-
Aug 22, 1485
Richard III is killed in battle
On July 6, 1483, Richard III officially became the country's new king. Richard III was accused of murdering his nephews to protect his throne. Despite his hard-fought efforts, Richard III only enjoyed a brief stint as monarch. Richard III still found himself fighting hard against his adversaries to hold on to the crown. On August 22, 1485, he lost his life in the Battle of Bosworth; he was defeated by Henry Tudor. -
Oct 12, 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. For months, Columbus sailed from island to island which know as the Caribbean, looking for the “pearls, precious stones, gold, silver, and spices” that he had promised to his Spanish patrons, but he did not find much, so he retured to Spain. -
Jan 1, 1503
Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona LIsa
Mona Lisa, oil painting on a poplar wood panel by the Italian painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect, and engineer Leonardo da Vinci, probably the world’s most-famous painting. It was painted sometime between 1503 and 1506, when Leonardo was living in Florence. Mona Lisa was Leonardo's favourite painting and he was loathe to part with it or because the painting was unfinished. Later, it was sold to the King of France for four thousand gold crows. The world has talked about it ever since. -
Jan 1, 1516
Thomas More’s Utopia is published
Sir Thomas More was an English lawyer, writer, and statesman. He was at one time one of Henry VIII's most trusted civil servants, becoming Chancellor of England in 1529. Thomas More (1477 - 1535) wrote the first formal utopia. He imagined a complex, self-contained world set on an island, in which communities shared a common culture and way of life. -
Jan 26, 1543
With the Supremacy Act, Henry VIII proclaims himself head of Church of England
His enduring legacy is the start of the English Reformation, initially triggered not by theological but political reasons. The Supremacy Acts which severed the English Church from the Roman Catholic Church and established Henry as the supreme head of the Church in England. As a result, other denominations evolved during the years that followed Henry's reign. These include the Congregationalists, Baptists, Unitarians, and Presbyterians. -
Nov 17, 1558
Elizabeth I becomes queen of England
Mary's marriage to Philip II of Spain made it seem possible that an heir would be born, but Mary died childless in 1558. Elizabeth I was crowned Queen of England on 15 January 1559. Elizabeth's 45-year reign - referred to as the Elizabethan era or the Golden Age of Elizabeth - was one of the more constructive periods in English history. One of the most important concerns during Elizabeth's early reign was religion. Elizabeth never married and became known as the 'Virgin Queen'. -
Apr 23, 1564
William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, is Born
William Shakespeare, often called the English national poet, is widely considered the greatest dramatist of all time. William Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. From roughly 1594, he was an important member of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men company of theatrical players. Over the course of 20 years, Shakespeare wrote plays that capture the complete range of human emotion and conflict. -
Globe Theatre is built in London
The Globe was built in 1599 using timber from an earlier theatre, The Theatre, which had been built by Richard Burbage's father, James Burbage, in Shoreditch in 1576. The Burbages originally had a 21-year lease of the site on which The Theatre was built but owned the building outright and it was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613. -
Shakespeare writes King Lear and Macbeth
King Lear and Macbeth were writing at the same time in the 1605-1606. King Lear depicts the gradual descent into madness of the title character, after he disposes of his kingdom giving bequests to two of his three daughters based on their flattery of him, bringing tragic consequences for all. On the other hand, Macbeth tells the story of a brave Scottish general named Macbeth who receives a prophecy that one day he will become King of Scotland but the bloodbath take Macbeth into realms of death. -
First permanent English settlement in North America is estblished at Jamestown, Virginia.
The founding of Jamestown, America’s first permanent English colony, in Virginia in 1607 sparked a series of cultural encounters that helped shape the nation and the world. The colony was sponsored by the Virginia Company of London. Chartered in 1606 by King James I, the company also supported English national goals of counterbalancing the expansion of other European nations abroad, seeking a northwest passage to the Orient, and convert the Virginia Indians to the Anglican religion. -
Shakespeare's sonnets are published
Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets, likely composed over an extended period from 1592 to 1598, the year in which Francis Meres referred to Shakespeare's "sugred sonnets." In 1609 Thomas Thorpe published Shakespeare's sonnets, no doubt without the author's permission. In Shakespeare's sonnets, the rhyme pattern is abab cdcd efef gg, with the final couplet used to summarize the previous 12 lines or present a surprise ending. The rhythmic pattern of the sonnets is the iambic pentameter. -
King James Bible is published
The commissioning of the King James Bible took place in 1604 at the Hampton Court Conference outside of London. The first edition appeared in 1611. The King James version remains one of the greatest landmarks in the English tongue. However, the story behind the creation of this Bible translation is little known and reveals an amazing interplay of faith and politics, church and state. It played a unique role in the historical development of America. -
The Mayflower lands at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts
Over a hundred travelers embarked on the voyage of the Mayflower in September 1620. Less than one third were Separatists. The rest were immigrants, adventurers, and speculators. Fate charted a different course. Lost at sea, they happened upon a piece of land that would become known as Cape Cod. After surveying the land, they set up camp not too far from PLYMOUTH ROCK. In the landmark MAYFLOWER COMPACT OF 1620, the Pilgrims decided that they would rule themselves, based on majority. -
Newspapers are first published in London
Corante: or, Newes from Italy, Germany, Hungarie, Spaine 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. -
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. Milton composed the ten books of Paradise Lost between 1658 and 1663. He had first planned the work as early as 1640, intending to write a tragedy titled Adam Unparadised. By 1652 he had become completely blind, probably due to glaucoma. -
Puritan Commonwealth ends; monarchy is restored with Charles II
In 1660, in what is known as the English Restoration, General George Monck met with Charles and arranged to restore him in exchange for a promise of amnesty and religious toleration for his former enemies. On May 25, 1660, Charles landed at Dover and four days later entered London in triumph. It was his 30th birthday, and London rejoiced at his arrival.
