__NOTOC__ This is a timeline of British history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of England, History of Wales, History of Scotland, History of Ireland, Formation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and History of the United Kingdom.

Centuries: 1st BC1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th8th9th10th11th12th13th14th15th16th17th18th19th20th21stRefs

1st century BC

+YearDateEvent55 BC1 January Roman General Julius Caesar invades Great Britain for the first time, gaining a beachhead on the coast of Kent.54 BC?Caesar invades for the second time, gaining a third of the country. These two invasions are known as Caesar's invasions of Britain.

1st century

+YearDateEvent43?Aulus Plautius leads an army of forty thousand to invade Great Britain. Emperor Claudius makes Britain a part of the Roman Empire. This is known as the Roman conquest of Britain.50?London is destroyed.61?Boudica's organised rebellion against the Romans is defeated.

2nd century

+YearDateEvent122?Emperor Hadrian orders a wall to be built to mark Roman territory of Britain in the north.197?Britain is divided into two parts – Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior.

3rd century 3rd Century Britain: Wikipage +YearDateEvent206?Governor Lucius Alfenus Senecio repairs Hadrian's Wall and appeals for help from the Emperor against the northern tribes.208?Emperor Septimius Severus and his son Caracalla take personal command of the army in Britain.209?Severus and Caracalla lead an expedition against the Caledonii, and build forts at Cramond and the Tay estuary.210?Caracalla leads an expedition against the rebellious Maeatae tribe.211?4 February – Severus dies at York, while preparing another expedition against the northern rebels.

Caracalla, now Emperor, abandons territory north of Hadrian's Wall, and returns to Romec. 214?Britain divided into two provinces, Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior, with administrative centres at London and York respectivelyc. 220?Saxons raid south-east coast; forts built at Reculver and Branodunum (Brancaster).245?Many thousands of acres of modern-day Lincolnshire are inundated by a great flood.255?Work begins on a riverside wall in London.259?Rebel leader Latinus Postumus proclaims Britain as part of his "Empire of the Gauls".270?Construction of forts along the Saxon Shore begins in response to increased raiding.273?Stone walls built around St Albans.274?Postumus's Gallic Empire is reabsorbed into the Roman Empire under Aurelian.277?Imperial edict lifts restrictions on British wine production. General Victorinus puts down revolt, and settles Burgundian and Vandal prisoners in Britain.286–296Britannic Empire 287?Mausaeus Carausius takes power in Britain and proclaims himself Emperor289?Carausius defeats Emperor Maximian in a naval battle.293?Finance minister Allectus murders Carausius and seizes power; employs Frankish mercenaries.296?Julius Constantius defeats Britons near Silchester, killing Allectus; prevents retreating Franks from sacking London297?Re-building of forts near Hadrian's Wall begins. Constantius returns to Gaul.

First mention on record of the Picts attacking from the north in Eumenius' Panegyrici Latini.

4th century

5th century

6th century

7th century

8th century

9th century

10th century

11th century

+YearDateEvent 1017 ?Cnut the Great is crowned king of England in London. 1034 25 November Malcolm II of Scotland dies at Glamis. He is succeeded as king of Scotland by his grandson Duncan I the Diseased of Scotland. 1035 12 November Cnut dies. He is succeeded as king of England, Denmark and Norway by his son Harthacnut. 1040 17 March Harold Harefoot dies at Oxford. Harthacnut, his brother, succeeds him as king of England. 14 August Duncan the Diseased is killed in action at Elgin, Moray attempting to suppress a rebellion by Macbeth, King of Scotland, Mormaer of Moray, who replaces him as king of Scotland. 1042 8 June Harthacnut dies, probably due to a stroke after excessive drinking at a wedding in Lambeth. He is succeeded as king of England by his brother Edward the Confessor. 1057 15 August Battle of Lumphanan: Macbeth is killed in battle at Lumphanan by Duncan the Diseased's son Malcolm III of Scotland. He is succeeded as king of Scotland by his stepson Lulach. 1058 17 March Lulach is assassinated by Malcolm III, who succeeds him as king of Kingdom of Scotland. 1066 5 January Edward the Confessor dies, probably after a series of strokes. He is succeeded as king of England by his brother-in-law Harold Godwinson. 28 September Norman conquest of England: William the Conqueror, duke of Normandy, lands with an army at Pevensey. 14 October Battle of Hastings: Harold Godwinson is killed in battle against the forces of William the Conqueror at Battle, East Sussex, causing the collapse of his army. 25 December William the Conqueror is crowned king of England at Westminster Abbey. 1078 ? The construction of Tintern Abbey begins. 1086 12 june A census begins whose results would be collected in the Domesday Book. 1087 9 September William the Conqueror dies at Rouen. He is succeeded by one son, Robert Curthose, as duke of Normandy and by another, William II of England, as king of England. 1093 13 November Battle of Alnwick (1093): Malcolm III and his eldest son are ambushed and killed at Alnwick by an army of knights led by Robert de Mowbray, earl of Northumbria. 1100 2 August William II is killed by an arrow through the lung while hunting in the New Forest. He is succeeded by his brother Henry I of England.? The White Tower of London is completed.

12th century

+YearDateEvent 1135 1 December Henry I dies of illness. 22 December Stephen, King of England is crowned king of England at Westminster Abbey. 1137 ?The Anarchy: Stephen enters Normandy in an attempt to conquer it from Empress Matilda, his rival for the succession in Normandy and England.?Gruffudd ap Cynan, king of Gynedd, dies. He is succeeded by his son Owain Gwynedd. 1154 25 October Stephen dies of a stomach disease. He is succeeded as king of England by Henry II of England, grandson of Henry I. 1164 ?Henry II issues the Constitutions of Clarendon, which provided that members of the Catholic Church accused of serious crimes would be tried and sentenced in secular courts. 1170 28 November Owain dies. 29 December Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, is murdered in Canterbury Cathedral by followers of Henry II. 1189 6 July Henry II dies of illness at Château de Chinon. He is succeeded as king of England by his son Richard I of England. 1192 December Richard is captured near Vienna on the orders of Leopold V, Duke of Austria, duke of Austria, while returning from the Crusades. 1194 4 February Richard is released following the payment of fifty tons of silver to Austria.?Battle of Aberconwy: Llywelyn the Great defeats his uncle Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd, one of two princes of Kingdom of Gwynedd, in battle. 1199 6 April Richard dies of a crossbow wound sustained two weeks earlier during a siege of Château de Châlus-Chabrol. He was succeeded as king of England by his brother John, King of England.

13th century

+YearDateEvent 1209 November The pope Pope Innocent III excommunicates John. 1215 15 June John agrees to Magna Carta, granting political rights including the right to a fair trial to his barons. 1216 19 October John dies of illness. He is succeeded as king of England by his son Henry III of England. 1237 25 September Henry III and Alexander II of Scotland sign the Treaty of York, under which the latter renounced his claims on English territory in Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmorland. 1240 11 April Death of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, prince of Wales; Dafydd ap Llywelyn succeeds to the throne of Gwynedd. 1246 25 February Death of Dafydd ap Llywelyn; Llywelyn ap Gruffudd succeeds to the throne of Gwynedd (he does not claim the title of prince of Wales until 1258). 1249 6 July Death of Alexander II, king of Scots; Alexander III succeeds to the throne of Scotland. 1263 2 OctoberBattle of Largs, an inconclusive battle, is fought between Haakon IV of Norway and the Scots. 1264 14 MaySimon de Montfort leads rebel English barons to defeat Henry III at the Battle of Lewes. 1266 2 July Scotland and Norway sign the Treaty of Perth under which Scottish control of the Western Isles is acknowledged. 1267 SeptemberHenry III of England recognises the authority of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd in Wales. 1272 16 November Death of Henry III, Edward I succeeds to the English throne. 1277 July England annexes Wales, a state of affairs which lasted until 1283. 1279 ?Statute of Mortmain. 1282 11 December Death of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, prince of Wales; Dafydd ap Gruffudd succeeds to the throne of Gwynedd. 1283 3 October Death of Dafydd ap Gruffudd; English conquest of Wales. 1287 ? Revolt of Rhys ap Maredudd in Wales. 1294 29 September Revolt of Madog ap Llywelyn in Wales. 1297 11 SeptemberWilliam Wallace and the Scots defeat the English at the Battle of Stirling Bridge.

14th century

+YearDateEvent 1305 23 August Capture and execution of Scottish resistance fighter William Wallace by the English on a charge of treason. 1307 7 July Death of Edward I, Edward II accedes to the English throne. 1314 24 June Decisive victory for Scotland over England at the Battle of Bannockburn. 1316 28 January Revolt of Llywelyn Bren in South Wales. 1322 16 March Edward II defeats a rebellious baronial faction at Battle of Boroughbridge. 1327 25 JanuaryEdward III usurps the English throne. 21 SeptemberEdward II is killed. 1328 ? England recognises Scotland's independence in the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton 1338 ?Edward III claims the throne of France, initiating the Hundred Years' War. 1348 June The Black Death first arrives in England and ultimately kills c. one third of the population. 1356 19 SeptemberBattle of Poitiers. 1377 21 June Death of Edward III, his grandson Richard II accedes to the English throne. 1381 30 May – NovemberPeasants' Revolt of 1381. 1392 ?Statute of Praemunire. 1399 30 September Henry Bolingbroke usurps the English throne becoming Henry IV.

15th century

+YearDateEvent 1413 20 MarchHenry IV dies and is succeeded by his son, Henry V. 1415 25 October Henry V is welcomed back to England after a major victory at the Battle of Agincourt, France. 1422 31 August Henry V dies and is succeeded by his son, Henry VI. 1471 21 MayHenry VI is murdered and Edward IV is restored to the English throne. 1483 9 April Death of Edward IV, Edward V accedes to the throne. 1485 22 August The Battle of Bosworth Field ends the Yorkist reign of Richard III and ushers in Tudor reign, with the reign of Henry VII. 1487 16 June The Battle of Stoke is fought between Henry VII and Lambert Simnel a Yorkist claimant to the throne. It is the last battle of the Wars of the Roses.

16th century