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Period: 1509 to 1547
Reign of Henry VIII
His reign made him famous, especially his extraordinary number of wife and how he got rid of them time after time. He is the one that created the Church of England. -
1517
The Ninety-nine Theses
Publication of Martin Luther's Ninety-nine Theses where he condemned the indulgences and the doctrine of the Purgatory, as well as the corruption of the Catholic Church. -
1526
Tyndale Bible
Publication of the first Bible translated in English by William Tyndale. -
1533
Excommunication of Henry VIII
Direct consequence of the king's “Great Matter”: his request of annulation of his marriage with Catherine of Aragon that didn't came to a good conclusion. This will give him the idea of the creation of the Church of England, to divorce whenever he wanted. -
1533
Acts of Succession
The Act of Succession declared Henry's marriage to Catherine void and that with Anne Boleyn valid, making her his queen. -
1534
Act of Supremacy
Creation of the Church of England, materializing the schism with the Roman Church. -
Period: 1534 to
Early modern period
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1536
Pilgrimage of Grace
A revolution of 6 months from the Catholics of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, known as the greatest revolution faced by Tudor monarchs. They were against the dissolution of monasteries, and demanded the restoration of the Pope's authority, as well as the royal succession of Mary Tudor as heir. Economic grievances were also at the centre of rebellions. It ended in a brutal repression, with public hangings. -
Period: 1547 to 1553
Reign of Edward VI
The Protestant Young King pushed further into Protestantism the Church of England – he died from tuberculosis. -
1549
Publication of Book of Common Prayer
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1553
Poor Laws
Due to an increase of the population not followed by the increase of the food production and harvest, poverty rose, leading to the implementation of the Poor Laws in 1553, 1597 and 1601. These laws are part of the long lasting heritage of Elizabeth the I as they remained in place until the 19th century. -
Period: 1553 to 1558
Reign of Mary I
Catholic, she restored Catholicism in 18 months; protestantism was forced to secrecy as the heretics were burned at the stake between 1555 and 1558, offering her the famous nickname of "Bloody Mary". She was married to Philip II, king of Spain. Her death was greeted by the population, as she had become very unpopular. -
Period: 1558 to
Reign of Elizabeth I
Her famous reign is often associated with the idea of the country being in a golden age. Amongst her good deeds, she stabilized the religious situation of the country as well as increasing the independence of the peninsula. She was also the first English monarch to order the creation of a huge float, which will result centuries later in the famous Royal Navy. -
Period: 1563 to 1571
The 39 Articles of Faith
Articles that were intended to establish the faith and practice of the Church of England. -
1569
The Northern Rebellion
Catholic rebellion to replace Elizabeth I by Mary of Scots. 6000 insurgents. Resulted in the repression of catholics. -
1570
Excommunication of Elizabeth I
Until then, the Pope believed she would convert to Catholicism, but after the reformation that occured under Elizabeth I 's reign, he excommunicated her. -
The Babington plot
Young Catholics had sworn to kill Elizabeth I and put Mary Stuart on the throne, but they were discovered by Francis Walsingham, who managed to decipher a code letter. -
Execution of Mary Queen of Scots
Wearing red, the colour of the Catholic martyr, Mary made this historical moment sadly famous for the fact that her head didn't fall at the first strike from the executioner. -
Defeat of the Spanish Armada
The Spanish Armada has been defeated by the English Navy after King Philip II's attempt to invade England. -
Period: to
Reign of James I
Successing Elizabeth I, the King of England and Scotland will face financial, religious and political struggle, as the debt of the kingdom will keep on growing. Strong believer of the divine rights of kings and first king of the Stuart era, His relation with parliament will set up the way towards civil unstability. -
Gunpowder plot
A plot made by christians who wanted to blow up both the Parliament and the king. -
Establishment of Jamestown
The first British permanent settlement. John Rolfe, a Jamestown settler, discovered a new type of tobacco, leading to a new English brand, enriching the colonny who became bigger and attracted more settlers. At first, most settlers were religious refugee. -
King James Bible
A re edition and translation of the Bible commanded by James I to confirm the status quo put in place by Elizabeth I. -
Period: to
Thirty Years War
Religious War tearing apart Europe. -
Period: to
Reign of Charles I
King known for the Eleven Years Tyranny he put in place and the two civil wars he took part in, costing him his head. -
Petition of Rights
The memebers of parliaments asked the king Charles I to recognize the limits of his power. He reluctantly signed it off but quickly suspended the session before the impeachment of Lord Buckingham. -
The Three Resolutions
Bringing popery or Armenianism to the kingdom, doing so altering the protestant forms of the Church of England and advising the king to collect illegally custom duties was now considered as actions of an ennemy of the kingdom and were forbidden. This was considered by Charles I as an act of defiance of his authority - he emprisonned the members of the parliament and the Personnal Rule began. -
Period: to
The Personal Rule
The Eleven years Tyranny, in wich Charles I governed as an absolutist, without calling the parliament once. -
Period: to
Bishop's Wars
The Scottish rebellion against the religious doctrine Charles and archbishop Laud tempted to implement by force in Scotland. It began as a riot in St Giles Cathedrale, Edinburgh, with a wife throwing her chair to the bishop reading the New Book of Common Prayer. It ended by the Treaty of Ripon. -
Treaty of Ripon
Peace treaty endeing the Bishop's War between Scotland and Charles I, humiliating him by the ame time as he already didn't have any money for war, now he had to beg the Parliament for money once again, but this time to pay the ennemy and its army. -
Period: to
Long Parliament
Parliament lasting 20 years. -
The Irish Rebellion
The Irish people broke out in an armed riot to protest/fight against the plantation policy implemented by James I. It was the sending of English and Scottish Protestant settlers to Ireland so that they colonize it by taking the land of Irish Catholic people. They massacred 3-4 thousands protestants, but suffered from false rumors - it was said that they actually killed 200 thousands protestant, adding to the English anger towards Catholic people. -
Grand Remonstrance
It is an important document voted by Parliament about alll the wrond doing of their king Charles I. It concluded on revolutionary demands and divided the parliament in two groups: the Parliamentarians and the Royalists. -
Period: to
The Civil Wars
A dark period of political instability as the king declared war against the parliament on August 22th 1642 after their presentation of the 19 propositions, basically declaring a constitutional monarchy. Its cost is the lives of 190 thousands Englishman in the 4 years of the first war, won by the Parliament. The second one lasted only a few month and resulted on the King being tried for High treason and executed. -
Battle of Naseby
Turning point of the First Civil War for the soon to be defeated Royalists. -
Period: to
The Commonwealth
The monarchy and the House of Lords are abolished by law, judged as dangerous, giving suprem authority to the House of Commons. It failed because of royalists revolts in Ireland and Scotland, but also because of issues in the Rump Parliament. All of it will be dissolved by Cromwell on December 16th 1653. -
Regicide
The civil wars end tragically with the execution of Charles I. -
The Instrument of Government
The instrument of government marks the end of the Parliaments and the beginning of Cromwell's Protectorate. It was England's one and only constitution. -
Period: to
The Crowmellian Protectorate
A period of military dictatorship similar to monachy, as Cromwell was called "Lord Protector". His death lead to a period of extrem political instability. -
Period: to
Reign of Charles II
Son of Charles I, protestant king essential in the english monarchy's restaoration. -
The restoration
In 1660, Charles II issued the Declaration of Breda. It promised: a general amnesty, to continue religious toleration, to share power with Parliament in return for the restoration of monarchy. It worked and the King was restored on 29th May 1660. -
Period: to
Political Crisis
The Popish Plot of 1678 when the French tried to murder Charles II to replace him with his Catholic brother James II in order to restore Catholic ideas and absolute monarchy. The Parliament feared it would happen and it led to exclusion crisis from 1679 to 1681 when Parliament attempted to debar James II from the succession to the English throne. They were trying to modify the rules of succession as well as the Divine Right of Kings. Charles decided to dissolve the Parliament. -
Period: to
Reign of James II
James II's reign was met with a deep seated fear of Catholicism Absolutism. But he was old and didn't have a male heir so there was still hope, only until his second wife gave birth to a son, a catholic heir. Parliament invited the King's protestant daughter's husband, William of Orange to invade England and seize the crown. He came with an army of 15000 men and was met with no resistance from James II who fled to France. -
Period: to
Reign of Mary II and William II
With their reign, it's the start of the Glorious Revolution as there was no shedding of blood and english subjects' liberties were reinforced. It was a Constitutional Monarchy where there were limits for the monarch's powers. Those limits were fixed by: the Bill of Rights and the Act of Settlement. They had no surviving children for them to succeed them but thanks to the Act of Settlement, it ensured a Protestant succession. -
The Bill of Rights
This text was to fix the monarch's limits, it:
° Lists King James’ misdeeds
° Fixed limitations on the sovereign’s powers (no not Parliament-confirmed taxes)
° Set out the rights of Parliament
° Set out basic civil rights
° Is a key political text (essential document of the uncodified British constitution and a Model for the US Bill of rights) -
The Act of Settlement
As William II and Mary II had no surviving children and every other possible succesor were Catholic, this act settled the order of succession and ensured a Protestant succession, ignoring dozens of Catholic heirs Successor (Hanoverian descendants of James I). This text has a key role in the formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain It put an end to the 16th and 17th quarrel between King and Parliament. A new balance of powers in favour of Parliament. -
Period: to
Reign of Anne
She was the last Stuart Monarch. During her reign, it was the development of the Parliamentary Monarchy with:
the impact of the european war (against Louis XIV) which was costly (led to changes in the government finances); development of cabinet ministers; development of the press. She ratified the 1707 Act of Union to create a single Kingdom -
The First Act of Union
It's the creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain: England (and Wales) and Scotland:
- A single kingdom.
- Scotland lost its parliament but gained 45 seats in the House of Commons + 16 seats in the House of Lords.
- Scotland kept its Presbyterian church and own laws. -
Period: to
Spanish Succession's war
After acquiring new colonies: Viriginia (1607) Plymouth (1620), Maryland (1634), New Netherland (1664 / renamed New York), Pennsylvania (1682), the British Empire got in a war ("Queen Anne's War") agaisnt France and Spain. Britain gained Acadia over the French. -
Period: to
Seven Year's war
Britain gained Florida over the Spanish and (most of) Canada over the French. -
Period: to
American war of Independence
It was a turning point in British history, as the nation lost a huge part of its empire. This marked the end of what is now called the ‘First British Empire’. -
Acts of Union
Unification of the Kingdom of Great Britain with the Kingdom of Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.