British Lit Supplementary Anglo-Saxon Dates

43-ca. 420

Romans conquer Britons; Britannia a province of the Roman Empire

307-37

Reign of Constantine the Great leads to adoption of Christianity as official religion of the Roman Empire

ca. 405

St. Jerome completes Vulgate, Latin translation of the Bible that becomes standard for the Roman Catholic Church

432

St. Patrick begins mission to convert Ireland

ca. 450

Anglo-Saxon conquest of Britons begins

523

Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy (Latin)

597

St. Augustine of Canterbury's mission to Kent begins conversion of Anglo-Saxons to Christianity

ca. 658-80

Cædmon's Hymn, earliest poem recorded in English

731

Bede completes Ecclesiastical History of the English People

?ca. 750

Beowulf composed

ca. 787

First Viking raids on England

871-99 (Texts)

Texts written or commissioned by Alfred

871-99 (Contexts)

Reign of King Alfred

ca. 1000

Unique manuscript of Beowulf and Judith

1066

Norman Conquest by William I establishes French-speaking ruling class in England

1095-1221

Crusades

ca. 1135-38

Geoffrey of Monmouth's Latin History of the Kings of Britain gives pseudohistorical status to Arthurian and other legends

1152

Future Henry II marries Eleanor of Aquitaine, bringing vast French territories to the English crown

1154

End of Peterborough Chronicle, last branch of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

? ca. 1165-80

Marie de France, Lais in Anglo-Norman French from Breton sources

1170

Archbishop Thomas Becket murdered in Canterbury Cathedral

ca. 1170-91

Chrétien de Troyes, chivalric romances about knights of the Round Table

1182

Birth of St. Francis of Assisi

ca. 1200

Layamon's Brut

? ca. 1215-25

Ancrene Wisse

1215

Fourth Lateran Council requires annual confession. English barons force King John to seal Magna Carta (the Great Charter) guaranteeing baronial rights

ca. 1304-21

Dante Alighieri writing Divine Comedy

ca. 1337-1453

Hundred Years' War

ca. 1340-1374 (Boccaccio)

Giovanni Boccaccio active as writer in Naples and Florence

ca. 1340-1374 (Petrarch)

Francis Petrarch active as writer

1348

Black Death ravages Europe

1362

English first used in law courts and Parliament

1368

Chaucer, Book of the Duchess

1372

Chaucer's first journey to Italy

1373-93

Julian of Norwich, Book of Showings

ca. 1375-1400

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

1376

Earliest record of performance of cycle drama at York

1377-79

William Langland, Piers Plowman (B-Text)

ca. 1380

Followers of John Wycliffe begin first complete translation of the Bible into English

1381

People's uprising briefly takes control of London before being suppressed

ca. 1385-87

Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde

ca. 1387-99

Chaucer working on The Canterbury Tales

ca. 1390-92

John Gower, Confessio Amantis

1399

Richard II deposed by his cousin, who succeeds him as Henry IV

1400

Richard II murdered

1401

Execution of William Sawtre, first Lollard burned at the stake under new law against heresy

ca. 1410-49

John Lydgate active

1415

Henry V defeats French at Agincourt

ca. 1420

Thomas Hoccleve, My Compleinte

ca. 1425

York Play of the Crucifixion

1431

English burn Joan of Arc at Rouen

ca. 1432-38

Margery Kempe, The Book of Margery Kempe

ca. 1450-75

Wakefield mystery cycle, Second Shepherds' Play

1455-85

Wars of the Roses

ca. 1470

Sir Thomas Malory in prison working on Morte Darthur

ca. 1475

Robert Henryson active

1476

William Caxton sets up first printing press in England

1485 (Texts)

Caxton publishes Morte Darthur, one of the first books in English to be printed

1485 (Contexts)

The earl of Richmond defeats the Yorkist king, Richard III, at Bosworth Field and succeeds him as Henry VII, founder of the Tudor dynasty

ca. 1510

Everyman

1575

Last performance of mystery plays at Chester