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Oct 22, 1485
Richard III is killed in battle
Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 in 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 decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses, is sometimes regarded as the end of the Middle Ages in England. He is the subject of the play Richard III by William Shakespeare. -
Oct 22, 1492
Christopher Columbus reaches the Americas
Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer, navigator, and colonizer, born in the Republic of Genoa, in what is today northwestern Italy.[3][4][5][6] Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents. Those voyages, and his efforts to establish permanent settlements on the island of Hispaniola, initiated the Spanish colonization of the New World. -
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 21, 1516
Thomas More's Utopia is published
This book was written by Thomas More in 1516. The book is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs. Thomas More was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist. The book is about an island with an imagined society. In the book, a visitor to this island tells about his trip there. According to him, Utopia has a system of laws that is perfect. Society there is also perfect. -
Oct 22, 1543
With the Supremacy Act, Henry VIII proclaims himself head of Church of England
King Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France. Henry was the second monarch of the Tudor dynasty, succeeding his father, Henry VII. -
Oct 22, 1558
Elizabth I becomes queen of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called "The Virgin Queen", "Gloriana" or "Good Queen Bess", Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. The daughter of Henry VIII, she was born into the royal succession, but her mother, Anne Boleyn, was executed two and a half years after her birth, with Anne's marriage to Henry VIII being annulled, and Elizabeth hence declared illegitimate -
Apr 26, 1564
William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, is born
William Shakespeare was an English poet. He wrote several plays, poems, and sonnets. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway and had three children with her. His plays were performed in The Globe. He wrote plays such as, 'Romeo and Juliet', 'Hamelt', and 'Macbeth.' -
Globe Theatre is built in London
It was built in 1599. Shakespeare's play company was the one who built it. It was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613. A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed in 1642. In 1997 they rebuilt it again and it is stil open today. -
Shakespeare writes King Lear and Macbeth
Set in Scotland, the play Macbeth dramatizes the corrosive psychological and political effects produced when evil is chosen as a way to fulfil the ambition for power. King Lear is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological pre-Roman Celtic king. It has been widely adapted for the stage and motion pictures, and the role of Lear has been coveted and played by many of the world's most accomplished actors. -
First permanet English settlement in North America is established at Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown Settlement is a name used by the Commonwealth of Virginia's portion of the historical sites and museums at Jamestown. Jamestown was the first successful English settlement on the mainland of North America. Named for King James I of England, Jamestown was founded in the Colony of Virginia on May 13, 1607. -
Shakespear's sonnets are published
Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets. The sonnets dealt with themes such as the passage of time, love, beauty and mortality. Shakespeare also dedicated many of his sonnets to people in his life. -
King James Bible is published
The King James Bible is an English translation of the Christian bible. It was first printed by the King's Printer Robert Barker, James gave the translators instructions intended to guarantee that the new version would conform to the ecclesiology and reflect the episcopal structure of the Church of England and its belief in an ordained clergy. -
The Mayflower lands at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts
The Mayflower was the Pilgrim ship that in 1620 made the historic voyage from England to the New World. The ship carried 102 passengers in two core groups – religious Separatists coming from Holland and a largely non-religious settler group from London.This voyage has become an iconic story in the earliest annals of American history with its tragic story of death and of survival in the harshest New World winter environment. -
Newspapers are first published in London
In the beginning of the 17th century, the right to print was strictly controlled in England. This was probably the reason why the first newspaper in English language was printed in Amsterdam by Joris Veseler in 1621. However, when the English started printing their own papers in London, they reverted to the pamphlet format used by contemporary books. The publication of these newsbooks was suspended between 1632 and 1638 by order of The Star Chamber. -
John Milton begins Paradis Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. The poem concerns the Biblical story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's purpose, stated in Book I, is to "justify the ways of God to men." -
puritan Commonwealth ends; monarchy is restored with Charles II
Puritan Commonwealth was the period from 1649 onwards when England, along later with Ireland and Scotland, was ruled as a republic following the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execution of Charles I. The republic's existence was initially declared through "An Act declaring England to be a Commonwealth", adopted by the Rump Parliament on 19 May 1649. Power in the early Commonwealth was vested primarily in the Parliament and a Council of State.
