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597
Ethelbert, the King of Kent, is baptized.
He is the first English king to convert to Christianity. -
700
Approximate date of the earliest manuscript records of Old English.
The period of the oldest manuscript traditions, with authors such as Cædmon, Bede, Cynewulf and Aldhelm. -
Period: 701 to 1100
The suspected date of Beowulf's writing
Beowulf, heroic poem, the highest achievement of Old English literature and the earliest European vernacular epic. -
Period: 980 to 1086
Danes raid England
Danish armies had attacked the English coast each year from the 980s until the conquest of 1016, and then resuming in 1066 and only standing down in 1085. The Anglo-Saxon kings of England collected hundreds of thousands of pounds of silver in tribute to pay off the Danes. -
Period: 1066 to 1071
The Norman Invasion
William the Conqueror invaded England after the death of King Edward the Confessor because he believed he had the most right to be King of England. -
Period: 1101 to 1200
Examples of Old English
An. M.LXVI. On þyssum geare man halgode þet mynster æt Westmynstre on Cyldamæsse dæg 7 se cyng Eadward forðferde on Twelfts mæsse æfen 7 hine mann bebyrgede on Twelftan mæssedæg -
1171
Henry II declares himself overlord of Ireland
Henry II decided to invade Ireland with a big army to invoke the Laudabiliter. He decided to do so after papal commissioners headed his way to issue a condemnation for Becket's murder. -
1204
King John loses control of the Duchy of Normandy and other French lands
A rebellion broke out and John was ordered to appear before his overlord, Philip II of France. His failure to do so resulted in war. -
1209
The University of Cambridge is formed by scholars from Oxford.
When scholars from Oxford migrated to Cambridge to escape Oxford's riots of “town and gown” -
Period: 1301 to 1400
The Canterbury Tales - Prologue
Whan that aprill with his shoures soote
The droghte of march hath perced to the roote,
And bathed every veyne in swich licour
Of which vertu engendred is the flour -
Period: 1387 to 1400
The Chaucer's Canterbury Tales
A collection of 24 stories that runs over 17,000 lines written in Middle English by Geoffrey Chaucer. -
1450
The Invention of the Printing Press
A device that allows for the mass production of uniform printed matter. -
1492
The discovering of North America
A day when the Italian explore Christopher Columbus officially set foot in the Americas, and claimed the land for Spain. -
1549
The first version of the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England is published.
This was the first English Book of Common Prayer. -
Period: to
William Shakespeare writes his Sonnets and the majority of his plays.
The sonnets were dedicated to a W. H., whose identity remains a mystery, although William Herbert, the Earl of Pembroke -
Period: to
Dorothy Osborne's Letters
SIR, -There is nothing moves my charity like gratitude; and when a beggar's thankful for a small relief, I always repent it was not more. -
Queen Elizabeth dies and James VI of Scotland accedes to the throne.
James achieved his lifelong ambition when Queen Elizabeth I died and he inherited the throne of England. -
The publication of Shakespeare's first folio
The first collected edition of William Shakespeare's plays, collected and published. -
Period: to
The American Revolution
An political and military struggle waged between 1765 and 1783 when 13 of Britain's North American colonies rejected its imperial rue. -
George Washington's Journal
On the 9th. William Findley and David Redick--deputed by the Committee of Safety (as it is designated) which met on the 2d. of this month at Parkinson Ferry arrived in Camp with the Resolutions of the said Committee