Timeline for English Literature



Timeline for English Literature

1360-1400 The summit of Middle English Literature; Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales; Piers Plowman; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight 1485 William Caxtin's printingof Sir Thomas Marlory's Morte Dathur, one of the first books printed in ngland 1516 Sir Thomas More, Utopia 　　　 1523 William Tyndale begins English translation of Bible 1532 Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince 　　　　　　　 1549 Book of Common Prayer establishes liturgy for Church England 　　　　 1557 Tottel's Miscellany(songs and Sonnets) publishes poems by the earl of Surrey, Thomas Wyatt, and others 　　　　　　　　　　 c. 1587 Sir Philip Sidney, Astrophil and Stella (published in 1581) c. 1587 Christopher Marlowe's Tamberlaine introduces blank verse to the stage 1590 Spenser, The Faerie Queene,Books 1-3 published; Books 4-6 published 1596 　 c. 1592-93 Marlowe, Dr Fautus c. 1592-98 John Donne's erotic poems(not published until 1633); Shakespeare's history plays, early comedies, sonnets 1598 Quarto edition of Shakespeare 1 Henry IV; Ben Jonson's first play, Every man in His Humor 　　 1603-07 Shakespeare, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth 1605 Sir Francis Bacon, Advancement of Learning; Cervantes, first part of Don Quixote 　　 1611 "King james" version of the Bible 　 1616 Folio edition of Jonson's Works 　　 1621 Lady Mary Wroth, Urania 1623 Shakespeare Folio, first collected edition of his works		43-ca. 420 Roman invasion and occupation of Britain ca. 450 Anglo-Saxon Conquest 597 St. Augustine arrives in Kent; beginning of Anglo-Saxon conversion to Christianity 871-899 Reign of King Alfred 1066 Norman Conquest ca. 1200 Beginning of Middle English Literature 　　　　 1485 Accession of Henry VII inaugurates Tudor Dynasty 1509-47 Reign of Henry VIII 1517 Martin Luther's Ninety-five Theses: beginning of Reformation in Germany 1519-21 HernandoCortes conquers Mexico 1521 Pope bestows title "Defender of the Faith" on Henry VIII for anti-Lutheran tract 　 1529-32 More is Lord Chancellor 　 1533-34 Henry VIII divorces Catherine of Aragon to marry Ann Boleyn; declares himself head of the Church of England 1535 Execution of More 1543 Nicolaus Copernicus, Revolution of the Celestial Spheres, proposes helio-centric theory of the universe 1547-53 Reign of Edward VI 　 1553-1558 Reign of Mary Tudor; attempt to restore Catholic Church; persecution of protestants 　 1555-1556 Archbishop Cranmer and former bishops Latimer and Latimer and Ridley burned at the stake 　　 1558-1603 Reign of Elizabeth I 1576 Building of The Theatre, first permanent structure in England for the presetation of plays 1577-80 Francis Drake circumnavigates the globe 1584-1587 Sir Walter Raleigh's earliest attempts to explore and colonize Virginia 1586 Sidney killed fighting for freedom of the Netherlands from Catholic Spain 1587 Execution of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots 1588 Defeat of the spanish Armada 　　　 1593 Marlowe killed in a tavern brawl 　 1599 Globe Theater opens 1603 Death of Elizabeth; accession of James I, son of Mary, Queen of Scots 　 1603-25 Reign of James I 　 1605 Gunpowder Plot, a failed effort by Catholic extremists to blow up Parliament and the king 1607 Founding of Jamestown colony in Virginia 1608 French explorer Samuel de Champlain founds Quebec 1615 Donne ordained as priest in the Church of England 1616 Death of Shakespeare 1619 First African slaves in North America exchanged by Dutch frigate for food and supplies at Jamestown 1620 Pilgrims land at Plymouth 1621 Donne appointed dean of St. Paul's Cathedral 1625-49 Reign of Charles I