Bristol - Historical Perspective

Bristol - A historical perspective

When I was writing this history of Bristol I realised that it was important to put the history of the city in some sort of relationship to events occurring elsewhere. This is not a comprehensive history of the world - I wouldn't even know where to begin such an undertaking, writing the history of the city is bad enough - but I've chosen key events to show how the events in Bristol fitted in with what was happening in other places.

8,000 BC - Last Glaciers in what was later to become Britain.

5,000 BC - Last of the ice sheets sweep away the land bridge that joins Britain to mainland Europe.

2,700 BC - Work started on the Great Pyramids in Egypt.

1,900 BC - British Bronze Age begins, Stonehenge started.

1,230 BC - Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt.

650 BC - The Celts arrive and settle in South East Britain.

509 BC - Roman Republic founded.

500 BC - British Iron Age begins.

480 BC - Death of Buddha.

479 BC - Death of Confucius.

390 BC - Gauls invade Rome.

356 BC - Alexander the Great born - by the age of 30 he's master of most of the known world.

275 BC - Rome dominates Italy.

218 BC - Hannibal crosses the Alps.

214 BC - Great Wall of China completed.

201 BC - The Romans dominate the whole of the Western Mediterranean.

146 BC - Romans hold Africa and Greece.

129 BC - Romans reach Asia.

73 BC - Sparticus (him from the film) organises the slave revolt. Two years later it was all over.

58 BC - Romans conquer the Gauls.

55 BC - Romans invade Britain. A year later (54 BC) they try again.

43 AD - Romans invade Britain again.

64 AD - Nero fiddles while Rome burns.

79 AD - Vesuvius erupts, Pompeii and Herculaneum destroyed.

117 AD - Roman Empire at its greatest.

122 AD - Hadrians Wall built to keep the Scots out.

142 AD - Antonine Wall built - the purpose is the same as Hadrians Wall.

196 AD - Trouble at home (the Decline has started) for the Romans - The Barbarians take over Northern England.

208 AD - Romans return to Britain - The Barbarians get a thrashing.

230 AD - Japanese history emerges from legends.

287 AD - Carausius declares the 'Empire of Britain' - 10 years later it's all but forgotten.

367 AD - The Picts, Scots and Saxons all decide to invade Britain. This must have been a very busy year for everyone.

369 AD - Romans restore order throughout Britain - this was another year where it was probably advisable to be elsewhere - anywhere but Britain.

406 AD - Constantine III removes Roman forces from Britain to support his claims to be Emperor.

410 AD - The Goths attack Rome, Emperor Honorius tells the Britons that they are now responsible for their own defence.

432 AD - Saint Patrick begins his mission in Ireland.

446 AD - Britons make their last appeal to Rome for aid - "The Groans of the Britons".

455 AD - Rome pillaged by the Vandals.

476 AD - The end of the Roman Empire. The Empire had lasted nearly 800 years.

515 AD - Saxon advances finally halted by the Britons.

570 AD - Birth of Mohammed.

577 AD - Battle of Deorham, Saxon advance into the West of England. This battle is mentioned in Birth of the City and marks the earliest possible date for the establishment of Bristol.

605 AD - China's Grand Canal built.

618 AD - T'ang Dynasty in China formed.

632 AD - Death of Mohammed. The whole of Arabia is Muslim.

634 AD - Battle of Heavenfield, the Celtic Christian Oswald becomes King of Northumbria.

663 AD - Roman Christianity dominates over Celtic Christianity in Britain.

685 AD - End of Northumbrian dominance in England.

692 AD - The district of Henbury enters documented history

793 AD - Viking and Dane attacks on Britain begin.

795 AD - End of Mercian dominance in England.

843 AD - France and Germany evolve as separate states.

844 AD - Kenneth MacAlpin becomes King of the Picts as well as the Scots.

862 AD - The Vikings found a state in what is now Russia.

866 AD - Viking invasion of Britain starts in earnest.

868 AD - Books first printed in China.

899 AD - Alfred the Great dies.

937 AD - Battle of Brunanburh. The Saxons now rule Britain.

978 AD - Coins minted in Bristol. See Birth of the City

982 AD - Norsemen discover Greenland.

991 AD - Battle of Maldon - a major Viking victory - they renew the raids on England.

1000 - Leif Ericsson discovers North America.

1002 - Massacre of St. Brice's Day. Ethelred attempted to exterminate the Danes in Britain.

1016 - Canute becomes king of England. A resurgence for the Danes - for a while at least.

1041 - Edward I becomes king, but was later replaced by King Harold.

1066 - The Norman Conquest of England by William I. King Harold was defeated at the Battle of Hastings.

1068 - Bristol attacked by an Irish raiding party led by the son of exiled Earl of Swegen. The building of Bristol Castle followed shortly after.

1086 - Domesday Book compiled. This is a complete 'snapshot in time' of the English.

1099 - The First Crusade, Godfrey of Bouillon captures Jerusalem.

1100 - William Rufus falls off his horse (he also had an arrow in the back) in the New Forest and dies, King Henry I comes to power, he died in 1135.

1106 - Henry I gets control of Normandy and captures his brother Robert. St Peter's church, Castle Green built by Robert FitzHamon.

1119 - Knights Templar formed.

1135 - Stephen succeeds Henry I as king, even though he isn't entitled to. Civil war and anarchy follow.

1140 - Work starts on what is now Bristol Cathedral

1148 - The Second Crusade fails to take Damascus.

1154 - Henry of Anjou (Henry II) succeeds Stephen - he's the first of the Plantagenet kings.

1155 - Henry II grants a charter to Bristol affirming their rights as freemen

1161 - The Chinese use gunpowder in warfare.

1170 - Thomas Becket murdered in Canterbury Cathedral.

1189 - Start of the Third Crusade. They capture Acre in 1191. John is left in charge of England.

1190 - Water piped from Knowle to St. Mary Redcliffe

1192 - Third Crusade, Jerusalem not retaken by them. Richard I (Richard Lionheart) is captured on the way home.

1199 - King Richard I (Lionheart) killed, John becomes king

1202 - Fourth Crusade.

1204 - Fourth Crusade takes Constantinople. King John loses Normandy to France.

1206 - Genghis Khan and his Mongols begin to capture Central Asia.

1208 - First Albigensian Crusade against Christians.

1212 - The Children's Crusade.

1215 - Magna Carta signed by King John

1216 - King John killed, Henry III king. First Mayor of Bristol takes office

1220 - St Marks, the Lord Mayors Chapel founded

1239 - New Frome channel started

1245 - New Bristol bridge started

1247 - New Frome channel finished, as was the new Bristol bridge

1264 - Civil War in England

1265 - Bristol falls to royalist forces

1272 - Edward I becomes King

1284 - Wales conquered

1290 - Jews banished from England

1306 - Extensive rebuilding of what was to become Bristol Cathedral starts

1307 - Edward II becomes King

1312 - Knights Templar suppressed by the Pope

1313 - Bristol rebels against taxes

1314 - Battle of Bannockburn gives Scots independance

1316 - Bristol falls to Royalist forces (again)

1327 - Bristol falls to Isabella, rebuilding starts on St. Mary Redcliffe, Edward II murdered, Edward III becomes king

1338 - Start of 100 Years War with France

1344 - Little Red Book of the Guilds opened

1349 - Black Death (Bubonic Plague) reaches England

1362 - English becomes the official language of England

1368 - Ming Dynasty in China

1373 - Great Red Book (a sort of land registry) opened, Bristol becomes a county

1377 - Death of Edward III, Richard II becomes King

1381 - Peasant's Revolt led by Wat Tyler

1399 - Richard II deposed by Henry IV

1401 - Burning of Heretics in England made legal

1413 - Henry IV dies, Henry V becomes King

1415 - Battle of Agincourt against France

1422 - Henry V dies, Henry VI King

1431 - Joan of Arc burned

1440 - First printing using moveable type, Gutenburg

1446 - Spire of St. Mary Redcliffe collapses across the nave

1449 - French retake Normandy

1453 - End of 100 Years War with France

1455 - Start of the War of the Roses

1460 - Knights of St. John finish Temple Church

1461 - Louis XI becomes king of France

1470 - Edward IV is dethroned

1471 - Edward IV regains the throne

1476 - Caxton sets up printing press at Westminster

1486 - Henry VII visits Bristol

1489 - The mathematical symbols + and - first used

1485 - Start of English Tudor period

1490 - Henry VII revisits Bristol

1492 - Christopher Columbus discovers the West Indies

1497 - John Cabot discovers Newfoundland and North America

1498 - Sea route to India found

1499 - Parts of South America mapped by Amerigo Vespucci

1500 - Brazil discovered by Pedro Cabral

1503 - Leonardo da Vinci paints the Mona Lisa

1508 - Michelangelo paints the Sistine Chapel

1509 - Henry VIII becomes king

1513 - James IV of Scotland defeated at Flodden by the English

1521 - Martin Luther condemned as a heretic

1522 - Magellan sails around the world

1526 - Foundation of the Mogul Empire

1532 - Robert and Nicholas Thorne found Bristol Grammar School

1533 - Ivan the Terrible (Ivan IV) becomes Tsar

1534 - Henry VIII controls the English Church

1539 - St. Augustine's Abbey surrendered to Henry VIII

1542 - St. Augustine's Abbey becomes Bristol Cathedral, the Portuguese reach Japan

1547 - Henry VIII dies, Edward VI comes to the thrown

1549 - First English book of Common Prayer

1558 - Elizabeth becomes Queen Elizabeth I

1564 - Shakespeare born

1574 - Queen Elizabeth I visits Bristol

1577 - Drakes circumnavigation of the world

1582 - Gregorian Calendar introduced by Pope Gregory XIII

1587 - Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots

1588 - The Spanish Armada tries to attack England

1600 - English East India Company founded

1603 - Union of English and Scottish Crowns, James VI of Scotland, James I of England

1605 - Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot to destroy Parliament

1607 - Virginia colonised

1614 - Mathematical Logarithms introduced by Napier

1616 - Inquisition against Galileo's astronomy

1620 - Pilgrim Fathers settle in New England

1628 - The circulation of blood explained by Harvey

1629 - Charles I begins personal rule of England

1640 - Charles I defeated by the Scots, start of the Long Parliament

1642 - Start of the English Civil War

1645 - The Prince of Wales, later King Charles II, visits Bristol. The Battle of Naseby, Royalist army defeated by the New Model Army

1649 - Charles I executed, England ruled as a commonwealth

1651 - Cromwell rules the whole of England

1654 - Samuel Pepys visits Bristol

1660 - Monarchy restored, Charles II on thrown

1661 - English non-conformists persecuted

1665 - Bristol Castle demolished, Great Plague of London

1666 - Great fire of London, Newton discovers the Laws of Gravity

1673 - Test Acts, Catholics and non-conformists removed from high office

1674 - Ralph Ollive becomes Mayor, persecution of the Quakers continues

1681 - King Charles II gives the Penn family 45,000 square miles of America, Bristol's Quakers meeting places wrecked.

1685 - Monmouth's Rebellion crushed by James II at Sedgemoor

1695 - Hotwells water gains popularity. Freedom of the press in England

1707 - English and Scottish Parliaments united

1709 - Riots over the price of wheat

1714 - More riots - this time poitically motivated

1715 - The Jacobite Uprising

1720 - Collapse of the "South Sea Bubble". Slavery reaching it peak

1727 - The introduction of tollgates around Bristol sparks off rioting

1737 - Bristol Infirmary opens - the Royal was added in 1850

1739 - John Wesley arrives in Bristol. War of Jenkin's Ear

1743 - Last British Monarch, George II, to command an army in the field, defeats the French

1748 - Wesley founds a school at Kingswood

1752 - Thomas Chatterton born

1756 - The Bristol Slave Trade hits a peak

1766 - Thomas Farr builds the folly Blaise Castle

1768 - Bristol Bridge rebuilt

1772 - The City Council starts worshipping in St Marks Chapel rather than the Cathedral

1803 - Work begins on the Floating Harbour

1824 - Samuel Plimsoll born

1831 - The Bristol Reform Riots

1833 - The Slavery Abolition Act passed by British Parliament on 24th August

1834 - The Slavery Abolition Act becomes law on 1st August

1836 - Bristol has to share Bishop with Gloucester, work started on Clifton Suspension Bridge

1837 - SS Great Western launched

1841 - First train from London to Bristol

1843 - SS Great Britain launched

1864 - Clifton Suspension Bridge opens

1890 - The Cliff Railway opens

1897 - Bristol regains its Cathedral, Cabot Tower built.

1920 - The Red Lodge becomes the property of the City

1935 - Henbury becomes incorporated into the City of Bristol

1940 - Sunday 24th November, an air raid destroys most of the city centre

This page created 15th August 2000, last modified 5th May 2005

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