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Jan 1, 1485
Richard lll is killed in battle
Richard III was King of England until his death at 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, the last decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses, marked the end of the Middle Ages in England. He is the protagonist of Richard III, one of William Shakespeare's history plays. -
Jan 1, 1492
Chrisopher Columbus reaches the Americas
Christopher Columbus who completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain. Led the first European expeditions to the Caribbean, Central America, and South America. Columbus discovered the viable sailing route to the Americas, a continent which was not then known to the Old World. While what he thought he had discovered was a route to the Far East, he is credited with the opening of the Americas for conquest and settlement by Europeans. -
Jan 1, 1503
Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa
The Mona Lisa is a half-length portrait painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci that has been described 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 publish
Utopia is a work of fiction and socio-political satire by Thomas More published in Latin. The book is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs. -
Jan 1, 1543
With the Supremacy Act, Henret Vlll proclaims himself head of Church of England.
The Acts of Supremacy are two acts of the Parliament of England which established King Henry VIII of England and subsequent monarchs as the supreme head of the Church of England. The first Act of Supremacy was passed on 3 November by the Parliament of England. It granted King Henry VIII of England and subsequent monarchs Royal Supremacy, such that he was declared the supreme head of the Church of England. -
Jan 1, 1558
Elizabeth l becomes queen of England
Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November until her death on 24 March 1603. Also known as The Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the last of the five monarchs of the House of Tudor. -
Jan 1, 1562
William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, is born
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Globe Theatre is bulit in London
The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men. Was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613. -
Period: to
Shakespeare writes King Lear and Macbeth
King Lear is a tragedy. It depicts the gradual descent into madness of the title character, after he disposes of his kingdom by giving bequests to two of his three daughters egged on by their continual flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all.
Macbeth is a tragedy, it is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek power for its own sake. -
First permanent English settlement in North America is established at Jamestown, Virginia
he Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. It was located on the east bank of the Powhatan River about southwest of the center of modern Williamsburg. William Kelso writes that Jamestown "is where the British Empire began". -
Shakespeare's sonnet are published
Shakespeare's sonnets are poems on a variety of themes. When discussing or referring to Shakespeare’s sonnets, it is almost always a reference to the 154 sonnets that were first published all together in a quarto. -
King James Bible is published
The King James is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England. The books of the King James Version include the 39 books of the Old Testament, an intertestamental section containing 14 books of the Apocrypha, and the 27 books of the New Testament. -
The Mayflower lands at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts
Plymouth Rock is the traditional site of disembarkation of William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in 1620. -
Newspapers are first published in London
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John Milton begins Paradise Lost
aradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet. The first version, 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 throughout and a note on the versification. -
Puritan Commonwealth ends; monarchy is restored with Charles ll
The Restoration of the English monarchy took place in the Stuart period. It began when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under King Charles II. This followed the Interregnum, also called the Protectorate, that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
