A Timeline of British Science Fiction 

1450 1470 1480 1490 1500 1510 1520 1530 1540 1550 1560 1570 1580 1590

1450

1450

1451

1452

1453

1454

1455

1456

1457

1458

1459

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Johann Guttenberg produces an edition of the Bible using moveable type.

 

 

 

 

1470

 

 

 

 

 

1475

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 William Caxton prints the first book in England.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1478

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thomas More born in London.

 

1480

 

 

 

 

 

1485

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Henry Tudor defeats Richard III at Bosworth; ascends the throne as Henry VII.

 

 

 

 

1490

 

 

1492

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Columbus reaches the Caribbean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1497-1498

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Vasco da Gama rounds the Cape of Good Hope and opens the way to India.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Columbus's third voyage identifies the mainland of South America.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1499

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thomas More meets Erasmus.

1500

 

 

 

 

 

1505

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Amerigo Vespucci publishes New World.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1506

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More and Erasmus collaborate on a translation into Latin of Lucian's Dialogues.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1507

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Amerigo Vespucci publishes Four Voyages.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1509

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Erasmus publishes In Praise of Folly.

 Henry VIII ascends the throne.

1510

1510

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More enters Parliament and is appointed under-sheriff  of London.

More publishes a translation of  The Life of John Picus Erle of Myrandula.

 

more.gif

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1515

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More travels to Bruges on a diplomatic mission.

Erasmus publishes The Education of a Christian Prince.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

utopia.jpg

Map of Utopia

 

1516

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Utopia published in Louvain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1517

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More appointed to the King's Council.

Martin Luther nails 95 Theses to the church door at Wittenberg Castle.

 

 

1520

 

1521

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Defence of the Seven Sacraments by Henry VIII (assisted by More) wins the Papal title 'Defender of the Faith'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1523

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  More's Responsio ad Lutherum.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 1529

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  More's A Dialogue Concerning Heresies.

More appointed Lord Chancellor.

1530

 

 

 

1532-1564

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gargantua and Pantagruel by Rabelais.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1536

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thomas More executed.

 

 

1540

 

copernicus.jpg

Nicholas Copernicus

 

1543

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium by Nicholas Copernicus.

 

 

 

 

 

 

1550

 

 

1552

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Mondi by Anton Francesco Doni.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1558

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Accession of Elizabeth I.

 

1560

 

1561

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Francis Bacon is born.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1570

 

1571

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Battle of Lepanto begins slow decline of Ottoman Empire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1573

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12-year-old Francis Bacon attends Trinity College, Cambridge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1574

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Right Excellent and Pleasaunt Dialogue, betwene Mercury and an English Souldier by Barnaby Rich.

William Bullein incorporates a utopia about 'Taerg Natrib' into his plague book A dialogue bothe pleasaunt and pietifull, wherein is a godlie regiment against the feuer pestilence with a consolation and comforte againste death.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

digges.gif

A perfit description of the Celestial Orbes by Thomas Digges

 

1576

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Prognostication Everlasting by Thomas Digges.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1579

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Pleasant dialogue betweene a lady called Listra, and a pilgrim, concerning the government  and common weale of the great province of Crangalor by Thomas Nicholas.

1580

1580

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Siquila, Too Good to Be True by Thomas Lupton.

'On Cannibals' by Michel de Montaigne.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1581

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Second Part and Knitting Up of the Book Entitled, Too Good to Be True by Thomas Lupton.

Arcadia by Sir Philip Sidney.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1587

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

News of the disappearance of the colony at Roanoke, Virginia, reaches England.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1588

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Probable first performance of The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe.

Defeat of the Spanish Armada.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1589

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The principall Navigations, Voiages and Discoveries of the English nation by Richard Hakluyt.

1590

1590-1596

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Faerie Queen by Edmund Spencer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1591

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Lyly’s play Endymion, the Man in the Moone is performed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1595

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michael Drayton’s poem ‘Endimion and Phoebe’ (later revised as ‘The Man in the Moone’, 1606).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1597

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

John Lyly’s play The Woman in the Moone is performed.

 

 

1600