Historical TIMELINE of the Tudors

Historical Timeline of the Events of the Tudor Era 1485-1603 Click EasyEdit to update this page! (Don't see the EasyEdit button above? <a href="/#signin" target="_self">Sign in</a> or <a href="/accountnew" target="_self">Sign up</a>.)

See also : <a class="external" href="http://www.sho.com/site/tudors/timeline.do" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" title="The Showtime Site's Time line">The Showtime Site's Time line</a> where Michael Hirst (writer and creator of the series discusses the time line of the Tudors

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Key to events Battles, plagues, sweating sicknesses, rebellions, uprisings, murders, trials, arrests, imprisonments & executions Births, deaths, marriages, relationships & personal changes Art & design, theatre and music, literature, treaties & explorations Religious, (Reformation/ Papal/Clergy), governmental (law), Titles & Coronations

Date	Event	Comments
August 22nd, 1485	Battle of Bosworth Field - Henry Tudor defeats King Richard III & the Yorkist forces...	... thus bringing an end to the War of the Roses. Henry VII became king by right of conquest.
October 30, 1485	Henry Tudor is crowned King of England	Henry Tudor claimed royal blood through his mother's paternal descent from the illegitimate line of John of Gaunt and Katherine Swynford, in addition Henry's father Edmund Tudor was the grandson of Catherine of Valois, former Queen Consort of King Henry V.
December 16th, 1485	Katherine of Aragon is born to Isabella of Castille and Ferdinand of Aragon	Youngest child of Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand
January 18, 1486	Henry VII marries Elizabeth of York	The marriage was a politically savvy one for Henry, in that it bound the warring houses of York and Lancaster so the heir to the throne of England would be from both families
September 20, 1486	Prince Arthur is born to King Henry VII and Elizabeth of York	The prince was named after King Arthur of Cadwaldr, from whom the King's genealogists traced his ancestry.
November 25, 1487	Elizabeth of York is crowned Queen consort of England
March 27, 1489	Treaty of Medina el Campo between England & Spain	Accomplished 3 goals: - the betrothal of Katherine of Aragon & Arthur, Prince of Wales -a common policy of the two countries toward France - reduced tariffs between the two countries
November 28, 1489	Princess Margaret is born to King Henry VII and Queen Elizabeth	Foundress of the Stuart dynasty
June 28th, 1491	Prince Henry Tudor is born	The future King Henry VIII. Out of the three sons of Henry VII: Arthur (d.1502) and Edmund (d.1500), only Henry survived to reign.
1492/1498	Christopher Columbus, under contract to King Ferdinand & Queen Isabella, makes 4 voyages to the New World	However, Columbus does not realize the extent of his discovery; he believes he is somewhere in India.
January 2, 1492	Conquest of Granada - defeat of Emir Muhmmad XII of Granada, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella take Granada as a tributary kingdom	Final act of the "reconquista", reconquest of Spain
March 31, 1492	Alhambra Decree signed by Ferdinand and Isabella commanding the expulsion of Jews from Spain	Approximately 200,000 Jews left Spain as a result and resettled in Portugal, North Africa, South Eastern Europe, Netherlands and England
November 3, 1492	Treaty of Etaples signed by Henry VII and Charles VIII of France	France agreed to stop supporting Perkin Warbeck as rightful king of England and pay Henry an indemnity in exchange for England recognizing French control of Brittany
March 5, 1496	Italian merchant and explorer John Cabot receives a patent from King Henry VII authorizing him to search for land in the New World
March 18, 1496	Princess Mary is born to King Henry and Queen Elizabeth	Youngest surviving child of Henry VII
May 24, 1496	Lambert Simnel is crowned "King Edward VI" in Dublin	pretender to the throne supported by John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln
June 16, 1497	Battle of Stoke Field: ended the Lambert Simnel uprising
June 17, 1497	Battle of Blackheath: Henry VII led 25,000 men to defeat the rebels of the First Cornish Rebellion	Rebels were encouraged by the pretender to the throne Perkin Warbeck who claimed to be Richard the Duke of York (Elizabeth of York's younger brother, uncle of Henry VIII).
June 24, 1497	On his second voyage, Cabot landed in what is today Newfoundland, Canada and claimed it for his patron King Henry VII calling it "Prima Vista"	Although his second voyage was a great success and Cabot was welcomed back to London as a hero, disaster struck during his third voyage when his ship was lost at sea, a major setback for English exploration, the Tudors would not fund another voyage until 1517.
1497	The Bonfire of the Vanities occurs in Florence, Italy in which Girolamo Savonarola collected and publicly burned objects considered sinful, including original paintings by Botticelli.
February 21, 1499	Prince Edmund is born to King Henry VII and Queen Elizabeth	The prince would die 15 months later of unknown causes.
November 23, 1499	Perkin Warbeck is executed at Tyburn	Warbeck was drawn on a hurdle and then read his confession, his face was badly beaten in order to disguise his resemblance to the York family before he was taken to Tyburn to be executed.
1499 - 1500	Plague outbreak in London	30,000 die
C.1501	Anne Boleyn is born.	Earlier historians considered 1507 to be the accepted date but in 1981, the art historian Hugh Paget successfully demonstrated that a letter Anne had written in 1513 from Brussels when she was a maid of honour in the court, a position which was only open to a 12 or 13 yr old was not the hand of a 6 yr old. [Ives - Life & Death of Anne Boleyn]
November 4th, 1501	Prince Arthur meets his betrothed, Katherine of Aragon for the first time
November 14th, 1501	Katherine of Aragon marries Prince Arthur Tudor	Arthur was 15 years old and Katherine was 16 years old.
April 2nd, 1502	Prince Arthur Tudor, heir to the throne, dies.	His younger brother, Henry who is 11 years old, becomes heir apparent.
1502	Treaty of Perpetual Peace Treaty signed as part of the marriage negotiations of Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII of England and James IV, King of Scotland.
February 10, 1503	Henry VII's queen consort, Elizabeth of York dies in childbirth.	The queen delivered a daughter named Catherine who died shortly after birth.
June 23, 1503	Betrothal of Henry Prince of Wales and Katherine of Aragon, his brother's widow	Henry is just 12 years old and Katherine is 18
July 2, 1503	Margaret Tudor departs Richmond Palace to begin her journey to Scotland	On her way, Princess Margaret payed a visit to her paternal grandmother and namesake, Lady Margaret Beaufort, at her estate at Collyweston.
August 8, 1503	Margaret Tudor marries King James IV of Scotland at Holyrood House in Edinburgh	Margaret was 13 years-old while King James was 30.
December 26, 1503	Pope Julius grants dispensation allowing Prince Henry to marry his brother's widow.	Two dispensations, one if Katherine had consummated her marriage with Arthur and one if she had not.
February 18, 1504	Henry is created the Prince of Wales.
November 24, 1504	Isabella of Castille dies.	The kingdom of Castille was ruled by Isabella's eldest daughter Joanna and her husband Archduke Phillip "the Fair"
1505	Christ College of the University of Cambridge is established	Founded by Lady Margaret Beaufort
June 27, 1505	Prince Henry formally repudiates his betrothal to Princess Katherine	14 year-old Henry had reached the age of consent and under pressure from his father he repudiated his betrothal in order to free up alternative marriage negotiations
c. 1507	The husband of Lisa del Giocondo commissioned Leonardo da Vinci to paint the 'Mona Lisa'	Shortly after she had 3 teeth pulled and false teeth fitted.
1507	The second outbreak of sweating sickness in England.
c.1508/9	Jane Seymour is born	Her exact birth date is debated, but at her funeral, 29 women walked in succession & as it was customary for the attendant company to mark every year of the deceased's life in numbers, this implies she was born in 1508.
1508	Michelangelo begins painting the Sistine Chapel in Rome (1508-1512).
1509	The humanitarian thinker Desiderius Erasmus publishes In Praise of Folly, which he wrote at Sir Thomas More’s home, satirizing the behavior of Church clergy.
April 21st, 1509	King Henry VII dies & King Henry VIII takes the throne.
1509 - 1547 1509 - 1533	King Henry VIII reigns & Katherine of Aragon is Queen Consort	38 years 24 years
June 11th, 1509	King Henry VIII marries Katherine of Aragon.	He was 18 years old and she was 24 years old.
June 24, 1509	Joint Coronation of King Henry VIII and Queen Katherine of Aragon
June 29, 1509	Lady Margaret Beaufort dies	Mother of Henry VII, she held considerable influence over her son and pushed a marriage alliance between England and Spain in order to join the House of Tudor with the bloodlines of the most powerful nation in Europe.
January 31, 1510	Queen Katherine of Aragon delivers a stillborn daughter	She continues to have either a phantom pregnancy or infection and leaves the birthing room without a baby in May. Angry words are shared between her and Henry.
January 1, 1511	Queen Katherine of Aragon delivers a son, Henry, who dies 52 days later leaving Katherine heartbroken.
April 9, 1511	Henry VIII grants charter establishing St. John's College of the University of Cambridge	Henry's grandmother, Lady Margaret Beaufort is credited as the college foundress, because the funds to build the school came from her estate. However, this was not expressed in her will. Bishop John Fisher, her chaplain, was largely responsible for obtaining the approval of the college from Henry.
April 11, 1512	Margaret Tudor gives birth to Prince James at Linlithgow	Unlike her three previous pregnancies, James survives to adulthood.
November 1, 1512	Michelangelo's paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel are completed and first exhibited to the public.
c.1512	Catherine Parr is born
August 16, 1513	Battle of Spurs at Therouanne King Henry VIII leads an army of 35,000 from England, lands at Calais and surrenders six days later.
September 9, 1513	Battle of Flodden Field, the Scots under King James IV versus the English army headed by Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey.	The largest battle (in terms of numbers) fought between the two nations. Queen Katherine of Aragon sent King Henry the bloody cloak of the dead King of Scotland to verify his death while Henry fought in France.
September 21, 1513	In accordance to his father's will, Prince James is crowned as King James V, Margaret Tudor is queen regent while her son is underage provided she doesn't remarry	At this time Margaret is also pregnant with her late husband's child
1513	Anne Boleyn leaves England to become one of 18 maids of honour in the Habsburg court of Margaret of Austria, regent of the low countries for her young nephew Charles who would become Emperor Charles V	Regent Margaret was known as a strict chaperon.
October 9, 1514	Mary Tudor marries King Louis XII of France	Henry VIII's sister is 18 and Louis is a decrepit 52.
November 5, 1514	Mary Tudor is crowned Queen of France
1514 - 1521	Anne Boleyn is placed in the retinue of Queen Claude (wife of Francis I) and finishes her education in France.	Claude was only 15 years old in 1514 & her appearance bordered on deformity but she was known as warm & gentle
January 1, 1515	Louis XII of France dies and Francis I takes the throne
Early February, 1515	Queen Katherine of Aragon gives birth to a male, stillborn child after miscarrying another child in October 1513.
April 1515	Now a widow, Henry VIII's sister Mary Tudor returns to England	Mary Boleyn returns with her.
September 22, 1515	Anne of Cleves is born
December 24, 1515	Cardinal Thomas Wolsey is created Lord Chancellor of England
1515/17	Henry VIII establishes the Royal Workshops for armor production at Greenwich, headed by Martyn van Royne (active 1515–40).
February 18, 1516	Queen Katherine of Aragon gives birth to Princess Mary Tudor
February 23, 1516	Ferdinand II of Aragon dies
May 13, 1516	Mary Tudor marries Charles Brandon at Greenwich	Henry VIII's sister, Mary, and Brandon will have a daughter named Frances. Her daughter, Lady Jane Grey, will rule England for nine days after the death of King Edward VI and Mary I will sentence her to death by beheading for treason.
October 31, 1517	Martin Luther nailed to the church door at Wittenberg a list of 95 theses on indulgences, denying the pope had any right to forgive sins. Luther's posting was meant to foster scholarly debate at Wittenberg, but some of his students and colleagues thought it was such a good point that they printed and distributed it.	Martin Luther was a German monk whose ideas inspired the Protestant Reformation. He challenged the authority of the Papacy by holding that the Bible was the only infallible source of religious authority and that all baptized Christians are a priesthood. According to Luther, salvation was a free gift of God, received by true repentance and faith.
1518	Treaty of London a non-aggression pact between the major European nations. The signatories were France, England, the Holy Roman Empire, the Papacy, Spain, Burgundy & the Netherlands, all of whom agreed not to attack each other and to come to the aid of any that were attacked	Sponsored & designed by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey. Although peace was short- lived, it did begin a peace movement which continued for centuries.
November 18, 1518	Queen Katherine of Aragon miscarries another child.	This would be her last pregnancy.
January 12, 1519	Maximilian I, Roman Emperor dies
1516 & 1519	Charles V succeeds both his grandfathers, Maximilian I & Ferdinand II of Aragon
June 15, 1519	The King's teenaged mistress, Elizabeth Blount, gives birth to an illegitimate son, Henry Fitzroy
February 1520	Mary Boleyn marries William Carey of the Privy Chamber with King Henry VIII as principal guest	It is thought that she became the King's mistress in the year previous to this
June 8-26, 1520	Field of the Cloth of Gold held between King Henry VIII and King Francis I of France. By one French account it apparently turned sour for Henry when he lost a wrestling match with Francis.	Political results were very small. Relations between the two countries worsened soon after the event when Cardinal Thomas Wolsey arranged an alliance with Charles V, who declared war on France later that year.
July 10, 1520	King Henry VIII meets Emperor Charles V at Gravelines
January 28 - May 25,1521	The Diet of Worms Charles V presides over a general assembly of the estates of the Holy Roman Empire (Worms is a small town on the Rhine River in what is now Germany).	Martin Luther is summoned to renounce or reaffirm his views. He confronts Charles, who declares him an outlaw and tries to arrest him, but Luther disappears into exile.
May 17, 1521	Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, executed for high treason.
August 15, 1521	Treaty of Bruges Secret treaty between Emperor Charles V and King Henry VIII providing for a joint invasion of France before March 1523.	Did not materialise. English staged campaign (autumn 1523), and with minimal help from Charles got nowhere
October 11, 1521	Pope Leo X grants King Henry VIII the title of 'Defender of the Faith'
October 1521	A marriage between James Butler, Earl of Ormonde & Anne Boleyn is proposed
1522	Treaty of Windsor Treaty between England and the Holy Roman Empire. Was to include a marriage between Princess Mary Tudor and the Emperor, Charles V.	Broken in 1525.
November 1521	Anne Boleyn is recalled to England
March 1522	Anne Boleyn made her debut in court & plays 'Perseverance' while Mary Boleyn plays 'Kindness" in a court pageant	Mary Tudor was 'Beauty' & Jane Parker (George Boleyn's future wife) was 'Constancy'
July 24, 1524	Queen Claude (wife of Francis I) dies
February 24, 1525	The Battle of Pavia The Habsburg army defeats the French and King Francis I is captured by Charles V & forced to sign the Treaty of Madrid	Upon his return to France, however, Francis argued that his agreement with Charles was made under duress and also claimed that the agreement was void, as his sons had still been taken hostage suggesting his word alone was not trusted, and he repudiated it.
c. 1524	King Henry VIII no longer shares Queen Katherine of Aragon's bed because she is past childbearing age.	Katherine is aged 39 and Henry is 33
c.1525	Katherine Howard is born	One of ten children and youngest daughter of Edmund Howard, second son of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk
Jun 18, 1525	Henry Fitzroy, illegitimate son of Henry VIII, is created Duke of Richmond. Thomas Boleyn is created Viscount Rochford.
1526	German-born artist Hans Holbein the Younger first visits England
February 1526	King Henry VIII starts courting Anne Boleyn	Henry is aged 35 & Anne 25 (in accordance with a birth date of 1501)
July, 1526	Charles V marries Isabella of Portugal, spurning young Mary	Charles needed a wife and could not afford to wait for Mary to grow up. Isabella brought a vast dowry and promise of future land conquests. Henry takes his anger out on Katherine.
1527	Treaty of Westminster. Treaty between King Henry VIII of England and Francis I of France against Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire
May 6, 1527	German and Spanish troops under Emperor Charles V sack Rome, Pope Clement VII is taken prisoner
May 17, 1527	Ecclesiastical court established at Westminster to hear King Henry VIII's arguments requesting an annulment of his marriage to Queen Katherine of Aragon
May 21, 1527	Prince Phillip of Spain is born to Emperor Charles V and Queen Isabella	Only legitimate son of the Emperor, future husband of Princess Mary
June 22, 1527	King Henry VIII tells Queen Katherine of Aragon he doubts the validity of their marriage	After 18 years of marriage, Henry decides that the biblical scripture that says a couple would be childless if a man married his brother's widow was the reason they had no living son. Katherine states that her union with his brother was never consummated & she had borne him children, but Henry's mind is made up.
September 1527	King Henry VIII asks the Pope for an annulment
September 29, 1528	Cardinal Campeggio sent by Pope to hear Henry VIII's case
May 31, 1529	Legatine court opens at Black Friars
June 21, 1529	King Henry VIII and Queen Katherine of Aragon (along with Cardinal Thomas Wolsey) appear before the legatine court.	Katherine kneels before the king and begs for "pity and compassion" and declared that she was a virgin when she married him. Henry VIII delivers a speech outlining his scruples about his marriage.
August 3, 1529	Treaty of Cambrai also called the Paix des Dames (The Ladies' Peace) because it was negotiated by Louise of Savoy , mother of King Francis & regent in his absence, and Margaret of Austria, aunt of Emperor Charles & regent of the Netherlands	Agreement ending one phase of the wars between King Francis I of France and Emperor Charles V, temporarily confirming Spanish (Habsburg) control in Italy.
August 1529	Sir Thomas More, on the continent, helps negotiate a general peace between all the major players in Europe.	The peace will hold for fifteen years
1529	The "Sweating Sickness" hits Europe	100,000 die. This was the 4th virulent episode. France was spared.
October 17, 1529	Henry VIII strips Cardinal Wolsey of his titles of office.	This was due to his failure to secure an annulment of his marriage to Katherine from the Pope.
October 26, 1529	Sir Thomas More appointed Lord Chancellor of England to replace Cardinal Wolsey
December 8, 1529	Sir Thomas Boleyn created Earl of Wiltshire
June 1530	King Henry VIII convenes a meeting of lords and prelates to sign a letter to Pope Clement asking that he grant the king's request for an annulment of his marriage	Sir Thomas More does not sign the document.
July 4, 1530	Eleanor of Habsburg (Charles V's favourite sister) marries Francis I	as part of "the Ladies' Peace" treaty
September 1530	King Henry VIII issues a proclamation preventing enforcement of any papal bull inconsistent with his own view concerning the unlawfulness of his present marriage	Sir Thomas More openly expresses his disagreement with Henry's action, believing it to be a direct attack on the authority of Rome.
November 29, 1530	Cardinal Thomas Wolsey dies at Leicester while en route to London to be executed.	He had begun a secret plot to have Anne Boleyn forced into exile and he began communication with Katherine and the Pope, to that end. When this was discovered, Henry ordered Wolsey's arrest
c. 1531	Joyce Culpeper, mother of Katherine Howard, dies	Since Katherine's father Edmund Howard did not have the means to raise his ten children he sent them off to wealthier relatives, Katherine was sent to live with her step-grandmother Agnes Tilney, Dowager Duchess of Norfolk
Early 1531	An angry King Henry VIII summons the clergy to Westminster, where he demands reimbursement for the costs of sending a delegation to Rome after it failed to achieve its goal of securing an annulment of his marriage.	Henry also demands that he be recognized as the "sole protector and supreme head of the English Church and clergy." In the Parliament, John Fisher, the Bishop of Rochester, expresses strong disagreement with giving this new title to Henry.
February 11, 1531	Parliament first recognises King Henry VIII as the Supreme Head of the Church of England	Henry was the first monarch to break with the Roman Catholic Church.
March 1531	Sir Thomas More tells the House of Lords that King Henry VIII is seeking annulment of his marriage not "out of love for some lady," but for reasons of conscience.
Late May, 1531	A group of royal councilors meets with Queen Katherine of Aragon and unsuccessfully urges her to drop her opposition to the annulment of her marriage to King Henry VIII.
July 14, 1531	King Henry VIII and Queen Katherine of Aragon separate and he banishes her from court
March 1532	Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex acting on behalf of the king, moves to limit the authority of the Church (and Sir Thomas More) to punish heretics.
Early May 1532	Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex prepares a bill to transfer powers of the Church to Parliament. Cromwell also asks that the bishops be denied their longstanding authority to arrest heretics--an action that Sir Thomas More cannot stomach.
May 15, 1532	In accord with king's demands, the clergy submits, thus accepting that all ecclesiastical law required royal consent. The submission effectively makes King Henry VIII the head of the Church of England.
May 16, 1532	Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor	Henry tells More, "For your service you have done me, you will find me a good and gracious lord..."
May 30, 1532	Thomas Harding burnt at the stake for heresy in Chesham	one of the last of the Lollards to be persecuted in England
September 1, 1532	Anne Boleyn created Marchioness of Pembroke	Anne accompanies Henry on a state visit to Calais, France
September, 1532	major riots in Zurich and Wittenburg begin the iconoclasm in Reformation Germany	Statues and images of Saints are destroyed in order to comply with Lutheran doctrine, it was actions such as this that gave Evangelicals the name Protestants
November 15, 1532	Pope Clement VII threatens King Henry VIII with excommunication if he does not leave Anne and return to his lawful wife Katherine
January 25, 1533	Henry & Anne Boleyn marry in a secret ceremony	This may have been a second ceremony, the first taking place in late November, 1532
March 30, 1533	Thomas Cranmer is appointed Archbishop of Canterbury.
May 23, 1533	Archbishop Thomas Cranmer declares the marriage of King Henry VIII and Queen Katherine of Aragon to be invalid	Even threatening Henry with excommunication if he visited Katherine
May 28, 1533	Thomas Cranmer validates King Henry VIII& Anne Boleyn's marriage
1533 - 1536	Anne Boleyn Queen Consort	3 years "a thousand days"
June 1, 1533	Coronation of Anne Boleyn
Summer 1533	Sir Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex begins an investigation into the activities of Sir Thomas More
June 8, 1533	Parliament extinguishes Papal authority in England
June 25, 1533	Mary Tudor, younger sister of Henry VIII, dies at Westhorpe, Suffolk.
July 10, 1533	It is reported that Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk and George Boleyn, caught up with the French court. While they were there both Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey and Henry Fitzroy, Duke of Richmond became violently sick, at the same time. Richmond was so ill, that for a while, it was feared he might die.	The boys had shared a cup of wine and the physicians thought the symptoms were characteristic of poisoning. Because the wine had been shared, Richmond had not taken enough to kill him. George Boleyn was found to have departed immediately the boys became ill, leaving all his luggage and entourage behind. Later, George Boleyn's wife, Jane Boleyn stated that Anne and her brother had tried to poison the Duke of Richmond and Princess Mary Tudor.
July 11, 1533	Pope Clement VII excommunicates King Henry VIII & his advisers (including Thomas Cranmer)
September 7, 1533	Anne Boleyn gives birth to Princess Elizabeth Tudor
November 25, 1533	Henry Fitzroy, Henry VIII's illegitimate son, marries Mary Howard (daughter of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk) Anne Boleyn is said to have worked for this pairing
February 1534	Parliament enacts the Act of Annates, which provides that bishops in England will be selected by the king. Parliament also indicts Elizabeth Barton for treason by a Bill of Attainder. A bill drafted by Sir Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Essex identifies Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More as among her accomplices.	Cromwell requests More visit him for an informal meeting on the issues of the king's marriage annulment and papal supremacy More reaffirms his belief in papal supremacy based, he claims, on a writing of Henry himself. He adheres to a policy of silence on the matter of the king's marriage
March 5, 1534	Sir Thomas More writes letters to Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell stating his loyalty to the king, denying any conspiracy with Barton, and expressing his desire to see the king's interests furthered.	The same month More is called to appear before the king's commissioners. The commissioners threaten More, and call him a "villainous" servant, but depart without taking action against him.
March 23, 1534	Parliament passes the Act of Succession. Only children of King's marriage to Anne Boleyn are his lawful heirs	The Act also specifies various offenses, such as "derogating" the royal family, to be treasonous. Most significantly for More, the Act also requires all of the king's subjects to take an oath promising to maintain "the whole effects and contents of the present Act."
March,1534	Pope Clement VII declares the marriage between Henry VIII and Katherine valid
April 12, 1534	While leaving church, Sir Thomas More is handed a summons to appear before the king's commissioners at Lambeth Palace and take the oath of succession.
April 13, 1534	Sir Thomas More leaves Chelsea for Lambeth after telling his family he will likely be imprisoned. At Lambeth, More, when asked to take the oath, requests to see both it and the Act of Succession. More tells the commissioners that although he will deny nothing contained in the oath, he would not swear to it	Asked a second time to take the oath after being threatened with imprisonment, More again refuses to do so--and also refuses to explain why he refuses to take the oath. More is turned over to the Abbot of Westminster, who keeps him for four days
April 17, 1534	Sir Thomas More is imprisoned in the Tower of London
Apr 20, 1534	Elizabeth Barton, known as the "Nun of Kent" is executed for high treason at Tyburn.
May 11, 1534	King Henry VIII makes peace with Scotland
July, 1534	Anne Boleyn delivers a stillborn baby
September 25, 1534	Pope Clement VII dies
October 13, 1534	Alessandro Farnese, Cardinal-Bishop of Ostia becomes Pope Paul III
November 1534 - Early 1535	A bill is introduced, and later enacted, called the Act of Supremacy, which declares Henry to be the supreme head of the Church of England	Also, Parliament considers, and eventually enacts, the Treason Act which makes it a capital offense to "maliciously wish, will, or desire, by words or writing" to deny to members of the royal family their "dignity, title, or name of their royal estates." Parliament also targets More with and Act of Attainder for "intending to sow sedition" by his refusal to take the oath.
Christmas 1534	Henry discusses with Cranmer and Cromwell the chances of leaving Anne Boleyn without having to return to Katherine of Aragon
January 15, 1535	King Henry VIII assumes the title "Supreme Head of the Church."
May 2, 1535	Sir Thomas More meets with Cromwell and four others in a room at the Tower. He was told that Henry VIII demanded his opinion on the recently enacted Act of Supremacy.	More said that he refused to "meddle" in such affairs. Although told that the king would be merciful if he consented to the Act, More says that his whole concern now is for his living the best possible Christian life.
Late May 1535	King Henry VIII is angered to learn that the Pope has made Bishop Fisher, an outspoken opponent of his marriage to Anne Boleyn, a cardinal.
June 3, 1535	Sir Thomas More appears for a third interrogation before Cromwell and other councilors of the king. He is asked to give an oath to the supremacy of Henry as head of the Church of England, but he remains silent.
June 1535	Solicitor-General Richard Rich visits More's cell and takes away his books and writing materials. Rich later will testify that during the course of his visit, More, in responding to a hypothetical question, suggested that Parliament had no more power to enact the Act of Supremacy than it did to pass a law declaring God not to be God.	More's statement, if actually made, would violate the Treason Act because it denied the king's title as the supreme head of the Church. (More later denies ever making any such statement to Rich.) Two days later, More is questioned by official investigators--a sort of preliminary hearing for his trial.
June 22, 1535	Five days after being convicted of treason, John Fisher is beheaded on Tower Hill.
June 26, 1535	A special commission is established to hear the case of Sir Thomas More
June 28, 1535	A 2000-word indictment accusing Sir Thomas More of treason is presented to the special commission.
June 1535	Anne Boleyn has a miscarriage	Rumoured & not all historians record this
July 1, 1535	Sir Thomas More is tried for treason in Westminster Hall. More pleads "not guilty,"After one hour of deliberation, the jury of twelve men finds More guilty.
July 5, 1535	Sir Thomas More's wife, Alice, visits her husband in the Tower. He gives her a letter composed in charcoal for his daughter Margaret. By this time, he also knows that his sentence had been commuted by Henry from disembowelment to beheading.	*the transcript of the letter appears on Sir Thomas More's character profile here on the Wiki*
July 6, 1535	Execution of Sir Thomas More
September 10, 1535	King Henry VIII visits Sir John Seymour at Wolf Hall, Savernake, Wiltshire. He meets his daughter, Jane Seymour for the first time.
November 1535	King Henry VIII begins courting Jane Seymour
1536	Act of Union - annexation of Wales and all existing laws to England	Current borders between England and Wales are established, marcher lordships are abolished, English becomes the only permissible language for public office
1536	Katherine Howard starts an intimate relationship with music teacher Henry Manox	During her adultery trail both Katherine and Manox confessed to having a sexual relationship but without intercourse
January 7, 1536	Death of Queen Katherine of Aragon
January 8, 1536	Both Henry & Anne appear in joyful yellow from top to toe and 16 month old Princess Elizabeth is paraded triumphantly in Church that Sunday morning
January 24, 1536	King Henry VIII's horse falls heavily in the tilt-yard at Greenwich knocking him unconscious for 2 hours
January 29, 1536	Anne Boleyn delivers a stillborn son	The Aragonese Faction which supported Mary, The Seymour Faction & Thomas Cromwell joined in mobilising against the Boleyns
January 29, 1536	Queen Katherine of Aragon buried at Peterborough Abbey
February , 1536	Rumours start circulating about the future of Anne Boleyn & Jane Seymour amongst the foreign ambassadors
March, 1536	Henry sends Jane Seymour a letter & a purse of sovereigns. She returns it unopened.	The letter implies a summons to the King's bed. Jane showed her price was now marriage and nothing less.
1536	Hans Holbein the Younger becomes court painter to Henry VIII and paints numerous portraits and drawings of the king and his wives
April, 1536	Jane's brother, Edward Seymour and his wife are moved to rooms which are connected through a secret passage to the king's apartments which allows Henry private access to Jane Seymour
April 30, 1536	Mark Smeaton arrested on suspicion of adultery with the Queen	A confession of guilt is thought to have been tortured out of him.
May 1, 1536	Anne Boleyn is arrested and taken to the Tower of London through Traitor's gate. Sir Henry Norris arrested	Note: Before the early 17th century, Traitor's Gate was simply called the Water Gate.
May 2, 1536	George Boleyn arrested for incest/adultery with the Queen
May 4, 1536	Sir Francis Weston and Sir William Brereton arrested
May 5, 1536	Sir Thomas Wyatt and Sir Richard Page arrested
May 15, 1536	The Trial of Anne Boleyn	It is estimated that some 2000 people attended. Anne conducted herself in a calm and dignified manner, denying all the charges against her
May 16, 1536	Thomas Cranmer sees Anne Boleyn in the Tower and hears her confession.	The following day, he pronounces the marriage of King Henry VIII & Anne Boleyn null and void
May 17, 1536	Mark Smeaton, Henry Norris, Francis Weston, William Brereton and George Boleyn are executed by beheading
May 19, 1536	Anne Boleyn is executed at Tower Green	Henry's last act of "kindness" was to pay for a swordsman from France to behead Anne instead of the usual Axe.
May 20, 1536	Henry VIII betrothed to Jane Seymour
May 30, 1536	Henry & Jane Seymour are married	Henry is aged 45 and Jane is 28 (given that her accepted birth date is 1508)
1536 - 1537	Jane Seymour Queen Consort	16 months
June 4, 1536	Jane Seymour is declared Queen consort
June 22, 1536	Mary Tudor writes to her father accepting her illegitimate status, the annulment of her parents marriage, and her father's position as Supreme Head of the English Church	An action she would regret for the rest of her life.
July 6, 1536	At Jane Seymour's insistence, Mary Tudor meets with her father for the first time since the divorce of her mother.
July 22, 1536	Henry Fitzroy, illegitimate son of Henry VIII, dies of tuberculosis aged 17 years	There had always been the possibility that Fitzroy could have succeeded him, but now Henry VIII was left with only two daughters, both declared illegitimate.
1536 - 1539	Dissolution of the Monasteries - destruction and closure of 560 monasteries religious houses
October, 1536	William Tyndale known as "the father" of the English Bible is burned at the stake in Belgium .	After a decade of alluding capture for his "crime" of publishing the New Testament translated in English. His last words was a prayer that God would "open the eyes" of the King of England
October 1 - 10, 1536	Linolnshire Uprising after the closure of Louth Abbey
October 13, 1536	Pilgrimage of Grace rebellion. Robert Aske led a band of nine thousand followers and they entered and occupied York. Henry authorised Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk to promise a general pardon and a Parliament to be held at York within a year. Trusting in the king's promises, Aske dismissed his followers.	40,000 men marched through England in protest of the Reformation
January 1537	Promises to Aske & his followers were not kept and a new rising took place in Cumberland and Westmoreland	Martial law was imposed upon the rebellious regions, ending the rebellion.
April, 1537	Robert Aske is arrested in London	Aske was convinced to visit the king under the false promise that he would be protected
May 17, 1537	Robert Aske is found guilty of high treason and sentenced to death
May 27, 1537	Trinity Sunday, there was a Te Deum sung in St Paul's cathedral for joy at the queen's (Jane Seymour) quickening of her child, the lord chancellor, lord privy seal and various other lords and bishops being then present; the mayor and aldermen with the best guilds of the city being there in their liveries, all giving laud and praise to God for joy about it.'	Bonfires were lit and celebrations held throughout England; prayers were offered for a safe delivery
May 29, 1537	Pope Paul III enacted the papal bull <a class="external" href="http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/pope0220a.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Sublimus Dei</a> condemning the enslavement of the indigenous people of the Americas so that they may be converted to Catholicism	despite papal condemnation, enslavement of Native Americans continued under the Spanish and Portuguese settlers in the New World
June 28, 1537	Robert Aske is returned to Yorkshire	en route he is paraded through the towns and cities he passed in chains as an example to other rebels
July 12, 1537	Robert Aske is hung from Clifford Tower in York
1537	The Institution of the Christian Man (also called The Bishops' Book), published. It was written by a committee of forty six divines and bishops headed by Thomas Cranmer.	The purpose of the work, along with the Ten Articles of the previous year, was to implement the reforms of Henry VIII in separating from the Roman Catholic Church
October 12, 1537	Birth of Prince Edward
October 15, 1537	Baptism of Prince Edward at Hampton Court
October 23, 1537	King Henry VIII is summoned to his wife's bedside as her last rites are given
October 24, 1537	Jane Seymour dies from illness	Her likely cause of death was puerperal (child bed) fever, a fatal variety of septicemia caused by improper sanitary conditions during labor. She was 29 years old.
1538	Henry VIII authorizes the first publication of "the Great Bible" in English to be read in church services.
1538	Katherine Howard begins relationship with Francis Dereham	Katherine and Dereham called one another "husband and wife"
1539	Treaty of Toledo Francis I & Charles V agree not to ally with Henry VIII unless by mutual agreement
February 6, 1539	Death of John III "the Peaceful", father of Anne of Cleves	Anne's brother William becomes the Duke of Cleves at age 22
March 1539	Negotiations begin for a marriage between Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves
October 4, 1539	Marriage treaty between Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves signed.
December 27, 1539	Anne of Cleves' ship lands at Deal
January 1, 1540	Henry VIII pays a surprise visit to his wife-to-be at Rochester	the visit did not go well, afterwards the king told Cromwell he "liked her not"
1540	Anne of Cleves Queen Consort	6 months
January 6, 1540	Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves marry
April 1540	Henry VIII begins courting Katherine Howard	Katherine is currently serving Anne of Cleves.
April 17, 1540	Thomas Cromwell is created the Earl of Essex
April 24, 1540	Henry grants lands, confiscated from a felon, to Katherine Howard	First recorded indication of Henry's affection for Katherine
June 10, 1540	Thomas Cromwell is arrested for high treason
June 24, 1540	Anne of Cleves is commanded by Henry VIII to leave court and is sent to Richmond Palace	Henry's reason for sending Anne away was concern over a plague outbreak
July 6, 1540	Anne of Cleves is informed of her husband's decision to reconsider their marriage
July 8, 1540	Henry VIII abolished all books containing heresy
July 9, 1540	Marriage between Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves annulled	Surviving her marriage better than any wife before her, Anne is made an honorary "sister" to the King and receives Hever castle, the former home of Anne Boleyn.
1540 - 1542	Katherine Howard Queen Consort	19 months
July 28, 1540	Henry VIII and Katherine Howard are married Execution of Thomas Cromwell	Henry is aged 49 and Katherine 15.
September 27, 1540	Pope Paul III allows the creation of the Society of Jesus, also known as the Jesuits
August 27, 1541	Katherine Howard appoints Francis Dereham as her private secretary	Dereham was an ex-lover of Katherine's. This appointment will later spell doom for both the Queen and Dereham.
October 18, 1541	Margaret Tudor dies in Scotland
November 1, 1541	Henry VIII is informed of Katherine's adultery.	After which, he threatens to kill her himself.
November 12, 1541	Katherine Howard is arrested
November 22, 1541	Katherine Howard is stripped of her title as Queen, she is taken to Syon House Middlesex for her imprisonment
December 10, 1541	Thomas Culpepper and Francis Dereham are executed for high treason	Culpepper was aided in his affair with Katherine by Jane Boleyn, Lady Rochford, right under the King's nose. Years earlier, reports that Dereham and Katherine were secretly wed to each before she married the King condemned the Queen's secretary.
1542	Crown of Ireland Act - Irish Parliament declares Henry VIII and his descendants (the kings of England) King of Ireland	The position of King of Ireland was abolished after the passage of The Republic of Ireland Act in 1948, however the Crown of Ireland Act was not repealed until the Republic of Ireland passed the Pre-Union Statues Act in 1962. The English monarch is still recognized today in Northern Ireland which is part of the United Kingdom.
January 21, 1542	Parliament passes the bill of attainder which declares the intent to commit treason punishable by death	This seals Katherine Howard's fate, Henry signed the bill into law on February 11th and scheduled her execution for the 13th
February 10, 1542	Katherine Howard arrives at the Tower of London
February 13, 1542	Katherine Howard is executed for adultery and treason Jane Rochford is executed for treason	Katherine was aged approximately 18.
July 21, 1542	Pope Paul III establishes the "Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman Inquisition" whose mission was to combat the spread of Protestants in Italy	The Roman Inquisition, as it was later known, would last to the mid nineteenth century and was famous for trying Galileo Galilei for his scientific theories and writings.
December 8, 1542	Mary, Queen of Scots is born to James V of Scotland (King Henry VIII's nephew - son of Margaret Tudor) and Mary of Guise	The six or seven-day-old Mary became Queen of Scotland when her father died at the age of 30.
March 2, 1543	Lord Latimer, Catherine Parr's husband, dies	Latimer was Catherine's second husband
July 1, 1543	The Treaty of Greenwich between England & Scotland	6 month old Mary Queen of Scots is promised in marriage to Prince Edward Tudor son of King Henry VIII
1543	Hans Holbein the Younger dies from the plague
1543	The Necessary Doctrine and Erudition for Any Christian Man, (also known as the King's Book) was published and attributed to King Henry VIII.	It was a revision of The Institution of the Christian Man, and defended transubstantiation and the Six Articles. It also encouraged preaching and attacked the use of images.
1543	Nicolas Copernicus' book On the Revolution of Heavenly Spheres is first published in Nuremburg	Copernicus' theory that the Earth revolved around the sun and not vice versa put him in the bad opinion of the Catholic Church (who said it went against God's Holy Word to say such) and monarchs (who reasoned that Copernicus' findings meant that if Earth was not the center of the universe, then their kingdoms were not, then they were not the center, either).
1543 - 1547	Catherine Parr Queen Consort	3 and half years
July 12, 1543	Henry VIII and Catherine Parr marry	This is Catherine's third marriage.
July 14, 1543	The Third Succession Act passed by Parliament, restored Mary and Elizabeth to the succession after Edward and his potential offspring
September 9, 1543	Nine month old Mary is crowned Queen of Scots	The Treaties of Greenwich fell apart soon after Mary's coronation. The betrothal did not sit well with the Scots, especially since Henry VIII suspiciously tried to change the agreement so that he could possess Mary years before the marriage was to take place. He also wanted them to break their traditional alliance with France. Fearing an uprising among the people, the Scottish Parliament broke off the treaty and the engagement at the end of the year.
May 1544	Thomas Wriothesley (Risley) becomes Lord Chancellor	succeeded the more moderate Lord Audley
July 7, 1544	Queen Catherine Parr is appointed Regent of England during the King's absence while he leads troops in France
September 14, 1544	King Henry VIII's forces captures Boulogne	The Battle of Boulogne
February 27, 1545	Battle of Ancrum Moor English defeated by the Scots at Ancrum Moor
July 19, 1545	sinking of the Mary Rose after engaging the French near Portsmouth	Henry VIII's favorite warship, named after his sister, Mary Tudor.
December 13, 1545	Pope Paul III convenes the Council of Trent	One of the most important councils of the Roman Catholic Church in response to the Protestant Reformation.
April 24, 1546	Henry VIII charters the English Navy
January 28, 1547	Death of Henry VIII, Edward the Prince of Wales succeeds him
January 30, 1547	Edward Seymour declared Lord Protector of England	Elder brother of Jane Seymour.
1547 - 1553	King Edward VI Reigns	6 and half years
February 20, 1547	Coronation of King Edward VI
May 4, 1547	Catherine Parr and Sir Thomas Seymour are secretly wed	At this time, Princess Elizabeth and Lady Jane Grey are also living with Catherine Parr.
September 10, 1547	"Black Saturday", the Scots suffered a bitter defeat by the English Led by Somerset at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh
August 30, 1548	Birth of Mary Seymour, daughter of Catherine Parr	Both parents are thrilled by the birth of the child, even though she is a girl.
September 5, 1548	Death of Catherine Parr	She is 36 year old.
January 15, 1549	Act of Uniformity passes House of Lords which outlaws Catholic Mass and introduces the Book of Common Prayer	Edward's sister Mary will defy this law all through her brother's reign.
January 16, 1549	Thomas Seymour is arrested for treason and sent to the Tower of London	This is for his scheming to marry the Princess Elizabeth and to arrange the King to marry Lady Jane Grey, he also planned to usurp his brother as Lord Protector and kidnap King Edward
March 20, 1549	Thomas Seymour is executed for treason	Princess Elizabeth shows no emotion at his passing. She and her household will be severely interrogated over the Seymour scandal. As a result to the smear on her character, Elizabeth takes up modest Protestant garb and the persona of Edward's "Sweet Sister Temperance."
May 20, 1549	Act of Uniformity passes Parliament which forbids other prayer books
June - August 1549	Western Rebellion Rising in the West of England against the Prayer Book and King Edward VI's religious policies. Ended at the Battle of Samford Courtenay
August 18,1549	Battle of Samford Courtenay Defeat of the western rebels by Lord John Russell near Okehampton.
January 22, 1552	Edward Seymour is executed based on trumped up charges of treason	Heading the effort to get rid of Seymour is John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland. Dudley later marries his son, Guildford, to Lady Jane Grey, in an attempt to rule England through her.
April 1552	King Edward is ill with a double infection of smallpox and measles	The king survives but the attack severely weakens his immune system
February 1553	King Edward calls off his procession of the southern counties due to his rapidly declining health
June 21, 1553	King Edward VI signs a statement naming Lady Jane Grey as his successor	In doing this, Edward proclaims his sisters to be bastards, and establishes the granddaughter of Charles Brandon and Mary Tudor (sister of Henry VIII) as the future queen.
July 6, 1553	Edward VI dies	The announcement of the King's passing is delayed. Both to the King's sister are invited to court, but both are most likely informed or sense moves against them, and do not come.
July 10, 1553	Lady Jane Grey is proclaimed Queen of England	"The 9 days Queen"
July 19, 1553	Forces loyal to Princess Mary disperse Suffolk's troops and Lady Jane Grey is imprisoned in the Tower of London
August 3, 1553	Princess Mary and her supporters enter London in triumph	Princess Elizabeth and Anne of Cleves came to London in support of Mary
August 22, 1553	John Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland, is executed for treason	Northumberland was instrumental in the plot to place Jane Grey on the throne instead of Mary Tudor
August 23, 1553	Bishop Stephen Gardiner is created Lord Chancellor of England after his release from the Tower of London
October 1, 1553	Coronation of Queen Mary I
1553 - 1559	Queen Mary I reigns	6 years
October 5, 1553	Mary holds her first Parliament which rules the marriage of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon legitimate
November 14, 1553	Queen Mary pardons Lady Jane Grey	Jane and her husband remains held in the Tower
January 22, 1554	Sir Thomas Wyatt's army occupies Rochester	Thomas Wyatt the Younger, son of Thomas Wyatt the Elder and Poet.
February 7, 1554	Sir Thomas Wyatt surrenders
February 12, 1554	Execution of Lady Jane Grey and her husband, Guildford Dudley
March 18, 1554	Princess Elizabeth is arrested and taken to the Tower of London
April 1554	Parliment passes the renewed heresy laws which permits the sentence of death by burning
May 19, 1554	Princess Elizabeth is released from the Tower and placed under house arrest at Woodstock	This release date is 18 years to the day that Elizabeth's mother, Anne Boleyn, made her final walk from the Tower and was beheaded.
July 12, 1554	Prince Philip sets sail for England
July 23, 1554	Prince Philip of Spain arrives in Winchester and meets his bride for the first time
July 25, 1554	Queen Mary and Prince Philip of Spain are married	Mary is 38 years-old while Phillip is 27
September, 1554	The royal physician announces that the queen is pregnant	The pregnancy is the first of two "phantom pregnancies" in which Mary experienced the symptoms of pregnancy yet no child was actually conceived
November 1554	Parliment passes the Second Act of Repeal which voided all religious laws past after 1529	In other words, the Reformation of Henry VIII was reversed
February 4, 1555	John Rogers is burned at the stake, he was the first to be sentenced under the renewed heresy laws
February 9, 1555	John Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester is burned at the stake for heresy
March 8, 1555	Queen Mary grants charter to establish Holy Trinity College at Oxford
October 16, 1555	Bishops Ridley and Latimer are burned at the stake for heresy
November 12, 1555	Bishop Stephen Gardiner, Lord Chancellor of England dies
January 16, 1556	As a result of his father's abdication, Phillip becomes King Philip II of Spain	Phillip would not reside in Spain until 1558
February 5, 1556	Treaty of Vaucelles signed between Philip II of Spain and Henry II of France	The treaty was soon broken and war between the two nations resumed with the threat of England joining against France under Phillip's influence as king consort
February 14, 1556	Archbishop Thomas Cranmer is degraded from office
March 21, 1556	Thomas Cranmer is burned at the stake for heresy	Cranmer helped Henry VIII to divorce Katherine of Aragon, Mary's mother.
April, 1556	Cardinal Reginald Pole is made Archbishop of Canterbury
February 27, 1557	Queen Mary receives Osep Nepea the first Russian ambassador to England
June 7, 1557	England declares war on France
July 16, 1557	Anne of Cleves dies
January 7, 1558	The French capture Calais from the English	Calais had been English territory for 200 years. With the loss of Calais, England also lost its only home port on the Continent.
April 24, 1558	Marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots the Dauphin Francois at Notre Dame cathedral in Paris
summer 1558	Protestant exile John Knox first published his pamphlet "<a class="external" href="http://www.swrb.com/newslett/actualNLs/firblast.htm" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">The first Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women</a>" a diatribe against women rulers as "unnatural"	The target of Knox's work were specifically Catholic female monarchs such as Mary Tudor of England and Mary Stuart of France and Scotland. Despite this, and the fact it was written before her reign, Queen Elizabeth I took his claims as a personal insult and denied Knox passage back to his native Scotland in 1559.
November 17, 1558	Death of Queen Mary, Princess Elizabeth succeeds her	The transition from Mary to Elizabeth is peaceful.
November 23, 1558	Elizabeth begins her royal progress into London
December 14, 1558	Mary I buried at Westminster Abbey
January 13, 1559	Coronation of Queen Elizabeth I
1559 - 1603	Queen Elizabeth I Reigns	44 years
February 1559	The Roman Inquisition publishes The Index of Forbidden Books	Several English Reformist authors were on the list including Thomas Cranmer, Miles Coverdale, William Tyndale, John Wycliff, Nicolas Ridley and Hugh Latimer.
March 12, 1559	Elizabeth makes peace with France
May 8, 1559	Act of Uniformity signed by Queen Elizabeth
June 11, 1560	Marie de Guise, Regent of Scotland dies James Stewart, illegitimate son of King James V takes over the administration of Scotland	Marie de Guise was the mother of Mary Queen of Scots and ruled in her daughter's absence
September 8, 1560	Amy Robsart, wife of Robert Dudley found dead	Rumors spread that the queen had a part in Lady Dudley's death
December 5, 1560	Death of King Francois II of France	Mary loses the French crown, her mother-in-law, Catherine de'Medici, became regent of France because her son Charles IX is too young to rule
February 15, 1564	Galileo Galilei is born in Tuscany	Astronomer, mathematician, physicist, and philosopher who would play a major role in the scientific revolution
April 26, 1564	William Shakespeare is baptised in Stratford-upon-Avon
July 29, 1565	Mary, Queen of Scots marries Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley
September 8, 1565	Spanish admiral Pedro Menendez de Aviles founds St. Augustine, Florida	The oldest city in the United States 21 years before English settlers first founded the colony in Roanoke, Virginia
June 19, 1566	Mary, Queen of Scots gives birth to Prince James
February 10, 1567	Lord Darnley is murdered	It is rumoured that Mary, Queen of Scots played a role in her husband's disposal
July 24, 1567	Mary, Queen of Scots is forced to abdicate her throne	Her son James succeeds her as King James VI of Scotland
April 27, 1570	Pope Pius V issues a papal bull against Elizabeth, thus excommunicating her.	The bull against Elizabeth forgave all of her subjects for rejecting her as queen or for seeking her removal from the throne. However, Elizabeth's popularity remained high.
October 7, 1571	Battle of Lepanto - the Ottoman fleet is defeated by the Holy League, bringing the Empire's Western expansion to a halt	First time the Ottomans were defeated in a major naval battle since the 15th century
1572	Treaty of Blois Treaty between England and France.	The English hoped thereby to isolate Spain and to prevent France invading Flanders.
August 24, 1572	A number of Protestant leaders are murdered during the St. Bartholemew's Day Massacre in Paris	French Protestants gain sympathy across Europe, especially in England, but Elizabeth refused to enter England into another war with France
April 4, 1581	Sir Francis Drake is knighted by Queen Elizabeth	After having completed the first complete circumnavigation of the world by an Englishman
June 4, 1584	Sir Walter Raleigh establishes a colony on Roanoke Island, named Virginia after the Queen	The first English child to be born in North America, Virginia Dare, at Roanoke is named after the colony and Queen, too.
July 22, 1587	151 English settlers arrive on Roanoke Island, Virginia	Years later, they all disappear without a trace. The single word "croatoan" etched hastily is the only clue as to their whereabouts. The colony is a failure.
February 8, 1587	Execution of Mary Queen of Scots	Elizabeth was reluctant to put her cousin to death.
July 26, 1588	4,000 men gather at West Tilbury to fight the Spanish	At some point Elizabeth addressed her forces delivering her famous speech at Tilbury, although some historians question this event.
July 29, 1588	The Spanish Armada is spotted off the English coast, the larger English fleet led by Lord Charles Howard intercepts and the fleets engage
August 8, 1588	Defeat of the Spanish Armada
December 22, 1590	King James VI of Scotland and Anne of Denmark marry
April 6, 1590	Sir Francis Walsingham dies
January 28, 1596	The Water Closet is invented by Sir John Harington	first flushing toilet, although it had few initial buyers
August 4, 1598	Sir William Cecil, Lord Burghley dies in London
February 8, 1600	Essex's Rebellion
April 1600	William Adams became the first Englishman to visit Japan and later welcomed to the court of Tokugawa Ieyasu	Tokugawa was so impressed with Adams' intellect and knowledge of shipbuilding that he appointed him his personal adviser in Western civilization and an honorary samurai, the first westerner ever to hold such an honor
March 24, 1603	Death of Queen Elizabeth I, King James VI of Scotland succeeds her	End of the Tudor dynasty
late March 1603	Union of the Crowns - Act that proclaimed the kingdoms of Scotland and England would have a shared monarch but remain separate states	In 1604 James would declare himself "King of Great Britain", it was later in the Stuart dynasty in 1707 that the union of Great Britain was created
July 25 1603	Coronation of King James I	James Stuart (who became James I of England) was the great-grandson of Margaret Tudor and the son of Mary Queen of Scots, Margaret's granddaughter. His father, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley was also a grandson of Margaret Tudor. Therefore, James was descended from the House of Tudor from both parents.
June 29, 1613	Shakespeare's Henry VIII (alternative title, All is True) is performed at the Globe Theatre in London	During a scene in which a canon was fired for special effects, the thatched roof caught fire and the theatre burned down.