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Period: 1485 to 1509
Reign of Henry VII (Henry Tudor)
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Period: 1509 to 1547
Reign of Henry VIII
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1533
Act in Restraint of Appeals
This act gave the King the legal power to annul marriages. -
1534
The act of supremacy
The king was made « Supreme Head of the Church of England ». -
Period: 1547 to 1553
Reign of Edward VI
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1549
The Book of Common Prayers
The Book of Common Prayer is the comprehensive service book for Anglican churches around the world. It shapes both how Anglicans worship and what Anglicans believe. -
Period: 1553 to 1553
Lady Jane Grey
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Period: 1553 to 1558
Reign of Mary Tudor ("Bloody Mary")
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Period: 1558 to
Reign of Queen Elizabeth I
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1559
Act of Uniformity
Every parish had to use the Book of common prayer, and people who did not attend an Anglican service were fined. -
1559
The Oath of Supremacy
Elizabeth declared herself Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and instituted an Oath of Supremacy, requiring anyone taking public or church office to swear allegiance to the monarch as head of the Church and state. Anyone refusing to take the Oath could be charged with treason. -
1563
Puritain demands at the Convocation
The Convocation of 1563 was a significant gathering of English and Welsh clerics that consolidated the Elizabethan religious settlement, and brought the Thirty-Nine Articles close to their final form -
Period: 1563 to 1571
The 39th article of faith
The 39 Articles are a brief and condensed statement of what Anglican Christians believe and teach. -
Period: 1567 to
Reign of James I
James started to rule Scotland in 1567 and then he succeded to Elizabeth I in 1603. He then died in 1625 leaving to Charles I the war in Spain. -
Period: 1568 to 1573
Civil war in Scotland
The Marian civil war in Scotland was a period of conflict which followed the abdication of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her escape from Lochleven Castle in May 1568. -
1569
The Northern Rebellion
The Revolt of the Northern Earls or Northern Rebellion, was an unsuccessful attempt by Catholic nobles from Northern England to depose Queen Elizabeth I of England and replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots. -
1571
The Treason Act
This Act stated that it was High Treason “..to intend bodily harm to the Queen, or to levy war against her, or incite others to levy war against her, or to say that she ought not to enjoy the Crown, or publish in writing that she is a heretic, tyrant or usurper…”. -
1572
The Vagabond Act
This established the idea that central and local government had a responsibility for helping the poor. -
Period: to
Anglo-spanish war
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The Execution of Mary Queen of Scots
Mary Queen of Scots was executed by beheading at the age of 44 on the orders of her cousin, Elizabeth I of England. She was accused of plotting to assassinate Queen Elizabeth and sentenced to death. -
The Invincible Armada
In 1588, the King of Spain Philipp II will send the Spanish Armada to invade Britain. Due to weather conditions and a good naval strategy, the “invincible” armada will be defeated. Huge victory, at a symbolic and diplomatic level. -
The Act against Puritains
This Act was the culmination of the measures taken by Elizabeth to repress Puritanism. -
The Treaty of London
The Treaty of London concluded the nineteen-year Anglo-Spanish War. The treaty restored the status quo between the two nations. -
The Great Contract
The Great Contract between King and Parliament stipulated that the King received a fixed sum for his annual expenses. The Crown was recognized as a proper administration, but some feared that this will collide with the Parliament prominence on taxation and military expenses. The House of Common refused to vote for it, and the King responded by dissolution of the Parliament. -
Period: to
The Thirty Years War
He inherited of an uncomfortable war. England was at war against both Spain and France, and Lord Buckingham, the King’s most prominent counsellor. -
Period: to
Reign of Charles I
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The Petition of Rights
As a precondition to granting any future taxes, in 1628 Parliament forced the King to assent to the Petition of Right. This asked for a settlement of Parliament's complaints against the King's non-parliamentary taxation and imprisonments without trial, plus the unlawfulness of martial law and forced billets. -
Period: to
The Eleven Years of Tyranny
From 1629 to 1640, Charles will rule without Parliament. -
The Peace Treaty of Ripon
England had to pay Scottish army treats -
The Irish Rebellion
Irish Catholics, fed up with their treatment as second class citizens and the plantation process in Ulster rose up and this turned into a violent riot : Massacre of 3000/4000 Protestants.
The Parliament found necessary to raise an army under its control and passed the Militia Act. -
Period: to
The First Civil war
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The Battle of Naseby
The Battle of Naseby took place on 14 June 1645 during the First English Civil War, near the village of Naseby in Northamptonshire. The Parliamentarian New Model Army, commanded by Sir Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell, destroyed the main Royalist army under Charles I and Prince Rupert. -
Period: to
The Second Civil War
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The Execution of King Charles I
Seven years of fighting between Charles' supporters and Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentarians claimed the lives of thousands, and ultimately, of the King himself. Charles was convicted of treason and executed on 30 January 1649 outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall. -
Period: to
Oliver Cromwell "reign"
For a few years, Oliver Cromwell is considered not a King but head of the State. This period was called the Protectorate. It was a military dictatorship. Cromwell refused to be entitled “King” but effectively ruled as a monarch with the title of Lord Protector. -
The Clarenton Code
The Clarendon Code was a series of four legal statutes passed between 1661-1665 which effectively re-established the supremacy of the Anglican Church after the interlude of Cromwell's Commonwealth, and ended toleration for dissenting religions. -
Charles II marries Catherine of Bragenza
He married to the Catholic princess Catherine of Braganza in 1662, and had a strong relation with Louis XIV (catholic absolutist that led a strong repression toward protestants). His brother James converted to Catholicism in 1668. -
The Plage
The Great Plague of London in 1665 was an epidemic of bubonic plague that struck the city of London in England and claimed around 75,000 lives, or around 20% of its population. This is the UK's last major plague outbreak. -
Period: to
The Second Anglo-Dutch War
The second Anglo-Dutch war (1665-67) was seen as a defeat. -
The Great fire of London
The Great Fire of London was a violent fire that ravaged the center of the city of London from Sunday September 2 to Wednesday September 5, 1666. -
Period: to
The Exclusion Crisis
The Parliament tried to debar James from succession. Charles reaction was to dissolve Parliament. He ruled without it until his death in 1685 (he converted to Catholicism on his deathbed). He was succeeded by his brother.
It led to the polarization of the Parliament in two parties : the Whigs, that opposed James, and the Tories, that were loyal to the doctrine of royal hereditary rights. -
Period: to
Reign of James II
The first years of James II’s reign were quite peaceful. He tried to work toward toleration for both Catholics and dissenters, facing Parliament opposition on this issue. But he was old , and had no male heir.
But, his second wife,Mary of Modena, gave her a son, James Francis Edward, born the 10th of June 1688. -
William III becomes King
With about 20000 soldiers, William lands in England in the early November of 1688. He will met no resistance.
James II fled to France. Williams invited to take the throne. Became King William III.
The Glorious Revolution reinstalled a protestant monarch. Mary and William also accepted Parliamentary authority / limits to their power. England became a Constitutional Monarchy, framed by the 1689 Bill of Right. -
Bill of Right and the Toleration Act
The 1689 Toleration Act will offer extended toleration for dissenters (not for Catholics) and England became a Constitutional Monarchy. -
Period: to
Reign of William III
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The Act of Settlement
The Act of Settlement stated that the succession should be from William to Anne to Sophia of Hanover (James I granddaughter) – while there was many more direct heir to the throne but Catholics. Parliament claims the right to decide who will reign. In 1714, George I, son of Sophia, will effectively be made king of England. -
Period: to
The War of Spanish Succession
France wanted to put the Bourbon heir Philip of Anjou on the throne, while the Habsburgs wanted to place Charles of Austria. William and then Anne sided with the Habsburgs. Long and bloody conflict at the end Philip was confirmed as King of Spain, but had to renounce to his right to inherit the French throne.
This war also led to some changes within England : new taxes were created, the Bank of England was created. It reinforced parliamentary power over finances. -
Period: to
Reign of Queen Anne
while Anne’s reign saw many great achievements, she had been for long thought as a bad monarch because of the influential and bitter memories of Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Malborough. -
The Act of Union
This Union was between England and Scotland. After that the Jacobite threat was tamed. A single kingdom, no more parliament in Scotland, but representatives in the House of Commons. The Presbyterian Scottish Kirk kept its independence from the Church of England. -
George I becomes King
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Period: to
George I Reign
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The First Rebellion of the Jacobites
The first rebellion, in 1715, sought to install the “old pretender”, James Francis Edward Stuart -
Period: to
Reign Of George II
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The Second Rebellion
The second rebellion, in 1745, to install the “young pretender”, Charles Edward Stuart (1720-88), aka “Bonnie Prince Charlie). Led to the final Jacobites’ defeat at the Battle of Culloden (1746). -
Period: to
The Seven Years War
The Seven Years War opposed a French coalition to the English, mostly over questions of colonial and naval control. -
Period: to
Reign of George III
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The Treaty of Paris
In 1783, Britain recognized the independence of the United States through the Treaty of Paris. -
The Act of Union of 1801
The Acts of Union of 1801 unites the United Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland, bound since 1541 by a personal union. It thus gives birth to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
