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1485
Richard III is killed during battle
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.His defeat at Bosworth Field, the last decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses, marked the end of the Middle Ages in England. He is the protagonist of Richard III, one of William Shakespeare's history plays. -
1492
Christopher Columbus Reaches the Americas
Columbus discovered the viable sailing route to the Americas, a continent which was not then known to the Old World. While what he thought he had discovered was a route to the Far East, he is credited with the opening of the Americas for conquest and settlement by Europeans. Columbus and his crew set sail from Spain in three ships: the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. -
1503
Leonardo Da Vinci paint the Mona Lisa
the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world. The Mona Lisa is also one of the most valuable paintings in the world. It holds the Guinness World Record for the highest known insurance valuation in history at $100 million in 1962, which is worth nearly $800 million in 2017 -
1516
Thomas More's Utopia is published
a work of fiction and socio-political satire by Thomas More 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
with the supreme act, Henry vII proclaims himself as the head of england church
The Supreme Head of the Church of England was a title created in 1531 for King Henry VIII of England, who was responsible for the foundation of the English Protestant church that broke away from the authority of the Roman Catholic Church after Pope Paul III excommunicated Henry in 1538 over his divorce from Catherine of Aragon. -
1558
Elizabeth 1 becomes queen of enlgand
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
William Shakespeare, The Bard of Avon, is born
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". His extant works, including collaborations, consist of approximately 39 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language. -
Globe theatre is built in London
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. -
Shakespeare writes Macbeth
a tragedy by William Shakespeare; first performed in 1606. It dramatizes the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek power for its own sake. Of all the plays that Shakespeare wrote during the reign of James I, who was patron of Shakespeare's acting company, Macbeth most clearly reflects the playwright's relationship with his sovereign. -
Shakespeare writes King Lear
the first attribution to Shakespeare of this play, originally drafted in 1605 or 1606, first known performance on St. Stephen's Day in 1606, was a 1608 publication in which the play is listed as a history. 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. Derived from the legend of Leir of Britain, -
First permanent English settlement in North America is established in 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's sonnets are published
Poems that William Shakespeare wrote on a variety of themes. When discussing or referring to Shakespeare’s sonnets, it is almost always a reference to the 154 sonnets that were first published all together in a quarto in 1609; however there are six additional sonnets that Shakespeare wrote and included in the plays Romeo and Juliet, Henry V and Love's Labour's Lost. -
King James Bible is Published
translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, begun in 1604 and completed/published in 1611. The books of the King James Version include the 39 books of the Old Testament, an intertestamental section containing 14 books of the Apocrypha, and the 27 books of the New Testament. It was first printed by Robert Barker, the King's Printer, and was the third translation into English approved by the English Church authorities -
The Mayflower lands at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts
The 102 travellers aboard the Mayflower landed upon the shores of Plymouth in 1620. This rock still sits on those shores to commemorate the historic event. The Pilgrims had an important question to answer before they set ashore -
Newspapers are first published in London
newspaper "Corante" is published in London. -
John Milton begins Paradise Lost
Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. The poem concerns the biblical story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's purpose, stated in Book I, is to "justify the ways of God to men". -
Puritan Commonwealth ends; monarchy is restored with Charles II
Restoration, Restoration of the monarchy in England in 1660. It marked the return of Charles II as king following the period of Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth. The bishops were restored to Parliament, which established a strict Anglican orthodoxy.
