Below is a simple timeline of events in Stuart Britain, from the accession of James VI to the throne of England as James I, to the death of Queen Anne.
1603
Scottish King James VI, son of Mary, Queen of Scots, becomes James I of England and the first King of Great Britain.
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1604
James makes peace with Spain.
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1605
The Gunpowder Plot – a foiled terrorist coup d’etat by a group of Roman Catholics to blow up Parliament, murder the king, and replace him with his daughter, Elizabeth.
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1607
Foundation of Jamestown, Virginia – the first permanent British colony in North America.
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1609
The Plantation of Ulster – English and Scottish Protestants are encouraged to move to Ireland taking land confiscated from Catholics.
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1610
The Newfoundland Company sets out to form a colony in Newfoundland.
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1611
The King James Bible is published.
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1616
William Shakespeare dies.
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1618
Sir Walter Raleigh is executed.
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1620
The Pilgrim Fathers sail to the New World.
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1621
Oxford’s Botanic Garden founded – Britain’s oldest botanic garden.
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1624-30
War with Spain.
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1625
Barbados becomes a British colony.
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1626-29
War with France.
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1628
George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, Charles I’s unpopular chief minister, is assassinated in Portsmouth.
William Harvey describes the circulation of blood in the human body.
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1629
Charles I dissolves Parliament and rules without it for 11 years.
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1630
Marked emigration to Massachusetts Bay, particularly of fundamental Puritan Protestants.
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1637
Charles I tries to force a new prayer book in Scotland, which is seen as an attempt to reintroduce Catholicism.
The first coffee house in Britain opens, in Oxford.
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1638
Scots draw up a National Covenant to resist ‘religious innovation’, and demand a free Scottish parliament.
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1640
Start of the Long Parliament.
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1642
The start of the English Civil War between Parliament and the King. Charles I raises his standard at Nottingham.
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1643
Alliance between the English and Scottish parliaments against the King.
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1644
Parliament wins the Battle of Marston Moor. The King loses control of the North of England.
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1645
Parliament’s New Model Army wins the Battle of Naseby; the Royalist army is effectively destroyed.
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1646
Charles I surrenders to the Scots.
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1647
The Scots sell Charles to Parliament.
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1648
2nd Civil War. Oliver Cromwell beats a Royalist army at Preston.
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1649
The trial and execution of Charles I. England and Wales become a republic.
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1649-50
Oliver Cromwell crushes resistance in Ireland, including the controversial sackings of Drogheda and Wexford.
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1650-52
Cromwell crushes resistance in Scotland.
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1651
Charles II is crowned King in Scotland – and defeated at the Battle of Worcester.
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1652-54
1st Dutch War.
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1652
Society of Friends (Quakers) is founded.
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1653
Cromwell becomes Lord Protector.
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1655
Jews are allowed to return to England. Britain takes Jamaica from Spain.
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1658
Cromwell dies. The first tea is sold in Britain.
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1660
Restoration of the Monarchy. The Royal Society is founded. And it’s the year that Samuel Pepys started a diary.
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1664
The British capture New Amsterdam and rename it New York (after the Duke of York, the future James II).
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1665-67
2nd Dutch War. In 1667, the Dutch attack the Naval Dockyard at Chatham.
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1665
The Great Plague of (mainly) London.
Robert Hooke discovers the cell.
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1666
Great Fire of London – destroys most of the medieval city.
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1667
John Milton publishes ‘Paradise Lost’.
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1669
Christopher Wren is given the job of designing a new St Paul’s Cathedral.
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1672-74
3rd Dutch War.
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1673
The Test Act excludes Catholics from public office.
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1674
The Treaty of Westminster ends the 3rd Dutch War. New Netherland – New York – returns to English ownership.
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1678
Titus Oats and the Popish Plot – a fictitious plan to assassinate the king.
John Bunyan publishes ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’.
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1679
The Act of Habeas Corpus guards against unlawful imprisonment.
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1683
The Ashmolean Museum opens in Oxford – Britain’s oldest museum.
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1685
The Monmouth Rebellion – ends in failure.
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1687
Isaac Newton publishes his theory of universal gravitation and three laws of motion.
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1688
The Glorious Revolution – William of Orange is invited to invade, lands a Dutch Army in Brixham and James II flees the country.
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1689
The Bill of Rights establishes the principles of a constitutional monarchy.
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1690
Battle of the Boyne. Ousted King James and his Catholics are beaten by opportunist King William and his Protestants.
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1692
The massacre at Glen Coe.
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1694
Foundation of the Bank of England.
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1695
Foundation of the Bank of Scotland.
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1698
The English Parliament opens the slave trade to all.
The Scottish Darien Company attempts to establish the colony of Caledonia in Panama; its subsequent failure was a serious blow for Scotland.
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1701-14
War of the Spanish Succession.
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1701
Act of Settlement – determines that the next monarch will be a Protestant.
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1704
Battle of Blenheim. Allied armies under the Duke of Marlborough decisively beat a combined French/Bavarian army.
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1707
Act of Union between England and Scotland.
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1709
Abraham Darby launches a new process to make cheaper iron products using coke.
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1712
Thomas Newcomen’s steam engine.
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1713
Britain gains Gibraltar.
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1714
Death of Queen Anne, the last Stuart monarch. She is succeeded by George, Elector of Hanover, who became George I.