1530s in England - Events

Events

• 1530
  • 26 January - Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire becomes Keeper of the Privy Seal.
  • 6 February - Charles Brandon becomes Lord President of the Council.
  • May - William Tyndale's Bible publicly burned as heretical.
  • 4 November - Cardinal Wolsey arrested as a traitor for secretly communicating with Pope Clement VII.
  • Parliament of England passes the Egyptians Act in attempt to expel Gypsies.
• 1531
  • 11 February - Henry VIII recognised as supreme head of the Church of England.
  • March - Statute Against Vagabonds requires registration of all genuine beggars; unlicensed beggars to be whipped or pilloried.
  • Thomas Elyot's book The Boke Named the Governour is published, the first English work concerning moral philosophy.
  • Construction of the Great Hall of Hampton Court begins.
• 1532
  • 15 April - Submission of the Clergy: Royal approval required for all ecclesiastical laws.
  • 16 May - Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor.
  • 20 May - Thomas Audley appointed Lord Keeper of the Great Seal.
  • 1 September - Anne Boleyn is created Marquess of Pembroke by Henry VIII.
  • Henry VIII grants the Thorne brothers a Royal Charter to found Bristol Grammar School.
  • Construction of Saint James's Palace begins.
  • German painter Hans Holbein the Younger settles permanently in England.
• 1533
  • 25 January - King Henry VIII marries Anne Boleyn, his second Queen consort.
  • 6 February - Act in Restraint of Appeals declares England to be a wholly independent 'empire'.
  • 30 March - Thomas Cranmer becomes Archbishop of Canterbury.
  • 12 April - Thomas Cromwell becomes Secretary of State.
  • 23 May - Henry VIII's marriage with Catherine of Aragon officially declared annulled. Catherine refuses to accept and continues to believe herself the wife of Henry until her death.
  • 28 May - Cranmer declares the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn valid.
  • 1 June - Anne Boleyn crowned Queen at Westminster Abbey, the culmination of four days of ceremonies.
  • 11 July - Pope Clement VII excommunicates Henry VIII.
  • Sumptuary law, An Act for reformation of excess in apparel, passed.
  • Buggery Act (applicable from 1534) makes buggery subject to the death penalty, the first time such acts had been legislated for outside the ecclesiastical courts.
• 1534
  • 15 January - Parliament of England passes the Act Respecting the Oath to the Succession recognising the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, and their children as the legitimate heirs to the throne.
  • 20 April - Elizabeth Barton executed for making prophesies against King Henry.
  • 3 November–18 December - The Reformation Parliament passes the Act of Supremacy establishing Henry VIII as supreme head of the Church of England.
  • Cambridge University Press is given a Royal Charter by Henry VIII and becomes the first of the privileged presses.
• 1535
  • March - English forces under William Skeffington storm Maynooth Castle in Ireland, the stronghold of Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare.
  • 4 May - First of the Carthusian Martyrs executed at Tyburn.
  • 20 May - William Tyndale arrested in Antwerp for heresy in relation to this bible translation.
  • 22 June - Execution of Cardinal John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, on Tower Hill in London for his refusal to swear an oath of loyalty to Henry VIII.
  • 6 July - Sir Thomas More is executed for treason on Tower Hill after refusing to agree to Henry VIII's decision to separate the English church from the Roman Catholic church.
  • First of the Laws in Wales Acts passed, beginning the Anglicisation of the Welsh legal system.
  • Study of canon law at English universities prohibited.
  • First appointment to the chair of Regius Professor of Divinity, founded by King Henry VIII: Richard Smyth at the University of Oxford.
  • Beard tax introduced.
• 1536
  • April - An Acte for Laws & Justice to be ministred in Wales in like fourme as it is in this Realme (27 Henry VIII c. 26) further incorporates the legal system of Wales into that of England.
  • 14 April - The Reformation Parliament passes an Act for the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
  • 19 May - Execution of Anne Boleyn.
  • 30 May - Henry VIII marries Jane Seymour.
  • 11 July - Thomas Cranmer's Ten Articles are presented to Parliament.
  • 6 October - Bible translator William Tyndale burnt at the stake in Vilvoorde, Flanders.
  • 1 October–5 December - The Pilgrimage of Grace, a rebellion against Henry VIII's church reforms.
  • 29 October - Coronation of Jane Seymour as the Queen of England.
  • Various religious buildings are closed as part of Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries, including
    • Basingwerk Abbey
    • Bourne Abbey
    • Brinkburn Priory
    • Buildwas Abbey
    • Cartmel Priory
    • Dore Abbey
    • Haltemprice Priory
• 1537
  • January - Bigod's Rebellion, an armed insurrection by Roman Catholics in Cumberland and Westmorland against the king.
  • July - Pilgrimage of Grace: Robert Aske executed along with over 200 other rebels.
  • 25 August - The Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army and the second most senior, is formed.
  • 15 October - Council of the North meets for the first time, in York.
  • Publication of the Matthew Bible, the first complete English translation of the bible.
  • Dissolution of religious buildings by Henry VIII, including
    • Bisham Priory (Bisham Abbey being founded by Henry VIII in its place)
    • Bridlington Priory
    • Castle Acre Priory
    • London Charterhouse
    • Valle Crucis Abbey
  • Publication of An Introduction for to Lerne to Recken with the Pen and with the Counters, the first known English translation of an arithmetic textbook, at St Albans.
• 1538
  • 30 November - Byland Abbey is dissolved.
  • Bisham Abbey is dissolved.
• 1539
  • 12 January - Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and Francis I of France sign the Treaty of Toledo, agreeing to make no further alliances with the Kingdom of England.
  • 9 February - First horse race held at Chester Racecourse, the oldest in use in England.
  • March - Canterbury Cathedral surrenders, and reverts to its previous status of 'a college of secular canons'.
  • March - Invasion scare, following reports of an alliance between Spain, France, and Scotland.
  • April - Printing of the Great Bible (The Byble in Englyshe) is completed and it is distributed to churches.
  • May - The Six Articles reaffirm certain Catholic principles in Henry VIII's Church of England.
  • 19 September - Reading Abbey is suppressed and the Abbot, Hugh Cook Faringdon, indicted for treason.
  • 4 October - A treaty arranges for Henry VIII to marry Anne of Cleves.
  • Beaulieu Abbey, Bolton Abbey, Colchester Abbey, Newstead Abbey, St Albans Abbey, St Mary's Abbey, York and Hartland Abbey (the last) are dissolved.
  • Game Place House in Great Yarmouth becomes the first premises to be used regularly as a public theatre.