The preceding 15th century, closed with explorers, Columbus, Vasco de Gama, John Cabot, Cabral and many others besides, opening up new trade routes and discovering new parts of the world for European exploitation and as the century turned the corner, it seemed for the people of Europe, that they stood on the cusp of new beginnings, when so much more seemed and was possible.

The 16th Century became a hothouse for brilliantly creative minds.

Leonardo da Vinci completed the Mona Lisa, Michelangelo began work on the Sistine Chapel and Hans Holbein painted his masterpieces.

Erasmus was writing satire and Machiavelli was driven to write his book 'The Prince'. Thomas More published Utopia and Martin Luther his 95 Theses, Wittenburg. His beliefs cause great angst in the church and the Edict of Worms, declares him a heretic  but could not curb the progress of Protestant Reformation. There was the beginning of a change in the way people were thinking, a slight but perceptible move from the magic and alchemy of the Middle Ages towards, science based on observation and reason but it would take the whole of the century before the new thinking gathered acceptance.

A peace at last was forged between England and France, following the alliance at the 'Field of the Cloth of Gold' but it would be fairly short lived.

The shape of the future Britain was created in the 16th Century

During this 16th century, Britain cut adrift from the Catholic church, carving out a new national church, the Church of England, with the monarch as it's supreme head. The actions of King Henry VIII resulted in the 'Act of Supremacy' and Roman Catholicism was banned. The Tudor dynasty was part of the greater Reformation movement of the rest of Europe, where the discontent with the Roman Catholic church of the previous century blasted through Germany and the Netherlands.

King Henry VIII now turned his attention to the wealth of the church and he stripped the cupboards bare.

Henry dissolved the monasteries, took their money and gave away their lands. The population were unhappy for they had no quarrel with the church but plenty to say about King Henry's reckless behaviour. England was on the verge of an uprising.

In the meanwhile, the Spanish and Portugese were amassing wealth from the gold and silver deposits they were discovering in South America. The Jesuits were founded and the great Copernicus was basing his new theory 'The Revolution of the Heavenly Bodies' on observation (not necessarily his own) and the geocentric universe theory, exploded.

How much more could this 16th Century deliver?

The Mercator world map, the rule of Ivan the Terrible, the massacre of the Hugenots, the works of Titian, pirates and privateers upon the seas, a revision to the Julian calender, the founding of the Roanoke Colony in America, the Spanish Armada and ...

William Shakespeare

So much in one century that remains with us to this day, the 16th Century is a period of time when so much divides and yet there is a coalescence of talent and thinking that reinforces itself from start to finish.

Our 16th century chronology and timelines are being created and curated but already via each century page you can quickly locate our collections for each 100 years of history. These evolve as we explore topical themes, but if you are looking for something you can't see here then please feel free to contact us and request, Thanks for taking a look.