1509

Henry VIII comes to the throne, aged 19, and marries his brother's widow Catherine of Aragon. Well-built, cultured, and fond of sport and hunting, great things are expected of him.

The satire, In Praise of Folly, is written by the Dutch scholar and humanist Desiderius Erasmus. His writings make him one of the leading figures of the Renaissance.

1512

After working for four years, the Italian Michelangelo, one of the greatest artists of the High Renaissance, completes his famous frescoes on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome.

In West Africa, Askia Muhammed I, King of the Songhai, conquers the Hausa states (in modern Nigeria) and begins to weld the central parts of western Sudan into a single empire.

1513

The Prince, a guide to rule by despotism, is written by the Italian diplomat Niccolo Machiavelli. The model for this autocratic ruler was almost certainly Cesare Borgia.

The English soundly defeat the Scots at the Battle of Flodden. The King of Scotland, James IV, is killed during the fighting, together with many of his senior nobles.

The German, Albrecht Durer, the outstanding painter and graphic artist of this period, completes his Knight, Death and the Devil, one of his greatest copperplate engravings.

From his settlement in Darien the Spanish explorer Balboa crosses the Panama Isthmus and becomes the first European to reach the east coast of the Pacific Ocean.

1515

Thomas Wolsey, in the King’s service since 1509, is appointed Cardinal and Lord Chancellor. He begins building his splendid Hampton Court Palace near London.

1516

1517

Utopia, the major work of the English scholar and lawyer Sir Thomas More, describes a land which, he claims, has an ideal form of government based on reason.

The German reformer Martin Luther, condemning the sale of indulgences, nails 95  notes of protest on the church door at Wittenberg and initiates the Reformation.

Selim I, having crushed the Safavids of Iran at Chaldiran, defeats the Mamluk army at Raydaniyah, near Cairo, and brings vast areas of the Middle East into the Ottoman Empire.

1518

1519

The Slave Trade begins in earnest. Charles I of Spain grants the first licence or Asiento de Negros to import 4,000 African slaves into the Spanish West Indies.

Following the death of Emperor Maximilian I, his grandson Charles I, already ruler of Spain and the Netherlands, is elected king of Germany as Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.

The Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes marches into Mexico and begins his conquest of the Aztecs. The Empire is overthrown within three years and the land taken over by Spain.

1520

Henry VIII and Francis I of France meet at “the Field of the Cloth of Gold” just outside Calais. Held in splendid pavilions, it was a great show of friendship, but it was not to last.

1522

A Spanish expedition, led by the Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan, circumnavigates the globe, but only one ship completes the journey, and Magellan is killed on reaching the Philippines.

1523

Hans Holbein, one of the most outstanding German artists of the century, paints a portrait of the Dutch humanist Desiderius Erasmus. He latter becomes court painter to Henry VIII.

The Italian painter Titian, noted above all for his splendid colour effects and harmonious composition, paints one of his major mythological works, Bacchus and Ariadne.

1524

Following a three-year revolt under Gustav Vasa, Sweden gains its independence by the Treaty of Malmo, ending the Union of the three Scandinavian countries begun, as we have seen,  in 1397 (R2).

1525

An English translation of the New Testament, the work of the English priest and reformer William Tyndale, is printed on the Continent and smuggled into England the following year.

After years of rivalry, particularly in Italy, the Holy Roman Empire wins a resounding victory over the French at the Battle of Pavia. The Sack of Rome follows two years later.

A vast Peasants' Revolt breaks out in central Europe, initially supported by Martin Luther. Castles and monasteries are looted across the south, but the revolt is eventually crushed.

1526

Babur, the great grandson of the ruthless Mongol leader Tamerlane, invades northern India, overthrows the Sultan of Delhi at Panipat, and founds the Mughal dynasty of India.

The Ottoman Turks, led by Suleyman I, the Magnificent, win a crushing victory over the Hungarians at the Battle of Mohacs. King Louis II of Bohemia and Hungary is killed. But in 1529 he fails in his attempt to capture Vienna.

1528

The Italian diplomat and author Baldassare Castiglione publishes The Courtier, describing the perfect Renaissance gentleman and providing a first-hand account of Italian society.

The Order of Friars known as the Capuchins is founded by the Italian monk, Father Matteo di Bassi. The name comes from Capuche, the French word for a pointed hood.

1533

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, grants the King a divorce from Catherine of Aragon and officiates at his marriage to Anne Boleyn, the second of his six wives.

After killing its leader, Atahualpa, and taking the capital city Cuzco, the Spanish explorer and soldier Francisco Pizarro overthrows the Inca Empire and claims Peru for Spain.

1534

Thomas Cromwell draws up the Act of Supremacy whereby Henry VIII becomes head of  the English Church. This marks the start of the English Reformation.

The French humorist François Rabelais writes The Life of Gargantua, his second satirical romance about two giants. In these works he ridicules the follies of contemporary society.

The Society of Jesus, known as the Jesuits, is founded by the Spanish soldier turned preacher, Ignatius Loyola. The Order soon becomes a powerful force in the suppression of heresy in Europe and in missionary work further afield.

During his second voyage of exploration, the French navigator Jacques Cartier sails up the River St. Lawrence, the first European to do so, and founds the city of Montreal.

1535

Charles V attacks the Barbary Pirates, based along the north coast of Africa. He has limited success, and his fleet is defeated at the Battle of Prevez three years later.

1536

The first edition of Institutes of Christian Religion, the single and most important statement of Protestant belief, is published by the French Reformation leader John Calvin.

The Pilgrimage of Grace, an insurrection in northern England against the dissolution of the monasteries and agrarian reform, is quickly suppressed and its leaders are executed.

Paracelsus, the Swiss physician and scientist, writes The Great Surgery Book in which he makes notable advances in medical knowledge and the role of chemistry in medicine.

1540

The Grand Canyon on the Colorado River is discovered by an expedition led by the Spanish

explorer Francisco Coronado, but nothing is found of the "seven golden cities" of Cibola.

1542

The Scots under James V, allies of the French, are routed by the English at the Battle of

Solway Moss. The following year the English invade Scotland, and burn Edinburgh.

1543

In his major work, The Revolutions of the Heavenly Bodies, the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus - contrary to accepted belief - declares that the earth revolves around the sun.

The Belgian physician Andreas Vesalius writes On the Fabric of the Human Body, an illustrated work which gains wide fame for its wealth of anatomical discoveries.

1545

The Italian mathematician and physician Gerolamo Cardano writes his most important work,

Great Art, a book which substantially advances the knowledge and study of algebra.

1546

The German scientist Georgius Agricola writes his treatise On Natural Fossils, a study of  minerals, organic remains and rocks which earns him the title of Father of Mineralogy.

1547

Henry VIII dies in January, and is succeeded by his young son Edward VI. A council of sixteen regents is appointed, but the Duke of Somerset takes over as "Lord Protector".