Renaissance Period Timeline Activity

  • Richard III is killed in battle
    Sep 30, 1485

    Richard III is killed in battle

    Richard III 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.
  • Christopher Columbus reaches the Americas
    Oct 1, 1492

    Christopher Columbus reaches the Americas

    Columbus led his three ships - the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria to try and find India but ended up discovering the Americas
  • Leonardo Da Vinci Paints the Mona Lisa
    Oct 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.
  • Thomas Moore's Utopia is published
    Sep 30, 1516

    Thomas Moore's Utopia is published

    Thomas More (1477 - 1535) wrote the first formal utopia.
  • Henry VIII proclaims himself head of Church of England
    Oct 1, 1543

    Henry VIII proclaims himself head of Church of England

    Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later assumed the Kingship, of Ireland, and continued the nominal claim by English monarchs to the Kingdom of France
  • Elizabeth I becomes Queen of England
    Oct 1, 1558

    Elizabeth I becomes Queen of England

    Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty.
  • William Shakespeare, The Bard of Avon, is born
    Sep 30, 1564

    William Shakespeare, The Bard of Avon, is born

    Strictly speaking, a bard is an exalted national poet, and the "Bard of Avon" was William SHakespear's nickname because he was such a great poet
  • Globe Theatre is Built in London

    Globe Theatre is Built in London

    The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men.
  • Shakespeare writes King Lear and Macbeth

    Shakespeare writes King Lear and Macbeth

    Written within a year of each other, these are widely regarded as Shakespeare’s most profound tragedies.
  • First permanent English settlement in North America is established at Jamestown, Virginia

    First permanent English settlement in North America is established at Jamestown, Virginia

    Sparked a series of cultural encounters that helped shape the nation and the world.
  • Shakespear's Sonnets of published

    Shakespear's Sonnets of published

    Shakespeare's Sonnets is the title of a collection of 154 sonnets accredited to William Shakespeare which cover themes such as the passage of time, love, beauty and mortality.
  • King James Bible is Published

    King James Bible is Published

    The King James Version, also known as the Authorized Version or King James Bible, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England.
  • The Mayflower lands at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts

    The Mayflower lands at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts

    There were 102 passengers on the Mayflower, and the crew is estimated to have been about thirty, but the exact number is unknown
  • Newspapers are first published in London

    Newspapers are first published in London

    Corante was the first private newspaper published in English.
  • John Milton begins Paradise Lost

    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 Commonwealth ends; monarchy is restored with Charles II

    Puritan Commonwealth ends; monarchy is restored with Charles II

    The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.