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Aug 22, 1485
Richard III is killed in battle
Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 in the Battle of Bosworth Field. He is the subject of the play Richard III by William Shakespeare. -
Oct 30, 1492
Chirstopher Columbus reaches the Americas
Christopher Columbus was an 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. -
Oct 22, 1503
Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa
The Mona Lisa (La Gioconda or La Joconde) 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." The painting, thought to be a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, is in oil on a white Lombardy poplar panel, and is believed to have been painted between 1503 and 1506, although Leonardo may have c -
Oct 22, 1516
Thomas More's Utopia is Published
Utopia is frame narrative primarliy depicting a fictional island society depicting it's religious, social, and political conditions. This book depicts the idea of "a perfect society." -
Oct 22, 1543
With the Supremacy Act, Henry VII proclaims himself head of Church of England
The title was created for King Henry VIII, who was responsible for the English church breaking away from the authority of the Roman Catholic Church after the Pope excommunicated Henry in 1533 over his divorce from Catherine of Aragon. By 1536, Henry had broken with Rome, seized the church's assets in England and declared the Church of England as the established church with himself as its head. -
Nov 17, 1558
Elizabeth I becomes queen of England
Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called "The Virgin Queen", "Gloriana" or "Good Queen Bess", Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. -
Apr 26, 1564
William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, is born
William Shakespeare, baptized on April 26 1564, was an English poet and playwrite. He is widley regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. -
Globe Theatre is built in London
The globe theatre in London was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company. The globe was destroyed in 1613, was rebuilt in 1614, then closed in 1642. Many famous Shakespearian plays were performed in this theatre. -
Shakespeare writes King Lear and Macbeth
Macbeth and King Lear are both Shakespearian tradgedies. King Lear is based on the legend of the Leir of Britain. Macbeth depicts the tradgedy and evil that can ensue with the ambition for power. -
First permanent English settlement in North America is established at Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown Settlement is a name used by the Commonwealth of Virginia's portion of the historical sites and museums at Jamestown. Jamestown was the first successful English settlement on the mainland of North America.[1] Named for King James I of England, Jamestown was founded in the Colony of Virginia on May 13, 1607. -
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, first published in a 1609. Many of these sonnets express Shakespeare's apparent love for a young man. -
King James Bible is published
The King James Version (KJV), commonly known as the Authorized Version (AV) or King James Bible (KJB), is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England begun in 1604 and completed in 1611. This bible was commisioned in the reign of King Henry VIII. -
The Mayflower lands at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts
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. -
Newpapers are first published in London
The London Gazette was one of the first newspapers in London. Newspapers were a new source of spreading information, both good and controversial. The started a new era in news related buisness. -
John Milton begins Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608-1674). It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse. It is considered by critics to be Milton's "major work", and the work helped to solidify his reputation as one of the greatest English poets of his time. -
Puritan Commonwealth ends; monarchy is restored with Charles II
The Commonwealth, or Commonwealth of England, was the period from 1649 onwards when England, along later with Ireland and Scotland, was ruled as a republic following the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execution of Charles I. During this period, fighting continued, particularly in Ireland and Scotland, between the parliamentary forces and those opposed to them, as part of what is now referred to as the Third English Civil War.
