16th Century – Institute for the Study of Western Civilization

1502	Columbus sails on fourth & last voyage to Honduras and Panama. Amerigo Vespucci second voyage to South America, proclaims it is not India but “a new world.”
1503	Prince Henry of England marries Princess Catherine of Aragon. Death of Pope Alexander VI (Borgia); Election of Giuliano della Rovere as Pope Julius II. Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa.
1504	Death of Queen Isabella of Castile, Ferdinand now has difficult situation in the control of Spain since he is not the legal heir to Isabella but instead the heiress is their daughter Juana. Raphael paints The Marriage of the Virgin (now in Brera, Milan).
1505	Foundation of Christ’s College, Cambridge, by Margaret Countess of Richmond, beginning of the great days of Cambridge with generous royal patronage.
1506	Death of Christopher Columbus.(b. 1451)
1507	Ordination to the priesthood of Martin Luther. Map maker Martin Waldseemuller proposes the new world on maps be named “America” after Amerigo Vespucci of Florence.
1508	Michelangelo in Rome: paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
1509	Henry VIII becomes King of England. (d. 1547)
1510	Martin Luther in Rome as delegate of his monastic order. Death of Botticelli. Passing of the Florentine artistic Renaissance.
1511	Erasmus nominated professor of Greek at Cambridge.
1512	Michelangelo finishes the Sistine Ceiling and Raphael finishes the frescoes in the Stanza della Segnatura (School of Athens) next door to the Sistine.
1513	Death of Pope Julius II. Election of Michelangelo’s childhood friend from the Medici palace, Giovanni de’Medici as Pope Leo X. Michelangelo finishes Moses for tomb of Pope Julius II.
1515	Death of the King of France Louis XII. succeeded by his nephew Francis I (to 1547). Now begins life long duel between two young kings: Hen VIII and Francis I.
1516	Death of Ferdinand of Spain, his grandson Charles age 16 succeeds to throne of Spain. (His mother Junana supposedly insane is locked up in a monastery for decades to keep her off the throne.)
1517	(Oct 31) Martin Luther, 95 Theses, Begin of Reformation. Luther protests the sale of Indulgences by the church.Coffee arrives in Europe for the first time.
1518	Diet of Augsburg. Luther called before Diet by Cardinal Cajetan. Luther refuses to recant. Raphael paints portrait of Pope Leo with Cardinals (Uffizi). Foundation of the Royal College of Physicians in London. The beginning of modern scientific medicine.
1519	Charles, King of Spain, also elected Holy Roman Emperor at the death of his grandfather Maximilian. Now unites all of Spain, the Low Countries, Ger. and all of new lands of America in one empire. Martin Luther, in Leipzig Disputation: questions infallibility of the Pope. Death of Leonardo da Vinci.Cortes enters Tenochtitlan, capital of Aztec empire, meets Montezuma.
1520	Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther and declares him a heretic. Luther publicly burns the Papal Bull. Reformation is under way. (April 6)Death of Raphael, Rome mourns passing of an age.Magellan on his circumnavigation of globe passes through the Straits of Magellan heads into the Pacific.
1521	Death of Pope Leo X. Magellan killed in the Philippines but the expedition continues and finally reaches Portugal completing first round the world navigation.
1522	Luther finishes his translation into German of the New Testament, Wittenberg printer Hans Lufft begins to print what will be 100,000 copies over the years. Other vernacular translations follow.
1523	Elect Giulio de’ Medici: Pope Clement VII (to 1534).
1524	Zurich: Zwingli abolishes the Roman Catholic Mass.
1525	Battle of Pavia. Disaster for France. King Francis I is captured. Spain now in complete control of Italy.
1527	May 5: Sack of Rome. Imperial troops loyal to King of Spain Charles (and Holy Roman Emperor) go crazy and loot the Holy City and kill more than 4,000 inhabitants and steal all the art treasures. The Pope hides in Castel Sant Angelo. Usually cited as the End of the Renaissance.
1528	King Henry VIII begins his proceedings: Requests “divorce” (annulment) from Catherine of Aragon.
1530	In Germany, write the Confession of Augsburg, to unite all of Protestant Germany. Sign the Schmalkaldic League, alliance of all Prot Ger against the Roman Catholic Emperor Charles. Germany at war.
1531	King Henry VIII recognized: Supreme Head of the church in England.
1532	John Calvin: leading the Reformation in France.
1533	ENGLAND: Thomas Cranmer becomes Archbishop of Canterbury. He proclaims marriage of Hen and Cath void and proclaims marriage of Hen and Anne Boleyn lawful. Pope excommunicates Henry. Anne crowned as Queen of England. Birth of daughter Elizabeth to Henry and Anne. FRANCE: Pope Clement VII (Medici) marries his relative Catherina de’ Medici to the future King of France, Henry Valois.
1534	King Henry of England makes a final break with Rome and proclaims himself head of his own English Reformed church (Anglican international church=Episcoal in USA). Thomas Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury. Death of Pope Clement VII, elect Alessandro Farnese as Pope Paul III.
1540	First publish versions of Copernicus’ heliocentric theory. Establish the new order of the Jesuits as new troops in the Roman Catholic war with the Protestants.
1543	Publish Copernicus’ De Revolutionibus: proposes the sun at the center of the universe.
1545	Convene the Council of Trent as the Roman Catholic Church tries to organize to fight the spreading Reformation (this effort to be known as the Counter Reformation).
1546	Death of Martin Luther. Michelangelo designing the dome of Saint Peter’s. Titian paints his portrait of Pope Paul III and his nephews.
1547	Death of Henry VIII: succeeded by his son Edward VI (1537-1553). Death of Francis I of France. succeeded by his son Henry II(1519-1559). Birth of Cervantes(1547-1616).
1549	English church publishes the new Book of Common Prayer (much of which is written by Thomas Cranmer).
1550	Publish Giorgio Vasari’s Lives of the Artists. Marks new attitude to artists: artists are special, almost divine.
1553	Death of King Edward VI of England: succeeded by his Roman Catholic half-sister Mary.
1554	Queen Mary: marries Philip of Spain, future king.
1555	Elect Giovanni Pietro Caraffa: Pope Paul IV.
1556	Charles V abdicates giving Spain to his son Philip and the Empire to his brother Ferdinand I and retires to a monastery. Queen Mary burns the Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer at the stake when he refuses to recant his Protestantism.
1558	Mary Queen of England dies and is succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth as Queen Elizabeth I. Protestant Church of England re-instated. Death of Charles V former King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor.
1564	(Feb)Death of Michelangelo.(b. 1575)
1564	(Feb 15) Birth of Galileo. (d. 1642)
1564	(April 23) Birth of William Shakespeare. (d. 1616)
1568	Revolt of the Protestant Netherlands from control of Spain. Birth of new Protestant Republic of Netherlands and birth of new alliance between the two Protestant countries of Eng and Neth.
1572	Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day, Paris: kill thousands of Protestants.
1573	Birth of Caravaggio. (d. 1609)
1585	Shakespeare comes to London.
1586	Unveil the plot to kill Queen Eliz and put Mary Queen of Scots on throne. Mary sentenced to death (executed 1587).
1588	Spanish Armada, Spain’s attempt to destroy Protestant England with the cooperation of the Papacy fails. This final blow to idea of reuniting all of Europe under renewed Roman Catholic Papacy. Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus.
1589	Henry of Navarre becomes King of France as Hen IV. Galileo professor of mathematics at University of Pisa.
1593	King Hen IV converts to Rom Catholicism (“Paris is well worth a mass.”)
1594	Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet.
1595	Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
1596	Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice. Birth of Descartes.
1598	Shakespeare: Henry V.
1599	Shakespeare: Julius Caesar.
1600	Burn Giordano Bruno on the Campo de’Fiori in Rome for heresy. King Henry IV of France marries Marie de’ Medici. Shakespeare: Hamlet.
1603	Death of Queen Elizabeth of England. She is succeeded by her cousin James (Stuart) in Scotland.
1610	Galileo, The Starry Messenger, published in Venice. One of the most shocking and exciting works of scientific advance ever experienced in modern Europe. Galileo becomes an overnight sensation, a scientific rock star. Letters pour into Padua from all over Europe.