Please Select: Biographies Children's Comedy Cookery Digital TV/Radio Drama & Arts Education Game Shows Health History Home & Garden Languages Music Nature & Science Science Fiction Sport Travel ---------------- Gifts New Releases ---------------- Audio Books Books Clothing DVDs Toys & Games Videos

Beginning of Bronze Age.

Beginning of Iron Age.

Invasion of Britain by Julius Caesar.

Beginning of conquest of Britain by Romans under Emperor Claudius. Certain client kingdoms recognised, including Iceni (present-day East Anglia).

Roman governor Ostorius Scapula disarms Iceni, who resist but are defeated.

Rebellion of Boudicca and the Iceni.

120

Romans drain fenland in East Anglia.

Hadrian's Wall completed.

Christianity reaches Britain.

Saxon raids increase. Fortress built at Burgh Castle, Suffolk.

Christian Church hierarchy appears, with three British bishops: York, London and possibly Lincoln.

Concerted land and sea invasion of Britain by Picts, Irish, Scots, cannibalistic Attacotti, some Saxons.

Last Roman coinage minted in Britain.

Romans abandon Britain.

St Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, sent to Britain by Pope. Helps British troops rout Picts and Saxons, teaching them to shout 'Alleluia!'

Vortigern settles Saxons on coast near the Wash and Humber estuary, to defend kingdom against Pictish raids. Coinage no longer used.

Extensive settlement by Angles, Saxons and Jutes, collectively known as English. Vortigern's Saxons revolt and join invaders.

First phase of pagan English settlement completed: Angles in East Anglia, along east coast to Humber estuary, inland to York; Saxons in Sussex, Essex, Hertfordshire, Jutes in Kent, south Hampshire, Isle of Wight.

Britain divided into the British/Celtic (mainly Christian) north and west and the pagan English east.

Further Saxon invaders found kingdom of Essex.

British priest Gildas writes On the Destruction of Britain, main written source for post-Roman British history, but without dates.

St Columba, an Irish bishop, arrives in Iona and founds monastery that becomes chief centre of the Celtic Church in Britain.

East Anglia becomes a kingdom.

Pope Gregory I sends mission to England under St Augustine, who arrives in Kent with 40 priests. By Christmas, Augustine is made bishop and over 10,000 English are baptised.

Augustine made archbishop. Christ Church (later cathedral) at Canterbury founded.

Ship burial at Sutton Hoo, Suffolk. Tomb thought to be that of King Redwald of East Anglia.

Burgundian St Felix becomes first bishop of East Anglia at Dunwich, Suffolk; he and Irish monk St Fursey convert East Anglia.

Widsith, earliest surviving example of English heroic verse.

St Cedd, who as bishop converts Essex, builds chapel of St Peter, Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex, reusing Roman foundations and bricks: oldest surviving brick church in England.

Synod of Whitby settles dispute over date of Easter between Celtic and Roman traditions: Rome wins.

Synod of Hertford gives see of Canterbury authority over entire English Church.

Foundation of monastery at Monkwearmouth/Jarrow, Northumbria. Books brought from France and Rome begin great library there.

First possible date for Beowulf, earliest surviving English epic poem (last likely date is 793).

Caedmon, lay brother at Whitby Abbey, composes earliest surviving English religious poetry; Dream of the Rood attributed to him.

Lindisfarne Gospels begun.

Bede, a monk at Jarrow, writes a manual of chronology.

Bede's second chronological work introduces dating from Christ's birth (Anno Domini).

Bede completes Ecclesiastical History of England.

Offa, King of Mercia, described as 'king of the English' after subduing Kent and Sussex.

Book of Kells (illuminated Gospels) begun on Iona.

Offa begins 150-mile-long Offa's Dyke from Severn estuary to north Wales.

First Viking raid on England, at Portland, Dorset.

Offa's son is anointed king, first consecration of king in England. Offa issues a silver 'penny' coin bearing his name and portrait.

Vikings sack Lindisfarne, Northumbria.

Vikings raid Orkney and Jarrow.

Vikings raid Iona and Skye.

Charlemagne makes a trade agreement with Offa, in earliest surviving letter from European to English ruler. Offa dies.

Cynewulf writes English religious poems, including Elene, story of St Helena's journey to Palestine. Earliest date by which Welsh cleric Nennius could have begun Historia Brittonum, which he describes as a 'heap of all I found'. (Latest date is 829/30.)

Vikings raid Iona.

Vikings burn Iona, killing 68 monks.

Vikings raid London, Rochester (Kent) and Southampton.

First recorded naval battle in English history, off Sandwich, Kent: Kentish ships defeat Danish fleet. Danes spend first winter in England, at Thanet, Kent.

'Great Army' of Danes - led by kings Ivar 'the Boneless' and Halfdan lands in East Anglia.

Danes take York.

Danes defend York, defeat Northumbrians and impose puppet king on them, and winter in Nottingham. Northumbria and Mercia buy peace from Danes.

Danes under Ivar defeat and kill St Edmund, king of East Anglia, at Hoxne, Suffolk.

Wessex army under King Ethelred and brother Alfred defeats Danes. After losing later battles, Wessex buys peace from Danes. Ethelred dies, succeeded by Alfred. Danes winter in London.

Southern Danish army under Guthrum attacks Wessex, takes Exeter and retreats to Gloucester. Part of army settles in East Mercia, later known as the 'Five Boroughs' (Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham, Stamford).

(Jan.) Guthrum's army conquers most of Wessex. (Easter) King Alfred retreats to Athelney, Somerset, builds a fort and begins guerrilla warfare.
(May) In the battle of Edington (Wilts.), men from Somerset, west Hampshire and Wiltshire join with Alfred to defeat the Danes under Guthrum. Danes make peace; Guthrum is baptised, with Alfred as godfather. Danish army settles in East Anglia, where Guthrum becomes king.

Alfred frees London from Danes. He and 'all English councillors' make a treaty with Guthrum and the East Anglians: eastern England between the rivers Thames and Tees is declared Danish territory (later 'Danelaw'), where English and Danes are equal in law.

Alfred begins translating Latin works of Gregory I, Bede, Orosius, Boethius and St Augustine into English.

New Danish army under Hastein invades from France. Danes of York and East Anglia join it. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is compiled in English.

At battle of Buttinton Island in the river Severn, Welsh kings join Alfred to defeat the Danes. Asser, bishop of Sherborne, writes his Life of Alfred.

Danes march southeast to Thames estuary, finally towing ships up the rivers Thames and Lea and camping at Ware, Herts.

Alfred blockades the Danish fleet by obstructing the river Lea; the Danes retreat to Bridgnorth, Shropshire, leaving their ships behind. Alfred builds a battle fleet.

Danish army disperses to Northumbria, East Anglia and France.

Alfred dies, succeeded by his son Edward 'the Elder'.

Ethelfleda, Alfred's daughter, known as the 'Lady of the Mercians', rules Mercia after her husband's death and builds 10 fortresses against the Danes.

Edward and Ethelfleda campaign in the Midlands and East Anglia. Derby is taken and the Danish king of East Anglia is killed. Apart from the armies of remaining Five Boroughs, all Danes south of the Humber submit to Edward.

Ethelfleda dies. Edward rules Mercia after seizing Tamworth. Remaining Danes in south submit to him.

Edward dies, succeeded in Mercia by his son Athelstan.

Athelstan crowned king of Wessex.

Athelstan occupies York, seizes treasures and destroys Danish fortifications.

Athelstan holds first General Council of all England at Colchester.

Athelstan's coinage bears title 'King of all Britain'.

Athelstan dies, succeeded by his brother Edmund. Olaf Guthfrithsson invades from Ireland and takes York.

Olaf invades the Midlands and is granted the Five Boroughs by Edmund. St Dunstan becomes abbot of Glastonbury, and begins reform and revival of English monasticism, following the European Benedictines.

Edmund recaptures the Five Boroughs.

Edmund takes York.

Edmund murdered, succeeded by his brother Eadred.

Archbishop Wulfstan of York and the Northumbrian Council, after first accepting Eadred, invite Eric 'Bloodaxe', the deposed king of Norway, to become king of York.

Eadred ravages Northumbria, burns Ripon Minster and forces the Northumbrians to exile Eric.

Eric is restored as king of York.

Eric is killed on Stainmore, Yorks. Eadred now king of all England.

Eadred dies, succeeded by nephew Eadwig.

Mercia and Northumbria rebel and choose Eadwig's brother Edgar as king.

Eadwig dies, succeeded by Edgar as king of England.

St Ethelwold made bishop of Winchester. He restores severe monastic discipline and refounds the abbeys at Ely and Peterborough.

Coronation of Edgar at Bath, with ritual used for later English monarchs.

Edgar dies, succeeded by his son Edward.

Edward murdered at Corfe Castle (later canonised). He is succeeded by his half-brother Ethelred 'the Unready'.

Treaty between Ethelred and Duke Richard of Normandy to end hostility caused by the latter's protection of Viking raiders; each agrees not to assist the other's enemies. A Danish fleet of 93 ships sacks Ipswich and occupies Northey Island in Blackwater, Essex. At the battle of Maldon, the Danes are victorious. The English pay the first Danegeld (£10,000). Ethelred agrees to a treaty of peace and mutual assistance with Danes' leader Olaf. Trade is regulated and a £22,000 Danegeld is agreed.

Olaf and Swein 'Forkbeard', son of the Danish king, lead a Danish army in an unsuccessful siege of London, then ravage the south-east. A Danegeld (£16,000 plus provisions) is paid by the English. Olaf, baptised and confirmed with Ethelred as sponsor, swears not to return to England. Despite this, the Danes continue to raid.

Heroic poem The Battle of Maldon composed.

Truce with the Danes; Danegeld of £24,000 paid. Ethelred marries Emma, sister of the duke of Normandy. (Nov.) In a massacre of the Danes in England, ordered by Ethelred, the dead include the sister of Swein of Denmark.

Danes raid Devon, East Anglia and south-east coast.

New English fleet built, but 100 ships lost through treachery. The Danish fleet occupies Sandwich, and the army attacks London and burns Oxford.

Danes under Thorkell 'the Tall' defeat the East Anglian army at the battle of Ringmere, Norfolk, and ravage East Anglia and Mercia.

Danes take Canterbury and capture Archbishop Alphege.

Danes are paid Danegeld of £48,000, but kill the archbishop before leaving England. Thorkell, with 45 ships and crews, leaves the Danes and joins the English.

King Swein of Denmark, with his son Cnut, sails up the rivers Humber and Trent to Gainsborough, Lincs., and is accepted as king in Danelaw. Danes conquer Mercia and Wessex; by Christmas, all England submits to Swein. Ethelred flees to Normandy.

Swein dies. The Danish army chooses Cnut to succeed; the English invite Ethelred to return. Cnut withdraws to Denmark. Ethelred's son Edmund 'Ironside' seizes the Five Boroughs as an independent ruler. Thorkell joins Cnut.

Cnut invades England, conquering Wessex, Mercia and Northumbria.

Ethelred dies, succeeded by his son Edmund. Edmund retakes Wessex; Cnut besieges London. Danes defeat the English at the battle of Ashingdon, Essex. In the treaty between Cnut and Edmund, the latter is left with only Wessex. Edmund dies. Cnut is chosen as king of England.

Cnut divides England into four districts: Wessex is ruled by himself; earls rule East Anglia (Thorkell), Mercia and Northumbria. Cnut marries Ethelred's widow Emma.

Cnut becomes king of Denmark. Sends letter to England promising to protect the English from Viking attacks if they remain loyal to him.

Cnut proclaimed king of Norway. Harthacnut, his son by his second wife Emma, is made king of Denmark.

Cnut dies. The English Crown is disputed between: Harthacnut, supported by Earl Godwin of Wessex; and Harold 'Harefoot', Cnut's son by his first wife Aelfgifu, supported by earls Siward of Northumbria and Leofric of Mercia.

Harold, proclaimed regent by the Council of Oxford, seizes the royal treasury at Winchester from Emma. She sends for her sons by Ethelred, Alfred and Edward. When Alfred lands at Dover, he is murdered by Godwin on orders from Harold. Edward returns to Normandy.

Harold, is proclaimed king of England. Emma is exiled to Bruges, and is later joined by Harthacnut.

Harold dies. Harthacnut makes peace with Godwin and becomes king of England.

Harthacnut dies. Prince Edward is elected king.

Edward 'the Confessor' is crowned at Winchester. He makes earls of Swein and Harold, sons of Earl Godwin of Wessex.

Edward marries Edith, Godwin's daughter.

Last Viking raid on south-east England.

Godwin raises a rebellion against Edward. The Godwin family is exiled.

Duke William of Normandy is said to have visited Edward and been made his heir.

Godwin and his sons sail up the Thames to London with a large fleet and force Edward to reinstate them.

Godwin dies, succeeded by his son Harold.

Earl Harold, in Normandy on an embassy from Edward or as a result of shipwreck, joins Duke William in a campaign against Brittany. It is said that he does homage to William and takes an oath to assist him to the English Crown.

This chronology was adapted from The Chronology of British History by Alan & Veronica Palmer, Century, 1992.

Where can I stay?
Accommodation in York.

Find a Hotel near Helmsley or Youth Hostels YHA Youth Hostels in the area York.