To 400: The Roman era.

•   44: Roman conquest of Britain. Christianity arrives around this time. Glastonbury is inhabited during these years, and old tradition remembers Christians here.
  
•   50: Council of Jerusalem. Christianity is a separate religion, not a sect within Judaism.
  
•   64: (Italy) Nero's persecution of the church. Peter and Paul executed. Christianity is made illegal.
  
•  209: (Probable date) Execution of Alban, the first English martyr. Alban is a Roman soldier who offered shelter to a Christian missionary from Gaul. The place of his martyrdom later becomes St. Alban's .
  
•  312: (Italy) Constantine. Christianity becomes the official religion of the Roman Empire. Britons are largely Christianized.
  
•  314: Council of Arles. Britain sends three bishops, a priest, and a deacon.
  
•  325: Council of Nicea, probably attended by British. The Nicene creed and the council's decisions are accepted in Britain.
  
•  360: Julian the Apostate, Roman emperor, attempts to reinstitute paganism. This is openly flouted in Britain. The Mildenhall treasure is buried; it includes three spoons with the Chi-Rho monogram.
  
•  370: Pagan Anglo-Saxons from Germany and Scandinavia begin to occupy Britain without resistance from the passive Britons. (Wales remains unconquered and Christian.) Anglo-Saxon culture characterized by pessimism and an emphasis on courage and hard work.
  

•  400: Ninian , Roman-trained bishop of Galloway and friend (maybe) of Martin of Tours , is successfully evangelizing the Picts ("the painted people"). Mungo of Glasgow is evangelizing in Scotland.
  
•  407: No Roman coins after this date have been found in Britain. The Britons are on their own.
  
•  410: Pelagius , British Christian thinker, emphasizes freedom and man's natural capacity to cooperate with God's grace. He chooses to settle in St. Augustine's neighborhood. His liberal heresy becomes very popular in Britain.
  
•  410: The conquest of Britain is greatly accelerated when Britons under Vortigern invite Saxon mercenaries to occupy their country to keep order .
  
•  429: Bishops Germanus and Lupus sent from Gaul to Britain to preach against Pelagianism. According to legend , Germanus baptizes most of the British army one Easter; their cries of "Alleluia" rout the enemy.
  
•  431: Deacon Palladius sent by the bishop of Rome as a "bishop to the Scotti [Irish] who believe in Christ."
  
•  432: Patrick , an Englishman from a clerical family and himself an escaped Irish slave, returns to Ireland as bishop. Patrick organizes, evangelizes, helps the poor, confronts the druid sorcerers , and earns both respect and political power.
  
•  444: Leo the Great , bishop of Rome, changes the method of determining the date of Easter so that Good Friday will not fall on a Roman sports day. Britain conforms immediately.
  
•  457: Victorius of Aquitaine introduces yet another method of dating Easter which is accepted in Rome and Gaul but for some reason not in Britain. This effectively cuts the British church off from the Continent.
  
•  500: Britons win a victory at Badon Hill under one Artorus. "Arthur" later becomes the model of a Christian king.
  
•  500: First Celtic monastery founded in Tintagel .
  
•  530: David , water-drinking bishop in Wales , popularizes Christianity there.
  
•  530: (Italy) Benedict founds Monte Cassino, where he and his friends can live together and say the Daily Office regularly. Benedict's rule will be the model for most future monasticism.
  
•  550: Plague year. Gildas , quoting the Old Testament, sees this as God's anger against a decadent, corrupt society, and turns monasticism into a mass movement. (Unlike Patrick, Gildas wields no political clout.)
  
•  562: Columba , an Irishman, popularizes Christianity in Scotland. (He blesses Loch Ness to rid it of its monster .) The congregations founded by Mungo and Columba will ultimate become the Scottish Presbyterian churches.
  
•  590: Gregory I ("the Great"), a Benedictine monk, elected bishop of Rome.
  
•  590: Columbanus of Ireland, who has introduced Benedict's way of life to Ireland, undertakes his highly successful mission to the Continent.
  
•  596: Gregory decides to send a mission to Britain , after punning on "Angles" and "angels", "Deira" (York) and "de ira" (God's wrath), and so forth.
  
•  597: Augustine, first archbishop of Canterbury , another Benedictine, arrives in Kent . He baptizes King Æthelbert (who already has a Christian wife). Gregory authorizes Augustine to develop liturgy and other practices especially for the English-speaking people, thus beginning the Anglican church tradition.
  

•  616: Irate pagans pursue Mellitus, bishop of London, and Justus, bishop of Rochester , to Canterbury. King Æadbald is so impressed by the courage of Lawrence, archbishop of Canterbury, that he becomes a Christian.
  
•  627: Paulinus, first bishop of York , converts King Edwin of Northumbria.
  
•  632: Aidan, bishop of Lindisfarne ("the holy island"), begins missionary work in Northumbria, battling pagan sorcery.
  
•  651: Cuthbert , shepherd-monk, becomes prior of Melrose Abbey (later bishop of Lindisfarne, still later hermit and preacher to seals and gulls.)
  
•  663: Synod of Whitby , at Hilda's mixed-sexes monastery. The English church will conform to Roman rather than Celtic practices. (This begins the period of Roman authority.)
  
•  668: Theodore of Tarsus , an elderly Syrian, ordained archbishop of Canterbury, establishes boundaries of dioceses. England is now a Christian nation, and paganism has been driven underground (as witchcraft).
  

•  670: Caedmon, shepherd and first British poet , is singing the glories of God's creation at Whitby.
  
•  670: Wilfrid of Ripon , a high-churchman famous for his brilliant oratory at Whitby, goes to Rome to be ordained bishop of York.
  
•  672: Wilfrid assumes office with much pomp. (Humble Chad , who had been bishop of York, is moved to Lichfield ; Theodore forces him to ride a horse rather than walking about his new diocese.)
  
•  678: Wilfrid has alienated everyone and loses control of York. He spends the rest of his life travelling as an outstanding missionary and church-builder.
  
•  690: Willibrord , an Englishman, begins the English mission to the Netherlands. (Became Archbishop of Utrecht, 695). Forged ties between churches of England and Utrecht that remain to this day .
  
•  716: Boniface (Wynfrid) , an Englishman, begins his career as missionary. He is the most effective evangelist in Germany.
  
•  731: Bede ("the Venerable") , historian and doctor of the church , completes his Ecclesiastical History of the English People . Incidentally, this is the work that popularized the Anno Domini system for dating events.
  
•  750: "Beowulf " and "Dream of the Rood ". Both poems display the Anglo-Saxon theme of gaining permanent respect by accepting a lonely defeat .
  
•  755: Boniface is martyred by outraged pagans. (He is stabbed through his prayer-book).
  
•  790: King Offa of Mercia founds St. Alban's Abbey (as penance for murdering St. Ethelbert).
  
•  793: Vikings sack Lindisfarne.
  
•  796: Alcuin , English deacon and agent of Charlemagne, becomes Abbot of Tours. Alcuin introduces Collect for Purity and the organized copying of manuscripts.
  
•  800: (Rome) Charlemagne sets precedents as Christian king.
  
•  826: Anskar , an Englishman, launches mission to Denmark. (Scandinavia is never effectively Christianized.)
  
•  871: Alfred the Great , warrior-scholar, becomes king of "West Saxons" and proceeds to unite the English people .
  
•  878: Alfred is godfather to Guthrum, the Danish (Viking) general. The Vikings are allowed to settle in England .
  
•  890: Formosus , bishop of Rome , writes irate letter to the English bishops for not trying harder to Christianize the Vikings.
  
•  960: Dunstan, metal-working saint , becomes archbishop of Canterbury
  
•  964: King Ethelwald storms Winchester Cathedral and requires the lax clergy there to become Benedictine monks. Very soon, the cathedrals are Benedictine operations.
  
•  973: Dunstan crowns King Edgar ("of all England") at Bath , preaching at length on the idea of the Christian king.
  
• 1012: Alphege , archbishop of Canterbury, is "martyred" at Greenwich by the Vikings. (They are holding him hostage but like him. So Alphege tries to preach while they are partying....)
  
• 1014: One Wulfstan (the saint) repeats Gildas's condemnation of his countrymen in a famous sermon at York.
  
• 1060: King Edward the Confessor dies. (His reputation as a saint is promoted for political reasons by William the Conqueror.)
  
• 1062: Another Wulfstan (the bishop) made bishop of Worcester. He is an effective opponent of slavery.
  
• 1066: Norman conquest. William the Conqueror becomes king. In the next few months, most of the important churches in England "accidentally" burn down.
  
• 1070: Margaret, an English princess, marries Malcolm and becomes Queen of Scotland. She leads a revival of piety in Scotland. (Malcolm appears in Shakespeare's "Macbeth".)
  
• 1070: Lanfranc, an Italian lawyer, becomes William's formidable archbishop of Canterbury. Lanfranc rebuilds Canterbury Cathedral and establishes the primacy of the see of Canterbury, but fails to enforce clerical celibacy.
  
• 1080: William, in a letter, reminds the bishop of Rome that the king of England owes him no allegiance.
  
• 1090: "Anonymous" in Rouen writes a long dissertation on the divine right of kings, arguing that the bishop of Rome has no authority over kings.
  
• 1093: Anselm becomes archbishop of Canterbury. This pleasant, otherworldly saint develops the ontological argument, thus proving the existence of God (at least to his own satisfaction).
  
• 1154: Nicholas Breakspear becomes the only English bishop of Rome (Adrian IV).
  
• 1161: Thomas Becket, Henry II's low-born, clean-living best friend, becomes archbishop of Canterbury. Becket's subsequent behavior is unexpected.
  
• 1171: Becket "martyred" in Canterbury cathedral by four knights. He is soon regarded as a saint and miracle-worker.
  
• 1186: Hugh becomes bishop of Lincoln, resists King Richard I.
  
• 1205: The bishop of Rome appoints Stephen Langton archbishop of Canterbury. King John will not allow him to enter England. (Langton is the man who made today's division of the books of the Bible into chapters.)
  
• 1208: The bishop of Rome places England under an interdict.
  
• 1210: (Italy) John "Francesco" (Frenchy) Bernadone, an Italian, gets the bishop of Rome's support for his group of teenaged "little brothers", who become the First Order Franciscans. They function much as Wesley's circuit-riders will during the Great Awakening. The Dominicans, or "Friars Preachers", are doing the same thing in France.
  
• 1212: Francis and his friend, Claire, found the Second Order Franciscans, cloistered nuns.
  
• 1212: King John resigns his kingship to the bishop of Rome and receives it back as a holding from the Roman legate. This ends the interdict. A few years later, Parliament declares John resigned his crown illegally. The English do notice that the four-year interdict did not really cause anything bad to happen to them....
  
• 1215: King John is forced to sign the Magna Carta.
  
• 1220: Salisbury Cathedral begun. The order of service here will be the model for Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer.
  
• 1221: Third Order Franciscans founded for laymen who would have become friars but had a family or career. (All three orders of Franciscans are active today in the Anglican communion.)
  
• 1221: Dominicans reach England.
  
• 1224: First-order Franciscans reach England. Since the regular clergy seldom or never preaches, the friars are important in promoting the building and life of local churches.
  
• 1235: Robert Grosseteste, poor boy, scholar, and scientist, becomes bishop of Lincoln. (Never canonized, but name repeated by the bird's call: "Bob-o'-Linc".)
  
• 1244: Richard elected bishop of Crichester. This is opposed by King Henry III, who locks him out of the episcopal house.
  
• 1255: Roger Bacon, inventor of the telescope, microscope, and thermometer, becomes a Franciscan.
  
• 1269: Rebuilding of Westminster Abbey begun by Henry III.
  
• 1324: William of Ockham, an English Franciscan friar, defends his philosophy at the bishop of Rome's court (in Avignon). His views will develop into "nominalism" and dominate European thought until the Reformation.
  

• 1343: Richard Rolle, hermit and mystical writer, writes "The Fire of Love". ("I cannot tell you how surprised I was the first time I felt my heart begin to warm.") Anonymous author of "The Cloud of Unknowing" is a contemporary.
  
• 1348: Black plague year.
  
• 1372: Dame Julian of Norwich has a series of mystical experiences; writes of them in "Revelations of Divine Love". ("And all shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well.")
  
• 1375: "Gawain" poet at work.
  
• 1381: John Wyclif, an Oxford theologian, publishes his "Confession", denying that the "substance" of bread and wine are miraculously annihilated during the Eucharist. (Wyclif is appealing to the Bible over the heads of the clergy. He is forced to retire by his colleagues, mostly because they are worried by this year's peasant revolt.)
  
• 1386: Geoffrey Chaucer begins the "Canterbury Tales".
  
• 1390: William Langland, an evangelical, completes "Piers Plowman".
  
• 1396: Walter Hilton, Augustinian mystic and author of "The Ladder of Perfection", dies.
  

• 1401: Persecution of Lollards (Dutch word for "babblers"). They are mostly working men, revolting against clergy. Their leaders read Wyclif's translation of the Bible.
  
• 1405: Henry IV executes Richard Scrope, rebellious archbishop of York. Popular response is mixed.
  
• 1414: Sir John Oldcastle leads a rebellion of Lollards, who fail to capture London. This and similar incidents polarize the nation and effectively prevent reform for the next century.
  
• 1415: Henry V campaigns in France. The English are later driven out by Joan of Arc.
  
• 1427: Cardinal Henry Beaufort arrests the bishop of Rome's tax collector, does not get into serious problems for doing so.
  
• 1436: Margery Kempe, eccentric visionary, dictates her autobiography.
  
• 1445: Personal rule of saintly but schizophrenic Henry VI begins. ("O Lord Jesu Christ, who didst create me, redeem me, and foreordain me unto that which now I am; thou knowest what thou wilt do with me; deal with me according to thy most compassionate will.")
  
• 1485: Period of civil war ("Wars of the Roses") ends with victory of Henry VII (first Tudor king).
  
• 1499: Erasmus visits England for the first time. He will be the central figure in the revival of humanism. (Erasmus made today's division of the Bible into verses, and also discredited the "Donation of Constantine", a document which allegedly bestowed most of Europe on the bishop of Rome.)
  
• 1518: Thomas Wolsey, bishop of York, is made cardinal. He is possessed of great abilities, but he is proud, corrupt, and not celibate.
  
• 1521: Lutheran books appear in England. Cambridge students form a study-group at the White Horse Tavern; Thomas Cranmer is perhaps among them. Henry VIII writes a book on the sacraments against Luther. The bishop of Rome gives him a golden rose and names him "defender of the faith".
  
• 1525: Henry VIII, who long ago got special permission from the bishop of Rome to marry his brother's virgin widow Catherine, has been upset because she cannot bear him a son. This is the year Henry meets pretty Anne Boleyn. This begins the "King's affair." The bishop of Rome will not annul Henry's marriage to Catherine, because Catherine's nephew is holding him prisoner....
  
• 1526: Cardinal Wolsey presides at a massive burning of Lutheran books.
  
• 1527: Thomas Bilney, respected Cambridge preacher and Lutheran sympathizer, is dragged from his pulpit. (He is burned in 1531.)
  
• 1528: Simon Fish, a London attorney and amateur actor who has fled to Antwerp after spoofing the clergy, writes "A Supplication for Beggars", which urges an end to taxes for Rome. (Henry VIII really likes this book.)
  
• 1529: Henry VIII decides he does not need to get permission from the bishop of Rome to have his marriage annulled. (The idea is probably Thomas Cromwell's.) He declares himself head of the English church (whatever that means), forcibly cuts the Anglican bishops off from communion with Rome, calls the Reformation Parliament, and marries Anne Boleyn. Services at the churches, however, remain essentially the same. (The mass is in Latin, there is no sermon or systematic Bible reading, and the people are passive and receive communion only at Easter, getting only the consecrated bread.)
  
• 1529: Henry VIII finds out about Wolsey's wheeling and dealing and fires him. ("Had I but served my God as diligently as I have done the king, He would not have given me over in my gray hairs.") After his fall, he visits his diocese for the first time.
  
• 1532: Cranmer made archbishop of Canterbury. (This effectly ends clerical celibacy among Anglicans, as Cranmer is twice-married). The "Act in Restraint of Appeals" prohibits appeals to the bishop of Rome.
  
• 1534: "Act of Succession." Everyone must swear allegiance to Henry VIII as head of the English church. Thomas More, his Prime Minister and author of "Utopia", and John Fisher, saintly bishop of Rochester, refuse to swear.
  
• 1535: Henry VIII beheads Fisher and More after the bishop of Rome makes Fisher a cardinal. Henry is sorry to have to do this, and his court wears mourning for two weeks. Henry had intended to execute Mary, his daughter by Catherine, who also refused to swear. He was dissuaded from doing this by Cranmer.
  
• 1536: Henry VIII ensures the permanent popularity of the English reformation by abolishing the monasteries and sharing the loot with almost everyone.
  
• 1536: (Brussels) William Tyndale, a priest and Lutheran sympathizer who is responsible for an illegal English translation of the Bible, is strangled at the stake. Tyndale's last words are "Lord, open the King of England's eyes."
  
• 1536: Henry VIII executes Anne Boleyn and marries Jane Seymour. He continues to oppose the introduction of an English-language Bible for his people.
  
• 1538: Jane Seymour dies following the birth of Henry VIII's only legitimate son, Edward.
  
• 1538: John Rogers (alias Thomas Matthew) prints the Tyndale Bible translation (finished by Miles Coverdale) in Paris. It is approved by the Henry VIII as the "Great Bible" to be read by all his people.
  
• 1539: The Six Articles, against Lutheranism. Hugh Latimer, bishop of Winchester, resigns in protest. Henry VIII is still occasionally burning Lutherans and hanging Roman Catholics.
  
• 1540: Henry VIII marries and divorces Anne of Cleves, executes the now-unpopular Thomas Cromwell, and marries Katherine Howard.
  
• 1543: Katherine Howard beheaded. Henry VIII marries Katherine Parr.
  
• 1544: Cranmer instructed to write prayers and a litany (for the army) in English. He does this so well that he is asked to make a prayer book in English, based on the service at Salisbury Cathedral.
  
• 1545: Henry VIII's last speech to Parliament. He says Papist, Lutheran, Anabaptist are names devised by the devil to sunder one man's heart from another.
  
• 1546: (Germany) Council of Trent. Bishops in communion with the bishop of Rome decide that the church "venerates equally" the Bible and the written and unwritten traditions (whatever that means). This is the beginning of the Tridentine Church (today's Roman Catholic church). England is becoming a haven for Protestants from the continent.
  
• 1547: Henry VIII dies. He has executed around 60 people for "religious" reasons, among a total of about 130 political executions. He is succeeded by his sickly teenaged son, Edward VI. Chantries suppressed.
  
• 1548: "Images" ordered removed from all churches by the council of regents. This also means no vestments, ashes, palms, holy water, or crucifixes. This causes so much resentment that an order suppressing all preaching follows.
  
• 1548: Prayer of Humble Access, for the people to say in English, introduced into Latin mass.
  
• 1549: First Book of Common Prayer (Cranmer's work), introduced on Day of Pentecost. It is written in English, emphasizes the people's participation in the eucharist, and requires the Bible to be read from cover to cover. Fast days are retained (supposedly to help fishermen), but saints' days are not. Roman Catholic rebels in Cornwall claim they cannot understand English.
  
• 1550: "Hooper's visitation". A bishop surveys the parish priests and finds them concerned about their work but poorly educated.
  
• 1550: New ordinal requires that a Bible be given to newly-ordained bishops (not a staff) and priests (not eucharistic vessels).
  
• 1552: Book of Common Prayer revised to suit Protestants. No more "real presence" at the eucharist (the "black rubric" permits kneeling, however). No vestments, no signing of the cross at confirmation, no holy oil, no reserved sacrament, no prayers for the departed.
  
• 1553: Edward VI dies. People are tired of Protestant looting of churches. Mary Tudor ("Bloody Mary"), a militant Roman Catholic, becomes queen. Popular at first, she soon marries the hated Philip II of Spain. Persecution of Protestants begins; Mary appoints new bishops and fires all married priests. During her reign, about 300 Protestans are burned, including 5 bishops, 100 priests, 60 women. An attempt by Cardinal Pole (Mary's archbishop of Canterbury) to restore monasticism fizzles when, among 1500 surviving monks, nuns, and friars, fewer than 100 are willing to return to celibacy. All this ensures Roman Catholics will remain unpopular in England.
  
• 1553: (Geneva) Calvin burns Michael Servetus, a Unitarian who has fled to escape the Spanish Inquisition. Liberals lose their illusions about Calvinism.
  
• 1553: Forty-two articles drafted. The Calvinist influence is obvious.
  
• 1555: Mary burns bishops Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley at the stake (Oct. 16).
  
• 1556: Mary succeeds in brainwashing Thomas Cranmer, who signs a retraction which he later repudiates. Mary burns him at the stake (March 21).
  
• 1558: Mary dies. (Cardinal Pole dies minutes later.) Elizabeth I, a Protestant, becomes queen. Despite many problems (including frequent assassination plots from Roman Catholics), she supports the enterprising middle class and England prospers.
  
• 1559: Book of Common Prayer revised. Elizabeth I reintroduces the surplice, explaining that it is a clergyman's uniform. The Black Rubric is gone. A special license is required to preach. There is no church music except metrical psalms sung to ballad tunes.
  
• 1559: Ordination of the moderate Matthew Parker as archbishop of Canterbury.
  
• 1560: John Jewel writes "An Apology for the Church of England". Rome, not England, is schismatic.
  
• 1560: Saints' days are reintroduced.
  
• 1563: "Foxe's Book of Martyrs." The bishop of Rome is portrayed as the Antichrist; Foxe writes speeches as needed for such "Protestant martyrs" as Thomas Cromwell.
  
• 1563: Thirty-Nine Articles drafted as a doctrinal statement by a convocation of the Church of England.
  

• 1564: The word "Puritan" appears for the first time. The Puritans are Calvinists, legalists, and name-callers. They are very serious, and oppose most things that are fun for themselves or others. They want: * a skilled, educated preaching ministry, based on the Bible * as few ceremonies in church as Biblically possible (no surplice, no signing of the cross) * abolition of the traditional role of bishop, and replacement of the episcopate by a presbyterian system * one legal government church, controlled by Puritans. (Contrast the Separatists.)
  
• 1568: Archbishop Parker produces the "Bishop's Bible".
  
• 1569: Thomas Cartwright of Cambridge outlines the Puritan program.
  
• 1575: The "Geneva Bible", an inexpensive edition with Calvinist notes, is published. (Shakespeare quotes this version.)
  
• 1581: Richard Hooker ordained priest; his anti-Puritan book "Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity" reflects natural-law and rationalist ideas then popular.
  
• 1581: Robert Browne's "Treatise of Reformation without Tarrying for Any". This will be the manifesto of the Puritans who found the Massachusetts Bay colony.
  
• 1584: Richard Hakluyt, priest, writes "A Discourse on Western Planting", provides impetus for colonization of America to pre-empt Roman Catholics.
  
• 1590: William Shakespeare ridicules Puritans in his characterizations of Falstaff, Malvolio, Flavius, and others.
  
• 1593: Puritan assemblies and activities outlawed. A few Separatists are hanged.
  
• 1597: Francis Drake, English privateer, lands in San Francisco Bay and conducts first Anglican service in North America.
  
• 1603: Elizabeth I succeeded by James I.
  
• 1604: Book of Common Prayer revised. The only change is an expanded catechism. The sacraments are "an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace". At the eucharist, "the Body and Blood of Christ are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful".
  
• 1605: "Gunpowder plot" by Roman Catholic fanatics seeking to blow up Parliament.
  
• 1607: Founding of Jamestown colony in Virginia. Most colonists have Puritan leanings. Robert Hunt, priest, leads Morning and Evening Prayer daily.
  
• 1611: Attendance at prayers made mandatory under "Dales's Laws".
  
• 1611: King James Version of the Bible. Most of the language is Tyndale's.
  
• 1618: James I's "Declaration of Sports" is read in all churches to encourage healthy fun and games on Sundays. This outrages the Puritans.
  
• 1620: Plymouth colony founded by Separatists.
  
• 1622: John Donne, priest and metaphysical poet, becomes Dean of St. Paul's cathedral, London.
  
• 1624: Virginia becomes a royal colony, required to conform to Church of England (though without a bishop, confirmations, ordinations, etc.)
  
• 1625: Christopher Wren begins rebuilding St. Paul's Cathedral.
  
• 1625: James I is succeeded by Charles I; his colorful court fills with refugees, including Roman Catholic counter-reformation types.
  
• 1626: Nicholas Ferrar founds religious community of Little Gidding in Huntingdonshire, England.
  
• 1628: The narrow-minded William Laud is made archbishop of London. He oversees the persecution of Puritans.
  
• 1630: Massachusetts Bay colony founded by Puritans on a Calvinist model for a Christian commonwealth.
  
• 1633: George Herbert's poems published posthumously as "The Temple".
  
• 1637: Scottish Prayer Book published. (This is unpopular in Scotland, though it does call priests "presbyters". It will be the basis for the future American Prayer Book.)
  
• 1638: The Scots, crying "Popery", excommunicate their bishops. This results in war.
  
• 1640: Charles I calls Parliament to approve funds for the war with Scotland; Parliament instead raises an army against the king. In the civil wars that follow, Oliver Cromwell leads the "New Model Army" rebels and becomes Lord Protector; John Milton is his Latin Secretary. Puritan morality becomes the law. (Today, Cromwell might be considered a Baptist; he says, sincerely, "I had rather that Mahometanism were permitted among us that that one of God's children should be persecuted.")
  
• 1643: Westminster Assembly drafts its "Confession", the major Presbyterian statement of belief.
  
• 1645: William Laud is beheaded by the Puritans.
  
• 1649: "Diggers" (communists), "Levellers" (egalitarians) and "Ranters" (atheists, hedonists) cause problems for the Puritan regime. (The latter are targets of the new "Blasphemy Act".)
  
• 1649: Cromwell and his government behead ("martyr") King Charles I.
  

• 1662: "Act of Uniformity" makes it impossible for Anglican bishops to continue in communion with other Christians whose ministers lack apostolic succession. Revised Book of Common Prayer makes many practices optional, and reintroduces many saints' days.
  
• 1667: John Milton publishes "Paradise Lost". (A "Socinian" and "Arminian", he depicts the devils as the first Calvinists.)
  
• 1677: A Greek Orthodox rite church is built in London. A plan for ecumenical relationship with the Orthodox fizzles when the Ecumenical Patriarch finds out that the bishop of London will be in charge....
  
• 1684: Massachusetts Bay colony's charter as a Puritan state is revoked by England.
  
• 1685: Charles II dies a Roman Catholic, and is succeeded by his brother, James II, a militant Roman Catholic.
  
• 1685: Last execution for witchcraft in England.
  
• 1687: Anglican liturgy is introduced at South Church, Boston, on Good Friday. Irate Puritans wait outside until it is over.
  
• 1688: "Trial of the Seven Bishops", for publishing a grievance against the king. The king's prosecution of Archbishop Sancroft and his six colleagues ends with the Glorious Revolution; Parliament bloodlessly replaces James II with William III (of Orange). The Church of Scotland is officially made Presbyterian, as part of the settlement. Thomas Ken, bishop of Bath and Wells, refuses to swear allegiance to King William III and is deprived of his see. He is joined by Archbishop Sancroft and several others. (In 1700, Ken writes the hymn, "Praise God from Whom all blessings flow.") The Scottish bishops also refuse to swear allegiance. During the next century, they will reintroduce customs from the ancient church, including adding water to the wine, prayer for the departed, invocation of the Holy Spirit during eucharist, speaking of the eucharist as "sacrifice".
  
• 1689: Act of Toleration, partially restores civil rights to Roman Catholics and Dissenters. The events since the Reformation have finally convinced most Anglicans of the virtues of tolerance and mutual forbearance.
  
• 1691: Freedom of worship guaranteed in New England and New York for all Protestants. King's Chapel in Boston is the center of Anglican worship, but there are essentially no parishes for several decades
  
• 1692: Salem witchcraft fiasco in New England.
  
• 1696: Thomas Bray, priest, put in charge of church work in Maryland. His people have an effective ministry in the southern colonies, especially to orphans, blacks and native Americans.
  
• 1699: Bray founds Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
  
• 1701: Bray founds Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, which sponsors over 300 missionaries in the colonies over the next century.
  
• 1707: Isaac Watts, a dissenter, publishes "Hymns and Spiritual Songs."
  
• 1722: Timothy Cutler, rector of Yale, and Samuel Johnson, Congregational pastor of New Haven, announce their conversion to Anglicanism at Yale graduation. They return from England a few years later as S.P.G. missionaries.
  

• 1726: Jonathan Swift publishes "Gulliver's Travels".
  
• 1728: William Law writes "A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life."
  
• 1730: First books appear questioning the literal interpretation of the Bible.
  
• 1733: James Oglethorpe founds Georgia colony for relief of debtors; the idea is Bray's.
  
• 1738: John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield, all Anglican priests, have religious experiences in Georgia.
  
• 1740: Open-air preaching, charismatic phenomena, and involvement of the poor. A nominal connection with Church of England continues until 1790's. However, most Anglicans (being rationalists or even Deists, and remembering Puritanism) oppose the Awakening. Most other denominations support it. (Liberal opposition to Great Awakening is called "Old Light").
  
• 1741: George Frederick Handel composes "The Messiah".
  

• 1776: Declaration of Independence by American colonies. Two-thirds of the signers are nominal members of the Church of England, but they do not want the colonies to be governed by bishops. Many Anglicans flee to Canada or remain as Tories.
  
• 1779: Olney Hymns published; it includes the original form of "Amazing Grace", by John Newton, a converted slave trader.
  
• 1779: Charles Simeon, a scrupulous college student, discovers God's free grace in Jesus Christ while preparing to receive communion. He becomes an Anglican evangelical leader.
  
• 1782: William White, rector of Christ Church, Philadelphia, writes "The Case of the Episcopal Churches in the United States Considered", suggesting clergy and laity elect some bishops and not bother about apostolic succession yet.
  

• 1784: Samuel Seabury consecrated first American bishop by Scottish bishops (Nov. 14)
  
• 1784: Methodist Episcopal Church founded in Baltimore by leaders designated by John Wesley. This is the beginning of Methodism as a separate denomination.
  
• 1785: "General Convention" is boycotted by Seabury and the New Englanders because provision has not been made for a bishop to preside. The name "Protestant Episcopal Church" is chosen.
  
• 1786: Another "General Convention" learns Archbishop of Canterbury will ordain bishops for U.S.; Seabury is still uncooperative.
  
• 1787: William White and Samuel Provost made bishops by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
  

• 1789: "First" General Convention of Protestant Episcopal Church in the U.S.A. , in Philadelphia. William White is Presiding Bishop. House of Bishops and House of Deputies established, after which Seabury agrees to come. Book of Common Prayer revised.
  
• 1791: Riots in Birmingham against Anglo-Unitarian scientist, Joseph Priestly.
  
• 1794: St. Thomas African Episcopal Church admitted to Diocese of Pennsylvania.
  
• 1804: Absalom Jones, our first black priest, ordained.
  
• 1807: Slave trade abolished in England. William Wilberforce, evangelical Anglican layman, is largely responsible. He is a member of the evangelical Clapham Sect of Anglicans, who are also successful in helping chimney sweeps and factory workers.
  
• 1816: John Henry Hobart, high-churchman bishop of New York, leads revival of U.S. church.
  
• 1823: Reginald Heber, hymn-writer, becomes the highly effective second bishop "and chief missionary" of Calcutta.
  
• 1832: First Reform Act enfranchises large numbers of the English poor. The act is generally opposed by the bishops; the Archbishop of Canterbury is almost struck by a dead cat during anti-clerical riots.
  
• 1833: John Keble 's sermon "National Apostasy" is against a common-sense plan to reduce the number of Irish bishops. It begins the Oxford Movement. (Keble is already known for his book of poems, "The Christian Year", 1827). Edward Bouviere Pusey and John Henry Newman begin publishing "Tracts of the Times". (Hence the movements' other name, Tractarianism .) The Oxford Movement emphasizes the historic continuity of the church without opposing evangelicism and is regarded as strongly anti-liberal.
  
• 1835: Jackson Kemper ordained Bishop and is first missionary bishop to American frontier.
  
• 1838: Frederick Denison Maurice, priest with Unitarian background and socialist activist, publishes "The Kingdom of Christ", about the causes of divisions among Christians.
  
• 1839: Charles Lyell, a devout Anglican, publishes "Elements of Geology", which forms the basis of modern earth science. Evangelicals are horrified by Lyell's rejection of a literal reading of Genesis in favor of "uniformitarianism". This begins the era of major changes in views of man and universe.
  
• 1841: George Augustus Selwyn, linguist and swimmer, becomes first bishop of New Zealand
  
• 1844: James Lloyd Breck , priest, founds Nashotah House , with Anglo-Catholic emphasis.
  
• 1845: J. M. Neale founds the Ecclesiological Society, a club for college students interested in restoring and redesigning parish churches. John Henry Newman falls victim to the Roman fever, later becomes a cardinal.
  
• 1846: William Augustus Muhlenberg founds Church of the Holy Communion in New York City. Innovations include free pews, weekly communion, and an unemployment fund.
  
• 1859: Charles Darwin, an Anglican, publishes "Origin of Species". Practically all scientists studying natural history are convinced. The public is fascinated. Evolution controversies follow.
  
• 1860: "Essays and Reviews", favorable to science and modernism , published. Rev. Frederick Temple, later Archbishop of Canterbury, discusses the valuable contributions of non-Christian thinkers. Rev. H.B. Wilson pleads for tolerance and common sense in doctrinal matters, instead of "godless orthodoxy", so that the church can retain credibility. Rev. Rowland Williams reviews the new field of Biblical archaeology. Rev. Benjamin Jowett popularizes historical and literary criticism of the Bible. Rev. Mark Pattison reviews church history in the last century pointing out "irrational" elements. Rev. Baden Powell popularizes new understandings about the earth's real history. C.W. Goodwin (the only layman) argues for a figurative interpretation of the Biblical creation stories. Both high and low churchmen are appalled. The authors are called "the Seven Against Christ" . Dr. Pusey collects 11,000 signatures from outraged clergymen who still believe in scriptural inerrancy and eternal damnation for the wicked. Temple writes to the bishop of London, "Many years ago you urged us from the University pulpit to undertake the critical study of the Bible. You said that it was a dangerous study, but indispensable.... To tell a man to study, yet bid him, under heavy penalties, come to the same conclusions with those who have not studied, is to mock him." Conservatives are shocked when a secular court allows the clerical contributors to retain their positions. The court finds that a priest who doubts eternal damnation is not a threat to public morality.
  
• 1863: Bishop J.W. Colenso of Natal, who favors the modernist approach to scripture (and believes in Black equality), is tried and convicted of heresy by the English bishops.
  
• 1863: (France) Renan's "Life of Jesus", based on historical and literary study of the Gospel accounts.
  
• 1864: Samuel Crowther, former Black slave, made bishop "on the Niger".
  
• 1864: Royal College of Organists popularizes organs for church music.
  
• 1865: William Booth begins the ministry that will become the Salvation Army. Anglicans and Methodists generally fail to support his work for many years.
  
• 1865: Thomas Huxley (who coined the word "agnostic" to describe himself) humiliates Bishop Samuel Wilberforce in an evolution debate. Wilberforce eventually apologizes to Darwin.
  
• 1866: Channing Moore Williams made bishop of China and Japan
  
• 1866: Hymn "The Church's One Foundation" is written against Colenso.
  
• 1867: First Lambeth conference is called to resolve the Colenso affair.
  

• 1870: Society of St. John the Evangelist of Cowley founded in Boston.
  
• 1870: First Vatican Council. Roman Catholics who disagree with "Papal Infallibility" become Old Catholics. (The Polish National Catholic Church is Old Catholic.)
  
• 1871: John Coleridge Patteson, swimming bishop of Melanesia, and his friends are mistaken for slave traders and martyred.
  
• 1871: Order of deaconesses revived.
  
• 1874: English universities introduce qualifying examinations for graduates in theology. This is considered highly innovative.
  
• 1877: Samuel Isaac Joseph Schereschewsky, translator of the Bible into various oriental languages, becomes bishop of Shanghai.
  
• 1880: In England, colorful "high church" ceremonial worship is replacing "low-church" long sermons and drabness. The reserved sacrament is reintroduced.
  
• 1881: Order of the Holy Cross founded.
  
• 1885: James Hannington, bishop of East Equatorial Africa, and his companions are martyred by xenophobic King Mwanga of Uganda. ("Go, tell Mwanga I have purchased the road to Uganda with my blood.")
  
• 1887: Nippon Sei Ko Kai, Anglican community in Japan, founded.
  
• 1888: Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral on church unity. William Reed Huntington, priest and author of "The Church Idea", is author. During the following years, Anglicans (especially in the mission fields) occasionally co-celebrate the eucharist with clergy who lack apostolic ordination. These episodes are typically described as "doubtless very pleasing to Almighty God, but not to be repeated."
  
• 1889: United Thank Offering founded.
  
• 1889: James De Koven, priest, of Nashotah House , asserts that it is all right for the U.S. church to have candles, incense, genuflections.
  
• 1890: Christian Student Movement starts in England.
  
• 1890: Charles Gore writes "Lux Mundi", suggesting an Anglo-Catholic can accept historical and literary criticism of the Bible. Response is generally favorable.
  
• 1891: Phillips Brooks , Anglo-Liberal preacher, elected bishop of Massachusetts (author of "O Little Town of Bethlehem").
  
• 1892: New U.S. Prayer Book solves some problems with redundancies in the service.
  
• 1896: Leo XIII, bishop of Rome, declares Anglican orders "absolutely null and void". He says Matthew Parker's ordination was somehow invalid.
  
• 1896: Bernard Mizeki, catechist, martyred in South Africa.
  
• 1906: The "English Hymnal", the product of the Oxford Movement, enriches worship.
  
• 1906: (Germany) Albert Schweitzer's book, "Quest of the Historical Jesus", demolishes the "liberal" pictures of Jesus Christ and forms the basis for all future objective study of Christian origins.
  
• 1910: First World Missionary Conference, held in Edinburgh.
  
• 1910: "The Fundamentals" series of booklets begins publication in the U.S. Emphasis is on literal inerrancy of the entire Bible, rejection of historical and literary criticism of scripture and contemporary understandings of the natural world, and the belief that those not sharing this viewpoint are not really Christians. (This is "fundamentalism".) Anglicans are generally indifferent or mildly hostile.
  
• 1913: Franciscan movement revived in the Anglican communion. The first friars are tramps. (Some Anglican friars appeared in the US during the last century, but fell victim to the Roman fever. These are today's ecumenically-minded Graymoor friars.)
  
• 1913: Kikuyu Conference in Kenya. Anglical evangelicals celebrate a joint eucharist with Scottish Presbyterians, who of course lack apostolic ordination. Frank Weston, bishop of Zanzibar, accuses two involved bishops of heresy. This and similar episodes are described as "doubtless very pleasing to Almighty God, but not to be repeated."
  
• 1913: "Foundations", by a team of Oxford scholars, demonstrates that increasing acceptability of modernism.
  
• 1914: World War I begins. Especially in Europe, Christianity is much less influential after the war than before.
  
• 1920: Lambeth conference issues "Appeal to All Christian People." Full intercommunion with the Church of Sweden results.
  
• 1920: American Council on Organic Union in Philadelphia. Episcopalians attend, but the "Philadelphia Plan" fizzles during the following years.
  
• 1921: Cardinal Mercer joins Anglicans for the "Malines Conversations", which continue to his death in l926.
  
• 1927: First World Conference on Faith and Order. Charles Henry Brent, bishop of Western New York, has been working to make this possible for seventeen years. (Brent is the author of "arms of love" collect.) Good attendance, no conclusions.
  
• 1927: T.S. Eliot, British poet, converts to Anglo-Catholicism. He celebrates his new faith in "Ash Wednesday".
  
• 1928: New U.S. Prayer Book reintroduces prayer for the departed.
  
• 1930: Lambeth Resolutions on the Unity of the Church. Three Orthodox patriarchs now recognize the validity of Anglican orders.
  
• 1931: Agreement of Bonn. Anglicans enter into full communion with dissident Old Catholics on the continent. Mixing of episcopal lines begins. 1. Each Communion recognizes the catholicity and independence of the other, and maintains its own. 2. Each Communion agrees to permit members of the other Communion to participate in the Sacraments. 3. Inter-communion does not require from either Communion the acceptance of all doctrinal opinion, sacramental devotion, or liturgical practice, characteristic of the other, but implies that each believes the other to hold all the essentials of the Christian faith.
  

• 1937: Talks begin in the USA about reunion with the Presbyterians. These fizzle because the Episcopalians insist on the historic episcopate.
  
• 1942: C.S. Lewis writes "The Screwtape Letters", advice from a senior to a junior devil. Lewis's friends include Dorothy Sayers and Charles Williams (Anglicans) and J.R.R. Tolkien (Roman Catholic, responsible for Lewis's conversion from atheism). They are called "the Oxford Christians".
  
• 1942: Martyrs of New Guinea
  
• 1944: First Anglican woman (Li Tim Oi) ordained priest, in China
  
• 1947: Church of South India formed as a result of union of Anglican, Presbyterian, Methodist, and Congregationalist churches. Church of North India follows in 1970.
  
• 1948: Philippine Independent Church acquires historic episcopate from American Episcopal Church.
  
• 1948: World Council of Churches convenes in Amsterdam as a "fellowship of churches which confess Jesus Christ as God and Savior." Archbishop Geoffrey Fisher of Canterbury presides. Few members of third-world nations attend, and Roman Catholics do not participate.
  
• 1950: The Federal Council of Churches becomes the National Council of Churches in US.
  
• 1952: Second assembly of the World Council of Churches, in Evanston, Ill. Communion is held according to the rite of the Church of South India.
  
• 1952: Revised Standard Version of the Bible is published and proves enormously popular. The Episcopal Church, with the National Council of Churches, is responsible.
  
• 1960: Archbishop Fisher of Canterbury meets with the bishop of Rome.
  
• 1960: Eugene Carson Blake, Presbyterian leader, proposes a union of Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Methodists, African Methodists, and the United Church of Christ, in a speech at San Francisco's Grace Cathedral.
  
• 1960: James Pike, a brilliant convert from Roman Catholicism, becomes bishop of California. During following years, he denies the virgin birth, Trinity, and Incarnation, provoking much controversy....
  
• 1960: The bizarre evolutionary "gospel" of Tielhard de Chardin, priest-paleontologist who ultimately denies personal responsibility or personal immortality, is receiving attention from Anglicans and others.
  
• 1961: Third assembly of the World Council of Churches in New Delhi. Many Slavic Orthodox join.
  
• 1961: Contemporary study of the Bible no longer presents a problem for most Anglicans. See Bishop Stephen Neill's "Interpretation of the New Testament 1861-1961".
  
• 1962: The bishop of Rome convenes the Second Vatican Council. Several Anglican bishops come as guests of the bishop of Rome. The Roman Catholic Church begins translating its prayer books into the vernacular and institutes other reforms.
  
• 1962: Congress on Church Union (COCU) results from Blake's efforts; meetings continue to this day.
  
• 1966: Archbishop Ramsey of Canterbury exchanges the kiss of peace with the bishop of Rome in the Sistine Chapel.
  
• 1966: Death of Bishop Pike's son. Pike develops an interest in spirit mediumship which persists until his death, in l969, in the Dead Sea desert.
  
• 1968: Fourth assembly of the World Council of Churches in Uppsala. "Liberal" resolutions, especially on race. A fiasco involving the "Special Fund to Combat Racism" follows.
  
• 1970: ECUSA approves ordination of women to diaconate.
  
• 1970: A charismatic revival is underway among Episcopalians, with tongues-speaking and weekend consciousness-raising sessions in the US. The deliverance ministry receives particular attention in England. The charismatics are clearly Anglicans, though they are criticized for divisiveness.
  
• 1971: Two women ordained priest in Hong Kong
  
• 1974: Eleven women ordained priest in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
  
• 1975: Fifth assembly of the World Council of Churches. For the first time, the archbishop of Canterbury does not preside. A few Roman Catholics appear.
  
• 1976: Moscow Conference (Anglican-Orthodox).
  
• 1976: ECUSA General Convention approves ordination of women to all three orders: bishop, priest, and deacon..
  
• 1979: New U.S. Prayer Book approved. The mandate for this extensive revision came from the 1958 Lambeth conference. It is influenced by new understanding of ancient liturgy, and by Vatican II, the Church of South India, and the Protestant community at Taize. It has already been used experimentally for several years. The language is modernized. The eucharistic lectionary is an adaptation of the one already in use by Roman Catholics and many Protestant denominations. For the first time, post-Reformation Anglicans appear in the calendar. Most Episcopalians who attend church regularly like the new prayer book, though some bitterly oppose it and some join a schismatic group. (A majority of Episcopalians who seldom or never attend church oppose the new book.)
  
• 1980: The archbishop of Canterbury joins the bishop of Rome in touring Africa.
  
• 1982: Scientific study of nature no longer presents a problem for most Anglicans. Though fundamentalist (inerrantist, etc.) beliefs are tolerated, they are a minority. Episcopal bishop of Arkansas joins Roman Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, Baptist, and Jewish leaders as successful plaintiffs against creationist "equal time" law. In US, the General Convention condemns special creationism. ("Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring, That this 67th General Convention affirms its belief in the glorious ability of God to create in any manner, and in this affirmation rejects the rigid dogmatism of the 'Creationist' movement, and be it further Resolved, That we affirm our support of the scientists, educators, and theologians in the search for truth in the creation God has given and entrusted us.")
  
• 1984: Bishop Tutu of South Africa, opponent of apartheid, wins the Nobel Prize.
  
• 1985: Communion outside one's own denomination is a fact of life in virtually all U.S. denominations.
  
• 1985: New hymnal introduced. Anglican-Orthodox "joint doctrinal discussions" concluded in Dublin.
  
• 1989: Barbara Harris consecrated suffragan of Massachusetts: first woman bishop in the Anglican Communion.
  
• 1990: Penelope Jamieson consecrated diocesan of Dunedin, New Zealand, first woman diocesan bishop in the Anglican Communion
  
• 1992: Church of England approves ordination of women to the priesthood
  
• 1998: Eleven women bishops participate in the Lambeth Conference
  
• 2000: The Book of Common Prayer exists in 170 languages. There are between 45 and 70 million Anglicans worldwide. There are as many as three million Episcopalians in the US.
  
• 2003: The diocese of New Hampshire in the US elected divorced father of two, Gene Robinson, as the first openly gay bishop in Anglican history.
  
• 2006: The U.S. Episcopal Church chooses Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori on Sunday as its first woman leader.