Elizabethan Timeline

• August 22, 1485 - Henry Tudor wins battle of Bosworth becoming Henry VII
• Henry VII cemented his succession and settled the friction between the Yorkists and Lancastrians by marrying the Yorkist heir, Elizabeth of York
• December 16, 1485 - Birth of Katherine of Aragon

• January 16, 1486 - marriage of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV
• September 20, 1486 - Birth of Arthur, Prince of Wales

• March 4 1526 - Mary Boleyn gave birth to a son, called Henry - he was widely assumed to be the son of King Henry VIII although not acknowledged as such
• King Henry VIII becomes totally obsessed with Katharine's lady-in-waiting Anne Boleyn with whom he falls madly in love

• Sir Francis Walsingham (1532-90) born
• Robert Dudley (1532-88) younger son of John Dudley, Duke of
  Northumberland was born
• Anne Boleyn becomes pregnant

• January 25th 1533 Henry married Anne Boleyn and is excommunicated by Pope Clement VII
• Queen Elizabeth I, the daughter of King Henry VIII and his second wife Anne Boleyn, is born 7 September 1533

King Henry VIII Injures his thigh in a jousting accident

• 1536 January 7 - Katharine of Aragon dies at Kimbolton Castle
• May 2nd 1536 Anne Boleyn arrested and taken to the Tower
• May 15th 1536 Anne Boleyn tried for treason, adultery and incest in the Great Hall of the Tower of London
• May 19th 1536 Anne Boleyn executed on Tower Hill. Anne's body and head were buried in an unmarked grave in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula
• Within 24 hours of Anne Boleyn's execution, Jane Seymour and Henry VIII were formally betrothed
• On the 30th of May 1536 King Henry and Jane Seymour were married
• Dissolution of monasteries in England begins
• Michelangelo di Buonarroti paints the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel
• Wales is incorporated into England

• January Seymour dies after the premature birth of a son, the future King Edward VI
• Princess Elizabeth is declared a bastard
• Elizabeth spent most of her youth at Hatfield House, Hertfordshire

• Henry VIII marries Anne of Cleves but the marriage is annulled
• July 28th 1540 - 49 year old Henry married 19 year old Catherine Howard
• Sir Christopher Hatton (1540-92) born

• 13th February 1542 - Catherine Howard is executed for adultery
• The nine-year-old Elizabeth was distraught when her father beheaded Catherine Howard. Catherine was Ann Boleyn's cousin and had been very kind to Elizabeth.
• 8 December 1542- Mary Stuart is born at Linlithgow Palace

• 14 December 1542 - James V, King of Scots, Mary's father, dies
  at 31

• Inquisition established in Rome

• King Henry VIII dies 28 January

• Elizabeth leaves Katherine Parr's household under questionable circumstances because of rumors of an affair between Elizabeth and Thomas
• 5 September Katherine Parr dies in childbirth
• Mary Stuart is sent to France

• January 21, 1549 Kat Ashley arrested and taken to the Tower for questioning regarding Elizabeth and Thomas Seymour
• Kat Ashley released 26 February
• Elizabeth withstands interrogation from Sir Robert Tyrwhit and obtains a public announcement in order to maintain her reputation
• Thomas Seymour is imprisoned in the Tower, then beheaded on Tower Hill on 10 March 1549

Introduction of uniform Protestant service in England based on Edward
VI's Book of Common Prayer

• Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618) born
• The young King's protector, the Duke of Somerset, and his confederates met their death at the Tower

• 6 July 1553 - Mary I, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, is proclaimed Queen of England

Timeline of
 Queen Elizabeth I
( 1558 - 1568 )
&
Mary Queen of Scots

• 12th February 1554 Lady Jane Grey and her husband Guildford Dudley were executed at the Tower of London
• 25 July 1554 - Queen Mary I marries King Philip II of Spain
• Protestant rebellion, led by Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger, and rumors of Elizabeth's involvement have her imprisoned in the Tower of London on false charges

• March 18, 1554 - Princess Elizabeth was imprisoned in the Tower for eight weeks

• April 11, 1554, Thomas Wyatt was executed

• Mary of Guise, Mary Stuart's mother, is officially named Regent in Scotland

• May 19, 1554 - Princess Elizabeth transfers from the Tower of London to Woodstock Manor where she is closely confined

• England returns to Roman Catholicism
• Protestants are persecuted and 300 are burnt at the stake (in later times this leads to Queen Mary I being called Bloody Mary)
• May 1555 -  Elizabeth is released from Woodstock, after a year's captivity, and allowed to return to Hampton Court
• October 1555 Elizabeth is allowed to retire from court and return to Hatfield demonstrating outward conformity to the Catholic religion
• 16 October 1555 - the Protestant churchmen Latimer and Ridley are burned at the stake
• Her husband, Philip II returns to Spain

• 21 March 1556 - Thomas Cranmer, former Archbishop of Canterbury is burned at the stake

• England loses Calais, last English possession in France
• Queen Mary I dies on November 17, 1558 and Queen Elizabeth I becomes Queen of England
• 24 April 1558 - Fifteen-year-old Mary Stuart marries the 14-year-old Francis, dauphin of France
• Mary's father-in-law, King Henry II of France, quarters her arms with those of England

• Strength of Elizabeth's Position
• Mary Stewart's Claim
• Sir William Cecil
• Robert Dudley, Elizabeth's court favorite is named to the privy council
• Sir Nicholas Bacon (1510-79) became Keeper of the Privy Seal in and a member of the Privy Council
• Sir Francis Knollys (1514-96) is named to the privy council
• Philip II of Spain - Question of Elizabeth's marriage
• A Protestant Policy
• Repeal of Catholic legislation in England

• July 10, 1559 - Death of King Henry II of France
• Francis II and Mary Queen of Scots are crowned king and queen of France. Mary also claims the throne of England
• January 13, 1559 - Elizabeth crowned Queen of England
• April 2, 1559 - Cambrasis Peace treaty signed between England and France - Calais to remain in French hands for eight years and then be restored to England
• 29 April 1559 - the Elizabethan religious settlement is passed by Parliament
• The Prayer Book - June 24, 1559 - The Elizabethan Prayer Book is first used
• Sir Nicholas Bacon authorized to act as Lord Chancellor
  and retained the post until his death in 1579

• 22 February 1560 - Treaty of Berwick between England and Scotland
• June 11, 1560 - Mary of Guise dies in Scotland and Mary's husband, Francis, also passes away
• English gave support for the successful Scottish Protestant rebellion of 1560 led by John Knox
• Siege of Leith, English troops besiege the French
• July 6, 1560 - Treaty of Edinburgh between England, France, and Scotland
• September 8, 1560 - The wife of Robert Dudley, Amy Robsart, is found dead at the foot of the stairs in her home, Cumnor Place, Oxford
• December 15, 1560 - Sir Thomas Parry dies

• August 19, 1561 - Return of Mary Stuart  ( Mary Queen of Scots ) to Scotland
• Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) born
• September 20, 1561 - Treaty signed at Hampton Court ,Elizabeth pledges support of the French Huguenots

• Council of Trent
• July 15, 1562 - Elizabeth cancels a meeting with Mary, Queen of Scots because of Mary’s continued attacks of French Protestants - they never meet
• Queen Elizabeth almost dies of Smallpox
• Philip's Policy - Prelude to War
• The Queens' suitors

• The Thirty-nine Articles, which complete establishment of the Anglican Church
• When the Black Death ( Bubonic Plague ) broke out in London in 1563, Queen Elizabeth I moved her court to Windsor Castle where she erected gallows and ordered that anyone coming from London was to be hanged
• 1563 - Mary Queen of Scots sends her secretary to Elizabeth claiming the right of succession
• Sir John Hawkins brings the potato to England
• Sir Robert Cecil (1563-1612) born

• The Peace of Troyes between England and France
• April 23 William Shakespeare was born
• Christopher Marlowe born
• Queen Elizabeth takes share of profit from John Hawkins slave trade
• Galileo Galilei born in Pisa, Italy

• The Lord Darnley marriage to Mary Queen of Scots - Mary marries her 19-year-old cousin Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley; aged 22
• London Royal Exchange founded

• March 9, 1566 - The Murder of David Rizzio
• June 19, 1566 - Mary Stuart's only child is born (James, later king of Scotland and England)

• February 10, 1567 - Murder of Lord Darnley, husband of Mary Queen of Scots
• Mary Queen of Scots marries James Hepburn, the 30-year-old Earl of Bothwell causing a rebellion
• May 15, 1567 - Mary Queen of Scots imprisoned
• July 24, 1567 - Mary abdicates and her baby son, James, becomes King James VI, King of Scotland - her illegitimate brother, the Earl of Murray acts as Protector

• May 13, 1568 Mary of Scotland escapes from captivity, is defeated at Langside
• The Flight to England - The Catholic Mary Queen of Scots is imprisoned by Elizabeth I at Fotheringay Castle
• Parliament and the Queen's marriage

• Elizabeth exonerates Mary Queen of Scots from the charges made against her
• Mary Stewart's Claim
• Sir William Cecil
• Philip II of Spain
• Question of Elizabeth's marriage
• The Religious Question--A Protestant Policy
• The Nevilles of Durham and Percys of Northumberland plot to overthrow Elizabeth I and reinstate Roman Catholicism in “The Rising of the North”
• Pope Pius V heard of the revolt and decided to help the rebels by deposing Elizabeth
• The rebellion failed but the Pope's action increased her distrust of Catholics
• The leaders are later executed
• Oct 1, 1569 - Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk is imprisoned in the Tower for plotting to marry Mary, Queen of Scots

• 1570 The excommunication of Elizabeth I by the Catholic Church

• January 2, 1571 - marriage negotiations between Elizabeth and Henry, Duke of Anjou
• February 25, 1571 - Sir William Cecil is created Lord Burghley

• Ben Jonson (Actor) is born
• Birth of John Donne (Poet, Minister and Courtier)
• 1572 August 24, St Bartholomew's Day massacre where French Protestants were massacred by French Catholics in Paris which was witnessed by Sir Philip Sidney, Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis
  Walsingham. Similar atrocities elsewhere in France result in thousands of deaths, and caused panic in England with fears of a Catholic invasion
• Sir Francis Drake attempts to capture Spanish galleons carrying silver

• Sir Francis Drake captures a shipment of silver destined for Spain
• December 21, 1573 - Sir Francis Walsingham appointed Principal Secretary of State and becomes Elizabeth's chief spy master

• Robert Fludd, English physician, philosopher, and mystic is born
• Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, is executed at the Tower of London

• Nov 14, 1575 - Queen Elizabeth declines to accept the sovereignty of the Netherlands

• May 9, 1576 - The Earl of Essex is restored the title of "Earl Marshal of Ireland"
• September 22, 1576 - The Earl of Essex dies

• Alliance between England and Netherlands
• Francis Drake sails around the world ( and returns in 1580) renaming his ship the Pelican to  the Golden Hind
• 1577 The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland were published by Holinshed

• April 14, 1578  Mary Queen of Scot's third husband, the earl of Bothwell dies in a prison in Denmark
• Francis Drake sails through the Strait of Magellan
• June 11, 1578 - Sir Humphrey Gilbert begins to search for the Northwest Passage
• March 10, 1578 - Queen Elizabeth sends 20,000 pounds to aid the Dutch
• September 21, 1578 - Robert Dudley secretly marries Lady Lettice Knollys, at Wanstead
• September 26, 1578 - Sir Humphrey Gilbert sets sails from Dartmouth to the New World - the expedition failed

• June 17, 1579 - Sir Francis Drake claims England’s sovereignty over New Albion (California)
• August 17, 1579 - Francis, Duke of Anjou, visits Queen Elizabeth at Greenwich hoping to marry her
• October 7, 1579 - The Privy Council fails to support Queen Elizabeth in the marriage treaty with the Duke of Anjou
• Sir Nicholas Bacon dies

• September 26, 1580 - Francis Drake returns to England in triumph

• Dee and Edward Kelley start their "mystical experiments"
• Sir Francis Drake takes more plunder form Spain who protests and demand restitution. Elizabeth refuses.
• March 18, 1581 - Parliament passes strict legislation against Roman Catholics with heavy fines hearing Mass
• May 4, 1581 - Francis Drake is knighted by Queen Elizabeth.
  November 7, 1581 - A marriage treaty between Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Anjou is signed.

• November 28 1582 - 18 year-old William Shakespeare and 26 year-old Anne Hathaway pay a 40-pound bond for their marriage license

• June 11, 1583 - Sir Humphrey Gilbert sets sail for the New World
• August 3, 1583 - Sir Humphrey Gilbert claims Newfoundland for England
• September 9, 1583 - Sir Humphrey Gilbert dies at sea

• William of Orange is murdered and England sends aid to the Netherlands
• March 25, 1584 - Walter Raleigh receives the patent to explore and settle in North America
• 1584 June 4, Virginia colony of Roanoke Island established by Sir Walter Raleigh
• June 15, 1584 - Francis, Duke of Anjou dies

• Sir Francis Drake sails for the West Indies
• June 29, 1585 - Queen Elizabeth declines offers by the Dutch commission for sovereignty of the Low Countries
• July 27, 1585 - Sir Walter Raleigh backs a new expedition to Virginia led by his cousin Sir Richard Greenville
• August 14, 1585 - Queen Elizabeth issues a declaration taking the Netherlands under her protection
• Elizabethan War with Spain from 1585 - 1604 exploded due to various conflicts surrounding the wealth and power to be gained from trade from the New World. And the differences in Religion.
• 18 October 1585 - the English colony at Roanoke in Virginia is established
• December 8, 1585 - Robert Dudley leads the English army to fight the Spanish forces who are occupying the Netherlands

• Expedition of Sir Francis Drake to the West Indies
• Conspiracy against Elizabeth I involving Mary Queen of Scots
• The Babington Plot - Sir Francis Walsingham discovers plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth and replace her with Mary Queen of Scots. The leader of the plot was Anthony Babington
• July 1, 1586 - Treaty of Berwick - Queen Elizabeth and James VI of Scotland form a league of amity
• Oct. 25, 1586 - Mary Queen of Scots is convicted of involvement in the Babbington plot
• Sir Francis Drake returns to England with Ralph Lane and other Roanoke settlers
• Sir Richard Granville returns to England in preparation against a Spanish Invasion

• February 8, 1587 - Execution of Mary Queen of Scots
• England at war with Spain
• April 19, 1587 - Drake destroys the Spanish fleet at Cadiz
• June 18, 1587 - Queen Elizabeth appoints Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, as her Master of the Horse
• July 22, 1587  - Sir Walter Raleigh backs the first English Colony in North America (North Carolina) led by John White to the English Roanoke Colony
• 1587 August 18,  Virginia Dare born in Roanoke colony , the first English child born in North America 
• Sir Francis Drake captures a Spanish treasure ship Sao Felipe

• August 8, 1588 - The Spanish Armada of 132 ships is defeated by the English fleet of  34 ships and 163 armed merchant vessels under Lord Howard of Effingham, Sir Francis Drake, and Sir John Hawkins ( war between Spain and England continues until 1603 )
• September 4, 1588 - Lord Robert Dudley dies

• Slave Trade - English merchants found the Guinea Company to traffic in slaves from Africa's Guinea coast

• April 6, 1590 - Sir Francis Walsingham dies
• August 17, 1590 - John White returns to Roanoke to find that the colony has vanished

• April 10, 1591 - James Lancaster sets sail from Plymouth to the East Indies
• April 17, 1591 - Queen Elizabeth sends to aid King Henry IV of France lead by Sir John Norris with 3000 men
• September 5, 1591 - Sir Richard Grenville dies.

• Thomas Cavendish, English sailor and explorer dies ( he was born in 1555)
• January 30 1592 - The death of Pope Innocent IX during the previous year had left the Papal throne vacant. Ippolito Aldobrandini is elected Pope Clement VIII.

• 1593 London Theatres close due to the Bubonic Plague (The Black Death)
• Queen Elizabeth tells Parliament that she has the right to assent or dissent from anything they do
• Penalties are proposed for people who refuse to attend Church of England services and to make it a crime to attend Catholic services
• Sir Richard Hawkins (Admiral of the Fleet ) fails in his attempt to voyage around the World

• Sir Richard Hawkins rounds Cape Horn but is taken prisoner when he plunders Spanish ports - he is not ransomed until 1602

• Edward Kelley dies
• 6 February 1595 - Sir Walter Raleigh leaves England to sail to the New World
• 1595 Sir Walter Raleigh explores the Orinoco
• Spanish forces land in Cornwall and burn the town of Penzance
• Nov 12, 1595 - Sir John Hawkins dies

• 1596 January 28, Sir Francis Drake dies of the plague whilst at sea
• English fleet under the Earl of Essex and Lord Howard of Effingham capture Cadiz

• Irish rebellion under Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone (finally put down 1601)
• King Philip II sends a second armada against England - a storm scatters his ships
• Elizabeth makes Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex the Earl Marchshal of England

• 14 August 1598 - Tyrone's Rebellion occurs in Ireland
• September 13, 1598 - King Philip II of Spain dies and is succeeded by Philip III
• Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley, dies in London

• 1599 The Globe Theatre is built on Bankside
• The Queen's favourite Robert, Earl of Essex was placed in charge of a large English army to suppress Irish rebels. Instead, Essex signed an unauthorized truce with the Earl of Tyrone - the greatest rebel
• Elizabeth deprived Essex of his titles and ordered his arrest

• Elizabeth I grants charter to East India Company

• 17 December 1601- the Elizabethan 'Poor Law' is passed. Elizabethan Poor Law charges the parishes by providing for the needy
• Essex attempts rebellion
• 25th February 1601 Robert Devereux (1566-1601), Earl of Essex is executed on Tower Green

• 1602 - English Mariner Bartholomew Gosnold explores New England.
• For specific facts and information about New England please refer to Colonial America

• 24 March 1603 - Queen Elizabeth I dies and the Tudor dynasty ends
• James I of England, James VI of Scotland, (great-great-grandson of Henry VII) is proclaimed King