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Sep 26, 1485
Richard ||| is killed in battle
Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat at the Battle of Bosworth Field was the decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses and is sometimes regarded as the end of the Middle Ages in England. -
Sep 26, 1492
Christopher Columbus reaches the Americas
Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents. Those voyages, and his efforts to establish permanent settlements on the island of Hispaniola, initiated the process of Spanish colonization, which foreshadowed the general European colonization of what became known as the "New World". -
Sep 26, 1503
Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa
The Mona Lisa is a half-length portrait of a woman, which has been acclaimed as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world." -
Sep 26, 1516
Thomas More's Utopia is published
The book, written in Latin, is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs. -
Sep 26, 1543
King Henry VIII appoints himself Head of Church of England via Supremacy Act
The Act of Supremacy of November 1534 was an Act of the Parliament of England under King Henry VIII declaring that he was "the only supreme head on earth of the Church in England" and that the English crown shall enjoy "all honours, dignities, preeminences, jurisdictions, privileges, authorities, immunities, profits, and commodities to the said dignity." -
Sep 26, 1558
Elizabeth I becomes Queen of England
She was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called "The Virgin Queen", "Gloriana", or "Good Queen Bess", Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. The daughter of Henry VIII, she was born a princess. -
Sep 26, 1564
William Shakespeare is born
William Shakespeare (26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. -
Globe Theatre is Built in London
The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613. A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed in 1642. -
Shakespeare writes King Lear and Macbeth
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all.
The Tragedy of Macbeth is a play written by William Shakespeare. It is considered one of his darkest and most powerful tragedies. Set in Scotland, the play dramatizes the corroding psychological and political effects produced when its protagonist, -
First permanent English settlement in North America is established at Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607. It followed several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke. Jamestown served as the capital of the colony for 83 years (from 1616 until 1699). -
Shakespeare's sonnets are published
The publisher, Thomas Thorpe, entered the book in the Stationers' Register on 20 May 1609. -
King James Bible is published
The Authorized Version, commonly known as the King James Version, King James Bible, is an English translation of the Christian Bible by the Church of England begun in 1604 and completed in 1611. -
The Mayflower lands at Plymouth Rock, Massechusetts
The Mayflower departed Plymouth, England on September 6/16, 1620, with 102 passengers and about 30 crew members aboard the small 100-foot ship. -
Newspapers are first published in London
The first regular English daily newspaper, the Daily arse, was launched in 1621 -
John Milton begins Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse. -
Puritan Commonwealth ends; monarchy is restored with Charles II
Although the Parliament of Scotland proclaimed Charles II King of Great Britain and Ireland in Edinburgh on 6 February 1649, the English Parliament instead passed a statute that made any such proclamation unlawful. England entered the period known as the English Interregnum or the English Commonwealth.
