Church History Timeline: the 1400s

Around this time, John Huss became aware of John Wycliffe's writings. This occurred because the marriage of Anne, sister of King Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia, to Richard II of England (in 1382) caused much exchange of culture and writings between Bohemia and England.

Pope Boniface IX died (who lived in Rome). Pope Innocent VII was elected (and lived in Rome).

Pope Innocent VII died (who lived in Rome). Pope Gregory XII was elected (and lived in Rome).

The Council of Pisa met. Its purpose was to provide a platform for the two popes (or one pope and one antipope, which is what the pope in Avignon was considered) to resign with dignity and to elect a new pope. A new pope was elected, Alexander V. But neither of the two other popes agreed to step down. Now the Catholic Church had three popes.

The third pope, Pope Alexander V, died. He is regarded as an antipope. Pope John XXIII was elected to take his place.

The Council of Constance (in Germany) met. Gregory XII (who lived in Rome) and John XXIII agreed to step down. Benedict XIII (in Avignon) did not step down. Benedict fled to his homeland of Aragon, where he was recognized as pope. The Council elected Martin V as pope. The Catholic Church was back to one pope (except for Aragon who looked to Benedict XIII as pope; once he died another pope was not elected in Aragon). The Council also condemned over 200 of John Wycliffe's propositions and had his body dug up, and burned. The Council also condemned and executed John Huss by burning him at the stake. He was a church leader and held many of Wycliffe's ideas but on the other side of Europe in Bohemia (current day Czech Republic). He told them he was willing to recant if they could prove that he was wrong by Scripture [author's note: This is reminiscent of Luther's stand at the Diet of Worms.]

The french antipope Benedict XIII died (in Avignon). Antipope Clement VIII was elected pope in Avignon, but in 1429 he abdicated and recognized the Roman pope as the only pope.

Leonardo da Vinci born.

Constantinople was defeated by a Muslim army.

Gutenberg printed 180 copies of a Bible, named the Gutenberg Bible. [author's note: The Bibles do not have page numbers.]

Frederick III (the Wise) born. He became Luther's protector.

Erasmus born. (or in 1469)

Gutenberg died.

Copernicus born. He formulated a theory that the sun was the center of the solar system, not the earth.

Michelangelo born.

Martin Luther born.

Ulrich Zwingli born.
Catherine of Aragon, future first wife of Henry VIII, born.

Catherine of Aragon was promised in marriage, via a treaty between England and Spain, to Arthur, Henry VIII's older brother.

George Blaurock born. He was an early Anabaptist leader.
Ignatius Loyola born. (or in 1495)
Henry VIII born.

Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic. Read more about him and his Christian mission here.

Leonardo da Vinci began painting "The Last Supper." He finished in 1498.

Michelanglo began sculpting the "Pieta." He finished in 1501.
Menno Simons born. He was an early Anabaptist leader.

Arthur and Catherine of Aragon betrothed.

Feliz Manz born. He was an early Anabaptist leader.

Katharina von Bora born. She became Martin Luther's wife.