| 1347, 26. 1. | Pope Clement VI issues a bull stating that a studium generale [university] is to be established in Prague with all four faculties (liberal arts, medicine, law and theology) and with the right to confer academic degrees |
| 1348, 7. 4. | Charles IV, King of the Romans and of Bohemia, issues the founding charter of the Prague university |
| 1366, 30. 7. | Charles IV founds a college bearing his name – the collegium Caroli – for twelve masters of the Liberal Arts |
| 1409, 18. 1. | Wenceslas IV issues the Decree of Kutna Hora, giving members of the Bohemian university “nation” a decisive voice in university affairs |
| 1417 | The university identifies itself with the Hussite reform movement and the papacy responds with a formal prohibition of its activities, although these continue |
| 1562 | Ferdinand I founds the Jesuit Clementinum College in Prague |
| 1609 | With Rudolph II’s Letter of Majesty, the university comes under the jurisdiction of the Protestant Estates |
| 1622 | The university is handed over to the Jesuits after the defeat of the anti-Habsburg uprising (1618–1620) |
| 1654 | Ferdinand III, by the Decree of Union, merges the two Prague teaching institutions into a single university bearing the name Charles-Ferdinand (Universitas Carolo-Ferdinandea) |
| 1773 | The Jesuit order is abolished, and the whole university becomes a state institution |
| 1781 | Non-catholics are permitted to study at the university |
| 1848 | The university demands academic freedoms and equality for the Czech language with German in teaching; during the Whitsun Struggles students take to the barricades |
| 1849 | The modern university endowed with rights of self-government and freedom of scholarship comes into being |
| 1882 | The division of the Prague University into independent Czech and German universities |
| 1920 | The Czech university is accorded the right to the name of Charles University |
| 1920, 24. 6. | The Faculty of Science is separated off from the Faculty of Arts by government decree |
| 1939, 17. 11. | The Nazis close all Czech institutions of higher education, 9 students are executed and 1,200 students sent to a concentration camp. The German university (Deutsche Karlsuniversität) is incorporated into the Reich |
| 1945, May | Teaching starts again at Charles University; branches of the medical faculty are opened in Pilsen (from 1958 an independent medical faculty of CU) and at Hradec Kralove (from 1959 an independent medical faculty of CU); the German university is abolished |
| 1946 | The Faculty of Education is established |
| 1948 | A student demonstration against the totalitarian regime, resulting in the mass exclusion of non-communist teachers and students from the university |
| 1950 | A new law on universities abolishes academic autonomy. The Catholic Theological Faculty is separated off from the university and until 1990 operates as an entirely independent faculty in Litomerice |
| 1953 | The Faculty of Mathematics and Physics comes into being by separation from the Faculty of Science. The Medical Faculty is divided into three: general medicine and dentistry (Faculty of General Medicine), paediatrics (Faculty of Children’s Medicine) and hygiene and epidemiology (Medical Faculty of Hygiene) |
| 1959 | The Institute of Physical Education and Sport becomes part of the university (from 1965 the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport) |
| 1960 | The Institute of Culture and Journalism is established (from 1965 the Faculty of Culture and Journalism, from 1970 the Faculty of Journalism, and from 1990 transformed into the Faculty of Social Sciences) |
| 1968 | The university takes part in the events of the Prague Spring |
| 1969 | The establishment of the Pharmaceutical Faculty of Charles University in Hradec Kralove |
| 1970 | The beginning of a new wave of repression directed against nonconformist teachers and students |
| 1989, 17. 11. | The demonstration of students on the anniversary of the events of the 17th of November 1939 becomes the trigger for the fall of the communist regime |
| 1990 | Law no. 172/90 Coll. on universities renews university autonomy and freedom of scholarship and teaching |
| 1991 | The three theological faculties – Catholic, Protestant and Hussite – are legally incorporated into Charles University. Charles University has sixteen faculties (three of which are located outside Prague) |
| 2000 | Establishment of the seventeenth faculty: the Faculty of Humanities |