1540s in England explained
Events from the
1540s in England.
Incumbents
Events
- 1540
- 1 January – King Henry VIII meets Anne of Cleves in person for the first time, informally at Rochester.
- 2 January – Gloucester Abbey is surrendered to the Crown as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
- 6 January – King Henry VIII marries German noblewoman Anne of Cleves, his fourth Queen consort.[2]
- 14 January – Southwark Priory in London is surrendered to the Crown as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
- 29 January – Bolton Abbey, a Yorkshire priory, is closed down as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
- January – Shap Abbey and Dunstable Priory are closed down as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
- 16 February – Thetford Priory is closed down as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
- 23 March – Waltham Abbey is the last abbey to close as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Composer Thomas Tallis, a musician here, moves to Canterbury Cathedral.
- April – the cathedral priories of Canterbury and Rochester are transformed into secular cathedral chapters, concluding the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
- June – Anne of Cleves is banished from court to Richmond Palace.
- 9 July – Henry's marriage to Anne of Cleves is annulled. She is given a generous settlement with several residences in England, is referred to as "the King's Beloved Sister" and will outlive him and all his other wives.
- 24 July – Statute of Wills makes it possible to dispose of real estate by will.
- 28 July – Thomas Cromwell is executed on order from the king on charges of treason in public on Tower Hill, London. Henry marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, on the same day at Oatlands Palace.[3]
- Summer – Council of the West last sits.
- 17 September – Anglican Diocese of Westminster formed.
- Completion of the first of the Device Forts along the coast: Calshot, Deal, Sandgate, Sandown and Walmer Castles.
- "Big Sun Year": Great heat and drought.[4]
- Regius Professorships endowed at the University of Cambridge.
- Publication of The Byrth of Mankynde, the first printed book in English on obstetrics, and one of the first published in England to include engraved plates.[5]
- 1541
- 18 June – by the Crown of Ireland Act, the Parliament of Ireland declares King Henry VIII of England and his heirs to be Kings of Ireland, replacing the Lordship of Ireland with the Kingdom of Ireland.[6] [7]
- Early summer – Collyer's School opens to scholars in Horsham.
- 14 August – Anglican Diocese of Chester formed.
- 3 September – Anglican Diocese of Gloucester formed from part of the Diocese of Worcester with John Wakeman (last Abbot of Tewkesbury) as first Bishop of Gloucester.
- 1 November – the King receives allegations against Queen Catherine.[8]
- 23 November – Catherine is stripped of her title as queen and imprisoned in the new Syon Abbey, Middlesex.[8]
- 1 December – Thomas Culpeper and Francis Dereham are arraigned at Guildhall, London, for high treason because of their relationships with Catherine Howard; on 10 December they are executed at Tyburn.
- Anglican Diocese of Peterborough formed.
- The King's School, Canterbury, King's School, Chester, The King's School, Ely (Now known as King's Ely), King's School, Gloucester, The King's (The Cathedral) School, Peterborough, King's School, Rochester and King's School, Worcester are established (or re-endowed) by Henry VIII. Berkhamsted School is founded by John Incent, Dean of St Paul's.
- Portland Castle completed on the Isle of Portland.
- John Brooke and Sons established at Armitage Bridge in West Yorkshire as textile manufacturers; the business will still exist in family hands into the 21st century.[9]
- 1542
- 1543
- 1544
- 1545
- 27 February – Scottish victory over the English at the Battle of Ancrum Moor.
- 29 May – publication of Catherine Parr's Prayers or Meditations, the first book published by an English queen under her own name, and the King's Primer, another devotional work overseen by her.[11]
- July – Italian Wars: Attempted French invasion of the Isle of Wight.
- 18–19 July – Battle of the Solent between English and French fleets. On 19 July, Henry VIII's flagship, the Mary Rose, sinks[2] but the French are unable to land on the English mainland.
- c.21 July – Battle of Bonchurch on the Isle of Wight: The French are defeated.
- Sir Thomas Cawarden becomes the first Master of the Revels to be head of an independent office.
- Roger Ascham's Toxophilus, the first book on archery written in English, is published.
- Thomas Phaer's The Boke of Chyldren, the first book on paediatrics written in English, is published.
- First published edition of Sir John Fortescue's De laudibus legum Angliae (written c.1471).
- 1546
- 1547
- 19 January – execution of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, for treason.[3]
- 28 January – Henry VIII dies at the Palace of Whitehall and is succeeded as King by his 9-year-old son Edward VI,[3] who is brought to Elsyng Palace at Enfield Town where his half-sister Elizabeth is in residence and they are both told the news.
- 31 January – Edward Seymour becomes regent of England.
- 20 February – Edward VI is crowned at Westminster Abbey.[2]
- 4 April – Catherine Parr, widow of King Henry VIII, secretly marries Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley.
- 10 September – Battle of Pinkie: An English army under Edward Seymour, now the Duke of Somerset, defeats a Scottish army under James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran, the Regent. The English seize Edinburgh.
- 24 December
- Edward Seymour begins the construction of Somerset House, London.
- King James's School, Almondbury, West Yorkshire, founded as a chantry school.
- 1548
- 1549
Births
- 1540
- 1541
- 1542
- 1543
- 1544
- 1545
- 1546
- 1547
- 1548
- 1549
Deaths
- 1540
- 1541
- 1542
- 1543
- 1544
- 1545
- 1546
- 1547
- 1548
- 7 September – Catherine Parr, dowager queen consort of Henry VIII (complications from childbirth) (born c. 1512)
- 1549
Notes and References
- Book: Powicke . F. Maurice . Fryde . E. B. . Handbook of British Chronology . 1961 . 2nd . London . Butler & Tanner Ltd. . 39.
- Book: Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 978-0-14-102715-9. 2006.
- Book: Williams, Hywel. Cassell's Chronology of World History. registration. London. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 2005. 978-0-304-35730-7. 215–218.
- Web site: 6 of the most catastrophic weather events in British history. 2020-10-30. HistoryExtra.
- The Byrth of Mankynde (Its Author and Editions). 297–325. J. W.. Ballantyne. 10.1111/j.1471-0528.1906.tb12722.x. 5413625. The Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the British Empire. 10. 4. October 1906. 29612085.
- Book: Moody, T. W.. A New History of Ireland. 8: A Chronology of Irish History. Oxford University Press. 1989. 978-0-19-821744-2. etal.
- Web site: Crown of Ireland Act 1542. Heraldica. 2003-07-25. 2012-11-01.
- Book: Weir, Alison. Henry VIII: King and Court. 2001. 0-224-06022-8. Jonathan Cape. London.
- As business park proprietors. Web site: Heritage. Brookes Mill. www.brookesmill.co.uk. 2020-08-16. https://web.archive.org/web/20171113222052/http://www.brookesmill.co.uk/portfolio-items/heritage-2/. 2017-11-13. dead.
- Book: Ford, David Nash. Berkshire in the Reign of Henry VIII. 2009. Nash Ford Publishing. Wokingham.
- Susan E.. James. Katherine [Katherine Parr] (1512–1548)]. 1. 2004. 2012-01-31. 10.1093/ref:odnb/4893.
- Book: Freeman, Thomas S.. One Survived: The Account of the Katherine Parr in Foxe's "Books of Martyrs". Betteridge. Thomas. Lipscomb. Suzannah. Suzannah Lipscomb. Henry VIII and the Court: Art, Politics and Performance. Ashgate. Farnham. 2013. 241–242.
- News: Campbell. Sophie. Sudeley Castle: the curious life and death of Katherine Parr. The Daily Telegraph. London. 2012-08-14.
- Web site: History Timeline. Beverley Minster. 2016-12-24.
- Book: Rosen, Adrienne. Tudor Rebellions. Tiller, Kate . Darkes, Giles . An Historical Atlas of Oxfordshire. Oxfordshire Record Society. Chipping Norton. 2010. 978-0-902509-68-9. 82–3.
- Book: Palmer. Alan. Palmer . Veronica. 1992. The Chronology of British History. Century Ltd. London. 147–150. 978-0-7126-5616-0.
- Web site: 1549. Lincoln Cathedral. 2010-10-21. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110713211642/https://www.lincolncathedral.com/xhtml/default.asp?UserLinkID=235. 2011-07-13.
- Book: O'Day . Rosemary . The Routledge Companion to the Tudor Age . 26 July 2012 . Routledge . 978-1-136-96253-0 . 1585 . en.