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Chronology
A brief chronology of events of relevance to Shakespeare's Henry V
Some dates are approximate, especially those of the plays.
| 1337 | Edward III assumes the title "King of France," beginning the Hundred Years War (1337‑1453). | |
| 1340 | Geoffrey Chaucer is born. | |
| 1346 | Edward the Black Prince defeats French forces at the Battle of Crécy. | |
| 1347 | Calais surrenders to the English. | |
| 1348‑50 | The Black Death first arrives in England, killing over a third of the population and helping the breakdown of the manorial and feudal systems. | |
| 1356 | English victory at the battle of Poitiers and capture of King John II of France; England receives Aquitaine and Calais as ransom for the king. | |
| 1362 | English becomes the official language in courts of law. | |
| 1367 | Births of Richard, later Richard II, and of Henry Bolingbroke, male heirs to the first and third sons of Edward III | |
| 1376 | Death of the Black Prince | |
| 1360 | Edward III relinquishes claims to the French throne in return for sovereignty over south‑west France. | |
| 1362 | English becomes the official language in courts of law. | |
| 1377‑84 | John Wyclif begins the Lollard movement, precursor of the Protestant Reformation. | |
| 1377 | Edward III dies. His grandson, Richard II, becomes king at the age of ten. | |
| 1386 | Birth of Henry of Monmouth, later Prince of Wales and King Henry V | |
| 1398 | Richard II banishes his cousin, Henry Bolingbroke, from England for 10 years. | |
| 1399 | October: Deposition of Richard II; Henry Bolingbroke crowned King Henry IV | |
| 1400‑1415 | Revolt and civil wars in England: “the scambling and unquiet time” | |
| 1400 | Richard II dies at Pontefract castle. Henry IV leads unsuccessful campaign against Scotland. Owen Glendower raises rebellion in Wales. | |
| 1403 | The Percy family joins forces with Glendower and Sir Edmund Mortimer against Henry IV. Hotspur's army is defeated at battle of Shrewsbury in July. | |
| 1413 | Death of Henry IV; Prince Henry is crowned King Henry V, has Richard II reburied with honors at Westminster Abbey. | |
| 1414 | August‑September: Henry's ambassadors claim his right to rule Normandy, Touraine, Maine, and Anjou. | |
| December: Sir John Oldcastle, former friend of King Henry and model for Shakespeare's Falstaff, leads Lollards in open rebellion. The rebellion suppressed in January 1415 and a parliamentary statute is passed against Lollardy. | ||
| 1415 | First French campaign | |
| July: Southampton Plot foiled | ||
| August‑September: Siege of Harfleur | ||
| October 25: Battle of Agincourt | ||
| 1416 | Henry V begins a second French campaign. | |
| 1417 | Sir John Oldcastle executed by hanging and burning for heresy and treason | |
| 1419 | Rouen surrenders; England regains Normandy. | |
| 1420 | Treaty of Troyes; Henry becomes regent of France and successor to Charles VI, marrying Catherine of Valois. | |
| 1421 | Birth of future King Henry VI | |
| 1422 | Death of Henry V; Henry VI is crowned at the age of nine months ("in infant bands"). | |
| 1429 | Joan of Arc defeats the English at Orleans; coronation of the Dauphin as Charles VII. | |
| 1431 | Henry VI is crowned King of France in Paris; Joan of Arc is burned at the stake as a witch. | |
| 1435 | Death of the Duke of Bedford, English regent in France; England fails to compromise at the Arras Peace Conference; Burgundy defects from the Anglo‑Burgundian alliance. | |
| 1437 | Henry VI takes personal control of English government. | |
| 1440 | Gutenberg establishes the first printing press in Europe. | |
| 1455‑1487 | "Wars of the Roses": intermittent civil war between houses of Lancaster and York | |
| 1460 | John Skelton and Thomas Linacre are born; The Castle of Perseverance is performed. Edward of March wins the Battle of Northampton and is given control of London; his father the Duke of York lays claim to the throne, but is killed in the Battle of Wakefield. | |
| 1461 | Henry VI deposed; Edward of March crowned King Edward IV | |
| 1469 | Erasmus is born; Niccolò Machiavelli is born. | |
| 1470 | Henry VI returns to power; William Caxton sets up the first press in England. | |
| 1471 | Henry VI is re‑deposed and murdered in the Tower of London. | |
| 1479 | The last regular occurrence of bubonic plague; the population begins to recover from its decline in the Late Middle Ages. | |
| 1483 | Edward IV dies; Edward Prince of Wales accedes but dies before being crowned Edward V; his uncle Richard of Gloucester crowned King Richard III; he puts down a revolt led by Henry Stafford, duke of Buckingham, who is executed. Martin Luther is born. | |
| 1485 | Richard III dies in the battle of Bosworth Field; Henry Tudor crowned King Henry VII | |
| 1497 | A truce is achieved between England and Scotland. | |
| 1508 | Luther studies and teaches at the University of Wittenberg which eventually becomes the cradle of the Reformation. | |
| 1509 | Henry VII dies; his second son, Henry, crowned King Henry VIII | |
| 1515 | Martin Luther posts his 95 theses at the castle church of Wittenberg. | |
| 1516 | Sir Thomas More writes Utopia. | |
| 1534 | Act of Supremacy: Parliament declares Henry VIII supreme head of Church of England. Act requires oath to the lawfulness of Henry's second marriage to Anne Boleyn. | |
| 1535 | Sir Thomas More is executed; Coverdale publishes the first complete English Bible. Plague breaks out for the first of five consecutive years. | |
| 1536 | Henry VIII orders the dissolution of the monasteries in England. | |
| 1547 | Henry VIII dies; his son Prince Edward crowned King Edward VI | |
| 1548 | Edward Hall'sThe Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancaster and York | |
| 1552 | Edmund Spenser is born; Sir Walter Raleigh is born. | |
| 1553 | Edward VI dies; his half‑sister, Princess Mary is crowned Queen Mary. | |
| 1555 | Roman Catholicism is officially reestablished by Mary. | |
| 1558 | Mary dies; her half‑sister, Princess Elizabeth, crowned Queen Elizabeth | |
| 1560 | Publication of the Geneva Bible. | |
| 1563 | English church adopts the Thirty‑nine Articles. | |
| 1564 | William Shakespeare born in Stratford‑upon‑Avon (baptized 26 April). Christopher Marlowe born in Canterbury. | |
| 1568 | The "Bishops' Bible" is published. | |
| 1569 | The Northern Rebellion attempts to replace Elizabeth with the Catholic Mary Stuart. | |
| 1571 | Elizabeth's marriage with the Duke of Anjou and Alençon (later Henri III) proposed. | |
| 1572 | Leicester's men play at Stratford (Shakespeare is 8 years old). Ben Jonson is born. | |
| 1573 | Leicester's men, led by James Burbage, perform in Stratford. | |
| 1574 | James Burbage gets license to open a London playhouse. | |
| 1575 | Queen Elizabeth on progress visits Kenilworth Castle, near Stratford. | |
| 1576 | James Burbage builds The Theatre. | |
| 1577 | Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland and Irelandis published (revised edition 1587). The Curtain theatre opens in London. | |
| 1578 | John Lyly's Euphues is published. James VI becomes King of Scotland. | |
| 1580 | John Stow's Chronicles of England is published. Thomas Middleton and John Webster are born. | |
| 1582 | Shakespeare marries Anne Hathaway. | |
| 1583‑84 | Plots against Elizabeth on behalf of Mary Queen of Scots | |
| 1583 | Susanna Shakespeare born | |
| 1585 | Births of Shakespeare's son Hamnet and his twin sister Judith; Earl of Leicester sent to aid the Dutch against the Spanish | |
| 1586 | Pope Sixtus V offers Philip of Spain one million crowns for a successful invasion of England. | |
| 1587 | Mary Queen of Scots is executed (8 February). Christopher Marlowe writes Tamburlaine. The Rose theatre is built on the Bankside in London. The companies of Earls of Essex and Leicester act at Stratford. | |
| 1588‑94 | Shakespeare moves to London; family remains in Stratford. | |
| 1588 | War with Spain ends with the destruction of the Spanish Armada fleet in July. | |
| 1588‑92 | Shakespeare writes or revises 1 Henry VI, The First Part of the Contention of the Two Famous Houses of York and Lancaster(2 Henry VI), The Tragedy of Richard, Duke of York (3 Henry VI), "which oft our stage hath shown." | |
| 1590‑94 | Richard III | |
| 1592 | Robert Greene attacks Shakespeare in print, parodying 3 Henry VI. Lord Strange's men, possibly including Shakespeare, appear at Court and at the Rose. Severe plague in London (15,000 people die); plays restricted in the latter half of the year. | |
| 1593 | Venus and Adonis. Plays are restrained throughout the year because of plague; the acting companies face hard times. Marlowe is murdered. The Play of Sir Thomas More is written with contributions possibly from Munday, Chettle, Heywood, Dekker, and Shakespeare. | |
| 1593‑1603 | Shakespeare writes the sonnets. | |
| 1593‑95 | The Taming of the Shrew, The Rape of Lucrece |
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| 1594 | Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare's collaboration with George Peele,is performed and published. The Famous Victories of Henry the Fifthwritten; Shakespeare joins the Lord Chamberlain's Men. The first of four years of crop failure and grain shortage. Marlowe's Edward II is published. | |
| 1594‑96 | A Midsummer Night's Dream, Richard II, Romeo and Juliet | |
| 1595 | Richard II. The bow and arrow are abolished as weapons of war. | |
| 1596 | Death of Shakespeare's son, Hamnet (August); campaign against Lord Chamberlain's Men's planned Blackfriars theater (November). The Swan Theatre is built on the Bankside. Henry Carey, Lord Chamberlain, dies. His son George Carey, 2nd Lord Hunsdon, assumes patronage of the Lord Chamberlain's Men and they become known as Hunsdon's Men. | |
| 1596‑97 | 1 Henry IV, The Merchant of Venice | |
| 1597 | Earl of Essex sent to Ireland to put down a rebellion led by the Earl of Tyrone | |
| 1597‑98 | The Merry Wives of Windsor, Much Ado about Nothing, 2 Henry IV, the latter written with an epilogue promising a new play to feature Falstaff accompanying Henry V to war in France | |
| 1598 | Famous Victoriesprinted by Thomas Creede | |
| 1599 | Land for the Globe theatre is leased to the Lord Chamberlain's Men; Shakespeare is listed as one of the leading shareholders (21 February). Henry V (March?), As You Like It, Julius Caesar; Shakespeare's company moves to the Globe (spec date). | |
| 1600 | The first quarto of Henry V is printed by Thomas Creede. The Fortune Theatre is built. | |
| 1600‑1602 | Twelfth Night, Troilus and Cressida, Hamlet, All's Well That Ends Well | |
| 1601 | Shakespeare's father dies. Essex stages abortive rebellion and is executed. | |
| 1602 | Second quarto of Henry V printed | |
| 1603 | Elizabeth I dies (25 March); company becomes the King's Men (19 May); James VI crowned James I of England (25 July). During the winter season, Shakespeare performs in Ben Jonson's Sejanus, the last record of him acting. Plague rages in London; theatres remain closed until April 1604. | |
| 1603‑1604 | Measure for Measure, Othello | |
| 1604 | James I attempts a compromise with English Catholics and Puritans at the Hampton Court Conference. England makes peace with Spain. | |
| 1605 | The Gunpowder Plot is foiled (November 5). | |
| 1605‑1606 | King Lear | |
| 1606‑1607 | Macbeth, Timon of Athens, Antony and Cleopatra, Pericles | |
| 1608 | Coriolanus. Shakespeare and six associates lease the Blackfriars theatre for a twenty‑one year period (9 August). | |
| 1609‑11 | Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, The Tempest | |
| 1609 | Shakespeare's Sonnets are published. | |
| 1613 | Henry VIIIandThe Two Noble Kinsmenare written in collaboration with John Fletcher. Shakespeare in retirement, living in Stratford. Globe burns during a performance of Henry VIII. | |
| 1616 | April 23: Shakespeare dies | |
| 1619 | Third quarto of Henry V printed | |
| 1623 | First folio of ShakespeareĘĽs plays printed |