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Jan 1, 1485
Richard III is killed in battle
Richard met the outnumbered forces of Henry Tudor at the Battle of Bosworth Field. Richard rode a white courser.The size of Richard's army has been estimated at 8000, Henry's at 5000, but exact numbers are not known; all that can be said is that the Royal army 'substantially' outnumbered Tudor's.The traditional view of the king's famous cries of "Treason!" before falling was that during the battle Richard was abandoned by Lord Stanley. -
Jan 1, 1492
Christopher Columbus reaches the Americas
Columbus headed off disaster by promising his crew that if land was not sighted in two days, they would return home. The next day land was discovered. -
Jan 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, 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". -
Jan 1, 1516
Thomas More's Utopia is published
Utopia is a work of fiction and politcal philosophy. The book is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs. -
Jan 1, 1543
Supremacy Act, Henry VIII
The Supermacy Act was an Act of the Parliament of England under King Henry VIII declaring that he was the only supreme head on earth of the Church of England and that the English crown shall enjoy all honours, dignities, preeminences, jurisdictions, privileges, authorities, immunities, profits, and commodities to the said dignity. -
Jan 1, 1558
Elizabeth I becomes queen of England
Elizabeth I was the long-ruling queen of England, governing with relative stability and prosperity for 44 years. The Elizabethan era is named for her. -
Jan 1, 1564
William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, is born
Shakespeare was born and raised in the picturesque Tudor market town of Stratford-on-Avon. -
Globe Theatre is built in London
The Burbages originally had a 21-year lease of the site on which The Theatre was built but owned the building outright. -
Shakespeare writes King Lear and Macbeth
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 giving bequests to two of his three daughters based on their flattery of him, bringing tragic consequences for all. -
First permanent English settlement in North America
This was the first colony in the British Empire. Established by the Virginia Company of London as James Fort and considered permanent after brief abandonment it followed several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke. -
Shakespeare's sonnets are 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
First printed by the King's Printer Robert Barker, this was the third translation into English to be approved by the English Church authorities. -
Mayflower lands at Plymouth Rock
The Plymouth Rock had lain at the foot of Cole's Hill from generation to generation until the century after the Pilgrims' landed. -
Newspapers are first published in London
Johann Carolus published "Relation aller Furnemmen und gedenckwürdigen Historien" in Strasbourg. This is often recognised as the first newspaper of the modern era. -
John Milton begins Paradise Lost
The first version consisted of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. A second edition followed arranging into twelve books with minor revisions throughout and a note on the versification. It is considered by critics to be Milton's major work, and it helped solidify his reputation as one of the greatest English poets of his time. -
Puritan Commonwealth ends
The Restoration of the English monarchy began when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
