United Kingdom
Great Britain and the United Kingdom as a European power.
Category: States, Places
- c. 700Codex Amiatinus, the oldest complete Vulgate, is made in Northumbria
Ordered by Abbot Ceolfrith in 692 and made at Monkwearmouth–Jarrow around 700, the Codex Amiatinus is the oldest complete Vulgate Bible. It leaves for Italy in 716 and is now in Florence.
- c. 1382 – c. 1388The first complete English Bible, the Wycliffite Bible, is made
Around 1382 a first English Bible is translated from the Latin Vulgate in the circle of John Wycliffe at Oxford; a freer revision follows c. 1388. Wycliffe's own part in the translation is disputed.
- 1407 – 1409England restricts unlicensed Bible translation
In 1407–1409 Archbishop Thomas Arundel's constitutions, issued at Oxford, require church approval for any new English translation of Scripture and bar the public reading of Wycliffe's writings.
- June 28, 1491Birth of Henry VIII at Greenwich
Henry VIII is born at the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, the second son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York. He becomes king in 1509 and breaks with the papacy in the 1530s.
- October 1521Pope Leo X names Henry VIII Defender of the Faith
Leo X grants Henry VIII the title for his Assertio septem sacramentorum, which defends the sacraments and papal authority against early Protestant ideas. The pope later revokes it, and Parliament restores it by statute in 1543.
- 1526Tyndale's English New Testament is printed at Worms
The first complete printed English New Testament, translated by William Tyndale, appears at Worms in 1526. Bishop Tunstall has copies bought and burned; Tyndale is arrested at Antwerp in 1535 and burned near Vilvoorde in October 1536.
- May 23, 1533Cranmer declares Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon void
On 23 May 1533 Thomas Cranmer, consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury that March, rules Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon invalid. He crowns Anne Boleyn queen on 1 June.
- November 3, 1534The Act of Supremacy makes Henry VIII head of the Church of England
Parliament passes the Act of Supremacy on 3 November 1534, declaring Henry VIII 'the only supreme head on Earth of the Church of England' and ending papal authority; royal assent follows on 18 December. A Treason Act punishes denial.
- 1535Coverdale's Bible, the first complete printed English Bible, appears
In 1535 Miles Coverdale's translation, built largely on Tyndale and Latin and German versions, is printed on the Continent. Research in 1997 identified the printer as Merten de Keyser of Antwerp.
- July 6, 1535Thomas More is beheaded for refusing the Oath of Supremacy
Thomas More, the humanist author of Utopia, is beheaded on Tower Hill on 6 July 1535. He had refused the Oath of Supremacy, which recognised Henry VIII as Supreme Head of the Church of England.
- 1536 – 1541Henry VIII dissolves England's monasteries
Between 1536 and 1541 Henry VIII closes England's monasteries, starting with houses worth under £200 a year. About 625 communities are dissolved, and much of their land passes to the Crown and is sold to fund his wars.
- October 1536 – February 1537The Pilgrimage of Grace rises in northern England
From the Lincolnshire Rising of 1 October 1536, northern rebels led by Robert Aske protest the break with Rome and the dissolution of the monasteries. Henry VIII breaks his promises, and about 216 people are executed, including Aske.
- October 1536William Tyndale is strangled and burned at Vilvoorde
In early October 1536 (traditionally 6 October) the English translator William Tyndale is executed for heresy near Brussels. Much of his wording later survives in the King James Bible.
- April 1539The Great Bible is published and ordered into every English church
The first edition of the Great Bible, edited by Myles Coverdale for Thomas Cromwell and largely based on Tyndale, appears in April 1539. Cromwell's 1538 order puts a copy of the Bible in English in every church.
- c. 1540Birth of Francis Drake near Tavistock, Devon
Francis Drake, later England's best-known privateer, is born at Crowndale farm near Tavistock. No record survives; estimates range from about 1539 to 1544, and c. 1540 is the usual figure.
- January 28, 1547Death of Henry VIII at Whitehall
Henry VIII dies at the Palace of Whitehall on 28 January 1547, aged 55, and is succeeded by his son Edward VI, under whom Cranmer pushes Protestant reform further.
- June 9, 1549The first Book of Common Prayer is imposed in England
Parliament passes the Act of Uniformity on 21 January 1549, and the first Book of Common Prayer, largely edited by Thomas Cranmer, must be in use from Whitsunday, 9 June. Cranmer's stricter revision follows in 1552.
- November 30, 1554England is reconciled with Rome under Mary I
On 30 November 1554 Cardinal Pole absolves Parliament and the realm of heresy and schism. The Second Statute of Repeal, introduced on 26 December, reunites England with Rome after Henry VIII's break.
- February 4, 1555 – 1558Mary I's government burns Protestants as heretics
From 4 February 1555, when John Rogers is burned, Mary I's government burns Protestants under revived heresy laws. At least 280 people are executed by the end of her reign in 1558, which earns her the name 'Bloody Mary'.
- March 21, 1556Thomas Cranmer is burned at the stake at Oxford
Thomas Cranmer, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, withdraws his recantations and is burned at Oxford on 21 March 1556. The principal editor of the Book of Common Prayer is later honoured as a martyr by the Church of England.
- April 1559Elizabeth I's Parliament passes the Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity
In April 1559 Elizabeth I's Parliament abolishes the pope's authority and makes her Supreme Governor of the Church of England. The Act of Uniformity, passed by about three votes in the Lords, restores a revised Book of Common Prayer.
- 1560English exiles publish the Geneva Bible
In 1560 English Protestant exiles in Geneva, led by William Whittingham, publish the first complete English Bible translated from the original languages, with Calvinist notes. The Pilgrims later carry it on the Mayflower.
- August 1560The Scottish Parliament abolishes papal authority and bans the Mass
In August 1560, after English help ends the fighting with the Treaty of Edinburgh, Scotland's Parliament approves the Scots Confession, abolishes papal jurisdiction and bans the Mass. Mary Queen of Scots does not endorse the acts.
- 1568Spanish fleet defeats Hawkins and Drake at San Juan de Ulúa
In 1568, at San Juan de Ulúa (Veracruz, Mexico), a Spanish fleet destroys most of John Hawkins's slave-trading expedition. Drake escapes in the Judith, and the episode fuels his later raids on Spain.
- May 24, 1572Drake sails from Plymouth to raid Nombre de Dios on the Spanish Main
On 24 May 1572 Drake leaves Plymouth with two ships and 73 men to attack Spain's Caribbean treasure route. He is wounded in the attack on Nombre de Dios, then spends months raiding Spanish shipping.
- 1573Drake becomes the first Englishman to see the Pacific
During his 1572-73 raids, Drake is led by Cimarrón allies to a ridge on the Isthmus of Panama and sees the Pacific Ocean in 1573. He vows to sail an English ship there.
- December 13, 1577 – September 26, 1580Drake sails around the world in the Golden Hind
Drake leaves Plymouth on 13 December 1577 and returns on 26 September 1580. He is the first Englishman to circle the globe, and raids Spanish ports and ships along the Pacific coast.
- 1578Drake sacks Valparaíso, Chile
In 1578 the Golden Hind plunders the Spanish port of Valparaíso and takes a ship loaded with Chilean wine. Drake had earlier been wounded by Mapuche archers on Mocha Island; the sack feeds local legend.
- March 1579Drake captures the Spanish treasure ship Cacafuego off Peru
Off the coast of Peru, in early 1579, Drake takes the Nuestra Señora de la Concepción, nicknamed Cacafuego. Its silver and gold make it the richest prize of his circumnavigation.
- June 1579Drake lands in California and claims Nova Albion for Elizabeth I
In June 1579 the Golden Hind anchors at a bay on the Pacific coast of North America, probably near Point Reyes. Drake claims the land for England as Nova Albion; the exact site is disputed.
- April 4, 1581Drake is knighted aboard the Golden Hind at Deptford
On 4 April 1581 Drake is knighted on his ship at Deptford. Elizabeth I's reward for the circumnavigation also shows her support for his raids on Spain.
- 1582 – 1610English Catholics publish the Douay–Rheims Bible
The English College's Catholic translation from the Vulgate appears with the New Testament at Rheims in 1582, mainly by Gregory Martin, and the Old Testament at Douai in 1609–1610. It is a Counter-Reformation answer to Protestant Bibles.
- September 1585 – July 22, 1586Drake leads a fleet of 21 ships against Spain's Caribbean colonies
From September 1585 to July 1586 Drake raids Spanish settlements, including Santo Domingo, Cartagena and St Augustine, in the first big English naval offensive of the war with Spain.
- June 6, 1586Drake burns St Augustine in Spanish Florida
On 6 June 1586, returning from the Caribbean, Drake's fleet attacks and burns the Spanish settlement of St Augustine in Florida. He then visits Roanoke and takes the colonists home.
- April 1587Drake raids Cádiz and delays the Spanish Armada
In April 1587 Drake enters Cádiz harbour and destroys dozens of ships and stores meant for Spain's invasion fleet. He calls it 'singeing the King of Spain's beard'; the damage postpones the Armada by about a year.
- July 1588Drake serves as vice admiral as England defeats the Spanish Armada
In July 1588, as vice admiral under Lord Howard of Effingham, Drake fights the Spanish Armada in the Channel. The invasion of England fails.
- 1589Drake and Norris's 'English Armada' fails against Spain
In 1589 a large English expedition under Drake and Sir John Norris attacks Corunna and Lisbon, hoping to destroy Spanish ships and raise Portugal in revolt. It fails at heavy cost; estimates of the dead vary widely.
- January 28, 1596Drake dies of dysentery off Portobelo, Panama
On 28 January 1596, during his last expedition to the Spanish Caribbean, Drake dies of dysentery aboard ship off Portobelo. He is buried at sea in a lead coffin.
- November 5, 1605The Gunpowder Plot against James I is foiled in London
On the night of 4–5 November 1605 Guy Fawkes is caught guarding 36 barrels of gunpowder under the House of Lords. English Catholics led by Robert Catesby had plotted to kill James I, and harsher anti-Catholic laws follow.
- 1611The King James Bible is published
Approved at the Hampton Court Conference in 1604, the Authorized Version is made by about 47 scholars and published in 1611 by Robert Barker. It draws on Tyndale and the Geneva Bible and long dominates English Bible reading.
- February 14, 1613Frederick V of the Palatinate marries Elizabeth Stuart in London
On 14 February 1613 the Calvinist Elector Palatine marries Elizabeth, daughter of James I of England, at Whitehall. The match ties the Protestant Union's leader to England's royal house.
- 1620Bacon publishes the Novum Organum
Francis Bacon's Novum Organum (1620), "New Instrument", is a rival to Aristotle's Organon. It rejects syllogistic logic for induction and says Aristotle made his natural philosophy "a mere slave to his logic". It also lists four "idols" that distort thought.
- December 9, 1625England, the Dutch Republic and Denmark ally at The Hague against the emperor
On 9 December 1625 England, the Dutch Republic and Denmark-Norway sign the Treaty of The Hague, under which the English and Dutch are to fund Christian IV. France, Sweden and Venice do not join, and the funds fall short.
- 1663John Eliot's Massachusett Bible is printed in Cambridge, Massachusetts
In 1663 the Puritan missionary John Eliot, with Massachusett assistants such as James Printer, publishes a complete Bible in the Massachusett language, the first in an Indigenous American language. The New Testament came out in 1661.
- c. 1689Purcell's Dido and Aeneas is performed at a girls' school in Chelsea
Henry Purcell's only fully sung opera, to a libretto by Nahum Tate, was staged at Josias Priest's boarding school in Chelsea by the end of 1689. Some scholars date its composition to about 1683, for the court.
- November 21, 1695Death of Henry Purcell in London
Purcell, organist of Westminster Abbey and the Chapel Royal and the leading English composer of his day, died on 21 November 1695 at about 36.
- February 24, 1711Handel's Rinaldo opens at the Queen's Theatre, London
Premiered on 24 February 1711, Rinaldo was the first Italian opera George Frideric Handel wrote for the London stage and a popular success, bringing Italian opera seria to Britain.
- February 1719 – 1729The Royal Academy of Music is founded in London to stage Italian opera
Founded in February 1719 as a joint-stock company by aristocrats, with Handel as its key composer, it hired star singers such as Senesino and Cuzzoni. Costs and rivalries sank it by 1729.
- April 13, 1742Handel's Messiah is first performed in Dublin
Composed in London in 24 days in 1741 to a text by Charles Jennens, Messiah premiered on 13 April 1742 at the Great Music Hall, Fishamble Street, as a charity concert that freed 142 imprisoned debtors.
- April 14, 1759Death of George Frideric Handel in London
Handel, a German-born naturalised British subject who had made oratorio and Italian opera central to London's musical life, died on 14 April 1759 and was buried in Westminster Abbey on 20 April.
- June 6, 1762 – August 13, 1762A British fleet and army besiege and capture Havana
The British siege of Havana lasts from 6 June to 13 August 1762 during the Seven Years' War. Their rule opens Cuba to free trade and adds about 3,200 enslaved Africans to the roughly 4,000 already on the island.
- 1763Spain recovers Havana from Britain in exchange for Florida
The 1763 Peace of Paris ends the Seven Years' War. Britain returns Havana to Spain, which cedes Florida; France gives Spain Louisiana as compensation. Sources differ on whether the handover was in February or April 1763.
- February 10, 1763Treaty of Paris ends the Seven Years' War; France loses its North American empire
Under Louis XV, France ceded Canada and its lands east of the Mississippi (except New Orleans) to Britain, losing most of its North American empire and weakening its finances.
- 1798Britain agrees with Toussaint Louverture to leave Saint-Domingue
After the Maitland-Louverture armistice of 30 March 1798 British troops evacuate their occupied zones on Saint-Domingue, ending a five-year intervention begun in 1793. Sources give August to October for the final departure.
- 1798 – 1799Bonaparte invades Egypt and Syria
A French army under Bonaparte invaded Ottoman Egypt in 1798, fighting the Battle of the Pyramids on 21 July. The army was cut off from France after the British naval victory at the Nile in August.
- August 1, 1798 – August 3, 1798Nelson destroys the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile
Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson attacked the French fleet anchored at Aboukir Bay; its commander Brueys was killed and most ships lost. Bonaparte's army was left stranded in Egypt.
- March 25, 1802Britain and France sign the Treaty of Amiens
The treaty, signed by Joseph Bonaparte and Lord Cornwallis, ended a decade of war between Britain and France. It was an uneasy truce, with each side later accusing the other of breaking its terms.
- May 18, 1803Britain declares war on France, opening the Napoleonic Wars
Britain, citing French expansion in Italy, Switzerland and the Netherlands and a dispute over evacuating Malta, resumed war; Napoleon had in turn protested British occupation of Malta and Egypt.
- March 7, 1804The British and Foreign Bible Society is founded
On 7 March 1804 a group including William Wilberforce founds the British and Foreign Bible Society to spread the Scriptures widely and cheaply. It begins a wave of Bible societies and mass translation and distribution.
- October 21, 1805Nelson defeats the Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar
Off Cape Trafalgar, a British fleet under Nelson (killed in the battle) beat the combined fleets of Villeneuve and Gravina. It ended Napoleon's chances of invading Britain and confirmed British naval supremacy.
- November 21, 1806Napoleon's Berlin Decree launches the Continental System
Napoleon banned British goods from France's allies and dependents to isolate Britain economically. Britain answered with blockading Orders in Council, and smuggling and hardship spread on both sides.
- 1807 – April 17, 1814The Peninsular War in Portugal and Spain
French forces occupied Portugal in 1807 and then Spain, where Napoleon installed his brother Joseph. Spanish armies and guerrillas, with British and Portuguese forces under Wellesley, fought until the war ended on 17 April 1814.
- April 1809 – October 1809Austria, with Britain and Spain, renews war against Napoleon
In April 1809 Austria launched the War of the Fifth Coalition. Napoleon defeated it at Wagram and imposed a harsh peace in October 1809.
- 1813Robert Morrison completes a Chinese New Testament
Reaching Macau in 1807 as the first Protestant missionary in China, Robert Morrison completes and prints a Chinese New Testament by the end of 1813, working in Canton. A full Bible follows later.
- September 1814 – June 9, 1815The Congress of Vienna redraws Europe
Metternich, Castlereagh, Alexander I, Hardenberg and the defeated France's Talleyrand sought a balance of power and the restoration of the pre-revolutionary order. The Final Act was signed on 9 June 1815.
- June 18, 1815Wellington and Blücher defeat Napoleon at Waterloo
An Anglo-allied army under Wellington held until the Prussians under Blücher broke the French right flank. Napoleon abdicated again on 22 June and was exiled to Saint Helena.
- May 5, 1821Napoleon dies in exile on Saint Helena
Napoleon Bonaparte died at Longwood on the British-held island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he had been exiled since 1815.
- 1881 – 1885The Revised Version updates the King James Bible
A British committee of over fifty scholars publishes the Revised Version New Testament in 1881 and the Old Testament in 1885. The New Testament follows the Westcott–Hort Greek text, drawing on Vaticanus and Sinaiticus.
- 1935The Rylands fragment of John, a very early New Testament papyrus, is published
In 1935 C. H. Roberts publishes in Manchester a small papyrus fragment of John 18, bought in Egypt in 1920. Dated probably to the 2nd century (c. 125 or later, debated), it is among the earliest New Testament manuscripts.
- July 24, 2008Codex Sinaiticus goes online
From 24 July 2008 the four institutions holding Codex Sinaiticus, including the British Library and Saint Catherine's Monastery, publish it online. Pages reunite what was split across Leipzig, London, Sinai and St Petersburg.