After the fall of Wolsey, Henry VIII appoints Thomas More as his Lord Chancellor

Thomas Cranmer, the archbishop of Canterbury, declares Henry VIII's marriage to Catherine of Aragon null and void

Anne Boleyn has a child (the future Elizabeth I) but not of the sex her husband wants

Henry VIII's Act of Supremacy forces prominent figures in English public life to accept him on oath as head of the Church of England

Thomas More refuses to take the oath accepting the Act of Supremacy and is beheaded

Henry VIII begins the process of gathering in the wealth of England's monasteries

Wales is merged within the English kingdom as a principality

Henry VIII's queen, Anne Boleyn, is beheaded in the Tower of London on unsubstantiated charges of adultery

Jane Seymour gives birth to Henry VIII's long-awaited male heir (the future Edward VI)

A one-week-old Scottish infant, daughter of James V, inherits the throne as Mary Queen of Scots

David Beaton, the archbishop of St Andrews, burns a leading Protestant, George Wishart, as a heretic and is murdered in retaliation

On the death of Henry VIII his 10-year-old son becomes king of England as Edward VI

John Knox is captured in St Andrews and is sent to serve in the French fleet as a galley slave

The first version of the English prayer book, or Book of Common Prayer, is published with text by Thomas Cranmer

Mary I succeeds to the English throne, and devotes her energies to the restoration of the Catholic faith

Mary I causes grave offence in England by her marriage to the Catholic heir to the king of Spain

The Muscovy Company is granted a monopoly by the crown to trade with Russia, as the first of the English chartered companies

Elizabeth I succeeds peacefully to the throne of England, after the turmoil of Mary's Catholic reign

Mary Queen of Scots marries the heir to the French throne, who a year later succeeds as Francis II

With its strong French connection, the Scottish royal name of Stewart begins to be spelt Stuart (there being no 'w' in native French words)

John Knox returns to Scotland from Geneva and inspires the Protestants to march on Edinburgh

A year after Mary has become queen of France, her husband Francis II dies

Mary Queen of Scots returns from France to Edinburgh, and to an inevitable clash with John Knox

Marlowe and Shakespeare are born in the same year, with Marlowe the older by two months

Mary Queen of Scots marries her Catholic cousin, Henry Darnley