List of significant events in the history of England
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 with reliable sources.
Cnut the Great of Denmark becomes king of all England[12]
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]
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
1086
Work commenced on the Domesday Book
12th century[]
Year
Date
Event
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]
1164
The Constitutions of Clarendon, a set of laws which governed the trial of members of the Catholic Church in England, were issued.
1170
Archbishop of CanterburyThomas 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
1209
King John was excommunicated from the Catholic Church by PopeInnocent III.
Battle of Poitiers: Second of the three major battles of the Hundred Years' War took place near Poitiers, France.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The Act Prohibiting Papal Bulls from Rome 1571 was issued.
1585
The Roanoke Colony was founded in the Americas.
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
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 the Americas.
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.
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 DutchstadtholderWilliam 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 FleetGeorge 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.
An attempted French invasion of southern England was stopped by storms.
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.
19th century[]
Year
Date
Event
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[19]
1859
24 November
On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin is published[20]
1863
10 January
The first underground train goes into operation in London[21]
1878
Women first admitted to the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge[22]
20th century[]
Year
Date
Event
1912
August
Harry Brearley invents Stainless Steel in Sheffield, Yorkshire[23]
1940
10 July–31 October
Battle of Britain: Royal Air Force defends the United Kingdom against attack from Nazi Germany air force during the Second World War.
1979
4 May
Margaret Thatcher becomes UK's first female prime minister; she becomes the longest-serving PM of the 20th century
1982
2 April
start of a 10-week conflict between UK and Argentina over the Falkland Islands[24]
11 October
The Mary Rose is raised from the seabed of the Solent, where she had sunk in 1545[25]
1997
1 May
Tony Blair becomes prime minister, ending the Labour Party's 18-year spell in opposition[26]
1997
31 August
In the early hours, Diana, Princess of Wales dies in hospital after a car crash in Paris, France[27]
21st century[]
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A series of co-ordinated terrorist bombings strikes London's public transport system during the morning rush hour, killing 52 people and injuring hundreds.
2012
The 2012 Summer Olympics are held in London, hosted at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.[28]
2016
Voters of the United Kingdom vote to leave the European Union (aka Brexit)
2017
Westminster attack: A 52-year-old Muslim convert drives a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge before stabbing a police officer, killing five people and injuring 49.
Manchester Arena Bombing: A suicide bombing is carried out at Manchester Arena after a concert by American singer Ariana Grande, killing 22 people and injuring hundreds.
London Bridge attack: A van is driven into pedestrians on London Bridge, killing eight people and injuring 48.
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
March
Coronavirus pandemic causes tens of thousands of deaths despite social distancing and lockdown being put into operation to limit spread of infection.
2021
9 April
His Royal Highness Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh dies at the age of 99 at Windsor Castle.
^Birley, Anthony R. (1981). The Fasti of Roman Britain. p. 39.
^Sheppard Frere, Britannia: A history of Roman Britain, revised edition (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1978), p. 82
^Hingley, Richard. Londinium : a biography : Roman London from its origins to the fifth century. London. pp. 27–32. ISBN978-1-350-04730-3. OCLC1042078915.
^Frank Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England (Oxford University Press, 1971), p. 204
^Kirby, D.P. (1992). The Earliest English Kings. London: Routledge. p. 163. ISBN0-415-09086-5.
^Swanton, Michael (6 April 2000). The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (New ed.). Phoenix Press. p. 57. ISBN1-84212-003-4.
^Stenton, Frank (1971). Anglo-Saxon England. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 393. ISBN978-0-19-821716-9.
^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.)
^Cross, Frank Leslie; Livingstone, Elizabeth A. (2005). "Great Schism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford: University Press. p. 706. ISBN978-0-19-280290-3.
^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
^Bush, M. L. (2005). The casualties of Peterloo. Lancaster: Carnegie Pub. ISBN1-85936-125-0. OCLC71224394.
^Desmond, Adrian; Moore, James (1991), Darwin, London: Michael Joseph, Penguin Group, p. 477, ISBN0-7181-3430-3
^Wolmar, Christian (2004). The Subterranean Railway: how the London Underground was built and how it changed the city forever. Atlantic. p. 135. ISBN978-1-84354-023-6.
^Frances Lannon (30 October 2008). "Her Oxford". Times Higher Education. Archived from the original on 2 January 2014. Retrieved 27 March 2013.
^"A non-rusting steel". The New York Times. 31 January 1915.
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. ISBN0-9544029-0-1