Timeline of English history
This is a timeline of English history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in England and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of England.
Prehistory: Mesolithic/Neolithic periods • Bronze/Iron Ages
Centuries: 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th • 8th • 9th • 10th • 11th • 12th • 13th • 14th • 15th • 16th • 17th • 18th • 19th • 20th • 21st
References • Sources
Centuries: 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th • 8th • 9th • 10th • 11th • 12th • 13th • 14th • 15th • 16th • 17th • 18th • 19th • 20th • 21st
References • Sources
1st century BC
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
55 BC | Roman General Julius Caesar invades Great Britain for the first time, gaining a beachhead on the coast of Kent.[1] | |
54 BC | Caesar invades for the second time, gaining a third of the country. These two invasions are known as Caesar's invasions of Britain.[1] | |
1st century
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
c.10–c.40 | Reign of Cunobelinus, an influential king of southern England before the Roman occupation; son of Tasciovanus[2] | |
43 | Aulus Plautius leads an army of forty thousand to invade Great Britain; Emperor Claudius makes Britain a part of the Roman Empire | |
2nd century
3rd century
4th century
5th century
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
The Angles begin their invasion of England and establish tribal kingdoms on the east coast.[3] |
6th century
7th century
8th century
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
740-756 | Reign of Cuthred, King of Wessex | |
793 | 8 June | Viking raid on a monastery in Lindisfarne, often taken as the beginning of the Viking age[4] |
9th century
10th century
11th century
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
1016 | Cnut the Great of Denmark becomes king of all England. | |
1043 | Edward the Confessor becomes king of all England. | |
1055 | The Great Schism/Split of the Roman Catholic Church | |
1066 | Battle of Fulford: English forces were defeated by Norse invaders in northeastern England. | |
Battle of Stamford Bridge: The remaining Norse under Harald Hardrada were defeated by the bulk of England's army under the command of its king. | ||
Battle of Hastings: England's remaining forces were defeated by invaders from Normandy. This was known as the Norman Conquest, which caused William the Conqueror to be crowned king of England and permanently changed the English language and culture. | ||
1086 | Work commenced on the Domesday Book. | |
12th century
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
1135 | The Anarchy began, a civil war resulting from a dispute over succession to the throne that lasted until 1153. | |
1138 | The Battle of the Standard, an engagement in which the English defeated an invading Scottish army led by King David I.[5] | |
1164 | The Constitutions of Clarendon, a set of laws which governed the trial of members of the Catholic Church in England, were issued. | |
1170 | Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket was assassinated. | |
1192 | Crusades: King Richard I was captured by Austrian Duke Leopold V, Duke of Austria while returning from the Holy Land. | |
1194 | Richard was ransomed and returned to England. |
13th century
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
1209 | King John was excommunicated from the Catholic Church by Pope Innocent III. | |
1214 | The English defeated in Battle of Bouvinnes. | |
1215 | The Magna Carta was signed. | |
1237 | The Treaty of York was signed, fixing the border between Scotland and England. | |
1264 | Battle of Lewes: Rebel English barons led by Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester defeated King Henry III. | |
1267 | Henry recognised the authority of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in Gwynedd. | |
1277 | England annexed Gwynedd. | |
1279 | The Statute of Mortmain was issued. | |
1287 | Rhys ap Maredudd led a revolt against English rule in Wales. | |
1294 | Madog ap Llywelyn led a revolt against English rule in Wales. | |
1297 | Battle of Stirling Bridge: The Scots, led by William Wallace, defeated the English. |
14th century
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
1305 | 23 August | William Wallace was executed by the English on a charge of treason. |
1314 | 23 – 24 June | Battle of Bannockburn: Scotland won a decisive victory over England. |
1328 | 1 May | The Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton, under which England recognised Scottish independence, was signed. |
1348 | The Black Death arrived in England. | |
1356 | 19 September | Battle of Poitiers: Second of the three major battles of the Hundred Years' War took place near Poitiers, France. |
1373 | 16 June | The Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1373 is signed, forming an alliance between England and Portugal, which is still an active treaty to this day. |
1381 | May – June | Peasants' Revolt: Also called Wat Tyler's Rebellion or the Great Rising, was a major uprising across large parts of England led by Wat Tyler. |
1395 | The Statute of Praemunire was issued. |
15th century
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
1403 | 21 July | Battle of Shrewsbury was a battle waged between an army led by the Lancastrian King, Henry IV, and a rebel army led by Henry "Harry Hotspur" Percy from Northumberland.[6] |
1415 | 25 October | Battle of Agincourt was a major English victory in the Hundred Years' War[a]that occurred on Saint Crispin's Day, near modern-day Azincourt, in northern France. |
1455 | 22 May | The start of the Wars of the Roses a civil war for control of the throne of England between the House of York in Yorkshire and House of Lancaster in Lancashire. |
1485 | 22 August | Battle of Bosworth Field (Battle of Bosworth): the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the Houses of Lancaster and York. Richard III, the last Plantagenet king was killed, succeeded by Henry VII. |
1487 | 16 June | Battle of Stoke was the decisive engagement in an attempt by leading Yorkists to unseat Henry VII of England in favour of the pretender Lambert Simnel. |
1491 | 28 June | King Henry VIII is born in the Palace of Placentia. |
16th century
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
1513 | Battle of Flodden Field: Invading England, King James IV of Scotland and thousands of other Scots were killed in a defeat at the hands of the English. | |
1521 | Lutheran writings begin to circulate in England. | |
1526 | Lord Chancellor Cardinal Thomas Wolsey ordered the burning of Lutheran books. | |
1533 | King Henry VIII severed ties with the Catholic Church and declared himself head of the church in England. | |
Henry's wife Anne Boleyn gives birth on 7 September to a daughter, Elizabeth, who will become Queen Elizabeth I in 1558. | ||
1534 | Henry VIII issued the Act of Supremacy. | |
Henry VIII issued the Treasons Act 1534. | ||
1535 | Thomas More and Cardinal John Fisher were executed. | |
1536 | William Tyndale was executed in Antwerp. | |
Henry VIII issued the Dissolution of the Monasteries. | ||
1549 | Prayer Book Rebellion: A rebellion occurred in the southwest. | |
1553 | The Act Against Sectaries 1553 was issued. | |
1558 | Elizabeth I claims the throne of England and rules until 1603. | |
1559 | The Act of Supremacy 1559 was issued. | |
1571 | The Treasons Act 1571 was issued. | |
The Act Prohibiting Papal Bulls from Rome 1571 was issued. | ||
1585 | The Roanoke Colony was founded in the Americas. | |
1588 | 8 August | The Spanish Armada was destroyed. |
1589 | The English Armada (or Counter Armada) was defeated by Spain. | |
1593 | The Act Against Papists 1593 was issued. |
17th century
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
1601 | Catholic plot against the Earl of Essex includes some of the plotters from the gunpowder plot. | |
1603 | King James VI of Scotland ascends to the English throne, becoming James I of England and uniting the crowns – but not the parliaments – of the two kingdoms. | |
1605 | 5 November | Gunpowder Plot: A plot in which Guy Fawkes and other Catholic associates conspired to blow up King James VI and I and the Parliament of England was uncovered. |
1607 | 14 May | Jamestown was founded in the Virginia Colony and was the first permanent English colony in the Americas. |
1611 | Henry Hudson died. | |
1618 | 29 October | Walter Raleigh was executed. |
1639 | Bishops' Wars: A war with Scotland began which would last until 1640. | |
1640 | Long Parliament: The Parliament was convened. | |
1642 | The English Civil War began (see timeline of the English Civil War). | |
1649 | January | Trial and execution of Charles I |
1649 | Interregnum began with the First Commonwealth. | |
1653–1659 | the Protectorate under the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell and later (1658) his son Richard Cromwell | |
1659 | The Second Commonwealth brings with it a period of great political instability. | |
1660 | Restoration of the monarchy: After a chaotic short revival of the Commonwealth of England, the monarchy was restored in May 1660, after agreeing to the Declaration of Breda, largely through the initiative of General George Monck. | |
1666 | 2–5 September | Great Fire of London : A major conflagration that swept through the central parts of London. |
1688 | Glorious Revolution:[7] Also called the Revolution of 1688, was the overthrow of James II by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau (William of Orange). | |
1692-1693 | Salem Witch Trials, More than 200 people accused; 20 of which were executed (19 by hanging, 1 being pressed to death). Many accused died in jail awaiting trial. | |
1694 | 27 July | The Bank of England is founded. |
18th century
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
1701 | The Act of Settlement 1701, which required the English monarch to be Protestant, was passed. | |
1702 | 8 March | William III died and was succeeded by Anne. |
1704 | 4 August | Gibraltar was captured by a combined Dutch and English fleet under the command of Admiral of the Fleet George Rooke. |
13 August | Battle of Blenheim: A combined English and Dutch army under the command of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough defeated the French army in Bavaria. | |
1706 | 22 July | The Treaty of Union was agreed between representatives of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland. |
1707 | The Acts of Union 1707 were passed in the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland, ratifying the Treaty of Union. | |
1744 | An attempted French invasion of southern England was stopped by storms. | |
1765 | William Blackstone published his first volume of Commentaries on the Laws of England. |
19th century
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
1819 | 16 August | Peterloo Massacre: about 18 people killed and several hundred injured in Manchester when cavalry charge a large demonstration demanding parliamentary representation reform[8] |
1859 | 24 November | On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin is published[9] |
1863 | 10 January | The first underground train goes into operation in London[10] |
1878 | Women first admitted to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge[11] |
20th century
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
1912 | August | Harry Brearley invents Stainless Steel in Sheffield, Yorkshire.[12] |
1940 | 10 July | Battle of Britain: Royal Air Force defend the United Kingdom against attack from Nazi Germany air force during the Second World War. |
1979 | 4 May | Margaret Thatcher becomes UK's first woman prime minister; she becomes the longest-serving PM of the 20th century. |
1982 | 11 October | The Mary Rose is raised from the seabed of the Solent, where she had sunk in 1545.[13] |
1997 | 1 May | Tony Blair becomes prime minister, ending the Labour Party's 18-year spell in opposition.[14] |
1997 | 31 August | In the early hours, Diana, Princess of Wales dies in hospital after a car crash in Paris, France.[15] |
21st century
Year | Date | Event |
---|---|---|
2004 | The population of England reaches fifty million. | |
2005 | A series of co-ordinated terrorist bombings strikes London's public transport system during the morning rush hour, killing 52 people and injuring hundreds. | |
2012 | The 2012 Summer Olympics are held in London, hosted at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.[16] | |
2016 | Voters of the United Kingdom vote to leave the European Union (aka Brexit) | |
2017 | Westminster attack: A 52-year-old Muslim convert drives a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before stabbing a police officer, killing five people and injuring 49. | |
Manchester Arena Bombing: A suicide bombing is carried out at Manchester Arena after a concert by American singer Ariana Grande, killing 22 people and injuring hundreds. | ||
London Bridge attack: A van is driven into pedestrians on London Bridge, killing eight people and injuring 48. | ||
2019 | ICC Cricket World Cup: England win a thriller at Lords and clinch their maiden ODI World Cup led by Eoin Morgan. | |
2020 | Coronavirus pandemic causes tens of thousands of deaths despite social distancing and lockdown being put into operation to limit spread of infection. |
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gollark: Something something electromigration. It's worse at high temperatures.
gollark: Can you not just swap the flash chip, or is that utterly impossible?
gollark: This would never be a problem for me, as a member of the superior "having a server with remote management hardware but never using it" gang.
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See also
- City and town timelines
- Timeline of Bath
- Timeline of Barrow-in-Furness
- Timeline of Birmingham
- Timeline of Bradford
- Timeline of Bristol
- Timeline of Cambridge
- Timeline of Cheshire
- Timeline of Derby
- Timeline of Exeter
- Timeline of Hull
- Timeline of Leicester
- Timeline of Lincoln
- Timeline of Liverpool
- Timeline of London
- Timeline of Manchester
- Timeline of Norwich
- Timeline of Nottingham
- Timeline of Oxford
- Timeline of Plymouth
- Timeline of Reading
- Timeline of Sheffield
- Timeline of Southampton
- Timeline of St Columb Major
- Timeline of Sunderland
- Timeline of York
- County timelines
References
- Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 4.20–35, 5.1, 8–23; Dio Cassius, Roman History 39.50–53, 40.1–3; Florus, Epitome of Roman History 1.45
- Malcolm Todd (2004), "Cunobelinus [Cymbeline] (d. c. AD 40), king in southern Britain". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Retrieved 28 December 2017.
- "Angle". Encyclopedia Britannica.
- Swanton, Michael (6 April 2000). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (New ed.). Phoenix Press. p. 57. ISBN 1-84212-003-4.
- "The Anarchy: Battle of the Standard". About.
- English Heritage (1995). "English Heritage Battlefield Report: Shrewsbury 1403" (PDF). Retrieved 22 August 2011.
- Name of the Glorious Revolution in the languages of Britain and Ireland:
- Bush, M. L. (2005). The casualties of Peterloo. Lancaster: Carnegie Pub. ISBN 1-85936-125-0. OCLC 71224394.
- Desmond, Adrian; Moore, James (1991), Darwin, London: Michael Joseph, Penguin Group, p. 477, ISBN 0-7181-3430-3
- Wolmar, Christian (2004). The Subterranean Railway: how the London Underground was built and how it changed the city forever. Atlantic. p. 135. ISBN 978-1-84354-023-6.
- Frances Lannon (30 October 2008). "Her Oxford". Times Higher Education. Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
- "A non-rusting steel". The New York Times. 31 January 1915.
- Wendell Lewis, "Raising the Mary Rose" in Marsden (2003), pp. 53–59; Rule (1983), pp. 206–27.
- Early, Chas (2 May 2015). "May 2, 1997: Labour win general election by a landslide to end 18 years of Conservative rule". BT news. Archived from the original on 1 February 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2016.
- "1997: Princess Diana dies in Paris crash". BBC News. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
- "London 2012 Summer Olympics - results & video highlights". International Olympic Committee. 20 November 2018. Retrieved 17 May 2019.
Bibliography
- Marsden, Peter, Sealed by Time: The Loss and Recovery of the Mary Rose. The Archaeology of the Mary Rose, Volume 1. The Mary Rose Trust, Portsmouth. 2003. ISBN 0-9544029-0-1
Further reading
- George Henry Townsend (1867), "England", A Manual of Dates (2nd ed.), London: Frederick Warne & Co.
- Charles E. Little (1900), "Great Britain and Ireland", Cyclopedia of Classified Dates, New York: Funk & Wagnalls
- Benjamin Vincent (1910), "England", Haydn's Dictionary of Dates (25th ed.), London: Ward, Lock & Co.
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