-
Period: 1500 to
The early modern period
This period falls between the medieval period and the Industrial Revolution, where economic, political, imperial, and above all cultural transformations accured. -
Period: 1509 to 1547
The reign of Henry VIII
The reign of Henry VIII led to the separation of the church of England from the Roman Catholic church. The King became the leader of the church after the Pope's refusal of a royal divorce. He took the pope's powers, dismissing him and the clergy of all authority. He is one of the most famous and emblematic english king. -
1517
The Ninety-five theses by Martin Luther
Here we can find the foundation text in the movement of Protestantism, where Martin Luther nailed his critic of the church on the door of the university of Wittenberg. Thanks to the recently invented printing press the Ninety-five theses spread through all of Europe, making the Protestant Reformation the world's 1st modern media event. -
1526
The Tyndale Bible
This marks the first translation of the Bible from the original Hebrew and Greek to English in England by William Tyndale a gifted scholar and linguist who wanted everyone in England, from the ploughboy to the king, to be able to read the Scripture in his own language. -
1534
The act of supremacy
This act defined the right of Henry VIII to be supreme head on earth of the Church of England, thereby founded the protestant church in Great Britain and creating a schism. The king's Great Matter was considered as a political and personal move. -
1536
Pilgrimage of Grace
Important rebellions interrupted the dissolution process of the monasteries; rebellions in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire. These are the greatest rebellions ever faced by a Tudor monarch. They lasted 6 months and were against the dissolution and the Reformation. A central element of local communities, they provided poor relief etc.
They also demanded the restoration of the Pope and of Mary Tudor to the Royal Succession.
Economic grievances were also at the center of the rebellions. -
Period: 1547 to 1553
The reign of Edward VI
"the young king" herited the throne at the age of 9, his eldest uncle reigns for him, his measures pushed England towards protestantism reinforcinghis father's ideology. He died when he was fifteen, not being able to produce an heir in time, his older step-sister Mary Tudor became Queen. -
Period: 1553 to 1558
The reign of Mary Ist
Daughter of henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, the first Queen regnant, retored Catholicism in only 18 months. She was married to the Catholic Philip II of Spain. She is known for the persecution of protestants and received the nickname "Bloody Mary". Her death in 1558 was celebrated as she had turned the nation against her. -
Period: 1555 to 1558
The burning of protestants by Bloody Mary
Mary I's nickname "Bloody Mary" originated from this time period where she has ordered to kill over 200 protestants in a three-years time span. -
Period: 1558 to
The reign of Elisabeth the Ist
The Virgin Queen, reigned for 45 years, stabilized the church of England, her goal is to appease religioud tensions that have been going on for 25 years and created Anglicanism. -
1559
The Act of Supremacy under Elizabeth I
Abolished the authority of the Pope
restored the authority of the Queen over the Church
She became “Supreme Governor of the Church of England” -
1570
The excommunication of Elizabeth I
Pope Pius V excommunicated Queen Elizabeth I on this and almost gave Catholics licence to kill her with the certainty that it would not br seen as a crime by Rome. He issued the papal bull “Regnans in excelsis” (le bulle papale, un texte provenant du pape) where he adressed Elizabeth as "The so-called Queen". -
The Babington plot
This is the plot that led to Mary Queen of Scots' execution. Young Catholics had sworn to kill ELizabeth who had been excommunicated from the Church, and put Mary Stuart on the throne who was a deep Catholic, possible heir of the throne. But their strategies were discovered by Francis Walsingham, Former Secretary of State of the Kingdom of England when he managed to decipher a coded letter between Marie Stuart and this group. -
The execution of Mary queen of Scots
Mary of Scots was Queen Elizabeth's cousin. She was raised as a deep Catholic who found shelter in England thanks to Elizabeth at a time when she was involved in a civil war in Scotland. Mary being a possible heir to the throne, she was kept imprisoned by the Queen for 19 years until the final decision of her execution. She wore a bright red dress that day, the color of Catholic martyrs. She was sentenced to death after the discovery of The Babington plot and seen as a complice. -
The defeat of the Spanish Armada
The Invincible Armada was a Spanish float that England defeated thanks to material and human advantages and a storm that helped the Armada's sinking. This victory acted as a proof of Elizabeth's qualities and capacities and used for propaganda. The storm was considered as a divine protection sent by God. -
Period: to
The reign of James I/James VI King of Scotland
This marks the start of the reign of the Stuarts following the ones of the Tudors. Scotland and England were separated countries and it was the first time a King of England had been King of Scotland as well. James tried to convince Parliament of creating a union between the two, in vain. He herited the debt that Elizabeth held after defeating the Spanish Armada and had an important conflict with the parliament. Religiously, he supported Armanians, a branch of Protestantism. -
The Gunpowder Plot
This is a conspiracy devised by a small group of Catholics to blow up parliament and kill King James I, another attempt to re-establish the Catholic religion. -
The "Great Contract"
This is a cintract which the house of favor refused to vote in favor of. It is a financial reform that the King tried to introduce in order to receive a fixed sum, but some members of Parliament feared James I would not need to call up Parliament anymore to get money, making him financially independent. After their refusal, James dismissed Parliament. -
Period: to
The Thirty Years' War
This war was one of the causes ot the rise of the Crown's debt to over 1 million pounds by the end of the reign. The Parliament agreed to finance the war on Spain after James wished to intervene in order to help his dauhter and son in law. However, this would be mostly a war for the next King, Charles I, since James I died in 1625. -
Period: to
The Reign of Charles I
Charles I was like his dad King of England and of Scots. He was a great supporter of Arminianism and had a Catholic wife. Crown belived in the Divine Right of Kings, the idea that monarchs derive their authority to rule directly from God. He had major issues with the parliament which led to a civil two civil wars. -
The Petition of Rights
This petition showed the complaints of the Members of Parliament, wanting the King Charles I to recognize that there were limits to his powers and the illegality of extra-parliamentary taxation, billeting, martial law and imprisonment without trial. Charles I reluctantly signed the petition, he was furious and suspemded Parliament not long after that after the members were discussing impreachig Lord Buckingham again. -
The Three Resolutions
Declared that whoever tried to bring in “Popery or Arminianism” or to alter the protestant forms of the Church or England was an enemy of the Kingdom, as well as anyone advising the King to collect custom duties without Parliament's consent. This le to the dissolution of the Parliament by King Charles I who wlso imprisoned some members. This also started the Personal Rule. -
Period: to
The Personal Rule
These 11 years were also called "The Eleven Years Tyranny" by Whig historians since the King Charles I ruled all that time without calling a parliament after declaring that there would be no more parliament after dissolving it and imprisoning its members in 1629 because of the Three Resolutions. -
Period: to
The Scottish crisis
King Charles I in 1637 attempted to draw the Church of Scotland "The Kirk" that was Calvinist into line with the Church of England that was Anglican. This triggered a riot especially after the King attempted to impose a New Prayer Book (Book of Common Payer).The riot took place in St Giles' Cathedral in Edinburg where an old woman Jenny Geddes picked up her stool and threw it at the preacher. This resulted into "The Bishop's Wars" (1639-1640) -
The Scottish National Covenant
Charles I's leading opponents in Scotland signed this petition opposing Charles’ religious policy, it called for the spiritual independence of the Scottish Church to be maintained. Charles saw this as an act of open rebellion. Scotland and England both started to form an army and this first led to a riot, then to "The Bishops’ Wars" of 1639-1640. -
The treaty of Ripon
The treaty of Ripon brought to an end the second Bishops' War between Charles I and the Scottish covenanters. -
Period: to
The long Parliament
After 11 years of Personal Rule, Charles I summoned Parliament, needing money to fight the Scots in 1640. That was "The Short Parliament" that he ended up dissolving it after three weeks. But after the peace Trinity with the Scots, Crown had to the of the Scot's army, so he had to call Parliament again, and this one stipulated it could be dissolved only with agreement of the members; and those members did not agree to its dissolution until 1660. -
The Grand Remonstrance
A key document voted by Parliament that summarized att the wrong doings of King Charles I and included "Revolutionary" demands such as taking the King's ability to appoint whoever he wanted, The right of the House of commons to choose the King'd ministers, to control any army sent to Ireland and to reform the Church. The impact this text had is that it devided Parliament into two different groups, The Royalists and the Parliamentarians. -
Period: to
The Irish Rebellion
James I had implemented a plantation policy in Ireland sending English and Scottish protestants colonists there to take their Catholics lands. In October 1641 Irish Catholic rebels rose up against the Protestant settlers: Massacre of 3 000/4 000 protestants. This massacre led to false rumours to prove how violent and dangerous Catholics are (anti-Catholicsentiment in England), claiming the Irish killemassacred 200 000 protestants. -
Charles and the attempt to arrest 5 MPs
Charles I believed that John Pym and 4 other Members of Parliament were plotting against the Queen. He wanted to impeach them, but Parliament refused. The king marched into the House of Commons with troops and attempted to arrest the 5 MPs but failed. This event showed there could be no peace between King and Parliament! -
King Charles declared war on Parliament
-
Period: to
The first Civil War
The first civil war opposed the king with his Royalists and Parliamentarians with the New Model also nicknamed the "praying army". This war would cost the life of 190 000 Englishmen in combat and from diseases. The Royalist forces weakened in June 1645 during the Battle of Naseby leading to the victory of Parliamentarians after their opponents surrendered to the Scots in May 1646. -
The New Model Army seized the King
Parliament decided to disband the New Model Army without paying the soldiers thinking war was over. This event marks the date when the New Model Army seized the king from Parliament. In November of the same year, the King escaped from army custody and persuaded the Scots into an alliance with them, their army would invade England and restore him to power. Parliament was horrified and this led to the second Civil War. -
Period: to
Second Civil War and the King's execution
While the First Civil War lasted 3 years this one was very short and only lasted a few months, from January 1648 to Autumn of the same year since the Royalists were easily defeated by Cromwell. Charles I was first put on trial for high treason then executed on January 30th 1649. -
Period: to
The Interregnum
During this period called "The Interregnum" after England was declared a Republic, there were many experiments with republican forms of government but the main issue was that any regime needed the support of both the properties classes who wanted stability and order and the army who wanted religious toleration and reforms. England's Republic was very unstable which led to the creation of a "Military Protectorate" ruled by Lord General and Lord Protector Cromwell. -
Period: to
Abolishment of the House of Lords and the biginning The Republic of England
In March 1649 they abolished the House of Lords and in May declared the country a republic of 'the Commonwealth and Free State of England' but failed stability when ruled by its people wothout a King which led to the creation of a "Military Protectorate" ruled by Cromwell. -
Period: to
The Commonwealth
Seen by Europeans as a shocking period, England was a Republic after the abolishment of monaarchy and the House of Lords. During this period, Cromwell fought the Irish and forbade Catholicism. He also defeated the scots army sent by Charles II in 1650 and crushed his Royalist forces in 1651. Some people were against his doings and wanted religious freedom and equality, "The Levellers" leading to the Blasphemy act in 1650. There were also The Quakers, a protestant sect. -
Period: to
The Cromwellian Protectorate
Cromwell dissolved Parliament on the 20th of April in 1653 and started govering the Protectorate, a Military dictatorship. He was appointed Lord Protector and elected Parliament of 460 MPs every 3 years. There was also the Council of State that was composed of about 20 members. Cromwell won a war against Spain and died in 1658. His son Richard became Lord Protector after him but resigned after 6 months, starting a period of Anarchy. -
The Restoration
This date marks the day Charles II inherited the throne after a period of anarchy where England had 7 governments in a year. Since the people longed for a return to order, Charles II issued the Declaration of Breda that promised a general amnesty, a religious toleration and to share his power with Parliament in return for the restoration of monarchy which they agreed to. -
The Act of Uniformity
All ministers had to swear to conform unconditionally to the Book of Common Prayer. -
The Popish Plot!
There were rumours of a plot organized by the French to murder Charles II and replace him with his brother James II in order to restore Catholicism and absolute monarchy, therefore threatening Parliament. Hence, Parliament attempted to debar James II from succeeding the throne, creating two seperate groups: "The TORIES" who defended the doctrine of hereditary rights, and "The WHIGS" who were advocates for limited monarchy and increased parliamentary power. -
Period: to
The Exclusion Crisis
A period where james II had his supporters "The Tories" and his opponents "The Whigs" and where Parliament attempted to debar the future King from the succession of the English throne, going against the Divine Rights of Kings annd trying to modify the rules of succession. -
The Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution took place in 1688. It was when William of Orange (later William III of England) and his wife Mary II (daughter of King James II) were invited to take the throne from James II, who was seen as too sympathetic to Catholicism. James II fled to France, and William and Mary became joint monarchs, leading to a peaceful transfer of power that established parliamentary supremacy over the monarchy. -
The Bill of Rights
This key text limited the monarch's power for the first time, listing King James' misdeeds, fixing limitations to sovereign's powers and set out rights of Parliament (MPs had to consent to new laws, given a regular Parliament with freedom of elections and and gave basic civil rights.) This text was an influence to the US Bill Of Rights and is an essential document of the uncodified British constitution. -
The Act of Settlement
This important act ensured a Protestant succession to the throne, ignoring dozens of Catholic heirs since Mary II and William III had no surviving children and all the remaining Stuarts were Catholics. -
The Act of Union between England and Scotland
James I's dream! Scotland and England unified under the reign of Queen Anne I, the last Stuart to inherit the throne and created the Kingdom of Great Britain. -
The Act of Union
United the kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland