slug: pope-alexander-vi

label: Pope Alexander VI

description: pope of the Catholic Church 1492–1503 from the Borgia family (1430/32-1503)

date: January 1

text: January 1 – Pope Alexander VI (d. 1503)

title: 1431

title: 1442

date: September 13

text: September 13 or April 1476 – Cesare Borgia, illegitimate son of Pope Alexander VI (approximate date; d. 1507)

title: 1475

section: Religion & Belief

date: February 26

text: February 26 – At the insistence of Cardinal Rodrigo de Borja Pope Innocent VIII, authorizes a Christian crusade and against the Muslim Moors, to start on September 1 and to be funded for one year.

title: 1487

section: Events › January–March

date: August 11

text: August 11 – Cardinal Rodrigo Borja is unanimously elected on the fourth ballot of the papal conclave, and takes the name of Pope Alexander VI, 214th pope of the Roman Catholic Church.

title: 1492

section: Events › July—September

date: August 8

text: August 8 – The papal conclave, the first to be held in the Sistine Chapel, begins balloting with 23 of the 27 members of the College of Cardinals in attendance. With 16 votes needed for the required two-thirds majority, the first ballot is split among three candidates, with Oliviero Carafa receiving 9, Rodrigo Borja 7 and Giuliano della Rovere 5, while two cast a blank vote.

title: 1492

date: June 25

text: June 25 – Friar Bernardo Buil, a Catalan monk in Spain, is appointed by Pope Alexander VI as the first Christian "Vicar Apostolic of the New World". Friar Buil will depart from Cadiz on September 25 on the second voyage of Christopher Columbus, and will begin his mission at La Isabela, a Spanish settlement on the island of Hispanola in what becomes the Dominican Republic.

title: 1493

section: Events › April–June

date: May 4

text: May 4 – In the papal bull Inter caetera, Pope Alexander VI decrees that all lands discovered 100 leagues (or further west) of the Azores are Spanish.

title: 1493

date: September 26

text: September 26 – Pope Alexander VI issues the bull Dudum siquidem to the Catholic Monarchs, extending the grant of newly discovered lands he made them in Inter caetera.

title: 1493

section: Events › July–September

date: December 31

text: December 31 – King Charles VIII of France and the French Army peacefully march into Rome after being granted free passage by Pope Alexander VI.

title: 1494

section: Events › October–December

date: February 10

text: February 10 – King's College, Aberdeen, predecessor of the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, is founded with the issuance of the papal bull Primo Erectio Universitatis by Pope Alexander VI on the petition of William Elphinstone, Bishop of Aberdeen.

title: 1495

date: January 28

text: January 28 – Prince Cem Sultan, brother of the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II, imprisoned since 1482 after being captured by the Knights Hospitaller, and held captive in Rome since 1489, is released from to French custody by Pope Alexander VI at the request of King Charles of France.

title: 1495

date: May 12

text: May 12 – Pope Alexander VI excommunicates Girolamo Savonarola.

title: 1497

section: Technology & Infrastructure

date: November 26

text: November 26 – Pope Alexander VI orders the demolition of the historic Meta Romuli pyramid in Rome in order to clear the way for the building of the new road to the Tiber Bridge.

title: 1498

date: June 10

text: June 10 – Pope Alexander VI informs the Roman Catholic cardinals that the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire has amassed a fleet of 300 ships to lay siege to the city of Rhodes.

title: 1499

date: June 1

text: June 1 – Pope Alexander VI issues the papal bull Quamvis ad amplianda, calling on a Roman Catholic crusade against the Ottoman Empire.

title: 1500

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: May 13

text: May 13 – The Venetian Republic signs a treaty with the Kingdom of Hungary and Pope Alexander VI for troops to protect Venetian Dalmatia during the Ottoman–Venetian War (1499–1503).

title: 1501

text: December 31 – Cesare Borgia (son of Pope Alexander VI) occupies Urbino, where he imprisons two potentially treacherous allies, Vitellozzo and Oliveretto; he executes them the next morning.

title: 1502

section: Deaths

date: August 18

text: August 18 – Pope Alexander VI dies after a reign of 11 years, and the largest gathering of cardinals up to that time— 21 from Italy, 11 from Spain and 7 from France— is called to Rome for a papal conclave, to start in September.

title: 1503

date: May 28

text: May 28 – James IV of Scotland and Margaret Tudor of England are married as per the Treaty of Perpetual Peace by Pope Alexander VI, according to Papal bull.

title: 1503

date: November 24

text: November 24 – Vannozza dei Cattanei, mistress of Pope Alexander VI (b. 1442)

title: 1518

date: July 18

text: July 18 (July 8, O.S.) – The Treaty of Madrid, also known as the Godolphin Treaty, is signed between England and Spain to formally end hostilities left over from the Anglo-Spanish War, in the Caribbean, that ended ten years earlier. For the first time, Spain acknowledges that it is not entitled to all territory in the Americas west of Brazil, as provided by the 1493 line of demarcation decreed by Pope Alexander VI, and by the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas between Spain and Portugal. Spain acknowledges that Jamaica and the Cayman Islands are English possessions.

title: 1670


slug: pope-benedict-ix

label: Pope Benedict IX

description: Pope of the Catholic Church

section: Births

text: Benedict IX, pope of the Catholic Church (approximate date)

title: 1012

date: October

text: October – Pope John XIX dies after an 8-year pontificate at Rome. He is succeeded by his nephew Benedict IX as the 145th pope of the Catholic Church, while (probably) still in his teens.

title: 1032

section: Events › By topic › Religion

text: Pope Benedict IX is briefly forced out of Rome, but returns with the help of the elder Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor.

title: 1036

date: May

text: May – Conrad II, with Pavian assistance, lays siege to Milan at the Porta Romana side, but the city holds out. In Rome, Pope Benedict IX deposes Aribert as archbishop.

title: 1037

section: Events › By place › Europe

date: September

text: September – A second Roman uprising forces Pope Benedict IX out of Rome. He is succeeded by the new elected (anti)-Pope Sylvester III (until 1045).

title: 1044

date: February

text: February – Pope Sylvester III is deposed (election deemed invalid); Pope Benedict IX is elected once more, becoming the 147th pope.

title: 1045

section: Events

date: January 20

text: January 20 – Pope Sylvester III becomes the 146th pope, succeeding Benedict IX, who abdicated during the previous year.

title: 1045

date: May 5

text: May 5 – Pope Gregory VI becomes the 148th pope, following the resignation of Pope Benedict IX in exchange for money. There are growing allegations that simony is taking place during Gregory VI's reign.

title: 1045

text: Summer – Ex-Pope Benedict IX gives up a renewed attempt to reclaim the papal throne in Rome; Sylvester III reasserts his claim.

title: 1046

date: October 9

text: October 9 – Pope Clement II dies suddenly after a 9-month pontificate. Benedict IX usurps the papal throne as the 150th pope of the Catholic Church (his third time in the office).

title: 1047

date: July 16

text: July 16 – At orders of Henry III, German troops under Boniface III, Margrave of Tuscany ("of Canossa"), enter Rome and expel Pope Benedict IX.

title: 1048

date: January 24

text: January 24 – Pope Nicholas II succeeds Stephen IX as the 155th pope of the Catholic Church. He is installed in Rome in opposition to Antipope Benedict X – the brother of the late Pope Benedict IX (deposed in 1048).

title: 1059


slug: pope-boniface-ix

label: Pope Boniface IX

description: pope of the Catholic Church from 1389 to 1404

date: November 2

text: November 2 – Pietro Tomacelli Cybo of Naples is elected as the successor of the late Pope Urban VI, and takes the name Pope Boniface IX.

title: 1389

section: Events › October –December

date: August 6

text: August 6 – Louis II of Anjou arrives in Naples to rule the Kingdom of Naples (as Luigi II d'Angio) after being appointed by the Antipope John XXIII in France, but King Ladislaus continues to be recognized by supporters of Pope Boniface IX.

title: 1390

date: December 1

text: December 1 – Angelo Corraro is named as the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople, the Roman Catholic envoy to Byzantium and the Eastern Orthodox Church, by Pope Boniface IX. Corraro is chosen in 1406 as Pope Gregory XII.

title: 1390

date: October 7

text: October 7 – Bridget of Sweden is canonized by Pope Boniface IX.

title: 1391

date: July 8

text: July 8 – At a gathering of French cardinals at the Palais des Papes in Avignon, the assembled clerics demand the resignation of the antipope Benedict XIII (Pedro Martinez de Luna), who nine months earlier had been elected as the alternative to the Roman Pope Boniface IX. The only dissenting voice is Cardinal Martín de Zalba, but Benedict refuses to step down.

title: 1395

section: Conflict & Security

date: July 27

text: July 27 – Following the consensus of the Assembly of Paris of that had begun meeting on May 11, King Charles V of France signs an ordinance withdrawing obedience to both the French Avignon pope Benedict XIII and to Rome's Pope Boniface IX to issue benefices to persons who offer services to the Catholic Church. An army led by Geoffrey Boucicaut occupies Avignon, and starts a five-year siege of the papal palace.

title: 1398

date: May 22

text: May 22 – The Assembly of Paris begins, as Catholic clergy and bishops discuss whether withdraw obedience from the rival popes, Boniface IX in Rome and the antipope Benedict XIII at Avignon withdrawing the right of either of the popes to bestow benefices to officials in France in return for past or future services.

title: 1398

date: May 3

text: May 3 – Pope Boniface IX of Rome excommunicates Onorato Caetani, Great Constable of the Kingdom of Naples, who had previously been excommunicated in 1367 by Pope Urban V of Rome, and then was forgiven in 1378 by Pope Clement VII of Avignon. Boniface's action follows Caetani's continued support of the Avignon papacy, after which a crusade against Caetani's properties at Fondi.

title: 1399

date: September 24

text: September 24 – The late English cleric John Twenge (1320-1379) is canonized as Saint John of Bridlington by Pope Boniface IX

title: 1401

date: December 22

text: December 22 – Pope Boniface IX annuls and revokes numerous indulgences previously paid to the Roman Catholic Church in return for a reduction of time in purgatory.

title: 1403

date: October 1

text: October 1 – Pope Boniface IX (b. 1356)

title: 1404

date: October 17

text: October 17 – Cosimo de' Migliorati, Cardinal of the Basilica Cross in Jerusalem, is elected unanimously by eight cardinals to succeed the late Pope Boniface IX. Migliorati takes the papal name Innocent VII as the 204th pope of the Roman Catholic Church.

title: 1404


slug: pope-boniface-viii

label: Pope Boniface VIII

description: pope of the Catholic Church from 1294 to 1303

text: Pope Boniface VIII (approximate date; d. 1303)

title: 1235

text: Edward I of England and Philip the Fair of France declare war on each other. To finance this war, both kings lay taxes on the clergy. Pope Boniface VIII insists that kings gain papal consent for taxation of the clergy, and forbids churchmen to pay taxes.

title: 1294

section: Events › Europe

date: December 24

text: December 24 – Pope Boniface VIII succeeds Pope Celestine V, becoming the 193rd pope, after Celestine V abdicates the papacy on December 13, only five months after reluctantly accepting his surprise election on July 5, wishing to return to his life as an ascetic hermit.

title: 1294

date: June 20

text: June 20 – Treaty of Anagni: Pope Boniface VIII arranges a peace treaty between King Philip IV of France ("the Fair"), Charles II of Naples ("the Lame"), and James II of Majorca. James returns Sicily to the Papal States, seeking to bring peace between the Capetian House of Anjou and the Kingdom of Sicily; the effort is in vain. Boniface is determined to put an end to the War of the Sicilian Vespers, because he wants to declare a new Crusade for the reconquest of the Holy Land.

title: 1295

date: February 5

text: February 5 – Pope Boniface VIII issues the papal bull, Clericis laicos, stating that, without authority from the Holy See, Kings and other monarchs couldn't take income from the church. This bull was made in retaliation against King Philip IV raising taxes on the church

title: 1296

section: Events › January–December

text: May 3 – Stefano Colonna, Italian chief magistrate and papal official, captures the treasure of the tomb of Caecilia Metella near Rome, which is sent by the rival Caetani family to Pope Boniface VIII.

title: 1297

text: Pope Boniface VIII issues the decretal Periculoso, requiring all nuns to be in enclosed orders.

title: 1298

date: June 27

text: June 27 – Pope Boniface VIII issues the papal bull "Scimus, Fili" condemning Edward I of England's invasion and occupation of Scotland.

title: 1299

date: December 5

text: December 5 – Pope Boniface VIII issues the papal bull Ausculta Fili ("Listen, my son"), accusing King Philip IV of France ("Philip the Fair") of malfeasance of office.

title: 1301

section: Events › October– December

date: June 22

text: June 22 – Nicola Boccasini, who will become Pope Benedict XI in 1303, begins his duties as the Roman Catholic apostolic legate to Hungary, having been appointed as the personal representative of Pope Boniface VIII.

title: 1301

section: Events › April– June

date: November 1

text: November 1 – Charles of Valois, son of the late King Philip III ("Philip the Bold"), is summoned to Italy by Pope Boniface VIII to restore peace between the Guelphs and Ghibellines. He enters Florence, and allows the Neri ("Black Guelphs") to return to the city. Charles installs a new government under Cante dei Gabrielli as Chief Magistrate (podestà), leading to the permanent exile of Dante Alighieri, Italian poet and philosopher, from the city.

title: 1301

date: April 10

text: April 10 – The first meeting of the Estates General in France is convened King Philip IV ("Philip the Fair") at the Notre-Dame in Paris. During the assembly, all three classes – the French nobles, clergy, and commons – discuss the conflict between Philip and Pope Boniface VIII over the papal legate, Bernard Saisset – who is accused to raise a rebellion of Occitan independence, associated with Navarre, under the banner of the County of Foix.

title: 1302

date: February 10

text: February 10 – The papal bull Ausculta Fili is delivered to Philip the Fair, King of France, but Robert II, Count of Artois, snatches the document from Jacques de Normans, the emissary of Pope Boniface VIII and burns the paper in a fire.

title: 1302

date: April 20

text: April 20 – Pope Boniface VIII founds the University of Rome with the papal bull In Supremae praeminentia Dignitatis, as a Studium for ecclesiastical studies under his control, making it the first pontifical university.

title: 1303

date: May 31

text: May 31 – Pope Boniface VIII orders the nullification of the election of Wenceslaus as King of Hungary, and declares that Károly Róbert, son of the late Hungarian king Charles Martel of Anjou, is the rightful claimant to the throne. The Pope also threatens Wenceslaus with excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church if Wenceslaus continues to style himself "King of Hungary". The decision causes a breakdown of Hungary between supporters of Wenceslaus and supporters of Károly.

title: 1303

date: October 11

text: October 11 – Pope Boniface VIII dies while imprisoned at Anagni, after a pontificate of 8 years.

title: 1303

text: October 11 – Boniface VIII, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 1230)

title: 1303

date: February 2

text: February 2 – At Avignon, Pope Clement V begins the investigation and posthumous trial of the late Pope Boniface VIII, who was accused of heresy and sodomy after his death in 1303, in papers circulated by Guillaume de Nogaret.

title: 1309

section: Events › January – March

date: October 18

text: October 18 – At Avignon, Pope Clement V signs a mandate consenting "for any persons who wanted to proceed against the memory of Boniface VIII to proceed" and sends it to the Bishop of Paris for the posthumous trial of Boniface for heresy.

title: 1309

section: Events › October – December

date: April 27

text: April 27 – Pope Clement V, having decided to let the Council of Vienne determine the question of whether the late Pope Boniface VIII had been guilty of heresy, officially excuses King Philip IV of France from any condemnation of Boniface.

title: 1311

section: Events › April – June


slug: pope-clement-v

label: Pope Clement V

description: pope of the Catholic Church from 1305 to 1314 (1264–1314)

date: July 17

text: July 17 – A papal conclave, with 15 of the 19 living Roman Catholic cardinals, assembles at Perugia to elect a successor to Pope Benedict XI, who had died 10 days earlier. The conclave will be deadlocked for almost a year until Clement V receives the necessary two-thirds majority on June 5, 1305.

title: 1304

section: Events › July – September

section: Religion & Belief

date: June 5

text: June 5 – Pope Clement V, formerly the Archbishop of Bordeaux, succeeds Pope Benedict XI as the 195th pontiff of the Catholic Church. He will reign until 1314.

title: 1305

section: Crime & Justice

text: February 10 – Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn III, Scottish nobleman and political rival, before the high altar of the Greyfriars Church at Dumfries. Bruce and Comyn meet to discuss their differences at the church (without their swords). An argument between the two ensues, and Bruce draws his dagger in anger and stabs Comyn. He flees the church, telling his followers outside what has occurred. Roger de Kirkpatrick, cousin of Bruce, goes back inside and finishes off the seriously wounded Comyn. In response, Bruce is excommunicated by Pope Clement V.

title: 1306

date: January 27

text: January 27 – The University of Orléans is created by a papal bull issued by Pope Clement V endowing the Orléans institutes in France with the title and privileges of a university.

title: 1306

date: March 23

text: March 23 – Fra Dolcino of Novara, Margaret of Trent and Longino da Bergamo, leaders of the New Apostles movement in Italy, are captured at Val Sesia and tried for heresy on orders of Pope Clement V. They will be executed on June 1.

title: 1307

date: November 22

text: November 22 – Following the example of France's King Philip the Fair, Pope Clement V issues a papal decree directing all monarchs of the Christian faith to arrest the Knights Templar and to confiscate their lands as property of the Church.

title: 1307

date: September 5

text: September 5 – Pope Clement V issues a papal bull confirming that the island of Rhodes, now one of the Dodecanese islands of Greece, will be the property of the Knights Hospitaller.

title: 1307

date: August 11

text: August 11 – Pope Clement V grants the Knights Hospitaller permission to begin the Crusade of the Poor.

title: 1308

date: August 12

text: August 12 – Pope Clement V publishes the papal bull Faciens Misericordiam ("The granting of forgiveness"), absolving the Knights Templar from charges of heresy and declaring that the Roman Catholic Church, rather than any individual nation, will be in charge of future charges against the Knights. On the same day, he issues the bull Regnans in coelis, summoning what will become the Council of Vienne in 1311.

title: 1308

section: Exploration & Expansion

date: June 25

text: June 25 – Piers Gaveston is exiled for the second time by the Parliament, due to possible corruption and exploited personal gains. As compensation for the loss of the Earldom of Cornwall, which is another condition of his exile, Gaveston is granted land worth 3,000 marks annually in Gascony. Further to this, he is appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland – so that a certain amount of honour can be maintained despite the humiliation of the exile. Gaveston is also threatened with ex-communication by Pope Clement V. Edward II accompanies him to Bristol, from where he sets sail for Ireland.

title: 1308

date: June 28

text: June 28 – After 138 members of the Knights Templar were convicted of heresy on October 19, 1307, a trial is held for 54 Templars who testify before Pope Clement V, with most confessing to at least one charge.

title: 1308

date: April 24

text: April 24 – Spanish kings James II of Aragon and Ferdinand IV of Castile persuade Pope Clement V to grant the papal bull Indesinentis cure, authorizing them approval and church financial support for a crusade to rid the Iberian peninsula of Islam, as well as to conquer Corsica and Sardinia. The two monarchs fail to mention their collaboration with the Muslim Marinid Empire, and use the papal bull to plan a blockade of the Strait of Gibraltar with their combined fleet of 40 warships on their mission to expel the Saracen forces from Spain.

title: 1309

date: March 9

text: March 9 – Pope Clement V officially transfers the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Pontiff from Rome to the French city of Avignon, his residence and at this time part of the Kingdom of Arles, starting the Avignon Papacy. Since 1305, the papal court had been at Poitiers, and the move is justified by violence in Rome. The papal seat becomes part of the Holy Roman Empire, and its absence from Rome is referred to as the "Babylonian captivity of the Papacy".

title: 1309

title: 1309

date: May 12

text: May 12 – In France, 54 members of the Knights Templar are burned at the stake for heresy at Paris, on orders of King Philip IV of France (Philip the Fair). Pope Clement V attempts to take control of the situation by issuing a papal bull, to assert the Church's authority over the matter and demands Philip turn over the Templars and their property to ecclesiastical officials, who will then try the Templars for charges themselves. (→ Trials of the Knights Templar)

title: 1310

title: 1311

date: July 6

text: July 6 – Eleven days after beginning his siege of Buda, Matthew III Csak is excommunicated by Gentile Portino da Montefiore, the Roman Catholic Cardinal sent by Pope Clement V.

title: 1311

date: November 23

text: November 23 – Pope Clement V appoints Jens Grand, the Danish-born Prince-Archbishopric of Bremen, as the arbiter of a dispute between the Archbishopric of Riga (at the time of Terra Mariana, now the Republic of Latvia) and Teutonic Prussia (now part of Poland).

title: 1311

date: October 16

text: October 16 – Council of Vienne: Pope Clement V convokes the 15th Ecumenical Council at Vienne, France, in the presence of 20 cardinals, about 100 archbishops and bishops, and a number of abbots and priors. The main item on the agenda of the council is the Order of the Knights Templar. Clement passes papal bulls to dissolve the Templar Order, confiscate their lands, and label them as heretics.

title: 1311

date: December 23

text: December 23 – At Avignon in France, Pope Clement V elevates nine bishops, all French, to the position of Roman Catholic cardinals. The nine include Jacques d'Euse, Bishop of Avignon, who will be elected Pope John XXII as Clement's successor in 1316.

title: 1312

date: March 22

text: March 22 – Pope Clement V, under pressure from King Philip IV of France, officially disbands the Order of the Knights Templar at the Council of Vienne, issuing the bull Vox in excelso. The Order's property and monetary assets are given to a rival order, the Knights Hospitaller. Meanwhile, Jacques de Molay, last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, is held in prison in Paris, where he is forced to commit false confessions.

title: 1312

date: June 13

text: June 13 – Pope Clement V declares Naples to be under papal protection. He names King Robert the Wise of Naples, "Senator of Rome".

title: 1313

date: March 28

text: March 28 – Francesco da Barberino of Tuscany receives a doctorate of both civil law and canonical law, by a bull issued by Pope Clement V.

title: 1313

text: April 20 – Pope Clement V dies after an 9-year pontificate at Roquemaure. During his reign, he has reorganized and centralized the administration of the Catholic Church.

title: 1314

date: March 18

text: March 18 – Jacques de Molay, Grand Master of the Knights Templar and Geoffroi de Charney, are, by orders of King Philip IV of France ("Philip the Fair"), burned at the stake in front of the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris on the Île de la Cité in the Seine. Jacques declares his innocence and that the Templar Order is also innocent of all the charges of heresy. It is said that Jacques correctly predicts the deaths of both Philip and Pope Clement V within the year.

title: 1314

date: January 2

text: January 2 – King Edward II of England buries his friend Piers Gaveston (executed 1312) having secured a papal absolution in one of the last acts of Pope Clement V. The burial takes place somewhere near the King's Langley Priory in Hertfordshire, but the location of the tomb is subsequently forgotten. Gaveston had been excommunicated before his death.

title: 1315

date: August 7

text: August 7 – After an interregnum (sede vacante) of two years, due to disagreements between the cardinals, French cardinal Jacques Duèze, Bishop of Avignon, is elected as successor to Pope Clement V, who died in 1314.

title: 1316


slug: pope-clement-vii

label: Pope Clement VII

description: pope of the Catholic Church from 1523 to 1534 (1478–1534)

date: May 3

text: May 3 – Pope Boniface IX of Rome excommunicates Onorato Caetani, Great Constable of the Kingdom of Naples, who had previously been excommunicated in 1367 by Pope Urban V of Rome, and then was forgiven in 1378 by Pope Clement VII of Avignon. Boniface's action follows Caetani's continued support of the Avignon papacy, after which a crusade against Caetani's properties at Fondi.

title: 1399

section: Events › April–June

section: Births

date: May 26

text: May 26 – Pope Clement VII (d. 1534)

title: 1478

section: Deaths

date: May 4

text: May 4 – Giulio de' Medici, who will later become Pope Clement VII becomes the Duke of the Florentine Republic upon the death of his father, Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino.

title: 1519

date: November 19

text: November 19 – Following the September 14 death of Pope Adrian VI, Cardinal Giulio de' Medici is elected 219th pope as Clement VII. The election of Cardinal Medici begins an unbroken reign of 44 consecutive Italian Popes over the next 455 years.

title: 1523

section: Events › October–December

date: November 26

text: November 26 – At Santa Maria in Via Lata, Cardinal Marco Cornaro carries out the coronation of Pope Clement at the church of Santa Maria in Via Lata in Rome.

title: 1523

date: May 22

text: May 22 – Francis repudiates the Treaty of Madrid and forms the League of Cognac against Charles, including Pope Clement VII, Milan, Venice, and Florence.

title: 1526

date: December 6

text: December 6 – Pope Clement VII, held prisoner at the Castel Sant'Angelo since the sack of Rome in May, is released after seven months of captivity, along with 16 Roman Catholic cardinals.

title: 1527

date: May 6

text: May 6 – Sack of Rome: Spanish and German troops led by the Duke of Bourbon sack Rome, forcing the Medici Pope Clement VII to make peace with Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, marking the end of the High Renaissance. The Pope grows a beard in mourning.

title: 1527

date: July 3

text: July 3 – Pope Clement VII issues the bull Religionis zelus, recognizing the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin (Ordo Fratrum Minorum Capuccinorum), commonly known as the Capuchin monks, as a reformist branch of the Franciscans order of Roman Catholicism.

title: 1528

section: Events › July–September

date: January 28

text: January 28 – Peter Vannes, the Italian-born envoy for England's King Henry VIII, arrives in Rome on a mission to get Pope Clement VII to give a dispensation for King Henry to divorce one wife and marry another, with both marriages to be declared valid. The mission fails.

title: 1529

section: Events › January–March

date: February 24

text: February 24 – Charles V is crowned emperor in Bologna, by Pope Clement VII.

title: 1530

date: April 27

text: April 27 – The democratic government of the Republic of Florence in Italy, in existence for more than 400 years since its founding in 1115, is abolished by order of Pope Clement VII in order for a hereditary, and absolute, monarchy to be established. Alessandro de' Medici, Duke of Florence, the illegitimate son of Pope Clement, is given full power and the Republic's parliament (the Signoria) and the rule of the executive officer, the Gonfaloniere, come to an end.

title: 1532

date: February 18

text: February 18 – The order of the Clerics Regular of Saint Paul, more commonly called the Barnabites, is given papal approval by Pope Clement VII in the brief Vota per quae vos.

title: 1533

date: July 11

text: July 11 – Henry VIII is excommunicated by Pope Clement VII, as is Archbishop Cranmer.

title: 1533

date: May 23

text: May 23 – King Henry VIII of England's marriage with Catherine of Aragon is declared annulled by Archbishop Cranmer. Since Pope Clement VII had rejected Henry's petition for annulment in 1530, Catherine continues to believe herself Henry's wife until her death.

title: 1533

date: October 13

text: October 13 – Cardinal Alessandro Farnese is elected as the 220th pope of the Roman Catholic Church after a two-day conclave to find a successor for Pope Clement VII, who had died on September 25. Farnese, the Bishop of Ostia, takes the name Pope Paul III and is crowned on November 3.

title: 1534


slug: pope-eugene-iv

label: Pope Eugene IV

description: pope of the Catholic Church from 1431 to 1447

text: date unknown - Pope Eugene IV (d. 1447)

title: 1383

date: March 11

text: March 11 – Cardinal Gabriele Condulmer is elected as the successor to Pope Martin V and takes the name of Pope Eugene IV as the 207th leader of the Roman Catholic Church.

title: 1431

date: November 12

text: November 12 – Pope Eugene IV authorizes Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini to close the Council of Basel, but Cesarini declines to do so.

title: 1432

date: February 15

text: February 15 – Pope Eugene IV withdraws his papal bull of 1431 that had ordered the Council of Basel to be dissolved, and declares "that the said council from its very beginning was and is a legitimate council and it should continue as if no dissolution was made."

title: 1433

date: December 17

text: December 17 – Pope Eugene IV issues the papal bull Creator Omnium, directing the freedom of the Canary Island slaves within 15 days after the bull is received.

title: 1434

date: January 13

text: January 13 – Sicut Dudum, a papal bull forbidding the enslavement of the Guanche natives in Canary Islands by the Spanish, is promulgated by Pope Eugene IV.

title: 1435

date: March 25

text: March 25 (New Year's Day in local calendars) – Pope Eugene IV consecrates Florence Cathedral. Construction had started 140 years earlier in 1296 and is nearly complete with the finishing of a dome that has been engineered by Filippo Brunelleschi. The dome itself would be dedicated five months later.

title: 1436

date: September 15

text: September 15 – Pope Eugene IV issues a supplement to his papal bull of 1435, Sicut dudum (which banned enslavement by Portugal of the people of the Canary Islands), by another bull, Romanus Pontifex, allowing Portugal to conquer any of the Islands that had not yet been converted to Christianity.

title: 1436

date: April 23

text: April 23 – Pope Eugene IV issues the papal bull Dominatur Dominus, further to safeguard the rights of the Guanches, the natives of the Portuguese-controlled Canary Islands.

title: 1437

text: March 25 – In a ceremony in Holyrood Abbey, six-year old Prince James is crowned as James II of Scotland by Pope Eugene IV. For the security of the crown, the capital of Scotland is moved from Dunfermline to Edinburgh.

title: 1437

date: January 8

text: January 8 – Upset at the attempted reforms at the Council of Basel in Switzerland, Pope Eugene IV convenes a rival council at Ferrara in Italy, through Niccolò Albergati, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Bologna, with 40 prelates in attendance.

title: 1438

date: December 18

text: December 18 – Pope Eugene IV designates nine archbishops and six bishops to join the College of Cardinals and one cardinal and one priest, for 17 appointments in all.

title: 1439

date: January 10

text: January 10 – Pope Eugene IV, who had convened the Council of Ferrara a year earlier to fight the reforms of the Council of Basel, orders the transfer of its participants from Ferrara to Florence.

title: 1439

date: July 6

text: July 6 – Pope Eugene IV issues the Bull of Union with the Greeks (Laetentur Caeli), signed by the Byzantine Emperor John VIII Palaiologos, proclaiming the end of the East–West Schism between Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy and the union of the two divisions of the Christian faith. The bull is repudiated by most Eastern bishops shortly thereafter.

title: 1439

date: July 24

text: July 24 – At Basel in Switzerland, Amadeus VIII, Duke of Savoy is crowned as "Pope Felix V" by Roman Catholic cardinals of the Council of Basel who had voted to depose Pope Eugene IV as leader of the Roman Catholic Church. As Felix V, he is designated in Vatican history as the last "antipope". He remains in Basel and never travels to Rome to assume the papacy; in 1449, after the death of Eugene IV, Amadeus assumes an oath of loyalty to Eugene's successor, Pope Nicholas V.

title: 1440

date: April 26

text: April 26 — Pope Eugene IV orders the transfer of the Council of Florence to Rome

title: 1441

date: June 7

text: June 7 – The University of Bordeaux is established by Pope Eugene IV while Bordeaux is under the control of France. Closed in 1793 during the French Revolution, it will reopen in 1896 and continue to be in existence 280 years later.

title: 1441

date: October 4

text: October 4 – Pope Eugene IV issues a papal bull to recognize the Order of St Ambrose.

title: 1441

date: December 19

text: December 19 – Pope Eugene IV issues the papal bull Illius qui se pro divini granting full remission of sins to any Christian who had participated in the Crusades by Prince Henry the Navigator against the Saracens.

title: 1442

date: February 4

text: February 4 – As part of his campaign to reunite the Christian churches of the world, Pope Eugene IV promulgates the Bull of Union with the Copts (officially, Cantate Domino), an attempted union with the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt.

title: 1442

date: January 1

text: January 1 – Pope Eugene IV called for Christians under his jurisdiction to participate in the Crusade of Varna against the incursions of the Ottoman Empire into Central Europe.

title: 1443

date: May 13

text: May 13 – John Stafford is appointed as the new Archbishop of Canterbury by Pope Eugene IV.

title: 1443

date: September 28

text: September 28 – Pope Eugene IV returns to Rome for the first time in more than nine years, after having been forced to flee on June 4, 1434.

title: 1443

date: August 7

text: August 7 – A papal bull is issued by Pope Eugene IV declaring that the Chaldean Christians and the Maronites of Cyprus are in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church.

title: 1445

date: June 24

text: June 24 – Annibale I Bentivoglio, the ruler of the semi-independent Lordship of Bologna since 1443, is assassinated by the rival Canneschi family, with the support of Pope Eugene IV.

title: 1445

date: May 29

text: May 29 – Stjepan Tomaš Kotromanić of the House of Kotromanić is granted recognition by the Roman Catholic Church and Pope Eugene IV as King Tomaš of Bosnia.

title: 1445

section: Conflict & Security

date: October 10

text: October 10 – At the Battle of Mokra, Albanian forces under the command of the rebel Skanderbeg, with 3,500 soldiers, defeat the more than 9,000 Ottoman troops led by Firuz Pasha. Firuz is killed in battle along with 1,500 of his men. Pope Eugene IV raises a hymn of praise, that Christendom has been provided with a new defender, after he hears of the battle).

title: 1445

date: April 28

text: April 28 – Pope Pius issues the papal bull In Minoribus Agnetes, retracting his earlier complaint against the late Pope Eugene IV and endorsing the previous work at the Council of Basel.

title: 1463

date: May 7

text: May 7 – Pope Sixtus IV appoints eight clerics to the College of Cardinals, the most in his career, the most since December 18, 1439 when 17 were appointed by Pope Eugene IV.

title: 1473


slug: pope-francis

label: Pope Francis

description: 266th pope of the Catholic Church from 2013 to 2025 (1936–2025)

date: April 24

text: April 24 – The Piedmontese Easter Massacre of the Waldensians: Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy slaughters 1,500 men, women and children; this is memorialized in John Milton's sonnet "On the Late Massacre in Piedmont" and apologized for by Pope Francis in 2015.

title: 1655

date: March 13

text: March 13 – Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina is elected the 266th pope, whereupon he takes the name Francis and becomes the first Jesuit pope, the first pope from the Americas, and the first pope from the Southern Hemisphere.

title: 2013

section: Events › March

date: June 18

text: June 18 – Pope Francis releases the encyclical letter Laudato si, dated May 24, 2015.

title: 2015

section: Events › June

date: April 8

text: April 8 – Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia (dated March 19) is published in the Vatican; it appears to amend the Roman Catholic Church's position on the availability of sacraments to Catholics who have divorced and contracted a civil remarriage.

title: 2016

section: Events › April

date: February 12

text: February 12 – Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill sign an Ecumenical Declaration in the first such meeting between leaders of the Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches since their schism in 1054.

title: 2016

section: Events › February

date: December 16

text: December 16 – Pope Francis abolishes pontifical secrecy in sex abuse cases; the move follows the Vatican's Meeting on the Protection of Minors in the Church months prior. The Pope also raises the definition of "child pornography" from 14 to 18 years old.

title: 2019

section: Events › December

date: February 3

text: February 3 – Pope Francis arrives in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, becoming the first pope to visit the Arabian Peninsula.

title: 2019

date: March 6

text: March 6 – Pope Francis meets with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf, Iraq. It is the first-ever meeting between a pope and a grand ayatollah.

title: 2021

date: December 31

text: December 31 – Former Pope Benedict XVI dies at the age of 95, with his funeral being held in St. Peter's Square, presided over by Pope Francis and Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re.

title: 2022

date: March 19

text: March 19 – The apostolic constitution Praedicate evangelium, reforming the Roman Curia, is promulgated by Pope Francis, coming into force on 5 June.

title: 2022

date: April 21

text: April 21 – Pope Francis, head of the Catholic Church since 2013, dies at the age of 88. World leaders pay tribute. Many countries declare national mourning.

title: 2025

text: May 7–8 – 2025 conclave: 133 cardinal electors select Robert Francis Prevost as Pope Francis's successor, on the fourth ballot. He takes the name Leo XIV, and becomes the first pope from North America, the first with Peruvian or U.S. citizenship, and the first from the Order of Saint Augustine.

title: 2025

section: Events › May


slug: pope-gregory-i

label: Pope Gregory I

description: 6th-century Roman Pope, theologian and Church Father, Catholic and Orthodox saint, 64th Bishop of Rome and Doctor of the Church

text: Pope Gregory I ("the Great") (d. 604)

title: 540

text: Pelagius II sends Gregory as his apocrisiarius (ambassador to the imperial court in Constantinople). He is part of a Roman delegation to ask for military aid against the Lombards.

title: 579

section: Events › By topic › Religion

text: Gregory, archdeacon of Rome, converts English slaves on the Roman market. He calls them Angels if they would be Christians.

title: 589

date: February 7

text: February 7 – Pope Pelagius II falls victim to the plague that devastated Rome. He is succeeded by Gregory I, age 50, as the 64th pope, and the first from a monastic background.

title: 590

text: Pope Gregory I criticizes the bishops of Arles and Marseille for allowing the forced baptism of Jews in Provence (France).

title: 591

text: Approximate date – Pope Gregory I publishes his Dialogues.

title: 594

date: June

text: June – Pope Gregory I the Great sends a group of Benedictine monks under Augustine of Canterbury on a mission to Britain, to Christianize King Æthelberht, and convert the Kingdom of Kent from native Anglo-Saxon paganism. He carries letters of commendation to bishops, and is accompanied by Frankish interpreters.

title: 595

text: Maurice makes peace with King Agilulf, conceding northern Italy. Pope Gregory I the Great negotiates a truce, ending 30 years of Lombard terror. Agilulf expands the Lombard Kingdom by occupying Sutri and Perugia.

title: 598

section: Events › By place › Europe

text: The future Archbishops of Canterbury (Mellitus, Justus, and Honorius), and the future Archbishop of York Paulinus, are sent to England by Pope Gregory I to aid Augustine in his missionary work. Gregory writes the decretal Libellus responsionum to Augustine.

title: 601

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: The last mention of the Roman Senate on the Italian mainland is made (according to the Gregorian register). It mentions that the Senate has acclaimed new statues of Emperor Phocas and Empress Leontia.

title: 603

date: March 12

text: March 12 – Pope Gregory I (the Great) dies at Rome, after a 14-year tenure. He has laid the foundations which claim papal absolutism, pioneered the conversion of Britain to Roman Catholicism and enunciated what will come to be known as the "seven deadly sins". Gregory is succeeded by Sabinian as the 65th pope of the Catholic Church.

title: 604

text: March 12 – Gregory I, pope of the Catholic Church

title: 604

date: November 8

text: November 8 – Pope Adeodatus I dies in Rome after a 3-year reign, in which he has reversed the policies of his predecessors, Boniface IV and Gregory I, who favored monks over the secular clergy. Adeodatus will not be replaced until next year.

title: 618

text: King Alfred the Great begins to commission and undertake a series of translations into Old English, beginning with his own version of Pope Gregory the Great's Pastoral Care.

title: 890

section: Events › By place › Europe › Britain

text: Demetrius Zvonimir donates the Benedictine monastery of St. Gregory in Vrana to Gregory VII.

title: 1076

text: Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome and Pope Gregory I are named the first Doctors of the Church. They are known collectively as the Great Doctors of the Western Church.

title: 1298

text: March 12 – The Bartolomeu Dias expedition from Portugal arrives at the Cape of Good Hope and the crew of the two expedition ships, São Cristóvão and São Pantaleão, become the first Europeans to set foot at Good Hope. They anchor at the Boesmans River at what is now the South African city of Kwaaihoek. In that the landing took place on the feast day of Saint Gregory, the Portuguese sailors erect the Padrão de São Gregório, a stone pillar and cross, to mark their arrival.

title: 1488


slug: pope-gregory-ii

label: Pope Gregory II

description: 89th Pope of the Catholic Church (from 715 to 731)

text: Gregory II, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 731)

title: 669

date: April 9

text: April 9 – Pope Constantine I dies at Rome after a 7-year reign. He is succeeded by Gregory II as the 89th pope of the Catholic Church.

title: 715

section: Religion & Belief

text: The Wessex-born missionary Boniface sets out for Frisia a second time. He travels to Rome, where Pope Gregory II sends him on a mission to convert the Saxons in Lower Saxony (modern-day Germany).

title: 718

date: November 30

text: November 30 – Wessex-born Boniface is ordained as bishop of Germany by Pope Gregory II. Under the protection of Charles Martel (mayor of the palace), he concentrates his religious work in Hessia and Thuringia.

title: 722

date: July

text: July – Pope Gregory II condemns iconoclasm at Rome, causing Italy to break with the Byzantine Empire. He becomes the virtual temporal ruler of most Byzantine possessions.

title: AD 727

text: King Liutprand of the Lombards occupies all of the Exarchate of Ravenna. He advances towards Rome along the Via Cassia, and is met at the city of Sutri by Pope Gregory II, near the borders of the Duchy of Rome. Liutprand signs the Donation of Sutri, by which parts of Latium are given to the papacy (the first extension of papal territory in Italy). This marks the historical foundation of the Papal States.

title: 728

text: Battle of Ravenna: Byzantine troops under Eutychius, exarch of Ravenna, are defeated by an Italian force, raised by Gregory II, in opposition to iconoclasm.

title: 729

text: Tiberius Petasius proclaims himself emperor in Tuscia. Eutychius defeats him with the support of Pope Gregory II, and Tiberius is killed in Monterano, with his head sent to the Byzantine emperor Leo III as a gift.

title: 730

date: February 11

text: February 11 – Pope Gregory II dies at Rome after a 16-year reign, in which he has fought Iconoclasm. He is succeeded by the Syrian-born cleric Gregory III, as the 90th pope of the Catholic Church.

title: 731

text: February 11 – Gregory II, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 669)

title: 731


slug: pope-gregory-ix

label: Pope Gregory IX

description: pope of the Catholic Church from 1227 to 1241

date: March 18

text: March 18 – Pope Honorius III dies at Rome after a pontificate of nearly 11 years. He is succeeded by Gregory IX as the 178th pope of the Catholic Church.

title: 1227

date: October 10

text: October 10 – Frederick II recovering at Pozzuoli, receives a letter from Pope Gregory IX, announcing his ex-communication. Frederick is branded a wanton violator of his sacred oath taken many times, at Aachen, Ferentino, Veroli and San Germano. Meanwhile, the Crusader army fortifies Sidon Sea Castle and rebuilds Montfort Castle, northeast of Acre, as a new headquarter castle for the Teutonic Knights, who called it Starkenburg.

title: 1227

date: January 23

text: January 23 – The episcopal seat is moved from Nousiainen to Koroinen (located near the current centre of Turku) by the permission of Pope Gregory IX. The date is starting to be considered as the founding of Turku.

title: 1229

date: August

text: August – Treaty of Ceprano: Emperor Frederick II returns from the Sixth Crusade and signs a peace agreement with Pope Gregory IX at Ceprano. He agrees not to violate any territories held by the Papal States in return for Frederick's concessions in Sicily.

title: 1230

date: April 13

text: April 13 – Pope Gregory IX issues Parens scientiarum. The bull assures the independence and self-governance of the University of Paris.

title: 1231

date: May 30

text: May 30 – Anthony of Padua is canonized by Pope Gregory IX at Spoleto, less than a year after his death. He becomes the patron saint of lost items.

title: 1232

text: Pope Gregory IX establishes the Papal Inquisition, to regularize the persecution of heresy.

title: 1233

date: July 3

text: July 3 – Saint Dominic is canonized by Pope Gregory IX.

title: 1234

text: Elizabeth of Hungary (d. 1231) is canonized by Pope Gregory IX.

title: 1235

section: Events

text: Pope Gregory IX condemns the links that both the Knights Templer and Knights Hospitaller have with the Assassin fighters in the Middle East. He issues a bull (a formal papal proclamation) preventing further contact with the Assassins.

title: 1236

date: November

text: November – Pope Gregory IX grants the status of Crusade to King Ferdinand III of Castile ("the Saint"), who leads a successful campaign against the Almohads in Murcia.

title: 1239

text: Pope Gregory IX authorizes a Crusade against Novgorod, hoping that the Kievan Rus' will be too preoccupied dealing with the raiding Mongols to the east to defend.

title: 1240


slug: pope-gregory-vii

label: Pope Gregory VII

description: Pope of the Catholic Church from 1073 to 1085

date: October 14

text: October 14 – The Judicate of Arborea (one of the four independent kingdoms in Sardinia) is recognised by Pope Gregory VII.

title: 1073

text: Pope Gregory VII temporarily excommunicates the Norman nobleman Robert Guiscard.

title: 1074

date: February

text: February – Pope Gregory VII holds a council in the Lateran Palace at Rome. He publishes a decree against laymen investiture (an act which will later cause the Investiture Controversy).

title: 1075

date: January 24

text: January 24 – Synod of Worms: Emperor Henry IV, holds a synod in Worms (modern Germany). The assembly declares Pope Gregory VII deposed, and the bishops abandon their allegiance to him.

title: 1076

date: January 25

text: January 25 – Walk to Canossa: Emperor Henry IV travels to the Castle of Canossa near Reggio Emilia (Northern Italy), to visit Pope Gregory VII. He waits (with his wife Bertha of Savoy and son Conrad) at the gates for three days, for absolution of his excommunication. Gregory lifts the sentence, imposing on Henry a vow to comply with certain conditions (see Investiture Controversy).

title: 1077

date: September 1

text: September 1 – Pope Gregory VII appoints Landulf as bishop of Pisa. He makes him permanent legate of the Holy See in Corsica.

title: 1077

date: June 25

text: June 25 – Wibert of Ravenna is elected as Antipope Clement III during the pro-imperial Synod of Brixen. Pope Gregory VII is deposed, signed in a decree by Henry IV.

title: 1080

text: Pope Gregory VII writes a letter to Bishop Hermann of Metz about the behavior of Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor (approximate date).

title: 1081

text: Winter – Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor, leads an expedition into Italy and besieges Rome. He gains entry and a synod is agreed upon by the Romans to rule on the dispute between Henry and Pope Gregory VII.

title: 1082

text: Summer – Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor besieges Pope Gregory VII in Castel Sant'Angelo at Rome.

title: 1083

text: Pope Gregory VII, who has been forced by the presence in Rome of Henry IV to retreat to the Castel Sant'Angelo, is freed by Robert Guiscard and restores papal authority in Rome.

title: 1084

section: Deaths

date: May 25

text: May 25 – Gregory VII, pope of the Catholic Church

title: 1085

date: May 24

text: May 24 – Pope Victor III succeeds Gregory VII as the 158th pope of the Catholic Church, though he does not accept election until 1087.

title: 1086

date: September 8

text: September 8 – Antipope Clement III dies at Civita Castellana after a 20-year reign in opposition to the legitimate popes Gregory VII, Victor III and Urban II. Supporters of Emperor Henry IV in Rome choose Theodoric as his successor.

title: 1100

text: May 25 – Pope Gregory VII (Hildebrand of Sovana), who served as pontiff from 1073 to 1085, is canonized as a Roman Catholic saint.

title: 1728

section: Events › April–June


slug: pope-honorius-iii

label: Pope Honorius III

description: head of the Catholic Church from 1216 to 1227

date: May

text: May – Pope Innocent III travels to Perugia to try to settle the long feud between Genoa and Pisa, that both states might contribute to the transport of the Fifth Crusade. There, after a short illness, Innocent dies on July 16. Two days after his death the aged Cardinal Cencio Savelli (later Honorius III) is elected as the 177th pope of the Catholic Church.

title: 1216

text: unknown date – Stefan Nemanjić is elevated to be the first King of the Serbian lands by Pope Honorius III and crowned by Stefan's brother, Archimandrite Sava, in Žiča.

title: 1217

section: Events › Other events by place › Europe

text: Summer – Various groups of French knights reach the Italian ports. King Andrew II of Hungary arrives with his army in Split, in Dalmatia. He is joined by German forces, led by Duke Leopold VI (the Glorious). At the end of July, Pope Honorius III orders the crusaders assembled in Italy and Sicily to proceed to Cyprus, but there is no transport provided by the Italian city-states, Venice, Genoa and Pisa.

title: 1217

section: Events › Fifth Crusade

date: April 9

text: April 9 – Peter II of Courtenay is crowned emperor of the Latin Empire of Constantinople at Rome, by Pope Honorius III. Shortly after his coronation, Peter borrows some ships from the Venetians, promising in return to conquer Durazzo for them. He fails in this enterprise and seeks to make his way to Constantinople by land. On the journey, he is seized by troops of Theodore Komnenos Doukas, despot of Epirus, and is put in prison.

title: 1217

date: July

text: July – In order to facilitate the movement of Reconquista, Pope Honorius III reverses Innocent III's earlier judgement, and declares King Ferdinand III (the Saint) legitimate heir to the Kingdom of León.

title: 1218

date: November 22

text: November 22 – Frederick II is crowned Holy Roman Emperor at Rome by Pope Honorius III. He makes Sicily an absolute monarchy and adopts Palermo as its principal seat.

title: 1220

text: Pope Honorius III gives his legate to France, Conrad d'Urach, free authority to negotiate a peace with Raymond VII, Count of Toulouse, in France.

title: 1223

section: Events › July–September

text: April 13 – Pope Honorius III issues a papal bull relaxing the strict rules that had applied to monks of the Valliscaulian Order.

title: 1223

date: March 23

text: March 23 – At a meeting in Ferentino at the imperial villa of the Papal States, Pope Honorius III hosts a meeting with the newly-widowed Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor; John I, King of Jerusalem; Patriarch Raoul of Mérencourt; and papal legate Pelagius Galvani to prepare for the Sixth Crusade by European Christians against the Muslims of the Middle East. Frederick agrees to lead the crusade in return for being able to marry John's daughter, Yolande of Brienne.

title: 1223

date: November 29

text: November 29 – Pope Honorius III approves the Franciscan Rule (also called "Regula Bullata"). The rule sets regulations for discipline, preaching, and entering the order for Franciscan friars.

title: 1223

section: Events › October–December

date: June 5

text: June 5 – The University of Naples is founded by Emperor Frederick II. Frederick's main purpose is to create an institution of higher learning that will put an end to the predominance of the universities of northern Italy, most notably these of Bologna and Padua, which are considered either too independent or under the strong influence of \Pope Honorius III.

title: 1224

section: Events › April – June

date: March 1

text: March 1 – Pope Honorius III sends a letter to the Roman Catholic Patriarch of Jerusalem, Francisco Clemente Pérez Capera, notifying him that the armies and navies of the Holy Roman Empire, the Teutonic Knights and the Kingdom of Sicily will be departing soon to begin the Sixth Crusade to recapture Jerusalem from the Arab rulers.

title: 1224

section: Events › January – March

date: April 15

text: April 15 – Pope Honorius III issues the papal bull Magistro Andree canonico Palentino, granting the Andree, a former Jew who converted to Christianity, the title of canon of Palencia, with full eccleastical dignities.

title: 1225

date: June 10

text: June 10 – Pope Honorius III issues the bull Vineae Domini custodes in which he approves the mission of two friars to Morocco. The bull is reissued in October when Honorius III exhorts the Dominican and Franciscan order to participate in that mission.

title: 1225

date: March 3

text: March 3 – As the envoy of Pope Honorius III, Romanus, Cardinal-deacon of San Angelo, leaves Rome to travel to France to the court of King Louis XIII.

title: 1225

text: The Carmelite Order is approved by Pope Honorius III in the bull Ut vivendi normam.

title: 1226

date: January 30

text: January 30 – Pope Honorius III approves the "Rule of Saint Albert (written by Saint Albert Avoggadro of Vercelli as the guide for the Carmelites (the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel) with the papal bull Ut vivendi normam.

title: 1226

date: March 18

text: March 18 – Pope Honorius III dies at Rome after a pontificate of nearly 11 years. He is succeeded by Gregory IX as the 178th pope of the Catholic Church.

title: 1227


slug: pope-innocent-iii

label: Pope Innocent III

description: Head of the Catholic Church from 1198 to 1216

section: Births

date: February 22

text: February 22 – Innocent III, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1216)

title: 1161

date: January 8

text: January 8 – Pope Celestine III dies at Rome, after a pontificate of nearly 7 years. He is succeeded by Innocent III, as the 176th pope of the Catholic Church. Shortly after he lays an interdict on Laon, in an attempt to create independent beliefs there. This will be followed by interdicts against France in 1199, and Normandy in 1203.

title: 1198

text: Summer – Pope Innocent III calls for a fourth Crusade at Rome. Due to the preaching of Fulk of Neuilly, an army is organized at a tournament held at Ecry-sur-Aisne by Theobald III, count of Champagne, on November 28.

title: 1199

text: Autumn – Prince Alexios Angelos, son of the deposed, blinded and imprisoned late Emperor Isaac II Angelos, escapes from Constantinople. He makes his way to Sicily and then Rome where he is turned away by Pope Innocent III. Next, Alexios travels to the court of his brother-in-law, Philip of Swabia, the King of Germany, who receives him well.

title: 1201

section: Events › By place › Byzantine Empire

text: Pope Innocent III recognizes Otto IV as the only legitimate ruler of the Holy Roman Empire, against his rival King, Philip of Swabia. In return, Otto promises to support the pope's interests in Italy.

title: 1201

text: Spring – Pope Innocent III reasserts his right to evaluate and crown the Holy Roman Emperor, in a letter to Berthold V, Duke of Zähringen.

title: 1202

text: September 8 – Enrico Dandolo takes the cross and agrees to lead a Venetian force, which, in an outburst of Crusading enthusiasm, reaches some 21,000 men – the largest contingent of the Fourth Crusade. He proclaims the debts will be wiped if the Crusaders take the 'rebel' Dalmatian city of Zara (modern-day Zadar) which has pledged its loyalty to Emeric, king of Hungary and Croatia. The Zara proposal causes disquiet in the Crusader ranks and also upsets Pope Innocent III who threatens to excommunicate those who attack Zara.

title: 1202

section: Events › By place › Fourth Crusade

text: Tsar Kaloyan is recognized as king of Bulgaria by Pope Innocent III, after the creation of the Bulgarian Uniate church.

title: 1204

text: The writings of French theologian Amalric of Bena are condemned by the University of Paris and Pope Innocent III.

title: 1204

date: January 6

text: January 6 – Philip of Swabia becomes King of the Romans and is crowned again with great ceremony at Aachen by Archbishop Adolf of Cologne. After several threats, Adolf is removed from office by Pope Innocent III and excommunicated, on July 19. Philip is able to increasingly assert his kingship against Otto of Brunswick (who is also crowned king of Germany) in the northern parts of the Alps.

title: 1205

date: July 15

text: July 15 – Pope Innocent III lays down the principle that Jews are doomed to perpetual servitude, because they had crucified Jesus.

title: 1205

date: December

text: December – The monks of Canterbury want their own sub-prior Reginald for the post of archbishop, while King John chooses John de Gray. Pope Innocent III appoints Stephen Langton. Finally, the monks accept the Pope's decision and vote for Langton.

title: 1206

text: Pope Innocent III declares for King Philip of Swabia as Holy Roman Emperor, a reversal of his previous support for Philip's rival Otto IV.

title: 1207

date: January 15

text: January 15 – Pierre de Castelnau is murdered by heretics supported by Raymond VI, count of Toulouse. He is held responsible and excommunicated by Pope Innocent III, leading to the Albigensian Crusade.

title: 1208

date: November

text: November – Against the backdrop of the continuing Papal Interdict of 1208, John, King of England, is excommunicated by Pope Innocent III. Despite the excommunication, John will continue to make amends to the Church – including giving alms to the poor whenever he defiles a holy day by hunting during it. He feeds 100 paupers to make up for when he "went into the woods on the feast of St. Mary Magdalen", and three years from now, he will feast 450 paupers "because the king went to take cranes, and he took nine, for each of which he feasted fifty paupers."

title: 1209

section: Events › By place › Britain

text: Pope Innocent III allows the formation of the mendicant order of Francis of Assisi, to begin the Order of Friars Minor.

title: 1210

section: Conflict & Security

date: November 18

text: November 18 – Emperor Otto IV is excommunicated by Pope Innocent III after he occupies Apulia in southern Italy. Otto annuls the Concordat of Worms and demands from Innocent recognition of the imperial crown's right. A German civil war breaks out, and Otto prepares an invasion against Frederick II, king of Sicily.

title: 1210

date: September

text: September – The 16-year-old Frederick II is elected in absentia as German king by rebellious nobleman (supported by Pope Innocent III) at the Diet of Nuremberg (Germany).

title: 1211

text: Early Spring – Nicholas leads a group from the Rhineland and crosses the alps into Italy. In August, he arrives with some 7,000 children in Genoa. Nicholas travels to the Papal States where he meets Pope Innocent III.

title: 1212

text: Pope Innocent III issues a charter calling for the Fifth Crusade to recapture Jerusalem.

title: 1213

date: May 15

text: May 15 – John, King of England submits to Pope Innocent III, who in turn lifts the interdict of 1208 the following year.

title: 1213

date: August 24

text: August 24 – Pope Innocent III annuls Magna Carta, freeing King John from its limitations. He annuls the charter on the grounds that John signed it because he is forced and that the document is illegal.

title: 1215

section: Events › By continent › Europe

date: March 4

text: March 4 – John, King of England ("Lackland"), hoping to gain the support of Pope Innocent III against the Barons, takes the oath to go on Crusade. By doing so, Innocent declares John to be his vassal and claims ownership of the whole kingdom (with political protection under church law). On April 1, Innocent sends a letter to the Barons, asking them to halt their actions against John.

title: 1215

date: July 16

text: July 16 – Innocent III, pope of the Catholic Church

title: 1216

text: May – Pope Innocent III travels to Perugia to try to settle the long feud between Genoa and Pisa, that both states might contribute to the transport of the Fifth Crusade. There, after a short illness, Innocent dies on July 16. Two days after his death the aged Cardinal Cencio Savelli (later Honorius III) is elected as the 177th pope of the Catholic Church.

title: 1216

title: 1218


slug: pope-innocent-iv

label: Pope Innocent IV

description: pope of the Catholic Church from 1243 to 1254

date: June 25

text: June 25 – Pope Innocent IV succeeds Celestine IV as the 180th pope of the Catholic Church, after a sede vacante of 7 months.

title: 1243

section: Events › By topic › Religion

date: June 7

text: June 7 – Pope Innocent IV is driven from Rome by imperial forces of Emperor Frederick II, and travels secretly in disguise to Sutri. Genoese galleys prepared by his relatives are waiting for him at the port of Civitavecchia to take him to Genoa.

title: 1244

date: February 21

text: February 21 – Thomas, bishop of Turku (modern Finland), is granted resignation by Pope Innocent IV. He admits to committing several felonies, such as torturing and forging a papal letter.

title: 1245

text: Pope Innocent IV grants the Croatians of southern Dalmatia permission to use their own language and script in the Roman Rite liturgy (see Glagolitic alphabet).

title: 1248

text: King Conrad IV of Germany invades Italy, but fails to subdue the supporters of Pope Innocent IV.

title: 1251

section: Events › By place › Europe

text: May 15 – Pope Innocent IV issues the papal bull Ad exstirpanda, which authorizes the torture of heretics in the Medieval Inquisition. Torture quickly gains widespread usage across Catholic Europe.

title: 1252

date: October

text: October – Pope Innocent IV returns to Rome, after being deposed for 9 years by former Emperor Frederick II, whose clash forms an important chapter in the conflict between the Papal States and the Holy Roman Empire.

title: 1253

date: December 7

text: December 7 – Innocent IV, pope of the Catholic Church

title: 1254

date: May 21

text: May 21 – King Conrad IV, son of the late Emperor Frederick II, dies of malaria at Lavello (southern Italy). With Conrad's death a interregnum begins, during which no ruler manages to gain undisputed control of Germany. The 22-year-old Manfred, half-brother of Conrad, refuses to surrender Sicily to Pope Innocent IV and accepts the regency on behalf of Conrad's 2-year-old son Conradin ("the Younger").

title: 1254


slug: pope-john-paul-ii

label: Pope John Paul II

description: pope, cardinal, bishop, priest, author

section: Religion & Belief

date: March 11

text: March 11 – English Roman Catholic priest, Thomas Atkinson, is hanged, drawn, and quartered at York, at age 70 (he will be beatified by Pope John Paul II on November 22, 1987).

title: 1616

section: Events › March-April

date: January 30

text: January 30 – The state funeral of Sir Winston Churchill takes place in London with the largest assembly of dignitaries in the world until the 2005 funeral of Pope John Paul II.

title: 1965

section: Events › January–February

date: June 26

text: June 26 – Pope Paul VI ordains 27 new cardinals (one of whom is the future Pope John Paul II).

title: 1967

section: Events › June

date: October 16

text: October 16 – Pope John Paul II succeeds Pope John Paul I as the 264th pope, resulting in the first Year of Three Popes since 1605. He is the first Polish pope in history, and the first non-Italian pope since Pope Adrian VI (1522–1523).

title: 1978

section: Events › October

date: January 25

text: January 25 – Pope John Paul II arrives in Mexico City for his first visit to Mexico, mainly for 1979's Latin American Episcopal Conference (CELAM) or Conference of Puebla.

title: 1979

section: Events › January

date: June 2

text: June 2 – Pope John Paul II arrives in his native Poland on his first official, nine-day stay, becoming the first Pope to visit a Communist country. This visit, known as nine days that changed the world, brings about the solidarity of the Polish people against Communism, ultimately leading to the rise of the Solidarity movement.

title: 1979

date: October 1

text: October 1–7 – Pope John Paul II makes a six-city visit to the United States, starting in Boston.

title: 1979

date: July 9

text: July 9 – Pope John Paul II visits Brazil; seven people are crushed to death in a crowd waiting to see him at afternoon Mass at the stadium in Fortaleza.

title: 1980

section: Events › July

date: February 17

text: February 17–22 – Pope John Paul II visits the Philippines.

title: 1981

section: Events › February

text: January 15 – Pope John Paul II receives a delegation led by Polish Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa at the Vatican.

title: 1981

date: May 13

text: May 13 – Pope John Paul II assassination attempt: Pope John Paul II is shot by Mehmet Ali Ağca, a Turkish gunman, as he enters St. Peter's Square in Vatican City to address a general audience. The Pope recovers.

title: 1981

section: Events › May

date: May 12

text: May 12 – Spanish priest Juan María Fernández y Krohn tries to stab Pope John Paul II with a bayonet during the latter's pilgrimage to the shrine at Fátima.

title: 1982

date: December 27

text: December 27 – Pope John Paul II visits Rebibbia prison to forgive his would-be assassin Mehmet Ali Ağca.

title: 1983

section: Events › December

date: January 26

text: January 26 – 1983 Code of Canon Law: Pope John Paul II revises Roman Catholic canon law, the first such revision since 1917. Among the changes is a reduction in the number of offenses qualifying for automatic excommunication, from 37 to only seven.

title: 1983

date: January 6

text: January 6 – Pope John Paul II appoints a bishop over the Czechoslovak exile community, which the Rudé právo newspaper calls a "provocation." This begins a year-long disagreement between the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic and the Vatican, leading to the eventual restoration of diplomatic relations between the two states.

title: 1983

date: December 20

text: December 20 – Pope John Paul II announces the institution of World Youth Day for Catholic youths.

title: 1985

date: April 13

text: April 13 – Pope John Paul II officially visits the Great Synagogue of Rome, the first time a modern Pope has visited a synagogue.

title: 1986

section: Events › April

date: December 30

text: December 30 – Pope John Paul II issues the encyclical Sollicitudo rei socialis (On Social Concern).

title: 1987

date: December 1

text: December 1 – In a meeting with Pope John Paul II, General Secretary of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev pledges greater religious freedom for citizens of the Soviet Union.

title: 1989

text: January 25 – Pope John Paul II begins an eight-day tour of Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Burkina Faso and Chad.

title: 1990

date: September 1

text: September 1–10 – Pope John Paul II visits Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda and Ivory Coast.

title: 1990

section: Events › September

date: October 11

text: October 11 – The Catechism of the Catholic Church is promulgated by Pope John Paul II with his apostolic constitution, Fidei depositum.

title: 1992

date: October 12

text: October 12 – In the Dominican Republic, Pope John Paul II celebrates the 500th anniversary of the meeting of two cultures.

title: 1992

date: October 3

text: October 3 – After performing a song protesting against alleged Catholic Church child sexual abuse, Irish singer-songwriter Sinéad O'Connor rips up a photograph of Pope John Paul II on the US television programme Saturday Night Live, causing huge controversy.

title: 1992

date: October 31

text: October 31 – Pope John Paul II issues an apology and lifts the 1633 edict of the Inquisition against Galileo Galilei.

title: 1992

date: April

text: Pope John Paul II makes an official visit to Albania, accompanied by Mother Teresa. He counsels Albanian Catholics against supporting nationalist violence in Kosovo.

title: 1993

date: May 22

text: May 22 – Pope John Paul II issues the Apostolic Letter Ordinatio sacerdotalis from the Vatican, expounding the Catholic Church's position requiring "the reservation of priestly ordination to men alone".

title: 1994

date: January 21

text: January 21 - Pope John Paul II begins a 5-day visit to Cuba; Fidel Castro releases 300 political prisoners in a gesture of goodwill.

title: 1998

date: March 12

text: March 12 – Pope John Paul II apologizes for the wrongdoings by members of the Roman Catholic Church throughout the ages.

title: 2000

section: Events › March

date: May 6

text: May 6 – John Paul II visits Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, becoming the first pope ever to enter a mosque.

title: 2003

text: October 16 – Pope John Paul II holds mass to celebrate his 25th anniversary as pope, becoming the fourth pope to reach the milestone.

title: 2003

date: April 2

text: April 2 – Pope John Paul II dies; over four million people travel to the Vatican to mourn him. Pope Benedict XVI succeeds him on April 19, becoming the 265th pope.

title: 2005


slug: pope-john-viii

label: Pope John VIII

description: Head of the Catholic Church from 872 to 882

section: Deaths

date: December 14

text: December 14 – Pope Adrian II dies (at age 80), after a 5-year reign. He is succeeded by John VIII, as the 107th pope of Rome.

title: 872

date: December 29

text: December 29 – King Charles the Bald, supported by Pope John VIII, travels to Italy. He receives the Imperial Regalia at Pavia, and is crowned Holy Roman Emperor as Charles II at Rome.

title: 875

date: June

text: June – Synod of Ponthion: Charles II summons a council, in which a papal brief is read from Pope John VIII. He appoints Ansegisus as papal legate and primate over Gaul, in the West Frankish Kingdom.

title: 876

date: September 7

text: September 7 – Pope John VIII crowns Louis the Stammerer as king of the West Frankish Kingdom, in the cathedral at Troyes.

title: 878

date: June 7

text: June 7 – Pope John VIII recognizes the Duchy of Croatia, under Duke (knyaz) Branimir, as an independent state.

title: 879

text: Pope John VIII issues the bull Industriae Tuae, creating an independent ecclesiastical province in Great Moravia, with archbishop Methodius as its head. Old Church Slavonic is recognized as the fourth liturgical language, besides Latin, Greek and Hebrew.

title: 880

date: February 12

text: February 12 – King Charles the Fat, the third son of the late Louis the German, is crowned as Holy Roman Emperor by Pope John VIII at Rome.

title: 881

date: December 16

text: December 16 – Pope John VIII is assassinated at Rome after a 10-year reign, probably the victim of a political conspiracy. He is succeeded by Marinus I, as the 108th pope of the Catholic Church.

title: 882

text: December 16 – John VIII, pope of the Catholic Church

title: 882


slug: pope-john-xxii

label: Pope John XXII

description: pope of the Catholic Church from 1316 to 1334

section: Births

text: John XXII, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 1334)

title: 1249

date: August 18

text: August 18 – On the question of whether a prayer to the English Bishop Thomas de Cantilupe led to the miracle of the resurrection of William Cragh the day after Cragh's execution by hanging on November 27, 1290, Cragh himself testifies before a papal commission at a hearing in Hereford. Of 38 miracles alleged to have been the result of intercession by Cantilupe, the papal commission finds 12 of them doubtful, but accepts another 26 and recommends canonization. Pope John XXII will formally canonize Bishop Cantilupe on April 17, 1320.

title: 1307

section: Events › July – September

date: December 23

text: December 23 – At Avignon in France, Pope Clement V elevates nine bishops, all French, to the position of Roman Catholic cardinals. The nine include Jacques d'Euse, Bishop of Avignon, who will be elected Pope John XXII as Clement's successor in 1316.

title: 1312

section: Events › October – December

date: August 7

text: August 7 – After an interregnum (sede vacante) of two years, due to disagreements between the cardinals, French cardinal Jacques Duèze, Bishop of Avignon, is elected as successor to Pope Clement V, who died in 1314.

title: 1316

date: September 5

text: September 5 – The coronation of Jacques Deuze as Pope John XXII takes place at Avignon in France, as he becomes the 196th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church. His papacy will last until 1334.

title: 1316

date: August 21

text: August 21 – Hugues Géraud, the Catholic Bishop of Cahors who is implicated in a plot to assassinate Pope John XXII, is personally questioned by the Pope. Géraud is convicted on August 30 of witchcraft, sacrilege and the June 13 murder of Cardinal Jacques de Via, and is burned at the stake as punishment.

title: 1317

date: March 15

text: March 15 – Pope John XXII admonishes King Frederick III of Sicily to take severe measures against the Fraticelli, the Spiritual Franciscans who have broken with the Roman Catholic Church doctrine.

title: 1317

section: Events › January – March

date: March 31

text: March 31 – Pope John XXII claims imperial rights of government in Italy for the papacy. He erects the dioceses of Luçon, Maillezais, and Tulle and issues the decretal Spondent Pariter prohibiting alchemy.

title: 1317

date: September 13

text: September 13 – Pope John XXII appoints a commission of three members (Uberto d'Ormont, Bishop of Naples; Angelo Tignosi, Bishop of Viterbo; and notary Pandulpho de Sabbello) to take evidence on the matter of the canonization of Thomas Aquinas. Testimony is taken of 42 witnesses between July 21 and September 18, 1319.

title: 1318

text: September 13 – Pope John XXII issues the papal bull "Imminente Nobis", declaring that the Pope has the right of appointment to all clerical offices (archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors and collegiate and monasterial leaders) in the Roman Catholic Church, ending the right of the individual chapters to elect their own leaders.

title: 1319

date: January 20

text: January 20 – Duke Władysław I Łokietek ("Ladislaus the Short") becomes king of a reunited Poland, after receiving the approval from Pope John XXII. He is crowned, along with his wife Jadwiga of Kalisz, at the royal cathedral on Wawel Hill at Kraków. Wladysław's kingdom is surrounded by three hostile neighbors: Brandenburg, the Teutonic Order and Bohemia. Looking for allies, he makes an alliance with Charles I, ruler of Hungary.

title: 1320

date: June 23

text: June 23 – Pope John XXII approves a second inquiry into the matter of the canonization of Thomas Aquinas, with four commissioners to take testimony of witnesses.

title: 1321

section: Events › April – June

date: August 1

text: August 1 – Pope John XXII issues a general decree condemning the Fraticelli (Spriritual Franciscans) in the Kingdom of Naples, urging Robert, King of Naples ("the Wise") to suppress the adherents rebelling against Roman Catholic doctrine.

title: 1322

date: May 19

text: May 19 – At the request of King Charles IV of France, Pope John XXII annuls the marriage of Charles and Blanche of Burgundy. Blanche is transferred from prison to Gavray Castle.

title: 1322

date: July 18

text: July 18 – Thomas Aquinas, Italian priest and theologian, is canonized by Pope John XXII at the Avignon Cathedral and canonized as a saint.

title: 1323

date: November 12

text: November 12 – Pope John XXII issues the papal bull Cum inter nonnullos as an addendum to the December 8 bull Ad conditorem canonum, declaring that the assertion of the Fraticelli that Christ and the Apostles possessed no property (and advocated poverty as a Christian virtue) is a heresy.

title: 1323

text: William of Ockham, English Franciscan friar and philosopher, is summoned from Oxford to the papal court at Avignon; either at this time or later he comes into conflict with Pope John XXII and never returns to England.

title: 1324

date: July 11

text: July 11 – Pope John XXII declares that Louis IV will be deposed as King of the Romans because of his March 23 excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church. King Louis continues his reign and in the 1325 Treaty of Trausnitz makes his rival, the Habsburg claimant Friedrich, his co-king.

title: 1324

date: March 23

text: March 23 – Pope John XXII excommunicates Louis IV (Ludwig the Bavarian), King of the Romans, as Louis has not sought papal approval during his conflict against his rival Frederick the Fair. Louis, in turn, declares the pope a heretic, because of John's opposition to the view of the absolute poverty of Christ held by some Franciscans.

title: 1324

text: May 22 – Louis IV, King of the Romans, comes to the defense of the Spiritual Franciscans, delivering a sharp criticism of Pope John XXII, whom Louis describes as a heretic.

title: 1324

date: May 10

text: May 10 – Pope John XXII issues a papal bull to King Robert of Naples and to Charles, Duke of Calabria demanding the imprisonment of the Fraticelli in Naples and their leader, Fra Enrico da Ceva. The demand, and several subsequent admonitions, is ignored by Robert and Charles.

title: 1325

date: May 20

text: May 20 – Led by Michael of Cesena, the Michaelites, a French branch of the Spiritual Franciscans who have been accused of heresy within the Roman Catholic Church in a disagreement over the issue of a vow of poverty, assemble at Lyon in France and agree to make peace with the Church and to make no further disrespectful references to Pope John XXII.

title: 1325

date: February 10

text: February 10 – The Raid on Brandenburg begins as Polish-Lithuanian forces led by Władysław I Łokietek, "the elbow-high", King of Poland, and of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania under Gediminas, raid the territories of the Margraviate of Brandenburg (within the Holy Roman Empire), with the sanction of Pope John XXII. Władysław regards the Neumark (East Brandenburg) as Polish territory.

title: 1326

date: December 18

text: December 18 – Pope John XXII appoints 10 new Roman Catholic cardinals, the most during his papacy, including Jacques Fournier, who will succeed John as Pope Benedict XII in 1334.

title: 1327

date: October 23

text: October 23 – Pope John XXII condemns Marsilius of Padua's 1324 treatise Defensor pacis (The Defender of Peace). The excommunicated Marsilius flees to Germany and seeks protection at the court of King Louis IV. John also excommunicates Louis and demands that he relinquishes his claim to the imperial crown.

title: 1327

date: May 26

text: May 26 – William of Ockham secretly leaves Avignon, under threat from Pope John XXII.

title: 1328

section: Events

text: April – Antipope Nicholas V is excommunicated by Pope John XXII.

title: 1329

section: Events › January–December

date: March 27

text: March 27 – Pope John XXII issues a bull condemning some teachings of Meister Eckhart (who died last year) as heretical.

title: 1329

date: December 30

text: December 30 – Pope Benedict XII succeeds Pope John XXII, as the 197th pope.

title: 1334

date: December 4

text: December 4 – Pope John XXII (b. 1249)

title: 1334


slug: pope-julius-ii

label: Pope Julius II

description: pope of the Catholic Church from 1503 to 1513 (1443–1513)

date: December 5

text: December 5 – Pope Julius II (d. 1513)

title: 1443

text: Felice della Rovere, also known as Madonna Felice, the illegitimate daughter of Pope Julius II (d. 1536)

title: 1483

section: Religion & Belief

text: March 23 – After getting into a war with the Kingdom of Naples by siding with rebels in the Barons' Conspiracy, Pope Innocent VIII sends the Papal Legate, Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere (who will become later become Pope Julius II), as an envoy to the Kingdom of France to seek assistance from King Charles VIII. King Charles sends a delegation to Rome two months later, with no resolution made.

title: 1486

section: Events › January–March

date: November 1

text: November 1 – Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, Bishop of Ostia, is elected the 216th Roman Catholic Pontiff at the end of the year's second papal conclave and takes the papal name Pope Julius II. Della Rovere had received 15 of 32 votes in the September voting for a plurality, but still short of a majority. Julius II reigns for a little more than nine years until his death in 1513.

title: 1503

section: Events › October–December

date: July 20

text: July 20 – Pope Julius II issues an order reforming the official coinage of the Papal States, raising the silver content of the carlino coin to four grams. In that the Pope was formerly Giuliano della Rovere, the new coin is called the giulio in his honor and features the coat of arms of the della Rovere family.

title: 1504

section: Events › July–September

text: Old St. Peter's Basilica is demolished under the orders of Pope Julius II. Construction of the new basilica begins the following year.

title: 1505

section: Events › Date unknown

date: January 14

text: January 14 – Pope Julius II issues the papal bull Cum tam divino, decreeing a reform in the Roman Catholic Church to prohibit simony, the buying and selling of church offices ranging from bishops to the pope himself.

title: 1505

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

date: January 24

text: January 24 – Under the terms of the Treaty of Tordesillas, Pope Julius II sets the line of demarcation in the New World between Spain's and Portugal's territory as a line of longitude 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands. The ambiguous definition of the measure of a league places the line between 42°30' W to 49°45' W.

title: 1505

date: April 18

text: April 18 – Pope Julius II lays the foundation stone of the new (current) St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, replacing the Old St. Peter's Basilica.

title: 1506

section: Events › April–June

text: January 14 – The classical statue of Laocoön and His Sons is unearthed in Rome. On the recommendation of Giuliano da Sangallo and Michelangelo, Pope Julius II purchases it, and places it on public display in the Vatican a month later.

title: 1506

date: January 22

text: January 22 – The Swiss Guard arrives at the Vatican, to serve as permanent ceremonial and palace guards under Pope Julius II.

title: 1506

date: November 6

text: November 6 – Pope Julius II personally leads his troops into Bologna, retaking the city from the excommunicated tyrant Giovanni II Bentivoglio.

title: 1506

date: November 26

text: November 26 – Pope Julius II issues a damnatio memoriae forcing the members of the House of Borgia out of control of the Papal States.

title: 1507

section: Events › October—December

date: December

text: December – Michelangelo begins painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling in the Holy See of Rome, on a commission by Pope Julius II (signed May 10).

title: 1508

date: December 10

text: December 10 – The League of Cambrai is formed as an alliance against the Republic of Venice, between Pope Julius II, Louis XII of France, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Ferdinand II of Aragon.

title: 1508

date: February 4

text: February 4 – Maximilian, King of the Romans, proclaims himself Holy Roman Emperor at the Italian city of Trento, after having been blocked by Venice from traveling to Rome to be crowned by Pope Julius II.

title: 1508

section: Science & Discovery

date: November 29

text: November 29 – Astronomer Mikołaj Kopernik of Poland is granted benefits by Pope Julius II in order to perform his work.

title: 1508

date: April 27

text: April 27 – Pope Julius II places Venice under interdict and excommunication for refusing to cede part of Romagna to papal control.

title: 1509

text: March 23 – Pope Julius II issues the papal bull Petierunt a nobis, declaring his allegiance to the League of Cambrai.

title: 1509

date: February 15

text: February 15 – Peace treaty concluded between Pope Julius II and the Republic of Venice.

title: 1510

date: February 24

text: February 24 – In Rome, Pope Julius II revokes the interdict, imposed on the Republic of Venice in 1509.

title: 1510

text: July 11 – Pope Julius II summons Catholic clerics to meet at the Fifth Council of the Lateran, directing them to meet on April 19.

title: 1511

date: May 16

text: May 16 – Five Roman Catholic cardinals, including Federico di Sanseverino, sign a document calling upon Pope Julius II to convene a council in Pisa to discuss reform of the Roman Catholic Church, to take place on September 1. After the Pope threatens him with excommunication, Sanseverino elects not to attend.

title: 1511

date: October 4

text: October 4 – The Holy League is formed, against French dominance in Italy. It is an alliance between the Papal States, the Republic of Venice, and the Kingdom of Aragon, with several other powers joining later (the Swiss Confederation, the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of England). On the next day in Rome, the creation of the Holy League is publicly proclaimed by the Pope Julius II.

title: 1511

date: March 12

text: March 12 – Pope Julius II issues the papal bull Dilecte fili, declaring King Louis XII deposed and directing that the French throne be given to King Henry VIII of England.

title: 1512

section: Conflict & Security

date: September 1

text: September 1 – After being dispatched by Pope Julius II with command of a Spanish Army, General Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici recaptures the city of Florence (Firenze), capital of the Florentine Republic in Italy and ousts Piero Soderini as the ruling Gonfaloniere. The success at Florence spares the city of Rome from a French invasion. Within a year, Medici becomes leader of the Roman Catholic Church and the Papal States as Pope Leo X.

title: 1512

date: February 18

text: February 18 – Pope Julius II issues the papal bull Exigit contumaciam, declaring queen Catherine of Navarre and king John III of Navarre to be heretics for their refusal to participate with other Roman Catholic nations in the anti-French Holy League of 1511.

title: 1513

date: February 21

text: February 21 – Pope Julius II dies in Rome.

title: 1513

date: March 9

text: March 9 – Cardinal Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, the Apostolic Administrator of Amalfi but not ordained as a priest, is selected to succeed the late Pope Julius II as the 217th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. After two days, the selection is announced to the public and Medici takes the name of Pope Leo X, despite a strong challenge by Italian cardinal Raffaele Riario and his group of seniors, or cardinals that were elected by Sixtus IV and Innocent VIII, who are opposed to the relatively newer juniors that includes Medici.

title: 1513


slug: pope-leo-iii

label: Pope Leo III

description: Pope of the Catholic Church from 795 to 816 (born 750–816)

section: Births

text: Leo III, pope of the Catholic Church (d. 816)

title: 750

section: Deaths

date: December 25

text: December 25 – Pope Adrian I, age 95, dies after a 23-year reign, and is succeeded by Leo III as the 96th pope of Rome.

title: 795

section: Events › By topic › Religion

date: December 26

text: December 26 – Leo III is elected to serve as Pope on the day his predecessor Adrian I is buried, and is consecrated the following day.

title: 795

date: April 25

text: April 25 – Pope Leo III is physically attacked by a band of aristocratic conspirators, under the leadership of a public official who is a nephew of the late Pope Adrian I. After mistreatment and attempted disfigurement by the citizens of Rome, Leo flees to the court of King Charlemagne at Paderborn (modern Germany) to seek protection. He sends him back with Frankish agents, and restores him to the papal throne.

title: 799

text: December 25 – Charlemagne, king of the Franks, is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Leo III as Charles I, with the title "Emperor of the Romans". The coronation takes place during Mass at the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome, on Christmas Day. The Frankish Empire is formed in Western Europe, which is not recognized by Empress Irene at Constantinople. This triggers a series of disputes with the Byzantines around who is officially ruling the former Western Roman Empire.

title: 800

section: Events › Europe

text: The Palatine Chapel in Aachen (modern Germany) is consecrated by Pope Leo III.

title: 805

text: King Eardwulf of Northumbria is expelled from his kingdom by his rival Ælfwald II, who takes the throne. Eardwulf flees to the Frankish court of Charlemagne, and later visits Pope Leo III in Rome.

title: 806

section: Events › By place › Britain

text: Exiled king Eardwulf of Northumbria is able to return to his kingdom, with the support of Charlemagne and Pope Leo III. He ousts the usurper, King Ælfwald II.

title: AD 808

text: Council of Aachen (809): Frankish bishops adopt the filioque addition in the Creed. Pope Leo III intervenes, and refuses to recognize it as valid.

title: 809

date: June 12

text: June 12 – Pope Leo III dies after a 20-year reign, and is succeeded by Pope Stephen IV as the 97th pope of Rome.

title: 816

text: June 12 – Leo III, pope of the Catholic Church (b. 750)

title: 816


slug: pope-leo-x

label: Pope Leo X

description: pope from 1513 to 1521 (1475-1521)

title: 1512

date: June 28

text: June 28 – Pope Leo X sends a letter to Scotland's King James IV, threatening him with ecclesiastical censure or excommunication for breaking his peace treaties with England.

title: 1513

title: 1513

date: September

text: September – The dispute between Johann Reuchlin and Johannes Pfefferkorn concerning the Talmud and other Jewish books, is referred to Pope Leo X.

title: 1513

text: March 12 – A huge exotic embassy sent by King Manuel I of Portugal to Pope Leo X arrives in Rome, including Hanno, an Indian elephant.

title: 1514

date: December 18

text: December 18 – King Francis I of France, victorious in the battle of Marignano in Italy and the new ruler of Milan, begins four days of meetings in Bologna with Pope Leo X. King Francis agrees to ensure the Pope's authority over the Catholic Church in France, and Leo promises to support Francis' claim to the throne of Naples.

title: 1515

date: March 31

text: March 31 – Pope Leo X issues a papal bull, at the suggestion of the German cardinal Albert of Brandenburg, providing for a special indulgence on worshipers in four Roman Catholic dioceses in order to pay for construction of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, with half to be paid to Albert for services.

title: 1515

date: August 18

text: August 18 – King Francis I of France and Pope Leo X sign the Concordat of Bologna, agreeing on the relationship between church and state in France.

title: 1516

text: February 18 – After two months in Bologna, part of the Papal States in Italy, Pope Leo X concludes two months of negotiation with King François I of France. Their talks result in the abrogation of the French Pragmatic Sanction, and the conclusion of a new Concordat between the Papacy and France.

title: 1516

date: July 1

text: July 1 – In an unprecedented move, Pope Leo X increases the number of Roman Catholic cardinals, naming 31 people to the cardinalate including the Dutch-born Adriaan van Utrecht, bishop of Tortosa, who will later become Pope Adrian VI.

title: 1517

date: May 30

text: May 30 – At the request of Pope Leo X of the Roman Catholic Church, Martin Luther, father of the Protestant Reformation, writes a lengthy summary of his theology.

title: 1518

date: June 15

text: June 15 – Pope Leo X issues the bull Exsurge Domine (Arise O Lord), threatening Martin Luther with excommunication, if he does not recant his position on indulgences and other Catholic doctrines.

title: 1520

date: January 3

text: January 3 – Pope Leo X excommunicates Martin Luther, in the papal bull Decet Romanum Pontificem.

title: 1521

date: January 9

text: January 9 – The papal conclave to elect a successor to the late Pope Leo X is concluded as cardinal Adriaan Florensz Boeyens of the Netherlands, regent of Spain and bishop of Tortosa, is selected as a compromise candidate despite being absent from the proceedings. Cardinal Boeyens is proclaimed as Pope Adrian VI, the 218th pope and the last non-Italian pontiff for the next 450 years.

title: 1522


slug: pope-leo-xiii

label: Pope Leo XIII

description: Pope of the Catholic Church from 1878 to 1903 (1810–1903)

date: February 20

text: February 20 – Pope Leo XIII succeeds Pope Pius IX, as the 256th pope. His pontificate will last for 25 years.

title: 1878

section: Events › February

date: September 1

text: September 1 – Pope Leo XIII publishes the encyclical Supremi apostolatus officio ("On Devotion of the Rosary").

title: 1883

section: Events › September

date: April 20

text: April 20 – Pope Leo XIII publishes the encyclical Humanum genus, denouncing Freemasonry and certain liberal beliefs which he considers to be associated with it.

title: 1884

section: Events › April

date: May 15

text: May 15 – Pope Leo XIII issues the encyclical Rerum novarum, on the rights and duties of capital and labor, resulting in the creation of many Christian Democrat parties throughout Europe.

title: 1891

section: Events › May

date: December 8

text: December 8 – The various congregations of Trappists leave the Cistercian Order entirely and merge to form a new order with the approval of Pope Leo XIII named the 'Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe', formalising their identity and spirituality as a separate monastic community.

title: 1892

section: Events › December

text: Pope Leo XIII is filmed, making him the first ever Pope to be filmed and the earliest-born person to be captured on film. (Note: to view the event in the video above, go to timestamp 3:07)

title: 1896

date: October 9

text: October 9 – Ignatius Ephrem II Rahmani is elected as the new Patriarch of Antioch, leader of the Syriac Catholic Church, subject to the approval of Pope Leo XIII, which is made on November 28.

title: 1898

section: Events › October

date: June 11

text: June 11 – Pope Leo XIII issues a declaration of the consecration of the entire human race to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The consecration follows the issuance of his papal encyclical Annum sacrum, declaring 1900 to be a Holy Year and directing all Roman Catholic churches in the world to implement the Prayer of Consecration to the Sacred Heart during the period of June 9 to June 11, 1899.

title: 1899

section: Events › June

date: May 11

text: May 11 –Pope Leo XIII declares that 1900 will be a jubilee year.

title: 1899

date: August 4

text: August 4 – Pope Pius X succeeds Pope Leo XIII as the 257th pope.

title: 1903

section: Events › August

date: September 4

text: September 4 – Pope Benedict XVI becomes the longest-lived pope at 93 years, 4 months, and 16 days, surpassing Pope Leo XIII, who died in 1903.

title: 2020