Persecution and Repression timeline
David Beaton, the archbishop of St Andrews, burns a leading Protestant, George Wishart, as a heretic and is murdered in retaliation
John Knox is captured in St Andrews and is sent to serve in the French fleet as a galley slave
The Protestant martyrs, though few in number, ensure the reputation of Bloody Mary in English history
The duke of Alba introduces a reign of terror in the Spanish Netherlands, by means of a tribunal known as the Council of Blood
A massacre of French Protestants, known as the Huguenots, begins in Paris on St Bartholomew's Day
Catholics are now the martyrs in England, their numbers almost matching the Protestant martyrs of the previous reign
A shipload of Puritans, among them some of the future Pilgrim Fathers, sail from Boston in Lincolnshire to seek religious freedom in Holland
The English parliament's Petition of Right emphasizes the right of the citizen to be protected from royal tyranny
The Inquisition convicts Galileo of heresy and he denies the truth of Copernicus - on being shown the instruments of torture
Shah Jahan orders that all recently built Hindu temples shall be destroyed, ending the Mughal tradition of religious tolerance
The Cavalier Parliament begins to pass a series of acts, known as the Clarendon Code, containing punitive measures against Presbyterians
The Act of Uniformity demands that Anglican clergy accept all the Thirty-Nine Articles, costing many their livings
The Conventicle Act restricts worship in England to Anglican churches if more than a few people are present
The Five Mile Act prevents Nonconformist ministers in England from coming closer than five miles to any town where they have ministered
Charles II issues a Declaration of Indulgence, suspending the restrictions on Catholics and Nonconformists
Parliament in England passes a Test Act excluding Catholics and Nonconformists from public office
The Popish Plot, an invented Jesuit conspiracy to kill Charles II, results in the execution of about thirty-five Roman Catholics
Louis XIV persecutes the Huguenots by means of dragonnades - the billetting of unruly dragoons in the homes of villagers
400,000 Huguenots leave France after Louis XIV deprives them of their rights by revoking the Edict of Nantes
Government soldiers, mainly Campbells, massacre their MacDonald hosts in Glencoe
The Massachusetts town of Salem is gripped by witch-hunting hysteria
Twenty people convicted of witchcraft are hanged in Salem, and one is pressed to death
French chemist Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier is guillotined for having been involved with tax collection in the ancien régime
Magistrates order troops to fire on a crowd in Manchester, in what becomes known as the Peterloo massacre
The state government of Georgia declares that it is illegal for for the Cherokees to hold political assemblies