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Elizabeth I dies and James VI of Scotland accedes to the English throne
Elizabeth I died childless so was succeeded by her cousin, James VI of Scotland, who henceforth assumed the title of James I of England as well. James's accession meant that the three separate kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland were now united, for the first time, under a single monarch. James was the first Stuart ruler of England. -
Gunpowder Plot to assassinate James I is discovered
In 1604, a group of English Catholics, angered by James I's failure to relax the penal laws against their co-religionists, hatched a plot to blow up the king and parliament by igniting gunpowder barrels concealed in a vault beneath the building. The plot was discovered before it could be carried out. The conspirators, including Guy Fawkes after whom the plot is often known, were either killed resisting arrest, or captured and then executed by being hanged, drawn and quartered. -
James I dies and Charles I accedes to the throne
James I was struck down by what contemporaries described as 'a tertian ague' and died in his bed at Theobalds, in Hertfordshire, at the age of 57. He was succeeded by his only surviving son, Charles, then 24-years-old, who was proclaimed as king at the gates of Theobalds a few hours later. -
Charles I dissolves parliament and begins 11 years of personal rule
Already disillusioned with parliaments, Charles I was outraged when, on 2 March 1629, members of parliament first held the Speaker of the House down in his chair and then passed three resolutions condemning the king's financial and religious policies. Eight days later, Charles dissolved the assembly and embarked on a period of government without parliaments, known as the 'Personal Rule'. -
'Short Parliament' opens at Westminster
Desperate for money to fight the Scots, Charles I was forced to summon a new parliament - his first after 11 years of personal rule. At first, there seemed a good chance that members of parliament might be prepared to set their resentments of the king's domestic policies aside and agree to grant him money. Yet such hopes proved illusory, and Charles was forced to dissolve the parliament within a month. -
'Long Parliament' opens at Westminster
With the Scottish army firmly established in Northern England and refusing to leave until its expenses had been paid, Charles I was again forced to summon a parliament. But instead of providing the king with financial assistance, many of the members of parliament - some of whom were zealous Protestants, or Puritans - used it to voice angry complaints against his policies. -
Charles I tries to arrest five leading members of parliament
Fearing that his opponents in parliament were not only determined to seize political control, but also to impeach his Catholic wife, Henrietta Maria, Charles I marched into the House of Commons and attempted to arrest five leading members of parliament. Forewarned, they slipped away and Charles was forced to leave empty-handed. -
Civil War begins as Charles I raises his standard at Nottingham
By setting up his royal standard on the Castle Hill at Nottingham, and by summoning his loyal subjects to join him against his enemies in parliament, Charles effectively signalled the start of the English Civil War. Inauspiciously for him: 'the standard itself was blown down the same night... by a... strong and unruly wind'. Top -
Charles I surrenders to the Scots
As the Parliamentarian net closed around him, Charles I decided to throw in his lot with the Scots. He made his way to the camp of the Scottish army at Southwell, near Newark, and gave himself up. The Scots eventually handed him over to the Parliamentarians for £400,000. At the end of December 1647, the bulk of the Scottish army marched back across the River Tweed and the king's Scottish guards were replaced by English Parliamentarian ones. -
Charles I is executed at Whitehall, London
In the wake of the Second Civil War, Oliver Cromwell and the other senior commanders of the New Model Army decided that England could never be settled in peace while Charles I remained alive. Accordingly, the king was charged with high treason, tried, found guilty and beheaded. Charles faced his trial and death with remarkable dignity. His last word on the scaffold was: 'Remember'. The execution of a king was greeted across Europe with shock. -
Charles II is crowned king of Scotland
Desperate to recover his father's throne, Charles I's eldest son struck a bargain with the Scots whereby he agreed to take the Covenant himself in return for the promise of Scottish military assistance. Early in 1651, Charles was crowned Charles II of Scotland at Scone Castle. -
Oliver Cromwell makes himself Lord Protector
After the execution of Charles I, the various factions in parliament began to squabble amongst themselves. In frustration, Oliver Cromwell dismissed the purged 'Rump' parliament and summoned a new one. This also failed to deal with the complexity of the problems England was now facing. Cromwell’s self-appointment as 'Lord Protector' gave him powers akin to a monarch. His continuing popularity with the army propped up his regime. -
Oliver Cromwell dies and is succeeded by his son, Richard
When Oliver Cromwell died, he was succeeded as Lord Protector by his son, Richard. The Commonwealth of England collapsed into financial chaos and arguments between the military and administration increased. Parliament was once again dissolved and Richard Cromwell was overthrown. George Monck, one of the army's most capable officers, realised that only the restoration of the king could end the political chaos, and Charles II was invited to return from exile. -
Charles II is restored to the throne
Charles II's official restoration to the English throne - he had already been acknowledged as king in Scotland in 1651 - occurred on 29 May. The king’s restoration was marked by massive celebrations, lesser versions of which continued to be held on Royal Oak Day for centuries to come. -
Great Plague of London begins
Towards the end of the winter of 1664-1665, bubonic plague broke out in the poverty-stricken London parish of St Giles-in-the-Fields. Soon the contagion was spreading fast, and over the following months more than 100,000 people died. By the time the epidemic finished in December 1665, a quarter of the capital's inhabitants had perished. -
Great Fire of London destroys two-thirds of the city
The fire broke out in a baker's shop in Pudding Lane in the City of London and spread rapidly. Within four days, two-thirds of the city had been destroyed and 65,000 people were homeless. Despite this, the fire did have some positive outcomes. Within three weeks, an architect called Christopher Wren presented plans for rebuilding much of the city. Although his plans were never fully implemented, Wren was responsible for the rebuilding of more than 50 churches, including St Paul's Cathedral. -
Mary Stuart marries William of Orange, Charles I's grandson
Born in 1662, Mary Stuart was the elder daughter of Charles II's brother, James, Duke of York, and his first wife Anne Hyde. Although both her parents later converted to Catholicism, Mary herself was brought up as a Protestant. Her marriage in 1677 to the Dutch Protestant Prince William of Orange, himself the grandson of Charles I, strengthened William's claim to the English throne. -
Charles II dies and James II accedes to the throne
Having suffered a stroke, Charles II converted to Catholicism on his death-bed and passed away a few hours later. He was succeeded by his brother, James, whose adherence to the Catholic faith made many of his staunchly Protestant subjects deeply suspicious. Nevertheless, James enjoyed considerable popularity when he first acceded to the throne as James II. -
Birth of James II's son sparks popular outrage
Following the death of his first wife, James II married Mary of Modena, a Catholic, in 1673. The birth of a son to the royal couple in 1688 provoked popular outrage. Many of James II's opponents, furious that their Catholic king now had a male heir, denounced the infant as an imposter, and claimed that the baby had been smuggled into the queen's bedroom in a warming-pan. -
William and Mary are formally proclaimed king and queen
In the wake of James II's flight to exile, many felt that William and his wife Mary (James II's daughter) should be termed 'regents', rather than monarchs in their own right, because the former king was still alive. William was not prepared to accept this, and on 6 February 1689 the House of Lords at last conceded the point. The formal declaration of William and Mary as king and queen took place a week later. This became known as the 'Glorious Revolution'. -
'Bill of Rights' is confirmed by an act of parliament
William and Mary had accepted a Declaration of Rights on 13 February 1689 as an implicit condition of being offered the throne. In December, it was confirmed by an act of parliament, becoming the 'Bill of Rights'. It is a statement of rights of the subject as represented by parliament (whereas Magna Carta is broadly a statement of the rights of the individual). It remains a basic document of English constitutional law and the template for other constitutions around the world. -
Act of Union of England and Scotland is ratified
Although the Act of Settlement of 1701 ensured that there would eventually be a Protestant succession in England, there was no guarantee that this would be the case in Scotland too. Leading Scots were thus persuaded to agree to a union of the two kingdoms. Once the Act of Union had finally been ratified, England and Scotland officially became one country - Great Britain.
