Chronology
1509 Accession of Henry VIII
1516 Mary Tudor, only surviving child of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon, born
1533 Henry VIII’s marriage to Katherine of Aragon annulled
Henry VIII marries Anne Boleyn
Birth of Elizabeth I
1534 Acts of Succession and Supremacy mark formal breach between England and Rome
1536 Execution of Anne Boleyn
Henry VIII marries Jane Seymour
1537 Birth of Edward VI
Death of Jane Seymour, Edward’s mother
1547 Death of Henry VIII
Accession of Edward VI
1553 Death of Edward VI
Lady Jane Grey, the nine-days’ Queen, crowned
Accession of Mary Tudor: Catholicism re-established in England
1554 (?) Walter Ralegh born
Lady Jane Grey executed
1558 Death of Mary Tudor
Accession of Elizabeth I
1559 Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity
1560 Amy Dudley, née Robsart, wife of Robert Dudley (the future Earl of Leicester) dies
1562 French Wars of Religion start
1564 Birth of William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe
Robert Dudley is created Earl of Leicester
1565 Birth of Bess Throckmorton, future Lady Ralegh
1566 Birth of King James VI of Scotland (later James I of England)
1569 WR in France as soldier
1570 Queen Elizabeth excommunicated by the Pope
1570 Peace of St Germain
1572 St Bartholomew Massacre of Huguenots in Paris
Birth of John Donne and Ben Jonson
(?) WR matriculates at Oriel College, Oxford
1576 WR’s first published poem
1577 WR living in Islington, Middlesex
1579 Queen Elizabeth I considering marriage to Duke of Anjou
Rebellion in Ireland
1580 WR to Ireland (Smerwick)
1581 WR’s father dies
WR appointed to a court position
1583 WR joins Humphrey Gilbert’s expedition to Newfoundland
WR granted Durham House by Queen Elizabeth I
1584 WR receives patent for exploration of New World
1585 WR knighted
First Roanoke settlement in Virginia
Earl of Leicester (with step-son the Earl of Essex) leads military expedition to the Low Countries
English intervention in Low Countries leads to conflict with Spain for rest of Elizabeth’s reign
WR appointed vice-admiral of the west, lord lieutenant of Cornwall, and Lord Warden of the Stannaries
Earl of Essex comes to court
1586 Battle of Zutphen in Low Countries
Death of Sir Philip Sidney
WR receives grants of lands in England and Ireland from Queen Elizabeth
1587 Second Roanoke settlement: Virginia Dare born there
WR nominated as future Captain of the Guard
Earl of Essex appointed Master of the Horse
Execution of Mary Queen of Scots
1588 Earl of Leicester dies
Spanish Armada defeated
1589 Earl of Essex joins Drake and Hawkins expedition to Portugal, in defiance of Queen Elizabeth
WR to Ireland. Returns to England with Edmund Spenser
Azores (‘Islands’) expedition
1590 Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (Books I–III) published
1591 WR takes up duties as Captain of the Guard
The loss of the English ship, the Revenge
WR writes The Last Fight of the Revenge
1592 WR called back from Panama expedition
WR imprisoned in Tower and banished from court
WR writes ‘Ocean’s Love to Cynthia’
Birth – and death – of WR’s first son, Damerei
WR granted Sherborne by Queen Elizabeth
1593 Death of Christopher Marlowe
Birth of WR’s second son, Walter (Wat)
WR writes tract On the Succession
1594 Atheism enquiry into WR
WR’s mother (born Katherine Champernowne) dies
1595 WR to Guiana
WR writes manuscript version of The Discovery of Guiana
1596 Edmund Spenser writes A View of the Present State of Ireland
WR publishes The Discovery of Guiana
English forces attack Cadiz
WR sends small second expedition to Guiana
Robert Cecil becomes Secretary of State
1597 WR returns to court
1598 End of Wars of Religion in France
Death of William Cecil, Lord Burghley
1599 Earl of Essex in Ireland
Globe Theatre opens
1600 WR appointed Governor of Jersey
WR becomes close to Henry Brooke, Lord Cobham
1601 Rebellion and execution of Earl of Essex
1602 WR sends Samuel Mace to Roanoke to seek lost colonists
1603 Death of Queen Elizabeth I
Accession of King James I
WR found guilty of treason
A Oneworld Book
First published by Oneworld Publications, 2018
This ebook edition published 2018
Copyright © Anna Beer 2018
The moral right of Anna Beer to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988
All rights reserved
Copyright under Berne Convention
A CIP record for this title is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-78607-434-8
eISBN 978-1-78607-435-5
Illustrations: 1588 portrait © Hi-Story/Alamy; Ralegh Cadiz portrait © GL Archive/Alamy; Earl of Essex Cadiz portrait © ART Collection/Alamy; Hilliard miniature © World History Archive/Alamy; Ralegh and son © Granger Historical Picture Archive/Alamy; Ralegh at the head of the Queen’s Guard, courtesy of South West Heritage Trust (held at Somerset Archives and Local Studies, ref. DD/SAS/C1193/28); Tower of London © Antiqua Print Gallery/Alamy; letter to Queen Anne, courtesy of the National Archives (Public Record Office, Kew, Surrey, SP14/67); The Way the Indians Fished by John White © North Wind Picture Archives/Alamy; John White’s ‘The Towne of Pomeiock…’ and map © Photo 12/Alamy; Elizabeth I miniature © Victoria & Albert Museum/Bridgeman; James I © National Galleries of Scotland/Bridgeman; Henry, Prince of Wales © Royal Collection Trust, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2018/Bridgeman; Lady Ralegh © Granger Historical Picture Archive/Alamy
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