Important dates
- 1455: Start of the War of the Roses. The civil war in England between royal houses of York and Lancaster goes on 1485.
- 1483: Death of Edward IV, a Yorkist. His 13-year-old son, Edward V, reigns for two months before his uncle, Richard III imprisons Edward V and his younger brother, Richard Duke of York, in the Tower of London, declaring the children illegitimate and naming himself rightful heir to the crown instead. (These are the Princes in the Tower—the mystery as to whether or not they were killed and by who, or whether they might have escaped, remains unsolved to this day.)
- 1485: Battle of Bosworth Field. Henry Tudor, last of the Lancastrian leaders, defeats and kills Richard III and names himself king. Soon after the August arrival of Henry VII (Tudor) in London, sweating sickness breaks out in the English capital, killing several thousand people by October. The onset of symptoms was dramatic and sudden, with death often occurring within hours. Its cause remains unknown.
- 1486: Henry VII marries Elizabeth of York (the sister of the Princes in the Tower, Edward V and Richard Duke of York), thereby uniting the houses of York and Lancaster. Before doing this, he repeals the Act of Parliament that had declared Elizabeth and her siblings (including the missing Princes in the Tower) bastards – restoring her status, and those of her brothers, as royal princes and princesses of the House of York.
- 1497: The Bonfire of the Vanities occurs in Florence, Italy in which Girolamo Savonarola collected and publicly burned objects considered sinful, including original paintings by Botticelli.
- 1507: The second outbreak of sweating sickness in England.
- 1509: Henry VIII (son of Henry VII) becomes king. The humanitarian thinker Desiderius Erasmus publishes In Praise of Folly, which he wrote at Sir Thomas More’s home, satirizing the behavior of Church clergy.
- 1515: Thomas Wolsey, Archbishop of York, is made Lord Chancellor of England and Cardinal. Sir Thomas More writes Utopia.
- 1517: The Protestant Reformation begins in Europe. Martin Luther nails his “95 Theses” against the Catholic practice of selling indulgences on the church door at Wittenberg, Germany. The third and much more severe epidemic of the English sweating sickness breaks out (it will occur in 1527 and again in 1551 before disappearing forever).
- 1521: Lutheran books begin to appear in England and Henry VIII receives the title of “Defender of the Faith” from Pope Leo X for his opposition to Martin Luther (Henry’s attacks on Luther have been penned with the help of his servant Thomas More).
- 1522: Martin Luther publishes German translation of New Testament.
- 1523: Hans Holbein the Younger paints a first portrait of Erasmus and Dance of Death in Basel, Switzerland.
- 1525: William Tyndale publishes first translation of the New Testament into English.
- 1526: Henry VIII, married to the Spanish Catholic princess Catherine of Aragon, falls in love with Anne Boleyn, who has Protestant sympathies. This will become the catalyst leading to the Reformation in England. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey presides over massive burning of Lutheran texts. Hans Holbein the Younger arrives in England, bringing with him the Renaissance in painting from Europe. Erasmus commends the painter to his many friends, including Sir Thomas More.
- [PORTRAIT OF AN UNKNOWN WOMAN opens at the start of 1527]
- 1527: First portrait of the More family by Hans Holbein the Younger painted at Chelsea in 1527-1528. London experiences a further outbreak of sweating sickness.
- 1528: Hans Holbein the Younger returns to his wife and children in Basel, Switzerland.
- 1529: Henry VIII dismisses Lord Chancellor Thomas Wolsey for failing to obtain the Pope’s consent to his divorce from Catherine of Aragon and appoints Sir Thomas More Lord Chancellor. He hopes More’s legal mind will help him get his divorce. But Sir Thomas More uses his position to write texts against Luther and William Tyndale and hunt down Protestants in England. Going in the opposite direction, meanwhile, Henry VIII summons the “Reformation Parliament” and begins to cut ties with the Church of Rome.
- 1530: Tyndale’s English translation of the first five books of the Old Testament appear in England.
- 1532: Hans Holbein the Younger leaves his wife and children in Basel and returns to England. A second portrait of the More family, attributed to Holbein, probably dates from this year. Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor when Henry VIII reduces the powers of England’s Catholic bishops; this move is seen as tacit disapproval of Henry VIII’s divorce plans.
- 1533 to 1534: Henry VIII marries Anne Boleyn, is excommunicated by the Pope, breaks with Rome and is declared supreme head of the Church of England.
- 1535: Sir Thomas More is beheaded for not supporting Henry VIII’s reforms.
- 1536: Hans Holbein the Younger becomes court painter to Henry VIII and paints numerous portraits and drawings of the king and his wives. The same year Anne Boleyn is beheaded. Erasmus dies.
- 1543: Hans Holbein the Younger dies from the plague.
- 1547: Henry VIII dies, married to his sixth wife, Katherine Parr.