|
55 BC |
Julius Caesar heads first
Roman Invasion but later withdraws |
|
0 |
Birth of Jesus Christ |
|
33AD |
Crucifixion of Jesus in the
Roman province of Jerusalem and the origin of
Christianity |
|
43AD |
The Romans built a fort, in
the walled city they called Londinium |
|
61AD |
Boadicea leads the Iceni but
defeated by the Romans |
|
122 |
122 - 128 Emperor Hadrian
orders the building of Hadrians wall on the Border
between Scotland and England
|
|
486 |
486 - 870 The Dark Ages are
dominated by increasing English trade links with the
continent and raids from the German Saxons and the
Vikings. The English inhabitants were referred to as
the Anglo-Saxons and ruled by different tribes and
rulers
|
|
871 |
871-899 King Alfred the Great
starts the Wessex line of Kings of England |
|
899 |
899-924 Edward the Elder (son
of Alfred) |
|
924 |
924-939 Aethelstan (first son
of Edward the Elder) |
|
939 |
939-946 Edmund I (second son
of Edward the Elder) |
|
946 |
946-955 Eadred (third son of
Edward the Elder) |
|
955 |
955-959 Edwig (first son of
Edmund I) |
|
959 |
959-975 Edgar (second son of
Edmund I) |
|
975 |
975-978 Edward the Martyr
(first son of Edgar) |
|
978 |
978-1016 Ethelred the Unready
(second son of Edgar) |
|
1016 |
Edmund Ironside takes the
crown but assassinated I month later |
|
1016 |
1016-1035 - Danish under King
Canute rule England |
|
1042 |
House of Wessex is Restored
under Edward, the Confessor (1042-1066) |
|
1066 |
Harold Godwinson claims the
crown |
|
1066 |
1066 - The Battle of Hastings
- William, Duke of Normandy crowned King of England
(William I). Between 1066-1087 the Norman line rule
the English
|
|
1086 |
Compilation of the Doomsday
book |
|
1087 |
1087-1100 The reign of King
William Rufus (son of William). William invades
Wales and builds castles on the borders
|
|
1100 |
1100-1135 The reign of King
Henry I (William Rufus brother) |
|
1135 |
1135-1154 The reign of King
Stephen (nephew of Henry I) |
|
1099 |
First Crusade. Jerusalem is
re-taken from the Muslims on the urging of Pope
Urban II |
|
1118 |
The Knights Templar founded to
protect Jerusalem and European pilgrims on their
journey to the city |
|
1147 |
Second Crusade |
|
1154 |
1154 - 1399 - The Plantagenet
Kings of England (Angevin Line). 1154-1189 The reign
of King Henry II (grandson of Henry I)
|
|
1170 |
Thomas Becket is murdered in
Canterbury Cathedral |
|
1189 |
1189-1199 The reign of King
Richard I ( Richard the Lionheart (third son of
Henry II) |
|
1190 |
Third Crusade. Saladin manages
to unite the Muslim world and recapture Jerusalem,
sparking the Third Crusade
|
|
1199 |
1199-1216 The reign of King
John (fifth son of Henry II and brother of King
Richard) |
|
1200 |
Fourth Crusade |
|
1214 |
1214 -1215: Barons revolt |
|
1215 |
Magna Carta is signed |
|
1216 |
1216-1272 The reign of King
Henry III (son of John) |
|
1258 |
Provisions of Oxford forced
upon Henry III of England, establishing a new form
of government limited regal authority
|
|
1272 |
1272-1307 The reign of King
Edward I (son of Henry III) |
|
1297 |
William Wallace emerges as the
leader of the Scottish resistance to England |
|
1307 |
1307-1327 The reign of King
Edward II (son of Edward I) |
|
1307 |
The Knights Templar are
rounded up and murdered by Philip the Fair of
France, with the backing of the Pope
|
|
1311 |
1311-1315: The Great Famine
|
|
1327 |
1327-1377 The reign of King
Edward III (son of Edward II) |
|
1337 |
The Hundred Years War begins.
England and France struggle for dominance of Western
Europe |
|
1346 |
The Battle of Crecy |
|
1347 |
The Black Death ravages Europe
for the first of many times. An estimated one third
of the population is thought to have perished within
the first year
|
|
1356 |
Battle of Poitiers |
|
1377 |
1377-1399 The reign of King
Richard II (grandson of Edward III, son of the Black
Prince) |
|
1380 |
Geoffrey Chaucer begins to
write the Canterbury Tales |
|
1381 |
Peasants Revolt |
|
1382 |
The Bible is translated into
English by John Wycliffe |
|
1399 |
John of Gaunt dies and King
Richard seized his lands. Gaunt's son, Henry
Bolingbroke invaded England, whilst Richard was on
campaign in Ireland, usurping the throne from the
king
|
|
1399 |
October: King Richard II was
condemned as a tyrant. He renounced the crown and
Henry IV was proclaimed King the next day
|
|
1399 |
1399-1413 The reign of King
Henry IV (grandson of Edward III, son of John of
Gaunt) Henry IV died suffering from leprosy and
epilepsy
|
|
1413 |
1413-1422 The reign of King
Henry V (son of Henry IV). |
|
1415 |
Battle of Agincourt |
|
1422 |
1422-1461 The reign of King
Henry VI (son of Henry V) |
|
1429 |
Joan of Arc lifts the siege of
Orleans for the Dauphin of France, enabling him to
eventually be crowned at Reims
|
|
1430 |
Capture, trial, and execution
of Joan of Arc |
|
1434 |
The Medici family rises to
prominence in Florence |
|
1453 |
The Hundred Years War ends.
Calais is the only English possession on Continental
Europe |
|
1455 |
Johann Gutenberg prints the
first of his Bibles on his new printing press |
|
1455 |
The Wars of the Roses begin in
England |
|
1461 |
1461-1483 The reign of King
Edward IV ( youngest son of Edward III). Edward IV
was a notorious womaniser - his affairs led to
claims of illegitimacy and ultimately led to the
murder of his sons - the Princes in the Tower
|
|
1483 |
1483-1485 The reign of King
Richard III (uncle of Edward V) |
|
1485 |
August 22nd: A Lancastrian
rebellion rose against the Yorkist Richard and on he
fell in the Battle of Bosworth Field to Henry Tudor.
The Wars of the Roses ends and the Tudor dynasty
begins 1485 - 1603 - The Tudors
|
|
1485 |
1485 - 1509 Henry Tudor
becomes King Henry VII (grandson of Henry V)
He cemented his succession and settled the friction
between the Yorkists and Lancastrians by marrying
the Yorkist heir, Elizabeth of York
|
|
1487 |
Lambert Simnel (1475–1525)
imposter and pretender to the English throne was
defeated at the battle of Stoke
|
|
1499 |
1499 Perkin Warbeck, who
claimed to be one of the Princes in the Tower
(Richard) was interrogated and executed at the Tower
of London
|
|
1509 |
1509 - 1547 Reign of King
Henry VIII |
|
1509 |
King Henry VIII marries
Katherine of Aragon |
|
1533 |
Henry divorced his first wife,
Katherine of Aragon |
|
1534 |
Henry VIII broke with the
Church in Rome with the Act of Supremacy, which made
the king head of the Church of England
|
|
1535 |
Sir Thomas Moore and Bishop
Fisher of Rochester were executed for refusing to
acknowledge Henry VIII as head of the English Church
|
|
1533 |
January 25th: Henry married
Anne Boleyn |
|
1536 |
May 15th: Anne Boleyn tried
for treason, adultery and incest and executed on
Tower Hill on May 19th
|
|
1536 |
30 May: Jane Seymour and Henry
VIII but Jane dies a premature death after giving
birth to Henry's son
|
|
1540 |
Henry VIII marries Anne of
Cleves but the marriage is annulled. On July 28th 49
year old Henry married 19 year old Catherine Howard
|
|
1542 |
13th February: Catherine
Howard executed for adultery |
|
1543 |
12th July Henry married
Katherine Parr |
|
1547 |
1547 - 1553 King Henry VIII
died and Edward V (Henry's son by Jane Seymour)
becomes king |
|
1553 |
Edward dies of tuberculosis
and he left the throne to 'the Lady Jane and her
heirs male.' |
|
1553 |
Monday 10 July: Lady Jane Grey
(Queen for just Nine Days) on 19th July 1553 Queen
Jane was deposed as Queen
|
|
1553 |
1553 - 1558 Mary (Henry's
daughter by Queen Katherine of Aragon) becomes
Queen. She is referred to as 'Bloody Mary' for her
persecution of Protestants and political rivals
|
|
1558 |
1558 - 1603 Elizabeth I
(Henry's daughter by Anne Boleyn) |
|
1603 |
1603 - 1625 James I of England
James VI of Scotland (great-great-grandson of Henry
VII) |
|
1625 |
1625 - 1649 Charles I (second
son of James) |
|
1642 |
Civil war broke out between
King and parliament.
|
|
1649 |
30th January: Charles was
beheaded on a scaffold outside the Banqueting House
in Whitehall, London
|
|
1649 |
1649 - 1659 The Commonwealth
under the Cromwell family |
|
1660 |
1660 - 1685 Charles II (oldest
son of Charles) Royal House of Stuart Restored
|
|
1685 |
1685 - 1688 James II (brother
of Charles II) |
|
1688 |
The Catholic James was deposed
and replaced by by his Protestant daughter and
son-in-law, Mary II and William III, who became
joint Sovereigns
|
|
1689 |
1689 - 1694 William and Mary -
William of Orange (grandson of Charles I) and Mary
(daughter of James II)
|
|
1690 |
Battle of Boyne The deposed
James made one attempt to regain the crown, but his
French and Irish forces were soundly defeated at the
Battle of Boyne
|
|
1694 |
1694 - 1702 William of Orange
ruled alone after Mary's death |
|
1702 |
1702 - 1714 Anne (sister of
Mary) |
|
1714 |
1714 - 1727 George I
(great-grandson of James I) |
|
1727 |
1727 - 1760 George II (son of
George I) |
|
1760 |
1760 - 1820 George III
(grandson of George II) |
|
1820 |
1820 - 1830 George IV (son of
George III) |
|
1830 |
1830 - 1837 William IV
(brother of George IV) |
|
1837 |
1837 - 1901 Victoria (niece of
William IV) |
|
1901 |
1901 - 1910 Edward VII (son of
Victoria and Albert) |
|
1910 |
1910 - 1936 George V (second
son of Edward VII) |
|
1914 |
1914 - 1918 The First World
War |
|
1936 |
1936 Edward VIII (son of
George V) The abdication of King Edward VIII
following his affair with Wallis Simpson
|
|
1936 |
1936 - 1952 George VI (second
son of George V) |
|
1939 |
1939 - 1945 The Second World
War |
|
1952 |
1952 - Present day Elizabeth
II (daughter of George VI) |
