1610s in England:

Other decades

1590s 1590s in England Events from the 1590s in England.-Events:* 1590** Publication of Edmund Spenser's poetry The Faerie Queene and his satire Mother Hubbard's Tale.** First production of William Shakespeare's play Henry VI, part 1.* 1591...  | 1600s 1600s in England Events from the 1600s in England.-Incumbents:Monarch - Queen Elizabeth I , King James I. Elizabeth was the last Tudor Monarch of England.-Events:* 1600...  | 1610s | 1620s 1620s in England Events from the 1620s in England.-Incumbents:Monarch - King James I , King Charles I-Events:* 1620**27 April - Treaty with Spain arranges marriage between the Prince of Wales and Infanta Maria Anna of Spain in return for relaxation of laws concerning Roman Catholics.**3 July - The Honourable East...  | 1630s 1630s in England Events from the 1630s in England.-Events:* 1630** The Winthrop Fleet takes 700 immigrants from England to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and founds Boston.** Thomas Middleton's satirical comedy A Chaste Maid in Cheapside published posthumously....

Events

• 1610
  • 9 February - Parliament assembles and debates the Great Contract
    Great Contract
    The Great Contract was a plan submitted to James I and Parliament in 1610 by Robert Cecil. It was an attempt to increase Crown income and ultimately rid it of debt....
    
     proposed by Robert Cecil
    Robert Cecil
    Robert Cecil may refer to:*Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury , statesman, spymaster and minister to Elizabeth I of England and James I of England...
    
     whereby in return for an annual grant of £200,000, the Crown should give up its feudal rights of Wardship
    Ward (law)
    In law, a ward is someone placed under the protection of a legal guardian. A court may take responsibility for the legal protection of an individual, usually either a child or incapacitated person, in which case the ward is known as a ward of the court, or a ward of the state, in the United States,...
    
     and Purveyance
    Purveyance
    Purveyance is the right of the Crown to requisition goods and services for royal use, and was developed in England over the course of the late eleventh through the fourteenth centuries. In theory, the king's prerogative allowed him to collect goods needed for both household and military use, but...
    
    , as well as New Impositions
    New Impositions
    The Crown traditionally exercised the right to impose import duties for the regulation of trade and the protection of domestic industry. New impositions of this kind were imposed by Elizabeth I on currants and tobacco and extended by King James I to most imports after a favourable ruling in...
    
    .
  • 23 May - The House of Commons
    British House of Commons
    The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
    
     petitions King James I
    James I of England
    James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
    
     against imposed duties.
  • 9 July - Arbella Stuart
    Arbella Stuart
    Lady Arbella Stuart was an English Renaissance noblewoman who was for some time considered a possible successor to Queen Elizabeth I on the English throne....
    
    , a claimant to the throne, imprisoned for marrying William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset
    William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset
    Sir William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset, KG was an English nobleman and Royalist commander in the English Civil War....
    
    , another claimant.
  • 23 July - Parliament prorogued.
  • 3 August - Henry Hudson
    Henry Hudson
    Henry Hudson was an English sea explorer and navigator in the early 17th century. Hudson made two attempts on behalf of English merchants to find a prospective Northeast Passage to Cathay via a route above the Arctic Circle...
    
     leads an expedition to Hudson Bay
    Hudson Bay
    Hudson Bay , sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,...
    
    .
  • 20 September - Case of Proclamations
    Case of Proclamations
    The Case of Proclamations [1610] was a court decision during the reign of King James I which defined some limitations on the Royal Prerogative at that time. Principally, it established that the Monarch could make laws only through parliament...
    
     rules that the monarch cannot make decisions by proclamation unsupported by legislation.
  • 16 October - Parliament assembles.
  • 6 December - Parliament prorogued and does not assemble again until 1614.
  • Winter - The decision in Dr. Bonham's Case
    Dr. Bonham's Case
    Thomas Bonham v College of Physicians, commonly known as Dr. Bonham's Case or simply Bonham's Case, was decided in 1610 by the Court of Common Pleas in England under Sir Edward Coke, the court's Chief Justice...
    
     asserts the supremacy of the common law
    Common law
    Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
    
    .
  • First performance of Ben Jonson
    Ben Jonson
    Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor. A contemporary of William Shakespeare, he is best known for his satirical plays, particularly Volpone, The Alchemist, and Bartholomew Fair, which are considered his best, and his lyric poems...
    
    's play The Alchemist
    The Alchemist (play)
    The Alchemist is a comedy by English playwright Ben Jonson. First performed in 1610 by the King's Men, it is generally considered Jonson's best and most characteristic comedy; Samuel Taylor Coleridge claimed that it had one of the three most perfect plots in literature...
    
    .
  • First performance of William Shakespeare
    William Shakespeare
    William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
    
    's Cymbeline
    Cymbeline
    Cymbeline , also known as Cymbeline, King of Britain or The Tragedy of Cymbeline, is a play by William Shakespeare, based on legends concerning the early Celtic British King Cunobelinus. Although listed as a tragedy in the First Folio, modern critics often classify Cymbeline as a romance...
    
    .
  • Thomas Harriot
    Thomas Harriot
    Thomas Harriot was an English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer, and translator. Some sources give his surname as Harriott or Hariot or Heriot. He is sometimes credited with the introduction of the potato to Great Britain and Ireland...
    
     becomes one of the first astronomers to observe sunspot
    Sunspot
    Sunspots are temporary phenomena on the photosphere of the Sun that appear visibly as dark spots compared to surrounding regions. They are caused by intense magnetic activity, which inhibits convection by an effect comparable to the eddy current brake, forming areas of reduced surface temperature....
    
    s.
• 1611
  • 4 March - George Abbot enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury
    Archbishop of Canterbury
    The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
    
    .
  • 22 June - The crew of Henry Hudson
    Henry Hudson
    Henry Hudson was an English sea explorer and navigator in the early 17th century. Hudson made two attempts on behalf of English merchants to find a prospective Northeast Passage to Cathay via a route above the Arctic Circle...
    
    's ship Discovery
    Discovery (1602 ship)
    Discovery was a 20-ton "fly-boat" of the British East India Company, launched before 1602.Discovery was the smallest of three ships that were led by Captain Christopher Newport on the voyage that resulted in the founding of Jamestown in the new Colony of Virginia in 1607...
    
    mutiny leaving him adrift in Hudson Bay
    Hudson Bay
    Hudson Bay , sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,...
    
    .
  • James I establishes the baronet
    Baronet
    A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
    
    age as a method of raising money.
  • The Authorized King James Version of the Bible
    Bible
    The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
    
     published.
  • Ben Jonson's play Catiline His Conspiracy
    Catiline His Conspiracy
    Catiline His Conspiracy is a Jacobean tragedy written by Ben Jonson. It is one of the two Roman tragedies that Jonson hoped would cement his dramatic achievement and reputation, the other being Sejanus His Fall .-Publishing:...
    
    published.
  • Cyril Tourneur
    Cyril Tourneur
    Cyril Tourneur was an English dramatist who enjoyed his greatest success during the reign of King James I of England. His best-known work is The Revenger's Tragedy , a play which has alternatively been attributed to Thomas Middleton.-Life:Cyril Tourneur was possibly the son of Captain Richard...
    
    's play The Atheist's Tragedy
    The Atheist's Tragedy
    The Atheist's Tragedy, or the Honest Man's Revenge is a Jacobean era stage play, a tragedy written by Cyril Tourneur and first published in 1611. It is the only dramatic work recognized by the consensus of modern scholarship as the undisputed work of Tourneur, "one of the more shadowy figures of...
    
    published.
  • William Shakespeare's plays The Winter's Tale
    The Winter's Tale
    The Winter's Tale is a play by William Shakespeare, originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, some modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some critics, among them W. W...
    
    and The Tempest
    The Tempest
    The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
    
    first performed.
  • Last known traditional performance of an English mystery play
    Mystery play
    Mystery plays and miracle plays are among the earliest formally developed plays in medieval Europe. Medieval mystery plays focused on the representation of Bible stories in churches as tableaux with accompanying antiphonal song...
    
    , at Kendal
    Kendal
    Kendal, anciently known as Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish within the South Lakeland District of Cumbria, England...
    
    .
• 1612
  • 18 March - Bartholomew Legate
    Bartholomew Legate
    Bartholomew Legate was an English anti-Trinitarian martyr.Legate was born in Essex and became a dealer in cloth. In the 1590s, Bartholomew and his two brothers, Walter and Thomas, began preaching around the London area. Their unorthodox message rejected the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of...
    
    , an anti-Trinitarian
    Nontrinitarianism
    Nontrinitarianism includes all Christian belief systems that disagree with the doctrine of the Trinity, namely, the teaching that God is three distinct hypostases and yet co-eternal, co-equal, and indivisibly united in one essence or ousia...
    
    , burnt at the stake
    Execution by burning
    Death by burning is death brought about by combustion. As a form of capital punishment, burning has a long history as a method in crimes such as treason, heresy, and witchcraft....
    
     in London
    London
    London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
    
     for heresy.
  • 11 April - Edward Wightman
    Edward Wightman
    Edward Wightman was an English radical Anabaptist, executed at Lichfield for his activities promoting himself as the divine Paraclete and Savior of the world...
    
    , a radical Anabaptist
    Radical Reformation
    The Radical Reformation was a 16th century response to what was believed to be both the corruption in the Roman Catholic Church and the expanding Magisterial Protestant movement led by Martin Luther and many others. Beginning in Germany and Switzerland, the Radical Reformation birthed many radical...
    
    , burnt at the stake in Lichfield
    Lichfield
    Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...
    
     for heresy, the last person to be executed for this crime in England.
  • 24 May - Secretary of State Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
    Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
    Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, KG, PC was an English administrator and politician.-Life:He was the son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley and Mildred Cooke...
    
     dies and is succeeded by the King's favourite
    Favourite
    A favourite , or favorite , was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In medieval and Early Modern Europe, among other times and places, the term is used of individuals delegated significant political power by a ruler...
    
     Robert Carr, Viscount Rochester
    Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset
    Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, , was a politician, and favourite of King James I of England.-Background:Robert Kerr was born in Wrington, Somerset, England the younger son of Sir Thomas Kerr of Ferniehurst, Scotland by his second wife, Janet, sister of Walter Scott of Buccleuch...
    
    .
  • 22 July - Four women and a man are hanged following the Northamptonshire Witch Trials
    Northamptonshire Witch Trials
    The Northamptonshire witch trials mainly refer to five executions carried out on July 22, 1612 at Abington Gallows, Northampton. In 1612 at the Lent Assizes held in Northampton Castle a number of women and a man were tried for witchcraft of various kinds, from murder to bewitching of pigs. There...
    
     in Northampton
    Northampton
    Northampton is a large market town and local government district in the East Midlands region of England. Situated about north-west of London and around south-east of Birmingham, Northampton lies on the River Nene and is the county town of Northamptonshire. The demonym of Northampton is...
    
    .
  • 20 August - Ten 'Pendle witches' are hanged having been found guilty of practising witchcraft in Lancashire
    Lancashire
    Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
    
    .
  • John Webster
    John Webster
    John Webster was an English Jacobean dramatist best known for his tragedies The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi, which are often regarded as masterpieces of the early 17th-century English stage. He was a contemporary of William Shakespeare.- Biography :Webster's life is obscure, and the dates...
    
    's play The White Devil
    The White Devil
    The White Devil is a revenge tragedy from 1612 by English playwright John Webster . A notorious failure when it premiered, Webster complained the play was acted in the dead of winter before an unreceptive audience. The play's complexity, sophistication and satire made it a poor fit with the...
    
    published.
  • Michael Drayton
    Michael Drayton
    Michael Drayton was an English poet who came to prominence in the Elizabethan era.-Early life:He was born at Hartshill, near Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England. Almost nothing is known about his early life, beyond the fact that in 1580 he was in the service of Thomas Goodere of Collingham,...
    
    's topographical poem
    Topographical poetry
    Topographical poetry or loco-descriptive poetry is a genre of poetry that describes, and often praises, a landscape or place. John Denham's 1642 poem "Cooper's Hill" established the genre, which peaked in popularity in 18th-century England with the poetry of William Wordsworth...
    
     Poly-Olbion
    Poly-Olbion
    The Poly-Olbion is a topographical poem describing England and Wales. Written by Michael Drayton and published in 1612, it was reprinted with a second part in 1622. Drayton had been working on the project since at least 1598.-Content:...
    
    published.
  • Jacob Barnet
    Jacob Barnet affair
    The Jacob Barnet affair occurred in 1612 when a Jewish teacher by the name of Jacob Barnet was arrested and imprisoned by officials of the University of Oxford for changing his mind about being baptised.-Background:...
    
     (a Jew) is imprisoned by the University of Oxford
    University of Oxford
    The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
    
     for changing his mind about converting to Christianity; he is later exiled.
  • probable date - Robert Dover stages the first Cotswold Olimpick Games near Chipping Campden
    Chipping Campden
    Chipping Campden is a small market town within the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. It is notable for its elegant terraced High Street, dating from the 14th century to the 17th century...
    
    .
• 1613
  • 14 February - Elizabeth
    Elizabeth of Bohemia
    Elizabeth of Bohemia was the eldest daughter of King James VI and I, King of Scotland, England, Ireland, and Anne of Denmark. As the wife of Frederick V, Elector Palatine, she was Electress Palatine and briefly Queen of Bohemia...
    
    , daughter of King James I, marries Frederick V, Elector Palatine
    Frederick V, Elector Palatine
    Frederick V was Elector Palatine , and, as Frederick I , King of Bohemia ....
    
    .
  • 29 June - The Globe Theatre
    Globe Theatre
    The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613...
    
     is destroyed by a fire started during a performance of the Shakespeare play Henry VIII
    Henry VIII (play)
    The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight is a history play by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, based on the life of Henry VIII of England. An alternative title, All is True, is recorded in contemporary documents, the title Henry VIII not appearing until the play's publication...
    
    .
  • 15 September - Death of Thomas Overbury
    Thomas Overbury
    Sir Thomas Overbury was an English poet and essayist, and the victim of one of the most sensational crimes in English history...
    
     by poisoning in the Tower of London
    Tower of London
    Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
    
    , having been imprisoned after quarrelling with Viscount Rochester
    Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset
    Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, , was a politician, and favourite of King James I of England.-Background:Robert Kerr was born in Wrington, Somerset, England the younger son of Sir Thomas Kerr of Ferniehurst, Scotland by his second wife, Janet, sister of Walter Scott of Buccleuch...
    
    .
  • 3 November - Viscount Rochester made Earl of Somerset.
  • 23 December - Marriage of Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset
    Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset
    Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, , was a politician, and favourite of King James I of England.-Background:Robert Kerr was born in Wrington, Somerset, England the younger son of Sir Thomas Kerr of Ferniehurst, Scotland by his second wife, Janet, sister of Walter Scott of Buccleuch...
    
     to Frances Howard
    Frances Carr, Countess of Somerset
    Frances Carr, Countess of Somerset was an English noblewoman who was the central figure in a famous scandal and murder during the reign of King James I...
    
    .
  • English colonists destroy a French settlement at Port Royal, Nova Scotia
    Port Royal, Nova Scotia
    Port Royal was the capital of Acadia from 1605 to 1710 and is now a town called Annapolis Royal in the western part of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Initially Port Royal was located on the north shore of the Annapolis Basin, Nova Scotia, at the site of the present reconstruction of the...
    
    .
  • The New River
    New River (England)
    The New River is an artificial waterway in England, opened in 1613 to supply London with fresh drinking water taken from the River Lea and from Amwell Springs , and other springs and wells along its course....
    
     is opened to supply London
    London
    London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
    
     with drinking water from Hertfordshire
    Hertfordshire
    Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
    
    .
• 1614
  • 5 April - Parliament assembles for the first time since 1610 and debates the imposition of taxes by the King.
  • 7 June - King James dissolves the Addled Parliament
    Addled Parliament
    The Addled Parliament was the second Parliament of England of the reign of James I of England , which sat between 5 April and 7 June 1614...
    
     for refusing to impose new taxes.
  • June - King James raises money through a Benevolence; non-contributors are arraigned before the Court of Star Chamber.
  • 31 October - First performance of Ben Jonson's play Bartholomew Fair.
• 1615
  • January - Sir Thomas Roe
    Thomas Roe
    Sir Thomas Roe was an English diplomat of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. Roe was an accomplished scholar and a patron of learning.-Life:...
    
     becomes the first English ambassador to the Mughal Emperor
    Mughal Empire
    The Mughal Empire ,‎ or Mogul Empire in traditional English usage, was an imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent. The Mughal emperors were descendants of the Timurids...
    
     Jahangir
    Jahangir
    Jahangir was the ruler of the Mughal Empire from 1605 until his death. The name Jahangir is from Persian جهانگیر,meaning "Conqueror of the World"...
    
    .
  • January - The King's favourite the Earl of Somerset
    Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset
    Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, , was a politician, and favourite of King James I of England.-Background:Robert Kerr was born in Wrington, Somerset, England the younger son of Sir Thomas Kerr of Ferniehurst, Scotland by his second wife, Janet, sister of Walter Scott of Buccleuch...
    
     and his wife Frances
    Frances Carr, Countess of Somerset
    Frances Carr, Countess of Somerset was an English noblewoman who was the central figure in a famous scandal and murder during the reign of King James I...
    
     put on trial for the murder of Thomas Overbury
    Thomas Overbury
    Sir Thomas Overbury was an English poet and essayist, and the victim of one of the most sensational crimes in English history...
    
    . They are spared death and are sentenced to imprisonment.
  • 27 September - Lady Arbella Stuart starves herself to death in the Tower of London
    Tower of London
    Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
    
    .
  • 'The Earl of Oxford
    Henry de Vere, 18th Earl of Oxford
    Henry de Vere, 18th Earl of Oxford was an English aristocrat, courtier and soldier.-Life:He was born on 24 February 1593 at Newington, Middlesex, the only son of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, by his second wife, Elizabeth Trentham. He succeeded his father as on 24 June 1604.He is said to...
    
    's Case' determines that Equity should prevail over Common law
    Common law
    Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
    
     if the two are in conflict.
• 1616
  • 3 January - The King's favourite Sir George Villiers
    George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
    George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham KG was the favourite, claimed by some to be the lover, of King James I of England. Despite a very patchy political and military record, he remained at the height of royal favour for the first two years of the reign of Charles I, until he was assassinated...
    
     appointed Master of the Horse
    Master of the Horse
    The Master of the Horse was a position of varying importance in several European nations.-Magister Equitum :...
    
    .
  • 19 March - Sir Walter Ralegh released from the Tower of London
    Tower of London
    Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
    
     having been imprisoned for treason.
  • July - King James raises revenue by beginning to sell peerage
    Peerage
    The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
    
    s.
  • William Baffin
    William Baffin
    William Baffin was an English navigator and explorer. Nothing is known of his early life, but it is conjectured that he was born in London of humble origin, and gradually raised himself by his diligence and perseverance...
    
     makes a detailed exploration of Baffin Bay
    Baffin Bay
    Baffin Bay , located between Baffin Island and the southwest coast of Greenland, is a marginal sea of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is connected to the Atlantic via Davis Strait and the Labrador Sea...
    
     whilst searching for the Northwest Passage
    Northwest Passage
    The Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...
    
    .
  • John Rolfe
    John Rolfe
    John Rolfe was one of the early English settlers of North America. He is credited with the first successful cultivation of tobacco as an export crop in the Colony of Virginia and is known as the husband of Pocahontas, daughter of the chief of the Powhatan Confederacy.In 1961, the Jamestown...
    
     brings the Native American Pocahontas
    Pocahontas
    Pocahontas was a Virginia Indian notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of Chief Powhatan, the head of a network of tributary tribal nations in Tidewater Virginia...
    
     to England.
  • Inigo Jones
    Inigo Jones
    Inigo Jones is the first significant British architect of the modern period, and the first to bring Italianate Renaissance architecture to England...
    
     designs the Queen's House
    Queen's House
    The Queen's House, Greenwich, is a former royal residence built between 1614-1617 in Greenwich, then a few miles downriver from London, and now a district of the city. Its architect was Inigo Jones, for whom it was a crucial early commission, for Anne of Denmark, the queen of King James I of England...
    
     at Greenwich
    Greenwich
    Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...
    
    .
  • Ben Jonson's plays published in a folio edition; the first of any English playwright.
• 1617
  • January - Sir George Villiers made Earl of Buckingham.
  • January - Pocahontas
    Pocahontas
    Pocahontas was a Virginia Indian notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of Chief Powhatan, the head of a network of tributary tribal nations in Tidewater Virginia...
    
     received at court; she dies two months later.
  • 7 March - Francis Bacon
    Francis Bacon
    Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, KC was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and pioneer of the scientific method. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England...
    
     appointed Lord High Chancellor.
  • 17 March - Sir Walter Ralegh leaves on a second expedition to the Orinoco River in search of El Dorado
    El Dorado
    El Dorado is the name of a Muisca tribal chief who covered himself with gold dust and, as an initiation rite, dived into a highland lake.Later it became the name of a legendary "Lost City of Gold" that has fascinated – and so far eluded – explorers since the days of the Spanish Conquistadors...
    
    .
  • 23 August - The first one-way street is created in London
    London
    London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
    
    .
• 1618
  • July - Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk
    Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk
    Admiral Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk, KG, PC was a son of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk by his second wife Margaret Audley, Duchess of Norfolk, the daughter and heiress of the 1st Baron Audley of Walden....
    
     imprisoned for embezzling state funds while serving as Lord Treasurer.
  • 29 October - Execution of Sir Walter Ralegh who has angered the Spanish
    Spain
    Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
    
     on his final voyage by attacking one of their settlements on the Orinoco. The Spanish ambassador Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, conde de Gondomar
    Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, conde de Gondomar
    Don Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, Count of Gondomar , was a Galician diplomat, the Spanish ambassador to England in 1613 to 1622 and afterwards, as a kind of ambassador emeritus, as Spain's leading expert on English affairs until his death...
    
     has pressurised King James I over the matter.
  • King James issues the Declaration of Sports
    Declaration of Sports
    The Declaration of Sports was a declaration of James I of England issued in 1617 listing the sports that were permitted on Sundays and other holy days. It was originally issued in consultation with Thomas Morton, bishop of Chester, to resolve a dispute in Lancashire between the Puritans and the...
    
     permitting certain sports to be played on Sundays and other holidays.
  • John Selden
    John Selden
    John Selden was an English jurist and a scholar of England's ancient laws and constitution and scholar of Jewish law...
    
    's work The History of Tythes suppressed by the Privy Council
    Privy council
    A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a nation, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the monarch's closest advisors to give confidential advice on...
    
    .
  • English West Africa Company founded; establishes trading posts.
• 1619
  • 11 March - Witches of Belvoir
    Witches of Belvoir
    The Witches of Belvoir were three women, a mother and her two daughters, accused of witchcraft in England around 1619. The mother, Joan Flower, died while in prison, and the two daughters, Margaret and Philippa, were hanged at Lincoln....
    
    : Margaret and Philippa Flower are burnt at the stake having been found guilty of witchcraft.
  • 2 June - A treaty is signed to regulate trade and resolve disputes between the English and the Dutch East India Company
    Dutch East India Company
    The Dutch East India Company was a chartered company established in 1602, when the States-General of the Netherlands granted it a 21-year monopoly to carry out colonial activities in Asia...
    
    .
  • Inigo Jones designs the Banqueting House, Whitehall
    Banqueting House, Whitehall
    The Banqueting House, Whitehall, London, is the grandest and best known survivor of the architectural genre of banqueting house, and the only remaining component of the Palace of Whitehall...
    
    .
  • Publication of Francis Beaumont
    Francis Beaumont
    Francis Beaumont was a dramatist in the English Renaissance theatre, most famous for his collaborations with John Fletcher....
    
     and John Fletcher
    John Fletcher (playwright)
    John Fletcher was a Jacobean playwright. Following William Shakespeare as house playwright for the King's Men, he was among the most prolific and influential dramatists of his day; both during his lifetime and in the early Restoration, his fame rivalled Shakespeare's...
    
    's plays A King and No King
    A King and No King
    A King and No King is a Jacobean era stage play, a tragicomedy written by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher and first published in 1619. It has traditionally been among the most highly-praised and popular works in the canon of Fletcher and his collaborators.The play's title became almost...
    
    and The Maid's Tragedy
    The Maid's Tragedy
    The Maid's Tragedy is a play by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher. It was first published in 1619.The play was one of the earliest works in the canon of Fletcher and his collaborators that was acted by the King's Men; Fletcher would spend most of his career as that company's regular playwright...
    
    .
  • Act of parliament forbidding the growing of tobacco in England
    England
    England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
    
    .

Births

• 1610
  • 1 March - John Pell
    John Pell
    -Early life:He was born at Southwick in Sussex. He was educated at Steyning Grammar School, and entered Trinity College, Cambridge, at the age of thirteen. During his university career he became an accomplished linguist, and even before he took his B.A. degree corresponded with Henry Briggs and...
    
    , mathematician (died 1685
    1685 in England
    Events from the year 1685 in the Kingdom of England.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King Charles II , King James II-Events:* 6 February - James Stuart, Duke of York becomes King James II of England.* 23 April - Coronation of King James II....
    
    )
  • 23 April - Lettice Boyle, noblewoman (died 1657
    1657 in England
    Events from the year 1657 in the The Protectorate.-Events:* January - Regional military government in England abolished.* 13 March - Anglo-Spanish War: With the Treaty of Paris, France and England form an alliance against Spain....
    
    )
  • 8 July (bapt.) - Richard Deane
    Richard Deane
    Richard Deane , English general-at-sea, major-general and regicide, was a younger son of Edward Deane of Temple Guiting or Guyting in Gloucestershire, where he was born, his baptism taking place on 8 July 1610...
    
    , soldier, sailor, and regicide (died 1653
    1653 in England
    Events from the year 1653 in the Commonwealth of England.-Events:* 28 February–2 March - First Anglo–Dutch War: Battle of Portland.* 14 March - First Anglo–Dutch War: A Dutch fleet defeats the English at the Battle of Leghorn...
    
    )
  • 28 July (bapt.) - Henry Glapthorne
    Henry Glapthorne
    Henry Glapthorne was a Caroline era dramatist.Glapthorne was baptized in Cambridgeshire, the son of Thomas Glapthorne and Faith nee Hatcliff. His father was a bailiff of Lady Hatton, the wife of Sir Edward Coke...
    
    , dramatist (died c.1643
    1643 in England
    Events from the year 1643 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 23 January - English Civil War: Leeds falls to Parliamentary forces.* 13 March - English Civil War: The Roundheads routed the Cavaliers at the First Battle of Middlewich....
    
    )
  • approx. date - George Carteret
    George Carteret
    Vice Admiral Sir George Carteret, 1st Baronet , son of Elias de Carteret, was a royalist statesman in Jersey and England, who served in the Clarendon Ministry as Treasurer of the Navy...
    
    , Royalist statesman (died 1680
    1680 in England
    Events from the year 1680 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 4 November - A second Exclusion Bill is proposed to exclude the Catholic James, Duke of York from inheriting the throne.* 15 November - The Exclusion Bill is defeated in the House of Lords....
    
    )
• 1611
  • 24 February (bapt.) - William Dobson
    William Dobson
    William Dobson was a portraitist and one of the first notable English painters, praised by his contemporary John Aubrey as "the most excellent painter that England has yet bred"....
    
    , portrait painter (died 1646
    1646 in England
    Events from the year 1646 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 9 January - Battle of Bovey Heath: Parliament secures a significant victory over the Royalists in Devon.* 13 March - Parliament captures Cornwall after Royalists surrender at Truro....
    
    )
  • 1 September - William Cartwright, dramatist (died 1643
    1643 in England
    Events from the year 1643 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 23 January - English Civil War: Leeds falls to Parliamentary forces.* 13 March - English Civil War: The Roundheads routed the Cavaliers at the First Battle of Middlewich....
    
    )
• 1612
  • 17 January - Thomas Fairfax
    Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron
    Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron was a general and parliamentary commander-in-chief during the English Civil War...
    
    , English Civil War general (died 1671
    1671 in England
    Events from the year 1671 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 9 May - Thomas Blood, disguised as a clergyman, attempts to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London. He is immediately caught because he is too drunk to run with the loot...
    
    )
  • 22 February - George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol
    George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol
    George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 until 1641 when he was raised to the House of Lords...
    
    , statesman (died 1677
    1677 in England
    Events from the year 1677 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 16 February - Politicians the Earl of Shaftesbury, Duke of Buckingham, Lord Wharton and the Earl of Salisbury are arrested and sent to the Tower of London....
    
    )
  • 28 February - John Pearson
    John Pearson (scholar)
    John Pearson was an English theologian and scholar.-Life:He was born at Great Snoring, Norfolk....
    
    , theologian (died 1686
    1686 in England
    Events from the year 1686 in the Kingdom of England.- Events :* 10 July - Court of Ecclesiastical Commission created.* 17 July - King James appoints four Catholics to the Privy Council of England.-Undated:...
    
    )
  • 4 December - Samuel Butler, satirist (died 1680
    1680 in England
    Events from the year 1680 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 4 November - A second Exclusion Bill is proposed to exclude the Catholic James, Duke of York from inheriting the throne.* 15 November - The Exclusion Bill is defeated in the House of Lords....
    
    )
• 1613
  • 2 February - William Thomas
    William Thomas (bishop)
    Rt. Rev. William Thomas D.D. was a Welsh Anglican bishop, serving as Bishop of St David's and Bishop of Worcester.-Life:...
    
    , bishop (died 1689
    1689 in England
    Events from the year 1689 in the Kingdom of England.-Incumbents:*Co-monarchs - King William III and Queen Mary.-Events:...
    
    )
  • Henry Vane
    Henry Vane the Younger
    Sir Henry Vane , son of Henry Vane the Elder , was an English politician, statesman, and colonial governor...
    
    , politician (died 1662
    1662 in England
    Events from the year 1662 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 17 March - Two old women are hanged after being found guilty of witchcraft at the Bury St. Edmunds witch trial.* 2 May/3 May - Catherine of Braganza marries Charles II of England...
    
    )
  • Richard Crashaw
    Richard Crashaw
    Richard Crashaw , English poet, styled "the divine," was part of the Seventeenth-century Metaphysical School of poets.-Life:...
    
    , poet (died 1649
    1649 in England
    Events from the year 1649 in England.-Incumbents:Monarch - King Charles I of England ; Interregnum-Events:* 3 January - An explosion of several barrels of gunpowder in Tower Street, London kills 67 people and destroys 60 houses....
    
    )
• 1614
  • 1 January - John Wilkins
    John Wilkins
    John Wilkins FRS was an English clergyman, natural philosopher and author, as well as a founder of the Invisible College and one of the founders of the Royal Society, and Bishop of Chester from 1668 until his death....
    
    , clergyman (died 1672
    1672 in England
    Events from the year 1672 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 2 January - Cash payments by the Exchequer suspended for a year, due to fears of imminent bankruptcy....
    
    )
  • 10 July - Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey
    Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey
    Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey PC was an Anglo-Irish royalist statesman. After short periods as President of the Council of State and Treasurer of the Navy, he served as Lord Privy Seal between 1673 and 1682 for Charles II...
    
    , royalist statesman (died 1686
    1686 in England
    Events from the year 1686 in the Kingdom of England.- Events :* 10 July - Court of Ecclesiastical Commission created.* 17 July - King James appoints four Catholics to the Privy Council of England.-Undated:...
    
    )
• 1615
  • 14 January - John Biddle
    John Biddle (Unitarian)
    John Biddle or Bidle was an influential English nontrinitarian, and Unitarian. He is often called "the Father of English Unitarianism".- Life :...
    
    , theologian (died 1662
    1662 in England
    Events from the year 1662 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 17 March - Two old women are hanged after being found guilty of witchcraft at the Bury St. Edmunds witch trial.* 2 May/3 May - Catherine of Braganza marries Charles II of England...
    
    )
  • 7 September - Colonel John Birch
    John Birch (soldier)
    Colonel John Birch was a soldier in the English civil war and later Member of parliament for Leominster and Weobley, Herefordshire....
    
    , soldier (died 1691
    1691 in England
    Events from the year 1691 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* April - John Tillotson enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.* 9 April - a fire at the Palace of Whitehall in London destroys its Stone Gallery....
    
    )
  • 12 November - Richard Baxter
    Richard Baxter
    Richard Baxter was an English Puritan church leader, poet, hymn-writer, theologian, and controversialist. Dean Stanley called him "the chief of English Protestant Schoolmen". After some false starts, he made his reputation by his ministry at Kidderminster, and at around the same time began a long...
    
    , clergyman (died 1691
    1691 in England
    Events from the year 1691 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* April - John Tillotson enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.* 9 April - a fire at the Palace of Whitehall in London destroys its Stone Gallery....
    
    )
• 1616
  • 23 January - Ralph Josselin
    Ralph Josselin
    Ralph Josselin was the vicar of Earls Colne in Essex from 1641 until his death in 1683. His diary records intimate details of everyday farming life, family and kinship in a small, isolated rural community, and is often studied by researchers interested in the period, alongside other similar...
    
    , vicar of Earls Colne in Essex (died 1683
    1683 in England
    Events from the year 1683 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 9 January - Charles II gives orders establishing the dates on which he will perform the "Touching the King's Evil" ceremony....
    
    )
  • 30 January - William Sancroft
    William Sancroft
    William Sancroft was the 79th Archbishop of Canterbury.- Life :Sancroft was born at Ufford Hall in Fressingfield, Suffolk, son of Francis Sandcroft and Margaret Sandcroft née Butcher...
    
    , Archbishop of Canterbury
    Archbishop of Canterbury
    The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
    
     (died 1693
    1693 in England
    Events from the year 1693 in the Kingdom of England.-Incumbents:*Co-Monarchs - William and Mary-Events:* March - William Congreve's first play, the comedy The Old Bachelor, is performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane....
    
    )
  • June - John Thurloe
    John Thurloe
    John Thurloe was a secretary to the council of state in Protectorate England and spymaster for Oliver Cromwell.-Life:...
    
    , secretary to the council of state in Protectorate England and spymaster for Oliver Cromwell (died 1668
    1668 in England
    Events from the year 1668 which occurred in England.-Events:* 28 January - England signs the Triple Alliance with the United Provinces and Sweden....
    
    )
  • August - William Russell, 1st Duke of Bedford
    William Russell, 1st Duke of Bedford
    William Russell, 1st Duke of Bedford KG PC was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 until 1641 when he inherited his Peerage and sat in the House of Lords...
    
    , peer and soldier (died 1700
    1700 in England
    Events from the year 1700 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:*27 February - The island of New Britain is discovered by William Dampier in the western Pacific....
    
    )
  • 18 October - Nicholas Culpeper
    Nicholas Culpeper
    Nicholas Culpeper was an English botanist, herbalist, physician, and astrologer. His published books include The English Physician and the Complete Herbal , which contain a rich store of pharmaceutical and herbal knowledge, and Astrological Judgement of Diseases from the Decumbiture of the Sick ,...
    
    , botanist (died 1654
    1654 in England
    Events from the year 1654 in The Protectorate.-Events:* 5 April - Signing of the Treaty of Westminster ends the First Anglo-Dutch War, and the Dutch agree to observe the Navigation Acts.* 11 April - England signs a treaty of commerce with Sweden....
    
    )
  • 23 November - John Wallis, mathematician, (died 1703
    1703 in England
    Events from the year 1703 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 18 May - War of the Spanish Succession: The Duke of Marlborough captures the cities of Cologne, Bonn, Limbourg, Huy and Guelders....
    
    )
  • 17 December - Roger L'Estrange
    Roger L'Estrange
    Sir Roger L'Estrange was an English pamphleteer and author, and staunch defender of royalist claims. L'Estrange was involved in political controversy throughout his life...
    
    , pamphleteer and author (died 1704
    1704 in England
    Events from the year 1704 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 18 May - Robert Harley becomes Secretary of State for the Northern Department....
    
    )
  • Henry Bard, 1st Viscount Bellomont, Royalist (died 1656
    1656 in England
    Events from the year 1656 in the The Protectorate.-Events:* 2 April - Anglo-Spanish War: King Philip IV of Spain signs a treaty with Charles II of England for the reconquest of England.* 17 September** The Second Protectorate Parliament assembles....
    
    )
  • William Holder
    William Holder
    William Holder FRS was an English clergyman and music theorist of the 17th century. His most notable work was his widely known 1694 publication A Treatise on the Natural Grounds and Principles of Harmony.-Life:...
    
    , music theorist (died 1698
    1698 in England
    Events from the year 1698 which occurred in the Kingdom of England.- Events :* 4 January - The Palace of Whitehall is destroyed by fire.* 11 January–21 April - Czar Peter I of Russia visits England as part of his Grand Embassy, making a particular study of shipbuilding.* July 25 - Engineer...
    
    )
  • John Owen
    John Owen (theologian)
    John Owen was an English Nonconformist church leader, theologian, and academic administrator at the University of Oxford.-Early life:...
    
    , Nonconformist church leader and theologian (died 1683
    1683 in England
    Events from the year 1683 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 9 January - Charles II gives orders establishing the dates on which he will perform the "Touching the King's Evil" ceremony....
    
    )
  • Edward Sexby
    Edward Sexby
    Colonel Edward Sexby or Saxby was an English Puritan soldier and Leveller in the army of Oliver Cromwell. Later he turned against Cromwell and plotted his assassination.-Life:...
    
    , Puritan soldier and Leveller in the army of Oliver Cromwell (died 1658
    1658 in England
    Events from the year 1658 in the The Protectorate.-Events:* 4 February - Oliver Cromwell dissolves the Second Protectorate Parliament.* April - First stage coach services advertised; 4-day trips from London to Exeter, York, and Chester....
    
    )
  • Obadiah Walker
    Obadiah Walker
    Obadiah Walker was an English academic and Master of University College, Oxford from 1676 to 1688.-Life:Walker was born at Darfield near Barnsley, South Yorkshire, and was educated at University College, Oxford, becoming a fellow and tutor of this College and a prominent figure in University circles...
    
    , academic and Master of University College, Oxford from 1676 to 1688 (died 1699
    1699 in England
    Events from the year 1699 which occurred in the Kingdom of England.- Events :* January 19 - Parliament limits the size of the home army to 7,000 'native born' men.* June 11 - England, France and the Netherlands agree on second Extermination treaty of Spain....
    
    )
• 1617
  • 23 May - Elias Ashmole
    Elias Ashmole
    Elias Ashmole was a celebrated English antiquary, politician, officer of arms, astrologer and student of alchemy. Ashmole supported the royalist side during the English Civil War, and at the restoration of Charles II he was rewarded with several lucrative offices.Ashmole was an antiquary with a...
    
    , antiquarian (died 1692
    1692 in England
    Events from the year 1692 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 19 February - Princess Anne leaves the court after quarrelling with her sister, Queen Mary....
    
    )
  • 5 October – Dorothy Spencer, Countess of Sunderland
    Dorothy Spencer, Countess of Sunderland
    Dorothy Spencer, Countess of Sunderland was the wife of Henry Spencer, 1st Earl of Sunderland and the daughter of Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester....
    
     (died 1684
    1684 in England
    Events from the year 1684 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:*15 March - Highwayman John Nevison hanged for murder.*10 May - Titus Oates arrested for perjury.*31 July - The village of Churchill, Oxfordshire, is largely destroyed by fire....
    
    )
• 1618
  • Richard Lovelace
    Richard Lovelace
    Richard Lovelace was an English poet in the seventeenth century. He was a cavalier poet who fought on behalf of the king during the Civil war. His best known works are To Althea, from Prison, and To Lucasta, Going to the Warres....
    
    , poet (died c. 1657
    1657 in England
    Events from the year 1657 in the The Protectorate.-Events:* January - Regional military government in England abolished.* 13 March - Anglo-Spanish War: With the Treaty of Paris, France and England form an alliance against Spain....
    
    )
• 1619
  • 17 December - Prince Rupert of the Rhine
    Prince Rupert of the Rhine
    Rupert, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, 1st Duke of Cumberland, 1st Earl of Holderness , commonly called Prince Rupert of the Rhine, KG, FRS was a noted soldier, admiral, scientist, sportsman, colonial governor and amateur artist during the 17th century...
    
    , Royalist commander in the English Civil War (died 1682
    1682 in England
    Events from the year 1682 in the Kingdom of England.-Events:* 11 March - The Royal Hospital Chelsea for old soldiers is founded in London.* 25 August - Following the Bideford witch trial, three women become the last known to be hanged for witchcraft in England, at Exeter.* September - Halley's...
    
    )

Deaths

• 1610
  • 15 April - Robert Parsons
    Robert Parsons (priest)
    Robert Persons , later known as Robert Parsons, was an English Jesuit priest.-Early life:...
    
    , Jesuit priest (born 1546)
  • July - Richard Knolles
    Richard Knolles
    Richard Knolles was an English historian, famous for his account of the Ottoman Empire, the first major description in the English language....
    
    , historian (born 1545)
  • 2 November - Richard Bancroft
    Richard Bancroft
    Archbishop Richard Bancroft, DD, BD, MA, BA was an English churchman, who became Archbishop of Canterbury and the "chief overseer" of the production of the authorized version of the Bible.-Life:...
    
    , Archbishop of Canterbury
    Archbishop of Canterbury
    The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
    
     (born 1544)
  • Peter Bales
    Peter Bales
    Peter Bales , English calligrapher, one of the inventors of shorthand writing, was born in London in 1547, and is described by Anthony Wood as a "most dexterous person in his profession, to the great wonder of scholars and others"...
    
    , calligraphist (born 1547)
• 1611
  • Henry Hudson
    Henry Hudson
    Henry Hudson was an English sea explorer and navigator in the early 17th century. Hudson made two attempts on behalf of English merchants to find a prospective Northeast Passage to Cathay via a route above the Arctic Circle...
    
    , sea explorer and navigator
• 1612
  • 11 April - Edward Wightman
    Edward Wightman
    Edward Wightman was an English radical Anabaptist, executed at Lichfield for his activities promoting himself as the divine Paraclete and Savior of the world...
    
    , Baptist preacher (burned at the stake) (born 1566)
  • 24 May - Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
    Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury
    Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, KG, PC was an English administrator and politician.-Life:He was the son of William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley and Mildred Cooke...
    
    , statesman and spymaster (born 1563)
  • 4 August - Hugh Broughton
    Hugh Broughton
    Hugh Broughton was an English scholar and theologian.-Early life:He was born at Owlbury, Bishop's Castle, Shropshire. He calls himself a Cambrian, implying Welsh blood in his veins. He was educated by Bernard Gilpin at Houghton-le-Spring and at Magdalene College, Cambridge, where he matriculated...
    
    , scholar (born 1549)
  • 6 November - Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales
    Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales
    Henry Frederick Stuart, Prince of Wales was the elder son of King James I & VI and Anne of Denmark. His name derives from his grandfathers: Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and Frederick II of Denmark. Prince Henry was widely seen as a bright and promising heir to his father's throne...
    
    , heir to the throne (born 1594, Scotland)
  • 12 November - John Harington, writer (born 1561)
• 1613
  • 28 January - Thomas Bodley
    Thomas Bodley
    Sir Thomas Bodley was an English diplomat and scholar, founder of the Bodleian Library, Oxford.-Biography:...
    
    , diplomat and library founder (born 1545)
  • 7 August - Thomas Fleming
    Thomas Fleming (judge)
    Sir Thomas Fleming was an English member of Parliament and judge, whose most famous case was the trial of Guy Fawkes in relation to the Gunpowder Plot...
    
    , judge (born 1544)
  • 15 September - Thomas Overbury
    Thomas Overbury
    Sir Thomas Overbury was an English poet and essayist, and the victim of one of the most sensational crimes in English history...
    
    , poet (murdered) (born 1581)
• 1614
  • 15 June - Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton
    Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton
    Henry Howard, 1st Earl of Northampton was a significant English aristocrat and courtier. He was suspect as a crypto-Catholic throughout his life, and went through periods of royal disfavour, in which his reputation suffered greatly. He was distinguished for learning, artistic culture and his...
    
    , politician (born 1540)
  • 1 July - Isaac Casaubon
    Isaac Casaubon
    Isaac Casaubon was a classical scholar and philologist, first in France and then later in England, regarded by many of his time as the most learned in Europe.-Early life:...
    
    , classical scholar and philologist (born 1559, Geneva)
• 1615
  • 27 September - Arbella Stuart
    Arbella Stuart
    Lady Arbella Stuart was an English Renaissance noblewoman who was for some time considered a possible successor to Queen Elizabeth I on the English throne....
    
    , noblewoman and woman of letters (born 1575)
• 1616
  • 6 January - Philip Henslowe
    Philip Henslowe
    Philip Henslowe was an Elizabethan theatrical entrepreneur and impresario. Henslowe's modern reputation rests on the survival of his diary, a primary source for information about the theatrical world of Renaissance London...
    
    , theatre manager (born 1550)
  • 6 March - Francis Beaumont
    Francis Beaumont
    Francis Beaumont was a dramatist in the English Renaissance theatre, most famous for his collaborations with John Fletcher....
    
    , dramatist in the English Renaissance theatre (born 1584)
  • 23 April (O.S.
    Old Style and New Style dates
    Old Style and New Style are used in English language historical studies either to indicate that the start of the Julian year has been adjusted to start on 1 January even though documents written at the time use a different start of year ; or to indicate that a date conforms to the Julian...
    
    ) - William Shakespeare
    William Shakespeare
    William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
    
    , playwright and poet (born 1564)
  • 23 November - Richard Hakluyt
    Richard Hakluyt
    Richard Hakluyt was an English writer. He is principally remembered for his efforts in promoting and supporting the settlement of North America by the English through his works, notably Divers Voyages Touching the Discoverie of America and The Principal Navigations, Voiages, Traffiques and...
    
    , author, editor and translator (born c. 1552)
  • Henry Robinson
    Henry Robinson (bishop)
    Henry Robinson was an English priest, Bishop of Carlisle from 1598 to 1616. He was educated at The Queen's College, Oxford, where he was elected fellow in 1575 and received his DD in 1590. He was Principal of St Edmund Hall, Oxford, 1576–1581, and then Provost of The Queen's College,...
    
    , bishop (born 1553)
• 1617
  • 27 October - Ralph Winwood
    Ralph Winwood
    Sir Ralph Winwood was an English diplomat and politician.-Life:He was born at Aynhoe in Northamptonshire and educated at St John's College, Oxford....
    
    , politician (born c. 1563)
  • 10 November - Barnabe Rich
    Barnabe Rich
    Barnabe Rich , was an English author and soldier, and a distant relative of Lord Chancellor Rich....
    
    , soldier and writer (born c. 1540)
• 1618
  • 7 June - Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr
    Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr
    Thomas West, 3rd and 12th Baron De La Warr was the Englishman after whom the bay, the river, and, consequently, an American Indian people and U.S. state, all later called "Delaware", were named....
    
    , Governor of Virginia (born 1577)
  • 28 September - Joshua Sylvester
    Joshua Sylvester
    Joshua Sylvester was an English poet.-Biography:Sylvester was the son of a Kentish clothier. In his tenth year he was sent to school at King Edward VI School, Southampton, where he gained a knowledge of French...
    
    , poet (born 1563)
  • 29 October - Sir Walter Raleigh
    Walter Raleigh
    Sir Walter Raleigh was an English aristocrat, writer, poet, soldier, courtier, spy, and explorer. He is also well known for popularising tobacco in England....
    
    , writer, poet, courtier and explorer (executed) (born 1554)
• 1619
  • 7 January - Nicholas Hilliard
    Nicholas Hilliard
    Nicholas Hilliard was an English goldsmith and limner best known for his portrait miniatures of members of the courts of Elizabeth I and James I of England. He mostly painted small oval miniatures, but also some larger cabinet miniatures, up to about ten inches tall, and at least two famous...
    
    , painter (born c. 1547)
  • 3 February - Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham
    Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham
    Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham was an English peer who was implicated in the Main Plot against the rule of James I of England.- Life :...
    
    , conspirator (born 1564)
  • 4 March - Anne of Denmark
    Anne of Denmark
    Anne of Denmark was queen consort of Scotland, England, and Ireland as the wife of King James VI and I.The second daughter of King Frederick II of Denmark, Anne married James in 1589 at the age of fourteen and bore him three children who survived infancy, including the future Charles I...
    
    , queen of James I
    James I of England
    James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
    
     (born 1574)
  • 13 March - Richard Burbage
    Richard Burbage
    Richard Burbage was an English actor and theatre owner. He was the younger brother of Cuthbert Burbage. They were both actors in drama....
    
    , actor (born c. 1567)
  • 14 October - Samuel Daniel
    Samuel Daniel
    Samuel Daniel was an English poet and historian.-Early life:Daniel was born near Taunton in Somerset, the son of a music-master. He was the brother of lutenist and composer John Danyel. Their sister Rosa was Edmund Spenser's model for Rosalind in his The Shepherd's Calendar; she eventually married...
    
    , poet (born 1562)