1540s in England

Events from the 1540s in England.

Incumbents

Monarch - Henry VIII of England (to 28 January 1547), Edward VI of England

Events

* 1540
** January - Dunstable Priory closed down as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
** 6 January - King Henry VIII marries Anne of Cleves, his fourth Queen consort.cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-141-02715-0|year=2006]
** March - Waltham Abbey is the final priory to close due to the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
** 9 July - Henry divorces Anne of Cleves.
** 28 July - Thomas Cromwell, is executed on order from the king on charges of treason. Henry marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, on the same day.cite book|last=Williams|first=Hywel|title=Cassell's Chronology of World History|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|year=2005|isbn=0-304-35730-8|pages=215–218]
** Regius Professorships endowed at Cambridge University.
* 1541
** 23 June - Henry proclaimed King of Ireland.
* 1542
** 13 February - Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII, is executed for adultery.
** 24 August - Battle of Haddon Rig: Scottish victory over the English.
** 24 November - Battle of Solway Moss: English victory over the Scots.
* 1543
** 11 February - Henry allies with Emperor Charles V against France.
** March - Consolidating Act of Welsh Union: Parliament establishes counties and regularises parliamentary representation in Wales.
** 1 July - Treaty of Greenwich between England and Scotland (repudiated by Scotland 11 December).
** 12 July - King Henry VIII marries his sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr.
* 1544
** March - Revised Succession Act reinstates Princesses Mary and Elizabeth to the line of royal succession.
** 3 May - Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford captures Leith and Edinburgh from Scotland.
** 19 July–18 September - Italian War of 1542–1546: Henry VIII leads the First Siege of Boulogne in France.
** The Rough Wooing of Scotland begins.
** English coinage debased.
* 1545
** 25 February - Scottish victory over the English at the Battle of Ancrum Moor.
** Italian Wars: The French attempt to invade the Isle of Wight.
** 18 July - Henry VIII's flagship the "Mary Rose" sinks during the Battle of the Solent.
** The French are defeated at the Battle of Bonchurch.
** Sir Thomas Cawarden becomes the first Master of the Revels.
* 1546
** 7 June - Treaty of Ardres ends the Italian War, Henry VIII returns territories captured from France.
** December - Trinity College, Cambridge founded.
** Navy Board established.
* 1547
** 19 January - Execution of Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey for treason.
** 28 January - Edward VI succeeds his father Henry VIII as King.
** 31 January - Edward Seymour becomes Lord Protector of England.
** 20 February - Edward VI is crowned at Westminster Abbey.
** 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.
** Edward Seymour begins the construction of Somerset House, London.
** Six Articles repealed.
* 1548
** John Bale writes "King John", the earliest English historical drama.
* 1549
** 15 January - Act of Uniformity imposes the Book of Common Prayer.
** 9 June - Book of Common Prayer introduced in churches.
** June - Prayer Book Rebellion against the Book of Common Prayer in Devon and Cornwall.
** July - Kett's Rebellion in Norfolk against land enclosures.
** 9 August - England declares war on France.cite book |last=Palmer |first=Alan & Veronica |year=1992 |title= The Chronology of British History|publisher= Century Ltd|location=London|pages= 147-150|isbn= 0-7126-5616-2]
** 26 August - Battle of Dussindale: Kett's Rebellion quashed.
** 10 October - Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset loses the position of Lord Protector, John Dudley, Earl of Warwick assumes his powers but does not acquire the title.
** 5 December - Cardinal Reginald Pole receives 26 votes at the Papal conclave, only two short of the requisite two-thirds majority to be elected as Pope.

Births

* 1540
** 24 January - Edmund Campion, Jesuit and Roman Catholic martyr (died 1581)
** 11 June - Barnabe Googe, poet (died 1594)
** William Byrd, composer (died 1623)
** Christopher Hatton, politician (died 1591)
** George Hastings, 4th Earl of Huntingdon, nobleman (died 1604)
** Lettice Knollys, lady-in-waiting to Elizabeth I of England (died 1634)
** Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton (died 1614)
* 1541
** Walter Devereux, 1st Earl of Essex, nobleman (died 1576)
* 1542
** 6 June - Richard Grenville, Elizabethan soldier and explorer (died 1591)
* 1543
** Thomas Deloney, novelist and balladeer (died 1600)
* 1544
** April - Thomas Fleming, judge (died 1613)
** 24 May - William Gilbert, scientist (died 1603)
** Thomas Hobson, carrier and origin of the phrase "Hobson's choice" (died 1631)
** George Whetstone, writer (died 1587)
* 1545
** 2 March - Thomas Bodley, diplomat and library founder (died 1613)
** John Field, Puritan clergyman and controversialist (died 1588)
** John Gerard, botanist (died 1612)
** Nicholas Breton, poet and novelist (died 1626)
** Lady Douglas Sheffield, lover of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester (died 1608)
* 1546
** 5 May - Thomas Cecil, 1st Earl of Exeter, politician (died 1623)
** 24 June - Robert Parsons, Jesuit priest (died 1610)
** Thomas Digges, astronomer (died 1595)
** Tobias Matthew, archbishop of York (died 1628)
* 1547
** Peter Bales, calligrapher (died 1610)
** George Carey, 2nd Baron Hunsdon, politician (died 1603)
** Richard Stanyhurst, translator of Virgil (died 1618)
* 1548
** Edward Manners, 3rd Earl of Rutland (died 1587)
** William Stanley, soldier (died 1630)
* 1549
** 30 November - Sir Henry Savile, educator (died 1622)
** John Rainolds, scholar and Bible translator (died 1607)

Deaths

* 1540
** 28 July - Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex, statesman (executed) (born c. 1485)
** 30 July - Thomas Abel, priest (martyred) (born c. 1497)
** 30 July - Robert Barnes, reformer (martyred) (born 1495)
** Elizabeth Blount, mistress of Henry VIII of England (born 1502)
* 1541
** 27 May - Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury (executed) (born 1473)
** 24 November - Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII of England and queen of James IV of Scotland (born 1489)
** 10 December - Thomas Culpeper, courtier (executed) (year of birth unknown)
* 1542
** 13 February - Catherine Howard, fifth wife of Henry VIII of England (executed) (born c. 1522)
** 3 March - Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle, illegitimate son of King Edward IV of England (year of birth unknown 1461–1475)
** 6 October - Thomas Wyatt, poet and diplomat (born 1503)
* 1543
** 19 July - Mary Boleyn, mistress of Kings Francis I of France and Henry VIII of England (born 1500)
** 20 September - Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland (born 1492)
** Margaret Lee, sister of poet Thomas Wyatt (born 1506)
* 1544
** 30 April - Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden, Lord Chancellor (born 1488)
* 1545
** 24 August - Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, politician and husband of Mary Tudor (born c. 1484)
** 18 October - John Taverner, composer (born c. 1490)
** William Latimer, churchman and scholar (born c. 1467)
** Agnes Howard, Duchess of Norfolk, noblewoman (born c. 1477)
* 1546
** 26 March - Thomas Elyot, diplomat and scholar (born c. 1490)
** 16 July - Anne Askew, Protestant (burned at the stake) (born 1521)
* 1547
** 19 January - Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, poet (born 1517)
** 28 January - King Henry VIII (born 1491)
** Edward Hall, chronicler and lawyer (born 1498)
* 1548
** 7 September - Catherine Parr, queen of Henry VIII (born c. 1512)
* 1549
** 10 March - Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, politician and diplomat (born 1508)
** April - Andrew Boorde, traveller (born 1490)
** 15 April - Henry Somerset, 2nd Earl of Worcester (born 1496)
** 7 December - Robert Kett, rebel (executed) (year of birth unknown)

References

ee also