Timelines of British Middle Ages
  Early Britain
  Saxons and Normans
  Early Plantagenets
  Lancastrians and Yorks
  Tudors and Reformation
  Stuarts and Civil War
  Scotland
  Ireland
Roman Conquest of Britain to First Viking Raid
House of Wessex to Death of Stephen
AD Year | Event |
787 |
First Viking (Danish) attack on Britain. |
793 |
Sack of the monastery at Lindisfarne. |
802 |
Egbert the Saxon reigns over united Anglo and Saxon Kingdoms. |
871-899 |
Reign of Alfred the Great, greatest of the Saxon kings.
|
878 |
Wessex Saxons under Alfred defeat Danes at the Battle of Edington. |
879 |
Treaty of Wedmore grants Danelaw to Guthrum if he is baptized and withdraws from Wessex. |
823-1016 |
Danish Invasions of Saxon Britain continue throughout the tenth century.
|
937 |
Battle of Brunanburh—Wessex Saxons, lead by , defeat Celts and Danes. |
991 |
Battle of Maldon—Saxons are defeated by the Danes and agree to pay tribute. |
1002 |
Aethelred the Unready orders the death of all Danish citizens. |
1013 |
Aethelred driven into exile in Normandy. |
1016 |
Canute the Great defeats Saxons at the Battle of Ashingdon. Danish king assumes throne. |
1016-1035 |
Reign of Canute the Great. |
1042 |
Edward the Confessor, son of Aethelred, recalled to the throne. Saxon rule is restored. |
1065 |
Consecration of Westminster Chapel. |
1066 |
Norman Conquest of Britain
|
Sept |
Battle of Stanford Bridge—Harold Godwinson defeats Viking invaders. |
Oct |
Battle of Hastings—Harold is killed and the Normans conquer England. |
1086 |
Completion of Domesday Book. |
1087 |
William Rufus assumes the throne on the death of his father, William the Conqueror. |
1093 |
St. Anselm appointed Archbishop of Canterbury; resists William Rufus's oppressions. |
1095 |
Preparations for the First Crusade are made by William Rufus and his brother. |
1100-1135 |
Reign of Henry I begins when Rufus is killed in a hunting accident. |
1100 |
Henry I pleases his Saxon subjects by marrying Maude the Good , a Saxon Princess. |
1120 |
The unexpected death of Henry's son William throws succession into question. |
1135-1154 |
Anarchy and civil war between followers of King Stephen and Matilda, daughter of Henry II. |
1154 |
Death of Stephen; crown passes to Henry II, son of Matilda. |
Henry II Plantagenet to Reign of Edward III
Hundred Years War to War of the Roses
AD Year | Event |
1151 |
Henry Plantagenet marries Eleanor of Aquitaine, heir in France. |
1154 |
Henry Plantagenet assumes the throne on the death of Stephen. |
1170 |
Thomas a Becket is murdered after he defies Henry II. |
1172 |
Henry II Conquers Ireland. |
1190 |
Richard Coeur de Leon goes on Third Crusade. |
1215 |
John Lackland signs Magna Carta. |
1265 |
Meeting of first Parliament arranged by Simon de Montfort . |
1284 |
Edward I conquers Wales. |
1291 |
Edward I Conquers Scotland. |
1314 |
Scots, under Robert the Bruce Win their Independence at the Battle of Bannockburn. |
1348-1349 |
Black Plague devastates all of Europe. |
1337-1453 |
Hundred Years War: England vs. France. |
1346 |
Edward III, victor at the Battle of Crecy. |
1356 |
The Black Prince, victor at the Battle of Poitiers. |
1415 |
Henry V, victor at the Battle of Agincourt. |
1428 |
Joan of Arc, victor at the Siege of Orleans. |
1362 |
English becomes official legal language, displacing French. |
1381 |
The government of Richard II puts down Wat Tyler's Rebellion. |
1399 |
Richard II deposed by Henry Bolingbroke. |
1400 |
Death of Geoffrey Chaucer, author of The Canterbury Tales |
1403 |
Henry IV puts down a rebellion at the Battle of Shrewsbury. |
1415-1453 |
Henry V invades France and re-opens the Hundred Years War.
|
1415 |
Henry V, victor at the Battle of Agincourt. |
1428 |
Joan of Arc, victor at the Siege of Orleans. Tide turns in favor of France. |
1455-1485 |
War of the Roses |
1461 |
Yorkists prevail at Battle of Towton; Lancastrians exiled. |
1469 |
Lancastrians regain throne thanks to the machinations of Earl of Warwick. |
1471 |
Yorkists again prevail at Battle of Barnet. |
1483 |
Richard III usurps throne at death of Edward IV. |
1484 |
Henry Tudor defeats Richard III at Battle of Bosworth Field. |
1476 |
William Caxton bring a printing press to England. Publishes first book. |
Henry VII Tudor to Death of Elizabeth I
AD Year | Event |
1486 |
Henry Tudor defeats Richard III at Bosworth Field and marries Elizabeth of York. |
1492 |
Christopher Columbus discovers America. |
1497 |
John Cabot sails for England, explores North America. |
1517 |
Martin Luther incites wide-spread rebellion against the Church of Rome. |
1534 |
Act of Supremacy—Henry VIII breaks ties with the Church of Rome. |
1535 |
Execution of Thomas More for failing to acknowledge Henry VIII's divorce. |
1536 |
Execution of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII. |
1540 |
Dissolution of the monasteries enriches the Protestant gentry. |
1549 |
Prayer Book Rebellion results in a massacre of rebels opposed to the new liturgy. |
1553 |
Lady Jane Grey Attempts to Usurp the Throne at the death of Edward VI. |
1553-58 |
Reign of Mary Tudor. Failed attempt to return England to the Catholic faith. |
1558-1603 |
Reign of Elizabeth I. |
1569 |
Northern Rising, a Catholic attempt to depose Elizabeth, is put down harshly. |
1577-80 |
Francis Drake circumnavigates the globe. |
1584 |
Founding of the 'Lost Colony' at Roanoke. First British colony in America. |
1587 |
Execution of Mary Stuart, Elizabeth's rival for the throne. |
1588 |
English sailors defeat the Spanish Armada dealing a blow to Spanish naval supremacy. |
1591 |
Edmund Spenser publishes the Fairie Queen. |
1594-1603 |
Tyrone Rebellion in Ireland delivers Ulster to English rule. |
First Stuart king to Glorious Revolution
AD Year | Event |
1605 |
Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament is discovered, Guy Fawkes held responsible. |
1607 |
Founding of Jamestown colony in Virgina. |
1607 |
Voyages of Henry Hudson to the new world. |
1611 |
King James version of the Bible first published in England. |
1616 |
Death of William Shakespeare. |
1620 |
Voyage of the Mayflower; Puritans settle in New England. |
1625 |
Charles I ascends to throne of England and marries Henrietta, a Catholic princess.
|
1629 |
Charles I dissolves parliament after disputes with certain members.
|
1640 |
Charles I recalls the 'Long Parliament' and they accuse his counsellors of treason.
|
1641 |
Parliament executes the kings supporter, Earl of Strafford without a trial.
|
1641-49 |
English Civil Wars. Parliament vs. King. |
1642 |
Battle of Edgehill—opening battle in Civil War. |
1645 |
Battle of Naseby—Charles I is taken prisoner. |
1649 |
Execution of Charles I, Oliver Cromwell invades Ireland. |
1649-1658 |
Commonwealth, lead by Cromwell. |
1653 |
First Anglo-Dutch War: naval war fought over commercial interests. |
1659 |
Restoration of Charles II. |
1665 |
Great Plague of London. |
1667 |
Great Fire of London. |
1688 |
Glorious Revolution: James II deposed by William III and Mary. |
Macalpine Unifies Scots to Act of Union
Life of Saint Patrick to Irish Independence
AD Year | Event |
450 |
St. Patrick converts Ireland to Christianity. |
850 |
Brian Boru drives vikings out of Ireland, and briefly unites tribes. |
1169 |
Norman Invasion, puts east Ireland under nominal English control. |
1315 |
Edward Bruce, brother of Robert the Bruce, attempts to drive English out of Ireland. |
1497 |
Lambert Simnel, pretender to English throne, lands in Dublin. |
1536-1603 |
Henry VIII begins Tudor Reconquest of Ireland under Protestant rule. |
1594-1603 |
Under Elizabeth I the English conquer Northern Ireland and assume control of Ulster. |
1641-51 |
The English Civil Wars leads to a major Rebellion in Ireland. |
1641 |
Catholic uprisings tied to civil unrest in England; massacre of Protestants in Ulster. |
1649 |
Oliver Cromwell invades Ireland, slaughters civilians at the Siege of Drogheda. |
1688-169 |
Williamite War in Ireland, following the "Glorious Revolution" in Britain. |
1688 |
Siege of Londonderry is relieved by protestant army. |
1690 |
James II returns to France after the Battle of Boyne. |
1691 |
Penal laws enforced which oppress, dispossess Irish Catholics. |
1782 |
Henry Grattan establishes independent Irish Parliament. |
1798 |
Irish rebellion of 1798 occurs during the French Revolutionary Wars. |
1801 |
Ireland (unwillingly) merged into the "United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland"; |
1829 |
"Catholic Emancipation" Catholics in Ireland allowed to vote. |
1845-1849 |
Irish potato famine. |
1869 |
Disestablishment of the Anglican Irish State Church |
1882 |
Murder of Cavendish in Ireland. |
1893 |
Parnell's Home Rule Bill defeated by small majority. |
1919-1921 |
|
1916 |
Irish War of Independence. |
1916 |
Easter Rising in Dublin, raises sympathy for Irish Rebels. |
1922 |
Partition of Ireland: Formation of Irish Free State. |