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731
The Venerable Bede
In his monastery at Jarrow, completes his history of the English church and people. -
800
Beowulf
The first great work of Germanic literature, mingles the legends of Scandinavia with the experience in England of Angles and Saxons -
950
The material of the Eddas
Taking shape in Iceland, derives from earlier sources in Norway, Britain and Burgundy -
1300
Duns Scotus
Known as the Subtle Doctor in medieval times, later provides humanists with the name Dunsman or dunce -
1340
William of Ockham
Advocates paring down arguments to their essentials, an approach later known as Ockham's Razor -
1367
The epic poem of Piers Plowman
A narrator who calls himself Will, and whose name may be Langland, begins the epic poem of Piers Plowman. One of four new yeomen of the chamber in Edward III's household is Geoffrey Chaucer -
1375
The round table of King Arthur
The courtly poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight tells of a mysterious visitor to the round table of King Arthur -
1385
Poem about a legendary love in Troy
Chaucer completes Troilus and Criseyde, his long poem about a legendary love affair in ancient Troy -
1387
100 Canterbury Tales
Chaucer begins an ambitious scheme for 100 Canterbury Tales, of which he completes only 24 by the time of his death -
1469
Thomas Malory
In gaol somewhere in England, compiles Morte d'Arthur – an English account of the French tales of King Arthur -
1510
Erasmus and Thomas
More take the northern Renaissance in the direction of Christian humanism -
1524
Translate the Bible
William Tyndale studies in the university at Wittenberg and plans to translate the Bible into English -
1549
Thomas Cranmer
The first version of the English prayer book, or Book of Common Prayer, is published with text by Thomas Cranmer -
1564
Birth of Marlowe and Shakespeare
Marlowe and Shakespeare are born in the same year, with Marlowe the older by two months -
1567
The Book of Common Prayer and the New Testament are published
The Book of Common Prayer and the New Testament are published in Welsh, to be followed by the complete Bible in 1588 -
1582
Wedding of William Shakespeare
The 18-year-old William Shakespeare marries Anne Hathaway in Stratford-upon-Avon -
Tamburlaine the Great
Marlowe's first play, Tamburlaine the Great, introduces the swaggering blank verse of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. -
Edmund Spenser
English poet Edmund Spenser celebrates the Protestant Elizabeth I as The Faerie Queene -
Shakespeare achieves his first masterpiece
After tentative beginnings in the three parts of Henry VI, Shakespeare achieves his first masterpiece on stage with Richard III -
Hamlet
Shakespeare's central character in Hamlet expresses both the ideals of the Renaissance and the disillusion of a less confident age -
Authorized version of the Bible y William Shakespeare's name appears in a list of the King's Men
James I commissions the Authorized version of the Bible, which is completed by forty-seven scholars in seven years
William Shakespeare's name appears among the actors in a list of the King's Men -
The Tempest
Shakespeare's last completed play, The Tempest, is performed -
William Shakespeare dies
William Shakespeare dies at New Place, his home in Stratford-upon-Avon, and is buried in Holy Trinity Church -
The temple
George Herbert's only volume of poems, The Temple, is published posthumously -
Anne Bradstreet
The poems of Massachusetts author Anne Bradstreet are published in London under the title The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America -
The Compleat Angler
Devoted fisherman Izaak Walton publishes the classic work on the subject, The Compleat Angler -
Paradise
Paradise Lost is published, earning its author John Milton just £10 -
The Pilgrim's Progress
Part I of The Pilgrim's Progress, written during John Bunyan's two spells in Bedford Gaol, is published and is immediately popular -
English literature
The Augustan Age begins in English literature, claiming comparison with the equivalent flowering under Augustus Caesar -
George Berkeley
25-year-old George Berkeley attacks Locke in his Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge -
The first English novel.
Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, with its detailed realism, can be seen as the first English novel. -
Treatise of Human Nature
David Hume publishes his Treatise of Human Nature, in which he applies to the human mind the principles of experimental science -
Thomas Gray
English poet Thomas Gray publishes his Elegy written in a Country Church Yard -
Samuel Johnson
Publishes his magisterial Dictionary of the English Language -
Laurence Sterne
Publishes the first two volumes of Tristram Shandy, beginning with the scene at the hero's conception -
Horace Walpole
English author Horace Walpole provides an early taste of Gothic thrills in his novel Castle of Otranto -
Encyclopaedia Britannica
A Society of Gentlemen in Scotland begins publication of the immensely successful Encyclopaedia Britannica -
Edward Gibbon
English historian Edward Gibbon publishes the first volume of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire -
Robert Burns
Scottish poet Robert Burns publishes Tam o' Shanter, in which a drunken farmer has an alarming encounter with witches -
Poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' is published in Lyrical Ballads -
Book Milton
William Blake includes his poem 'Jerusalem' in the Preface to his book Milton -
The Lay of the Last Minstrel
Walter Scott publishes The Lay of the Last Minstrel, the long romantic poem that first brings him fame -
Jane Austen
English author Jane Austen publishes her first work in print, Sense and Sensibility, at her own expense -
Pride and Prejudice
Based on a youthful work of 1797 called First Impressions, is the second of Jane Austen's novels to be published -
Northanger Abbey and Persuasion
Two of Jane Austen's novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, are published in the year after her death. -
William Cobbett
English radical William Cobbett begins his journeys round England, published in 1830 as Rural Rides -
Oliver Twist
Charles Dickens' first novel Oliver Twist, begins monthly publication in book form, 1838. -
Lays of Ancient Rome
English author Thomas Babington Macaulay publishes a collection of stirring ballads, Lays of Ancient Rome -
Book of Nonsense
Edward Lear publishes his Book of Nonsense, consisting of limericks illustrated with his own cartoons -
Vanity Fair
English author William Makepeace Thackeray begins publication of his novel Vanity Fair in monthly parts (book form 1848) -
Charles Dickens
Begins the publication in monthly numbers of David Copperfield, his own favourite among his novels -
Dictionary of synonyms
London physician Peter Mark Roget publishes his dictionary of synonyms, the Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases -
The Warden
English author Anthony Trollope publishes The Warden, the first in his series of six Barsetshire novels -
Charles Dickens
Puts forward the theory of evolution in On the Origin of Species, the result of 20 years' research. Charles Dickens publishes his French Revolution novel, A Tale of Two Cities -
Charles Dickens
Begins serial publication of his novel "Great Expectations" in book form 1861. -
The Water-Babies
English author Charles Kingsley publishes an improving fantasy for young children, The Water-Babies -
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Lewis Carroll publishes Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, a development of the story he had told Alice Liddell three years earlier. -
Second story of Alice's adventures
Lewis Carroll publishes Through the Looking Glass, a second story of Alice's adventures -
The Hunting of the Snark
Lewis Carroll publishes The Hunting of the Snark, a poem about a voyage in search of an elusive mythical creature -
Treasure Island
Robert Louis Stevenson's adventure story, Treasure Island, features Long John Silver and Ben Gunn -
Robert Louis Stevenson
Introduces a dual personality in his novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde -
Thomas Hardy
Publishes his novel The Mayor of Casterbridge, which begins with the future mayor, Michael Henchard selling his wife and child at a fair. -
Sherlock Holmes
Features in Conan Doyle's first novel, A Study in Scarlet -
Oscar Wilde
Publishes his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray in which the ever-youthful hero's portrait grows old and ugly. -
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde's most brilliant comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest is performed in London's St. James Theatre. Oscar Wilde loses a libel case that he has brought against the marquess of Queensberry for describing him as a sodomite. Oscar Wilde is sent to Reading Gaol to serve a two-year sentence with hard labour after being convicted of homosexuality -
The Tale of Peter Rabbit
Beatrix Potter publishes at her own expense The Tale of Peter Rabbit -
Peter Pan
J.M Barrie's play for children Peter Pan, or the Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up has its premiere in London -
The White Peacock
D.H. Lawrence's career as a writer is launched with the publication of his first novel, The White Peacock -
Robert Graves
Publishes his first book of poems, Over the Brazier -
A Passage to India builds
E.M. Forster's novel A Passage to India builds on cultural misconceptions between the British and Indian communities -
Christopher Robin
Features for the first time in A.A. Milne's When We Were Very Young -
D.H. Lawrence
New novel, in which Lady Chatterley is in love with her husband's gamekeeper, is privately printed in Florence -
Virginia Woolf
Publishes the most fluid of her novels, The Waves, in which she tells the story through six interior monologues -
Aldous Huxley
British author Aldous Huxley gives a bleak view of a science-based future in his novel Brave New World -
Antonia White
English author Antonia White publishes an autobiographical first novel, Frost in May -
Evelyn Waugh
British author Evelyn Waugh publishes a classic Fleet Street novel, Scoop, introducing Lord Copper, proprietor of The Beast. -
Christopher Isherwood
W.H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood emigrate together to the USA, later becoming US citizens.
British author Christopher Isherwood publishes his novel Goodbye to Berlin, based on his own experiences in the city -
Enid Blyton
English children's author Enid Blyton introduces the Famous Five in Five on a Treasure Island -
George Orwell
Publishes Nineteen Eighty-Four, a novel set in a terrifying totalitarian state of the future, watched over by Big Brother -
C.S. Lewis
Gives the first glimpse of Narnia in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe -
J.R.R. Tolkien
British philologist J.R.R. Tolkien publishes the third and final volume of his epic fantasy The Lord of the Rings -
Doris Lessing
British author Doris Lessing publishes an influential feminist novel, The Golden Notebook. -
Michael Holroyd
English biographer Michael Holroyd completes his two-volume life of Lytton Strachey -
Ernst Friedrich Schumacher
British economist Ernst Friedrich Schumacher publishes an influential economic tract, Small is Beautiful -
Nicholas Kaldor
British economist Nicholas Kaldor attacks monetarism in The Economic Consequences of Mrs Thatcher -
Stephen Hawking
British physicist Stephen Hawking explains the cosmos for the general reader in A Brief History of Time: from the Big Bang to Black Holes. -
Pat Barker
Regeneration is the first volume of English author Pat Barker's trilogy of novels set during World War I -
Irvine Welsh
Scottish author Irvine Welsh publishes his first novel, Trainspotting -
J.K. Rowling
A schoolboy wizard performs his first tricks in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone -
The Amber Spyglass
Completes Philip Pullman's trilogy, His Dark Materials.