Elizabeth's reign timeline (1558-1603)

1533

Elizabeth is born

1536

Elizabeth’s mother Anne Bolyne is executed

1547

Henry VIII dies, his son Edward VI becomes king

1556

terrible outbreak of flu kills 200,000

1558

Mary I dies and Elizabeth is crowned Queen at 25 years old

1558

William Cecil becomes Secretary of State

1559

there is a revolt in Ireland

1562

Elizabeth almost dies of smallpox

1568

Mary, Queen of Scots is exiled from Scotland to England

1568

William Allen established seminary at Douai to train missionaries to travel to England

1569

The Northern Rebellion

1570

Pope excommunicates Elizabeth from the Catholic Church

1571

The Ridolfi Plot

1573

Francis Walsingham becomes Secretary of State

1576

Act “for setting the poor on work” places responsibility on local authorities

1577-1580

Sir Francis Drake completes the first circumnavigation of the globe

1580

Jesuits arrive in England. Led by Edmund Campion, who was hanged in 1581

1581

Recusancy fines increase to £20, treason to convert to Catholicism

1583

The Throckmorton Plot

1583

John Whitgift introduces rules to crack down on Puritanism

1584

Sir Walter Raleigh given permission to explore and colonise the New World

1584

Elizabeth sent 7000 troops to support Protestant rebels in the Netherlands

1585

Treason to have a Catholic Priest in your home, call for Jesuits to be driven out of England

1586

The Babington Plot

1586

Mary, Queen of Scots is tried and executed

1587

Francis Drake and John Hawkins raid Cadiz destroying dozens of Spanish ships

1588

The Spanish Armada

1592

Separatist Puritan Church set up in London. The leaders were hanged

1593

Statute of confinement- Catholics could not travel more than 5 miles from home

1590,1594,1598

several bad harvests lead to food shortages so people began to move to the towns

1599

Opening of the Globe Theatre in London

1601

Essex Rebellion

1601

The Poor Law is introduced

1603

Elizabeth dies and is succeeded by James VI Scotland