1550s in England

Events from the 1550s in England.

Incumbents

Monarch - Edward VI of England (to 6 July 1553), Lady Jane Grey (to 19 July 1553), Mary I of England (to 17 November 1558), Elizabeth I of England

Events

* 1550
** January - Parliament passes an Act encouraging iconoclasm.
** 24 March - England and France sign the Treaty of Boulogne; England withdraws from Boulogne in France and returns territorial gains in Scotland.cite book|last=Williams|first=Hywel|title=Cassell's Chronology of World History|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|year=2005|isbn=0-304-35730-8|pages=218–223]
* 1551
** Parliament passes the Ale Houses Act 1551 licensing taverns for the first time.
* 1552
** January - Second Book of Common Prayer imposed.
** 22 January - execution of the former Lord Protector Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset for treason.
** King Edward VI founds 35 grammar schools.
* 1553
** 16 June - King Edward founds Christ's Hospital for London orphans.
** 21 June - King Edward nominates Lady Jane Grey as his successor.
** 6 July - King Edward VI dies of tuberculosis.cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-141-02715-0|year=2006]
** 10 July - Lady Jane Grey is proclaimed Queen of England.
** 18 July - Thomas White Lord Mayor of London proclaims Queen Mary as the rightful Queen — Lady Jane Grey willingly abdicates.
** 19 July - Lady Jane Grey is replaced by Mary I as Queen after having that title for just nine days.
** 9 August - Mary arrives in London from Framlingham.
** 22 August - Duke of Northumberland, a supporter of Lady Jane Grey, executed.
** September - Protestant bishops in England are arrested and Roman Catholic bishops are restored.
** Opening of the maritime way of the White sea by the explorer Richard Chancellor, beginning of the trade between England and Russia.
* 1554
** 25 January - Wyatt's rebellion: Thomas Wyatt leads a rebellion against Queen Mary's proposed marriage to Prince Philip of Spain.
** 9 February - Wyatt's rebellion crushed.
** 12 February - After claiming the throne of England the previous year, Lady Jane Grey is beheaded for treason alongside her husband.
** 17 March - Princess Elizabeth imprisoned in The Tower, suspected of involvement in Wyatt's rebellion.
** 25 July - Wedding of Queen Mary and Prince Philip of Spain, only son of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in Winchester.
** 30 November - England formally rejoins the Roman Catholic Church.
** December - Parliament revives laws against heresy.
* 1555
** 4 February - John Rogers is the first Protestant martyr to be burned at Smithfield.
** The Muscovy Company established.
* 1556
** 21 March - In Oxford, Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer is burned at the stake for treason.
** 22 March Reginald Pole enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.
** Period of rapid inflation; prices of many basic commodities double in 12 months.
* 1557
** 28 February - a commercial treaty is signed with Russia.
** May - Benedictine monks allowed to return to Westminster Abbey.
** 7 June - Italian War of 1551–1559: England, now allied with Spain, declares war on France.
** 10 August - Italian War: English and Spanish victory over the French at the Battle of St. Quentin.
* 1558
** 7 January - French troops led by Francis, Duke of Guise take Calais, the last continental possession of England.
** 17 November - Elizabethan era begins: Queen Mary I dies and is succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth.
** 20 November - William Cecil appointed principal secretary of state.
* 1559
** 15 January - Elizabeth I of England is crowned in Westminster Abbey.
** 23 January - Elizabethan Religious Settlement: Parliament passes the Act of Uniformity and the Act of Supremacy, re-establishing the Protestant Church of England.
** 10 February - House of Commons makes a 'Loyal Address', urging Queen Elizabeth to marry.cite book |last=Palmer |first=Alan & Veronica |year=1992 |title= The Chronology of British History|publisher= Century Ltd|location=London|pages= 150-153|isbn= 0-7126-5616-2]
** 2 April - Peace of Cateau Cambrésis - France makes peace with England and Spain. France gives up most of its gains in Italy (including Savoy), keeping only Saluzzo, but keeps the three Lorraine bishoprics of Metz, Toul, and Verdun, and the formerly English town of Calais.
** 19 December - Matthew Parker enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.
** Benedictine monks once again expelled from Westminster Abbey.

Births

* 1550
** April 12 - Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, Lord Great Chamberlain (died 1604)
** Ralph Sherwin, Roman Catholic martyr and saint (died 1581)
** Henry Barrowe, Puritan and Separatist (died 1593)
** Philip Henslowe, theatrical entrepreneur (died 1616)
* 1551
** 2 May - William Camden, historian (died 1623)
** George Tuchet, 1st Earl of Castlehaven (died 1617)
* 1552
** 1 February - Edward Coke, colonial entrepreneur and jurist (died 1634)
** 30 December - Simon Forman, occultist and astrologer (died 1611)
** Thomas Aufield, Catholic martyr (died 1585)
** Richard Hakluyt, author, editor and translator (died 1616)
** Philemon Holland, translator (died 1637)
** Edmund Spenser, poet (died 1599)
** Jack Ward, pirate (died 1622)
* 1553
** Giovanni Florio, writer and translator (died 1625)
** Jasper Heywood, translator of Seneca (died 1598)
** William Russell, 1st Baron Russell of Thornhaugh, military leader (died 1613)
** Henry Robinson, bishop (died 1616)
* 1554
** March - Richard Hooker, Anglican theologian (died 1600)
** April - Stephen Gosson, satirist (died 1624)
** 3 October - Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke, poet (died 1628)
** 30 November - Philip Sidney, courtier and poet (died 1586)
** James Lancaster, navigator (died 1618)
** John Lyly, writer (died 1606)
** Walter Raleigh, writer, poet, and explorer (died 1618)
** Francis Throckmorton, conspirator (died 1584)
* 1555
** 1 August - Edward Kelley, spirit medium (died 1597)
** Richard Carew, Cornish translator and antiquary (died 1620)
** Thomas Cavendish, explorer (died 1592)
** Henry Garnet, Jesuit (died 1606)
** Lancelot Andrewes, clergyman and scholar (died 1626)
* 1556
** February - Henry Briggs, mathematician (died 1630)
** 6 June - Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche, politician and diplomat (died 1625)
** Margaret Clitherow, Catholic martyr (died 1586)
* 1557
** Julius Caesar, judge and politician (died 1636)
** Thomas Morley, English composer (died 1602)
* 1558
** 3 November - Thomas Kyd, author of "The Spanish Tragedy" (died 1594)
** Robert Greene, writer (died 1592)
** Chidiock Tichborne, conspirator and poet (died 1586)
* 1559
** Charls Butler, naturalist (died 1647)
** George Chapman, dramatist (died 1634)
** John Spenser, president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford (died 1614)

Deaths

* 1550
** 30 July - Thomas Wriothesley, 1st Earl of Southampton, politician (born 1505)
* 1551
** 13 July - John Wallop, soldier and diplomat (born 1490)
* 1552
** 22 January - Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, politician (born 1509)
** 18 April - John Leland, historian (born 1502)
** 10 June - Alexander Barclay, poet (born 1476)
** Edward Edward Wotton, zoologist (born 1492)
* 1553
** 6 July - King Edward VI (born 1537)
** 22 August - John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland (born 1501)
* 1554
** 12 February
*** Lady Jane Grey, claimant to the throne of England (executed) (born 1537)
*** Guilford Dudley, consort of Lady Jane Grey (executed) (born 1536)
** 23 February - Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, politician (executed) (born c1515)
** 11 April - Thomas Wyatt the younger, rebel (executed) (born 1521)
** 25 August - Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, politician (born 1473)
** John Taylor, Bishop of Lincoln (born 1503)
* 1555
** 4 February - John Rogers, clergyman (burned at the stake) (born c. 1500)
** 8 February - Laurence Saunders, clergyman (burned at the stake) (born 1500s)
** 9 February
*** John Hooper, churchman (burned at the stake) (born c. 1497)
*** Rowland Taylor, Protestant martyr (burned at the stake) (born 1510)
** 14 March - John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford (born 1485)
** 25 August - Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk (born 1473)
** 16 October
*** Hugh Latimer, clergyman (burned at the stake) (born c. 1487)
*** Nicholas Ridley, clergyman (burned at the stake) (year of birth unknown)
** 12 November - Stephen Gardiner, bishop and Lord Chancellor (born 1493)
** Polydore Vergil, historian (born 1470)
* 1556
** 21 March - Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury (burned at the stake) (born 1489)
** December 23 - Nicholas Udall, dramatist (born 1504)
** John Bell, Bishop of Worcester (year of birth unknown)
* 1557
** 16 July - Anne of Cleves, queen of Henry VIII of England (born 1515)
** 13 September - John Cheke, classical scholar and statesman (born 1514)
** 25 October - William Cavendish, courtier (born 1505)
* 1558
** 31 May - Philip Hoby, politician (born 1505)
** 17 November
*** Queen Mary I of England (born 1516)
*** Reginald Cardinal Pole, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1500)
** 15 December - Thomas Cheney, Lord Warden of the "Cinque Ports" (born c. 1485)
** Hugh Aston, composer (born 1485)
* 1559
** 8 March - Thomas Tresham I, Catholic politician
** 16 March - Anthony St. Leger, Lord Deputy of Ireland (born 1496)
** 10 September - Anthony Denny, confidant of Henry VIII of England (born 1501)
** 18 November - Cuthbert Tunstall, church leader (born 1474)
** 20 November - Lady Frances Brandon, claimant to the throne of England (born 1517)
** Leonard Digges, mathematician and surveyor (born 1520)
** Owen Oglethorpe, priest (year of birth unknown)

References

ee also