Norman 1066-1485

King William of Normandy (the First, nicknamed the Conqueror (1066-87)

1066: 14th October: William of Normandy lands at Pevensey and marches south to meet Harold at the Battle of Hastings. Harold is slain.

1066-77: Commissioning of the Bayeaux Tapestry.

1073: Uprising of Hereward the Wake against the Normans near Ely.

1077: St Albans Cathedral is begun.

1078: Work is started on the Tower of London.

1086: Domesday Book compiled.

William the Second (1087-1100)

1096: Launch of the First Crusade.

Henry the First (1100-1135)

1110: First mystery play is performed at Dunstable.

1118: Birth of St Thomas Becket .

Stephen (1135-1154)

1141: King Stephen captured by the Scots at Lincoln but the fight was continued by his wife Matilda.

1142: St Thomas Becket as aide to Richer de l' Aigle (Lord of Pevensey) was saved from drowning at Michelham Priory and realised he destined for greater things.

1147: Start of the Second Crusade.

1154: St Thomas Becket appointed Chancellor of England.
Nicholas Brakspear becomes the only English Pope.

Henry the Second (1154-1189)

1160: Birth of Robin Hood.

1162: St Thomas Becket Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by King Henry.

1170: 29th December: Murder of St Thomas Becket in Canterbury Cathedral.

1180: Glass windows begin to appear in English houses for the first time.

1185: Lincoln Cathedral is destroyed during an earthquake.

Richard the First (“The Lionheart”) (1189-1199)

1191: First Lord Mayor of London appointed.

John (1199-1216)

1202: The fourth crusade is launched.

1215: 5th June: Signing of the Magna Carta, charter of liberties, at Runnymede.

Henry the Third (1216-1272)

1220: The building of Salisbury Cathedral is begun.

1228: The sixth crusade is launched.

1233: Coal is mined at Newcastle commercially for the first time.

1235: The monk Matthew Paris begins his “Historia Major”.

1245: Westminster Abbey is begun to be rebuilt.

1247: Death of Robin Hood in December.
Wales comes under the authority of the English crown at the Treaty of Woodstock.

1248: The Seventh Crusade is launched.

1249: Founding of University College, Oxford.

1258: Simon de Montfort and the English Barons force the King to recognise the powers of Parliament. He starts the first directly elected parliament in Europe.

1265: 4th August: Simon de Montfort is killed at the Battle of Evesham.

1269: The first Toll roads are built in England.

1270: Birth of William Wallace.
The eighth crusade is launched.

1271: The ninth crusade is launched.

Edward the First (1272-1307)

1274: Birth of Robert the Bruce on the 11th July.

1275: First customs duties levied on wool and leather.

1276: The Welsh are led by Llewelyn the Last into the first Welsh war against the English.

1279: John Peckham appointed Archbishop of Canterbury from 1279 to 1292.

1283: Llewelyn is killed and King Edward the First conquers Wales.

1284: 3rd March: Statute of Rhuddlan granting system of government to the Principality of Wales.

1290: Expulsion of the jews from England.

1294: The first Customs Officers are appointed in England.

1296: 27th April: Battle of Dunbar.

1297: William Wallace slays Haselrig, the English Sherrif of Lanark.
11th September: At the Battle of Stirling Bridge William Wallace defeats the English Army.

1298: 22nd July: Battle of Falkirk. William Wallace is defeated by the English.

1305: William Wallace is captured at Robroyston just outside Glasgow by Sir John Menteith and his men.
25th March: The crown of Scotland was placed on Robert the Bruce’s head at Scone.
23rd August: Execution of William Wallace.

1306: Robert the Bruce slays John Comyn in a church at Dumfries.

Edward the Second (1307-1327)

1309: Robert the Bruce holds his first parliament at St Andrews.

1314: 24th June: Battle of Bannockburn. Robert the Bruce defeats King Edward’s much larger English army.

1320: Robert the Bruce makes the “Declaration of Arbroath” which stated he was King of Scots and their defender rather than King of Scotland.

1323: A thirteen year truce is agreed on between England and Scotland.

 

Edward the Third (1327-77)

1328: Robert the Bruce is finally recognised as the rightful King of Scotland at the Treaty of Northampton.

1329: Death of Robert the Bruce on the 7th June.

1332: The first recording of the English parliament being divided into two houses.

1340: England defeats a French fleet at Sluys and gains control of the English Channel.

1342: Birth of Geoffrey Chaucer.

1346: The English defeat the French at the Battle of Crecy.

1347: The English capture Calais in France which becomes a colony.

1348: The Black Death. Serious outbreak of Bubonic Plague. King Edward begins his Order of the Garter with himself, his son the Black Prince and twenty four knights.

1351: Parliament passed the Statute of Labourers in an effort to hold down wages. Rebuilding of Windsor Castle is begun.

1356: 19th September: Battle of Poitiers. Edward the Black Prince defeats the French.

1359: Geoffrey Chaucer served in the army of King Edward the Third in France.
Birth of Owen Glendower.

1361: Second major outbreak of the Black Death.

1373: English Merchants legally have to use tunnage and poundage weights.

Richard the Second (1377-1399)

1380: The implementation of the Third and major “Poll Tax” by an impoverished government.

1381: The Peasant’s Revolt led by Wat Tyler against the Poll Tax.

1382: John Wycliffe is expelled from Oxford due to opposing the church’s doctrines.

1384: First English Bible produced.

1385: Geoffrey Chaucer writes “Troilus and Criseyde”.

1386: Geoffrey Chaucer becomes a Member of Parliament for Kent.

1387: Geoffrey Chaucer begins writing “The Canterbury Tales”.

1398: Winchester College is founded by William of Wykeham.

1399: The Wilton Diptych is painted.

Henry the Fourth (1399-1413)

1400: Death of Geoffrey Chaucer on the 25th October.

1401: Owen Glendower charged with treason by Lord Grey. A new Act comes into force which allows the burning of heretics.

1403: Owen Glendower was defeated near Carmarthen. Battle of Shrewsbury on the 21st July.

1404: Owen Glendower by now had gained overall control of Wales and taken control Harlech Castle.

1407: Major outbreak of plague.

1409: Harlech Castle recaptured by the English and Owen Glendower’s wife, daughter and grandchildren taken prisoner.

Henry the Fifth (1413-1422)

1414: The Lollard Rising.

1415: Battle of Agincourt on the 25th October.

1416: Death of Owen Glendower.

1417: Institution of the Garter King of Arms. An English army is victorious at the Battle of Caen.

1420: At the Treaty of Troyes King Henry is guaranteed the French throne after the death of Charles the Sixth of France.

Henry the sixth: (First Part 1422-1461)

1422: Birth of William Caxton.

1429: Joan of Arc helps relieve Orleans and France itself from the English.

1431: Joan of Arc is burned as a witch in Rouen and King Henry the Sixth is crowned King of France.

1440: Foundation of Eton College by the King for the education of the poor.

1451: Foundation of Glasgow University.

1455-85: The Wars of the Roses.  

1455: Battle of St. Albans on the 22nd May.

1460: King Henry 6th is captured at the Battle of Northampton on the 10 July. Battle of Wakefield on the 30th December.

Edward the Fourth (First Part 1461-1470)

1461: Battle of Towton on the 29th March.

1469: The Shetland Isles become part of Scotland.

1470: Thomas Malory writes €œ”L’ Morte D’Arthur”.

Henry Sixth (Second Part 1470-1471)

Edward the Fourth (Second Part 1471-1483)

1471:  Battle of Tewkesbury on the 4th May.

1474: William Caxton prints the first book in English “The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye” at Bruges.

1475: Birth of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey.

1476: William Caxton sets up a printing press in Westminster.

1477: Birth of Sir ThomasMore on the 7th February. William Caxton made the first printing of Chaucer’s “Canterbury Tales”.

1480: William Caxton prints “The Chronicles of England”.

Edward the Fifth (1483)

1483: Lord Protector Richard assumes the throne from the twelve year old Edward before he could be crowned.

Richard the Third (1483-1485)