Henry
VIII 1509 Henry marries
Catherine
of Aragon. 1516 Mary I (daughter of
Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon) born
at Greenwich Palace. .. Thomas Morus:
Utopia 1517 Martin Luther nails
his ninety-five theses to the church door
of Wittenberg 1527 Henry VIII appeals
to the Pope for a permission to divorce
Catherine of Aragon. 1529 English Church
reform: Henry VIII summons the Reformation
Parliament. 1533 Henry marries
Anne
Boleyn . Montaigne born near
Bordeaux. Holbein: The
Ambassadors 1534 Act
of Supremacy:
Henry VIII asserts control over the
English Church. His marriage to Catherine
of Aragon is dissolved by Act of
Parliament. 1535 Thomas
Morus
executed. 1536 Anne Boleyn
executed. Henry marries Jane
Seymour. 1536 Erasmus dies in
Basel 1537 Edward VI is born;
Jane Seymor dies. . Holbein:
Henry
VIII 1540 Henry marries
Anne
of Cleves;
divorces her and marries Catherine
Howard. 1541 Reformation begins
in Scotland (John
Knox) 1542 Queen Catherine
Howard executed; Mary
Stuart,
Queen of Scots, born. 1543 Henry marries
Catherine Parr. England at war with
France. . Copernicus: De
Revolutionibus Orbium
Coelestium Edward
VI 1547 Coronation of the 9
year old Edward VI. 1553 Edward dies of
tuberculosis.
Lady Jane Grey
is proclaimed Queen by the Duke of
Northumberland. Mary, the rightful heir,
is supported by the people and takes over
after 9 days. Mary
I 1554 Lady
Jane Grey executed.
Mary marries King Philip of Naples (later
Philip II of Spain). The Pope is once
again head of the English Church. Knox
flees to Geneva. 1555 Persecution of
Protestants. Most of them flee to
Switzerland. ("Marian Exiles") 1557 Mary declares war
on France. Elizabeth
I 1558 Protestants return
to England. Mary
Stuart
marries the Dauphin, later Francis II of
France and assumes the title Queen of
England and Scotland. 1561 Francis
Bacon
born. 1564 Peace with France
(The Peace of Troyes: England sells
Calais) . William Shakespeare
born in Stratford-upon-Avon. (cf.
parish
register).
Christopher Marlowe born. Galileo Galilei
born. Jean Calvin dies. Michelangelo
dies. 1567 Mary,
Queen of Scots
imprisoned, abdicating in favour of her
son, James VI (later James I of
England). 1571 The
39 Articles of Faith
( see also
Cranmer's original 42
articles) 1572 Aug. 24.
Saint
Bartholomew's Day
massacre of Huguenots in Paris . Ben Jonson and John
Donne born in London. 1576 James Burbage
builds The Theatre. 1577 The Curtain opens
in Finsbury. 1580 Montaigne,
Essays.
John Webster born. 1582 Shakespeare
marries
Anne Hathaway 1583 Shakespeare's
daughter Susanna baptised. 1564 Sir
Walter Raleigh
discovers Virginia. 1585 Shakespeare's twins
Hamnet and Judith baptised. 1587 Mary,
Queen of Scots
executed at
Fotheringhay. . Philipp Henslowe
builds the Rose
Theatre.
Christopher Marlowe's
Tamburlaine. 1588 Defeat of the
Spanish
Armada.
Beginning of English
colonization. . Thomas Hobbes born
in Malmesbury, Wiltshire. Marlowe's Dr.
Faustus. 1590 Marlowe's Jew of
Malta. 1592 William Shakespeare
known as an actor in London (Greene's
Groatsworth
of Witte).
Henry
VI.
Kyd's Spanish Tragedy. Montaigne
dies. 1593 Plague in
London. . Shakespeare's
Venus
and Adonis.
Marlowe is killed in a tavern
brawl. 1594 Shakespeare's
The
Rape of Lucrece;
Shakespeare's Two
Gentlemen of
Verona,
Taming
of the Shrew,
Titus
Andronicus
performed 1595 Sir Walter Raleigh
explores the Orinoco. . Shakespeare
mentioned as a member of the
Lord
Chamberlain's
Men. 1596 The pacification of
Ireland is signed, but the
Earl
of Tyrone
refuses to abide by it. . John Shakespeare
gets a coat
of arms.
Shakespeare's son Hamnet dies. The Swan
theatre is built. 1597 First edition of
Bacon's Essayes. Shakespeare
buys
New Place
in Stratford. 1598 Henri IV:
Edict
of Nantes
defines the rights of the
Huguenots. . Francis Meres
mentions Two
Gentlemen of
Verona,
The
Comedy of
Errors,
Love's
Labour's Lost, A Midsummer Night's Dream,
The Merchant of Venice , Richard II,
Richard III, Henry IV, King
John,
Titus
Andronicus
and Romeo
and Juliet.
in Palladis Tamia. Wit's
Treasury. 1599 Essex
is sent to Ireland, signs a truce with
Tyrone and returns to England. He is
arrested and banished. . The
Globe
opens in London (Shakespeare mentioned as
shareholder). Shakespeare's
Julius
Caesar.
Thomas Platter visits London. 1600 East Indian Company
founded. . The Lord
Chamberlain's Men play
Twelfth
Night for
the Christmas festivities at Elizabeth's
court. 1601 Essex
Rebellion.
Essex is arrested and
executed. . Shakespeare's
Richard
II
performed for Essex. Ben Jonson's
The Poetaster. After his father's
death, Shakespeare inherits the Henley
Street houses at Stratford. 1602 Shakespeare buys
property at Stratford. James
I "Jacobean
Period" 1603 Plague in
London. . The Lord
Chamberlain's Men become the King's
Men. Shakespeare: Hamlet
(First Quarto) 1604 Shakespeare:
Lear;
The King's Men produce The
Merry Wives, The Comedy of Errors, Love's
Labour's Lost, Henry
V,
The
Merchant of Venice,
Othello
and Measure
for Measure
for the Court. 1605 Gunpowder
Plot: An
attempt by Catholic extremists to blow up
the Houses of Parliament (Guy
Fawkes). . Bacon, The
Advancement of Learning. Cervantes:
Don Quixote. 1606 Ben Jonson,
Volpone. . Thomas Browne born
in London. Shakespeare: Macbeth,
Antony
and Cleopatra. 1607 Jamestown
founded by the Virginia
Company. 1608 The King's
Men start to play at
the
Blackfriars
Theatre
in Winter. 1609 James I encourages
the colonization
of North America 1610 Ben Jonson, The
Alchemist. Galileo observes Jupiter's
moons. 1611 Shakespeare:
Cymbeline,
Winter's
Tale,
The
Tempest;
Sonnets published. Authorized
Version of the Bible (King James
Version) 1613 The
Two Noble
Kinsmen,
Henry
VIII.
After a performance of Henry VIII
the Globe burns down. 1614 Jonson's
Bartholomew Fair, Webster's
Duchess of Malfi, Sir Walter
Raleigh's History of the
World 1615 Galileo faces the
Inquisition. 1616 William Shakespeare
dies
at Stratford. Ben Jonson's Works
published as Folio edition. 1617 Pocahontas dies.
William Harvey lectures on the circulation
of the blood. 1618 Francis Bacon is
made Lord Chancellor and Baron of Verulam.
Sir Walter Raleigh executed. 1620 The
Pilgrim
Fathers
land at Plymouth, Massachusetts.
(Mayflower) 1621 Francis Bacon
created Viscount St. Albans, but later
found guilty of bribery and banished from
public life. 1623 First
Folio
edition of Shakespeare's
Works. Charles
I 1625 Francis Bacon's
Essayes
Or Covnsels, Civill And Morall, Of Francis
Lo. Vervlam, Viscovnt St. Alban. Newly
Enlarged 1626 Francis Bacon dies
in London. 1630 large-scale
emigration to Massachusetts 1631 John Donne dies.
John Dryden born. 1632 John Locke
born. 1637 Death of Ben
Jonson. 1642 Outbreak of
Civil
War. . Theatres closed.
Browne's Religio Medici. 1646 Thomas Browne's
Pseudodoxia 1649 Charles
I executed,
monarchy abolished. Picture of execution Commonwealth 1651 Thomas Hobbes,
Leviathan;
John Donne, Essays in
Divinity 1652 David Saunders
introduces coffee from Turkey. First
London Coffee
Houses 1653 -
1658 Oliver
Cromwell
Lord Protector 1658 -
1659 Richard
Cromwell
Lord Protector 1660 Restoration of
Charles II . Theatres reopened.
Royal
Society
founded. Robert Boyle invents the
air
pump. Defoe
born. Charles
II 1662 Charles II marries
Catherine de Braganza. 1664 Peter Stuyvesant
surrenders Nieuw Amsterdam to the
British. 1665 Plague in London.
2nd Anglo-Dutch War. Victory over the
Dutch Fleet at Lowestoft. 1666 Great
Fire of London.
France and Holland declare war on
England. . Mary Astell
born. 1667 Treaty
of Breda
ends the Dutch war. . John Milton's
Paradise Lost. John Dryden's
Essay
of Dramatick
Poesie.
Jonathan Swift born in Dublin. 1668 Dryden poet
laureate. 1672 Declaration of
Indulgence (freedom of worship for both
protestants and catholics). The Royal
African Society receives a monopoly on the
English slave trade. Entry into Third
Dutch War (1672-74) 1672 Richard Steele and
Joseph Addison born. Dryden's Marriage
a la Mode 1673 The "Test Act"
deprives Catholics and Nonconformists of
public office. Officeholders have to take
communion in an Anglican church at least
once a year. 1674 John Milton
dies. 1678 Popish
Plot:
Catholic attempt to kill the
king. 1679 . Thomas Hobbes
dies. 1680 Lord Shaftesbury
organizes petitions to exclude the
(catholic) Duke of York from the
succession (= Whigs).
The Tories are against it. 1681 Tate and Dryden's
King Lear (adaptation) 1682 Thomas Brown
dies. James
II 1685 Charles II is
succeeded by his brother, James VII of
Scotland. Monmouth
Rebellion:
The Duke of Monmouth, Charles II's natural
son, is beheaded. 1687 Isaac Newton:
Principia
Mathematica
(laws of gravitation and
motion) 1688 Glorious
Revolution:
The Roman Catholic Stuart monarch James II
is forced to abdicate by a joint effort of
Whigs, Tories, Anglicans and Dissenters.
He flees to France and is replaced by
William of Orange, a Protestant Dutch
prince who had married James's Protestant
daughter Mary. 1688 Alexander Pope
born. William
III and Mary II 1689 The "Toleration
Act" establishes permanent freedom of
worship. The "Bill of Rights" summarizes
the liberties established by the Glorious
Revolution and asserts that no Catholic
may become sovereign. James II lands in
Ireland. 1690 Defeat of Jacobite
Forces at the Battle
of Boyne
(Ireland). James II flees to France.
(Whigs = supporters of William III, a
standing army, weakening of State Church
and long parliaments) . John Locke's
Of
Human
Understanding.
Colley Cibber's first performance as actor
1692 Campaign against
France. Over 150 people accused of
witchcraft in Salem,
Massachusetts. 1694 Mary Astell's A
Serious Proposal to Ladies. William
Congreve's The Double
Dealer 1695 Licensing Act
expires (no more government control over
printing presses) 1698 Isaac Newton
calculates the speed of sound 1697 Astell's A
Serious Proposal to Ladies Part II
Daniel Defoe's An Academy for
Women 1699 England prohibits
the export of wool from
Ireland. 1700 Defoe's
True-born
Englishman.
John Dryden dies. Congreve, The Way of
the World 16th
century
(1509 - 1603) Henry VIII - Edward VI - Mary I - Elizabeth
I
1509 - 1547
"Sixteenth
Century"
"Renaissance"
1547 - 1553
"Sixteenth
Century"
"Renaissance"
A convocation of the Church of England
establishes the 42
articles of
faith.
1553 - 1558
"Sixteenth
Century"
"Renaissance"
1558-1603
"Elizabethan
Period"
"The Age of Shakespeare"
1603 - 1625
"The Age of Shakespeare"
1625-1649
"The
Caroline
Age"
René Descartes: Discourse
sur la Methode
1649 - 1660
"The
Commonwealth Period"
"The (Puritan) Interregnum"
"The Age of Milton"
1660-1685
"Seventeenth
Century"
"Restoration"
"The Age of Milton"
1685 - 1688
"Seventeenth
Century"
"Restoration"
1689 - 1702
"Seventeenth
Century"
"Restoration"
17th
century
(1603 - 1702) James I - Charles I - Commonwealth - Charles
II - James II - William III and Mary II
18th
century
(1702 - 1820) Anne - George I - George II - George III
19th
century
(1760 - 1901) George III - George IV - William IV -
Victoria
20th
century
(1901 - today) Edward VII - George V - Edward VIII - George
VI - Elizabeth II