1549 in England - Events

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.
  • 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.
  • Statute of Wills makes it possible to dispose of real estate by will.
  • Regius Professorships endowed at Cambridge University.
  • 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.
• 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.
• 1542
  • 13 February - Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII, is executed in the Tower of London for adultery.
  • 24 August - Battle of Haddon Rig: Scottish victory over the English.
  • 4 September - Earliest recorded Preston Guild Court in the modern sequence, which lasts unbroken until 1922.
  • 24 November - Battle of Solway Moss: English victory over the Scots.
  • Act of Parliament creates six new dioceses: Bristol, Chester, Gloucester, Oxford, Peterborough and Westminster.
• 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.
  • Thomas Tallis becomes a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal.
  • 4 August - Three Protestant Windsor Martyrs suffer death by burning.
• 1544
  • March - Third Succession Act, reinstating Princesses Mary and Elizabeth to the line of royal succession, given Royal Assent (having been passed by Parliament in July 1543).
  • April - Posthumous publication of Cardinal John Fisher's Psalmi seu precationes in the original and in an anonymous English translation by its sponsor, Queen Catherine Parr.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • First published edition of Sir John Fortescue's De laudibus legum Angliae (written c.1471).
• 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.
  • 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.
  • Edward Seymour begins the construction of Somerset House, London.
  • Treason Act makes it high treason to interrupt the line of succession to the throne established by the Act of Succession; and requires two witnesses to prove a charge of treason.
  • Six Articles repealed.
• 1548
  • John Bale writes Kynge Johan, 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.
    • Prayer Book Rebellion against the Book of Common Prayer breaks out at Sampford Courtenay in Devon and in Cornwall.
  • July - Kett's Rebellion in Norfolk against land enclosures; rebellion in Oxfordshire against landowners associated with religious changes.
  • 6 August - Prayer Book Rebellion: Battle of Clyst Heath - John Russell, 1st Earl of Bedford defeats rebels.
  • 8 August - France declares war on England.
  • 9 August - England declares war on France.
  • 17 August - Battle of Sampford Courtenay: Prayer Book Rebellion quashed.
  • 26 August - Battle of Dussindale, near Norwich: 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.
  • The spire of Lincoln Cathedral is blown down.