Historical Timeline

The following page is intended to give some historical context to the events that took place in our small parish of Wonersh against the world at large. No one is insulated from events afar as the ripples spread out far and wide.

We have found the following websites good sources of information and are listed here for information
British Interactive Timeline This is a great BBC resource
History of England Wikipedia series
100 Greatest Britons - Some great names , others less so!
Kings & Queens of England
Chronology of the Bible and Timeline of the Bible
Timeline of Christianity
History of Western Civilisation

God is the creator of ALL things - He flung stars into space. Scientists say the age of the earth is some 4.54 billion years; a truely huge number. Stretch out your arms and imagine that the span from the tips of each hand represents this period. If we start from the fingertip of one hand as the beginning, all complex life would be contained on the span of the other hand. A manicure would represent man's presence on earth. Human pre-history comprises the Stone Age (Paleolithic & Neolithic periods). "History" generally starts with the Bronze Age with written records starting around 3300 BC, and the so called Bronze Age Collapse around 1200BC.

		Wider World Events These are some random pieces of knowledge which may be helpful to be put into some order.
Ancient Egypt	from 10000 BC	Egyptian Empire 16th-11th C BC
Ancient Mesopotania	from 5300 BC	Assyrian Empire 2000-612BC Abraham's birthplace Ur Kasdim 1976BC Babylonian Empire from 1696BC incl Chaldean Dynasty 626-539 Jewish Exile from 722BC
Ancient Israel		The Egyptian experience possibly 1400-1150BC Moses Entry into Canaan possibly cc 1100BC Captivity cc 722-539BC
Persian Empire	from 9thC BC	Medes 625-549BC Archaemenid Empire 550 - 330 BC Battle of Marathon 490BC
Carthaginian Republic	650-149BC	Phoenician City States 1550-300BC Punic Wars and Hannibal 248-182BC
Ancient Greece		Archaic Period 8th-6th C BC Alexander the Great 356 - 323BC Hellenstic Period 323-146BC
Ancient Rome		Roman Republic 509-27BC Roman Empire 27BC - 285AD Gallic Wars 58-51BC Western Roman Empire 285- 476AD Eastern Roman (or Byzantine) Empire to 285- 476AD The Hunnic Empire 4th -5th C - Attila the Hun 447-453
Dark Ages		The Great Migrations Visigoths & Vandals who sacked Rome - 5th to 8th C Byzantine Empire 476 -1436AD Moors from 3rd C BC Mongol Empire 1206-1365AD
History of Islam		622 Start of Islamic Callendar Islamic Empire Islamic Golden Age 9th-13thC
History of France		Frankish Realm 480-843 incl Carolingian Empire (incl Charlemagne 768-814) Middle Ages to mid 15th c Early Modern 1453-1789
History of Germany
Venetian Republic	8th-18th C	Travels of Marco Polo 1269-93
Ottoman Empire	1299-1922

		British ( & related) History This is not intended to be a comprehensive timeline,rather an attempt to put some of the more well known pieces of knowledge in some form of order.
Pre-Historic Britain		The last Glacial Period 110000-9000BC Stonehenge 3100-2200BC Pytheas's account of Britain
Romans	AD43 to 410	Roman Britain. Boudica's Uprising AD60/1 Christianity arrived in Britain in Roman times
		Development of Celtic Christianity After the Romans withdrew from Britain in 410AD Saxons and Jutes invaded and largely displaced the native population. Sub Roman Britain
SAXONS		The early history of Surrey Anglo-Saxon England The Legend of King Arthur 6th century
House of Mercia	from 527	Establishment of the Monastries at Iona by St Columba in 563 and Lindisfarne by St Aidan in 635. St Augustine arrived in Kent in 595, establishing himself in his base at Canterbury. The Synod of Whitby 664
House of Wessex		731 Bede writes the Ecclesiastical History of the English People 790 The first Viking raids on Britain. The age of Danegeld 849 - 899 Alfred the Great
House of Denmark
Edward the Confessor	1042-1066

		The Normans
William the Conqueror	1066 - 1087	A new order was created with the Norman Conquest 1066. The Tower of London White Tower constructed 1072. The Legend of Hereward the Wake circa 1072. In 1086 commissioners collected information for the Domesday Book.
William Rufus	1087 - 1100
Henry I	1100-1135	1099 - First of the nine Crusades
Stephen	1135-1154	The Anarchy - "Christ & all his saints slept"

		Angevins & Plantagenets
Henry II	1154- 1189	The French Connection - Normandy & 100 Years War Henry marries Eleanor of Aquitaine 1152, Murder of Thomas Beckett 1170
Richard I	1189- 1199	Richard joins 3rd Crusade 1190-2 The fabled period of the folklore hero Robin Hood
John	1199 - 1216	1215 - Magna Carta
Henry III	1216 - 1272	1230 - The Great Council evolves into the first Parliament of England 1272 - Last Crusade
Edward I Edward II Edward III	1272 -1307 1307 -1327 1327- 1377	Wales annexed to England 1282 1314 Battle of Bannockburn, Robert Bruce, Braveheart etc 1337 Start of the Hundred Years War with France
Richard II	1377 - 1399	1380's Chaucer's Canterbury Tales

		Houses of Lancaster & York
Henry IV Henry V Henry VI	1399 - 1461	1415 Battle of Agincourt 1429 Joan of Arc and the end of the Hundred Years War 1453
Edward IV, Henry VI, Edward V & Richard III	1461 - 1485	1455-1487 The Wars of the Roses Moors expelled from Spain (711-1492) and start of the Inquisition 1478 1476 Willian Caxton's early printing press. 1483 The Princes in the Tower

		House of Tudor The course of the Protestant Reformation took place.
Henry VII	1485-1509	Beginnings of the Portuguese and Spanish Empires - voyages of discovery by John Cabot 1497, Christopher Columbus 1496-1506 & Vasco da Gama 1497 Cornish Rebellion 1497 arrives in Surrey
Henry VIII	1509 -1547	Scottish King James IV invades England - Battle of Flodden 1513 The Age of Discovery - Ferdinand Magellan 1519-22 The Reformation continues with the Dissolution of the monasteries in 1536/7 The time of the German Martin Luther d1546 and French John Calvin d1564.
Edward VI	1547 - 1553	The various Injunctions of Thomas Cromwell as “Vicar-General” would have affected many aspects of church. The First English Prayer Book was published in 1549, and Cranmer’s revision 1552.
Lady Jane Gray	1554	The 9 day queen, the 17 year old was executed in 1554.
Mary I Bloody Mary	1553 - 1558	A brief catholic restoration. Mary married Philip of Spain and he was King of England for the period of their marriage. The Marian Persecutions - Some 287 dissenters were burned at the stake, including the Oxford Martyrs 1555(Cranmer, Latmer & Ridley).
Elizabeth I	1558 - 1603	Elizabethan England Anglo-Spanish War 1585-1604, including the Spanish Armada 1588. Rise of the Dutch Empire from 1580's. Scottish Reformation - Mary Queen of Scots executed 1587 Renaissance comes to England - Shakespeare d1616, Milton, Marlowe, Tallis d1585 The Elizabethan Religious Settlement including the Acts of Uniformity and Supremacy, the new Book of Common Prayer 1559 and the 39 Articles of 1571. Elizabethan seamen & navigators - Sir Francis Drake d1596 circumnavigates the world & Sir Walter Raleigh explores the New World. East India Company formed in 1600. Life was hard with challenges including disease. The mid 14th to 18th centuries are called the “Little Ice Age” on account of the severity of the climate, especially the hard winters. Rivers froze over and the London Frost Fair was a regular event that featured until 1814.

		House of Stuart
James I	1603 - 1625	The Scottish Monarchy - The Stewarts The Jacobean Era 1611 The Authorised Version of the Bible, known as the King James Version, was published. The catholic Gunpowder Plot of Guy Fawkes took place in 1605 In 1608 the Pilgrim Fathers left for Holland and subsequently sailed to the New World in 1620, the first of the exodus of some 20,000 to leave. The 30 Years War 1618-48 raged across Europe
Charles I	1625 - 1649	The Caroline Era This was a time of the Laudian dominance. River Wey Navigation commissioned 1635 - the History of the Canal System 1640 assembly of the Long Parliament and the beginning of the 20 years when the puritans were in power. 1642-1646 the Civil Wars, English Civil War During this time the Church of England was officially suppressed, the Bishops deprived of their authority and the Book of Common Prayer prohibited. 1648 Second Civil War 1649 King Charles tried & beheaded 1649-51 Third Civil War
		Commonwealth and Protectorate 1649-60
Oliver & Richard Cromwell	Lord Protectors 1653 - 1659	The English Interregnum, a period of parliamentary & military rule. The Commonwealth Scotland was annexed with England under the Tender of Union 1652
		House of Stuart Restored
Charles II	1660-1685	Also King of Scotland 1649-51 Members of the new parliament were mostly Anglicans and so hostile to puritans. They passed a series of laws excluding puritans, known as Dissenters, from church and public office. The Book of Common Prayer used today was introduced in 1662. Diary of Samuel Pepys 1660-69 Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyon published 1678 Life of Sir Christopher Wren d1723 1665 the Great Plague of London took place, only subdued by the Great Fire a year later.
James II	1685-88	James was deemed by both the English and Scottish parliaments to have abdicated in 1688. The protestant William of Orange was “invited” to take up a joint monarchy with James’s daughter Mary Stuart. This was in effect a bloodless Dutch invasion. James and the Jacobite forces were defeated at the Battle of the Boyne in 1689 and he then fled to France. Isaac Newton publishes his Principa Mathematica 1687
William of Orange (and Mary II)	1689 - 1702	The Protestant Assendancy in Ireland. The prime of Louis XIV of France 1638-1715. European Wars of the Grand Alliance 1688-97 The Flight of the Hugenots - some of whom came to Surrey.
Anne	1702-1714	1706 Treaty of Union with Scotland and the Kingdom of Great Britain was formed

		House of Hanover 17th & 18th centuries were the height of the Slave Trade The Georgian Era including the Regency period generally 1795-1837 See also the Rise of Western empires to 1800.
George I	1714-1727	Handel's Water Music performed on the Thames 1717
George II	1727-1760	1740-48 Austrian War of Succession (King Georges War) The Jacobite Rebellion, Battle of Culloden Moor 1745 & Bonnie Prince Charlie. The Julian calendar was replaced by the Gregorian Calendar in 1751. Voyages of Capt James Cook 1755-1779. The 7 Year War 1753-64 including the The French & Indian War in the New World. The Enclosure Acts of 1750-1860
George III Mad King George	1760-1820	The course of the Industrial Revolution took place in late 18th & early 19th centuries. 1779 - A vast French/Spanish invasion fleet was defeated. 1780’s our American Colonies fought successfully for their independence; the first naval defeat for over a century was experienced. The upheavals of the French Revolution and the French Revolutionary Wars followed by the Napoleonic Wars, including the exploits of John Paul Jones. It was not uncommon for republican sentiments to be openly expressed in England. France declared war in 1793 and not until 1805 with the Battle of Trafalgar that naval pride was restored, and 1815 that Napoleon was finally defeated at Waterloo. Towards the end of the 18th C came the inspiration of spiritual awakening by Wesley and the origins of Methodism. Ireland joined with Great Britain Act of Union 1801. From 1811 the Prince Regent installed as proxy. Wey & Arun Canal construction 1786-1816. British Empire and seapower and the Rise of the English speaking world.
George IV	1820-1830	The beginnings of the Modern rail system 1820 These were exciting times for the church with the evangelical Wilberforce and the Clapham Sect, and later by the high church Anglicans of the Tractarians (Oxford Movement).
William IV	1830-1837	1833 Abolition of Savery Act passed
Victoria	1837-1901	The Victorians and the Victorian Era 1854 Crimea War 1860/70's Construction of Palmerston's Follies 1861-65 American Civil War 1870 the Education Act put elementary education on a national footing. 1880/1 & 1889/1902 Boer Wars
		Saxe Coburg & Gotha and House of Windsor
Edward V11	1901-1910
George V	1910-1936	House name changed 1917
Edward VIII	1936	Abdicated
George VI	1936-52
Elizabeth II	1952-

Search: