Timeline of English Literary History, 1475-1789
year |
English Literature |
English History |
European History and Culture |
1475 |
Caxton publ. Recuyell in Bruges, first moveable type book pr. in English |
|
|
1476 |
Caxton publ. the Dictes of Cato at Westminster, first moveable type book pr. in England |
|
|
1478 |
More b. |
|
|
1483 |
|
Edward IV dies; Princes in the Tower; Richard III crowned |
Luther b. |
1485 |
Caxton publ. Malory’s Morte Darthur at Westminster |
Battle of Bosworth Field, Tudor ascendancy; Henry VII crowned; Prince Arthur born |
|
1486 |
|
|
Maximilian I crowned Holy Roman Emperor |
1487 |
|
|
Diaz circumnavigates Cape of Good Hope |
1491 |
|
Henry VIII b. |
|
1492 |
|
|
Columbus to San Salvador; Reconquista |
1494 |
|
|
Savonarola excomm. and burned |
1497 |
|
John Cabot (Giovanni Caboto) disc. Newfoundland |
|
1498 |
|
|
Vasco de Gama est. route to India |
1501 |
|
Prince Arthur m. Katherine of Aragon |
|
1502 |
|
Arthur d. |
Vespucci disc. N. America |
1503 |
Wyatt b. |
Margaret Tudor m. James IV of Scotland |
|
1509 |
|
Henry VII d. Henry VIII crowned; m. Katharine of Aragon |
John Calvin (Jean Cauvin) b. |
1513 |
|
James IV killed at Flodden Field |
Leo X, Medici Pope, begins indulgences to finance St. Peter’s; sets Reformation into motion |
1515 |
Ascham b. |
Wolsey made Lord Chancellor |
|
1516 |
More, Utopia, Louvain |
|
|
1519 |
|
|
Magellan beg. first circumnavigation of earth; Spanish conquest of Aztecs |
1517 |
More, Richard III; Surrey b. |
|
Luther’s 95 theses |
1521 |
|
Henry meets François I at Field of Cloth of Gold; Pope awards Defender of the Faith to Henry for polemic against Luther |
|
1523 |
More, Responsio ad Lutherum |
|
|
1525 |
Tyndale’s tr. of New Testament, Cologne |
|
Peasants’ War in Germany |
1527 |
|
|
Sack of Rome by Imperial Troops |
1529 |
|
Fall of Wolsey |
|
1531 |
Elyot, Governor |
|
|
1532 |
|
|
Calvin, Institutes |
1533 |
|
Great Divorce; Henry m. Anne Boleyn; Elizabeth b. |
|
1534 |
|
|
Founding of Jesuit Order |
1535 |
More ex. |
Henry VIII declares himself Supreme Head of Church of England |
|
1536 |
|
Anne Boleyn ex.; Henry marries Jane Seymour; dissolution of monasteries begins |
|
1537 |
|
Prince Edward b.; Jane Seymour d. |
|
1538 |
Elyot, Latin-English Dictionary |
|
|
1539 |
Great Bible publ. |
|
|
1542 |
Wyatt d. |
Mary Stuart b. |
|
1543 |
|
|
Copernicus, De Revolutionibus |
1544 |
|
|
Council of Trent; reform of Church in resp. to Reformation |
1546 |
Elyot d. |
|
|
1547 |
Surrey ex. |
Henry VIII d.; Edward VI crowned |
|
1549 |
First Book of Common Prayer |
|
|
1552 |
Spenser b. |
Norfolk Rebellion; 42 Articles retaining some RC worship |
|
1553 |
|
Edward d.; Mary Tudor crowned; Marian persecutions |
|
1554 |
Sidney b. |
Mary m. Philip of Spain |
|
1555 |
|
English exiles found church in Geneva |
|
1556 |
|
Archbishop Cranmer burned for heresy |
|
1557 |
Tottel publ. Songes and Sonets; More, Works; Surrey tr. of Aeneid |
|
|
1558 |
|
Mary d. Elizabeth crowned |
|
1559 |
|
Book of Common Prayer only legal form of worship; Oath of Supermacy; Act of Uniformity |
|
1560 |
Geneva Bible |
|
John Knox est. Scottish Natl. Church; Catherine de Medici beg. regency in France |
1561 |
Bacon b. |
Mary Stuart returns to Scotland |
|
1563 |
|
Est. of 39 Articles, some Calvinist forms of worship |
Beg. of Huguenot Wars |
1564 |
Shakespeare and Marlowe b. |
|
Galileo and Cervantes b. |
1565 |
|
Mary m. Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley |
|
1566 |
|
James I and VI b. |
|
1567 |
Golding tr. of Metamorphoses |
Darnley murdered; Mary abdicates |
|
1568 |
Bishops’ Bible; Ascham d. |
Mary arrives in England |
Vasari, Lives of the Painters; uses term renaissance |
1569 |
Spenser, Theatre |
Northern earls rebel in favor of Mary; English colonization of Ulster begins |
|
1570 |
Ascham, Schoolmaster |
Pope declares Elizabeth a heretic |
|
1572 |
|
|
St. Bartholomew’s Day massacre of Huguenots |
1573 |
Jonson b. |
|
|
1576 |
J. Burbage builds the Theatre, Shoreditch |
|
|
1577 |
|
|
Drake begins second circumnavigation of earth |
1579 |
North’s tr. of Amyot’s tr. of Plutarch; Spenser, Shepheardes Calender |
French marriage scare |
|
1580 |
Sidney, first Arcadia |
earthquake |
|
1582 |
|
|
Douai-Rheims New Testament; Gregorian Calendar |
1584 |
|
Virginia Colony |
|
1585 |
|
Leicester leads army into Holland v. Spain |
|
1586 |
Sidney d. |
|
|
1587 |
Marlowe, Tamburlaine |
Babington plot; Mary Stuart ex. |
|
1588 |
Hobbes b. |
Armada |
|
1589 |
Shakespeare’s first plays prod. |
|
|
1590 |
Spenser, Faerie Queene, 1-3 |
|
|
1591 |
Marlowe, Edward II; Sidney, Astrophil; Herrick b. |
|
|
1593 |
Marlowe d.; Herbert b. |
|
|
1595 |
Spenser, Amoretti and Epithalamion |
|
|
1596 |
Spenser, Faerie Queene (entire) |
|
|
1597 |
Bacon, Essays |
|
|
1598 |
|
Rebellion in Munster; battle of Yellow Ford |
Edict of Nantes, toleration of Huguenots |
1599 |
Globe built; Spenser d. |
Defeat in Ireland; battle of Blackwater |
|
1600 |
Hamlet (Q1) |
Charles I b.; founding of East India Company |
|
1601 |
|
Essex rebellion, ex. |
|
1603 |
theaters closed, plague |
Elizabeth d.; James I crowned; flight of the earls in Ulster |
|
1604 |
|
Hampton Court Conference: condemnation of Puritanism and Catholicism |
|
1605 |
Bacon, Advancement of Learning |
Gunpowder Plot |
Cervantes, Don Quixote; Kepler publ. on principle of telescope |
1606 |
Jonson, Volpone; Waller b. |
|
|
1607 |
|
Jamestown Colony |
|
1608 |
Shakespeare, King Lear (Q1); Milton b. |
|
|
1609 |
Shakespeare, Sonnets |
|
Galileo publ. on bodies in motion; Kepler publ. on motions of planetary bodies |
1610 |
Jonson, Alchemist |
|
|
1611 |
Authorized version of the Bible |
|
|
1613 |
Globe burns |
Princess Elizabeth m. Elector Palatine, Frederick, “Winter King” |
|
1616 |
Shakespeare d.; Jonson, Works |
|
|
1618 |
Cowley b.; Harvey publ. on circulation of blood |
|
Thirty Years’ War begins |
1619 |
|
Slave trade begins in N. American colonies |
|
1620 |
|
Massachussetts Bay Colony |
|
1621 |
Marvell b. |
|
|
1623 |
First Folio publ. |
|
|
1625 |
Bacon, Essays |
James I d.; Charles I crowned |
|
1626 |
Bacon d. |
|
|
1628 |
|
Assassination of Buckingham |
|
1629 |
|
Personal rule; Parliament dismissed |
|
1630 |
|
Charles II b. |
|
1631 |
Donne and Jonson d.; Milton, L’Allegro and Il Penseroso; Dryden b. |
|
|
1632 |
Second Folio of Shakespeare |
|
|
1633 |
Donne, Songs and Sonnets; Herbert, Temple |
|
Galileo tried |
1634 |
Milton, Comus |
|
|
1635 |
|
|
Richelieu est. Académie français |
1637 |
Milton, Lycidas; Jonson d. |
|
|
1639 |
|
Bishops’ War; |
|
1640 |
Aphra Behn b. |
|
|
1641 |
|
Long Parliament; Irish rebellion |
|
1642 |
Parliament closes the theaters; Browne, Religio Medici; Denham, Cooper’s Hill |
First Civil War; Battle of Edgehill |
|
1643 |
|
Alliance of Scotland and Parliament |
|
1644 |
Milton, Areopagitica; Of Education |
Scots and Parliament def. king’s northern army |
Descartes, Principia Philosophiae |
1645 |
Waller, Poems |
Laud ex.; New Model Army est.; King def. at Naseby |
|
1646 |
Milton, Poems |
King surrenders to Scots; imprisoned |
|
1647 |
Rochester b. |
|
|
1648 |
|
Second Civil War; Pride's Purge; Rump Parliament; Cromwell def. Scots |
End of Thirty Years’ War; La Fronde (French Civil Wars) beg. |
1649 |
|
Charles I ex.; Commonwealth; reconquest of Ireland; Drogheda; def. of Levellers |
|
1650 |
|
|
Descartes d. |
1651 |
Hobbes, Leviathan |
Charles II crowns himself in Scotland; def. at Worcester; flees into French exile |
|
1652 |
|
Cromwell returns from Ireland; First Dutch War |
|
1653 |
|
Protectorate |
|
1658 |
|
Cromwell d. |
|
1660 |
|
Restoration; Charles II crowned |
|
1662 |
Royal Society est. |
|
|
1664 |
K. Philips d.; Third Folio of Shakespeare |
|
|
1665 |
|
plague; Second Dutch War |
|
1666 |
|
Great Fire; Newton publ. on gravity |
|
1667 |
Milton, Paradise Lost, 10 bks. |
Dutch def. English fleet in the Medway |
|
1669 |
Newton publ. on refractory telescope |
|
|
1671 |
Milton, Samson Agonistes; Paradise Regained |
|
|
1672 |
|
Third Dutch War |
|
1673 |
|
Test Act; Catholics barred from public office |
|
1674 |
Herrick, Milton d.; Paradise Lost, 12 bks. |
|
|
1675 |
Wycherley, Country-Wife |
|
|
1676 |
Etheredge, Man of Mode |
|
|
1678 |
Marvell d.; Dryden, MacFlecknoe |
Popish Plot; Habeas Corpus Act; Whigs and Tories found parties in Parliament |
|
1680 |
Rochester d. |
|
|
1681 |
Marvell, Miscellaneous Poems |
|
|
1685 |
Fourth Folio of Shakespeare |
Charles II d.; James II crowned; Monmouth rebellion |
|
1688 |
Pope b. |
Glorious Revolution; William invited to invade; deposition of James II begins |
|
1689 |
Behn d. Locke, Two Treatises on Government |
William and Mary crowned; Declaration of Rights |
|
1690 |
Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding |
Battle of the Boyne |
|
1694 |
|
Bank of England est.; Mary d. |
|
1695 |
Purcell d.; Congreve, Love for Love |
|
|
1697 |
Dryden, tr. of Vergil; Vanbrugh, Relapse |
|
|
1700 |
Dryden d. Congreve, Way of the World |
|
|
1701 |
|
Act of Settlement, Hanoverians added to royal line |
War of the Spanish Succession |
1702 |
|
William d. Anne crowned |
|
1704 |
Locke d.; Newton, Opticks |
Marlborough victorious at Blenheim |
|
1707 |
|
Act of Union w/ Scotland |
|
1708 |
|
|
|
1709 |
First Copyright Act; Rowe, ed. Shakespeare; Dr. Johnson b. |
|
|
1710 |
Handel arrives in England |
|
|
1711 |
Pope, Essay on Criticism; Addison and Steele, Spectator |
|
|
1713 |
Pope, Rape of the Lock (2 cantos) |
Treaty of Utrecht |
|
1714 |
Pope, Rape of the Lock (5 cantos) |
Anne d.; George I crowned |
|
1715 |
|
Jacobite Rebellion; Louis Quatorze d. |
|
1716 |
Handel, Water Music |
|
|
1719 |
Defoe, Robinson Crusoe |
|
|
1720 |
|
South Sea Bubble |
|
|
|
Walpole first Prime Minister |
|
1722 |
Defoe, Moll Flanders; Journal of the Plague Year |
Marlborough d. |
|
1725 |
Pope ed. of Shakespeare |
|
|
1726 |
Swift, Gulliver’s Travels |
|
|
1727 |
Newton d. |
George I d.; George II (his grandson) crowned |
|
1728 |
Pope, First Dunciad |
|
|
1729 |
Congreve d.; Swift, Modest Proposal |
|
|
1731 |
Defoe d. |
|
|
1732 |
Covent Garden Theatre built |
|
|
1733 |
Hogarth, Rake’s Progress; Pope, Essay on Man; Theobald, ed. of Shakespeare |
|
|
1735 |
|
Huntsman, cast steel |
|
1738 |
Johnson, London |
|
|
1739 |
Swift, Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift |
Methodist missions; War of Jenkins’ Ear |
|
1740 |
Cibber, Apology; Richardson, Pamela |
|
|
1742 |
Fielding, Joseph Andrews |
|
|
1744 |
Pope d. |
|
|
1745 |
Swift d. |
Jacobite Rebellion |
|
1746 |
|
Battle of Culloden; def. of Bonnie Prince Charlie |
|
1747 |
Richardson, Clarissa |
|
|
1749 |
Fielding, Tom Jones; Dr. Johnson, Vanity of Human Wishes |
|
|
1751 |
Gray, Elegy |
|
|
1752 |
|
Britain adopts Gregorian Calendar |
|
1753 |
|
British Museum established |
|
1754 |
Fielding d. |
|
|
1755 |
Dr. Johnson, Dictionary |
|
|
1756 |
|
Seven Years’ War |
|
1759 |
Smollett, Tristam Shandy first appears |
British Museum opens |
Voltaire, Candide |
1760 |
|
George II d.; George III crowned |
|
1761 |
Richardson d. |
|
|
1763 |
|
|
Peace of Paris |
1765 |
Johnson, ed. of Shakespeare |
Stamp Act; rebellion in America |
|
1767 |
|
Hargreaves, spinning jenny |
|
1769 |
|
Watt, steam engine |
|
1773 |
Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer |
Boston Tea Party |
|
1774 |
Chesterfield, Letters to His Son |
|
|
1775 |
Sheridan, The Rivals |
War of American Independence begins |
|
1776 |
Paine, Common Sense; Hume d.; Smith, Wealth of Nations; Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire |
American Declaration of Independence |
|
1777 |
Sheridan, School for Scandal |
|
|
1778 |
|
|
|
1779 |
Dr. Johnson’s Lives of the Poets first appears |
|
|
1781 |
|
Herschel discovers Uranus; Cornwallis surrenders to Americans |
Kant, Critique of Pure Reason |
1784 |
Dr. Johnson d. |
|
|
1788 |
Times of London founded |
|
|
1789 |
Blake, Songs of Innocence and Experience |
|
Storming of Bastille; French Revolution |
1790 |
Malone, ed. of Shakespeare |
|
|