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Aug 22, 1485
Richard III is killed in battle
On 22 August 1485, Richard met the outnumbered forces of Henry Tudor at the Battle of Bosworth Field. Richard rode a white courser.[40] The size of Richard's army has been estimated at 8,000. Accounts note that King Richard fought bravely and ably. -
Oct 22, 1492
Christopher Columbus reaches the Americas
Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer, navigator, and colonizer. Columbus is considered to be the "discoverer of America". Whenever Columbus reaches what he thinks is East Asia, on his journey, it is actually America that he has come across. -
Oct 22, 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." -
Oct 22, 1516
Thomas More's Utopia is published
Utopia is a work of fiction and political philosophy by Thomas More published in 1516, composed in the Latin language. The book is a frame narrative which is a literary technique that sometimes serves as a companion piece to a story within a story. -
Oct 22, 1543
With the Supremacy Act, Henry VIII proclaims himself head of Church of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was responsible for the English church breaking away from the authority of the Roman Catholic Church after the Pope excommunicated Henry in 1533 over his divorce from Catherine of Aragon. -
Oct 22, 1558
Elizabeth I becomes queen of England
Elizabeth Tudor is considered by many to be the greatest monarch in English history. When she became queen in 1558, she was twenty-five years old, a survivor of scandal and danger, and considered illegitimate by most Europeans. She inherited a bankrupt nation, torn by religious discord, a weakened pawn between the great powers of France and Spain. -
Apr 23, 1564
William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, is born
Shakespeare's exact birth date isn't actually known for sure. Shakespeare is viewed as the quintessential English writer, Shakespeare’s poems and plays have altered the course of European and World literature. The shadow that William Shakespeare has cast over the world has influenced artists, poets, philosophers and thinkers. -
Globe Theatre is built in London
The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599, 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 approximately 750 feet from the site of the original theatre. -
Shakespeare writes King Lear and Macbeth
Macbeth, written in 1606, is considered one of Shakespeare's 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. King Lear, written in 1603 and 1606 is also a tragedy by William Shakespeare. 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 -
First permanent English settlement in North America is established at Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown[1] was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. Established as "James Fort". Jamestown served as the capital of the colony for 83 years, from 1616 until 1699. -
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. -
King James Bible is published
is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England begun in 1604 and completed in 1611. 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 at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts
One hundred and two individuals, most of whom were Puritans, received a grant of land on which to set up their own colony. They set sail from England on the Mayflower, arriving in Massachusettes in December. When they landed, the colonists called their new home "New Plymouth." The colonists all signed the "Mayflower Covenant" before landing, promising to establish "just and equal laws." -
Newspapers are first published in London
Corante was the first English newspaper. The earliest of the seven known surviving copies is dated September 24, 1621, and the latest is dated October 22 of that same year. -
John Milton begins Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, changed into twelve books (in the manner of the division of Virgil's Aeneid) with minor revisions throughout and a note on the versification. -
Puritan Commonwealth 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. 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.
