Leading Dates

(The most important constitutional dates are marked by an asterisk)

   55.  B.C.  Caesar lands in Britain (S18)
  449.  A.D.  Coming of the Saxons (S36)
  878.  Alfred’s Treaty of Wedmore (S56)
 1066.  Battle of Hastings (S74)
1100.  Henry I’s Charter of Liberties (S135)
1164.  Constitutions of Clarendon (S165)
1190.  Rise of Free Towns (S183)
1204.  John’s Loss of Normandy (S191)
1215.  John grants Magna Carta (SS198, 199)
1265.  De Montfort’s Parliament (S213)
1279.  Statute of Mortmain (S226)
1282.  Conquest of Wales (S218)
1295.  First Complete Parliament (S217)
1297.  Confirmation of the Charters (S220)
 1336.  Rise of Wool Manufacture (S236)
 1338.  The Hundred Years’ War (S237)
 1346.  Batty of Cr’ecy; Cannon (S238)
1350.  Origin of Trial by Jury (S176)
 1378.  Wycliffe’s Bible; Lollards (S254)
 1381.  Revolt of the Labor Class (S251)
 1390.  Chaucer writes (S253)
1393.  Great Act of Praemunire (S243)
 1455.  Wars of the Roses (SS299, 316)
 1477.  Caxton introduces Printing (S306)
 1485.  Battle of Bosworth Field (S315)
 1497.  Cabot discovers America (S335)
 1509.  The New Learning (S339)
1534.  The Act of Supremacy (S349)
 1536.  The Monasteries destroyed (S352)
1549.  Protestantism established (S362)
1554.  Mary restores Catholicism (S370)
 1558.  Rise of the Puritans (S378)
 1559.  Act of Uniformity (S382)
 1582, 1605.  Bacon’s New Philosophy (S393)
 1587.  Mary Queen of Scots executed (S397)
 1588.  Destruction of the Armada (S400)
 1588.  Rise of the English Navy (SS401, 408)
 1589(?).  Shakespeare’s First Play (S392)
 1601.  The First Poor Law (SS403, 607)
 1604.  The “Divine Right of Kings” (S419)
 1607.  Virginia permanently settled (S421)
 1611.  The “King James Bible” (S418)
 1622.  First Regular Newspaper (S422)
1628.  The Petition of Right (S433)
 1642.  The Great Civil War (S441)
1649.  Charles I beheaded; the Commonwealth established (SS448, 450)
 1651.  Navigation Act (S459)
 1660.  Restoration of Monarchy (S467)
1660.  Abolition of Feudal Dues (S482)
 1665.  The Plague in London (S474)
 1666.  Great Fire in London (S474)
 1670.  Secret Treaty of Dover (S476)
 1673.  The Test Act (S477)
 1678.  The Disabling Act (S478)
1678.  Rise of Political Parties (S479)
1679.  Habeas Corpus Act (S482)
 1684.  Newton’s Law of Gravitation (S481)
 1685.  Monmouth’s Rebellion (S486)
 1687.  Declaration of Indulgence (S488)
 1688.  The Great Revolution (S491)
1689.  The Bill of Rights (S497)
1689.  Mutiny Act, Toleration Act (S496)
1690.  Battle of the Boyne (S500)
 1694.  National Debt; Bank of England (S503)
1695.  Liberty of the Press (SS498, 556)