Timeline of official adoptions of Christianity

This is a timeline showing the dates when countries or polities made Christianity the official state religion, generally accompanying the baptism of the governing monarch.

Adoptions of Christianity to AD 1450

• c. 34 or 200 – Osroene – disputed; both dates claimed
• 179 – Silures; traditional date, now considered questionable ^[1]
• 301 – Christianization of Armenia
• 301 - Foundation of San Marino
• c. 313 – Caucasian Albania (Udi) ^[2]
• c. 319 – Christianization of Iberia (Georgia) ^{[3] [4] [5]}
• c. 325 – Kingdom of Aksum (Ethiopian Orthodox Church)
• 337 – Roman Empire (baptism of Constantine I)
• 361 – Rome returns to paganism under Julian the Apostate
• 364 – Rome returns to Christianity, specifically the Arian Church
• c. 364 – Vandals (Arian Church)
• 376 – Goths and Gepids (Arian Church)
• 380 – Rome goes from Arian to Catholic/Orthodox (both terms are used refer to the same Church until 1054)
• 402 – Maronites (Nicene Church)
• 411 – Kingdom of Burgundy (Nicene Church)
• c. 420 – Najran (Nicene Church)
• 448 – Suebi (Nicene Church) ^[6]
• c. 450 – Burgundy goes from Nicene to Arian ^[7]
• 451 – Aksum and Najran are Coptic with Chalcedonian Schism.
• 466 – Suebi go from Chalcedonian to Arian
• 473 – Ghassanids (Chalcedonian Church)
• 480 – Lazica (Chalcedonian Church)
• 496 – Franks (Chalcedonian Church)
• 506 – Iberia goes from Chalcedonian to Apostolic
• c. 510 – Ghassanids go from Chalcedonian to Coptic
• 516 – Burgundy returns from Arian to Chalcedonian ^[8]
• c. 543 – Makuria (Chalcedonian), Nobatia and Alodia (Coptic Church)
• c. 550 – Suebi return from Arian to Chalcedonian
• c. 558 – Christianization of Ireland (Celtic Church)
• c. 563 – Picts (Celtic Church) ^[9]
• c. 568 – Lombards (Arian Church)
• 569 – Garamantes (Chalcedonian Church)
• 589 – Visigoths go from Arian to Chalcedonian
• 591 – Lombards go from Arian to Chalcedonian
• c. 592 – Lakhmids (Nestorian Church)
• 601 – Kent (Chalcedonian Church)
• 604 – East Anglia and Essex (Chalcedonian)
• 607 – Iberia returns from Apostolic to Chalcedonian
• 610 – Armenia and Caucasian Albania go from Chalcedonian to Monophysite ^[10]
• 616 – Kent and Essex return to paganism
• c. 620 – Alemanni (Chalcedonian Church)
• 624 – Kent returns from pagan to Chalcedonian
• 627 – Lombards return from Chalcedonian to Arian
• 627 – Northumbria – (Chalcedonian Church); East Anglia returns from Chalcedonian to pagan
• 630 - East Anglia returns from pagan to Chalcedonian
• 635 – Wessex (Chalcedonian Church)
• 653 – Lombards return from Arian to Chalcedonian
• 653 – Essex returns from pagan to Chalcedonian
• 655 – Mercia (Chalcedonian Church)
• 675 – Sussex (Chalcedonian Church)
• 685 – Maronites go from Chalcedonian to Monothelite
• 692 – Ireland goes from Celtic to Chalcedonian
• 696 – Bavaria (Chalcedonian)
• 706 – Caucasian Albania is ecclesiastically subordinated to Armenia
• 710 – Picts go from Celtic to Chalcedonian
• c. 710 – Makuria goes from Chalcedonian to Coptic
• 724 – Thuringia
• 734 – Frisians
• 785 – Saxons
• c. 805 Duchy of Lower Pannonia ^[11]
• 840s – Navarre ^{[12] : 146}
• 863 – Moravia
• 864 – Christianization of Bulgaria
• c. 869 – Christianization of the Serbs
• 879 – Duchy of Croatia ^[13]
• 884 – Bohemia
• c. 900 – Alania ^[14]
• 911 – Normans
• 960 – Denmark
• 966 – Christianization of Poland
• c. 989 – Christianization of Kievan Rus'
• 995 – Norway
• 999 – Faroe Islands
• c. 1000 Christianization of Hungary with the first real Christian king(Roman Catholic became official but Orthodox(Eastern) existed as well since 973 onwards even after 1054).
• c. 1000 – Christianisation of Iceland
• 1007 – Kerait Khanate – Nestorian Church ^[15]
• c. 1008 – Sweden
• 1054 – Byzantine Empire, Kingdom of Georgia, Alania, Bulgaria, Serbs, and Rus' are Orthodox Catholics with East-West Schism while Western Europe becomes Roman Catholic
• 1096 – Maronites return from Monothelite to Catholic ^{[16] [17]}
• c. 1100 – Circassia (most of the country would remain pagan in spite of Georgian expansion into the region)
• 1124 – Conversion of Pomerania
• 1160s – Obotrites
• c. 1200 – (Southwestern) Finland
• 1227 – Livonia (Estonia and Latvia), Cumania (Transylvania)
• 1241 – Saaremaa
• 1260 – Curonians
• 1290 – Semigallians
• 1387 – Christianization of Lithuania ^[18]
• 1413 – Samogitia ^[19]

Adoptions after 1450

• 1491 – Kingdom of Kongo (Roman Catholic Church)
• 1519 – Tlaxcala (Roman Catholic Church)
• 1521 – Rajahnate of Cebu (Roman Catholic Church)
• 1523 – Sweden goes from Catholic to Lutheran
• 1528 – Schleswig-Holstein goes from Catholic to Lutheran
• 1534 – England goes from Catholic to Anglican
• 1536 – Denmark-Norway and Iceland go from Catholic to Lutheran
• 1549 – Kingdom of Siau (Roman Catholic Church)
• 1553 – England returns from Anglican to Catholic
• 1558 – Kabardia (E. Orthodox Church) ^[a]
• 1558 – England returns from Catholic to Anglican
• 1560 – Scotland goes from Catholic to Presbyterian
• 1610 – Mi'kmaq (Roman Catholic Church)
• 1624 – Kingdom of Ndongo (Roman Catholic Church)
• 1624 – Ethiopia goes from Coptic to Catholic
• 1631 – Kingdom of Matamba (Roman Catholic Church)
• 1633 – Ethiopia returns from Catholic to Coptic
• 1640 – Piscataway (Roman Catholic Church)
• 1642 – Huron-Wendat Nation (Roman Catholic Church)
• 1650 – Kingdom of Larantuka (Roman Catholic Church)
• 1654 – Onondaga (Roman Catholic Church)
• 1663–1665 – Kingdom of Loango (briefly Roman Catholic)
• 1675 – Illinois Confederation (Roman Catholic Church)
• 1680 – Siau goes from Catholic to Reformed ^[20]
• 1700s – Kingdom of Bolaang Mongondow (Reformed Church)
• 1819 – Kingdom of Tahiti, Kingdom of Hawaii (Congregational Church)
• 1829 – Spokane, Kutenai (Anglican Church)
• 1830 – Samoa (Congregational Church)
• 1831 – Tonga (Methodist Church)
• 1838 – Nez Perce (Presbyterian Church)
• 1869 – Merina Kingdom (Reformed Church)
• 1882 – Blackfoot Confederacy (Roman Catholic Church)
• 1880 – Shoshone (LDS Church)
• 1884 – Lakota (Roman Catholic Church)
• 1884 – Catawba (LDS Church)
• 1897 – Shoshone go from LDS to Anglican
• 1907 – Arapaho (Baptist Church)

See also

• History of Christianity
• Christianization

Annotations

1. Circassian paganism remained the religion of the majority of the population until the 17th century.

References

1. Silures at HistoryFiles
2. The Caucasus & Globalization, Vol 2, 2008, p. 101
3. Toumanoff, Cyril, "Iberia between Chosroid and Bagratid Rule", in Studies in Christian Caucasian History, Georgetown, 1963, pp. 374-377. Accessible online at "Iberia between Chosroid and Bagratid Rule by Cyril Toumanoff. Eastern Asia Minor, Georgia, Georgian History, Armenia, Armenian History". Archived from the original on 2012-02-08. Retrieved 2012-06-04.
4. Rapp, Stephen H., Jr (2007). "7 - Georgian Christianity". The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity. John Wiley & Sons. p. 138. ISBN   978-1-4443-3361-9. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
5. "The Development of Christianity in Georgia". www.atour.com. Retrieved 2018-03-26.
6. Hubert Jedin, 1980, The Imperial Church from Constantine to the Early Middle Ages p. 226.
7. Jodocus Birkhaeuser, 1898, History of the Church, from Its First Establishment p. 148.
8. Jodocus Birkhaeuser, 1898, History of the Church, from Its First Establishment p. 148.
9. "The Celtic Church in Scotland", The Celtic Magazine Vol 11, 1886 p. 102.
10. "Armenian Apostolic Church" . Encyclopedia of Christianity Online. doi:10.1163/2211-2685_eco_a599 . Retrieved 29 September 2023.
11. Alexandru Magdearu, The Wars of the Balkan Peninsula: Their Medieval Origins, p. 117.
12. Collins, Roger (1990). The Basques (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell. ISBN   0631175652.
13. Alexandru Magdearu, The Wars of the Balkan Peninsula: Their Medieval Origins, p. 117.
14. Rayfield, Donald (2012). Edge of Empires: A History of Georgia. London: Reaktion Books. pp. 63–64. ISBN   978-1780230306.
15. İsenbike Togan , 1999, Flexibility and Limitation in Steppe Formations: The Kerait Khanate p. 60.
16. Crawford, Robert W. (1955). "William of Tyre and the Maronites". Speculum. 30 (2): 222–228. doi:10.2307/2848470. ISSN   0038-7134. JSTOR   2848470. S2CID   163021809.
17. "Maronite church | Meaning, History, Liturgy, & Facts". Encyclopedia Britannica. 14 December 2023.
18. Bojtár, Endre (1999). Foreword to the Past: A Cultural History of the Baltic People. CEU Press. p. 140. ISBN   963-9116-42-4.
19. Bojtár, Endre (1999). Foreword to the Past: A Cultural History of the Baltic People. CEU Press. p. 140. ISBN   963-9116-42-4.
20. Hari, Agustinus (28 May 2019). "Mengenal Siau, Kerajaan Kristen di Sulawesi Utara Abad 16". Archived from the original on 2 November 2020. Retrieved 17 January 2025.