The Middle Ages of Britain ~ 1500 - 1639

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1500

Start of the Early Renaissance Classic architectural period (1500-1650)

1501

26/4/1501

Henry Deane becomes 67th Archbishop of Canterbury

1501

14/11/1501

Arthur, Prince of Wales, marries the Spanish princess, Catherine of Aragon.

1502

2/4/1502

Prince Arthur dies and his younger brother, Henry, becomes Prince of Wales.

1503

28/5/1503

Treaty of Everlasting Peace between Scotland and England is signed

1503

8/8/1503

James IV of Scotland and Margaret Tudor are married at Holyrood Abbey

1503

29/11/1503

William Warham becomes 68th Archbishop of Canterbury

1504

1/4/1504

The English Guilds loose their autonomy and are now regulated by Act of Parliament

1509

11/6/1509

Prince Henry marries Catherine of Aragon

1511

The Mary Rose is launched

1513

9/9/1513

Battle of Flodden Field, part of the Anglo-Scottish Wars

1514

John Knox is born in Haddington

1514

Battle of Hornshole, near Hawick

1514

Peace is declared between England and France

1514

15/9/1514

Thomas Wolsey is appointed Archbishop of York

1515

15/11/1515

Thomas Wolsey invested as Cardinal

1515

24/12/1515

Thomas, Cardinal Wolsey becomes Chancellor

1516

Thomas More publishes Utopia

1516

18/2/1516

Princess Mary, the future Queen Mary I , is born to Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon

1531

11/2/1531

Henry VIII recognised as supreme head of the Church of England

1532

16/5/1532

Sir Thomas More resigns post of Lord Chancellor of England

1532

1/9/1532

Lady Anne Boleyn is created Marquess of Pembroke

1533

25/1/1533

Henry VIII of England marries Anne Boleyn

1533

30/3/1533

Thomas Cranmer becomes 69th Archbishop of Canterbury

1533

23/5/1533

King Henry's marriage with Catherine of Aragon is officially annulled by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer

1533

1/6/1533

Anne Boleyn crowned in Westminster Abbey as queen

1533

11/7/1533

Henry VIII is excommunicated by Pope Clement VII

1533

7/9/1533

Elizabeth I of England is born at Greenwich Palace

1534

Cambridge University Press receives Letters Patent from Henry VIII

1534

The Act of Supremacy, Henry VIII seizes control of the English Church

1535

22/6/1535

Execution of John Fisher, Cardinal and Bishop of Rochester,for refusing to accept Henry VIII as Head of the Church of England.

1535

6/7/1535

Sir Thomas More, former Lord Chancellor of England, is executed for treason by King Henry VIII

1535

4/11/1535

First complete English-language Bible is printed from translations by William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale

1536

7/1/1536

Catharine of Aragon dies at Kimbolton Castle

1536

2/5/1536

Anne Boleyn arrested on the grounds of incest, adultery, and treason.

1536

19/5/1536

Anne Boleyn is executed on Tower Green in the Tower of London

1536

30/5/1536

Henry VIII marries Jane Seymour

1537

25/8/1537

The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest extant regiment of the British Army is formed

1539

4/9/1539

Henry VIII arranges to marry Anne of Cleves

1540

Francis Drake is born in Tavistock

1540

6/1/1540

Henry VIII marries Anne of Cleves

1540

9/7/1540

Henry VIII divorces Anne of Cleves

1540

28/7/1540

Thomas Cromwell is executed on charges of treason

1540

28/7/1540

Henry VIII marries Catherine Howard

1542

13/2/1542

Catherine Howard is executed for adultery

1542

24/8/1542

Battle of Haddon Rig, part of the Anglo-Scottish Wars

1542

6/10/1542

Thomas Wyatt the poet dies (1503-1542)

1542

24/11/1542

Battle of Solway Moss, near Longtown, part of the Anglo-Scottish Wars

1542

8/12/1542

Princess Mary born at Linlithgow Palace

1542

14/12/1542

Mary becomes the Queen of the Scots at the age of only one week

1543

Princess Elizabeth is restored to the order of succession to the throne of England

1543

12/7/1543

Henry VIII of England marries Catherine Parr

1545

27/2/1545

Battle of Ancrum Moor, part of the Anglo-Scottish Wars

1545

19/7/1545

Mary Rose sunk during the Battle of Solent

1546

Trinity College, Cambridge is founded by Henry VIII

1546

Christ Church, Oxford is founded by Henry VIII

1547

28/1/1547

Henry VIII dies (1491-1547)

1547

20/2/1547

Edward VI is crowned King at Westminster Abbey

1547

10/9/1547

Battle of Pinkie Cleugh, part of the Anglo-Scottish Wars

1548

Seige and destruction Haddington by Earl of Shrewsbury until 19 September 1549, part of the Anglo-Scottish Wars

1548

7/8/1548

Mary, Queen of Scots, leaves for France

1549

Prayer Book Rebellion breaks out in England

1549

Siege of Exeter, part of the Prayer Book Rebellion

1549

2/7/1549

Battle of Fenny Bridges, part of the Prayer Book Rebellion

1549

4/8/1549

Battle of Woodbury Common, part of the Prayer Book Rebellion

1549

5/8/1549

Battle of Clyst St Mary, part of the Prayer Book Rebellion

1549

6/8/1549

Battle of Clyst Heath, part of the Prayer Book Rebellion

1549

17/8/1549

Battle of Sampford Courtenay, part of the Prayer Book Rebellion

1552

Act of Uniformity imposes the Protestant prayerbook on England

1553

6/7/1553

Edward VI dies at Greenwich Palace

1553

10/7/1553

Lady Jane Grey is proclaimed Queen of England

1553

19/7/1553

Lady Jane Grey replaced by Mary I as Queen of England after having been queen for just nine days

1553

3/8/1553

Queen Mary I arrives in London

1553

22/8/1553

John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland, a supporter of Lady Jane Grey, is executed

1554

12/2/1554

Lady Jane Grey and her husband, Lord Guilford Dudley, are beheaded for treason

1554

17/3/1554

Princess Elizabeth is imprisoned in the Tower of London

1555

16/10/1555

Latimer and Ridley, the Protestant martyrs, are burned at the stake

1556

21/3/1556

Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer is burned at the stake for treason in Oxford

1556

22/3/1556

Cardinal Reginald Pole becomes 70th Archbishop of Canterbury

1557

Mary I joins her husband Philip II of Spain in his war against France

1558

Start of the Elizabethan architectural period (1558-1603)

1558

7/1/1558

The French take Calais from the English

1558

24/4/1558

Mary, Queen of Scots, marries Francis II of France

1558

17/11/1558

Queen Mary I dies at St. James's Palace (1516-1558)

1559

15/1/1559

Queen Elizabeth I crowned in Westminster Abbey

1559

17/12/1559

Matthew Parker becomes 71st Archbishop of Canterbury

1560

27/2/1560

Treaty of Berwick expels the French from Scotland

1560

6/7/1560

Treaty of Edinburgh is signed between England, France and Scotland. The French withdraw from Scotland.

1560

17/8/1560

The Protestant Church becomes the official national religion of Scotland

1561

4/6/1561

St. Paul's Cathedral badly damaged by fire after being struck by lightning

1561

19/8/1561

Mary, Queen of Scots, returns to Scotland from France via Leith

1562

5/11/1562

Scottish rebellion lead by George Gordon, Earl of Huntly is crushed by James Stewart, Earl of Moray at Corrichie

1563

28/7/1563

English surrender Le Havre to the French after a siege

1565

29/7/1565

Mary, Queen of Scots marries Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley

1567

10/2/1567

Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, murdered in the Provost's House, Edinburgh

1567

15/5/1567

Mary, Queen of Scots, marries James Hepburn, the Earl of Bothwell

1567

24/7/1567

Mary, Queen of Scots, forced to abdicate and replaced by her 1-year-old son James VI

1567

29/7/1567

James VI is crowned at Stirling

1568

2/5/1568

Mary, Queen of Scots, escapes from Loch Leven Castle

1568

13/5/1568

Battle of Langside

1568

16/5/1568

Mary, Queen of Scots, flees to England

1568

19/5/1568

Mary, Queen of Scots, arrested in England on the orders of Queen Elizabeth I

1570

23/1/1570

Assassination of regent James Stewart, Earl of Moray plunges Scotland into civil war.

1571

23/1/1571

Royal Exchange opens in London

1571

27/6/1571

Jesus College, Oxford was founded by Queen Elizabeth I

1575

7/7/1575

Raid of the Redeswire Fray, the last major battle of the Anglo-Scottish Wars and the last major battle between England and Scotland

1575

29/12/1575

Edmund Grindal becomes 72nd Archbishop of Canterbury

1576

11/8/1576

Martin Frobisher, searching for the Northwest Passage, enters Frobisher Bay subsequently named after him

1577

13/12/1577

Francis Drake departs from Plymouth on his round-the-world voyage

1580

Earthquake of magnitude 5.5 felt in London and the south east

1580

26/9/1580

Francis Drake completes the second circumnavigation of globe.

1581

15/1/1581

Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism

1581

4/4/1581

Sir Francis Drake is knighted by Queen Elizabeth I

1582

Edinburgh University is founded

1583

14/8/1583

John Whitgift becomes 73rd Archbishop of Canterbury

1586

6/7/1586

Treaty of Berwick agreed by Queen Elizabeth I of England and King James VI of Scotland

1588

8/5/1588

The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, departs from Spain

1588

31/7/1588

The first engagement between the English and Spanish fleets off Plymouth results in victory for the English

1588

12/8/1588

Spanish fleet sails past the Firth of Forth, and the English cease their pursuit. Much of the Spanish fleet is destroyed as it sails around Scotland and Ireland

1589

23/11/1589

James VI of Scotland, the future James I of England, marries Anne of Denmark

1590

17/5/1590

Anne of Denmark is crowned queen of Scotland

1596

5/7/1596

An English fleet, commanded by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and Lord Howard of Effingham, attack Cádiz

1599

23/4/1599

Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex arrives in Dublin at the head of 16,000 troops, the largest army ever seen in Ireland

1599

29/5/1599

The English Army takes Cahir Castle in Ireland

1599

15/8/1599

First Battle of Curlew Pass results in defeat for the English

1599

28/9/1599

Earl of Essex returns to England against the Queen's orders

1600

The East India Company is founded

1601

8/2/1601

Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, rebels against the queen but is quickly defeated

1601

25/2/1601

Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, is beheaded.

1603

Start of the Jacobean architectural period (1603-1625)

1603

Start of the Early Stuart architectural period (1603-1649)

1604

9/10/1604

Richard Bancroft becomes 74th Archbishop of Canterbury

1605

5/11/1605

The Gunpowder Plot discovered, Guido (Guy) Fawkes was arrested for trying to kill King James I at Westminster

1606

27/1/1606

Gunpowder Plot trial begins

1606

31/1/1606

Guy Fawkes is executed

1606

12/4/1606

The Union Flag, sometimes (incorrectly) called the Union Jack, becomes the national flag of Great Britain

1607

26/4/1607

First permanent English settlement in the future United States at Cape Henry, Virginia.

1607

14/5/1607

English colonists found Jamestown in the Americas

1610

5/7/1610

John Guy departs from Bristol for Newfoundland, to establish the first colony there.

1611

4/3/1611

George Abbot becomes 75th Archbishop of Canterbury

1611

2/5/1611

The King James Bible is published

1612

11/4/1612

The Baptist Edward Wightman was burned at the stake at Lichfield becoming the last person to be executed for heresy in England.

1612

22/7/1612

Four women and one man hanged for Witchcraft at Abingdon Gallows

1612

30/11/1612

Battle of Swally, the British East India Company defeat Portugal in a sea battle off the coast of India

1613

29/6/1613

Fire destroys the Globe Theatre in London

1613

3/11/1613

Robert Carr is created 1st Earl of Somerset

1614

Napier publishes the first logarithms

1615

10/3/1615

The Catholic Priest John Ogilvie is hanged in Glasgow

1616

11/3/1616

The Catholic priest, Thomas Atkinson is hanged at York

1616

19/3/1616

Sir Walter Raleigh is released from the Tower of London to conduct a second expedition to South America

1616

4/11/1616

The future King Charles 1, son of James I, is invested as Prince of Wales at Whitehall

1616

10/12/1616

The establishment of parish schools in Scotland

1618

29/10/1618

Sir Walter Raleigh is beheaded for treason

1620

6/9/1620

The Mayflower departs from Plymouth for the Americas, on its third attempt to make the crossing of the Atlantic

1622

8/2/1622

King James I disolves the English Parliament

1622

14/7/1622

English and Dutch ships defeat the Portuguese in a naval battle near Mozambique

1625

13/6/1625

King Charles I marries Henrietta Maria of France

1625

18/6/1625

Parliament refuses Charles I the right to collect customs duties for his entire reign, restricting him to one year instead.

1626

2/2/1626

Charles I is crowned King of England, but his wife declines to participate in a non-Catholic ceremony

1626

15/6/1626

King Charles I dissolves the English Parliament

1628

17/3/1628

Oliver Cromwell takes his seat in Parliament as Member for Huntingdon

1628

7/6/1628

King Charles I recalls Parliament in an attempt to raise funds

1629

10/3/1629

Charles I dissolves Parliament, commencing a period of eleven years without one.

1633

6/8/1633

William Laud becomes 76th Archbishop of Canterbury

1639

Charles arrives with his army at Berwick-on-Tweed as the first of the Bishops' Wars breaks out between himself and Scotland.

1639

18/6/1639

Treaty of Berwick is signed by Charles I and the Scots

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