313 Constantine the Great’s Edict of Milan,
granting Christians toleration.
354 St. Augustine born.
386 St. Augustine converts to Christianity.
393 Christianity official religion in Roman
Empire
395 St. Augustine becomes Bishop of
Hippo, Milan.
426 St. Augustine writes The City of God.
430 St. Augustine dies.
433 Emperor Justinian institutes the Pan-
dects.
622 Mohammed’s flight from Mecca (hegira)
begins the Muslim era.
800 Charlemagne crowned Emperor of the
West.
First printed book appears in China.
1141 Council of Basle collects the Corpus
Iuris Canonici, or the Canon Law.
1154 Henry II establishes common law in
Britain.
1159 John of Salisbury’s Polycraticusis pub-
lished.
1170 Sir Thomas Becket murdered in a
cathedral.
1215 King John of England signs the Magna
Carta, limiting royal power.
1232 The Inquisition is founded by the
papacy to prosecute heretics.
c. 1260 Aristotle’s Politics rediscovered in the
West.
1267–73 St. Thomas Aquinas writes the Summa
theologica.
c.1313 Dante writes the De monarchia (On
Monarchy).
1324 Marsilius of Padua publishes Defensor
Pacis.
1456 Guttenberg prints the Bible.
Platonic Academy founded in Florence
by Cosimo de’ Medici.1466 Erasmus born.
Machiavelli born.
1483 Martin Luther born.
1503 Erasmus writes Manual of the Christian
Knight.
1509 John Calvin born.
1513 Machiavelli writes both The Princeand
The Discourses.
Thomas More writes Utopia.
1515 Erasmus writes The Education of a
Christian Prince.
1517 Martin Luther nails up his 95 theses at
Wittenberg in Germany.
1520 Martin Luther publishes On Christian
Liberty.
Luther excommunicated as a heretic.
1527 Machiavelli dies at age 58.
1532 John Calvin begins Reformation in
France.
Ignatius of Loyola founds the Jesuits
(Society of Jesus).
Michel de Montaigne born.
English king Henry VIII breaks with
Roman Catholic Church.
Thomas More executed.
Erasmus dies.
1541 John Calvin introduces Reformation to
Geneva, Switzerland.
1546 Martin Luther dies.
1554 Richard Hooker born.
Scottish Theologian John Knox intro-
duces Calvin’s ideas to Scotland.
1564 John Calvin dies.
1576 Jean Bodin writes The Six Books of a
Commonweal.
Montaigne publishes first edition of the
Essays.
1583 Hugo Grotius born.320 Chronology