800
Charlemagne crowned emperor by the pope on Christmas. He advances the church, education, and culture.
863
Cyril and Methodius, Greek brothers, evangelize the Serbs. Cyril develops the Cyrillic alphabet which remains the basis for the Slavonic used in the liturgy of the Russian church.
909
A monastery is established at Cluny and becomes a center for reform. By the mid-12th century, there were over 1,000 Clunaic houses.
988
Conversion of Vladimir, Prince of Kiev, who, after examining several religions, chooses Orthodoxy to unify and guide the Russian people.
1054
The East-West Schism. Brewing for centuries, rupture finally comes to a head with the fissure that has lasted to this day.
1093
Anselm becomes Archbishop of Canterbury. A devoted monk and outstanding theologian, his Cur Deus Homo? (Why Did God Become Man?), explored the atonement.
1095
Pope Urban II launches the First Crusade. The crowd wildly shouts "God wills it!" There would be several crusades over the next centuries with many tragic results.
1115
Bernard founds the monastery at Clairvaux. He and the monastery become a major center of spiritual and political influence.
about 1150
Universities of Paris and Oxford are founded and become incubators for renaissance and reformation and precursors for modern educational patterns.
1173
Peter Waldo founds the Waldensians, a reform movement emphasizing poverty, preaching and the Bible. He and his followers are eventually condemned as heretics and the Waldensians suffer great persecution for centuries.
1206
Francis of Assisi renounces wealth and goes on to lead a band of poor friars preaching the simple life.
1215
The Fourth Lateran Council deals with heresy, reaffirms Roman Catholic doctrines and strengthens the authority of the popes.
1273
Thomas Aquinas completes work on Summa Theoligica, the theological masterpiece of the Middle Ages.
1321
Dante completes The Divine Comedy, the greatest work of Christian literature to emerge from the Middle Ages.
1378
Catherine of Siena goes to Rome to help heal the "Great Papal Schism" which had resulted in multiple popes. Partly through her influence, the papacy moves back to Rome from Avignon.
about 1380
Wycliffe is exiled from Oxford but oversees a translation of the Bible into English. He is later hailed as the "Morning star of the Reformation."
1415
John Hus, who teaches Wycliffe's ideas in Bohemia, is condemned and burned at the stake by the Council of Constance.
1456
Johann Gutenberg produces the first printed Bible, and his press becomes a means for dissemination new ideas, catalyzing changes in politics and theology.
1478
The Spanish Inquisition is established under King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to oppose "heresy."
1498
Savonarola, the fiery Dominican reformer of Florence, in Italy, is executed.
1512
Michelangelo completes his notable artwork on the Sistine Chapel ceiling in Rome.
1517
Martin Luther posts his ninety-five theses, a simple invitation for scholarly debate that inadvertently becomes a "hinge of history."
1523
Zwingli leads the Swiss reformation from his base as head pastor in Zurich.
1525
The Anabaptist movement begins. This "radical reformation" insists on baptism of adult believers and the almost unheard of notion of separation of church and state.
1534
Henry VIII's Act of Supremacy makes the king, not the pope, head of the Church of England.