Timeline of English history

This is a timeline of English history. To read about the background to these events, see History of England. See also the list of British monarchs.

This timeline is incomplete; some important events may be missing. Please help add to it.

Centuries: 1st BC - 1st - 2nd - 3rd - 4th - 5th - 6th - 7th - 8th - 9th - 10th - 11th - 12th - 13th - 14th - 15th - 16th - 17th - 18th - 19th - 20th - 21st

1st century BC

Year Date Event
55 BC Julius Caesar invades England and gains a beachhead on the coast of Kent
54 BC Julius Caesar invades England again, this time slightly more successful

1st century

Year Date Event
43 Roman invasion ordered by Claudius, who dispatched Aulus Plautius and an army of some 40,000 men.
60 Revolt against the Roman occupation, led by Boudica of the Iceni, begins.

2nd century

Year Date Event
122 Construction of Hadrian's Wall begins
Emperor Hadrian visits Roman Britain and appoints Aulus Platorius Nepos as Governor

3rd century

Year Date Event
206 Governor Lucius Alfenus Senecio repairs Hadrian's Wall and appeals for help from the Emperor against the northern tribes.
214 Roman Britain divided into two provinces, Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior, with administrative centres at London and York respectively.

4th century

Year Date Event
368 The Great Conspiracy: Sustained raids by Picts, Irish, and Saxons. Hadrian's Wall abandoned and military commander Fullofaudes captured or killed.
383 Beginning of Roman withdrawal

5th century

Year Date Event
410 Last Roman leaves
449 Hengest, Saxon leader, arrives in England
466 Battle of Wippedesfleot

6th century

Year Date Event
597 Arrival of St. Augustine

7th century

8th century

Year Date Event
793 Viking raid on Lindisfarne

9th century

Year Date Event
878 Battle of Ethandun, defeat of Viking forces, results in the Treaty of Wedmore and the establishment of the Danelaw
895 Danish fleet captured by Alfred the Great

10th century

11th century

Year Date Event
1035 Death of Cnut
1040 Death of Harold Harefoot, his brother Harthacnut accedes to the English throne
1042 Death of Harthacnut, Edward the Confessor accedes to the English throne
1066 Death of Edward the Confessor in January, Harold II accedes to the English throne. Norman invasion and conquest of England, Harold II is killed and William the Conqueror becomes King of England
1086 Work commences on the Domesday Book
1087 Death of William the Conqueror
1093 Death of Malcolm III of Scotland in battle against the English
1100 Death of William II, Henry I accedes to the throne of England

12th century

Year Date Event
1135 Death of Henry I, accession of King Stephen to English throne
1137 Beginning of a civil war between King Stephen and the Empress Matilda over the succession to the English throne
1154 Death of King Stephen, accession of Henry II to English throne
1164 Constitutions of Clarendon, a set of laws which governs the trial of members of the Church in England
1170 Assassination of Thomas Becket
1189 Death of Henry II, Richard I accedes to the English throne.
1192 Richard is captured by Duke Leopold of Austria whilst returning from the Crusades
1194 Richard is ransomed and returns to England; accession of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth to the throne of Gwynedd
1199 Death of Richard I, King John accedes to the English throne

13th century

Year Date Event
1209 King John excommunicated by Pope Innocent III
1215 Signing of the Magna Carta
1216 Death of King John, Henry III accedes to the throne of England
1237 Border between Scotland and England established by the Treaty of York
1264 Simon de Montfort leads rebel English barons to defeat Henry III at the Battle of Lewes
1267 Henry III recognises the authority of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in Wales
1272 Death of Henry III, Edward I accedes to the English throne
1277 England annexes Wales, a state of affairs which lasted until 1283
1279 Statute of Mortmain
1282 Death of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, prince of Wales; Dafydd ap Gruffudd accedes to the throne of Gwynedd
1283 Death of Dafydd ap Gruffudd; English conquest of Wales
1287 Revolt of Rhys ap Maredudd in Wales
1294 Revolt of Madog ap Llywelyn in Wales
1297 William Wallace and the Scots defeat the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge

14th century

Year Date Event
1305 Capture and execution of Scottish resistance fighter William Wallace by the English on a charge of treason
1307 Death of Edward I, Edward II accedes to the English throne
1314 Decisive victory for Scotland over England at the Battle of Bannockburn
1327 Edward III usurps the English throne in January, Edward II is killed in September
1328 England recognises Scotland's independence in the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton
1338 Edward III claims the throne of France, initiating the Hundred Years' War
1348 The Black Death first arrives in England and ultimately kills c. one third of the population
1356 Battle of Poitiers
1377 Death of Edward III, his Grandson Richard II accedes to the English throne
1381 Peasants' Revolt of 1381
1392 Great Act of Praemunire
1399 Henry Bolingbroke usurps the English throne becoming Henry IV

15th century

Year Date Event
1403 Battle of Shrewsbury
1413 Death of Henry IV, Henry V accedes to the throne
1415 Battle of Agincourt
1422 Death of Henry V, Henry VI accedes to the English and French thrones
1461 Edward IV usurps the English throne, Henry VI continues his fight
1470 Henry VI is restored to his throne in October
1471 Henry VI is murdered and Edward IV is restored to the English throne
1483 Death of Edward IV, Edward V accedes to the throne. However, in June Edward V is declared illegitimate and disappears. Richard III accedes to the throne
1485 The Battle of Bosworth Field on 22 August ends the Yorkist reign of Richard III and ushers in Tudor reign, with the reign of Henry VII.
1487 The Battle of Stoke is fought between Henry VII and Lambert Simnel a Yorkist claimant to the throne. It is the last battle of the Wars of the Roses

16th century

Year Date Event
1509 Henry VIII crowned and married to Catherine of Aragon
1513 James IV and thousands of Scots killed in defeat by English at Flodden.
1521 Lutheran writings begin to circulate.
1525 Henry VIII seeks an annulment of his marriage, which is refused.
1526 Cardinal Wolsey orders the burning of Lutheran books.
1529 Henry VIII severs ties with Rome and declares himself head of the English church.
1534 Act of Supremacy passed by Henry VIII
Treasons Act 1534
1535 Execution of Thomas More and Cardinal John Fisher.
1536 Execution of William Tindale in Antwerp
1547 Edward VI crowned King
1549 Prayer Book rebellion in south-west.
1553 Act Against Sectaries 1553
1558 Queen Elizabeth I accedes to the throne
1559 Act of Supremacy 1559
1571 Treasons Act 1571
Act Prohibiting Papal Bulls from Rome 1571
1587 Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, at Fotheringay Castle in Northamptonshire on 8 February
1588 Spanish Armada destroyed on 8 August
1593 Act Against Papists 1593

17th century

Year Date Event
1603 Death of Queen Elizabeth I on 24 March
James VI of Scotland crowned King of England (as James I of England)
Plague
1605 On 5 November the Gunpowder plot is uncovered, in which Guy Fawkes and other catholic associates attempted to blow up the king, James VI and I and the Parliament of England.
1618 Execution of Sir Walter Raleigh
1625 Death of James VI and I on 27 March
1639 War with Scotland until 1640 in what become known as the Bishops' Wars
1640 The Long Parliament summoned.
1642 English Civil War begins (see Timeline of the English Civil War)
1666 The Great Fire of London ravages the city from 2 September - 6 September.
1688 The Glorious Revolution replaces James II with William III

18th century

Year Date Event
1701 Act of Settlement 1701 requires the monarch to be Protestant
1703 King William III dies on 19 March and is succeeded by his sister-in-law Queen Anne.
1704 Gibraltar captured on 4 August by the combined Dutch and British fleet under the command of Admiral George Rooke
An English and Dutch army under John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough defeats the army of Louis XIV of France at Battle of Blenheim in Bavaria
1706 The Treaty of Union is agreed, on 22 July, between representatives of England's and Scotland's parliamemts
1707 Acts of Union are passed by the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland to ratify the Treaty of Union.
The united kingdom of Great Britain comes into being on 1 May 1707.[1][2][3][4]
1714 Queen Anne dies and is succeeded by King George I; start of the Hanoverian dynasty
1719 Attempted Spanish invasion in support of Jacobites - fleet sailing for England dispersed by storms, troops land in Scotland, defeated at Battle of Glen Shiel
1744 large-scale French invasion attempt on southern England with Charles Edward Stuart stopped by storms, France declares war
1755 Dr Samuel Johnson publishes his Dictionary of the English Language
1779 The world's first iron bridge is built in Shropshire

19th century

Year Date Event
1807 Slave Trade Act 1807
1815 The Napoleonic Wars end, marking the start of the Britain's Imperial Century
1819 The Peterloo Massacre.
1825 The world's first public passenger railway opens (The Stockton and Darlington railway).
1829 The Catholic Relief Act 1829 concludes Catholic Emancipation.
1832 The Great Reform Act doubles the franchise.
1834 The New Poor Law is passed.
1838 Slavery Abolition Act 1833 enters full force
The Chartism movement (to 1848)
1842 The first peacetime Income tax is introduced.
1846 The Corn Laws are repealed
1848 Communist Manifesto is published
1859 On the Origin of Species is published
1863 The first (steam driven) underground train in London
1867 The 1867 Reform Act doubles the franchise again
1868 The last public execution is carried out
1870 Education Act 1870 introduces universal education
Religious dissenters and women allowed to enter the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge
1880 The Education Act 1880 makes primary schooling compulsory and extends it to girls.
1884 The Reform Act 1885 concludes the century's electoral reform.
1896 The Daily Mail is first published, billing itself as an 'imperial' newspaper.

20th century

Year Date Event
1936 The Jarrow March is held
1948 The National Health Service commences
1982 The Mary Rose is raised from the sea bed
1994 The Channel Tunnel opens

21st century

Year Date Event
2004 The population of England reaches 50 million.
2007 A series of co-ordinated terrorist bombings strike London's public transport system during the morning rush hour killing more than 50 people and injuring hundreds.
2011 Prince William and Catherine Middleton marry in Westminster Abbey.

References

  1. ^ Acts of Union 1707 parliament.uk, accessed 13 September 2011
  2. ^ Making the Act of Union 1707 scottish.parliament.uk, accessed 13 September 2011
  3. ^ England – Profile BBC, 13 September 2011
  4. ^ The Creation of the United Kingdom of great britain in 1707 Historical Association, accessed 13 September 2011