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731
The Venerable Bede, in his monastery at Jarrow, completes his history of the English church and people
Bede -
Jan 1, 800
Beowulf, the first great work of Germanic literature, mingles the legends of Scandinavia with the experience in England of Angles and Saxons
Beowulf -
Jan 1, 950
The material of the Eddas, taking shape in Iceland, derives from earlier sources in Norway, Britain and Burgundy
Edda -
Jan 1, 1300
Duns Scotus, known as the Subtle Doctor in medieval times, later provides humanists with the name Dunsman or dunce
Duns Scotus, Bl Johannes (c.1265–1308) -
Jan 1, 1469
Thomas Malory, in gaol somewhere in England, compiles Morte d'Arthur – an English account of the French tales of King Arthu
Thomas Malory -
Jan 1, 1510
Erasmus and Thomas More take the northern Renaissance in the direction of Christian humanism
Erasmus and Thomas -
Shakespeare's central character in Hamlet expresses both the ideals of the Renaissance and the disillusion of a less confident age
Shakespeare -
Devoted fisherman Izaak Walton publishes the classic work on the subject, The Compleat Angler
Izaak Walton -
The Tatler launches a new style of journalism in Britain's coffee houses, followed two years later by the Spectator
Tatler -
English poet Thomas Gray publishes his Elegy written in a Country Church Yard
Gray, Thomas -
Walter Scott's poem Lady of the Lake brings tourists in unprecedented numbers to Scotland's Loch Katrine
Walter Scott -
Alfred Tennyson's elegy for a friend, In Memoriam, captures perfectly the Victorian mood of heightened sensibility
Alfred Tennyson -
Joseph Conrad publishes his novel Lord Jim about a life of failure and redemption in the far East
Joseph Conrad -
C.S. Lewis gives the first glimpse of Narnia in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
C.S. Lewis -
The Amber Spyglass completes Philip Pullman's trilogy, His Dark Materials
Philip Pullman