Chapter 35

B.C.4004Creation of the World.2944 Birth of Noah.2348 TheFloodorDelugecovers the whole earth—lasts about a year.2347 Noah quits the Ark; offers sacrifices of thanksgiving; God appoints the rainbow as a pledge that he will never again destroy the earth by the waters of a flood. (Gen. ix. 11.)2300 The Tower of Babel built; confusion of languages; dispersion of mankind.2233 Babylon founded by Nimrod; Nineveh founded by Asshur; commencement of the Assyrian monarchy.2188 The Egyptian monarchy founded by Mizraim; continues 1663 years.2059 Age of Ninus and Semiramis, Assyrian monarchs.2000 Sicyon founded—the earliest town in Greece; Sidon founded.1996 Birth of Abram, in Ur of the Chaldees; 1998 Noah dies.1921Call of Abram; he leaves Ur; comes to Haran, where his father, Terah, dies, aged 205 years; emigrates to Canaan, with Sarai his wife, and Lot his nephew, and dwells at Shechem.1920 Abram removes to Egypt; returns the same year.1912 Abram defeats Chedorlaomer and the confederate kings; rescues Lot.1910 Birth of Ishmael, the son of Abram and Hagar. (Gen. xvi. 16.)1897 Destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, &c.; Lot retires to Zoar; Abram’s name changed to Abraham; Sarai’s changed to Sarah.1896 Isaac born at Beersheba; 1871 Offered up as a sacrifice by his father.1836 Birth of Esau and Jacob; 1821 Abraham dies.1800 Argos founded by the Pelasgians, under Inachus.1759 Jacob retires to his uncle, Laban, in Padan Aram; 1745 Joseph born.1739 Jacob returns to Canaan; resides at Shechem.1728 Joseph sold by his brethren; 1716 Isaac dies.1706 Jacob removes to Egypt; 1689 his death.1705 Joseph raised to distinction in Egypt; 1635 Joseph dies.1600 Hyksos or shepherd kings conquer Egypt; they oppress the Israelites.1577 Age of Job; 1575, Birth of Aaron; 1571, Birth of Moses.1550 Athens founded by Cecrops; 1531 Moses leaves Egypt.1500 Tyre founded; Gades founded; 1493 Thebes founded by Cadmus.1491 Moses returns to Egypt;Exodusordepartureof the Israelites from Egypt cross the Red Sea; law given on Mount Sinai.1452 Death of Aaron, aged 123 years; buried on Mount Hor.1451 Sihon defeated at Jahaz; Death of Moses, aged 120 years; Og defeated at Edrei; the Israelites cross Jordan; capture Jericho; sun and moon stand still at the command of Joshua; 1445, 1444 theLand of Canaandivided among the Twelve Tribes.1443 Death of Joshua, aged 110 years; 1423 Tribe of Benjamin destroyed.1406 Age of Minos, the Cretan lawgiver; 1405 Othniel first judge of Israel.1400 Troy founded; Pelasgians expelled from Greece by the Hellenes.1365 Age of Sesostris, king of Egypt; a great conqueror; built magnificent cities in his dominions.1329 Amphictyonic council established.1300 Voyage of the Argonauts from Aphetæ, in Thessaly, to Colchis, under the command of Jason; Hercules, Theseus, and his other companions were called Argonauts.1290 Age of Mœris, king of Egypt; he causes lake Mœris to be dug, to receive the surplus waters of the Nile.1285 Barak and Deborah defeat Jabin.1245 Age of Gideon; defeats the Midianites and Moabites.1187 Jephtha, the tenth judge of Israel, sacrifices his daughter.1184 Troy captured, after a siege of ten years; Age of Agamemnon, Achilles, Diomedes, Nestor, Ulysses, Helen, Priam, Hector, Æneas, Andromache, &c.; Æneas sails for Italy.1156 Age of Eli; 1155 Birth of Samuel; 1150 Utica, in Africa, founded.1124 Æolian colonies established in Asia Minor.1107 Age of Samson; judged Israel twenty years; betrayed to the Philistines by Delilah; buries himself under the ruins of the temple of Dagon, with a great number of his enemies.1100 Salamis founded by Teucer.1095 Saul first king of Israel; 1085 Birth of David; 1062 slays Goliath.1055 Death of Saul; succession of David; 1048 crowned king of all Israel; 1047 takes Jerusalem from the Jebusites.1044 Settlement of the Ionian colonies in Asia Minor; Age of Homer; the cities of Smyrna, Chios, Colophon, Salamis, Rhodes, Argos and Athens afterwards contend for the honour of his birth.1037 The Moabites and Ammonites conquered by David.1035 Rabbath Ammon taken by Joab; Uriah killed at the siege.1033 Birth of Solomon; Age of Hiram king of Tyre.1014 Death of David; succeeded by Solomon; Most flourishing period of the kingdom of Israel.1003 Temple at Jerusalem built and dedicated by Solomon.994 Dorians establish colonies in Asia Minor.975Death of Solomon; Rehoboam succeeds him; his tyranny causes a division of the realm into the kingdom of Judah and Israel; Jeroboam king of Israel; Rehoboam king of Judah.971 Shishak, king of Egypt, plunders the temple at Jerusalem.907 Age of the poet Hesiod; 900 Pygmalion, brother of Dido.897 Ahab, king of Israel, slain; Ahaziah, king of Judah; Elisha taken up to heaven; 884 Jehu king of Israel.880 Lycurgus, the Spartan lawgiver.878 Carthage founded by Dido, a Tyrian Princess.827 Ethiopians conquer Egypt; 825 Jonah visits Nineveh; the people repent.820 Death of Sardanapalus; First Assyrian empire destroyed; Median empire founded; Kingdom of Macedonia founded.810 Uzziah, king of Judah, takes the cities of the Philistines.800 Persepolis built; 776 Era of the Olympiads begins.772 Pul invades Israel.753 Rome founded, April 20; 743 First Messenian war lasts 19 years.740 Damascus taken by Tiglath-pileser.732 Syracuse founded; 730 Tarentum founded.729 Samaria taken by Shalmanezer; End of the Kingdom of Israel; Captivity of the Ten Tribes.713 Sennacherib threatens Hezekiah; his army miraculously destroyed.685 Second Messenian war; lasts fourteen years; Ira besieged eleven years; its capture ends the war.657 Holofernes slain by Judith, near Bethulia.650 Naval battle between the Corcyreans and Corinthians—the first sea-fight on record.641 Josiah king of Judah reforms abuses; restores the worship of God.630 Cyrene founded; 627 Nabopolazzar king of Babylon.616 Age of Pharaoh Necho; Tyrians in his service sail round Africa.607 Nineveh taken by the Medes and Babylonians.604 Age of Pittacus (general of Mitylene); Sappho (Greek poetess).594 Age of Ezekiel.591 Pythian Games begin; Age of Thales (philosopher); Æsop (fabulist).588 Nebuchadnezzar takes Jerusalem; End of the kingdom of Judah; Beginning of the Babylonish captivity; 572 Nebuchadnezzar takes Tyre after a siege of thirteen years.570 Voyage of Hanno along the west coast of Africa; about the same time Himilco sails to Britain.560 Union of the Medes and Persians; Cyaxares king of the Medes.559 Persian empire founded by Cyrus; Age of Anaximander, inventor of globes and charts.548 Cyrus defeats Crœsus at Thymbra; Takes Sardis; Conquers Lydia.539 Massilia founded; Age of Pythagoras (philosopher); Anacreon (poet).538 Cyrus takes Babylon; Age of Daniel; 525 Cambyses conquers Egypt.521 Age of Darius Hystaspes; 518 End of the Babylonish captivity.516 Age of Artaxerxes Longimanus or Ahasuerus; Queen Esther.515 The Temple of Jerusalem rebuilt; 510 Sybaris, in Italy, destroyed.509 Consular government established in Rome.504 Athenians burn Sardis; Age of Heraclitus (naturalist); Democedes (physician); 500 Milesians emigrate from Spain to Ireland.500 First Persian war against Greece; 490 Battle of Marathon; the Greeks commanded by Miltiades, defeat the Persians, under Dates and Artaphanes; 480 Xerxes crosses the Hellespont at Abydos; invades Greece; Battle of Thermopylæ; Naval battles of Artemisium and Salamis; Age of Themistocles (Athenian statesman); Anaxagoras (philosopher); Pindar (poet); Æschylus (tragic writer); Corinna (poetess).479 Battles of Platæa and Mycale on the same day.470 The Athenians, under Cimon defeat the Persians, on the Eurymedon river, twice in one day, first on water and then on land.465 Third Messenian war; lasts ten years.457 Battle of Tanagra; Age of Pericles (Athenian statesman).445 Age of Herodotus (historian); Phidias (sculptor).431 First Peloponnesian war commences; continues twenty-seven years; Age of Hippocrates (physician); Democrates (philosopher, &c.)424 Bœotians defeat the Athenians at Delium.406 Naval battle of Ægos Potamos; Athenian fleet defeated by the Spartans; Age of Protagoras (philosopher); Parrhasius (painter).401 Battle of Cunaxa; Death of Cyrus the younger; Retreat of the ten thousand under Xenophon.400 Death of Socrates; 396 Age of Zeuxis (painter); Aristippus (philosopher).395 Veii besieged by the Romans for ten years.394 Spartans defeat the Thebans at Coronæa; Falerii taken by Camillus; Age of the Cyrenaic philosophers.389 Battle of the Allia; Gauls defeat the Romans; burn Rome; inhabitants fly to Cære or Agylla; Gauls defeated near Cabii by Camillus.379 Age of Plato (philosopher); Conon (Athenian commander); Epaminondas and Pelopidas (Theban generals); Diogenes (Stoic).371 Epaminondas defeats the Spartans at Leuctra; 370 builds Messene in eighty-five days; Founds Megalopolis; Age of Eudoxius (astronomer).362 Battle at Mantinea; death of Epaminondas.360 Methone captured; Philip of Macedon loses his right eye.357 Phocian war begins; lasts ten years; 355 Alexander born.351 Capture of Sidon by Artaxerxes Ochus.343 Age of Aristotle (philosopher), Demosthenes (orator), Phocion (Athenian general).338 Battle of Chæronea; Philip defeats the Athenians and their allies.336 Philip assassinated; Archidamus, King of Sparta, killed in battle at Manduriæ.335 Alexander the Great destroys Thebes; 334 conquers Greece; begins his Persian expedition; battle of the Granicus; 333 battle of Issus; siege of Tyre; 332 conquers Egypt; founds the city of Alexandria; visits the temple of Jupiter Ammon; 331 crosses the Euphrates at Thapsacus; battle of Arbela; fall of the Persian Empire; death of Darius Codomanus; 326 Defeat of Porus by Alexander; the latter afterwardsdescends the Indus to the sea; his Admiral, Nearchus, navigates a fleet from the Indus to the Tigris; Age of Apelles (painter); Antipater (Macedonian General, &c.)323 Death of Alexander, May 21; his empire divided between Ptolemy, Cassander, Lysimachus and Seleucus.320 Samnites defeat the Romans near Caudium; their army pass under the Caudine Forks; Age of Praxiteles (sculptor); Demetrius (orator); Phalerius Theopompus (historian); Apollodorus (poet.)312 Seleucus takes Babylon; dynasty of the Selucidæ begins.310 Pytheas, the navigator, sails from Gades to Thule.301 Battle of Ipsus, between Antigonus and Ptolemy, Seleucus, Lysimachus and Cassander; Age of Zeno (philosopher).292 The Sabines conquered by Curius Dentatus; Age of Euclid (mathematician).284 The Pharos, or light-house of Alexandria, built.281 The Achæan League formed, by the chief cities of the Peloponnesus, for mutual defence.280 The Romans defeated at Pandosia by Pyrrhus King of Epirus; Age of Antiochus 1st, surnamed Soter, King of Syria.274 Romans defeat Pyrrhus; 272, conquer Samnium, after a seventy years’ war.262 First Punic war begins; continues twenty-six years; 260 Duillius obtains the first naval victory gained over the Carthaginians by the Romans; 256 Regulus defeated by Xantippus; Age of Diodatus.251 Age of Eratosthenes (mathematician); Callimachus (poet).249 Asdrubal defeated at Panormus, in Sicily, by Metellus.246 Arsaces founds the Parthian empire; Age of Hamilcar, a noted Carthaginian General, and father of Hannibal.242 The Romans defeat the Carthaginians at sea, near the Ægades islands; ends the first Punic war.231 The Romans take Corsica and Sardinia.224 The Spartan king Cleomenes III defeated by Antigonus Doson; Colossus, at Rhodes, overthrown by an earthquake; Age of Apollonius (poet), Philopæmen (Achæan General.)219 Hannibal takes Saguntum; originates the second Punic war, which lasts seventeen years; 218 Crosses the Alps; defeats the Romans, first on the river Ticinus, then on the Trebia; 217 Battle of Thrasimene—his third victory; 216 Battle of Cannæ—his fourth victory; 50,000 Romans slain; Capua declares in his favour.212 Marcellus takes Syracuse, after a three years’ siege; death of Archimedes, the noted geometrician.206 Asdrubal, the brother of Hannibal, defeated and slain by the Romans; Age of Syphax (Latin poet); Ennius (Latin poet); Masinissa, King of Numidia.202 Sicily becomes a Roman province.201 Battle of Zama; Hannibal defeated by Scipio Africanus; End of the second Punic war.200 Romans conquer Illyricum; 197, defeat the Macedonians at Cynoscephalæ; 196 Hannibal banished from Carthage.190 Antiochus defeated by the Consul Acilius at Thermopylæ; Age of Cato the elder.187 Scipio Asiaticus defeats Antiochus I at Magnesia and Sipylum.186 Scipio Africanus banished to Liturnum.183 Death of Hannibal in Bithynia, by poison, aged sixty-five.168 Insurrection of the Maccabees against Antiochus, King of Syria.168 Paulus Æmilius defeats Perseus at Pydna; Macedonia becomes a Roman province; Age of Hipparchus (philosopher); Polybius (historian), &c.167 Epirus conquered by the Romans; 165 Age of Judas Maccabæus.149 Third Punic war begins; 146 Scipio destroys Carthage, Mummius destroys Corinth; Agatharchides (Greek geographer).137 Demetrius Nicator defeated at Damascus by Alexander Zebina.133 Numantia destroyed by the inhabitants; Spain becomes a Roman province; The kingdom of Pergamus bequeathed to the Romans by Attalus, its last king.131 Tiberius Gracchus treacherously slain at Potentia.109 Jugurthine war begins; lasts five years; 106 Jugurtha betrayed by Bocchus to the Romans; Armenia Major becomes a Roman province.105 Aristobulus crowned king of the Jews; 106 Pompey born at Rome.102 Marius defeats the Cimbri and Teutones at Aquæ Sextæ; 101 defeats the Cimbri on the Raudian Plains.100 Birth of Julius Cæsar, July 12; this month was named after him.92 Bocchus sends Sylla a present of 100 lions from Africa.89 The Mithridatic war begins; lasts twenty-six years; 86 Sylla defeats the consuls Carbo and Cinna; Metellus (consul); Sertorius (Roman General); 78 death of Sylla; 76 Calaguris besieged by Pompey; the inhabitants, reduced to extremity, feed on their wives and children.75 Bithynia bequeathed to the Romans by Nicomedes.73 Sertorius assassinated by Perpenna and others at Osca.73 Servile war begins; Roman slaves revolt against their masters, under Spartacus; defeated, two years afterwards, by Pompey and Crassus.72 Lucullus defeats Mithridates the Great at Cabira; 69 defeats Tigranes; captures Tigranocerta; 68 defeats Mithridates at Zela; 66 again at Nicopolis.67 Pompey takes Coracesium; 65 dethrones Antiochus Asiaticus.64 Pontus annexed to Rome; Death of Mithridates the Great.63 Palestine conquered by Pompey; Cataline defeated and killed at Pistoria.60 First triumvirate of Cæsar, Pompey and Crassus; Age of Catullus (poet); Cicero (orator); Sallust (historian); Roscius (actor), &c.57 Gaul becomes a Roman province; 55 Cæsar invades Britain.53 Crassus plunders the Temple of Venus at Hierapolis; his defeat and death, by the Parthians, near Carrhæ.51 Siege and capture of Pindenissus by Cicero.50 Civil war between Cæsar and Pompey; 49 Cæsar crosses the Rubicon; takes Ariminum; 48 defeats Pompey at Pharsalia, July 30th, death of Pompey.47 Cæsar defeats Pharnaces at Zela; writes from thence his famous letter of three words, “Veni, vidi, vici;” I came, I saw, I conquered; 46 Victorious at Thapsus; Death of Cato; 45 Battle of Munda; the last in which Cæsar commanded.44 Cæsar killed in the Senate-house, March 15th, by Brutus, Cassius, &c.43 Antony defeats the Consul Pansa, and is defeated the same day by Hirtius; Cicero murdered by order of Antony; Age of Varro (historian and philosopher); Diodorus Siculus and Pompeius (historians).42 Antony and Octavius defeat Brutus and Cassius at Philippi.37 Herod, an Idumean, placed on the Jewish throne.31 Naval battle at Actium; Octavius defeats Antony;Ends the Commonwealth of Rome.30 Death of Antony and Cleopatra; Egypt becomes a Roman province.28Roman Empire begins.27 Title of Augustus given to Octavius; Augustin age; Virgil, Livy, Ovid, Propertius (poets); Horace (historian); Dionysius Halicarnassus (antiquarian).20 Roman standards taken from Crassus restored to Augustus, by Phraates, king of Parthia; death of Virgil.19 Noricum and Pannonia conquered by the Romans; Candace, queen of Meroe, in Ethiopia, blind of an eye, invades Egypt, but is repelled.15 Rhætia and Vindelicia conquered by Drusus.6 Archelaus, surnamed Herod, banished to Vienna, in Gaul.4Jesus Christ, ourSaviour, born four years before the vulgar era, December 25th.2 Massacre of the Innocents at Bethlehem, by order of Herod; his death; Archelaus succeeds him.A.D. First year of the Christian Era, 4004 years after the Creation.2 Silk first introduced into Rome.6 Procurators or governors appointed over Judea.8 Christ, at twelve years of age, is three days in the temple.9 Arminius or Herman, a German chief, destroys the army of Varus; this defeat causes a great sensation at Rome; Ovid banished to Tomi.14 Augustus dies at Nola, after a reign of forty-five years; succeeded by Tiberius; Age of Germanicus (Roman general).20 Jews expelled from Italy by Tiberius; 28 Age of Strabo (geographer).29 John the Baptist commences preaching: 30 Baptizes our Saviour.31 Our Saviour delivers the Sermon on the Mount.32 Feeds the 5000: his transfiguration; John the Baptist beheaded.33 Our Saviour’s death; First Christian Church at Jerusalem.37 Conversion of St. Paul; Death of Tiberius; succeeded by Caligula; 40 Caligula assassinated.41 Seneca banished to Corsica; is recalled eight years afterwards; Age of Pomponius Mela (geographer).43 Expedition of Claudius into Britain; 51 Caractacus, British king, taken as a prisoner to Rome.52 Paul visits Athens; 54 preaches the Gospel at Ephesus; Age of Persius (satirist); Age of Lucan the poet.60 St. Paul arrested; 62 voyage to Rome; 63 arrives in that city.61 Boadicea defeated by Suetonius Paulinus at Camulodunum.68 Nero dies: Josephus (historian); Pliny (naturalist); Petronius (poet).69 Galba slain; Suicide of Otho; Vitellius slain.70 Jerusalem taken and destroyed by Titus, September 8th; Agricola’s fleet sails around Britain; Agricola promotes useful arts among the Britons.76 Agricola defeats Galgacus at the foot of the Grampian Hills.79 Herculaneum, Pompeii, and other cities, overwhelmed by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius; Death of the elder Pliny.81 Titus dies, aged 40; Age of Martial (poet); Quintilian (rhetorician).96 Domitian slain; Age of Tacitus (historian); Juvenal (satirist).103 Dacia conquered by Trajan; 106 Age of Pliny the younger; Plutarch.117 Death of Trajan, at Selinus, in Cilicia; succeeded by Adrian.120 Wall built by Adrian across Britain.139 Death of Adrian, aged 71; Antoninus (emperor); Ptolemy (geographer).140 Wall built by Antoninus across Britain.169 Death of Polycarp the Martyr; Age of Galen (physician).180 Marcus Aurelius (emperor) dies at Sirmium.192 The Emperor Commodus slain; Pertinax succeeds him.194 Severus defeats Niger at Issus; becomes emperor.210 Wall built across Britain by Severus; 218 Heliogabalus emperor.226 Artaxerxes founds second Persian empire; Dynasty of the Sassanides begins.238 Maximinus killed by his own soldiers before the walls of Aquileia. This emperor was a monster of cruelty, and of gigantic size and strength, being eight feet high.259 Sapor I captures the emperor Valerian, and flays him alive; Odenatus king of Palmyra; Gallienus succeeds Valerian.267 Odenatus dies; Zenobia, his wife, assumes the title of Queen of the East.270 Death of Claudius; Aurelian succeeds; regards Zenobia as a usurper; 272 defeats her at Antioch and Emesa; 273 captures Palmyra; takes Zenobia prisoner; puts Longinus, her secretary to death.275 Emperor Tacitus; 282 Emperor Probus killed, near Sirmium.286 Age of the emperors Diocletian and Maximianus.305 Both resign their authority to enjoy private life; the first retires to Salona in Illyricum, and the other to Lucania.306 Constantine the Great proclaimed emperor; 313 establishes Christianity as the religion of the empire; 315 defeats Licinius at Cibalis; 324 again at Adrianopolis; 328 removes the government from Rome to Byzantium.338 Death of Constantine; succeeded by his sons Constantinus, Constantius and Constans.348 Sapor defeats Constantius at Singara; 350 Constantius sole emperor; 351 defeats Magnentius at Mursa; 353, again at Mons Seleucus.360 Julian the Apostate (emperor); 363 dies; next year Jovian dies.367 Age of Ausonius (poet); 375 Emporor Gratian.378 Valens defeated by the Goths at Adrianopolis. This was the most disastrous defeat experienced by the Romans since the battle of Cannæ.380 Age of St. Augustine, one of the fathers of the Church.395 Theodosius, emperor, divides the Roman empire between his sons Arcadius and Honorius, into Eastern and Western.403 Stilicho defeated by the Goths at Pollentia.407 The Alans, Vandals and Sueves invade Gaul and Spain.408 Alaric takes Rome first time; 409, second time; 410, third time; the city given up to plunder for six days; Death of Alaric; Kingdom of Burgundy founded.441 Age of St. Patrick; 448 Romans leave Britain; next year Angles and Saxons land under Hengist and Horsa.451 Attila defeated at Durocatalaunum; 452 destroys Aquileia; 453 Dies.455 Rome captured by Genseric, king of the Vandals; Heptarchy established in Britain.474 Romulus Augustulus, last emperor of the west.476End of the Roman Empire.489 Odoacer, chief of the Heruli, becomes king of Italy; Ostrogoths invade Italy and defeat Odoacer.496 Clovis the Great, king of France; Feudal system begins.529 Age of Justinian; Belisarius (Roman general).622 Mahomet, aged 53, flies from Mecca to Medina, which forms the first year of the Hegira or Mahometan Era.632 Death of Mahomet; Abubeker, his successor or first Caliph.636 Saracens conquer Egypt; destroy the Alexandrian Library.712 The Moors invade Spain; 713 conquer the Visigoths.742 Charlemagne, son of Pepin the Short, born; 768 crowned king of the Franks; 774 crowned king of Italy; 800 crowned emperor of the West, by Pope Leo III; 814 Charlemagne dies. Charlemagne was the most powerful Christian monarch of the middle ages; he was a renowned warrior, he also encouraged learning and religion, and collected around him the most noted scholars of his time.827 The Heptarchy united under Egbert, king of England.843 Kenneth Macalpine first king of Scotland.849 Alfred, King of England, born; 872 ascends the throne; 901 dies. This monarch rescued his country from the power of the Danes; encouraged learning and religion; enacted wise laws, and laid the foundation of the naval power of Britain.853 Tithes of all England granted to the church.856 The English crown first disposed of by will.862 Winchester burnt by the Danes.867 The monasteries ravaged by the Danes.886 Ships first built to secure the coasts. Learning restored at Oxford, by Alfred the Great.890 Brick and stone first used in building. Time calculated by wax candles marked.897 A plague happened which caused great desolation among the inhabitants.900 Athelstan created knight, and the first who enjoyed this title in England.937 A severe frost, which continued 120 days. The Bible translated into the Saxon. Colebrand, the Danish giant, killed by Guy, Earl of Warwick.944 A storm blew down 1500 houses in London.945 The first tuneable bells in England were this year hung in Croyland Abbey.946 Stealing first punished with death.955 Edred enjoyed the honor of being the first who was styled King of Great Britain.960 Laws to prevent excessive drinking. Wolves’ heads made a tribute. Eight princes rowed Edgar over the river Dee.979 Juries instituted.982 A fire destroyed the King’s palace and a great part of London.991 The land-tax first levied.999 Danegelt first levied, to bribe the Danes to leave the kingdom.1002 November 13, a general massacre of the Danes began at Welwin in Hertfordshire.1012 The priests first inhibited from marrying.1014 Selling English children and kindred to Ireland, prohibited.1017 Canute caused the assassins of Edmund, and the traitor Edric who by a plot of regicide had advanced him to the throne, to be hanged.1040 Macbeth murders Duncan king of Scotland.1058 Edward the Confessor began to cure the King’s evil. Godiva relieved Coventry from some heavy taxes by riding naked through the town.1060 The cross of Waltham erected.1065 The Saxon laws written in Latin.1066 William Fitzosborne created earl of Hereford, being the first Earl created in this kingdom.1068 The tax of Danegelt was re-established; and the curfew-bell ordered to be rung at eight every evening, when the people were obliged, on pain of death, to extinguish their fire and candle.1072 Surnames first used in England.1075 William was reconciled with his son Robert, who had rebelled against him. Waltheof, earl of Northumberland, was beheaded for rebellion, and was the first English nobleman thus executed.1076 William refused to pay homage to the see of Rome for the possession of England, and forbade his bishops to attend the council that Gregory had summoned. He however sent to Rome the tribute of Peter-pence. A great earthquake in England, and a frost from November to the end of April.1078 William laid the foundation of London.1079 The Norman laws and language introduced.1085 Thirty-six parishes, containing a circuit of sixty miles in Hampshire, were depopulated and destroyed without any compensation to the inhabitants, in order to make New-Forest for William’s diversion of hunting. The tyrannical laws of the Forest were made.1087 A dreadful famine in England. William went to France and destroyed the country with fire and sword. He died at Rouen by a fall from his horse, and was buried at Caen, in Normandy, in the monastery he had himself founded, but was denied interment by the proprietor till the fees were paid.1088 An earthquake in London. A great scarcity this year, and corn not ripe till the end of November. William II embarked for Normandy, and made war against his brother Robert. William returned to England; and Henry his brother, was forced to wander without a residence.1091 A tempest which destroyed 500 houses. Great part of London consumed by fire.1092 Malcolm, king of Scotland, killed at Alnwick, by the Earl of Northumberland.1094 Man and beast destroyed by a great mortality.1095 Peter the hermit preached up a crusade to the Holy Land.1096 The Christian princes raised 700,000 men, and began the holy war. The first single combat for deciding disputes between the nobility.1097 The Voyage for the Holy War, was first undertaken. Being a contrivance of Pope Urban, to compose the divisions of the church, the whole Christian world being then at discord among themselves. This war lasted almost three hundred years.1098 Tower surrounded with a wall. Westminster Hall built. Its dimensions are 224 feet by 74.1099 Jerusalem taken by storm, and forty thousand Saracens put to the sword.1100 Godwin-Sands, the property of Earl Godwin, first overflowed by the sea, destroying four thousand acres of land. King Henry married the lady Maud, daughter of Margaret, late queen of Scots, and niece to Edgar Atheling, descended from Edmund Ironside. The use of fire and candle, after eight o’clock at night restored to the English.1106 King Henry subdues Normandy, takes Robert prisoner, and orders his eyes to be put out.1109 Three shillings levied on every hide of land, which tax produced £824,000.1110 Arts and sciences taught again at Cambridge.1112 A plague in London.1114 The Thames dry for three days.1116 A council called of the nobility, which is supposed by some to be the first parliament.1122 The order of the Knights Templars founded.1123 The first park (Woodstock) made in England.1129 The revenue of the royal demesne altered from kind to specie.1132 London mostly destroyed by fire.1134 Duke Robert, having been imprisoned and blinded twenty-eight years, ended his miserable existence. Wheat sufficient to subsist 100 men one day, sold at one shilling—a sheep 4d.1136 The distance from Aldgate to St. Paul’s (included), destroyed by fire in London.1136 The Empress Maud besieged in Oxford, and made her escape from thence on foot, being disguised in white, on a snowy night, to Abingdon. The tax of Danegelt entirely abolished. No less than fifteen hundred strong castles in the kingdom.1139 The Empress Matilda lands at Arundel, and claims the crown. Makes her natural brother, Robert, Earl of Gloucester, her general.1141 Stephen taken prisoner at the battle of Lincoln, and confined in chains by Maud, in Gloucester gaol. Stephen released.1148 A new Crusade undertaken.1151 Gratian of Bologna, the monk, collects the canon laws after twenty-four year’s labour.1153 Agreed, between Henry and Stephen, that eleven hundred of the castles, erected by permission of the latter, should be abolished. Appeals were first made to the Pope, and canon laws instituted. There was no regular mode of taxation. Contending parties supported themselves by plundering each other’s tenants. There were more abbeys built, than in the hundred years preceding.1155 The castles demolished, agreeably to the treaty of 1153.1157 The Welsh, subdued, do homage, and swear allegiance. A sect, called Publicans, rejecting baptism and marriage, came into England from Germany. The bishops pronounced them heretics; they were branded in the forehead and whipped.1174 Henry scourged for the supposed murder of Becket. The bishops and abbots of Scotland swore fealty to England and its church. The earls and barons of Scotland swore allegiance to Henry and his son.1176 London bridge begun by Peter Colmar, a priest. It was thirty-three years in building.1177 Glass windows in private houses first used. Debasers of coin first severely punished. A new coinage.1185 A total eclipse of the sun; and, at the same time, an earthquake, which destroyed Lincoln and other churches.1186 Near Oxford in Suffolk, was a sort of wild-man caught in a fisherman’s net. Trial by jury established, or the verdict of twelve men, to punish offenders with the loss of a leg or banishment. Henry secreted his concubine (Rosamond, daughter of Walter, lord Clifford) in a labyrinth at his palace at Woodstock, who being discovered by his queen Eleanor, was poisoned by her, and buried at Godstow nunnery near Oxford.1189 The castles of Berwick and Roxburgh delivered up to William, king of Scotland, who was, at the same time relieved from subjection to England. Richard began, with Philip of France, his expedition to the Holy Land. About this time were those famous robbers and outlaws, Robin Hood, and Little John. Upon Richard’s coronation-day, (3rd September,) was a great slaughter of the Jews in London, who coming to offer their presents to the new king, were set upon by the mob, to the loss of their lives and estates; and the example of London was followed by other towns, as Norwich, St. Edmunds-Bury, Lincoln, Stamford and Lynn.1190 King Richard marries the Lady Berengaria, daughter to the king of Navarre, and goes to the Holy Land, having sold some of the crown lands to raise the money for that expedition. In which voyage he took the Island of Sicily and Cyprus.1191 Richard obtained a great victory over Saladin, at Jerusalem, September 3. He soon after defeated a Turkish troop of 10,000, who were guarding a caravan to Jerusalem. He took, on this occasion, 3,000 loaded camels, 4,000 mules, and an inestimable booty which he gave to his troops.1192 Multitudes destroyed by a raging fever, which lasted five months. Two suns appeared on Whitsunday, so resembling each other, that astronomers could scarcely distinguish which was the centre of our system, according to Copernicus.1194 Richard having been absent four years, returned to England, March 20. He made war with France, and having obtained a great victory over the French at Gysors “Not we” says he, “butDieu et mon Droit,” i.e. God and my Right, has obtained this victory. Ever since, the kings of England have made it their motto. The king of Scotland carried the sword of state at the second coronation of Richard.1197 Robin Hood, being indisposed, and desiring to be blooded, was purposely and treacherously bled to death. In this reign, companies and societies were first established in London. Three lions passant first borne in the king’s shield.1199 Surnames first used.1200 The king of Scotland performed public homage to John, at the parliament held in Lincoln. Assize of bread first appointed.1204 The Inquisition established by Pope Innocent III. The most ancient writ of parliament directed to the bishop of Salisbury. Five moons seen at one time in Yorkshire.1205 A fish resembling a man taken on the coast of Suffolk, and kept alive six months.1207 The first annual mayor and common council of London chosen.1208 Divine service throughout the kingdom suspended by the Pope’s interdict.1209 John excommunicated.1210 Twenty Irish princes do homage to John at Dublin. The clergy taxed to the amount of £100,000.1211 England absolved by the Pope from its allegiance to John.1212 Great part of London burnt down by a fire which began in Southwark in Middlesex, and consumed the Church of St. Mary Overy, went on to the bridge; and whilst some were quenching the flames, the houses at the other end took fire, so that numbers were inclosed; many were forced to leap into the Thames, whilst others, crowding into boats that came to their relief, were the cause of nearly 3,000 people perishing, partly by water, and partly by fire.1213 John resigned his dominions to the Pope, and was absolved. In this reign, sterling money was first coined.1216 Wheat was sold for twelve-pence a quarter, and beans and oats for four-pence a quarter.1222 The ward-ship of heirs and their lands was granted to king Henry.1226 The Pope demanded a sum annually from every cathedral church and monastery in Christendom. This demand was refused. Thomas à Becket’s bones were enshrined in gold and precious stones. Two imposters executed, the one for pretending to be the Virgin Mary, the other Mary Magdalen.1228 The Jews obliged to pay a third part of their property to the king.1236 Water first conveyed to London with utility. The Pope’s ambassador going to Oxford, was set upon by the students, and his brother slain, himself hardly escaping; whereupon the Pope excommunicated the University, and made all the bishops who interceded in the University’s behalf, and the students, go without their gowns, and barefooted from St. Paul’s church to his house, being about a mile, before he would revoke the sentence.1246 Titles first used.1251 Wales entirely subdued and subjected to English laws.1253 Fine linen first made in England.1255 All possessing £15 per annum, obliged to be knighted, or pay a fine. Tapestry introduced by Eleanor, wife of prince Edward.1264 There were 700 Jews slain in London, because one of them would have forced a Christian to have paid more than two-pence, for the use of twenty shillings a week.1269 About this time, Roger Bacon, a divine of Merton College in Oxford, was imprisoned by the Pope, for preaching against the Romish church.1273 The Scots swear fealty to Edward, June 12.1275 Jews obliged to wear a badge; usury restrained by the same act of parliament, October 6.1279 The first statute of Mortmain. 280 Jews hung for clipping and coining.1282 The Rolls in Chancery-lane given to the Jews. Wales reduced, after having preserved her liberties 800 years.1284 Edward II born at Caernarvon, and created first prince of Wales, April 25.1285 The abbey Church of Westminster finished, being sixty years in building.1286 The Jews seized, and £12,000 extorted from them by order of the king. He likewise laid great fines upon his judges, and other ministers, for their corruption; the sum imposed upon eleven of them was 236,000 marks.1289 15,000 Jews banished.1291 Charing, Waltham, St. Albans, and Dunstable crosses erected, where the corpse of queen Eleanor was rested on its way from Lincoln to Westminster for interment.1295 The Scots confederate with the French against the English.1296 Baliol, king of Scotland, brought prisoner to London.1298 40,000 Scots killed by the English at the battle of Falkirk. Sir William Wallace defeated at Falkirk. Baliol released. Spectacles invented.1301 Parliament declared Scotland subject to England.1302 The treasury robbed of property to the amount of £100,000. Magnetic needle first used.1308 Crockery ware invented.1314 The king defeated at Bannockburn, in Scotland.1319 Dublin University founded.1322 Knights templar order abolished. Under the accusation of heresy and other vices, all the knights templar were seized by order of the king, in one day. The knights templar were an order instituted by Baldwin, king of Jerusalem, for the defence of the Holy City, and of the pilgrims that travelled thither, and were afterwards dispersed through all the kingdoms in Christendom. They were so enriched by the superstitious world, that they possessed no less than 14,000 lordships, besides other valuable lands.1325 The queen and her adherents declared enemies to the kingdom.1326 The nobility renounce all fealty to Edward. The king resigns his crown to his son Edward III.1327 The first general pardon granted at a coronation, which was afterwards imitated by succeeding kings.1330 Gunpowder invented. The use of guns by Berthold Swartz of Cologne in Germany, a monk, who being addicted to the study of Chemistry, and making up a preparation of Nitre, and other things, a spark of fire fell into it and caused a quick and violent explosion; whereupon he made a composition of powder, and inclosing it in an instrument of brass, found it answer his intention, and by this accident came the invention of Guns.1331 The art of weaving cloth brought from Flanders.1340 Copper money first used in Scotland and Ireland. Thomas Blanket andsome other inhabitants of Bristol, set up looms for weaving those woollen cloths that yet bear that name.1341 Gold first coined in England.1346 Cannon first used by the English at Cressy.1347 So great a plague in England, that in one year there was buried in London 50,000; and there succeeded a famine and murrain. August 3rd, king Edward took the City of Calais, which he filled with English inhabitants; and it remained in the possession of the Crown of England 210 years after.1348 The Order of the Garter instituted by Edward the Black Prince, April 3. The plague destroyed one-half of the people.1352 The largest silver coin in England was groats.1357 Coals first imported into London.1362 Council obliged to plead in English.1364 Four kings entertained at one time, by Sir Henry Picard, lord mayor of London.1377 The first champion at coronation. Orders to arm the clergy.1378 The plague in the north of England. In this year Greenland was discovered.1379 Every person in the kingdom taxed, April 25.1381 Bills of Exchange first used. Wat Tyler’s rebellion begun May 3. 1506 rebels hung, July 2.1385 The French land in Scotland, in order to invade England, whereupon king Richard went to fight them, and put Edinburgh into flames, but they refusing to fight, he returns.1386 Linen-weavers company first settled.1387 The first high-admiral of England appointed. William of Wickham, bishop of Winchester, and lord treasurer, and chancellor of England, laid the foundation of the college in Winchester, as a nursery for his college in Oxford.1388 Bombs invented.1391 A great plague and famine. Cards invented for the King of France. Charles VI.1392 Thirteen counties charged with treason, and obliged to purchase their pardons. Provision seized, without payment, for the army. Duke of Lancaster landed, and declared his pretensions to the crown, July 4. Richard confined in the tower, August 20. Resigned his crown, September 29. In this reign piked shoes were worn tied with ribands and chains of silver to the knees. Ladies began to ride on side saddles, before which time they used to ride astride like men.1399 Geoffrey Chaucer, the poet, died. A conspiracy formed to restore Richard.1400 Richard II murdered in Pontefract Castle. Emperor of Constantinople visited England.1403 The battle of Shrewsbury, July 22, gained by Henry and the valour of his sons.1405 Great guns first used in England, at the siege of Berwick.1407 A plague destroyed 30,000 persons in London.1409 Wickliffe’s doctrine condemned.1414 King Henry sends his brother, the Duke of Bedford, &c., with 200 sail of ships, who fell upon the French fleet, sunk 500 French vessels, and took three great Carricks of Genoa; relieved Harfleur, and so forced the French to raise the siege. In this action many thousands of the French were killed.1415 The battle of Agincourt gained by Henry, with a loss of 10,000 men to the French, killed, and 14,000 prisoners, October 25th. Henry sent David Gam, a Welsh captain, to view the strength of the enemy, who reported, “There were enough to be killed, enough to be taken prisoners, and enough to run away.”1418 Sir John Oldcastle burnt for heresy in St. Giles’s fields.1419 Vines and sugar-cane first planted in Madeira.1420 Henry assumes the title of King of France, on a new coin, April 18th. Kings of France and England make a magnificent entry into Paris.1421 The Duke of Clarence, making an inroad into Anjou, in an unhappy engagement with the French, he and about 2,000 English were slain.1422 The two Courts of England and France held at Paris, on Whitsunday: the two Kings and Queens dined together in public, May 21st. In this reign it was enacted that knights, citizens, and burgesses, should be resident in the place for which they were chosen. The crown and jewels were pawned to raise money for maintaining the war with France.1422 The French King enlisted 15,000 Scots.1424 The King of Scotland ransomed.1430 Every person possessed of £40 per annum, obliged to be knighted.1436 Paris taken by the English.1437 James, King of Scotland, murdered, February 19th. So great a dearth, that bread was made of fern roots and ivy berries.1447 The Bodleian library at Oxford founded.1448 Duke of York asserts his title to the crown.1449 A rebellion in Ireland.1450 The King and his forces defeated at Seven-oaks, by Jack Cade, in May. Cade killed, and his followers dispersed, in June.1453 The first Lord Mayor’s show. Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, encounters the Queen’s army, near Wakefield in Yorkshire, in which he was killed, and his army routed. Edward Plantagenet, Earl of March, hearing of his father’s death, took upon him the title of Duke of York, and in a battle, at Mortimer’s-cross, near Ludlow, overthrew the Earls of Pembroke, Ormond, and Wiltshire, and beheaded Owen Tudor, the King’s father-in-law. And in another battle with the Queen, he killed the Earls of Northumberland, and Westmoreland; the Lords Dacres, Wells, Clifford, Beaumont, and Grey. This was the bloodiest battle that England ever knew, for there were killed that day 36,776 men.1454 The king defeated by the Duke of York, at Barnet.1459 Engravings and etchings invented.1460 The King taken prisoner at the battle of Northampton.1461 Edward, the Duke of York, proclaimed King. Richard Plantagenet, brother to Edward IV, created Duke of Gloucester. Henry, Margaret, their sons, and adherents, attained by parliament, November 6th.1463 Woollens, laces, ribands, and other English manufactures, prohibited exportation.1464 Henry, in disguise, taken prisoner, and conveyed to the Tower.1469 5,000 Welsh slain at the battle of Branbury.1470 Warwick, being offended at the marriage of Edward IV, landed September 13th, with 60,000 men from France. Edward IV flies to the Duke of Burgundy, his brother-in-law, in Holland.1471 King Edward, endeavouring to re-obtain the crown, encounters King Henry in a bloody battle, upon Gladmore heath, near Barnet, and King Henry taken prisoner a second time. On both sides were slain 10,000 men. King Henry’s Queen, in a battle with King Edward, was taken prisoner, 3,000 on her side were slain, and her son Edward killed; and soon after, King Henry himself was murdered by the hand of the crook-back’d Duke of Gloucester.1472 A plague in England destroyed more than preceding fifteen year’s war.1475 Margaret of Anjou, ransomed for £12,500.1481 James, King of Scotland, caused one of his brothers to be murdered. Thomas Parr born this year, and lived 152 years. A remarkable act was passed in this reign, which enacted what sort of dress each class of men should wear. Another enacted that no peaked shoes should be worn.1483 Gloucester conveyed the King to Northampton. Lords Hastings, Rivers, and Grey beheaded. The Lord Mayor, &c., at the instigation of the Duke of Buckingham, offered the crown to the Duke of Gloucester, who, with affected hesitation, accepted it, June 17th. King Edward V, and his brother, the Duke of York, murdered in the Tower. Jane Shore, concubine to King Edward IV, and afterwards to Lord Hastings, was obliged to do penance publicly in St. Paul’s. She was afterwards starved to death, no person being allowed to relieve her, and died in a ditch; to which circumstance, Shoreditch is said to owe its name. Edward V was born in Westminster Abbey, November 4th, 1470; reigning two months and eighteen days, was murdered in the Tower, and buried there privately. His remains were afterwards found in 1674, and removed to Westminster. Richard, Duke of Gloucester, (the English Nero,) proclaimed King of England. Post-horses and stages established. Earl of Richmond landed at Pool in Dorsetshire. Being nearly surprised by Richard, he embarked again, and returned to Picardy.1484 Anne, the Queen of Richard, died March 16th. Richard treats withLaudais, the Duke of Bretagne’s prime minister, for surprising and delivering up the Earl of Richmond. Richmond, escaping from Bretagne, went to Angers, in Anjou.1485 Lord Stanley raises 5000 men, and his brother 2000, with whom they joined Richmond. The sweating sickness, raged in London.1486 King Henry, to balance the power of the Lords, found a way to raise that of the Commons, which ever since has carried a much greater sway than formerly in the government.1487 Lambert Simnel, who personated the Duke of York, was made a scullion in the King’s kitchen. The star chamber instituted.1488 The King of Scotland, James III, killed by his subjects. Cape of Good Hope discovered.1489 Maps and sea charts first brought into England by Bartholomew Columbus.1491 The Greek language first introduced into England.1492 3rd August, Columbus set sail from Palos, a port of Spain, and on the 12th of October, to his unspeakable gratification, he made his first discovery in the New World. This was one of the Bahama Islands, called by the natives Guanahani, named by Columbus St. Salvador, and afterwards, by some unpardonable caprice, called by the English Cat Island. He landed the same day, took possession of it in the name of the Spanish sovereigns, and assumed the titles of Admiral and Viceroy, which had been awarded to him before he sailed from Europe.1493 15th March. Columbus arrived in Spain after a stormy and dangerous voyage, having taken not quite seven months and a-half to accomplish this momentous enterprize.1494 Poyning’s law, which enacted that the statutes in England, respecting the English, should be observed in Ireland likewise, first instituted by Sir Edward Poyning.1495 Cicely, Duchess of York, mother to King Edward IV, died, being very old, who had lived to see three Princes born of her body, crowned, and four murdered.1497 Perkin Warbeck besieged Exeter. The passage to the Indies by the way of the Cape of Good Hope discovered. 3rd July, John Cabot discovered Newfoundland. He sailed from the Port of Bristol, in the spring of 1497, and, on the 3rd of July, discovered the coast of Labrador. The opposite Island, now called Newfoundland, they called St. Johns, having landed there on St. John’s day. To the mainland they gave the name ofTerra prima vista—or Primavista (first seen). The English navigators thus reached the continent of North America only five years after Columbus had discovered the West Indies, and more than a year before he had landed on the continent or main land.1499 Perkin Warbeck taken and hung at Tyburn, and the last Earl of the Plantagenet line was beheaded on Tower-hill, November 28th.1500 A plague in London, which destroyed 30,000 of its inhabitants. A marriage was concluded between James IV, King of Scotland, and Margaret, the daughter of King Henry VII, which afterwards united England and Scotland under one King.1505 Shillings first coined in England.1513 Earl of Surrey gained the battle of Flodden-field, over the Scots, whose King, James IV, fell in the contest. King Henry invades France in person, takes Terwin and Tournay, at the siege of which, the Emperor Maximilian served under the King’s pay. At which siege likewise, was fought that battle called the battle of Spurs, because the English put some of the French troops to flight who made great use of their spurs.1514 Enacted that surgeons should not sit on juries, nor be employed in parish offices.1517 Oxford depopulated by stagnated waters. Martin Luther began the reformation in Germany.1521 King Henry derived the title to him and his successors of Defender of the Faith, from writing a book against Luther. Musquets first invented. Mexico city yielded, after a prolonged siege, to Cortez, in August.1522 Magellan performed his voyage under the auspices of Charles V, of Spain. He set sail from Seville, in Spain, in August, 1519. After spending several months on the coast of South America, searching for a passage to the Indies, he continued his voyage to the South, passed through the strait that bears his name, and after sailing three months and twenty-one days, through an unknown ocean, he discovered a cluster of fertile islands, which he named the Ladrones, or the Islands of Thieves, from the thievish disposition of the natives. The fair weather and favourable winds which he experienced induced him to bestow on this the name of the Pacific, which it still retains. Proceeding from the Ladrones, he discovered the islands which were afterwards called the Philippines in honour of Philip, King of Spain, who subjected them forty years after the voyage of Magellan. Here, in a contest with the natives, Magellan was killed, and the expedition was prosecuted under other commanders. After taking in a cargo of spices at the Moluccas, the only vessel of the squadron then fit for a long voyage, sailed for Europe by the way of the Cape of Good Hope, and arrived in Spain in September, 1522.1530 The palace of St. James built.1535 Brass cannon first cast in England by John Owen. Jacques Cartier discovered the St. Lawrence on that Saint’s day. He explored the north-east coast carefully, and, passing through the Strait of Belleisle, traversed the great Gulf of the St. Lawrence, and arrived in the Bay of Chaleurs in July. He was delighted with the peaceable and friendly conduct of the natives, “who,” says Hakluyt, “with one of their boats, came unto us, and brought us pieces of seals ready sodden,putting them upon pieces of wood: then, retiring themselves, they would make signs unto us, that they did give them to us.” From this hospitable place, where the natives seem to have displayed some of the politeness of modern society, Jacques Cartier proceeded to Gaspé Bay, where he erected a cross thirty feet high, with a shield bearing the three fleurs-de-lis of France, thus taking possession in the name of Francis the First. He carried off two natives from Gaspé, who were of great use to him on his succeeding voyage. It appears, however, that it was with their own consent, as they allowed themselves to be clothed in shirts, coloured coats and caps, and to have a copper chain placed about their neck, “whereat they were greatly contented, and gave their old clothes to their fellows that went back again.” Cartier coasted along the northern shores of the Gulf, when, meeting with boisterous weather, he made sail for France, and arrived at St. Malo on the 5th of September. This celebrated navigator deserves especial notice, inasmuch as he was the first who explored the shores of Canada to any considerable extent, and was the very first European who became acquainted with the existence of Hochelaga, and in 1535 pushed his way through all obstacles till he discovered and entered the village which occupied the very spot on which now stands the city of Montreal.1536 376 monasteries suppressed.1539 Leaden pipes to convey water invented.1540 645 religious houses seized, and their property, amounting to £161,000, given to the King. The number of monasteries suppressed in England and Wales, were 313, Priories 290, Friaries 122, Nunneries 142, Colleges 152, and Hospitals 129; in all 1148.1541 1st voyage to India by an English ship.1543 Mortars and cannon first cast in iron.1544 Pistols first used.1545 William Foxley slept fourteen days, and lived forty-one days after.1547 The vows of celibacy before taken by priests, annulled, and the communion ordered to be administered in both kinds. Evening prayers began to be read in English in the King’s chapel, April 16th. The Scots refusing to marry their young Queen to King Edward (according to their promise in his father’s life-time), the protector enters Scotland with an army of 12,000 foot, and 600 horse, and fights them in Pinkey-field, near Musselburgh, and kills 14,000 Scots, and takes 1500 prisoners, having lost but sixty of his own men.1548 Some ceremonies were now abrogated, and an order of council against the carrying of candles, on Candlemas-day, ashes on Ash-Wednesday, and palms on Palm-Sunday.1549 Telescopes invented.1551 The sweating-sickness broke out this year In England with such contagion, that 800 died in one week of it in London. Those that weretaken with it were inclined much to sleep, and all that slept died; but if they were kept awake a day, they got well. A college founded in Galway in Ireland. Common-prayer books established by act of parliament. Monks and nuns allowed inheritances. Sternhold and Hopkins translated and put the Psalms into verse.1553 There was so great a plenty of malt and wheat, that a barrel of beer with the cock sold for six-pence, and four great loaves for one penny. The King founded St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, Bridewell, improved the Hospital of Christchurch and St. Thomas’ Hospital, Southwark. Judge Hales, in his circuit into Kent, required the justices to see to the execution of King Edward’s laws: for which he was committed, and removed from prison to prison, and threatened so, that he attempted to cut his own throat, and at last drowned himself.1553 Spitzbergen, the White Sea, and Nova Zembla, discovered by the English.1554 The laws against Lollards and Heretics were revived, and the statutes of Mortmain repealed. There was at this time a discovery in London of the imposter of the Spirit of the Wall, who, by the help of a whistle, uttered several things relating to religion, and the state, through a hole in a wall. It was found to be Elizabeth Croses, and one Drake, her accomplice, who were both made to do penance for it publicly at St. Paul’s. Scory, bishop of Chichester, renounced his wife, and did penance for his marriage. It is supposed there were 12,000 of the clergy deprived for being married, and most of them were judged upon common fame, without any process, but a citation.1555 The church lands, in the Queen’s possession, restored. Coaches first used in England.1556 300 Protestants burnt for heresy.1557 This year began with a visitation of the Universities. Commissioners were sent to Oxford, where they burnt all the English Bibles and heretical books they could find; and took up the body of Peter Martyr’s wife, who they said was a heretic, and buried it in a dunghill. And at Cambridge, they dug up the bodies of Bucer and Fagius, two heretics, and tied their coffins to stakes, and burnt them and their heretical books together. Cardinal Pole died November 15th.1576–77–78 Three voyages by Frobisher in search of a North-west passage. Greenland explored.1580 Drake, the first English circumnavigator.1584 Virginia discovered by Sir Walter Raleigh.1587 Davies’ Straits discovered by Davies, an English navigator. February 9th. Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, at Fotheringay Castle.1588 Destruction of the Spanish Armada.1595 Falkland Islands, discovered by Hawkins.1596 The first trading expedition to the East Indies.1599 East India Company. Chauvin made two voyages to Tadousac.1603 Death of Queen Elizabeth on 24th March, and accession of James VI.1604 The present translation of the Bible made.1605 The gun-powder plot discovered. The channel for the New River allowed to be cut. 97,304 person died in London, this year, whereof 68,596 died of the plague.1608 Virginia planted by the English. Champlain returned to Canada, and Quebec founded 3rd July.

B.C.

4004Creation of the World.

2944 Birth of Noah.

2348 TheFloodorDelugecovers the whole earth—lasts about a year.

2347 Noah quits the Ark; offers sacrifices of thanksgiving; God appoints the rainbow as a pledge that he will never again destroy the earth by the waters of a flood. (Gen. ix. 11.)

2300 The Tower of Babel built; confusion of languages; dispersion of mankind.

2233 Babylon founded by Nimrod; Nineveh founded by Asshur; commencement of the Assyrian monarchy.

2188 The Egyptian monarchy founded by Mizraim; continues 1663 years.

2059 Age of Ninus and Semiramis, Assyrian monarchs.

2000 Sicyon founded—the earliest town in Greece; Sidon founded.

1996 Birth of Abram, in Ur of the Chaldees; 1998 Noah dies.

1921Call of Abram; he leaves Ur; comes to Haran, where his father, Terah, dies, aged 205 years; emigrates to Canaan, with Sarai his wife, and Lot his nephew, and dwells at Shechem.

1920 Abram removes to Egypt; returns the same year.

1912 Abram defeats Chedorlaomer and the confederate kings; rescues Lot.

1910 Birth of Ishmael, the son of Abram and Hagar. (Gen. xvi. 16.)

1897 Destruction of Sodom, Gomorrah, &c.; Lot retires to Zoar; Abram’s name changed to Abraham; Sarai’s changed to Sarah.

1896 Isaac born at Beersheba; 1871 Offered up as a sacrifice by his father.

1836 Birth of Esau and Jacob; 1821 Abraham dies.

1800 Argos founded by the Pelasgians, under Inachus.

1759 Jacob retires to his uncle, Laban, in Padan Aram; 1745 Joseph born.

1739 Jacob returns to Canaan; resides at Shechem.

1728 Joseph sold by his brethren; 1716 Isaac dies.

1706 Jacob removes to Egypt; 1689 his death.

1705 Joseph raised to distinction in Egypt; 1635 Joseph dies.

1600 Hyksos or shepherd kings conquer Egypt; they oppress the Israelites.

1577 Age of Job; 1575, Birth of Aaron; 1571, Birth of Moses.

1550 Athens founded by Cecrops; 1531 Moses leaves Egypt.

1500 Tyre founded; Gades founded; 1493 Thebes founded by Cadmus.

1491 Moses returns to Egypt;Exodusordepartureof the Israelites from Egypt cross the Red Sea; law given on Mount Sinai.

1452 Death of Aaron, aged 123 years; buried on Mount Hor.

1451 Sihon defeated at Jahaz; Death of Moses, aged 120 years; Og defeated at Edrei; the Israelites cross Jordan; capture Jericho; sun and moon stand still at the command of Joshua; 1445, 1444 theLand of Canaandivided among the Twelve Tribes.

1443 Death of Joshua, aged 110 years; 1423 Tribe of Benjamin destroyed.

1406 Age of Minos, the Cretan lawgiver; 1405 Othniel first judge of Israel.

1400 Troy founded; Pelasgians expelled from Greece by the Hellenes.

1365 Age of Sesostris, king of Egypt; a great conqueror; built magnificent cities in his dominions.

1329 Amphictyonic council established.

1300 Voyage of the Argonauts from Aphetæ, in Thessaly, to Colchis, under the command of Jason; Hercules, Theseus, and his other companions were called Argonauts.

1290 Age of Mœris, king of Egypt; he causes lake Mœris to be dug, to receive the surplus waters of the Nile.

1285 Barak and Deborah defeat Jabin.

1245 Age of Gideon; defeats the Midianites and Moabites.

1187 Jephtha, the tenth judge of Israel, sacrifices his daughter.

1184 Troy captured, after a siege of ten years; Age of Agamemnon, Achilles, Diomedes, Nestor, Ulysses, Helen, Priam, Hector, Æneas, Andromache, &c.; Æneas sails for Italy.

1156 Age of Eli; 1155 Birth of Samuel; 1150 Utica, in Africa, founded.

1124 Æolian colonies established in Asia Minor.

1107 Age of Samson; judged Israel twenty years; betrayed to the Philistines by Delilah; buries himself under the ruins of the temple of Dagon, with a great number of his enemies.

1100 Salamis founded by Teucer.

1095 Saul first king of Israel; 1085 Birth of David; 1062 slays Goliath.

1055 Death of Saul; succession of David; 1048 crowned king of all Israel; 1047 takes Jerusalem from the Jebusites.

1044 Settlement of the Ionian colonies in Asia Minor; Age of Homer; the cities of Smyrna, Chios, Colophon, Salamis, Rhodes, Argos and Athens afterwards contend for the honour of his birth.

1037 The Moabites and Ammonites conquered by David.

1035 Rabbath Ammon taken by Joab; Uriah killed at the siege.

1033 Birth of Solomon; Age of Hiram king of Tyre.

1014 Death of David; succeeded by Solomon; Most flourishing period of the kingdom of Israel.

1003 Temple at Jerusalem built and dedicated by Solomon.

994 Dorians establish colonies in Asia Minor.

975Death of Solomon; Rehoboam succeeds him; his tyranny causes a division of the realm into the kingdom of Judah and Israel; Jeroboam king of Israel; Rehoboam king of Judah.

971 Shishak, king of Egypt, plunders the temple at Jerusalem.

907 Age of the poet Hesiod; 900 Pygmalion, brother of Dido.

897 Ahab, king of Israel, slain; Ahaziah, king of Judah; Elisha taken up to heaven; 884 Jehu king of Israel.

880 Lycurgus, the Spartan lawgiver.

878 Carthage founded by Dido, a Tyrian Princess.

827 Ethiopians conquer Egypt; 825 Jonah visits Nineveh; the people repent.

820 Death of Sardanapalus; First Assyrian empire destroyed; Median empire founded; Kingdom of Macedonia founded.

810 Uzziah, king of Judah, takes the cities of the Philistines.

800 Persepolis built; 776 Era of the Olympiads begins.

772 Pul invades Israel.

753 Rome founded, April 20; 743 First Messenian war lasts 19 years.

740 Damascus taken by Tiglath-pileser.

732 Syracuse founded; 730 Tarentum founded.

729 Samaria taken by Shalmanezer; End of the Kingdom of Israel; Captivity of the Ten Tribes.

713 Sennacherib threatens Hezekiah; his army miraculously destroyed.

685 Second Messenian war; lasts fourteen years; Ira besieged eleven years; its capture ends the war.

657 Holofernes slain by Judith, near Bethulia.

650 Naval battle between the Corcyreans and Corinthians—the first sea-fight on record.

641 Josiah king of Judah reforms abuses; restores the worship of God.

630 Cyrene founded; 627 Nabopolazzar king of Babylon.

616 Age of Pharaoh Necho; Tyrians in his service sail round Africa.

607 Nineveh taken by the Medes and Babylonians.

604 Age of Pittacus (general of Mitylene); Sappho (Greek poetess).

594 Age of Ezekiel.

591 Pythian Games begin; Age of Thales (philosopher); Æsop (fabulist).

588 Nebuchadnezzar takes Jerusalem; End of the kingdom of Judah; Beginning of the Babylonish captivity; 572 Nebuchadnezzar takes Tyre after a siege of thirteen years.

570 Voyage of Hanno along the west coast of Africa; about the same time Himilco sails to Britain.

560 Union of the Medes and Persians; Cyaxares king of the Medes.

559 Persian empire founded by Cyrus; Age of Anaximander, inventor of globes and charts.

548 Cyrus defeats Crœsus at Thymbra; Takes Sardis; Conquers Lydia.

539 Massilia founded; Age of Pythagoras (philosopher); Anacreon (poet).

538 Cyrus takes Babylon; Age of Daniel; 525 Cambyses conquers Egypt.

521 Age of Darius Hystaspes; 518 End of the Babylonish captivity.

516 Age of Artaxerxes Longimanus or Ahasuerus; Queen Esther.

515 The Temple of Jerusalem rebuilt; 510 Sybaris, in Italy, destroyed.

509 Consular government established in Rome.

504 Athenians burn Sardis; Age of Heraclitus (naturalist); Democedes (physician); 500 Milesians emigrate from Spain to Ireland.

500 First Persian war against Greece; 490 Battle of Marathon; the Greeks commanded by Miltiades, defeat the Persians, under Dates and Artaphanes; 480 Xerxes crosses the Hellespont at Abydos; invades Greece; Battle of Thermopylæ; Naval battles of Artemisium and Salamis; Age of Themistocles (Athenian statesman); Anaxagoras (philosopher); Pindar (poet); Æschylus (tragic writer); Corinna (poetess).

479 Battles of Platæa and Mycale on the same day.

470 The Athenians, under Cimon defeat the Persians, on the Eurymedon river, twice in one day, first on water and then on land.

465 Third Messenian war; lasts ten years.

457 Battle of Tanagra; Age of Pericles (Athenian statesman).

445 Age of Herodotus (historian); Phidias (sculptor).

431 First Peloponnesian war commences; continues twenty-seven years; Age of Hippocrates (physician); Democrates (philosopher, &c.)

424 Bœotians defeat the Athenians at Delium.

406 Naval battle of Ægos Potamos; Athenian fleet defeated by the Spartans; Age of Protagoras (philosopher); Parrhasius (painter).

401 Battle of Cunaxa; Death of Cyrus the younger; Retreat of the ten thousand under Xenophon.

400 Death of Socrates; 396 Age of Zeuxis (painter); Aristippus (philosopher).

395 Veii besieged by the Romans for ten years.

394 Spartans defeat the Thebans at Coronæa; Falerii taken by Camillus; Age of the Cyrenaic philosophers.

389 Battle of the Allia; Gauls defeat the Romans; burn Rome; inhabitants fly to Cære or Agylla; Gauls defeated near Cabii by Camillus.

379 Age of Plato (philosopher); Conon (Athenian commander); Epaminondas and Pelopidas (Theban generals); Diogenes (Stoic).

371 Epaminondas defeats the Spartans at Leuctra; 370 builds Messene in eighty-five days; Founds Megalopolis; Age of Eudoxius (astronomer).

362 Battle at Mantinea; death of Epaminondas.

360 Methone captured; Philip of Macedon loses his right eye.

357 Phocian war begins; lasts ten years; 355 Alexander born.

351 Capture of Sidon by Artaxerxes Ochus.

343 Age of Aristotle (philosopher), Demosthenes (orator), Phocion (Athenian general).

338 Battle of Chæronea; Philip defeats the Athenians and their allies.

336 Philip assassinated; Archidamus, King of Sparta, killed in battle at Manduriæ.

335 Alexander the Great destroys Thebes; 334 conquers Greece; begins his Persian expedition; battle of the Granicus; 333 battle of Issus; siege of Tyre; 332 conquers Egypt; founds the city of Alexandria; visits the temple of Jupiter Ammon; 331 crosses the Euphrates at Thapsacus; battle of Arbela; fall of the Persian Empire; death of Darius Codomanus; 326 Defeat of Porus by Alexander; the latter afterwardsdescends the Indus to the sea; his Admiral, Nearchus, navigates a fleet from the Indus to the Tigris; Age of Apelles (painter); Antipater (Macedonian General, &c.)

323 Death of Alexander, May 21; his empire divided between Ptolemy, Cassander, Lysimachus and Seleucus.

320 Samnites defeat the Romans near Caudium; their army pass under the Caudine Forks; Age of Praxiteles (sculptor); Demetrius (orator); Phalerius Theopompus (historian); Apollodorus (poet.)

312 Seleucus takes Babylon; dynasty of the Selucidæ begins.

310 Pytheas, the navigator, sails from Gades to Thule.

301 Battle of Ipsus, between Antigonus and Ptolemy, Seleucus, Lysimachus and Cassander; Age of Zeno (philosopher).

292 The Sabines conquered by Curius Dentatus; Age of Euclid (mathematician).

284 The Pharos, or light-house of Alexandria, built.

281 The Achæan League formed, by the chief cities of the Peloponnesus, for mutual defence.

280 The Romans defeated at Pandosia by Pyrrhus King of Epirus; Age of Antiochus 1st, surnamed Soter, King of Syria.

274 Romans defeat Pyrrhus; 272, conquer Samnium, after a seventy years’ war.

262 First Punic war begins; continues twenty-six years; 260 Duillius obtains the first naval victory gained over the Carthaginians by the Romans; 256 Regulus defeated by Xantippus; Age of Diodatus.

251 Age of Eratosthenes (mathematician); Callimachus (poet).

249 Asdrubal defeated at Panormus, in Sicily, by Metellus.

246 Arsaces founds the Parthian empire; Age of Hamilcar, a noted Carthaginian General, and father of Hannibal.

242 The Romans defeat the Carthaginians at sea, near the Ægades islands; ends the first Punic war.

231 The Romans take Corsica and Sardinia.

224 The Spartan king Cleomenes III defeated by Antigonus Doson; Colossus, at Rhodes, overthrown by an earthquake; Age of Apollonius (poet), Philopæmen (Achæan General.)

219 Hannibal takes Saguntum; originates the second Punic war, which lasts seventeen years; 218 Crosses the Alps; defeats the Romans, first on the river Ticinus, then on the Trebia; 217 Battle of Thrasimene—his third victory; 216 Battle of Cannæ—his fourth victory; 50,000 Romans slain; Capua declares in his favour.

212 Marcellus takes Syracuse, after a three years’ siege; death of Archimedes, the noted geometrician.

206 Asdrubal, the brother of Hannibal, defeated and slain by the Romans; Age of Syphax (Latin poet); Ennius (Latin poet); Masinissa, King of Numidia.

202 Sicily becomes a Roman province.

201 Battle of Zama; Hannibal defeated by Scipio Africanus; End of the second Punic war.

200 Romans conquer Illyricum; 197, defeat the Macedonians at Cynoscephalæ; 196 Hannibal banished from Carthage.

190 Antiochus defeated by the Consul Acilius at Thermopylæ; Age of Cato the elder.

187 Scipio Asiaticus defeats Antiochus I at Magnesia and Sipylum.

186 Scipio Africanus banished to Liturnum.

183 Death of Hannibal in Bithynia, by poison, aged sixty-five.

168 Insurrection of the Maccabees against Antiochus, King of Syria.

168 Paulus Æmilius defeats Perseus at Pydna; Macedonia becomes a Roman province; Age of Hipparchus (philosopher); Polybius (historian), &c.

167 Epirus conquered by the Romans; 165 Age of Judas Maccabæus.

149 Third Punic war begins; 146 Scipio destroys Carthage, Mummius destroys Corinth; Agatharchides (Greek geographer).

137 Demetrius Nicator defeated at Damascus by Alexander Zebina.

133 Numantia destroyed by the inhabitants; Spain becomes a Roman province; The kingdom of Pergamus bequeathed to the Romans by Attalus, its last king.

131 Tiberius Gracchus treacherously slain at Potentia.

109 Jugurthine war begins; lasts five years; 106 Jugurtha betrayed by Bocchus to the Romans; Armenia Major becomes a Roman province.

105 Aristobulus crowned king of the Jews; 106 Pompey born at Rome.

102 Marius defeats the Cimbri and Teutones at Aquæ Sextæ; 101 defeats the Cimbri on the Raudian Plains.

100 Birth of Julius Cæsar, July 12; this month was named after him.

92 Bocchus sends Sylla a present of 100 lions from Africa.

89 The Mithridatic war begins; lasts twenty-six years; 86 Sylla defeats the consuls Carbo and Cinna; Metellus (consul); Sertorius (Roman General); 78 death of Sylla; 76 Calaguris besieged by Pompey; the inhabitants, reduced to extremity, feed on their wives and children.

75 Bithynia bequeathed to the Romans by Nicomedes.

73 Sertorius assassinated by Perpenna and others at Osca.

73 Servile war begins; Roman slaves revolt against their masters, under Spartacus; defeated, two years afterwards, by Pompey and Crassus.

72 Lucullus defeats Mithridates the Great at Cabira; 69 defeats Tigranes; captures Tigranocerta; 68 defeats Mithridates at Zela; 66 again at Nicopolis.

67 Pompey takes Coracesium; 65 dethrones Antiochus Asiaticus.

64 Pontus annexed to Rome; Death of Mithridates the Great.

63 Palestine conquered by Pompey; Cataline defeated and killed at Pistoria.

60 First triumvirate of Cæsar, Pompey and Crassus; Age of Catullus (poet); Cicero (orator); Sallust (historian); Roscius (actor), &c.

57 Gaul becomes a Roman province; 55 Cæsar invades Britain.

53 Crassus plunders the Temple of Venus at Hierapolis; his defeat and death, by the Parthians, near Carrhæ.

51 Siege and capture of Pindenissus by Cicero.

50 Civil war between Cæsar and Pompey; 49 Cæsar crosses the Rubicon; takes Ariminum; 48 defeats Pompey at Pharsalia, July 30th, death of Pompey.

47 Cæsar defeats Pharnaces at Zela; writes from thence his famous letter of three words, “Veni, vidi, vici;” I came, I saw, I conquered; 46 Victorious at Thapsus; Death of Cato; 45 Battle of Munda; the last in which Cæsar commanded.

44 Cæsar killed in the Senate-house, March 15th, by Brutus, Cassius, &c.

43 Antony defeats the Consul Pansa, and is defeated the same day by Hirtius; Cicero murdered by order of Antony; Age of Varro (historian and philosopher); Diodorus Siculus and Pompeius (historians).

42 Antony and Octavius defeat Brutus and Cassius at Philippi.

37 Herod, an Idumean, placed on the Jewish throne.

31 Naval battle at Actium; Octavius defeats Antony;Ends the Commonwealth of Rome.

30 Death of Antony and Cleopatra; Egypt becomes a Roman province.

28Roman Empire begins.

27 Title of Augustus given to Octavius; Augustin age; Virgil, Livy, Ovid, Propertius (poets); Horace (historian); Dionysius Halicarnassus (antiquarian).

20 Roman standards taken from Crassus restored to Augustus, by Phraates, king of Parthia; death of Virgil.

19 Noricum and Pannonia conquered by the Romans; Candace, queen of Meroe, in Ethiopia, blind of an eye, invades Egypt, but is repelled.

15 Rhætia and Vindelicia conquered by Drusus.

6 Archelaus, surnamed Herod, banished to Vienna, in Gaul.

4Jesus Christ, ourSaviour, born four years before the vulgar era, December 25th.

2 Massacre of the Innocents at Bethlehem, by order of Herod; his death; Archelaus succeeds him.

A.D. First year of the Christian Era, 4004 years after the Creation.

2 Silk first introduced into Rome.

6 Procurators or governors appointed over Judea.

8 Christ, at twelve years of age, is three days in the temple.

9 Arminius or Herman, a German chief, destroys the army of Varus; this defeat causes a great sensation at Rome; Ovid banished to Tomi.

14 Augustus dies at Nola, after a reign of forty-five years; succeeded by Tiberius; Age of Germanicus (Roman general).

20 Jews expelled from Italy by Tiberius; 28 Age of Strabo (geographer).

29 John the Baptist commences preaching: 30 Baptizes our Saviour.

31 Our Saviour delivers the Sermon on the Mount.

32 Feeds the 5000: his transfiguration; John the Baptist beheaded.

33 Our Saviour’s death; First Christian Church at Jerusalem.

37 Conversion of St. Paul; Death of Tiberius; succeeded by Caligula; 40 Caligula assassinated.

41 Seneca banished to Corsica; is recalled eight years afterwards; Age of Pomponius Mela (geographer).

43 Expedition of Claudius into Britain; 51 Caractacus, British king, taken as a prisoner to Rome.

52 Paul visits Athens; 54 preaches the Gospel at Ephesus; Age of Persius (satirist); Age of Lucan the poet.

60 St. Paul arrested; 62 voyage to Rome; 63 arrives in that city.

61 Boadicea defeated by Suetonius Paulinus at Camulodunum.

68 Nero dies: Josephus (historian); Pliny (naturalist); Petronius (poet).

69 Galba slain; Suicide of Otho; Vitellius slain.

70 Jerusalem taken and destroyed by Titus, September 8th; Agricola’s fleet sails around Britain; Agricola promotes useful arts among the Britons.

76 Agricola defeats Galgacus at the foot of the Grampian Hills.

79 Herculaneum, Pompeii, and other cities, overwhelmed by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius; Death of the elder Pliny.

81 Titus dies, aged 40; Age of Martial (poet); Quintilian (rhetorician).

96 Domitian slain; Age of Tacitus (historian); Juvenal (satirist).

103 Dacia conquered by Trajan; 106 Age of Pliny the younger; Plutarch.

117 Death of Trajan, at Selinus, in Cilicia; succeeded by Adrian.

120 Wall built by Adrian across Britain.

139 Death of Adrian, aged 71; Antoninus (emperor); Ptolemy (geographer).

140 Wall built by Antoninus across Britain.

169 Death of Polycarp the Martyr; Age of Galen (physician).

180 Marcus Aurelius (emperor) dies at Sirmium.

192 The Emperor Commodus slain; Pertinax succeeds him.

194 Severus defeats Niger at Issus; becomes emperor.

210 Wall built across Britain by Severus; 218 Heliogabalus emperor.

226 Artaxerxes founds second Persian empire; Dynasty of the Sassanides begins.

238 Maximinus killed by his own soldiers before the walls of Aquileia. This emperor was a monster of cruelty, and of gigantic size and strength, being eight feet high.

259 Sapor I captures the emperor Valerian, and flays him alive; Odenatus king of Palmyra; Gallienus succeeds Valerian.

267 Odenatus dies; Zenobia, his wife, assumes the title of Queen of the East.

270 Death of Claudius; Aurelian succeeds; regards Zenobia as a usurper; 272 defeats her at Antioch and Emesa; 273 captures Palmyra; takes Zenobia prisoner; puts Longinus, her secretary to death.

275 Emperor Tacitus; 282 Emperor Probus killed, near Sirmium.

286 Age of the emperors Diocletian and Maximianus.

305 Both resign their authority to enjoy private life; the first retires to Salona in Illyricum, and the other to Lucania.

306 Constantine the Great proclaimed emperor; 313 establishes Christianity as the religion of the empire; 315 defeats Licinius at Cibalis; 324 again at Adrianopolis; 328 removes the government from Rome to Byzantium.

338 Death of Constantine; succeeded by his sons Constantinus, Constantius and Constans.

348 Sapor defeats Constantius at Singara; 350 Constantius sole emperor; 351 defeats Magnentius at Mursa; 353, again at Mons Seleucus.

360 Julian the Apostate (emperor); 363 dies; next year Jovian dies.

367 Age of Ausonius (poet); 375 Emporor Gratian.

378 Valens defeated by the Goths at Adrianopolis. This was the most disastrous defeat experienced by the Romans since the battle of Cannæ.

380 Age of St. Augustine, one of the fathers of the Church.

395 Theodosius, emperor, divides the Roman empire between his sons Arcadius and Honorius, into Eastern and Western.

403 Stilicho defeated by the Goths at Pollentia.

407 The Alans, Vandals and Sueves invade Gaul and Spain.

408 Alaric takes Rome first time; 409, second time; 410, third time; the city given up to plunder for six days; Death of Alaric; Kingdom of Burgundy founded.

441 Age of St. Patrick; 448 Romans leave Britain; next year Angles and Saxons land under Hengist and Horsa.

451 Attila defeated at Durocatalaunum; 452 destroys Aquileia; 453 Dies.

455 Rome captured by Genseric, king of the Vandals; Heptarchy established in Britain.

474 Romulus Augustulus, last emperor of the west.

476End of the Roman Empire.

489 Odoacer, chief of the Heruli, becomes king of Italy; Ostrogoths invade Italy and defeat Odoacer.

496 Clovis the Great, king of France; Feudal system begins.

529 Age of Justinian; Belisarius (Roman general).

622 Mahomet, aged 53, flies from Mecca to Medina, which forms the first year of the Hegira or Mahometan Era.

632 Death of Mahomet; Abubeker, his successor or first Caliph.

636 Saracens conquer Egypt; destroy the Alexandrian Library.

712 The Moors invade Spain; 713 conquer the Visigoths.

742 Charlemagne, son of Pepin the Short, born; 768 crowned king of the Franks; 774 crowned king of Italy; 800 crowned emperor of the West, by Pope Leo III; 814 Charlemagne dies. Charlemagne was the most powerful Christian monarch of the middle ages; he was a renowned warrior, he also encouraged learning and religion, and collected around him the most noted scholars of his time.

827 The Heptarchy united under Egbert, king of England.

843 Kenneth Macalpine first king of Scotland.

849 Alfred, King of England, born; 872 ascends the throne; 901 dies. This monarch rescued his country from the power of the Danes; encouraged learning and religion; enacted wise laws, and laid the foundation of the naval power of Britain.

853 Tithes of all England granted to the church.

856 The English crown first disposed of by will.

862 Winchester burnt by the Danes.

867 The monasteries ravaged by the Danes.

886 Ships first built to secure the coasts. Learning restored at Oxford, by Alfred the Great.

890 Brick and stone first used in building. Time calculated by wax candles marked.

897 A plague happened which caused great desolation among the inhabitants.

900 Athelstan created knight, and the first who enjoyed this title in England.

937 A severe frost, which continued 120 days. The Bible translated into the Saxon. Colebrand, the Danish giant, killed by Guy, Earl of Warwick.

944 A storm blew down 1500 houses in London.

945 The first tuneable bells in England were this year hung in Croyland Abbey.

946 Stealing first punished with death.

955 Edred enjoyed the honor of being the first who was styled King of Great Britain.

960 Laws to prevent excessive drinking. Wolves’ heads made a tribute. Eight princes rowed Edgar over the river Dee.

979 Juries instituted.

982 A fire destroyed the King’s palace and a great part of London.

991 The land-tax first levied.

999 Danegelt first levied, to bribe the Danes to leave the kingdom.

1002 November 13, a general massacre of the Danes began at Welwin in Hertfordshire.

1012 The priests first inhibited from marrying.

1014 Selling English children and kindred to Ireland, prohibited.

1017 Canute caused the assassins of Edmund, and the traitor Edric who by a plot of regicide had advanced him to the throne, to be hanged.

1040 Macbeth murders Duncan king of Scotland.

1058 Edward the Confessor began to cure the King’s evil. Godiva relieved Coventry from some heavy taxes by riding naked through the town.

1060 The cross of Waltham erected.

1065 The Saxon laws written in Latin.

1066 William Fitzosborne created earl of Hereford, being the first Earl created in this kingdom.

1068 The tax of Danegelt was re-established; and the curfew-bell ordered to be rung at eight every evening, when the people were obliged, on pain of death, to extinguish their fire and candle.

1072 Surnames first used in England.

1075 William was reconciled with his son Robert, who had rebelled against him. Waltheof, earl of Northumberland, was beheaded for rebellion, and was the first English nobleman thus executed.

1076 William refused to pay homage to the see of Rome for the possession of England, and forbade his bishops to attend the council that Gregory had summoned. He however sent to Rome the tribute of Peter-pence. A great earthquake in England, and a frost from November to the end of April.

1078 William laid the foundation of London.

1079 The Norman laws and language introduced.

1085 Thirty-six parishes, containing a circuit of sixty miles in Hampshire, were depopulated and destroyed without any compensation to the inhabitants, in order to make New-Forest for William’s diversion of hunting. The tyrannical laws of the Forest were made.

1087 A dreadful famine in England. William went to France and destroyed the country with fire and sword. He died at Rouen by a fall from his horse, and was buried at Caen, in Normandy, in the monastery he had himself founded, but was denied interment by the proprietor till the fees were paid.

1088 An earthquake in London. A great scarcity this year, and corn not ripe till the end of November. William II embarked for Normandy, and made war against his brother Robert. William returned to England; and Henry his brother, was forced to wander without a residence.

1091 A tempest which destroyed 500 houses. Great part of London consumed by fire.

1092 Malcolm, king of Scotland, killed at Alnwick, by the Earl of Northumberland.

1094 Man and beast destroyed by a great mortality.

1095 Peter the hermit preached up a crusade to the Holy Land.

1096 The Christian princes raised 700,000 men, and began the holy war. The first single combat for deciding disputes between the nobility.

1097 The Voyage for the Holy War, was first undertaken. Being a contrivance of Pope Urban, to compose the divisions of the church, the whole Christian world being then at discord among themselves. This war lasted almost three hundred years.

1098 Tower surrounded with a wall. Westminster Hall built. Its dimensions are 224 feet by 74.

1099 Jerusalem taken by storm, and forty thousand Saracens put to the sword.

1100 Godwin-Sands, the property of Earl Godwin, first overflowed by the sea, destroying four thousand acres of land. King Henry married the lady Maud, daughter of Margaret, late queen of Scots, and niece to Edgar Atheling, descended from Edmund Ironside. The use of fire and candle, after eight o’clock at night restored to the English.

1106 King Henry subdues Normandy, takes Robert prisoner, and orders his eyes to be put out.

1109 Three shillings levied on every hide of land, which tax produced £824,000.

1110 Arts and sciences taught again at Cambridge.

1112 A plague in London.

1114 The Thames dry for three days.

1116 A council called of the nobility, which is supposed by some to be the first parliament.

1122 The order of the Knights Templars founded.

1123 The first park (Woodstock) made in England.

1129 The revenue of the royal demesne altered from kind to specie.

1132 London mostly destroyed by fire.

1134 Duke Robert, having been imprisoned and blinded twenty-eight years, ended his miserable existence. Wheat sufficient to subsist 100 men one day, sold at one shilling—a sheep 4d.

1136 The distance from Aldgate to St. Paul’s (included), destroyed by fire in London.

1136 The Empress Maud besieged in Oxford, and made her escape from thence on foot, being disguised in white, on a snowy night, to Abingdon. The tax of Danegelt entirely abolished. No less than fifteen hundred strong castles in the kingdom.

1139 The Empress Matilda lands at Arundel, and claims the crown. Makes her natural brother, Robert, Earl of Gloucester, her general.

1141 Stephen taken prisoner at the battle of Lincoln, and confined in chains by Maud, in Gloucester gaol. Stephen released.

1148 A new Crusade undertaken.

1151 Gratian of Bologna, the monk, collects the canon laws after twenty-four year’s labour.

1153 Agreed, between Henry and Stephen, that eleven hundred of the castles, erected by permission of the latter, should be abolished. Appeals were first made to the Pope, and canon laws instituted. There was no regular mode of taxation. Contending parties supported themselves by plundering each other’s tenants. There were more abbeys built, than in the hundred years preceding.

1155 The castles demolished, agreeably to the treaty of 1153.

1157 The Welsh, subdued, do homage, and swear allegiance. A sect, called Publicans, rejecting baptism and marriage, came into England from Germany. The bishops pronounced them heretics; they were branded in the forehead and whipped.

1174 Henry scourged for the supposed murder of Becket. The bishops and abbots of Scotland swore fealty to England and its church. The earls and barons of Scotland swore allegiance to Henry and his son.

1176 London bridge begun by Peter Colmar, a priest. It was thirty-three years in building.

1177 Glass windows in private houses first used. Debasers of coin first severely punished. A new coinage.

1185 A total eclipse of the sun; and, at the same time, an earthquake, which destroyed Lincoln and other churches.

1186 Near Oxford in Suffolk, was a sort of wild-man caught in a fisherman’s net. Trial by jury established, or the verdict of twelve men, to punish offenders with the loss of a leg or banishment. Henry secreted his concubine (Rosamond, daughter of Walter, lord Clifford) in a labyrinth at his palace at Woodstock, who being discovered by his queen Eleanor, was poisoned by her, and buried at Godstow nunnery near Oxford.

1189 The castles of Berwick and Roxburgh delivered up to William, king of Scotland, who was, at the same time relieved from subjection to England. Richard began, with Philip of France, his expedition to the Holy Land. About this time were those famous robbers and outlaws, Robin Hood, and Little John. Upon Richard’s coronation-day, (3rd September,) was a great slaughter of the Jews in London, who coming to offer their presents to the new king, were set upon by the mob, to the loss of their lives and estates; and the example of London was followed by other towns, as Norwich, St. Edmunds-Bury, Lincoln, Stamford and Lynn.

1190 King Richard marries the Lady Berengaria, daughter to the king of Navarre, and goes to the Holy Land, having sold some of the crown lands to raise the money for that expedition. In which voyage he took the Island of Sicily and Cyprus.

1191 Richard obtained a great victory over Saladin, at Jerusalem, September 3. He soon after defeated a Turkish troop of 10,000, who were guarding a caravan to Jerusalem. He took, on this occasion, 3,000 loaded camels, 4,000 mules, and an inestimable booty which he gave to his troops.

1192 Multitudes destroyed by a raging fever, which lasted five months. Two suns appeared on Whitsunday, so resembling each other, that astronomers could scarcely distinguish which was the centre of our system, according to Copernicus.

1194 Richard having been absent four years, returned to England, March 20. He made war with France, and having obtained a great victory over the French at Gysors “Not we” says he, “butDieu et mon Droit,” i.e. God and my Right, has obtained this victory. Ever since, the kings of England have made it their motto. The king of Scotland carried the sword of state at the second coronation of Richard.

1197 Robin Hood, being indisposed, and desiring to be blooded, was purposely and treacherously bled to death. In this reign, companies and societies were first established in London. Three lions passant first borne in the king’s shield.

1199 Surnames first used.

1200 The king of Scotland performed public homage to John, at the parliament held in Lincoln. Assize of bread first appointed.

1204 The Inquisition established by Pope Innocent III. The most ancient writ of parliament directed to the bishop of Salisbury. Five moons seen at one time in Yorkshire.

1205 A fish resembling a man taken on the coast of Suffolk, and kept alive six months.

1207 The first annual mayor and common council of London chosen.

1208 Divine service throughout the kingdom suspended by the Pope’s interdict.

1209 John excommunicated.

1210 Twenty Irish princes do homage to John at Dublin. The clergy taxed to the amount of £100,000.

1211 England absolved by the Pope from its allegiance to John.

1212 Great part of London burnt down by a fire which began in Southwark in Middlesex, and consumed the Church of St. Mary Overy, went on to the bridge; and whilst some were quenching the flames, the houses at the other end took fire, so that numbers were inclosed; many were forced to leap into the Thames, whilst others, crowding into boats that came to their relief, were the cause of nearly 3,000 people perishing, partly by water, and partly by fire.

1213 John resigned his dominions to the Pope, and was absolved. In this reign, sterling money was first coined.

1216 Wheat was sold for twelve-pence a quarter, and beans and oats for four-pence a quarter.

1222 The ward-ship of heirs and their lands was granted to king Henry.

1226 The Pope demanded a sum annually from every cathedral church and monastery in Christendom. This demand was refused. Thomas à Becket’s bones were enshrined in gold and precious stones. Two imposters executed, the one for pretending to be the Virgin Mary, the other Mary Magdalen.

1228 The Jews obliged to pay a third part of their property to the king.

1236 Water first conveyed to London with utility. The Pope’s ambassador going to Oxford, was set upon by the students, and his brother slain, himself hardly escaping; whereupon the Pope excommunicated the University, and made all the bishops who interceded in the University’s behalf, and the students, go without their gowns, and barefooted from St. Paul’s church to his house, being about a mile, before he would revoke the sentence.

1246 Titles first used.

1251 Wales entirely subdued and subjected to English laws.

1253 Fine linen first made in England.

1255 All possessing £15 per annum, obliged to be knighted, or pay a fine. Tapestry introduced by Eleanor, wife of prince Edward.

1264 There were 700 Jews slain in London, because one of them would have forced a Christian to have paid more than two-pence, for the use of twenty shillings a week.

1269 About this time, Roger Bacon, a divine of Merton College in Oxford, was imprisoned by the Pope, for preaching against the Romish church.

1273 The Scots swear fealty to Edward, June 12.

1275 Jews obliged to wear a badge; usury restrained by the same act of parliament, October 6.

1279 The first statute of Mortmain. 280 Jews hung for clipping and coining.

1282 The Rolls in Chancery-lane given to the Jews. Wales reduced, after having preserved her liberties 800 years.

1284 Edward II born at Caernarvon, and created first prince of Wales, April 25.

1285 The abbey Church of Westminster finished, being sixty years in building.

1286 The Jews seized, and £12,000 extorted from them by order of the king. He likewise laid great fines upon his judges, and other ministers, for their corruption; the sum imposed upon eleven of them was 236,000 marks.

1289 15,000 Jews banished.

1291 Charing, Waltham, St. Albans, and Dunstable crosses erected, where the corpse of queen Eleanor was rested on its way from Lincoln to Westminster for interment.

1295 The Scots confederate with the French against the English.

1296 Baliol, king of Scotland, brought prisoner to London.

1298 40,000 Scots killed by the English at the battle of Falkirk. Sir William Wallace defeated at Falkirk. Baliol released. Spectacles invented.

1301 Parliament declared Scotland subject to England.

1302 The treasury robbed of property to the amount of £100,000. Magnetic needle first used.

1308 Crockery ware invented.

1314 The king defeated at Bannockburn, in Scotland.

1319 Dublin University founded.

1322 Knights templar order abolished. Under the accusation of heresy and other vices, all the knights templar were seized by order of the king, in one day. The knights templar were an order instituted by Baldwin, king of Jerusalem, for the defence of the Holy City, and of the pilgrims that travelled thither, and were afterwards dispersed through all the kingdoms in Christendom. They were so enriched by the superstitious world, that they possessed no less than 14,000 lordships, besides other valuable lands.

1325 The queen and her adherents declared enemies to the kingdom.

1326 The nobility renounce all fealty to Edward. The king resigns his crown to his son Edward III.

1327 The first general pardon granted at a coronation, which was afterwards imitated by succeeding kings.

1330 Gunpowder invented. The use of guns by Berthold Swartz of Cologne in Germany, a monk, who being addicted to the study of Chemistry, and making up a preparation of Nitre, and other things, a spark of fire fell into it and caused a quick and violent explosion; whereupon he made a composition of powder, and inclosing it in an instrument of brass, found it answer his intention, and by this accident came the invention of Guns.

1331 The art of weaving cloth brought from Flanders.

1340 Copper money first used in Scotland and Ireland. Thomas Blanket andsome other inhabitants of Bristol, set up looms for weaving those woollen cloths that yet bear that name.

1341 Gold first coined in England.

1346 Cannon first used by the English at Cressy.

1347 So great a plague in England, that in one year there was buried in London 50,000; and there succeeded a famine and murrain. August 3rd, king Edward took the City of Calais, which he filled with English inhabitants; and it remained in the possession of the Crown of England 210 years after.

1348 The Order of the Garter instituted by Edward the Black Prince, April 3. The plague destroyed one-half of the people.

1352 The largest silver coin in England was groats.

1357 Coals first imported into London.

1362 Council obliged to plead in English.

1364 Four kings entertained at one time, by Sir Henry Picard, lord mayor of London.

1377 The first champion at coronation. Orders to arm the clergy.

1378 The plague in the north of England. In this year Greenland was discovered.

1379 Every person in the kingdom taxed, April 25.

1381 Bills of Exchange first used. Wat Tyler’s rebellion begun May 3. 1506 rebels hung, July 2.

1385 The French land in Scotland, in order to invade England, whereupon king Richard went to fight them, and put Edinburgh into flames, but they refusing to fight, he returns.

1386 Linen-weavers company first settled.

1387 The first high-admiral of England appointed. William of Wickham, bishop of Winchester, and lord treasurer, and chancellor of England, laid the foundation of the college in Winchester, as a nursery for his college in Oxford.

1388 Bombs invented.

1391 A great plague and famine. Cards invented for the King of France. Charles VI.

1392 Thirteen counties charged with treason, and obliged to purchase their pardons. Provision seized, without payment, for the army. Duke of Lancaster landed, and declared his pretensions to the crown, July 4. Richard confined in the tower, August 20. Resigned his crown, September 29. In this reign piked shoes were worn tied with ribands and chains of silver to the knees. Ladies began to ride on side saddles, before which time they used to ride astride like men.

1399 Geoffrey Chaucer, the poet, died. A conspiracy formed to restore Richard.

1400 Richard II murdered in Pontefract Castle. Emperor of Constantinople visited England.

1403 The battle of Shrewsbury, July 22, gained by Henry and the valour of his sons.

1405 Great guns first used in England, at the siege of Berwick.

1407 A plague destroyed 30,000 persons in London.

1409 Wickliffe’s doctrine condemned.

1414 King Henry sends his brother, the Duke of Bedford, &c., with 200 sail of ships, who fell upon the French fleet, sunk 500 French vessels, and took three great Carricks of Genoa; relieved Harfleur, and so forced the French to raise the siege. In this action many thousands of the French were killed.

1415 The battle of Agincourt gained by Henry, with a loss of 10,000 men to the French, killed, and 14,000 prisoners, October 25th. Henry sent David Gam, a Welsh captain, to view the strength of the enemy, who reported, “There were enough to be killed, enough to be taken prisoners, and enough to run away.”

1418 Sir John Oldcastle burnt for heresy in St. Giles’s fields.

1419 Vines and sugar-cane first planted in Madeira.

1420 Henry assumes the title of King of France, on a new coin, April 18th. Kings of France and England make a magnificent entry into Paris.

1421 The Duke of Clarence, making an inroad into Anjou, in an unhappy engagement with the French, he and about 2,000 English were slain.

1422 The two Courts of England and France held at Paris, on Whitsunday: the two Kings and Queens dined together in public, May 21st. In this reign it was enacted that knights, citizens, and burgesses, should be resident in the place for which they were chosen. The crown and jewels were pawned to raise money for maintaining the war with France.

1422 The French King enlisted 15,000 Scots.

1424 The King of Scotland ransomed.

1430 Every person possessed of £40 per annum, obliged to be knighted.

1436 Paris taken by the English.

1437 James, King of Scotland, murdered, February 19th. So great a dearth, that bread was made of fern roots and ivy berries.

1447 The Bodleian library at Oxford founded.

1448 Duke of York asserts his title to the crown.

1449 A rebellion in Ireland.

1450 The King and his forces defeated at Seven-oaks, by Jack Cade, in May. Cade killed, and his followers dispersed, in June.

1453 The first Lord Mayor’s show. Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York, encounters the Queen’s army, near Wakefield in Yorkshire, in which he was killed, and his army routed. Edward Plantagenet, Earl of March, hearing of his father’s death, took upon him the title of Duke of York, and in a battle, at Mortimer’s-cross, near Ludlow, overthrew the Earls of Pembroke, Ormond, and Wiltshire, and beheaded Owen Tudor, the King’s father-in-law. And in another battle with the Queen, he killed the Earls of Northumberland, and Westmoreland; the Lords Dacres, Wells, Clifford, Beaumont, and Grey. This was the bloodiest battle that England ever knew, for there were killed that day 36,776 men.

1454 The king defeated by the Duke of York, at Barnet.

1459 Engravings and etchings invented.

1460 The King taken prisoner at the battle of Northampton.

1461 Edward, the Duke of York, proclaimed King. Richard Plantagenet, brother to Edward IV, created Duke of Gloucester. Henry, Margaret, their sons, and adherents, attained by parliament, November 6th.

1463 Woollens, laces, ribands, and other English manufactures, prohibited exportation.

1464 Henry, in disguise, taken prisoner, and conveyed to the Tower.

1469 5,000 Welsh slain at the battle of Branbury.

1470 Warwick, being offended at the marriage of Edward IV, landed September 13th, with 60,000 men from France. Edward IV flies to the Duke of Burgundy, his brother-in-law, in Holland.

1471 King Edward, endeavouring to re-obtain the crown, encounters King Henry in a bloody battle, upon Gladmore heath, near Barnet, and King Henry taken prisoner a second time. On both sides were slain 10,000 men. King Henry’s Queen, in a battle with King Edward, was taken prisoner, 3,000 on her side were slain, and her son Edward killed; and soon after, King Henry himself was murdered by the hand of the crook-back’d Duke of Gloucester.

1472 A plague in England destroyed more than preceding fifteen year’s war.

1475 Margaret of Anjou, ransomed for £12,500.

1481 James, King of Scotland, caused one of his brothers to be murdered. Thomas Parr born this year, and lived 152 years. A remarkable act was passed in this reign, which enacted what sort of dress each class of men should wear. Another enacted that no peaked shoes should be worn.

1483 Gloucester conveyed the King to Northampton. Lords Hastings, Rivers, and Grey beheaded. The Lord Mayor, &c., at the instigation of the Duke of Buckingham, offered the crown to the Duke of Gloucester, who, with affected hesitation, accepted it, June 17th. King Edward V, and his brother, the Duke of York, murdered in the Tower. Jane Shore, concubine to King Edward IV, and afterwards to Lord Hastings, was obliged to do penance publicly in St. Paul’s. She was afterwards starved to death, no person being allowed to relieve her, and died in a ditch; to which circumstance, Shoreditch is said to owe its name. Edward V was born in Westminster Abbey, November 4th, 1470; reigning two months and eighteen days, was murdered in the Tower, and buried there privately. His remains were afterwards found in 1674, and removed to Westminster. Richard, Duke of Gloucester, (the English Nero,) proclaimed King of England. Post-horses and stages established. Earl of Richmond landed at Pool in Dorsetshire. Being nearly surprised by Richard, he embarked again, and returned to Picardy.

1484 Anne, the Queen of Richard, died March 16th. Richard treats withLaudais, the Duke of Bretagne’s prime minister, for surprising and delivering up the Earl of Richmond. Richmond, escaping from Bretagne, went to Angers, in Anjou.

1485 Lord Stanley raises 5000 men, and his brother 2000, with whom they joined Richmond. The sweating sickness, raged in London.

1486 King Henry, to balance the power of the Lords, found a way to raise that of the Commons, which ever since has carried a much greater sway than formerly in the government.

1487 Lambert Simnel, who personated the Duke of York, was made a scullion in the King’s kitchen. The star chamber instituted.

1488 The King of Scotland, James III, killed by his subjects. Cape of Good Hope discovered.

1489 Maps and sea charts first brought into England by Bartholomew Columbus.

1491 The Greek language first introduced into England.

1492 3rd August, Columbus set sail from Palos, a port of Spain, and on the 12th of October, to his unspeakable gratification, he made his first discovery in the New World. This was one of the Bahama Islands, called by the natives Guanahani, named by Columbus St. Salvador, and afterwards, by some unpardonable caprice, called by the English Cat Island. He landed the same day, took possession of it in the name of the Spanish sovereigns, and assumed the titles of Admiral and Viceroy, which had been awarded to him before he sailed from Europe.

1493 15th March. Columbus arrived in Spain after a stormy and dangerous voyage, having taken not quite seven months and a-half to accomplish this momentous enterprize.

1494 Poyning’s law, which enacted that the statutes in England, respecting the English, should be observed in Ireland likewise, first instituted by Sir Edward Poyning.

1495 Cicely, Duchess of York, mother to King Edward IV, died, being very old, who had lived to see three Princes born of her body, crowned, and four murdered.

1497 Perkin Warbeck besieged Exeter. The passage to the Indies by the way of the Cape of Good Hope discovered. 3rd July, John Cabot discovered Newfoundland. He sailed from the Port of Bristol, in the spring of 1497, and, on the 3rd of July, discovered the coast of Labrador. The opposite Island, now called Newfoundland, they called St. Johns, having landed there on St. John’s day. To the mainland they gave the name ofTerra prima vista—or Primavista (first seen). The English navigators thus reached the continent of North America only five years after Columbus had discovered the West Indies, and more than a year before he had landed on the continent or main land.

1499 Perkin Warbeck taken and hung at Tyburn, and the last Earl of the Plantagenet line was beheaded on Tower-hill, November 28th.

1500 A plague in London, which destroyed 30,000 of its inhabitants. A marriage was concluded between James IV, King of Scotland, and Margaret, the daughter of King Henry VII, which afterwards united England and Scotland under one King.

1505 Shillings first coined in England.

1513 Earl of Surrey gained the battle of Flodden-field, over the Scots, whose King, James IV, fell in the contest. King Henry invades France in person, takes Terwin and Tournay, at the siege of which, the Emperor Maximilian served under the King’s pay. At which siege likewise, was fought that battle called the battle of Spurs, because the English put some of the French troops to flight who made great use of their spurs.

1514 Enacted that surgeons should not sit on juries, nor be employed in parish offices.

1517 Oxford depopulated by stagnated waters. Martin Luther began the reformation in Germany.

1521 King Henry derived the title to him and his successors of Defender of the Faith, from writing a book against Luther. Musquets first invented. Mexico city yielded, after a prolonged siege, to Cortez, in August.

1522 Magellan performed his voyage under the auspices of Charles V, of Spain. He set sail from Seville, in Spain, in August, 1519. After spending several months on the coast of South America, searching for a passage to the Indies, he continued his voyage to the South, passed through the strait that bears his name, and after sailing three months and twenty-one days, through an unknown ocean, he discovered a cluster of fertile islands, which he named the Ladrones, or the Islands of Thieves, from the thievish disposition of the natives. The fair weather and favourable winds which he experienced induced him to bestow on this the name of the Pacific, which it still retains. Proceeding from the Ladrones, he discovered the islands which were afterwards called the Philippines in honour of Philip, King of Spain, who subjected them forty years after the voyage of Magellan. Here, in a contest with the natives, Magellan was killed, and the expedition was prosecuted under other commanders. After taking in a cargo of spices at the Moluccas, the only vessel of the squadron then fit for a long voyage, sailed for Europe by the way of the Cape of Good Hope, and arrived in Spain in September, 1522.

1530 The palace of St. James built.

1535 Brass cannon first cast in England by John Owen. Jacques Cartier discovered the St. Lawrence on that Saint’s day. He explored the north-east coast carefully, and, passing through the Strait of Belleisle, traversed the great Gulf of the St. Lawrence, and arrived in the Bay of Chaleurs in July. He was delighted with the peaceable and friendly conduct of the natives, “who,” says Hakluyt, “with one of their boats, came unto us, and brought us pieces of seals ready sodden,putting them upon pieces of wood: then, retiring themselves, they would make signs unto us, that they did give them to us.” From this hospitable place, where the natives seem to have displayed some of the politeness of modern society, Jacques Cartier proceeded to Gaspé Bay, where he erected a cross thirty feet high, with a shield bearing the three fleurs-de-lis of France, thus taking possession in the name of Francis the First. He carried off two natives from Gaspé, who were of great use to him on his succeeding voyage. It appears, however, that it was with their own consent, as they allowed themselves to be clothed in shirts, coloured coats and caps, and to have a copper chain placed about their neck, “whereat they were greatly contented, and gave their old clothes to their fellows that went back again.” Cartier coasted along the northern shores of the Gulf, when, meeting with boisterous weather, he made sail for France, and arrived at St. Malo on the 5th of September. This celebrated navigator deserves especial notice, inasmuch as he was the first who explored the shores of Canada to any considerable extent, and was the very first European who became acquainted with the existence of Hochelaga, and in 1535 pushed his way through all obstacles till he discovered and entered the village which occupied the very spot on which now stands the city of Montreal.

1536 376 monasteries suppressed.

1539 Leaden pipes to convey water invented.

1540 645 religious houses seized, and their property, amounting to £161,000, given to the King. The number of monasteries suppressed in England and Wales, were 313, Priories 290, Friaries 122, Nunneries 142, Colleges 152, and Hospitals 129; in all 1148.

1541 1st voyage to India by an English ship.

1543 Mortars and cannon first cast in iron.

1544 Pistols first used.

1545 William Foxley slept fourteen days, and lived forty-one days after.

1547 The vows of celibacy before taken by priests, annulled, and the communion ordered to be administered in both kinds. Evening prayers began to be read in English in the King’s chapel, April 16th. The Scots refusing to marry their young Queen to King Edward (according to their promise in his father’s life-time), the protector enters Scotland with an army of 12,000 foot, and 600 horse, and fights them in Pinkey-field, near Musselburgh, and kills 14,000 Scots, and takes 1500 prisoners, having lost but sixty of his own men.

1548 Some ceremonies were now abrogated, and an order of council against the carrying of candles, on Candlemas-day, ashes on Ash-Wednesday, and palms on Palm-Sunday.

1549 Telescopes invented.

1551 The sweating-sickness broke out this year In England with such contagion, that 800 died in one week of it in London. Those that weretaken with it were inclined much to sleep, and all that slept died; but if they were kept awake a day, they got well. A college founded in Galway in Ireland. Common-prayer books established by act of parliament. Monks and nuns allowed inheritances. Sternhold and Hopkins translated and put the Psalms into verse.

1553 There was so great a plenty of malt and wheat, that a barrel of beer with the cock sold for six-pence, and four great loaves for one penny. The King founded St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, Bridewell, improved the Hospital of Christchurch and St. Thomas’ Hospital, Southwark. Judge Hales, in his circuit into Kent, required the justices to see to the execution of King Edward’s laws: for which he was committed, and removed from prison to prison, and threatened so, that he attempted to cut his own throat, and at last drowned himself.

1553 Spitzbergen, the White Sea, and Nova Zembla, discovered by the English.

1554 The laws against Lollards and Heretics were revived, and the statutes of Mortmain repealed. There was at this time a discovery in London of the imposter of the Spirit of the Wall, who, by the help of a whistle, uttered several things relating to religion, and the state, through a hole in a wall. It was found to be Elizabeth Croses, and one Drake, her accomplice, who were both made to do penance for it publicly at St. Paul’s. Scory, bishop of Chichester, renounced his wife, and did penance for his marriage. It is supposed there were 12,000 of the clergy deprived for being married, and most of them were judged upon common fame, without any process, but a citation.

1555 The church lands, in the Queen’s possession, restored. Coaches first used in England.

1556 300 Protestants burnt for heresy.

1557 This year began with a visitation of the Universities. Commissioners were sent to Oxford, where they burnt all the English Bibles and heretical books they could find; and took up the body of Peter Martyr’s wife, who they said was a heretic, and buried it in a dunghill. And at Cambridge, they dug up the bodies of Bucer and Fagius, two heretics, and tied their coffins to stakes, and burnt them and their heretical books together. Cardinal Pole died November 15th.

1576–77–78 Three voyages by Frobisher in search of a North-west passage. Greenland explored.

1580 Drake, the first English circumnavigator.

1584 Virginia discovered by Sir Walter Raleigh.

1587 Davies’ Straits discovered by Davies, an English navigator. February 9th. Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, at Fotheringay Castle.

1588 Destruction of the Spanish Armada.

1595 Falkland Islands, discovered by Hawkins.

1596 The first trading expedition to the East Indies.

1599 East India Company. Chauvin made two voyages to Tadousac.

1603 Death of Queen Elizabeth on 24th March, and accession of James VI.

1604 The present translation of the Bible made.

1605 The gun-powder plot discovered. The channel for the New River allowed to be cut. 97,304 person died in London, this year, whereof 68,596 died of the plague.

1608 Virginia planted by the English. Champlain returned to Canada, and Quebec founded 3rd July.

Back to IndexNext