PRELUDE: 1337 - Official start of the Hundred Years War: England's Edward III also declares himself King of France (as a result of this war, English becomes used more and more over French in government and literature, 'cause it's patriotic and stuff, thus Middle English is geboren. Another reason for adopting English over French was the rise in power of the Commons, who didn't speak French)
1346 - the English, with longbows, win the Hundred Years War's 1st major battle, at Crécy
1348 - the Black Death - so severe it suspends the Hundred Years War for a time
1349? - After the Black Death, English replaces French in grammar school instruction
1353 - Boccacio writes the Decameron
1362 - A statute orders pleadings in law courts to be conducted in English
1362 - First time the English parliament conducts its proceedings in English
1364-66 - William Langland begins writing Piers Plowman
1367 - The King addresses Parliament in English for the first time
1369 - Chaucer writes Book of the Duchess, his first great book
1375 - Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is published
1376 - House of Commons asserts its power for the first time
1377 - Edward III dies; new king Richard II is ten years old
1378 - Great Schism begins, with popes in both Rome and Avignon; English begin to lose respect for papacy
1378 - John Wyclif's heretical ideas begin to be popular, followers are called Lollards
1380 - Parliament declares Richard II old enough to rule England
1380 - Chaucer writes Parliament of Fowls to celebrate Richard II's marriage to Anne of Bohemia
1381 - Richard II nearly killed by, defuses, the Peasant's Revolt
1382 - John Wyclif forced into retirement; dies in 1384; Lollards still a force for years to come
1382 - Parliament sick of Richard II
1386 - Nobles sick of Richard II
1389 - Richard II announces he will take sole control of England
1389 - London rids itself of whores; whores move across river to Southwark
1390 - Chaucer completes the Wife of Bath's tale, nearly completes the Prologue
1391 - "profligate and impetuous" Richard II isn't deposed, mostly because wars are at a lull
1392 - Richard II takes personal control of the city of London
1392 - King Charles VI of France suffers second attack of insanity; wars are really at a lull now
1393 - Julian of Norwich's Sixteen Revelations of Divine Love published
1394 - Richard II strikes the Earl of Arundel in the face with a staff at Queen Anne's funeral
1394 - Charles VI, no longer insane, expels France's Jews, thereby ruining the economy
1395 - Richard II proposes marriage to a six-year-old, Isabelle of France
1396 - England and France sign a truce; Richard II marries Isabelle, now eight
1396 - Richard II executes many of his enemies in the nobility, including an uncle
1399 - Richard II taken prisoner in a coup by cousin Henry; abdicates six weeks later
1399 - Richard II's cousin Henry Bolingbroke becomes Henry IV
1399 - the codpiece is invented
1400 - Richard II dies under mysterious circumstances, preluding the Wars of the Roses
1400 - Chaucer dies, having written 24 of 30 planned Canterbury Tales
1400 - population of England is about 3 million (down from 5 million in 1300)
1400 - England first gets onions and cabbages, also hops so they can have beer instead of ale
1402 - Jan Hus begins the reformation, in Prague
1403 - Battle of Shrewsbury: A whole mess of noblemen who back Richard II's son Mortimer are killed
1404 - Henry IV's government runs out of cash
1405 - Henry IV, a Lancaster, executes the Archbishop of York
1408 - Henry IV's son finally quells a revolt in Wales
1409 - hoping to heal the Great Schism, a third pope is elected: Alexander V
1410 - Prince Hal, his father ailing, dabbles in war against France
1413 - Prince Hal grabs his father's crown even before Henry IV actually dies
1414 - Henry V reburies Richard II in Westminster Abbey; hoping to lull the future Wars of the Roses
1414 - Duke of York tries to kill Henry V (so much for a lull!), but is instead killed by him
1415 - Henry V cleans France's clock at the battle of Agincourt
(Henry's army was actually retreating, but the French decided to try and block their way, a-duh)
1415 - Jan Hus is set on fire
1417 - The Great Schism ends, all three popes forced to abdicate
1417 - Sir John Oldcastle, model for Falstaff, is captured and executed for being a Lollard
1418 - Ships of Portugal's Henry the Navigator discover Madeira islands
1419 - Husserites defenestrate several leading churchmen in Prague, beginning the Husserite Wars
1420 - Henry V marries princess Catherine of France
1422 - Henry V dies of dysentery caught during a siege
1422 - Henry VI, an infant, is declared King of both England and France
1424 - Henry VI is still infant, England & France governed by sibling dukes of Bedford and Gloucester
1424 - Duke of Gloucester nearly causes a civil war, because he is evil
1424 - Roses: the Yorkish Earl of March tries to kill the Duke of Gloucester, and is killed by him
1429 - While trying to conquer the last bit of France, England whomped by Joan of Arc
1431 - English set Joan of Arc on fire
1432 - The Portuguese discover the Azores
1432 - England nearly bankrupt again (the treasurer is Lord Cromwell)
1434 - Cosimo "the Elder" di Medici becomes de facto ruler of Florence
1435 - The Duke of Bedford, the good regent, dies during peace talks with France
1436 - Henry VI declared old enough to rule England on his own (he's 14)
1436 - Portuguese pass Cape Bojador, explore Gold Coast of Africa
1437 - James of Scotland killed by assassins while stuck halfway in a sewer hole b/c he's so fat
1438 - First English autobiography written, the Book of Margery Kempe
1440 - Donatello creates first nude statue since classical times
1440 - Enemies humiliate Duke of Gloucester's wife
1440 - Portugal imports its first shipment of slaves
1441 - Henry VI not a very good king... likes luxury, doesn't care about politics, wars
1442 - English utterly fail in Normandy expedition against France
1443 - Rioting in England over continued war bankruptcy
1443 - Portuguese get as far as Senegal
1447 - Humphrey, the evil Duke of Gloucester, is arrested and dies
1447 - Henry VI changes his mind a lot, messes up peace talks yet again
1448 - England has internal wars, plus the ones with France, Scotland and Ireland
1450 - Civil war in England; Henry VI flees
1452 - End of the Hundred Years War between England and France: England loses
1452 - France won by using artillery vs. longbows by the English (see 1346)
1452 - Florence's Duomo's golden doors completed
1453 - Henry VI has first child, upsetting fans of presumptive heir Richard Duke of York
1453 - Turks capture Constantinople, with cannons
1454 - Venice's Doge signs a trade agreement with the Ottomans, business as usual
1454 - Henry VI goes insane, Duke of York steps in as regent, imprisons his rival
1455 - Henry VI sane again, Duke of York is dismissed, rival freed from prison
1455 - Duke of York captures Henry VI, kills that rival, begins Wars of the Roses (after a 55-yr. prelude!)
1455 - Gutenberg Bible printed
1456 - Henry VI's Queen, Margaret d'Anjou, asserts power; Scotland attacks a weak England
1459 - Duke of York in open battle with King's forces; Ireland and Scotland back York
1459 - Duke of York flees to Ireland
1460 - Duke of York returns, captures Henry VI yet again, then is killed by Margaret's army
1461 - Duke of York's son Edward battles on; Henry VI recaptured by the Queen; Edward declares himself King Edward IV, Henry
VI and family flee to Scotland
1461 - Chivalry on the battlefield gives way to total war, take-no-prisoners
1462 - ex-Queen Margaret tries to fight on, loses a battle
1464 - Nobles divvy up allegiance between York and Lancaster sides
1464 - Edward IV scandalously announces he secretly married Lancastrian widow Elizabeth Woodville
1464 - In France, Louis XI invents the postal service
1465 - Henry VI, and his retinue of a mere three people wandering around Scotland, captured again
1466 - Edward IV and powerful Neville clan fight a lot
1467 - The rack is invented in England
1468 - A lot of royal killing; Welsh press for Henry Tudor to be king
1468 - Lorenzo "the magnificent" di Medici cranks up Florence's literatury output
1469 - Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur published
1470 - Lancaster forces depose Edward IV, re-crown Henry VI
1471 - Edward IV king again, Henry VI back in Tower of London, then murdered; Queen Margaret imprisoned in Tower of London;
Henry's son captured, then killed; last possible Lancastrian claimant (Henry Tudor) flees to France; Wars of the Roses over
1472 - Edward IV has internal York-camp problems, esp. w/brother Richard Duke of Gloucester
1474 - Edward IV signs trading agreement with Hanseatic League; business picks up
1474 - William Caxton prints The History of Troye in Brussels - 1st book printed in English
1475 - Botticelli starts painting for the Medicis
1476 - Edward IV has his brother the Duke of Clarence locked up, just in case
1476 - William Caxton sets up shop in London
1478 - Duke of Clarence has a show trial and is condemned, dies privately
1479 - Spain created, from union of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile
1480 - Richard Duke of Gloucester gains power in Anglo-Scottish wars
1480 - Ivan the Great finally drives the Mongols off Russia
1483 - Edward IV dies; Edward V, age 12, takes the throne; Richard Duke of Gloucester is the intended Protector but the boy
is with his mother's family; Gloucester kidnaps the boy and is named Protector; Gloucester then sends for the boy's brother;
Gloucester tells Parliament the children are illegitimate; Gloucester is crowned Richard III; the boys are never seen again
1484 - Richard III's wife and only son die, and he considers marrying a niece
1485 - anti-Richard forces back Henry Tudor; Richard III is killed at Bosworth when part of his own army betrays him; Henry
Tudor becomes King Henry VII
1485 - Pope Innocent VIII starts witch trials in Germany, 41 women burned that year
1485 - Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition are in full bloom
1486 - Henry VII marries Edward IV's daughter, shores up power
1486 - English invent "football" (soccer)
1487 - Pico della Mirandola publishes Oration On the Dignity of Man
1488 - Bartholomeu Diaz accidentally sails past the tip of Africa
1489 - First gold pound coins minted in England, under Henry VII
1489 - Henry VII pledges his son Arthur to Catherine of Aragón
1489 - plus and minus signs invented in Germany
1490s - Ming dynasty repairs Great Wall
1491 - France takes Brittany, the last bit of France, from the English, via marriage
1492 - England invades France, gets a ransom, leaves again
1492 - Spain conquers the last Moorish foothold in Europe
1492 - Spain expels all 250,000 Jews
1492 - Columbus "discovers America" (lands in Cuba, thinks it's Japan)
by 1500, England's population was back up to between 3 and 5 million
See also the Chaucer Timeline at www.librarius.com