Timeline Mirrors vwo
History, Literature & Art
500
AD
527
Saxon (Old English) kingdoms of Essex & Middlesex, names still exist as counties of England
537
Arthur, king of the Britons, killed in the battle of Camlan; semi-legendary
St. Sophia Basilica, Constantinople finished
540
First Welsh poets, inc. Taleisin
620
Northmen (Vikings) invade Ireland
Production of porcelain in China
640
Arabs find famous library at Alexandria Egypt, 300,000 books
643
Start of the Dome of the Rock, Jerusalem
644
Burial of King Ethelhere; found in 1939 = Sutton Hoo Treasure
671
Caedmon, first Old English poet born
674
Glass windows in English churches
680
Aldhelm, first Old English writer: verse and prose
715
Earliest Islamic paintings
742
Charlemagne born (d. 814)
760
The book of Kells, illuminated Latin gospels written in Irish
787
First Danish (Viking) invasion of England
795
Cynewulf, Old English poet, wrote a number of famous poems inc. Juliana
796
Charlemagne builds the cathedral at Aachen (Aix la Chapelle)
800
Hildebrandsleid, major Old High German poem
Poems sung to music at Charlemagne’s court
805
Gottschalk, German poet born (d. 870)
832
Utrecht psalter, written at Rheims, illuminated
840
Dublin, Ireland founded by Danes (Vikings)
866
Danish kingdom at York
868
Otfrid von Wessenburg, wrote a German epic poem
871
Alfred the Great, King of England born (d. 899), fights Danes; sets up regular army and navy;
starts fairs and markets
881
Ludwigslied, first German ballad
883
Epic poem on the deeds of Charlemagne
890
Earliest French poem Cantilene de Ste. Eulalie
970
Exeter Book, collection of Old English poetry
1000
Vikings (Leif Ericsson) probably sailed to America (Nova Scotia, Canada)
Beowulf, heroic poem in Old English
1013
Danes masters of England
1040
Duncan, King of Scotland murdered by Macbeth
1054
Macbeth defeated by Malcolm and Siward of Northumbria at Dunsinane
1057
Macbeth murdered by Malcolm, Macbeth’s stepson Lulach king
1058
Malcolm kills Lulach and becomes King of Scotland
1066
William of Normandy invades England, defeats Harold II and takes the Kingdom of England;
rules as William I, the Conqueror; first Norman (French) King of England
Beginning of Norman (Romanesque) Architecture
1096
Start of the Crusades – attempts by European Christian rulers to re-conquer Jerusalem
(governed by Moslems)
1100
First appearance of Gothic architecture
Chanson de Roland, heroic poem in French
1127
Guillaume de Poitu, first troubadour dies
1139
Start of civil war in England; ends in 1154 with Henry II, Plantagenet (from Anjou, France)
being crowned as King of England
1144
Chretien de Troyes, French court poet born (d. 1190)
1155
Pope Hadrian IV ‘gives’ Ireland to Henry II of England
1172
Wolfram von Eschenbach, German poet born (d. 1220)
Walther von der Vogelweide, most famous of German minnesingers born (d. 1230)
1174
Campanile of Pisa (leaning tower of Pisa) built
1176
Roman de Reynard, first version of the Reynard the Fox fable, written in French
Walter Map, organises Arthurian legends in their present form
1191
Nibelungenlied, to circa 1204
1215
King John of England signs the Magna Carta (basic form of rights and laws between king and
subjects / barons)
1221
Huon de Bordeaux, French epic
Form of the sonnet develops in Italy
1225
Roman de la Rose, French courtly romance
1250
Easter play of Muri, beginnings of German drama
1258
Establishment of House of Commons
1265
Dante, Italian author: The Divine Comedy, born (d. 1321)
1266
Giotto, Italian painter born (d. 1337)
1280
Rutebeuf; French lyrical and satirical poems
1285
Lohengrin, German epic poem
1295
The Harrowing of Hell, early English Miracle play
Death of Jacob Maerlant, Dutch poet
1304
Petrarch, Italian poet born (d. 1374)
1313
Giovanni Boccaccio, Florentine novelist born (d. 1375)
1337
Beginning of the Hundred Years’ War between England and France (English Kings claim the
rights to the throne of France)
1340
Geoffrey Chaucer born (d. 1400)
1351
Jan de Weert, of Ypres, Dutch poet
1362
Piers Plowman, poem in Middle English by Langland
1370
Hubert van Eyck born (d. 1426), Dutch painter
1375
Robin Hood appears in popular English literature
1381
Peasant’s Revolt; English labourers demand higher wages and better rights / working
conditions
1400
Rogier van der Weyden, Dutch painter born (d. 1464)
1412
Joan of Arc / Jeanne d’Arc born (d. 1431)
1415
Battle of Agincourt; English King Henry V defeats the French; subject of a famous soliloquy in
Shakespeare’s play Henry V
1426
Holland becomes the centre of European music
1431
Joan of Arc burnt at the stake in Rouen, France by the English overlords
1433
Hans Memling, Dutch painter born (d. 1494)
1444
Sandro Botticelli, Italian painter born (d. 1510)
1450
H. Bosch, Dutch painter born (d. 1516)
1452
Leonardo da Vinci, universal genius born (d. 1519)
1453
End of the Hundred Years’ War; no English possessions left in France except Calais
1455
Start of the War of the Roses (battle between the families of York and Lancaster to hold
English throne), civil war in England
1474
William Caxton, prints the first book in English at Bruges (Brugge)
1485
Henry Tudor (Henry VII) defeats Richard III, last of the Lancaster kings at Bosworth; becomes
the first Tudor king and is father of Henry VIII
1492
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain finance Christopher Columbus’ (Italian) voyage
to explore; Columbus ‘discovers’ America – he lands on the Bahama islands thinking he has
sailed around the world to India: hence the name West Indies for the islands in the Caribbean
1494
Francois Rabelais, French writer and humanist born (d. 1553)
1495
Elckerlijk, Dutch morality play; original of English version Everyman
1498
Hinrek van Alkmar, wrote animal epic Reinke de Vos
Michelangelo: creates the Pieta sculpture in Rome
1500
Mariken van Nieumeghen, Dutch miracle play
Start of the Renaissance
1509
Henry VIII becomes king of England (marries six times); father of Queen Elizabeth I
1520
Pieter Brueghel the elder, Dutch painter born (d. 1569)
1529
Women seen for the first time on Italian stages
1531
Henry VIII makes himself Supreme Head of the Church of England; start of the split away from
the Catholic Church by England; separates completely in 1535; England becomes Anglican
(Protestant) with the Monarch as the Head of the Church; still so today
1532
Queen Elizabeth I born (d. 1603); William the Silent born (d. 1584)
1547
Miguel de Cervantes, Spanish writer born, author of Don Quixote (d. 1616)
1548
First roofed theatre opened in Paris
1553
Mary I, elder daughter of Henry VIII becomes queen, turns England Catholic again
1550
Beginnings of Baroque style
Nicholas Udall, writes ‘Ralph Roister Doister’; earliest English comedy
1557
‘The Sack-full of Newes’, first English play to be censored
1558
The English lose Calais, their last bit of French territory (had been an English possession
since 1066)
Elizabeth I becomes Queen of England; England once more Anglican (Protestant)
1564
William Shakespeare, England’s premier playwright born (d. 1616)
Christopher Marlowe, English playwright born (d. 1593)
1572
John Donne, English poet born (d. 1631)
1574
First London theatre opened
1577
Peter Paul Rubens, painter born (d. 1640)
1579
Union of Utrecht; foundation of Dutch Republic; Dutch-English military alliance against Spain
Samuel Coster, Dutch dramatist born (d. 1665)
1580
Frans Hals, Dutch painter born (d. 1666)
1581
P.C. Hooft, Dutch poet born (d. 1647)
1584
William of Orange assassinated
1585
Henry of France and Elizabeth of England each decline the sovereignty of the Netherlands,
but Elizabeth takes the Netherlands under her protection
G.A. Bredero, Dutch poet born (d. 1618)
1586
Elizabeth has her cousin, Mary Queen of Scots (Catholic) tried for treason and executed; she
was involved in a plot to murder Elizabeth
1587
Joost van den Vondel, Dutch dramatist born (d. 1679)
1588
Spain sends the Armada (fleet of ships) to invade England; defeated by smaller English fleet
1596
Constantijn Huygens, Dutch poet and diplomat born (d. 1687)
1600
Battle at Nieuport; Archduke Albert’s army defeated by Maurice of Nassau
1603
King James IV of Scotland (Protestant), son of Mary Queen of Scots and cousin of Elizabeth I,
succeeds Elizabeth and becomes King James I of England and Ireland as well
1606
First colonists sent to America by the Virginia Company of London; Jamestown, Virginia first
permanent settlement, named after the ‘Virgin Queen’, Elizabeth I
Rembrandt van Rijn, Dutch painter born (d. 1669)
1612
Dutch use Manhattan as a fur trading post
1617
James I makes Ben Jonson the first Poet Laureate
1620
Pilgrim Fathers land, in the ship Mayflower, at Plymouth, Massachusetts
1621
Jean de la Fontaine , French poet and author of the Fables born (d. 1695)
1622
Moliere, French dramatist born (d. 1673)
1632
Jan Vermeer, Dutch painter born (d. 1675)
Christopher Wren, English architect, builder of St. Paul’s London born (d. 1723)
1638
Schouwburg Theatre in Amsterdam opens
1639
Racine, French dramatist born (d. 1699)
1641
Start of the ‘English Civil War’; Charles I’s queen flees to Holland
1649
Trial of King Charles I and execution; Prince of Wales (traditional title of the crown prince of
England) is in exile in The Hague
England is declared to be a Commonwealth, Oliver Cromwell and Parliament control the
country
1650
Charles II (son of Charles I) defeated by Cromwell, flees to France
1651
Anglo-Dutch war
1658
Oliver Cromwell dies
Charles II restored to the throne
Actresses on German & English stages for the first time
1662
Future Queen Mary II of England and wife of William III of Orange born
1664
English annex New Netherlands from Connecticut to Delaware and rename New Amsterdam
New York
1667
Jonathan Swift born, author of Gulliver’s Travels (d. 1745)
1688
The ‘Glorious Revolution’; English Lords invite William III to England; Catholic King James II
escapes to France
1689
William and Mary proclaimed King & Queen of England for life (also in Scotland)
1690
William III defeats his father-in-law, James II at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland
1707
Act of Union between England and Scotland, together they become Great Britain
1714
German Elector of Hanover becomes King George I of Great Britain, by invitation as neither
William and Mary nor Mary’s sister Anne who was queen after them had children; the German
Elector is the closest relative
1719
Ireland declared ‘inseparable’ from England
Daniel Defoe writes Robinson Crusoe
1732
George Washington, first president of the USA born (d. 1799)
1747
William IV of Orange-Nassau becomes hereditary stadholder of the seven provinces of the
Netherlands
1749
Johann W. Goethe born, great German writer (d. 1832)
1751
William IV of Holland dies, his widow Anne, daughter of George II of England becomes regent
1755
Samuel Johnson produces his Dictionary of the English Language; the first English dictionary
1757
William Blake, English poet born, (d. 1827)
1765
Britain’s rule and influence expands in India under Robert Clive
British Parliament passes ‘Stamp Act’ taxing American colonies on goods they import from
Britain; this will eventually lead to the American Revolution
1773
Boston Tea Party; protest against the tea tax – all the imported tea is dumped into the harbour
Start of the American Revolution; George Washington made commander-in-chief of the
American forces
Jane Austen born, English novelist (d. 1817)
American Congress writes the ‘Declaration of Independence’
America colonies sign treaty with Holland
End of the American Revolution; British forces withdraw; birth of the USA as a separate
country
1785
Jakob Grimm, German author and folklorist: Grimm’s fairy tales born (d. 1863)
1789
George Washington inaugurated as the first president of the United States of America
Start of the French Revolution
1793
The Louvre in Paris becomes the national art gallery
1797
Heinrich Heine, German poet born (d. 1856)
1800
Napoleon Bonaparte creates himself first Consul in France
1801
Act of Union of Great Britain and Ireland comes into force
1802
Victor Hugo, French poet born (d. 1885)
1803
US buys a huge area of land from the French – modern-day Louisiana, New Orleans, Gulf of
Mexico
1804
Napoleon created Emperor of France
George Sand (Amantine Dupine-Dudevant), French author born (d. 1876)
1805
Louis Bonaparte named King of Holland
1809
Alfred, Lord Tennyson, English poet born (d. 1892)
Edgar Allen Poe, American author (gothic horror) born (d. 1849)
1812
Charles Dickens, English novelist born (d. 1870)
1815
Famous battle of Waterloo (Belgium) the Duke of Wellington and Blucher defeat Napoleon
1818
Mary Shelley writes Frankenstein
1819
Victoria, future Queen of Great Britain born (d. 1901)
1831
Separation of Belgium from the Netherlands
1836
Victoria becomes Queen of Great Britain
1841
New Zealand becomes British colony; part of Britain’s ‘empire building’
1848
Revolts and revolution in Vienna, Paris, Berlin, Venice, Milan
1861
Start of the American Civil War (ends 1865)
1867
British Dominion of Canada created
1877
Queen Victoria proclaimed ‘Empress of India’
1880
Transvaal declares itself independent of Britain, under Kruger declares itself a Republic
Wilhelmina, future queen of the Netherlands born (d. 1962)
1899
Boer War between Britain and the Boers in South Africa
1900
Commonwealth of Australia created
End of the Boer War, Orange Free State becomes a British Crown Colony
1914
Start of the First World War, huge surge of men who volunteer, both in Great Britain and
throughout the Empire – Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and India
1917
Russian Revolution and abolition of the Tsarist Empire
British Royal Family changes their German name (Battenburg) to an English one (Windsor)
and renounces their German titles
1918
End of the First World War; women over 30 get the vote in Britain
1922
Soviet States form the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)
Irish Free State proclaimed (what is now the Republic of Eire / Ireland); Northern Ireland
remains part of Britain after a referendum voted no to joining Ireland, and yes to staying British
1926
Elizabeth, future Queen Elizabeth II born (current monarch in the UK)
1929
‘Black Friday’ Wall Street Crash, New York stock exchange collapses
1933
Adolf Hitler appointed German Chancellor, Nazism in Germany
1939
Start of the Second World War (ends 1945)
1945
First atomic bomb exploded at test site in New Mexico, USA; two bombs dropped on
Hiroshima and Nagasaki Japan; Japan surrenders – end of WWII
1947
India proclaimed an independent country – beginning of the end of the British Empire
1957
USSR launches the first two earth satellites, Sputnik I & II into space
USSR’s Lunik reaches the moon and photographs it
1960
First manned flights in space, USSR & USA
Belgian Congo gains independence; start of independence for African nations
1961
Construction of the Berlin Wall, splitting East and West Berlin
1963
Civil Rights movement in USA gains huge momentum; Martin Luther King’s Freedom March
on Washington DC
J.F. Kennedy, President of the USA assassinated
USA becomes involved in the Vietnam War (ends in 1975)
1964
Martin Luther King awarded the Nobel Peace prize
1968
Assassination of Martin Luther King
1969
Violent fighting between Protestants and Catholics erupts in Northern Ireland. Start of the
‘Troubles’ which carry on until 1998’s signing of the ‘Good Friday’ Agreement in Northern
Ireland
1989
Fall of the Berlin Wall; decline of socialist East Block States and rise of democratic
movements
2001
Four planes hyjacked by terrorists. Two of these crash into the World Trade Buildings in
Manhattan, completely destroying these towers and killing thousands of people. Now just
know as 9/11