T.S. ELIOT – THE WASTE LAND Short Summary

T.S. ELIOT –
 THE WASTE LAND Short Summary
The poem begins with a section entitled .......

"The Burial of the Dead." In it, the narrator -- perhaps a representation of Eliot himself -- describes the seasons. Spring brings "memory and desire," and so the narrator's memory drifts back to times in Munich, to childhood sled rides, and to a possible romance with a "hyacinth girl." The memories only go so far, however. The narrator is now surrounded by a desolate land full of "stony rubbish." He remembers a fortune-teller named Madame Sosostris who said he was "the drowned Phoenician Sailor" and that he should "fear death by water." Next he finds himself on London Bridge, surrounded by a crowd of people. He spots a friend of his from wartime, and calls out to him.

• The next section, "A Game of Chess," transports the reader abruptly from the streets of London to a gilded drawing room, in which sits a rich, jewel-bedecked lady who complains about her nerves and wonders what to do. The poem drifts again, this time to a pub at closing time in which two Cockney women gossip. Within a few stanzas, we have moved from the upper crust of society to London's low- life. 
• "The Fire Sermon" opens with an image of a river. The narrator sits on the banks and muses on the deplorable state of the world. As Tiresias, he sees a young "carbuncular" man hop into bed with a lonely female typist, only to aggressively make love to her and then leave without hesitation. The poem returns to the river, where maidens sing a song of lament, one of them crying over her loss of innocence to a similarly lustful man. "Death by Water," the fourth section of the poem, describes a dead Phoenician lying in the water -- perhaps the same drowned sailor of whom Madame Sosostris spoke. "What the Thunder Said" shifts locales from the sea to rocks and mountains. The narrator cries for rain, and it finally comes. The thunder that accompanies it ushers in the three-pronged dictum sprung from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: "Datta, dayadhvam, damyata": to give, to sympathize, to control. With these commandments, benediction is possible, despite the collapse of civilization that is under way -- "London bridge is falling down falling down falling down." About The Waste Land "The Waste Land" caused a sensation when it was published in 1922. It is today the most widely translated and studied English-language poem of the twentieth century. This is perhaps surprising given the poem's length and its difficulty, but Eliot's vision of modern life as plagued by sordid impulses, widespread apathy, and pervasive soullessness packed a punch when readers first encountered it. Of course, "The Waste Land" is not quite the poem Eliot originally drafted. Eliot's close friend and colleague, Ezra Pound, significantly revised the poem, suggesting major cuts and compressions. Thanks to Pound's heavy editing, as well as suggestions (specifically about scenes relevant to their stormy, hostile marriage) from Haigh-Wood, "The Waste Land" defined Modernist poetry and became possibly the most influential poem of the century. Devoid of a single speaker's voice, the poem ceaselessly shifts its tone and form, instead grafting together numerous allusive voices from Eliot's substantial poetic repertoire; Dante shares the stage with nonsense sounds (a technique that also showcases Eliot's dry wit). Believing this style best represented the fragmentation of the modern world, Eliot focused on the sterility of modern culture and its lack of tradition and ritual. Despite this pessimistic viewpoint, many find its mythical, religious ending hopeful about humanity's chance for renewal. Pound's influence on the final version of "The Waste Land" is significant. At the time of the poem's composition, Eliot was ill, struggling to recover from his nervous breakdown and languishing through an unhappy marriage. Pound offered him support and friendship; his belief in and admiration for Eliot were enormous. In turn, however, he radically trimmed Eliot's long first draft (nineteen pages, by some accounts), bringing the poem closer to its current version. This is not to say Eliot would not have revised 

the poem on his own in similar ways; rather, the two men seemed to have genuinely collaborated on molding what was already a loose and at times free-flowing work. Pound, like Eliot a crucible of modernism, called for compression, ellipsis, reduction.
The poem grew yet more cryptic; references that were previously clear now became more obscure. Explanations were out the window. The result was a more difficult work -- but arguably a richer one.Eliot did not take all of Pound's notes, but he did follow his friend's advice enough to turn his sprawling work into a tight, elliptical, and fragmented piece.

 Once the poem was completed, Pound lobbied on its behalf, convincing others of its importance. He believed in Eliot's genius, and in the impact "The Waste Land" would have on the literature of its day. That impact ultimately stretched beyond poetry, to novels, painting, music, and all the other arts. John Dos Passos's Manhattan Transfer owes a significant debt to "The Waste Land," for example. Eliot's take on the modern world profoundly shaped future schools of thought and literature, and his 1922 poem remains a touchstone of the English-language canon.

Character List

The Narrator
The most difficult to describe of the poem's characters, he assumes many different shapes and guises. At times the Narrator seems to be Eliot himself; at other times he stands in for all humanity. In "The Fire
Sermon" he is at one point the Fisher King of the Grail legend, at another the blind prophet Tiresias. 

When he seems to reflect Eliot, the extent to which his ruminations are autobiographical is ambiguous. 

Madame Sosostris
A famous clairvoyant referred to in Aldous Huxley's novel Crome Yellow and borrowed by Eliot for the
Tarot card episode. She suffers from a bad cold, but is nonetheless "known to be the wisest woman in
Europe, / With a wicked pack of cards."
Stetson
A friend of the Narrator's, who fought in the war with him. Which war? It is unclear. Perhaps the Punic
War or World War I, or both, or neither.
The Rich Lady
Never referred to by name, she sits in the resplendent drawing room of "A Game of Chess." She seems
to be surrounded by luxury, but unable to appreciate or enjoy it. She might allude to Eliot's wife
Vivienne. 

Philomela
A character from Ovid's Metamorphoses. She was raped by Tereus, then, after taking her vengeance
with her sister, morphed into a nightingale.

A Typist
Lonely, a creature of the modern world. She is visited by a "young man carbuncular," who sleeps with
her. She is left alone again, accompanied by just her mirror and a gramophone. 

Mr. Eugenides

A merchant from Smyrna (now Izmir, in Turkey). Probably the one-eyed merchant to whom Madame Sosostris refers. 

Phlebas
A Phoenician merchant who is described lying dead in the water in "Death by Water." Perhaps the same
drowned Phoenician sailor to whom Madame Sosostris refers.

Major Themes

Death
Two of the poem‟s sections -- “The Burial of the Dead” and “Death by Water” --refer specifically to this
theme. What complicates matters is that death can mean life; in other words, by dying, a being can pave
the way for new lives. Eliot asks his friend Stetson: “That corpse you planted last year in your garden, /
Has it begun to sprout? Will it bloom this year?” Similarly, Christ, by “dying,” redeemed humanity and
thereby gave new life. The ambiguous passage between life and death finds an echo in the frequent
allusions to Dante, particularly in the Limbo-like vision of the men flowing across London Bridge and
through the modern city. 

Rebirth
The Christ images in the poem, along with the many other religious metaphors, posit rebirth and resurrection as central themes. The Waste Land lies fallow and the Fisher King is impotent; what is needed is a new beginning. Water, for one, can bring about that rebirth, but it can also destroy.

                  What the poet must finally turn to is Heaven, in the climactic exchange with the skies: “Datta. Dayadhvam. Damyata.” Eliot‟s vision is essentially of a world that is neither dying nor living; to break the spell, a profound change, perhaps an ineffable one, is required. Hence the prevalence of Grail imagery in the poem; that holy chalice can restore life and wipe the slate clean; likewise, Eliot refers frequently to
baptisms and to rivers – both “life-givers,” in either spiritual or physical ways. 

The Seasons
"The Waste Land" opens with an invocation of April, “the cruellest month.” That spring be depicted as ruel is a curious choice on Eliot‟s part, but as a paradox it informs the rest of the poem to a great degree. What brings life brings also death; the seasons fluctuate, spinning from one state to another, but, like history, they maintain some sort of stasis; not everything changes. In the end, Eliot‟s “waste land” is
almost seasonless: devoid of rain, of propagation, of real change. The world hangs in a perpetual limbo,
awaiting the dawn of a new season. 

Lust
Perhaps the most famous episode in "The Waste Land" involves a female typist‟s liaison with a “carbuncular” man. Eliot depicts the scene as something akin to a rape. This chance sexual encounter
carries with it mythological baggage – the violated Philomela, the blind Tiresias who lived for a time as a woman. Sexuality runs through "The Waste Land," taking center stage as a cause of calamity in “The
Fire Sermon.” Nonetheless, Eliot defends “a moment‟s surrender” as a part of existence in “What the Thunder Said.” Lust may be a sin, and sex may be too easy and too rampant in Eliot‟s London, but action is still preferable to inaction. What is needed is sex that produces life, that rejuvenates, that restores – sex, in other words, that is not “sterile.” 

Love
The references to Tristan und Isolde in “The Burial of the Dead,” to Cleopatra in “A Game of Chess,”
and to the story of Tereus and Philomela suggest that love, in "The Waste Land," is often destructive.

Tristan and Cleopatra die, while Tereus rapes Philomela, and even the love for the hyacinth girl leads
the poet to see and know “nothing." 

Water
"The Waste Land" lacks water; water promises rebirth. At the same time, however, water can bring
about death. Eliot sees the card of the drowned Phoenician sailor and later titles the fourth section of his poem after Madame Sosostris‟ mandate that he fear “death by water.” When the rain finally arrives at the close of the poem, it does suggest the cleansing of sins, the washing away of misdeeds, and the start
of a new future; however, with it comes thunder, and therefore perhaps lightning. The latter may portend fire; thus, “The Fire Sermon” and “What the Thunder Said” are not so far removed in imagery, linked by
the potentially harmful forces of nature. 

History
History, Eliot suggests, is a repeating cycle. When he calls to Stetson, the Punic War stands in for World
War I; this substitution is crucial because it is shocking. At the time Eliot wrote "The Waste Land," the
First World War was definitively a first - the "Great War" for those who had witnessed it. There had
been none to compare with it in history. The predominant sensibility was one of profound change; the
world had been turned upside down and now, with the rapid progress of technology, the movements of
societies, and the radical upheavals in the arts, sciences, and philosophy, the history of mankind had
reached a turning point.
Eliot revises this thesis, arguing that the more things change the more they stay the same. He links a
sordid affair between a typist and a young man to Sophocles via the figure of Tiresias; he replaces a line
from Marvell‟s “To His Coy Mistress” with “the sound of horns and motors”; he invokes Dante upon
the modern-day London Bridge, bustling with commuter traffic; he notices the Ionian columns of a bar
on Lower Thames Street teeming with fishermen. The ancient nestles against the medieval, rubs
shoulders with the Renaissance, and crosses paths with the centuries to follow. History becomes a blur.
Eliot‟s poem is like a street in Rome or Athens; one layer of history upon another upon another.
Summary and Analysis of Section I: "The Burial of the Dead"
"The Waste Land" begins with an excerpt from Petronius Arbiter‟s Satyricon, in Latin and Greek, which
translates as: “For once I saw with my own eyes the Cumean Sibyl hanging in a jar, and when the boys
asked her, „Sibyl, what do you want?‟ she answered, „I want to die.‟” The quotation is followed by a
dedication to Ezra Pound, Eliot‟s colleague and friend, who played a major role in shaping the final
version of the poem.
The poem proper begins with a description of the seasons. April emerges as the “cruellest” month,
passing over a desolate land to which winter is far kinder. Eliot shifts from this vague invocation of time
and nature to what seem to be more specific memories: a rain shower by the Starnbergersee; a lake
outside Munich; coffee in that city‟s Hofgarten; sledding with a cousin in the days of childhood.
The second stanza returns to the tone of the opening lines, describing a land of “stony rubbish” – arid,
sterile, devoid of life, quite simply the “waste land” of the poem‟s title. Eliot quotes Ezekiel 2.1 and
Ecclesiastes 12.5, using biblical language to construct a sort of dialogue between the narrator –- the “son
of man” -– and a higher power. The former is desperately searching for some sign of life -– “roots that
clutch,” branches that grow -- but all he can find are dry stones, dead trees, and “a heap of broken
images.” We have here a forsaken plane that offers no relief from the beating sun, and no trace of water.
Suddenly Eliot switches to German, quoting directly from Wagner‟s Tristan und Isolde. The passage
translates as: “Fresh blows the wind / To the homeland / My Irish child / Where do you wait?” In
Wagner‟s opera, Isolde, on her way to Ireland, overhears a sailor singing this song, which brings with it
ruminations of love promised and of a future of possibilities. After this digression, Eliot offers the reader
a snatch of speech, this time from the mouth of the “hyacinth girl.” This girl, perhaps one of the

narrator's (or Eliot's) early loves, alludes to a time a year ago when the narrator presented her with
hyacinths. The narrator, for his part, describes in another personal account –- distinct in tone, that is,
from the more grandiloquent descriptions of the waste land, the seasons, and intimations of spirituality
that have preceded it –- coming back late from a hyacinth garden and feeling struck by a sense of
emptiness. Looking upon the beloved girl, he “knew nothing”; that is to say, faced with love, beauty,
and “the heart of light,” he saw only “silence.” At this point, Eliot returns to Wagner, with the line
“Oed‟ und leer das Meer”: “Desolate and empty is the sea.” Also plucked from Tristan und Isolde, the
line belongs to a watchman, who tells the dying Tristan that Isolde‟s ship is nowhere to be seen on the
horizon.
From here Eliot switches abruptly to a more prosaic mode, introducing Madame Sosostris, a “famous
clairvoyante” alluded to in Aldous Huxley‟s Crome Yellow. This fortune-teller is known across Europe
for her skills with Tarot cards. The narrator remembers meeting her when she had “a bad cold.” At that
meeting she displayed to him the card of the drowned Phoenician Sailor: “Here, said she, is your card.”
Next comes “Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,” and then “the man with three staves,” “the Wheel,”
and “the one-eyed merchant.” It should be noted that only the man with three staves and the wheel are
actual Tarot cards; Belladonna is often associated with da Vinci‟s "Madonna of the Rocks," and the one-
eyed merchant is, as far as we can tell, an invention of Eliot‟s.
Finally, Sosostris encounters a blank card representing something the one-eyed merchant is carrying on
his back – something she is apparently “forbidden to see.” She is likewise unable to find the Hanged
Man among the cards she displays; from this she concludes that the narrator should “fear death by
water.” Sosostris also sees a vision of a mass of people “walking round in a ring.” Her meeting with the
narrator concludes with a hasty bit of business: she asks him to tell Mrs. Equitone, if he sees her, that
Sosostris will bring the horoscope herself.
The final stanza of this first section of "The Waste Land" begins with the image of an “Unreal City”
echoing Baudelaire‟s “fourmillante cite,” in which a crowd of people –- perhaps the same crowd
Sosostris witnessed –- flows over London Bridge while a “brown fog” hangs like a wintry cloud over
the proceedings. Eliot twice quotes Dante in describing this phantasmagoric scene: “I had not thought
death had undone so many” (from Canto 3 of the Inferno); “Sighs, short and infrequent, were exhaled”
(from Canto 4). The first quote refers to the area just inside the Gates of Hell; the second refers to
Limbo, the first circle of Hell.
It seems that the denizens of modern London remind Eliot of those without any blame or praise who are
relegated to the Gates of Hell, and those who where never baptized and who now dwell in Limbo, in
Dante‟s famous vision. Each member of the crowd keeps his eyes on his feet; the mass of men flow up a
hill and down King William Street, in the financial district of London, winding up beside the Church of
Saint Mary Woolnoth. The narrator sees a man he recognizes named Stetson. He cries out to him, and it
appears that the two men fought together in a war. Logic would suggest World War I, but the narrator
refers to Mylae, a battle that took place during the First Punic War. He then asks Stetson whether the corpse he planted last year in his garden has begun to sprout. Finally, Eliot quotes Webster and
Baudelaire, back to back, ending the address to Stetson in French: “hypocrite lecteur! – mon semblable,
– mon frère!”
Analysis
Eliot‟s opening quotation sets the tone for the poem as a whole. Sibyl is a mythological figure who
asked Apollo “for as many years of life as there are grains in a handful of sand” (North, 3).
Unfortunately, she did not think to ask for everlasting youth. As a result, she is doomed to decay for
years and years, and preserves herself within a jar. Having asked for something akin to eternal life, she
finds that what she most wants is death. Death alone offers escape; death alone promises the end, and
therefore a new beginning.
Thus does Eliot begin his magisterial poem, labeling his first section “The Burial of the Dead,” a title
pulled from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer. He has been careful to lay out his central theme

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The romantic period

The Romantic Period
(1798-1832)

A period marked by great changes in England and the Western world.

England experienced the ordeal of change; shifting from an agricultural society with landholders being the wealthy (aristocratic), to an industrial nation where power shifted to large-scale employers who had to deal with an enlarging working class
There were constant economic cycles of:
These threatened social structures
Three revolutions occurred prior to and within this time period affecting Britain tremendously:
American Revolution  1776 (dealt Britain heavy military and economic losses)
French Revolution  1789 (drew England back into costly wars)
Industrial Revolution
The term Industrial Revolution evolved as power machinery began replacing hand labor
Two Nations developed (capitol and labor), the wealthy industry owners and the poor wage workers/(working class)
A laissez-faire (hands off”) philosophy formed which held that the government should not interfere with private enterprise and so the working class were at the mercy of the owners
Women were considered a deprived class, regarded as inferior to men in all but domestic tasks
They received limited schooling, held lowly vocations, lived under rigid codes, held no legal rights

Despite these seemingly gloomy conditions, this period was also marked by a growing desire to expand the mind and several key developments in literature occurred:

The writers of this period dubbed their time The Spirit of the Age  meaning it was a persuasive, intellectual, and imaginative climate; a time of renewal and promise
The emphasis of writers of this time was on personal experience; the expression of individual thoughts and feelings; use of nature as inspiration

Three romantic schools of poetry existed under which several important writers flourished:
The Lake School  Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey
The Satanic School  Lord Byron, Percy Shelley
The Cockney School  (derogatory term for Londoners) William Hazlitt, John Keats
The real flowering of the Romantic movement came with the 1798 publication of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridges poetic collaboration Lyrical Ballads
Lyrical Ballads , as declared by Wordsworth in the books preface, was a collection of experiments in poetic language and subject matter
Wordsworth was committed to the common people and deliberately chose language and subjects from the common life instead of the upper class
Coleridge was into exploring the exotic and supernatural experiences, letting his imagination wander
Both poets rejected the scientific and industrial worlds, and felt that a better insight into human experiences came from humans relation to nature
Coleridge, Wordsworth, and their fellow friend and writer Robert Southey, spent a great deal of time in a rural lake district of England and are therefore dubbed The Lake Poets

A second generation of poets followed Wordsworth and Coleridge:
Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Keats
Byron popularized the self-absorbed romantic hero figure in his writings
Byron and Shelley were involved in radical politics and affairs that became scandalous, leading to their self-imposed exile from Britain
Keats also left Britain, but was not overly concerned with the political and social affairs of his contemporaries

               Romantic period, though best known for its poetry, also produced many memorable works in prose
(novels/fiction):

Personal essays from Charles Lamb, William Hazlitt and Thomas De Quincey focused on the romantic emphasis of personal experience and appeared in literary journals
The historic novel was pioneered by Sir Walter Scott (most popular novelist of his day); through his best seller Waverley
Gothic novels (involving mystery, horror and supernatural elements) became popular; most famous  Mary Shelleys Frankenstein
Jane Austens Pride and Prejudice, an ironic/satire novel of manners, introduced more dialogue into fiction and helped pave the way for more realistic novels

Romantic writers strove to break free from the style of their Enlightenment predecessors, dubbed neoclassical writers for their admiration and imitation of classic forms
Romantic writers strove for a sense of freedom, wrote more serious lyric poems about their own experiences, and stressed emotions and imagination in their works  (see the chart on pg 707 of your text for a more in-depth comparison
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Chaucer Canterbury tales summary and characterization and facts

Chaucer Canterbury tales summary and characterization and facts.......

The Canterbury Tales

🔆🔆The Canterbury Tales begins with the introduction of each of the pilgrims making their journey to Canterbury to the shrine of Thomas a Becket. These pilgrims include a Knight, his son the Squire, the Knight's Yeoman, a Prioress, a Second Nun, a Monk, a Friar, a Merchant, a Clerk, a Man of Law, a Franklin, a Weaver, a Dyer, a Carpenter, a Tapestry-Maker, a Haberdasher, a Cook, a Shipman, a Physician, a Parson, a Miller, a Manciple, a Reeve, a Summoner, a Pardoner, the Wife of Bath, and Chaucer himself. Congregating at the Tabard Inn, the pilgrims decide to tell stories to pass their time on the way to Canterbury. The Host of the Tabard Inn sets the rules for the tales. Each of the pilgrims will tell two stories on the way to Canterbury, and two stories on the return trip. The Host will decide whose tale is best for meaningfulness and for fun. They decide to draw lots to see who will tell the first tale, and the Knight receives the honor.

The Knight's Tale is a tale about two knights, Arcite and Palamon, who are captured in battle and imprisoned in Athens under the order of King Theseus. While imprisoned in a tower, both see Emelye, the sister of Queen Hippolyta, and fall instantly in love with her. Both knights eventually leave prison separately: a friend of Arcite begs Theseus to release him, while Palamon later escapes. Arcite returns to the Athenian court disguised as a servant, and when Palamon escapes he suddenly finds Arcite. They fight over Emelye, but their fight is stopped when Theseus finds them. Theseus sets the rules for a duel between the two knights for Emelye's affection, and each raise an army for a battle a year from that date. Before the battle, Arcite prays to Mars for victory in battle, Emelye prays to Diana that she may marry happily, and Palamon prays to Venus to have Emelye as his wife. All three gods hear their prayers and argue over whose should get precedence, but Saturn decides to mediate. During their battle, Arcite indeed is victorious, but as soon as he is crowned victor, he is killed. Before he dies, he reconciles with Palamon and tells him that he deserves to marry Emelye. Palamon and Emelye marry.


🔆When the Knight finishes his tale, everybody is pleased with its honorable qualities, but the drunken Miller insists that he shall tell the next tale. The Miller's Tale, in many ways a version of the Knight’s, is a comic table in which Nicholas, a student who lives with John the carpenter and his much younger wife, Alison, falls in love with Alison. Another man, the courtly romantic Absolon, also falls in love with Alison. Nicholas contrives to sleep with Alison by telling John that a flood equal to Noah's flood will come soon, and the only way that he, Nicholas and Alison will survive is by staying in separate kneading tubs placed on the roof of houses, out of sight of all. While John remained in this kneading tub, Nicholas and Alison leave to have sex, but are interrupted by Absolon, singing to Alison at her bedroom window. She told him to close his eyes and he would receive a kiss. He did so, and she pulled down her pants so that he could kiss her arse. The humiliated Absolon got a hot iron from a blacksmith and returned to Alison. This time, Nicholas tried the same trick, and Absolon branded his backside. Nicholas shouted for water, awakening John, who was asleep on the roof. Thinking the flood had come, he cut the rope and came crashing through the floor of his house, landing in the cellar.


🔆The pilgrims laughed heartily at this tale, but Oswald the Reeve takes offense, thinking that the Miller meant to disparage carpenters. In response, The Reeve's Tale tells the story of a dishonest Miller, Symkyn, who repeatedly cheated his clients, which included a Cambridge college. Two Cambridge students, Aleyn and John, went to the miller to buy meal and corn, but while they were occupied Symkyn let their horses run free and stole their corn. They were forced to stay with Symkyn for the night. That night, Aleyn seduced the miller's daughter, Molly, while John seduced the miller's wife. Thanks to a huge confusion of whose bed is who in the dark, Aleyn tells Symkyn of his exploits, thinking he is John: and the two fight. The miller's wife, awaking and thinking the devil had visited her, hit Symkyn over the head with a staff, knocking him unconscious, and the two students escaped with the corn that Symkyn had stolen.


🔆The Cook's Tale was intended to follow the Reeve's Tale, but this tale only exists as a fragment. Following this tale is the Man of Law's Tale, which tells the story of Constance, the daughter of a Roman emperor who becomes engaged to the Sultan of Syria on the condition that he converts to Christianity. Angered by his order to convert his country from Islam, the mother of the Sultan assassinates her son and Constance barely escapes. She is sent on a ship that lands in Britain, where she is taken in by the warden of a nearby castle and his wife, Dame Hermengild. Both of them soon convert to Christianity upon meeting her. A young knight fell in love with Constance, but when she refused him, he murdered Dame Hermengild and attempted to frame Constance. However, when King Alla made the knight swear on the Bible that Constance murdered Hermengild, his eyes burst. Constance marries King Alla and they have a son, Mauritius, who is born when Alla is at war in Scotland. Lady Donegild contrives to have Constance banished by intercepting the letters between Alla and Constance and replacing them with false ones. Constance is thus sent away again, and on her voyage her ship comes across a Roman ship. A senator returns her to Rome, where nobody realizes that she is the daughter of the emperor. Eventually, King Alla makes a pilgrimage to Rome, where he meets Constance once more, and the Roman emperor realizes that Mauritius is his grandson and names him heir to the throne.


🔆The Wife of Bath begins her tale with a long dissertation on marriage in which she recounts each of her five husbands. Her first three husbands were old men whom she would hector into providing for her, using guilt and refusal of sexual favors. However, the final two husbands were younger men, more difficult to handle. The final husband, Jankin, was a twenty-year-old, half the Wife of Bath's age. He was more trouble, as he refused to let the Wife of Bath dominate him and often read literature that proposed that women be submissive. When she tore a page out of one of his books, Jankin struck her, causing her to be deaf in one ear. However, he felt so guilty at his actions that from that point in the marriage, he was totally submissive to her and the two remained happy. The Wife of Bath's Tale is itself a story of marriage dynamic. It tells the tale of a knight who, as punishment for raping a young woman, is sentenced to death. However, he is spared by the queen, who will grant him freedom if he can answer the question "what do women want?" The knight cannot find a satisfactory answer until he meets an old crone, who promises to tell him the answer if he marries her. He agrees, and receives his freedom when he tells the queen that women want sovereignty over their husbands. However, the knight is dissatisfied that he must marry the old, low-born hag. She therefore tells him that he can have her as a wife either old and ugly yet submissive, or young and beautiful yet dominant. He chooses to have her as a young woman, and although she had authority in marriage the two were completely happy from that point.

The Friar asks to tell the next tale, and asks for pardon from the Summoner, for he will tell a tale that exposes the fraud of that profession. The Friar's Tale tells about a wicked summoner who, while delivering summons for the church court, comes across a traveling yeoman who eventually reveals himself to be the devil himself. The two share trade secrets, and the devil tells him that they will meet again in hell if the summoner continues to pursue his trade. The summoner visits an old woman and issues her a summons, then offers to accept a bribe as a payment to prevent her excommunication. The old woman believes that she is without sin and curses the summoner. The devil then appears and casts the summoner into hell.


🔆The Summoner was enraged by the Friar's Tale. Before he begins his tale, he tells a short anecdote: a friar visited hell and was surprised to see that there were no other friars. The angel who was with him then lifted up Satan's tail and thousands of friars swarmed out from his arse. The Summoner's Tale is an equally vitriolic attack on friars. It tells of a friar who stays with an innkeeper and his wife and bothers them about not contributing enough to the church and not attending recently. When the innkeeper tells him that he was not recently in church because he has been ill and his infant daughter recently died, the friar attempted to placate him and then asked for donations once more. Thomas the innkeeper promised to give the friar a “gift” and gives him a loud fart.
The Clerk, an Oxford student who has remained quiet throughout the journey, tells the next tale on the orders of the Host. The Clerk's Tale recounts a story about Walter, an Italian marquis who finally decides to take a wife after the people of his province object to his longtime status as a bachelor. Walter marries Griselde, a low-born but amazingly virtuous woman whom everybody loves. However, Walter decides to test her devotion. When their first child, a daughter, is born, Walter tells her that his people are unhappy and wish for the child's death. He takes away the child, presumably to be murdered, but instead sends it to his sister to be raised. He does the same with their next child, a son. Finally, Walter tells Griselde that the pope demands that he divorce her. He sends her away from his home. Each of these tragedies Griselde accepts with great patience. Walter soon decides to make amends, and sends for his two children. He tells Griselde that he will marry again, and introduces her to the presumed bride, whom he then reveals is their daughter. The family is reunited once more. The Clerk ends with the advice that women should strive to be as steadfast as Griselde, even if facing such adversity is unlikely and perhaps impossible.


🔆The Merchant praises Griselde for her steadfast character, but claims that his wife is far different from the virtuous woman of the Clerk's story. He instead tells a tale of an unfaithful wife. The Merchant's Tale tells a story of January, an elderly blind knight who decides to marry a young woman, despite the objections of his brother, Placebo. January marries the young and beautiful May, who soon becomes dissatisfied with his sexual attentions to her and decides to have an affair with his squire, Damian, who has secretly wooed her by signs and tokens. When January and May are in their garden, May sneaks away to have sex with Damian. The gods Pluto and Proserpina come upon Damian and May and Pluto restores January's sight so that he may see what his wife is doing. When January sees what is occurring, May tells him not to believe his eyes – they are recovering from the blindness - and he believes her: leading to an on-the-surface happy ending.


🔆The Squire tells the next tale, which is incomplete. The Squire's Tale begins with a mysterious knight arriving at the court of Tartary. This knight gives King Cambyuskan a mechanical horse that can transport him anywhere around the globe and return him within a day. Further, he gives Canacee, the daughter of Cambyuskan, a mirror that can discern honesty and a ring that allows the wearer to know the language of animals and the healing properties of all herbs. Canacee uses this ring to aid a bird who has been rejected in love, but the tale then abruptly ends.


🔆The Franklin's Tale that follows tells of the marriage between the knight Arviragus and his wife, Dorigen. When Arviragus travels on a military expedition, Dorigen laments his absence and fears that, when he returns, his ship will be wrecked upon the rocks off the shore. A young man, Aurelius, falls in love with her, but she refuses to return his favors. She agrees to have an affair with Aurelius only on the condition that he find a way to remove the rocks from the shore, a task she believes impossible. Aurelius pays a scholar who creates the illusion that the rocks have disappeared, while Arviragus returns. Dorigen admits to her husband the promise that she has made, and Arviragus tells her that she must fulfill that promise. He sends her to have an affair with Aurelius, but he realizes the pain that it would cause Dorigen and does not make her fulfill the promise. The student in turn absolves Aurelius of his debt. The tale ends with the question: which of these men behaved most generously and nobly?


🔆The Physician's Tale that follows tells of Virginius, a respected Roman knight whose daughter, Virginia, was an incomparable beauty. Appius, the judge who governed his town, lusted after Virginia and collaborated with Claudius, who claimed in court that Virginia was his slave and Virginius had stolen her. Appius orders that Virginia be handed over to him. Virginius, knowing that Appius and Claudius did this in order to rape his daughter, instead gave her a choice between death or dishonor. She chooses death, and Virginius chops off his daughter's head, which he brings to Appius and Claudius. The people were so shocked by this that they realized that Appius and Claudius were frauds. Appius was jailed and committed suicide, while Claudius was banished.


🔆The Pardoner prefaces his tale with an elaborate confession about the deceptive nature of his profession. He tells the secrets of his trade, including the presentation of useless items as saints' relics. The Pardoner's Tale concerns three rioters who search for Death to vanquish him. They find an old man who tells them that they may find Death under a nearby tree, but under this tree they only find a large fortune. Two of the rioters send the third into town to purchase food and drink for the night (when they intend to escape with their fortune) and while he is gone they plan to murder him. The third rioter poisons the drink, intending to take all of the money for himself. When he returns, the two rioters stab him, then drink the poisoned wine and die themselves. The three rioters thus find Death in the form of avarice. The Pardoner ends his tale with a diatribe against sin, imploring the travelers to pay him for pardons, and be absolved, but the Host berates him scatalogically into silence.


🔆The next story, The Shipman's Tale, is the story of a thrifty merchant and his wife. The wife tells a monk, the merchant’s close friend, that she is unhappy in her marriage, and asks if she might borrow a hundred francs of his. In return for the loan, she agrees, she will sleep with him. The monk then borrows the money from the merchant himself, sleeps with his wife, and pays her her husband’s money. When the merchant asks for his money back, the monk tells him it he gave it to the wife: and when the merchant confronts his wife, the wife simply tells him that she will repay the debt to her husband in bed.


🔆The Prioress' Tale tells the story of a young Christian child who lived in a town in Asia that was dominated by a vicious Jewish population. One child learned the “Alma redemptoris”, a song praising the Virgin Mary, and traveled home from school singing it. The Jews, angry at his behavior, took the child and slit his throat, leaving him in a cesspit to die. The boy's mother searched frantically for her son. When she found him, he was not yet dead, for the Virgin Mary had placed a grain on his tongue that would allow him to speak until it was removed. When this was removed, the boy passed on to heaven. The story ends with a lament for the young boy and a curse for the Jews who perpetrated the heinous crime.


🔆Chaucer himself tells the next tale, The Tale of Sir Thopas, a florid and fantastical poem in rhyming couplets that serves only to annoy the other pilgrims. The Host interrupts Chaucer shortly into this tale, and tells him to tell another. Chaucer then tells The Tale of Melibee, one of two tales that is in prose (the other is the Parson’s Tale). This tale is about Melibee, a powerful ruler whose enemies attack his family. When deciding whether to declare war on his enemies, Prudence, his wife, advises him to remain merciful, and they engage in a long debate over the appropriate course of action. Melibee finally gives his enemies the option: they can receive a sentence either from him or from his wife. They submit to Melibee's judgment, and he intends to disinherit and banish the perpetrators. However, he eventually submits to his wife's plea for mercy.


🔆The Monk's Tale is not a narrative tale at all, but instead an account of various historical and literary figures who experience a fall from grace. These include Adam, Samson, Hercules, King Pedro of Spain, Bernabo Visconti, Nero, Julius Caesar, and Croesus. The Knight interrupts the Monk's Tale, finding his listing of historical tragedies monotonous and depressing, and is backed up by the Host.


🔆The Nun's Priest's Tale tells the story of the rooster Chaunticleer and the hen Pertelote. Chaunticleer was ill one night and had a disturbing dream that he was chased by a fox. He feared this dream was prophetic, but Pertelote assured him that his dream merely stemmed from his imbalanced humours and that he should find herbs to cure himself. Chaunticleer insisted that dreams are signifiers, but finally agreed with his wife. However, Chaunticleer is indeed chased by a fox, and carried off – but is saved when he tricks the fox into opening his mouth, allowing Chaunticleer to fly away.


🔆Chaucer follows this with The Second Nun's Tale. This tale is a biography of Saint Cecilia, who converts her husband and brother to Christianity during the time of the Roman empire, when Christian beliefs were illegal. Her brother and husband are executed for their beliefs, and she herself is cut three times with a sword during her execution, but does not immediately die. Rather, she lingers on for several more days, during which time she orders that her property be distributed to the poor. Upon her death Pope Urban declared her a saint.


🔆After the Second Nun finishes her tale, a Canon (alchemist) and his Yeoman join the band of travelers. The Canon had heard how they were telling tales, and wished to join them. The Yeoman speaks incessantly about the Canon, praising him hugely, but then retracts his praise, annoying the Canon, who suddenly departs. The Yeoman therefore decides to tell a tale about a duplicitous Canon: not, he says, his master. The Canon's Yeoman's Tale is a story of the work of a canon and the means by which they defraud people by making them think that they can duplicate money.


🔆The Host tells the Cook to tell the next tale, but he is too drunk to coherently tell one. The Manciple therefore tells a tale. The Manciple's Tale is the story of how Phoebus, when he assumed mortal form, was a jealous husband. He monitored his wife closely, fearing that she would be unfaithful. Phoebus had a white crow that could speak the language of humans and could sing beautiful. When the white crow learns that Phoebus' wife was unfaithful, Phoebus plucked him of his feathers and threw him out of doors. According to the Manciple, this explains why crows are black and can only sing in an unpleasant tone.


🔆The Parson tells the final tale. The Parson's Tale is not a narrative tale at all, however, but rather an extended sermon on the nature of sin and the three parts necessary for forgiveness: contrition, confession, and satisfaction. The tale gives examples of the seven deadly sins and explains them, and also details what is necessary for redemption. Chaucer ends the tales with a retraction.

Facts
Canterbury Tales is written in Middle English

The Narrator is an anonymous member of the pilgrimage

The pilgrimage happened in the late fourteenth century

In the story, Chaucer's plan is to make none of his storytellers better than others

Each of the characters express different views of reality

The pilgrims destination is the Tabbard Inn

The original copies of Canterbury Tales were printed in 1477

It was written around 1386-1395

It is written in the past tense

Was Chaucer's most famous work

He was supposed to write 120 tales, but he only wrote 24.

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Thomas kyd works and facts

Thomas kyd works and facts Thomas Kyd was the son of Francis Kyd, a scrivener, or professional scribe, of London. He received his education at the Merchant Taylors' School, a well-respected, fairly progressive school attended by sons of middle-class citizens of London. Thomas Kyd was one of the most important Elizabethan dramatists who preceded William Shakespeare. Kyd was a seminal force (having a strong influence on later developments) in Elizabethan drama. He is the father of the revenge tragedy, if not of English tragedy. It was he who introduced blank verse to the English drama before Marlowe. It was Kyd who adopted the academic Senecan tragedy to the popular theater. He is the first great English master of melodrama. He was well-acquainted with the classics and most likely was fluent in Latin and Greek. His works include The Spanish Tragedy, Soliman and Perseda, etc. Through his play The Spanish Tragedy, Kyd introduced the genre of “revenge tragedy” to English literature. This drama would go on to influence dozens of other playwrights, among them William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, addressing the universal problems of jealousy and revenge. Other works by Kyd are his translations of Torquato Tasso’s Padre di Famiglia and Robert Garnier’s Cornelia. He was one of the university wits. The Spanish Tragedy established a new genre in English theatre, the revenge play or revenge tragedy. More about Spanish Tragedy: The Spanish Tragedy (1585) is one of the most important single plays in all of Elizabethan literature. Modelled after classical Latin tragedies—most notably those of Seneca— the play is largely responsible for the resurgence of tragic drama in sixteenth-century literature. Countless playwrights would imitate the play’s themes of jealousy, revenge, and divine retribution, as well as its intricately-crafted plot. The play has one of the most complex and most compelling storylines for any drama of its period, rivaling even those of Shakespeare. Almost all of Kyd’s present-day fame rests on this single play, and records from his own time suggest that The Spanish Tragedy has always been his most popular and influential work. Some important characters of The Spanish Tragedy are Hieronimo, Lorenzo, Balthazar, Horatio, Isabella, Bel-Imperia, etc. If u like the post please followed the blog

CHINUA ACHEBE: works and important facts

CHINUA ACHEBE: works and important facts......
           He was born on 16 November, 1930 and died on 21 March, 2013. He was a Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, and critic. He was grown up by his parents in the Igbo town of Ogidi in southeastern Nigeria. His first novel Things Fall Apart (1958) was considered his masterpiece in modern African literature. Achebe wrote his novels in English and defended the use of English, a "language of colonisers", in African literature. Achebe's novels focus on the traditions of Igbo society, the effect of Christian influences, and the clash of Western and traditional African values during colonial period. He was told many stories by his mother and sister. This helped him to express his ideas through his novels. Achebe criticized Joseph Conrad as ""a bloody racist”, in one of his lectures An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" in 1975. Achebe asserted that Conrad's famous novel dehumanises Africans. Achebe had good hand writing and reading skills during his school days. Achebe extensively used library in his school. He discovered Booker T. Washington's Up From Slavery (1901), the autobiography of an American former slave; he was much influenced by the work and it showed him the other dimension of reality. He also read novels such as Gulliver's Travels (1726), David Copperfield (1850), and Treasure Island (1883). In 1950 Achebe wrote a piece for the University Herald entitled "Polar Undergraduate", his debut as an author. While at the university, Achebe wrote his first short story, "In a Village Church", which combines details of life in rural Nigeria with Christian institutions and icons, a style which appears in many of his later works. He worked for Nigerian Broadcasting Service (NBS) in 1954. In May 1967, Nigeria and Biafra war took place. It was influenced on the mind of Achebe. After the war, Achebe helped in starting two magazines: the literary journal Okike and Nsukkascope. In June 2007, Achebe was awarded the Man Booker International Prize. The judging panel included US critic Elaine Showalter and South African writer Nadine Gordimer. His fictions heavily draw from Oral tradition and folk tales. Achebe has been called "the father of modern African writing." Novelist Margaret Atwood called him "a magical writer – one of the greatest of the twentieth century". Poet Maya Angelou lauded Things Fall Apart as a book wherein "all readers meet their brothers, sisters, parents and friends and themselves along Nigerian roads". Nobel laureate Toni Morrison has noted that Achebe`s work inspired her to become a writer and "sparked her love affair with African literature.”

Famous work Things fall apart 

SHORT SUMMARY (Synopsis) for THINGS FALL APART by Chinua Achebe

The novel deals with the rise and fall of Okonkwo , a man from the village of Unuofia. Okonkwo was not born a great man, but he achieved success by his hard work. His father was a lazy man who preferred playing the flute to tending the soil. Okonkwo was opposed to his father’s way of life, and always feared failure. In order to prove his ability, he had overthrown the greatest wrestler in nine villages, set himself up with three wives, two barns filled with yams and a reputation for being a hard worker. The reader learns that he was also one of the egwugwu--the masked spirits of the ancestors. His importance is proved when he is sent as an emissary to Mbaino in order to negotiate for hostages, and he returns successfully with a boy, Ikemefuna and a virgin.

Okonkwo has his faults, one of them being his impatience of less successful men and secondly his pride over his own status. His stern exterior conceals a love for Ikemefuna, who lives with him; an anxiety over his son Nwoye, who seems to take after his father; and an adoration for his daughter Ezinma. His fiery temperament leads to beating his second wife during the Week of Peace. He even shoots at her with his gun, but luckily he misses. This shows his short temper and a tendency to act on impulse, a tendency that backfires on him later on in the novel. The boy, Ikemefuna, is ordered to death by the Oracle of the Hills and Caves. Though Okonkwo is upset, he shows his fearlessness and impartiality by slaying the boy himself. His final fault against his tribe is when he unintentionally shoots a boy and kills him; for this he is banished from the village for seven years and has to live in his mother’s village of Mbanta. This is a great disappointment for him although he is consoled and encouraged by his uncle, Uchendu.


The reader now hears of the arrival of the Christian missionaries, who take over the village of Mbanta, as well as Umuofia, set up a church and proceed to convert the tribesmen to Christianity. At first, they face much resistence, but gradually many of the tribesmen including Okonkwo’s own son, Nwoye, are converted and follow the path of Christ. After his period of exile, Okonkwo returns to Umuofia with his family and finds it totally changed. The missionaries have done a lot for the village. Umuofia is prospering economically, but Okonkwo is firm in his refusal to charge his religion.

The missionary Mr. Brown is overzealous in his methods. A Christian named Enoch enters a meeting of the tribe in which the egwugwu is present, and he unmasks one of them. This causes great anger, and the villagers make a decision to destroy the church, which they eventually do. This action incites the wrath of the District Commissioner, who invites Okonkwo along with five other men and overpowers and imprisons them. These elders are humiliated in the prison. On their return, another meeting is held. The commissioner sends some men to stop the proceedings, and Okonkwo, in a fit of fury, beheads one of them. The tribe is disturbed and they let the other men escape. Finding no more support from his tribesmen, Okonkwo hangs himself. His world has fallen apart.

His tribesmen even refuse to cut him down and bury him since taking one’s own life is a violation of the earth goddess, and his men would not bury such a man. His friend Obierika’s words describe the tragedy most powerfully “That man was one of the greatest men in Umuofia. You drove him to kill himself; and now he will be buried like a dog.”

Okonkwo’s suicide is symbolic of the self-destruction of the tribe, for he was a symbol of the power and pride that the tribe had and with its demise, the tribe’s moral center and structure gave way to a more dominant one.

Interesting Chinua Achebe Facts:
Chinua Achebe wrote his first short story while at University College titled In a Village Church.
After graduation from the University in 1954, Chinua Achebe became a teacher at the Merchants of Light School in Oba.
Chinua Achebe quit teaching to become the Director of External Broadcasting in Lagos at the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation.
In 1958 Chinua Achebe sent his manuscript for Things Fall Apart to an agent recommended to him by a friend named Gilbert Phelps.
Things Fall Apart was rejected by several publishers, until it reached Heinemann where an educational advisor said, "This is the best novel I have read since the war." 2000 copies were printed in 1959 and the novel received positive reviews and endorsements.
Things Fall Apart went on to be translated into more than 50 languages and sold more than eight million copies around the world.
Chinua Achebe's next two novels were No Longer at Ease (1960), and Arrow of God (1964).
Chinua Achebe married Christiana Chinwe Okoli on September 10th, 1961. They had several children together including Chinelo, Ikechukwu, Chidi, Nwando, and eventually had several grandchildren as well.
Chinua Achebe's novel A Man of People was published in 1966. It brought military trouble to him because his book foreshadowed the coup. He sent his wife and children to Port Harcourt, and then followed them to safety.
Chinua Achebe's first children's book Chike and the River was published in 1966. He also wrote the children's books How the Leopard Got His Claws (1972), The Flute (1975), and The Drum(1978).
Anthills of the Savannah was Chinua Achebe's 5th novel, and it was published in 1987.
Chinua Achebe also wrote many short stories, essays, criticisms, poetry, political commentary, and works of non-fiction.
Chinua Achebe continued to teach throughout his life. He was a professor at the University of Nigeria, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and at Bard College in New York.
Chinua Achebe received more than 30 honorary degrees at universities around the world.
Chinua Achebe won many awards for his writing including the Nigerian National Order of Merit, The Man Booker International Prize, the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, and the United Nations Population Fund appointed him a Goodwill Ambassador in 1999.
Chinua Achebe died

Prizes:
Commonwealth Poetry Prize in 1982
Man Booker International Prize in 2007
Works:
Things Fall Apart (1958)
No Longer at Ease (1960)
Arrow of God (1964)
A Man of the People (1966)
Anthills of the Savannah (1987)

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Shakespeare life and works

Shakespeare life and works

William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet, and the "Bard of Avon".

The Life of William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
Within the class system of Elizabethan England, William Shakespeare did not seem destined for greatness. He was not born into a family of nobility or significant wealth. He did not continue his formal education at university, nor did he come under the mentorship of a senior artist, nor did he marry into wealth or prestige. His talent as an actor seems to have been modest, since he is not known for starring roles. His success as a playwright depended in part upon royal patronage. Yet in spite of these limitations, Shakespeare is now the most performed and read playwright in the world.

Born to John Shakespeare, a glovemaker and tradesman, and Mary Arden, the daughter of an affluent farmer, William Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564, in Stratford-upon-Avon. At that time, infants were baptized three days after their birth, thus scholars believe that Shakespeare was born on April 23, the same day on which he died at age 52. As the third of eight children, young William grew up in this small town 100 miles northwest of London, far from the cultural and courtly center of England.

Shakespeare attended the local grammar school, King's New School, where the curriculum would have stressed a classical education of Greek mythology, Roman comedy, ancient history, rhetoric, grammar, Latin, and possibly Greek. Throughout his childhood, Shakespeare's father struggled with serious financial debt. Therefore, unlike his fellow playwright Christopher Marlowe, he did not attend university. Rather, in 1582 at age 18, he married Anne Hathaway, a woman eight years his senior and three months pregnant. Their first child, Susanna, was born in 1583, and twins, Hamnet and Judith, came in 1585. In the seven years following their birth, the historical record concerning Shakespeare is incomplete, contradictory, and unreliable; scholars refer to this period as his “lost years.”

In a 1592 pamphlet by Robert Greene, Shakespeare reappears as an “upstart crow” flapping his poetic wings in London. Evidently, it did not take him long to land on the stage. Between 1590 and 1592, Shakespeare's Henry VI series, Richard III, and The Comedy of Errors were performed. When the theaters were closed in 1593 because of the plague, the playwright wrote two narrative poems, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece, and probably began writing his richly textured sonnets. One hundred and fiftyfour of his sonnets have survived, ensuring his reputation as a gifted poet. By 1594, he had also written, The Taming of the Shrew, The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Love's Labor's Lost.

Having established himself as an actor and playwright, in 1594 Shakespeare became a shareholder in the Lord Chamberlain's Men, one of the most popular acting companies in London. He remained a member of this company for the rest of his career, often playing before the court of Queen Elizabeth I. Shakespeare entered one of his most prolific periods around 1595, writing Richard II, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and The Merchant of Venice. With his newfound success, Shakespeare purchased the second largest home in Stratford in 1597, though he continued to live in London. Two years later, he joined others from the Lord Chamberlain's Men in establishing the polygonal Globe Theatre on the outskirts of London. When King James came to the throne in 1603, he issued a royal license to Shakespeare and his fellow players, organizing them as the King's Men. During King James's reign, Shakespeare wrote many of his most accomplished plays about courtly power, including King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra. In 1609 or 1611, Shakespeare's sonnets were published, though he did not live to see the First Folio of his plays published in 1623.

In 1616, with his health declining, Shakespeare revised his will. Since his only son Hamnet had died in 1596, Shakespeare left the bulk of his estate to his two daughters, with monetary gifts set aside for his sister, theater partners, friends, and the poor of Stratford. A fascinating detail of his will is that he bequeathed the family's “second best bed” to his wife Anne. He died one month later, on April 23, 1616. To the world, he left a lasting legacy in the form of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, and two narrative poems.

When William Shakespeare died in his birthplace of Stratford-upon- Avon, he was recognized as one of the greatest English playwrights of his era. In the four centuries since, he has come to be seen as not only a great English playwright, but the greatest playwright in the English language. Reflecting upon the achievement of his peer and sometimes rival, Ben Jonson wrote of Shakespeare, “He was not of an age, but for all time.”

Shakespeare works divide  into four phases.........

(1) There was the sanguine period, showing the exuberance of youthful love and imagination. Among the plays that are typical of these years are The Comedy of Errors, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Richard II and Richard III. These were probably all composed before 1595.

(2) The second period, from 1595 to 1601, shows progress in dramatic art. There is less exaggeration, more real power, and a deeper insight into human nature. There appears in his philosophy a vein of sadness, such as we find in the sayings of Jaques in As You Like It, and more appreciation of the growth of character, typified by his treatment of Orlando and Adam in the same play. Among the plays of this period are The Merchant of Venice, Henry IV, Henry V, and As You Like It.

(3) We may characterize the third period, from 1601 to 1608, as one in which he felt that the time was out of joint, that life was a fitful fever. His father died in 1601, after great disappointments. His best friends suffered what he calls, in Hamlet, "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune." In 1601 Elizabeth executed the Earl of Essex for treason, and on the same charge threw the Earl of Southampton into the Tower. Even Shakespeare himself may have been suspected. The great plays of this period are tragedies, among which we may instance Julius Caesar*, Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, and King Lear.

(4) The plays of his fourth period, 1608-1613, are remarkable for calm strength and sweetness. The fierceness of Othello and Macbeth is left behind. In 1608 Shakespeare's mother died. Her death and the vivid recollection of her kindness and love may have been strong factors in causing him to look on life with kindlier eyes. The greatest plays of this period are Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest.
First Performed Plays First Printed
1590-91 Henry VI, Part II 1594?
1590-91 Henry VI, Part III 1594?
1591-92 Henry VI, Part I 1623
1592-93 Richard III 1597
1592-93 Comedy of Errors 1623
1593-94 Titus Andronicus 1594
1593-94 Taming of the Shrew 1623
1594-95 Two Gentlemen of Verona 1623
1594-95 Love's Labour's Lost 1598?
1594-95 Romeo and Juliet 1597
1595-96 Richard II 1597
1595-96 A Midsummer Night's Dream 1600
1596-97 King John 1623
1596-97 The Merchant of Venice 1600
1597-98 Henry IV, Part I 1598
1597-98 Henry IV, Part II 1600
1598-99 Much Ado About Nothing 1600
1598-99 Henry V 1600
1599-1600 Julius Caesar 1623
1599-1600 As You Like It 1623
1599-1600 Twelfth Night 1623
1600-01 Hamlet 1603
1600-01 The Merry Wives of Windsor 1602
1601-02 Troilus and Cressida 1609
1602-03 All's Well That Ends Well 1623
1604-05 Measure for Measure 1623
1604-05 Othello 1622
1605-06 King Lear 1608
1605-06 Macbeth 1623
1606-07 Antony and Cleopatra 1623
1607-08 Coriolanus 1623
1607-08 Timon of Athens 1623
1608-09 Pericles 1609
1609-10 Cymbeline 1623
1610-11 The Winter's Tale 1623
1611-12 The Tempest 1623
1612-13 Henry VIII 1623
1612-13 The Two Noble Kinsmen* 1634

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English literature history date wise

English literature history date wise...
King William I The Conqueror ( 1066 - 1087

1066 - William and his Norman army defeat Harold II and the Anglo Saxons at the Battle of Hastings. Harold is killed and, after subduing the south of the country William is crowned King of England.

1067 - William suppresses a Saxon revolt in the southwest of England. William's Earls are given lands driving out the Anglo Saxon lords. Norman French becomes the language of government.

1068 - William puts down a revolt in the northern counties led by Edwin and Morcar and establishes fortifications. The region is laid waste in an action known as 'Harrying the North'.

1069 - Swen Estrithson of Denmark lands in the Humber and is welcomed by northern English earls who join him in expelling the Norman garrison at York. William marches north and reoccupies York

1070 - Hereward the Wake leads a revolt against the Normans.

1071 - William defeats the revolt led by Hereward the Wake in East Anglia, thus putting an end to Saxon resistance to his rule.

1072 - William invades Scotland and compels Malcolm III to pay homage to him.

1073 - Suppresses rebellion in Maine in France

1078 - Work begins on the Tower of London
1079 - William begins the construction of a Norman Cathedral at Winchester.
1079 - Robert, William’s eldest son, leads a rebellion in Normandy, but is defeated by his father at the Battle of Gerberoi and his life is spared.
1085 - William orders a survey of the shires of England; the information is recorded in the Domesday Book, which is completed the following year.
1086 - William writes to the Pope that England owes no allegiance to the Church of Rome
1086 - Domesday survey of England completed
1087 - William dies of his injuries after falling from his horse while besieging the French city of Mantes.

King William II Rufus ( 1087 - 1100 )

1087 - William Il accedes to the throne on the death of his father, William I.
1088 - William crushes a baronial rebellion in Normandy led by his uncle, Odo of Bayeux. William’s brother, Robert, supports the claims of Normandy to the English throne.
1089 - Ranulf Flambard, leading adviser to William, is appointed Justiciar (the King’s judicial officer). He begins to levy heavy taxes on the church.
1090 - William leads an invasion of Normandy in an attempt to subdue his brother, Robert.
1091 - William defeats an invasion of England led by Malcolm III of Scotland.
1092 - Carlisle is captured from Scotland and Cumberland is annexed.
1093 - Malcolm III and the Scots invade England again, but they are defeated and Malcolm is killed at the Battle of Alnwick.
1095 - William suppresses revolt in Northumbria.
1095 - First Crusade begins following a call by Pope Urban II to help free the Holy Land which has been captured by Muslims.
1098 - William suppresses a Welsh rebellion against the Norman border lords.
1099 - The Crusaders take Jerusalem. The first Crusade ends.
1100 - William is killed by an arrow while out hunting in the New Forest. Supposedly an accident, it has been suggested that he was shot deliberately on the instructions of his brother Henry

King Henry I ( 1100 - 1135 )

1100 - Henry I succeeds his brother, William II.
1100 - Henry issues a Charter of Liberties, pledging good governance.
1100 - Henry marries Edith known as Matilda, daughter of Malcolm III of Scotland.
1101 - Robert of Normandy invades England in an attempt to wrest the English throne from his brother, Henry. After failing, he signs the Treaty of Alton, which confirms Henry as King of England and Robert as Duke of Normandy.
1106 - War breaks out between Henry and Robert. Henry defeats Robert at the Battle of Tinchebrai, imprisons him in Cardiff Castle, and takes control of Normandy.
1118 - Death of Henry's wife Matilda.
1120 - Henry's son and heir, William, is drowned at sea when returning from Normandy in The White Ship which strikes a rock and sinks. Henry’s daughter, Matilda, becomes heir.
1121 - Henry marries Adelicia of Louvain
1126 - Henry persuades the barons to accept Matilda as his lawful successor to the throne.
1128 - Matilda, Henry's only surviving legitimate child, marries Geoffrey, Count of Anjou.
1135 - Henry I dies in Rouen, France, as a result of food poisoning

King Stephen ( 1135 - 1154 )

1135 - Stephen usurps the throne from Matilda, Henry’s daughter.
1136 - The Earl of Norfolk leads the first rebellion against Stephen starting civil war known as 'The Anarchy'.
1136 - Owain Gwynedd of Wales defeats the English at Crug Mawr
1138 - Robert, Earl of Gloucester, an illegitimate son of Henry I, deserts Stephen and pledges allegiance to Matilda.
1138 - David I of Scotland invades England in support of his niece, Matilda, but is defeated at Northallerton.
1139 - Matilda leaves France and lands in England.
1141 - Matilda’s forces take Stephen prisoner at the Battle of Lincoln, and Matilda is proclaimed queen.
1141 - Earl Robert is captured and exchanged for Stephen’s freedom.
1145 - Stephen defeats Matilda’s forces at the Battle of Faringdon.
1148 - Matilda abandons her cause and leaves England.
1147 - Matilda's son Henry Plantagenet (later Henry II) invades England but runs out of money. Stephen pays for Henry's return to Normandy
1151 - Matilda's husband Geoffrey of Anjou dies and their son, Henry Plantagenet, succeeds his father as Count of Anjou.
1153 - Henry lands in England again, and gathers support for further war against Stephen.
1153 - Henry and Stephen agree terms for ending the civil war. Under the terms of the Treaty of Westminster, Stephen is to remain King for life, but thereafter the throne passes to Henry.
1154 - Stephen dies.

King Henry II ( 1154 - 1189 )

1154 - Henry II accedes to the throne at the age of 21 upon the death of his second cousin, Stephen.
1154 - Pope Adrian IV (born Nicholas Breakspear) becomes the first English Pope 1154-1159.
1155 - Henry appoints Thomas a Becket as Chancellor of England, a post that he holds for seven years.
1155 - Pope Adrian IV issues the papal bull Laudabiliter, which gives Henry dispensation to invade Ireland and bring the Irish Church under the control of the Church of Rome.
1162 - On the death of Archbishop Theobald, Henry appoints Thomas a Becket as Archbishop of Canterbury in the hope that he will help introduce Church reforms.
1164 - Henry introduces the Constitutions of Clarendon, which place limitations on the Church’s jurisdiction over crimes committed by the clergy. The Pope refuses to approve the Constitutions, so Thomas a Becket refuses to sign them.
1166 - The Assize of Clarendon establishes trial by jury for the first time.
1166 - Dermot McMurrough, King of Leinster in Ireland, appeals to Henry to help him oppose a confederation of other Irish kings. In response to the appeal, Henry sends a force led by Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, thereby beginning the English settlement of Ireland.
1168 - English scholars expelled from Paris settle in Oxford, where they found a university.
1170 - Pope Alexander III threatens England with an interdict and forces Henry to a formal reconciliation with Becket. However, the two of them quarrel again when Becket publishes papal letters voiding Henry’s Constitutions of Clarendon.
1170 - Becket is killed in Canterbury Cathedral on 29 December by four of Henry’s knights.
1171 - Henry invades Ireland and receives homage from the King of Leinster and the other kings. Henry is accepted as Lord of Ireland.
1171 - At Cashel Henry makes Irish clergy submit to the authority of Rome
1173 - Canonization of Thomas a Becket.
1173 - Eleanor of Aquitaine and her sons revolt unsuccessfully against her husband Henry II.
1174 - Henry’s sons Henry, Richard, and Geoffrey lead an unsuccessful rebellion against their father
1176 - Henry creates a framework of justice creating judges and dividing England into six counties
1185 - Lincoln cathedral is destroyed by an earthquake.
1189 - Henry dies at Chinon castle, Anjou, France

King Richard I The Lion Heart ( 1189 - 1199 )

1189 - Richard I becomes King of England upon the death of Henry II
1189 - William Longchamp is appointed Chancellor of England and governs the country during Richard’s absence abroad
1189 - Richard sets out with Philip of France on the Third Crusade to the Holy Land
1191 - William Longchamp falls from power and Richard’s brother, John, takes over the government
1191 - Richard captures the city of Acre, Palestine, and defeats Saladin at Arsuuf, near Jaffa
1192 - Richard reaches an agreement with Saladin to guarantee Christians safe pilgrimage to Jerusalem
1192 - On his way back to England from Palestine, Richard is captured and handed over to Henry VI, Emperor of Germany. Henry demands a ransom of 100,000 marks from England for Richard’s release from prison
1194 - The ransom is raised in England. Richard is released from captivity.
1195 - Richard returns to England for a brief period, before leaving to fight in France, never to return to his homeland.
1196 - The Assize of Measures standardizes weights including the lb (pound) and distance including the yard.
1199 - Richard is mortally wounded by an arrow from a crossbow in battle at Chalus, in France.

King John ( 1199 - 1216 )

1199 - John accedes to the throne on the death of his brother, Richard I.
1204 - England loses most of its possessions in France.
1205 - John refuses to accept Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury
1208 - Pope Innocent III issues an Interdict against England, banning all church services except baptisms and funerals
1209 - Pope Innocent III excommunicates John for his confiscation of ecclesiastical property
1209 - Cambridge University founded
1212 - Innocent III declares that John is no longer the rightful King
1213 - John submits to the Pope’s demands and accepts the authority of the Pope
1214 - Philip Augustus of France defeats the English at the Battle of Bouvines
1215 - Beginning of the Barons' war. The English Barons march to London to demand rights which they lay down in the Magna Carta.
1215 - John meets the English barons at Runnymede, agrees to their demands, and seals the Magna Carta which set limits on the powers of the monarch, lays out the feudal obligations of the barons, confirms the liberties of the Church, and grants rights to all freemen of the realm and their heirs for ever. It is the first written constitution.
1215 - The Pope decrees that John need not adhere to the Magna Carta, and civil war breaks out
1216 - The barons seek French aid in their fight against John. Prince Louis of France lands in England and captures the Tower of London
1216 - John flees North and loses his war chest of cash and jewels in the Wash estuary
1216 - John dies of a fever at Newark and is buried Worcester Cathedral

King Henry III ( 1216 - 1272 )

1216 - Henry III is crowned King at the age of nine. England is ruled temporarily by two regents, Hubert de Burgh and William the Marshal
1217 - The French lose the battles of Lincoln and Dover and are driven back to France
1220 - Building of Salisbury cathedral begun
1222 - De Burgh successfully puts down an insurrection supporting the French king Louis Vlll’s claim to the throne
1227 - Henry takes full control of the government of England, but retains de Burgh as his main adviser
1232 - Hubert de Burgh is dismissed as adviser
1236 - Henry marries Eleanor of Provence
1237 - The Treaty of York with Alexander II of Scotland agrees the border between England and Scotland
1238 - Simon de Montfort marries Henry’s sister, Eleanor
1240 - Henry's Great Council is called 'Parliament' for the first time
1245 - Henry lays the foundation stone for the rebuilding of Westminster Abbey
1258 - The English barons, led by de Montfort, rebel against Henry’s misgovernment. They present a list of grievances to Henry, who signs the Provisions of Oxford, which limit royal power
1261 - Henry repudiates the Provisions of Oxford
1264 - The Baron’s War breaks out. De Montfort defeats Henry at Lewes. Henry is captured.
1265 - Simon de Montfort summons the first directly elected English Parliament
1265 - Some of the barons break their alliance with de Montfort and, led by Prince Edward, kill him at the Battle of Evesham
1266 - The Dictum of Kenilworth restores Henry's authority and annuls the Provisions of Oxford
1267 - In the Treaty of Montgomery, Henry recognizes Llewellyn ap Gruffydd as ruler of Wales
1272 - Henry III dies in the Palace of Westminster

King Edward I Longshanks ( 1272 - 1307 )

1272 - Edward learns that he has succeeded to the throne on his way home from the Crusade
1274 - Edward is crowned in Westminster Abbey
1282 - Edward invades North Wales and defeats Llewellyn ap Gruffydd the last ruler of an independent Wales
1284 - Independence of the Welsh is ended by the Statute of Rhuddlan
1290 - Edward's wife Eleanor dies at Harby in Nottinghamshire. Her body is brought back to London and a cross erected at each stop along the journey - Geddington, Hardingston, Waltham, and the most famous at Charing Cross.
1292 - Edward chooses John Balliol to be the new King of Scotland
1295 - Model Parliament is summoned
1295 - John Balliol reneges on his allegiance to Edward and signs alliance with King Philip IV of France
1296 - Edward invades Scotland, defeats the Scots at Dunbar and deposes Balliol. He then takes over the throne of Scotland and removes the Stone of Scone to Westminster.
1297 - Scots rise against English rule and, led by William Wallace, defeat Edward at the Battle of Stirling Bridge
1298 - Edward invades Scotland again and defeats William Wallace at the Battle of Falkirk
1299 - Edward marries Margaret of France
1301 - Edward makes his son Prince of Wales, a title conferred on every first born son of the monarchy ever since.
1305 - William Wallace is executed in London.
1306 - Robert Bruce is crowned King of Scotland
1307 - Edward attempts to invade Scotland again, but dies on his way north

King Edward II ( 1307 - 1327 )

1307 - Edward II accedes to the throne on the death of his father, Edward I.
1308 - Edward’s favourite, Piers Gaveston, is exiled for misgovernment.
1309 - Gaveston returns from exile in France.
1310 - Parliament sets up a committee of Lords Ordainers to control the King and improve administration. The King’s cousin, Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, takes control
1312 - Piers Gaveston is kidnapped by the King’s opponents and is put to death.
1314 - Edward and the English army are defeated at the Battle of Bannockburn by Robert Bruce. Scottish independence is assured
1320 - Welsh border barons, father and son, both named Hugh Despenser, gain the King’s favour,
1320 - The Scots assert their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath
1322 - Barons’ rebellion, led by Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, is crushed at the Battle of Boroughbridge in Yorkshire.
1326 - Edward’s wife, Isabella, abandons him and with her lover, Mortimer, seizes power and deposes Edward. The Despensers are both put to death.
1327 - Edward is formally deposed by Parliament in favour of Edward III, his son, and is murdered in Berkeley Castle on the orders of his wife, Isabella.

King Edward III ( 1327 - 1377 )

1327 - Edward III accedes to the throne after his father, Edward II, is formally deposed.
1328 - Edward marries Phillipa of Hanault
1329 - Edward recognizes Scotland as an independent nation
1330 - Edward takes power after three years of government by his mother, Isabella of France, and her lover, Roger Mortimer. He imprisons his mother for the rest of her life.
1332 - Parliament is divided into two houses, Lords and Commons. English becomes the court language replacing Norman French.
1333 - Defeat of Scottish army at Halidon Hill.
1337 - French King Philip VI annexes the English King's Duchy of Aquitaine. Edward III responds by laying claim to the French crown as a grandson of Philip IV though his mother Isabella. This results in the 100 Years’ War with France.
1344 - Edward establishes the Order of the Garter
1346 - David II of Scotland invades England but is defeated at Neville’s Cross and captured.
1346 - French defeated at the Battle of Crecy.
1347 - Edward besieges and captures Calais.
1348 - -1350 The Black Death, bubonic plague which caused the skin to turn black, kills one-third of the English population. It leaves an acute shortage of labour for agriculture and armies.
1356 - Black Prince defeats the French at Poitiers capturing King John II of France who is held prisoner for four years. Most of South Western France is now held by the English.
1357 - David II of Scotland is released from captivity and returns home to Scotland.
1360 - King John II of France is released on promise of payment of a ransom and leaving his son Louis of Anjou in English-held Calais as hostage.
1364 - Louis escapes and John unable to pay the ransom returns to England where he dies.
1367 - England and France support rival sides in the civil war in Castille
1369 - War breaks out again as the French take back Aquitaine.
1370 - Edward, The Black Prince, sacks Limoges massacring 3,000 people.
1372 - French troops recapture Poitou and Brittany. Naval Battle at La Rochelle.
1373 - John of Gaunt leads an invasion of France taking his army to the borders of Burgundy.
1373 - John of Gaunt returns to England and takes charge of government. Edward and his son are ill.
1375 - Treaty of Bruges. English possessions in France are reduced to the areas of Bordeaux and Calais.
1376 - Parliament gains right to investigate public abuses and impeach offenders; the first impeachment is of Alice Perrers, Edward’s mistress, and two lords.
1376 - Death of Edward, the Black Prince.
1377 - Edward III dies of a stroke at Sheen Palace, Surrey, aged 64 years

King Richard II ( 1377 - 1399 )

1377 - Ten year old Richard II succeeds his grandfather, Edward III; the kingdom is ruled at first by the King’s uncles, John of Gaunt and Thomas of Gloucester.
1380 - John Wycliffe begins to translate the New Testament from Latin into English .
1380 - A Poll Tax is levied, a shilling a head for the entire male population
1381 - Poll Tax leads to the Peasants’ Revolt. Watt Tyler and John Ball march on London.
1382 - Richard promises that the taxes will be repealed, but as the rebels return they are hunted and executed.
1382 - William of Wykeham founds Winchester College
1387 - Led by the Duke of Gloucester, the Lords Appellant control the government
1388 - Scots defeat Henry Hotspur at the Battle of Otterburn
1389 - Richard takes control of the government; William of Wykeham is Lord Chancellor
1394 - Richard leads English army to reconquer west of Ireland.
1396 - Richard marries Isabella daughter of the King of France and signs a 28 year truce with France.
1397 - Richard takes revenge against Lords Appellant and exiles Henry Bolingbroke
1398 - Richard (Dick) Whittington becomes Lord Mayor of London
1399 - Bolingbroke becomes Duke of Lancaster on the death of John of Gaunt, but Richard seizes his possessions. Bolingbroke returns from exile to claim his inheritance and seizes the throne.
1399 - Richard, who is away fighting at Leinster in Ireland, returns, but is deposed and imprisoned in Pontefract Castle, where he dies in 1400

King Henry IV ( 1399 - 1413 )

1399 - Henry returns from exile in France to reclaim his estates seized by Richard II; he claims the throne and is crowned. His coronation was the first since the Norman Conquest in which the King's address was in English instead of Norman French.
1400 - Richard dies of starvation in Pontefract Castle.
1400 - Death of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer leaving The Canterbury Tales unfinished.
1401 - Owain Glyndwr leads Welsh revolt against English rule
1402 - State visit to England of Manuel II, the Byzantine emperor
1403 - First rebellion by the Percy family from Northumberland defeated at the Battle of Shrewsbury.
1404 - Glyndwr makes a treaty with the French, who send an army in 1405 to support the rebellion against the English.
1405 - Second Percy rebellion takes place
1406 - Henry contracts a leprosy-like illness
1408 - Third Percy rebellion takes place.
1413 - Henry dies at Westminster, worn out by constant revolts and shortage of money.

King Henry V ( 1413 - 1422 )

1413 - Henry accedes to the throne at the age of 25 upon the death of his father, Henry IV
1414 - Henry adopts the claims of Edward III to the French crown
1415 - Henry thwarts the Cambridge plot, an attempt by a group of nobles to replace him on the throne with his cousin, Edmund Mortisner, Earl of March.
1415 - Henry renews the war against France in order to win back territories lost by his ancestors. After a five-week siege, he captures Harfleur the leading port in north-west France.
1415 - Battle of Agincourt, at which 6,000 Frenchmen are killed, while less than 400 English soldiers lose their lives.
1416 - Death of Owain Glyndwr, leader of the Welsh revolt.
1420 - Henry marries Catherine, daughter of Charles VI. Under the treaty of Troyes, Henry will become King of France on the death of Charles VI.
1421 - Birth of Prince Henry, later Henry VI.
1422 - Henry V dies in France of dysentery before he can succeed to the French throne. King Charles VI of France dies the following month, leaving Henry VI, Henry’s 10-month-old son, as King of France and England.

King Henry VI ( 1422 - 1461 )

1422 - Henry aged 8 months becomes King of England on the death of his father, Henry V, and then, two months later, King of France on the death of his grandfather, Charles VI.
1422 - John, Duke of Bedford, is appointed Regent of France; Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, becomes Regent of England.
1429 - Henry VI is crowned King of England
1429 - The young peasant girl Joan of Arc begins her campaign to expel the English from France. She inspires the French army which relieves Orleans besieged by English troops.
1431 - The English capture Joan of Arc. She is burned at the stake as a witch and heretic in Rouen on 30 May.
1431 - Henry VI of England is crowned King of France in Paris
1437 - Henry assumes personal rule of England
1440 - Eton college founded giving free education to 70 scholars
1445 - Henry marries Margaret of Anjou
1453 - End of 100 Years’ War. Gascony and Normandy fall to the French. England retains only Calais and The Channel Islands.
1453 - Henry becomes mentally ill. Richard, Duke of York, is made Protector during Henry’s illness
1453 - Battle of Heworth between supporters of the Neville and Percy families marks the beginning of the feud between the Houses of York and Lancaster
1454 - Henry regains his senses but disaffected nobles take matters into their own hands. Supporters of the Dukes of York and Lancaster take sides.
1455 - Beginning of the 'Wars of the Roses'. Duke of York is dismissed. York raises an army and defeats the King’s Lancastrian forces at the Battle of St. Albans.The Lancastrian leader, the Duke of Somerset, is killed. York takes over the government of England.
1457 - Henry unsuccessfully tries to broker peace between the Yorkists and Lancastrians.
1459 - War is renewed and the Lancastrians are defeated at Blore Heath; the Yorkists are then defeated at Ludford Bridge near Ludlow. Parliament declares York a traitor and he escapes to Ireland.
1460 - Yorkist army led by Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, defeats Lancastrians at the Battle of Northampton. Henry VI is captured and his wife, Margaret, escapes to Scotland. Richard of York is again Protector.
1460 - Margaret raises a Lancastrian army in the north and defeats and kills Richard of York at Wakefield. Henry VI captured by the Yorkists at Northampton. Earl of Warwick takes London for the Yorkists.
1461 - Yorkists win Battle of Mortimers Cross. Queen Margaret marches her army South, defeats Earl of Warwick at St Albans, and frees Henry. Edward, son of Richard of York, defeats Margaret's Lancastrian forces on 29 March at the Battle of Towton - the largest and bloodiest battle ever on British soil when 28,000 lose their lives. Margaret and Henry flee to Scotland. Henry is deposed by Edward who declares himself King Edward IV
1462 - Lancastrian revolts are suppressed.
1464 - Warwick defeats Lancastrians at Battle of Hexham; Henry VI is captured and brought to the Tower of London.
1469 - Warwick falls out with Edward IV, and defeats him at Edgecote. They are later reconciled but Warwick is banished. He makes peace with Margaret, returns to England with an army, and Edward flees to Flanders. Henry VI is restored to the throne.
1471 - Edward returns to England and defeats and kills Warwick at the Battle of Barnet. Margaret is defeated at the Battle of Tewkesbury; her son Edward, Prince of Wales, heir to the Lancastrian throne is killed in battle.
1471 - Henry is murdered by being stabbed to death in the Tower of London.

King Edward IV ( 1461 - 1483 )

1461 - Edward, son of Richard of York, is declared king by the Earl of Warwick following the Yorkist victory at the Battle of Towton.
1464 - Warwick defeats Lancastrians at Battle of Hexham; Henry VI is captured and brought to the Tower of London.
1464 - Edward marries Elizabeth Woodville, the widow of a commoner, offending Warwick.
1469 - Warwick falls out with Edward IV, and defeats him at Edgecote. They are later reconciled but Warwick is banished. He makes peace with Margaret, returns to England with an army, and Edward flees to Flanders. Henry VI is restored to the throne.
1471 - Edward returns to England from Flanders and defeats and kills Warwick at the Battle of Barnet.
1471 - Margaret is defeated at the Battle of Tewkesbury and the Lancastrian heir, Prince Edward, is killed. Soon after, Henry VI is murdered in the Tower of London.
1474 - Edward grants privileges to the Hanseatic League of North German trading cities to conduct trade in England.
1476 - William Caxton sets up a printing press in Westminster, London
1478 - Edward falls out with his brother George, Duke of Clarence, who is then murdered in the Tower, supposedly in a butt of malmsey wine.
1483 - Death of Edward.

King Edward V ( 1483 )

1483 - On the death of Edward, the crown passes to his 12 year old son, Edward V
1483 - Edward is declared illegitimate and deposed in favour of his uncle Richard Duke of Gloucester.
1483 - Edward and his younger brother Richard of York are imprisoned in the Tower of London. After a few months the princes are never seen again and are believed to have been murdered.

King Richard III ( 1483 - 1485 )

1483 - Richard III declares himself King after confining and possibly ordering the murder of his two nephews, Edward V and Richard Duke of York, in the Tower of London
1483 - The Duke of Buckingham is appointed Constable and Great Chamberlain of England
1483 - In October Richard crushes a rebellion led by his former supporter, the Duke of Buckingham. Buckingham is captured, tried, and put to death.
1483 - At the cathedral of Rheims, Henry Tudor swears a solemn oath to marry Elizabeth of York in the presence of the Lancastrian Court in exile.
1484 - Richard establishes his military headquarters behind the battlements of Nottingham Castle.
1484 - Death of Richard’s only son and heir, Edward, aged 9 years.
1484 - A Papal Bull is issued against witchcraft.
1484 - Parliamentary statutes are written down in English for the first time and printed.
1485 - Death of Richard’s wife, Queen Anne.
1485 - Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, lands at Milford Haven in West Wales in early August and gathers support as the Lancastrian claimant to the Yorkist-held throne.
1485 - Richard is defeated and killed by Henry Tudor’s army at Bosworth Field. The Wars of the Roses and the Plantagenet dynasty come to an end. Richard's body is taken to Leicester where it is buried at Greyfriars Church.
The grave is rediscovered beneath a car park 527 years later in 2012 and his bones reburied in Leicester Cathedral in March 2015.

King Henry VII ( 1485 - 1509 )

1485 - Henry becomes King after defeating Richard III of York at the Battle of Bosworth Field. The Wars of the Roses are ended.
1486 - Henry marries Elizabeth of York, thereby uniting the houses of York and Lancaster.
1487 - Henry crushes a revolt by the Earl of Lincoln on behalf of Lambert Simnel, a claimant to the throne, at Stoke.
1491 - Henry invades France but at the Treaty of Etaples agrees to withdraw English forces in return for a large sum of money
1492 - Perkin Warbeck an impersonator who claims he is Richard the younger of the Princes in the Tower attempts to overthrow Henry, but is defeated and put to death in 1499.
1492 - Christopher Columbus crosses Atlantic and lands in San Salvador, Cuba and Haiti which he calls the 'West Indies' in the belief that he has sailed around the World to India.
1497 - John Cabot sails west from Bristol on the Matthew and discovers New-found-land. He believed it was Asia and claimed it for England.
1499 - Perkin Warbeck is hanged in the Tower of London. The Earl of Warwick is also executed.
1501 - Catherine of Aragon, daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, marries Prince Arthur, Henry’s eldest son.
1502 - Prince Arthur dies, and Prince Henry (the future Henry VIII) becomes heir to the throne, later marrying Arthur’s widow, Catherine of Aragon.
1503 - Margaret, Henry's daughter marries James IV of Scotland. The marriage gives James' descendants a claim to the English throne.
1503 - Death of Elizabeth of York, Henry’s wife.
1509 - Henry VII dies at Richmond Palace, at the age of 52.

King Henry VIII ( 1509 - 1547 )

1509 - Henry accedes to the throne on the death of his father, Henry VII.
1509 - Henry marries Catherine of Aragon, daughter of the Spanish King and Queen, and widow of his elder brother, Arthur
1511 - Henry joins the Holy League against the French. All men under the age of 40 are required to practise archery.
1513 - The English defeat the Scots at the Battle of Flodden Field. James IV of Scotland is killed.
1515 - Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York, becomes Chancellor and Cardinal.
1516 - Catherine gives birth to Princess Mary (later Mary I).
1517 - Martin Luther publishes his 95 theses against the abuses of the Roman Catholic Church.
1518 - The Pope and the Kings of England, France, and Spain pledge peace in Europe
1520 - Henry holds peace talks with Francis I of France at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, but fails to get support against Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire.
1525 - Hampton Court Palace is completed. William Tyndale publishes The New Testament in English.
1526 - Cardinal Wolsey re-establishes the Council of the North
1527 - Henry seeks permission from the Pope to divorce Catherine of Aragon but is refused.
1529 - Cardinal Wolsey is accused of high treason for failing to get the Pope's consent for the divorce, but dies before he can be brought to trial.
1529 - Sir Thomas More becomes Chancellor. Henry starts to cut ties with the Church of Rome.
1531 - The appearance in the sky of Halley's comet causes widespread panic and talk of holy retribution
1532 - Sir Thomas More resigns from the Chancellorship over the erosion of Papal authority.
1533 - Thomas Cranmer is appointed Archbishop of Canterbury and annuls Henry’s 24-year marriage to Catherine of Aragon.
1533 - Henry marries Anne Boleyn.
1533 - Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth I) is born.
1533 - Pope Clement VII excommunicates Henry
1534 - The Act of Supremacy is passed, establishing Henry as head of the Church of England.
1535 - Sir Thomas More is executed after refusing to recognize Henry as Supreme Head of the Church of England.
1535 - Thomas Cromwell is made Vicar-General and starts plans to seize the Church's wealth.
1535 - First complete English translation of the Bible by Miles Coverdale
1536 - Anne Boleyn is executed and Henry marries Jane Seymour
1536 - The Act of Union between Wales and England.
1536 - Thomas Cromwell begins the dissolution of the monasteries under the 'Reformation'. .
1536 - Great northern rising, known as the Pilgrimage of Grace against the dissolution of monasteries.
1537 - Jane Seymour dies giving birth to Edward (later Edward VI).
1539 - Parliament passes the Act for the 'Dissolution of the Greater Monasteries'. The abbots of Colchester, Glastonbury and Reading are executed for treason.
1540 - The last of the monasteries to be dissolved is Waltham Abbey.
1540 - Henry marries Anne of Cleves in January but the marriage is annulled in July
1540 - Execution of Thomas Cromwell on a charge of treason.
1540 - Henry marries Catherine Howard.
1541 - Beginning of the Reformation in Scotland under John Knox.
1542 - Catherine Howard is executed for treason.
1542 - James V of Scotland dies and is succeeded by his 6 day old daughter Mary Queen of Scots.
1543 - Henry marries the twice-widowed Catherine Parr, his sixth and last wife.
1543 - Treaty of Greenwich proposes marriage between Henry's son Edward and Mary Queen of Scots. However it is repudiated by the Scots 6 months later who want an alliance with France.
1545 - Henry's flagship The Mary Rose sinks in the Solent
1546 - Henry becomes increasingly ill with what is now believed to be syphilis and cirrhosis.
1547 - Death of Henry at the age of 55, survived by Catherine Parr

King Edward VI ( 1547 - 1553 )

1547 - Edward VI accedes to the throne at the age of nine after the death of his father, Henry VIII.
1547 - Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, uncle of Edward VI, is invested as Duke of Somerset and Protector of England.
1547 - The English army defeats the Scots at Pinkie Cleugh as part of an attempt to force a marriage between Edward VI and Mary Queen of Scots.
1548 - The French send over 6,000 troops to prevent the English from gaining control of the Scottish Borders.
1549 - The First Act of Uniformity is passed, making the Roman Catholic mass illegal. The clergy are ordered to remove icons and statues of the saints, and whitewash over wall paintings.
1549 - The First Book of Common Prayer is introduced, which changes the Church service from Latin to English.
1550 - The Duke of Somerset is deposed as Protector of England, and is replaced by John Dudley, Earl of Warwick, who creates himself Duke of Northumberland.
1552 - The Duke of Somerset is executed
1552 - Archbishop Cranmer publishes the Second book of Common Prayer.
1553 - The Duke of Northumberland persuades Edward to nominate his daughter-in-law Lady Jane Grey as his heir, in an attempt to secure the Protestant succession.
1553 - Edward VI dies of tuberculosis at Greenwich Palace.

Queen Mary I ( 1553 - 1558 )

1553 - Lady Jane Grey is proclaimed Queen by her father-in-law The Duke of Northumberland. After nine days, Mary arrives in London, Lady Jane Grey is arrested, and Mary is crowned Queen.
1554 - After Mary declares her intention to marry Philip of Spain, Sir Thomas Wyatt leads a revolt to depose her.
1554 - Wyatt’s rebellion is crushed. Sir Thomas Wyatt, Lady Jane Grey, and her husband are executed.
1554 - Mary's half-sister Princess Elizabeth is sent to the Tower of London on suspicion of involvement in Wyatt's rebellion
1554 - Mary marries Philip of Spain heir to the Spanish throne.
1554 - Four months after Mary's accession, Parliament meets to re-establish Catholicism in England
1554 - The persecution of Protestants begins, the heresy laws are revived, and England is reconciled to Papal authority.
1555 - Protestant bishops are burned at the stake for heresy.
1555 - Princess Elizabeth (later Elizabeth I) is released from the Tower of London
1556 - Cardinal Reginald Pole is appointed Archbishop of Canterbury.
1556 - Thomas Cranmer, former Archbishop of Canterbury, is burned at the stake for heresy.
1556 - Philip becomes King Philip II of Spain; he leaves England, never to return
1557 - Philip II persuades Mary to declare war on France as an ally of Spain.
1558 - Port of Calais, the last English possession in France, is captured by the French.
1558 - Mary dies at St.James’s Palace, London.

Elizabeth I ( 1558 - 1603 )

1558 - Elizabeth becomes Queen on the death of her half-sister, Mary.
1559 - Elizabeth is crowned Queen of England at Westminster Abbey in January.
1559 - Mary Queen of Scots in Paris declares herself Queen of France, Scotland and England when her husband Francis becomes King of France. He dies a year later and Mary returns to Scotland.
1559 - Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity restore the Protestant Church in England and make Elizabeth Head of the Church of England.
1559 - The Revised Prayer Book of Elizabeth I is issued. It is less extreme than its predecessors
1560 - Elizabeth founds Westminster School
1562 - Hawkins and Drake make first slave-trading voyage to America.
1562 - Elizabeth gives aid to the Protestant Huguenots in the French Wars of Religion. English troops occupy Dieppe and Le Havre.
1563 - John Foxe’s The Book of Martyrs, the story of religious persecution, is published in England.
1563 - -1564 17,000 die of the Plague in London which is believed to have been brought back by troops returning from Le Havre.
1564 - Peace made between England and France at Troyes.
1565 - Sir Walter Raleigh brings potatoes and tobacco from the New World
1566 - Elizabeth forbids Parliament to discuss her marriage prospects.
1568 - Mary Queen of Scots, flees to England from Scotland and is imprisoned by Elizabeth.
1569 - Elizabeth I approves Sunday sports
1570 - Pope Pius V excommunicates Queen Elizabeth from the Catholic Church.
1577 - - 1580 Francis Drake sails around the world in the Golden Hind.
1579 - Francis, Duke of Alencon, secretly comes to England to try and marry Elizabeth.
1581 - Francis Drake knighted by Queen Elizabeth on the deck of The Golden Hind.
1584 - Sir Walter Raleigh founds the first American colony and names it Virginia after Elizabeth the Virgin Queen
1584 - Oakham School founded by Archdeacon Robert Johnson
1585 - William Shakespeare leaves Stratford for London to become an aspiring playwright
1586 - Babington Catholic plot to assassinate Elizabeth I
1586 - Mary Queen of Scots, who had fled from Scotland to England, is implicated in the Babington plot and is sent to trial.
1587 - Mary, Queen of Scots, is executed at Fotheringhay Castle on charges of treason.
1587 - Drake attacks the Spanish fleet in Cadiz.
1587 - Raleigh's second expedition to New World lands in North Carolina. Drake destroys the Spanish fleet at Cadiz.
1588 - Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and a favourite of Elizabeth, dies.
1588 - A Spanish Armada of 130 ships sailing against England is defeated by bad weather and the English fleet under Admiral Drake and John Hawkins using fireships. Many were wrecked trying to return by sailing round the north of the British Isles. The English dominance of the sea leaves the way open for English trade and colonisation of America and India.
1588 - Earl of Essex leads an expedition to Ireland.
1589 - John Harrington invents the first flushing water closet at his house at Kelston, Bath. He calls it 'Ajax' a pun on the Elizabethan slang word 'Jakes' for a privy. Elizabeth I orders a Harrington WC to be installed at Richmond Palace.
1590 - Shakespeare writes Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream.
1593 - 15,000 Londoners die of the Plague. All theatres are closed for one year. Playwright Christopher Marlow is murdered.
1595 - Sir Walter Raleigh makes his first expedition to the South American continent. He explores 300 miles of the Orinoco searching for El Dorado.
1599 - Earl of Tyrone leads a rebellion against the English in Ireland.
1599 - The Globe Theatre is opened in London.
1600 - East India Company founded
1601 - Earl of Essex is executed for leading a revolt against Elizabeth.
1601 - Poor Law is passed introducing a poor relief rate on property owners.
1601 - First performance of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.
1603 - Elizabeth I dies at Richmond Palace, Surrey.

King James I ( 1603 - 1625 )

1603 - James VI of Scotland becomes King James I of England, Scotland, and Ireland after the death of Elizabeth I uniting the thrones of Scotland and England.
1603 - The Millenary Petition is presented to James I. It expresses Puritan desires for reforms to the Church of England.
1603 - Plot against James to set his cousin Arabella Stuart on the throne. Sir Walter Raleigh is implicated and imprisoned.
1604 - The Somerset House Peace Conference results in peace between England and Spain.
1604 - The Hampton Court Conference fails to settle the doctrinal differences between the Anglican Church and its Puritan critics.
1604 - James proclaims that smoking is harmful to the lungs and imposes a tax on tobacco
1605 - Guy Fawkes and other Catholic dissidents attempt to blow up King and Parliament in The Gunpowder Plot. They are betrayed and arrested.
1606 - The Gunpowder plotters are executed. 120 colonists sail for America.
1607 - The Earls of Tyrone and Tyrconnel end their rebellion against English rule of Ireland and flee to Europe; Ulster is colonized by Protestant settlers from Scotland and England.
1607 - The English Parliament rejects Union with Scotland.
1607 - Common citizenship of English and Scottish persons is granted to those born after the accession of James VI of Scotland to the English throne.
1607 - Jamestown found in America by the Virginia company
1609 - Scottish and English Protestants are encouraged to settle in Ulster
1609 - Shakespeare completes the Sonnets.
1611 - The King James Authorized Version of the Bible is published.
1611 - Dissolution of the first Parliament of James I.
1611 - Arabella Stuart secretly marries William Seymour. When James finds out Seymour is imprisoned but escapes with Arabella. They are captured on the way to France and imprisoned in the Tower of London. Arabella starves herself to death there in 1615.
1612 - Henry, Prince of Wales, dies of typhoid. His younger brother, Charles, becomes heir to the throne.
1612 - Heretics are burned at the stake for the last time in England.
1613 - James' daughter Elizabeth marries Frederick V, Elector of Palatine. Their descendants in House of Hanover will eventually inherit the British Throne.
1613 - The Globe Theatre in London burns during a performance of Henry VIII
1614 - Second Parliament of James I meets.
1614 - Scottish mathematician John Napier publishes his theory of logarithms simplifying calculations for navigators.
1615 - George Villiers becomes James’s favourite.
1616 - Playwright William Shakespeare dies.
1616 - Raleigh is released from prison to lead an expedition to Guiana in search of El Dorado
1617 - George Villiers becomes the Earl of Buckingham.
1618 - Raleigh fails in his expedition and on his return is executed for alleged treason at Westminster.
1620 - The Pilgrim Fathers set sail for America in the Mayflower. They land at Cape Cod and found New Plymouth.
1625 - Death of James I, aged 58.

King Charles I ( 1625 - 1649 )

1625 - Charles I succeeds his father, James I.
1626 - Parliament attempts to impeach the Duke of Buckingham and is dissolved by Charles.
1627 - England goes to war with France, but at La Rochelle the Duke of Buckingham fails to relieve the besieged Huguenots.
1628 - The Petition of Right a declaration of the “rights and liberties of the subject" is presented to the King, who agrees to it under protest.
1628 - Physician William Harvey demonstrates the circulation of blood in the body
1629 - Charles dissolves Parliament and rules by himself until 1640.
1630 - The colony of Massachusetts is founded in America
1633 - Work begins on Buckingham Palace in London
1637 - Charles tries to force new prayer book on Scots, who resist by signing the National Covenant.
1639 - Act of Toleration in England established religious toleration
1640 - Charles summons the Short Parliament, which he dissolves three weeks later when it refuses to grant him money.
1640 - Long Parliament summoned, which lasts until 1660. It can only be dissolved by its members.
1641 - Abolition of the Star Chamber and Court of High Commission.
1642 - Charles fails in his attempt to arrest five MPs.
1642 - Outbreak of Civil War. Charles raises his standard at Nottingham. The Royalists win a tactical victory the Parliamentary army at the Battle of Edgehill but the outcome is inconclusive.
1643 - Royalists defeat Parliamentary army at Chalgrove Field, and take Bristol. Battle of Newbury is indecisive.
1644 - York is besieged by Parliamentary army until relieved by Prince Rupert. Royalists defeated at Marston Moor.
1644 - Oliver Cromwell and the Puritans enforce and Act of Parliament banning Christmas Day celebrations
1645 - Parliament creates New Model Army, which defeats the Royalist army at Naseby on 16 June.
1646 - Charles surrenders to the Scots, who hand him over to Parliament.
1646 - Negotiations take place between King and Parliament. King conspires with Scots to invade England on his behalf.
1647 - Charles escapes to the Isle of Wight but is captured. He is tried by Parliament and found guilty of high treason.
1648 - A Scots army supporting Charles is defeated at Preston.
1649 - Charles I is executed. There follows 11 years of rule by Parliament as the Commonwealth under Cromwell.

King Charles II ( 1660 - 1685 )

1658 - Death of Oliver Cromwell. He is succeeded by his son Richard Cromwell
1659 - Richard Cromwell is forced to resign. The Rump Parliament is restored.
1660 - Charles II returns to England from Holland and is restored to the throne.
1662 - Act of Uniformity compels Puritans to accept the doctrines of the Church of England or leave the church.
1662 - Royal Society for the improvement of science founded
1664 - England seizes the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam, changing its name to New York.
1665 - Outbreak of the Second Anglo-Dutch War.
1665 - The Great Plague strikes London and over 60,000 die.
1666 - The Great Fire of London rages for four days and three nights. Two thirds of central London is destroyed and 65,000 are left homeless.
1667 - The Earl of Clarendon is replaced by a five-man Cabal.
1667 - Paradise Lost by John Milton published
1667 - A Dutch fleet sails up the River Medway captures the English flagship The Royal Charles and sinks three other great ships
1670 - Secret Treaty of Dover, by which Charles agrees to declare himself a Catholic and restore Catholicism in England in return for secret subsidies from Louis XIV of France.
1670 - Hudson Bay Company founded in North America
1671 - Thomas Blood caught stealing the Crown Jewels
1672 - Outbreak of the Third Dutch War.
1673 - Test Act keeps Roman Catholics out of political office.
1674 - Death of John Milton
1674 - Peace made with the Dutch
1675 - Royal Observatory founded at Greenwich
1677 - John Bunyan publishes The Pilgrims Progress.
1678 - The Popish Plot is fabricated by Titus Oates. He alleges a Catholic plot to murder the King and restore Catholicism. The Government over-reacts, and many Catholic subjects are persecuted.
1679 - Exclusion Bill attempts to exclude James, Charles’s Catholic brother, from the succession.
1679 - Habeas Corpus act passed which forbids imprisonment without trial
1682 - Pennsylvania founded in America by William Penn
1683 - The Rye House Plot a conspiracy to kill Charles and his brother James and return to parliamentary rule is uncovered.
1685 - Charles is received into the Roman Catholic Church on his deathbed.

King James II ( 1685 - 1688 )

1685 - James succeeds his brother, Charles II.
1685 - Rebellion of the Earl of Argyll in Scotland designed to place the Duke of Monmouth, Charles II's illegitimate son, on the throne is crushed and Argyll is executed.
1685 - The Duke of Monmouth rebels against James, but is defeated at the Battle of Sedgemoor in Somerset.
1685 - Edict of Nantes allowing freedom of religion to Huguenot Protestants is revoked in France, resulting in thousands of Huguenot craft workers and traders settling in England.
1686 - Following their defeat at Sedgemoor, Monmouth and many of the rebels are hanged or transported by the 'The Bloody Assizes' under Judge Jeffreys.
1686 - James takes first measures to restore Catholicism in England, and sets up a standing army of 13,000 troops at Hounslow to overawe nearby London.
1686 - Edmund Halley draws the first meteorological map showing weather systems
1687 - Isaac Newton publishes Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy
1688 - James, believing his Divine Right as King, issues the Declaration of Indulgence to suspend all laws against Catholics and Non-Conformists and repeal the 1673 Test Act. He seeks to promote his Catholic supporters in Parliament and purge Tories and Anglican clergy .
1688 - James’ wife, Mary of Modena, gives birth to a son and Catholic heir. His daughters Mary, married to Dutch Stadtholder William of Orange, and Anne by his first wife Anne Hyde are Protestant.
1688 - Following discontent over James attempts to control politics and religion, seven leading statesmen invite William of Orange, son-in-law of James, to England to restore English liberties.
1688 - The 'Glorious Revolution'. William of Orange lands at Torbay with an army of 20,000 and advances on London. Many Protestant officers in James' army including Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, and James' own daughter Anne defect to support William and his wife Mary.
1688 - James abdicates and flees to exile in France.

King William III and Queen Mary II ( 1689 - 1702 )

1689 - William and Mary become joint King and Queen.
1689 - Parliament draws up the Declaration of Right detailing the unconstitutional acts of James II.
1689 - Bill of Rights is passed by Parliament. It stipulates that no Catholic can succeed to the throne, and also limits the powers of the Royal prerogative. The King of Queen cannot withhold laws passed by Parliament or levy taxes without Parliamentary consent.
1689 - Jacobite Highlanders rise in support of James and are victorious at Killiekrankie but are defeated a few months later at Dunkeld.
1689 - Catholic forces loyal to James II land in Ireland from France and lay siege to Londonderry.

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