Outlawed by the Edict of Worms, Luther lives secretly in the Wartburg as Junker Georg

Huldreich Zwingli eats sausage in Lent in Zurich, launching the Swiss Reformation

One surviving ship of Magellan's fleet, the Victoria, returns to Sanlucar, in Spain, with Sebastian Cano in command

Hans Sachs, popular poet and master singer, describes Luther as the Wittenberg nightingale

The Vasa dynasty in Sweden begins with the seizing of the throne by Gustavus I

William Tyndale studies in the university at Wittenberg and plans to translate the Bible into English

The French king, Francis I, is taken prisoner by the Spanish at the battle of Pavia

Luther, a former friar, marries Catherine von Bora, a former nun who has just emerged from her convent

Conrad Grebel baptises an adult, causing outrage in Protestant Zurich

Thomas Müntzer leads the rebels in the Peasant War, to the profound displeasure of Luther

Muslims throughout Spain are ordered to convert to Christianity or to leave the kingdom

Lucas Cranach's studio in Wittenberg has a profitable line in naked female figures from mythology

The Hungarian king, Louis II, is killed in battle at Mohacs, where the Turks win a crushing victory

Hans Holbein the Younger pays his first visit to England, and stays with Thomas More in Chelsea

Pope Clement VII hides in Castel Sant'Angelo while Rome is sacked by German mercenaries

Francis I begins to transform Fontainebleau into a palace, employing artists who establish the mannerist school of Fontainebleau

Gustavus I of Sweden fills his coffers by appropriating the property of Catholic churches and monasteries

Discussion of Henry VIII's proposed divorce hinges on rival verses from the Old Testament, in Deuteronomy and Leviticus

After the fall of Wolsey, Henry VIII appoints Thomas More as his Lord Chancellor

The 'Protestation' of various princes and imperial cities at Speyer identifies them as Protestants

Protestant reformers Luther and Zwingli disagree at Marburg on the nature of the Eucharist

The Augsburg Confession, presented by Melanchthon to the imperial diet, defines the Lutheran faith

German botanist Otto Brunfels publishes Living images of plants, the first serious work of natural history with printed illustrations

The Protestant princes of Germany form the defensive League of Schmalkalden

Zwingli is killed at Kappel in a battle between Protestant and Catholic cantons