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1543 BCE
with the Supreme Act, Henry VIII proclaims himself head of Church of England
Prior to 1534, the supreme head of the English Church was the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church -
1503 BCE
Leonardo da Vinci paints the "Mona Lisa"
The Mona Lisa is a half-length portrait painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci that has been described as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about painting in the world -
Aug 22, 1485
Richard III is Killed in battle
was King of England from 1483 until his death in 1485, -
Aug 3, 1492
Christopher Columbus reaches the Americas
Columbus led his three ships - the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria - out of the Spanish port of Palos on August 3, 1492 -
Jan 1, 1516
"Thomas More's Utopia"
was the first person to write of a 'utopia', a word used to describe a perfect imaginary world. More's book imagines a complex, self-contained community set on an island -
Jan 1, 1558
1558 Elizabeth 1 becomes queen of England.
Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the last monarch of the House of Tudor -
Jan 1, 1564
William Shakespear, The Bard of Avon, is born 1564
was an English poet, playwright and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. -
1599 Globe Theatre is built in London
It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend and grandson Sir Matthew Brend, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613 -
1605-1606 Shakespear writes "King Lear and Macbeth"
given that King Lear is, as Shapiro demonstrates, deeply rooted in a response to the events of late 1605, and that 1606 is also the year of Macbeth and of Antony and Cleopatra -
first permanent English settlement in North America us established at Jamestown, Virginia.
It was established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 4, 1607 -
1609 Shakespear sonnets are published
Shakespeare's sonnets is the title of a collection of 154 sonnets by William Shakespeare, which covers themes such as the passage of time, love, beauty and mortality -
1611 King James Bible is published
King James Bible (KJB) is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England begun in 1604 and completed in 1611. -
the "Mayflower" lands at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts
Leaving aside the fact that the Pilgrims first made landfall on the tip of Cape Cod in November 1620 before sailing to safer harbors in Plymouth the following month, William Bradford and his fellow Mayflower passengers made no written references to setting foot on a rock as they disembarked to start their settlement on -
puritan Comonwealth end Monarchy is restored in Charles ii
It began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under the Stuart King Charles II. -
Newspapers are first published in London
newspapers were always delivered on Saturday instead of Wednesday. -
Newspapers are first published in London
newspapers where delivered on Saturdays instead of Wednesdays -
John Milton begins "Paradise Lost"
John Milton was born in London on 9 December 1608. During the 1640s he wrote a series of pamphlets in defense of political, religious, and civil liberty, becoming the foremost polemicist of his day