| 1509 |
Birth of John Calvin |
| 1514 |
Birth of John Knox |
| August 1523 |
Jean Vallière, first French Protestant martyr, is burned at the stake |
| October 1534 |
"Affair of the Placards" – anti-Catholic posters appear throughout Paris |
| 1534 |
John Calvin flees to Basel, Switzerland |
| 1536 |
John Calvin begins work in Geneva, Switzerland |
| 1546 |
First Huguenot community is founded at Meaux, France. |
| March 1546 |
George Wishart burned at the stake in Scotland by Cardinal David Beaton, archbishop of St. Andrews. |
| June 1546 |
Protestants murder Cardinal Beaton and fortify themselves in St. Andrews castle. |
| June 1547 |
St. Andrews castle falls to Catholics; John Knox and others are sentenced to slavery in the French galleys. |
| January 1548 |
John Knox released from galleys by English intervention. Works as a preacher in England, especially at Berwick-upon-Tweed. |
| 1556-58 |
John Knox pastors English exiles in Geneva. |
| 1555 |
Huguenot church in Paris founded |
| May 1559 |
Synod of the French Protestant church in Paris chooses Reformed theology over Lutheran and draws up a confession of faith. |
| March 1560 |
Conspiracy of Amboise – Huguenots plot to kidnap the boy-king Francis II. |
| Spring 1560 |
English troops assist Scottish Reformers in overthrowing the Catholic government. Scots Confession is adopted and papal jurisdiction abolished. |
| Apr. 12, 1562 |
Huguenot leaders sign a manifesto that they had been driven to take up arms for liberty of conscience. Wars of Religion begin. |
| Aug. 24, 1572 |
St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre. Nearly all Huguenots leaders in Paris are killed. Similar massacres occur throughout France. |
| 1573 |
Huguenot political party is formed near Nîmes, led by Philippe de Mornay. |
| 1576 |
Hungarian Reformed Church is formed. |
| April 1598 |
King Henry IV's Edict of Nantes grants Huguenots religious and political freedom. |
| 1606 |
Prince of Transylvania secured rights of Hungarian Reformed churches in territories under Habsburg and Turkish rule. (The Transylvanian town of Debrecen became known as "Calvinist Rome.") |
| 1609 |
The Hohenzollern elector of Brandenburg converts to Calvinism. Hohenzollern rulers permit the establishment of Reformed churches in Prussia. |
| 1620s |
More civil wars between Catholics and Protestants in France. |
| 1629 |
Peace of Ales ends civil war in France, which the Huguenots lost. Huguenots are granted freedom of conscience but lose military advantages. |
| 1642 |
First presbytery formed in Ireland by a Scottish army chaplain. |
| 1648 |
Peace of Westphalia ends the Thirty Years' War in Germany. |
| Oct. 18, 1685 |
King Louis XIV revokes the Edict of Nantes. Many French Protestants emigrate to England, Prussia, the Netherlands and America. |
| 1688-89 |
"Glorious Revolution" deposes Catholic King James II of England. English Presbyterians are given limited toleration outside the (Anglican) state church. |
| 1715 |
Louis XIV announces that the Protestant religion has been eliminated in France. |
| 1715 |
Protestant leaders meet at Nîmes to discuss how to revive Protestantism in France. |
| 1745-54 |
Persecution of Huguenots resumes. |
| 1781 |
Limited toleration of Protestants granted in Eastern Europe. |
| 1789 |
After the French Revolution, Napoleon grants equality under the law to Protestants. Reformed congregations are placed under state control. |
| 1789 |
First General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. held in Philadelphia. It is convened by Rev. John Witherspoon, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. |
| 1817 |
Frederick William III of Prussia proposes a union of Reformed and Lutheran churches. |
| 1843 |
Free Church of Scotland formed under Thomas Chalmers. |
| 1848 |
Free Evangelical Synod is established in France apart from the state-supported Reformed church. |
| 1884 |
Reformed Alliance is organized in Germany to preserve the Reformed heritage. |
| 1900 |
Free churches in Scotland join to form United Free Church of Scotland. |
| 1905 |
State support of the French Reformed church is withdrawn, and the two French synods unite. |
| 1929 |
United Free Church of Scotland reunites with Church of Scotland. |
| 1934 |
Barmen Synod is held in Germany. Christians of Lutheran, Union, and Reformed background join in the Barmen Confession of Faith in opposition to Hitler and Nazism. |
| 1957 |
United Church of Christ (UCC) founded |
| 1972 |
Congregational Union of England and Wales and Presbyterian Church of England combine to form United Reformed Church. |
| 1983 |
Reunion between the Presbyterian Church in the U.S. (PCUS), the "southern branch," and the United Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. (UPCUSA), the "northern branch," results in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). |
