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Aug 22, 1485
Richard iii is killed in battle
Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 1483 until his death in 1485, at the age of 32, in the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty -
Oct 11, 1492
Christopher Columbus reaches the Americas
by October 10 the crew's apprehension had increased to the point of near mutiny. Columbus headed off disaster by promising his crew that if land was not sighted in two days, they would return home. The next day land was discovered. -
Jan 1, 1503
Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa
The Mona Lisa is a half-length portrait of a woman by the Italian artist 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". -
Jan 1, 1516
Thomas More's Utopia is published
Utopia is a work of fiction and political philosophy by Thomas More 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
with the Supremacy Act, Henry viii proclaimed himself head of Church of England. He invented the Church of England, he wanted to divorce Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn, however the Pope refused so Henry broke from the Catholic Church and formed the Church of England. -
Nov 17, 1558
Elizabeth i becomes queen of England
Elizabeth I (7 September 1533 – 24 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess, the childless Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. -
Apr 1, 1564
William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, is born.
An English playwright and poet of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, generally considered the greatest writer in English. -
Globe Theatre is built in London
A theatre in Southwark, London, erected in 1599, where many of Shakespeare's plays were first publicly performed. The theatre's site was rediscovered in 1989 and a reconstruction of the original theatre was opened in 1997. -
Shakespeare writes King Lear and Macbeth
1605-1606. King Lear and its immediate successor Macbeth are Shakespeare’s most profound tragedies. Both contain studies of murderous ambition and self-consuming evil; both seem to raise the question whether human disorder is mirrored in the natural world; both are concerned with the nature of kingship and authority. -
First English settlement in North America established in North America
In 1907, the Jamestown Exposition was held to mark the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Jamestown in 1607. Because of transportation and other considerations which made the site of Jamestown impractical, the celebration was held at Sewell's Point in Norfolk, Virginia, on the harbor of Hampton Roads. -
Shakespeare's sonnets are published
In 1609 Thomas Thorpe published Shakespeare's sonnets, no doubt without the author's permission, in quarto format, along with Shakespeare's long poem, The Passionate Pilgrim. -
King James bible is published
The King James Version (KJV), also known as the Authorized Version (AV) or King James Bible (KJB), is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England that began in 1604 and was completed in 1611.[a] -
The Mayflower lands at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts
he Mayflower was the ship that transported the first English Separatists, known today as the Pilgrims, from Plymouth to the New World in 1620.[1][2] There were 102 passengers, and the crew is estimated to have been about 30, but the exact number is unknown.[3] This voyage has become an iconic story in some of the earliest annals of American history, with its story of death and of survival in the harsh New England winter environment. -
Newspapers are first published in London
he Mayflower was the ship that transported the first English Separatists, known today as the Pilgrims, from Plymouth to the New World in 1620.There were 102 passengers, and the crew is estimated to have been about 30, but the exact number is unknown.This voyage has become an iconic story in some of the earliest annals of American history, with its story of death and of survival in the harsh New England winter environment. -
John Milton begins Paradise lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. The first version, published in 1667, consisted of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. -
Puritan Commonwalth ends
Puritan Commonwalth ends; monarchy is restored with Chales ii.
Under invitation by leaders of the English Commonwealth, Charles II, the exiled king of England, lands at Dover, England, to assume the throne and end 11 years of military rule.
