Early Christians

6 BC

Quirinius becomes Governor of Syria and conducts census

c8-4 BC

Birth of Jesus

c28 AD

John the Baptist begins his ministry; he baptises Jesus and is later arrested and beheaded

c29

Jesus begins ministry, preaching: 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near'

c32

Execution of John the Baptist

c30-36

Crucifixion of Jesus

c37

Conversion of Paul

c46-57

Paul's three missionary journeys

c55

Paul writes his letter to the Romans

c64

Nero blames Christians for the Great Fire of Rome

66-73

Great Jewish Revolt

70

Jerusalem falls and the Temple is destroyed

c64

Martyrdom of Paul

132-135

Final Jewish revolt, Judea and Jerusalem erased from maps, and region renamed Syria Palæstina

The spread of Christianity

269

Anthony becomes a hermit – his life and actions lie at foundation of monastic movement

303

Diocletian orders burning of Christian books and churches

306

Constantine proclaimed Emperor

312

Emperor Constantine's vision before decisive Battle of Milvian Bridge

313

'Edict of Milan' establishes official toleration of Christianity by Rome

311-325

Eusebius, Bishop of Caesarea, writes Ecclesiastical History

321

Constantine decrees Sunday as day of rest

325

Constantine calls the First Council of Nicaea to unify Christianity and grants special recognition to Jerusalem

326

Consecration of Basilica of St Peter built by Constantine the Great over the tomb of the Apostle

330

Constantinople inaugurated as the New Rome

331

Constantine commissions Eusebius to deliver 50 Bibles for the Churches of Constantinople

335

Consecration of Jerusalem Church of the Holy Sepulchre

337

Death of Constantine

380

Emperor Theodosius makes Christianity official religion of Roman Empire

390-405

Jerome's Vulgate - translation of the Greek Bible into Latin

395

Death of Emperor Theodosius

396-430

Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, formalises Christian theology including the ideas of 'original sin' and 'just war'. His concept of the Church as a 'spiritual city of God' enables Christianity to flourish after the collapse of the Roman Empire

430

Death of Augustine

47

Traditional date for Fall of Rome

Early Middle Ages

c560-616

Life of King Aethelbert of Kent, who converts to Christianity

563

St Columba founds monastery on Iona in Scotland

570-632

Life of Prophet Muhammed

597

Pope Gregory sends Augustine to Britain to convert Anglo-Saxons

604

St Paul's Cathedral established in London

607

Pope Boniface III first Bishop of Rome to be called 'Pope'

630s

King of Northumbria establishes monastery at Lindisfarne

664

Synod of Whitby unites Celtic Christianity with Roman Church

c672

Birth of the Venerable Bede, author of Ecclesiastical History of the English People

684

St Cuthbert elected Bishop of Lindisfarne

c700

Lindisfarne Gospels first created and decorated by Abbot Eadfrith

711-718

Islamic conquest of Iberia

718-1492

Reconquista, Christendom retakes Iberia

793

Viking raiders sack monastery of Lindisfarne

800

Pope crowns Charlemagne first Holy Roman Emperor

878

Alfred the Great defeats Danes at Ethandun [Edington in Wiltshire] and unifies England

c950

Russian Princess Olga converts to Christianity

954

Permanent union of England established

Crusades and Renaissance

1054

Great Schism: Eastern and Western Churches split

1095

Pope Urban II proclaims First Crusade

1096

Crusaders reach Constantinople

1097

Crusaders besiege Antioch and slaughter thousands of Turkish Muslims

1099

Crusaders take Jerusalem and massacre inhabitants

1122

Concordat of Worms ends divine right of kings

1145-1149

Second Crusade
Fall of the Crusader state of Edessa

1187

Saladin recaptures Jerusalem from Christian rule

1189-1192

Third Crusade headed by Philip II of France and Richard the Lionheart of England

1215

Fourth Lateran Council among other things specifies procedures against heresy

c1225-1274

Thomas Aquinas, theologian and philosopher

1308-1321

Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy, an allegory of the Christian afterlife

1337-1417

Hundred Years War

c1350

Start of Renaissance in Italy

1378-1423

Great Western Schism splits Roman Catholic Church

1380-1382

John Wycliffe translates Old and New Testaments into English

1431

Joan of Arc martyred

1450s

Gutenberg begins printing the Bible

Inquisition and Reformation

1478

Spanish Inquisition founded by Ferdinand and Isabella.

1492

Christopher Columbus discovers West Indies. His first voyage begins Spanish colonisation of New World
Jews expelled from Spain

1494

Treaty of Tordesillas divides New World between Portugal and Spain

1509-1564

John Calvin, French Protestant theologian

1512

Copernicus circulates to friends his theory that the earth orbits the sun

1517

Martin Luther publishes 95 Theses against corruption in the Catholic Church

1518

Son of king of the Congo, Dom Henrique, consecrated as first bishop from sub-Saharan Africa

1520

Luther excommunicated

1522

Luther produces German translation of New Testament

1520s

Henry VIII sets himself up as head of the Church in England

1525-1534

William Tyndale translates New Testament into English

1534

Act of Parliament makes England's break from Rome official

1543

Copernicus publishes On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres in the year of his death,

1547

Protestant Edward VI succeeds Henry VIII

1549

Book of Common Prayer published

1553

Mary I becomes queen. A devout Catholic, she has 288 Protestants burned for heresy

1558

Elizabeth I, a Protestant, comes to the throne

1560

John Knox founds Scottish Presbyterian Church

Colonisation and Protestantism

1562

John Hawkins leads first British slaving expedition

1572

St Bartholomew's Day Massacre: up to 4,000 Protestants are slaughtered in Paris

1588

The Pope blesses Spanish Armada as a Crusade against England

1600

Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno burnt at the stake for heresy for expounding the ideas of Copernicus

1603

James I of England/James VI of Scotland rules Great Britain

1605

Gunpowder Plot to assassinate James I

1609

Baptist Church founded by John Smyth

1610

Using the telescope he has created, Galileo proves Copernicus' theory that the earth and other planets revolve around the sun

1611

King James (Authorised) Version of the Bible in English

1620

Pilgrim Fathers sail for America on the Mayflower

1625

Charles I comes to the throne

1653-1658

Oliver Cromwell ruler of England

1660

Royal Africa Company given a monopoly over English slave trade

1673

Test Act excludes Catholics from public office

1690

William III defeats James II at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland

1701

Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts established
Act of Settlement restricts British royal succession to Protestants

1738

John and Charles Wesley start Methodist movement in Britain

Enlightenment

1789

Outbreak of French Revolution
Former slave Olaudah Equiano publishes his autobiography

1807

Slave Trade Act in Britain abolishes slave trade but not slavery itself

1829

British Parliament grants Catholic emancipation

1833

Slavery Abolition Act abolishes slavery in most of the British Empire

1834

Spanish Inquisition officially abolished

1838

Slavery abolished in the British Empire

1843

Church of Scotland splits over separation of Church and state

1859

Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species

1868-1870

First Vatican Council defines doctrine of papal infallibility

1905

French law passed on separation of Church and state

Modern times

1939

Hitler invades Poland, starting World War II

1942-1945

Hitler's 'Final Solution', the culmination of the Holocaust in which six million Jews are murdered; victims of Nazis also included Gypsies, homosexuals, Slavs, people with disabilities, dissidents and others

1944

First woman ordained as Priest in Anglican Communion in Hong Kong

1947

Discovery of first Dead Sea Scrolls

1948

State of Israel founded in Palestine

World Council of Churches founded

1951

World Evangelical Alliance founded

1961

New English Bible (New Testament) published

1962-1965

Second Vatican Council introduces many progressive changes including dropping Good Friday prayer for the conversion of the Jews

1963

Martin Luther King leads civil rights march in Washington DC and makes 'I Have a Dream' speech

1968

Martin Luther King assassinated

Start of Liberation Theology

1970

New English Bible (Old Testament) published

1979

Moral Majority founded by Jerry Falwell

1989

First woman ordained as a Bishop in Protestant Episcopal Church in USA

2007

Pope Benedict reinstates older version of Latin Mass including Good Friday prayer for the Jews