his famous Ninety-Five Theses on the door
of the castle church in Wittenberg, signal-
ing the beginning the Protestant Reforma-
tion.
1519 Spanish conquistador Hernan
Cortés is selected to lead an expedition to
the mainland of North America.
1525 German peasants resist the expan-
sion of nobles’ economic rights in what is
often referred to as “The Peasants’ War”.
1527 Armies of the Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V sack Rome.
1530 The Medici family is formally
granted lordship of Florence, Italy.
1534 King Henry VII is declared supreme
head of the Church of England.
1535 French explorer Jacques Cartier sails
up the St. Lawrence River—gateway to the
Great lakes—in an attempt to find a north-
erly route to the Spice Islands.
1540 Spanish priest Ignatius of Loyola
founds the Society of Jesuits.
1545–1563 The Council of Trent is held
in northern Italy. This body of the Catho-
lic Church convened to make decisions
about religious doctrine; define ceremo-
nial procedures; and oppose the spread of
the Protestant Reformation.
c. 1547 Puritanism begins to emerge in
England.
1550s Italian architect Andrea Palladio
popularizes the villa design style.
1558 Elizabeth I ascends to the English
throne, beginning a forty-five-year reign as
queen.
1559 Pope Paul IV places Machiavelli’s
political treatiseThe Princeon the Index
of Prohibited Books.
1562 The French Wars of Religion begin.
1570 Flemish mapmaker Abraham Ortel
publishes the first world atlas.
1572 Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe
discovers a new star.
1572 Over three thousand men, women,
and children are killed in Paris during the
Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre.
1588 The massive Spanish Armada is de-
feated by the English fleet, marking a high
point in Queen Elizabeth I’s reign and the
beginning of England’s maritime domi-
nance.
c. 1590s Operas—or full-length musical
dramas—begin to appear on Italian stages.
The first operas were heavily influenced by
classic Greek mythology.
1594 William Shakespeare joins the Lord
Chamberlain’s Men, an acting company
that performed primarily at a London
playhouse known as the Theatre.
1595 The Edict of Nantes grants religious
and civil liberties to the Huguenots of
France.
1601 English architect Inigo Jones is ap-
pointed official surveyor at the court of
King James I.
1606 Ben Jonson’s dark comedic play
Volpone,orThe Foxis first produced for
the stage.
1610 Italian physicist and astronomer Ga-
lileo Galilei discovers Io, Europa, and Cal-
listo, three of Jupiter’s moons.
1611 King James I of England approves a
new English translation of the Bible.
1612 Painter Artemisia Gentileschi moves
to Florence and becomes the first woman
accepted into the prestigious Florentine
Academy of Design.
1614 Scottish mathematician John Napier
discovers logarithms.
1618 Johannes Kepler publishes his third
law of planetary motion.
1624 Peter Paul Rubens paints his self-
portrait.Chronology