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1564 BCE
William Shakespeare, The Bard of Avon, is born.
William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. He is often called England's national poet. His extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 38 plays,154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. -
Nov 10, 1485
Richard III is killed in battle
Richard III was King of England from 1483 until his death in 1485, in 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 Bosworth Field, marked the end of the Middle Ages in England. He is the subject of the historical play Richard III by William Shakespeare. -
Nov 10, 1492
Christopher Columbus reaches the Americas
Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer, navigator, colonizer, and citizen of the Republic of Genoa. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean. Those voyages and his efforts to establish permanent settlements on the island of Hispaniola initiated the European colonization of the New World. -
Nov 10, 1503
Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa
The Mona Lisas 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". -
Nov 9, 1516
Thomas More's Utopia published
Utopia is a work of fiction and political philosophy by Thomas More published in Latin. The book is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs. -
Nov 10, 1543
. With the Supremacy Act, Henry VIII proclaims himself head of Church of England
They were responsible for the English Catholic church breaking away from the authority of the Roman Catholic Church after the Pope excommunicated Henry in 1533 over his divorce from Catherine of Aragon. By 1536, Henry had broken with Rome, seized the church's assets in England and declared the Church of England as the established church with himself as its head. -
Nov 10, 1558
Elizabeth I becomes queen of England
Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 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. -
Globe Theatre is built in London
he Globe Theatre was a theatre in London. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, on land owned by Thomas Brend. -
Period: to
Shakespeare writes King Lear and Macbeth
King Lear is a tragedy. It depicts the gradual descent into madness of the title character, after he disposes of his kingdom giving bequests to two of his three daughters based on their flattery of him, bringing tragic consequences for all. Derived from the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological pre-Roman Celtic king, the play has been widely adapted for the stage and motion pictures, with the title role coveted by many of the world's most accomplished actors. -
First permanent English settlement in North America is established at Jamestown, Virginia.
In the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. Jamestown "is where the British Empire began ... this was the first colony in the British Empire." Jamestown was established by the Virginia Company of London on May 4, 1607 and was considered permanent after brief abandonment in 1610. 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
Shakespeare's Sonnets is the title of a collection of 154 sonnets which covers themes such as the passage of time, love, beauty and mortality. -
King James Bible is published
The King James Version , also known as the Authorized Version (AV) or the King James Bible, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England begun in 1604 and completed in 1611.The books of the King James Version include the 39 books of the Old Testament, an intertestamental section containing 14 books of the Apocrypha, and the 27 books of the New Testament. -
The Mayflower lands at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts
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. -
Newspapers are first published in London
Corante: was the first newspaper printed in England. The earliest of the seven known surviving copies is dated September 24, 1621 and the latest is dated October 22 of that same year. -
John Milton begins Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse. The first version, published in 1667, consisted of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, arranged into twelve books (in the manner of Virgil's Aeneid) with minor revisions throughout and a note on the versification. It is considered by critics to be Milton's major work, and it helped solidify his reputation as one of the greatest English poets of his time. -
Puritan Commonwealth ends; monarchy is restored with Charles II
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.
