Renaissance

By manuela.avila
  • Jan 1, 1485

    Richard III is killed in battle

    Richard III was King of England from 1483 until his death in 1485, at the age of 32, in the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat at Bosworth Field, the last decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses, marked the end of the Middle Ages in England. He is the subject of the fictional historical play Richard III by William Shakespeare.
  • Jan 1, 1492

    Christopher Columbus reaches the Americas

    Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer, navigator, colonizer and citizen of the Republic of Genoa. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean. Those voyages, and his efforts to establish permanent settlements on the island of Hispaniola, initiated the Spanish colonization of the New World.
  • Jan 1, 1503

    Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa

    The Mona Lisa is a half-length portrait of a woman by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci, which has been acclaimed as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world. The painting, thought to be a portrait of Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, is in oil on a white Lombardy poplar pane.
  • Jan 1, 1516

    Thomas More's Utopia is published

    Utopia is a work of fiction and political philosophy by Thomas More published in 1516 in Latin. The book is a frame narrative primarily depicting a fictional island society and its religious, social and political customs.
  • Jan 1, 1543

    With the Supremacy Act, Henry VIII proclaims himself of Church of England

    Supreme Head of the Church of England was a title held by the kings Henry VIII and Edward VI, signifying their leadership of the Church of England.The title was created for King Henry VIII, who was responsible for the English Catholic church breaking away from the authority of the Roman Catholic Church after the Pope excommunicated Henry in 1533 over his divorce from Catherine of Aragon. By 1536, Henry had broken with Rome, seized the church's assets in England and declared the Church of England
  • Jan 1, 1558

    Elizabeth I becomes queen of England

    Elizabeth I was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana or Good Queen Bess, the childless Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty. Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, his second wife, who was executed two and a half years after Elizabeth's birth. Anne's marriage to Henry VIII was annulled, and Elizabeth was declared illegitimate.
  • Jan 1, 1564

    William Shakespeare, the Bard of Avon, is born

    William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet, and the "Bard of Avon". Shakespeare was born and brought up in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire.

  • Globe Theatre is built in London

    The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend and grandson Sir Matthew Brend, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613. A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed in 1642.

  • Shakespeare writes King Lear and Macbeth

    King Lear is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It depicts the gradual descent into madness of the title character, after he disposes of his kingdom giving bequests to two of his three daughters based on their flattery of him, bringing tragic consequences for all. Macbeth is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. Set mainly in Scotland, the play dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek power for its own sake.

  • First permanent English settlement in North America is established at Jamestown, Virginia.

    On May 14, 1607, a small company of settlers landed at a point on the James River in Virginia and established the settlement of Jamestown. It was the first permanent English settlement in the New World. The first settlers of Jamestown, led by the famed Captain John Smith, built a fort,
    church, storehouse and other structures in their first three months at the settlement, even as sickness and starvation stalked the new colony. By 1609, ships had brought 214
    English settlers to Jamestown.

  • Shakespeare's sonnets are published

    Shakespeare's Sonnets is the title of a collection of 154 sonnets accredited to William Shakespeare which cover themes such as the passage of time, love, beauty and mortality. It was first published in a 1609 quarto with the full stylised title: SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS. Never before Imprinted. (although sonnets 138 and 144 had previously been published in the 1599 miscellany The Passionate Pilgrim).

  • King James Bible is published

    The King James Version (KJV), also known as the Authorized Version (AV) or King James Bible (KJB), is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England that began in 1604 and was completed in 1611. First printed by the King's Printer Robert Barker, this was the third translation into English to be approved by the English Church authorities.

  • The Mayfflower lands at Plmouth Rock, Massachusetts

    Plymouth Rock is the traditional site of disembarkation of William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in 1620. It is an important symbol in American history. The first written reference to Pilgrims landing on a rock is found 121 years after they landed. A rock traditionally identified as the Plymouth Rock has long been memorialized on the shore of Plymouth Harbor in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

  • Newspapers are first published in London

    Corante: or, Newes from Italy, Germany, Hungarie, Spaine and FranceOffsite Link was published by the printer Nathaniel ButterOffsite Link in London. The earliest of the seven surviving copies is dated September 24, 1621, but it is thought that this single page news sheet began publication earlier in 1621. Corante was the first private newspaper published in English. As a result of a 1586 edict from the Star ChamberOffsite Link, it carried no news about England.

  • John Milton begins Paradise Lost

    Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. The poem concerns the Biblical story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's purpose, stated in Book I, is to "justify the ways of God to men". It is considered by critics to be Milton's major work, and it helped solidify his reputation as one of the greatest English poets of his time.

  • Puritan Commonwealth ends; monarchy is restores with Charles II

    The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The term Restoration is used to describe both the actual event by which the monarchy was restored, and the period of several years afterwards in which a new political settlement was established.