Back to top

Chronology of Political and Literary Events

1301
1302
1304–05
1305-78
1307

1309
1311
1312
c1312–13
1314
1315–17
1322


1324
1326
1327

c1330


1333
c1333
1337
1338
1340

c1340–50
c1343
1346
1347
1348–49
1349
1351

1352

c1352–53
1353
1355
1356
1356–57
1358
1360
1361-62
1363
1365
1366
1368–74
1369-70
1372
1373
1375
1376

1377




1377–81
1378

1379
c1379
1380–81
1381


1381–85
1382

c1382
1383
1384
c1384
1386
1387
c1387
1387–88
c1387–90
1388


c1388
c1389?
1389–90
1390

c1390
c1390–95


1391–93
1392
1393

1394
1394–95
c1395



1395–96
1396
1397
1398

1399





1400

c1400



1400–16
1401


c1401
1402

1403
1403–06
1405
c1405?

1405–10
1406
1408
1409
1409–15
1410

c1410

1411

1413

1414


1414–17
1415




1417

1420

1422
1428
1429
1431


1436–37
c1439
1444
1447
1450

c1450

1461

1463
1470–71
1479
1481
1483
1485

1489
c1490
Giles of Rome's De ecclesiastica potestate (On Ecclesiastical Power)
Boniface VIII's bull Unam sanctam (temporal power subject to ecclesiastical)
Articles of Trailbaston
Babylonian captivity (Papacy moves to Avignon)
Accession of Edward II
Battle of Loudon Hill (Robert Bruce of Scotland defeats the English)
Beginning of Avignon papacy
Lords Ordainers challenge Edward II
Execution of Piers Gaveston
Dante's De monarchia (On Monarchy)
Scots defeat the English at Bannockburn
Famines in Europe
Statute of York (Commons recognized as essential part of government)
Thomas of Lancaster and Contrariants defeated at battle of Boroughbridge
Rise of the Despensers
Marsilius of Padua's Defensor pacis (Defender of Peace)
Queen Isabella invades England against Edward II
Accession of Edward III
Urban unrest at St. Albans, Dunstable, and elsewhere
Birth of John Gower
Auchinleck MS (The Simonie)
Harley MS 2253 (Erceldoune's Prophecy; Song of the Husbandman)
Battle of Halidon Hill (Edward III defeats the Scots)
Laurence Minot's Halidon Hill
Beginning of Hundred Years' War
Walton Ordinances (call for annual record of state of treasury)
English defeat the French at Sluys in naval battle
Birth of John of Gaunt, Earl of Richmond (later Duke of Lancaster)
Ercyldoun's Prophecy
Birth of Chaucer
English defeat the French at Crécy
English defeat the Scots at Neville's Cross; take David II of Scotland prisoner
Black Plague in Europe, including England
English Ordinance of Laborers
First Statute of Laborers
First Statute of Provisors (allowing English crown patronage in ecclesiastical preferment)
Second Statute of Laborers
Peter Ceffons of Clairvaux's Epistola Luciferi ad cleros
Wynnere and Wastoure
First Statute of Praemunire (antipapal statute)
Riots at Oxford (St. Scholastica's Day)
Black Prince and English defeat French at Poitiers, capture French king John
FitzRalph's antifraternal sermons at St. Paul's Cross
Jacquerie revolt in France
Treaty of Brétigny (Truce between England and France: Edward abandons claim on French crown)
Severe outbreak of plague in England (Mortalité des Enfants)
Sumptuary laws (restricts clothing according to class)
Second Statute of Praemunire
Birth of Henry Bolingbroke, Earl of Derby
Piers Plowman A-text
Severe plague years. Death of Blanche, Duchess of Lancaster
English naval defeat off La Rochelle
John of Gaunt leads unsuccessful chevauchée (raid) from Calais to Bordeaux
John Barbour's The Bruce
Death of Edward, the Black Prince
Good Parliament at Westminster
Death of Edward III; accession of Richard II
Pope Gregory XI issues bulls attacking Wyclif's writings
Courtenay summons Wyclif; Gaunt's Savoy Palace sacked by London mob
French attack and burn Rye and Gravesend
First poll tax
Piers Plowman B-text
Beginning of Great Schism (Pope in Rome, Antipope in Avignon)
Gloucester Parliament
Second poll tax
Wyclif's De Eucharistia
Third poll tax
Peasants' Revolt
Man Be War and Be No Fool
Letters of John Ball
Piers Plowman C-text
``Earthquake'' Council at Blackfriars: Wyclif's doctrines condemned
John Gower's Vox Clamantis completed, with prologue on Peasants' Revolt
Preste, Ne Monke, Ne Yit Chanoun; Of Thes Frer Mynours
Bishop of Norwich's Flemish crusade
Death of Wyclif
Fifty Heresies and Errors of the Friars (Wycliffite)
Wonderful Parliament: impeached the chancellor, the Earl of Suffolk, and the speaker, Michael de la Pole
Battle of Radcott Bridge: Robert de Vere, Earl of Oxford and Richard II's favorite, forced to flee to France by rebel lords
John Trevisa's translation of Higden's Polychronicon
Lords Appellant challenge Richard II
General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales
Merciless Parliament: Sir Robert Tresilian, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, Sir Nicholas Brembre, and Thomas Usk executed
Battle of Otterburn (Scots defeat the English)
Third Statute of Laborers
Thomas Wimbledon's sermon Redde rationem villicationis tue at St. Paul's
When Rome Is Removed (The Second Scottish Prophecy)
Opus arduum (Lollard commentary on the Apocalypse)
Statute of Livery and Maintenance
Statute of Provisors
Earlier version of Wycliffite Bible completed
Chaucer's ecclesiastical satires written (Friar's Tale, Summoner's Tale)
Jack Upland
William Woodford's response to Jack Upland (Responsiones ad quaes-tiones LXV)
Trial of Walter Brut, Lollard sympathizer, before Bishop Trefnant
Richard II's quarrel with Londoners
Great Statute of Praemunire
Rising in Cheshire
Hilary Parliament (quarrel between Gloucester and Arundel)
Richard II's expedition to Ireland
Twelve Conclusions of the Lollards (Lollard manifesto)
Piers the Plowman's Crede
The Layman's Complaint and The Friar's Answer
Later version of the Wycliffite Bible completed
General Prologue of the Wycliffite Bible
Richard II marries Isabella of France
Arrest and execution of Arundel; murder of Gloucester; banishment of Warwick
Shrewsbury Parliament (accedes to king's wishes)
Judicial Duel at Coventry: Hereford versus Norfolk; Henry of Derby banished for ten years
Death of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster
Henry of Derby's banishment extended to life; Lancastrian estates confiscated
Richard's second Irish expedition
Henry of Derby, now Duke of Lancaster, returns from France
Deposition of Richard II; beginning of Lancastrian rule
John Gower attaches the Tripartite Chronicle to Vox Clamantis
Death of Richard II
Death of Chaucer
The Plowman's Tale
Richard the Redeless
Ther Is a Busch That Is Forgrowe (On King Richard's ministers)
John Gower's In Praise of Peace
Welsh rebellion under Owen Glendower
De haeretico comburendo (On the Burning of Heretics)
William Sawtry executed for heresy
Richard Ullerston's tract on biblical translation into vernacular
Truthe, Reste, and Pes (What Profits a Kingdom)
Battle of Homildon Hill: Henry Hotspur defeats the Scots
Death of John Trevisa
Battle of Shrewsbury
Mum and the Sothsegger
Revolt of Northumberland Percies fails; Archbishop Scrope executed
Hengwrt MS of The Canterbury Tales
London Lickpenny
Dives and Pauper
James I of Scotland taken prisoner
Death of John Gower
Arundel's Constitutions
The Lanterne of Light
John Badby executed for heresy
John Huss defends Wyclif; excommunicated
Presentation of Lollard Disendowment Bill
Ellesmere MS of The Canterbury Tales
Wyclif's books burned at Carfax
Oxford purged of Lollardy
Death of Henry IV; accession of Henry V
Trial of Sir John Oldcastle for Lollard heresy
Oldcastle's rebellion fails
Council of Constance
Alien priories suppressed
Lo, He That Can Be Cristes Clerc (Defend Us From All Lollardy)
Earl of Cambridge's anti-Lancastrian plot fails
English defeat French at Agincourt
Huss burned at the stake
John Claydon burned as heretic
Hoccleve's Address to Oldcastle
End of Great Schism
Oldcastle captured and executed
Treaty of Troyes (Henry V recognized as heir of France)
Henry V marries Catherine of Valois
Death of Henry V; accession of Henry VI
Arrest of Lollards in Kent
Joan of Arc and the siege of Orleans
Henry VI crowned king of France (Paris)
Revolt at Abingdon
Joan of Arc burned at Rouen
Libel of English Policy
Fasciculi zizaniorum (MS Bodleian Library e Musaeo 86): anti-Lollard documents
Peace negotiations with France
Death of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester
Cade's Rebellion
Loss of Normandy
God Speed the Plough
Reginald Pecock's Repressor of Over Much Blaming the Clergy (anti-Lollard)
Henry VI cedes Berwick to the Scots
Succession of Edward IV
Truce with Scotland
Readeption of Henry VI
Plague throughout England
War with Scotland
Death of Edward IV; succession of Edward V; usurpation of Richard III
Battle of Bosworth Field
Succession of Henry VII
Tax revolt in Yorkshire
Freers, Freers, Wo Ye Be

Go To Poems of Political Prophesy Introduction