CHRONOLOGY
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  HISTORY | LITERATURE
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--------------- 1413.  Henry V | 1415.  Battle of Agincourt | 1422.  Henry VI | 1470.  Malory’s Morte d’ Arthur 1428.  Siege of Orleans.  Joan of Arc | 1474(c).  Caxton, at Bruges, 1453.  End of Hundred Year’s War | prints the first book in 1455-1485.  War of Roses | English, the Recuyell of the 1461.  Edward IV | Histories of Troye 1483.  Richard III | 1477.  First book printed in
                                    | England
1485.  Henry VII | 1485.  Morte d’Arthur printed
                                    | by Caxton
1492.  Columbus discovers America | 1499.  Colet, Erasmus, and More 1509.  Henry VIII | bring the New Learning to
                                    | Oxford
                                    | 1509.  Erasmus’s Praise of
                                    | Folly
                                    | 1516.  More’s Utopia
                                    | 1525.  Tydale’s New Testament
1534.  Act of Supremacy.  The | 1530(c).  Introduction of the
      Reformation accomplished | sonnet and blank verse by
                                    | Wyatt and Surrey
                                    | 1539.  The Great Bible
1547.  Edward VI |
1553.  Mary | 1557.  Tottel’s Miscellany 1558.  Elizabeth | =========================================
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CHAPTER VI

THE AGE OF ELIZABETH (1550-1620)

I. HISTORY OF THE PERIOD

POLITICAL SUMMARY.  In the Age of Elizabeth all doubt seems to vanish from English history.  After the reigns of Edward and Mary, with defeat and humiliation abroad and persecutions and rebellion at home, the accession of a popular sovereign was like the sunrise after a long night, and, in Milton’s words, we suddenly see England, “a noble and puissant nation, rousing herself, like a strong man after sleep, and shaking her invincible locks.”  With the queen’s character, a strange mingling of frivolity and strength which reminds one of that iron image with feet of clay, we have nothing whatever to do.  It is the national life that concerns the literary student, since even a beginner must notice that any great development of the national life is invariably associated with a development of the national literature.  It is enough for our purpose, therefore,