General Timeline

Eras  / Periods

Early Christianity - 30-313 AD

Late Antiquity - 313-600 AD

Middle Ages - 600-1500 AD

Renaissance and Reformation - 1300-1650 AD

Modern Period - 1650-Present 

General Timeline

~30-32 AD - Pentecost (Church is Born) 

44 - Roman Conquest of Britain, first Christians arrive soon after 

49-50 - Jerusalem Council (Acts 15)

64 AD - Fire in Rome, Nero persecutes Christians

64-67 - Martyrdom of Peter & Paul 

70 - Destruction of Jerusalem 

132-135 - Bar Kokhba Revolt

155 - Martyrdom of Polycarp 

165 - Martyrdom of Justin Martyr

196 - Pope Victor excommunicates Eastern Christians for celebrating Easter during Passover

292 - Diocletian divides Roman Empire in two 

311 - Edict of Toleration (Emperor Galerius, ended persecution in the Eastern Empire)

313 - Edict of Milan -  Joint decree by Emperors Constantine and Licinius granting Christians religious freedom throughout the Empire

~313-325 - Eusebius’ history of Christianity, oldest surviving account 

325 - Council of Nicea 

362 - Synod of Alexandria - Latin and Greek Churches accept Nicene Creed 

367 - Athanasius’ Easter letter names all 27 Books of NT as authoritative

380 - Nicene Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire 

381 - First Council of Constantinople 

~405 - Latin Vulgate

431 - Council of Ephesus 

432 - Saint Patrick arrives in Ireland

451 - Council of Chalcedon 

452 - Attila the Hun attacks Italy, Leo convinces him to retreat 

455 - Vandals besiege Rome

476 - Fall of Western Roman Empire / Odovacer deposes last Western Emperor

553 - Second Council of Constantinople

597 - Gregory sends monks to England, including Augustine of Canterbury 

610 - Islam founded

680-681 - Third Council of Constantinople

754 - Council of Hiera condemns icons, but not recognized as full ecumenical council in East or Latin Churches

787 - Second Council of Nicea - allows veneration of icons but not worship

787 - Second Council of Nicaea

800 - Charlemagne crowned Emperor by Leo III (Carolingian Empire)

1049 - Leo IX begins advocating for and enforcing clerical celibacy

1054 - East / West Schism 

1080 - William the Conqueror reminds the Pope that the King of England owes him no allegiance

1204 - Roman Crusaders sack Constantinople 

1212 Children's Crusade

1215 - Fourth Lateran Council - Transubstantiation defined 

1220 - Salisbury Cathedral begun, the Order of Service here becomes the model for Archbishop Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer 

1231 - Inquisition established 

1274 - Second Council of Lyon

1302 - Unam Sanctam - Boniface VIII

Outside the Roman Catholic Church there is no Salvation / the Church wields spiritual and temporal power.

1311-1312 - Council of Vienne, disbanded Knights Templar

1346-1353 - The Black Plague

1378-1417 - The Great Papal Schism 

1381 - John Wycliffe, Oxford Theologian, publishes Confessions which denies Transubstantiation

1382 - Wycliffe completes English translation of the Latin Vulgate 

1414-1418 - Council of Constance - Church Councils are superior to the Pope, also condemned Hus and Wycliffe, replaced two active popes with a third

1438-1445 - Council of Florence - 7 Sacraments, Pope superior to Church Councils (contradicts Constance)

1440-1450 - Gutenberg printing press

1453 - Ottoman Turks conquer Constantinople

1479 - Spanish Inquisition formed

1500 - Russia claims Moscow is the center for Orthodoxy 

1512-1517 - Fifth Lateran Council

1517 - Martin Luther posts 95 Theses, Protestant Reformation begins in earnest

1525 - Henry VIII seeks annulment 

1529 - Henry begins the process of getting annulment apart from the Catholic Church 

1530 - Augsburg Confession (Lutheran) 

1532 - Thomas Cranmer becomes Archbishop of Canterbury

1534 - Henry declares himself Supreme Head of Anglican Church via Supremacy Act  

1540 - Society of Jesus approved (Jesuit Order)

1544 - Cranmer asked to create Prayer Book 

1545-1563 - Council of Trent - elevated tradition, faith and works, Mass said in Latin

1547 - Henry dies, Edward VI takes the throne as a child, largely Protestant Council of Regency formed

1549 - First Book of Common Prayer released on Pentecost

1553 - Edward VI dies, Mary Tutor, daughter of Catholic Catherine of Aragon, takes over

1555 - Bloody Mary executes Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley

1556-1558 - John Knox is in Geneva

1558 - Protestant Elizabeth I becomes Queen of England

1560 - Scottish Parliament adopts Scots Confession

1561 - Belgic Confession 

1563 - 39 Articles Drafted

1571 - 39 Articles Ratified 

1572 - St Bartholomew's Day Massacre 

1597 - Francis Drake, first Anglican Service in North America

1609 - First Baptist Congregation in Holland 

1611-1612 - First Baptist Church in England

1611 - King James Bible released 

1618-1619 - Synod of Dort (codified five points of Calvinism)

1618-1648 -Thirty Year's War - religious war Catholics tried to impose upon Protestants and Protestantism expanded beyond designated areas, one of the bloodiest conflicts in European just 

1620 - Pilgrims arrive in Plymouth, Massachusetts 

1638 - Roger Williams established Baptist Church in Providence, RI 

1642 - Baptism by immersion restored by Richard Blunt 

1644 - First London Confession of Faith (Baptist)

1646 - Westminster Confession of Faith (Reformed)

1658 - Savoy Confession (Congregationalist) 

1689 - First General Assembly of Baptist Churches in London, over 100 churches present 

1689 - Second London Confession 

1690 - Scottish Parliament ratifies Westminster Confessions 

1690: The Church of Scotland formally established as a Presbyterian church

1707 - Philadelphia Baptist Association 

1721 - Czar Peter takes over Russian Orthodox Church

1727 - Log College established as Presbyterian Seminary in United States

1733 - First Great Awakening begins

1746 - College of New Jersey (later Princeton) established by Presbyterians

1773 - Jesuit Order suppressed

1784 - Methodist Conference forms in Anglican Church

1787 - Charleston Baptist Association 

1790 - Second Great Awakening 

1814 - Jesuit Order restored 

1816 - American Bible Society started

1830-31 - Charles Finney Rochester Revival 

1845 - Southern Baptist Convention forms in Augusta, GA, disagreed with the Northern Baptists over slavery and other issues 

1854 - Pius IX declared the dogma of the immaculate conception

1869-1870 - First Vatican Council best known for affirming Papal infallibility 

1895 - Five Fundamentals declared by Evangelical Alliance 

1906 - Azusa Street Revival - tongues, Pentecostal movement 

1923 - John Gresham Machen publishes Christianity and Liberalism

1929 - Machen founds Westminster Theological Seminary

1934 - Wycliffe Bible Translators organized

1938 - World Council of Churches formed

1941 - Evangelicals gather at Moody and begin to form what would become the National Association of Evangelicals

1947 - Dead Sea Scrolls discovered

1950 - Prius XII defines the dogma of the Assumption of Mary, speaking ex cathedra

1962-1965 - Second Vatican Council 

1966 - Reformed Theological Seminary founded in Jackson, MS by Southern Presbyterian Church