1485: Accession of Henry VII inaugurates Tudor dynasty
1486: Publication of the Malleus maleficarum (The Witches’ Hammer), outlining in great detail the correct methods of persecuting and prosecuting witches under ecclesiastical and secular law (sanctioned and inspired, apparently, by a papal bull)
1509: Accession of Henry VIII
1516: Thomas More’s Utopia published.
1517: Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses on the door of the cathedral in Wittenberg
Beginning of the Reformation
1521: Henry VIII declared "Defender of the Faith" by Pope Leo X for his opposition to Luther
1525: William Tyndale, an English Lutheran, translates and prints the first English translation of the New Testament on the Continent; Old Testament follows in 1530
1533: Henry marries Anne Boleyn and is excommunicated by Pope Clement VII
1534: Act of Supremacy: Henry breaks with Rome and declares himself head of the Church of England, “Supreme Head on Earth”
1535: Execution of Thomas More; More resigns his post as Lord Chancellor (1529-1532) when the king divorces Catherine of Aragon; his subsequent refusal to take the oath of Succession and Supremacy and acknowledge Henry as head of the church led to an accusation of treason, imprisonment in the Tower of London, and eventually decapitation
1547-53: Reign of Henry’s successor, Edward VI (1537-1553) was king of England and Ireland from 1547 until his death. He was the son of King Henry VIII, whom he succeeded. Edward's mother was Jane Seymour, Henry's third wife. Edward belonged to the English ruling family known as the House of Tudor. Edward was only 9 years old when he became king, so his uncle Edward Seymour, who soon became the Duke of Somerset, governed for him. In 1549, the Earl of Warwick, later called the Duke of Northumberland, took Somerset's place. Edward, Somerset, and Northumberland all wished England to remain Protestant.
1549: Introduction of uniform Protestant service based on Edward VI's Book of Common Prayer
1553: Death of Edward VI
Lady Jane Grey proclaimed queen of England; executed 9 days after proclamation in the Tower of London by Mary I’s order in 1554
1553-58: Mary I, daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, Queen of England
Restoration of Roman Catholic bishops in England
1555: England returns to Catholicism: Protestants persecuted, about 300 are burned at the stake
1557: John Shakespeare (a glove-maker) and Mary Arden get married
1558: Death of Mary I; and accession of Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn; Repeal of Catholic legislation in England
1560: Geneva Bible published, English Protestant Bible with verse divisions
1561-2: Norton’s translation of John Calvin’s The Institution of the Christian Religion published
1563: Publication of Johann Weyer’s De praestigiis daemonum (On Witchcraft)
English translation of John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs published
1564: William Shakespeare born, presumably on 23 April in Stratford-upon-Avon
1570: Elizabeth I is excommunicated by papal bull; subjects are relieved of their loyalty to her
1576: James Burbage, a carpenter turned actor, builds The Theater, the first permanent structure in England for the presentation of plays
1577: John Shakespeare retires from public life (previously Member of Council), presumably because of financial troubles
1577-80: Sir Francis Drake’s circumnavigation of the globe
1580: Publication of Jean Bodin’s De la demonomanie des sorciers (On the Demon-Mania of Witches)
1582: Douay-Rheims Bible, a Catholic vernacular translation of the Bible, written by English refugees in opposition to Protestant readings and glosses
William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway get married in November (birth of their daughter, Susanna, in May, 1583; the twins, Judith and Hamnet, born in 1585)
1584: Publication of Reginald Scot’s The Discoverie of Witchcraft
1587: Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots
Tamburlaine is first produced and “Marlowe’s mighty line,” i.e. blank verse, is introduced
1588: Defeat of the Spanish Armada
1588-92: Shakespeare active in London as actor and playwright
Robert Greene refers to Shakespeare derogatively as “an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers”
Christopher Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus performed
1590: Publication of Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (Books 1-3)
1590s: Shakespeare devotes himself mainly to chronicle histories and comedies
1592-4: Plague wreaks havoc in London; theaters closed
1594: Shakespeare now member of Lord Chamberlain’s Men (The King’s Men under James I)
1595: Publication of Sir Philip Sidney’s Defense of Poesie
1596: Shakespeares granted a coat of arms
1596: Publication of Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (Books 1-6)
1597: James VI of Scotland (later to become James I of England) publishes his Daemonologie, a tract written in form of a philosophical dialogue and aimed against Scot’s and Weyer’s skeptical debunking of witches and witchcraft
Shakespeare purchases New Place, a handsome house in Stratford
1599: Lord Chamberlain’s Men open The Globe; Shakespeare owns a 1/10 share in the business
1601-9: Shakespeare’s period of the great tragedies and romantic comedies
1603: Death of Elizabeth I; accession of James I, the first of the Stuart kings
Publication of Samuel Harsnett’s A Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostors
1605: The Gunpowder Plot, an attempt by Catholic extremists to blow up Parliament and King
1607: Founding of the Jamestown colony in Virginia
1609: Galileo uses his telescope to observe Jupiter’s moon circling that planet, thus providing evidence for the Copernican theory of a solar system
1610: Shakespeare retires to Stratford-upon-Avon
1611: King James orders forty-seven scholars to undertake an authorized translation of the Bible; this version comes to be known as the King James Bible
1616: Death of Shakespeare; a clergyman who settled in Stratford in 1662 records in his diary: “Shakepeare, Drayton, and Ben Jonson had a merry meeting, and it seems drank too hard, for Shakespeare died of a fever there contracted”
1620: Arrival of the Pilgrims in the New World aboard the Mayflower
1623: First Folio published: John Heminges and Henry Condell (members of Shakespeare’s company) publish a collection of the plays they consider authentic; it includes a poem of praise and reverence, presumably written by Ben Jonson, Shakespeare’s greatest critic and rival:
"Triumph, my Britain, thou hast one to show
To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe.
He was not of an age, but for all time!"
1625: Death of James I; accession of Charles I
1629: Charles I dissolves Parliament
1631: Henry Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim publishes his Three Books of Occult Philosophy
1633: Galileo forced by the Inquisition to recant the Copernican theory
1642: Outbreak of civil war; theaters closed
1649: Execution of Charles I; beginning of Commonwealth and Protectorate
1649-1660: Time of the Interregnum
1655: Oliver Cromwell declared Lord Protector of the Realm
1658: Cromwell dies; his son Richard succeeds him as Lord Protector until 1559
1660: Restoration of Charles II