Chronological Table
a. = acted
ent. = entered in Stationers’ Register
(prc.). = preached
(w.) = written
The name of a classical author in capitals means that some or all of his works appeared in their editio princeps; if only some, the editio princeps of other works is shown by the recurrence of his name with a Roman numeral after it (e.g. EURIPIDES II). N.B. The appearance of a translation is no proof that the editio princeps of the original text had already appeared. A title enclosed in square brackets (e.g. Lodge, [Honest Excuses]) is one supplied but not found in any old copy. A question-mark between an author’s name and a title means doubt about the attribution; elsewhere, doubt about date.
Date
Public Events
Private Events
English and Scotch Texts
Greek, Latin, and Continental Vernaculars
1500
Alexander VI is Pope; Henry VII, K. of England; James IV, K. of Scotland.
G. della Casa b.
Geo. Cavendish b.
Benvenuto Cellini b.
Erasmus leaves England.
Skelton, Bowge of Court.
Erasmus, Adagia.
1501
P. Arthur m. Catherine of Aragon.
Douglas, Palace of Honour (w.).
Abrabanel (= Leone Ebreo) Dialoghi di Amore (w.).
Sannazaro, Arcadia.
1502
P. Arthur d.
Richard Arnold, Chronicle. Skelton, Speculum Principis (w.).
HERODOTUS.
SOPHOCLES.
THUCYDIDES.
1503
Alexander VI d.; Pius III succ. and d.; Julius II succ. James IV m. P. Margaret. P. Henry betrothed to Catherine of Aragon. Q. Elizabeth d.
Pontanus d.
Wyatt b.
Wm. Atkinson, tr. The Imitation of Christ. Dunbar, Thistle and Rose (w.). Pseudo-Barclay, Castle of Labour (Paris)?
EURIPIDES
Erasmus, Enchiridion.
Pellicanus, Hebrew Grammar.
1504
Matt. Parker b.
Colet, Dean of St. Paul’s.
Skelton, Philip Sparrow (w.)?
Sannazaro, authorized edn. of Arcadia.
1505
Knox b.
Nicholas Udall b.
Erasmus returns to England.
1506
Treaty with Burgundy.
Columbus d.
Geo. Buchanan b.
Leland b.?
Erasmus leaves England.
Publication of fourteenth-century Contemplations of the dread and love of God (R. Rolle).
Boiardo, first extant edn. of Orlando Innamorato.
Reuchlin, Hebrew Grammar and Dictionary.
1507
Sturmius b.
Chepman and Myllar’s press set up.
Abbot Damian’s attempt at aviation.
Date
Public Events
Private Events
English and Scotch Texts
Greek, Latin, and Continental Vernaculars
1508
Anon., Kind Kittock. Dunbar, Ballade of Ld. B. Stewart; Flyting of D. and Kennedy; Golden Targe; Two Marryit Women, &c.; Lament for Makaris; Dance of the VII . . . Sins; Thistle and Rose. Fisher, Treatise concerning the Fruitful Sayings of David in the VII Penitential Psalms. Pseudo-Chaucer, The Maying or Disport of Chaucer. Publication of Remedy against . . . Temptation (R. Rolle).
1509
Acc. Henry VIII; m. Catherine of Aragon.
Calvin b.
Telesius b.
Erasmus returns to England.
Barclay, Ship of Fools. Copland, King Appolyn. Fisher, Month’s Mind of P. Margaret, Funeral Sermon on Henry VII. Hawes, Pastime of Pleasure; Conversion of Swearers; Joyful Meditation.
Erasmus, Moriae Encomium.
PLUTARCH I.
1510
Colet founds St. Paul’s School.
Botticelli d.
Anon., Cock Lorell’s Boat, More, Merry Jest?; Life of Pico?
Agrippa, De Occulta Philosophia (w.).
1511
Henry joins the Holy League. Anglo-Scotch tension.
Colet’s Sermon to Convocation (prc.).
Erasmus becomes Greek Reader at Cambridge.
1512
Mercator b.
Copland, Helyas.
PINDAR.
PLATO.
Machiavelli, Il Principe (w.).
1513
Leo X succ. Henry invades France. Battle of Flodden. James IV killed; James V acc.
Hen. Bradshaw d.
Mantuan d.
Thos. Smith b.
Anon., Flowers of Ovid. Bradshaw, Life of St. Werburge (w.). Douglas, tr. of Aeneid (w.). Skelton, Ballad of Scottish King.
1514
Wolsey becomes Archb. of York.
Cheke b.
Poynet b.
Vesalius b.
Complutensian Polyglot N.T.
1515
Wolsey becomes Cardinal. Act against Enclosures.
Ascham b.
Ramus b.
Wierus b.
Barclay, Eclogues, I–III?
TACITUS.
Epistolae Obscurorum Virorum.
Trissino, Sophonisba.
Date
Public Events
Private Events
English and Scotch Texts
Greek, Latin, and Continental Vernaculars
1516
Hieron. Bosch d.
Trithemius d.
Skelton’s Magnificence a.?
Fabyan, Chronicle.
Ariosto, Orlando Furioso.
Erasmus, Novum Instrumentum.
More, De optimo reipublicae statu deque nova insula Vtopia (Louvain).
Pomponatius, De Immortalitate.
Paulus Ricius Lat. tr. of Cabbalistical
De Portis Vitae.
1517
Luther puts forward his Wittemberg Theses. Wolsey’s Commission (on Enclosures).
Thos. Cooper b.?
Jn. Foxe b.
Surrey b.
Complutensian Polyglot Bible.
Reuchlin, De Arte Cabbalistica.
1518
Wolsey becomes Legatus a latere. Treaty of Universal Peace.
Robt. Crowley b.
Ninian Winzet b.
Copland, Kalendar and Comfort of Shepherds?
AESCHYLUS.
Luther, Resolutiones.
1519
Cortes invades Mexico. Magellan begins his voyage round the world.
Colet d.
Leonardo da Vince d.
Beza d.
Grimald b.?
Reuchlin, De Recta Latini Graecique
Sermonis Pronuntiatione Dialogus.
1520
Field of the Cloth of Gold. Henry entitled Fidei Defensor by the Pope.
Raphael d.
Churchyard b.
Barclay, tr. of Sallust’s Jugurtha? Murdoch Nisbet, Scotch N.T.?
Henry VIII, Assertio VII Sacramentorum.
Luther, Von der Freiheit.
Pomponatius, De Admirandorum Effectuum Causis (w.).
1521
Diet of Worms. Papal ban on Luther.
Fisher’s sermon against Luther (prc.)
Dunbar d.?
Richard Eden b.?
Barclay, Introductory to . . . French. Bradshaw, Life of St. Werburge. Bradshaw (?), Life of St. Radegunde? Fisher, Sermon against Luther. Skelton, Speak Parrot (w.).
Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (rev. edn.).
Date
Public Events
Private Events
English and Scotch Texts
Greek, Latin, and Continental Vernaculars
1522
Adrian VI succ. Charles V visits England.
Abrabanel d.?
Douglas d.
Reuchlin d.
Du Bellay b.
Jewel b.
Luther, German N.T., and Contra Henricum Regem Angliae.
Vives, edn. of St. Augustine’s De Civitate Dei.
1523
Clement VII succ.
Hawes d.?
Barclay, Mirror of Good Manners. Berners, tr. of Froissart, vol. i. Skelton, Garland of Laurel.
1524
Linacre d.
Pomponatius d.
Camoens b.
Ronsard b.
Thos. Tusser b.?
Leonard Cox, Art or Craft of Rhetoric.
1525
Battle of Pavia.
Palestrina b.
Jn. Stow b.?
Thos. Wilson b.?
Berners, Froissart, vol. ii. Tyndale, Cologne N.T.
Bembo, Prose della Volgar Lingua.
Münster, Hebrew Grammar.
Trissino begins Italia Liberata (blank verse).
1526
Pizarro conquers Peru. Turks capture Buda. Prohibition and burning of English N.T.s. Persecution of English Protestants (1526–7).
Jn. Lesley b.
Anon., Hundred Merry Tales. Tyndale, Worms N.T., Prologue to Romans.
Hector Boece, Historia Scotorum.
F. de Oviedo, Summario.
1527
Sack of Rome.
Machiavelli d.
Ortelius b.
Hector Boece, Historia Scotorum.
Colet, Aeditio.
Vida, De Arte Poetica.
1528
Wolsey suppresses some smaller religious houses.
Dürer d.
Anon., tr. Jest of . . . Howleglass. Fisher, Sermon . . . concerning certain Heretics. More, Dialogue with the Messenger. Wm. Roy, Read me and be not Wroth (Strasburg). Tyndale, Wicked Mammon; Obedience of a Christian Man.
Castiglione, Il Cortegiano.
Pagninus, Latin O.T.
Date
Public Events
Private Events
English and Scotch Texts
Greek, Latin, and Continental Vernaculars
1529
Synod of Orebro; Lutheranism established in Sweden. Fall of Wolsey. Rise of Thos. Cromwell. Henry meets Cranmer. More becomes Chancellor. The ‘Reformation Parliament’.
Castiglione d.
Skelton d.
Simon Fish, Supplication for Beggars. More, Supplication of Souls. Jn. Rastell, The Pastime of People.
Zürich Bible.
Paracelsus, Practica.
1530
Diet of Augsburg. Threatened with Praemunire, the English clergy give Henry £100,000 and call him Supreme Head of the Church ‘as far as the law of Christ allows’.
S. Fish d.
Wolsey d.
Sannazaro d.
Bodinus b.
Thos. Hoby b.
Richd. Mulcaster b.?
Alexander Scott b.?
Jn. Whitgift b.?
Colet, tr. of his Sermon in Convocation. Copland, High Way to the Spital House? Lindsay, Complaint and Testament of the Papyngo (w.). Jn. Rastell, New Book of Purgatory. Roy, A Proper Dialogue (Marburg). Tyndale, Practice of Prelates, tr. Pentateuch.
Fracastorius, Syphilis sive Morbus Gallicus.
1531
Act against vagabonds. Henry forbids the burning of Edw. Crome because his opinions include a denial of Papal Supremacy.
Zwinglius d.
Elyot, Book of the Governor. Tyndale, Answer to More, tr. Jonah.
PARTHENIUS.
Cornelius Agrippa, De Occulta Philosophia and De Incertitudine et Vanitate Scientarum.
Vives, De Disciplinis.
1532
Henry divorces Catherine of A. Convocation makes drastic concession to Henry. More resigns. Annates Act.
Wm. Allen b.
Jn. Hawkins b.
Wm. Thynne’s edn. of Chaucer. Elyot, Pasquil the Plain. G. Hervet, tr. of Xenophon’s Oeconomicus. More, Confutation of Tyndale’s Answer, Letter (against Frith).
Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (rev. edn.).
Erasmus, Apophthegmata.
Rabelais, Les Horribles faits du roy Pantagruel.
1533
Cranmer becomes Archb. of Canterbury. Henry excommunicated. m. Anne Boleyn. Act in Restraint of Appeals. Arrest of Eliz. Barton (the ‘Maid of Kent’).
Ariosto d.
Berners d.
Jn. Frith burnt.
Montaigne b.
Jn. Gaw, Right Way to the Kingdom of Heaven. Elyot, Of the Knowledge which Maketh a Wise Man. More, Answer to Poisoned Book; Apology; Confutation, Pt. II; Debellation. N. Udall, Flowers for Latin Speaking.
Date
Public Events
Private Events
English and Scotch Texts
Greek, Latin, and Continental Vernaculars
1534
Paul III succ.
Acts of Succession and Supremacy.
Correggio d.
Jn. Leland touring England.
Berners, tr. Huon of Bordeaux. Colet, Right Fruitful Admonition. Elyot, Castle of Health; tr. Sermon of St. Cyprian; tr. ‘Rules of Christian Life’ from Pico; tr. ‘Doctrine of Princes’ from Isocrates. More, Dialogue of Comfort (w.). Thos. Starkey, Dialogue (w.). R. Whytington, tr. 3 bks. of Cicero’s De Officiis.
Lefèvre, French Bible.
Münster, Latin O.T.
Polydore Vergil, Historia Anglica.
Rabelais, La Vie du grand Gargantua.
1535
Henry, ‘supreme Head on earth’. Cromwell’s visitation of Monasteries. More and Fisher executed.
Cornelius Agrippa d.
Thos. Cartwright b.
Geo. Cascoigne b.
Thos. North b.
Berners, Golden Book of Marcus Aurelius. Fisher, Spiritual Consolation to his Sister. Copland, Complaint of them that be too soon married; Complaint of them that be too late married? Coverdale, Bible out of Dutch and Latin (Zürich?), Biblia the Bible.
EPICTETUS.
Abrabanel, Dialoghi di Amore.
Olivetan’s French Bible.
Vida, Christias.
1536
Anne Boleyn’s miscarriage, and execution. Henry m. Jane Seymour. New Act of Succession. Act against vagabonds. X Articles. Beginning of Pilgrimage of Grace. Smaller abbeys suppressed.
Erasmus d.
Jn. Rastell d.
Tyndale strangled.
Arthur Golding b.
Thomas Sackville b.
Pseudo-Cheke, Remedy for Sedition.
Calvin, Institutio.
1537
The Pope condemns slavery. Beginning of Calvin’s Theocracy at Geneva; banishment of Caroli; sumptuary legislation. P. Edward b. Jane Seymour d.
Cranmer, Institution of a Christian Man ( = ‘The Bishop’s Book’). Lindsay, Deploration of the Death of Q Magdalene (w.). ‘Matthew’s’ Bible.
Jn. Fortescue, De Laudibus Legum Angliae.
Latimer, Concio ante Inchoationem Parlamenti.
1538
James V of Scotland m. Marie de Guise. In England the English Bible ordered to be placed in every church. Persecution of Anabaptists. Breaking of images. Execution of Henry Pole.
Thos. Starkey d.
Guarini b.
Reg. Scott b.?
Elyot, Latin-English Dictionary. Lindsay, Complaint of the Papyngo.
Date
Public Events
Private Events
English and Scotch Texts
Greek, Latin, and Continental Vernaculars
1539
Greater abbeys suppressed. Statute of VI Articles (whereby heresy becomes a felony at Common Law). Act of Proclamations.
Geo. Fenton b.?
Humph. Gilbert b.?
The ‘Great’ Bible. Richd. Taverner’s Bible. Elyot, Banquet of Sapience.
DIODORUS SICULUS.
Joachim Rheticus (a pupil of Copernicus), Narratio Prima de Revolutionibus, first publication of the Copernican theory.
1540
Institution of the Jesuits. Calvin, after banishment, returns to Geneva. Fall and execution of Cromwell. b. Henry m. Anne of Cleves; marriage annulled; he m. Catherine Howard.
Vives d.
Barnaby Googe b.
Wm. Painter b.
Geo. Turberville b.?
Lindsay’s Satire of Three Estates a.
Berners, tr. of San Pedro’s Castle of Love. Douglas, Palace of Honour? (Edinburgh). Elyot, tr. of Eucolpius, Image of Governance. Pseudo-Chaucer, fifteenth-century Jack Upland.
Calvin, French version of Institutio.
1541
Henry assumes title ‘King of Ireland’ and ‘Head of the Church in Ireland’.
Paracelsus d.
1542
Establishment of the Roman Inquisition. Henry invades Scotland without declaring war and executes Catherine Howard. Act against vagabonds. James V of Scotland d.; his daughter Mary b. and acc.
Wyatt d.
Bellarmine b.
Barnaby Rich b.?
Brinkelow, Lamentation of a Christian against London. Edw. Hall, Union of the Families of Lancaster and York? (undated fragment). Wm. Lyly, Introduction to the VIII Parts of Speech. Robt. Record, Ground of Arts teaching Arithmetic. N. Udall, tr. Erasmus’ Apophthegmata.
1543
Mary Q. of Scots betrothed to the Dauphin; goes to France. Henry m. Catherine Parr. Act ‘for the Advancement of True Religion’ (restricts Bible reading and condemns unauthorized translations).
Copernicus d.
Thos. Deloney b.?
Du Bartas b.
Baptista Porta b.
Composite, The Necessary Doctrine and Erudition of any Christian Man (= ‘The King’s Book’). Richd. Grafton, Chronicle (i.e. Jn. Harding’s with continuation which includes More’s Life of Richard III).
Copernicus, De Revolutionibus.
Ramus, Aristotelicae Animadversiones and Dialecticae Partitiones.
Date
Public Events
Private Events
English and Scotch Texts
Greek, Latin, and Continental Vernaculars
1544
Hertford’s invasion of Scotland. War with France; capture of Boulogne.
Marot d.
Tasso b.
Geo. Whetstone b.?
Bale, Brief chronicle concerning Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham (Antwerp?).
Leland, Assertio . . . Arturii Regis.
1545
Council of Trent opens. Confiscation of Chantries.
Thos. Bodley b.
Gabr. Harvey b.?
Ascham, Toxophilus. Churchyard, Mirror of Man? Elyot, Defence of Good Women. ‘King’s Primer’ (including Cranmer’s Litany). Hugh Rhodes, Book of Nurture? Skelton, Certain books compiled by?
EURIPIDES II.
Rabelais, Pantagruel iii.
1546
Murder of Cardinal Beaton. Peace with France.
Brinkelow d.
Elyot d.
Luther d.
Desportes d.
Bale, Acts of English Votaries; First Examination of Anne Askew. Jn. Heywood, first Dialogue of Proverbs.
Fracastorius, De Contagione.
1547
Henry VIII d.: Edward VI succ. Execution of Surrey. Scots defeated at Pinkie. Somerset becomes Protector. Act of Proclamations repealed. Many laws against heresy abrogated. Penal slavery for some types of vagabonds.
Bembo d.
R. Copland d.
Ed. Hall d.
Cervantes b.
Lipsius b.
Richd. Stanyhurst b.
Wm. Baldwin, Treatise of Philosophy. Bale, The Latter Examination of A. Askew. Cranmer (with Bonner, Grindal, Harpsfield, and others) Certain Sermons or Homilies. Thos. Sternhold and Jn. Hopkins, first book of Psalms.
Amyot, Fr. tr. Of Heliodorus.
Ramus, Institutiones Dialecticae.
Trissino, Italia Liberata.
1548
Somerset’s Commission on Enclosures. Arrest of Gardiner.
Giordano Bruno b.
Geo. Peele b.
Geo. Pettie b.
Brinkelow, Complaint of Roderick Mors. R. Crowley, Information and Petition against the Oppressors of the Poor Commons. Hall, Union of . . . York and Lancaster, 2nd edn. Latimer, Notable Sermon in the Shrouds (= Plough Sermon). Lindsay, The Tragedy of the . . . Cardinal. N. Udall, tr. Erasmus Paraphrase of N.T.
Bale, Illustrium Majoris Britannaie Scriptorum Summarium.
Foxe, De Non Plectendis Morte Adulteris.
Rabelais, Pantagruel iv.
Ramus, Scholae Dialecticae.
Date
Public Events
Private Events
English and Scotch Texts
Greek, Latin, and Continental Vernaculars
1549
Paul III d. English retreat in Scotland; the war becomes desultory. War with France. Kett’s rebellion. Act of Uniformity.
Giles Fletcher (senior) b.?
Martin Bucer arrives in England.
Anon., The Complaint of Scotland (w.). Baldwin, Canticles or ballads of Solomon . . . in English metres. Book of Common Prayer. Thos. Challoner, tr. Erasmus, Praise of Folly. Cheke, The Hurt of Sedition.
Cooper-Lanquet, Epitome of Chronicles (Thos. Lanquet, completed by Cooper). Crowley, The Voice of the Last Trumpet. Latimer, The First Sermon before the King’s Majesty. Leland-Bale, The Laborious Journey and Search of John Leland . . . a New Year’s Gift . . . enlarged by J. Bale. Jn. Poynet, Tragedy or Dialogue of the Bishop of Rome (tr. from B. Ochino). Sternhold and Hopkins, second book of Psalms. Wyatt, Certain Psalms drawn into English Metre.
Du Bellay, Défense et Illustration de la langue française and Olive.
1550
Julius III succ. Treaty of Boulogne. Removal of R.C. bishops. Bishops’ incomes docked. New Ordinal. Abolition of certain ceremonies. Burning of books at Oxford.
Trissino d.
Robt. Browne b.?
Jn. Napier, inventor of logarithms, b.
Henry Smith b.?
E.A., Notable Epistle of Dr. Gribaldi. Cranmer, Defence of the true Doctrine of the Sacrament. Crowley, One and Thirty Epigrams, Way of Wealth. Jn. Harrington, tr. Cicero’s De Amicitia. Jn. Heywood, Dialogue of Proverbs (enlarged). Wm. Hunnis, Certain Psalms in English Metre. Latimer, A most faithful Sermon . . . before the King’s . . . Majesty, A Sermon . . . at Stamford. Thos. Nicolls, tr. of Thucydides. Richd. Sherry, Treatise of Schemes and Tropes.
Ramusio, Navigationi.
Ronsard, Odes i–iv.
1551
Council of Trent, Session II. Bolsec banished from Geneva for denying Predestination. Treaty of Angers.
Bucer d.
Nich. Breton b.?
Wm. Camden b.
Cranmer, An Answer to Stephen Gardiner, Crowley, Pleasure and Pain; Fable of Philargyrie. Ralph Robinson, tr. of More’s Vtopia. Thomas Wilson, Rule of Reason.
Cardan, De Subtilitate Rerum.
Pollanus, Liturgia Sacra.
1552
Execution of Somerset. 2nd Act of Uniformity
Barclay d.
Leland d.
Philemon Holland b.
Raleigh b.?
Spenser b.
Book of Common Prayer II.
Mercator, De Usu Annuli Astronomici.
Gomára, Istoria de las Indias.
Ronsard, Amours de Cassandre.
1553
Servetus burned at Geneva. Edward VI d. Acc. Mary. Sir Hugh Willoughby’s voyage begins.
Fracastorius d.
Rabelais d.
Richd. Hakluyt b.
Anthony Murchay b.
N. Udall’s Roister Doister a.? Res Publica a.
Douglas, Aeneid (corrupt); Palace of Honour (London). Eden, tr. of Sebastian Münster, Treatise of the New India. More, Dialogue of Comfort. Wilson, Art of Rhetoric.
Lazarillo de Tormes.
Ronsard, Odes.
Date
Public Events
Private Events
English and Scotch Texts
Greek, Latin, and Continental Vernaculars
1554
Rebellion of Sir Thos. Wyatt. Execution of Lady Jane Grey. Mary m. Philip of Spain. England reconciled with Rome but Mary retains title of ‘Supreme Head’. Church lands not restored. Parliament refuses to revive the old Heresy Laws.
Stephen Gosson b.
Fulke Greville b.
Richd. Hooker b.
Jn. Lyly b.?
Philip Sidney b.
Lindsay, Dialogue betwixt Experience and Ane Courtier.
Πoιμávδρης
(Hermetic writings).
Lat. tr. of Achilles Tatius.
Bandello, Novelle i-iii.
Bellus, De Haereticis (w.).
Foxe, Commentarii.
Palestrina, First Book of Masses.
1555
Paul IV succ. Agreement at Augsburg establishing toleration of Lutheranism. Persecution of Protestants in England; Latimer and Ridley burnt. Muscovy Company founded.
Polydore Vergil d.
Lindsay d.
Lancelot Andrewes b.
Malherbe b.
Anon., Institution of a Gentleman. Berners, Arthur of Little Britain? Eden, tr. of Decades of Peter Martyr. Heywood, Two Hundred Epigrams. Mirror for Magistrates I (Wm. Baldwin’s Fall of Princes, &c., extant only in a fragment).
Cheke, De Pronuntiatione.
Ramus, Fr. tr., Dialectique.
Olaus Magnus, De Gentibus Septentrionalibus.
Ronsard, Amours de Marie, Hymnes.
1556
Philip II now King of Spain, the Indies, Netherlands, Naples, &c.; is excommunicated. Cranmer burnt.
Aretino d.
G. della Casa d.
Poynet d.
Nich. Udall d.
Alex. Montgomery b.?
Peele b.
Nich. Harpsfield, Life of More (w.). Heywood, The Spider and the Fly. Poynet, Short Treatise of Politic Power (Strasburg?). Genevan metrical Psalter I.
1557
War with France.
Stationers’ Company incorporated.
Thos. Kyd b.?
Thos. Watson b.
Anon., Courte of Venus (ent. 57/58); Sackful of News (ent. 57/58). Geo. Cavendish, Life of Wolsey (w.). More, English Works. North, tr. of Guevara, Dial of Princes. Surrey, Certain Books of Virgil’s Aeneis. Tottel, Songs and Sonnets (= ‘Tottel’s Miscellany’). Tussen, Hundred Good Points.
Bale, Catalogus.
Cardan, De Varietate Rerum.
1558
Loss of Calais. Mary d. Elizabeth I acc.
Olaus Magnus d.
J. C. Scaliger d.
Robt. Greene b.
Thos. Lodge b.
Wm. Perkins b.
Wm. Warner b.?
Knox, Appellation; First Blast of the Trumpet. Wm. Painter, Murder of Solyman? Thos. Phaer, tr. Seven First Books of the Aeneidos.
Du Bellay, Antiquités de Rome, Poemata.
Marguerite de Navaree, Heptameron I.
Date
Public Events
Private Events
English and Scotch Texts
Greek, Latin, and Continental Vernaculars
1559
Pius IV succ. Bull Cum ex apostolatus, by which all princes who support Henry forfeit their office. Mary of Scotland m. the Dauphin. Knox revisits Scotland: revolution begins, assisted by Elizabeth. Peace between England and France. M. Parker Archb. of Canterbury. Acts of Uniformity (entailing a fine for not attending church) and of Supremacy (refused by nearly all the Marian bishops and accepted by nearly all the inferior clergy). Ecclesiastical Court of High Commission. Popular iconoclasm and looting of churches. Vestiarian controversy begins.
Geo. Chapman b.?
Book of Common Prayer III. Bullein, Government of Health. Crowley-Cooper-Lanquet chronicle (see 1549) with continuation. Jasper Heywood, tr. Seneca’s Troas. Mirror for Magistrates II (first extant edn.).
Amyot, F. tr. of Plutarch, Longus.
Beza, De Haereticis a civili magistratu Puniendis.
Du Bellay, Regrets.
Foxe, Rerum in Ecclesia Gestarum.
Minturno, De Poeta.
1560
Peace with Scotland. Parpaglia sent by the Pope to Elizabeth, is intercepted by Philip of Spain. Statute against the destruction of church monuments.
Melanchthon d.
Hen. Chettle b.?
Alex. Hume b.?
Jn. Udall b.?
W. Barker, tr. of Xenophon’s Cyropaedia. Geneva Bible. C. T., tr. of Boccaccio, Pleasant History of Galesus. Copland, Jyll of Brentford. Jasper Heywood, tr. Seneca’s Thyestes. Jn. Heywood, Fourth Hundred of Epigrams. Jewel, Sermon at Paul’s Cross; True copy of the Letters between the Bishop of Sarum and D. Cole. Knox, An Answer to . . . blasphemous Cavillations. Jn. Rolland, Seven Sages (w.?). T. H. Fable of Narcissus.
1561
English occupation of Le Havre. O’Neill’s rebellion in Ireland.
Cavendish d.
Francis Bacon, b.
Jn. Harrington b.?
Edwin Sandys b.
Robt. Southwell b.
Gorboduc a.
Jn. Awdeley, Fraternity of Vagabonds (ent.). Jn. Dolman, tr. of Cicero’s Tusculans. Eden, tr. Cortes, Art of Navigation. Googe, tr. Palingenius, Zodiac of Life i–vi. Jasper Heywood, tr. Seneca, Hercules Furens. Hoby, tr. Castiglione, Book of the Courtier. Thos. Norton, tr. Calvin’s Institution. Stow, edn. of Chaucer.
Scaliger, Poetices.
Date
Public Events
Private Events
English and Scotch Texts
Greek, Latin, and Continental Vernaculars
1562
Council of Trent, Session III. French Civil War. Elizabeth’s secret treaty of Richmond with the Huguenots. English force at Havre. Hawkins’s voyage begun.
Bandello d.
Montemayor d.
Constable b.
Lope de Vega b.
Arthur Brooke, Romeus and Juliet. Bullein, Bulwark against all Sickness. Cooper, Answer against the Apology of Private Mass. Jn. Heywood, Works. Jewel, Apology of Private Mass. Latimer, Twenty Seven Sermons. Sternhold and Hopkins, &c., The Whole Book (of Metrical Psalms). Ninian Winzet, Certain Tractates, The Last Blast of the Trumpet.
Jewel, Apologia pro Ecclesia Anglicana.
Rabelais, Pantagruel v.
1563
English refugees unsuccessfully petition Council of Trent for Elizabeth’s excommunication. Plague at Havre; Havre evacuated. Plague in London. XXXIX Articles. Act forbidding conversion of arable land to pasture. Elizabeth’s first Poor Law.
Bale d.
Arthur Brooke d.
Sam. Daniel b.?
Drayton b.
Joshua Sylvester b.
Foxe, Acts and Monuments (= ‘Foxe’s Book of Martyrs’). Googe, Eclogues, Epitaphs, and Sonnets. Grafton, Abridgement of Chronicles. Mirror for Magistrates III (containing the work of Dolman and Sackville). Alex. Neville, tr. of Seneca’s Oedipus. Richd. Rainold, Foundation of Rhetoric. Winzet, Book of Fourscore Questions (Antwerp).
Minturno, Arte Poetica.
More, Lucubrationes.
1564
Treaty of Troyes. Influx of Flemish Protestant refugees.
Calvin d.
Michelangelo d.
Vesalius d.
Galileo b.
Marlowe b.
Shakespeare b.
Anne Bacon, tr. of Jewel’s Apologia. Bullein, Dialogue against the Fever Pestilence. Scotch Psalter.
Acontius, Stratagemata Satanae.
Wierus, de Praestigiis Daemonum.
1565
Attempts to check English and French piracy in the Channel.
Francis Meres b.
Play by Richd. Edwards (perhaps Damon and Pythias) a.
Wm. Allen, Defence and Declaration. Anon., Jests of Skoggan (ent. 65/66). Golding, tr. of Ovid, Metamorphoses i–iv. Googe, Palingenius, Zodiac i–xii. Grafton, Manual of the Chronicles. Jewel, Reply unto Mr. Harding’s Answer. Thos. Peend, Hermaphroditus and Salmacis (after Ovid). Stow, Summary of English Chronicles.
Caro, Eneide (blank verse translation).
Cooper, Thesaurus Linguae Romanae et Britannicae.
More, Opera.
Ronsard, Abrégé de l’Art Poétique.
Telesius, De Rerum Natura.
1566
Pius V succ. James (afterwards VI and I) b.
Hoby d.
Vida d.
Jn. Hoskyns b.
Gascoigne’s Supposes a.
Wm. Adlington, tr. of Apuleius, Golden Ass. Drant, tr. from Horace, A Medicinable Moral. Lindsay, Deploration of Q. Magdalene. Wm. Painter, Palace of Pleasure. [Clement Robinson?] Very Pleasant Sonnets (ent. perhaps = Handful of Pleasant Delights, 1584). Jn. Studley, tr. Seneca, Agamemnon and Medea.
Bodinus, Methodus ad facilem Historiarum Cognitionem.
Alanus Copus (=Nicholas Harpsfield) Sex Dialogi.
Luther, Tischreden.
Date
Public Events
Private Events
English and Scotch Texts
Greek, Latin, and Continental Vernaculars
1567
Revolt of the Netherlands.
Thos. Campion b.
Anthony Copley b.
Monteverdi b.
Thos. Nashe b.
Wm. Allen, Treatise in Defence of the Power of the Priesthood. Anon., Merry Tales Nearly Imprinted . . . by Skelton. Drant, tr. of Horace, Art of Poetry, Epistles, and Satires. Geoff. Fenton, Certain Tragical Discourses. Golding, tr., Metamorphoses i–xv. Thos. Harman, A Caveat for Common Cursetors. Jewel, Defence of the Apology. Mulcaster, tr. of Fortescue’s De Legibus (1537). Painter, Second Tome of the Palace of Pleasure. Parker, tr. of æLfric, A Testimony of Antiquity. Thos. Paynell, tr. of Amadis. Turberville, Epitaphs, Epigrams; Songs and Sonnets; tr. Heroical Epistles of Ovid; tr. Eclogues of Mantuan. Wedderburns, Gude and Godlie Ballatis.
Lat. tr. of Eulenspiegel.
Pomponatius, De Admirandorum Effectuum Causis.
1568
English College of Douai founded. Mary Q. of Scots flies to England. Elizabeth seizes treasure on Spanish fleet driven into Plymouth by pirates. Growing tension with Spain.
Ascham d.
Coverdale d.
Olaus Magnus d.
Campanella b.
Gervase Markham b.?
Hen. Wotton b.
Bannatyne MS. (w.)? ‘Bishops’ Bible.’ Thos. Howell, Arbour of Amity; New Sonnets and Pretty Pamphlets. Lindsay, Works. North, Dial of Princes with Amplification of a IVth Book. Skelton, Pithy Works of. Edm. Tilney, Discourse of Duties in Marriage. Turberville, tr. of Mancinus, Plain Path to Perfect Virtue.
Thos. Smith, De Recta et Emendata Linguae Anglicae Scriptione.
1569
Unsuccessful rebellion of Norfolk and the Northern Earls.
Barn. Barnes b.?
Jn. Davies b.
Góngora b.
Marini b.
Grafton, Chronicle at Large. Hawkins, True Declaration of the Troublesome Voyage. Thos. Newton, tr. Cicero, Paradoxa Stoicorum and De Senectute. Van der Noodt, A Treatise &c. Painter, 2nd edn. of Palace of Pleasure, vol. i. J. Sandford, tr. of Agrippa, de Vanitate. Thos. Underdowne, tr. Heliodorus, Ethiopian History; tr. Ovid, Ibis.
Mercator, Chronologia.
Baptista Porta, Magia Naturalis.
1570
The Pope excommunicates and deposes Elizabeth.
Thos. Middleton b.?
Sam. Rowlands b.?
Ascham, The Schoolmaster. Foxe, Ecclesiastical History. Googe, tr. of Naogeorgos, The Popish Kingdom. Jn. Lesley, History of Scotland (w.). North, tr., Moral Philosophy of Doni. Tusser, Hundred good Points . . . married unto a Hundred good Points of Housewifery. Wilson, tr., Three Orations of Demosthenes.
Castelvetro, Poetica d’Aristotele.
Ortelius, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum.
Date
Public Events
Private Events
English and Scotch Texts
Greek, Latin, and Continental Vernaculars
1571
Battle of Lepanto. Ridolfi Plot. Diplomatic relations with Spain broken off. XXXIX Articles enforced. It becomes treasonable to introduce into England Bulls or Instruments of Reconciliation with Rome. Walter Strickland suspended from H. of Commons for introducing a bill for reform of the Prayer Book.
Jewel d.
Benvenuto Cellini d.
Keppler b.
Jn. Bridges, Sermon at Paul’s Cross. Latimer, Fruitful Sermons.
1572
Gregory XIII succ. Massacre of St. Bartholomew. Treaty of Blois. Elizabeth forbids introduction in the Commons of Bills on religion unless previously approved by the Clergy.
Knox d.
Ramus murdered.
Donne b.
B. Jonson b.
Unpatronized troops of actors declared rogues and vagabonds.
The Society of Antiquarians founded.
Churchyard, tr., Ovid, Tristia i-iii. Fenton, Monophylo. Jn. Field and Thos. Wilcox, Admonition to Parliament. Gilbert, Q. Elizabeth’s Achademy (w.). Latimer, Seven Sermons before the Duchess of Suffolk. Pseudo-Cartwright, Second Admonition. R. H., tr. L. Lavater, Of Ghosts and Spirits. Tyndale, Frith, and Barnes, Whole Works. Whitgift, Answer to a Libel entitled an Admonition. Wilson, Discourse upon Usury.
PLUTARCH II.
Camoens, Lusiadas.
Matt. Parker, De Antiquitate Britannicae Ecclesiae &c.
Ronsard, Franciade i-iv.
1573
Siege of La Rochelle. Relations with Spain resumed.
Wm. Laud b.
Jn. Bridges, Supremacy of Christian Princes. Cartwright, Reply to an Answer. Gascoigne, Hundred Sundry Flowers. Tusser, Five Hundred Points.
Bandello, Novelle iv.
Desportes, Diane, &c.
Du Bartas, Judith.
François Hotman, Franco-Gallica.
Tasso, Aminta.
1574
Anglo-Spanish Treaty of Bristol. Persecution of Papists in England.
Richd. Barnfield b.
Joseph Hall b.
Cartwright, tr. of Travers, Explicatio as A Full and Plain Declaration. Jn. Higgins, The First Part of the Mirror for Magistrates. Parker, tr. of Asser’s Life of Alfred. Barn. Rich, Dialogue between Mercury and an English Soldier? Reg. Scott, Platform of a Hop-Garden. Whitgift, Defence of the Answer.
Walter Travers, Ecclesiasticae Disciplinae Explicatio.
Date
Public Events
Private Events
English and Scotch Texts
Greek, Latin, and Continental Vernaculars
1575
New Poor Law. Anabaptists burnt in England.
M. Parker d.
Boehme b.
Thos. Heywood b.?
Jn. Marston b.?
Wm. Percy b.
Sam. Purchas b.?
Cyril Tourneur b.
Breton, Small Handful of Fragrant Flowers. Cartwright, Second Reply. Churchyard, First Part of Chips. Gascoigne, Posies. Golding, tr. of Beza, Abraham’s Sacrifice. Feton, Golden Epistles. Higgins, Mirror for Magistrates (= 1574, with an addition). Robt. Laneham, A Letter. Painter, Palace of Pleasure (2 vols.). Rolland, Court of Venus. Turberville, Noble Art of Venery, Book of Falconry.
Ronsard, Sonnets pour Hélène.
Tasso, Gerusalemme Liberata.
1576
Sack of Antwerp. Grindal Archb. of Canterbury. Frobisher’s voyage begins. Priests from Douai arrive in England.
Bullein d.
Cardan d.
Eden d.
Titian d.
The Theater built in London.
Abr. Fleming (tr. collectn.), Panoply of Epistles. Gascoigne, Delicate Diet for Dainty-Mouthed Drunkards; Drum of Doomsday; Princely Pleasures of . . . Kenilworth; Spoil of Antwerp; Steel Glass and Philomene. Gilbert, Discourse of a New Passage. Paradise of Dainty Devices. Robt. Peterson, tr. of Della Casa, Galateo. Pettie, The Petite Palace of Pettie his Pleasure. Whetstone, Rock of Regard.
XENOPHON.
Lat. tr. of Xenophon.
Bodin, La République.
‘Junius Brutus’, Vindiciae contra Tyrannos.
1577
Drake’s voyage round the world begins.
Gascoigne d.
Thos. Smith d.
Robt. Burton b.
Van Helmont b.
Curtain Theatre opened.
Blackfriars Theatre opened.
Cartwright, The Rest of the Second Reply. Breton, Flourish upon Fancy, Works of a Young Wit. Googe, tr. of Heresbachius, Four Books of Husbandry. Gosson, Treatise wherein Dicing &c. . . . are reproved (ent.). Jn. Grange, Golden Aphroditis.
Holinshed, the first and last volumes of the Chronicle. Tim. Kendall, Flowers of Epigrams. Hen. Peacham, Garden of Eloquence. Richd. Willes and Eden, History of Travel.
Gab. Harvey, Ciceronianus.
Lat. tr. of Psellus, De Operatione Daemonicum.
1578
The Pope sends Thos. Stukeley to Ireland.
Drant d.?
Roper d.
Wm. Harvey b.
Geo. Sandys b.
Geo. Beste, True Discourse (of Frobisher’s Voyage). Churchyard, Lament . . . of Woful Wars in Flanders. Gorgeous Gallery of Gallant Inventions. Lyly, Euphues, the Anatomy of Wit. Mirror for Magistrates (Thos. Blennerhasset’s Second Part). Barn. Rich, Alarm to England. Jn. Rolland, The Seven Sages.
Du Bartas, Sepmaine.
Mercator, Tabulae Geographicae.
1579
Organization of a Jesuit mission to England. Simier visits Elizabeth to treat of a m. between her and Alençon, Duke of Anjou.
Jn. Fletcher b.
Churchyard, Misery of Flanders. Fenton, tr. of Guicciardini’s History. Gosson, School of Abuse; Ephemerides of Phialo and Apology for the School. Lodge [Honest Excuses]. Munday, Mirror of Mutability. North, tr. of Plutarch, Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans. Pitscottie, History (w. not later than this). Spenser, Shepherds’ Calendar.
Jn. Lesley, Lat. tr. of his History (1570), De Origine, Moribus et rebus Scotorum.
Date
Public Events
Private Events
English and Scotch Texts
Greek, Latin, and Continental Vernaculars
1580
Letter of Cardinal Como to Sega pronouncing the assassination of Elizabeth lawful and meritorious. Campion and Parsons in England.
Breughel d.?
Camoens d.
Jn. Heywood d.?
Holinshed d.?
Tusser d.
Heinsius b.
Jn. Webster b.?
Anon., Manifest Detection of Diceplay? Churchyard, Charge (or Light Bundle). Humph. Gifford, Posy of Gilliflowers. Harvey, Three Proper . . . Letters; Two other . . . Letters. Lyly, Euphues and his England. Maitland Folio (w.). Munday, Zelauto. Austen Saker, Narbonus. Stow, Chronicles.
Belleforest, Histoires Tragiques.
Bodin, Démonomanie.
Buchanan, De jure Regis apud Scotos.
Montaigne, Essais i-ii.
1581
Alençon in England. Secret Recusant Press set up in Essex (its products bearing the imprint ‘Douai’). Execution of Edmund Campion.
Wilson d.
Thos. Overbury b.
Allen, Apology of the English Seminaries. Arthur Hall, tr. of Iliad i-x. Howell, Howell his Devices. Mulcaster, Positions. Pettie, tr. of Guazzo, Civil Conversation. Rich, Farewell to Military Profession, Strange and Wonderful Adventures of Don Simonides. Studley, &c., tr. Seneca his Ten Tragedies.
Tasso, Gerusalemme Liberata, revised edn.
Thos. Watson, Lat. tr. of Sophocles, Antigone.
1582
Attempted assassination of William of Orange. University of Edinburgh founded. Plague in London. Parsons expresses the opinion that nearly all Recusants desire Spanish invasion.
Buchanan d.
Phineas Fletcher b.
Allen, Brief Hist. of Martyrdom of XII Priests. Breton, Toys of an Idle Head. Robt. Browne, A Book which sheweth and Treatise of Reformation without Tarrying. Gosson, Plays Confuted. Hakluyt, Diverse Voyages. Mulcaster, First Part of the Elementary. Munday, Discovery of . . . Campion; English Roman Life. Rheims N.T. Rich, True Report of a Practice of a Papist. R. Robinson, tr. of Leland’s Assertio. Stanyhurst, tr. of Virgil Aen. i-iv. (Leyden.) Watson, EKATOMIIAΘIA. Whetstone, Heptameron of Civil Discourses (= Aurelia).
1583
Whitgift Archb. of Canterbury. Irish rebellion defeated. Two plots, that of the Recusant Jn. Somerville and that of Francis Throckmorton. Court of High Commission organized.
Gilbert d.
Massinger b.
Grotius b.
Queen’s Players formed.
Gilbert, True Report of the Newfound Lands. Greene, Mamillia. Wm. Hunnis, Seven Sobs; Handful of Honeysuckles; Poor Widow’s Mite; Comfortable Dialogues. Jewel, View of a Seditious Bull; Certain Sermons; Exposition on Thessalonians. Brian Melbancke, Philotimus. T. Smith, De Republica Anglorum. Stanyhurst, Aeneid i-iv (London). Philip Stubbs, Anatomy of Abuses; Second Part of the Anatomy; Rosary of Christian Prayers.
Du Bartas, Seconde Sepmaine.
Date
Public Events
Private Events
English and Scotch Texts
Greek, Latin, and Continental Vernaculars
1584
William of Orange assassinated. Mendoza expelled from England. ‘Bond of Association’ formed to protect the Queen. Ralegh’s failure in Virginia.
Alex Scott d.?
Francis Beaumont b.
Jn. Selden b.
Lyly’s Campaspe and Sapho and Phao a.?
Peele’s Arraignment of Paris a.
Allen, True, Sincere, and Modest Defence (Rouen). Wm. Fulke (or Dudley Fenner?), Brief and Plain Declaration (= The Learned Discourse). Greene, Mirror of Modesty; Card of Fancy (= Gwydonius or on title page, Guydemus). Hakluyt, Western Discoveries (w.). James VI, Essays of a Prentice. Lodge, Alarm against Usurers and Forbonius and Prisceria. Munday, Watchword to England. Rich, Second Tome of Don Simonides. Scott, Discovery of Witchcraft. Jn. Southern, Pandora. Warner, Pan his Syrinx. Whetstone, Mirror for Magistrates of Cities and Touchstone for the Time.
Jean Benedicti, Somme des Pechez.
Giordano Bruno, Cena delle Cinere; De la causa; De l’infinito.
1585
Sixtus V succ. Elizabeth refuses the sovereignty of the Netherlands. Expedition to the Netherlands under Leicester. Drake at Vigo, &c. Execution of Dr. Parry. Bachelors and undergraduates at Oxford ordered to confine themselves (in Logic) to Aristotle ‘and those that defend him’.
Ronsard d.
Wm. Drummond b.
Giles Fletcher (junior) b.
Hooker, On Justification (prc.).
Greene, Planetomachia. Munday, tr. of L. Pasqualigo, Fedele and Fortunio. Peele, Pageant for Dixi. Stubbs, Intended Treason of Dr. Parry. Whetstone, Enemy to Unthriftiness (= Mirror for Magistrates of Cities, 2nd edn.); Mirror of True Honour.
Bruno, Eroici Furori.
Watson, Amyntas.
1586
Battle of Zutphen; Sidney d. of wounds. Babinton Plot. Trial of Mary Q. of Scots. The Pope promises to pay Philip of Spain 1,000,000 crowns on his landing a force in England. Star Chamber decree forbidding all publication without previous ecclesiastical approval.
Jn. Ford b.
Kyd’s Spanish Tragedy a.?
Knox, History of the Reformation in Scotland. Maitland Q. (w.). David Rowland, tr. of Lazarillo de Tormes. Warner, Albion’s England i-iv. Wm. Webbe, Discourse of English Poetry. Whetstone, English Mirror. R. Young, Pettie’s tr. of Guazzo’s Civil Conversation with a 4th book added.
Angles, Flores in Secundum (librum) Sententiarum.
Bellarmine, Disputationes contra Haereticos (3 vols., 1586–93).
Camden, Britannia.
Date
Public Events
Private Events
English and Scotch Texts
Greek, Latin, and Continental Vernaculars
1587
The Pope proclaims a Crusade against England. Execution of Mary. Drake at Cadiz.
Foxe d.
Whetstone d.?
Marlowe’s Tamberlaine, Pts. I and IIa.
Bridges, Defence of the Government Established. Churchyard, Worthiness of Wales. Angell Day, tr. of Longus, Daphnis and Chloe. Fraunce, tr. of Watson’s Amyntas. Geo. Giffard, Discourse of Practices of Devils. Golding and Sidney, tr. of P. du Plessis Moray, Of the Trueness of the Christian Religion. Greene, Euphues his Censure; Morando, the Tritameron of Love; The Second Part of the Tritameron; Penelope’s Web. Math. Grove, Pelops and Hippodamia, Epigrams, &c. Hakluyt, Voyages into Florida. Holinshed, Chronicle, 3 vol. edn. by Jn. Vowell. Jn. Penry, Treatise concerning the Equity, &c. Wm. Rankins, Mirror of Monsters. Rich, Pathway to Military Practice. Turberville, Tragical Tales (1st extant edn.). Whetstone, Censure of a Loyal Subject. Barth. Young, tr. from Boccaccio, Amorous Fiametta.
Monteverdi’s first book of madrigals.
Tasso, Discorsi dell’ Arte Poetica.
1588
The Armada.
Crowley d.
Telesius d.
Veronese d.
Vierus d.
Robt. Filmer b.?
Thos. Hobbes b.
Geo. Wither b.
Lyly’s Galathea? and Endimion a.
Allen, Admonition to the Nobility and People. Anon., tr. of Theocritus, Six Idillia. Anon., Temporis Filia Veritas. Walt. Biggs, Summary and Time Discourse of Sir F. Drake’s . . . Voyage. Wm. Byrd, Psalms, Sonnets, and Songs. Fraunce, Arcadian Rhetoric. Greene, Ciceronis Amor; Pandosto (= Dorastus and Fawnia); Perimedes the Blacksmith; Alcida, Greene’s Metamorphosis (ent.). Thos. Harriot, Brief and True Report of Virginia. ‘Martin Marprelate’, O Read over Dr. Bridges (in 2 pts., Epistle and Epitome). Jn. Udall, Diotrephes (= The State of the Ch. of England &c.); A Demonstration.
Montaigne, Essais iii.
T. Stapleton, Vita Thomae Mori.
1589
Preparations under Drake and Norris for an attack on Spain.
Pettie d.
Sturmius d.
Greene’s Friar Bacon a.?
Marlowe’s Jew and Faustus a.?
Anon., Countercuff by Pasquil; Mar Martin; Martin’s Months Mind; Return of Pasquil. Byrd, Songs of Sundry Natures. Cooper, Admonition to the People of England. Greene, Menaphon (= Greene’s Arcadia); Orpharion (ent.); Spanish Masquerado. Hakluyt, The Principal Navigations &c. Lodge, Scillaes Metamorphosis (= Glaucus and Scilla). Lyly, Pap with a Hatchet. ‘Martin Marprelate’, Certain Mineral and Metaphysical Schoolpoints; Ha’ ye any Work for a Cooper?; Theses Martinianae; The Just Censure; The Protestation; A Dialogue. Nash, Anatomy of Absurdity. Peele, Farewell and Tale of Troy. Pseudo (?)-Lyly, A Whip for an Ape. Geo. Puttenham, Art of English Poesy. Smith, The Commonwealth of England (enlarged edn. of his De Republica, 1583). Warner, Albion’s England i-vi.
First collected edn. of Paracelsus begins.
Date
Public Events
Private Events
English and Scotch Texts
Greek, Latin, and Continental Vernaculars
1590
Urban VII succ. Victory of Henri IV at Ivry. Walsingham d.
Du Bartas d. of wounds at Battle of Ivry.
Puttenham d.
Wm. Browne b.?
Greene’s James IV a.?
Lyly’s Midas a.
Anon., Life and Pranks of Long Meg (ent.). Greene, Never too Late; Francesco’s Fortunes (2nd part of Never too Late); tr. of La Bursa Reale, The Royal Exchange. Richd. Harvey, Plain Percival; Discourse of the Lamb of God. Hen. Holland, Treatise against Witchcraft. Lodge, Rosalynde. Munday, tr. of Amadis of Gaul. Nashe, Almond for a Parrot. Peele, Polyhymnia. Sidney, Arcadia (i, ii, and some of iii, in his revised text). Spenser, The Faerie Queene i-iii. Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas, Canticle of . . . Henry IV. Wm. Vallans, Tale of Two Swans. Watson, First set of Magrigals Englished. Meliboeus (Latin and English). Edw. Webbe, Rare and most Wonderful Things.
Guarini, Pastor Fido.
Monteverdi’s second book of madrigals.
1591
English forces aid Henri IV; Norris at Paimpol, Essex at Dieppe. Fight of the Revenge at Flores. Increased severity against Recusants: county commissions appointed to examine belief and church-attendance.
Henry Smith d.
Robt. Herrick b.
Greene’s Orlando Furioso a.
Shakespeare’s Henry VI a.?
Breton, &c., Briton’s Bower of Delights. Drayton, Harmony of the Church. Fletcher, Of the Russe Commonwealth. Fraunce, Countess of Pembroke’s Emanuel. Greene, Maiden’s Dream; Farewell to Folly; Notable Discovery of Couzenage (= 1st part of Coney-Catching); Second Part of Coney-Catching. Harington, tr. of Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso. James VI, Poetical Exercises. Lodge, Robert Duke of Normandy; Catharos Diogenes. Peele, Descensus Astracae. Ralegh, Fight about the Azores. Hen. Saville, tr. of Tacitus, Histories. Sidney, Astrophel and Stella (Newman’s corrupt text). Southwell, Mary Magdalene’s Tears. Spenser, Complaints, Daphnaida.
Date
Public Events
Private Events
English and Scotch Texts
Greek, Latin, and Continental Vernaculars
1592
Clement VIII succ. Plague in London. Conventicle Act. Essex recalled. Capture of the Madre de Dios by Sir Jn. Burrows.
Greene d.
Montaigne d.
Jn. Udall d.
Watson d.
Winzet d.
Francis Quarles b.
Rose Theatre opened.
Greene, Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay a.
Marlowe, Edward II a.? Massacre a.?
Breton, Pilgrimage to Paradise. Churchyard, Handful of Gladsome Verses. Constable, Diana. Daniel, Delia . . . with the Complaint of Rosamond. Deloney, Garland of Good Will (ent.), Greene, Philomela; Third Pt. of Coney-Catching; Disputation between a He Coney-Catcher and a She &c.; Black Book’s Messenger; Quip for an Upstart Courtier or Dispute between Velvet Breeches and Cloth Breeches; Vision; Groatsworth of Wit, Repentance. Greene?, Defence of Coney-Catching. Harvey, Four Letters and certain Sonnets. Lodge, Euphues’ Shadow. Nashe, Pierce Penniless; Strange News (or Apology for Pierce P.). Rich, Adventures of Brusanus. Henry Smith, Sermons. Edward Spenser, tr. of Pseudo-Plato, Axiochus. Stow, Annals. Stubbs, Perfect Pathway to Felicity. Sylvester, 1st installment of tr. of Du Bartas, Sepmaines. Warner, Albion’s England i-viii.
Bodin, Colloquium (w.).
1593
Henri IV changes his religion. Churchgoing enforced in England on pain of banishment; fresh disabilities imposed on Recusants. Plague in London. ‘Great plenty and cheapness of grain’ leads to repeal of the agrarian law of 1563.
Marlowe d.
P. Stubbs d.
Geo. Herbert b.
Izaak Walton b.
Nashe’s Summer’s Last Will a.
Theatres closed.
Barnes, Parthenophil. Hen. Chettle, Kind Heart’s Dream. Churchyard, Challenge. Drayton, Idea, the Shepherds’ Garland; Piers Gaveston (ent.). ‘Philip Foulface’, Bacchus’ Bounty. Giffard, Dialogue concerning Witches. Harvey, Pierce’s Supererogation; New Letter of Notable Contents. Hooker, Laws of Eccl. Polity i-iv. Lodge, Phillis and Elstred. Marlowe, tr. of Lucan’s First Book (ent.); Hero and Leander (ent.). Thos. Morley, Canzonets. Nashe, Christ’s Tears over Jerusalem. Peele, The Honour of the Garter. The Phoenix Nest. Shakespeare, Venus and Adonis. Sidney, Arcadia i-v (later part from an earlier text). Stubbs, Motive to Good Works. Watson, Tears of Fancy. Whetstone, Aurelia (i.e. new edn. of the Heptameron of 1582).
Nova de Universis Philosophia (more Hermetic writings).
Date
Public Events
Private Events
English and Scotch Texts
Greek, Latin, and Continental Vernaculars
1594
Norris captures Crozon: Frobisher d. of wounds. Opposition of Jesuits and secular clergy and growing division of policy among English Recusants. Beginning of a period of bad harvests in England.
Wm. Allen d.
Cooper d.
Googe d.
Mercator d.
Painter d.
Tintoretto d.
Swan Theatre built some time between this and 1596.
Anon., Zepheria. Richd. Barnfield, The Affectionate Shepherd. Richd. Carew, tr. of Tasso GL i-vi. Chapman, Σκιὰ νυκτὸς. Churchyard, Mirror of Man (old work, see 1545?). Constable, Diana Augmented. Daniel, Delia Rosamond augmented and Cleopatra. Davies,Orchestra (w.). Jn. Dickenson, Arisbas; Shepherd’s Complaint. Drayton, Idea’s Mirror; Matilda. Alex. Hume, Treatise of Conscience; Of the Felicity. Morley, Madrigals to Four Voices. Nashe, Terrors of Night; The Unfortunate Traveler or Life of Jack Wilton. Wm. Percy, Sonnets to Coelia. Shakespeare, Lucrece. Sylvester, Monodia. ‘Hen. Willoby’, Willoby his Avisa.
Mercator, Atlas.
Tasso, Discorsi del Poema Eroico.
1595
Execution of Southwell. Ralegh’s voyage to Guiana. Unsuccessful voyage of Drake and Hawkins to the W. Indies and deaths of them both.
Tasso d.
Turberville d.?
Thos. Carew b.
Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream and Richard II a.?
Anon., Alcilia. Barnes, Divine Century of Sonnets. Barnfield, Cynthia with Certain Sonnets and Cassandra. Thos. Beddingfield, tr. of Machiavelli, Florentine History. Breton, Mary Magdalen’s Love. Chapman, Ovid’s Banquet of Sense. Chettle, Piers’ Plainness. Churchyard, Praise of Poetry; Consort of Heavenly Harmony (or Ch’s Charity). Anth. Copley, Love’s Owl and Wits, Fits, and Fancies. Daniel, Civil Wars i-iv. Drayton, Endimion and Phoebe. Thos. Edwards, Narcissus; Cephalus and Procris. Emmanuel Ford, Ornatus and Artesia. Gosson, Glass to show the Pride of (or Quips for) Vainglorious Gentlewomen. Lodge, Fig for Momus. Gervase Markham, Tragedy of Sir Richard Grenville. Morley, First Book of Ballets. Sidney, Defence of Poesie (Ponsonby) = Apology for Poetry (Olney). Southwell, St. Peter’s Complaint; Triumphs over Death. Spenser, Colin Clout’s Come Home Again; Amoretti; Epithalamion. J. Stradling, tr. of Lipsius De Constantia.
Thos. Campion, Poemata.
Montaigne, Essais, final edn.
Date
Public Events
Private Events
English and Scotch Texts
Greek, Latin, and Continental Vernaculars
1596
Essex storms Cadiz. Spanish aid sent to the Irish.
Bodinus d.
Jn. Lesley d.
Peele d.
Descartes b.
Sam. Hartlib b.
Shakespeare’s Merchant a.?
Chapman, see Keymis, below. Churchyard, Pleasant Discourse of Court and Wars. Copley, A Fig for Fortune. Jn. Dalrymple, tr. of Lesley, De Origine Scotorum. Davies, Orchestra. Deloney, John Winchcomb (ent.) = Jack of Newbury. Drayton, Mortimeriados; Robert Duke of Normandy. Barth. Griffin, Fidessa. Harington, Metamorphosis of Ajax (&c.). Richd. Johnson, The Seven Champions. Laurence Keymis, Second Voyage to Guiana (including Chapman’s Carmen Epicum). Richd. Linche, Diella with Diego and Ginevra. Lodge, Devil Conjured. A Margarite of America; Wit’s Misery. Markham, Poem of Poems. Munday, tr. Palmerin of England. Nashe, Have with you to Saffron Walden. Ralegh, Discovery of Guiana. Wm. Smith, Chloris. Spenser, Faerie Queene iv-vi, and new edn. of i-iii. Prothalamion; Four Hymns. ‘T.M.’, Wisdom of Solomon. Warner, Albion’s England i-xii.
1597
Unsuccessful expedition against the Spaniards under Essex, Munsard, and Vere. Philip’s second Armada dispersed by bad weather.
Chapman’s Humorous Day’s Mirth a.?
Shakespeare’s Henry IV a.?
Bacon, Essays, Meditationes Sacrae, Colours. Breton, &c., Arbour of Amorous Devices. Deloney, The Gentle Craft (ent.). Jn. Dowland, First Book of Songs. Donne, Storm and Calm (w.). Drayton, England’s Heroical Epistles. J. Hall, Virgidemiarum i-iii. Harvey, Trimming of T. Nashe. Hooker, Laws of Eccl. Polity, v. James VI and I, Demonology. Hen. Lok, Ecclesiasticus and Sonnets. Montgomery, The Cherry and the Slae. Robt. Tofte, Laura.
Keppler, Mysterium Cosmographicum.
Date
Public Events
Private Events
English and Scotch Texts
Greek, Latin, and Continental Vernaculars
1598
Philip II d. End of French Civil War; Edict of Nantes. Burghley d. Tyrone defeats the English. New, and slightly less ferocious, Poor Law. Agrarian Act of 1563 virtually revived. Unsuccessful appeal to Rome by seculars and moderates among the English Recusants: they are threatened with an Interdict, but supported by the University of Paris.
Ortelius d.
Jonson’s Every Man in his Humour a.
Shakespeare’s Much Ado a.?
Bacon, Essays, &c., 2nd edn. (with the Meditations in English). Barnfield, Complaint of Poetry; Encomium of Lady Pecunia. Thos. Bastard, Chrestoleros. Breton, Solemn Passion of the Soul’s Love. Chapman, Achilles’ Shield, Iliad i-vii. Chapman-Marlowe, Hero and Leander. Churchyard, Wished Reformation. Deloney, Gentle Craft, Pt. II?; Thomas of Reading? Dickenson, Greene in Conceit. Florio Giovanni, World of Words. Ford, Parismus. Gosson, Trumpet of War. Everard Guilpin, Skialetheia. Hakluyt, Principal Navigations, 2nd edn., 3 vols., 1598–1600. J. Hall, Virgidemiarum, iv-vi. Marston, Pygmalion with Certain Satires; Scourage of Villany. Francis Meres, Palladis Tamia. Wm. Rankins, Seven Satires. Sam. Rowlands, Betraying Of Christ, &c. Sidney, Arcadia with Lady of May, Certain Sonnets and improved text of Astrophel. Southwell, Short Rule of Good Life. Thos. Speght’s edn. of Chaucer. Stow, Survey of London. Tofte, tr. of Orlando Innamorato of Boiardo i-iii. Barth. Young, tr. of Montemayor, Diana.
LONGUS.
1599
Spanish fleet sent to aid the Irish but dissipated by bad weather. Elizabeth boxes Essex’s ears and sends him as Ld. Deputy to Ireland; his unauthorized return and imprisonment.
Reg. Scott d.
Spenser d.
Oliver Cromwell b.
Velasquez b.
Globe Theatre opened.
Dekker’s Shoemaker’s Holiday a.
Jonson’s Every Man Out a.
Marston’s Antonia and Mellida Pt. i a.
Shakespeare’s As You Like It a.?
Henry V a. J. Caesar a.
Thos. Cutwood, Caltha Poetarum. Daniel, Letter from Octavia; Musophilus; Poetical Essays (including Civil Wars i-v). Drayton, England’s Heroical Epistles (revised). Greene, Orpharion (first extant edn.). Jn. Hayward, Life of Henry IV. Hume, Hymns, or Sacred Songs. Wm. Jaggard (ed.), The Passionate Pilgrim. James VI and I, ΒΑΣΙΛΙΚΟΝ ΔΩΡΟΝ. Marston, Scourge of Villany corrected with New Satires. Thos. Storer, Life and Death of Wolsey. ‘T. M.’, Micro-cynicon. Jn. Weever, Epigrams in the Oldest Cut.
Mariana, De Rege et Regis Institutione.
Date
Public Events
Private Events
English and Scotch Texts
Greek, Latin, and Continental Vernaculars
1600
Bruno burnt at Rome. Battle of Nieuport. The East India Company founded. Mountjoy in Ireland. P. Charles (later Charles I) b.
Deloney d.?
Hooker d.
Nashe d.
Calderon b.
Jn. Earle b.?
Wm. Prynne b.?
Fortune Theatre opened.
Chapman’s Bussy d’Ambois a.?
Return from Parnassus Pt. I a.
Jonson, Cynthia’s Revels a.
Anon., Book of Merry Riddles; Belvedere. Breton, Strange Fortune of Two Princes; Melancholic Humours; The Pasquil books. Wm. Cornwallis, Essays. Davies, Epigrams in All Ovid’s Elegies (‘Middlebourg’. First extant edn. Perhaps 1600). Dowland, Second Book of Songs. England’s Helicon; England’s Parnassus. Edward Fairfax, Godfrey of Bouloigne (tr. of Tasso, Ger. Lib.). Philemon Holland, tr. of Livy’s History. Wm. Kemp, Nine Days’ Wonder. Marlowe, All Ovid’s Elegies (with Davies’ Epigrams, see above); Lucan’s First Book tr. Markham, Tears of the Beloved. Rowlands, Letting of Humour’s Blood. Francis Thynne, Emblems and Epigrams. Cyril Tourneur, Transformed Metamorphosis. Wm. Vaughan, Golden Grove.
Wm. Gilbert, De Magnete.