Literary Timelines

Timeline 1: Anglo-Saxon England
Roman Britain (55 BC-450 AD)
55-54 BC: Julius Caesar attempts conquest of Britain

47 AD: Lowland Britain conquered

Queen Boudicca's rebellion; this rebellion put down by the Roman governor Suetonius Paulinus

Early 4th C: Rome converts to Christianity under Constantine

Early Celtic church in Britain

410 AD: Roman Legions withdrawn from Britain after Goths sack Rome

Anglo-Saxon Britain (C450-1066)
by 450: Romans leave Britain; beginning of Germanic invasions (Anglos, Saxons, Jutes)

597: Pope Gregory sends [St.] Augustine to re-Christianize Britain (i.e., the pagan Germanic tribes)

657: Caedmon begins writing poetry

Late 700s or late 800s: Beowulf composed; transcribed in late 10th C

787-876: Danish (Viking) raids begin; result in control of East Anglia, est. of Kingdom of York

871-899: Reign of King Alfred of Wessex: a period of A-S "renaissance"

975-1050: Compilation of Anglo-Saxon poetic mss (20,000 lines total)

Junius ms.
Vercelli ms (end of 10th C)
Exeter Book
Beowulf and Judith ms.

1016: King Cnut (Canute; reigns 1016-1035) unifies kingdoms of Britain

1066: Battle of Hastings–Death of Harold; William of Normandy ruler of Britain.

Timeline 2: Norman Invasion and its aftermath
Pre-Norman Invasion
Anglo-Saxon aristocracy
Oriented toward Scandinavia
Tribal Society and Loyalties

Post-Norman Invasion
Norman-French aristocracy (10,000 nobles)
Oriented toward the Continent
Strong centralized government (feudalism) (Doomsday Book)
Chivalric Code
Women–celebrated, but socially weak

Timeline:
1066: Death of Edward the Confessor; Harold Godwinson made king (Harold II)
1066: Harold II defeats Harald Hardrada of Norway at Stamford Bridge (Yorkshire) (25. Sept)
1066: William of Normandy defeats Harold II at Hastings (14 October)

1095-1204: Crusades I-IV

I: 1095-1099
II: 1147-1149
III: 1189-1192
IV: 1202-1204

 1337-1453: Hundred Years' War between England and France
1343: Chaucer born (dies 1400)
1340s: Black Death in Europe: at height in England 1348-1349
1362: England restored as language of the law
1375: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight composed
1380-1390: Canterbury Tales composed
1385: English again the language of education
1425-1450: Letters and records mostly written in English
1450: Gutenburg invents movable type
1476: Printing in England (Caxton)

Timeline 3: Tudor England and After
1400: Chaucer dies
1422: Henry V dies–leaves a weak England under Henry VI (1422-1461, 1470-1471)
1431: Joan of Arc burned
1453: Hundred Years' War ends (began 1337)
1455-1485: The Wars of the Roses (Lancaster [red rose] vs York [white rose])
1450: Johann Gutenburg invents moveable type
1475: William Caxton prints first book in English
1476: first print shop opens in England

1485-1603: Tudor Dynasty

Henry VII (1485-1509)

• 1485: Malory, Morte D'Arthur
• 1492: Columbus discovers Americas-Age of Exploration
• 1500: Everyman
• 1501: Prince Arthur marries Catherine of Argon
• Prince Arthur dies; Prince Henry now their apparent 

Henry VIII (1509-1547)

• 1509: Henry VIII marries Catherine of Argon (Princess Mary born 1516)
• 1511: Erasmus, Praise of Folly
• 1511-1536: Rise and preeminence of Cardinal Wolsey
• 1513: Machiavelli, The Prince (pub'd 1532; in England 1640)
• 1516: Thomas More, Utopia (in English, 1561)
• 1517: Luther's revolt & protestant reformation
• 1519: Magellan begins circumnavigation of the globe; Cortés invades Mexico
• 1520: Pope Leo X gives Henry title of Fidei Defensor
• 1525-1611: Translation of the Bible into English
• William Tyndale: New Testament and Pentateuch (1525) <-- executed 1536
• Miles Coverdale: first complete English Bible (1535)
• Thomas Matthew Bible (1537)--First license Bible
• Geneva Bible (1560)--Produced by refugees fleeing Mary's persecution
• Bishops' Bible (1568): from 1571-1611 the "official" Bible
• King James Bible (or Authorized version ) (1611)
• 1527: Henry VIII tries and fails to divorce Catherine of Argon
• 1528: Castiglione, The Book of the Courtier (in English, 1561)
• 1529: Cardinal Wolsey falls from power; Thomas More made Lord Chancellor
• 1530: Death of Skelton (born c. 1460)
• 1532: Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor
• 1533: Henry VIII marries Anne Boleyn (Princess Elizabeth born this year)
• 1534: Act of Supremacy (King is head of Catholic church in England)
• 1535: Sir Thomas More executed
• 1536: dissolution of monasteries begins
• 1537: birth of Prince Edward; death of Jane Seymour
• 1538: Henry VIII excommunicated
• 1540: Henry VIII marries and divorces Anne of Cleves; Henry VIII marries Catherine Howard
• 1542: Catherine Howard executed; Mary Queen of Scots born (dies 1587)
• 1542: Death of Wyatt (born 1503)
• 1543: Henry VIII marries Catherine Parr; Copernicus, de Revolutionibus
• 1546: Death of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (born 1517)

Edward VI (son of Henry VIII; 1547-1553)

• English Reformation [Anglicanism]
• 1549: Book of Common Prayer
• 1552: Birth of Spenser

Mary (Daughter of Henry VIII; 1553-1558)

• Return of England to Rome; persecution of Protestants
• English protestants flee to Holland, Switzerland
• 1554: Mary marries Philip of Spain; Philip Sidney born (dies 1586)
• 1557: Tottel's Miscellany
• 1558: Mary dies; accession of Elizabeth

Elizabeth (daughter of Henry VIII; 1558-1603)

• 1563: Thirty-nine Articles of Church of England
• 1564: Birth of Shakespeare
• 1570: Elizabeth excommunicated
• 1577: Drake begins voyage around the world
• 1580: Sidney writing Arcadia, Defense of Poetry, Astrophil, & Stella
• 1586: Death of Sir Philip Sidney
• 1587: Mary Queen of Scots executed; Pope declares Crusade against England
• 1588: Defeat of the Spanish Armada
• 1590: Spenser, Fairie Queene (Book 1-3)
• 1591: Astrophil & Stella published
• 1593: Marlowe, Hero, and Leander; death of Marlowe (born 1564)
• 1595: Defense of Poetry published
• 1596: Spenser, Fairie Queene (books 4-6)
• 1599: Death of Spenser

1603-1714: Stuart Dynasty

James I (1603-1625)

• 1603: Queen Elizabeth dies; King James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England
• 1603-1625: Reign of James I (beginning of the Stuart Dynasty)
• 1605: Gunpowder Plot (Guy Fawkes attempts to blow up Parliament
• 1605: Bacon: Advancement of Learning & New Organon ("means of learning") 1620 --> beginnings of Scientific Method and the New Science
• 1607: Virginia Colonized --> continued English colonization of North America
• 1608: Milton born
• 1611: publication of King James Bible (aka the authorized version)
• 1616: death of Shakespeare; Ben Jonson, Workes 
• 1618-1648: Thirty Years' War (on the Continent; a religious war bet/Catholics and Protestants)

Timeline 4: The Seventeenth Century

• 1603: Queen Elizabeth dies; King James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England
• 1603-1625: Reign of James I (beginning of Stuart Dynasty)
• 1605: Gunpowder Plot (Guy Fawkes attempts to blow up Parliament
• 1605: Bacon: Advancement of Learning & New Organon ("means of learning") 1620 --> beginnings of Scientific Method and the New Science
• 1607: Virginia Colonized --> continued English colonization of North America
• 1608: Milton born
• 1611: publication of King James Bible (aka the authorized version)
• 1616: death of Shakespeare; Ben Jonson, Workes 
• 1618-1648: Thirty Years' War (on the Continent; a religious war bet/Catholics and Protestants)
• 1625-1649: Reign of Charles I (son of James I)
• 1631: Death of John Donne
• 1637: death of Ben Jonson
• 1642-1649: English Civil Wars (Charles I vs Parliament)
• 1649-1660: Commonwealth/Protectorate years
• 1649: Charles beheaded; Monarchy and House of Lords abolished; Commonwealth declared; rule by Parliament
• 1653-1658: Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector of England
• 1658: Cromwell dies
• 1650: first coffeehouses open in London
• 1651: Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan 
• 1660: Restoration of Charles II
• 1660-1685: Reign of Charles II (son of Charles I)
• 1660: Theatres reopen
• 1662: Royal Society chartered
• 1665 & 1666: the Great Plague and Great Fire of London 
• 1668: Paradise Lost published (revised 1674)
• 1674: death of Milton
• 1676: William Wycherley, The Country Wife 
• 1678-1681: Popish Plot and Exclusion Crisis
• -->leads to rise of political parties (Tories and Whigs)
• 1685-1688: Reign of James II (brothers of Charles II)
• 1687: Isaac Newton's Principia published; describes laws of universal motion
• 1688: Glorious Revolution:
• James II driven from the throne
• William of Orange (Holland) & Mary (daughter of James II) co-monarchs
• 1688: birth of Alexander Pope
• 1689-1694: Reign of William III and Mary II
• 1690: John Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding & Two Treatises on Government 
• 1694: death of Queen Mary
• 1694: Bank of England founded
• 1694-1702: Reign of William III
• 1700: death of John Dryden (b1631), best poet, satirist, dramatist, and critic of his generation

Timeline 5: The Eighteenth Century

• 1702: William III dies
• 1702-1714: Reign of Queen Anne (daughter of James II; last monarch of the Stuart dynasty)
• 1702-1713: War of Spanish Succession
• 1707: Act of Union (England and Scotland become the United Kingdom of Great Britain)
• 1711: Pope, An Essay on Criticsm 
• 1714-1727: Reign of George I (beginning of Hanover dynasty; "Georgian" England)
• 1714: Pope, The Rape of the Lock 
• 1719: Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe 
• 1722-1742: Robert Walpole serves as England's first Prime Minister
• Whigs in power
• much corruption and cronyism
• Swift, Pope, Gay, and others attack the administration
• 1726: Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels (satirizes George I & Walpole)
• 1727-1760: Reign of George II (son of George I)
• 1728: Pope, The Dunciad (a lenghty attack on bad writers & Pope's enemies)
• 1728: John Gay, The Beggar's Opera (attack on Walpole's administration)
• 1733-34: Pope, An Essay on Man 
• 1740: Samuel Richardson, Pamela 
• 1744: Death of Pope
• 1745: death of Jonathan Swift
• 1750: Industrial Revolution -->
• 1755: Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language 
• 1756-1763: Seven Years' War
• 1760-1820: Reign of George III (grandson of George II)
• 1775: birth of Jane Austen
• 1776: American Revolution
• 1789: William Blake, Songs of Innocence and Experience 
• [Beginning of Romantic Period]
• 1789: French Revolution 
• 1800: Act of Union (Great Britain and Ireland)
• 1803-1815: Napoleonic Wars
• 1811-1820: Regency Period
• George III becomes incapacitated
• His son George rules England as the Prince Regent
• 1813: Austen, Pride and Prejudice 
• 1817: death of Jane Austen
• 1820-1830: Reign of George IV (son of George III)