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1485
Richard III is killed in battle
Richard met the outnumbered forces of Henry Tudor at the Battle of Bosworth Field.King Richard fought bravely and ably during this maneuver, unhorsing Sir John Cheyne, a well-known jousting champion, killing Henry's standard bearer Sir William Brandon and coming within a sword's length of Henry Tudor before being surrounded by Sir William Stanley's men and killed. -
1492
Christopher Columbus reaches the Americas
Columbus left Spain in August 1492 with three ships, and after a stopover in the Canary Islands made landfall in the Americas on 12 October. His landing place was an island in the Bahamas, known by its native inhabitants as Guanahani. -
1503
Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa
The “Gioconda” or Mona Lisa, probably the most famous portrait in the world, was painted by Leonardo da Vinci on permanent display at the Louvre in Paris. He locked himself in a storeroom overnight and left the museum next morning with the painting under his coat. -
1516
Thomas More's Utopia is published
The book is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs. -
1534
With the Supremancy Act, Henry VIII proclaims himslef head of the Church of England
The Act of Supremacy in 1534 essentially took power away from the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. Henry VIII designed an entirely new church called the Church of England in which he made himself head of the Church because he was the king. -
1558
Elizabeth I becomes queen of England
She was the daughter of King Henry VIII of England and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. ... Elizabeth's half-brother, Edward, became King Edward VI of England. He died age 15. Mary succeeded him in 1553, and after Queen Mary's death in 1558, Elizabeth became Queen. -
1564
William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, is born
On the April of 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, William Shakespeare is born. Son of John and Mary Shakespeare. -
Globe Theatre is built in London
Early in 1599 Shakespeare, who had been acting with the Lord Chamberlain’s Men since 1594, paid into the coffers of the company a sum of money amounting to 12.5 percent of the cost of building the Globe. The theatre thrived for 14 years, presenting many of Shakespeare's greatest plays. -
Period: to
Shakespeare writes King Lear and Macbeth
Shakespeare's King Lear, is a story of a king who divides his realm between his three daughters probes the depths of human suffering and despair. Shakespeare's Macbeth, is a story about a brave Scottish general named Macbeth receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the Scottish throne for himself. -
First permanent English settlement in North America is estaablished at Jamestown, Virginia
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Shakespeare's sonnets are published
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King James Bible is published
After being crowned King, churchmen requested a revised Bible because the existing one was corrupted. On 1611 King James revised version was published. The translation of Bible had a marked influence on English literary style and was generally accepted as the standard English Bible from the mid-17th to the early 20th century. -
The Mayflower lands at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts
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Newspapers are first published in London
he first true newspaper published in Britain was the Oxford Gazette, which was published in 1665. By the 18th century, many more newspapers were being published - 24 papers in all by the 1720s. The very first daily newspaper, the Daily Courant, was first published in London on March 11, 1702 by Edward Mallet. -
John Milton begins Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost. (1667) An epic by John Milton. Its subject is the Fall of Man; it also tells the stories of the rebellion and punishment of Satan and the creation of Adam and Eve. Milton declares that his aim in the poem is “to justify the ways of God to men.” -
Puritan Commonwealth ends; monarchy is restored with Charles II
The Commonwealth refers to the period in the post-Civil War period when England was ruled without a King. It marked the return of Charles II as king (1660–85) following the period of Oliver Cromwell’s Commonwealth. The bishops were restored to Parliament, which established a strict Anglican orthodoxy.
