1553

7 September: Elizabeth is born at Greenwich, England

1556

May 15: Her mother, Anne Boleyn tried for treason, adultery and incest

May 19: Anne Boleyn executed on Tower Hill, London

May 30: King Henry VIII and Jane Seymour married

1537

12 October: Jane Seymour dies following the premature birth of her son, the future King Edward VI

Princess Elizabeth is declared a bastard

Elizabeth leaves court for Hatfield House, Hertfordshire where she spends her childhood

1540

King Henry VIII marries Anne of Cleves but the marriage is quickly annulled

July 28: 49 year old King Henry marries 19 year old Catherine Howard ( who was a cousin of Anne Boleyn)

1542

February 13: Catherine Howard is executed for adultery greatly distressing the nine-year-old Elizabeth

December 8 - Mary Stuart is born at Linlithgow Palace the daughter of the son of James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise. Her grandmother was Margaret Tudor ( sister of King Henry VIII)

1543

July 12 - King Henry marries Katherine Parr his sixth and last wife

1547

January 28: King Henry VIII the father of Queen Elizabeth I dies on

Edward VI (Henry's son by Jane Seymour) becomes King of England

Princess Elizabeth lives with her stepmother Katherine Parr and her new husband Thomas Seymour

1548

Elizabeth leaves Katherine Parr's household under questionable circumstances because of rumors of an affair with Thomas Seymour

Katherine Parr dies in childbirth

1551

Princess Elizabeth returns to the court of her half-brother, the young king

1553

July 6: The young King Edward VI dies of tuberculosis leaving the throne to 'the Lady Jane and her heirs male' breaking English Law (Act of Succession) and going against the wishes of his dead father

July 10: Lady Jane Grey is proclaimed Queen of England
July 19: Queen Jane deposed as Queen

July 6: - Mary, the daughter of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, and half-sister of Elizabeth is proclaimed Queen Mary I of England

1554

February 12: Lady Jane Grey and her husband Guildford Dudley executed at the Tower of London

Queen Mary marries Philip II of Spain

Protestant rebellion, led by Sir Thomas Wyatt the Younger

Mar 18: Mary has Elizabeth imprisoned in the Tower of London for eight weeks on false charges

May 19: Princess Elizabeth released from the Tower of London and moves to Woodstock

1555

England returns to Roman Catholicism and Protestants are persecuted and 300 are burnt at the stake  leads to Queen Mary I being called Bloody Mary
Philip II returns to Spain after the phantom pregnancy of Mary his wife

1558

November 17: Death of Queen Mary I
November 17: Elizabeth succeeds her Catholic sister Mary I as Queen of England and re-establishes the Protestant Anglican Church

1559

Jan 13: She is crowned Queen of England

1560

Jul. 6: Treaty of Edinburgh between England, France, and Scotland
Sep 8: Amy Robsart, the wife of Robert Dudley (the great favorite of the Queen),  is found dead at the foot of the stairs in her home, Cumnor Place, Oxford. Dudley is suspected of murder

1561

August 19: Return of Mary Stuart ( Mary Queen of Scots ) to Scotland
September 20: Treaty signed at Hampton Court ,Elizabeth pledges support of the French Huguenots

1562

Queen Elizabeth almost dies of Smallpox

1563

Establishment of the Anglican Church
Outbreak of the  the Black Death ( Bubonic Plague )

1564

The Queen takes share of profit from John Hawkins slave trade

1565

Mary Queen of Scots marries her 19-year-old cousin Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley; aged 22

1566

March 9: The Murder of David Rizzio, secretary of Mary Queen of Scots

June 19: Mary Queen of Scots only child is born (James who would later become king of Scotland and England)

1567

February 10: Murder of Lord Darnley, husband of Mary Queen of Scots

Mary Queen of Scots marries the Earl of Bothwell causing a rebellion in Scotland

July 24: Mary of Scots abdicates and her baby son, James, becomes King James VI, King of Scotland

1568

The Catholic Mary Queen of Scots flees to England and is imprisoned by Elizabeth I at Fotheringay Castle as a Catholic threat to her throne

1569

The Nevilles of Durham and Percys of Northumberland plot to overthrow Elizabeth and reinstate Roman Catholicism in “The Rising of the North” but  she exonerates Mary Queen of Scots from the charges made against her

Pope Pius V backs the Catholic rebels increasing distrust of Catholics

1570

The excommunication of Queen Elizabeth I by the Catholic Church

1571

January  2: Marriage negotiations between Elizabeth and Henry, Duke of Anjou, which eventually fail

February 25: Sir William Cecil is created Lord Burghley

1572

August 24: St Bartholomew's Day massacre where French Protestants were massacred by French Catholics in Paris cause panic in England with fears of a Catholic invasion

1573

Sir Francis Drake captures a shipment of silver destined for Spain
December 21: Sir Francis Walsingham appointed Secretary of State and becomes chief spy master in England

1575

November 14: The Queen of England declines to accept the sovereignty of the Netherlands

1577

Alliance between England and Netherlands and Francis Drake sets sails for his round the world voyage

1578

September 21: Robert Dudley secretly marries Lady Lettice Knollys and is banished from court

1579

June 17: Sir Francis Drake claims England’s sovereignty over New Albion (California)
October 7: The Privy Council fail to support Queen Elizabeth in the marriage treaty with the Duke of Anjou

1580

September 26: Francis Drake returns to England in triumph

1581

March 18: English Parliament passes strict legislation against Roman Catholics with heavy fines for hearing Mass

May 4: Francis Drake is knighted

November 7: A marriage treaty between Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Anjou is signed

1584

William of Orange is murdered and England sends aid to the Netherlands

March 25: Sir Walter Raleigh receives the patent to explore and settle in North America

June 4: Virginia colony of Roanoke Island established by Sir Walter Raleigh

June 15: Francis, Duke of Anjou dies

1585

August 14: Queen Elizabeth declines offers by the Dutch commission for sovereignty of the Low Countries but issues a declaration taking the Netherlands under her protection
December 8: Lord Robert Dudley leads the English army to fight the Spanish forces who are occupying the Netherlands

1586

The Babbington Plot , a conspiracy against Elizabeth I involving Mary Queen of Scots. The leader of the plot was Anthony Babbington

July 1: Treaty of Berwick - Queen Elizabeth and King James VI of Scotland form a league of amity

October 25: Mary Queen of Scots is convicted of involvement in the Babbington plot

1587

February 8: Execution of Mary Queen of Scots

War with Spain which continues until 1603

April 19: Sir Francis Drake destroys the Spanish fleet at Cadiz

June 18: Queen Elizabeth appoints Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, as her Master of the Horse

1588

August 8: The Spanish Armada of 132 ships is defeated by the English fleet of 34 ships and 163 armed merchant vessels led by Lord Howard of Effingham, Sir Francis Drake, and Sir John Hawkins

September 4: Lord Robert Dudley dies

1593

London Theatres, including the Globe, close due to the Bubonic Plague (The Black Death)

Penalties are proposed for people who refuse to attend Church of England services and to make it a crime to attend Catholic services

1596

English fleet under the Earl of Essex and Lord Howard of Effingham capture Spanish Cadiz

1597

Irish rebellion under Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone (finally put down 1601)

King Philip II of Spain sends a second armada against England but a storm scatters his ships

1599

The Queen's favourite Robert, Earl of Essex was placed in charge of a large English army to suppress Irish rebels but Essex signs an unauthorized truce with the Earl of Tyrone. He is then
deprived of his titles and arrested

1600

Queen Elizabeth I grants charter to East India Company

1601

Elizabethan Poor Law charges the parishes with providing for the needy

Robert, Earl of Essex attempts rebellion which fails

February 25: Robert Devereux (1566-1601), Earl of Essex is executed on Tower Green, the Queen never gets over his treachery and death

1603

Queen Elizabeth dies on 24 March 1603 of of blood poisoning. She is succeeded by James I of England, James VI of Scotland, (great-grandson of Henry VIII)

Queen Elizabeth I Timeline

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