Edexcel Alevel Britain 1625-1701 Timeline

1571

The Royal Exchange is opened

1600

The East India Company founded

1601

An 'Assurance Court' is set up to deal with marine insurance matters

1601

The Poor relief Act is passed

1625

Charles I becomes King

1625

Henrietta Maria arrives in England with her Catholic advisors

1625

Charles promoted Arminian Montagu to his royal chaplain

1625

House of Commons refuses Charles the customary grant of Tonnage and Poundage for life

1626

Attack on Cadiz was a disaster and English ships used at La Rochelle were defeated: War with France after French made peace with Spain. Both of these defeats were a disaster, and Buckingham was to blame as he had overseen foreign policy

1626

Charles dissolves parliament to prevent impeachment of Buckingham

1626

Charles calls another parliament. When parliament met, the issue of subsides was set aside to launch an attack on Buckingham

1626

Charles was forced to dissolve parliament without any grant of taxation in order to stop the process of impeachment

1627

Forced Loan, it was successful in raising money but caused lots of resentment

1627

Five Knights Case - Five Knights who refused to pay the forced loan wee imprisoned and refuse bail. This was a clear indication of Charles' absolutist intentions, the king was not only taxing without consent, but also imprisoning as he wished

1628

Buckingham was assassinated, parliament cheered which made Charles upset and angry

1628

Charles made Arminian Laud the Bishop of London

1628

Petition of Rights, asking Charles to reverse the decision made in the Five Knight Case. They also demanded that, in future, citizens would not be asked to pay forced loans, imprisoned without trial, subjected to martial law or forced to provide free lodgings for soldiers.

1629

Three Resolutions leads to Personal Rule

1629

Charles dissolves parliament. Start of personal rule

1629

Peace with France

1630

Charles signed the Treaty of Madrid, ending hostilities with Spain. Charles' annual spending on war reduced from £500,000 (1625-29) to less than £70,000 in the 1630s

1632

Wentworth appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland

1633

Laud appointed Archbishop of Canterbury

1635

Charles attempts to restrict Dutch presence in British waters by expanding the Royal Navy

1635

Ship Money introduced as an annual tax

1636

The first money-scrivening (banking) firm founded

1637

Hampden challenges Ship Money

1637

The trial of Bastwick, Burton and Prynne

1637

English Prayer Book imposed on Scotland

1637

Rebellion in Scotland

1638

The population of Britain reaches 5 million

1639

First Bishop War

1640

Short Parliament (April)

1640

Long Parliament (November)

1640

Charles seized gold from the Tower of London, causing merchants to invest with goldsmith-bankers

1641

Strafford (Wentworth) is put on trial and executed

1641

Irish Rebellion

1642

The outbreak of war

1643

John Pym dies

1645

Presbyterian Directory of Worship published, despite objections from Independents - never fully implemented

1646

Charles surrenders to the Scots

1647

The Putney Debates

1648

The Second Civil War

1648

Pride's Purge

1649

The execution of Charles I and the abolition of the monarchy

1649

Acts to abolish the monarchy and Lords passed; Leveller leaders are arrested

1649

Cromwell arrives in Ireland with 30,000 men

1649

The Leveller leaders are imprisoned in the Tower of London

1649

Gerrard Winstanley establishes the first Digger commune

1649

Walter Blith's A New Survey of Husbandry advocates the use of new agricultural techniques

1650

Emergence of Quakers

1650

The first coffee house was opened in Oxford

1650

Ranter Scare: Rump attempts to restrict the activities of the Puritan sects by passing Blasphemy and Adultery Acts

1650

The Adultery Act is passed, imposing the death penalty for adultery

1650

Cromwell is appointed commander of the New Model Army

1650

The Blasphemy Act is passed to restrain extreme Puritan sects

1650

The Toleration Act is passed

1651

The first Navigation Act is passed by parliament to counter the economic threat posed by Dutch shipping

1651

Thomas Hobbes publishes Leviathan

1651

The Hale Commission is appointed to propose legal reforms

1652

The Hale Commission's recommendations are rejected

1652-54

The First Anglo-Dutch War

1653

The Rump parliament is dissolved

1655

The island of Jamaica is captured

1656

James Naylor Case

1659

The first cheque is drawn

1660

Restoration of Charles II

1660

The second Navigational Act is passed under Charles II, reaffirming the new regime's commitment to mercantilism

1660

The Royal Society is founded

1661

Fifth Monarchists, Venner's rising in London

1662

Act of Uniformity restores High Church control in the Church

1662

First Declaration of Indulgence

1662

The Settlement Act modifies the Poor Relief Act

1663

The Turnpike Act allows for the construction of toll roads

1664

Five Mile Act

1664

The English capture New York from the Dutch

1665

Five Mile Act

1665-67

The Second Anglo-Dutch War

1668

James, Duke of York announces his conversion to Catholicism

1670

Secret Treaty of Dover

1672

Charles II confiscates the assets of goldsmith-bankers

1672

Second Declaration of Indulgence in attempt to establish toleration for Catholic dissenters

1672-74

The Third Anglo-Dutch War

1674

Charles II is forced to make peace with the Dutch after losing the Third Anglo Dutch War

1678

The Popish Plot

1679-82

Exclusion Crisis

1681

In France, forced conversions to Catholicism begin, compelling many Protestants to migrate to England

1685

Protestant Monmouth rebellion crushed

1685

Death of Charles II and accession of James II

1686

Newton presents his theory of gravity to the Royal Society

1688

Second Declaration of Indulgence and trial of 7 Bishops sparks invitation to William of Orange and Glorious Revolution

1688

Lloyd's Coffee House becomes the focal point of the London insurance industry

1688

Invasion led to William of Orange - James escapes to exile in France

1688

Nine Years' War breaks out

1689

John Locke publishes Two Treatises of Government

1689

Toleration Act

1689

Bill of Rights

1690

Convention Parliament dissolved

1690

Battle of Boyne

1691

Opposition within parliament begin to favour a reduction in William's participation in the war, the first Public Accounts Commission is set up