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Oct 21, 1485
Richard III is killed in battle
Richard III was King of England for two years, until his death in 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, is sometimes regarded as the end of the Middle Ages in England -
Oct 21, 1492
Christopher Columbus reaches the Americas
Christopher Columbus set sail from Spain on a mission to sail completely around the world; however, he met a bump in the road when he bumped into the land we now know as North and South America. Christopher Columbus is given most of the credit for founding the Americas. -
Oct 21, 1503
Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa
The Mona Lisa is a half-length portrait of a woman by 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." -
Oct 21, 1516
Thomas More's Utopia is published
Thomas More's Utopia is a fiction book depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs. This was More's best known and most controversial work. -
Oct 21, 1543
Henry VIII proclaims himself head of the Church of England
Henry VIII is known for his role in the separation of the Church of England from the Roman Catholic Church. Henry's struggles with Rome led to the separation of the Church of England from papal authority, the Dissolution of the Monasteries, and his own establishment as the Supreme Head of the Church of England -
Oct 21, 1558
Elizabeth I becomes queen of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland. Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. The daughter of Henry VIII, she was born into the royal succession. -
Oct 21, 1564
William Shakespeare is born
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His plays have been translated into every living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. -
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. It was located in Southwark, London. -
Shakespeare writes King Lear and Macbeth
Both King Lear and Macbeth were 2 of the tragedies written by Shakespeare in 1605-1606. King Lear and Macbeth both have a common theme of madness that is apparent throughout the play, though, in both, it is displayed very differently. -
First permanent English settlement in North America is established at Jamestown, Virginia.
With hopes of finding gold, England set sail for North America, or, the "New World". Upon reaching North America, the land was declared England's, and the settlement was named Jamestown, after the current king of England. This was the first permanent settlement in North America. -
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. (a sonnet is a poetic form) -
King James Bible is published
The King James Bible was the third translation of the Bible that was widely used in English-speaking protestants. This version was written due to problems detected in the first two English translations by Puritans, people of the Church of England. -
The Mayflower lands at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts
The Mayflower was the Pilgrim ship that made the historic voyage from England to the New World. The ship carried 102 passengers. -
Newspapers are first published in London
Newspapers, which are still widely used today, were a faster way of communication. The Gutenburg Press gave way to press printing, which produced newspapers at faster speeds, thus delivering important news to the people of London faster than any other method before. -
John Milton begins Paradies Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse. The poem concerns the Biblical story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. -
Puritan Commonwealth ends; monarchy is restored with Charles II
Puritan Commonwealth was the period from 1649 where England was ruled as a republic following the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execution of Charles I. The ending of the Commonwealth brought the family that is currently on the throne back on the throne.
