Carolingian Rulers

718 – 741 – Charles Martel, also known as Charles the Hammer was the de facto ruler of Francia. Towards the end of his reign, he divided Francia into two sections for his sons, Pepin and Carloman.
751 – 768 – After his brother joined a monastery, Pepin (the Short) became the first official King of all of Francia. After his death, his son Charles took over.
768 – 800 – Charlemagne (Charles the Great) ruled Francia and expanded the empire from Italy to Bavaria.
800 – Charlemagne crowned Holy Roman Emporer by Pope Leo III.
814 – Charlemagne dies and splits his empire into equal sections for his three sons as shown in this map.

814 – 887 – Instability of the empire and several civil wars.
886 – Charles the Fat, great-grandson of Charlemagne, was bought off by Viking invaders. He subsequently lost all power and that proved the end of the Carolingian reign. However, afterward, the Carolingian Renaissance began – a revival of interest in Charlemagne’s Christian endeavors.

Joan of Arc

1425 – Joan, a 15-year-old peasant and devout Christian of Domremy, France began having religious visions. The voices told her that dauphine Charles was destined to defeat the English and become King – this is significant because it was during the tail end of the one-hundred years war.
1428 – Joan able to join the Army, essentially became a lucky mascot for the French troops.
1429 – Her regime gained control of the city of Orleans and Charles was eventually crowned King.
1430 – Captured by English Bugundarians and tried for heresy, witchcraft, and wearing men’s clothes.
1431 – Without any support from King Charles, Joan was burned at the stake at the age of 19/20 as a heretic.
1456 – Pope Callixtus III regarded Joan as a martyr and issued a retrial that nullified her convictions and found her not guilty.
1920 – Joan of Arc officially canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.

English Reformation

1517 – Martin Luther publicly condemns the Catholic doctrine of indulgences.

1520 – Luther publishes To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church, and On the Freedom of a Christian.
1521 – Luther appears at the Diet of the Worms where he is declared as a heretic and excommunicated by Pope Leo X
1522 – Luther translates and publishes the Bible into German.
1529 – Luther debates Swiss Reformer Ulrich Zwingli on the concept of the Eucharist, ending in a stalemate with neither agreeing with the other.
1530 – The primary confession document of the Lutheran Church, Confessio Augustana, is published.
1533 – The marriage of King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon is decreed null and void, a direct violation of Catholic beliefs. He then marries his pregnant mistress, Anne Boleyn.
1534 – The Act of Supremacy is enacted, declaring Henry as the supreme head of the Church of England.
1536 – John Calvin publishes Institutes of the Christian Religion, designed to be a coherent textbook on the Protestant faith.
1545 – 63 – Several Counter-Reformations of the Catholic Church are composed to discuss doctrine in the Council of Trent.
1546 – Luther dies.
1555 – The Peace of Augsburg declares Lutherans are to be tolerated in the Holy Roman Empire.
1564 – Calvin dies.
1598 – King Henry IV grants toleration to French Protestants in the Edict of Nanes.
1611 – King James publishes his translation of the Bible.
1685 – King Louis XIV rescinds the Edict of Nanes forcing Protestants to an exodus from France.

Beginning of the “Quakers”

1647 – 1650 – Founder George Fox has a religious vision and begins preaching about being a “Friend of Truth.” This establishes the baseline of the religion and a significant following.
1650s-60s – King Charles the First discourages religious dissenters and many Quakers in England are executed.
1676 – Fox travels to the “New World” and encourages the colonies to release their slaves and befriend Natives.
1681 – 1683 – Quaker William Penn receives a large land grant from King Charles II in the new world as a debt the King’s father owed to Penn’s father. He establishes a colony that embraces love and friendship, naming it “Pennsylvania.”

1688 – First official Quaker protest against slavery known as the Germantown Declaration. Native Americans are encouraged to settle in the colony.
1689 – England enacts the Act of Toleration that allows Quakers to worship.
1754 – Quaker follower John Woolman travels down to Southern states and writes Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes which encouraged them to release their enslaved peoples.
1758 – Friends in England begin protesting for the abolition of slavery in England.
1784 – Quakers in the United States no longer allowed or accepted to be slave owners.
1807 – Britain and the United States dismantle the slave trade but do not abolish slavery for another 30 to 60 years, respectively.