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)
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)
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)
c3000BCE Timber temples were constructed 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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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 Mar 25, William the Conqueror
ordered the 1st Doomsday Survey of England.
(MC, 3/25/02)
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 Doomsday survey of English manor's production capacity in order to
collect taxes.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)
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)
1117 Dec 21, Thomas Becket
(d.1170), archbishop of Canterbury, was born. His close friend Henry II
of England later ordered his martyrdom.
(MC, 12/21/01)
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)
1154 Sir Thomas Becket was given
the high office of Chancellor to the King, Henry II.
(HN, 9/3/98)
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)
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 Dec 29, Thomas Becket
(b.1117), St. Thomas archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered in
Canterbury Cathedral in England. Barons had heard Henry II cry out,
"Will no one rid me of this meddlesome priest?"
(HFA, '96, p.20)(AP, 12/29/97)(HN, 12/29/98)(MC,
1/29/02)
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.
(MC, 2/21/02)
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)
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)
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 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)(MC, 11/13/01)
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)
c1340-1400 Geoffrey Chaucer, English poet. [see 1343]
(WUD, 1994, p.250)(WSJ, 9/18/00, p.A36)
1343 The Peruzzi Bank, Europe's
biggest, collapsed following risky loans to English kings.
(WSJ, 1/11/99, p.R42)
c1343-1400 Geoffrey Chaucer, English poet. [see 1340]
(WUD, 1994, p.250)(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 Oct, 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. Infected dead bodies were catapulted into the Genoese town. One
Genoese ship managed to escape and brought the disease to Messina, in
Sicily. From this time forth the disease 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.
(V.D.-H.K.p.151)(NG, 5/88, p.678)(WSJ, 1/11/99,
p.R42)
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,
author (Canterbury Tales), died in London.
(AP, 10/25/97)(WSJ, 9/18/00, p.A36)
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)
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)
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
was crowned King of France.
(HN, 12/16/98)
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 II signed a treaty
at Arras. Phillipe broke with the English and recognized Charles as
France’s only king.
(MC, 9/21/01)(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)
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 was killed by Lancastrians at the Battle of Wakefield and Queen
Margaret hung his head over the gate of the city.
(MH, 12/96)(HN, 12/30/98)
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. He tried to
settle once and for all the dynastic struggle between York and
Lancaster. At the Battle at Towton Duke Edward of York beat English
queen Margaretha.
(HN, 3/4/99)(SC, 3/4/02)
1461 Mar 14, In Edward, son of the
Duke of York, claimed the crown and was proclaimed King Edward IV in
Westminster Abbey.
(MH, 12/96)
1461 Mar 28, Edward IV led the
House of York to victory over the House of Lancaster at Towton with
some help from the weather.
(MH, 12/96)
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.
(HN, 3/29/99)(AM, 7/01, p.69)(AM, 7/01, p.68)(MC,
3/29/02)
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, Edward V, king of
England (Apr 9-Jun 25, 1483), was murdered.
(MC, 6/25/02)
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)
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)
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,
Consort of King Henry VII, died on 38th birthday.
(MC, 2/11/02)
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 (52), 1st
Tudor king of England (1485-1509), died.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_VII_of_England)
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)
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 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 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 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 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)
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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