History of England/Timelines
(Sources in addition to those shown: Bernard Grun The Timetables of History, Simon & Schuster, 1991; Norman Davies: The Isles, A History, Appendix 42, Macmillan 1999; Key Dates of Parliament, House of Commons, 2008.[[1]]; .Chris Scarre (ed) The Human Past, Thames and Hudson, 2005. James Ingham's translation of the Anglo Saxon Chronicle [2])
Dates shown thus [ ] are approximate or questionable.
Prehistory
- Canyon Cave Man [c 8980 BCE]
- Cheddar Man [3][4] [c 7,000 BCE]
- The Sleeve (La Manche) The English Channel[5] separates Britain from the European mainland [c 6000 to 4000 BCE].
- Farmers in Britain and Ireland [from c 4000 BCE]
- The Beaker people [6] [c 2500 to 1600].
- Megalith builders [7]
- - Stonehenge[8].[c 3000 to 1500 BCE]
600 BCE to 48 CE
Celtic immigration[9]
- Goidals reach Ireland and Brythons reach Britain[10]
49 to 410 CE
Roman occupation 49 - 410 AD
- Claudius begins the conquest [49 AD]
- Rebellion of the Iceni - led by Queen Boudica [11] [61 AD]
- Agricola[12][78 AD]
- Hadrian's wall[13] [122 AD]
- Christianity reaches Britain [200+]
- St Alban's martrydom[14]
- Septimus Severus' campaign [208-211}
- Edict of Caracalla - all free men eligible for Roman citizenship [212]
- Constantius' Caledonian campaign[15][306]
- Edict of Milan - the tolerance of Christianity[16] [313]
- Council of Arles - attended by 3 British bishops[17] [314]
- Council of Nicea[18]
- Theodosius' campaign against Picts and Scots [367]
- Christianity becomes Rome's state religion - Emperor Theodosius forbids other forms of worship [19] (391).
- Withdrawal of the legions [401]
- The end of Britain's allegiance to Rome [410]
401 to 800
Celtic Ireland
- Saint Palladius[20] becomes first Bishop of Ireland - having been sent to Ireland by Pope Celestine [431].
- Saint Patrick[21] returns to Ireland and helps to spread Christianity there. [432]
- - becomes Bishop of Ireland following the transfer of Palladius to Ireland.
Saxon Britain
- Saint Ninian[22] [23] founds a monastery in Scotland [397?].
- Saxons defeated at Mount Badon[24] [519??]
- Saint Columba[25] lands on Iona and founds a monastery there [563]
- Saint David [26]helps to spread Christianity among the pagan Celtic tribes of Western Britain and becomes Archbishop of Wales
- Saint Augustine [27] becomes Archbishop of Canterbury (597-604), having been sent to Britain by Pope Gregory with 40 other monks.
- Synod of Whitby (664)[28] - Augustine persuades representatives of indigenous Christians to accept Roman practice.
- Adam Bede's [29]History of the English Church and People(731).
801 to 1066
Danish invasions
- Viking settlements at Dublin[30], Waterford and Limerick [914-920]
- Alfred the Great, King of Wessex [31](871-899)
- Alfred commissions the writing of the Anglo Saxon Chronicle [32] [890]
- Brian Boru King of Munster [33] [946-1014]
- - King of Ireland from 1002 .
11th century
- King Canute (1016 - 1035)
- King Harold (1035 - 1066)
- Defeat of MacBeth at Dunsinane
- Malcolm King of Scotland (1058 - 1093)
- Harold subdues Wales (1063)
Norman Conquest
- William I (1066 - 1087
- Domesday Book (1086)[34]
- William II (1087 - 1100)
- First Crusade (1096)
- Feudal system [35].
12th century
- Henry I (1100 - 1135)
- Stephen (1135 - 1154)
- Civil War (1139 - 1147)
Plantagenet era 1154 - 1485
13th century
- Magna Carta[38] (1215) - the founding principles of the British constitution.
- Henry III (1216 - 1272)
- Edward I (1272 - 1307)
- Model Parliament" (1295) - summoned by Edward I and generally regarded as the first representative assembly.
- Alliance between Scotland and France (1295)
- John Baliol yields Scottish Throne to Edward I who thus becomes King of Scotland (1296 -1306)
14th century
1300 Edward I invades Scotland.
1302 Truce between England and Scotland
1306 Robert Bruce King of Scots
1307 Edward II (1307-1327)
1318 Edward Bruce King of Ireland
1327 Edward III (1327 - 1377)
1329 David II King of Scots
1346 Battle of Crecy
1366 Statutes of Kilkenny [39]
1371 Robert II King of Scots
1377 Richard II (1377-1399)
1390 Robert III King of Scots
1390 Richard III's Irish expedition
1399 Henry IV (1399 -1413)
15th century
1413 Henry V (1413-22)
1415 Agincourt
1422 Henry VI (1422-61)
1460 Statute of Drogheda - proclaims Ireland's separate status.
1461 Edward IV (1461-83)
1483 Richard III (1483-85)
Tudor Era 1485-1605
1485 Henry VII (1485-1509)
1494 Poynings Law -
16th century
1509 Henry VIII (1509-47)
1541 Henry VIII King of Ireland
1547 Edward VI (1547-53)
1549 Cranmer's English Prayer Book.
1553 Mary I (1553-58)
1558 Elizabeth I [40](1559-1603)
1559 The Armada [41]
1570 Gunpowder Plot
17th century
Stuart Era 1605-1688
1605 James I (1603-25).
1625 Charles I (1625-49)
1642 Charles I enters the Commons to arrest dissidents and is defied by the Speaker.
1643-46 Civil War[42].
1649 Oliver Cromwell declares England a commonwealth.
Execution of Charles I.
Cromwell invades Ireland.
1660 Restoration. Charles II (1660-85)
1665 Great Plague [43]
1666 Fire of London [44]
1673 Test Act. Catholics excluded from office.
1685 James II (1685-88)
Monmouth Rebellion.
1688 "The Glorious Revolution" and Bill of Rights [45] - limited the power of the king over Parliament.
1689 William and Mary.
1694 The Bank of England [46]
18th century
1707 Act of Union - with Scotland [47].
1713 Treaty of Utrecht.
1714 Hanoverian succession.
George I (1714-27)
1727 Geoge II (1727-1760)
1715 First Jacobite Rising
1739-48 War of Jenkins Ear - with Spain.
1744-8 War of the Austrian Succession.
1745 Second Jacobite Rising - "the '45"
1746 Battle of Culloden.
Industrial Revolution[48] 1715-1815
1756-63 Seven Years War - acquisition of India and Canada.
1760 George III (1760-1820).
War of American Independence[49] 1775 -81
- the creation of the United States of America.
1783 Rotunda Parliament
1787 Kingdom of Ireland granted autonomy.
Napoleonic Wars 1789 - 1815.
19th century
1801 Act of Union - with Ireland.
1805 Battle of Trafalgar.
1815 Battle of Waterloo.
1820 George IV (1820-30).
1830 William IV (1830-37).
1832 Reform Act Raised the proportion of adult English males entitled to vote to 20 per cent.
1837 Queen Victoria (1837-1901)/
Irish Famine 1845-1850.
1846 Repeal of Corn Laws.
Crimean War 1833 - 36.
Indian Mutiny 1857 - 8.
1874 Disraeli's First Conservative Government (1874-80).
1880 Gladstone's Liberal Government.
1898 Battle of Omdurman
1899-1902 Boer War.
20th century
1902-05 Balfour's Conservative Government.
1902 Edward VII (1902-10).
1905-08 Campbell-Bannerman's Liberal Government.
1908-1915 Asquith's Liberal Government (Lloyd George Chancellor of the Exchequer)
1911 George V (1911-36).
Lloyd George's National Insurance Bill.
First World War. 1914-18
1915-16 Asquith's Coalition Government.
1916 Easter Rising
The inter-war years
1918 Representation of the People Act - gave the vote to men over 21 and women over 30 - increasing the electorate from 8 million to 21 million.
1919 Treaty of Versailles.
1919-23 Lloyd George's Coalition Governments.
1920 Ireland gets Home Rule.
1922-23 Bonar Law's Conservative Government.
1923-24 Baldwin's First Conservative Government
1924 Macdonald's First Labour Government.
1924-29 Baldwin's Second Conservative Government.
1926 General Strike.
Baird's television system.
1928 Fleming discovers penicillin
1929-31 Macdonald's Second Labour Government.
1931 Britain leaves the gold standard.
1931-35 Macdonald's National Government.
1935-37 Baldwin's National Government.
1936 Abdication of Edward VII.
1937 George VI (1937-52}
1937-40 Chamberlain's Conservative Government.
1938 Munich Pact with Germany.
Second World War 1939-45
1940-45 Churchill's Wartime Coalition Government.
Post-war Britain
1945 Churchill's First Conservative Government.
1945-51 Clement Atlee's Labour Government
1948 National Health Service.
1951-55 Winston Churchill's Second Conservative Government.
1953 Elizabeth II.
Crick and Watson establish the structure of DNA.
1955-57 Anthony Eden's Conservative Government.
1956 Suez war.
1957-63 Harold MacMillan's Conservative Government.
1963-70 Home's Conservative Government.
1970-79 Edward Heath's Conservative Governments.
1973 Britain joins the European Community. European Communities Act[50] makes EC law enforceable in the UK.
1979-1990 Thatcher's Conservative Governments.
1986 Single European Act - introduced Qualified Majority Voting to most European Union decisions [51].
1982 Falklands war.
1990 Major's Conservative Government
1997 - 2007 Tony Blair's New Labour Government[52]
21st century
Iraq War (2003 - 09)
- Gordon Brown's Labour Government (2007 - )