Tudors and Stuarts 1485-1714 AD

Henry the Seventh (1485-1509)

1485: Battle of Bosworth Field on the 22nd August. Richard is the last English King to die in battle and Henry Tudor assumes the throne. William Caxton makes first printing of “L’Morte D’Arthur” by Malory. The Yeoman of the Guard is formed.

1486: The Houses of York and Lancaster are united at last by the marriage between King Henry and Elizabeth of York.

1487: The Battle of Stoke Field. Henry defeats Lambert Simnell who is posing as the Yorkist Earl of Warwick. Star Chamber is created by the King.

1494: Poyning’s Law is passed  restricting the Irish Parliament.

1495: Perkin Warbeck fails to take Waterford in Ireland.

1498: Cardinal Wolsey is ordained as a priest at Marlborough.

1499: Desiderius Erasmus visits London. Perkin Warbeck is hanged in the Tower of London.

1500: A printing press is set up in Fleet Street for the first time.

1506: Thomas More becomes a Member of Parliament.

Henry the Eighth (1509-1547)

1509: Cardinal Wolsey is created Almoner to the new King Henry the Eighth.

1510: “Everyman”, the morality play is performed for the first time.

1512: Trinity House formed to make seafaring around coast safer.

1513: Battle of Flodden on the 9th September.

1514: Thomas More was introduced to King Henry the Eighth by Thomas Wolsey and became Master of Requests.

1515: Cardinal Wolsey is made a Cardinal in Westminster Abbey and created Lord Chancellor.

1516: Thomas More wrote “Utopia”.

1518: Cardinal Wolsey becomes a  Papal Legate.

1520: Kings Henry the Eighth of England and Francis the First of France meet at the Field of Cloth of Gold in June. Pope Leo the Tenth makes King Henry “Defender of the Faith” for his opposition to the teachings of Martin Luther. Birth of William Cecil on the 13th September.

1521: Cardinal Wolsey presides over the burning of Lutheran books in the courtyard of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

1525: Christ Church College, Oxford is founded by Thomas Wolsey. King Henry takes permanent accommodation at Hampton Court Palace. The New Testament is printed in English by William Tyndale.

1526: The King debases the amount of silver in coinage for the first time.

1529: Anne Boleyn turns against Cardinal Wolsey during the King’s Divorce and is forced to surrender the Great Seal of Office.

1530: Death of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey on the 29th November.

1534: Hugh Latimer defended King Henry’s divorce from Catherine of Aragon.
In the Act of Supremacy King Henry is created supreme head of the Church of England.

1535: Hugh Latimer is made Chaplain to Anne Boleyn.

1535-39: The Dissolution of the Monasteries.
Death of Sir Thomas More on the 6th July.

1536: The Pilgrimage of Grace. Execution of William Tyndale.

1536-43: Union of England and Wales.

1538: Parish registers are first started in England.

1539: Criminal Court founded at Old Bailey. Dissolution of the Greater Monasteries Act is passed.

1540: Birth of Sir Francis Drake. First official horse race meeting takes place near Chester.

1541: John Knox sermons mark the official beginning of the Reformation in Scotland.

Edward the Sixth (1547-1553)

1547: William Cecil is present at The Battle of Pinkie on 10th September.
Passing of the Vagrant Act meant that any able bodied tramp could be treated as a slave.

1548: Mary Queen of Scots leaves for France.

1549: William Cecil was sent to the Tower of London but was released on bail.
The English Book of Common Prayer, written by Thomas Cranmer is made official by the Act of Uniformity.

1550: Nicholas Ridley becomes Bishop of London.
First imports of the potato from the New World.

1552: William Cecil is appointed Chancellor of the Order of the Garter.

1552/3: Birth of Edmund Spenser.

Lady Jane Grey (1553)

1553: The Lord Mayor of London proclaims Mary the First as the rightful Queen of England on July 18th and Lady Jane Grey abdicates voluntarily.

Mary the First (1553-1558)

1554: Lady Jane Grey is executed after a plot to keep her on the throne fails.
Birth of Sir Walter Raleigh.
(Jan-February) Wyatt’s Rebellion.

1555: Execution of Nicholas Ridley and Hugh Latimer at Oxford on 16th October after being tried as heretics.

1558: England loses Calais to the French.
John Knox writes “The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women.”

Elizabeth the First (1558-1603)

1561: Birth of Sir Francis Bacon on the 22nd January.

1564: Birth of Christopher Marlowe on the 26th February.
Birth of William Shakespeare on the 23rd April.

1565: The Royal Exchange is formed.

1567: Francis Drake sailed on “The Judith” to the Gulf of Mexico.

1571: Foundation of Harrow School.
William Cecil becomes Lord Burghley.

1572: Birth of John Donne. Birth of Ben Jonson on the 11th June.
Influx of the first Protestant Huguenots into Britain from France.

1573: Birth of Inigo Jones on the 19th July.

1576: The first proper theatre is built in Shoreditch, London.

1577: Francis Drake sails on “The Golden Hind” but fails to find a North West passage.

1578: Birth of William Harvey on the 1st April.

1579: Edmund Spenser is employed by Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester.

1580: Francis Drake becomes first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe and is knighted.
Sir Walter Raleigh is sent to Ireland to put down an uprising.

1583: Sir Walter Raleigh founds Virginia in the New World.

1584: Sir Francis Bacon takes up his seat in parliament.

1585: Sir Walter Raleigh brings home potatoes and tobacco from America.
Thomas Tallis the composer dies.

1586: Sir Francis Walsingham uncovers the Babbington plot to kill Queen Elizabeth in which Mary Queen of Scots was implicated.

1587: Christopher Marlowe works on “Tamburlaine the Great”.
Mary Queen of Scots is executed at Fotheringay Castle.

1588: Birth of Thomas Hobbes on the 5th April
(July-August) Sir Francis Drake takes a large part in defeating the Spanish Armada.

1589: Edmund Spenser returns to England with Sir Walter Raleigh to present his “The Fairie Queene” to Queen Elizabeth the First.

1592: John Donne is admitted to Lincoln’s Inn Fields.
Christopher Marlowe writes “Doctor Faustus”.

1593: Death of Christopher Marlowe on the 30th May.

1594: William Shakespeare’s “The Comedy of Errors” is performed at Gray’s Inn.

1595: William Shakespeare writes “Romeo and Juliet” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”.

1596: Death of Sir Francis Drake on the 28th January.
William Shakespeare performs ”The Merchant of Venice”.

1598: Death of William Cecil on the 15th August.
Ben Jonson’s second known play, “Every Man in His Humour”, was performed at the Globe Theatre with William Shakespeare in the cast.

1599: Death of Edmund Spenser on the 13th January.
Birth of Oliver Cromwell on the 25th April.

1600: The East India Company is founded on the 31st December.

1601: William Shakespeare writes “Hamlet”.

James the First (1603-1625)

1604-5: The Gunpowder Plot on the 5th November.

1605: William Shakespeare publishes “King Lear”.

1606: William Shakespeare publishes “Macbeth”.
Ben Jonson writes “Volpone, or the Fox”.

1607: William Harvey becomes a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians.

1608: Birth of John Milton on the 9th December. The first municipal library in England is opened at Norwich.

1610: Ben Jonson writes “The Alchemist”.

1613: Sir Francis Bacon becomes Attorney General.

1614: John Webster writes “The Duchess of Malfi”.

1616: Death of William Shakespeare on the 23rd April.
Ben Jonson performs “The Devil is an Ass”.

1618: William Harvey is appointed “Physician Extraordinary” to King James the First.
Sir Francis Bacon becomes Lord Chancellor.
Death of Sir Walter Raleigh on the 29th October.

1619: Inigo Jones begins building the Banqueting House in Whitehall.

1620: Sailing of the “Mayflower” and Pilgrim Fathers to America on the 6th September.

1623: Publication of the First Folio of all Shakespeare’s collected plays.

Charles the First (1625-1649)

1626: Death of Sir Francis Bacon on the 9th April.

1627: Birth of Robert Boyle on the 25th January.

1628: The Petition of Right. Oliver Cromwell enters the House of Commons.
William Harvey published “Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus” (“An Anatomical Study of the Motion of the Heart and of the Blood in Animals”).
Birth of John Bunyan in November.

1629: Dissolution of Parliament by King Charles.

1632: Birth of John Locke on the 29th August.
Birth of Sir Christopher Wren on the 20th October.

1633: Birth of Samuel Pepys on the 23rd February.

1634: Covent Garden market opens in London for the first time. Peter Paul Rubens paints the ceiling of the Banqueting House in Whitehall.

1635: Birth of Robert Hooke on the 18th July.

1637: Death of Ben Jonson on the 6th August.

1640: Oliver Cromwell called up for the “Short Parliament” and the “Long Parliament”.

1641: Thomas Hobbes falls out with Renee Descartes. The Grand Remonstrance (a set of grievances) is presented to the King by Parliament.

1642: Battle of Edgehill  on the 23rd October begins the English Civil War.
Robert Boyle visited Florence where he was influenced by the works of Galileo.
Birth of  Isaac Newton on the 25th December.

1643: John Milton writes “The Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce”.

1644: The Battle of Marston Moor on the 2nd July turns out to be the most decisive battle of the English Civil War as Oliver Cromwell beats Prince Rupert.

1645: Creation of the New Model Army by Oliver Cromwell on the 15th February.
Self Denying Ordnance declared on the 3rd April.
Battle of Naseby on 14th June.

1646: Oliver Cromwell takes the Royal stonghold of Oxford.

1648: Start of the Second Civil War.

1649: Trial and Execution of King Charles the First. The King is beheaded outside the Banqueting House in Whitehall on the 30th January.

Parliamentary Interregnum (1649-1653)

1650: Birth of the Duke of Marlborough on the 26th May.

1651: King Charles the Second is crowned as King of England at Scone in Scotland as a provocative act. Charles invades England but is defeated on the 3rd September by Oliver Cromwell at the Battle of Worcester.
William Harvey writes “On the Generation of Animals” showing that mammals reproduce from a sperm and egg.
Thomas Hobbes publishes “Leviathan”.

1652: First Anglo Dutch War. The English Navy are victorious at the Battle of the Downs.
Christopher Wren made observations of the planet Saturn. Death of Inigo Jones on the 21st June.

Oliver Cromwell (Lord Protector 1653-1660)

1653: After the “Barebones Parliament” Oliver Cromwell is nominated as Lord Protector.

1654: Thomas Hobbes writes “Of Liberty and Necessity”.

1656: Birth of Edmond Halley on the 8th November.
John Bunyan began to discuss religion with the followers of George Fox, the founder of the Quaker movement, and wrote an attack called “Some Truths Opened”.

1657: Death of William Harvey on the 3rd June.
Christopher Wren becomes Professor of Astronomy, Gresham College, London Foundation of the General Post Office.

1658: Robert Hooke becomes assistant to Robert Boyle on the construction of his air pump.
Death of Oliver Cromwell on the 3rd September who is succeeded by his son Richard.

1659: Birth of Henry Purcell. Richard Cromwell is forced to resign by the army and a military committee rules the country.

Charles the Second (1660-1685)

1660: General Monk reconvenes the Long Parliament and Charles the Second is restored to the throne as King at the Declaration of Breda.
Birth of Daniel Defoe.
Robert Boyle writes “New Experiments Physico-Mechanicall”.
The Declaration of Breda in April.
John Bunyan is arrested while preaching in Bedfordshire.
First meeting of the Royal Society of London is held in November.

1661: Birth of Nicholas Hawksmoor.
Robert Boyle argued against Aristotle’s four elements of earth, air, fire and water and said that matter was made up of small corpuscles in “Physiologocial Essays”.

1662: Robert Boyle’s Law states that the pressure and volume of gas are inversely proportional. Foundation of the Royal Society of London by Wren and others.
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane opens for the first time.

1663: England takes New Amsterdam from the Dutch and it becomes known as New York.

1664: Birth of John Vanbrugh on the 24th January.
John Dryden wrote his second play “The Indian Queen”.
Christopher Wren designs the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford.

1665: Isaac Newton formulates his theories of gravitation.
Robert Hooke writes “Micrographia”

1665-6: The Great Plague.
Samuel Pepys Describes the months of the Great Plague in his diary.
“The London Gazette” is published for the first time.

1666: Beginning of the Great Fire of London on 2nd September.
Christopher Wren appointed Commissioner for Rebuilding the City of London after the great fire.

1667: John Locke moves into The earl of Shaftesbury’s home as his personal physician.
John Milton writes “Paradise Lost”.
John Dryden writes “Annus Mirabilis”.
Birth of Jonathan Swift on the 30th November.

1668: Henry Purcell becomes a chorister in the Chapel Royal.
John Dryden created Poet Laureate.
Isaac Newton invents his reflecting telescope.

1669: Christopher Wren appointed Surveyor of St. Paul’s Cathedral and Surveyor General of the King’s Works.

1670: Isaac Newton gives his lectures on optics.
John Milton writes “History of Britain”.

1671: Birth of Rob Roy MacGregor on the 7th March.
Construction of Christopher Wren’s Monument to the Great Fire of London.
Passing of the controversial Game Laws which meant that the majority of farmers could not kill game even on their own land.

1672: Samuel Pepys appointed Secretary to the Admiralty.
John Dryden produced the comedy “Marriage a La Mode”.

1674: Robert Hooke writes “Attempt to Prove the Motion of the Earth”.
Birth of Jethro Tull on the 30th March.
Death of John Milton on the 8th November.

1675: Foundation of Greenwich Observatory.
Christopher Wren lays the foundation Stone of St. Paul’s Cathedral.

1677: Henry Purcell is appointed Court Composer.

1678: Birth of Abraham Darby.
John Bunyan writes “The Pilgrim’s Progress”.

1679: Death of Thomas Hobbes on the 4th December.
John Dryden writes “Troilus and Cressida.
Edmond Halley writes “Catalogus Stellarum Australium”.
Nicholas Hawksmoor joins his teacher Sir Christopher Wren in London.
The Act of Habeus Corpus is passed which meant that people unlawfully detained could not be prosecuted at a court of law.

1680: Return of Halley’s Comet. The penny post is started in London.

1682: William Penn leaves England to found Pennsylvania which was eventually to become the United States.
Christopher Wren makes designs for the Royal Hospital, Chelsea. Edmund Halley observes the comet which is henceforth known as “Halley’s Comet”.

1683: The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, Britain’s first museum is opened to the public for the first time.
Isaac Newton describes gravity’s force over the tides.

1684: Isaac Newton begins work on “Principia Mathematica”.

1685: Birth of George Berkeley on the 12th March.
Daniel Defoe supports the Duke of Monmouth’s Rebellion. (The Duke is Charles’ illegitimate son)
(6th July:) Duke of Marlborough sees off the rebels at the Battle of Sedgemoor.

James the Second (1685-1688)

1685: The Bloody Assizes held by Judge Jeffries in September after Monmouth’s Rebellion. 

1686: Alice Molland of Exeter was the last person to be hanged as a witch.

William and  Mary (1688-1702)

1688: The Glorious Revolution: William of Orange invades England.
John Vanbrugh is imprisoned at Calais as a spy by the French.
Death of John Bunyan on the 31st August.

1689: Henry Purcell writes “Dido and Aeneas”.
Isaac Newton meets John Locke for the first time.
Nicholas Hawksmoor  works on designs for the new wing of Hampton Court Palace.

1690: 1st-12th July: Battle of the Boyne.
John Locke writes “An Essay Concerning Human Understanding”.

1691: Death of Robert Boyle on the 30th December.
John Vanbrugh writes “The Provoked Wife”.

1692: MacDonald clan massacred by the Campbells in Glencoe.
Henry Purcell performs”The Fairy Queene”

1693: Birth of John Harrison in March.

1694: Foundation of the Bank of England by the Scotsman William Paterson.

1695: Henry Purcell writes Funeral Music for Queen Mary.
Death of Henry Purcell on the 21st November.

1696: Christopher Wren appointed Surveyor of the Royal Naval Hospital in Greenwich.

1697: Birth of William Hogarth on the 12th November.
Daniel Defoe works as an Agent for King William the Third in Scotland and England.

1698: Foundation of the London Stock Exchange.

1699: Christopher Wren is appointed Surveyor of Westminster Abbey.

1700: Death of John Dryden on the 1st May.

1701: Act of Settlement. Jethro Tull invents the seed drill.

1702: Daniel Defoe’s tract “The Shortest Way with Dissenters” gets him imprisoned in Newgate but he continued as a secret Government Agent.
War of the Spanish Succession until 1713.
The first English Newspaper is published entitled the “Daily Courant”

Anne (1702-1714)

1703: Death of Robert Hooke on the 3rd March.
Death of Samuel Pepys on the 26th May.
Birth of John Wesley on the 17th June.

1704: Isaac Newton writes “Opticks”.
The Duke of Marlborough is the victor at the Battle of Blenheim on 13th August and is given land and money to build Blenheim Palace.
Death of John Locke on the 28th October.

1705: Nicholas Hawksmoor begins working jointly on Blenheim Palace.

1706: Birth of John Baskerville on the 28th January.
23rd May: The Duke of Marlborough is victor at the Battle of Ramillies.

1707: Union of England and Scotland.
Birth of Henry Fielding on the 22nd April.
Isaac Newton writes  “Arithmetica Universalis”.

1708: Abraham Darby founds the Bristol Iron Company.
The Duke of Marlborough is the victor at the Battle of Oudenarde on the 11th of July.
Birth of William Pitt, The Elder on the 15th November.

1709: Abraham Darby successfully manufactures iron in furnaces fired with Coke Coalbrookdale.
The Duke of Marlborough is victor at the Battle of Malplaquet on the 11th September.
Birth of Samuel Johnson on the 18th September.
First edition of “The Tatler” magazine is published.

1710: George Berkeley is ordained as a Priest.
Birth of Thomas Arne on the 12th March.
George Berkeley writes “€œA Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge€”.

1711: Birth of David Hume on the 26th April.
First edition of “The Spectator” magazine is published.

1712: Nicholas Hawksmoor designs King’s College, Cambridge.

1713: John Harrison and his brother James make a longcase clock entirely out of wood.
Birth of Laurence Sterne on the 24th November.