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Period: 1509 to 1547
Reign of Henry VIII
The King Henry VIII created the Church of England - breaking from the Roman Catholic Church - and making possible the expansion of Protestantism across the country. -
1517
The Ninety-Five Theses
Martin Luther wrote The Ninety-Five Theses in 1517 in order to denounce the use of indulgences by the Church with a text containing 95 reasons (hence the title) for Christians not to turn to them when seeking God's pardon, marking the start of the European Reformation. -
1526
The Tyndale Bible
The Tyndale Bible - the New Testament translated into English by William Tyndale - was published in England in 1526. This permitted Protestants to study the Bible on their own without needing a priest to interpret it for them, a core idea of Protestantism. -
1534
Act of Supremacy
The Act of Supremacy from 1534 enabled the King Henry VIII to become the "Supreme Head of the Church of England". This new church was separated from the Roman Catholic Church, initiating a schism. -
Period: 1536 to 1541
Dissolution of monasteries
Monasteries were disbanded and the Crown used their income and land. Valuables were confiscated and melt down. -
Period: 1536 to 1537
The 'Pilgrimage of Grace'
The 'Pilgrimage of Grace' was a series of rebellions that lasted six months, becoming the greatest rebellions ever faced by a Tudor monarch. They interrupted the dissolution of monasteries. -
Period: 1547 to 1553
Reign of Edward VI
During his reign, the King Edward VI pushed England towards Protestantism though a series of mesure, introducing, for example, the Common Prayer's doctrine. -
1549
The Book of Common Prayer
The King Edward VI imposed the Book of Common Prayer in 1549, marking it as an important tool of the Protestant and Anglican Reformation. -
Period: 1553 to 1558
Reign of Mary I
During her reign, the Queen Mary I restored Catholism in 18 months and persecuted Protestants. -
Period: 1554 to 1558
'Bloody Mary' - Protestants martyrs
During this period, Protestants who were then considered as heretics and against Catholicism were publicly burned - alive - on the stake. Some of the Protestants, the 'Marian exiles', fled. -
Period: 1558 to
Reign of Queen Elizabeth I
During her reign, the main priority of Queen Elizabeth I was to pacify the religious tensions within her country after 26 years of change and to find a compromise (a 'middle way') between Catholicism and Protestantism. She had to prove her legitimacy as a Queen, which rapidly led to a second Reformation (thus, the restoration of the Church of England). Some of the mesures she established still exist or are still used today. -
1559
Act of Supremacy
With this Act of Supremacy, Elizabeth I reorganized the Church, abolishing the Pope's authority replacing it by her own authority over the Church. She then became the 'Supreme Governor of the Church of England'. -
Period: 1567 to
Reign of James I
James I was the son of Mary of Scots and became King of England after Elizabeth's death, in 1603. He was a strong believer in the Divine rights of Kings. The tensions between him the Parliament led to the Civil Wars. -
1570
Excommunication of Elizabeth I
The Pope Pius V excommunicated Elizabeth I in 1570 when he issued his papal bull. He called her a heretic and a 'so-called Queen'. His hostility to the Elizabethan religious settlement had increased and nearly gave Catholics licence to kill the Queen without it being seen as a crime by the Roman Catholic Church. -
Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots
Being considered the legitimate heir by Catholics, Mary was a treat to her cousin, Elizabeth. Mary of Scots was convicted for complicity and sentenced to death after that a coded letter got deciphered and linked her to a group, plotting against the Queen, who was already reluctant to execute her. She got executed in1587 as she was wearing a bright red dress, symbol of Catholic martyrs. -
Defeat of the Spanish Armada
Philip II, King of Spain, supported a few plots against Elizabeth, who in return supported Dutch revolts against Spain, which led to his attempt to invade England. The altercation resulted in the Spanish defeat and therefore the victory of England, due to material and human advantages. This defeat of Spain marked England as a cohesive nation, governed by a legitimate Queen and protected by God being on the side of Protestants. -
The Gunpowder Plot
The Gunpowder Plot was a conspiracy by a small group of Catholics. They attempted to blow up the Parliament and kill James I but it was unsuccessful. -
Jamestown, the first permanent colony
The first permanent settlement was established in Jamestown, in Virginia, in 1607. It was named of James I. -
Period: to
The Thirty Years War
The Thirty Years War was one of the reasons of the conflict between the King and the Parliament. England was at war with Spain and France. This war also had an impact on finances and the local population. -
Period: to
Reign of Charles I
The existing tensions between King James I and the Parliament did not ceased with the reign of King Charles I but rather intensified to the point of reaching a climax: the Civil Wars and his regicide. Effectively, the King was executed in 1649, after being tried for treason. -
Period: to
The Personal Rule
The Personal Rule was a period of 11 years during which the King Charles I ruled without calling a parliament. This period is also called the 'Eleven Years Tyranny'. -
Period: to
The First Civil War
Charles I formally declared war on the Parliament on the 22 August 1642. The war opposed The Royalists to the Parliamentarians. A number of advantages favoured the Parliamentarians and led them to victory. Indeed, they had better finances, alliances and a new army, The New Model Army. -
The Second Civil War
The King escaped from army's custody allied himself with the Scots as he promised to intoduce Presbytarianism/Calivinism into England if they restored him to power. Parliamnent was horrified by the gesture of Charles I to declare war on his own people and it led to the Second Civil War, which was easily won by Cromwell's army against the Royalists. Charles I was then executed in the following months on the 30 January 1649. -
Period: to
The Commonwealth
In March 1649, monarchy and the House of Lords are abolished, turning England into a Commonwealth, ruled as a Republic. The House of Commons had supreme authority. -
Period: to
The Cromwellian Protectorate
The Protectorate was a military dictatorship, similar to monarchy without a king. It was composed of Cromwell as the Lord Protector, the Parliament and the Council of state. The Protectorate soon after Cromwell's death because his son resigned after 6 months. -
Period: to
Reign of Charles II
As he was acknowledging the increasing support for monarchy, Charles II issued the Declaration of Breda. It promised a general amnesty, to continue religious toleration an dto share power with Parliament. His promise was effective and Charles II was restored on May 29, 1660 ('The Restoration'). -
The Great Fire of London
The Great Fire of London is one of the disasters Charles II had to face during his reign, such as the Second Anglo Dutch War, the outbreak of Plague in 1665, the increasing hostility towards him and his court or even the Popish Plot in 1678 while the Parliament feared his Catholic brother James II would succeed him, as he did after Charles' death. -
Period: to
The American War of Independence
These years were a turning point in British history. Indeed, The Amercian War of Independence marked the end of the 'First British Empire', as the British were defeated by the American forces commanded by George Washington. Therefore the nation lost a huge part of its empire by losing the American colonies.