| c. 120 |
Probable date of writing of Sepher Yetzirah |
| c. 200 |
Most (or all) of the Corpus Hermeticum written by this time |
| c. 260 |
Gallienus recognizes Christianity as a lawful religion |
| 311 |
Arius becomes a presbyter of Alexandria |
| 325 |
Council of Nicea, presided over by Constantine, who was not a Christian at this point. Arianism declared a heresy. Bishops of the See of Rome, founded by St. Peter; Alexandria, founded by St. Mark; and Antioch, sometime residency of St. Mark; recognized as heads of the Hierarchy of the Church |
| 336 |
Death of Arius |
| 354 |
Birth of St. Augustine |
| 382 |
Damasus I comissions St. Jerome to translate scriptures into Latin |
| 405 |
St. Jerome completes the Vulgate |
| 410 |
Sack of Rome by the Visigoths. Since they are Arian Christians, they spare all Christian edifices. Pantheon was a Christian church by this time |
| 411 |
Cyril becomes Patriarch of Alexandria. Library sacked |
| 415 |
Hypatia killed by Christian mob |
| 425 |
Death of Proclus, head of the Platonic Academy of Athens |
| 428 |
Nestorius becomes Patriarch of Constantinople |
| 430 |
Death of St. Augustine |
| 431 |
Council of Ephesus. Nestorianism declared a heresy |
| 451 |
Council of Chalcedon. Monophysitism declared a heresy |
| 476 |
Fall of Rome |
| 507 |
Clovis I, founder of the Merovingian line, invades the Visigothic kingdom which would become Septimania and drives them from their capital at Narbonne |
| 529 |
Justinian shuts down the Platonic Academy at Athens |
| 570 |
Birth of Mohammed |
| 600 |
Sepher Yetzirah definitely written before this time |
| 632 |
Death of Mohammed |
| 711 |
Moors overrun the Visigothic kingdom south of the Pyrenees |
| 719 |
Moorish invasion of southern France begins |
| 720 |
Septimania controlled by Moors. It becomes an autonomous principality with capital at Narbonne |
| 732 |
Battle of Poitiers, at which Charles Martel checks the advance of the Moorish hordes |
| 737 |
Pepin the short attempts to take Narbonne, but it is successfully defended by its Gothic and Jewish population, let by its governor Yusuf |
| 738 |
Charles Martel drives the Moorish invaders back to Narbonne, which, defended by both Moors and Jews, proves impregnable |
| 747 |
Aumar ben Aumar becomes governor of Narbonne |
| 752 |
Pepin the Short, son of Charles Martel and father of Charlemagne, brings Septimania under his control. Narbonne, however, still holds out for another seven years |
| 754 |
Pepin the Short aids Pope Stephen II against the Longobards in Italy. Appearance of the forged "Donation of Constantine," which asserts that the "Bishop of Rome" is the "Vicar of Christ," and has the status of Roman Emperor. After this point, the Pope wields supreme authority over both the spiritual and secular affairs of Western Christendom. Ceremonies of coronation and annointment devised. Pepin the Short crowned and annointed by the Pope at Ponthion, and becomes the first "created" King |
| 759 |
Fall of Narbonne to the Franks. [Note: I find what follows to be extremely suspect -T.H.] Pepin the Short makes pact with the Jewish population of Narbonne, under siege since 752, whereby they endorse his claim to the biblical succession, by which he hoped to legitimize his claim to the Merovingian lands he had usurped. In return, he would ensure the independence or at least autonomy of the Jews, and recognize a Jewish King of Septimania. Jewish population of Narbonne slaughers Moorish defenders and opens gates to Pepin's army |
| 768 |
Principality of Septimania created, with nominal alliegance to Pepin. Theodoric, of Merovingian descent, becomes King of Septimania. The device on his shield is the Lion of Judah. He is recognized by both Pepin and the Caliph of Baghdad as "the seed of the royal house of David" and King of the Jews. He marries Pepin's sister, Alda. [Note: I find the preceding claims to be extremely suspect -T.H.] Death of Pepin the Short. Accession of Charlemagne as King of Neustria and Austrasia. Letter from Pope Stephen III to the Sons of Pepin, which expresses "distress unto the point of death" over the grant of (especially Church) lands to the Jewish Kingdom. He states that since it was all right for God to break ancient spiritual promises to the Jews because of the Crucifixion of Jesus, it was a much lesser issue for Kings to break promises to Jews over temporal matters |
| 771 |
Charlemagne becomes King of all the Franks |
| 778 |
Charlemagne leads an expedition across the Pyrenees to harass the Moors. Roland, of the Chanson de Roland, accompanies him |
| 792 |
Guilhem de Gellone, son of Theodoric, founds Caballistic academy and library at Gellone
|
| 800 |
Charlemagne, crowned and annointed Holy Roman Emperor on Dec. 25. End of the Dark Ages, beginning of the Middle Ages |
| 803 |
Guilhem de Gellone captures Barcelona, thus extending the Kingdom of Septimania to straddle the Pyrenees. Kingdom of Septimania confirmed by Charlemagne as a permanent institution |
| 806 |
Guilhem of Gellone retires to academy of Gellone |
| 812 |
Death of Guilhem de Gellone, King of Septimania |
| 814 |
Death of Guilhem de Gellone, King of Septimania |
| 830 |
Al-Ma'mun, son of Haroun al-Raschid, passes through Harran on his way to a war at Constantinople. He threatens the pagan inhabitants of Harran with extinction if they don't convert to one of the accepted religions. They decide to call themselves "Sabians," and adopt the writings of Hermes Trismegistus as their "Scripture." |
| 835 |
Birth of Thabit ibn Qurra, founder of the community of Sabians at Baghdad |
| 862 |
John Scotus Eriugena translates Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite into Latin |
| 872 |
Thabit goes to Baghdad |
| c. 901 |
Death of Thabit ibn Qurra |
| 949 |
Birth of St. Symeon the New Theologian, monk of Mt. Athos who claimed to have seen divine light on a regular basis and was a great influence on the Hesychasts |
| 961 |
St. Athanasius the Athonite begins building monasteries on Mt. Athos |
| c. 1000 |
Psellos starts a Hermetic revival in Constantinople. His copy of the Corpus Hermeticum is translated by Ficino 450 years later. Death of St. Athanasius the Athonite |
| 1022 |
Death of St. Symeon the New Theologian |
| 1034 |
Birth of Hassan-i-Sabbah, "The Old Man Of The Mountain," founder of the Hashishim |
| 1037 |
Death of Avicenna at Hamadan, Persia |
| c. 1050 |
Order of Knights Hospitaller of St. John of Jerusalem founded by a group of religious laymen from Amalfi, Italy |
| 1054 |
East-West Schism between the Roman and Byzantine Churches |
| 1071 |
Jerusalem falls to the Seljuk Turks |
| 1087 |
Peter Gerard or Gerard the Blessed becomes Abbot-Master of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem |
| 1090 |
Hasssan-i-Sabbah seizes fortress of Alamut in Persia |
| 1091 |
Birth of St. Bernard of Clairvaux |
| 1094 |
Hassan-i-Sabbah breaks with Fatimid Caliphate |
| 1095 |
Peter the Hermit and Pope Urban II preach the need for a crusade throughout Europe. Urban holds a synod at Piacenza, and then gives a famous speech at Clermont, France, which Peter attends. Peter inspires the Paupers' Crusade. He claims that Jesus appeared to him in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre |
| 1096 |
First Crusade begins. Peter the Hermit leads one of the five sections of the paupers to Constantinople. All his followers killed in Asia Minor. He returns to Constantinople |
| 1098 |
Holy Lance discovered at Antioch by Peter Bartholomew. Jerusalem falls to the Fatimid Caliph of Cairo |
| 1099 |
Jerusalem falls to the Crusaders on July 15. Entire native population of Jerusalem slaughtered by the Crusaders under Godfroi de Bouillon. Church of the Holy Sepulchre captured. Godfroi de Bouillon refuses the Kingship, but becomes "Advocate of the Holy Sepulchre." |
| 1100 |
Death of Godfroi de Bouillon. Kingdom of Jerusalem begins on Christmas Day with the crowning of Baudoin de Bouillon, Godfroi's brother |
| 1113 |
Pascal II issues a Bull sanctioning the constitution of the Knights Hospitaller |
| 1118 |
Foundation of the Knights Templar in Jerusalem |
| 1120 |
Count Fulk V of Anjou, later King of Jerusalem and father of Geoffrey Plantagenet, joins the Knights Templar |
| 1128 |
St. Bernard writes In Praise of the New Knighthood advocating the Knights Templar. Knights Templar chartered and fully recognized as a religious-military body with Hugh de Payns as first Grand Master |
| 1131 |
Fulk of Anjou becomes King of Jerusalem |
| 1136 |
First recorded grant of land to the Knights Templar, by Matilda of Boulogne, Queen of England and great-niece of Baudoin I. Death of Hugh de Payns |
| 1139 |
Bull issued by Innocent II, protege of St. Bernard, freeing Knights Templar from alliegance to all other temporal authorities than the Pope himself, thereby making them an autonomous international "superkingdom" |
| 1143 |
Death of King Fulk of Jerusalem. Accession of first native-born King, Baudoin III, to the throne of Jerusalem. Peter, Venerable of Cluny, condemns to Louis VII the Jews of Narbonne, who claim to have a King residing there. Death of Byzantine Emperor John Comnenus |
| 1144 |
Theobald, Bishop of Cambridge refers to "the seed of David residing at Narbonne" |
| 1145 |
Eugenius III, disciple of St. Bernard, elected Pope. He issues two bulls advocating the Templars |
| 1146 |
Templars granted the right to wear the cross pattée by Eugenius III |
| 1149 |
First Cathar bishopric founded |
| 1153 |
Death of St. Bernard |
| 1161 |
London Order of the Temple moves to New Temple, between Fleet Street and the Thames |
| c. 1165 |
Forged letter from Prester John spreads through Europe |
| 1173 |
Canonization of St. Bernard |
| 1177 |
Pope Alexander III sends a letter to Prester John |
| 1184 |
William of Tyre begins his history, which has come to be the standard historian's reference on the Knights Templar |
| 1187 |
Disastrous battle of Hattin. Jerusalem falls to Saladin. Saladin allows the Knights Hospitaller to stay an extra year to finish their curing of the sick |
| 1192 |
Richard the Lionheart sells Cyprus to the Knights Templar, who in turn sell it to Guy de Lusignan. He becomes King |
| 1198 |
Foundation of the Teutonic Knights at Acre |
| c. 1200 |
Sepher-ha-Bahir written in southern France, perhaps by Isaac the Blind |
| 1209 |
Beginning of the Albigensian Crusade |
| 1229 |
Teutonic Knights begin conquest of Prussia |
| 1232 |
Birth of Ramon Llull ("Dr. Illuminatus"), first Christian Cabalist writer |
| 1233 |
Holy Inquisition founded by the Dominicans |
| 1234 |
Teutonic Knights become independent of all authority except the Pope, like the Templars |
| 1241 |
Alexander Nevsky defeats the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of the Ice |
| 1243 |
Siege of Montségur |
| 1244 |
End of the Albigensian Crusade |
| 1245 |
Thomas Aquinas goes to Paris and becomes the student of Albertus Magnus |
| 1248 |
Albertus Magnus sent to Cologne to teach. Thomas Aquinas goes with him |
| 1259 |
Maltese cross granted exclusively to the Order of St. John of Jerusalem (Hospitallers) by Bull of Pope Alexander IV |
| 1265 |
Llull joins the Franciscan order |
| 1275 |
Moses de Leon composes and compiles Sepher-ha-Zohar |
| 1283 |
Llull writes Blanquerna, the first Catalan novel, perhaps the first novel |
| 1285 |
Llull goes to Tunis. He escapes from a mob there |
| 1286 |
Llull meets with Philip IV at Paris |
| 1288 |
Llull visits Nicholas IV at Rome |
| 1291 |
Fall of Acre to the Muslims. Knights of St. John expelled from Jerusalem. They go to Cyprus. Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights retreats to Venice |
| 1292 |
Llull goes to Tunis. He escapes from a mob there and goes to Naples |
| 1296 |
Birth of St. Gregory Palamas, monk of Mt. Athos and Hesychast leader who claimed he could see the Light of God |
| 1299 |
James II of Aragon gives Llull permission to preach in synagogues and mosques |
| 1301 |
Llull visits Cyprus and Armenia |
| 1302 |
Llull returns to Mallorca, probably via Rhodes and Malta |
| 1305 |
Llull meets with Clement V at Lyons |
| 1306 |
Duns Scotus meets Llull at Paris |
| 1307 |
On Friday, October 13, all seneschals of France open secret sealed orders at dawn. Hundreds of Templars are arrested and imprisoned. Teutonic Knights accused of heresy by Bishop of Riga. Mt. Athos sacked by Spanish mercenaries. Ninety percent of its monasteries destroyed. Llull goes to Bougia in Africa, where he is imprisoned for six months. He sets out for Genoa, buy is shipwrecked off the coast of Pisa |
| 1309 |
Llull meets with Clement V at Avignon |
| 1310 |
Hundreds of Templars burned on the orders of Philip IV and Archbishop Marigny. Knights of St. John (Hospitallers) move from Cyprus to Rhodes where they can be in charge. They become commonly known as the "Knights of Rhodes." Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights transfers his seat to Marienburg on the Vistula. Philip IV meets with Llull and gives him a letter of commendation |
| 1311 |
Llull at Council of Vienne |
| 1312 |
Suppression of the Knights Templar by Clement V, who is reluctant and has been dragging his feet for years on the matter. Order of St. John of Jerusalem receives all their vast holdings. Llull founds school on Mallorca |
| 1314 |
Jacques de Molay, last Templar Grand Master, roasted over a slow fire in Paris. French and Scottish Templars fight at the side of Robert the Bruce at Battle of Bannockburn. Llull goes to Bougia, then to Tunis |
| 1315 |
Death of Ramon Llull, probably at Palma, perhaps after being stoned by a mob at Bougia |
| 1317 |
John XXII issues decretal against the practice of alchemy |
| 1337 |
Orhan I, son of Osman I, establishes capital at Bursa, starting what would become the Ottoman Empire |
| 1339 |
Hesychast controversy begins at Constantinople |
| 1348 |
Black Plague ravages Europe |
| 1351 |
Boccaccio completes Decameron. Hesychasm made a doctrine of the Eastern Orthodox Church |
| 1354 |
Gallipoli falls to the Ottoman Turks, giving them their first foothold in Europe. Cola di Rienzi fails to restore the Roman Republic |
| c. 1358 |
Birth of George Gemistos Plethon |
| 1359 |
Death of St. Gregory Palamas |
| 1360 |
First professorship of Greek established at Florence under the influence of Petrarch and Boccaccio |
| 1368 |
Hesychasm confirmed as dogma of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Gregory Palamas canonized |
| 1387 |
Manuel Chrysolorus begins a three-year stint teaching Greek at the University of Florence. Bruni is his pupil |
| 1389 |
Birth of Cosimo de' Medici |
| 1391 |
First siege of Constantinople by the Turks |
| 1401 |
Birth of Nicholas of Cusa |
| 1408 |
Birth of Bessarion at Trebizond |
| 1410 |
Defeat of the Teutonic Knights by Ladislaus at Tannenberg |
| c. 1415 |
Birth of John Argyropoulos. Birth of George Ripley |
| 1424 |
Antilia first appears, on the nautical chart of the Venetian Pizzigano |
| 1425 |
Antilia appears on a map now in the Library of Weimar that may be the first attempt to represent the New World |
| 1426 |
Antilia appears on the Venetian Andrea Bianco's map, and most maps made after this time |
| 1429 |
Brunelleschi begins the building of the dome of the Florentine Cathedral |
| 1431 |
Council of Basle convenes. Cardinal Cesarini appointed President of the Council by Eugenius IV. Bessarion goes to study for five years under Plethon |
| 1433 |
Birth of Marsilio Ficino at Figline near Florence |
| 1434 |
John Argyropoulos teaching at university in Padua. Eugenius IV driven out of Rome by a mob. He seeks refuge in Florence |
| 1435 |
Council of Basle issues decree inviting the Greeks to Basle to remove their heresy |
| 1436 |
Bessarion recalled to Constantinople, where he heads Monastery of St. Basil. Council of Basle splits |
| 1437 |
The minority after the split of the Council of Basle, "the healthier part," votes to invite the Greeks to Florence. A delegation led by Nicholas of Cusa goes to Constantinople to invite them. Council of Basle majority members send a party to insist on Basle as the location for the Council, but they arrive in Venice after the delegation has already embarked, on the Papal fleet, to the accompaniment of an earthquake. Bessarion ordained and consecrated Bishop, although he is underage by regulation for the office |
| 1438 |
Cardinal Cesarini defects from the the Council of Basle to the Pope's party. He goes to Ferrara. Council of Ferrara begins. Cardinal Cesarini is chief spokesman for the Latin side. Nicholas of Cusa remains to report to the Pope. He brings back from Constantinople a manuscript of Proclus's Platonic Theology which he gives in Ferrara to Ambrose Traversari, student of Manuel Chrysolorus, for translation. Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini of Siena, the future Pope Paul II, attends a dinner in Ferrara and meets Plethon and debates Plato and Aristotle with him |
| 1439 |
Majority party of Council of Basle elects anti-Pope Felix V. Pope Eugenius IV declares the Council of Basle to be dissolved. Cosimo de' Medici invites the Council of Union to Florence, which he says can easily defray the cost. The Greeks are welcomed with a speech in their own language by Leonardo Bruni, student of Manuel Chrysolorus. Eugenius IV (still in exile from Rome) and Emperor John Paleologus instigate a new reunion of the Eastern and Roman Churches, which is opposed by most of the Greeks, including Plethon. John Argyropoulos and Bessarion in attendance. Plethon spends most of his time lecturing on Plato to laymen. Cosimo attends eagerly. Cosimo begins to send his agents to many countries looking for ancient manuscripts |
| 1440 |
Lorenzo Valla exposes the fraudulent nature of the Donation of Constantine, the keystone of the Papal claim to temporal sovereignty. Eugenius IV (still in exile from Rome) creates Bessarion, disciple of Plethon, a cardinal of the Roman church. John de Lastic, Grand Master of the Hospitallers, repels an invasion of Rhodes from Egypt |
| 1441 |
John Argyropoulos returns to Constantinople. Bessarion takes up residence in Rome and assumes a Cardinal's hat |
| 1442 |
End of Council of Florence |
| 1444 |
John de Lastic repels another invasion of Rhodes from Egypt. Cosimo de' Medici founds first public library in Florence. Delegation arrives in Constantinople from Italy to enforce the decree of Union signed in Florence in 1439. Death of Brunelleschi |
| c. 1448 |
Nicholas of Cusa becomes a Cardinal |
| 1449 |
Anti-Pope Felix V resigns. Actual dissolution of the Council of Basle. Birth of Lorenzo "Il Magnifico" de' Medici |
| 1450 |
Bessarion becomes Papal legate to (or is made governor of) Bologna |
| 1452 |
Death of Geroge Gemistos Plethon. Scholarios (a.k.a. Gennadios) burns Plethon's Book of Laws. By this time, Marsilio Ficino has become interested in Platonism |
| 1453 |
Constantinople falls to the Ottoman Turks |
| 1454 |
Teutonic Knights cede Prussia to the King of Poland. Ficino writes his first philosophical works |
| 1455 |
John Argyropoulos goes to Florence at the invitation of Cosimo de' Medici. Pope Nicholas V dies. Bessarion almost elected to replace him, but is denied because of his Greek birth. Calixtus III finally elected. Bessarion leaves Bologna. Birth of Johann Reuchlin at Pforzheim, Wurttemberg |
| 1456 |
John Argyropoulos reaches Florence from Constantinople at invitation from Cosimo de' Medici. He becomes a lecturer at the Florentine Studio. Around this time Ficino begins to study Greek. Bessarion in Naples. Gutenberg prints the Vulgate at Mainz |
| 1459 |
Marsilio Ficino becomes pupil of Greek instructor John Argyropoulos. Bessarion completes In Calumniatorem Platonis, against George of Trebizond. Bessarion campaigns in Italy for the expulsion of the Turks from Constantinople. Papal letter authorizes George Ripley to leave St. Mary’s Priory at Bridlington in Yorkshire and study abroad |
| 1460 |
An agent of Cosimo, Leonardo da Pistoia, brings a manuscript, originally belonging to Psellos, of the Corpus Hermeticum to Florence from Macedonia. Bessarion in possession of a manuscript (not Psellos's) of the Corpus Hermeticum. Bessarion made Papal legate to Germany. He campaigns in Germany and Vienna for expulsion of the Turks |
| 1461 |
Bessarion leaves Germany |
| 1462 |
Cosimo gives Marsilio Ficino a villa at Careggi near Florence. Probable date of the founding of the Platonic Academy of Florence. Ficino translates the Orphic Hymns and begins singing them. He also translates the Sayings of Zoroaster. Birth of Johannes Trithemius at Trittenheim |
| 1463 |
Cosimo de' Medici commands Ficino to put aside the Platonic manuscripts and translate the Corpus Hermeticum first. Ficino completes the translation, which becomes his most-published work. Bessarion in Venice. Birth of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola |
| 1464 |
Lorenzo de' Medici becomes a student at the Platonic Academy. Sigismondo Malatesta, condottiere of Rimini, leads an invasion of the Peloponnese, exhumes Plethon's remains and buries them in a sarcophagus in the outer wall of the Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini. Death of Cosimo de' Medici. Death of Nicholas of Cusa. Printing reaches Italy |
| c. 1464 |
Bessarion in Rome; he founds a Platonic Academy which meets in his home. Sometime after this year, Bessarion donates to Venice his library of 800 Greek manuscripts, which becomes the nucleus of the Biblioteca Marciana. It contains the Corpus Hermeticum and the Corpus Alchimisticum |
| c. 1466 |
Birth of John Colet |
| 1468 |
Ficino finishes his translation of Plato into Latin, the first complete translation into any western language |
| 1469 |
Lorenzo "Il Magnifico" de' Medici becomes ruler of Florence at 20. Printing reaches Venice. Bessarion's In Calumniatorem Platonis published at Rome. Bessarion sends a copy of it to Ficino. Ficino begins the Theologia Platonica. Birth of Giles of Viterbo |
| 1470 |
By this time, the Hermetic frescoes in Borso d'Este's Palazzo Schifanoia in Ferrara are completed. Perotti begins to publicize the Bessarionis Academia in Rome. Invention of lower-case type in Venice. Printing reaches France |
| 1471 |
Publication of Ficino's translation of the Corpus Hermeticum at Florence. John Argyropoulos goes to Rome. George Ripley writes Compound of Alchymy... Divided Into Twelve Gates.... Printing reaches Utrecht (The Netherlands) |
| 1472 |
Ficino ordained a priest. Bessarion in France. Death of Bessarion at Ravenna |
| 1473 |
Printing reaches Poland (Cracow) |
| 1474 |
Ficino completes the Theologia Platonica. Reuchlin matriculates at Basle. Printing reaches Spain |
| c. 1475 |
De alchemia, the first printed work on alchemy, published at Venice |
| 1476 |
Peter d'Aubusson becomes Grand Master of the Knights of St. John (Hospitallers). William Caxton brings printing to England. George Ripley writes Medulla philosophiae chemicae |
| 1477 |
Reuchlin gets M.A. from Basle. George Ripley made a chamberlain by Innocent VIII (no contemporaneous reference for this) |
| 1478 |
Ripley returns to England (no contemporaneous reference for this) |
| 1479 |
Peter d'Aubusson defends Rhodes against the fleet of Mohammed II, as a result of which he gains international fame in Europe. Pico goes to Ferrara and begins to study philosophy at the University |
| 1480 |
Pico studies philosophy at the University of Padua, where he is a pupil of the Jewish Averroist Elia del Medigo |
| c. 1480 |
Mosaics of Hermes Trismegistus and Fortuna in the Siena Cathedral begun |
| 1481 |
Reuchlin goes to Tubingen, intending to become a professor, but instead enters the service of Duke Eberhard I of Württemberg, who needs an interpreter for his upcoming trip to Italy. Zizim, son of Mohammed II, proclaimed Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, after successfully wresting the throne from his brother, Bajazet II |
| 1482 |
Zizim defeated. He takes refuge with the Knights of St. John on Rhodes, who give him their famous Hospitality in return for constant peace with d'Aubusson and his successors, non-interference with commerce to, in, or from Rhodes or other Aegean islands, free access to all ports and provinces to sell merchandise tax-free, the right to remove 300 Christians a year from Zizim's dominions, the return of all islands which the Ottoman Empire had "stolen" from the Knights of Rhodes, and payment of the sum of 150,000 gold crowns. Reuchlin, in the service of Eberhard, goes to Florence and meets with Ficino, then to Rome where he becomes the pupil of John Argyropoulos. Trithemius finishes his studies at Heidelberg |
| 1483 |
Peter d'Aubusson accepts a bribe from Bajazet II and betrays Zizim, locking him in prison. Trithemius becomes Abbot of Sponheim |
| 1484 |
Ficino's translation of Plato published at Florence. Pico della Mirandola settles in Florence. He meets Ficino and convinces him to translate Plotinus. Heinrich Kramer and James Sprenger publish Malleus Maleficarum (The Hammer of Witches) |
| 1485 |
Pico visits the University of Paris |
| 1486 |
Marsilio Ficino completes the translation of Plotinus into Latin. Pico returns to Florence from Paris, then moves to Perugia, where he studies Hebrew and Arabic under several Jewish teachers. He becomes interested in the Jewish Cabala. Then he goes to Rome and publishes the 900 Theses, which he offers to defend against all comers. He even offers to pay the way of the challengers. The 900 Theses are the first fusion of Hermeticism and the Kabbalah, the birth of the Hermetic Cabala. Innocent VIII, influenced by the Malleus Maleficarum, issues a papal bull condemning witches. Beginning of European witch craze. Birth of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa in Cologne. Death of John Argyropoulos |
| 1487 |
Pico's Apologia and The Dignity of Man published. Pope Innocent VIII issues Bull condemning the 900 Theses, ending the debates, and naming a Commission of Inquisition. Pico flees to France, where he is arrested and jailed under papal authority |
| 1488 |
Pico is released into the custody of Lorenzo Il Magnifico. He lives in Florence under "house arrest." James IV of Scotland issues charter Fratribus Hospitalis Hierosolimitani, Militibus Templi Solomonis (Brothers of the Hospital of Jerusalem, Knights of the Temple of Solomon), which reaffirms all the ancient rights and privileges of the Hospitallers and also the Templars. Hermes Trismegistus mosaic completed in the Siena Duomo |
| 1489 |
Pierre d'Aubusson delivers Zizim to Pope Innocent VIII. In return he is made Cardinal. Ficino publishes De vita coelitus comparanda (On Drawing Down the Life of Heaven). Pico publishes Heptaplus |
| 1490 |
Reuchlin goes to Florence, where he meets with Pico. Lorenzo de' Medici, at the exhortation of Pico, invites Savanarola to return to Florence. Death of George Ripley at Boston, Yorkshire |
| 1492 |
Expulsion of the Jews from Spain by Ferdinand and Isabella. Ficino's translation of Plotinus completed and published at Florence. Ficino's translation of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite completed. Rodrigo Borgia elected Pope as Alexander VI. John Colet leaves England to study on the Continent. Reuchlin goes on a mission from Eberhard to HRE Frederick III at Linz. He begins to study Hebrew under Frederick's body-surgeon Jakob Loans. Death of Lorenzo "Il Magnifico" de' Medici at age 44 |
| 1493 |
Pope Alexander VI Borgia issues Bulls exonerating Pico and approving the 900 Theses. He also writes a personal letter to Pico himself, stating Pico is a faithful son of the Church inspired by Divine Greatness, which is published in every subsequent edition of Pico's works |
| c. 1493 |
Birth of Theophrastus Paracelsus von Hohenheim at Einsiedeln, Switzerland |
| 1494 |
Medicis exiled from Florence; Ficino retires to the country. Ficino succeeds in casting out Saturnian demons by astrological means. Reuchlin's De Verbo Mirifico published at Basle. Jacques Lefèvre d'Etaples publishes Ficino's Pimander at Paris. Death of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola from fever, perhaps induced by poison, at age 31 |
| 1495 |
Alexander VI receives a 300,000 ducat bribe from Bajazet II. Zizim dies under suspicious circumstances in Naples, after a 12-year imprisonment, probably poisoned by Alexander. Ficino again succeeds in casting out Saturnian demons by astrological means. Trithemius publishes his catalogue of famous Germans at Mainz, the first important bibliography |
| 1496 |
Reuchlin flees to Heidelberg from Stuttgart upon the death of Eberhard I. He visits Trithemius and his library at Sponheim. John Colet returns to Oxford. Ficino's commentaries on Plato published |
| 1497 |
Ficino's translation of Iamblichus published. Giles of Viterbo associates with Ficino in Florence, learns about Pico and begins to study Hebrew. Giles of Viterbo called to Rome to preach to Alexander VI |
| 1498 |
Philip, Elector of the Palatinate, sends Reuchlin on a mission to Rome to find Hebrew texts that lasts two years. While there, he studies Hebrew under Obadiah Sforno. John Colet ordained priest. He reads Pico's Heptaplus and Ficino's Thelogia Platonica and Epistolae. Printing reaches Tübingen (Germany) |
| 1499 |
John Colet corresponds with Ficino. He finishes his abstract of Celestial Hierarchies by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. John Colet meets Erasmus. Death of Marsilio Ficino at Careggi |
| 1500 |
Reuchlin returns to Heidelberg and discovers he can return to Stuttgart, where he goes and rejoins his wife |
| c. 1500 |
Reuchlin given high judicial post in the Swabian League, in which he remains until 1512. Trithemius writes Steganographia, a book ostensibly concerned with summoning and using spirits to carry messages over long distances, but is also about codes, and forms the basis of modern Internet encryption. Peter d'Aubusson expels all adult Jews from Rhodes, and forcibly baptizes all remaining Jewish children. Birth of Joachim Camerarius the Elder at Bamberg, Bavaria |
| 1502 |
Birth of Gerolamo Cardano at Pavia |
| 1503 |
Death of Peter d'Aubusson |
| 1504 |
John Colet becomes Dean of St. Paul's, London |
| 1505 |
Jacques Lefèvre d'Etaples publishes Pimander and Asclepius together for the first time, establishing the modern form of the Corpus Hermeticum |
| 1506 |
Maximilian I offers Trithemius a lifelong pension. Trithemius becomes Abbot of St. Jakob at Würzburg. Agrippa organizes a secret society in Paris, whose members are sworn to aid each other with astrology, magic, Cabala, and alchemy |
| 1507 |
Melanchthon goes to Pforzheim, birthplace of his great-uncle Reuchlin, to study at the Latin school. At the urging Reuchlin, Melanchthon changes his name from Schwarzerdt ("Black-earth") to its Greek form. Birth of Christoph von Carlowitz near Dresden |
| 1508 |
Trithemius visits Maximillian I in Vienna. Through Trithemius's arts, Maximilian is able to have a conversation with his dead wife. Erasmus stays with Manutius in Venice for eight months |
| 1509 |
Agrippa moves to Dole and sets up an alchemical laboratory. Agrippa lectures on Reuchlin's De Verbo Mirifico at the University of Dole. Paracelsus matriculates at Basle and studies alchemy under Trithemius |
| 1510 |
Thomas More publishes The Lyfe of John Picus, Earle of Mirandula, a translation of the Latin biography by Giovanni Francesco della Mirandola, Pico's nephew. Agrippa studies under Trithemius. Agrippa dedicates De occulta philosophia to Trithemius, to whom he sends a copy. Trithemius responds positively. Maximilian I sends Agrippa as ambassador to London. He stays with John Colet |
| c. 1510 |
"Portrait of a Notary in the Character of St. Fiacre" painted by Quentin Massys, showing a notary holding a quill, rose, and cross in his right hand |
| 1511 |
Rechlin libelled by Pfefferkorn. Birth of Michael Servetus |
| 1512 |
Agrippa lectures at Pavia on Plato. Birth of Gerardus Mercator at Rupelmonde, Flanders |
| 1513 |
Paracelsus goes to Italy for three years. During this time he studies under Johannes Manardus at Ferrara |
| 1514 |
Birth of George Rheticus at Feldkirch, Austria |
| 1515 |
Erasmus meets Reuchlin at the Frankfurt book fair. Agrippa lectures at Pavia on Ficino's Pimander. Birth of Ramus at Picardy, France |
| 1516 |
Agrippa lectures on theology at Turin. Final resolution of Reuchlin's libel by Pfefferkorn, with all charges dismissed, after great cost and investigation by the Inquisition. A preliminary version of More's Utopia published at Louvain, edited by Erasmus. Birth of Conrad Gesner at Zurich. Death of Johannes Trithemius at Würzburg |
| 1517 |
Martin Luther nails his 96 Theses to the door of the church in Wittenburg. Beginning of the Reformation. Reuchlin's De Arte Cabbalistica published at Hagenau |
| 1518 |
Melanchthon becomes first professor of Greek at Wittenberg. Birth of Hubert Languet at Vitteaux, France |
| 1519 |
Reuchlin flees famine and civil war in Wurttemberg and teaches Greek and Hebrew at Ingolstadt. Agrippa, now public advocate in Metz, defends Jacques Lefèvre d'Etaples, student of Ficino and Pico and publisher of the Corpus Hermeticum. More's Utopia published at Basle. Birth of Johannes Crato at Breslau. Death of John Colet at London |
| 1520 |
Agrippa returns to Cologne from Italy. He receives the magical portion of Trithemius's library. Christoph von Carlowitz matriculates at Leipzig |
| 1521 |
Emperor Charles V denounces Luther at Diet of Wörms. Erasmus moves to Basle. Reuchlin flees plague at Ingostadt and teaches Greek and Hebrew at Tubingen. Camerarius the Elder goes to Wittenberg and meets Melanchthon |
| 1522 |
Suleiman the Magnificent, Emperor of the Ottoman Empire, lays naval siege to Rhodes. European powers send no assistance. Paracelsus in Venice as military surgeon. Death of Johannes Reuchlin at Bad Liebenzell, Wurttemberg |
| 1523 |
Knights of St. John (Hospitallers) expelled by the Ottoman Turks from Rhodes. During the next seven years, they go to Crete, then Messina in Sicily, then Baia near Naples, then Civita Vecchia northwest of Rome, then Rome, then Viterbo, then Cumae near Naples, then Nice |
| 1524 |
Agrippa becomes court astrologer to Francis I of France. He writes Commentary on Ars brevis of Ramon Llull. Camerarius the Elder meets Christoph von Carlowitz at Dresden. It is probably Carlowitz who goes to Basle and delivers letters from Melanchthon and Camerarius to Erasmus |
| 1525 |
Giorgi's De Harmonia Mundi published at Venice. Albert of Hohenzollern, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, converts to Lutheranism. He secularizes all lands east of Poland. Birth of Tadeash Hajek at Prague. Birth of Caspar Peucer at Bautzen |
| 1526 |
Paracelsus goes to Strasbourg, where he is enrolled in the grain merchants' guild (not the physicians'). Birth of Carolus Clusius in the Netherlands. Birth of Augustus, future Elector of Saxony, at Freiberg. Birth of Bavor Rodovsky at Hustirany, Bohemia |
| 1527 |
Paracelsus goes to Basel, where he receives an appointment as town physician at the urging of Erasmus. Christoph von Carlowitz edits Valla's Antidoti against Poggio Bracciolini, for the publisher Fuchs at Cologne. He matriculates at Louvain. He visits Erasmus again at Basle, and stays with him. Birth of John Dee at London. Birth of Abraham Ortelius at Antwerp. Birth of Albert Laski |
| 1528 |
Agrippa moves to Antwerp, where he sets up an alchemical laboratory. At the bidding of Margaret of Austria, he becomes Charles V's historiographer. Paracelsus leaves Basel. Camerarius the Elder writes Melanchthon about Christoph von Carlowitz. Erasmus's Ciceronianus refers to Christoph von Carlowitz with great praise. Erasmus recommends Carlowitz repeatedly to Duke George of Saxony |
| 1529 |
Thomas More becomes Chancellor of England. Christoph von Carlowitz leaves Basle. Erasmus recommends him to Ferdinand I and Duke George of Saxony for employment. Duke George hires him and sends him on a mission to England |
| 1530 |
Clement VII, former member of the Order of the Knights of St. John, intercedes with Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who gives complete sovereignty over Malta, Gozo, and Tripoli in Africa to the Knights, in return for promise that the Knights will protect these areas. The Knights become commonly known as the Knights of Malta. Meeting of Luther and Servetus. Duke George of Saxony sends Carlowitz on a mission to Poland. Carlowitz becomes Duke George's privy councilor. Erasmus congratulates him |
| 1531 |
Giles of Viterbo completes his exhaustive study of the Cabala for Clement VII (Giulio de' Medici). Henry Cornelius Agrippa's De occulta philosophia published at Antwerp. Birth of Johannes Sambucus in Tyrnau, Hungary (now Trnava, Slovakia). Birth of Leonhard Thurneysser at Basel |
| 1532 |
Postel publishes Sepher Yetzirah at Paris. Mercator gets M.A. from Louvain. Death of Giles of Viterbo. Birth of William IV of Hesse at Cassel. Birth of Anne of Denmark, daughter of Christian III |
| 1533 |
Charles V sentences Agrippa to death for heresy. He flees to France, where he is imprisoned. Charles V commutes sentence to exile. Agrippa released from prison, and is last seen in Grenoble. Rheticus matriculates at Wittenberg. Birth of Queen Elizabeth, only child of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Birth of Andreas Dudith at Buda, Hungary. Birth of Hugo Blotius at Delft. Birth of Theodore Zwinger at Basle. Death of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa at Grenoble |
| 1534 |
Christoph von Carlowitz becomes steward of Zorbig. Birth of Isaac Luria at Jerusalem. Birth of Joachim Camerarius the Younger at Nuremberg |
| 1535 |
Crato matriculates at Wittenberg. He lives with Luther for six years, where he meets Melanchthon and both Camerariuses. Camerarius the Elder's edition of Ptolemy's Tetrabiblios published at Nuremberg. Camerarius the Elder becomes professor of Greek and Latin at Tubingen. Thomas More executed for refusing to recognize Henry VIII as supreme head of the Church in England. Birth of Giambattista della Porta at Vico Equense, near Naples. Birth of Vilem Rozmberk at Schutzendorf, Austria |
| 1536 |
Queen Elizabeth decided illegitimate by Parliament. Meeting of Calvin and Servetus. Paracelsus publishes Die grosse Wundartzney (The Great Surgery Book). Ramus gets M.A. from University of Paris. Rheticus gets M.A. from Wittenberg. He becomes professor of mathematics and astrology at Wittenberg on the recommendation of Melanchthon. Birth of Albert Laski |
| 1537 |
Paracelsus visits Pressburg. Gesner becomes professor of Greek at the newly-opened Academy of Lausanne |
| 1538 |
Servetus defends himself against complaints by the medical faculty of Paris about his lectures on astrological medicine. Rheticus meets Camerarius the Elder at Tubingen. Camerarius the Elder called to Vienna by Maximilian II. Mercator's map contains the Island of Seven Cities, the new name for Antilia |
| c. 1538 |
Birth of Daniel Rogers, nephew of Ortelius, at Wittenberg where his father is studying under Melanchthon |
| 1539 |
Rheticus goes to Frauenburg and meets Copernicus, with whom he stays for two years. Birth of Faustus Socinus at Siena. Birth of Peter Vok Rozmberk at Cesky Krumlov |
| 1540 |
Birth of Petrus Severinus at Ribe, Denmark |
| c. 1540 |
Martin Luther praises alchemy in Table Talk, DCCLX. Gesner matriculates at Montpelier |
| 1541 |
Rheticus presents his Tabula chorographica auff Preussen und etliche umbliegende lender (Map of Prussia and Neighboring Lands) to Albert, Duke of Prussia. Rheticus makes Albert a machine to calculate the length of the day at different times of the year. In return for these favors, Albert recommends to Duke John Frederick of Saxony and the University of Wittenberg that Rheticus be allowed to publish Copernicus's De revolutionibus orbium caelestium. Rheticus returns to his teaching post at Wittenberg, at Albert's request. Gesner gets medical degree at Basle and then moves to Zurich, where he practices medicine. De alchemia (a different one than that of Venice 1475) published at Nuremberg by Petreius. Birth of David ben Solomon Gans. Death of Theophrastus Paracelsus von Hohenheim at Salzburg |
| 1542 |
Dee matriculates at Cambridge. Crato gets M.A. from Wittenberg. Augustus, future Elector of Saxony, goes to Vienna, where he begins a lifelong friendship with the future Maximilian II. With the aid of Melanchthon and Camerarius, Rheticus goes to Leipzig where he beomes a professor of mathematics for three years. Birth of Petrus Severinus at Ribe, Denmark |
| 1543 |
Copernicus's De revolutionibus orbium caelestium, source of our connotation of "revolutionary" ideas, published at Nuremberg by Petreius under the supervision of Rheticus. Ramus publishes Aristotelicae animadversiones, attacking Aristotle. Charpentier accuses him of undermining the foundations of philosophy and religion. The case is referred to Francis I, who enjoins Ramus from further lecturing. Christoph von Carlowitz is Duke (later Elector) Moritz's official representative at Leipzig. He associates with Rheticus there. Peucer matriculates at Wittenberg. Birth of Francesco Pucci at Florence. Birth of Simon Studion |
| 1544 |
Mercator charged with heresy. He is imprisoned for seven months before charges are dropped. Vilem Rozmberk schooled at Passau until 1550 |
| 1545 |
Beginning of the Council of Trent, and thus of the Counter-Reformation. Servetus begins fatal correspondence with Calvin. Sambucus matriculates at Wittenberg. Rheticus in Italy |
| 1546 |
At the urging of Luther, who does not think him fit for the clergy, and the reccomendation of Melanchthon and Camerarius the Elder, Crato matriculates at Padua. He studies under Montanus. Rheticus "suffers a severe mental disorder in Lindau, Bavaria." Christoph von Carlowitz in charge of secret negotiations leading to alliance between Charles V and Duke Moritz of Saxony. Birth of Tycho Brahe at Knutsdorp, Denmark (now Sweden). Birth of Thomas Digges at Wotton. Death of Martin Luther |
| 1547 |
Calvin refuses to return Servetus's manuscript and prevents its publication in Germany. Ban on Ramus lifted by Henry II at the plea of Charles of Lorraine. Postel translates the Sepher-ha-Bahir into Latin. Dee meets Mercator in the Netherlands. William IV governs Hesse, until 1552. Cardano'a Aphorismorum astronomicorum, containing hundreds of horoscopes, published at Nuremberg. Rheticus goes to Zurich and studies medicine under Gesner for two years. He teaches at Constance |
| c. 1547 |
Crato gets Ph.D. from Padua and travels Italy with Paul and Johann Baptist Hainzel. Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol becomes Viceroy of Bohemia, until 1567. Birth of Magnus Pegel at Rostock |
| 1548 |
Dee gets M.A. from Cambridge and goes to study at Louvain. Augustus, future Elector of Saxony, marries Anne of Denmark, daughter of Christian III and close friend of Tycho's adoptive mother. Languet gets law degree from University of Padua. Rheticus returns to Leipzig. Sambucus matriculates at Ingolstadt and studies under Petrus Apianus. Birth of Giordano Bruno at Nola, Italy |
| 1549 |
Languet goes to Wittenberg. He stays with Melanchthon. He converts to Calvinism. Clusius goes to Wittenberg. On Melanchthon's advice, he abandons law and studies philosophy. He meets Sambucus. Final volume of Gesner's Bibliotheca universalis, a list of every book ever printed in Latin, Greek and Hebrew, published at Basle. Rheticus dedicates his edition of Euclid to Christoph von Carlowitz. Birth of Sir Henry Savile in Yorkshire |
| 1550 |
Dee lectures on Euclid at the University of Paris. He meets Guillaume Postel and Turnebus. Sambucus matriculates at Strasbourg. Clusius writes to Languet. Peucer marries Melanchthon's daughter Magdalena. Vilem Rozmberk goes to Vienna and becomes an agent for Ferdinand I. Crato returns to Breslau where he becomes town physician. Birth of John Napier at Edinburgh. Birth of Johannes Matthias Wacker von Wackenfels at Constance |
| 1551 |
The Knights of Malta lose Tripoli in Africa to Selim Pasha, who then unsuccessfully attacks Malta. Cardano's De Subtilitate Rerum published at Nuremberg by Petreius. The first volume of Gesner's Historiae animalium, the foundation of modern zoology, published at Zurich. Sambucus matriculates at University of Paris, where he meets Turnebus and Ramus. Rheticus publishes Canon doctrinae triangulorum, the first six-function trigonometric table. After an affair with a male student, Rheticus forced to flee Leipzig. He goes to Chemnitz, then to Prague and studies medicine for two years. He is tried in Leipzig in absentia and sentenced to 101 years of exile. His property is confiscated. Vilem Rozmberk tours Italy with Maximilian II |
| 1552 |
Postel publishes Latin translation of the Sepher Yetzirah at Paris. Dee meets Cardano in Southwick. He becomes tutor to Robert Dudley, future Earl of Leicester. Mercator moves to Duisburg, Cleves where he spends the rest of his life as Cosmographer to the Duke. Gesner publishes Thesaurus... de remediis secretis, on distillation, pseudonymously at Zurich. Sambucus gets Ph.M. from University of Paris. William IV of Hesse resumes his astronomical studies. Christoph von Carlowitz is the negotiator for Duke Moritz of Saxony at the Peace of Passau. As a result of his efforts, he is ennobled to Knight of the Holy Roman Empire at Innsbruck. Vilem Rozmberk returns to Bohemia and starts to transform Cesky Krumlov castle into a Renaissance palace like those he saw in Italy. Birth of Rudolf II at Vienna |
| 1553 |
Servetus finally gets Christianismi Restitutio (Christianity Restored) published. Inquisitor-general of Lyons takes up investigation of Servetus. He is questioned on March 16 and arrested on April 4. He escapes from prison on April 7. He is arrested in Geneva on August 7. The Law of Justinian, allowing for capital punishment, which had been discarded in 1535, is revived for the occasion. Servetus is sentenced on October 26 and burned in Geneva on October 27 (Calvin had advocated he be beheaded). Postel condemns Calvin's actions. Postel completes Latin translation of the Zohar. Daniel Rogers exiled from England. Dudith secretary to Cardinal Pole, the papal legate to England, until 1557. Augustus becomes Elector of Saxony. He and Anne move to Dresden. Christoph von Carlowitz is his privy councilor. Carlowitz acquires the estate of Rothenhaus in Bohemia, which includes the town of Gorkau. Peucer publishes Elementa doctrinae de circulis coelestibus, edited by Crato. Thurneysser captured by the Saxon army and put to work in the mines. Vilem Rozmberk meets Hajek, who does a one-year astrological forecast for him. Birth of Johannes Krabbe at Hanover. Birth of Thomas Muffet |
| c. 1553 |
Rheticus goes to Breslau for a short time and studies medicine under Crato. Zwinger goes to Paris and studies under Ramus |
| 1554 |
Marriage of Mary Tudor to Philip II of Spain. Turnebus publishes the full Corpus Hermeticum, including the parts Ficino did not have, at Paris. Cardano publishes In Cl. Ptolemaei de astrorum iudiciis, containing the horoscope of Jesus, at Basle. Postel goes to Vienna to teach for two years at the invitation of Charles V. Languet begins correspondence with Camerarius the Elder, which lasts until Camerarius's death. Languet begins correspondence with Camerarius the Younger, which lasts until 1579. Gesner becomes city physician of Zurich. Hajek goes to Milan and meets Cardano. Dudith leaves Hungary for Northern Italy and settles temporarily in France, where he meets Joachim Perion (translator of Pseudo-Dionysus the Areopagite) and Hubert Languet. He studies under Turnebus. He also visits England as secretary to Cardinal Pole sometime before 1558. Peucer becomes professor of mathematics at Wittenberg. Rheticus moves to Cracow and practices medicine for 20 years. Birth of Sir Philip Sidney. Birth of Fulk Greville |
| 1555 |
After casting the natal charts of Mary, Philip II, and Elizabeth, Dee is imprisoned for several months for attempting to "enchant" the Queen (Mary). Ramus publishes Dialectique, the first work on Dialectics in French. Postel imprisoned by the Inquisition at Rome for four years. Gesner publishes Mithridates de differentiis linguarum, a survey of 130 languages and containing the Lord's Prayer in 22 of them, at Zurich. Christoph von Carlowitz is the negotiator for Duke Augustus of Saxony at the Peace of Augsburg. Sambucus studies at University of Padua. Maybe he receives a medical degree. Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol lays the cornerstone of the Star Summer Palace, which may have been the inspiration for Christian Rosenkreuz's tomb. Hajek becomes professor of mathematics at Prague. Birth of Edward Kelley at Worcester |
| 1556 |
Crato moves to Vienna. Rheticus employs six assistants at his alchemical laboratory in Cracow until 1568. Hajek accompanies Vilem Rozmberk on his Hungarian campaign agains the Turks as physician and botanist |
| 1557 |
Christoph von Carlowitz becomes Governor of Joachimsthal and its mines until 1565. Cardano's De rerum varietate published at Basle |
| 1558 |
Accession of Queen Elizabeth to throne of England. Sepher-ha-Zohar printed in Hebrew at Mantua. Della Porta publishes Magiae Naturalis, the core of his later, similarly titled work. Dudith leaves France and matriculates at Padua, where he meets Stephen Bathory. Sambucus becomes a tutor to Joseph Fugger at Venice and Padua for a year. He publishes two pseudepigraphic Platonic dialogues, Axiochus and Second Alcibiades at Vienna |
| 1559 |
Death of Leonard Digges, father of Thomas, who becomes the ward of John Dee. Mercator and Ortelius travel together in Germany and France for a year. Mercator inspires Ortelius to become a geographer. With a recommendation from Melanchthon, Languet enters service of Augustus, Elector of Saxony for 18 years. Robert Dudley becomes Garter knight. Birth of Johan (Jan) Tserclaes, Count of Tilly |
| c. 1559 |
Crato dismissed as town physician of Breslau under suspicion of Calvinism |
| 1560 |
Crato becomes body surgeon to Ferdinand I. Dudith acts as spokesman for Ferdinand I at Council of Trent and receives the Bishopric of Pecs (Hungary). Gesner begins correspondence with Zwinger that lasts until his (Gesner's) death. Peucer writes to Clusius. Thurneysser enters the service of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria (A.K.A. Ferdinand of Tyrol), on whose instruction he visits England, France, Bohemia, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and North Africa to research metallurgy. Peucer becomes professor of medicine at Wittenberg. Birth of Heinrich Khunrath. [period unknown] Before this time, Hajek has been a regular correspondent with Melanchthon |
| c. 1560 |
La Valette refuses to allow a tribunal of the Holy Inquisition on Malta. Birth of Oswald Croll. Birth of Jan Zbynek Zajic z Hazmburka |
| 1561 |
Ramus converts to Calvinism. Sambucus meets Clusius at Paris. Clusius gives him a copy of Schonerus's Tabulae Astronomicae. Clusius, who has already met Hubert Languet, is brought by Crato to Breslau to become the mentor of Thomas Rhediger, also at the recommendation of Peucer. Clusius dedicates a work to Sambucus. William IV of Hesse builds an observatory with a rotating top at Cassel. Gesner begins correspondence with Crato that lasts until his (Gesner's) death. Hajek publishes Aphorismi Metoposcopici. Dudith has a copy. Daniel Rogers receives Arts degree from Oxford. Birth of Duncan Liddel at Aberdeen |
| 1562 |
Buchanan becomes tutor to Mary, Queen of Scots. Ramus converts to Calvinism. He proposes sweeping restructure of the University of Paris. He suggests a Chair of Mathematics. He flees from Paris to Fontainebleau. Postel returns to Paris. Camerarius the Younger gets Doctor of Medicine degree from University of Bologna. He returns to Nuremberg and practices medicine. Tomash Jordan visits Gesner at Zurich. Hajek translates Matthioli's Herbal into Czech. Dudith speaks at Council of Trent and causes controversy. Peter Vok Rozmberk travels in the Netherlands and England at the invitation of William of Orange. He is received by Queen Elizabeth. Sepher Yetzirah in Hebrew printed at Mantua |
| 1563 |
End of Council of Trent. Beginning of Counter-Reformation. Della Porta publishes De Furtivis Literarum Notis, a work on cryptography containing the first known digraphic substitution cipher. Ramus returns to Paris. John Dee meets Gesner at Zurich, who introduces him to Paracelsus's works. Dee meets Rangoni at Venice and Commandino at Urbino. He visits Maximilian II at Pressburg, takes part in his coronation as King of Hungary and meets Maximilian's Paracelsan physician and herbalist Bartholomeus Carrichter. He discovers Trithemius's Steganographia in manuscript, which gives him ideas about angel summoning. Peter Vok Rozmberk returns to Bohemia and turns Bechyne Castle into a Renaissance palace |
| 1564 |
Dee returns to England and moves to Mortlake. His Monas Hieroglyphica, dedicated to Maximillian II, published at Antwerp. Ramus invites Rheticus to teach at Paris. Gesner receives Imperial patent of nobility from Maximilian II. Archduke Ferdinand becomes Duke of Tyrol. He still serves as Viceroy of Bohemia for the next three years. Rudolf II's horoscope cast by Nostradamus. Hajek publishes a tract on astrology. Crato returns to Breslau. Sambucus returns to Vienna and becomes body-surgeon and Court Historian to Maximilian II. His Emblemata published at Antwerp by Plantin. It contains emblems dedicated to Dudith, Ramus, Clusius, Turnebus, Cardano and Adriano Spadafora (della Porta's uncle). Birth of Karel Zerotin at Brandys, Moravia. Birth of Shakespeare |
| 1565 |
Daniel Rogers meets Dousa at Paris. Nostradamus moves to Paris at the invitation of Catherine dei Medici and becomes body-surgeon to her son Charlex IX. Crato becomes body-surgeon to Maximilian II. Dudith ambassador for Maximilan II to Sigismund II, King of Poland, at Cracow. Antonin Michael von Ebbersbach in service to Vilem Rozmberk by this time. Eventually he becomes director of Vilem's mines, his extensive alchemical laboratory, and overseer of the herb garden at Cesky Krumlov. Selim Pasha resoundingly defeated at Malta by La Valette. Death of Conrad Gesner at Zurich, from plague |
| 1566 |
Postel sentenced to house arrest by the Parisian Parlement and spends the rest of his life confined in the monastery of St. Martin des Champs. Della Porta publishes Arte del ricordare (The Art of Memory) at Naples. Albert Laski becomes Palatine of Sieradz. Purkircher settles in Pressburg. Camerarius the Elder completes biography of Melanchthon. Sambucus publishes a map of Hungary. Birth of the future James VI of Scotland, a.k.a. James I of England, son of Mary, Queen of Scots, at Edinburgh. Birth of Michael Sendivogius at Lukowica. Birth of Johann Jesensky at Breslau. Death of Nostradamus at Paris |
| c. 1566 |
Henry Savile collects manuscripts on the Continent. Rodovsky buys the manor of Radostov u Nechanic, east of Prague, and sets up an alchemical laboratory there. Birth of Sendivogius at Lukawica, Poland |
| 1567 |
Ramus sends Dee a copy of his Proemium Mathematicum. Ramus flees Paris. His house is burned and his library destroyed while he is away. Dee purchases a manuscript containing most of the Corpus Alchimisticum. He later gives it to Moritz of Hesse (now the Codex Casselianus). James VI crowned King of Scotland at age 1. Brucaeus goes to Rostock. Tycho studies under him. Crato ennobled as "von Krafftheim" by Maximilian II. Maximilian II allows the Jews to return to Bohemia. Dudith is excommunicated for marrying a Polish noblewoman; they settle in Cracow. William IV gives up astronomy to govern Hesse upon the death of his father |
| 1568 |
Ramus spends the next two years in Germany and Basle, where he renews his friendship with his former pupil Zwinger and becomes godfather to Zwinger's son. Blotius and Zwinger meet at Basle and form a friendship. Crato created Count Palatine by Maximilian II. Camerarius the Elder visits Vienna. Cardano publishes his Latin translation of Ptolemy at Basle. Tycho matriculates at Basle. Birth of Christian von Anhalt at Bernberg |
| c. 1568 |
Probable meeting of Sir Philip Sidney and Sir Henry Savile at Christchurch. Dudith meets Rheticus at Cracow. Birth of Tommaso Campanella in Calabria |
| after 1568 |
Sambucus lends Camerarius the Elder unpublished letters by Chrysoloras, Bessarion and 600 letters from Greek Fathers. He lends Camerarius the Younger his manuscript of Palladius's Epistolae de Indiae gentilibus, which Camerarius publishes. |
| 1569 |
Albert Laski finances the translation of two treatises by Paracelsus into Latin and their publication at Cracow. Tycho and Blotius work together on constuction of a quadrant at Basle. Tycho goes to Augsburg where he joins a Platonic Academy. Other members are Jerome Wolf, who could speak Greek more fluently than Latin, Paul Hainzel, who would later finance the construction of Tycho's Great Quadrant, and J. H. Hainzel, patron of Bruno, the latter two of whom were travelling companions of Crato twenty years earlier. Tycho also studies alchemy there. Severinus goes to Basle and meets Zwinger. Thurneysser publishes Archidoxa, dedicated to Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. Birth of Michael Maier at Kiel |
| 1570 |
Walsingham becomes ambassador to France. At his house at Paris, Sidney, Rogers, Languet and Dousa meet. Ortelius's Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, inspired by Mercator, published at Antwerp by Plantin. Peucer becomes body-surgeon to Augustus, Elector of Saxony. Tycho meets and confers with Ramus at Augsburg. He ceases practice of astronomy and devotes himself exclusively to alchemy. Cardano arrested for heresy for publishing the horoscope of Jesus. Christoph von Carlowitz is the Imperial mediator at the Peace of Stettin. Blotius goes to Venice. Jarosh Griemiller goes to work in Vilem Rozmberk's alchemical laboratory. Ortelius's map contains the Island of Seven Cities (Antilia) |
| c. 1570 |
Daniel Rogers meets George Buchanan at Paris. Tycho a student of Caspar Peucer at Wittenberg. Peucer is a correspondent of William IV of Hesse at some point. He serves as intermediary between the Bohemian Brethren and Germany |
| 1571 |
Thomas Digges publishes Mathematical Discourse of Geometrical Solids, a study of Platonic and Archimedean solids, which contains a description of how a telescope could be created. Ramus returns to Paris under protection of Charles IX, but is again banned from lecturing. Pucci visits France and England. Thurneysser becomes body-surgeon to Johann Georg, Elector Brandenburg. His laboratory at the Greyfriars' abbey at Berlin eventually employs 300 people. George Buchanan visits Copenhagen and probably meets Tycho. Severinus becomes body-surgeon to Frederick II of Denmark. Maximilian II and his wife have a procession through the streets of Jewish Town in Prague to show his solidarity with the Jews. Sambucus publishes a map of Transylvania. Hajek knighted by Maximilian II. Birth of Johannes Kepler in Württemberg |
| 1572 |
St. Bartholomew's Day massacre. 30,000 Calvinists are murdered in France. Ramus is one of them, stabbed while at prayer in his house, perhaps by Charpentier. Languet escapes death only because of the intercession of the Bishop of Orleans. Sidney and Duplessis-Mornay take refuge with Walsingham at the English embassy. Tycho discovers new star in Cassiopeia on Nov 11, thus dethroning Aristotle. He begins to practice astronomy again. At Burghley's request, Digges provides his astrological interpretation of the new star. Pegel becomes professor of mathematics and astrology at Rostock. Justus Lipsius goes to Vienna, where he joins the Sambucus-Crato circle. Sambucus sends a map to Ortelius, which appears, reworked, in a later edition of Ortelius's Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. Pucci meets Lipsius at Leiden. He goes to Oxford. Cardano, out of prison and at Rome, receives a stipend for life from Gregory XIII. Annaburg renamed for Anne of Denmark, wife of Augustus. She establishes two large, well-equipped laboratories, one for medicines and the other for alchemy, and the State Pharmacy of Saxony. Vilem Rozmberk appointed by Maximilian II to lead the negotiations over the Polish throne. Rudolf II becomes Garter knight. Death of Isaac Luria from plague |
| 1573 |
Thomas Digges publishes Alae seu scalae mathematicae, dedicated to Burghley, containing his measurement of parallax of the new star and conclusion that it must be higher than the moon. While studying abroad, Sidney meets, at Paris, Ramus and Hubert Languet, also, at Venice, Albert Laski. Clusius becomes herbalist to Maximilian II in Vienna. He begins to correspond with Camerarius and Landgrave William IV of Hesse. Clusius and Sambucus guests of Purkircher at Pressburg. Sambucus writes to Ortelius, thanking him for the copy of Theatrum Orbis Terrarum which he sent him. Languet summoned to Vienna. Sidney travels to Austria and stays with Crato, Clusius, and others. Sidney and Clusius visit Pressburg. Lipsius becomes professor of history at Jena on the recommendation of Camerarius the Elder. Rodovsky imprisoned in the Black Tower of Prague as a debtor as the result of borrowing money from usurer Aron Munk to finance his alchemical experiments |
| 1574 |
Hajek publishes Dialexis, a treatise on the new star of 1572. Tycho gives a lecture series that contains Paracelsan and Ficinian themes and a defense of astrology. Augustus of Saxony uncovers a plot and cracks down on Crypto-Calvinists. Peucer deprived of his professorship at Wittenberg and imprisoned for twelve years for Crypto-Calvinism. Crato and Languet bring printer Esrom Rudiger to Moravia from a hostile Wittenberg. Severinus writes to Pistorius. Thurneysser publishes Quinta essentia at Berlin. Sidney goes to Vienna. He stays with Languet. He meets Banosius. Wacker writes to Sidney. Sidney recommended to Dudith by Languet. Sidney in Cracow and Moravia. Pucci gets M.A. from Oxford. He becomes lecturer in theology. Socinus moves to Basle. Rheticus moves to Kassa at the invitation of Johannes Ruben. Rodovsky publishes Secreta Aristotelis, dedicated to Vilem Rozmberk. In return, Rozmberk bails Rodovsky out of jail. Radovsky goes to work for Vilem Rozmberk. Birth of Robert Fludd at Bearstead. Birth of Moritz of Hesse at Cassel. Death of Joachim Camerarius the Elder at Leipzig. Death of George Rheticus at Kassa, Hungary (now Kosice, Slovakia). He bequeaths his library to Hajek |
| 1575 |
Elizabeth and her Privy Council visit Dee at Mortlake with the express purpose of seeing his library. Sidney and Languet leave Vienna and go to Prague via Brno. At Prague, they stay with Hajek. Sidney meets with Maximilian II. He sends poems to Tomash Jordan. Languet, who stays behind with Hajek, sends Sidney to Dresden with a letter of introduction to Augustus of Saxony. Sidney returns to England, and he and Edward Dyer study "chymistry" with John Dee. Wacker writes Sidney from Vienna, where he is welcomed into the Crato-Languet circle. Johannes Hayek, Tadeash's son, matriculates at Christ Church under the custodianship of Sidney. Daniel Rogers contributes a poem to Dousa's Nova poemata. Pucci expelled from Oxford. He goes to London. Ortelius appointed Cosmographer to Philip II at the recommendation of Montanus. Tycho visits William IV of Hesse, reawakening the latter's interest in astronomical observation; visits Venice where he is the guest of several "Platonic academies;" attends the coronation of Rudolf II as King of the Romans and heir apparent to Maximillian II at Regensburg, where he re-meets Blotius, meets Hajek, establishes a life-long friendship and receives a manuscript of Copernicus's Commentariolus from him; visits Camerarius the younger, Reinhold the younger. Pegel appointed professor of mathematics and astrology at Helmstedt, a year before it opens. Pistorius becomes body-surgeon to Margrave Charles II of Baden. Maximilian II makes Blotius first Imperial Librarian at the urging of Crato. Sambucus's translation of Stobaeus's Ecloges, vol. 2 AKA Florilegium published at Antwerp by Plantin. Rodovsky forced to sell Radostov u Nechanic to pay debts. Henry III abandons the throne of Poland and returns to Paris where he is crowned King of France. Maximilian II elected King of Poland. The election is voided after four days. Stephen Bathory elected King of Poland, jointly with his wife Anna, daughter of Sigismund II. Laski opposes him. His castle is taken by Bathory's forces and he flees to his castle in Kesmark, Hungary (now Slovakia). Birth of Jakob Boehme |
| c. 1575 |
Rogers writes a poem glorifying Sidney's continental travels. Birth of Sir David Lindsay |
| 1576 |
Thomas Digges publishes A Perfit Description of the Caelestiall Orbes, the first exposition of the Copernican system in English, also containing his assertion that the universe is infinite. Leicester and Walsingham become interested in John Casimir of the Palatinate. Tycho writes to Severinus. Languet in Vienna. Death of Maximilian II, who dies in sin, refusing Extreme Unction. Rudolf II becomes Holy Roman Emperor at the age of 24. Crato returns to Breslau. Languet returns to Saxony and begs to be released from Augustus's service. Dudith flees Cracow and moves to Moravia with the permission of Rudolf II. Crato and Languet recommend Wacker for the tutorship of Nicholas Rhediger, nephew of Thomas. After travelling to Italy, France, and Germany, Wacker returns to Breslau and becomes part of the Dudith-Clusius circle, which is also associated with Crato, Hajek and Sidney. Tycho visits Camerarius the Younger in Nuremberg. He starts building his observatory of Uraniborg on the island of Hveen, donated to him by Frederick II of Denmak at the urging of William IV of Hesse. Its topmost spire is crowned with a revolving statue of Hermes Trismegistus. Bruno leaves Naples. Rodovsky becomes alchemist for Vilem Rozmberk. Birth of Joannes Banfi Huniades. Death of Gerolamo Cardano at Rome |
| 1577 |
Appearance of comet causes quite a stir in astronomical circles. Hajek is widely consulted. Tycho finds that comet has no parallax, so it must be higher than the moon, once again punching a hole in Aristotle. Hajek initiates correspondence with Tycho which becomes lifelong. Christopher Rothmann of Anhalt becomes assistant to William IV of Hesse. Wittich plagiarizes Tycho's methods and sells them to William IV as his own. Augustus of Saxony writes to Italian alchemist Francesco Forense: "I have now reached such perfection in transmutation that I can make daily three ounces of good gold from eight ounces of silver." Duplessis-Mornay goes to England for 18 months on a mission for Henry of Navarre. His closest confidantes are Sidney and Walsingham. Languet, released from service but retaining his salary, moves to Cologne. Dudith goes to Paskov, Moravia, where he stays for two years. Leicester (Dudley), Sidney, and Edward Dyer consult with Dee at Mortlake. Ortelius visits Dee at Mortlake. Daniel Rogers visits Dee at Mortlake. Sidney, Fulk Greville, and Dyer go on embassy to Emperor Rudolf II in Prague, ostensibly to offer condolences on the death of Maximilian II. On the way to Prague, Sidney also has secret meetings with Don John of Austria at Louvain, where he also meets Lipsius, and Casimir, Count Palatine at Heidelberg (he was to meet Ludwig, Elector Palatine, as well, but didn't). In Nuremberg, he, Greville and Languet visit Camerarius the Younger. He stays with Tomash Jordan in Brno and meets Zerotin. In Prague, Rudolf and Sidney have a private enclave. He meets Edward Campion who is teaching at the Jesuit college. On the way back, Sidney accompanies Languet to Cologne, then meets with William of Orange at Breda. He exchanges several letters with William IV, Landgrave of Hesse, and perhaps has a secret meeting with him. Sidney meets Lipsius at Leiden. Leiden University founded by William the Silent. Dousa is its first curator, until his death. Dee inspires Drake to go around the world. The voyage is financed by Walsingham, Leicester, and Edward Dyer. Pucci leaves London for Basle, where he has a public debate with Socinus over universal immortality and the nonexistence of Original Sin. Pucci expelled from Basle for publicly claiming universal salvation at birth. Francken leaves his professorship at Jesuit college in Vienna. Crato recalled and becomes body-surgeon to Rudolf II |
| 1578 |
Dee meets Thurneysser at Frankfurt-am-Oder. He also visits Berlin and Hamburg. Thomas Muffet goes to Basle and studies with Felix Platter, Paracelsian chief physician. Socinus completes De Jesu Christo Servatore, which is not published for 15 years, and De statu primi hominis ante lapsum, part of his ongoing debate with Pucci, published posthumously. He goes to Kolozsvar, Transylvania (now Cluj, Romania) at the invitation of Giorgio Biandrata. Rudolf II charters University of Altdorf. Crato goes to Prague to attend Rudolf II. Dudith thanks Tomash Jordan for interceding with Zerotin on his behalf. Griemiller completes his Czech translation of Rosarium Philosophorum, dedicated to Vilem Rozmberk, at Cesky Krumlov. Rodovsky leaves Vilem Rozmberk and goes to work in Rudolf II's alchemical workshop at Prague. Francken flees the Jesuit Order in Vienna. Death of Christoph von Carlowitz at Gorkau, Bohemia |
| c. 1578 |
della Porta forced to disband the Accademia dei Segreti at Naples due to his investigation by the Inquisition |
| 1579 |
Hubert Languet and Casimir, Count Palatine, accompanied by Daniel Rogers, visit England to meet secretly with Sidney. Fulk Greville returns with them to Heidelberg, then meets with William of Orange on his way back to England. Edmund Spenser enters service of Walsingham. Sidney and Dyer found "Areopagus," a Platonic Academy. Members include Spenser, Gabriel Harvey, Fulk Greville, Daniel Rogers and John Dee. Rogers writes a long elegy about Sidney. Muffet gets medical degree from University of Basle, with the support of Zwinger and Felix Platter. Socinus moves to Poland, where he spends the rest of his life, starting at Cracow. He debates with Dudith. Duncan Liddel goes to Frankfurt-am-Oder and studies under Craig, future body-surgeon of James VI/I. Dudith publishes De Cometarum Significatione about the comet of 1577. He moves to Breslau and meets Crato and Wittich. Thurneysser returns to Basle. Birth of Arthur Dee, son of John, at Mortlake |
| 1580 |
della Porta goes to Venice and has Murano glassmakers make him a parabolic mirror. Dee enters an agreement with his student Humphrey Gilbert which promises him ownership of all land discovered north of the 50th parallel. Gilbert's flagship destroyed in a storm off the coast of Newfoundland. Gilbert is drowned on the return voyage. Sidney recommends Henry Savile to his (Sidney's) brother, Robert. Savile and R. Sidney travel together for the next year. They are in Prague for about two months. Savile meets Hajek there. Hajek publishes A Treatise of Comet and Celestial Signs, dedicated to Vilem and Peter Vok Rozmberk. Daniel Rogers sent on a secret mission to the court of Saxony to band princes into an anti-Catholic league. Rogers captured by the Imperial army near Cleves. Augustus of Saxony publishes the Book of Concord at Dresden. Paul Wittich visits Tycho with a letter of introduction from Hajek. Zajic sets up an alchemical laboratory at Budyne Castle. Socinus publishes De Sacrae Scripturae auctoritate at the suggestion of Dudith. Thomas Muffet studies silkworm anatomy in Italy and then returns to England |
| c. 1580 |
Joachim Gans or Gaunse, a Jew of the Prague ghetto and relative of David Gans, works in England as a metallurgist and mining expert. Dudith returns to Breslau in 1579 or 1580. Crato writes to Ortelius |
| after 1580 |
Peter Vok Rozmberk joins the Bohemian Brethren, under the influence of his wife Katerina of Ludanice |
| 1581 |
The Revolutionary Estates General deposes Philip II as Lord of the Netherlands. Della Porta completes Chirofisonomia, on palmistry, not published until 1667. Dee is visited by John Hawkins, a member of Drake's voyage. He inspires the German Johann Haller to visit China. Pegel expelled from Helmstedt and returns to Rostock, in spite of the enticements of Heinrich Julius. He gets a medical degree. Krabbe, already a friend of Burgi, matriculates at Helmstedt. Sir Henry Savile stays with Dudith at Breslau. Then he goes to Vienna. Crato released from Rudolf's service at his own request. Mistrust of the Jesuits causes him to leave Prague for Breslau. Hajek publishes Apodixis physica et mathematica de comitis, dedicated to Dudith. Sambucus publishes Corpus iuris Hungarici at Vienna, which becomes a foundation of the legal system of Hungary. Vilem Rozmberk builds the high tower at Cesky Krumlov. Death of Hubert Languet at Antwerp |
| 1582 |
Edward Kelley appears unannounced at Mortlake. Sir Henry Savile returns to England, becomes Greek Tutor to Queen Elizabeth, and visits Dee at Mortlake. Krabbe matriculates at Frankfurt-am-Oder. Lord Willoughby d'Eresby, sent by Queen Elizabeth to invest King Frederick of Denmark with the Order of the Garter, visits Tycho. He brings a physician, Thomas Muffet, who is an acquaintance of Hajek. Muffet meets Severinus. Gregory XIII issues a breve ordering calendar reform. German Protestant Princes Union refuses to recognize the breve. Spain, Portugal, France, most of Italy, Savoy, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Catholic Netherlands adopt the Gregorian reform. Tycho supports it. Duncan Liddel goes to Breslau and enters the Dudith-Crato circle. He studies mathematics under Wittich. Sambucus writes to Lipsius. Pucci goes to Cracow to visit Socinus. Death of George Buchanan at Edinburgh |
| 1583 |
Patricius's translation of Proclus's Elementa theologica et physica published at Ferrara. Dudith has a copy. Sidney knighted so that he may stand in for Casimir, Count Palatine, at his (the Count's) initiation into the Order of the Garter. Sidney marries the daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham. Severinus begins correspondence with Zwinger that lasts until 1587. Lipsius writes to Dousa. On the death of his father, Frederick IV of the Palatinate, nephew of William IV of Hesse, becomes ward of John Casimir. Fabricius matriculates at Helmstedt, but leaves almost immediately. Rudolf II completes the move of the capital of the Holy Roman Empire from Vienna to Prague. Crato returns to Breslau. Jesensky matriculates at Wittenberg. Socinus driven out of Cracow. Bruno goes to England, where he lives with the French ambassador. He meets with Sidney. Albert Laski visits England, where he meets Sidney, Leicester, John Dee and Edward Kelley. Dee and Kelley enter Laski's service and the three depart for Poland, taking the youthful Arthur Dee. On they way, they visit Briel, Bremen, Lubeck, Rostock and Stettin. Thurneysser publishes Magna Alchymia at Berlin. Catholic Germany, Austria and the Protestant Netherlands adopt Gregorian calendar reform |
| 1584 |
Dee, Kelley and Laski go to Poznan. When they reach Lasko, Laski's debts have piled up, so he can no longer support Dee and Kelley, who go to Cracow. There, Dee writes 48 Claves angelicae, containing Enochian invocations of 48 angels, along with English translations. Dee meets Hannibal Roselli, whose edition of the Corpus Hermeticum is published in 6 vols over the next 6 years. According to another account, Dee and Kelley set up an alchemical laboratory at Laski's castle at Szepeshely (Spishska Kapitula, Slovakia). Dee and Kelley, under angelic direction, leave Poland and arrive in Prague. With at least two intervening trips to Cracow, they stay for the next 2 years with Hajek. Hajek records watching Dee and Kelley transform mercury into gold. Dee meets once with Rudolf II, but then rumors started by his Catholic advisers turn Rudolf against Dee. Dee meets Heinrich Khunrath in Prague. Rogers is released and returns to England. Muffet publishes De iure et praestantia at Frankfurt, dedicated to Severinus. He sends Severinus a copy. He mentions a "case" of Severinus that he has put before Walsingham, so maybe Walsingham is already his patient. Definitive Latin version of the Book of Concord published at Leipzig. Herborn Academy founded, a center of Ramism, which is a required part of the curriculum. Krabbe meets Fabricius. Bruno publishes Spaccio de la Bestia Trionfante at London, dedicated to Sidney. He also publishes De l'infinito Universo et Mondi at Venice. Wacker has a copy. John Dowland applies for a job as court lutanist to Queen Elizabeth, but doesn't get it. Tycho makes two macrocosm/microcosm woodcuts, containing allusions to the Asclepius. He refers to the "divine Plato" in a letter to Brucaeus. Wittich leaves the circle of William IV of Hesse because, according to Dudith, he doesn't like the him. Duncan Liddel returns to Frankfurt-am-Oder where he studies medicine. Assassination of William of Orange. Pucci goes to Cracow and stays with Socinus. He meets Dee and Kelley and attends their angel conferences. Death of Johannes Sambucus at Vienna. His library is anxiously acquired by Rudolf II and his librarian, Blotius. Bohemia and Moravia adopt the Gregorian Calendar reforms |
| c. 1584 |
Birth of Don Julius of Austria, oldest bastard of Rudolf II, at Prague |
| 1585 |
Sidney attempts to accompany Drake on a voyage to the new world. Elizabeth discovers his plans and prevents him. He accompanies his uncle, Leicester (Dudley), to the Low Countries, where he is appointed Governor of Flushing. Bruno publishes De gli eroici furori, dedicated to Sidney. Dousa visits London. Plantin publishes Lipsius's Ad libros Historiarum Notae at Antwerp, dedicated to Dudith. Sebald Schwertzer turns three marks of mercury into gold for Augustus of Saxony. Krabbe becomes court astrologer to Duke Julius of Wolfenbuttel. Jesensky matriculates at Leipzig. Dee and Kelley go to Cracow, where they have three meetings with Stephen Bathory, King of Poland, introduced to him by Albert Laski. Bathory attends one of their angel conferences. Dee, Kelley, and Pucci go to Prague. Hajek's De Cerevisia eiusque conficiendi ratione natura, viribus et facultatibus opusculum (About Beer and its Production, Nature, Powers, and Properties), the first textbook on brewing, published at Frankfurt. Letter from Hajek to Thomas Savile indicates Hajek and Sir Henry Savile had met in Prague. Tycho sends Hajek prints of his most advanced sextant and small equatorial armillary. Tomash Jordan corresponds with Clusius. Rudolf II initiated into the Order of the Golden Fleece by Archduke Ferdinand at Innsbruck. He is given the chain of the order, which he wears constantly for the rest of his life, and is buried wearing it. Vilem Rozmberk initiated into the Order of the Golden Fleece at Prague by Philip II of Spain. Death of Johannes Crato at Breslau of tuberculosis. Death of Anne of Denmark, wife of Augustus of Saxony, at Dresden from plague. Poland adopts the Gregorian Calendar reforms |
| 1586 |
Death of Sir Philip Sidney at age 32, the translation of his friend DuPlessis Mornay's De la verite de la religion chretienne unfinished. Banosius's biography of Ramus dedicated to Sidney. "Leicester episode" supported by Sidney, his friend the English exile Daniel Rogers, and the Justus Lipsius circle. One of Sidney's last letters is from Lipsius. Daniel Rogers writes to George Buchanan. Christian von Anhalt goes to Dresden and stays with Christian, the Elector of Saxony. Peucer released from prison. He becomes body-surgeon to Christian von Anhalt. Secret meeting of German Electors and representatives of Henry IV of France, Frederick II of Denmark, and Queen Elizabeth at Luneborg. Probable foundation of the secret society later allegorized as the Rosicrucian "Invisible Fraternity." A mob ransacks Dee's house at Mortlake, destroying many irreplaceable manuscripts. Many are also stolen by two of his former students. Pegel publishes Universi seu mundi diatyposis at Rostock. Rudolf II listens to his advisors and banishes Dee and Kelley from the Empire. They go to Leipzig, then continue on to Cassel and stay with Landgrave William IV. Pucci writes to them there and tries to convince them to join the Catholic Church. Vilem Rozmberk intercedes for them with Rudolf, and their banishment is rescinded on the condition that they stay with Rozmberk in Trebona. Dee and Kelley return to Trebona. Pucci visits them there. Dee offered a stipend by Boris Gudunov if he will relocate to Russia. Edward Garland, Gudunov's emissary, witnesses Kelley create gold using a powder, and receives a portion of it. Sebald Schwertzer goes to Prague, where Rudolf makes him the head of mines at Joachimsthal. Birth of Johann Valentin Andreae in Württemberg. Death of Augustus, Elector of Saxony, at Dresden. He leaves behind the cores of the State Art Collection and the State Library of Saxony |
| 1587 |
Tycho complains to Hajek of Wittich's misappropriation of his methods. Duncan Liddel visits Tycho on Hveen. Liddel goes to Rostock, where he becomes the companion of Brucaeus and meets Caselius. Michael Maier matriculates at Rostock. Fulk Greville goes on a secret mission to France for Queen Elizabeth. She signs death warrant of Mary, Queen of Scots. Rogers on mission to Denmark. Bruno moves to Wittenberg. One of the books he writes there is dedicated to Tycho. Pistorius publishes Artis Cabalisticae at Basle, containing works by Reuchlin and Ricci, and the Sepher Yetzirah. Pucci recants and rejoins the Catholic Church. He introduces Dee and Kelley to Christian Francken at Trebona. Antonin Michael promises to prepare a "conservationem senectutis" (age-stopping elixir) for Vilem Rozmberk. In the final edition of his Thesaurus geographicus, published at Antwerp by Plantin, Ortelius proposes the idea of continental drift. Hungary adopts the Gregorian Calendar reforms |
| 1588 |
Defeat of the Spanish Armada. Liddel is the first to teach all three world systems: Ptolemaic, Copernican and Tychonian. Severinus becomes body-surgeon to Christian IV of Denmark upon the death of Frederick II. Pistorius converts to Roman Catholicism. Bruno goes to Prague and publishes 160 Articles Against the Mathematicians there. He associates with Wacker. After several years of vain pleading for the return of Dee and Kelley to England, Edward Dyer makes a journey to Trebona and meets with Dee to study the art. He carries letters from Dee back to Queen Elizabeth. Daniel Rogers, on a mission to Denmark for Queen Elizabeth, visits Tycho and promises to obtain copyrights in England for Tycho's works. William IV intends to visit Tycho, but cancels because of death of King Frederick II of Denmark. John Dowland moves to Copenhagen and becomes court lutanist to Christian IV. Jesensky begins study of medicine in Padua, where he is influenced by Patricius. Socinus unites all anti-trinitarian factions at a conference at Brest, Lithuania. Death of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, at Cornbury, Oxfordshire. Death of Theodore Zwinger at Basle |
| c. 1588 |
Tycho sends his book on the comet to John Dee. He refers to him as "my singular good friend" in a letter to Thomas Savile. Dudith also has a copy of Tycho's book. Jesensky matriculates at Padua. Rabbi Loew moves back to Prague. David Gans becomes his pupil. In 1587 or 1588, Rudolf II makes Christian von Anhalt part of an embassy to Constantinople. Birth of Johann Heinrich Alsted at Mittenaar |
| 1589 |
Giambattista della Porta publishes the twenty-volume Magia Naturalis at Naples, containing a description of the telescope. John Dee recalled to England by Queen Elizabeth. On his return journey through Germany Dee presents William IV of Hesse with 12 Hungarian horses. He meets Edward Dyer, who is on the way to Denmark on a secret mission for Queen Elizabeth. Dee is visited at Bremen by Heinrich Khunrath. Dee recommends Khunrath to Vilem Rozmberk as body-surgeon. Dee also visits Nuremberg and Frankfurt-am-Main. Kelley moves to Prague at the request of Rudulf II, who receives him, grants him Bohemian citizenship, and a patent of Imperial nobility. Bruno matriculates at University of Brunswick in Helmstedt. Michael Maier matriculates at Altdorf. Heinrich Julius becomes Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. He allows Bruno to deliver an oration to the University. Bruno dedicates De Triplici Minimo et Mensura and De Monade to him, reminding him in the dedication that in the time of Hermes Trismegistus, priests were kings, and kings priests. Death of Andreas Dudith at Breslau |
| c. 1589 |
Christian von Anhalt becomes adviser to Frederick IV, Elector of the Palatinate. Tycho studies King Frederick's horoscope, trying to understand how he could have predicted his death. He points out that the horoscope he cast for Peucer twenty years ago has come true. Michael Maier goes to Padua, where he receives title of Poet Laureate |
| 1590 |
Campanella meets della Porta at Naples. Thomas Harriot visits Dee at Mortlake. Thomas Muffet writes to Clusius. Walsingham a patient of Muffet by this time. Bruno harbored by Franfurt publisher Wechel. Camerarius the Younger's Symbola et emblemata published in four volumes between now and 1604, at Nuremberg. Kelley continues in high favor with Rudolf II. Vilem Rozmberk gives Kelley a castle and an estate. Kelley, on a trip to Poland, meets Sendivogius in Germany. Hajek, through Jakob Kurtz, vice-chancellor to Rudolf II, gets Tycho a copyright valid throughout the HRE from Rudolf II. The future James I visits Tycho, and finds a portrait of his (James's) tutor, George Buchanan, hanging in Tycho's library. James gives Tycho a thirty-year copyright on his works in Scotland. James attends the wedding of Heinrich Julius at Kronborg, Denmark. Rothmann visits Tycho. Duke Heinrich Julius visits Tycho and ostensibly "borrows" his statue of Hermes Trismegistus to make a copy. Due to a dispute, he never returns it. Tycho sends him several reminders over the years, and complains to William IV about its fate. Socinus disinherited by the Holy See at Siena. James VI/I and Henry IV become Garter knights. Death of Sir Francis Walsingham at Richmond |
| c. 1590 |
One of Tycho's assistants is John Hammond of Kent, who later was body-surgeon to James VI/I and his son, Prince Henry. John Craig, a friend of Napier, announces the invention of logarithms to Tycho. Khunrath visits Vilem Rozmberk. Thurneysser travels to Italy, where Ferdinand de' Medici becomes his patron. He turns a nail half to gold for Ferdinand. He converts to Catholicism. Gregor Schoenfeld, son of the court astrologer of William IV of Hesse, studies the art of memory under Bruno at Wittenberg. Dowland goes to Wolfenbuttel to visit Michael Pretorius at the invitation of Heinrich Julius. Birth of Heinrich Hein |
| 1591 |
Patricius publishes his Latin translation of the Chaldean Oracles by "Zoroaster" and Nova de universis philosophia, both at Ferrara. Wechel of Frankfurt reprints Dee's Monas Hieroglyphica. George Ripley's Compound of Alchymy... Divided Into Twelve Gates... published at London. Christian von Anhalt leads a Palatine force in support of Henry IV and the Hugeunots. Zerotin also in Henry's army. Pucci leaves Prague for the Netherlands. Dousa writes to Clusius. Liddel becomes professor of mathematics at Helmstedt, where he reunites with Caselius. Pegel becomes professor of mathematics at Rostock. He meets or corresponds with William of Hesse, Burgi and Tycho. Pistorius becomes Vicar-General of Constance until 1594. Kelley is placed under house arrest in Prague for killing a man in a duel. Rodovsky publishes Cookery, one of the first cookbooks in Czech. Bruno returns to Venice at the invitation of Giovanni Mocenigo. Henry Wotton receives a recommendation from Clusius and lives for a few months with the librarian Blotius in Vienna; then procedes to Prague. Heinrich Khunrath becomes body-surgeon to Vilem Rozmberk. Heinrich Julius, although he is a Cabalistic practitioner, posesses a copy of the Cabalistarum Dogmata of Pico della Mirandola and knows Hebrew, expels all Jews from Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Wacker becomes Governor of Upper Silesia. Jesensky visits Prague. Death of Daniel Rogers. Death of Bavor Rodovsky |
| 1592 |
Campanella meets Galileo at Padua. Dee granted a stipend by Queen Elizabeth. Liddel writes a tract refuting Ramism. Ortelius writes to Lipsius. Camerarius the Younger becomes first head of the Collegium Medicum of Nuremberg, a position he holds for the rest of his life. Death of Prince John Casimir. Frederick IV takes up rule of the Palatinate at age 17. David Gans is first Jew to publish a chronicle which includes Gentile history, Tzemach David (Branch of David). Rudolf II and Rabbi Loew have a meeting about Cabala. Pucci publishes De Christi servitoris efficacitate in omnibus et singulus hominibus, on universal salvation, at Basle, dedicated to Clement VIII. Dee shows Francken's "book of blasphemie" to John Whitgift, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Death of Landgrave William IV at Cassel. Moritz succeeds him. At some point, Tycho corresponds with Moritz. Michael Maier receives Ph.D. at Frankfurt am Oder. Wacker converts to Roman Catholicism. He obtains, from Kurz, a copyright for Lipsius. Antonin Micheal gives Vilem Rozmberk his aurum potabile, which he claims will cure all diseases and extend life. Death of Vilem Rozmberk at Cesky Krumlov less than two months later. Peter Vok Rozmberk moves to Cesky Krumlov. He imprisons Antonin Michael in the castle. Birth of John Amos Comenius in Moravia. Death of Bavor Rodovsky |
| 1593 |
della Porta, Sarpi, Galileo and Campanella associate in Padua. Pucci arrested in while in Salzburg recovering from a coach accident and turned over to the Inquisition. Dee writes that he thinks Kelley has been pardoned. Lipsius writes to Ortelius. Henry Wotton goes to Geneva, where he spends 14 months with Isaac Casaubon. Croll moves to Prague as agent of Christian von Anhalt, where he is in extended close contact with Peter Vok Rozmberk. Sendivogius enters the service of Rudolf II at Prague. Jesensky becomes body-surgeon to Frederick William of Saxony. He publishes Zoroaster. Henry of Navarre abjures Protestantism. Death of Antonin Michael von Ebbersbach |
| 1594 |
Campanella arrested for heresy and imprisoned in the same place as Bruno and Pucci, whom he meets. Napier writes A Plaine Discovery of the Whole Revelation of St. John, a millenarian work which sets the stage for the Rosicrucian anti-Papal symbolism, also predicting the end of the world in 1688 or 1700. Liddel becomes chairman of mathematics at Helmstedt. Dousa writes to Clusius. Jesensky becomes professor of anatomy at Wittenberg. Sendivogius matriculates at Altdorf. Later, he stays with Kelley at Jilove before proceeding to Prague. Wacker ennobled as "von Wackenfels". Socinus's De Jesu Christo Servatore published at Cracow. Death of Gerardus Mercator at Duisburg |
| c. 1594 |
John Donne writes Henry Wotton a verse epistle |
| 1595 |
Campanella forced to make public abjuration of his "heresy." Whitgift offers Dee the wardenship of Manchester. Christian von Anhalt made Governor of the Upper Palatinate by Frederick IV. He moves to Amberg. Kelley arrested. Dee writes of "the newes that Sir Edward Kelley was slayne" falling from a turret while escaping from prison. Hajek ennobled by Rudolf II. Khunrath's Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae (Amphitheater of Eternal Wisdom) published at Hamburg. Egli publishes Bruno's Summa terminorum metaphysicorum at Zurich. Birth of Samuel Hartlib at Elbing, Polish Prussia. Birth of John Dury at Edinburgh. Death of Thomas Digges at London. Death of Francken. Death of Archduke Ferdinand of Tirol |
| 1596 |
Dee moves to Manchester. Kelley sent to state prison in Most. Michael Maier receives MD at Basle. Sir Henry Savile becomes provost of Eton. Henry Wotton and John Donne accompany Essex on the Cadiz expedition. Thurneysser returns to Germany. Ortelius's nephew (but not Daniel Rogers) receives 12 copies of Wacker's Skiagraphiae Utopianae at London. Duncan Liddel becomes body-surgeon to Heinrich Julius. Debts force Peter Vok Rozmberk to sell Bechyne Castle. Socinus named head of Polish Unitarian Church (Polish Brethren). Birth of Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of James VI/I at Fife, Scotland. Birth of Descartes. Birth of John Dury at Edinburgh. Death of Leonhard Thurneysser at Cologne |
| 1597 |
Campanella ordered by the Dominican Order to return to Calabria. Kelley escapes from prison in Most, but is caught, returned, and dies there. Death of Edward Kelley. Kelley, definitely still alive, helps draft a copy of the Bohemian "constitution." Oswald Croll visits Kelley. Sendivogius buys Fumberg estate from Kelley's widow. Wacker appointed advisor to Rudolf II. Fulk Greville knighted. Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg becomes Garter knight. Pucci executed as an unrepentant schismatic in Rome. Death of Francesco Pucci. Death of Thomas Rhediger. His collection of art and books becomes the core of the Breslau library |
| 1598 |
Dee moves back to Mortlake. Rudolf II gives Khunrath a special copyright to insure his works are not plagiarized. Sendivogius becomes privy councillor to Rudolf II. Kelley thought to be still alive. Tycho flees Denmark, moving to Wittenberg where he stays with Peucer at the former home of Melanchthon. There he meets Jesensky. Tycho's Astronomiæ Instauratæ Mechanica (Instruments for the Restoration of Astronomy), published at Nuremberg. He sends copies to Maurice of Orange, Rudolf II (to whom it is dedicated), Peter Vok Rozmberk and Zajic, whom he calls "Solarenensium capitaneo." Catherine, Electress of Brandenburg, writes Tycho asking him to instruct her court mathematician in alchemy. Rudolf Coraduz, a student of Hebrew who wrote out his own copy of the Sepher Yetzirah, becomes Vice-Chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire. Hajek tells Tycho that Coraduz is well-disposed towards him. Tycho sends him, Christian IV, Maurice of Orange, and Kepler copies of his star catalog. Mauritius named for Maurice of Orange. Socinus dragged from his house at Cracow by a mob of Jesuit-incited universtity students. His books and writings are burned in the town square. They take him to the Vistula to drown him, but he is saved by the intervention of Martin Wadowit, a university professor. Fearing another attack, he takes refuge at Luslawice as guest of Abraham Blonski, where he spends the rest of his life. Comenius becomes an orphan at age 6. Death of Abraham Ortelius at Antwerp. Death of Joachim Camerarius the Younger at Nuremberg |
| c. 1598 |
Scioppio reads several works by Bruno from Wacker's library. Pistorius becomes provost of Breslau Cathedral. Sendivogius travels with Heinrich Julius. Francken goes to Rome where he is imprisoned by the Inquisition |
| 1599 |
Campanella imprisoned in Naples for conspiracy against the Spanish rulers. Coraduz writes to Tycho in Wittenberg to come to Prague. Tycho establishes observatory and alchemical laboratory at Benatky, Bohemia under the patronage of Rudolf II. One of the things that entices him to come to Prague is that Hajek is there. He associates with Bajazek, Peter Vok Rozmberk and Baron Jan Zajic. He sends Rudolf an alchemical/medical recipe. Wacker settles in Prague. Sendivogius imprisoned in Prague, accused of poisoning Koralek, one of his patrons. Croll testifies in favor of Sendivogius at the court case. Sendivogius made private secretary to Rudolf II. Henry IV divorces Margaret and marries Marie de' Medici. Death of Bavor Rodovsky |
| 1600 |
Dee moves to Manchester again. Henry IV weds Marie de' Medici at Paris. Henry Wotton in attendance. Tycho casts Rudolf II's horoscope. David Gans visits Tycho. Kepler accepts the invitation of Rudolf II and moves to Prague to escape the Counter-Reformation in Graz. He becomes Tycho's assistant, with the hopes of completing his study of the Harmony of the World. Jesensky moves to Prague. He arbitrates the dispute between Kepler and Tycho. Agrippa's Opera Omnia published at Lyon. Death of Hajek at Prague. Death of Bavor Rodovsky at Budyne. Scotland adopts Gregorian calendar |
| c. 1600 |
Birth of Samuel Hartlib at Elbing, Polish Prussia |
| 1601 |
Henry Wotton goes on a secret mission from Ferdinand I, Grand Duke of Florence, to James VI in Scotland, with whom he stays for five months. Andreae enters Unversity of Württemberg. Pistorius goes to Prague and becomes confessor to Rudolf II. Tycho visits Budyne as the guest of Zajic. Death of Tycho Brahe after a "fatal banquet" at the home of Peter Vok Rozmberk. Jesensky delivers his funeral oration. Kepler becomes Imperial Mathematician and Court Astrologer at Prague. Debts force Peter Vok Rozmberk to sell Krumlov Castle. Rudolf II buys it |
| 1602 |
Campanella writes City of the Sun in Italian. It goes unpublished for 20 years. First edition of Theatrum chemicum published by Zetzner at Strasbourg. Andreae matriculates at Tubingen at age 14. Alsted matriculates at Herborn, where his father is a teacher. Jesensky appointed Imperial Court Physician to Rudolf II. Tycho's Progymnasta published, in which he praises Digges as being second only to himself. Michael Maier begins to practice alchemy. On the death of his wife, Peter Vok Rozmberk vacates Cesky Krumlov, which already belongs to Rudolf II, and moves to Trebona. Death of Caspar Peucer at Dessau, Anhalt. Death of Petrus Severinus |
| 1603 |
The Lincei, a secret society dedicated to natural philosophy with aims to establish chapters worldwide, founded by Cesi at Rome. Death of Queen Elizabeth I at age 70. Accession of James VI of Scotland as James I of England. William Paddy becomes his body-surgeon. Andreae writes the first version of the Chymische Hochzeit (Chemical Wedding). He receives B.A. from Tubingen. Special embassy from James VI/I invests Duke of Württemberg with the Order of the Garter in Stuttgart. Christian IV becomes Garter knight. Hein matriculates at Rostock at age 13. Clavius publishes his treatise on the Gregorian calendar reform. Maderno begins Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome |
| 1604 |
Cesi becomes della Porta's patron and visits himin Naples. New stars appear in Serpentarius and Cygnus. They are observed by Kepler. His son, Friedrich, born; Wacker is godfather. Publication of the Naometria by Simon Studion. It contains extensive calculations of the dimensions of the Temple of Solomon, and describes a secret alliance between Henry IV of France, James VI/I, Christian IV of Denmark and Frederick, Duke of Württemberg that supposedly took place in 1586 in Luneburg. Pegel publishes Thesaurus rerum selectarum at Rostock, containing an art of memory as well as plans for a submarine, airships, automatic firearms, and a water heater. Sendivogius's Novum Lumen Chymicum is published in Prague as De lapide philosophorum tractatus duodecim. Also published at Frankfurt. Sir Henry Savile knighted and appointed to King James Bible committee, where he translates parts of the gospels, Acts and Revelation. Sir Henry Wotton knighted by James VI/I and becomes ambassador to Venice, until 1610. Burgi yields to the oft-repeated invitation of Rudolf II and moves to Prague. Birth of Johann Abraham Poemer near Nuremberg. Death of Dousa at Leiden of the plague. Death of Faustus Socinus at Luslawice, Poland. Death of Thomas Muffet. Maderno begins Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome |
| c. 1604 |
Rudolf II sends an embassy to della Porta at Naples, inviting him to Prague. Della Porta declines. Fabricius visits Wolfenbuttel. He meets with Krabbe |
| 1605 |
Dee moves back to Mortlake. Sendivogius visits Frederick, Duke of Württemberg, who gives him the castle and estate of Neidlingen. Andreae receives MA from Tubingen. Duncan Liddel publishes Disputationes Medicinales, dedicated to Craig. Pegel publishes Aphorismi thesium selectarum de corporibus mundi totius primariis at Rostock. Pegel expelled from Rostock. He goes to Prague and enters the service of Rudolf II. Heinrich Julius recommends Krabbe to Rudolf II. Don Julius takes over Cesky Krumlov as a gift from Rudolf II. Birth of Theodore Haak at Neuhausen, near Worms. Pucci beheaded for heresy. Death of Heinrich Khunrath. Death of Albert Laski |
| 1606 |
Trithemius's Steganographia published at Frankfurt in the Palatinate. Sendivogius returns to Cracow from Prague. Don Julius sent to a cloister in Gaming, Austria by Rudolf II, due to his mental condition |
| c. 1606 |
Alsted exposed to Bruno's work by Gregor Schoenfeld at Marburg. He is influenced by Egli and receives a manuscript from him |
| 1607 |
Dee has angel conference at Mortlake with medium Bartholomew Hickman. Beginning of the Revival of the Hermetic Cabala in England. The movement coalesces around Prince Henry, son of James VI/I. Napier receives alchemical instruction from Daniel Mueller. Duncan Liddel publishes Ars Medica, dedicated to James VI/I, at Hamburg. He returns to Aberdeen. Oswald Croll, Christian von Anhalt's agent in Prague, visits Peter Vok Rozmberk in Trebona. Duke Heinrich Julius moves to Prague. Sinapius becomes Imperial Chemist to Rudolf II at Prague for curing him where others had failed. Don Julius returns to Cesky Krumlov and becomes involved with the daughter of the barber, Marketa Pichlerova. She comes to live at the castle. In a fit of madness, he beats her and carves her up. Thinking her dead, he throws her out the window. She lands in a rubbish heap and survives. When she recovers, Don Julius asks her to return to the castle. Her father refuses. Julius imprisons him. Marketa returns to the castle |
| 1608 |
della Porta publishes De distillazione, dedicated to Cesi. Dee's alchemical experiments continue. Michael Maier goes to Prague. Formation of Union of German Protestant Princes under Frederick IV, Elector of the Palatinate. Christian von Anhalt is instrumental in its creation. Croll publishes Basilica Chymica which includes a letter from Peter Vok Rozmberk, who also finances the publication. It is dedicated to Christian von Anhalt. Sinapius knighted by Rudolf II. An expanded version of Khunrath's Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae published posthumously at Hanau in Hesse. Don Julius decapitates Marketa and cuts her body into multiple pieces. He is imprisoned in Cesky Krumlov Castle by Rudolf II. The madness Don Julius inherited from Juana la Loca worsens. He refuses food, and lives in his own waste. Death of John Dee. Death of Hugo Blotius at Vienna. Socinus's "Racovian Catechism" published in Latin at Rakow, with a dedication to James VI/I. Maderno begins Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome |
| 1609 |
Fludd becomes a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. where he influences William Paddy, who suggests Fludd's circulation ideas to Harvey. German Protestant Princes Union allies with Henry IV of France. Heinrich Khunrath's Amphitheatre of Eternal Wisdom published posthumously at Hanover. It contains much influence of John Dee. Alsted's edition of Ramon Llull's Clavis artis Lullianae published by Zetzner in Strasbourg. Croll publishes De signaturis internis rerum, dedicated to Peter Vok Rozmberk. Michael Maier's De Medicina, his first work on alchemy, published at Prague. He enters the service of Rudolf II. Rudolf ennobles him with 3 titles, including Count Palatine, but no income to go with them. Rudolf issues Letter of Majesty, guaranteeing religious freedom in Bohemia. Kepler dedicates Somnuim to Wacker and Astronomia Nova to Rudolf II. Rudolf sends James VI/I a clock and a globe. Death of Carolus Clusius at Leiden. Death of Oswald Croll. Death of Don Julius of Austria at Cesky Krumlov. Trithemius's Steganographia placed on the Index |
| 1610 |
Henry IV of France assassinated, as predicted by della Porta, by Francois Ravaillac. Della Porta joins the Lincei. Frederick V becomes Elector of the Palatinate at age 14. Christian von Anhalt becomes his Chancellor. Egli praises Alsted on his mastery of the Lullian Art. Alsted becomes professor of philosophy at Herborn. Barels gives Alsted the manuscript of Bruno's Consiliarius academicus. Alsted sends it to Zetzner in Strasbourg to publish. Copy of the Fama Fraternitatis seen in the Tyrol (Austria). By this time, Heinrich Julius is Chief Director of Rudolf II's Privy Council. The Duke acts as Rudolf's agent in negotiations between Catholics and Protestants, and with the Passau troops. Jan Tserklaes, Count of Tilly, appointed by Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria, to reorganize his armies. Michael Maier writes to August von Anhalt, Christian's brother, describing his alchemical work. Zajic becomes President of the Court of Appeals at Prague |
| 1611 |
Galileo joins the Lincei at Rome. He admits della Porta invented the telescope, with support from the Lincei and Kepler. A chapter of the Lincei established at Naples, with della Porta as the head. They have membership rings and robes, and della Porta suggests they write a handbook of ceremonies. King James Bible published, containing the work of Henry Savile. The Tempest, an allegory of the life of John Dee, first performed. Wacker, still in the service of Rudolf II, participates in political intrigues. Kepler dedicates Strena seu nive sexangula to him. Michael Maier in England, where he stays until 1616. He sends James VI/I a Christmas card bearing the Rose-Cross, the earliest known occurrence of the Rose-Cross in England. August von Anhalt receives a copy of the Fama as a New Years gift from Adam Haslmeyer. Olaus Wormius reads a manuscript copy of the Fama that is in the possession of Johann Hartmann. Hein matriculates at Giessen and at Heidelberg six months later. Comenius matriculates at Herborn where he studies under Johann Heinrich Alsted, who knows Hebrew and Greek and exposes him to Ramon Llull. Charles I becomes Garter knight. Death of Peter Vok Rozmberk at Trebona. Death of Jan Zbynek Zajic z Hazmburka at Budyne |
| c. 1611 |
Wacker tells Kepler excitedly of Gallileo's discovery of the moons of Jupiter. Death of Francken |
| 1612 |
James VI/I joins German Protestant Princes Union, now headed by Frederick V, Elector of the Palatinate. Frederick becomes Garter knight. "The Tempest" performed at his betrothal celebration. Death of Prince Henry of England of typhoid, before he can receive the Christmas card Maier made for him. His death, and the departure of his sister Elizabeth for Heidelberg the following year, end the Revival of the Hermetic Cabala in England. Duncan Liddel sets up a scholarship fund at the University of Aberdeen. Comenius reads the Fama and Confessio in manuscript. Adami visits Campanella in Naples prison. Death of Emperor Rudolf II. Michael Maier, Lutheran body-surgeon to the Catholic Emperor, leaves Prague. Kepler also leaves Prague. Perhaps Pegel leaves Prague and returns to Rostock. At or before this time, Sinapius receives Melnik Castle as a gift from Rudolf II. Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange becomes Garter knight |
| 1613 |
Campanella writes a Latin version of City of the Sun. Marriage of Frederick V, Elector of the Palatinate to Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of King James VI/I. They return to Heidelberg and found a Rosicrucian State. .Comenius matriculates at Heidelberg, where he probably meets Andreae. He meets George Hartlib, brother of Samuel. Copy of the Fama circulated in Prague. Part of Gans's encyclopedia published. The rest remiains in manuscript. Zajic is forced by debts incurred from alchemy and castle remodeling to sell Budyne Castle. Liddel endows a Chair of Mathematics at Marischal College. Death of Duncan Liddel at Aberdeen. Death of David Gans. Death of Duke Heinrich Julius of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel at Prague |
| 1614 |
Publication of the Fama Fraternitatis, the first "Rosicrucian Manifesto," at Cassel in Hesse. Publication of George Ripley's Medulla philosophiae chemicae at Frankfurt, 125 years after his death. Michael Maier publishes Arcana Arcanissima, dedicated to William Paddy. Isaac Casaubon discovers that the Corpus Hermeticum is later than Plato. Comenius ordained in the Bohemian Brethren. He moves to Fulnek. Birth of John Wilkins. Birth of Franciscus Mercurius van Helmont, son of Paracelsus's chief disciple, Jan Baptista van Helmont, at Brussels |
| c. 1614 |
Michael Maier becomes body-surgeon to Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse |
| 1615 |
Publication of the Confessio, the second "Rosicrucian Manifesto," at Cassel in Hesse. Along with it, as a preface, is published A Brief Consideration of More Secret Philosophy, based on John Dee's Monas Hieroglyphica, much of it a word-for-word translation into German of Dee's work. Faulhaber publishes Mysterium Arithmeticum, with a dedication to "most enlightened and famous Brothers R.C." Alsted publishes Theologia naturalis with Tetragrammmaton crowning title page. Sendivogius visits Hartmann at Magdeburg. Perhaps Pegel moves to Stettin and becomes professor at the invitation of Duke Philip of Pomerania. Death of Giambattista della Porta at Naples |
| 1616 |
Shakespeare and Cervantes die on the same day. End of the Middle Ages. Chymische Hochzeit: Christiani Rosencreutz (Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz) by Johann Valentin Andreae pulished by Zetzner at Strasbourg. It contains Dee's Monas Hieroglyphica symbol on the title page. Alsted publishes Physica harmonica containing refereces to Reuchlin's De Arte Cabbalistica and De verbo mirifico, Pico della Mirandola's 900 Theses, the Sepher Yetzirah and Hermes Trismegistus. Adami returns to Tubingen. Michael Maier returns to Germany from London. Sendivogius's Tractatus de sulphure published. Dudley Carleton becomes English ambassador to the Netherlands. He lives at The Hague. Fludd publishes Apologia Compendiaria defending the Rosicrucian Brotherhood. Death of Johannes Krabbe at Wolfenbuttel |
| 1617 |
Adami publishes Campanella's De Sensu Rerum et Magia at Tubingen, with his own ad Germanos Philosophos as a preface. Ferdinand Hapsburg becomes King of Bohemia without election. He begins suppression of the Bohemian Brethren. Jesensky becomes Rector of Charles University, Prague. First volume of Fludd's Utriusque Cosmi... Historia published by de Bry at Oppenheim. Maier's Symbola aureae mensae duodecim published at Frankfurt. It is dedicated to James VI/I. Birth of Elias Ashmole at Lichfield. Death of John Napier at Edinburgh |
| 1618 |
Claims to East Prussia pressed by Teutonic Knights against Elector of Brandenburg. Hein matriculates at Heidelberg the second time. Jesensky publishes Typotius's De Hieroglyphia and dedicates it to Zerotin. Jesensky backs Bohemian uprising. Michael Maier makes a journey from London to Prague. His Atalanta Fugiens published by de Bry at Oppenheim. His Themis Aurea, in which he praises the Rosicrucians, published at Frankfurt. He presents Moritz of Hesse with all his works. Moritz rewards him with the title "Physician and Chemist." "Teophilus Schweighardt's" Speculum sophicum rhodostauroticum published with no name or place of publisher. It contains the famous engraving of the Invisible College of the Rosicrucian Brothers. Descartes quits reading the works of others and leaves home to study "The Book Of The World." Jan Tserklaes (Tilly) made Commander-In-Chief of the field forces of the Catholic League. Birth of Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Frederick V and Elizabeth Stuart, at Heidelberg |
| c. 1618 |
William Boswell becomes secretary to Carleton at The Hague. Death of Magnus Pegel, perhaps at Stettin |
| 1619 |
Election of Frederick V, Elector of the Palatinate, as King of Bohemia. His mother urges him not to accept it. He accepts in September. He is crowned in Prague by Hussite clergy. German Protestant Princes Union refuses to support him. Comenius attends the coronation. Jesensky goes on several secret missions for Frederick. Christian von Anhalt becomes commander of Bohemian army. Wacker flees to Vienna where he dies. Sendivogius goes to Vienna and enters the service of Ferdinand II. Andreae's Christianopolis published by Zetzner in Strasbourg. It defines the term "theosophy" and mentions "The Supreme Architect Of The Universe." Preface by Andreae refers to the Chemical Wedding as a joke. Andreae's Turris Babel published by Zetzner in Strasbourg, dedicated to Heinrich Hein. Andreae's Christianae societatis imago published anonymously by Zetzner in Strasbourg. Alsted becomes professor of theology at Herborn. Kepler writes Napier, thanking him for logarithms, only to discover that he died 2 years previously. Poemer matriculates at Altdorf. Descartes has a vision in a dream in which he discovers a "marvelous science," which becomes analytic geometry. He seeks the "Brothers R.C." in Germany. Sir Henry Savile endows professorships of geometry and astronomy at Oxford. William Harvey becomes body-surgeon to James VI/I. Huniades in England by this time. Birth of Prince Rupert, son of Frederick V and Elizabeth Stuart, at Prague. Death of Johannes Matthias Wacker von Wackenfels at Vienna |
| 1620 |
Battle of the White Mountain, near Prague. James VI/I sells out his own daughter and withholds his promised support. Forces of Frederick utterly defeated by the Spanish mercenary army under the command of Jan Tserklaes, Count of Tilly. Descartes fights on the side of Catholic forces, and enters Prague with the victors. Federick and Elizabeth Stuart flee to Breslau. End of the Renaissance. Beginning of the Thirty Years War. Andreae becomes chief pastor at Calw, in Wurttemberg, where he remains until 1639. Spinola invades Lower Palatinate in the absence of Frederick. Oppenheim falls. De Bry, Oppenheim publisher of works by Fludd and Maier, moves to Frankfurt. Heidelberg ravaged. Libraries' contents thrown into stable yards and trampled by horses. Prior to the Battle, Henry Wotton writes a poem praising Elizabeth Stuart. He meets Kepler at Linz, and tries to convince him to come to England. He goes to Vienna, stays with Ferdinand II, and after the Battle, joins with Bethlen Gabor of Transylvania in an attempt at peace. Sinapius jailed when Protestants take over Melnik. He is released in an exchange with Jesensky. The Catholics free Jesensky in return for the Protestants freeing Sinapius. Sinapius goes into exile. Michael Maier in Magdeburg. Hein matriculates at Leiden as a law student. Descartes meets Faulhaber. Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock |
| c. 1620 |
Andreae founds the Christliche Gottliebende Gesellschaft, or Societas Christiana, at Calw |
| 1621 |
Jesensky executed for his part in the 1618 uprising. Sinapius returns to Melnik. Rudolf's Letter of Majesty torn up by Ferdinand II personally. Ferdinand II gives Lower Palatinate to Maximillian, Duke of Bavaria. Dissolution of German Protestant Princes Union. Frederick V and Elizabeth Stuart take refuge in The Hague, in the home of the English ambassador Dudley Carleton. Christian von Anhalt exiled from the HRE. He takes refuge in Sweden, then in Flensberg with Christian IV of Denmark. Comenius loses everything when Spanish soldiers burn his house down. He takes refuge with Zerotin. Fulk Greville made a baron. Arthur Dee, son of John, goes to Moscow at the invitation of Tsar Michael I and the recommendation of James VI/I. Andreae's Christiani amoris dextera porrecta published by Zetzner in Strasbourg. From now until 1623, Jan Tserklaes successfully conducts campaign in the Palatinate. Birth of Thomas Vaughan at Newton, Wales. Death of Sir Henry Savile |
| after 1621 |
Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria rededicated to the Virgin in commemoration of the Battle of the White Mountain |
| 1622 |
James VI/I dissolves Parliament. Frederick V sets up Palatinate government-in-exile. Council is headed by Ludwig Camerarius, son of Camerarius the Younger. Michael Maier disappears at Magdeburg, during the invasion of the Spanish army, never to be seen again. Remainder of Heidelberg library transported on 200 mules to Rome. It becomes part of the Vatican Library. Birth of Christian August von Pfalz-Sulzbach at Sulzbach. Death of Michael Maier at Magdeburg. Death of Sir Henry Savile at Eton. Death of Sinapius at Prague |
| 1623 |
Campanella's Latin version of City of the Sun published at Frankfurt. Comenius's wife and two of his children die of the plague. He writes The Labyrinth of the World and the Paradise of the Heart whose presentation is based on Andreae's Peregrini in Patria errores. Rosicrucian scare begins in France. Mersenne publishes Quaestiones celeberrimae in Genesim, the first massive attack against the Hermetic Cabala. He criticizes Ficinio, Pico, Agrippa, Giorgi and Fludd, among others. Descartes returns to Paris, where he is branded a Rosicrucian. Jean d'Espagnet's Hermetic Arcanum published at Paris |
| 1624 |
Christian von Anhalt granted amnesty and returns to Anhalt. Death of Jakob Boehme |
| 1625 |
Death of James VI of Scotland/James I of England. Accession of Charles I, who declares war on Spain, ostensibly to help Frederick V regain the Palatinate, but more because of a slight that had occurred to him the previous year. The war is over by December, ending in utter disaster with nothing gained. Haak studies at Oxford and Cambridge. Poemer matriculates at Rostock where he comes under the influence of Heinrich Hein, who is teaching law there. Hein invites Poemer to join the Antilia society. Ricci joins Antilia society |
| 1626 |
Campanella released from Castel Nuovo after Urban VIII personally intercedes with Philip IV. He goes to Rome under house arrest in Urban's custody. He remains Urban's astrologer for five years. Comenius goes to The Hague where he shows Frederick V a manuscript of the prophecies of Christopher Kotter, one of which is that Frederick will return to Bohemia. Sendivogius becomes privy councillor to Ferdinand II. Fludd publishes Sophia cum moria certamen, in which admits his involvement with the Rosicrucians. Haak studies at Oxford and Cambridge. Haak in Cologne |
| 1627 |
Comenius leads Bohemian Brethren to exile in Lissa, Poland. He becomes head of the Bohemian and Moravian Churches. Alsted's Diatribe mille annis apocalypticis published at Frankfurt, which says that the Millennium will start in 1674. Moritz of Hesse abdicates. Gustavus Adolphus becomes Garter knight |
| 1628 |
Fludd helps Harvey publish De motu cordis at Frankfurt. Edict of Restitution removes Zerotin'a ability to shelter Comenius, who then leads Bohemian Brethren into exile in Lissa, Poland. He becomes head of the Bohemian and Moravian Churches. Samuel Hartlib meets John Dury in Elbing. Hartlib moves to England. Haak at Gloucester Hall (the Calvinist center in Oxford) from now until 1631. He does not get a degree. At Poemer's direction, he tries to export the Antilia society to Virginia. Poemer marries Helena Bachmann in Danzig. Fulk Greville murdered by his servant at Warwick |
| c. 1628 |
Andreae attempts to re-launch the Societas Christiana at Nuremberg. Hartlib head of a short-lived Baconian Salomon House in Chichester |
| 1629 |
Fludd publishes Medicina Catholica, dedicated to William Paddy. Alsted moves to Weissenburg, capital of Transylvania, at the invitation of Prince Gabor Bethlen, where he founds the Collegium Bethlenianum, a Calvinist academy. Andreae writes Comenius about the Imago and the Laws of the Societas Christiana which he has already sent him. Andreae names Comenius his spiritual heir and successor. Arthur Dee, still in Moscow, compiles Fasciculus Chemicus, containing most of the Corpus Alchimisticum |
| 1630 |
Kepler preparing Somnium for publication at the time of his death; it is dedicated to Wacker. Alsted publishes Encyclopedia Omnium Scientiarum in seven volumes, attempting to contain all man's knowledge. Hartlib moves to London, where he lives at Duke’s Place, Holborn for the rest of his life. Dury leaves Elbing. He sends the Laws of the Antilian society to Hartlib. Ferdinand II gives Sendivogius the villages of Kravar and Kouty in Silesia. Since there are no non-Cyrillic printing presses in Russia, Arthur Dee's Fasciculus Chemicus published at Paris. Birth of Countess Sophia, mother of King George I of England, to Frederick V and Elizabeth Stuart. Jan Tserklaes replaces Wallenstein as commander of the Imperial forces. Death of Federico Cesi. End of the Lincei. Death of Christian von Anhalt at Bernberg |
| 1631 |
Army of Gustavus Adolphus defeat Tilly's forces at the Battle of Breitenfeld. Frederick V leaves The Hague for Heidelberg. Comenius publishes Janua linguarum reserata which establishes his worldwide reputation and is eventually translated into 15 languages. His Labyrinth of the World printed in Czech |
| c. 1631 |
David Lindsay does a tranlation of the Fama Also included in his alchemical notebooks are transcriptions of Sendivogius's New Chymical Light, Speculum sophicum rhodostauroticum, Hermetic Arcanum and a dictionary of Paracelsus |
| 1632 |
Urban VIII issues the Bull Inscrutabilis against astrologers, as a cover for his involvement with Campanella. Comenius becomes last bishop of the Bohemian Brethren. His Janua linguarum reserata published at London. Hartlib begins correspondence with Comenius, who is touched by Hartlib's charity. John Williams puts Hartlib in charge of his “academy” of young noblemen at his palace of Buckden. Hein becomes law professor at universtity of Dorpat (Tartu). Poemer becomes head of Antilia society. Frederick V and Gustavus Adolphus meet at Frakfurt. Death of Frederick V, Elector of the Palatinate, at Mainz. Death of Jan Tserklaes, Count of Tilly, at the battle of Lech against Gustavus Adolphus. Death of Gustavus Adolphus. Death of Moritz of Hesse at Eschwege |
| 1633 |
Elizabeth Stuart raises an army on behalf of her son, Charles Louis, who also becomes Garter knight. David Lindsay crowns Charles I at Holyrood. Charles advances him to Lord Lindsay. Count Rackoczy summons Huniades to Transylvania. Lissa incorporated |
| 1634 |
Campanella forced to leave Rome due to renewed Spanish suspicions. He goes to Paris, where he is warmly received by Louis XIII and Richelieu. Andreae loses everything in a fire. Hartlib begins fund-raising for the publication of Comenius's Pansophiae prodromus. David Lindsay admitted to the Privy Council of Scotland, made one of the Lords of the Exchequer, and appointed Bishop of Edinburgh |
| 1635 |
Alsted writes Prodromus religionis triumphantis, which remains unpublished for 6 years. Sendivogius visits the Imperial Court in Vienna. Mersenne meets Campanella. He asks if Descartes wants Campanella to go to the Netherlands to meet him. Decartes declines. Dury becomes tutor to Mary, Princess of Orange in the Hague. He meets with Descartes, "unproductively". Huniades lives in Whitechapel, London |
| 1636 |
Dury goes to Stockholm, where he remains until 1638. He tries to secure land for the Antilia society. Hartlib introduces Comenius to Dury, who distributes Comenius's works in Sweden. Hartlib sends Poemer a sketch of Comenius's Delineatio Didacticae. Poemer establishes contact with Andreae, using Hein as a recommendation. Death of Michael Sendivogius at Kravare (now Czech Republic). Death of Karel Zerotin at Prerov, Moravia |
| 1637 |
At the request of Richelieu, Campanella writes Chiroroscopia, on palmistry. Arthur Dee becomes body-surgeon to Charles I. Parliament funds an expedition by Charles Louis to retake the Palatinate. He is defeated at Vlotho. Prince Rupert captured and imprisoned at Linz. Ferdiand III tries to convert him to Catholicism, including offers of a generalship and princedom. Rupert remains Calvinist. He receives the gift of a rare white poodle, which remains with him for years. Hartlib becomes a minister of Charles Louis. David Lindsay reads from Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer at the Edinburgh cathedral. Brulart de Sillery, a noted Knight of Malta, establishes a chapel near Quebec. Death of Robert Fludd at London |
| 1638 |
Haak matriculates at Leiden, then moves to England later that year. Comenius accepts an invitation from Queen Christina and Oxenstierna go to Sweden to reform the school system. Hartlib gets Comenius's Pansophiae prodromus published at London. Charles II becomes Garter knight. Henry Adamson publishes Muses Threnodie, containing, "we be brethren of the Rosie Crosse; We have the Mason word, and second sight," the first known link between Rosicrucianism and Freemasonry. Death of Johann Heinrich Alsted at Weissenburg, Transylvania |
| c. 1638 |
Poemer visits Hartilib and Dury in London. Poemer admitted to Unio Christiana by Andreae. David Lindsay excommunicated. He goes to England |
| 1639 |
Andreae becomes court preacher to Eberhard III at Wurttemberg (or Stuttgart). Poemer visits Comenius at Lissa. Ricci visits Hein at Dorpat. He writes to Hartlib of his visit, mentioning the Antilia society. Alsted's Turris Babel published posthumously at Herborn. Haak is correspondent between the Hartlib circle and Mersenne for several years. Death of Tommaso Campanella at Paris |
| 1640 |
Poemer asks Andreae for help bringing Hein back to Germany from Dorpat to rejoin those working toward the Antilia society. Poemer tells Andreae that the Antilia society is similar to the one Andreae described in Christianopolis. John Gauden preaches to Parliament that Comenius and John Dury should be invited to London. Hartlib posthumously publishes John Stoughton's Felicitas Ultimi Saeculi. It lauds Alsted on his move to Transylvania. It also praises Bacon, Dury and Comenius. Hartlib adds a dedication to Count Rackoczy. Parliament meets again for the first time since 1629. Hartlib directed by Parliament to issue invitations to Comenius and Dury |
| 1641 |
Dury goes to England at the invitation of Parliament. Comenius sets out for England at the invitation of Parliament, but a gale off the coast of Norway drives his battered ship back to Danzig. He considers abandoning the trip, but sets out again, reaching England, where he heads a committee to reform all phases of society. He writes Way of Light describing and advocating the creation of an "invisible college." He investigates the Savoy Hospital and the deserted college of Chelsea in London, and St. Cross Hospital in Winchester as possible locations. Hartlib and Dury are also on the committee. This is the first time all three have met in person. Haak meets the three in London. Huniades uses alcohol thermometer in distillation experiments. Andreae gives Poemer the green light for establishing the Antilia commune. Hartlib publishes A Description of the Famous Kingdom of Macaria describing the Antilia utopia they were trying to bring into being. Alsted's Prodromus religionis triumphantis published. Andreae receives Doctor of Theology from Tubingen. Prince Rupert released from Linz on promise never to do battle against the HRE again. He goes to England, where Charles I makes him a General of Horse. Death of Sir David Lindsay |
| 1642 |
English Civil War breaks out, disrupting the reforms of Comenius, Hartlib and Dury. Comenius returns to Sweden at the invitation of Lewis de Geer. The day before he leaves England, John Pym summons Hartlib and him to a meeting to implement replacing the teaching of the Ptolemaic system with the Copernican in the English educational system. He is offered presidency of the six-year-old Harvard by John Winthrop Jr., but turns it down. He also turns down an offer from Cardinal Richelieu to found an academy of science. He meets Descartes at Endegeest Castle near Leiden. Later he moves to Elbing, Polish Prussia. Huniades professor of chemistry at Gresham College in London. John Webster is his student. James II and Prince Rupert become Garter knights |
| 1643 |
Descartes becomes teacher of Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Frederick V and Elizabeth Stuart. John Milton meets Hartlib. Pym appoints Dury to the Westminster Assembly, which was to refashion the Church after Parliament's victory in the Civil War. Haak is sent by Parliament on a diplomatic mission to Denmark. Hein refers in his last surviving letter to "our long-desired Antilia." Death of Tobias Adami |
| c. 1643 |
Milton writes Artis Logicae Plenior Institutio ad Petri Rami Methodum concinnata, perhaps the last treatise on Ramus. It remains unpublished for 30 years |
| 1644 |
Descartes moves to Leiden to be near Princess Elizabeth. He dedicates the Principia philosophiae to her. He receives Hermetic initialtion from her. John Milton addresses Tractate on Education to Hartlib. Haak returns to England. Charles Louis, brother of Princess Elizabeth and Elector Palatine in exile, returns to England at the invitation of Parliament. Wilkins becomes his chaplain. Haak becomes his secretary. Prince Rupert becomes General of the entire Royalist army. Numerous pamphlets accuse him of witchcraft, and his poodle of being his familiar |
| 1645 |
Dury returns to England and preaches at the House of Commons. Prince Rupert fired by Charles I, exonerated and reinstated by court martial, then quits. Priory of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem established in Quebec at Chateau Frontinac. Prototype Royal Society, the "Invisible College" forms around Robert Boyle in London and John Wilkins at Oxford, perhaps around Haak as well. The Philosophical Society of Oxford continues to meet until 1659 |
| 1646 |
Comenius asks Hartlib in a letter whether, now that peace was restored, the time had come to establish in England "the College of Light." Hartlib publishes two tracts telling Parliament how to establish Antilia in England. Letters from Boyle to Hartlib refer to an "Invisible College" which is already meeting to reform scientific education. Elias Ashmole initiated into Freemasonry at Warrington in Lancashire. Prince Rupert banished by Parliament |
| 1647 |
Hartlib publishes English tranlations, at Cambridge, of Andreae's Christianae societatis imago and Christiani amoris dextera porrecta, which he received from Comenius. Haak is again correspondent between the Hartlib circle and Mersenne until Mersenne's death in 1648. Cornaro Chapel by Bernini begun in the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria |
| 1648 |
Treaty of Westphalia ends the 30 Years War. Among other things it returns the Lower Palatinate to Charles Louis, son of Frederick V and Elizabeth Stuart. Wilkins becomes warden of Wadham College, Oxford. He writes Mathematical Magick, based on Fludd's Utriusque Cosmi... Historia, referencing the Fama and Confessio, Dee's Preface to Euclid, Agrippa, and, indirectly, Asclepius. Comenius becomes last bishop of the Bohemian Brethren. Comenius goes from Elbing to England for two years. Hartlib and Dury publish many pamphlets over the next two years. Some of their reforms are actually implemented. Prince Rupert becomes head of Royalist fleet. |
| 1649 |
Execution of Charles I. Charles Louis, the Elector Palatine, leaves England and returns to Heidelberg. Haak turns down an invitation to accompany him, but acts as his agent in London. Princess Elizabeth suggests that Descartes move with her to Heidelberg, but he becomes tutor to Queen Christina of Sweden instead. Christian August becomes ruler of Sulzbach. Van Helmont convinces him to establish a policy of religious toleration, extended to Catholics, separatist sects, and Jews. Dury and his wife involved in alchemical experiments. Arthur Dee contracts with Huniades to perform alchemical experiments. George Ripley's Opera Omnia, containing pseudepigraphic works, published at Cassel |
| 1650 |
Thomas Vaughan publishes Anthroposophia Theomagica, dedicated to the "regenerated Brethren R.C.", under the pseudonym "Eugenius Philalethes." This leads to a literary duel with Henry More. Henry More begins to correspond with Lady Conway. Ashmole translates Arthur Dee's Fasciculus Chemicus into English, under the anagrammatic pseudonym James Hasholle. Dee rebukes him for doing so in a letter. Andreae becomes abbot of Bebenhausen. Sendivogius's Novum Lumen Chymicum, translated as A New Light Of Alchymie by John French, published in London. Comenius accepts invitation of Count Rackoczy and/or his wife Zsuzsanna Lorantffy and moves to Sarospatak for four years to teach at the first Protestant university in Hungary. Death of Descartes in Stockholm, perhaps by poisoning. Death of Joannes Banfi Huniades |
| c. 1650 |
(date unknown) Pariliament renews the pension to Elizabeth Stuart that Charles I had instituted |
| 1651 |
Pierre des Noyers writes a letter discrediting Sendivogius. He apparently makes up the figure of Alexander Seton, Scottish alchemist, whose biographical data only exists from 1601-04 and only in Noyers's letter. Van Helmont moves to Sulzbach. Death of Arthur Dee at Norwich. He leaves most of his alchemical manuscripts to Sir Thomas Browne |
| 1652 |
Hartlib suggests to Cromwell that displaced Bohemians and other Continental Protestants be relocated to Ireland. Fulk Greville's Life of Sir Philip Sidney published posthumously. Ashmole's Theatrum chemicum Britannicum published at London. In it, he claims that George Ripley donated 100,000 pounds per year to the Knights of Rhodes to aid in their wars against the Turks. Thomas Vaughn publishes English translation of the Fama and Confessio. This is an adaptation of the manuscript by David Lindsay done in 1631. Prince Rupert loses his flagship to a storm. He acquires a Mauritanian servant boy who remains with him for many years. He explores The Gambia and contracts malaria, from which he continues to suffer for the rest of his life. The Order of St. John of Jerusalem (Hospitallers) obtains possession of St. Kitts, St. Croix, and others of the French West Indies for 5,000 pounds |
| 1653 |
Van Helmont convinces Christian August to negotiate the free worship of Catholics as well as Lutherans in Sulzbach. Hooke arrives at Oxford and joins the Wilkins circle. William III (William of Orange) becomes Garter knight |
| c. 1653 |
Henry More publishes Conjectura Cabbalistica at London, dedicated to Ralph Cudworth. Comenius works to drive Austrians out of Bohemia. He impels Count Rakoczy to sign a treaty with England and Sweden to do so, but nothing materializes |
| before 1654 |
Andreae writes his autobiography. It was not published, but only discovered in the late 18th century. It contains a list of correspondents that includes Heinrich Hein and Johannes Kepler. John Webster writes Examination of Academies, mentioning the Rosy Cross, Hermes Trismegistus, Boehme, Fludd and Dee's Preface to Euclid |
| 1654 |
Andreae becomes abbot of Adelberg. Comenius returns to Lissa, Poland. Cromwell suggests Bohemian Brethren and Waldenses relocate to Ireland. Comenius refuses. (Trevor-Roper says this happens in 1656.) Dury goes on a tour of the Continent as Cromwell's special envoy. Death of Johann Valentin Andreae at Stuttgart |
| c. 1654 |
Prince Rupert invents mezzotint printmaking |
| 1655 |
Pierre Borel publishes Noyers's letter defaming Sendivogius in Trevor de recherches et antiquites gauloises et francoises. Poemer converts to Catholicism. This causes public controversy with Johann Fabricius. Poemer moves to Sulzbach. Christian August converts to Catholicism. Boyle moves to Oxford. Comenius makes the mistake of siding with the Swedish invaders of Poland and praising Charles X in a pamphlet, Panegyricus Carolo Gustavo, which is published in London by Hartlib. John Heydon publishes Eugenius Theodidactus, The Prophetical Trumpeter . . . illustrating the Fate of Great Britain. (A celestial vision in heroic verse), his echo of the Fama, at London |
| 1656 |
Comenius's house and printing press burned by Polish patriots. He once again loses everything. He moves to Amsterdam at the invitation of Lawrence de Geer, son of Lewis. Cromwell starts a relief fund for displaced Bohemians and invites Comenius to England. Comenius refuses. Wilkins marries Cromwell's sister |
| 1657 |
Comenius's house and printing press burned by Polish patriots. He once again loses everything. He moves to Amsterdam. Cromwell starts New College in Durham. Hartlib writes its statutes. Charles Louis and Prince Rupert have a falling out. Prince Rupert vows never to return to the Palatinate. He goes to work for his former captor, Ferdinand III, in Hungary |
| 1658 |
Comenius's Orbis sensualium pictus, influenced by Campanella's City of the Sun, published at Nuremberg. Heydon publishes A New Method of Rosie Crucian Physick. Hooke working with Boyle by this time |
| 1659 |
Wilkins becomes Master of Trinity College, Cambridge. Letter from Comenius to a friend asking for help replacing works by Andreae that were lost in the fire. Meric Casaubon publishes his damnation of Dee, Trithemius and Paracelsus, which sullies their reputations for the next 300 years |
| c. 1659 |
Philosophical Society of Oxford moves to London |
| 1660 |
Charles II restored as King of England. Prince Rupert returns to England. Establishment of the Royal Society in London, the successor to the Philosophical Society of Oxford, with Wilkins as its founding Secretary. Charles II gives Chelsea College to Wilkins for use as headquarters. Prince Rupert is the third founding member. Heydon released from prison. He publishes The Rosie Crucian Infallible Axiomata; or, generall rules to know all things past, present, and to come at London. Hartlib writes to Boyle (?) in January that he expects Antilia will “have a more visible being” within three months. He starts considering Bermuda as the location for Antilia. Hartlib writes John Evelyn, advocating that the Royal Society be the Antilia society. His pleas are rejected. Durham College dissolved. Reforms that Hartlib, Dury and Comenius managed to implement are abandoned or negated. Final edition of Theatrum chemicum, the largest work on alchemy ever printed, published by Zetzner in Strasbourg. It contains Dee's Monas Hieroglyphica, Sendivogius's Aenigma philosophicum (inspired by Bavor Radovsky's translation of a treatise by Bernard of Treviso), works by Thomas Muffet, George Ripley, Roger Bacon, Giovanni Francesco Pico della Mirandola (Pico's nephew and biographer), Albertus Magnus, Thomas Aquinas, Avicenna, and pseduepigraphical works attributed to Hermes Trismegistus (including the Emerald Table), Llull and Arnaud de Villanova |
| c. 1660 |
Hein founds Arndianum collegam et chemae, a Rosicrucian society, at Dorpat |
| 1661 |
Haak becomes an Original Fellow of the Royal Society at nomination of Wilkins. Elizabeth Stuart returns to England to visit Charles II. Dury moves to Cassel under the patronage of Landgrave William VI. Van Helmont arrested and taken to Rome. Pope Alexander VIII is unwilling to condemn him, partially due to the public reaction that would result, particularly in the Netherlands. Prince Rupert instigates an exploratory expedition in The Gambia |
| 1662 |
Heydon claims to be a Rosicrucian in The Holy Guide, published at London. Ashmole joins the Royal Society. Christian V becomes Garter knight. Death of Elizabeth Stuart in London. Death of Samuel Hartlib |
| 1663 |
Prince Rupert invents a new gunpowder ten times more powerful than the old. Knorr von Rosenroth moves to Sulzbach. Leibniz initiated into a "Rosicrucian society" at Nuremberg |
| 1664 |
Heydon publishes the last of three volumes of Theomagia, or the temple of wisdom in three parts, spiritual, celestial, and elemental: containing the occult powers of the angels of astromancy in the telesmatical sculpture of the Persians and Ægyptians: the mysterious vertues of the characters of the stars...the knowledge of the Rosie Crucian physick, and the miraculous secrets of nature, the first of which was publihed in 1662; and The Wise Man's Crown; or, The Glory of the Rosie-Cross . . . with the full discovery of the true Cœlum Terræ, or first matter of the Philosophers. . . . With the Regio Lucis, and Holy Household of Rosie Crucian Philosophers, all at London |
| 1665 |
Heydon publishes El Havarevna; or, the English Physitian's Tutor in the Astrobolismes of Mettals Rosie Crucian at Londond. Caribbean islands possessed by the Order of St. John sold to a merchant company |
| 1666 |
Christian August allows Jews to settle in Sulzbach. Leibniz initiated into a "Rosicrucian society" at Nuremberg. Death of Heinrich Hein at Dorpat |
| 1667 |
Leibniz becomes secretary of the Rosicrucian Society of Nuremberg. Princess Elizabeth becomes Abbess of Herford |
| 1668 |
Comenius's Way of Light published at Amsterdam, 26 years after it was written, dedicated to the Royal Society. In his introduction, Comenius refers to members of the Royal Society as "illuminati." Isaac Newton buys Theatrum chemicum, which, at his death, contains more marginal annotations than any other work in his library |
| 1669 |
Newton reads and annotates his copies of Maier's Symbola aureae mensae duodecim, Sendivogius's Novum Lumen Chymicum and George Ripley's Opera Omnia. Pinocci publishes Lettre missive, contenant la vie de Sendivogius, based on the calumnies of Noyers, but adding some self-contradictory "facts". Isaac Cohen Judels of Prague starts a Hebrew printing press in Sulzbach at the invitation of Christian August |
| 1670 |
Membership in the Royal Society has doubled since 1660. Sometime after this, Haak becomes close friends with Hooke. Van Helmont leaves Sulzbach. He goes to England on a mission from Princess Elizabeth. He meets Boyle. He meets Henry More, who persuades him to visit Lady Conway. Van Helmont moves into Ragley Hall, where he remains until 1679 as physician to Lady Conway. Prince Rupert becomes first director of the Hudson's Bay Company. Death of John Amos Comenius in Amsterdam |
| 1671 |
Leibniz first meets van Helmont. They discuss alchemy at length. Van Helmont introduces Leibniz to Knorr von Rosenroth |
| 1672 |
Milton's Artis Logicae Plenior Institutio ad Petri Rami Methodum concinnata published at London. Death of John Wilkins in London |
| 1673 |
Charles Louis invites Prince Rupert to the Palatinate, to marry and have an heir, as it looks like his own son will not survive to manhood. Rupert declines. Death of John Wilkins in London |
| 1674 |
Dury publishes Touchant l’intelligence de l’Apocalypse par l’Apocalypse meme at Cassel, which is an about-face on the use of Revelation terminology to describe the events of the Thirty Years War and the Civil War, e.g antichrist=Pope. Sir Thomas Browne writes to Ashmole, answering his request with information about Arthur Dee |
| 1675 |
George Keith visits Ragley Hall. Van Helmont gets him interested in the Kabbalah. He corresponds with Knorr von Rosenroth, mentioning Guillaume Postel |
| 1676 |
Wolfgang Ernst Heidel, counselor to the Archbishop of Mainz, decodes Volume 3 of Trithemius's Steganographia. He publishes the decryption in code, so his claims are discounted |
| 1677 |
Van Helmont publishes A Cabbalistical Dialogue in Latin. He and Lady Conway declare themselves to be Quakers. Knorr von Rosenroth publishes Kabbala Denudata at a press founded by him, van Helmont and Christian August. At some point between 1669 and 1689 they also publish Knorr's translation of the Sepher-ha-Zohar |
| 1678 |
Prince Rupert becomes Lord High Admiral and General At Sea And Land |
| 1679 |
In a letter, Locke says that Boyle has told him about the publication of a new Latin translation of the Zohar. Death of Lady Conway at Ragley Hall |
| 1680 |
Death of Princess Elizabeth at Herford. Death of John Dury at Cassel |
| 1682 |
Ashmole attends a lodge meeting at Masons Hall, London, at which he is the senior fellow. Van Helmont publishes A Cabbalistical Dialogue in English. Death of Prince Rupert at London |
| 1687 |
John Locke meets van Helmont. He goes to Sulzbach and meets with Knorr von Rosenroth. Synagogue built at Sulzbach. Death of Johann Abraham Poemer at Sulzbach |
| 1688 |
Leibniz goes to Sulzbach and meets with Knorr von Rosenroth |
| 1690 |
Foxcroft's translation of Chymische Hochzeit published posthumously. Death of Theodore Haak at London |
| 1692 |
Death of Elias Ashmole at London |
| 1694 |
Van Helmont stays with Locke for five months |
| 1699 |
Death of Franciscus Mercurius van Helmont. Leibniz writes his epitaph |
| c. 1700 |
(date unknown, only that it's "long after" 1666) Leibniz writes of an Order of Charity, which is virtually a synopsis of the Fama |
| 1703 |
Newton sends Locke his proof that concept of the Trinity has no scriptural basis |
| 1708 |
Death of Christian August von Pfalz-Sulzbach at Sulzbach |
| 1710 |
Publication of The perfect and true preparation of the Philosophers Stone according to the secret of the Brotherhoods of the Golden and Rosy Cross by "Sincerus Renatus" at Breslau. It is generally thought that Sincerus Renatus is Sigmund Richter |
| 1714 |
George Ludwig, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, grandson of Frederick V and Elizabeth Stuart, great-nephew of Heinrich Julius, becomes King George I of England. Freemasonry is officially established during his reign |
| 1717 |
First Grand Lodge of Freemasonry established in London. King George I is a member |
| 1721 |
Freemasonry reaches France. Brotherhood and Friendship Lodge founded at Dunkirk |
| 1722 |
Birth of Baron Karl Gotthelf von Hund. Death of Princess Elizabeth at Heidelberg |
| 1738 |
Bull condemning Freemasonry issued by Clement XII |
| 1741 |
Manoel Pinto, Grand Master of the Knights of St. John, expels the Jesuits from Malta |
| 1743 |
Saint-Germain goes to England |
| c. 1743 |
First Masonic lodge in Paris which is chartered by the English Grand Lodge established |
| 1745 |
Saint-Germain imprisoned in England for espionage |
| 1751 |
Martines de Pasqually founds Scottish Judges at Montpelier, France |
| 1752 |
England adopts the Gregorian calendar |
| 1753 |
Sweden adopts the Gregorian calendar |
| 1754 |
Baron Hund founds Strict Observance Lodge |
| 1756 |
Grand Lodge of France founded |
| c. 1760 |
Martines de Pasqually founds the Order of the Elect Cohens at Bordeaux |
| 1764 |
Frederick Wilhelm II initiated into Strict Observance |
| 1767 |
Bernhard Joseph Schleiss von Lowenfeld of Sulzbach reorganizes the Gold and Rosy Cross, strongly influenced by the writings of Knorr von Rosenroth and van Helmont |
| 1768 |
Saint-Martin initiated into the Elect Cohens |
| 1770 |
Goethe writes to Langer discussing the Emerald Table |
| c. 1770 |
Golden and Rosy Cross well established throughout Europe by this time |
| 1771 |
Grand Lodge of France reunited by Grand Duke of Luxembourg |
| 1772 |
Grand Lodge of France reconstituted as Grand Orient of France. Pasqually goes to Santo Domingo, West Indies, turning over the Elect Cohens to Willermoz |
| 1774 |
Death of Martines de Pasqually at Port-au-Prince, Haiti |
| 1775 |
American Revolution begins, Weishaupt becomes a professor of natural and cannon law at Ingolstadt |
| 1776 |
Foundation of the Bavarian Illuinati as the Order of Perfectibilists. Death of Baron Karl Gotthelf von Hund |
| 1777 |
Weishaupt initiated into a Strict Observance Lodge, Theodore of Good Council, at Munich. Bernhard Joseph Schleiss von Lowenfeld again reorganizes the Gold and Rosy Cross |
| c. 1777 |
First apparition of Pasqually to Abbe Fournier |
| 1780 |
Goethe initiated into a masonic lodge at Weimar |
| 1781 |
Frederick Wilhelm II initiated into the Gold and Rosy Cross with the title Ormesus Magnus |
| 1782 |
Goethe receives the Higher Templar Degrees of the Rite of Strict Observance |
| c. 1783 |
Goethe joins the Bavarian Illuminati. De facto end of the Strict Observance |
| 1784 |
Elector Karl Theodor of Bavaria issues a proclamation that the Illuminati disband |
| 1785 |
Weishaupt fired from Ingolstadt. He goes to live with Jakob Lanz in Regensberg. Cagliostro meets Saint-Germain, who initiates him. Saint-Germain is one of the French delegates to the "great Masonic convention" at Paris |
| 1789 |
French Revolution begins |
| 1792 |
Property of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem (Hospitallers) confiscated in France |
| 1794 |
James Monroe, American Minister in Paris, proposes an alliance with the Knights of Malta |
| 1795 |
Goethe writes The Green Snake and the Beautiful Lily, a fairy tale rife with Hermetic and alchemical symbolism |
| 1798 |
Through the treason of the sixty-ninth Grand Master of the Knights of Malta, Napoleon arrives in Malta and catches the populace unaware. He conquers Malta and expels the Knights |
| 1801 |
Francis Barrett publishes The Magus in London, containing much material from Agrippa's De Occulta Philosophia. Lands of the Teutonic Knights west of the Rhine absorbed by the French government |
| 1803 |
Death of Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin |
| 1809 |
Teutonic Knights suppressed by the French government. Birth of Albert Pike |
| 1810 |
Birth of Eliphas Levi at Paris |
| 1815 |
Birth of Adrien Peladan pere (Louis Adrien Peladan) |
| 1840 |
Albert Pike joins the Odd Fellows |
| 1842 |
Bulwer-Lytton publishes Zanoni: A Rosicrucian Novel |
| 1844 |
Birth of Adrien Peladan fils at Nimes |
| 1848 |
Birth of William Wynn Westcott at Leamington Spa, Warwickshire |
| c. 1850 |
Viscount Louis-Charles-Edouard de Lapasse, pupil of Prince Balbiani of Palermo (who had been a pupil of Cagliostro), is Chief of the Order of the Rose Cross in Toulouse |
| 1854 |
Eliphas Lévi visits Bulwer-Lytton in England. They conceive the idea of writing a treatise on magic |
| 1855 |
Eliphas Lévi's Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie published |
| 1857 |
Walter Spencer initiated into the Societas Rosicruciana in Scotia by Anthony Oneil Haye |
| 1858 |
Fraternitas Rosae Crucis founded by Paschal Beverly Randolph. Adrien Peladan fils becomes a member of the Order of the Rose Cross in Toulouse. Birth of Josephin Peladan at Lyon |
| 1859 |
Pike elected Sovereign Grand Commander of the Scottish Rite's Southern Jurisdiction, an office he holds until his death |
| 1861 |
Eliphas Lévi's Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie published. First Fraternitas Rosae Crucis lodge founded and then soon closes in San Francisco |
| 1865 |
Albert Pike convicted of treason |
| 1866 |
Robert Wentworth Little initiated into the Societas Rosicruciana in Scotia. Albert Pike pardoned by Andrew Johnson, who meets with him at the White House the next day |
| 1867 |
Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia founded by Robert Wentworth Little in London under charter from the Societas Rosicruciana in Scotia. Andrew Johnson receives the 4th through 32nd degrees of Scottish Rite Masonry. Birth of Jean Delville at Louvain. Death of Viscount Louis-Charles-Edouard de Lapasse |
| c. 1867 |
(date unknown) Firmin Boissin becomes head of the Order of the Rose Cross in Toulouse |
| 1871 |
Pike's Morals and Dogma published at Charleston, establishing the 33-degree form of modern Scottish Rite Freemasonry. Second Fraternitas Rosae Crucis lodge founded in Boston |
| 1874 |
Fraternitas Rosae Crucis lodge founded in San Francisco |
| 1875 |
Fraternitas Rosae Crucis moves its headquarters to Philadelphia. Death of Eliphas Levi |
| 1878 |
Westcott begins studying the Kabbalah. Woodman becomes Supreme Magus of Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, replacing R. W. Little. Blavatsky becomes a U.S. citizen. Birth of R. Swinburne Clymer |
| 1880 |
Foundation of the Societatis Rosicrucianae in the United States (today the Societas Rosicruciana in Civitatibus Foederatis) under charter from the Societas Rosicruciana in Scotia. Charles E. Meyer is Supreme Magus |
| 1882 |
Josephin Peladan moves to Paris |
| 1883 |
Birth of H. Spenser Lewis at Frenchtown, NJ |
| 1884 |
Josephin Peladan adopts the Babylonian title "Sar." He publishes Le Vice Supreme containing Rosicrucian and occult themes. De Guaita reads it. De Guaita and Sar Peladan decide to rebuild the Rosicrucian Brotherhood. Birth of Emile Dantinne at Huy, Belgium. Birth of Paul Case at Fairport, NY |
| 1885 |
Death of Adrien Peladan fils by accidental self-poisoning |
| 1887 |
Westcott translates Sepher Yetzirah. Mathers translates Knorr von Rosenroth's Kabbala Denudata as The Kabbalah Unveiled |
| 1888 |
Foundation of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn by Westcott at London. Foundation of the Ordre Kabbalistique de la Rose-Croix by Stanislas de Guaita under charter from Josephin Peladan. Known members include Papus, Erik Satie and August Strindberg |
| 1890 |
Westcott becomes Supreme Magus of Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, replacing Woodman. Sar Peladan leaves the Ordre Kabbalistique de la Rose-Croix and founds the Ordre de la Rose+Croix Catholique. Satie goes with him. Death of Adrien Peladan pere (Louis Adrien Peladan), outliving his eldest son by five years |
| 1891 |
Sar Peladan publishes Manifesto of the Rose+Croix in Le Figaro. Death of William Woodman. Death of Albert Pike |
| 1892 |
First Salon Rose+Croix. Sar Peladan Regent of Ordo Supremis Militaris Templi Hierosolymitani |
| 1894 |
Jean Deville organizes Rosicrucian Salon d’Art Idealiste in Belgium |
| 1895 |
Deville publishes Dialogue entre nous in which he describes his views on occultism and esoteric philosophy |
| c. 1895 |
Deville joins the Theosophical Society |
| 1897 |
Last Salon Rose+Croix |
| 1903 |
Max Heindel joins Los Angeles branch of the Theosophical Society. He serves as its vice president in 1904 and 1905 |
| 1904 |
Dantinne meets Sar Peladan in Brussels |
| 1907 |
Birth of Israel Regardie at London |
| 1908 |
Max Heindel founds a Rosicrucian study center in Columbus, OH |
| 1909 |
Rosicrucian Fellowship founded by Max Heindel in Seattle. He publishes The Rosicrucian Cosmo-Conception at Chicago. H. Spenser Lewis initiated into a Rosicrucian society in Toulouse, perhaps the Order of the Rose Cross. George Winslow Plummer founds the Societas Rosicruciana in America under charter from an alleged Hungarian Rosicrucian society |
| 1910 |
Deville becomes head of the Theosophical Society in Belgium |
| 1911 |
Rosicrucian Fellowship moves its headquarters to Oceanside, CA |
| 1912 |
Order of the Temple of the Rosy Cross founded by Theosphists Annie Besant, Marie Russak and J. I. Wedgwood. Isabel Cooper-Oakley publishes The Comte de St. Germain, the source of the Ascended Masters movement |
| c. 1914 |
Activities of the Order of the Temple of the Rosy Cross suspended due to the war |
| c. 1915 |
Ancient and Mystical Order Rosæ Crucis (AMORC) founded by H. Spenser Lewis in New York |
| 1918 |
Paul Case joins the Thoth-Hermes Lodge of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn in Chicago. Order of the Temple of the Rosy Cross dissolved. Some time after this, Russak enters AMORC and collaborates with Lewis on the development of rituals. She transmits much of her occult knowledge to Lewis. Death of Josephin Peladan at Paris. Sar Hieronymus (Emile Dantinne) becomes Imperator of the Ordre de la Rose+Croix Catholique. Westcott moves to South Africa. Russia adopts the Gregorian calendar |
| 1919 |
Death of Max Heindel at Oceanside, CA |
| 1921 |
Reuss expels Crowley from the OTO. Rosicrucian Egyptian Oriental Museum founded by H. Spenser Lewis in San Jose, CA |
| 1922 |
R. Swinburne Clymer becomes Supreme Grand Master of Fraternitas Rosae Crucis. Paul Case develops an extensive correspondence course after being expelled from the Golden Dawn by Mathers' widow, Moina. This is the core of the Builders of the Adytum that would come into being a few years later |
| 1923 |
Paul Case starts the School of Ageless Wisdom, probably in Boston. Sar Hieronymus reorganizes the Belgian Rosicrucians. The Ordo Aureæ & Rosæ Crucis, the outer order, consists of the Ordre de la Rose+Croix Universitaire for college graduates and the Ordre de la Rose+Croix Universelle for all others. The inner order, to which members of either outer order can advance, is the Ordre de la Rose+Croix Interieure. Death of William Wynn Westcott at Durban |
| c. 1925 |
Paul Case moves to Los Angeles and founds the Builders of the Adytum |
| 1927 |
AMORC moves to San Jose, CA. Ordre Hermetiste Tetramegiste et Mystique (note that Hermes is now "four times great" instead of merely "thrice great") founded by Sar Hieronymus at Brussels |
| 1928 |
Israel Regardie becomes Aleister Crowley's secretary |
| 1931 |
H. Spenser Lewis in Italy. Mussolini welcomes him as "a friend of the family" |
| 1932 |
Sar Hieronymus begins correspondence with H. Spenser Lewis and Victor Blanchard |
| 1934 |
Israel Regardie joins the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Societatis Rosicrucianae in the United States changes its name to the Societas Rosicruciana in Civitatibus Foederatis. Sar Hieronymus founds FUDOSI (Federation Universelle Des Ordres et Societes Initiatiques, the Universal Federation of Initiatory Orders and Societies), consisting primarily of his Belgian groups and AMORC. Its three Imperators are Sar Hieronymus (Dantinne), Sar Alden (H. Spenser Lewis) and Sar Yesir (Victor Blanchard). They claim that all non-member groups are "false prophets" |
| 1937 |
Regardie returns to the U.S. He publishes The Golden Dawn, containing virtually all of the Golden Dawn teachings. He is criticized as a traitor and an oath-breatker, but claims he did it in order to ensure the knowledge is preserved. H. Spenser Lewis in Italy. Mussolini gives speech promising a radiant future for AMORC |
| 1939 |
Death of H. Spenser Lewis. His son, Ralph Lewis, becomes one of the three Imperators of FUDOSI. FUDOFSI (Federation Universelle des Ordres Sociétés et Fraternités des Initiés, the Federation of Orders and Fraternities of Initiates) formed in reaction to FUDOSI, primarily by R. Swinburne Clymer and Constant Chevillon |
| 1944 |
Constant Chevillon dies, shot by the Gestapo. De-facto end of FUDOFSI |
| 1945 |
Hartlib's letters, lost since 1667, discovered in London |
| 1951 |
FUDOSI dissolved |
| 1953 |
Death of Jean Deville at Brussels |
| 1954 |
Death of Paul Case while vacationing in Mexico |
| 1966 |
New buildings constructed for Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum. Death of R. Swinburne Clymer |
| 1968 |
Sirhan Sirhan joins AMORC about a month before the Robert Kennedy assassination |
| 1969 |
Death of Emile Dantinne at Huy |
| 1981 |
Regardie moves to Sedona, AZ |
| 1985 |
Death of Israel Regardie at Sedona, AZ |
| 1987 |
Death of Ralph Lewis at San Jose, CA. Gary L. Stewart becomes Imperator of AMORC |
| 1990 |
Gary L. Stewart expelled from AMORC after discovery of his transfer of $3.5 million to Andorra. He founds Confraternity of the Rose Cross, claiming he holds the true lineage of H. Spenser Lewis, and that AMORC doesn't |
| 1993 |
AMORC drops its suit against Gary L. Stewart. Thomas Ernst decodes Volume 3 of Trithemius's Steganographia |
| 1996 |
Jim Reeds independently decodes Volume 3 of Trithemius's Steganographia |
