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Aug 1, 1485
Richard III is killed in battle
was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death Richard III was killed in 1485 in the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. He is the subject of the play Richard III by William Shakespeare. -
Jan 1, 1492
Christopher Columbus reaches the Americas
Columbus discovered the Americas in 1492. He completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents. Those voyages, and his efforts to establish permanent settlements on the island of Hispaniola, initiated the Spanish colonization of the New World. -
Jan 1, 1503
Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa
The Mona Lisa is a half-length portrait of a woman. The Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci painted it in 1503. This painting 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. -
Jan 1, 1516
Thomas More's Utopia is published
Utopia is a work of fiction and political philosophy by Thomas More that was published in 1516 in Latin. The book is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs. -
Jan 1, 1543
Henry VIII proclaims himself head of Church of England
King Henry VIII was responsible for the English church breaking away from the authority of the Roman Catholic Church after the Pope excommunicated Henry over his divorce from Catherine of Aragon. In 1536, Henry seized the church's assets in England and declared the Church of England as the established church with himself as its head. The Act of Supremacy of 1534 confirmed the King's status as having supremacy over the church. -
Nov 17, 1558
Elizabeth I becomes queen of England
Elizabethe I was the queen of England and Ireland from November 17, 1558 until her death.Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty -
Apr 26, 1564
William Shakespeare is born
William Shakespeare was born in April 26, 1564 to John and Mary Shakespeare. He was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as 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." -
The Globe Theatre is built in London
The Globe Theatre was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company and the Lord Chamberlain's Men. It was built on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend and grandson Sir Matthew Brend, and was destroyed by fire on June 29, 1613. A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed in 1642. A modern reconstruction of the Globe, named "Shakespeare's Globe", opened in 1997. -
Shakespeare writes King Lear
The play was written in 1605 and later revised. The title character descends into madness after disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. -
Shakespeare writes Macbeth
Macbeth is a play written by William Shakespeare in 1606. It is considered one of his darkest and most powerful tragedies. Set in Scotland, the play dramatizes the corrosive psychological and political effects produced when evil is chosen as a way to fulfil the ambition for power. -
First permanent English settlement in North America is established at Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. It was established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 24, 1607 and considered permanent after brief abandonment in 1610, it followed several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke. -
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. They were first published in a 1609. -
King James Bible is published
King James Bible is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England. It was first printed by the King's Printer Robert Barker. This was the third translation into English to be approved by the English Church authorities. -
The Mayflower lands on Plymouth Rock, Massachussets
In September 1620, during the reign of King James I, around 100 English men and women set sail for the New World aboard the Mayflower, a three-masted merchant ship. The ship landed on the shores of Cape Cod, in present-day Massachusetts, two months later, and in late December anchored at Plymouth Rock, where they would form the first permanent settlement of Europeans in New England. -
Newspapers are firts published in London
The first newspaper in English language was printed in Amsterdam by Joris Veseler. This followed the style established by Veseler's earlier Dutch paper Courante uyt Italien, Duytslandt. However, when the English started printing their own papers in London, they reverted to the pamphlet format used by contemporary books. The publication of these newsbooks was suspended between 1632 and 1638 by order of The Star Chamber. -
John Milton begins Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the English poet John Milton. The first version was 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. It is considered by critics to be Milton's "major work", and helped solidify his reputation as one of the greatest English poets of his time. -
Puritan Comomonwealth ends; monarchy is restored with Charles II
The Restoration of the English monarchy began when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms
