Historical Highlights 1100AD-1500AD
Reformed Church
Previous | Next
Back To
Teaching Ministries
1109: |
Anselm dies, he wrote the treatise Why God Became Human—discussing the satisfaction theory of the atonement—a very influential theological work |
1147: |
Muslims expelled from Lisbon by the Christian Portuguese |
1163: |
Construction of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris is begun (consecrated in 1182) |
1175: |
Peter Waldo is converted, he and his followers encourage the church to return to the beliefs of early church, excommunicated in 1185, they (Waldensians) will be ruthlessly treated even into the 17th century |
1187: |
Jerusalem is taken back by the Muslims, the Third Crusade begins two years later with Richard the Lionhearted (king of England), Muslims hold onto Jerusalem but a truce is signed making pilgrimages possible |
1202: |
Rosary is devised (to help keep track of a sequence of prayers) 1204: Crusaders ravage Constantinople (center of the Eastern church), the result is irreparable animosity between Eastern and Western Christianity |
1208: |
Francis of Assisi denounces wealth, Franciscan monks based on his teaching |
1209: |
Cambridge University is founded |
1212: |
Children’s Crusade, 50,000 French and German children set off to recapture Holy Land, most die before crossing the Alps, those that reach Mediterranean sold into slavery, less than 300 return home |
1215: |
Doctrine of Transubstantiation becomes official teaching of church |
1229: |
Lay people forbidden to read Scripture |
1231: |
Papal inquisition begins (heretics become subject to death penalty) |
1265: |
Thomas Aquinas writes Summa Theologica, greatest summation of medieval theology, foundational to Roman Catholic theology today |
1281: |
Lay people no longer receive the cup |
1285: |
The papacy has become largely corrupt |
1291: |
The last crusaders leave the Holy land, militarily the crusades a failure 1300: Pews begin to be used in churches (England), standing or kneeling was the norm |
1329: |
John Wycliffe born |
1347: |
"Black Death" (bubonic plague) arrives in Europe and kills a third of the population, an estimated 25 million people die |
1374: |
John Huss is born |
1377: |
John Wycliffe writes On the Church, asserts that papacy is extra-biblical and has no authority to profess doctrine not explicitly stated in Scripture, begins an English translation of the Vulgate (Latin Bible), denounces transubstantiation, his followers (Lollards) begin to be persecuted |
1393: |
Sale of Indulgences begin, purchase to release self and others from purgatory, becomes "fund raiser" |
1408: |
John Huss barred from priestly functions in Prague for preaching Wycliffe's doctrine, excommunicated two years later, riots break out in his support |
1409: |
Three popes claiming to be the pope |
1415: |
John Huss burned at the stake, Wycliffe's bones dug up and burned as well |
1418: |
Thomas a Kempis writes Imitation of Christ (a manual of devotion) |
1429: |
Joan of Arc believes she has a divine mission to save France from England (100 Years War), later burned at the stake for her claim of direct responsibility to God apart from the mediation of the church and for wearing men’s clothes (1431), vindicated by the church in 1456 |
1431: |
Conciliarism: church councils have higher authority than pope, largely ignored |
1455: |
Gutenberg prints the first book with movable type (Latin Vulgate Bible) |
1483: |
Martin Luther is born to a miner and his wife |