1502—Treaty of Perpetual Peace between Scotland and England is signed; James IV of Scotland marries Margaret Tudor

1504—Pope Julius II posthumously dissolves the marriage between Arthur, Prince of Wales, and Catherine of Aragon, leaving her free to marry Arthur’s brother, Henry VIII.

1516—Henry and Catherine’s daughter Princess Mary is born

1517—The German monk Martin Luther publishes The Ninety-Five Theses, a list of criticisms of the Roman Catholic Church 

1521—King Henry VIII writes an attack on Martin Luther; Pope Leo X titles Henry “Defender of the Faith” and excommunicates Luther

1524—Luther-influenced reformer William Tyndale expelled from England

1525—First law passed against Protestant literature in Scotland

1526—William Tyndale publishes his English translation of the New Testament

1527—King Henry VIII intends to divorce Catherine of Aragon

1529—Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, sympathetic to Catherine, is removed as Lord Chancellor to Henry

1533—Archbishop of Canterbury and reformer Thomas Cranmer declares King Henry VIII’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon null and void; King Henry marries Anne Boleyn and their daughter Princess Elizabeth is born

1534—Act of Supremacy, declaring King Henry VIII Supreme Head of the Church of England, and the Treason Act, punishing deniers of the king’s supremacy, both passed.

1535—Thomas More and others executed under the Treason Act

1536—King Henry VIII disbands Catholic monasteries and appropriates their income; Anne Boleyn is executed; King Henry marries Jane Seymour; William Tyndale is burned at the stake 

1537—Henry and Jane’s son Prince Edward is born

1543—John Knox, future leader of the Scottish Reformation, converts to Protestantism; England starts war campaign against Catholic stronghold Scotland to force a marriage between King Henry’s son Edward and Mary, Queen of Scots

1547—King Henry VIII dies; King Edward VI takes the throne, unmarried

1549—Prayer Book Rebellion in southwestern England, rejecting the imposition of Protestant Reformist texts on churchgoers

1553—King Edward VI dies; his sister Mary takes the throne

1554—Queen Mary I restores Catholicism in England and the death penalty for Protestants

1556—Thomas Cranmer burned at the stake

1558—Queen Mary dies; Queen Elizabeth I takes the throne, re-establishes England’s break with the Roman Catholic Church and secures Protestant reforms to the Church of England

1560—Scottish Reformation kicks off, John Knox advocates for Presbyterianism to replace Catholicism

1567—Mary, Queen of Scots, abdicates, and the infant James VI of Scotland becomes king

1570—Queen Elizabeth officially branded a heretic by the Pope, who threatens to excommunicate any English Catholic who obeys her

1584—Scottish Parliament passes acts ensuring King James VI has power over the Church of Scotland

1587—Mary, Queen of Scots, is executed for consenting to a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth

1588—England defeats the Spanish Armada’s efforts to re-conquer England for Catholicism; Presbyterians gain influence in Church of Scotland

1603—James VI of Scotland is crowned King James I of England

1611—King James Bible first published and used throughout the English-speaking world