1500’s

The protestant reformation, the Renaissance were significant parts of the historic 16th century with Martin Luther protesting indulgences and other sins with his 95 thesis; Michelangelo unveiled the ceiling of the Sistine chapel; Erasmus, with the help of printer John Froben, published a Greek-Latin Parallel New Testament, William Tyndale, 12 years after he left England, was led from prison to the stake where he was strangled, then his body burned; John Rogers burned to death at a stake at Smithfield, England. Also, the ‘Cosmographiae Introductio’ is printed and suggests the name “America” for the New World after explorer Americus Vespuccius; ; the St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre, and the Spanish Armada occur.

READ: Three 16th-Century Truth Seekers​—What Did They Find?

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August 19, 1588

“Speech to the Troops at Tilbury” by Queen Elizabeth I of England

The Speech to the Troops at Tilbury was delivered on 9 August Old Style, 19 August New Style 1588 by Queen Elizabeth I of England to the land forces earlier assembled at Tilbury in Essex in preparation for repelling the expected invasion by the Spanish Armada. Prior to the speech the Armada had been driven from the Strait of Dover in the Battle of Gravelines eleven ...
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July 28, 1588

The Defeat of the Spanish Armada

In 1588, the most powerful man in the world was the King of Spain, Phillip II. Flush with gold and silver from the New World, he had no rivals, save one: Queen Elizabeth of England. England was a Protestant nation and Spain was Catholic, as was most of Europe. In addition to considering her a heretic, Phillip hated her for two additional reasons: first, she was ...
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October 15, 1582

The Gregorian Calendar is First Adopted in Some Christian States

On this day in history–October 15, 1582–Pope Gregory XIII implemented the Gregorian calendar. In several Catholic countries, the calendar for 1582 skipped directly from October 4 to October 15. To make up for the inaccuracies of its predecessor, the Julian calendar, a number of days had to be skipped. The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western or Christian calendar, is the most widely used calendar in the ...
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August 23, 1572

St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre

(Image) One Morning at the Gates of the Louvre, The day after St. Bartholomew’s Eve On this day commenced this diabolical act of sanguinary brutality. It was intended to destroy at one stroke the root of the Protestant tree, which had only before partially suffered in its branches. The king of France had artfully proposed a marriage, between his sister and the prince of Navarre, the ...
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June 30, 1564

The French Christian Huguenots in Florida set a day of Thanksgiving and offered the first Protestant prayer in North America

Commemorating the French Huguenots and their attempt at seeking religious freedom in America, Rep. Charles E. Bennett sponsored a bill on Sept. 21, 1950, to establish the Fort Caroline National Memorial. In 1989, he recited the history: “The 425th anniversary of the beginning settlements by Europeans … renamed from Fort Caroline to San Mateo, to San Nicolas, to Cowford and finally to Jacksonville in 1822. … ...
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February 4, 1555

John Rogers is Burned to Death at the Stake in Smithfield, England. The First of Queen “Bloody” Mary’s Reign

John Rogers burned to death at a stake at Smithfield, England on this Monday morning, February 4,1555. Among the onlookers who encouraged him were his own children. What monstrous crime had earned him this cruel death? Born about 1500, Rogers was educated at Cambridge. He became a Catholic priest and accepted a position in the church at the time that the Protestant Reformation was in full ...
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October 6, 1536

Religious Reformer William Tyndale Burned at the Stake for Trying to Make the Bible Available to Common People

William Tyndale, 12 years after he left England, was led from prison to the stake where he was strangled, then his body burned. He had time to utter one last cry: “Lord, open the King of England’s eyes.” Tyndale had suffered for the cause “poverty, … exile out of my natural country and bitter absence from my friends, … my hunger, my thirst, my cold, the ...
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October 31, 1517

Protestant Reformation Begins: Martin Luther Nailed his 95 Theses to the Door of the Wittenberg Castle Church, Protesting the Sale of Indulgences and Other Practices

Sometime during October 31, 1517, the day before the Feast of All Saints, the 33-year-old Martin Luther posted theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. The door functioned as a bulletin board for various announcements related to academic and church affairs. The theses were written in Latin and printed on a folio sheet by the printer John Gruenenberg, one of the many entrepreneurs ...
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March 1, 1516

Erasmus Published a Greek-Latin Parallel New Testament

Erasmus, with the help of printer John Froben, published a Greek-Latin Parallel New Testament. The Latin part was not the corrupt Vulgate, but his own fresh rendering of the text from the more accurate and reliable Greek, which he had managed to collate from a half-dozen partial old Greek New Testament manuscripts he had acquired. This milestone was the first non-Latin Vulgate text of the scripture ...
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November 1, 1509

Michelangelo Unveiled the Unfinished Painted Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel

All of Rome waited in expectation. For months, Michelangelo Buonarroti had worked in secret. Curiosity was aflame. What had he accomplished? Had he succeeded in transferring his skill as a sculptor to work with fresco (paint in plaster)? Pope Julius II, as impatient as ever, demanded that Michelangelo unveil the ceiling of the Sistine chapel although it was far from done. High on the scaffolding, his ...
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