Timeline Great Britain to 1550
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The United Kingdom is about the same size as
Oregon.
(SSFC, 10/9/05, Par p.27)
The 1st known name for Britain was Albion, which meant white land.
(SFC, 1/15/00, p.B3)
120Mil BC The dinosaur Eotyrannus
lengi roamed Britain. In 2001 a 15-foot skeleton was discovered.
(WSJ, 5/10/01, p.A1)
50Mil BC In 2008 a well-preserved skull of a bird,
named Dasornis emuinus, unearthed on the Isle of Sheppey, east of
London, was dated to 50 million years ago. Dasornis was said to have
been "like an ocean-going goose, almost the size of a small plane."
(AFP, 9/26/08)
450000BC-180000BC In 2007
scientists using sonar reported that at least 2 massive floods
during this period cut Britain off from the European continent.
Evidence of humans living in Britain began to show up only from
about 60,000 BC.
(SFC, 7/19/07, p.A7)
>200,000 In 1911 a broken wooden spear shaped
earlier than this age was found at Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, UK.
(SFC, 6/28/97, p.E3)
11,000BCE The earliest amber artifacts are from
this time and were found in caves in Cheddar, England. The British
Isles were connected to Europe and the English Channel could be
walked across.
(PacDis, Winter/’97, p.9)
10.2-10.4 BCE In 2003 Scientists reported that
human bone fragments found in a cave from Aveline's Hole in the
Mendip Hills of southwest England date from this period.
(AP, 9/23/03)
9000BC Archeologists in 2010 reported that a
circular shaped home was built about this time next to an ancient
lake at Star Carr, near Scarborough, in northeastern England. At
this time Britain was still connected to continental Europe.
(AP, 8/11/10)(SFC, 8/12/10, p.A2)
c7,000BCE In 1903 a skeleton of a man, 9,000 years
old, was discovered in the underground caves at Cheddar, 130 miles
west of London.
(SFC, 3/8/96, p.A8)
4431BCE Timbers of a possible ship of this time
were found off Hayling Island near Portsmouth, England, in 1997. The
structure might also have been a causeway.
(AM, Jul/Aug ‘97 p.13)
4050BC Agriculture arrived fully formed in Kent,
Engalnd, about this time.
(Econ, 6/11/11, p.82)
4000-1500BCE Southern Britain was settled by
emigrants from what is now the Netherlands and the French province
of Brittany. They started farming, herding and burying their dead
and are called the "beaker people" after a distinctive drinking
vessel found in chambered mounds called "barrows." It is speculated
that these people and their descendants began worshiping inside
"henges," circular areas enclosed by big ditches and small banks of
dirt. Four phases of development at Stonehenge in the Salisbury
plain have been defined. During the Summer Solstice sunbeams pass
directly over the center of a pointer rock outside the circle down a
track called the "Avenue," and onto the altar stone in the center.
(HT, 3/97, p.20,22)(SFC, 6/22/98, p.A10)
3200BC-2500BCE Henges, enormous ditches enclosing
circular constructs dating to this period, were enigmatic features
of Neolithic and Bronze age Britain. In 2008 researchers dating
cremated bones concluded that Stonehenge was initially established
as a “domain of ancestors,” and that burials were a major component
in all its stages.
(SFC,11/11/97, p.A12)(SFC, 5/30/08, p.A6)
3100BCE The first known incarnation of Stonehenge,
the ancient stone monument in the south of England, is thought to
have been built by native Neolithic peoples around this time.
Archaeological interpretation of the site is primarily based on a
series of modern excavations carried out since 1919. The studies
have concluded that there were three different building periods
representing markedly different materials and methods. Stonehenge I
was primarily an earthen structure built by native Neolithic peoples
using deer antlers as picks. Two entry stones were also placed to
the northeast of the circle, one of which (the "Slaughter Stone")
survives in the latest monument.
(HNQ, 3/3/01)
3000BC In Britain timber temples were constructed
about this time prior to stone circles. Remains of one was found in
1997 at Stanton Drew in Somerset that measured 443 feet on the outer
diameter.
(SFC,11/11/97, p.A17)
3000BC In 2009 archeologists identified a site
named "Bluehenge," dating to about this time, about a mile (2km)
away from Stonehenge. It was named after the color of the 27 Welsh
stones that were laid to make up a path. The stones were gone but
the path of holes remained.
(AP, 10/3/09)
c2800BCE Stonehenge Phase I saw the
construction of the henge’s bank and ditch. A pair of upright stones
formed a ceremonial entrance with a larger stone opposite. 56 small
pits encircled the whole area.
(HT, 3/97, p.22)
2600BC-2500BC British archeologists reported in
2007 that houses found at Durrington Walls near Stonehenge, the
world's largest known henge (an enclosure with a bank on the outside
and a ditch inside), were radiocarbon dated to this time.
(AFP, 1/30/07)
c2500BCE At Stonehenge a ditch and bank area was
created on the grassy chalkland.
(SSFC, 12/24/00, p.T5)
2400BC-2200BC Archeologists in 2008 said evidence
from Stonehenge dating to this period indicated that the site was
used as a place of pilgrimage for the sick.
(WSJ, 9/23/08, p.A26)
c2100BCE Stonehenge Phase II incorporated 60
"bluestones" from the Preseli Mountains in southwest Wales, about
135 miles away. 90 bluestones were set up in a horseshoe shape
within a circle of another 60. Some 500 years after Stonehenge I
fell into disuse, builders created a radically different Stonehenge
with dozens of stone pillars weighing up to 4 tons.
(HT, 3/97, p.22)(SSFC, 12/24/00, p.T5)(HNQ,
3/3/01)
c2100-1900 In Stonehenge Phase III the builders
encircled the bluestones with sarsen stones, a sandstone (probably
from a quarry in Avebury, 20 miles away). These were topped by caps
and the bluestones were re-arranged and dug into the ground. The
axis of the circle was also re-calculated so that one way Stonehenge
points to the summer solstice at sunrise and lined up the other way
it points to the winter solstice at sunset.
(HT, 3/97, p.22)(SD)
c2000BCE At Arbor Low in Derbyshire a Bronze Age
stone circle was constructed.
(SFEM, 10/11/98, p.21)
c2000BCE The West Kennet Long Barrow, a megalith
burial vault, was sealed.
(SSFC, 12/24/00, p.T4)
c2000BCE Silbury Hill, located on the
prehistoric site of Avebury (named after nearby Avebury, England),
is the largest prehistoric mound in Europe. The artificial hill,
which rises up 130 feet, was constructed over three separate phases
beginning at least 4,000 years ago. Although the shape of the mound
is similar to smaller earthen constructions used for burials, its
purpose remains a mystery.
(HNQ, 6/8/01)
2000BCE The initial phase of what scientists call
Stonehenge III was begun about 100 years after Stonehenge II with
the lentil structure familiar to modern visitors. The builders
continued improvements on Stonehenge III up until about 1550 BCE,
well before historical records of the Druids or the Romans. Both
Stonehenge and a neighboring circular monument were added to
UNESCO's World Heritage List--a listing of cultural and natural
sites--in 1986.
(HNQ, 3/3/01)
1550BC A wealthy young teenager, later dubbed "The
Boy with the Amber Necklace," was buried near Britain's mysterious
Stonehenge monument at about this time. Scientists in 2010
determined that he came from the Mediterranean hundreds of miles
away, proof of the site's importance as a travel destination in
prehistoric times.
(AP, 9/29/10)
1300BCE A 50-foot boat of this time was discovered
in 1992 at Dover, England.
(AM, Jul/Aug ‘97 p.13)
c1100-1000 In Stonehenge Phase IV the path across
the henge ditch was extended into the fields and over the hill to
the River Avon.
(HT, 3/97, p.22)
c1000BCE The British Bronze Age site Flag Fen,
estimated to about this time, was accidentally discovered in
1982 by archaeologist Francis Pryor. Flag Fen is the site of some of
the most recent and unusual discoveries of ancient British culture.
In 1982 archaeologist Francis Pryor tripped over a piece of wood
while walking along a dyke in the Fenlands near Peterborough.
Noticing that the wood showed signs of deliberate shaping, he poked
around in the peaty, wet soil and soon discovered a series of posts.
The wood was set deeper into the ground than the surface of a nearby
Roman road, so Pryor knew the wood had to have been placed into the
ground well before the Roman engineers arrived on the scene.
(HNQ, 5/12/01)
xxxx According to legend the
first king of Britain was Brut, who founded the royal line that
produced king Coel, (Old King Cole was a marry old soul), and Arthur
of the Round Table.
(SFC, 2/15/97, p.D4)
c700BCE The White Horse of Uffington, a 365-foot
long and 130-foot high image scratched into a chalk hillside, was
dated to this time from pottery at the site. The shape is typical of
the La Tene art style that spread across Western Europe between the
5th and 1st centuries BCE.
(AM, 9/01, p.40,43)
325BC Pytheas (c380BC-310BC),
Greek merchant, geographer and explorer, made a voyage of
exploration to northwestern Europe around this time. He traveled
around Great Britain, circumnavigating it between 330 and 320 BCE.
He claimed to have sailed past Scotland and mentioned a land called
Thule, where the surrounding ocean froze and the sun disappeared in
winter.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pytheas)
c100BCE Camulodunum (later Colchester in
southeastern England) was established about this time as a fortress
dedicated to the Celtic god of war.
(Arch, 7/02, p.46)
55BC Aug 26, Roman forces under
Julius Caesar invaded Britain. 80 war galleys with some ten thousand
foot soldiers prevailed over the native Britons.
(AP, 8/26/97)(ON, 6/09, p.6)
54BC Jul, Roman forces under
Julius Caesar invaded Britain for a 2nd time. He was accompanied by
Mandubracius, an exiled British chieftain. The expedition of 10,000
foot soldiers and 2,00 cavalry was followed by a number of privately
owned vessels commissioned by Roman merchants eager to take
advantage of Caesar’s anticipated victory.
(ON, 6/09, p.7)
54BC The Romans under Julius
Caesar fought the first skirmishes with the Celts in England.
British chieftain Cassivellaunus, who had killed the father of
Mandubracius, led a guerilla style war against Caesar’s legions.
Caesar’s forces prevailed and Cassivellaunus agreed not to make war
against Mandubracius.
(SFEC, 6/22/97, BR p.3)(ON, 6/09, p.7)
40 Jun 13, Gnaeus Julius
Agricola, Roman general and governor of Britain, was born. [WUD says
37-93AD]
(WUD, 1994, p.29)
43 The Romans under Claudius,
the great nephew of Caesar, invaded and conquered Britain. They
founded a settlement on the "Tamesis River" where a bridge could be
built that grew to become London.
(SFEC, 6/22/97, BR p.3)(ON, 6/09, p.7)
43CE The Briton Caratacus, also
known as Caradoc and chief of the Catuvellauni, mounted a guerrilla
uprising against the Romans. His uprising ultimately failed after he
was betrayed by the Brigantian queen, Cartimandua. He was taken to
Rome where he was later pardoned by Claudius.
(HNQ, 9/23/00)
43CE British Celts battled the
Roman invaders in 2-wheeled chariots. The Belgae from northern Gaul
had settled in Britain and ushered in the concept of towns and the
art of enameling.
(NGM, 5/77)
43CE The Romans brought with
them the board game latrunculi (little soldiers), when they
conquered Britain.
(Arch, 1/05, p.39)
50CE The Romans established a
colony at the site of Camulodunum.
(Arch, 7/02, p.46)
60CE Boudicaa, queen of the
Iceni in Britain, burned Roman London. Boudicaa rose up in revolt
against the Roman occupation of Britain. When Prasutagus, chief of
the Iceni tribe, died without heirs, the Romans confiscated his
lands. His wife and Queen, Boudicaa, protested and as a result was
publicly scourged. Calling on all native Britons to rise against the
oppressors, she then led them in revolt, killing 70,000 Romans and
destroying several towns before she was defeated and captured. She
killed herself while in Roman custody.
(NGM, 5/77)(HNQ, 8/5/00)
85-130CE Some 2000 letters on wooden tablets were
excavated beginning in 1973 at Vindolanda in northern England from
Roman soldiers stationed there.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.14)
97-105CE Flavius Cerialis was prefect of Cohort IX
of Batavians and the last occupant of the commandant’s house at
Vindolanda. The cohort was transferred to the Danube to join
Trajan’s forces gathering for the Second Dacian War.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.17)
c100CE Oct 31, The pagan Celts of Britain and
Ireland celebrated Samhain on October 31 as the end of the season of
the sun and the beginning of the season of darkness. It was believed
that on this day the souls of the dead revisited their homes.
Bonfires were lit to chase away evil spirits. When the Romans
conquered Britain in the first century A.D., their fall harvest
festival, Poloma Day, mixed with the traditions of Samhain to form a
major fall festival at the end of October.
(HNPD, 10/31/99)
122CE Jun, Emp. Hadrian visited
Britain as part of a tour of the northern frontiers. He ordered a
wall built to protect the Romans from the Picts of Scotland.
(AM, 7/01, p.17)
122 Sep 13, Building began on
Hadrian's Wall.
(MC, 9/13/01)
122-130CE Roman Emperor Hadrian ordered a great
wall to be built in northern England along with a series of forts
"to separate the Romans from the barbarians." It extended for 73.5
English miles from the estuary of the river Tyne on the east to
Solway Firth on the west.
(AM, May/Jun 97 p.15)(AM, 7/01, p.17)
c140CE Emperor Antoninus Pius ordered Hadrian’s
Wall to be abandoned and a more northerly defense to be established.
Remnants could later be seen of the Antonine Wall around Falkirk,
Scotland. Roman troops advanced northwards into the Scottish
lowlands, driving the barbarians back before them and establishing a
new frontier called the Antonine Wall, named for the new Emperor,
Antoninus Pius. The Antonine Wall was later abandoned, reoccupied,
and abandoned a second and final time under the Emperor Marcus
Aurelius.
(NG, 12/97, forum)(HNQ, 9/9/00)
c160CE The Romans abandoned their garrison at
Cramond, Scotland, and retreated to Hadrian’s Wall.
(AM, Jul/Aug ‘97 p.14)
175 Roman forces defeated
Sarmatian tribes on the Danube and Marcus Aurelius ordered
them to provide 8,000 cavalry for the Roman fort of Brocavum, later
Brougham, England. It had been built in the last decades of the
first century. The fort was partially covered by a castle in the
13th century.
(Arch, 5/05, p.62)
208 Roman Emperor Lucius
Septimius Severus brought his troublesome sons to the frontier fort
of Brocavum, later Brougham, England, to campaign against the
barbarians to the north and hopefully distract them from the
temptations of Rome.
(Arch, 5/05, p.63)
268 Marcus Cassianius Latinius
Postumus, a Roman emperor of Batavian origin, died about this time.
He usurped power from Gallienus in 260 and formed the so called
Gallic Empire. He was recognized in Gaul, Germania, Britannia and
Iberia until his murder in 268.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postumus)
286 Carausius, a Roman naval
officer, seized power in Britain and northern Gaul ruled until he
was assassinated in 293.
(AP,
7/8/10)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carausius)
400-500 The Angles and Saxons crossed the North
Sea to England bringing with them the 5 day week: Tiwsday - of the
god Tiw; Wodensday - of the god Woden; Thorsday - of the god Thor;
Frigsday - of the goddess Frig; and Seternesday - of the god
Seterne. The Anglo-Saxons, a group of Germanic tribes, gradually
invaded England by sea starting in the 5th century in the wake of
the collapse of the Roman Empire.
(K.I.-365D, p.107)(AP, 9/24/09)
c400-500 The Jutes hailed from Jutland, at the
northern tip of the Danish peninsula and migrated to Britain in the
5th century as part of the Germanic invasion. The notion that they
settled in what is now Kent and the Isle of Wight, as is recorded by
Anglo-Saxon chronicler Bede the Venerable, has been confirmed by
archaeological evidence.
(HNQ, 10/7/00)
500 In England, the
Anglo-Saxons brought Futhark from continental Europe in the 5th
century and modified it into the 33-letter "Futhorc" to accommodate
sound changes that were occurring in Old English, the language
spoken by the Anglo-Saxons. An early offshoot of Futhark was
employed by Goths, and so it is known as Gothic Runes. It was used
until 500 CE when it was replaced by the Greek-based Gothic
alphabet.
(www.ancientscripts.com/futhark.html)
c500 Arthur was a fabled
British warlord from the late 5th or early 6th century. In 1998
Richard White published "King Arthur in Legend and History."
(WSJ, 3/27/98, p.W10)
c500 The Ridgeway, the oldest
road in Europe, wanders along empty, open ridges over Wiltshire’s
Marlborough Downs in England. Fifteen centuries ago invading Saxons
gave this ancient track its present name, `The Ridgeway`, but even
then it was old beyond all memory. Fifty centuries earlier, Stone
Age traders probably followed this track to barter stone axe heads
with farmer folk in the valleys. These Neolithic merchants picked up
The Ridgeway at the Thames River ford at Goring, then followed it
westward and southward along the crest of the Downs, into what would
become the counties of Berkshire and Wiltshire in the times of the
Wessex kings. Since those first Neolithic peddlers, 200 generations
have found their own good reasons to tramp along the Ridgeway track.
(HNQ, 7/29/01)
c500-600 Gildas of the 6th century was the only
historian whose work survived. He made no mention of King Arthur.
(WSJ, 3/27/98, p.W10)
600 Germanic invaders, who
occupied England after 600AD, saw themselves as a nation of
immigrants, according to Prof. Nicholas Howe (1953-2006) of UC
Berkeley, author of “Migration and Mythmaking in Anglo-Saxon
England” (1989).
(SFC, 10/16/06, p.B6)
c600-625 The burial site of the Prince of
Prittlewell, an East Saxon prince or king, dated to about this time.
(www.southend.gov.uk/content.asp?content=3686)
604-617 King Saebert of Essex reigned in England.
St. Mellitus converted him to Christianity.
(www.earlybritishkingdoms.com/kids/prittlewell_prince.html)
c625 Raedwald, king of the East
Angles and high king of the English peoples, was buried about this
time. The burial mound at Sutton Hoo is believed to be that of the
Raedwald.
(Arch, 7/02, p.61)
c650-850 The alliterative epic poem Beowulf was
composed at least 100 years before the manuscript was written. It
was written in the 8th century. In 1999 Seamus Heaney wrote a new
translation of the old English tale of a Scandinavian warrior who
kills a trio of monsters including Grendel. In the Anglo-Saxon epic
Beowulf, the hero of the Geats people, mortally wounds the monster
Grendel--who has been terrorizing the court of the king of Danes--by
tearing off one of his arms with his bare hands. Based on folk tales
known to the Anglo-Saxons prior to their invasion of England, the
work is made up primarily of pagan myths and legends. The poem is
believed to date from the late seventh or early eighth century and
the only surviving text, now in the British Museum, dates from about
1000 A.D.
(WUD, 1994, p.140)(WSJ, 2/24/00, p.A16)(WSJ,
1/11/99, p.R53)(HNQ, 1/10/02)
654CE A Saxon monk founded St.
Botolph’s Town in England. The name gradually changed to Boston.
(SFC, 8/12/00, p.B3)
669 Theodore, a native of
Tarsus in Cilicia, arrived in England to take over the See of
Canterbury under the direction of Pope Vitalian. He was well
received everywhere and was the first Archbishop whose authority the
whole English Church was willing to acknowledge.
(www.britannia.com/bios/abofc/theodore.html)
c672 The Venerable Bede
(d.735), Beda Venerabilis, English speaking church historian, was
born.
(WSJ, 10/22/03, p.D12)
685 May 21, Battle at
Nechtansmere: Picts trounced the Northumbrians.
(MC, 5/21/02)
687 Cuthbert, a former monk
hermit and reluctant bishop of Lindisfarne, died. His life and
“miracles” were set down by the Venerable Bede. A gospel
commissioned to honor Cuthbert was placed in his coffin shortly
after his death. In 1104 the coffin was opened in preparation for a
formal reinterment and the book was re-discovered. It was given to
the Jesuits in 1769 and in 2011 they sold it to Britain for £9
million.
(Econ, 7/16/11, p.62)
700-800 King Offa decreed that an earthen barrier
be built along the border between Wales and his kingdom of Mercia.
Llwybr Clawdd Offa opened as a hiking trail in 1971.
(SSFC, 4/7/02, p.C10)
709 Apr 24, Wilfried (~76),
bishop of York, died.
(MC, 4/24/02)
709 May 25, Aldhelmus (~69) of
Ealdhelm, England, abbot, bishop, poet, saint, died.
(SC, 5/25/02)
729 Apr 24, Egbertus (89),
English bishop, St. Egbert, died in Iona.
(MC, 4/24/02)
735 May 26, The Venerable Bede
(~62), Beda Venerabilis, English speaking church historian, died.
(MC, 5/26/02)(WSJ, 10/22/03, p.D12)
754 Jun 5, Friezen murdered
bishop Boniface [Winfrid], English saint, archbishop of Dokkum, and
over 50 companions.
(MC, 6/5/02)
793 Jun 8, Vikings raided the
Northumbrian coast in England. Corfe served as a center of West
Saxon resistance to Viking invaders. Vikings plundered the monastery
and St. Cuthbert convent at Lindsfarne
(HN, 6/8/98)(AM, 7/00, p.64)(PC, 1992, p.68)
796 Jul 26, Offa, king of
Mercia (in central England), died.
(MC, 7/26/02)
796-821 Anglo Saxon king Coenwulf of Mercia, ruled
a kingdom that covered vast swathes of the English midlands and
northern counties to the southeast. In 2001 a metal detector
enthusiast discovered a gold coin beside the River Ivel in
Bedfordshire, southern England. The 4.25 gram coin depicts Anglo
Saxon king Coenwulf of Mercia.
(AFP, 2/8/06)
c800 England’s King Lear lived
about this time. Shakespeare wrote his play “King Lear” in 1606.
(www.rsc.org.uk/lear/current/director.html)
c800 The inhabitants of the
British Isles did not comb their hair until they were taught by the
Danes about this time.
(SFC, 6/30/96, Z1 p.5)
c800-900 Nennius wrote a history in the early 9th
century and mentioned King Arthur as a fabulous figure.
(WSJ, 3/27/98, p.W10)
800-900 In Scandinavia Futhark evolved around the
9th century. Instead of 24 letters, the Scandinavian "Younger"
Futhark had 16 letters. In England, Anglo-Saxon Futhorc started to
be replaced by the Latin alphabet by the 9th century, and did not
survive much more past the Norman Conquest. Futhark continued to be
used in Scandinavia for centuries longer, but by 1600 CE, it had
become nothing more than curiosities among scholars and
antiquarians.
(www.ancientscripts.com/futhark.html)
835-1500 Medieval British history for this period
is covered by timeref.com.
(www.timeref.com/hsttime0.htm)
849 Alfred the Great (d.899)
was said to have been born near Uffington. He became King of the
West Saxons in 871. He was the 5th and youngest son of King
Aethelwulf and Queen Osburga of Wessex.
(AHD, 1971, p.32)(AM, 9/01, p.42)(ON, 4/08, p.4)
867 A last surviving older
brother of Alfred, became King Aethelred I of Wessex, an Anglo-Saxon
kingdom in southern England.
(ON, 4/08, p.4)
867 Danes fought Saxons in the
battle of Eoferwic (York).
(WSJ, 1/28/05, p.W6)
870 Dec 31, Skirmish at
Englefield. Ethelred of Wessex beat back a Danish invasion army.
(MC, 12/31/01)
871 Jan 4, Ethelred of Wessex
was defeated by Danish forces at Reading.
(PCh, 1992, p.72)
871 Jan 8, Ethelred of Wessex
defeated the Danish forces at Ashdown.
(PCh, 1992, p.72)
871 Mar 2, Battle at Marton
(Maeretun): Ethelred van Wessex (d.871) beat the Danish invasion
army. Ethelred died in April and his brother Alfred (22) took over.
Alfred became Alfred the Great and ruled until 899.
(PCh, 1992, p.72)(SC, 3/2/02)
871 Apr 23, Ethelred I, king of
Wessex, brother of Alfred the Great, died.
(MC, 4/23/02)
878 Jan, Danish forces from
north of Wessex launched an unexpected attack on Wessex, ruled by
King Alfred. In 1911 G.K. Chesterton authored the historical novel
“The Ballad of the White Horse” set in England during this time.
(SSFC, 4/22/07, p.P10)(ON, 4/08, p.4)
899 Oct 26, Alfred the Great
(b.849), writer and king of Wessex (871-99), died. He helped to
bring about the English state, the Royal Navy and English
universities. He translated Pope Gregory’s “Pastoral Care,” the
universal history by Orosius, Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, and the
“Consolation of Philosophy” by Boethius. Alfred also compiled
England’s first code of laws, The Doom Book.
(Econ, 5/26/07,
p.18)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_the_Great)(ON, 4/08, p.5)
900 The Abbots Bromley Horn
Dance, an Old English pagan ritual, used horns from reindeer that
dated to about this time. A dozen male dancers in Staffordshire
traditionally performed the dance once a year in early September.
The first rendition of the Horn Dance was recorded near the town of
Abbots Bromley in 1226.
(SFC, 9/4/10, p.A1)(SFC, 9/7/10, p.C2)
924 Jul 17, Edward the Older,
English king (899-924) and son of Alfred the Great, died. He was
succeeded by his son Athelstan.
(PC, 1992, p.75)
924-940 Athelstan ruled as king of England.
(www.britannia.com/history/monarchs/mon8.html)
929 Eadgyth (910-946), the
sister of King Athelstan and the granddaughter of Alfred the Great,
was given in marriage to Otto I, the king of Saxony and the Holy
Roman Emperor. She had at least two children before her death in 946
at age 36. In 2010 her remains were found in Magdeburg Cathedral in
northern Germany.
(AFP, 1/20/10)(AFP, 6/17/10)
937 King Athelstan unified the
various Saxon and Celtic kingdoms following the battle of
Brunanburgh. He was the brother of Eadgyth, wife of Holy Roman Emp.
Otto I, and is generally considered to have been the first King of
England.
(AFP, 1/20/10)
945 Monks settled along the
Thames riverbank at Bablock Hythe.
(SFEC, 8/20/00, p.T9)
946 May 25, Edmund the Older,
king of Wessex, England, (939-46), died.
(SC, 5/25/02)
955 King Eadwig failed to
appear at his coronation feast. Dunstan, chronicler of the event,
found him cavorting with a young lady and her mother.
(WSJ, 1/29/99, p.W7)
978 Mar 18, Edward the Martyr
(15), King of Anglo-Saxons (975-78), was murdered.
(MC, 3/18/02)
979 Apr 14, There was a
challenge to throne of King Aethelred II, the Unrede (Unready), of
England (979-1016). He attempted to buy peace with from Scandinavian
invaders and called for England’s 1st general tax, the Danegeld.
Some 140,000 pounds of silver was paid in tribute.
(WSJ, 5/24/01, p.A20)(MC, 4/14/02)
988 May 19, Dunstanus, English
archbishop of Canterbury, died.
(MC, 5/19/02)
994-1035 Life of Canute, later King of England,
Denmark and Norway.
(AHD,1971, p.198)
995-1030 Olaf Haraldsson, aka Saint Olaf, the
patron saint of Norway. He was king from 1016-1029. He and a crew of
Vikings attacked London and pulled down the London Bridge with
ropes. This is remembered in the nursery rhyme "London Bridge is
falling down..."
(WUD, 1994, p.1002)(SFC, 8/23/97, p.E3)
c1000 The Vikings established a
thriving economy in the town they called Jorvik. It had been founded
by the Romans as a fortress and later came to be called York.
(SFEC,10/26/97, p.T4)
1000 A divided England, ruled
by Ethelred the Unready, was in a state of intermittent warfare with
the Vikings, who controlled much of the realm.
(SFC, 4/23/01, p.E1)
1000CE In 1999 Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger
published "The Year 1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the
First Millennium." It focused on life in England and used the Julius
Work Calendar as a major source.
(WSJ, 1/29/99, p.W7)
c1000-1200 The 11th or 12th century document "De
Mirabilibus Brittanniae" (the Wonders of Britain) was written by
Radulfi de Diceto Lundoniensis.
(AM, 9/01, p.42)
1002 Nov 13, English king
Ethelred II launched a massacre of Danish settlers.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethelred_the_Unready)
c1002-1066 Edward the Confessor, English king
(1042-1066), saint and founder of Westminster Abbey.
(WUD, 1994, p.454)
1014 Feb 3, Sweyn Forkbeard
(b.960), Danish-born Viking king of England (1013-14), died.
(www.nndb.com/people/718/000093439/)
1014 Apr 23, The Battle of
Contarf ended Danish rule in Ireland but a Dane killed Irish King
Brian Boru (87).
(PCh, 1992, p.80)(MC, 4/23/02)
1016 Apr 23, Ethelred II "the
Unready", king of England (979-1016), died.
(MC, 4/23/02)
1016-1035 Canute the Great of Denmark became King
of England.
(AHD, 1971, p.198)
1018-1035 Canute the Great becomes King of Denmark
as well as King of England.
(AHD, 1971, p.198)
1035 Nov 12, King Canute
(b.994) died at age 39. He was king of Denmark, England and Norway
(1014-1035).
(HN, 11/12/98)(MC, 11/12/01)
1040 Mar 7, Harold I, King of
England (1035-40), died.
(MC, 3/7/02)
1042-1066 Edward the Confessor (b.1002) served as
King of England. Monks penned the manuscript "The Life of King
Edward the Confessor" and in 1998 it was put on a WWW page:
www.lib.cam.ac.uk/MSS/Ee3.59
(WUD, 1994, p.454)
1043 Apr 3, Edward the
Confessor was crowned king of England.
(MC, 4/3/02)
1057 Jul 10, Lady Godiva rode
naked on horseback throughout Coventry on a dare from her husband,
the Earl of Mercia, who abolished taxation in this year.
(MC, 7/10/02)
1057 Aug 31, Leofric, count of
Mercia and husband of Lady Godiva, died. His wife, the Countess
Godgifu (Godiva), had founded a Benedictine priory on a hill
overlooking the River Sowe, and the town of Coventry grew up around
it. The priory probably ran a market that would have formed the
nucleus of the growing town. Such a market would bring fees and
taxes to the priory and the Earl while flooding the district with
goods and money. Godiva may well have ruled the settlement between
Leofric’s death and her own in 1066.
(HNC, 12/2/00)(MC, 8/31/01)
1060 England minted a coin
shaped like a four-leaf clover. Users broke off each leaf as needed
as a separate piece of currency.
(SFC, 6/30/96, Z 1 p.5)(SFEC, 8/1/99, Z1 p.8)
1061 Apr 24, Halley's Comet
inspired an English monk to predict that England would be destroyed.
(MC, 4/24/02)
1065 Dec 28, Westminster Abbey
opened in London.
(MC, 12/28/01)
1066 Jan 5, Edward the
Confessor, king of England (1043-66), died.
(MC, 1/5/02)
1066 Jan 6, Harold
Godwinson, Earl of Wessex, was crowned King of England.
(TLC, BTCW, 6/25/95)(HN, 1/6/99)
1066 Mar 23, The 18th recorded
perihelion passage of Halley's Comet. Haley’s Comet was seen and
soon after depicted on the Bayeux Tapestry. The 230-foot tapestry
was created by craftsmen working for a Norman Bishop to depict the
1066 Norman invasion. In 2005 Andrew Bridgeford authored “1066: The
Hidden History in the Bayeux Tapestry.”
(SS, 3/23/02)(NH, 7/98, p.78)(WSJ, 4/22/05, p.W6)
1066 Sep, Duke William of
Normandy sailed with 12,000 men to capture the English crown. His
fleet encountered a severe storm that disrupted his landing.
1066 Sep, Harold Hardrata, King
of Norway, sailed south with 10,000 men in 300 ships to attack
England.
(TLC, Battles That Changed the World, 6/25/95)
1066 Sep 21, At the Battle at
Fulford Norway’s king Harald III Hardrada beat the British militia.
(MC, 9/21/01)
1066 Sep 25, King Harold
Godwinson II marched north and attacked the Vikings at the Battle of
Stampford Bridge in Yorkshire. The King of Norway was killed and
Harold’s forces destroyed the Vikings who returned to Norway in 24
of their 300 ships. Marching north to face a Norwegian invasion
force commanded by King Harald Sigurdsson, aka Hardraade, and by his
usurper brother, Tostig, Harold Godwinson defended his crown at
Stamford Bridge, resulting in a Saxon victory and the deaths of both
Harald and Tostig. Soon afterward, however, Harold had to march
south to face another invading contender for his throne, Duke
William the Bastard of Normandy, who defeated and killed Harold at
Hastings on October 14, and took the English crown as William the
Conqueror.
(TLC, 6/25/95)
1066 Sep 25, Harald III
Hardrada (51), king of Norway and England (1047-66), died in battle.
Herald was later laid to rest in Waltham Abbey.
(MC, 9/25/01)(AP, 1/3/03)
1066 Sep 28, William the
Conqueror invaded England to claim the English throne.
(AP, 9/28/97)
1066 Oct. 2, The Normans landed
in southern England and King Harold was forced to march his men
south to face the Normans.
(TLC, Battles That Changed the World, 6/25/95)
1066 Oct 14, King Harold and
his army locked into a massive shield wall and faced Duke William,
William the Conqueror, and his mounted knights near the town of
Hastings, Battle of Hastings. Duke William planned a three point
attack plan that included a)heavy archery b)attack by foot soldiers
c)attack by mounted knights at any weak point of defense. The bloody
battle gave the name Sen Lac Hill to the battle site. The Normans
won out after Harold was killed by a fluke arrow. This placed
William on the throne of England.
(AP, 10/14/97)(HN, 10/14/98)
1066 Dec 25, William the
Conqueror (d.1087), Duke William of Normandy, was crowned king of
England. Under the reign of William I the construction of Windsor
Castle began.
http://members.tripod.com/~Battle_of_Hastings/Contents.html
(TLC, 6/25/95)(SFC, 5/25/96, p.A12)(AP,
12/25/97)(HN, 12/25/98)
1066 The Channel Islands, 35
miles off the coast of France, became possessions of the English
Crown when the Normans conquered England.
(SFC, 8/10/96, p.A10)
1066 In England prior to 1066,
hunting was virtually unrestricted. The Forest Laws, strictly
enforced by English kings starting in the 11th century, placed
restrictions on hunting, making it the sole privilege of the
nobility. Unauthorized slayers of the king’s deer were often put to
death.
(HNQ, 3/3/00)
1066 The Countess Godgifu
(Godiva) died. She had founded a Benedictine priory on a hill
overlooking the River Sowe, and the town of Coventry grew up around
it.
(HNC, 12/2/00)
1067 Chepstow Castle was built
in Wales to protect a strategic crossing of the River Wye and for
the defense of the Wye Valley near the English border by the troops
of William the Conqueror.
(SFEC, 5/25/97, p.T5)(SFEC, 5/10/98, p.T4)
1077 Windsor Castle was erected
by William the Conqueror to monitor travel on the Thames River.
(USAT, 11/19/97, p.2D)
1078 William the Conqueror
began work on the Tower of London. Henry III ordered it whitewashed
in 1240.
(NG, V184, No. 4, Oct. 1993, p.41)(Hem, 9/04,
p.28)
c1080 Windsor Castle began as
an earthwork-and-timber fortification by William the Conqueror.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R36)
1081 The House of Lords
originated under William the Conqueror.
(SFC, 10/27/99, p.A13)
1085 William the Conqueror
ordered the Domesday survey of English manor's production capacity
in order to collect taxes. The survey was completed in 1086.
(WSJ, 1/11/99,
p.R42)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesday_Book)
1086 Aug 1, English barons
submitted to William the Conqueror.
(MC, 8/1/02)
1087 Sep 9, William the
Conqueror, Duke of Normandy and King of England, died in Rouen while
conducting a war which began when the French king made fun of him
for being fat.
(HN, 9/9/00)
1089 May 28, Lanfrance,
Archbishop of Canterbury, died.
(MC, 5/28/02)
1093 Aug 12, In England the
foundation stone for Durham Cathedral was laid down. The main chapel
was completed in 1175. It served as the seat of the Bishop and the
church of the Benedictine monastery of Durham.
(SSFC, 12/14/08,
p.E4)(www.sacred-destinations.com/england/durham-cathedral.htm)
1093 Trade guilds were noted in
England.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R25)
1100 Aug 2, William II (44),
[Rufus], king of England, was shot dead in New Forest.
(MC, 8/2/02)
1100 The Tower of London took
in its 1st prisoner.
(Hem, 9/04, p.28)
1100-1200 Chretien de Troyes of France in the 12th
century introduced Camelot into the Arthurian legend and placed
Lancelot in the saga along with the quest for the Holy Grail.
(WSJ, 3/27/98, p.W10)
1100-1200 The wooden London Bridge was replaced by
a stone structure that carried traffic and included shops and
houses.
(SFEC, 6/11/00, p.A17)
1102 In England the Westminster
Council outlawed “the selling of men like brute animals.”
(ON, 12/08, p.8)
1106 Sep 28, King Henry I of
England defeated his brother Robert Curthose of Normandy at the
Battle of Tinchebrai and reunited England and Normandy. Robert
remained a prisoner until he died in 1134.
(HN, 9/28/98)(PC, 1992, p.90)
1109 Apr 21, Anselmus,
philosopher, archbishop of Canterbury, died.
(MC, 4/21/02)
1118 Dec 21, Thomas Becket
(d.1170), archbishop of Canterbury, was born (some sources say
1120). His close friend Henry II of England later ordered his
martyrdom.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Becket)
1120 Nov 25, Countess of
Perche, bastard daughter of English king Henry I, drowned along with
William (17), English crown prince and son of Henry I.
(MC, 11/25/01)
1124 The quality of English
silver coins improved after mint masters caught adultering coins had
their right hands cut off.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)
1133 Mar 25, Henry II, King of
England (1154-1189) , was born.
(HN, 3/24/98)
1135 Dec 1, Henry I Beauclerc
of England died and the crown was passed to his nephew Stephen of
Bloise. He had decreed that the standard linear measure of one foot
be a third the length of his arm which was 36 inches. He was the 1st
English king able to read.
(HN, 12/1/98)(SFEC, 2/14/99, Z1 p.8)(MC, 12/1/01)
1135 Dec 22, Stephen of Blois
was crowned the king of England.
(HN, 12/22/98)
1138 Aug 22, English defeated
Scots at Cowton Moor. Banners of various saints were carried into
battle which led to its being called Battle of the Standard.
(MC, 8/22/02)
1150 Mar 26, Tichborne family
of Hampshire, England, started tradition of giving a gallon of flour
to each resident to keep deathbed promise.
(SS, 3/26/02)
1151 Sep 7, Geoffrey
Plantagenet, earl of Anjou and duke of Normandy, died at 38.
(MC, 9/7/01)
1154 Oct 25, King Steven of
England (1135-54), died.
(MC, 10/25/01)
1154 Dec 19, Henry II of the
Angevin dynasty was crowned king of England.
(HN, 12/19/98)(WSJ, 3/10/99, p.A22)
1155 Jan, Sir Thomas Becket
(~1118-1170) was given the high office of Chancellor to the King,
Henry II.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Becket)
1157 Sep 8, Richard I, [Richard
the Lion Hearted], King of England (1189-99), was born.
(MC, 9/8/01)
1159 Sep 1, Adrian IV, [Nicole
Breakspear], only English pope (1154-59), died.
(MC, 9/1/02)
1162 May 23, Thomas Becket was
elected archbishop of Canterbury.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Becket)
1164 Jan 30, Henry II held a
council at the Clarendon hunting lodge and presented a document
called the Constitutions of Clarendon. In sixteen constitutions he
sought less clerical independence and a weaker connection with Rome.
Thomas Becket refused to sign.
(ON, 8/20/11,
p.2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Becket)
1164 Nov 2, Thomas Becket, the
archbishop of Canterbury, fled England and landed in Flanders.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.2)
1167 Feb 27, Robert of Melun,
English philosopher, bishop of Hereford, died.
(MC, 2/27/02)
1167 Dec 24, John "Lackland"
Plantagenet, King of England (1199-1216), was born.
(HN, 12/24/98)(MC, 12/24/01)
1170 Jun 14, Henry II of
England crowned his son as heir apparent in a ritual performed by
the archbishop of York.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.2)
1170 Dec 2, Thomas Becket,
archbishop of Canterbury, returned to Canterbury from France.
(ON, 8/20/11, p.3)
1170 Dec 29, Thomas Becket
(b.1117), archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered in Canterbury
Cathedral by 4 English knights. Barons had heard Henry II cry out,
"Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?"
(AP, 12/29/97)(HN,
12/29/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Becket)
1170 Henry II began replacing
the original timber structures of Windsor Castle with stone.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R36)
1170 Henry II sent his
Anglo-Norman barons to invade Ireland after he gained support from
the English pope.
(SFEM, 2/22/98, p.37)
1173 Feb 21, Pope Alexander III
canonized Thomas Becket (1117-1170) of Canterbury.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Becket)
1174 The earliest known English
horse races were held.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34)
1178 Jun 18, 5 Canterbury monks
reported an explosion on moon (only known observation). This is the
proposed time of origin of lunar crater Giordano Bruno.
(MC, 6/18/02)
1178 English raiders attacked
the Irish town of Clonmacnoise but spared the churches.
(SFEC, 8/1/99, p.T8)
1183 James Goldman wrote his
1966 play "The Lion in Winter," set in 1183 England. The 1968 film
"The Lion in Winter" focused on Henry II and his estranged wife,
Eleanor of Aquitaine, and their battle over succession. The 1834
opera by Gaetano Donizetti, "Rosmonda d’Inghilterra," was the
story of Rosamond Clifford, who was put in a tower by her lover King
Henry II, and offered death by dagger or poison by Queen Eleanor.
(SFC, 10/30/98, p.D4)(WSJ, 11/10/98, p.A20)(WSJ,
3/17/99, p.A24)
1189 Jan 21, Philip Augustus,
Henry II of England and Frederick Barbarossa assembled the troops
for the Third Crusade.
(V.D.-H.K.p.109)(HN, 1/21/99)
1189 Feb 6, Riots of Lynn in
Norfolk spread to Norwich, England.
(MC, 2/6/02)
1189 Jul 6, Henry II (56), King
of England (1154-89), died.
(SFC, 10/30/98, p.D4)(MC, 7/6/02)
1189 Sep 3, After the death of
Henry II, Richard Lionheart, King Richard I, was crowned king of
England in Westminster.
(AP, 9/3/97)(HN, 9/3/98)
1189 Sep 3, Jacob of Orleans,
Rabbi, was killed in the London anti Jewish riot in which 30
Jews were massacred.
(MC, 9/3/01)
1189 The first lord mayor was
elected in London.
(WSJ,3/13/95, p.A-1)
1190 Mar 16, The Crusades began
the massacre of Jews in York, England. The Jewish population of York
fled to Clifford’s Tower overlooking the rivers Ouse and Foss during
an anti-Jewish riot. A crazed friar set fire to the tower and rather
than be captured, the inhabitants committed mass suicide,
(SFEC,10/26/97, p.T5)(HN, 3/16/99)
1190 Mar 17, Crusaders
completed the massacre of Jews of York, England.
(MC, 3/17/02)
1190 Mar 18, Crusaders killed
57 Jews in Bury St. Edmonds, England.
(MC, 3/18/02)
1190 Emo of Friesland entered
Oxford and was later remembered as Oxford’s first recorded foreign
student.
(Econ, 8/7/10, p.13)
1191 May 12, Richard the
Lionheart married (Bernegaria) Berengaria of Navarre in Limassol,
Cyprus.
(NH, 4/97, p.62)(EofA, p.161)
1191 Jul 12, Richard Coeur de
Lion and Crusaders defeated the Saracens in Palestine.
(MC, 7/12/02)
1191 Aug 20, Crusader King
Richard I (1157-1199), Coeur de Lion (the "Lionheart"), executed
some 2,700-3,000 Muslim prisoners in Acre (Akko).
(MC, 8/20/02)
1192 Oct 9, Richard Coeur de
Lion left Jerusalem in disguise. [see Sep 21, 1192]
(MC, 10/9/01)
1192 Dec 20, English King
Richard I the Lion Hearted was captured in Austria on his return
from the Third Crusade. An entire year’s supply of wool from the
Cistercian and two other monasteries in England was promised as
ransom for the King. It was never paid in full.
(NG, 5.1988, pp. 569)(http://tinyurl.com/33kall)
1194 Feb 4, Richard I, King of
England, was freed from captivity in Austria with the payment of
Leopold VI's ransom of 100,000
(HN, 2/4/99)(ON, 8/07, p.9)
1194 Mar 13, Richard I, King of
England, landed at Sandwich and immediately prepared to march north
to recover his castles.
(ON, 8/07, p.9)
1194 Mar 27, The
Archbishop of Canterbury, on behalf of King Richard I, talked with
the rebels inside the castle at Nottingham, who soon surrendered.
(ON, 8/07, p.10)
1199 Apr 6, Richard I "the
Lion-hearted" (41), King of England (1189-99), died. Richard was
killed by an arrow at the siege of the castle of Chaluz in France.
(HN, 4/6/99)(MC, 4/6/02)
1199 King John of England was
crowned.
(ON, 7/04, p.1)
1202 The English again attacked
the Irish town and monastery at Clonmacnoise.
(SFEC, 8/1/99, p.T8)
1202 King John of England
proclaimed the 1st food law, the Assize of Bread. It prohibited the
adulteration of bread with ground peas.
(Econ Sp, 12/13/03, p.15)
1203 Arthur of Brittany, a
political rival of King John of England, died while being held
prisoner in one of John’s dungeons.
(ON, 7/04, p.1)
1204 France won back Normandy
but the people of the isle of Jersey chose to remain loyal to
England.
(Sky, 4/97, p.28)
1204 Apr 1, Eleanor of
Aquitaine (81), wife of Louis VII and Henry II, died.
(MC, 4/1/02)
1207 Oct 1, Henry III, king of
England (1216-72), was born.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1207)
1208 Mar 24, King John of
England opposed Innocent III on his nomination for archbishop of
Canterbury.
(HN, 3/24/99)
1209 King John of England was
excommunicated by Pope Innocent III.
(HN, 10/19/98)
1209 England’s Cambridge
University was established.
(AFP, 10/11/06)
1210 Nov 1, King John of
England began imprisoning Jews.
(MC, 11/1/01)
1213 May 15, King John
submitted to the Pope, offering to make England and Ireland papal
fiefs. Pope Innocent III lifted the interdict of 1208. He named
Stephen Langton Archbishop of Canterbury.
(HN, 5/15/99)(MC, 5/15/02)
1214 Jul 27, At the Battle of
Bouvines in France, Philip Augustus of France defeated John of
England.
(HN, 7/27/98)
1214?-1294? Roger Bacon, English philosopher and
scientist. He was imprisoned for alchemy in 1284.
(WUD, 1994, p.109)(HC, 1/9/98)
1215 Jan 6, King John met with
disgruntled barons of northern England who demanded that taxes be
lowered.
(ON, 7/04, p.1)
1215 Apr 19-26, During Easter
week English barons assembled an army of some 2,000 men near London
and demanded that King John address their call for tax relief.
(ON, 7/04, p.1)
1215 May 3, English barons led
their forces on an attack of Northampton Castle. Loyalists to King
John successfully defended the castle and the rebels returned to
London.
(ON, 7/04, p.2)
1215 May 12, English barons
served an ultimatum on King John (known as "Lack land").
(MC, 5/12/02)
1215 June 15, The Magna Carta
("the Great Charter") was adopted and sealed by King John, son of
Henry II, at Runnymede, England, granting his barons more liberty.
King John signed the Magna Carta, which asserted the supremacy of
the law over the king, at Runnymede, England. Commercial clauses
protected merchants from unjust tolls.
(CFA, '96, p.48)(HFA, '96, p.32)(AP, 6/15/97)(HN,
6/15/98)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R49)
1215 Aug 24, Pope Innocent III,
following a request from King John, declared the Magna Carta
invalid. The barons of England soon retaliated by inviting King
Philip of France to come to England. Philip accepted the offer.
(MC, 8/24/02)(ON, 7/04, p.2)
1215-1216 King John avoided rebel forces in the
south but marched his army across the countryside subduing
adversaries in the north, east and west. Scottish and Welsh armies
raided the English borders.
(ON, 7/04, p.2)
1216 Oct 19, John, King of
England (1199-1216) died at Newark at age 49. He signed the Magna
Carta and was excommunicated in 1209. King John was succeeded by his
nine-year-old son Henry. The Royal Menagerie was begun during the
reign of King John.
(HN, 10/19/98)(SFEC, 10/10/99, p.T3)
1216 Oct 28, Henry III of
England (9) was crowned. Regents led him to agree to the demands
made by the barons at Runnymede. Prince Louis, repudiated by the
barons, returned to France.
(HN, 10/28/98)(ON, 7/04, p.2)
1217 Feb 18, Alexander Neckum
de Sancto Albano (59), English encyclopedist, died.
(MC, 2/18/02)
1220 Construction began on the
English Cathedral of Salisbury. It was inaugurated in 1258.
(MC, 9/20/01)(Econ, 12/20/03, p.29)
1226 The first recorded
rendition of the Horn Dance took place near the town of Abbots
Bromley. A dozen male dancers in Staffordshire traditionally
performed the dance once a year in early September. The dance, an
Old English pagan ritual, used horns from reindeer that dated to
about 900.
(SFC, 9/4/10, p.A1)(SFC, 9/7/10, p.C2)
1235 Henry III received 3
leopards from Frederick II, the Holy Roman Emperor. They became part
of the Royal Menagerie housed in the Tower of London.
(SFEC, 10/10/99, p.T3)
1236 Jan 14, Henry III married
Eleanor of Provence.
(HN, 1/14/99)
1239 Jun 17, Edward I
(Longshanks), king of England (1272-1307), was born. He became king
of England following the death of his father Henry III. Edward I has
been called "the English Justinian" because of his legal reforms,
but is usually known as one of the foremost military men of the
medieval world. His rule strengthened the authority of the crown and
England’s influence over her neighbors. While successfully subduing
Wales he died while attempting to conquer Scotland.
(HN, 6/17/00)(HNQ, 2/1/01)
1240 Nov 26, Edmund Van
Abingdon, archbishop of Canterbury and Saint, died.
(MC, 11/26/01)
1240 Henry III ordered the
Tower of London to be whitewashed.
(Hem, 9/04, p.28)
1243 A Charter granted
permission for a fair at the monastery of St. Michael at Glastonbury
Tor.
(Local Inscription, 2000)
1247 Nov 22, Robin Hood died
according to the 1400 ballad "A Lytell Geste of Robyn Hode." The
legend of Robin Hood is believed to extend into antiquity.
(MC, 11/22/01)(SFC, 2/17/04, p.A2)
1249 Oxford’s first college,
University College, was founded by William of Durham. (The oldest
part of the existing buildings dates from 1634).
(Econ, 5/21/05, p.16)(http://tinyurl.com/c6eny)
1250 Newbridge, the 2nd oldest
bridge over the Thames, was built.
(SFEC, 8/20/00, p.T1)
1252 The new "Round Table"
jousting tournament appeared in England.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34)
1258 Sep 20, The Cathedral of
Salisbury, begun in 1220, was inaugurated.
(MC, 9/20/01)(Econ, 12/20/03, p.29)
1264 May 14, The Baron's War
was fought in England. King Henry III was captured by his brother in
law Earl of Leicester Simon de Montfort at the Battle of Lewes in
England.
(HN, 5/14/99)(PC, 1992, p.113)
1265 Jan 20, The 1st English
Parliament was called into session by Earl of Leicester.
(MC, 1/20/02)
1265 Jan 23, The 1st English
Parliament formally convened.
(MC, 1/23/02)
1265 Aug 4, King Henry III in
the Battle at Evesham put down a revolt of English barons lead by
Simon de Montfort. Montfort, the English earl of Leicester, died in
the battle.
(HN, 8/4/98)(MC, 8/4/02)
1271 Nov 16, Henry III
(b.1207), king of England (1216-71), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_III_of_England)
1272 Nov 21, Edward I was
proclaimed King of England.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_I_of_England)
1274 Upon Edward‘s succession
to the English throne, he demanded Llywelyn ap Gruffydd pay homage
to him before he recognized him as Prince of Wales.
(HNQ, 7/14/00)
1275 May 23, King Edward I of
England ordered a cessation to the persecution of French Jews.
(MC, 5/23/02)
1275 There was an earthquake at
Glastonbury.
(Local Inscription, 2000)
1276 Nov 12, Suspicious of the
intentions of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, the Prince of Wales, English
King Edward I resolved to invade Wales. Edward decided to force
Llywelyn ap Gruffydd into submission. Edward was aided by Llywelyn's
brother Daffydd ap Gruffydd and Prince Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn of
Powys—both of whom Llywelyn had expelled for plotting his
assassination.
(HNQ, 7/14/00)(HN, 11/12/00)
1277 King Edward of England
invaded Wales. Edward was aided by Llywelyn ap Gruffydd’s brother
Daffydd ap Gruffydd and Prince Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn of Powys—both
of whom Llywelyn had expelled for plotting his assassination.
(HN, 2/17/99)(HNQ, 7/14/00)
1278 May 10, Jews of England
were imprisoned on charges of coining. [see Nov 17]
(MC, 5/10/02)
1278 Nov 17, In England 680
Jews were arrested for counterfeiting coins. 293 were hanged. [see
May 10]
(MC, 11/17/01)
1284 Apr 25, Edward II, king of
England (1307-1327), was born.
(HN, 4/25/02)
1284 In England the eldest son
of Edward I became the Prince of Wales.
(SFC, 7/23/97, p.A10)
1290 Jul 12, Jews were expelled
from England by order of King Edward I.
(MC, 7/12/02)
1290 Oct 9, Last of 16,000
English Jews, expelled by King Edward I, left. The country was on
the verge of bankruptcy. The debt to Jewish bankers was written off
and all Jews were expelled from England. The Medicis and other
northern Italian bankers were invited as a replacement.
(SFEC, 6/22/97, BR p.3)(MC, 10/9/01)
1290 William of Ockham
(d.1349), English Franciscan scholastic philosopher, was born. He
became known for the maxim called Occam’s Razor (Ockham’s razor):
"Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem." (Entries should
not be multiplied unnecessarily). A modern version of this principle
of logic might be: "The simpler, the better." [see 1349]
(V.D.-H.K.p.123)(WUD, 1994 p.996)(AP,
2/4/99)
1291 May 10, Scottish nobles
grudgingly recognized the authority of English king Edward I.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1296 Apr 27, England’s King
Edward I defeated the Scots at the Battle of Dunbar. He deposed King
John and exiled him to France.
(HN, 4/27/99)
1296 England's King Edward I
invaded Scotland but his army was defeated by Scotsman William
Wallace. After a series of battles England regains some control over
Scotland.
(Reuters, 2/16/12)
1296 King Edward I of England
stole the 458-pound Stone at Scone from Scotland. It was returned to
Scotland in 1996.
(SFC, 11/16/96, p.A11)
1297 Sep 11, Scots under
William Wallace "Braveheart" defeated the English army at Stirling
Bridge, Scotland. The 1995 epic film Braveheart dramatized the life
of 13th-century Scot William Wallace. While many Scots and others
praised the film for reviving the legend of the Scottish hero, just
as many people criticized the film for its numerous historical
inaccuracies. For instance, the Battle of Stirling Bridge is an
excellent example of Wallace’s military genius and what led him to
being knighted in the film and real life. However, in the film, the
battle takes place on an open field. (Reportedly, when a local asked
actor/director Mel Gibson why the battle was being filmed with such
an obvious discrepancy, Gibson explained that the bridge got in the
way. The local responded, "Aye. That’s what the English found!") In
addition, one of the film’s most intriguing twists is pure Hollywood
invention. A calendar puts the lie to the tale of Wallace’s affair
with Princess Isabella, wife of Prince Edward II, and his fathering
of her child. Isabella and Edward II married in 1307, two years
after Wallace’s execution. Her son, Edward III, was born in the
years that followed.
(WSJ, 9/9/97, p.A1)(HN, 9/11/98)(HNQ, 3/19/01)
1297 Sep 11, Hugh de
Cressingham, English treasurer, died in battle.
(MC, 9/11/01)
1298 Jul 22, King Edward I
combined bowmen and cavalry to defeat William Wallace's Scots at
Falkirk.
(HN, 7/22/98)
1300s England recruited Flemish
weavers with promises of "good beer, good food, good bed and good
bedfellow."
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R25)
1300-1400 In the 14th century "The Dunmow Flitch"
prize was awarded in Dunmow, Essex, England, to any couple who could
come after a year of marriage and truthfully swear that they never
quarreled and did not regret the marriage and would do it over
again.
(SFC, 12/26/96, p.C16)
1303 May 20, France returned
Gascony to England’s Edward I.
(HN, 5/20/98)(PC, 1992 ed, p121)
1303 The avoirdupois pound was
invented by London merchants. As of 1959 the international pound,
abbreviation "lb" or sometimes # in the US, became the mass unit
defined as exactly 0.45359237 kilogram (or 453.59237 grams).
(www.spiritus-temporis.com/pound/measurement-systems.html)(http://tinyurl.com/8j8cp8)
1305 Aug 23, Scottish patriot
William Wallace was hanged, drawn, beheaded, and quartered in
London.
(HN, 8/23/98)
1306 English forces defeated
Scottish forces under Robert Bruce at Methven near Perth. Bruce
escaped to Rathlin Island.
(ON, 2/08, p.6)
1307 May 10, Forces under
Robert Bruce of Scotland defeated the English at Loudoun Hill. Over
the next few years Bruce gained control over much of the Scottish
countryside.
(ON, 2/08, p.6)
1307 Jul 7, Edward I (b.1239),
King (Longshanks) of England (1272-1307), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_I_of_England)
1307 Edward II ascended the
English throne and had his former tutor, Piers Gaston, brought back
to England and made him the Earl of Cornwall.
(www.stonewallsociety.com/famouspeople/king.htm)
1308 Feb 25, Edward II was
crowned King of England.
(AP, 2/25/07)
1308 Princess Isabella (12)
married England’s King Edward II (23). In 2005 Alison Weir authored
“Isabella: She-Wolf of France, Queen of England.
(Econ, 9/10/05, p.81)
1309 In Hoo, England, a girl
was decapitated an buried in unconsecrated ground beside St.
Werburgh parish church about this time. Her head a body were found
by archeologists in 2007 and she was reburied in the main
churchyard. Experts believed she may have been executed or committed
suicide and then decapitated. The ritual was sometimes done during
medieval times to deny Christians eternal life.
(AP, 3/14/09)
1310 English forces under
Edward II crossed into Scotland to regain control of the territory.
(ON, 2/08, p.6)
1312 Jun 19, Piers Gaveston,
earl of Cornwall, was beheaded.
(MC, 6/19/02)
1312 Nov 13, Edward III, King
of England (1327-77), was born. He later raped the countess of
Salisbury.
(WUD, 1994 p.454)(HN,
11/13/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_III_of_England)
1312 Scots under Robert Bruce
attacked Perth, held by the English, and gained control of the city
and castle.
(ON, 2/08, p.6)
1314 Jun 24, King Robert I
(Robert the Bruce) of Scotland with 6,000 men and 500 horses routed
English King Edward II with his army of 20,000 at Bannockburn. Bruce
secured Scotland’s independence from England and ruled until his
death in 1329. A film "The Bruce" was made in 1995 on a $500,000
budget.
(AP,
6/24/97)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bannockburn)(ON,
2/08, p.7)
1314 England banned football
(soccer) for being too violent.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R34)
1327 Jan 7, Edward II of
England was deposed. [see Jan 20, Feb 1]
(HN, 1/7/99)
1327 Jan 20, Edward II of
England was deposed by his eldest son, Edward III. [see Jan 7, Feb
1]
(HN, 1/20/99)
1327 Jan 25, King Edward III
inherited the British throne. [see Jan 7,20]
(MC, 1/25/02)
1327 Feb 1, Edward III was
crowned King of England. [see Jan 7,20]
(HN, 2/1/99)
1327 Sep 21, Edward II of
England, a homosexual, was murdered by order of his wife, Queen
Isabella and Baron Robert Mortimer.
(HN,
9/21/98)(www.stonewallsociety.com/famouspeople/king.htm)
1328-1384 John Wycliffe, English theologian and
biblical translator. He was posthumously declared a heretic and his
body was exhumed for burning in 1428.
(WSJ, 4/4/01, p.A18)
1330 Jun 15, Edward the Black
Prince, the eldest son of Edward III and Prince of Wales
(1343-1376), was born. He was the first Duke created in England, the
Duke of Cornwall.
(HN, 6/15/99)(MC, 6/15/02)
1337-1453 The Hundred Years War was a series of
wars between England and France in which England lost all
possessions in France except Calais.
(WUD, 1994, p.693)
1339 King Edward III of England
repudiated his debt to Florentine bankers.
(Econ, 1/24/09, p.79)
1340 Jun 24, The English fleet
defeated the French fleet at Sluys, off the Flemish coast.
(HN, 6/24/98)
1343 The Peruzzi Bank, Europe's
biggest, collapsed following risky loans to English kings.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)
1343 Geoffrey Chaucer (d.1400),
English author, poet and diplomat, was born about this time.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Chaucer)(WSJ, 9/18/00, p.A36)
1346 May, Edward III called for
a fleet of 1000 ships and an army of 10,000 knights and soldiers to
assemble at Portsmouth for an attack on his distant cousin, Philip
VI of France.
(ON, 9/00, p.1)
1346 Jul 12, Edward III landed
his army on the Normandy beaches unopposed.
(ON, 9/00, p.1)
1346 Jul 18, Edward III divided
his army into 3 groups and began a march on Paris.
(ON, 9/00, p.2)
1346 Aug 16, Philip VI offered
Edward III sovereignty over Aquitaine in return for peace. Edward
rejected the offer and learned that Philip had raised an army of
36,000 that included 15,000 Genoese crossbowmen. Edward marched
toward Flanders in order to meet with allies.
(ON, 9/00, p.2)
1346 Aug 25, Edward III of
England defeated Philip VI's army at the Battle of Crecy in France.
The English overcame the French at the Battle of Crecy. The longbow
proved instrumental in the victory as French knights on horseback
outnumbered the British 3 to 1. At the end of the battle 1,542
French lords and knights were killed along with 20,000 soldiers. The
English lost 2 knights and 80 men. [see Aug 26]
(WSJ, 8/3/98, p.A12)(HN, 8/25/98)
1346 Aug 26, During the Hundred
Years War, King Edward III's 9,000-man English army annihilated a
French force of 27,000 under King Philip VI at the Battle of Crecy
in Normandy. The battle is regarded as one of the most decisive in
history. [see Aug 25]
(PC, 1992, p.128)(WSJ, 11/4/04, p.D10)
1346 Sep 3, Edward III of
England began the siege of Calais, along the coast of France.
(HN, 9/3/98)
1346 Sep 28, Edward III and
Philip VI signed a temporary truce. Their hostilities marked the
beginning of the Hundred Years War, which only ended in 1453.
(ON, 9/00, p.2)
1346 Oct 17, English forces
defeated the Scots under David II during the Battle of Neville's
Cross, Scotland.
(HN, 10/17/98)
1347 Aug 3, Six burghers of the
surrounded French city of Calais surrendered to Edward III of
England in hopes of relieving the siege.
(HN, 8/3/98)
1347 Aug 4, English troops
conquered Ft. Calais. After an 11 month siege, French Calais fell to
England's King Edward III. English rule lasted for more than two
centuries.
(WSJ, 11/6/95, p. A-1)(MC, 8/4/02)
1347-1350 The Black Death: A Genoese trading post
in the Crimea was besieged by an army of Kipchaks from Hungary and
Mongols from the East. The latter brought with them a new form of
plague, Yersinia pestis. Infected dead bodies were catapulted into
the Genoese town. One Genoese ship managed to escape and brought the
disease to Messina, Sicily. The disease quickly became an epidemic.
It moved over the next few years to northern Italy, North Africa,
France, Spain, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, Germany, the Low
countries, England, Scandinavia and the Baltic. There were lesser
outbreaks in many cities for the next twenty years. An estimated 25
million died in Europe and economic depression followed. In 2005
John Kelly authored “The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the
Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time.”
(NG, 5/88, p.678)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)(SSFC,
3/6/05, p.B1)(SFC, 10/13/11, p.A6)
1348 Apr 23, King Edward III of
England established the Order of the Garter, the first English order
of knighthood.
(AP, 4/23/97)(HN,
4/23/99)(www.royal.gov.uk/output/page490.asp)
1349 William of Ockham
(b.1290), English Franciscan scholastic philosopher, died. He
proclaimed that the only real things are singular entities like an
apple or man, and that universals have no existence whatever; they
are mere names. The divine and nature each has its own validity, but
the one is vastly more important that the other, with the one
determining salvation, and the other the mere comfort of the body
during its life. [see 1290]
(V.D.-H.K.p.123)(WUD, 1994 p.996)(AP,
2/4/99)
1350 In Northumberland Langley
Castle was built with 7-foot thick walls on a wooded estate.
(WSJ, 2/27/98, p.B8)
1351 The Statute of Treasons
was passed under which anyone who violated the wife of the heir to
the throne was guilty of high treason.
(WSJ, 5/23/96, p.A-10)
1355 Nov 1, During the
Hundred Years’ War (1337-1457) an English invasion army under Black
Prince Edward (25) landed at Calais.
(DoW, 1999, p.213)(PC, 1992 ed, p.131)
1356 Sep 19, In a landmark
battle of the Hundred Years' War, English Prince Edward defeated the
French at Poitiers. Jean de Clermont, French marshal, died in
battle.
(HN, 9/19/98)(MC, 9/19/01)
1360 Mar 15, French invasion
army landed on English south coast and conquered Winchel.
(MC, 3/15/02)
1361 England enacted its first
Corn Laws. They barred the export of corn in order to keep local
grain supplies cheap.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R50)
1364 May 20, Sir Henry Percy
(d.1403), [Harry Hotspur], British soldier, politician, and rebel
leader, was born.
(WUD, 1994, p.1069)(MC, 5/20/02)
1367 Jan 6, Richard II, son of
Edward the Black Prince, was born in Bordeaux. He served as king of
England from 1377-1399.
(HN, 1/6/99)(MC, 1/6/02)
1367 Apr 3, Birth of Henry
Bolingbroke, aka Henry of Lancaster and later Henry IV, King of
England (1399-1413) in Lincolnshire.
(MWH, 1994)
1367 Apr 3, John of Gaunt and
Edward the Black Prince won the Battle of Najara, in Spain.
(HN, 4/3/99)
1376 Apr 28, English parliament
demanded the supervision on royal outlay.
(MC, 4/28/02)
1376
Jun 8, Edward (b.1330), the "Black Prince" of Wales, son of King
Edward III of England and Queen Philippa of Hainault, died at
Westminster Palace, Middlesex.
(www.britannia.com/bios/royals/blckprnc.html)
1377 Jun 21, Edward III
(b.1312), King of England (1322-1377), died. Richard II, who was
still a child, succeeded his father. In 1966 H.J. Hewitt authored
"The Organization of War Under Edward III." In 1978 Richard Barber
authored "Edward, Prince of Wales and Aquitaine." In 1980 Michael
Prestwich authored "The Three Edwards: War and State in England
1272-1377." Lines of his 3rd and 4th sons, houses Lancaster and York
engaged in the Wars of the Roses. In 2006 Ian Mortimer authored “The
Perfect King: The Life of Edward III, Father of the English Nation.”
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R6)(ON, 9/00, p.2)(AM, 7/01,
p.69)(HN, 6/21/98)(Econ, 4/15/06, p.84)
1380 Henry Of Lancaster at 13
married Mary de Bohun, daughter and co-heiress of Humphrey, the last
Earl of Hereford.
(MWH, 1994)
1381 May 30, English peasant
uprising began in Essex.
(MC, 5/30/02)
1381 Jun 14, The Peasant’s
Revolt, led by Wat Tyler, climaxed when rebels marched on Jordan,
plundered, burned and captured the Tower of London and killed the
Archbishop of Canterbury. The revolt was a response to a statute
intended to hold down wages during a labor shortage. The peasant
demands also included access to privately owned land.
(HN, 6/14/98)(SFC, 6/21/99, p.A7)
1381 Jun 15, The English
peasant revolt was crushed in London and Wat Tyler, the rebel
leader, was beheaded.
(HN, 6/15/98)(MC, 6/15/02)
1381 England’s King Richard II
issued a grant specifying tolls from every ship entering London,
including "two roundlets of wyne" for any galley passing the Tower.
(AP, 7/18/09)
1381 When the peasant’s revolt
subsided England’s King Richard II (14) reneged on his promises to
the peasants, rounded up the surviving ringleaders and had them
executed.
(Econ, 11/26/05, p.96)
1382 John Wycliffe’s heresy
hearing was interrupted by an earthquake that toppled the tower of
Canterbury Cathedral.
(WSJ, 12/31/04, p.W6)
1384 Dec 31, John Wycliffe,
English religious reformer and bible translator, died.
(MC, 12/31/01)
1385 Aug 31, English King
Richard the Second invaded Scotland with a force estimated at
80-thousand men.
(MC, 8/31/01)
1386 The Earl of Suffolk,
Michael de la Pole, was the first person to be impeached along
modern lines of procedure.
(WSJ, 1/25/99, p.A19)
1387 Aug 9, Henry V, British
king famous for his victory at Agincourt, France, was born. [see Aug
29]
(HN, 8/9/98)
1387 Aug 29, Henry V,
king of England (1413-22) / France (1416-19), was born. [see Aug 9]
(MC, 8/29/01)
1387 Henry of Lancaster
supported his uncle Thomas, Duke of Gloucester, in an attack on the
government of Richard II.
(MWH, 1994)
1387-88 Henry of Lancaster was a participant in
the "Merciless" Parliament.
(MWH, 1994)
1389 Henry of Lancaster
rejoined King Richard II.
(MWH, 1994)
1390 Henry IV departed on a
Crusade to Lithuania and then to Jerusalem.
(MWH, 1994)
c1392 Sir Jean Froissart
authored "The Chronicles of England, France and Scotland."
(ON, 4/00, p.6)
1393 Henry of Lancaster
returned to England as a hero.
(MWH, 1994)
1394 Mary de Bohun, wife of
Henry of Lancaster, died. She and Henry had 4 sons and 2 daughters.
(MWH, 1994)
1397 Henry of Lancaster was
made Duke of Hereford and then banished from the realm for a
presumed conspiracy to murder the Duke of Gloucester.
(MWH, 1994)
1399 Aug 19, King Richard II of
England surrendered to his cousin Henry Bolingbroke (Henry IV).
Henry of Lancaster returned to England to claim his inherited lands.
He marched with an army into Briston and captured Richard II and
claimed the throne. [see Sep 29]
(MC, 8/19/02)
1399 Sep 29, Richard II
(1367-1400) of England signed his "Cession and Renunciation." His
cousin, Henry of Lancaster, declared himself king under the name
Henry IV. Richard had earlier introduced the lace handkerchief,
triple-taxed the citizenry and stole the estates of his relatives.
[see Sep 30, Oct 13]
(HN, 9/29/98)(SFEC, 10/29/00, Z1 p.2)
1399 Sep 30, British Parliament
accepted Richard II's "Cession and Renunciation." [see Sep 29]
(HN, 9/30/98)
1399 Oct 13, Henry IV of
England was crowned.
(HN, 10/13/98)
1399 Oct, Richard II was
imprisoned at Pontefract Castle, where he died 4 months later. [See
Feb 14,1400]
(MWH, 1994)(HN, 10/13/98)
1399-1413 The reign of Henry IV of England
(1367-1413). He was the first king of the House of Lancaster.
(WUD, 1994, p.1671)
1400 Feb 14, Richard II (33),
deposed king of England (1377-99), was murdered in Pontefract Castle
in Yorkshire.
(HN, 2/14/99)(MC, 2/14/02)
1400 Oct 25, Geoffrey Chaucer
(b.~1343), author (Canterbury Tales), died in London. In 1965
Charles Muscatine (1920-2010) authored “Chaucer and the French
Tradition: A Study in Style and Meaning.”
(AP, 10/25/97)(WSJ, 9/18/00, p.A36)(SFC, 3/16/10,
p.C5)
c1400 In Wales Owain Glyndwr
(Owen Glendower c1359-c1460) with followers led the warriors of
Gwynned in a bloody revolt against Henry IV. The event was marked by
a comet.
(SFEC, 6/22/97, p.D2)
1401 Feb 19, William Sawtree,
1st English religious martyr, was burned in London.
(MC, 2/19/02)
1401 In England King Henry IV
passed the medieval statute De Heretico Comburendo.
(MWH, 1994)
1402 The English Bedlam
institution, a former monastery whose named derived from Bethlehem,
began to house the poor and incurably mad. From 1728-1853 it was
presided over by a family of doctors all descended from James Monro.
On 2003 Jonathan Andrews and Andrew Scull published their 2-volume
study: "Undertaker of the Mind" and "Customers and patrons of the
mad-Trade," based on Monro’s Case Book.
(WSJ, 1/29/03, p.D10)
1403 Jul 21, Henry IV defeated
the Percys in the Battle of Shrewsbury in England. Henry IV fought
down an insurrection from Henry Percy, the Earl of Northumberland
and Ralph Neville, the Earl of Westmorland, the same men who had
helped him overthrow Richard II. Henry Percy (39), [Harry Hotspur]
was killed in the battle.
(WUD, 1994, p.1671)(MWH, 1994)(HN, 7/21/98)
1404 Sep 27, William of
Wykeham, chancellor and Bishop of Winchester, died.
(MC, 9/27/01)
1404 In Wales Owain Glyndwr
convened a parliament in Macchynlleth.
(SFEC, 6/22/97, p.D2)
1408 Feb 19, Henry IV led a
victory in the Battle of Brabham Moor that marked the end of
domestic threats. The revolt of Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland,
against King Henry IV, ended with his defeat and death at Brabham
Moor.
(MWH, 1994)(HN, 2/19/98)
1408 A law was enacted making
it illegal to translate any part of the scriptures into English. It
was declared a capital offense to possess an English Bible.
(WSJ, 12/22/94, A-20)(WSJ, 4/4/01, p.A18)
1413 Mar 20, Henry IV (b.1367),
King of England (1399-1413), died in the house of the Abbot of
Westminster. He was succeeded by Henry V (b.1387).
(AP,
3/20/97)(www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/henry_iv_king.shtml)
1414 Feb 19, Thomas Arundel,
archbishop of Canterbury, chancellor of England, died.
(MC, 2/19/02)
1415 Aug 13, King Henry V of
England took his army across the English Channel and laid siege on
the French port of Harfleur.
(ON, 6/08, p.9)
1415 Oct 25, An English army
under Henry V defeated the French at Agincourt, France. The French
had out numbered Henry’s troops, but Welsh longbows turned the tide
of the battle. The French force was under the command of the
constable Charles I d’Albret. Charles I d’Albret, son of
Arnaud-Amanieu d’Albret, came from a line of nobles who were often
celebrated warriors. His ancestors had fought in the First Crusade
(1096-99) and his father had fought in the Hundred Years War
himself--first for the English before joining the side of France.
Charles’ own exploits in the ongoing conflict came to an end at the
Battle of Agincourt. The decisive victory for the outnumbered
English saw the death of not only Charles, but a dozen other
high-ranking nobles as well. But Charles’ fate did not end the
Albrets as his descendants went on to become kings of Navarre, and
later, France. In 2005 Juliet Barker authored “Agincourt: The King,
the Campaign, and the Battle.”
(MH, 12/96)(HN, 10/25/98)(Econ, 10/22/05,
p.88)(ON, 6/08, p.10)
1415 Oct 25, Edward (b.1373),
duke of York, died at the Battle of Agincourt.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_of_Norwich,_2nd_Duke_of_York)
1415 In 2009 Ian Mortimer
authored “1415: Henry V’s Year of Glory.”
(Econ, 11/21/09, p.86)
1417-145 This period was covered by Juliet Barker
in her 2009 book: “Conquest: The English Kingdom of France
1417-1450.”
(Econ, 11/28/09, p.100)
1419 An English army under
Henry V captured the duchy of Normandy.
(ON, 6/08, p.11)
1420 May 21, King Charles VI of
France signed the Treaty of Troyes. It recognized all the
territorial gains of King Henry V, gave Henry the daughter of
Charles, Catherine of Valois, in marriage, and acknowledged Henry as
the legitimate heir to the French throne.
(ON, 6/08, p.11)
1420 Dec 1, Henry V, King of
England and de facto ruler of France, entered Paris.
(http://europeanhistory.about.com/od/famouspeople/a/personhenryveng_4.htm)
1421 Dec 6, Henry VI, the
youngest king of England, was born. He acceded the thrown at 269
days of age.
(HN,
12/6/02)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VI_of_England)
1422 Aug 13, William Caxton
(d.1491), 1st English printer, was born.
(http://en.thinkexist.com/birthday/August_13/)(WSJ, 5/12/05, p.D8)
1422 Aug 31, Henry V (b.1387),
King of England (1413-22) and France (1416-19), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_V_of_England)
1423 Dick Whittington (b.1354),
four times Lord Mayor of London, a Member of Parliament and a
sheriff of London, died and gave all his money to charity.
(Reuters,
11/26/11)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Whittington)
1428 Dec 22, Richard Neville
Warwick, 2nd earl of Salisbury, was born.
(MC, 12/22/01)
1428 John Wycliffe (1328-1384),
English theologian and biblical translator, was posthumously
declared a heretic and his body was exhumed for burning.
(WSJ, 4/4/01, p.A18)
1429 Apr 29, Joan of Arc led
French troops to victory over the English at Orleans during the
Hundred Years’ War. Legend has it that King Charles VII of France
had a suit of armor made for Joan at a cost of 100 war horses. In
1996 a suit of armor was found and proposed to be Joan’s armor.
(ATC, p.107)(SFC, 6/19/96, p.A10)(AP,
4/29/98)(HN, 4/29/98)
1429 May 7, English siege of
Orleans was broken by Joan of Arc.
(HN, 5/7/98)
1429 May 9, Joan of Arc
defeated the besieging English at Orleans.
(HN, 5/9/98)
1429 Nov 6, Coronation of Henry
VI, King of England.
(HN, 11/6/98)
1430 May 23, Joan of Arc was
captured by the Burgundians, who sold her to the English.
(AP, 5/23/97)(HN, 5/23/98)
1431 Dec 16, Henry VI of
England (10) was crowned King of France.
(HN, 12/16/98)(Econ, 11/28/09, p.100)
1434 Nov 24, The Thames River
froze.
(MC, 11/24/01)
1435 Sep 21, Treaty of Atrecht.
Philippe le Bon of Burgundy and French king Charles VII signed a
treaty at Arras. Philippe broke with the English and recognized
Charles as France’s only king.
(PCh, 1992, p.145)
1439 Jul 16, Kissing was banned
in England in order to stop germs from spreading.
(MC, 7/16/02)
1440 Eton, the top British
public school, was established by Henry VI.
(Hem, 4/96, p.68)
1442 Apr 20, Edward IV, King of
England (1461-83), was born. [see Apr 28]
(MC, 4/20/02)
1442 Apr 28, Edward IV was
born. He became king of England (1461-1470) and first king of the
House of York (1471-1483). [see Apr 20]
(HN, 4/28/02)
1443 Cardinal Beaufort
(1375-1447) lent the English monarchy funds to finance 300 ships to
carry 6 knights, 592 men-at-arms, and 3,949 archers to keep the
French at bay.
(Econ, 11/28/09,
p.100)(www.nashfordpublishing.co.uk/bishops/henry_beaufort.html)
1445 Charles VII introduced
France’s first standing army and within 2 years crushed the
overstretched English.
(Econ, 11/28/09, p.100)
1450 May 8, Jack Cade's
Rebellion-Kentishmen revolted against King Henry VI.
(HN, 5/8/98)
1450 Jul 12, Jack Cade was
slain in a revolt against British King Henry VI.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Cade)
1450 The Duke of York returned
to England from Ireland after having been banished there by Queen
Margaret.
(MH, 12/96)
1452 Oct 2, King Richard III,
of England (1483-85), was born.
(MC, 10/2/01)
1453 Jul 17, France defeated
England at the 1st Battle at Castillon, France, ending the 100
Years' War. [see Oct 19]
(HN, 7/17/98)
1453 Oct 19, In the 2nd Battle
at Castillon: France beat England, ending the hundred year
war. [see Jul 17]
(MC, 10/19/01)
1453 Henry VI, of the house of
Lancaster, suffered a nervous breakdown and Richard, the Duke of
York, was named protector.
(AM, 7/01, p.69)
1455 May 22, King Henry VI was
taken prisoner by the Yorkists at the Battle of St. Albans, the 1st
battle in the 30-year War of the Roses. The army of the Duke of York
met the army of Queen Margaret at the Battle of St. Alban’s. The 2nd
Duke of Somerset was killed as Yorkists briefly took possession of
King Henry VI.
(MH, 12/96)(HN, 5/22/99)(MC, 5/22/02)
1455-1485 The War of the Roses. During the war
Margaret of Anjou, wife of the feeble-minded King Henry VI, was head
of the House of Lancaster whose heraldic badge was a red rose. She
struggled against the House of York, whose badge was a white rose,
for the control of the government.
(MH, 12/96)
1457 Jan 28, Henry Tudor (later
Henry VII), 1st Tudor king of England (1485-1509), was born in
Pembroke Castle, Wales.
(www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/henry_vii_king.shtml)
1459 Oct, The Lancastrians
defeated the Yorkists at Ludford.
(AM, 7/01, p.69)
1460 Jun, Yorkist earls
returned and met Henry VI’s Lancastrian army at Northampton. Henry
was captured and taken to London to serve as a figurehead.
(AM, 7/01, p.69)
1460 Jul 10, Wars of Roses:
Richard of York defeated King Henry VI at Northampton.
(MC, 7/10/02)
1460 Sep, The Duke of York
returned from Ireland. The nobility would not allow his usurpation
of the crown but agreed to pass it to him on Henry’s demise.
(AM, 7/01, p.69)
1460 Dec 30, The English Duke
of York, Richard Plantagenet, was killed by Lancastrians at the
Battle of Wakefield. Queen Margaret hung his head over the gate of
the city.
(MH, 12/96)(HN, 12/30/98)(Econ, 12/18/10, p.111)
1460 In 2009 academic Julian
Luxford found a note written in Latin by a medieval monk about this
time that read when translated into English: "Around this time,
according to popular opinion, a certain outlaw named Robin Hood,
with his accomplices, infested Sherwood and other law-abiding areas
of England with continuous robberies."
(AP, 3/14/09)
1461 Feb 2-3, The English
houses of York and Lancaster battled at Mortimer’s Cross, the Battle
of the Three Suns. In the War of the Roses Edward of York defeated
the Welsh Lancastrians in the 2nd battle of St Alban's.
(MH, 12/96)(AM, 7/01, p.69)(MC, 2/2/02)
1461 Feb 17, The Houses of York
and Lancaster battled again at St. Alban’s. Queen Margaret defeated
the Earl of Warwick and freed Henry VI.
(MH, 12/96)(AM, 7/01, p.69)
1461 Mar 4, Henry VI was
deposed and the Duke of York was proclaimed King as Edward IV and
continued as King of England until 3 October 1470.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_IV_of_England)
1461 Mar 29, Edward IV secured
his claim to the English thrown in defeating Henry VI’s Lancastrians
at the battle of Towdon (Towton). Some 50,000 fought and an
estimated 28,000 were killed as the War of the Roses continued.
(AM, 7/01, p.69)(AM, 7/01,
p.68)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Towton)
1461 Jun 28, Edward IV was
crowned king of England.
(www.richardiiiworcs.co.uk/months/june.html)
1464 May 15, The English Houses
of York and Lancaster battled at Hexham. Among the Lancastrians the
3rd Duke of Somerset was killed.
(MH, 12/96)
1465 Feb 11, Elizabeth of York,
consort of King Henry VII, was born in London.
(MC, 2/11/02)
1465 The Nevill Feast at Cawood
Castle in Yorkshire, England. 2,500 people were entertained. The
guests ate over several days, 113 oxen, sic wild bulls, 1,000
sheep,2,00 each of geese, pigs, and chickens, 12 porpoises, and
4,000 cold venison pasties. Such a feast would show how many
fighting men a family could muster.
(N.G., Nov. 1985, M. Girouard, p.74)
1465 King Henry VI was captured
and imprisoned in the Tower of London.
(MH, 12/96)
1470 Mar 2, At Lose Coat Field
canon under Edward IV turned a group of Lincolnshire rebels into a
panicked mob.
(MH, 12/96)
1470 Sep, While Queen Margaret
was in France, Richard Neville, the Duke of Warwick, forced Edward
IV to flee to the Low Countries and Henry VI was re-instated as
king.
(MH, 12/96)
1470 Oct 9, Henry VI of England
was restored to the throne.
(HN, 10/9/98)
1470 Nov 1, Edward V, King of
England, was born. [see Nov 3]
(HN, 11/1/98)
1470 Nov 3, Edward V, King of
England (Apr 9-Jun 25 1483), was born. [see Nov 1]
(MC, 11/3/01)
1471 Mar, Edward IV returned to
England.
(MH, 12/96)
1471 Apr 11, King Edward IV of
England captured London from Henry VI in the War of the Roses.
(MC, 4/11/02)
1471 Apr 14, On Easter Sunday
Edward IV led an army of mercenaries and Yorkists at the Battle of
Barnet and defeated the Lancastrians under the Earl of Warwick.
Richard Neville Warwick (42), 2nd earl of Salisbury, was killed in
battle. Margaret of Anjou returned from France. With her son, the
Prince of Wales, she planned to join with Jasper Tudor, a Welsh
ally, and attack Edward west of London.
(MH, 12/96)(HN, 4/14/00)
1471 May 4, The Yorkists
defeated the Lancastrians in the Battle of Tewkesbury between the
English House of Lancaster and House of York. King Edward IV routed
the forces of ex-queen Margaret. The Lancastrian forces were led by
Edmund Beaufort, 4th Duke of Somerset. Edward, the 17-year-old
prince of Wales, was killed at the battle of Tewkesbury.
(MH, 12/96)(HN,
5/4/99)(www.britainexpress.com/History/battles/tewkesbury.htm)
1471 May 6, The 4th Duke of
Somerset and other Lancastrian nobles were beheaded at the
Tewkesbury marketplace after trial presided over by the Duke of
Gloucester, Constable of England.
(MH, 12/96)
1471 May 21, Henry VI, king of
England (1422-61, 70-71) and France (1431-71), was killed in the
tower of London and Edward IV took the throne.
(HN, 5/21/98)
1473/1474 The book "Recuyell of the Historyes of
Troye" was translated and printed from the French by William Caxton.
A copy sold in 1998 for $1.2 million.
(SFC, 7/9/98, p.A12)
1475 British fishermen lost
access to fishing grounds off Iceland due to a war in Europe. The
cod catch did not go down and it is presumed that they had
discovered the cod-rich waters off Newfoundland, whose discovery was
later attributed to John Cabot.
(SFEM, 11/15/98, p.23)
1476/1477 The first edition of Chaucer’s
Canterbury Tales (1387-1400) was printed by William Caxton. A copy
of the red, leather-bound edition sold at auction in 1998 for $7.5
million. In 1905 the Caxton Club in Chicago published the leaf book
“William Caxton” by E. Gordon Duff. Each book contained one of 148
leaves from a Caxton 1st edition of the Canterbury Tales.
(SFC, 7/9/98, p.A12)(WSJ, 5/12/05, p.D8)
1477 Nov 18, William Claxton
published the first dated book printed in England. "Dictes &
Sayengis of the Phylosophers," by Earl Rivers. It was a translation
from the French. [see 1473/1474]
(HN, 11/18/99)
1478 Feb 7, Sir Thomas Moore
(d.1535), English humanist, statesman and writer, was born in
London. He was best friend of Erasmus, and called by Erasmus: "a man
for all seasons." He studied law and rose to the post of lord
chancellor after the fall of Cardinal Wolsey. More would not accept
Henry VIII's divorce from Catherine of Aragon nor his subsequent
marriage to Anne Boleyn. The king had charges of treason filed and
More was beheaded on July 6, 1535. He was canonized in 1935. The
1966 film "A man for All Seasons" was based on his life. He is
famous for "Utopia."
(V.D.-H.K.p.160)(CU, 6/87)(WUD, 1994, p.931)(HN,
2/7/99)
1478 Feb 18, George, the Duke
of Clarence, who had opposed his brother Edward IV, was murdered in
the Tower of London. George underwent forced drowning in a wine
barrel ("A butt of Malmsey").
(HN, 2/18/99)(MC, 2/18/02)
1482 The border town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed ended up in English hands after changing hands 13
times in wars between England and the Scots.
(WSJ, 7/8/08, p.A14)
1483 Apr 9, Edward IV (b.1442),
King of England (1461-70, 71-83) died. His young sons, Edward and
Richard, were left in the protection of their uncle Richard, Duke of
Gloucester. He housed them in the Tower of London where they were
probably murdered on his orders.
(www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/edward_iv_king.shtml)
1483 Jun 25, The short reign of
Edward V (b.1470), king of England (Apr 9-Jun 25, 1483), ended. He
disappeared after being sent (ostensibly for safety) to the Tower of
London.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_V_of_England)
1483 Jun 26, Richard III, Duke
of Gloucester, usurped himself to the English throne.
(HN, 6/26/98)(MC, 6/26/02)
1483 Jul 6, England's King
Richard III was crowned.
(AP, 7/6/97)
1483 Nov 2, Henry
Stafford (b.1454), earl of Buckingham and constable of England, was
beheaded at Salisbury for his rebellion against King Richard III
(1452-1485).
(DoW, 1999, p.71)
1483 Dec 24, Leaders of the
English rebels swore fealty to Henry Tudor in the Cathedral of
Rennes in Brittany.
(ON, 12/06, p.1)
1485 Aug 1, Henry (VII) Tudor's
army set sail from Harfleur to Wales.
(ON, 12/06, p.1)
1485 Aug 7, Henry (VII) Tudor's
army landed in Milford Haven, South-Wales.
(ON, 12/06, p.1)
1485 Aug 22, Henry Tudor
defeated Richard III (32) at Bosworth. England's King Richard III
(1483-1485), the last of the Plantagenet kings, was killed in the
Battle of Bosworth. This victory established the Tudor dynasty in
England and ended the War of the Roses. 12 miles west of Leicester,
the forces of Richard III met the forces under Henry Tudor (later to
become Henry VII). Henry Tudor had returned from French exile on
August 7 at Milford Haven and assembled forces including two Yorkist
defectors, Thomas Stanley and his brother Sir William. These allies,
plus the defection of Henry Percy, the 4th earl of Northumberland
helped decide the outcome of the battle. Richard, whose forces had
taken position on Ambien Hill, died fighting in an attempt to get at
Henry Tudor himself.
(AP, 8/22/97)(HN, 6/26/98)(HN, 8/22/98)(HNQ,
8/22/00)
1485 Sep 3, Henry Tudor entered
London following his Aug 22 victory at Bosworth.
(ON, 12/06, p.4)
1485 Oct 30, Henry Tudor
(1457-1509) of England was crowned as Henry VII. This followed his
defeat of King Richard III at Bosworth Field on Aug 22.
(HN, 10/30/98)(DoW, 1999, p.66)
1485 Dec 16, Katherine of
Argon, first wife of Henry VIII, was born.
(HN, 12/16/98)
1485 Yeoman Warders, all men,
began patrolling the parapets and passages of the Tower of London.
They became known colloquially as Beefeaters because of the rations
of meat they were given during medieval times. In 2007 the 1st woman
joined their ranks.
(AP, 1/3/07)
1485-1603 The Tudor family ruled over England.
(WUD, 1994, p.1523)
1486 Jan 18, English King Henry
VII (1457-1509) married Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV.
This ended the Wars of the Roses.
(HN, 1/18/99)(ON, 12/06, p.4)
1487 Jun 16, Battle at Stoke:
Henry VII beat John de la Pole & Lord Lovell.
(MC, 6/16/02)
1488 Jul 28, Some 440 men from
the Isle of Wight declared war on France. They were crushed in the
Battle of St Aubin near Rennes. Over four hours some 5,000 Breton
soldiers were beaten and stabbed to death. According to legend, just
one lad made it back to the Island to pass on the appalling news.
(Econ, 2/19/11,
p.64)(www.iwbeacon.com/the-battle-of-st-aubin-1488.aspx)
1489 Feb 14, Henry VII and Holy
Roman Emperor Maximilian I ally to assist the Bretons in the Treaty
of Dordrecht.
(http://tudors.crispen.org/chronology/index.html)
1489 Jul 2, Thomas Cranmer,
first Protestant archbishop of Canterbury (1533-1556), was born.
(HN, 7/2/01)
1491 Jun 28, Henry VIII, King
of England (1509-1547) and founder of the Church of England, was
born at Greenwich. He later divorced four times. An inventory of his
wealth in 1547 estimated his wealth at £300,000 and his
military equipment at another £300,000.
(CFA, '96, p.48)(AP, 6/28/99)(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R8)
1491 Perkin Warbeck appeared in
Ireland and claimed to be the missing Duke of York, thought by many
to have been murdered by Richard III. After winning support in
France and Scotland, Warbeck's fortunes turned and he was captured
and executed in 1497.
(HNQ, 4/17/02)
1491 William Caxton (b.1422),
1st English printer (Histories of Troy), died.
(http://tinyurl.com/cj5dn)(WSJ, 5/12/05, p.D8)
1495 Nov 27, Scottish king
James IV received Perkin Warbeck (21), a pretender to the English
throne. James gave Warbeck, a Walloon, Lady Catherine Gordon in
marriage.
(MC, 11/27/01)(PCh, 1992, p.160)
1496 Mar 5, English king Henry
VII hired John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) to explore.
(MC, 3/5/02)
1497 May 2, John Cabot departed
for North America. [see Jun 24]
(MC, 5/2/02)
1497 Jun 24, Italian explorer
John Cabot (1450-1498?), (aka Giovanni Caboto), on a voyage for
England, landed in North America on what is now Newfoundland or the
northern Cape Breton Island in Canada. He claimed the new land for
King Henry VII. He documented the abundance of fish off the Grand
Banks from Cape Cod to Labrador.
(NH, 5/96, p.59)(WUD, 1994, p.206)(AP,
6/24/97)(HN, 6/24/98)
1497 Jul 26, "Edward IV's son"
Perkin Warbeck's army landed in Cork.
(MC, 7/26/02)
1497 Aug 6, John Cabot returned
to England after his first successful journey to the Labrador coast.
(HN, 8/6/98)
1497 Aug 10, John Cabot told
King Henry VII of his trip to "Asia."
(MC, 8/10/02)
1497 Sep 7, Sailor Perkin
Warbeck became [briefly] England’s King Richard I. Warbeck had
invaded Cornwall after failing to find support in Ireland. He was
soon forced to surrender and was imprisoned in the Tower of London.
(MC, 9/7/01)(PCh, 1992, p.161)
1497 Sep, Henry VII defeated
the Cornishmen at Blackheath. An insurrection in Cornwall had
developed over taxes to support English defenses against Scottish
invasion forces.
(PCh, 1992, p.161)
1497 Robert Fayrfax
(1464-1521), English royal composer, wrote one of 2 Magnificats that
survived to modern times. He was considered the most prominent and
influential composer during of the reigns of Kings Henry VII and
Henry VIII of England.
(SFC, 6/4/10,
p.F4)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Fayrfax)
1499 Nov 12, Perkin Warbeck,
Flemish sailor, was hanged for conspiring to escape from the tower
of London with the imprisoned earl of Warwick. [see Nov 23]
(PCh, 1992, p.162)
1499 Nov 28, Edward
Plantagenet, 18th Count of Warwick, was beheaded.
(MC, 11/28/01)
1501 Oct 15, English crown
prince Arthur married Catharina of Aragon. [see Nov 14]
(MC, 10/15/01)
1501 Nov 14, Arthur Tudor
married Katherine of Aragon. [see Oct 15]
(HN, 11/14/98)
1502 Apr 2, Arthur, English
crown prince, husband of Catharina of Aragon, died.
(MC, 4/2/02)
1503 Feb 11, Elizabeth of York
(b.1466), consort of King Henry VII, died on 38th birthday.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_of_York)
1503 Feb 18, Henry Tudor
created Prince of Wales (later Henry VIII).
(MC, 2/18/02)
1504 Apr 1, English guilds went
under state control.
(MC, 4/1/02)
1504 Aug 6, Matthew "Nosey"
Parker, archbishop of Canterbury, was born.
(MC, 8/6/02)
1505-1585 Thomas Tallis, English organist and
vocal composer, especially of church music.
(WUD, 1994, p.1450)
1508 Althorp was bought by John
Spencer, the ancestor of the 9th Earl Spencer, Princess Diana’s
brother. The estate in Great Brington was selected as the grave site
for Princess Diana in 1997. The Spencer family history was later
detailed in "The Royal Family and the Spencers: Two Hundred Years of
Friendship" by Nerina Shute; and "The Spencer Family History,
1817-1980" by O.M. Richards.
(SFC, 4/3/98, p.B2)(SFEC, 11/29/98, Par p.2)
1509 Apr 21, Henry VII
(b.1457), 1st Tudor king of England (1485-1509), died. In 2011 Allen
Lane authored “Winter King: The Dawn of Tudor England.”
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VII_of_England)(Econ, 9/24/11,
p.107)
1509 Apr 22, Henry Tudor became
King Henry VIII of England following the death of his father,
Henry VII. He soon married Catherine of Aragon, his brother’s widow
and the aunt of Charles V (the Holy Roman Emperor), and fathered
Mary, future Queen of England.
(V.D.-H.K.p.161)(AP, 4/22/08)
1509 Jun 11, England's King
Henry VIII married his 1st wife, Catherine of Aragon.
(AP, 6/11/97)(HN, 6/11/98)
1509 Jun 24, Henry VIII was
crowned king of England.
(AP, 6/24/97)(HN, 6/24/98)
1513 Aug 16, Henry VIII of
England and Emperor Maximilian defeated the French at Guinegatte,
France, in the Battle of the Spurs.
(HN, 8/16/98)
1513 Sep 9, James IV (40), King
of Scotland (1488-1513), was defeated and killed by English at the
Battle of Flodden Field. The Scottish navy was sold to France.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.10)(HN, 9/9/98)(MC, 9/9/01)
1514 Sep, Thomas Wolsey
(1473-1530) was appointed archbishop of York.
(TL-MB, p.10)
1514 Dec 4, Richard Hunne,
English "heretic", allegedly committed suicide.
(MC, 12/4/01)
1514 Hampton Court Palace was
begun for Wolsey.
(TL-MB, p.10)
1514 England and France
declared a truce in their warfare. Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII,
married Louis XII.
(TL-MB, p.10)
1515 Nov 15, Thomas Wolsey
(1473-1530), archbishop of York, was made a cardinal.
(http://www.britainunlimited.com/Biogs/Wolsey.htm)
1515 Dec 24, Thomas Cardinal
Wolsey was appointed English Lord Chancellor.
(MC, 12/24/01)
1516 Feb 18, Mary Tudor, later
Queen Mary I of England (1553-1558) and popularly known as "Bloody
Mary," was born in Greenwich Palace.
(HN, 2/18/98)(AP, 2/18/98)
1516 Thomas More published his
"Utopia," the "golden little book" that invented a literary-world
immune from the evils of Europe, where all citizens were equal and
believed in a good and just God. "Your sheep, which are usually so
tame and cheaply fed, begin now... to be so greedy and so wild that
they devour human beings themselves and devastate and depopulate
fields, houses, and towns." From More’s Utopia.
(V.D.-H.K.p.160)(NG, 5.1988, pp. 574)
1516 Corpus Christi College,
Oxford, was founded.
(TL-MB, p.11)
1518 Cardinal Wolsey arranged
the Peace of London between England, France, the Pope, Maximilian I
and Spain.
(TL-MB, p.11)
1518 Henry VIII authorized a
college of physicians and it was founded by Oxford physician Thomas
Linacre.
(TL-MB, p.11)
1519-1579 Sir Thomas Gresham, merchant prince. He
was a British banker and money-changer and served as the financial
agent for Elizabeth I. He ran a news service in the Netherlands to
keep informed of finances there and built the Royal Exchange of
London modeled on the Antwerp commodities exchange.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R8)
1520 Oct 15, King Henry VIII of
England ordered bowling lanes at Whitehall.
(MC, 10/15/01)
1520 A home for the master
shipwright of the royal dockyards was built in Deptford. It later
came to be called the Shipwright’s Palace.
(WSJ, 5/24/00, p.A24)
1520-1598 William Cecil. He later became the Lord
Treasurer and chief adviser for Queen Elizabeth I, for which he was
made Lord Burghley. He built the Burghley House.
(WSJ, 8/24/99, p.A16)
1521 Oct 11, Pope Leo X titled
King Henry VIII of England "Defender of the Faith" in recognition of
his writings in support of the Catholic Church. Henry had penned a
defense of the seven Catholic Sacraments in response to Martin
Luther‘s Protestant reform movement. By 1534, Henry had broken
completely with the Catholic Church, and the Pope‘s authority in
England was abolished.
(TL-MB, p.12)(HNQ, 8/12/00)(MC, 10/11/01)
1522 Sheep farmer John Spencer
began building the family home of Althorp in Northamptonshire.
(WSJ, 1/22/98, p.A1(WSJ, 1/22/98, p.A14)
1522 England declared war on
France and Scotland. Holy Roman Emp. Charles V visited Henry VIII
and signed the Treaty of Windsor. Both monarchs agreed to invade
France.
(TL-MB, p.12)
1523 Sep 19, Emperor Charles V
and England signed an anti-French covenant.
(MC, 9/19/01)
1523 Oct 27, English troops
occupied Montalidier, France.
(MC, 10/27/01)
1523 Anthony Fitzherbert
published the "Book of Husbandry," the first English manual of
agriculture.
(TL-MB, p.12)
1525 The bishop of London
recruited Augustine Packington as an agent in Antwerp to buy up all
copies of Tyndale’s translation of the New Testament. Packington, a
supporter of Tyndale, sent copies to London, where they were burned
and passed payments on to Tyndale, who used the money for a new
version of his work.
(www.tyndale.org/TSJ/17/cooper.html)(Econ,
12/20/08, p.103)
1525 William Tyndale
(1494-1536), English religious scholar, completed his translation of
the New Testament in Hamburg, Germany. It was published in Worms in
Spring 1526, and then smuggled to England.
(ON, 11/04,
p.2)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tyndale)
1526 William Tyndale published
the first complete version of the New Testament in English at Worms,
Germany. "Tyndale was the first translator of the biblical texts
from their original Greek and Hebrew into English."
(WSJ, 12/22/94, A-20)(WSJ, 11/19/96, p.A20)
1527 Apr 30, Henry VIII and
King Francis of France signed the treaty of Westminster.
(HN, 4/30/98)
1528 Jan 22, England &
France declared war on Emperor Charles V of Spain. The French army
was later expelled from Naples and Genoa.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.13)(MC, 1/22/02)
1528 England established its
first colony in the New World at St. Johns, Newfoundland.
(SFEC, 4/25/99, Z1 p.8)
1529 Jun 21, John Skelton (69),
English poet, died.
(MC, 6/21/02)
1529 Oct 17, Henry VIII removed
Cardinal Thomas Wolsey as Lord Chancellor for failing to secure an
annulment of his marriage.
(HN, 10/17/98)(PCh, 1992ed, p.176)
1529 Oct 21, Henry VIII of
England was named Defender of the Faith by the Pope after defending
the seven sacraments against Luther.
(HN, 10/21/98)
1529 Oct 26, Thomas More was
appointed English Lord Chancellor.
(MC, 10/26/01)
1529 Nov 3, The first
Reformation Parliament for five years opened in London, England and
the Commons put forward bills against abuses amongst the clergy and
in the church courts.
(HN, 11/3/99)(MC, 11/3/01)
1529 Nov 4, Thomas Wolsey,
English Lord Chancellor and cardinal, was arrested.
(MC, 11/4/01)
1530 Mar 7, King Henry VIII's
divorce request was denied by the Pope. Henry then declared that he,
not the Pope, is supreme head of England's church.
(MC, 3/7/02)
1530 Nov 29, Cardinal Thomas
Wolsey (55), former adviser to England's King Henry the VIII, died.
He had served as Lord Chancellor from 1514-1529. Wolsey had amassed
a fortune second only to that of the king.
(AP, 11/29/97)(PCh, 1992ed, p.176)
1530 In Antwerp William Tyndale
published his translation into English of the Pentateuch, the first
five books of the Old Testament, and shipped copies to England.
(WSJ, 12/22/94, A-20)(ON, 11/04, p.2)
1530 Jacobus Calchus, a
Carmelite friar, wrote a 34-page Latin treatise on whether a man
might marry the widow of his deceased brother. It was used to
bolster Henry VIII’s case to divorce Catherine of Aragon in favor of
Anne Boleyn.
(SFC, 5/14/02, p.A2)
1531 Jan 5, Pope Clemens VII
forbade English king Henry VIII to re-marry.
(MC, 1/5/02)
1531 Feb 11, Henry VIII was
recognized as the supreme head of the Church of England.
(HN, 2/11/97)
1532 Mar 18, English parliament
banned payments by English church to Rome.
(MC, 3/18/02)
1532 May 16, Sir Thomas More
resigned as English Lord Chancellor.
(MC, 5/16/02)
1532 Nov 15, Pope Clemens VII
told Henry VIII to end his relationship with Anne Boleyn.
(MC, 11/15/01)
1533 Jan 25, England's King
Henry VIII secretly married his second wife, Anne Boleyn (who later
gave birth to Elizabeth I) in a service performed by Thomas
Cranmer.
(AP, 1/25/98)(HN, 1/25/99)(PCh, 1992ed, p.177)
1533 Mar 30, Henry VIII made
Thomas Cranmer archbishop of Canterbury. Cranmer had advised Henry
that his 1509 marriage to Catherine of Aragon was null and void
because she had previously married Henry’s late brother Arthur, even
though that marriage was ever consummated.
(PCh, 1992ed, p.177)
1533 May 23, The marriage of
England's King Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon was declared null
and void.
(AP, 5/23/97)(HN, 5/23/98)
1533 Jun 1, Anne Boleyn, the
second wife of King Henry VIII, was crowned as Queen Consort of
England.
(AP, 6/1/08)
1533 Jul 11, Henry VIII, who
divorced his wife and became head of the church of England, was
excommunicated from the Catholic Church by Pope Clement VII.
(AP, 7/11/97)(HN, 7/11/98)
1533 Sep 7, Elizabeth I, Queen
of England, was born in Greenwich. She led her country during the
exploration of the New World and war with Spain which destroyed the
Spanish Armada. Elizabeth Tudor (d.1603), the daughter of Henry VIII
and Anne Boleyn, reigned as Queen of England from 1558 to 1603. She
went bald at age 29 due to smallpox.
(WUD, 1994, p.463)(SFC,10/18/97, p.E4)(AP,
9/7/97)(HN, 9/7/98)(MC, 9/7/01)
1533-1556 Thomas Cranmer was the archbishop of
Canterbury. In 1996 Diarmaid MacCulloch wrote his story: "Thomas
Cranmer."
(WSJ, 9/12/96, p.A14)
1534 Mar, England’s King Henry
VIII imposed the Oath of Royal Supremacy.
(www.newadvent.org/cathen/11177a.htm)
1534 Apr 17, Sir Thomas Moore
(d.1535) was jailed in the Tower of London.
(SFEC, 12/19/99, p.T3)(MC, 4/17/02)
1534 Apr 20, Elizabeth Barton,
[St Magd van Kent], British prophet, died.
(MC, 4/20/02)
1534 Nov 3, English Parliament
passed Act of Supremacy, making King Henry VIII head of the English
church, a role formerly held by the Pope. Henry VIII was declared
"the only supreme head in Earth of the Church of England." He
suppressed the monasteries, ordered Bibles burned and renounced
papal jurisdiction. He issued the Act of Supremacy which signified a
break with the Catholic Church of Rome.
(WSJ, 9/12/96, p.A14)(SFEC, 6/11/00, p.A30)(WSJ,
4/4/01, p.A18)(http://tinyurl.com/86a3z)
1534 Jan Van Wynkyn (Wynkyn de
Worde) published "Tullius Offyce," the 1st Latin-English dictionary.
He was the 1st printer in England to use italic type.
(SFEC, 6/11/00, p.A30)
1534 Britain passed a statute
that made buggery a capital offense.
(Econ, 2/11/12, p.82)
1535 Jan 15, Henry VIII
declared himself head of English Church. [see Oct 30, 1534]
(MC, 1/15/02)
1535 Jan, Thomas Cromwell sent
out his agents to conduct a commission of enquiry into the character
and value of all ecclesiastical property in the kingdom.
(HNC, 6/14/02)
1535 Apr 29, John Houghton,
English, was executed.
(MC, 4/29/02)
1535 May 21, Imperial
authorities in Antwerp captured and imprisoned William Tyndale for
heresy over his translation of the Bible into English.
(WSJ, 12/22/94,
A-20)(www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/bios/b2tyndalew.htm)
1535 Jun 22, John Fisher (65),
English bishop (1504-35), cardinal, saint, was beheaded by
Henry VIII.
(MC, 6/22/02)
1535 Jul 1, Sir Thomas More
went on trial in England for treason.
(MC, 7/1/02)
1535 Jul 6, Thomas More
(b.1478) was beheaded in England for treason, for refusing to
renounce the Catholic church in favor of King Henry VIII's Church of
England. More’s sentence to death by hanging was commuted to
beheading. He was canonized by the Catholic Church in 1935. In 1966
Robert Bolt authored the play "A Man for All Seasons" based on
More’s struggle with Henry. In 1998 Peter Ackroyd published "The
Life of Thomas More." Pope John Paul II named More as the patron
saint of politicians in 2000.
(V.D.-H.K.p.161)(AP, 7/6/97)(HN, 7/6/98)(WSJ,
10/22/98, p.A20)(WSJ, 11/7/00, p.A27)
1535 Aug 31, Pope Paul III
deposed & excommunicated King Henry VIII.
(YN, 8/31/99)
1535 Oct 4, The 1st full
English translation of the Bible was printed in Switzerland. Miles
Coverdale’s translation of the Bible into English (from Dutch and
Latin) was the first complete version in English and was dedicated
to Henry VIII.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.15)(MC, 10/4/01)
1536 Apr 14, English king Henry
VIII expropriated minor monasteries.
(MC, 4/14/02)
1536 May 2, King Henry VIII
accused Anna Boleyn of adultery, incest, and treason. [see May 15,
May 19]
(MC, 5/2/02)
1536 May 6, King Henry VIII
ordered a bible placed in every church.
(MC, 5/6/02)
1536 May 10, Thomas Howard, 4th
duke of Norfolk, English Earl Marshall, was born.
(MC, 5/10/02)
1536 May 15, Anna Boleyn and
Lord Rochford were accused of adultery, incest, treason. [see May 2,
May 19]
(MC, 5/15/02)
1536 May 17, Anne Boleyn's 4
"lovers" were executed.
(MC, 5/17/02)
1536 May 19, Anne Boleyn, the
second wife of England's King Henry VIII, was beheaded after she was
convicted of adultery and incest with her brother, Lord Rochford,
who was executed two days before.
(AP, 5/19/97)(DTnet 5/19/97)
1536 May 30, English king Henry
VIII married Jane Seymour (wife #3).
(MC, 5/30/02)
1536 May, English poet Thomas
Wyatt was imprisoned in the Tower of London for allegedly committing
adultery with Anne Boleyn.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Wyatt_(poet))
1536 Jul 18, The authority of
the pope was declared void in England.
(AP, 7/18/97)
1536 Oct 6, William Tyndale
(b.1494), the English translator of the New and Old Testament, was
burned at the stake at Vilvoorde Castle (Belgium) as a heretic by
the Holy Roman Empire.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Tyndale)
1536 Nov 13, Robert Packington
(d.1536), a mercer in London and brother of Augustine Packington,
was shot and killed. Packington had spoken against the covetousness
and cruelty of the clergy in the House of Commons.
(www.tyndale.org/TSJ/17/cooper.html)
1536 Although English conquest
of Wales took place under the 1284 Statute of Rhuddlan, a formal
Union did not occur until 1536, shortly after which Welsh law, which
continued to be used in Wales after the conquest, was fully replaced
by English law under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535-1542. There was
another Act of Union in 1542.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wales)(SFC,
7/23/97, p.A10)
1536 Hyde Park was seized from
the monks at Westminster Abbey by Henry VIII and preserved as forest
for the royal hunt.
(SFEM, 3/21/99, p.8)
1536 Robert Aske led an
uprising of some 30,000 people against the dissolution of the
monasteries in the northern counties of England. It ended a year
later with the arrest and hanging of Aske.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.15)
1537 Oct 12, Edward IV, King of
England (1547-53), was born. He was the only son of Henry VIII by
his third wife Jane Seymour.
(HN, 10/12/98)(MC, 10/12/01)
1537 Oct 13, Jane Grey, Queen
of England for 9 days, was born.
(MC, 10/13/01)
1537 Oct 24, Jane Seymour, the
third wife of England's King Henry VIII, died 12 days after giving
birth to Prince Edward, later King Edward VI.
(AP, 10/24/97)
1537 Hans Holbein’s masterpiece
was his life-size Tudor dynastic portrait in Whitehall Palace that
included Henry VIII and his father Henry VII..
(TL-MB, 1988, p.15)(AM, Jul/Aug ‘97 p.23)
1537 Miles Coverdale completed
William Tyndale’s English translation of the Bible. A complete
Bible, two-thirds of which had been translated by Tyndale, was
published by royal permission.
(WSJ, 4/4/01, p.A18)(Econ, 12/20/08, p.102)
1538 Mar 10, Thomas Howard
(d.1572), Duke of Norfolk, executed by Queen Elizabeth, was born.
(HN, 3/10/98)(MC, 3/10/02)
1538 Dec 17, Pope Paul III
excommunicated England's King Henry VIII. [see Aug 31, 1535]
(MC, 12/17/01)
1538 Construction of Henry
VIII’s Nonsuch Castle in Cuddington, Surrey, southeast England,
began. It took eight years to complete and was still incomplete when
Henry died in 1547. It stood for less than 150 years having fallen
into disrepair in the 1680s. By 1690 the palace had vanished. A
watercolor picture of the castle was painted by Joris Hoefnagel in
1568 as part of a record of the most important buildings in Europe.
The picture was put up for auction in 2010.
(Reuters, 11/3/10)
1538 The Thirteen Articles of
the Church of England were written. In 1964 A.G. Dickens (d.2001 at
91) authored "The English Reformation."
(HNQ, 10/20/98)(SFC, 8/4/01, p.E2)
1538 Thomas Cromwell ordered an
English Bible to be available to the public in every Church.
(WSJ, 4/4/01, p.A18)
1539 Nov 15, Richard Whiting
(b.1461), the Bishop of Glastonbury, was hung, drawn and quartered
on Glastonbury Tor after being convicted of treason for remaining
loyal to Rome. Little Jack Horner was reputed to have been the
steward to Whiting, whose jury included Horner. 12 deeds, sent by
Whiting as a bribe to the king, were reportedly carried by Horner,
who was said to have stolen the one to the manor of Mells, it being
the real 'plum' of the twelve manors. The first publication date for
the lyrics to the Little Jack Horner nursery rhyme is 1725.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Jack_Horner)
1540 Jan 6, England's King
Henry VIII married his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves. The marriage
lasted about six months.
(HN, 1/6/99)(AP, 1/6/98)
1540 Jan 25, Edmund Campion,
saint, Jesuit martyr (Decem Rationes), was born in London.
(MC, 1/25/02)
1540 Feb 9, The 1st recorded
race met in England at Roodee Fields, Chester.
(MC, 2/9/02)
1540 Jun 10, Thomas Cromwell
was arrested in Westminster.
(MC, 6/10/02)
1540 Jun 24, Henry VIII
divorced his 4th wife, Anne of Cleves.
(MC, 6/24/02)
1540 Jun 29, Thomas Cromwell,
English ex-chancellor, was sentenced to death.
(MC, 6/29/02)
1540 Jul 9, England's King
Henry VIII had his 6-month-old marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of
Cleves, annulled.
(AP, 7/9/97)
1540 Jul 28, King Henry VIII's
chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, was executed. The same day, Henry
married his fifth wife, Catherine Howard.
(AP, 7/28/97)(HN, 7/28/98)(PCh, 1992, p.181)
1540s Edward Seymour, Protector
Somerset, built a palace in London at a site that was later used for
Somerset House.
(WSJ, 6/15/00, p.A24)
1541 Jun 18, Irish parliament
"selected" Henry VIII as King of Ireland.
(SFEC, 12/22/96, Z1 p.6)(MC, 6/18/02)
1541 Nov 9, Queen Catharine
Howard was confined in the London Tower.
(MC, 11/9/01)
1541 Thomas Wyatt (1503-1542),
British poet, authored his “Defence,” an attempt to get out of the
Tower of London where he faced charges of treason.
(Econ, 5/7/11, p.91)
1541 John Brooke & Sons was
founded as a textile-maker in Huddersfield, England. In 2004 it
operated as a business park and was considered to be Britain’s
oldest family business.
(Econ, 12/18/04, p.104)
1542 Feb 13, Catherine Howard
(b.c1520), the fifth wife of England's King Henry VIII, was executed
for adultery.
(WUD, 1994, p.689)(AP, 2/13/98)
1542 Sep 24, Thomas Wyatt
(b.1503), British poet, died. He is credited with introducing the
sonnet into English. In 2011 Nicola Shulman authored “Graven With
Diamonds: The Many Lives of Thomas Wyatt, Courtier, Poet, Assassin.”
(Econ, 5/7/11,
p.91)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Wyatt_%28poet%29)
1542 Nov 24, The English
defeated the Scots under King James at the Battle of Solway Moss, in
England.
(HN, 11/24/98)(MC, 11/24/01)
1542 Dec 8, Mary, Queen of
Scotland (1542-67), was born. She became the Queen of England when
she was a week old, but was forced to abdicate her throne to her son
because she became a Catholic. She was executed for plotting against
Elizabeth I.
(HN, 12/8/00)
1542 Magdalen College,
Cambridge, was founded.
(TL-MB, p.16)
1542 An 2nd Act of Union united
Wales into England. It followed the 1542 Act of Union.
(SFC, 7/23/97, p.A10)
1542 Britain’s 1st bankruptcy
laws were crafted under Henry VIII.
(Econ, 3/6/04, p.53)
1543 Jul 1, England and
Scotland signed the peace of Greenwich.
(HN, 7/1/98)
1543 Jul 12, England's King
Henry VIII married his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr, who
outlived him.
(AP, 7/12/97)
1543 Sep 9, Mary, Queen of
Scots, was crowned Queen of England.
(HN, 9/9/01)
1544 May 17, Scot earl Matthew
van Lennox signed a secret treaty with Henry VIII.
(MC, 5/17/02)
1544 May 24, William Gilbert,
English physicist, was born. He coined the terms "electric" and
"magnetic" poles.
(HN, 5/24/99)
1544 Sep 14, Henry VIII's
forces took Boulogne, France.
(HN, 9/14/98)
1544 Sep 18, English King Henry
VIII's troops occupied Boulogne, France. [see Sep 14]
(MC, 9/18/01)
1544 Henry VIII crossed the
Channel to Calais to campaign with Charles V against Francis I.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.16)
1545 Jul 19, A French fleet
entered The Solent, the channel between the Isle of Wight and
Hampshire, England, and French troops landed on the Isle of Wight.
King Henry VIII of England watched his flagship, Mary Rose, capsize
in Portsmouth harbor as it left to battle the French. 73 people died
including Roger Grenville, English captain of Mary Rose. The Mary
Rose was raised in 1982.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)(HN,
7/19/98)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Rose)
1545 Oct 18, John Taverner,
English composer (Western Wynde), died.
(MC, 10/18/01)
1546 Mar 29, Cardinal Beaton,
English archbishop of St. Andrews, was murdered.
(MC, 3/29/02)
1546 May 29, Cardinal Beaton,
English archbishop of St. Andrews, was murdered.
(SC, 5/29/02)
1546 Jun 7, The Peace of Ardes
ended the war between France and England.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)(HN, 6/7/98)
1546 The first Welsh book, "Yny
Lhyvyr Mwnn," was printed.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1546 Henry VIII founded Christ
Church, Oxford’s largest college.
(SSFC, 11/11/01, p.C11)
1546 Henry VIII closed the bath
houses of Southwark.
(Econ, 12/19/09, p.139)
1547 Jan 19, Henry Howard (29),
earl of Surrey, army commander, poet, was beheaded.
(MC, 1/19/02)
1547 Jan 28, England's King
Henry VIII died; his sixth and last wife was Catherine Parr. He was
succeeded by his 9-year-old son, Edward VI. In 1996 Alison Weir
authored "The Children of Henry VIII."
(V.D.-H.K.p.162)(AP, 1/28/98)(HN, 1/28/99)
1547 Jan, An inventory of the
possessions of King Henry VIII was begun under Edward VI, Henry’s
son and successor. It took three years to complete. His total wealth
amounted to some 600,000 pounds. A commoner’s daily wage at this
time was about two and one-half pence.
(AM, Jul/Aug ‘97 p.20)
1547 Feb 20, King Edward VI of
England was enthroned following the death of Henry VIII (Jan
28).
(MC, 2/20/02)
1547 Sep 10, The Duke of
Somerset led the English to a resounding victory over the Scots at
Pinkie Cleugh. This was the last battle to be fought between English
and Scottish royal armies and the last in which the longbow was used
tactically en masse.
(HN, 9/10/98)(WSJ, 11/4/04, p.D10)
1547 Sep 10, The English
demanded that Edward VI (10), wed Mary Queen of Scots (5).
(MC, 9/10/01)
1547 The English parliament
repealed the Statute of the Six Articles, which defined heresy.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)
1548 Sep 5, Catharine Parr
(36), queen of England and last wife of Henry VIII, died.
(MC, 9/5/01)
1549 Mar 20, Thomas Seymour of
Sudely, English Lord Admiral, was beheaded.
(MC, 3/20/02)
1549 Jun 9, Book of Common
Prayer was adopted by the Church of England. Thomas Cranmer,
Archbishop of Canterbury, issued the "Book of Common Prayer." Other
prayer books were forbidden by the Act of Uniformity. The book was
mandated by the government under Edward VI, son of Henry VIII, so
that services could be spoken in the language of the people.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)(WSJ, 9/12/96, p.A14)(MC,
6/9/02)
1549 Aug 9, France declared war
on England. England declared war on France.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.17)(HN, 8/9/98)
1549 The Ye Old Cock Tavern
opened in London.
(SFEC, 9/12/99, p.T14)
1550 Mar 24, France and England
signed the Peace of Boulogne. It ended the war of England with
Scotland and France. France bought back Boulogne for 400,000 crowns.
(TL-MB, 1988, p.18)(MC, 3/24/02)
1550 Apr 12, Edward de Vere,
17th Earl of Oxford, was born (d.1604). Some claimed that he was
responsible for all the 37 plays, 154 sonnets and 2 long narrative
poems that are attributed to William Shakespeare. De Vere was first
advanced as the author of Shakespeare’s work in 1918 by English
schoolmaster J. Thomas Looney.
(SFC, 4/26/97, p.E1)(WSJ, 5/1/97, p.A16)(WSJ,
4/18/09, p.A2)
1550 Sep 5, William Cecil
appointed himself English minister of foreign affairs.
(MC, 9/5/01)
1550-1563 Henry Machyn, a merchant tailor in
London, kept a diary over this time that described the funerals of
noble persons, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth I, the murder of
Arden of Feversham by his wife and her lover, and other London
events. A definitive edition of the diaries was in process by
English Prof. R.W. Bailey and graduate students at the Univ. of
Mich. in 1996.
(MT, 6/96, p.9)(MT, Fall 02, p.22)
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1551