The question of where to end this particular timeline is more difficult to decide. The Reformation—in the famous slogan, that the church is reformata semper ref, "the church reformed and always reforming,"—has never stopped. We have chosen the mid-17th Cent for two reasons. First, the Treaty of Westphalia, signed in 1648, ended the Thirty Years Wars, bringing the scourge of religious wars on the Continent to an end. Europe would never again go to war for religious reasons, and the power of the pope to impose his influence on the politics of Europe was brought to an end. The religious struggle in England took longer to settle. Catholicism remains a vital point of contention in the question of the royal succession and, therefore, politics there, especially as James II publicly flaunt his conversion to Roman Catholicism and was determined to make religious freedom for everyone and, therefore, Catholics, a matter of significance. Things did not settle down until the so-called Glorious Revolution of 1688 when James II foolished 'fled' and his Protestant daughter (Mary) and her husband, William of Orange, were invited by the English nobility to assume the English throne. The royal line of Stuart came to an end some two decades down the road when Queen Anne died with heir. A political deal ensured that a Protestant candidate—of questionable legibility—was found to fill the English throne. This seems a convenient point to bring a long chart to a useful end.
A subject as vast as the history of the Reformation cannot possibly be covered in full in a timeline like this. We have, therefore, opted to focus on the main events in five main regions of Europe: Germany, Switzerland, England (especially, because this is an English-speaking site), the Low Countries, and France. Important events occurred elsewhwere, of course. Where they are particularly significant, and especially if they impact on questions pertinent to the larger sphere of the five regions, such as the infamous "defenestration" in Bohemia, they must, naturally, be cited.
Please note that not all of the events traced (such as the Wars of the Roses) in this timeline has to do with the Reformation per se. They serve, nonetheless, to provide context for appreciating the events that do.
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