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731
History of English literature
The Venerable Bede, in his monastery at Jarrow, completes his history of the English church and people -
800
Beowwulf
Beowulf, the first great work of Germanic literature, mingles the legends of Scandinavia with the experience in England of Angles and Saxons -
950
Eddas
The material of the Eddas, taking shape in Iceland, derives from earlier sources in Norway, Britain and Burgundy -
1300
Duns Scotus
Duns Scotus, known as the Subtle Doctor in medieval times, later provides humanists with the name Dunsman or dunce -
1367
Willl
A narrator who calls himself Will, and whose name may be Langland, begins the epic poem of Piers Plowman -
1510
Erasmus
Erasmus and Thomas More take the northern Renaissance in the direction of Christian humanism -
Ben Jonson
Ben Jonson writes The Masque of Blackness, the first of his many masques for the court of James I -
Jhon Locke
John Locke publishes his Essay concerning Human Understanding, arguing that all knowledge is based on experience -
Mary Wollstonecraft
English author Mary Wollstonecraft publishes a passionately feminist work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman -
William Butler Yeats
23-year-old Irish author William Butler Yeats publishes his first volume of poems, The Wanderings of Oisin -
Evelyn Waugh
Evelyn Waugh publishes Men at Arms, the first novel in the Sword of Honour trilogy based on his wartime experiences -
Michael Frayn
Michael Frayn's play Copenhagen dramatizes the visit of Werner Heisenberg to Niels Bohr in wartime Denmark
