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Oct 22, 1485
Richard III is killed in battle
Was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 in the Battle of Bosworth Field. His defeat at Bosworth Field, the decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses, is sometimes regarded as the end of the Middle Ages in England. He is the subject of the play Richard III by William Shakespeare. -
Oct 22, 1492
Christopher Columbus reaches the Americas
Italian explorer, navigator, and colonizer, born in the Republic of Genoa. 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 Spanish colonization of the New World. -
Oct 22, 1503
Leonardo da vinci paints the Mona Lisa
The Mona Lisa is a half-length portrait of a woman by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, 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."
Leonardo da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist, and writer. -
Oct 22, 1516
Thomas More's Utopia Published
Utopia is a work of fiction and political philosophy, composed in Latin. The book is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs. The frame narrative leads readers from a first story into another, smaller one (or several ones) within it. -
Oct 22, 1543
Henry VIII proclaims himself head of Church of England with Supremecy Act
The Act of Supremacy 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." -
Oct 22, 1558
Elizabeth I becomes Queen of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Elizabeth set out to rule by good counsel,[1] and she depended heavily on a group of trusted advisers -
Oct 22, 1564
William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, is born
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. -
Globe Theatre is built in London
The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London built by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men. It was destroyed by a fire on 29 June 1613. A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed in 1642. A modern reconstruction of the Globe, named "Shakespeare's Globe", opened in 1997. -
Period: to
Shakespear writes King Lear and Macbeth
King Lear is a tragedy. The title character descends into madness after disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. Based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological pre-Roman Celtic king.
Macbeth is considered one of his darkest and most powerful tragedies. Set in Scotland, the play dramatizes the corrosive psychological and political effects produced when evil is chosen as a way to fulfil the ambition for power. -
Jameston, Virginia is first permanent English settlement in North America
Jamestown[1] was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. Established by the Virginia Company of London. Jamestown served as the capital of the colony for 83 years, from 1616 until 1699. -
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. -
King James Bible is published
English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England. 3rd translation to English to be approved. Conformed to the ecclesiology and reflected the episcopal structure of the Church of England and its belief in an ordained clergy. -
Mayflower lands at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts
Plymouth Rock is the traditional site of disembarkation of William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in 1620.
The Mayflower was the Pilgrim ship that in 1620 made the historic voyage from England to the New World. The ship carried 102 passengers in two core groups – religious Separatists coming from Holland and a largely non-religious settler group from London. -
Newspapers are first published in London
The first newspaper printed in England appeared in 1621.Corante: or, Newes from Italy, Germany, Hungarie, Spaine and France was the first English newspaper. -
John Milton begins Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse. Blank verse is poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. The poem concerns the Biblical story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's purpose, stated in Book I, is to "justify the ways of God to men". -
Puritan Commonwealth ends; monarchy is restored with Charles II
The commonwealth was the period from 1649 onwards when England, along later with Ireland and Scotland,[1] was ruled as a republic following the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execution of Charles I. On 8 May it proclaimed that King Charles II had been the lawful monarch since the execution of Charles I in January 1649. Charles returned from exile.
