Timeline of English history

See also: List of English monarchs, List of British monarchs, and English monarchs family tree

This is a timeline of English history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in England and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of England.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

1st century BC

Year	Date	Event
55 BC		Roman General Julius Caesar invades Great Britain for the first time, gaining a beachhead on the coast of Kent.^[1]
54 BC		Caesar invades for the second time, gaining a third of the country. These two invasions are known as Caesar's invasions of Britain.^[1]

1st century

Year	Date	Event
c.10–c.40		Reign of Cunobelinus, an influential king of southern England before the Roman occupation; son of Tasciovanus^[2]
43		Aulus Plautius leads an army of forty thousand to invade Great Britain;^[3] Emperor Claudius makes Britain a part of the Roman Empire^[4]
C. 47 – 50		London settled by the Romans, known as Londinium^[5]

2nd century

Year	Date	Event
122 – 128		Emperor Hadrian orders a 73-mile (117km) wall to mark the Northern Roman Empire's province on the British Isle. Hadrian's Wall,^[6] as it comes to be known, is intended to keep the Caledonians, Picts, and other tribes at bay.

3rd century

4th century

Christianity is introduced by Saint Augustine in 597.

5th century

Year	Date	Event
401		Romans begin their withdrawal from Britain^[7]^: 129–131
449		The Angles begin their invasion of England and establish tribal kingdoms on the east coast.^[8]

6th century

7th century

8th century

Year	Date	Event
740-756		Reign of Cuthred, King of Wessex^[9]
757		Offa becomes King of Mercia^[10]
793	8 June	Viking raid on a monastery in Lindisfarne, often taken as the beginning of the Viking age^[11]

9th century

Year	Date	Event
849		Alfred the Great, the future king of Wessex (r. 871-899), is born to parents Aethelwulf of Wessex and Osburh.
865		Arrival of the Great Heathen Army.
871	April	Alfred the Great succeeds his brother Æthelred as King of the West Saxons
874		Edward the Elder, the future king of England (r. 899-924), is born to parents Alfred the Great and Ealhswith.
894		Æthelstan the Glorious, the future king of England (r. 927-939), is born to parents Edward the Elder and Ecgwynn.

10th century

Year	Date	Event
921		Edmund the Magnificent, the future king of England (r. 939-946), is born to parents Edward the Elder and Eadgifu of Kent.
923		Eadred, the future king of England (r. 946-955), is born to parents Edward the Elder and Eadgifu of Kent.
924 AD		Æthelstan becomes king of England
940		Eadwig All-Fair, the future king of England (r. 955-959), is born to parents Edmund I and Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury.
943		Edgar the Peaceful, the future king of England (r. 959-975), is born to parents Edmund I and Ælfgifu of Shaftesbury.
962		Edward the Martyr, the future king of England (r. 975-978) is born to parents Edgar the Peaceful and Æthelflæd.
963	17 April	Sweyn Forkbeard, the future king of England (r. 1013-1014), is born in Denmark to parents Harald Bluetooth and either Tove or Gunhild.
966		Æthelred the Unready, the future king of England (r. 978~1013), is born to parents Edgar the Peaceful and Ælfthryth.
990		Edmund Ironside, the future king of England (r. 1016-1016), is born to parents Æthelred and Ælfgifu of York.
995		Cnut the Great, the future king of England (r.1016-1035), is born to parents Sweyn Forkbeard and Gunhilda of Poland.
992 AD		Earl Byrhtnoth and his thegns led the English against a Viking invasion in the Battle of Maldon in Essex.

11th century

Year	Date	Event
1003		Edward the Confessor, the future king of England (r. 1042-1066), is born to parents Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy.
1016		Harold Harefoot, the future king of England (r.1037-1040), is born to parents Cnut the Great and Ælfgifu of Northhampton.
1016		Cnut the Great of Denmark becomes king of all England^[12]
1018		Harthacnut, the future king of England, (r. 1040-1042), is born to parents Cnut the Great and Emma of Normandy.
1022		Harold II, the future king of England (r. 1066-1066), is born to parents Godwin of Wessex and Gytha Thorkelsdóttir.
1028		William the Conqueror, the future king of England (r.1066-1087), is born to parents Robert the Magnificent and Herleva.
1043		Edward the Confessor becomes king of all England^[13]
1055		The Great Schism; culmination of theological and political differences between Eastern and Western Christianity^[14]
1056		William II, the future king of England (r. 1087-1100), is born to parents William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders.
1066		Battle of Fulford: English forces were defeated by Norse invaders in northeastern England.
		Battle of Stamford Bridge: the remaining Norse under Harald Hardrada defeated by the bulk of England's army under the command of its king
		Battle of Hastings: England's remaining forces defeated by invaders from Normandy, known as the Norman Conquest; William the Conqueror crowned king of England
1068		Henry I, the future king of England (r.1100-1135), is born to parents William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders.
1086		Work commenced on the Domesday Book
1096		Stephen of Blois, the future king of England (r. 1135-1154), is born to parents Stephen, Count of Blois, and Adela of Normandy.

12th century

Year	Date	Event
1133	5 March	Henry II, the future king of England (r. 1154-1189), is born in Le Mans, France, to parents Geoffrey V of Anjou and Matilda.
1135		The Anarchy began, a civil war resulting from a dispute over succession to the throne that lasted until 1153.
1138		The Battle of the Standard, an engagement in which the English defeated an invading Scottish army led by King David I.^[15]
1157	8 September	Richard the Lionheart, the future king of England (r. 1189-1199), is born to parents Henry II and Elanor of Aquitaine.
1164		The Constitutions of Clarendon, a set of laws which governed the trial of members of the Catholic Church in England, were issued.
1166	24 December	John Lackland, the future king of England (r. 1199-1216), is born to parents Henry II and Elanor of Aquitaine.
1170		Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket was assassinated.
1192		Crusades: King Richard I was captured by Austrian Duke Leopold V, Duke of Austria while returning from the Holy Land.
1194		Richard was ransomed and returned to England.

13th century

Year	Date	Event
1207	1 October	Henry III, the future king of England (r. 1216-1272), is born to John and Isabella of Angoulême.
1209		King John was excommunicated from the Catholic Church by Pope Innocent III.
1214		The English defeated in Battle of Bouvinnes.
1215		The Magna Carta was signed.
1237		The Treaty of York was signed, fixing the border between Scotland and England.
1239	17 June	Edward I, the future king of England (r. 1272-1307), is born to Henry III and Elanor of Provence.
1264		Battle of Lewes: Rebel English barons led by Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester defeated King Henry III.
1267		Henry recognised the authority of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in Gwynedd.
1277		England annexed Gwynedd.
1279		The Statute of Mortmain was issued.
1284	25 April	Edward II, the future king of England (r. 1307-1327), is born to Edward I and Elanor of Castile.
1287		Rhys ap Maredudd led a revolt against English rule in Wales.
1294		Madog ap Llywelyn led a revolt against English rule in Wales.
1297		Battle of Stirling Bridge: The Scots, led by William Wallace, defeated the English.

14th century

Year	Date	Event
1305	23 August	William Wallace was executed by the English on a charge of treason.
1312	13 November	Edward III, the future king of England (r. 1327-1377), is born to Edward II and Isabella of France.
1314	23 – 24 June	Battle of Bannockburn: Scotland won a decisive victory over England.
1328	1 May	The Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton, under which England recognised Scottish independence, was signed.
1348		The Black Death arrived in England.
1356	19 September	Battle of Poitiers: Second of the three major battles of the Hundred Years' War took place near Poitiers, France.
1367	6 January	Richard II, the future king of England (r. 1377-1399), is born to parents Edward the Black Prince and Joan of Kent.
1367	April	Henry IV, the future king of England (r. 1399-1413), is born to parents John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster.
1373	16 June	The Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of 1373 is signed, forming an alliance between England and Portugal; it remains an active treaty, most recently invoked in the Falklands War (see 1982)^[16]
1381	May – June	Peasants' Revolt: Also called Wat Tyler's Rebellion or the Great Rising, was a major uprising across large parts of England led by Wat Tyler.
1386	16 September	Henry V, the future king of England (r. 1413-1422), is born to parents Henry IV and Mary de Bohun.
1395		The Statute of Praemunire was issued.

15th century

Year	Date	Event
1403	21 July	Battle of Shrewsbury was a battle waged between an army led by the Lancastrian King, Henry IV, and a rebel army led by Henry "Harry Hotspur" Percy from Northumberland.^[17]
1415	25 October	Battle of Agincourt was a major English victory in the Hundred Years' War^[a]that occurred on Saint Crispin's Day, near modern-day Azincourt, in northern France.
1421	6 December	Henry VI, the future king of England (r. 1422~1471), is born to parents Henry V and Catherine of Valois.
1442	28 April	Edward IV, the future king of England (r. 1461~1470), is born to parents Richard of York and Cecily Neville.
1452	2 October	Richard III, the future king of England (r. 1483-1485), is born to parents Richard of York and Cecily Neville.
1455	22 May	The start of the Wars of the Roses a civil war for control of the throne of England between the House of York in Yorkshire and House of Lancaster in Lancashire.
1457	28 January	Henry VII, the future king of England (r. 1385-1509), is born to parents Edmund Tudor and Margaret Beaufort.
1485	22 August	Battle of Bosworth Field (Battle of Bosworth): the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the Houses of Lancaster and York. Richard III, the last Plantagenet king was killed, succeeded by Henry VII.
1487	16 June	Battle of Stoke was the decisive engagement in an attempt by leading Yorkists to unseat Henry VII of England in favour of the pretender Lambert Simnel.
1470	2 November	Edward V, the future king of England (r. 1483-1483), is born to parents Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville.
1491	28 June	Henry VIII, the future king of England (r. 1509-1547), is born to parents Henry VII and Elizabeth of York.

16th century

Year	Date	Event
1513		Battle of Flodden Field: Invading England, King James IV of Scotland and thousands of other Scots were killed in a defeat at the hands of the English.
1516	18 February	Mary I, the future queen of England (r. 1553-1558), is born to parents Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon.
1521		Lutheran writings begin to circulate in England.
1527	21 May	Phillip II, the future king of England (r. 1554-1558), is born to parents Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire and Isabella of Portugal.
1526		Lord Chancellor Cardinal Thomas Wolsey ordered the burning of Lutheran books.
1533		King Henry VIII severs ties with the Catholic Church and declared himself head of the church in England.
	7 September	Elizabeth I, the future queen of England (r. 1558-1603), is born to parents Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn.
1534		Henry VIII issued the Act of Supremacy.
		Henry VIII issued the Treasons Act 1534.
1535		Thomas More and Cardinal John Fisher were executed.
1536		William Tyndale was executed in Antwerp.
		Henry VIII issued the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
1537	12 October	Edward VI, the future king of England (r. 1547-1553), is born to parents Henry VIII and Jane Seymour.
1549		Prayer Book Rebellion: A rebellion occurred in the southwest.
1550		England and France sign the Peace of Boulogne.
1553		The Act Against Sectaries 1553 was issued.
1558		Elizabeth I claims the throne of England and rules until 1603.
1559		The Act of Supremacy 1559 was issued.
1566	19 June	James I, the future king of England (r. 1603-1625), is born to parents Henry Stuart and Mary I.
1571		The Treasons Act 1571 was issued.
		The Act Prohibiting Papal Bulls from Rome 1571 was issued.
1585		The Roanoke Colony was founded in America.
1588	8 August	The Spanish Armada was destroyed.
1589		The English Armada (or Counter Armada) was defeated by Spain.
1593		The Act Against Papists 1593 was issued.

17th century

Year	Date	Event
1600	19 November	Charles I, the future king of England (r. 1625-1649), is born to parents James I and Anne of Denmark.
1601		Catholic plot against the Earl of Essex includes some of the plotters from the gunpowder plot.
1603		King James VI of Scotland ascends to the English throne, becoming James I of England and uniting the crowns – but not the parliaments – of the two kingdoms.
1605	5 November	Gunpowder Plot: A plot in which Guy Fawkes and other Catholic associates conspired to blow up King James VI and I and the Parliament of England was uncovered.
1607	14 May	Jamestown was founded in the Virginia Colony and was the first permanent English colony in America.
1611		Henry Hudson died.
1618	29 October	Walter Raleigh was executed.
1630	29 May	Charles II, the future king of England (r. 1660-1685) is born to parents Charles I and Henrietta Maria of France.
1633	14 October	James II, the future king of England (r. 1685-1688) is born to parents Charles I and Henrietta Maria of France.
1639		Bishops' Wars: A war with Scotland began which would last until 1640.
1640		Long Parliament: The Parliament was convened.
1642		The English Civil War began (see timeline of the English Civil War).
1649	January	Trial and execution of Charles I
1649		Interregnum began with the First Commonwealth.
1650	4 November	William III, the future king of England (r. 1689-1702), is born to parents William II of Orange and Mary of England.
1653–1659		the Protectorate under the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell and later (1658) his son Richard Cromwell
1659		The Second Commonwealth brings with it a period of great political instability.
1660		Restoration of the monarchy: After a chaotic short revival of the Commonwealth of England, the monarchy was restored in May 1660, after agreeing to the Declaration of Breda, largely through the initiative of General George Monck.
1662	30 April	Mary II, the future queen of England (r. 1689-1694), is born to parents James II and Anne Hyde.
1665	6 February	Anne, the future queen of England (r. 1702-1707), is born to parents James II and Anne Hyde.
1666	2 – 5 September	Great Fire of London : A major conflagration that swept through the central parts of London.
1688		Glorious Revolution:^[18] Also called the Revolution of 1688, was the overthrow of James II by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau (William of Orange).
1692–1693		Salem Witch Trials, More than 200 people accused; 20 of which were executed (19 by hanging, 1 being pressed to death). Many accused died in jail awaiting trial.
1694	27 July	The Bank of England is founded.

18th century

Year	Date	Event
1701		The Act of Settlement 1701, which required the English monarch to be Protestant, was passed.
1702	8 March	William III died and was succeeded by Anne.
1704	4 August	Gibraltar was captured by a combined Dutch and English fleet under the command of Admiral of the Fleet George Rooke.
	13 August	Battle of Blenheim: A combined English and Dutch army under the command of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough defeated the French army in Bavaria.
1706	22 July	The Treaty of Union was agreed between representatives of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Scotland.
1707		The Acts of Union 1707 were passed in the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland, ratifying the Treaty of Union.
1716		The Old Dock, originally known as Thomas Steers' dock, was the world's first commercial wet dock.^[19]
1744		An attempted French invasion of southern England was stopped by storms.
1760		Victory over the French in New France, forming the British East Coast of North America.
1765		William Blackstone published his first volume of Commentaries on the Laws of England.
1775	19 April	War of American Independence officially starts with the battles of Lexington and Concord. Lasts until 1789.
1790s		Canal Mania, an intense period of canal building in England and Wales.
1797	22-25 July	Admiral Horatio Nelson suffer his worst defeat in Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1797) and lost his hand by a cannon ball from a tiger cannon fighting against canarian militias

19th century

Year	Date	Event
1805		Battle of Trafalgar: Horatio Nelson defeats the French at Trafalgar, establishing British naval supremacy over the world's oceans for approximately 140 years.
1819	16 August	Peterloo Massacre: about 18 people killed and several hundred injured in Manchester when cavalry charge a large demonstration demanding parliamentary representation reform^[20]
1830	15 September	The Liverpool and Manchester Railway^[21]^[22]^[23] (L&MR) was the first inter-city railway in the world.^[24]^[i] It opened on 15 September 1830 between the Lancashire towns of Liverpool and Manchester in England.
1837	June 20	Queen Victoria becomes queen of England, she will reign until January 22, 1901. The Victorian era starts.
1859	24 November	On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin is published^[25]
1863	10 January	The first underground train goes into operation in London^[26]
1878		Women first admitted to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge^[27]

1. The Stockton and Darlington Railway opened in 1825, but sections of this line employed cable haulage, and only the coal trains were hauled by locomotives. The Canterbury and Whitstable Railway, opened in May 1830, was also mostly cable hauled. Horse-drawn traffic, including passenger services, used the railway upon payment of a toll.

20th century

Year	Date	Event
1912	August	Harry Brearley invents Stainless Steel in Sheffield, Yorkshire^[28]
1914	28 July	World War 1 begins
1918	11 November	World War 1 ends
1939	3 September	Britain declares war on Nazi Germany and enters World War 2
1945	8 May	Germany surrenders and World War 2 ends in Europe
1948	5 July	The National Health Service is founded
1973	1 January	UK joins the European Communities (predecessor of the European Union).
1982	11 October	The Mary Rose is raised from the seabed of the Solent, where she had sunk in 1545^[29]

21st century

Year	Date	Event
2004		The population of England reaches fifty million.
2019	14 July	ICC Cricket World Cup: England win a thriller at Lords and clinch their maiden ODI World Cup led by Eoin Morgan.
2020		Brexit.
2020	March	Coronavirus pandemic causes over 177,000 deaths despite social distancing and lockdown being put into operation to limit spread of infection.
2022	8 September	Queen Elizabeth II dies after a reign of 70 years and 214 days

See also

City and town timelines

• Timeline of Bath
• Timeline of Barrow-in-Furness
• Timeline of Birmingham
• Timeline of Bradford
• Timeline of Bristol
• Timeline of Cambridge
• Timeline of Cheshire
• Timeline of Derby
• Timeline of Exeter
• Timeline of Hull
• Timeline of Leicester
• Timeline of Lincoln
• Timeline of Liverpool
• Timeline of London
• Timeline of Manchester
• Timeline of Norwich
• Timeline of Nottingham
• Timeline of Oxford
• Timeline of Plymouth
• Timeline of Reading
• Timeline of Sheffield
• Timeline of Southampton
• Timeline of St Columb Major
• Timeline of Sunderland
• Timeline of York

County timelines

• Timeline of Cheshire
• Timeline of Cornwall
• Timeline of Northumbria and Northumberland
• Timeline of Somerset
• Timeline of Sussex

References

1. Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 4.20–35, 5.1, 8–23; Dio Cassius, Roman History 39.50–53, 40.1–3; Florus, Epitome of Roman History 1.45
2. Todd, Malcolm (2004). "Cunobelinus [Cymbeline] (D. C. Ad 40), king in southern Britain". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/6939. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
3. Birley, Anthony R. (1981). The Fasti of Roman Britain. p. 39.
4. Sheppard Frere, Britannia: A history of Roman Britain, revised edition (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1978), p. 82
5. Hingley, Richard. Londinium : a biography : Roman London from its origins to the fifth century. London. pp. 27–32. ISBN 978-1-350-04730-3. OCLC 1042078915.
6. "Hadrian's Wall: The Facts". Visit Hadrian's Wall. 8 March 2016. Retrieved 21 February 2019.
7. Simon Hornblower; Antony Spawforth, eds. (1998). The Oxford Companion to Classical Civilization. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-860165-4.
8. "Angle". Encyclopedia Britannica.
9. Frank Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England (Oxford University Press, 1971), p. 204
10. Kirby, D.P. (1992). The Earliest English Kings. London: Routledge. p. 163. ISBN 0-415-09086-5.
11. Swanton, Michael (6 April 2000). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (New ed.). Phoenix Press. p. 57. ISBN 1-84212-003-4.
12. Stenton, Frank (1971). Anglo-Saxon England. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 393. ISBN 978-0-19-821716-9.
13. Barlow, Frank (25 May 2006). "Edward (St Edward; known as Edward the Confessor)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8516. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
14. Cross, Frank Leslie; Livingstone, Elizabeth A. (2005). "Great Schism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford: University Press. p. 706. ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3.
15. "The Anarchy: Battle of the Standard". About.
16. Fergusson, George; Trowbridge, Benjamin (9 May 2016). "History's Unparalleled Alliance: the Anglo-Portuguese Treaty of Windsor, 9th May 1386". History of Britiah Government.
17. English Heritage (1995). "English Heritage Battlefield Report: Shrewsbury 1403" (PDF). Retrieved 22 August 2011.
18. Name of the Glorious Revolution in the languages of Britain and Ireland:
    • Irish: An Réabhlóid Ghlórmhar
    • Scots: Gloryws Revolution
    • Scottish Gaelic: Rèabhlaid Ghlòrmhor
    • Welsh: Chwyldro Gogoneddus
19. . Liverpool Museums. Archived from the original on 24 March 2008. Retrieved 24 March 2008.
20. Bush, M. L. (2005). The casualties of Peterloo. Lancaster: Carnegie Pub. ISBN 1-85936-125-0. OCLC 71224394.
21. A History and Description of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. T. Taylor, 1832.
22. Arthur Freeling. Freeling's Grand Junction Railway Companion. Whittaker, 1838
23. James Cornish. The Grand Junction, and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Companion: Containing an Account of Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester. 1837.
24. BBC (23 July 2009). "Manchester to Liverpool: the first inter-city railway". from the original on 20 November 2019.
25. Desmond, Adrian; Moore, James (1991), Darwin, London: Michael Joseph, Penguin Group, p. 477, ISBN 0-7181-3430-3
26. Wolmar, Christian (2004). The Subterranean Railway: how the London Underground was built and how it changed the city forever. Atlantic. p. 135. ISBN 978-1-84354-023-6.
27. Frances Lannon (30 October 2008). "Her Oxford". Times Higher Education. from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
28. "A non-rusting steel". The New York Times. 31 January 1915.
29. Wendell Lewis, "Raising the Mary Rose" in Marsden (2003), pp. 53–59; Rule (1983), pp. 206–27.

Bibliography

• Marsden, Peter, Sealed by Time: The Loss and Recovery of the Mary Rose. The Archaeology of the Mary Rose, Volume 1. The Mary Rose Trust, Portsmouth. 2003. ISBN 0-9544029-0-1

Further reading

• George Henry Townsend (1867), "England", A Manual of Dates (2nd ed.), London: Frederick Warne & Co.
• Charles E. Little (1900), "Great Britain and Ireland", Cyclopedia of Classified Dates, New York: Funk & Wagnalls
• Benjamin Vincent (1910), "England", Haydn's Dictionary of Dates (25th ed.), London: Ward, Lock & Co.