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307
Christianity official religion of Roman Empire
Declared by Emperor Constantine who became a great patron of the Church and set a precedent for the position of the Christian emperor within the Church and the notion of orthodoxy, Christendom, ecumenical councils and the state church of the Roman Empire declared by edict in 380. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_the_Great_and_Christianity -
Period: 400 to Dec 12, 1485
Middle Ages
These are what I determine to be the 10 key events guiding the primative development of British Literature. -
450
Anglo Saxon conquest of Briton begins
Introduces English language http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anglo-Saxon_settlement_of_Britain -
Jan 1, 700
Dream of the Rood
Author and date of coposition unknown, but scholars put it in the 8th century. -
Dec 13, 1066
Norman Conquest
*Battle of Hastings
consolidated control of England. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_conquest_of_England -
Period: Dec 13, 1095 to Dec 13, 1221
Crusades
It resulted in a substantial weakening of the Christian Byzantine Empire, which fell several centuries later to the Muslim Turks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crusades -
Period: Dec 13, 1337 to Dec 13, 1453
Hundred Years War
War between England and France resulting in French victory, development of standing armines, and changing role of peasantry. It solidified English nationalism and signaled fall of French language in England. -
Dec 13, 1372
Geoffrey Chaucer
The "father" of modern English literature. His achievement for the language can be seen as part of a general historical trend towards the creation of a vernacular literature. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaucer#English -
Jan 1, 1387
Pardoner's Prologue and Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer
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Nov 17, 1387
Chaucer’s Retraction by Geoffrey Chaucer
1387 - 1400 -
Dec 13, 1415
Henry V at Agincourt
Establishes Lancastrian Monarchy -
Period: Dec 13, 1455 to Dec 13, 1485
War of the Roses
Established Tudor Monarchy and heralded the end of the medieval period in England and the movement towards the Renaissance. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_roses#Aftermath_and_effects -
Dec 13, 1476
William Caxton
standardising the English language http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Caxton#Caxton_and_the_English_language -
Nov 17, 1485
Morte D’arthur by Sir Thomas Malory
by Sir Thomas Malory -
Period: Dec 13, 1485 to
16th Century British Literature
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Dec 13, 1517
Martin Luther's 95 theses
Ignited Protestant reformation in Germany -
Dec 13, 1521
Henry VIII "Defender of the Faith"
Separation of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church enabling England to become a nation. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VIII_of_England#Legacy -
Dec 13, 1532
Act of Supremacy
Henry VIII is declared Head of church of England which led to repression of protestantism. This directly affected many monks who played a primary role in preserving literature who went into hiding. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VIII_of_England#Separation_from_Rome -
Dec 13, 1537
Calvin's theocracy at Geneva
Declared religious leadership a theocracy and Protestantism flourished. http://www.darienps.org/teachers/sbalazs/WC12009/WCII%20Calvin%20Geneva.pdf -
Dec 13, 1547
Edward VI takes English throne
It was during Edward's reign that Protestantism was established for the first time in England with reforms that included the abolition of clerical celibacy and the Mass and the imposition of compulsory services in English. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_VI_of_England -
Dec 13, 1558
Queen Elizabeth 1 established
Elizabeth's reign is known as the Elizabethan era, famous above all for the flourishing of English drama, led by playwrights such as William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe. -
Dec 13, 1572
St. Brtholemew's day massacre
Throughout Europe, it "printed on Protestant minds the indelible conviction that Catholicism was a bloody and treacherous religion". - lending to protestant influence on literature -
Sonnets by Edmund Spenser
1,34,54,64,67,75,79 -
The Passionate Shepherd to His Love by Christopher Marlowe
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Globe theater opens
Shakespeare's influence in literature and drama -
The Nymphs Reply to the Shepherd by Sir Walter Raleigh
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Elizabeth 1 dies
End of high Elizabethan Era, and beginning of Stuar dynasty -
Period: to
Early 17th Century
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Sonnets by William Shakespeare
3, 12, 15, 18, 19, 20, 23, 29, 30, 33, 55, 60, 62, 65, 71, 73, 80, 85,87, 93, 94, 97, 196, 116, 129, 130, 135, 138, 144, 146, 147, 152 -
Still to Be Neat by Ben Jonson
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Galileo's observations of heavens
leads to heliocentric theory which changes man's perception of self and univers -
From Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum: to the Doubtful Reader & Eve’s Apology in the Defense of Women by Aemilia Lanyer
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From the History of the World by Sir Walter Raleigh
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From Epigrams: To My Book; On My First Daughter; To John Donne; On My First Son by Ben Jonson
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30 yrs war
left religions, people, land, royal authorities and the arts ravaged.
It also rearranged Europen powers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/30_years_war#Political_consequences -
To the Memory of My Beloved; The Author, Mr William Shakespeare, and What He Hath Left Us by Ben Jonson
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From Poems: On Shakespeare by John Milton
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The Flea & From Holy Sonnets by John Donne
(sonnets 1, 5, 7, 9, 10, 13, 14, 18, 19) -
From The Temple: The Altar, Redemption, Easter Wings, Jordan, The Collar, The Pulley, The Flower, Love by George Herbert
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Tale of a Tub by Johnathan Swift
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Rchbishop Laud Impeached
Archbishop of Canterbury. Leader of many univerities and contemporary thougth. One of the High Church Caroline divines, he opposed radical forms of Puritanism. This, and his support for King Charles I, resulted in his beheading in the midst of the English Civil War. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archbishop_Laud -
Louix XIV of France takes throne
Huge contribution to focus and patronage of the arts. -
Areopagitica by John Milton
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L' Allegro; Il Penseroso; Sonnets: How Soon Hath Time; by John Milton
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From Lucasta: “To Lucasta, Going to the Wars”, “ To Althea, from Prison” by Richard Lovelace
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Milton becomes Latin Secretary
Student of Shakespeare, Leading thinker/phiolosopher of day - shaped literature of time. -
First Anglo-Dutch War
Ultimately, it resulted in the English Navy gaining control of the seas around England, and forced the Dutch to accept an English monopoly on trade with England and English colonies - spreading English influence. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Anglo-Dutch_War -
Cromwell made Lord Protector
Provided English Protestant dominance over England and Ireland - just so much info not sure what all to include. -
Charles I restored to throne
Reopening of theaters and rekindled interest in arts -
Period: to
The Restoration and 18th Century
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The Great Plague
This was the last major epidemic of the bubonic plague to occur in the Kingdom of England. The Great Plague killed an estimated 100,000 people, about 20% of London's population. Created a feeling of divine retribution or the end times. -
The Great Fire
The fire gutted the medieval City of London inside the old Roman City Wall. It threatened, but did not reach, the aristocratic district of Westminster, Charles II's Palace of Whitehall, and most of the suburban slums. It consumed 13,200 houses, 87 parish churches, St. Paul's Cathedral and most of the buildings of the City authorities. It is estimated to have destroyed the homes of 70,000 of the City's 80,000 inhabitants. The social and economic problems created by the disaster were overwhelming -
From An Essay of Dramatic Poesy by John Dryden
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Dryden Poet Laureate
huge influence on direction of literature and thought -
When I Consider How My Light is Spent by John Milton; On the Late Massacre in Piedmont; On the Late Massacre in Piedmont by John Milton
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Death of Milton
Death of Great literary and intellectual figure marks end of the Early 17th Century period in British Literture. -
Mac Flecknoe by John Dryden
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From Poems: To His Coy Mistress. The Definition of Love. The Mower to the Glowworms. The Mower’s Song by Andrew Marvell
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Glorious Revolution
William's successful invasion of England with a Dutch fleet and army led to his ascending of the English throne as William III of England jointly with his wife Mary II of England.
Much importance placed on intellectual development - william and mary -
From A Discourse Concerning the Original and Progress of Satire by John Dryden
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A Description of a City Shower by Johnathan Swift
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An Essay on Criticism by Alexander Pope
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A Modest Proposal by Johnathan Swift
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From The Dunciad From Book the Fourth by Alexander Pope
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Marriage A-la-Mode & Rake’s Progress by William Hogarth
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Rambler No.4 & No.60. by Samuel Johnson
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American war for independence from Britan
America severs ties with Britan including politically, socially, and economically (largely but not completely) -
Lives of the Poets by Samuel Johnson
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Death of Samuel Johnson
Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history".[1] He is also the subject of "the most famous single work of biographical art in the whole of literature": James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Johnson -
Period: to
Romantic Period
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To a Mouse by Robert Burns
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From Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake
Introduction, Chimney Sweep, Lamb, Holy Thursday, Tyger, London -
Holy Willie’s Prayer by Robert Burns
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The Eolian Harp by Samuel T. Coleridge
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Death of Mary Wollstonecraft
An eighteenth-century British writer, philosopher, and advocate of women's rights. Wollstonecraft is best known for A Vindication of the Rights of Woman. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_wollstonecraft -
From Lyrical Ballads: We are Seven by William Wordsworth
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Strange Fits of Passion Have I Known; Three Years She Grew; A Slumber Did My Spirit Steal; Michael by William Wordsworth
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Preface to Lyrical Ballads, with Pastoral and Other Poems by William Wordsworth
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I travelled among unknown men by William Wordsworth
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Abolotion of slave trade in Britain
Beginning of freeing and educating of slves. -
"Quarterly Review" founded
The Quarterly Review was a literary and political periodical founded in March 1809 by the well known London publishing house John Murray. -
Written after Swimming from Sestos to Abydos by George Gordon, Lord Byron
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She walks in beauty by George Gordon, Lord Byron
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Waterloo
Napoleon's defeat. I ushered in almost half a century of international peace in Europe; no further major conflict occurred until the Crimean War. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Waterloo#Aftermath -
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel T. Coleridge
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Mutability & To Wordsworth by Percy Bysshe Shelley
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On FIrst Looking into Chapman’s Homer by John Keats
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On Seeing the English Marbles by John Keats
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Death of Jane Austen
An English novelist whose works of romantic fiction, set among the landed gentry, earned her a place as one of the most widely read writers in English literature. Her realism and biting social commentary have gained her historical importance among scholars and critics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Austen -
Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley
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Ode to a Nightingale by John Keats
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To a Skylark by Percy Bysshe Shelley
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La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad by John Keats
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Ode to Psyche; Ode on a Grecian Urn; Ode on Melancholy; To Autumn by John Keats
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London Magazine
The London Magazine was founded in 1732[1] in political opposition to the Tory-based Gentleman's Magazine[2] and ran for 53 years until its closure in 1785.It was during this time the magazine enjoyed its greatest literary prosperity publishing poetic luminaries such as William Wordsworth, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Clare and John Keats. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_magazine -
Death of Keats
He was one of the main figures of the second generation of romantic poets along with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, despite his work only having been in publication for four years before his death.The poetry of Keats is characterized by sensual imagery, most notably in the series of odes. Today his poems and letters are some of the most popular and most analyzed in English literature. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keats -
Death of Percy Shelley
He was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Percy Shelley was a key member of a close circle of visionary poets and writers. Shelley is perhaps best known for such classic poems as Ozymandias, Ode to the West Wind, To a Skylark, Music, When Soft Voices Die, The Cloud and The Masque of Anarchy, which are among the most popular and critically acclaimed poems in the English language. http://en.wikipedia.org/wik -
They Say That Hope is Happiness by George Gordon, Lord Byron
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Period: to
The Victorian Age
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The Lady of Shalott by Alfred Lord Tennyson
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Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson
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Oxford Movement
It resulted in the establishment of Anglican religious. It incorporated ideas and practices related to the practice of liturgy and ceremony in a move to bring more powerful emotional symbolism and energy to the church. In particular it brought the insights of the Liturgical Movement into the life of the Church. Its effects were so widespread that the Eucharist gradually became more central to worship, vestments became common, and numerous Roman Catholic practices. -
Victoria becomes queen
Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1840. Their nine children married into royal and noble families across the continent, tying them together and earning her the nickname "the grandmother of Europe". It was a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom. -
Bright Star, Would I were stedfast as thou art by John Keats
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Sonnet to Sleep by John Keats
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A Song: Men of England & England in 1819 by Percy Bysshe Shelley
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Porphyria’s Lover; Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister; My Last Duchess by Robert Browning
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Break, Break, Break by Alfred Lord Tennyson
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COpyright Act
Copyrights were declared to be personal property, and thus capable of bequest. -
The Cry of the Children by Elizabeth Barrette Browning
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Ireland's potatp famine
The massive famine soured the relations between the majority of the Catholic Irish people and the Crown in London, heightening Irish nationalism that eventually led to Irish independence in the 20th century. -
marraige of Brownings
Robert:Ian Jack comments that Thomas Hardy, Rudyard Kipling, Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot "all learned from Browning's exploration of the exploration of the possibilities of dramatic poetry and of colloquial idiom".Elizabeth:Her poetry greatly influenced Emily Dickinson, who admired her as a woman of achievement. Her popularity in the United States and Britain was further advanced by her stands against social injustice, including slavery in the United States, injustice toward Italian citizens . -
To Homer by John Keats
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Ode on Indolence by John Keats
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Sonnets from the Portuguese by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
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Tennyson Poet Laureate
Tennyson excelled at penning short lyrics, such as "Break, Break, Break", "The Charge of the Light Brigade", "Tears, Idle Tears" and "Crossing the Bar". Much of his verse was based on classical mythological themes, such as Ulysses.A number of phrases from Tennyson's work have become commonplaces of the English language. -
The Charge of the Light Brigade by Alfred Lord Tennyson
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Andrea del Sarto by Robert Browning
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Hap by Thomas Hardy
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Elementary education act
The Elementary Education Act 1870, commonly known as Forster's Education Act, set the framework for schooling of all children between ages 5 and 12 in England and Wales. -
Electric street lighting in London
this represents the technological advances that are reflected in the writing of the period. -
Felix Randal & Spring and Fall by Gerard Manley Hopkins
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No Worst, THere is None
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God’s Grandeur; The Windhover: To Christ our Lord; Pied Beauty; Hurrahing in the Harvest by Gerard Manley Hopkins
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Lake Isle of Innisfree by W. B. Yeats
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death of Queen Victoria
end of victorian age and succession of Edward VII -
First wireless communications across Atlantic
instant ommunication between the hemishpheres, sharing of information. -
Period: to
The 20th Century and Beyond
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Heretics: The Wit of Whistler by G. K. Chesterton
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Science and Religion by G. K. Chesterton
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Theory of Relativity
relativity in physics and philosophy -
No Second Troy by W. B. Yeats
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On Lying in Bed by G. K. Chesterton
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Love Song by T. S. Eliot
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Convergence of the Twain by Thomas Hardy
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WWI
1914 - 1918
First world wide crisis - an upheaval of the world as all knew it. -
Piano by H. D. Lawrence.
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The Second Coming by W. B. Yeats
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Journey of the Magi by T. S. Eliot
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women's voting rights
Establishment of further women's rights and supremacy -
Musée des Beaux Arts by W. H. Auden
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Learning in Wartime - C. S. Lewis
Given as a message to students at Oxford on brink of WWII -
The Unknown Citizen by W. H. Auden
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WWII
1939 - 1945
Ravaged europ - especially Britain. -
Battle of Britain
The Battle of Britain was the first major campaign to be fought entirely by air forces, and was also the largest and most sustained aerial bombing campaign to that date -
Romans conquest of Brittania
ca. 43 - 420
Brings Brittania under Roman Republic and beginning system of "client kingdoms" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar%27s_invasions_of_Britain -
Do Not Go Gentle by Dylan Thomas
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Apollo moon landing
indicates technical advancements -
European Economic Community
Its aim was to bring about economic integration, including a common market -
Margaret Thatcher
British PM. 1979 - 1990
The longest-serving (1979–1990) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of the 20th century, and the only woman ever to have held the post. "The Iron Lady" -
Fall of Berlin Wall
The fall of the Wall was the first step toward German reunification, which was formally concluded on 3 October 1990. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall#Celebrations
