-
61 BCE
Appointment of General Caius Julius Caesar, Governor of Transalpine Gaul
Within 4 years, he had conquered the whole area and stood on the north coast of France gazing at the white cliffs of Dover. He knew the mineral wealth to be won and that the lowlands produced ann abundance of corn, an staple diet of the hungry legions. -
55 BCE
The first Roman invasion
under Julius Caesar's leadership,10,000 men on 80 ships sailed across the Strait of Dover. However, their progress was agonizingly slow. Just a month later, he left for the Gaul promising to return. -
54 BCE
Second Roman invasion
Also led by Julius Caesar.
Britain was still in the late Iron Age. It was inhabited by Celtic tribes whose ancestors had emigrated centuries earlier from the Danube basin. He needed to defeat the Catuvellauni, the strongest tribe in Britain. They were betrayed by a rival tribe, and soon later, Caesar overwhelmed them, leading to their chief's surrender. -
43
Claudius invades Britain
The capital was captured, and Emperor Claudius himself made a triumphal entry at the head of the troops while riding an elephant. It would take another 90 years for all of England and Wales to be fully pacified, with Hadrian's Wall marking the empire's northern frontier. Scotland was never subdued, nor did the Romans land in force on Irish soil. -
Period: 43 to 410
Britannia
(Roman Britannica) -
60
Revolt against Rome
Led by Queen Boudica, leader of the Iceni Tribe. Burned Colchester, Verulamium and London, and destroyed the 9th Legion. -
139
Hadrian's Wall
After several attempts to conquer what is today Scotland, they withdrew in 105 under the rule of emperor Trajano. Hadrian decided to build a physical frontier. -
142
Antonine Wall
A further attempt to reach the north on the orders of Emperor Antoninus Pius. -
367
Scots, Picts, Saxons and Franks, all atacked simoultaneously
-
381
General Maximus seizes power in Britain
Maximus - a usurping Roman emperor who ruled Britain, Gaul, and Hispania - seized power in Britain and took the best troops from the province to fight for the imperial throne. He was defeated in 388. -
409
The Sack of Rome
The Roman Empire was threatened by continuous invasions of Saxons, Picti and Scoti. -
410
Roman withdrawal from Britannia
The last regular Roman soldier and administrator left the country. Emperor Honorius released Britain from his allegiance. This marked the end of Roman Britain. -
Period: 450 to 1150
Old English Period
-
Period: 500 to 1000
Anglo-Saxon Period
-
597
St Augustine arrives in Britain
The Christianisation of Britain starts. -
890
Alfred the Great began the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle
-
911
Rollo captures the town of Rouen on the River Seine
He was later given the Neustria territory, which later on would become Normandy. -
1000
Richard II becomes the first to call himself the Duke of Normandy regularly.
He was Rollo's great-grandson. -
1013
Aethelred the Unready flees to Normandy
His wife, Emma, was Richard II's sister. Their son would later become Edward the Confessor. -
1016
King Cnut of Denmark sucees killing Aethelred of Wessex and seizing the English crown
His son would die without an heir. -
1042
Edward the Confessor becomes the king of England
He was brought back from Normandy, as Cnut's son would die without producing offspring. -
1064
Harold Godwinson is tricked into swearing an oath to William, Duke of Normandy
Harold Godwinson was Edward the Confessor's brother-in-law. -
Jan 6, 1066
Harold Godwinson is crowned king of England
-
Sep 25, 1066
Battle of Stanford Bridge
Where Harold Godwinson would defeat Harald III of Norway. Thus ending the Viking Age. -
Sep 27, 1066
William, duke of Normandy, arrives in Pevensey
-
Oct 14, 1066
Battle of Hastings
Where William the Duke of Normandy would defeat Harold Godwinson, who was killed by an arrow to the eye. -
Dec 25, 1066
William the Conqueror is crowned king of England
The Archbishop of York crowned him in Westminster Abbey with the entire Anglo-Saxon elite in attendance. -
1136
Historia Regum Britanniae
by Geoffrey of Monmouth.
First coherent version of the legend of King Arthur. -
Period: 1150 to 1500
Middle English Period
-
1155
Roman de Brut
by Wace -
1200
Brut / The Chronicle of Britain
by Layamon
One of the first texts written in English -
1204
Loss of Normandy by King John
-
Period: 1337 to 1453
The Hundred Years' War
-
1362
The Pleading in English Act 1362
Englishness started to spread among Anglo-Norman aristocracy. English gradually reasserted itself; although French remained the language of Parliament and courts until then. -
1380
The Canterbury Tales
-
1385
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
by the Gawain Poet
Written in the Northwest Midland dialect -
Period: 1455 to 1485
War of the Roses
The House of Lancaster and the House of York fought generation after generation for the throne of England from Henry VI to Henry VII - Tudor and Henry VIII's father. -
1485
Le Morte d'Arthur
by Sir Thomas Malory
The source of most of the Arthurian legend as it is known today and printed and "prefaced" by Caxton - who introduced printing press to England. -
Period: 1490 to
Renaissance
-
Period: 1509 to 1547
Henry VIII Reign
-
Period: 1552 to
Shakespeare
-
Period: 1557 to
Elizabeth I Reign
-
Period: to
Daniel Dafoe
The pioneer of the English novel.
The Review: The True-Born Englishman
Captain Singleton
A Journal of the Plague Year
Robinson Crusoe -
Period: to
Jonathan Swift
A Tale of a Tub
A Modest Proposal
Verses on the Death of Dr Swift
Gulliver's Travels -
Period: to
The Enlightenment
-
The Act of Union
Queen Anne presided over the union of the English Parliament and the Scottish Parliament into the parliament of Great Britain. -
Period: to
George I
Queen Anne died without procuring an heir. Her German cousin George succeeded her, moving the monarchy from the House of Stuart to the House of Hannover. The Jacobites tried to replace him with James II's son James Edward Stuart, but were unsuccessful. George favoured the Whigs arguing that the Tories were loyal to the Stuart cause. -
Period: to
George II
He was more concerned with Hannover than Great Britain. In fact, during the Austrian Succession War, he subordinated England's interests to those of Germany. -
The Rise of the Novel
-
Period: to
English Industrial Revolution
-
Agricultural Advances
Between 1750 and 1800, grain crops rose 50%; this increase sustained the steadily growing population, which England had gone from 5.5 million in 1750 to around 9 million in 1801. -
Foundation of the British Museum
-
Dictionary of the English Language
So much written material was being published that Samuel Johnson thought it necessary to publish it. -
Period: to
Seven Years War
The conflict between Great Britain and France will end with the sovereignty of the first over French-American and Indian territories. After this, the English crown would impose high taxes on these colonies that - along with other factors - would derive into the American Revolution. -
Period: to
George III
Bridgerton -
Watt Steam Engine
-
Period: to
American Revolution
-
Captain Cook got to New Zealand and Australia
-
Boston Tea Party
-
The Wealth of Nations
By Adam Smith was published. -
Period: to
American Revolution
-
American Declaration of Independence
-
First Fleet of British ships arrive in Australia
-
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
by Mary Wollstronecraft.
Trailblazing treatise on women's rights. The work argues for the empowerment of women in education, politics, society, and marriage. -
Period: to
Napoleonic Wars
-
Period: to
Romanticism
Even if the starting point of Romanticism is usually appointed as 1789 with the outbreak of the French Revolution, it truly started in 1798 with the publication of the first edition of Lyrical Ballads, by Wordsworth and Coleridge. It finished in 1830, coinciding with Walter Scott's death. -
Treaty of Amiens
Britain gained Trinidad and Ceylon. -
Battle of Trafalgar
This battle confirmed British rule over the sea. -
Period: to
Charles Dickens
Greatest author of the Victorian period.
The Pickwick Papers
Oliver Twist
A Christmas Carol
David Copperfield
A Tale of Two Cities
Great Expectations -
Treaty of Paris
Britain added Tobago and Mauritius, St. Lucia and Malta. -
Spinning Jenny
-
Frankenstein
Gothic horror novel by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.
First published anonymously, she didn't recognise her authority until 4 years later. -
The First Reform Act
In which the middle classes obtained the right to vote. -
The Reform Act of 1832
Addressed the concentration of population in districts that had no representation in Parliament, expanding the electorate. This led to the founding of modern political parties and initiated a series of reforms which would continue into the XX c. -
Abolition of slavery in British colonies
-
Period: to
Queen Victoria
-
Mary Barton
by Elizabeth Gaskell.
She was a feminist novelist who portrayed the daily lives of poor people, the hard-working conditions of women and children in mines and textile factories, and the conflicts between employers and workers. -
The Communist Manifesto
by Marx Engels -
The Second Reform Act
Whereby the urban working class were allowed to vote. -
The Third Reform Act
Whereby miners and agricultural workers were allowed to vote.