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731
The beginning of English literature
Venerable Bede, in his monastery in Jarrow, completes his history of the English church and people. -
800
Legends of scandinavia
Beowulf, the first great work of Germanic literature, mingles the legends of Scandinavia with the experience in England of Angles and Saxons. The Rus People-based themselves among the Slavic and Volga Finns in the upper Volga region, trading furs, and slaves for silk, silver, and other commodities. This means Oleg did come into contact with people from Scandinavia and ruled over many of them, but he did not attack or plunder the country. -
Period: 950 to 1300
Duns Scotus
The material of the Eddas, taking shape in Iceland, derives from earlier sources in Norway, Britain and Burgund
end:
Duns Scotus, known as the Subtle Doctor in medieval times, later provides humanists with the name Dunsman or dunce. -
1367
Narrator Will
A narrator who calls himself Will, and whose name may be Langland, begins the epic poem of Piers Plowman. -
1387
100 Canterbury Tales
Chaucer begins an ambitious plan for 100 Canterbury Tales, of which he is only 24 by the time of his death. Some of the lessons are love conquers all, lust only gets you in trouble, religion and morality is virtuous, and honor and honesty is valued. Although there are some contradictory stories, Chaucer kept to this set of morals through most of his tales. -
1549
First sentence in English
The first version of the English prayer book, or Book of Common Prayer, is published with text by Thomas Cranmer.
England claimed many territories as its own with the phrase “or other of the king’s dominions”. And that there was plenty of time for England’s territories to become accustomed to these new laws giving them approximately one year to use The Book of Common Prayer to unify the country behind a single common practice of Faith. -
1567
The Bible
The Book of Common Prayer and the New Testament are published in Welsh, to be followed by the complete Bible in 1588.
In 1563 a law was passed in the name of Queen Elizabeth I, instructing the Anglican Bishops in Wales and Hereford to arrange for the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer (including the Psalms) to be translated into Welsh. -
1569
Tales of Thomas Malory
Thomas Malory, in gaol somewhere in England, compiles Morte d'Arthur – an English account of the French tales of King Arthur
As Elizabeth Bryan wrote of Malory's contribution to Arthurian legend in her introduction to Le Morte d'Arthur, "Malory did not invent the stories in this collection; he translated and compiled them. Malory in fact translated Arthurian stories that already existed in 13th-century French prose. -
1582
wedding of William Shakespeare
The 18-year-old William Shakespeare marries Anne Hathaway in Stratford-upon-Avon.
William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway in November 1582 and they remained married until Shakespeare's death. At the time of their marriage, William was 18, while Anne was 26—and pregnant with their first child.
The average age of marriage was 26 years of age, so Anne would have been an eligible young lady of her time. -
The Protestant Elizabeth I
English poet Edmund Spenser celebrates the Protestant Elizabeth I as The Faerie Queene.
One of her first actions as queen was the establishment of an English Protestant church, of which she became the supreme governor. This Elizabethan Religious Settlement was to evolve into the Church of England. ... In government, Elizabeth was more moderate than her father and half-siblings had been. -
Ben Jonson
The satirical voice of the English playwright Ben Jonson is heard to powerful effect in Volpone.
He was an English Renaissance playwright, poet, and actor. His best-known works are Volpone in addition to his lyrical poems. Jonson read a lot and had a seemingly insatiable appetite for controversy. He had such an influence on the playwrights and poets of the Jacobin and Carolina eras that there is no possible parallel. -
Oliver Goldsmith
Oliver Goldsmith's play She Stoops to Conquer is produced in London's Covent Garden theatre. -
Peter Mark Roget
London physician Peter Mark Roget publishes his dictionary of synonyms, the Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases.
The first edition of the Thesaurus, which was begun in his 61st year and finished in his 73rd, was a product of his retirement from active medical practice, although it was based on a system of verbal classification he had begun in 1805. -
Henry James
Henry James's early novel Roderick Hudson is serialized in the Atlantic Monthly and is published in book form in 1876.
It was revised by the author in 1879 for publication in England. Roderick Hudson is the story of the conflict between art and the passions; the title character is an American sculptor in Italy. -
Narnia in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
As Edmund and the Witch ride through the snowy landscape, they see a merry little party of small animals enjoying a magnificent tea. The Witch demands to know where they got the feast. They explain that Father Christmas gave it to them. The Witch is infuriated and turns the small animals to stone. Edmund is horrified, but there is nothing he can do and they continue on. -
Racing Demon
Launches a trilogy on the British establishment by English playwright David Hare.
In conflict with the government, torn with internal dissension on matters of doctrine and practice, the Church of England finds itself enjoying unwelcome publicity. David Hare's play, which details the struggle of four clergymen to make sense of their mission in South London, opened to universal acclaim. -
Philip Pullman
The Amber Spyglass completes Philip Pullman's trilogy, His Dark Materials.
The trilogy takes place across a multiverse, moving between many parallel worlds. In Northern Lights, the story takes place in a world with some similarities to our own; dress-style resembles that of the UK's Edwardian era, the technology does not include cars or fixed-wing aircraft, but zeppelins feature as a mode of transport.
