radically Protestant reforms his ministers undertook in his short reign (1547-1553).
1538	'Exeter Conspiracy'	Supposed pro papal plot against Henry VIII
1539, 28 June	Six Articles (1539)	Affirmed traditional doctrine
1539, 28 June	Royal Assent given to the Second Suppression of Religious Houses Act	Leads to the second wave of the Dissolution of the Monasteries
1539	Publication of the Great Bible compiled by Miles Coverdale	This is the first English translation of the Bible to be authorised for use in parish churches.
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
1545	First Dissolution of Colleges Act	First wave of the dissolution of chantries
1546, 16 July	Anne Askew burned for heresy.
1546	'Creeping to the Cross' added to the list of forbidden practises
1547, 28 January	Henry VIII dies	Henry’s death and Edward’s accession opened the way for a far more radical reformation. He was buried with full catholic ceremonial and had commissioned many Requiem masses to be sung.

Edwardian Reformation

Date	Event	Significance to the Reformation in England
1547, 28 January	Edward VI accedes to the throne aged 9	Edwards Council of Regency, headed by Edward, Duke of Somerset as Lord Protector, allows Archbishop Thomas Cranmer to undertake a far more radical reformation than had been possible under Henry VIII. Thanks to these reforms the boy will come to be known as 'England's Josiah' (from the Old Testament reformer Josiah).
1547, August	A visitation of parish churches is undertaken and the Royal Injunctions are implemented.	Rosaries are outlawed along with religious processions
1547	The First Book of Homilies introduced.	Cranmer's attempt to standardise Protestant doctrine across the English church through prescribed parish sermons.
1547, December 24th	Second Dissolution of Colleges Act	Second wave of the dissolution of chantries
1549	The First Book of Common Prayer is introduced by Thomas Cranmer and the Act of Uniformity 1549	This made the Book of Common Prayer the only lawful form of public worship, the first of several such acts that would be passed by parliament in the course of the reformation.
1549	Putting away of Books and Images Act orders the removal of religious books and the destruction of images in churches
1549, 25 April	Martin Bucer, the German Lutheran reformer arrives in London as a refugee accompanied by the scholar Paul Fagius. Welcomed with honour by Cranmer and Edward VI
1549, June–August	The Prayer Book Rebellion in the West Country against the imposition of the new liturgy, especially amongst Cornish speakers who knew no English.	Part of the popular reaction to the Act of Uniformity and the Putting away of Books & Images Act.
1549, June	Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire rising in reaction to the introduction of the Book of Common Prayer and to land enclosures.	Part of the popular reaction to the Act of Uniformity and the Putting away of Books & Images Act.
1549, July-August	Kett's Rebellion, the Norfolk wave of reactions to land enclosure and liturgical reform.	Part of the popular reaction to the Act of Uniformity and the Putting away of Books & Images Act.
1551, 30 August	Myles Coverdale consecrated Bishop of Exeter by Thomas Cranmer
1552	The Second Book of Common Prayer is enforced by the Act of Uniformity 1552.	Heavily revised to emphasise Protestant beliefs about the Eucharist.
1553, 19 June	Cranmer's Forty-two Articles are made normative for all the English clergy by the Privy Council.	This formulation of doctrine, its first thoroughly reformed formulation, survived as the teaching of the Church of England only a few months.
1553, 6 July	Edward VI dies aged 15, leaving the throne to his Protestant cousin, Lady Jane Grey and excluding both his half-sisters in an attempt to secure the continued reformation of the Church of England.	Edward’s death marks the point of most radical reform the Church of England ever experienced until the time of The Interregnum. It resulted in the restoration of full communion with the papacy to the Church under Mary I and the comparatively conservative Elizabethan Settlement when Protestantism was restored under Elizabeth.

Marian Restoration

Date	Event	Significance to the Reformation in England
1553, 19 July	Jane is deposed after the Catholic Princess Mary gathers military and popular support in Suffolk, arriving in London on 3 August
1553, December	First Statute of Repeal nullifies all religious legislation passed under Edward VI	Returned religious policy to the one in place during her father’s reign and undid all Cranmer’s reforms during Edward's short reign. The Book of Common Prayer was banned and parishes were encouraged to resume processions and restore desecrated iconography.
1554, 26 January	Start of Wyatt's rebellion in protest at Mary's planned marriage to Prince Philip of Spain
1554, 12 February	Lady Jane Grey is executed
1554, 25 July	Mary marries her cousin Philip, who becomes King of England in a coregency with Mary.	Firmly tied England with Catholic Spain against the French.
1555, 13 November	Thomas Cranmer officially deprived of the See of Canterbury.
1554, 20 November	Cardinal Reginald Pole returns to England
1554, 30 November	Mary persuades Parliament to request Reginald Pole, the Papal Legate, to seek Papal absolution for England's separation from the Catholic Church.	Signals the beginning of the return of the Church of England to communion with the See of Rome
1555, 16 January	Revival of the Heresy Acts restored the death penalty for those that denied the principles of Catholicism.	More than 300 people would be executed during Mary's reign, mostly by burning at the stake, earning her the title of Bloody Mary, even though Queen Elizabeth and King Henry executed many more people during their reigns
1555, 16 January	Second Statute of Repeal, also known as the See of Rome Act, removes all religious legislation passed since 1529	Formally ended the schism, reestablished Papal Supremacy over the Church of England, and returned the nations Dioceses and Parishes to full communion with the rest of the Latin Church.
1555, 9 February	Former Bishop of Gloucester John Hooper burned at the stake in Gloucester.
1555, 16 October	Hugh Latimer, former Bishop of Worcester, and Nicholas Ridley, former Bishop of London, were burned at the stake in Oxford. Cranmer was a witness to their deaths.
1556, 21 March	Archbishop Thomas Cranmer burned at the stake in Oxford.	The story of Cranmer’s death and those of all the Protestant martyrs become ideologically very potent in future years thanks to their faithful willingness to suffer and Foxes Book of Martyrs which popularised them.
1556, 22 March	Reginald Pole consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury
1558, 17 November	Mary I dies and her half-sister Elizabeth I accedes. Cardinal Pole, Archbishop of Canterbury dies the same day leaving the key clerical position conveniently open for a Protestant replacement. Philip's English title lapses with the death of his wife.	Initiates the Elizabethan reformation, the final end of Roman Catholicism as the state. Widely celebrated as Elizabeth’s accession and the liberation of England from the Pope for the next 300 years. The 17th of November comes to be known as Queene's Day.

Elizabethan Reformation

Date	Event	Significance to the Reformation in England
1559, 15 January	Elizabeth is crowned. Because of her Protestant views, only the low-ranking Bishop of Carlisle is willing to officiate	The last Catholic coronation of a British monarch
1558-59	Elizabethan Religious Settlement, a compromise which secured a return to a Reformed Protestantism but allowed some Catholic traditions such as kneeling for Communion and the sign of the cross to continue.	The Elizabethan Settlement finally established the norms of Anglican doctrine around the principle of the via media which, apart from during The Interregnum, has remained the bedrock of the Church of England’s identity ever since.
1559, May 8	Act of Supremacy 1558 confirmed Elizabeth as Head of the Church of England and abolished the authority of the Pope in England.	Final break with the Roman Church
1559, May 8	Act of Uniformity 1558	Required attendances at church services and introduced the newly revised Book of Common Prayer (1559).
1559, 1 August	Matthew Parker appointed Archbishop of Canterbury	The uncertain circumstances of his private consecration gave rise to the Nag's Head Fable popular among recusants. He was the second of Englands Protestant Primates
1560	Geneva Bible published in Switzerland	Published by Sir Rowland Hill. Although never authorised for use in England, it was the first English Bible to be divided into verses and became popular with Dissenters.
1563	First publication of a revision of Cranmer's Book of Homilies.	An edited reprint of Cranmer's earlier Book of Homilies, this book provided prescribed sermons to ensure doctrinal unity across the Church of England.
1568	Bishops' Bible published	A compromise between the vigorous but Calvinist Geneva Bible and the Great Bible, which it replaces in parish churches.
1570, 27 April	Pope Pius V excommunicates Elizabeth I in the bull Regnans in Excelsis declaring her a heretic and threatening those who obeyed her laws with excommunication.
1571	The Thirty-nine Articles of Religion finalised and accepted as the Church of England’s principle doctrinal statement.	The mature theological expression of the Elizabethan Settlement. These articles, a revised edition of Cranmer's Forty-two Articles of Religion, were appended to the Book of Common Prayer. Apart from a period during The Interregnum, this has remained the Church of England’s core statement of faith (aside from the three Ecumenical Creeds) ever since and still plays a fundamental role in Anglican doctrine today.
1571	First publication of a new Book of Homilies.	Like Cranmer's earlier Book of Homilies, this book provided prescribed sermons to ensure doctrinal unity across the Church of England. It was largely written by Matthew Parker and designed to be supplement the previous editions.
1575, 17 May	Matthew Parker dies.
1575, 29 December	Edmund Grindal enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.
1583, 14 August	John Whitgift appointed Archbishop of Canterbury.
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

Reign of James I

Date	Event	Significance to the Reformation in England
1603, 11 July	James VI of Scotland crowned King of England
1604, January	Hampton Court Conference	The first major discussion of church policy in the reign of James I. Book of Common Prayer (1604) published and a new Bible translation commissioned, what would become the King James Version
1604, 29 Feb	John Whitgift, Archbishop of Canterbury, dies in office.	Fourth Protestant Primate of England
1604, 9 October	Richard Bancroft nominated Archbishop of Canterbury
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.

Reign of Charles II

Date	Event	Significance to the Reformation in England
1625, 27 March	Charles I crowned King of England, Scotland and Ireland.
1641, May	Root and Branch petition set before parliament	A popular call for the abolition of the bishops of the Church of England and the establishment of a presbyterate.

Civil War and Interregnum

Date	Event	Significance to the Reformation in England
1642	English Civil War breaks out	Issues largely centered on the Church of England's being seen as too Catholic
1643	Westminster Assembly of Divines worked to restructure the Church of England.	This might be called the Puritan Reformation
1644	Directory for Public Worship published by the Westminster Assembly as a replacement to the Book of Common Prayer
1644	Westminster Confession of Faith published by the Westminster Assembly to replace the Thirty-nine Articles as the Church of England’s doctrinal statement	The most progressively Protestant doctrinal statement in Church of England history. It was overturned as the Church of England’s statement of faith by the 1660 restoration but remains a fundamental text in Reformed Churches, both Presbyterian and Congregationalist, across the world today. In Britain it remains a central text in the Church of Scotland, the established church north of the border, and the United Reformed Church.
1645, 10 January	Execution of Archbishop William Laud.	Noted high churchman and figure of hatred for puritans.
1646, October	Parliament passes an ordinance abolishing bishops and archbishops in the Church of England	Temporarily replaces the historically Episcopal polity of the Church of England with a Presbyterian polity. In practice, in more radical areas and areas where Royalist loyalties remained strong, this lead to a completely anarchic congregational polity with some parishes choosing more radical liturgical forms and the majority persevering with the Book of Common Prayer.
1649, 30 January	Execution of Charles I
1650, May	1558 Act of Uniformity repealed by the Rump Parliament by the "Act for the Repeal of several Clauses in Statutes imposing Penalties for not coming to Church."	The end of compulsory attendance in the established Church of England. Although a new Act of Uniformity was imposed in 1662 the habit of universal attendance in the parish church was effectively ended by this repeal with Quakers, Baptists, Congregationalists, and, after the Restoration, the Presbyterians too, often refusing to observe the 1662 legislation (see history of the Puritans from 1649.

Post Restoration

Date	Event	Significance to the Reformation in England
1660, May	Restoration of King Charles II
1662, 19 May	1662 Act of Uniformity came into law.	The 1662 Book of Common Prayer came into use and the Thirty-nine Articles of 1570 were restored as the Church of England’s principal confession of faith. This version of the Prayer Book remained the Church of England's only authorised liturgy well into the 20th century.
1662	The Great Ejection	As a result of the Act of Uniformity a great many puritan clergy loyal to the Westminster Confession were ejected from their various livings
1688	The Glorious Revolution

External links

• Timeline of the English Reformation and Development of the Anglican Church.