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Aug 22, 1485
Richard III is killed in battle
Richard lll was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 in the Battle of Bosworth Field. 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. Though Columbus was not the first European explorer to reach the Americas Columbus's voyages led to the first lasting European contact with the Americas, inaugurating a period of European exploration, conquest, and colonization that lasted for several centuries. -
Oct 22, 1503
Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa
The Mona Lisa is one of Leonardo da Vinci's most famous paintings. The mastery of the painting lies in its subtle detail, including the faint smile, and Mona Lisa's distinctive gaze. The work is said to have been commissioned by a gentleman named Francesco del Giocondo, who hired Leonardo to paint a portrait of his wife, and this is why The Mona Lisa is sometimes referred to as La Gioconda. -
Oct 21, 1516
Thomas More's Utopia is published
The book is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs. A frame story is a literary technique that sometimes serves as a companion piece to a story within a story. The frame story leads readers from a first story into another, smaller one or more within it. -
Oct 22, 1543
With the Supremacy Act, Henry Vlll proclaims himself head of Church of England
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 his own establishment 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 Roman Catholic Church. -
Nov 17, 1558
Elizabeth l becomes queen of England
She reigned 44 years, 4 months, and 5 days. She never got married.She was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. The Elizabethan age was expansionist in commerce and geographical exploration, and arts and literature flourished. The rulers of many European states made unsuccessful bids to marry Elizabeth, and she used these bids to strengthen her power. -
Apr 23, 1564
William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, is born
William Shakespeare (1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon".His extant works, including some collaborations, consist of about 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, the authorship of some of which is uncertain. His plays have been tragedies. -
Globe Theatre is built in London
The Globe Theatre was built by Shakespeare's playing company, It was burned down many times and reconstructed many times also. A modern reconstruction of the Globe, named "Shakespeare's Globe", opened in 1997 approximately 750 feet (230 m) from the site of the original theatre. -
Shakespeare writes King Lear and Macbeth
Both plays are tragedies and end up with the death of the main character. Both of the main characters in the two plays have a certain madness. King Lear and Macbeth are considered two of William Shakespeare's darkest and most powerful tragedy plays. The plays were thought by people to be superstitious. For example some believe that Macbeth is cursed, and will not mention its title aloud, referring to it instead as "the Scottish play." -
First permanent English settlement in North America is established at Jamestown, Virginia
It was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" and considered permanent after brief abandonment in 1610, it followed several earlier failed attempts. Jamestown served as the capital of the colony for 83 years. -
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. The first 17 poems, traditionally called the procreation sonnets, are addressed to a young man urging him to marry and have children in order to immortalize his beauty by passing it to the next generation. They all argue that the young man to whom they are addressed should marry and father children, hence procreate. -
King James Bible is published
It is commonly known as the Authorized Version and it begun on 1604. In common with most other translations of the period, the New Testament was translated from Greek, the Old Testament was translated from Hebrew text, while the Apocrypha were translated from the Greek and Latin. -
Newspapers are first published in London
The London Gazette is one of the official journals of record of the British government, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices are required to be published. The London Gazette claims to be the oldest surviving English newspaper and the oldest continuously published newspaper in the UK. -
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." -
John Milton begins Paradise Lost
Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. An epic is a lengthy narrative poem, ordinarily concerning a serious subject containing details of heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation. A blank verse is poetry written in unrhymed iambic pentameter. -
Puritan Commonwealth ends; monarchy is restored with Charles ll
A political crisis that followed the death of Cromwell in 1658 resulted in the restoration of the monarchy, and Charles was invited to return to Britain. On his 30th birthday, he was received in London to public acclaim. After 1660, all legal documents were dated as if he had succeeded his father as king in 1649.
