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Jan 1, 1485
Richard IIIis killed in battle
Richard III was King of England from 1483 until his death at 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, the last decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses, marked the end of the Middle Ages in England. -
Jan 1, 1492
Christopher Columbus reaches the Americas
On August 3, 1492, Columbus and his crew set sail from Spain in three ships: the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. On October 12, the ships made landfall not in Asia, as Columbus assumed, but on one of the Bahamian islands. -
Jan 1, 1503
Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa
The Mona Lisa 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, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world. The Mona Lisa is also one of the most valuable paintings in the world. -
Jan 1, 1516
Thomas More's Utopia is published
Thomas More 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, in which people share a common culture and way of life. He coined the word 'utopia' from the Greek ou-topos meaning 'no place' or 'nowhere'. It was a pun - the almost identical Greek word eu-topos means 'a good place'. -
Jan 1, 1543
With the Supremacy Act ,Henry VIII Proclaims himself head of Church of England
The first Act of Supremacy was passed on 3 November 1534 by the Parliament of England. It granted King Henry VIII of England and subsequent monarchs Royal Supremacy, such that he was declared the supreme head of the Church of England. In the Act of Supremacy, Henry abandoned Rome completely. -
Jan 1, 1558
Elizabeth I becomes Queen of England
Queen Elizabeth I claimed the throne in 1558 at the age of 25 and held it until her death 44 years later. The daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth I was born a princess but declared illegitimate through political machinations. Eventually, upon her half-sister Mary Tudor’s death, she took the crown. During her reign, Elizabeth I established Protestantism in England; -
Jan 1, 1564
William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon is born
English poet, playwright and actor, widely regarded as both the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist.He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 39 plays,154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. -
Globe Theatre is built in London
The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. 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 -
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Shakespeare writes King Lear and Macbeth
King Lear is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It depicts the gradual descent into madness of the title character, after he disposes of his kingdom by giving bequests to two of his three daughters egged on by their continual flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. -
First permanent English settlement in North America establish Jamestown Virginia
The Jamestownsettlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. It was located on the east bank of the Powhatan River about 2.5 mi southwest of the center of modern Williamsburg. William Kelso writes that Jamestown is where the British Empire began It was established by the Virginia Company of London and was considered permanent after brief abandonment in 1610. -
Shakespeare’s sonnets are published
Shakespeare's sonnets are poems wrote on a variety of themes. When discussing or referring to Shakespeare’s sonnets, it is almost always a reference to the 154 sonnets that were first published all together in a quarto in 1609; -
King James bible is published
King James is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, begun in 1604 and completed/published 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 Mayflower was an English ship that famously transported the first English Puritans, known today as the Pilgrims, from Plymouth, England, to the New World in 1620. There were 102 passengers, and the crew is estimated to have been about 30, but the exact number is unknown.The ship has become a cultural icon in the history of the United States. -
Newspapers are first published in London
The first newspaper published in Britain was the Oxford Gazette, which was published in 1665. By the 18th century, many more newspapers were being published 24 papers in all by the 1720s. The very first daily newspaper, the Daily Courant, was first published in London on March 11, 1702 by Edward Mallet. -
John Milton begins paradise lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton 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 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
Restoration of the monarchy in England in 1660. It marked the return of Charles II as king (1660–85) following the period of Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth. The bishops were restored to Parliament, which established a strict Anglican orthodoxy.
