Europe's new printing presses make possible the first pamphlet war, spreading instant arguments for and against the Reformation

Luther's writings are burnt in Rome by order of the pope

Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther after he has refused to recant

Luther travels to the German city of Worms to present his case to an imperial diet

Luther bears witness to a Protestant conscience, stating at Worms: 'Here I stand, I can not do otherwise.'

Ignatius of Loyola, recovering from a wound received as a soldier at Pamplona, is inspired by reading the lives of the saints

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ahmad ibn Ibrahim leads Muslim Somalis in a holy war against Christian Ethiopia, destroying churches and shrines

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

The Aztec Virgin of Guadalupe appears to an Indian near Mexico City and tells him she is 'one of his kind'

The Protestant princes of Germany form the defensive League of Schmalkalden

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

Henry VIII's Act of Supremacy forces prominent figures in English public life to accept him on oath as head of the Church of England

Paris wakes up to find Protestant placards all over the place, mocking the sacrament of the mass