Timeline of English history

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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.
 Prehistory: Mesolithic/Neolithic periodsBronze/Iron AgesCenturies: 1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th8th9th10th11th12th13th14th15th16th17th18th19th20th21stReferencesSources
== 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.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
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.
 Centuries in 1st millennium: 1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th8th9th10th 
== 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
43 	 	Aulus Plautius leads an army of forty thousand to invade Great Britain; Emperor Claudius makes Britain a part of the Roman EmpireSheppard Frere, Britannia: A history of Roman Britain, revised edition (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1978), p. 82
C. 47 – 50	 	London settled by the Romans, known as Londinium
== 2nd century ==
Year 	Date	Event
122 – 128	 	Emperor Hadrian orders a 73-mile (117 km) wall to mark the Northern Roman Empire's province on the British Isle. Hadrian's Wall, as it comes to be known, is intended to keep the Caledonians, Picts, and other tribes at bay.
== 3rd century ==
Year 	Date	Event
c. 213	 	Britain becomes divided into two provinces called Britannia Inferior and Britannia Superior. This was likely due to the Roman emperor at the time, Caracalla.
286 	 	Marcus Aurelius Mausaeus Carausius, a Roman military commander at the time, usurps power during the Carausian Revolt.
== 4th century ==
Year	Date	Event
367 	 	The Great Conspiracy begins, starting a year-long period of disorder and war in Britain.
== 5th century ==
Year	Date	Event
401 	 	Romans begin their withdrawal from Britain.
449 	 	The Angles begin their invasion of England and establish tribal kingdoms on the east coast.
== 6th century ==
Year	Date	Event
597 	 	Christianisation of the Kingdom of Kent and its leader King Æthelberht by Saint Augustine.Bede, Ecclesiastical History, Book I, Ch. 25 & 26
== 7th century ==
Year	Date 	Event
616 	24 February	King Æthelberht of Kent dies and is then succeeded by his son Eadbald of Kent.
== 8th century ==
Year 	Date 	Event
740-756	 	Reign of Cuthred, King of Wessex.Frank Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England (Oxford University Press, 1971), p. 204
757 	 	Offa becomes King of Mercia.
793 	8 June 	Viking raid on a monastery in Lindisfarne, often taken as the beginning of the Viking age.
796 	29 July	Offa of Mercia dies.
== 9th century ==
Year	Date 	Event
802 	 	Ecgberht of Wessex is enthroned.
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.1035-1040), is born to parents Cnut the Great and Ælfgifu of Northhampton.
1016	 	Cnut the Great of Denmark becomes king of all England
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
1055	 	The Great Schism; culmination of theological and political differences between Eastern and Western Christianity
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.
1066	 	Battle of Stamford Bridge: the remaining Norse under Harald Hardrada defeated by the bulk of England's army under the command of its king
1066	 	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.
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)
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.
1415	25 October	Battle of Agincourt was a major English victory in the Hundred Years' Warthat 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. 1485-1509), 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.
1533	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.
1534	 	Henry VIII issued the Treasons Act 1534.
1535	 	Thomas More and Cardinal John Fisher were executed.
1536	 	William Tyndale was executed in Antwerp.
1536	 	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.
1571	 	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:Name of the Glorious Revolution in the languages of Britain and Ireland:
* 
* 
* 
* 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).
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.
1704 	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.
1744 	 	An attempted French invasion of southern England was stopped by storms.
1756 	 	Following the start of the French and Indian War 2 years prior, the Seven Years' War begins.
1763 	10 Feb 	The Treaty of Paris (1763) is signed, formally ending the Seven Years' War. France renounces a large portion of North American land to Great Britain.
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 loses most of his right arm from a musket ball whilst 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 a large cavalry charge demonstration demanding parliamentary representation reform broke out.
1830	15 September	The Liverpool and Manchester RailwayA History and Description of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. T. Taylor, 1832.Arthur Freeling. Freeling's Grand Junction Railway Companion. Whittaker, 1838James Cornish. The Grand Junction, and the Liverpool and Manchester Railway Companion: Containing an Account of Birmingham, Liverpool, and Manchester. 1837. (L&MR) was the first inter-city railway in the world. It opened on 15 September 1830 between the Lancashire towns of Liverpool and Manchester in England.
1837	20 June 	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
1863	10 January 	The first underground train goes into operation in London
1878	 	Women first admitted to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge
== 20th century ==
Year	Date 	Event
1912	August 	Harry Brearley invents Stainless Steel in Sheffield, Yorkshire
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 1545Wendell Lewis, "Raising the Mary Rose" in Marsden (2003), pp. 53–59; Rule (1983), pp. 206–27.
== 21st century ==
Year	Date 	Event
2004	June 	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	31 January 	Brexit takes place. The UK officially withdraws from the European Union three years after it voted to leave during a referendum in 2016.
2020	31 January 	The first patient with COVID-19 is confirmed in York.
2022	8 September	Queen Elizabeth II dies of after a reign of 70 years and 214 days. She is succeeded by King Charles III.
== 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 ==
=== 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. 
== Further reading ==
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Category:Years in England
English