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King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It depicts the gradual descent into madness of the title character, after he disposes of his kingdom by giving bequests to two of his three daughters egged on by their continual flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. -
1485
Richard III is killed in battle
Richard III was King of England from 1483 until his death at the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. -
1492
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbu was an Italian explorer, navigator, and colonist who completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain. He is credited with the opening of the Americas for conquest and settlement by Europeans. -
1503
Mona Lisa
he Mona Lisa is a half-length portrait painting by Leonardo da Vinci that has been described as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world". -
1516
Thomas More's Utopia
Utopia is a work of fiction and socio-political satire by Thomas More (1478–1535) published in 1516 in Latin. The book is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs. Many aspects of More's description of Utopia are reminiscent of life in monasteries. -
1543
Henry VIII proclaims himself head of church
Henry had broken with Rome, seized the church's assets in England and declared the Church of England as the established church with himself as its head. -
1558
Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death on 24 March 1603. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the last of the five monarchs of the House of Tudor. -
1564
The Bard of Avon
William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright and actor, widely regarded as both 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". -
Globe Theatre
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, on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend and grandson Sir Matthew Brend, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613. -
Macbeth
Macbeth is a tragedy by William Shakespeare; it is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek power for its own sake. -
English settlement established at Jamestown, Virginia
The founding of Jamestown, America's first permanent English colony, in Virginia in 1607 – 13 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in Massachusetts – sparked a series of cultural encounters that helped shape the nation and the world. -
Shakespeare sonnets are published
Shakespeare's sonnets are poems that William Shakespeare wrote on a variety of themes. -
King James Bible
The King James Version, also known as the King James Bible or simply the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, begun in 1604 and completed/published in 1611 -
Mayflower
The Pilgrims signed the Mayflower Compact prior to leaving the ship and establishing Plymouth Colony, a document which established a rudimentary form of democracy with each member contributing to the welfare of the community. There was a second ship named Mayflower, which made the London to Plymouth, Massachusetts, voyage several times. -
Newspaper in London
Following the Restoration there arose a number of publications, including the London Gazette (first published on 16 November 1665 as the Oxford Gazette), the first official journal of record and the newspaper of the Crown. -
Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton (1608–1674). The first version, published in 1667, consisted of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. -
Puritan Commonwealth ends
The Commonwealth was the period from 1649 to 1660 when England and Wales, later along with Ireland and Scotland,[1] were ruled as a republic following the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execution of Charles I. -
Charles II
The Restoration of the English monarchy took place in the Stuart period. It began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under King Charles II. This followed the Interregnum, also called the Protectorate, that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
