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Jan 26, 1485
Richard III is killed in battle
Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during 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 the Battle of Bosworth Field was the decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses and is sometimes regarded as the end of the Middle Ages in England.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_III_of_England -
Feb 26, 1492
Christopher Columbus reaches the Americas
During his first voyage in 1492, instead of reaching Japan as he had intended, Columbus landed in the Bahamas archipelago, at a locale he named San Salvador. Over the course of three more voyages, he visited the Caribbean coast of Venezuela and Central America, claiming them for the Spanish Empire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Columbus -
Feb 26, 1503
c. 1503 Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa
The painting, thought to be a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, is in oil on a poplar panel, and is believed to have been painted between 1503 and 1506. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Lisa -
Sep 26, 1516
Thomas More's Utopia is published
In 1516 the English humanist Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) published Utopia, his description of an ideal society where crime, injustice, and poverty did not exist. Writing just twenty-four years after Columbus's first voyage to the Caribbean. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw=800&bih=506&q=(1516)thomas+more+published+utopia&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&wrapid=tlif134869384258610&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=ym1jUMuvN-mM2gWU-4CQAQ -
Mar 26, 1543
c. 1543 With the Supremacy Act, Henry VIII proclaims himself head of Church of England
Besides his six marriages, 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 establishing himself as the Supreme Head of the Church of England. Yet he remained a believer in core Catholic theological teachings, even after his excommunication from the Catholic Church.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VI -
Nov 17, 1558
Elizabeth I becomes queen of England
Because Elizabeth was a daughter of the late King Henry VIII, she was in line to the throne (despite several attempts to remove her from the chain, she was in Henry's will as an heir) and was therefore a most sought-after bride.
http://tudorhistory.org/elizabeth/ -
Oct 26, 1564
William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, is born
Strictly speaking, a bard is an exalted national poet, and the "Bard of Avon" remains for millions the greatest English playwright and poet of all time, penning 37 plays and 126 sonnets. http://www.chfweb.com/smith/bard.html -
Globe Theatre is built in London
The first Globe Theatre was built in London in 1599. It was built on the Southbank of the river Thames in Southwark, London in close proximity to the Bear Garden. The land had been owned by the Bishop of Winchester and this estate was called the Liberty of the Clink.
http://www.globe-theatre.org.uk/globe-theatre-built.htm -
Shakespeare writes King Lear and Macbeth 1605-1606
Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear is a detailed description of the consequences of one man's decisionsMacbeth was the bravest soldier and the honorable Thane of Glamis. His rank and nobility are of great value.
http://shakespeare.about.com/od/shakespeareslife/a/Biography.htm -
First permanent English settlement in North America is established at Jamestown, Virginia.
On May 14, 1607, a small company of
settlers landed at a point on the James River
in Virginia and established the settlement of
Jamestown. It was the first permanent
English settlement in the New World.
http://www.exploresouthernhistory.com/jamestown.html -
1609 Shakespeare’s sonnets are published
Shakespeare's sonnets were published in 1609, no doubt without authorization, by the unsavory Thomas Thorpe (1580-1614), described as "a publishing understrapper of piratical habits" who "hung about scriveners' shops"; in order to pinch manuscripts. There was no reprint until 1640.
http://public.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/shakespeare/sonnets.html -
1611 King James Bible is published
The King James Bible, published in 1611, was England's authorized version of the Bible translated from the original Hebrew and Greek languages into English at the request of King James I of England.
http://www.allabouttruth.org/king-james-bible.htm -
The Mayflower lands at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts
On September 6th, 1620, the Mayflower left Plymouth, England. The second part of the voyage was stormy, but finally, on November 11th, the ship anchored off of Cape Cod. The members of the Mayflower spent over six weeks exploring different location to find an appropriate one to settle. http://www.historycentral.com/TheColonies/Mayflower@Plymouth.html -
Newspapers are first published in London
he Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register (it became The Times on 1 January 1788). The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times (founded in 1821) are published by Times Newspapers, since 1981 a subsidiary of News International, itself wholly owned by the News Corporation group headed by Rupert Murdoch. http://www.lian.com/TANAKA/comhosei/NPinEB.htm -
c.1658 John Milton begins Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. As previously noted, the poem is separated into twelve "books" or sections, and the lengths of each book varies greatly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise_Lost -
Puritan Commonwealth ends; monarchy is restored with Charles II
he Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The term Restoration is used to describe both the actual event by which the monarchy was restored, and the period of several years afterwards in which a new political settlement was established. http://www.britainexpress.com/History/Cromwell_and_Restoration.htm
