Title page

Literary and Political/Social Events

By brittany.couser
  • Aug 22, 1485

    1485

    1485
    Richard III (last king of house of new York) is killed in battle. Battle won by Lancastrians
  • Jan 1, 1503

    c. 1503

    c. 1503
    Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa (La Gioconda, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo). Original painting size is77 x 53 cm (30 x 20 7/8 in). Woman, dressed in the Florentine fashion of her day and seated in a visionary, mountainous landscape
  • Jan 1, 1516

    1516

    1516
    Thomas More's Utopia is published.
  • Jan 1, 1543

    c. 1543

    c. 1543
    With the Supremacy Act, Henry VII proclaims himself head of Church of England.
  • Nov 17, 1558

    1558

    1558
    Elizabeth I becomes queen of England from 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess, the childless Elizabeth was the last monarch of the Tudor dynasty.
  • Apr 23, 1564

    1564 William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, is born

    1564 William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, is born
    born in Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564 on St. George's day

  • 1599

    1599
    Globe Theatre is built in London. Using timber from an earlier theatre, The Theatre, which had been built by Richard Burbage's father, James Burbage, in Shoreditch in 1576.

  • 1605-1606

    1605-1606
    Shakespeare writes King Lear and Macbeth.

  • 1607

    1607
    Jamestown, Virginia. The first permanent English settlement in the New World was established here on the banks of Virginia's James River in 1607. Jamestown, Virginia, One of the most historic sites in North America, this point on the James River was the site of the first English settlement.

  • 1609

    1609
    Shakespeare's sonnets are published. There were 154 all together; the first 126 by a man and the last 28 by a woman

  • 1611

    1611
    King James Bible is published. Was begun in 1604 and finally completed in 1611. An English transition of the Christian Bible for the Church of England.

  • 1620

    1620
    The Mayflower lands at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts. Plymouth Rock is the traditional site of disembarkation of William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in 1620. It is an important symbol in American history.

  • 1621

    1621
    Newspapers are first published in London. "Corante"

  • 1658

    1658
    John Milton begins Paradise Lost.

  • 1660

    1660
    The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.

  • 1492

    1492
    Christopher Columbus reaches the Americas. Claims land, many people from around the world heard of the riches of this newly discovered land and moved to the Americas.