On the 22nd March 1621, Dutch legal scholar Hugo Grotius – also known as Hugo de Groot – escaped imprisonment in Loevestein Castle concealed inside a book chest.
Pope Pius IV issued a Papal bull confirming the decrees of the Council of Trent that defined Catholic doctrine in the face of the Protestant Reformation.
On the 31st October 1517, the foundations of the Protestant Reformation were laid when Martin Luther reputedly nailed his ‘Ninety-five Theses’ to the door of All Saints’ Church in Wittenberg – a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt.
On the 11th October 1521, Pope Leo X granted the title “Defender of the Faith” to King Henry VIII of England.
On the 21st March 1556, Thomas Cranmer was executed for heresy.
On the 13th February 1689, William and Mary became co-regents of the Kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland after agreeing to the Declaration of Right.
John Rogers became the first English Protestant martyr under Mary I after he was burnt at the stake.
On the 5th November 1605, the Gunpowder Plot was foiled when Guy or Guido Fawkes was discovered guarding 36 barrels of gunpowder that had been placed in an undercroft below the House of Lords in London.
Two Catholic imperial officials and their secretary were thrown out of the window of the Bohemian Chancellery in the Second Defenestration of Prague.
Sir Francis Drake entered the Bay of Cádiz and attacked the Spanish naval fleet in an event known as ‘Singeing the King of Spain’s Beard’.
10th April 2021
8th April 2021
11th November 2020
1st September 2018
9th November 2019