1540s in England

1540s in England:

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Events from the 1540s in England.

Incumbents

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

Events

• 1540
  • January - Shap Abbey and Dunstable Priory are closed down as part of the Dissolution of the Monasteries.
  • 6 January - King Henry VIII marries Anne of Cleves, his fourth Queen consort.
  • 29 January - Bolton Abbey, a Yorkshire priory, is 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.
  • April - The cathedral priories of Canterbury and Rochester are transformed into secular cathedral chapters, concluding 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 in public on Tower Hill, London. Henry marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, on the same day at Oatlands Palace.
  • 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.
  • Early summer - Collyer's School opens to scholars in Horsham.
  • 3 September - The Anglican Diocese of Gloucester is created from part of the Diocese of Worcester with John Wakeman (last Abbot of Tewkesbury) as first Bishop of Gloucester.
  • Berkhamsted School founded by John Incent, Dean of St Paul's.
• 1542
  • 13 February - Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII, is executed in the Tower of London for adultery.
  • 4 June - The Anglican Diocese of Bristol is created from part of the newly formed Diocese of Gloucester with Paul Bush as first Bishop of Bristol.
  • 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, at Hampton Court Palace.
  • 4 August - Three Protestant Windsor Martyrs suffer death by burning.
  • Thomas Tallis becomes a Gentleman of the Chapel Royal.
• 1544
  • March - Third Succession Act, reinstating Princesses Mary and Elizabeth to the line of succession to the English throne, 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.
  • Thomas Cranmer's "Exhortation and Litany" is issued, the first officially authorised vernacular church service in English.
  • The Rough Wooing of Scotland begins.
  • Second programme of construction of Device Forts for defence of the Solent is ordered.
  • English coinage debased.
• 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.
  • 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.
  • 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
  • 7 June - Treaty of Ardres ends the Italian War of 1542–1546; Henry VIII promises eventual return of Boulogne to France.
  • November - Christ Church, Oxford, refounded by Henry VIII under this name.
  • December - Trinity College, Cambridge, founded by Henry VIII.
  • Regius Professorship of Hebrew founded at the University of Oxford by Henry VIII.
  • 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.
  • Destruction of the religious colleges of Glasney and Crantock in Cornwall end the formal scholarship that has helped sustain the Cornish language and cultural identity.
• 1549
  • 15 January - Act of Uniformity imposes the Book of Common Prayer.
  • 9 June
    • Book of Common Prayer (The Booke of the 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.

Births

• 1540
  • 24 January - Edmund Campion, Jesuit and Roman Catholic martyr (died 1581)
  • c. February or March - Sir Francis Drake, explorer and soldier (died 1596)
  • 11 June - Barnabe Googe, poet (died 1594)
  • William Byrd, composer (died 1623)
  • Christopher Hatton, politician (died 1591)
  • George Hastings, Earl of Huntingdon, nobleman (died 1604)
  • Lettice Knollys, lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth I (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, 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)
  • Douglas Sheffield, lover of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester (died 1608)
  • Sir Francis Drake Born
• 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, Baron Hunsdon, politician (died 1603)
  • Richard Stanyhurst, translator of Virgil (died 1618)
• 1548
  • Edward Manners, 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 King Henry VIII (born 1502)
• 1541
  • 27 May - Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury (executed) (born 1473)
  • 24 November - Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII 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 King Henry VIII (executed) (born c. 1522)
  • 3 March - Arthur Plantagenet, 1st Viscount Lisle, illegitimate son of King Edward IV (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, lady-in-waiting, 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)
  • October or November - John Redford, composer, poet and playwright (born c. 1500)
  • 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, Earl of Worcester (born 1496)
  • 7 December - Robert Kett, rebel (executed) (year of birth unknown)