This is a timeline of the English Protestant Reformation. It assumes the reformation spans the period between 1527 and the death of Elizabeth I in 1603. It also provides sections for background events prior to 1527 and the events of the Long Reformation beginning in 1603. Since the six dioceses of the Church in Wales were part of the Church of England prior to Welsh Church Act 1914 this timeline covers the reformation history of both Wales and England.
Background Lollardy
Date Event Significance to the Reformation in England 1328 Birth of John Wycliffe in Yorkshire. 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 of the English Reformation and both he and his followers (the Lollards) were much invoked by later reformers. While Lollard influence on the Henrician Reformation was negligible, nevertheless Wycliffe's writings did influence Jan Hus who in turn influenced Martin Luther. The Lollards are also a key topic of Foxes Book of Martyrs and their story did much to solidify the self understanding of the 16th century reformers. 1348-1350The Black Death ravages England. Considered to have been a major influence on the ideas of both Wycliffe and many other proto-Protestants. 1377Wycliffe published De civili dominioA scathing attack on church property and tithes. Set out Wycliffe's ideas of dominion, the notion that the church should not have any property and that no member of its clergy should exercise political or judicial power. 1377Wycliffe is censured by Pope Gregory XI who orders church authorities in Oxford and London to begin an inquisition. 1377, 19 FebruaryJohn Wycliffe summonsed by William Courtenay, Bishop of London, for an examination of heresy. In attending he was accompanied and supported by John of Gaunt, Henry Percy, Earl Marshal of England, and four theologians representing the four major mendicant orders (Franciscans, Dominicans, Carmelites, and Augustinians). The session ended in aporia over a question of etiquette, concerning whether Wycliffe should stand or be allowed to sit during his testimony. The event showed how useful Wycliffe's theories might be to the aristocracy who had good political reason to support reformers undermining the power and wealth of the church. The English monarchs also had a strained relationship with the Avignon Papacy and its supporters, the French monarchy, because of the ongoing conflict of the 100 Years War. For these reasons and others, in the early days of Wycliffite Lollardy many of the institutions of secular authority were supportive. John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, was a strong supporter of Wycliffe in the early days as too was Joan of Kent. In 1382 the Mayor of Leicester personally attended the sermon of the Lollard William Swinderby. The ideas Wycliffe was under investigation for would return as a major theme of the 16th century reformation when the idea of a secular requisition of church property would again prove popular with authorities. 1378Wycliffe published De veritate sacrae scripturae Suggested that only theological conclusions with direct scriptural backing ought to be accepted. A momentous publication foreshadowing the idea of sola scriptura which would dominate the later reforms of the 16th century. 1379Wycliffe published De Eucharistia An attack on the doctrine of transubstantiation and its lack of scriptural warrant. Wycliffe maintained a firm belief in the real presence but rejected the use of Aristotelian metaphysics to explain it. His convictions were closer to Orthodoxy, Lutheranism, or the modern Church of England after the Oxford Movement than those of the 16th century reformers.1381, 30 MayPeasants' 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 teachings1382, 17 NovemberAnti-Wycliffe Synod at Oxford Wycliffe defiantly reasserts his positions in a famous oration and is exiled to his Rectory at Lutterworth on the Leicestershire, Warwickshire boundary. 1382Englands first Heresy Act passed as a result of a request from Pope Martin IV and repealed the following year. It required mayors and magistrates to burn those found guilty of heresy by a bishop. A highly controversial act it was repealed the following year due the objection of members of the House of Commons showing the widespread opposition to the bill among the burghers 1383Philip 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 elevated to the rank of Cardinal. This shows that Wycliffe's thought had a wide influence even in the church hierarchy. 1384Wycliffe's Bible probably completed around this time. Wycliffe also dies this year on Holy Innocents' Day (28 December)Earliest complete translation of the Latin Vulgate into English. 1395Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards presented to Parliament and posted on the doors of Westminster Abbey and Old St Paul's1399Henry IV overthrew Richard II. This brought an end to the relative tolerance of Lollardy. 1401De heretico comburendo is passed by parliament which required forfeiture of all property, both for themselves and for their children, for all those found in position of copies of Wycliffe's Bible or some part of it.A major blow to the Lollard movement. 1410, 1 MarchJohn Badby burned at the stake Smithfield for denying transubstantiation. 1414, 9 JanuaryOldcastle RevoltSmall popular uprising inspired by Lollard ideals. 1414, 30 AprilOpening session of the Fire and Faggot Parliament. Symbolically the Parliament was held at the Greyfriars monastery in Leicester, a town which had been stronghold of Lollardy, the seat of John of Gaunt, standing around 15 mile north east of Wycliffe's home and grave at Lutterworth.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.
Background events 1485-1525