Buddha introduces a vigorous tradition of monasticism, in the order of Buddhist monks known as Sangha

Pachomius organizes in Egypt the first community of Christian monks, at Dandara on the Nile

Monks in Ireland live in stone beehive cells on rocky islands, to achieve maximum discomfort

St Benedict gathers fellow hermits at Subiaco into a series of small monasteries

St Benedict founds a monastery at Monte Cassino and writes a Rule for the monks which becomes the basis of the Benedictine order

Augustine, arriving with a party of monks from Rome, reaches Canterbury and is well received by the pagan king of Kent

The Irish monk St Aidan moves from Iona to establish a monastery on Lindisfarne

The Lindisfarne Gospels are written and illuminated by Celtic monks on the Scottish island of Lindisfarne

On the orders of the T'ang emperor, 4000 Buddhist monasteries are destroyed in China and 250,000 monks and nuns are forced into secular life

Monastic reform, begun at Cluny, is so successful that more than 1000 Benedictine houses eventually follow the Cluniac example

St Bruno and six companions retire to Chartreuse, in the French Alps, and establish the Carthusian order

Peter the Hermit, an old monk on a donkey, leads the largest of the popular groups from Germany on the first crusade

Benedictine monks, wishing to return to the early ideals of the order, form a community at Cîteaux which becomes the Cistercian order

St Bernard establishes a new monastery at Clairvaux, from which he presides over the rapid expansion of the Cistercian order

St Francis and eleven companions tell Innocent III of their wish for a life of holy poverty in the bustle of the towns

St Dominic and his companions tell Innocent III of their wish to teach and preach in the bustle of the towns

The Dominicans are formally established by Pope Honorius III as Ordo Fratrum Praedicatorum, the Order of the Friars Preachers

St Francis of Assisi joins a crusading army in Egypt and attempts to convert the sultan Melek-el-Kamel and his followers to Christianity

The Franciscans are formally established by Honorius III as Ordo Fratrum Minorum, the Order of the Friars Minor

Gregory IX sends Dominican friars to root out the remains of the Catharist heresy in France, thus launching the Inquisition

Pope Alexander IV establishes a third order of preaching friars, the Augustinians

The local sale of indulgences by Johann Tetzel outrages a friar teaching in Wittenberg, Martin Luther

Ignatius of Loyola, recovering from a wound received as a soldier at Pamplona, is inspired by reading the lives of the saints

Luther, a former friar, marries Catherine von Bora, a former nun who has just emerged from her convent

Pope Paul III establishes Ignatius Loyola and his followers as the Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits