Religion and belief: Key dates 1275 to 1592

1275
Statute of the Jewry barred Jews from lending money in return for payments of interest

1290
Jews expelled from England

1380s
Beginnings of the Lollard heresy

1401
Statute De Heretico Comburendo authorised the arrest of suspected Lollards

1534
Act of Uniformity declared Henry VIII supreme head of the Church of England

1535 and 1539

Acts passed to dissolve the monasteries and sell their lands

1542 

Witchcraft Act defined witchcraft as a crime punishable by death

1549
Act of Uniformity established a Book of Common Prayer to be used instead of Catholic mass throughout the English Church

1552
Second Book of Common Prayer published, containing fewer Catholic elements in church worship

1553-58
England returned to Catholicism under Mary I

1558
Accession of Elizabeth I

1559 April
Act of Supremacy reversed the reconciliation with Rome and declared Elizabeth I supreme governor of the Church of England 

1559 May
Act of Uniformity enforced a revised version of the 1552 Prayer Book with some Catholic elements restored. Penalties on clergy who refused to use it

1580
Religion Act set out punishments for Catholics, and fines for non-attendance at church

1592
Popish Recusants Act: no Catholics to travel more than five miles from their homes