Visual Timeline: English Reformation

To navigate the timeline, click and drag it with your mouse, or click on the timeline overview on the bottom.

1500 CE 1510 CE 1520 CE 1530 CE 1540 CE 1550 CE 1560 CE 1570 CE 1580 CE  
 
 
1509 CE - 1547 CE: Reign of Henry VIII of England.
 
 
1509 CE: Prince Henry (future Henry VIII of England) marries Catherine of Aragon.
 
 
1513 CE - 1529 CE: Cardinal Thomas Wolsey serves as Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII of England.
 
 
1521 CE: The Pope awards Henry VIII of England with the title 'Defender of the Faith'.
 
 
1522 CE: Anne Boleyn arrives at the court of Henry VIII of England.
 
 
1529 CE - 1532 CE: Sir Thomas More is Lord Chancellor to Henry VIII of England.
 
 
1529 CE: Cardinal Thomas Wolsey is dismissed from the Privy Council and as Lord Chancellor for his failure in Henry VIII of England's 'Great Matter'.
 
 
1529 CE: Cardinal Lorenzo Campeggio presides over a special court to decide the annulment of the first marriage of Henry VIII of England. No decision is reached.
 
 
1530 CE: Cardinal Thomas Wolsey dies of ill health on his way to trial for treason against Henry VIII of England.
 
 
1532 CE: Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor over Henry VIII of England's plans to remarry.
 
 
1532 CE: Thomas Cromwell pushes through Parliament the Act in Restraint of Annates which limits funds paid to the Papacy.
 
 
1532 CE - 1540 CE: Thomas Cromwell is chief minister to Henry VIII of England.
 
 
1532 CE: Henry VIII of England travels to France with Anne Boleyn as his official consort.
 
 
1533 CE - 1555 CE: Thomas Cranmer serves as the Archbishop of Canterbury.
 
 
1533 CE: Thomas Cromwell pushes through Parliament the Act in Restraint of Appeals which declares that the English monarch is now the highest authority on all legal matters.
 
 
1533 CE: Henry VIII of England marries his second wife, Anne Boleyn, in secret.
 
 
1533 CE: Henry VIII of England appoints Thomas Cranmer as the Archbishop of Canterbury.
 
 
1533 CE: Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury formally annuls Henry VIII of England’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon.
 
 
1533 CE: Anne Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII of England, is crowned Queen of England.
 
 
1534 CE: Thomas Cromwell pushes through Parliament the Treason Act which forbids people to speak out and criticise their king or his policies.
 
 
1534 CE: Parliament passes the Act of Succession which declares Henry VIII of England's daughter Mary (with Catherine of Aragon) illegitimate.
 
 
1534 CE: The Act of Supremacy declares Henry VIII of England the head of the Church in England and not the Pope.
 
 
1535 CE: Thomas Cromwell and a team of inspectors compile the Valor Ecclesiasticus, a record of all the wealth and income of monastic institutions in England and Wales.
 
 
1535 CE: Thomas Cromwell is made vicar-general by Henry VIII of England.
 
 
1535 CE: Sir Thomas More is executed for refusing to acknowledge Henry VIII of England as the head of the Church in England.
 
 
1536 CE: Henry VIII of England and Thomas Cromwell push a bill through Parliament which begins the Dissolution of the Monasteries in England and Wales.
 
 
1536 CE: Thomas Cromwell's Ten Articles rejects four of the Seven Sacraments of Catholicism.
 
 
1536 CE: Thomas Cromwell issues The Injunctions, a set of recommendations for the clergy.
 
 
1536 CE: The Pilgrimage of Grace, a popular uprising against religious changes made by Henry VIII of England, marches in the north of England.
 
 
1537 CE: Henry VIII of England executes 178 of the protestors involved in the Pilgrimage of Grace.
 
 
1537 CE: Thomas Cromwell publishes The Bishop’s Book.
 
 
1538 CE: Thomas Cromwell issues a more radical version of The Injunctions.
 
 
1539 CE: Henry VIII of England approves the translation of the Bible into English.
 
 
1539 CE: Parliament passes an act to close all monasteries in England and Wales regardless of size.
 
 
1540 CE: Waltham Abbey is the last monastery in England to close.
 
 
1540 CE: Waltham Abbey in Essex is the last monastery to close in England.
 
1540 CE: Thomas Cromwell is arrested on charges of treason and heresy.
 
 
1540 CE: Thomas Cromwell is executed for treason and heresy.
 
 
1547 CE: Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, issues his 'Book of Homilies'.
 
 
1549 CE: The Kett Rebellion breaks out in Norfolk led by Robert Kett.
 
1549 CE: A new Book of Common Prayer is issued in England.
 
 
1549 CE: The Act of Uniformity makes the new Book of Common Prayer compulsory in England.
 
 
1549 CE: The massacre at Dussindale in Norfolk ends the Kett Rebellion.
 
1552 CE: A new, even more radical Book of Common Prayer is issued in England, removing many of the Catholic elements of religious worship.
 
 
1553 CE: The First Act of Repeal reverses all the religious-aimed legislation of Edward VI of England.
 
 
1555 CE: The Second Act of Repeal abolishes all post-1529 CE legislation concerning religious matters in England.
 
 
1555 CE: Mary I of England begins her persecution of Protestant 'heretics', eventually burning 287 of them at the stake.
 
 
1556 CE: Thomas Cranmer is burnt at the stake in Oxford for heresy.
 
 
1559 CE - 1563 CE: The Elizabethan Religious Settlement, a set of acts and decisions which continue the English Reformation.
 
 
1559 CE: Elizabeth I of England introduces a new compromise Book of Common Prayer.
 
 
1559 CE: Elizabeth I of England reinstates the Act of Supremacy.
 
 
1559 CE: The Act of Uniformity which bans the Mass service and sets out what the interiors of English churches should look like.
 
 
1559 CE: The Royal Injunctions - 57 regulations on Church matters which continue the English Reformation.
 
 
1563 CE: The 39 Articles define English Protestantism.
 
 
1570 CE: The Pope excommunicates Elizabeth I of England.
 
 
1587 CE: Mary, Queen of Scots, guilty of plotting against Elizabeth I of England, is executed.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
1500 CE 1510 CE 1520 CE 1530 CE 1540 CE 1550 CE 1560 CE 1570 CE 1580 CE