1530s in England

Incuments

• Monarch – Henry VIII
• Parliament – Reformation, 6th of King Henry VIII, 7th of King Henry VIII

  Events

• 1530
• * 26 January – Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire becomes Keeper of the Privy Seal.
• * January – the first printed translation of the Torah into English, by William Tyndale, is published in Antwerp for distribution in Britain.
• * 6 February – Charles Brandon becomes Lord President of the Council.
• * 4 November – Cardinal Wolsey arrested as a traitor for secretly communicating with Pope Clement VII.
• * Parliament of England passes the Egyptians Act in attempt to expel Gypsies.
• 1531
• * 11 February – Henry VIII recognised as supreme head of the Church of England.
• * March – Statute Against Vagabonds requires registration of all genuine beggars; unlicensed beggars to be whipped or pilloried.
• * Sir Thomas Elyot's treatise The Boke Named the Governour is published, the first English work concerning moral philosophy.
• * Construction of the Great Hall of Hampton Court begins.
• 1532
• * 15 April – Submission of the Clergy: royal approval required for all ecclesiastical laws.
• * 16 May – Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor.
• * 20 May – Thomas Audley appointed Lord Keeper of the Great Seal.
• * 1 September – Anne Boleyn is created Marquess of Pembroke by Henry VIII.
• * 14 November – King Henry VIII secretly marries Anne Boleyn.
• * Henry VIII grants the Thorne brothers a Royal Charter to found Bristol Grammar School.
• * Stamford School is founded by William Radcliffe.
• * Construction of Saint James's Palace begins.
• * German painter Hans Holbein the Younger settles permanently in England.
• 1533
• * 25 January – King Henry VIII formally marries Anne Boleyn, his second Queen consort.
• * 6 February – Act in Restraint of Appeals declares England to be a wholly independent 'empire'.
• * 30 March – Thomas Cranmer becomes Archbishop of Canterbury.
• * April – The Statute in Restraint of Appeals declares the king to be the supreme sovereign and forbids judicial appeals to the papacy.
• * 12 April – Thomas Cromwell becomes Secretary of State.
• * 23 May – Henry VIII's marriage with Catherine of Aragon officially declared annulled. Catherine refuses to accept this and continues to believe herself the wife of Henry until her death.
• * 28 May – Cranmer declares the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn valid.
• * 1 June – Anne Boleyn crowned Queen at Westminster Abbey, the culmination of four days of ceremonies.
• * 11 July – Pope Clement VII excommunicates Henry VIII.
• * 7 September – Elizabeth I born to Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn at the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich.
• * Sumptuary law, An Act for reformation of excess in apparel, passed.
• * Buggery Act makes buggery subject to the death penalty, the first time such acts have been legislated for outside the ecclesiastical courts.
• 1534
• * 15 January – the English Reformation Parliament passes the Act Respecting the Oath to the Succession recognising the marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, and their children as the legitimate heirs to the throne.
• * 20 April – Elizabeth Barton, "The Nun of Kent", executed for making prophesies against King Henry.
• * Spring – Act for the Submission of the Clergy is confirmed by Parliament, requiring churchmen to submit to the king and forbidding the publication of ecclesiastical laws without royal permission.
• * 3 November–18 December – the Reformation Parliament passes the Act of Supremacy establishing Henry VIII as supreme head of the Church of England.
• * Treasons Act makes it treason, punishable by death, to disavow the Act of Supremacy.
• * Suffragan Bishops Act authorises the appointment of suffragan bishops in England and Wales.
• * Cambridge University Press is given a Royal Charter by Henry VIII and becomes the first of the privileged presses.
• * Polydore Vergil's Anglica Historia is first published in Basel.
• 1535
• * January-May – Valor Ecclesiasticus: local commissioners survey the finances of religious establishments with a view to the imposition of a new tax by the Exchequer.
• * February – the Reformation Parliament passes the Suppression of Religious Houses Act 1535.
• * March – English forces under William Skeffington storm Maynooth Castle in Ireland, the stronghold of Thomas FitzGerald, 10th Earl of Kildare.
• * 4 May – first of the Carthusian Martyrs executed at Tyburn.
• * 20 May – William Tyndale arrested in Antwerp for heresy in relation to his Bible translation into English.
• * 22 June – execution of Cardinal John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester, on Tower Hill in London for his refusal to swear an oath of loyalty to Henry VIII.
• * 6 July – Sir Thomas More is executed for treason on Tower Hill after refusing to agree to Henry VIII's decision to separate the English church from the Roman Catholic church.
• * August – Commissioners begin to survey religious establishments, starting in the west of England, preparatory to dissolution of the Monasteries.
• * 4 October – publication of Myles Coverdale's complete Bible translation into English in Antwerp is completed.
• * First of the Laws in Wales Acts passed, beginning the Anglicisation of the Welsh legal system.
• * Study of canon law at English universities prohibited.
• * First appointment to the chair of Regius Professor of Divinity, founded by King Henry VIII: Richard Smyth at the University of Oxford.
• * Beard tax introduced.
• 1536
• * 7 January – Catherine of Aragon, first queen of Henry VIII, dies aged 50 in banishment at Kimbolton Castle, holding to the last that she is the country's only rightful queen.
• * 29 January
• ** Catherine of Aragon is buried at Peterborough Abbey.
• ** Anne Boleyn has a miscarriage.
• * April – An Acte for Laws & Justice to be ministred in Wales in like fourme as it is in this Realme further incorporates the legal system of Wales into that of England.
• * 14 April – the Reformation Parliament passes an Act for the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Religious houses closed as part of Henry VIII's dissolution include
• ** Basingwerk Abbey
• ** Bourne Abbey
• ** Brinkburn Priory
• ** Buildwas Abbey
• ** Cartmel Priory
• ** Dorchester Abbey
• ** Dore Abbey
• ** Haltemprice Priory
• ** Keldholme Priory
• ** Tintern Abbey.
• * The Court of Augmentations is set up to administer former religious revenues confiscated by the crown.
• * May – William Tyndale's Bible publicly burned as heretical.
• * 2 May – Anne Boleyn is arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London.
• * 14 May – Cranmer declares Henry's marriage to Anne Boleyn to be null and void.
• * 15 May – Anne Boleyn is tried and convicted in the Tower of London of adultery, incest, and high treason.
• * 17 May – the five men accused of adultery with Anne Boleyn, including her own brother George Boleyn, are executed.
• * 19 May – Anne Boleyn beheaded by sword in the Tower of London.
• * 20 May – Henry VIII's betrothal to Jane Seymour is made public.
• * 30 May – Henry VIII marries Jane Seymour at the Palace of Westminster.
• * 11 July – Thomas Cranmer's Ten Articles are presented to Parliament.
• * 1 October–5 December – the Pilgrimage of Grace, a rebellion against Henry VIII's church reforms, beginning as the Lincolnshire Rising at St James' Church, Louth, and spreading to Yorkshire, from where it is led by Robert Aske.
• * 6 October – Bible translator William Tyndale burned at the stake in Vilvoorde, Flanders.
• * 29 October – coronation of Jane Seymour as queen consort of England.
• * Sir Thomas Elyot's popular medical text The Castell of Helth is published.
• 1537
• * January – Bigod's Rebellion, an armed insurrection by Roman Catholics in Cumberland and Westmorland against the king.
• * July – Pilgrimage of Grace: Robert Aske executed along with over 200 other rebels.
• * 25 August – the Honourable Artillery Company, the oldest surviving regiment in the British Army and the second most senior, is formed.
• * 12 October – Jane Seymour gives birth to Prince Edward, a male heir to Henry VIII, at Hampton Court Palace; he is christened on 15 October.
• * 15 October – Council of the North meets for the first time, in York.
• * 24 October – Jane Seymour dies of complications from childbirth at Hampton Court Palace; on 12 November she receives a royal burial in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
• * Publication of complete Bible translations into English, both based on Tyndale's:
• ** Myles Coverdale's 1535 text, the first to be printed in England
• ** The Matthew Bible edited by John Rogers under the pseudonym "Thomas Matthew" and printed in Antwerp.
• * Continuing Dissolution of the Monasteries by Henry VIII, from late summer mostly by voluntary surrender, including
• ** Bisham Priory
• ** Bridlington Priory
• ** Castle Acre Priory
• ** Chertsey Abbey
• ** Furness Abbey
• ** London Charterhouse
• ** Valle Crucis Abbey
• * The Norfolk town of Bishop's Lynn becomes King's Lynn.
• * Publication of An Introduction for to Lerne to Recken with the Pen and with the Counters, the first known English translation of an arithmetic textbook, at St Albans.
• 1538
• * 19 June – the newly founded Bisham Abbey is dissolved.
• * July – Blackfriars, Oxford, is dissolved
• * 5 September – Parish registers introduced.
• * 21 September – Cromwell's commissioners for the Dissolution of the Monasteries destroy the shrine of St. Swithun in Winchester Cathedral.
• * 30 November – Byland Abbey is dissolved.
• *John Bale's Kynge Johan is the earliest known English historical drama.
• * Sir Thomas Elyot's Dictionary is published.
• 1539
• * 12 January – Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and Francis I of France sign the Treaty of Toledo, agreeing to make no further alliances with the Kingdom of England.
• * 9 February – first horse race held at Chester Racecourse, the oldest in use in England.
• * March
• ** Canterbury Cathedral surrenders, and reverts to its previous status of 'a college of secular canons'.
• ** invasion scare, following reports of an alliance between Spain, France, and Scotland. The king orders construction of the 'Device Forts' for defence of the realm. Muster rolls are compiled in the counties.
• ** Council of the West established.
• * April – printing of the Great Bible is completed and it is distributed to churches. Prepared by Myles Coverdale, it contains much material from the Tyndale Bible.
• * May – the Six Articles reaffirm certain Catholic principles in Henry VIII's Church of England.
• * 19 September – Reading Abbey is suppressed and the Abbot, Hugh Cook Faringdon, indicted and hanged, drawn and quartered for treason, together with priests John Eynon and John Rugg, on 14 November. Also on 19 September, Glastonbury Abbey is suppressed by visitors without warning and Abbot Richard Whiting hanged on Glastonbury Tor on 15 November. The same fate befalls the abbot of St. John's Abbey, Colchester, Thomas Marshall, who is hanged on 1 December.
• * 4 October – a treaty is arranged for Henry VIII to marry Anne of Cleves.
• * Dissolution of the Monasteries – Barking Abbey, Beaulieu Abbey, Colchester Abbey, Dunkeswell Abbey and Hartland Abbey, Hyde Abbey, Winchester, Newstead Abbey, St Albans Abbey, St Mary's Abbey, York and Syon Abbey are dissolved.
• * Game Place House in Great Yarmouth becomes the first premises to be used regularly as a public theatre.

  Births

• 1530
• *Thomas Hoby, diplomat and translator
• * Approximate date
• **Richard Tarlton, actor
• ** Nicholas Sanders, Catholic propagandist
• 1531
• * September – Henry Stanley, 4th Earl of Derby
• * 14 November – Richard Topcliffe, landowner and Member of Parliament
• * John Popham, Lord Chief Justice of England
• 1532
• * 24 June – Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, politician
• * William Allen, cardinal
• * John Hawkins, navigator
• * Henry Percy, 8th Earl of Northumberland, nobleman and conspirator
• * Thomas Norton, lawyer
• * Approximate date – Ralph Lane, explorer
• 1533
• * 7 September – Queen Elizabeth I of England
• 1534
• * 18 April – William Harrison, clergyman
• * 7 June – Amy Robsart, wife of Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
• 1535
• * William Butler, physician
• * Jasper Heywood, translator of Seneca and theologian
• * Thomas North, translator
• * Approximate date
• **Lord Guilford Dudley, son of John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland
• ** Robert Parsons, composer
• 1536
• * 10 March – Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk, politician
• * Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset, statesman and poet
• * Roger Marbeck, chief physician to Elizabeth I
• * Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham, statesman and admiral
• 1537
• * 28 June – Philip Howard, 20th Earl of Arundel, nobleman
• * 12 October – King Edward VI of England
• * 12 October or earlier – Lady Jane Grey, claimant to the throne of England
• *Jane Lumley, translator
• 1538
• * 6 January – Jane Dormer, lady-in-waiting to Mary I
• * 21 September – Lewis Mordaunt, 3rd Baron Mordaunt, Member of Parliament
• * Approximate date – Henry Herbert, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, statesman

  Deaths

• 1530
• * 29 November – Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, statesman
• 1532
• * 31 January – Edward Sutton, 2nd Baron Dudley
• * May – Elizabeth Stafford, Countess of Sussex
• * 22 August – William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury
• 1533
• * 28 April – Nicholas West, bishop and diplomat
• * 4 July – John Frith, Protestant priest and martyr
• 1534
• * 20 April – Elizabeth Barton, nun
• * 8 November – William Blount, 4th Baron Mountjoy, scholar and patron
• * Sir Edward Guildford, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports
• * Humphrey Kynaston, highwayman and outlaw
• * John Taylor, Master of the Rolls
• 1535
• * 4 May – John Houghton, Robert Lawrence, Augustine Webster, Prior and monks of the London Charterhouse, along with Richard Reynolds, Bridgettine monk of Syon
• * 22 June – John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester
• * 6 July – Sir Thomas More, lawyer, writer, and politician
• * September – George Nevill, 5th Baron Bergavenny
• * 31 December – William Skeffington, Lord Deputy of Ireland
• 1536
• * 7 January – Catherine of Aragon, queen of Henry VIII
• * 17 May – George Boleyn, Viscount Rochford, diplomat
• * 19 May – Anne Boleyn, queen of Henry VIII
• * 18 June – Henry Fitzroy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset, illegitimate son of Henry VIII
• * 28 June – Richard Pace, diplomat
• * c. July – John Rastell, printer and author
• * 6 October – William Tyndale, Protestant scholar
• * 21 December – Sir John Seymour, courtier
• 1537
• * 24 October – Jane Seymour, queen of Henry VIII
• * Henry Percy, 6th Earl of Northumberland
• 1538
• * 3 April – Elizabeth Boleyn, Countess of Wiltshire
• * 8 May – Edward Foxe, churchman
• * 22 May – John Forrest, Franciscan friar
• * 22 November – John Lambert, Protestant martyr
• 1539
• * 12 March – Thomas Boleyn, 1st Earl of Wiltshire, diplomat and politician
• * 8 September – John Stokesley, prelate
• * 14 November – Hugh Cook Faringdon, Abbot of Reading