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Aug 22, 1485
Richard III is killed in battle
On 22 August 1485, Richard met the outnumbered forces of Henry Tudor at the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was astride his white courser (a white horse). The size of Richard's army has been estimated at 8,000, Henry's at 5,000, but exact numbers cannot be known. -
Sep 27, 1492
1492 Christopher Columbus reaches the Americas
Though Columbus was not the first European explorer to reach the Americas Columbus's voyages led to the first lasting European contact with America, inaugurating a period of European exploration and colonization of foreign lands that lasted for several centuries. -
Sep 27, 1503
c. 1503 Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa
The painting, thought to be a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, is in oil on a poplar panel, and is believed to have been painted between 1503 and 1506.[1] It was acquired by King Francis I of France and is now the property of the French Republic, on permanent display at the Musée du Louvre in Paris.[ -
Sep 26, 1516
Thomas More’s Utopia is published
First published in 1516, Saint Thomas More's Utopia is one of the most important works of European humanism. Through the voice of the mysterious traveller Raphael Hythloday, More describes a pagan, communist city-state governed by reason. Addressing such issues as religious pluralism, women's rights, state-sponsored education, colonialism, and justified warfare, Utopia seems remarkably contemporary nearly five centuries after it was written, and it remains a foundational text in philosophy and p -
Sep 27, 1543
c. 1543 With the Supremacy Act, Henry VIII proclaims himself head of Church of England
The first Act of Supremacy was a piece of legislation that granted King Henry VIII of England Royal Supremacy, which means that he was declared the supreme head of the Church of England. It is still the legal authority of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. Royal Supremacy is specifically used to describe the legal sovereignty of the civil laws over the laws of the Church in England. -
Sep 27, 1558
1558 Elizabeth I becomes queen of England
Elizabeth I 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, but her mother, Anne Boleyn, was executed two and a half years after her birth, and Elizabeth was declared illegitiminate. -
Apr 23, 1564
1564 William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, is born
William Shakespeare (1564-1616), `The Bard of Avon', English poet and playwright wrote the famous 154 Sonnets and numerous highly successful oft quoted dramatic works including the tragedy of the Prince of Denmark, Hamlet; While Shakespeare caused much controversy, he also earned lavish praise and has profoundly impacted the world over in areas of literature, culture, art, theatre, and film and is considered one of the best English language writers ever. -
1599 Globe Theatre is built in London
The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London that 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.The Globe's actual dimensions are unknown, but its shape and size can be approximated.It was a three-storey, open-air amphitheatre approximately 100 feetin diameter that could hold up to 3,000 spectators. -
1605-1606 Shakespeare writes King Lear and Macbeth
The sympathetic nature of a protagonist in a Shakespearean Tragedy exposes itself through a character whose humanity readers sympathize with. Sympathetic characters are characters whose flaws and shortcomings the reader can relate to.The degrees to which King Lear and Macbeth can be perceived as sympathetic characters relies largely on the socio-political positions that each character holds throughout their respective plays. -
1607 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 . -
Shakespeare’s sonnets are published
Shakespeare's sonnets are a collection of 154 sonnets, dealing with themes such as the passage of time, love, beauty and mortality, first published in a 1609 quarto entitled SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS.: Never before imprinted. -
King James Bible is published
Shortly after inheriting the throne of England in the midst of violent religious strife, King James I called together the country's leading churchmen and theologians at Hampton Court.
Out of that conference came the memorable decision to commission a new translation of the Holy Scriptures. King James I eagerly approved the idea in the hope that this new translation might help avert civil war by uniting the religious factions within his country. -
1620 The Mayflower lands at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts
The first identification of Plymouth Rock as the actual landing site was made in 1741 by 94-year-old Thomas Faunce, whose father had arrived in Plymouth in 1623, three years after the arrival of the Mayflower.[85] The rock is located roughly 650 feet (200 m) from where the initial settlement was thought to be built. -
Newspapers are first published in London
Corante: or Newes from Italy, Germany, Hungarie, Spain and France was published by the printer Nathaniel Butter in London. The earliest of the seven surviving copies is dated September 24, 1621, but it is thought that this single page news sheet began publication earlier in 1621. Corante was the first private newspaper published in English. As a result of a 1586 edict from the Star Chamber, it carried no news about England. -
c.1658 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. A second edition followed in 1674, changed into twelve books with minor revisions throughout and a note on the versification. -
1660 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.The Protectorate, which followed the Commonwealth and preceded the English Restoration, might have continued if Oliver Cromwell's son Richard, who was made Lord Protector on his father's death, had been capable of carrying on his father's policies.
