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London Theatres Reopen: Actresses appear on stage for first time
“Clear the auditorium!” ordered Cromwell’s soldiers as they smashed seats and seized props and costumes. All the actors, including Shakespeare’s godson William Davenport, were thrown into prison. Under Cromwell’s puritan reign, acting was completely banned. For nearly 20 years, the London theatres were closed to the public, but in 1660, when King Charles II at last returned from exile in Europe, the theatre started up again. -
Charles II is proclaimed king of England (crowned in 1661)
Charles II was born on May 29, 1630, in St. James's Palace, London, England. After the execution of his father, Charles lived in exile until he was crowned King of England, Ireland and Scotland in 1661. His reign marking the Restoration period, Charles was known for his cavorting lifestyle and feuds with Parliament. He converted to Catholicism just before his death in London on February 6, 1685. -
Plague claims more than 68,000 people in London
In two successive years of the 17th century London suffered two terrible disasters. In the spring and summer of 1665 an outbreak of Bubonic Plague spread from parish to parish until thousands had died and the huge pits dug to receive the bodies were full. In 1666 the Great Fire of London destroyed much of the centre of London, but also helped to kill off some of the black rats and fleas that carried the plague bacillus. -
Great Fire destroys much of London
In the 17th Century, people were not as aware of the dangers of fire as they are today. Buildings were made of timber covered in pitch and tightly packed together. The design of buildings meant flames could easily spread from building to building. Following a long, dry summer the city was suffering a drought; water was scarce and the wooden houses had dried out, making them easier to burn. Londoners had originally not been alarmed by the blaze due to fires being a common occurrence at the time -
Glorious (Bloodless): Revolution James II is succeeded by Protestant rulers of William and Mary
James was born on 14 October 1633 to Charles I and his French wife, Henrietta Maria and was named after his grandfather, James I and VI. During the English Civil War he was captured but fled to exile on the continent. He distinguished himself a soldier, returning to England at the Restoration of his brother, Charles II, in 1660. He commanded the Royal Navy from1660 to1673. In 1660, James married Anne Hyde, daughter of Charles II's chief minister and they had two surviving children, Mary and Anne -
Alexander Pope publishes part of The Rape of the Lock
The Rape of the Lock opens with a brief letter from Pope to the poem's real-life subject, Arabella ("Belle") Fermor. In the letter, he explains why he wrote the poem in the first place, the circumstances that led him to publish it, and why he dedicates it to Arabella. -
A Modest Proposal is published by Jonathan Swift
"For Preventing The Children of Poor People in Ireland
From Being Aburden to Their Parents or Country, and
For Making Them Beneficial to The Public" Swift was Irish, and though he much preferred living in England, he resented British policies toward the Irish. In a letter to Pope of 1729, he wrote, "Imagine a nation the two-thirds of whose revenues are spent out of it, and who are not permitted to trade with the other third, and where the pride of the women will not suffer [allow] them to wear -
Voltaire publishes Candide
Candide begins in the German town of Westphalia, where Candide, a young man, lives in the castle of Baron of Thunder-ten-tronckh. A noted philosopher, Doctor Pangloss, tutors the baron on philosophical optimism, the idea that "all is for the best . . . in this best of all worlds." Candide, a simple man, first accepts this philosophy, but as he experiences the horrors of war, poverty, the maliciousness of man, and the hypocrisy of the church, he begins to doubt the voracity of Pangloss's theory. -
George III is crowned king of England; becomes known as the king who lost the American Colonies
George III was born on 4 June 1738 in London, son of Frederick, Prince of Wales and Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. He became heir to the throne when his father died in 1751, succeeding his grandfather George II in 1760. He was the first Hanoverian monarch to use English as his first language. In 1761, George married Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and they enjoyed a happy marriage, with 15 children. -
British Parliament passes Stamp Act
an act of the British Parliament in 1756 that exacted revenue from the American colonies by imposing a stamp duty on newspapers and legal and commercial documents. Colonial opposition led to the act's repeal in 1766 and helped encourage the revolutionary movement against the British Crown. -
Phillis Wheatley publishes Poems on Various Subject and Religious and Moral.
Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral includes, besides the letter from John Wheatley, an attestation from eighteen prominent Boston citizens, including Governor Thomas Hutchinson and John Hancock, asserting their belief in Wheatley’s true authorship of the poems. Despite these endorsements, Wheatley was still forced to look beyond America’s borders for a publisher. However, the book was received well in both America and England, collecting praise from many notable figures of the time, -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party (initially referred to by John Adams as "the Destruction of the Tea in Boston") was a political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, on December 16, 1773. -
Mary Wollstonecraft publishes A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Published in 1792, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman was the first great feminist treatise. Wollstonecraft preached that intellect will always govern and sought “to persuade women to endeavour to acquire strength, both of mind and body, and to convince them that the soft phrases, susceptibility of heart, delicacy of sentiment, and refinement of taste, are almost synonimous [sic] with epithets of weakness.” -
Napoleon Dynamite heads revolutionary gorvernment in France
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), also known as Napoleon I, was a French military leader and emperor who conquered much of Europe in the early 19th century. Born on the island of Corsica, Napoleon rapidly rose through the ranks of the military during the French Revolution (1789-1799). After seizing political power in France in a 1799 coup d’état, he crowned himself emperor in 1804. Shrewd, ambitious and a skilled military strategist, Napoleon successfully waged war against various coalitions of Eu
