KEY DATES

Death of Mary Tudor and Pole, Elizabeth succeeds

November 1558

Cecil appointed Secretary of State

1558

Parliament passes the Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity

April 1559

Royal injunctions issued

June 1559

Matthew Parker appointed Archbishop of Canterbury

June 1559

Death of Amy Robsart

September 1560

New coinage issued

March 1561

Elizabeth seriously ill with smallpox

October 1562

Dudley becomes a Privy Councillor

1562

Statute Artificers

April 1563

Merchant adventurers granted new charter

June 1563

Trade embargo with the Netherlands

1563-65

Dudley made Earl of Leicester

September 1564

Publication of Parker’s Advertisements

March 1566

Mary Queen of Scots arrives in England

May 1568

Ambush of Hawkins and Drake at San Juan de Ulna

September 1568

Seizure of Spanish bullion by Elizabeth

October 1568

Trade embargo with the Netherlands

1568-73

Outbreak of Revolt of the Northern Earls

November 1569

Pope Pius V issues papal bull Regnans in Excelsis, which excommunicates Elizabeth

February 1570

William Cecil made Lord Burghley

February 1571

Parliament passes the Treason Act and Act banning the import of papal bulls

April 1571

Strickland introduces bull to reform the Prayer Book

1571

‘An Admonition to the Parliament’ is published

June 1572

Vagabonds Act

1572

William Cecil becomes Lord Treasurer

July 1572

Sir Francis Walsingham becomes Secretary of State

December 1573

Seminary preiest from Douai start to arrive

May 1574

Grindal appointed Archbishop of Canterbury

December 1575

Trouble in parliament over free speech

February 1576

Act for the Relief of the Poor

March 1576

Grindal confined to his house for refusing to suppress prophesyings

May 1577

First Catholic priest executed as traitor

November 1577

Alencon courtship

August 1579

First Jesuits arrive

June 1580

Renewal of Alencon courtship

1581-82

Whitgift appointed Archbishop of Canterbury

August 1583

Whitgift issues the ‘Three Articles’

October 1583

Mary Queen of Scots executed

February 1587

Defeat of the Spanish Armada

July 1588

Marprelate Tracts published

October 1588

Protest in parliament about purveyance

March 1589

Drake’s voyage to Portugal

April-June 1589

Sir Robert Cecil becomes a Privy Councillor

August 1591

Essex becomes a Privy Councillor

February 1593

Riots by apprentices and others in London

June 1595

Essex to Cadiz

June 1595

Food riots in Kent

July 1596

Oxfordshire Rising

November 1596

Protests in parliament about monopolies

November 1597

Act for the Relief of the Poor

February 1598

Act for the Punishment of Rogues

1598

William Cecil dies

August 1598

Tyrone defeats the English at the Battle of Yellow Ford

1598

Essex to Ireland

March 1599

Essex returns from Ireland without permission

September 1599

Mountjoy sent to Ireland

May 1600

Essex’s Rebellion. Essex executed

February 1601

Monopolies debate in parliament, some monopolies cancelled

November 1601

Act for the Relief of the Poor

December 1601

Surrender of Tyrone

March 1603

Elizabeth dies

1603