1. THE ENGLISH RENAISSANCE 1485 - 1620
Christopher Marlowe
The Earl of Surrey
John Donne
William Shakespeare
Thomas Wyatt

2. Main historical events
Henry VII is the first Tudor King
The Tudor Rose: a combination of the Red Rose of Lancaster and the White Rose of York

3. Main historical events
1492 Christopher Columbus arrives in the West Indies

4. Main historical events
Henry VIII
Henry VIII’s reign
Henry’s six wives
Divorced – beheaded - died
Divorced – beheaded - survived

5. Main historical events
1517 Martin Luther nails his “ 95 Theses” to the door of the cathedral in Wittenberg (Protestant Reform)

6. Main historical events
1534 With the Act of Supremacy Henry VIII declares himself Head of the Church of England

7. Main historical events
Edward VI’s reign
1549 The Book of the Common Prayer underlines the split with Rome by using English instead of Latin for the Liturgy

8. Main historical events
Mary Tudor’s reign. Counter-reformation. Persecution of the Protestants.
284 protestants were executed under Mary I
Plaque in Maidstone, Kent, commemorating those burnt nearby
Mary Tudor
«Bloody Mary»

9. Main historical events
Elizabeth I’s reign (the Golden Age)

10. Main historical events
1559 Act of Supremacy and Act of Uniformity. The Church of England is restored.
The Act of Supremacy confirmed Elizabeth as Supreme Governor of the Church of England.
The Act of Uniformity set the order of prayer to be used in the English Book of Common Prayer

11. Main historical events
1584 Sir Walter Raleigh reaches Virginia, in the West Indies (North America)
The name Virginia was first applied by Sir Walter Raleigh and Queen Elizabeth I (the Virgin Queen) in 1584
Sir Walter Raleigh

12. Main historical events The scene of the execution
1587 Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots and Elizabeth’s cousin, is executed for treason.
The scene of the execution
Mary Stuart

13. Main historical events
1588 Defeat of the Spanish Armada
The Spanish fleet sailed against England in 1588. 
The defensive efforts of the English and their Dutch allies prevailed
The Armada was disrupted during severe storms in the North Atlantic

14. Main historical events
1599 The East India Company is chartered, signalling the beginning of trade on global scale.
Queen Elizabeth I granted a company of over 200 merchants a monopoly of trade to the east of Cape of Good Hope.
This first company laid the foundation of the British Empire

15. Main historical events
The Stuarts (1603 – 1714)
James I’s reign. Beginning of the Stuart dynasty.

16. Main historical events
1605 The Gunpowder Plot
It was a failed assassination attempt against King James I of England and VI of Scotland by a group of provincial English Catholics
The plan was to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of England's Parliament on 5 November 1605
 Prompted by the receipt of an anonymous letter, the authorities searched Westminster Palace during the early hours of 5 November, and found Guy Fawkes guarding the explosives.
Part of a confession by Guy Fawkes. His weak signature, made soon after his torture, is faintly visible under the word "good" (lower right).

17. Main historical events
1620 The Pilgrim Fathers land in New England
The Pilgrims held Calvinist religious beliefs and maintained that their congregations needed to be separated from the English state church.