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LEME

Lexicons of Early Modern English

LEME Chronology 1475-1755

To download an available text, click on its title. Available texts are identified by a red boldface LEME ID. For a detailed listing of all language texts in this period, see the Detailed Primary Bibliography.

Texts are organized chronologically by reigning English monarch.

EDWARD IV

1475 

§ The court of Edward IV favoured French

§ Anglo-French treaty of Picquiny

§ 35,362 pre-1475 OED headwords survive into Early Modern English

1476 

§ William Caxton set up a printing press in Westminster

1477

§ Anthony Woodville, The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers, the first book to be printed in England

835    The Horse, the Goose, and the Sheep

1478 

§ Execution of George, duke of Clarence, in the Tower of London

1479 

§ Caxton published the Nova Rhetorica and the Epitome of Lorenzo Guglielmo Traversagni in 1479-80

1480

537    Pepys MS of the Medulla Grammatice

20 Description of Britain (Higden)

19  Caxton, French and English

1481

1482

RICHARD III

1483 

§ Completion of St. George’s Chapel, Windsor

§ Death of Edward IV

§ Reign of Richard III (-1485)

21      Catholicon Anglicum

1484

§ Incorporation of the College of Heralds

HENRY VII

1485

§ Death of Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field

§ Reign of Henry VII (-1509)

§ English statutes were first printed in two columns, French and English

838    St. Alban’s Chronicle

1486

§ Birth of Prince Arthur to the King and Elizabeth Woodville

22      Juliana Berners (attributed), Book of Saint Albans

1487 

§ John Stanbridge replaces the first humanist Latinist, John Anwykll, at a new grammar school at Magdalen College, Oxford

§ Caxton published the Latin grammar by Aelius Donatus, as updated by Antonius Mancinellus

1488

1489

§ Anglo-Spanish treaty of Medina del Campo

§ New statutes were only printed in English (Statutes, II, v, 540)

1490

1491 

§ Birth of Prince Henry (the future Henry VIII)

1492

§ Christopher Columbus discovers the Bahamas and Cuba

§ Henry VII invades France

§ Peace of Etaples

§ Wynkyn de Worde succeeds Caxton

1493

1494

1495

1496 

§ “Magnus Intercursus,” a trade agreement between the Netherlands and England

§ John Holt writes Lac Puerorum ca. 1496-1500 (printed 1505) at Lambeth Palace under John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury

1497 

§ Sebastian Cabot reaches Newfoundland

§ Rising in Cornwall and defeat of the rebels at Blackheath

§ Capture of Perkin Warbeck

§ Betrothal of Prince Arthur and Catherine of Aragon

§ Destruction of Sheen Palace by fire

24      de Worde, English and French

1498

25      The Assembly of Gods

1499 

§ Execution of Perkin Warbeck

§ Richard Fox, bishop of Durham, in introducing The Contemplation of Sinners (1499), describes English as “our grosse natyue langage” in comparison with the perfection of Latin

947    Sir John Mandeville

26 The first printed English-Latin dictionary, Promptorium Parvulorum, by a Dominican friar of Bishop’s Lynn, Geoffrey the Grammarian (from 1440)

1500 

§ Henry VIII’s multilingual secretariat about this time: for Prince Arthur, Bernard André, Latin poet and historiographer; for Prince Henry, the Anglo-Latin John Skelton – followed by John Holt and William Hone — and francophone Giles Duwes; a Latin secretary (Silvestro Gigli, followed by Pietro Carmeliano); a royal librarian (Quentin Poulet to 1507, and then William Faques, who commanded a well-stocked library at Richmond); a royal poet in English (Stephen Hawes); and a king’s printer (William Faques).

35      Ortus Vocabulorum

191    Information for Pilgrims

1501 

§ Marriage of Prince Arthur and Catherine of Aragon       

§ John Stanbridge becomes master of the free grammar school at the hospital of St John at Banbury, Oxfordshire

1502 

§ Death of Prince Arthur

§ Marriage of James IV of Scotland and Margaret Tudor

§ John Holt appointed grammar master to Prince Henry

1503

§ Death of Queen Elizabeth (daughter of Elizabeth Woodville and Edward IV)

1504 

§ John Skelton left court

1505

33      Os Facies mentum

1506 

§ Joanna and Philip of Castile are shipwrecked in England

1507

§ England and the Netherlands sign a trade agreement

1508

§ Sebastian Cabot searches for the northwest passage

1413 Milk for Children by the humanist grammarian, John Holt

1497 Anonymous, The Book of Carving

1509 

§ Death of Henry VII

§ Reign of Henry VIII (-1447)

§ Marriage of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon

§ St Paul’s School, London, is founded by John Colet, Dean of St. Paul’s

37 Vulgaria by the humanist grammarian, John Stanbridge

HENRY VIII

1510

§ John Colet founds St Paul’s School and afterward appoints William Lily as its first master

23  Vocabula by the humanist grammarian, John Stanbridge

1511

§ Erasmus teaches Greek at Cambridge

§ Henry VIII orders the proclamation of the Statre of Winchester to be printed in English

1442  The Calendar of shepherds

1512

§ John Skelton describes himself as orator regius.

§ Erasmus writes De Copia

§ England at war with France

1513 

§ Cardinal Wolsey becomes Chancellor

§ Henry VIII wins the Battle of the Spurs

§ The English defeat the Scots at Flodden Field

§ John Palsgrave appointed schoolmaster to Princess Mary

§ William Lily produces a short Latin syntax, supervised by Erasmus, at John Colet’s request about this time

883    The Flores of Ovid de arte amandi

1514 

§ Mary Tudor marries Louis XII of France

1515 

§ Mary Tudor marries Charles Brandon

§ Completion of Hampton Court Palace

§ The Duke of Albany becomes Protector of Scotland

§ Ca. 1515-19 the Venetian diplomat, Sebastian Giustinian, said that Henry VIII knew “French, English, and Latin, and a little Italian” and spoke the first three easily

1516

§ Thomas More’s Utopia

1517 

§ Evil May Day

1518 

§ Peace of London

1519

§ “Grammarians’ war,” about methods of teaching Latin, between grammar-oriented traditionals like Robert Whittington, and imitators of the most eloquent authors  (William Horman, William Lily)

38 William Horman’s Vulgaria, English sentences translated into Latin, attacked by Robert Whittington in verses affixed to the door of St Paul’s School

1520 

§ Complutensian Bible published (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek Old Testament, Latin)

§ Henry VIII and Francis I meet at the Field of Cloth of Gold

1521 

§ Treaty of Bruges

§ The Pope names Henry the Defender of the Faith for his anti-Lutheran Assertio Septem Sacramentorum

§ In “Speke Parott” John Skelton attacks teaching that emphasizes eloquence at the expense of definition of things

§ Grammarians William Horman and William Lily attack Robert Whittington in Antibossicon

705 Alexander Barclay, Introductory to Write and to Pronounce French

1522

§ Charles I visits England

§ William Lily dies

1523

§ English forces occupy Montalidier in France

1152  John Fitzherbert, Book of Surveying

40      John Fitzherbert, Husbandry

1524

§ John Rastell’s 88-page Exposiciones terminorum legum anglorum (STC dates it in 1523, and Rastell’s bibliographer, E. J. Devereux, about 1524), the first printed monolingual English word-entries of the beginnings of the legal lexicon

1525

§ Cardinal Wolsey gives Hampton Court to Henry VIII

§ John Palsgrave appointed schoolmaster to Henry Fitzroy, Henry VIII’s illegitimate son

1261  Fromond List of Garden Plants

42      Bankes’s Herbal, first printed English herbal

836    John Rastell, Expositions of the Terms of the Law

1526

§ Anglo-Scottish Peace

§ William Tyndale publishes his English New Testament in Worms

44      Great Herbal

45 Erasmus, De Misericordia Domini

1527

§ Anglo-French Alliance         

46      Statutes

47      Virtuous Book of Distillation

1528

1529

§ Legatine court tries the legality of Henry’s Marriage

§ Fall of Cardinal Wolsey

§ York Place (later Whitehall) goes to Henry VIII

1530 

§ Death of Cardinal Wolsey

49      John Palsgrave, Lesclarcissement

50      William Tyndale, Old Testament Pentateuch

1531 

§ Henry VIII is titled Supreme Head of the Church in England

§ Sir Thomas Elyot’s The Governor

1463  George Joye, Letters

1532 

§ Treaty of Boulogne

§ Submission of the clergy to Henry VIII

43 Leonard Cox, Art or Crafte of Rhetoryke, the first printed book on its subject

1533 

§ Marriage and coronation of Anne Boleyn

§ Excommunication of Henry VIII

§ Birth of Elizabeth

842    Giles Du Wes, French

1534 

§ Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury

§ Jacques Cartier sails up the St. Lawrence River

§ Act of Supremacy makes Henry VIII supreme head of the church in England

§ William Tyndale publishes his revised New Testament in Antwerp

§ Nicholas Udall’s Floures for Latine Spekynge … out of Terence

692    William Tyndale, New Testament

1535

§ Executions of Sir Thomas More and John Fisher

§ First English New Testament concordances (by Coverdale)

§ Suppression of religious houses begins

§ Reform of the universities

1536

§ Execution of Anne Boleyn

§ Henry VIII marries Anne Seymour

§ Publication of the Ten Articles

§ Pilgrimage of Grace in the north

§ Wales controlled by England

§ Thomas Cromwell becomes Lord Privy Seal

§ Execution of William Tyndale near Brussels

1537

§ Birth of Edward

§ Death of Jane Seymour

§ In Antwerp Matthew Crom prints Tyndale’s translation of half the Old Testament and the complete New Testament

1260  Richard Benese, Measuring

52     Anonymous, Sex Linguarum

1538 

§ Thomas Cromwell authorizes the Bible in English

§ Destruction of images in southern England, including Becket’s shrine in Canterbury

53      Sir Thomas Elyot, Latin-English Dictionary, first using continental scholarship

54      William Turner, Re Herbaria Novus

1539

§ Six Articles of Religion

§ Publication of the Great (English) Bible (to be placed in all parish churches by 1540)

1540

§ Execution of Thomas Cromwell

§ Marriage of Henry VIII and Anne of Cleves (annulled in July)

§ Marriage of Henry VIII to Catherine Howard

§ Regius Professorships of Greek at Oxford and Cambridge

1541

§ Henry VIII becomes King of Ireland

1542

§ Henry VIII made king of Ireland

§ Execution of Catherine Howard

§ Scottish army attacked England at the Battle of Solway

§ Thomas Smith made Regius Professor of Civil Law at Cambridge, arguing that philology and history (not so much authority or precedent) should determine legal interpretation

§ Sir Thomas Smith, De recta et emendate linguae anglicae scriptione, on spelling reform (unpublished until 1568)

1443  William Lily, Introduction

63      Sir Thomas Elyot, Bibliotheca

1543

§ Marriage of Henry VIII to Catherine Parr

§ The King’s Book is published

§ Nation-wide required use of Lily’s grammar in teaching

58      Bartholomew Traheron, Surgery, first book on medicine using the new science

1544

§ England invades Scotland and France

§ Henry VIII captures Boulogne

§ Sir John Cheke, the first Regius Professor of Greek at Cambridge, was appointed Edward’s tutor “of toungues, of the scripture, of philosophie and all liberal sciences.”

1545

884    Slander

1546

803    Thomas Phayer, Regiment of Life

1547

§ Death of Henry VIII

§ Reign of Edward VI (-1553)

§ Edward Seymour, earl of Hertford, becomes Lord Protector and duke of Somerset

§ Six Articles repealed

62      William Salesbury, English and Welsh

61      Robert Recorde, Urinal of Physic

EDWARD VI

1548

§ First Act of Uniformity

§ Thomas Cooper expands Elyot’s Bibliotheca

§ Chantries Act

§ Definitive form of Lily’s grammar appears

64      William Turner, Names of Herbs

1549 

§ First Book of Common Prayer (by Archbishop Cranmer)

§ Suppression of Robert Kett’s rebellion in Norfolk and of the Prayer Book rising in the West

§ Fall of Somerset

1393  William Baldwin, Canticles

1550

§ Peace of Boulogne (ending the war with Scotland and France)

§ Boulogne returned to France

69      Richard Sherrey, Treatise of Schemes, the first in English

70      William Thomas’s Italian Grammar with a Dictionary

1551

§ John Dudley, earl of Warwick, becomes duke of Northumberland

§ Sir John Cheke left an unpublished translation of the New Testament ca. 1551-53 that prefers Old and Middle English words rather than modern words taken from Latin and French

1431  William Thomas, Ab urbe

708    John Hart, herald and phonetician, Writing of our English Tongue (unpublished), on English spelling reform

707    Thomas Wilson, The Rule of Reason (corrected in 1552 and 1553), proposed a theory of meaning having two definitions, one for things (in classical rhetoric), and a second for the words that named them (the etymon)

1552

§ Edward Seymour executed

§ Second Book of Common Prayer

§ Forty-two Articles

§ Edward VI founds many grammar schools

§ Nicholas Udall prepares an English edition of Thomas Gemini’s work on anatomy, Compendiosa totius anatomiae delineatio

75      Richard Howlet (Huloet), Abecedarium

76      Jean Veron, Dictionariolum Puerorum

1177  William Copland, Properties of Herbs

MARY I

1553

§ John Withals, Short Dictionary, popular through sixteen editions to 1634

§ Death of Edward VI

§ Reign of Mary Tudor

§ Lady Jane Grey proclaimed queen on July 10 and deposed July 19

§ Execution of Northumberland

§ Marriage treaty between Mary and Philip of Spain

§ Repeal of Act of Uniformity

§ Restoration of old church service and Catholic bishops

§ Protestant leaders go into exile

77      Piers the Plowman’s Creed

67      Pope John XXI, Treasury of Health

1554

§ Suppression of Wyatt’s rebellion against the Spanish marriage

§ Execution of Lady Jane Grey

§ Marriage of Mary and Philip

§ William Thomas was hanged, drawn, and quartered for treason

§ Mary of Guise, the Queen Mother, becomes Queen of Scotland

81      Book of English and Spanish

1555

§ Philip leaves England: Parliament rejects his coronation as king of England

82      Richard Eden, Decades of the New World

83      Richard Sherrey, Figures of Grammar

1556

§ Cardinal Pole, papal legate, becomes Archbishop of Canterbury and Thomas Cranmer, his predecessor, burned at the stake

78      John Withals, Short Dictionary

84      Nicholas Smyth, Herodian

1557

§ Philip returns to England

§ England, ally of Spain, declares war on France

§ Stationers’ Company chartered

§ William Whittingham publishes the New Testament at Geneva

88      Verba obsoleta et alia

833    Verba Anglica Obscura et Glosata

ELIZABETH I

1558

§ France captures Calais

§ Mary, Queen of Scots, marries the Dauphin

§ Death of Mary I

§ Reign of Elizabeth I (17 November 1558-1603)

§ An anonymous biography of Sir William Cecil, says that he “never read any Books or Praiers, but in Lattin, French, or Italian: very seldome in English”

90      Fabian Withers, Art of Chiromancy

1559

§ Matthew Parker becomes Archbishop of Canterbury

§ New Acts of Uniformity and Supremacy

§ Revised Book of Common Prayer

1560

§ Geneva Bible published

93      Wm. Whittingham, Geneva-Bible proper names

1561

§ Richard Mulcaster appointed as the first master of the Merchant Taylors’ School in London (until 1586)

96      Barnabe Googe, Zodiac of Life

1562

§ Thirty-nine Articles

§ England engages in the slave trade

97      William Bulleyn, Bulwark of Defence

1563

§ John Rastell’s Exposition was published in thirty editions up to 1742 (in 1607 and after by the Company of Stationers)

1464  Thomas Gale’s Workes of Chirurgerie

1564

§ England and France sign the Peace of Troyes

1565

§ Thomas Cooper’s Latin-English Thesaurus, based on Estienne and Elyot

102    Arthur Golding, Caesar

103    John Hall, Chirurgia

105    Thomas Peend, Hermaphroditus

1386  Laurence Nowell, glossing Howlet

1566

§ Archbishop Matthew Parker’s “Advertisements” regularize church ritual

§ Vestarian controversy

§ Birth of James VI, son of Mary Queen of Scots

§ Royal Exchange founded in London

 106    David Chalmers, Dictionary of Scots Law, dedicated to Mary Queen of Scots

107    John Jones, Dial for all Agues

1465  Thomas Gale, Certain Works of Galen’s

1567

§ James VI succeeds Mary, Queen of Scots, as king of Scotland

109    Thomas Harman, Caveat, first work on canting language

110    William Lily, Introduction to Grammar

111    John Maplet, Green Forest

65      Laurence Nowell, Vocabularium Saxonicum

1568

§ The Bishops’ Bible

§ Sir Thomas Smith, De recta et emendate linguae anglicae scriptione, on spelling reform

98      Gerard Legh, Accidence of Armony

112    William Turner, Wines

799    Andrew Thevet, New Found World

1569

§ Sir John Cheke proposes spelling reforms

116    Niels Hemmingsen, Postle

115    John Hart, An Orthography

1570

§ Papal excommunication of Elizabeth I

§ Roger Ascham’s The Schoolmaster

§ Appointment of George Buchanan, who favoured Latin over Scots, made tutor of James VI

§ John Dee publishes Euclid’s Elements

117    Thomas Tymme, Catholic Exposition

119    Arthur Golding, Postle

120    John Levens, Manipulus Vocabulorum

121    John Hart, To Read English

1571

§ Enforcement of Thirty-nine Articles against clergy

124    L. and T. Digges, Pantometria

125    Lucas Harrison, Dictionary French and English

1572 

§ Richard Howlet, re-edition of Abcedarium Anglico-Latinum, sold for 8s. in 1585

1466  Thomas Wilson, Discourse upon Usury

1573

128    Claude Hollyband, French Schoolmaster

129    Ralph Lever, Art of Reason

130    David Powell (attri.), Geography

1394  Thomas Twyne, Breviary of Britain

1574

127    John Baret, Triple Dictionary

131    William Bourne, Regiment for the Sea

1575

§ Edmund Grindal becomes archbishop of Canterbury

100    John Awdely, Vagabonds

136    John Banister, Surgery

138    George Gascoigne, Venery

140    William Patten, Calender of Scripture

1576

§ Puritans fail in Parliament to reform

§ Geneva Bible reissued by Laurence Tomson

§ The Theatre opens in Shoreditch

§ Thomas Cooper’s Thesaurus sold for 23 shillings

1388  Abraham Fleming, Of English Dogs

1577

§ Raphael Holinshed’s Chronicles

§ Grindal refuses to suppress puritan prophesyings

§ Curtain Theatre opens in Finsbury

§ Francis Drake circumnavigates the globe (to 1580)

710    Richard Stanihurst, Chronicles

875    Wm. Lambarde, Dictionarium Angliae Topographicum

144    Henry Peacham, Garden of Eloquence

1578

149    Rembert Dodoens, New Herbal

1400  Thomas Cooper, Thesaurus Linguae Romanae

147    John Florio, First Fruits

146 William Bourne, Treasure for Travelers

1579

150    L. and T. Digges, Stratioticos

151    John Rastell, Terms of the Law of England

152    Edward Kirke, Shepherds’ Calendar

1580

§ Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, and Christopher Hatton, obtained a monopoly, dated April 25, 1580, for printer Henry Bynneman to print “all Dictionaries in all tongues.”

155    Jacques Cartier, Navigations

159    Simon Pelegromius, Synonymorum Sylva

154    William Bullokar, Book at Large, proposed a new grammar, a set of readers in his alphabet, manuscript form of those characters, and a dictionary of different spellings for homophones.

1467  John Baret, Alvearie, or, Quadruple Dictionarie (sold for 8s. in 1585)

1581

§ Legislation against Roman Catholics in England

§ Execution of Edmund Campion

1290  Stephen Batman, A Note of Saxon Words

813    William Fleetwood, Forests, Parks, Chases and Free Warrens

1582

§ Establishment of the Accademia della Crusca to regulate the Italian language

§ Duai-Rheims (Roman Catholic) Bible

162    Stephen Batman, Batman upon Bartholomew

164    William Mulcaster, First Part of the Elementary, with 8000 words for “an English ortografie” in reformed spelling with advice on how to enfranchise new words.

163    Gregory Martin, New Testament

1583

§ Discovery of Somerville plot to assassinate Elizabeth

§ At his death, Henry Bynneman had published Jean Crespin’s Lexicon Graecolatinum and part of a Greek-Latin-English dictionary by Morel(ius)

§ Ralph Newbery and his printer Henry Denham obtained Bynneman’s monopoly for printing dictionaries: they brought out Morelius (1583), Adrianus Junius’ Nomenclator (1583), and Veron’s old dictionary (1584), and Cooper (1584) from those patented by Bynneman

168    Guillaume Morel, Verborum Latinorum cum Graecis (sold for 18s. 6d. in 1585)

169    Philip Barrough, The Method of Physic

1584

§ Philip II, Parma, and the Duke of Guise try to depose Elizabeth and replace her by Mary, Queen of Scots

990    Veron, Estienne and Fleming, Dictionary in Latin and English

171    James VI, Essays of a Prentice

170    Thomas Hudson, History of Judith

257    Mark Ridley, Vulgar Russe Tongue

1585

§ Expulsion of Jesuits and seminarists from England

§ John David reaches Baffin Bay (to 1593)

173    Hadrianus Junius and John Higgins, Nomenclator

172    John Blagrave, The Mathematical Jewel

1027  Ambrogio Calepino, Dictionarium decem linguarum

1586 

§ Babington plot, with support of Mary, Queen of Scots, to assassinate Elizabeth

§ The Society of Antiquaries forms in London

649    Angel Day, English Secretary

174    William Bullokarz pamphlet for Grammar (the first dedicated to English)

1587

§ Execution of Mary Queen of Scots

§ Christopher Marlowe’s Tamburlaine

178    Leonard Mascall, The First Book of Cattle

179 Thomas Thomas, Dictionarium Linguae Latinae

1588

§ The Spanish Armada destroyed at sea

§ “Martin Marprelate” accuses Cooper of plagiarizing Elyot, Estienne, and others in Thesaurus

180    Edward Bulkeley, Answer

714    Thomas Harriot, New Found Land of Virginia

137    Timothy Bright, Charactery

1468  Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer, Mariners’ Mirror

1589

184    George Puttenham, Art of English Poesy

185    Thomas Blundeville, Universal Maps and Cards

186    John Rider, Bibliotheca Scholastica

1590

§ Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queene, Books I-III

§ Thomas D’Oylie’s Spanish grammar and Spanish-Latin-English dictionary (lost) entered in Stationers’ Register

539    Peter Bales, Writing Schoolmaster

190    John del Corro, The Spanish Grammar

193    William Vallans, A Tale of Two Swans

192    Cyprian Lucar, Lucarsolace

1420  Anonymous, The Cobbler of Canterbury

1591

196    Robert Greene, Cosenage

195    Leonard Digges, Pantometria

200    Robert Greene, Second Part of Coney-Catching

199    William Stepney, The Spanish School-Master

198    Richard Perceval, Bibliotheca Hispanica, containing D’Oylie’s work

1494  William Camden, The Etymologie and Original of Barons

1592

201    Robert Greene, The Black Book’s Messenger

204    Robert Tanner, Use of the Sphere

203    Thomas Nashe, Strange News

1593

§ Elizabeth translates Boethius’s Consolation of Philosophy from the Latin in 25 days

203    Thomas Harman, Groundwork of Conny-catching

209    Henry Peacham, Garden of Eloquence

206    Gabriel Harvey, Piers’ Supererogation

205 Claudius Hollyband, Dictionary French and English

207    John Udall, The Key of the Holy Tongue

208    John Norden, Speculum Britanniae: Middlesex

1146  John Eliot, Ortho-epia Gallica: Eliot’s Fruits for the French

1594

212    Paul Greaves, Grammatica Anglicana

211    Thomas Blundeville, Exercises

1555    Robert Dudley, Aroaca, Sermo Indianus

1595

§ Sir Walter Raleigh reaches Trinidad

214    Abraham Hartwell, The History of the Wars between the Turks and the Persians

215    Andrew Duncan, Latinorum Grammaticae Pars Prior

1596

§ Richard Mulcaster became headmaster of St Paul’s School in London  

216    Edmund Coote, The English Schoolmaster, the first hard-words dictionary (54 editions by 1737)

1597

§ Francis Bacon’s Essays (enlarged in 1612 and 1625)

219    Anonymous, Exposition of Obscure Words

221    John Gerard, Herbal

847    John Skene, De Verborum Significatione, the first published dictionary of Scots law

123    Simon Sturtevant, The Latin Nomenclator

529    Peter Bales, The Art of Brachygraphy

1598

§ Death of William Cecil, Lord Burghley

§ James VI in this year and the next wrote Basilikon Doron, his book on kingship, intended for his son Prince Henry

233    Thomas Rogers, Celestial Elegies

231    John Florio, A World of Words

226    Thomas Bastard, Chrestoleros

265    Jacob Mosan, Praxis Medicinae Universalis

1127  John Norden, Speculi Britaniae Pars: Hertfordshire

225    Robert Barret, The Theoric and Practice of Modern Wars

232    John Marston, Scourge of Villainy

268    Thomas Speight, Works of Geoffrey Chaucer

228    Jacques Cartier, Principal Navigations

1553   Richard Hakluyt, The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of the English Nation 

1486  Robert Cotton, The Etymology, Antiquity and Privilege of Castles

1599

236    Oswald Gabelkouer, Book of Physic

1438  Simon Stevin, The Haven-finding Art

237    John Minsheu, A Dictionary in Spanish and English

1444  John Minsheu, A Dictionarie in English and Spanish

1445  Thomas Blundeville, The Art of Logic, which repeated Thomas Wilson’s theory of meaning

1483  Robert Cotton, Of the Antiquity, Etymology, and Privilege of Towns

1488  Robert Cotton, Of Dimension of Land

1489  Arthur Agard, Dimensions of the Land of England

1513  Angell Day, The English Secretary

1600

§ East India Company established by royal charter

§ William Gilbert, De Magnete

800    William Fulbecke, Study of the Law

258    Philemon Holland, The Roman History

1487  Robert Cotton, Of the Antiquity of Motts and Words, with Arms of Noblemen and Gentlemen of England

1558  Gregory Martin,New Testament Glosses

1601

§ Robert Devereux, earl of Essex, executed for treason

238    John Thorius, Theatre of the Earth

259    Philemon Holland, History of the World

265    Jacob Neck, Journal

1602

271    John Tapp, Seaman’s Calendar

JAMES I

1603

§ Toleration granted to Roman Catholics

§ Union of England and Scotland

§ Elizabeth I dies

§ Reign of James I

§ The King’s Basilikon Doron in English urges his son Henry “to write in your owne language: for there is nothing left to be saide in Greeke and Latine already,” and says that the king’s duty is to “purifie” his own tongue

275    Philemon Holland, Morals

273    John Florio, Essays

1604

§ Queen Anne appointed John Florio her private secretary and reader in Italian

§ At the Hampton Court Conference, James commanded a new translation of the Bible, one that did not use hard words, and rebuffs Puritan reforms to bishops

701    José de Acosta, East and West Indies

276    Robert Cawdrey, Table Alphabetical

277    Robert Norton, Mathematical Appendix

1490  Arthur Agard, Of the diversity of Names of this Island

1492  William Camden, Of the diversity of names of this Island

1493 William Camden, Of the Antiquity, Office and Privilege of Heralds in England

1605

§ Gunpowder Plot by Guy Fawkes to blow up Parliament discovered

§ Francis Bacon’s Advancement of Learning reproves “fantastical learning,” which studies “eloquence, and copie of speech” (copia), “words, and not matter”

279    Josuah Sylvester, Divine Weeks

278    William Camden, Remains

281    Richard Verstegan, Restitution of Decayed Intelligence

1606

222    Francis Holyoake, Rider’s Dictionary

284    Henry Spelman, Archaismus Graphicus

1607

§ Jamestown was founded in Virginia

§ Henry Hudson discovers Hudson Bay (-1611)

197    John Harington, Orlando Furioso

285    John Cowell, The Interpreter

1204  Francis Tate, English Words usual in the Marches of Wales

1469  Edward Topsell, The History of Four-footed Beasts

1608

§ Alexander Gill was appointed master of St Paul’s School, following Richard Mulcaster

287    Thomas Dekker, Lanthorn and Candle-light

289    Thomas James, Two Short Treatises

1270 Josuah Sylvester, Bartas His divine Weeks

288    Thomas Dekker, The Bellman of London

1556    Edward Topsell, Of Serpents

1609

§ Ulster (Northern Ireland) settled by English and Scottish protestants

1479 Robert and Thomas Cawdrey, A table Alphabetical

1610

§ Objections from Parliament lead James to reprimand John Cowell for his words on the right of kings in The Interpreter (1607), a dictionary of English civil law: the book is burned, Cowell loses his Regius Professorship, and the king is embarrassed

§ Recommended by William Camden, Minsheu obtains a royal patent for 21 years to publish Ductor in Linguas

293    Edmund Bolton, in Elements of Armories, wishes “there were a Tribunal, and Magistrate for wordes, that it might not be in euery witts-will, donare ciuitate ANGLICANA, to make words, & phrases free of ENGLAND.”

1138  William Camden and Philemon Holland, Britain

296    Samuel Rid, Martin Mark-all

702  W Folkingham, Feudigraphia

1611

§ The Authorized Version of the English Bible was published

299    John Florio, Queen Anna’s New World of Words

1407  Josuah Sylvester. Divine Weeks and Judith

298    Randle Cotgrave, Dictionary of the French and English Tongues

297    Miles Smith, The Holy Bible

1612

§ Death of Prince Henry

690    Samuel Rid, Art of Juggling

308    Thomas Wilson, Christian Dictionary

305    William Strachey, History of Travel into Virginia

850    John Smith, Map of Virginia

689    Thomas Dekker, O per se O

182    Anonymous, Rawlinson MS Glossary

1613

§ Princess Elizabeth marries Frederick, Elector Palatine

1426  Robert Cawdrey, Table Alphabetical

1614

§ John Napier invents logarithms

312 Gervase Markham, Cheap and Good Husbandry

318    William Bedwell, Mohammedis imposturae

321    Symon Latham, Latham’s Falconry

1615

§ Henry Carew, in “The Excellency of the English Tongue,” praises English for its economical monosyllabic base

317    William Welde, Ianua Linguarum

322    Robert Recorde, Ground of Arts

1616

§ Death of William Shakespeare

§ To inherit land, the Gaelic Scots had to speak, read, and write English 

323    John Bullokar, English Expositor, third hard-word dictionary after Coote and Cawdrey

1379  Walter Hinds, British Romani Vocabulary

1427  Aaron Rathborne, The Surveyor

1617

§ Worshipful Society of Apothecaries incorporated in London

820 Robert Cawdrey, Table Alphabetical

329    John Woodall, Surgeon’s Mate

326    John Minsheu, Ductor in Linguas

272    Alexander Hume, Orthography of the Britan Tongue

328    Robert Robinson, Art of Pronunciation

1618

§ Declaration of Sports

§ Thirty Years’ War begins

330    Thomas Cartwright, Confutation

1619

§ Death of Queen Anna

1428  J. T., Hunting of the Pox

331    Alexander Gill, Logonomia Anglica

1620

§ Pilgrims on the Mayflower arrives in America

334    Richard James, Russian-English vocabulary

1621

§ The first English-language newspaper, the Corante, translated from the Dutch

1390  John Bullokar, English Expositor

333    Henry Mainwaring, Nomenclator Navalis

335    John Evans, Palace of Profitable Pleasure

1622

1130  Peter Burton, Description of Leicestershire

1623

343   Henry Cockeram, English Dictionary

661    Anonymous, Dictionary English and Latin

342    John Locke, Philosophical definitions

1624

§ England at war with Spain

345    John Aspley, Speculum Nauticum

347    John Huise, Perfect Survey of the English

1247  Nathaniel De Lawne, Elements of Logic

1625

§ Death of James I

§ Over 97,800 OED headwords were used in Early Modern English from 1475 to 1625

§ Reign of Charles I (-1649)

723    Samuel Purchas, Purchas his Pilgrims

1430  John Minsheu, Ductor in Linguas

923  D. Gordon, Pharmaco-pinax

1626

351  John Dodderidge, Glossary of Proper First Names

1627

362  John Smith, A Sea Grammar

1632

366  William Watts, The Swedish Intelligencer 

1633

371  Thomas Johnson, The Herbal or General History of Plants

1634

378  William Wood, New Englands Prospect

1635

380  Gerhard Mercator, Historia Mundi; or Mercator’s Atlas

1636

1433  Alexander Read, A Treatise of the Muscles of the Whole Body

1639

1397  Company of Distillers of London, The Distiller of London

1641

1286  John Bullokar, An English Expositor

1642

407  Henry More, Psychodia Platonica

386  William Ames, The Marrow of Sacred Divinity

1644

412  Anonymous, Vindex Anglicus or the Perfections of the English Language

411  Richard Symons, Cornish-English Glossary (ca. 1644 – ca. 1645)

1645

414  Thomas Urquhart, The Trissotetras

415  Nicholas Stone, Enchiridion of Fortification

1646

417  Richard Boothby, A Brief Discovery or Description of the Most Famous Island of Madagascar

1647

426  Henry Hexham, A Copious English and Netherdutch Dictionary Composed out of our Best English Authors

1650

437  Michael Sendivogius, A Chemical Dictionary

1652

450  Robert Pemell, Tractatus de Simplicium Medicamentorum Facultatibus

848  Anonymous, A New Model or the Conversion of the Infidel Terms of the Law

423 Alexander Grosse, A Fiery Pillar of Heavenly Truth

429  Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physician

1653

454  Edward Manlove, The Liberties and Customs of the Lead-mines within the Wapentake of Wirksworth in the County of Derby

453  François Pierre de La Varenne, The French Cook

1655

470  Lazare Rivière, The Practice of Physic

473 William Bagwell, The Mystery of Astronomy

1656

869  Peter Heylyn, Observations on the History of the Reign of King Charles

478  Thomas Blount, Glossographia or a Dictionary

477  Anonymous, The Academy of Pleasure

486  Roger Dodsworth, Villare Anglicum

1657

489  John Garfield, A Physical Dictionary

1399  Oswald Croll, Philosophy Reformed and Improved

494  Joshua Poole, The English Parnassus

487  John Sergeant, The Mystery of Rhetoric Unveiled

1658

497  Edward Phillips, The New World of English Words

1659

506  John Tanner, The Hidden Treasures of the Art of Physic

1662

635  John Heydon, English Physician’s Guide or the Holy Guide

1668

523  John Wilkins, An Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language

1669

741  John Worlidge, Systema Agriculturae

618  Pamphilus Hesychius, The History of Moderation

1670

1404  John Pettus, Fodinae Regales

1672

536  John Aubrey, Hard Words in Music

1673

542  Richard Head, The Canting Academy

544  John Ogilby, Asia, the First Part

1674

747  Elisha Coles, The Complete English Schoolmaster

545  John Ray, A Collection of English Words not Generally Used

749 Henry Preston, Brief Directions for True Spelling

1677

1238  William Lucas, A Catalogue of Seeds, Plants

561  Joseph Moxon, Mechanic Exercises

555  Elisha Coles, An English Dictionary

1679

844  James Moxon, Mathematical Dictionary

1680

1398  S. G., The Royal Charter of Confirmation Granted by King Charles II to the City of London

1681

570   Thomas Houghton, Rara Avis in Terris or the Complete Miner

1683

1392  William Salmon, Doron Medicum: Supplement to the New London Dispensatory

575   Lazarus Ercker, Fleta Minor the Laws of Art and Nature in Knowing, Judging, Assaying, Fining, Refining and Enlarging the Bodies of Confined Metal

561   Joseph Moxon,  Mechanick Exercises: Or, the Doctrine of Handy-works

1684

826  Thomas Willis, Dr. Willis’s Practice of Physic

316  Henry Spelman, Of the Original of Terms or Law-days

577  Steven Blankaart, A Physical Dictionary

1685

767  George Meriton, The Praise of Yorkshire Ale

1686

865  William Aglionby, Painting Illustrated in Three Dialogues

1688

825  Thomas Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia

588  Reginald Pecock, A Treatise Proving Scripture to Be the Rule of Faith

1689

680  Richard Hogarth, Gazophylacium Anglicanum

591  Richard Cox, Hibernia Anglicana

1690

595  Mary Evelyn, Mundus Mulierbris: or, The Ladies’ Dressing-room Unlocked

1406  Anonymous, A Clavis to the Foregoing Dialogue

1691

1220  John Ray, A Collection of English Words not Generally Used

596  Anonymous, Mundus Foppensis or the Fop Displayed

1692

827  Vitruvius, An Abridgment of the Architecture of Vitruvius

1693

604  Jean de La Quintinie, The Complete Gardener

605  James Wallace, A Description of the Isles of Orkney

1208  Edmund Bohun, A Geographical Dictionary

1695

612  John Narbrough, The Mariner’s Jewel

684  White Kennett, Parochial Antiquities

1696

1402  Eustache Le Noble, Abra-Mulè or a True History of the Dethronement of Mahomet IV

1401  Jacques de Solleysel, The Parfait Mareschal or Compleat Farrier

1698

828  Publius Cornelius Tacitus, The Annals and History of Cornelius Tacitus

832  Thomas Hearne, Ductor Historicus or a Short System of Universal History

1699

614  Edward Hatton, The Merchant’s Magazine Dictionary of Merchandise and Trade

617  B. E., A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew

1702

834  John Kersey the younger, A New English Dictionary

1706

1383  John Davis, Vocabulary of the Massachusetts (or Natick) Indian Language

1710

1306  Henry Kelsey, A Dictionary of the Hudson’s Bay Indian Language

1719

1376  John Aubrey, The Natural History and Antiquities of the County of Surrey

1720

1354  Allan Ramsay,  Allan Ramsay’s Poems

1726

1316  Nathan Bailey, An Introduction to the English Tongue

1735

1326  Benjamin Norton Defoe, A New English Dictionary

1377  William Wotton, Wotton’s Short View of George Hickes’s Grammatico-Critical and Archaeological Treasure of the Ancient Northern Languages

1737

1349  Nathan Bailey, Universal Etymological English Dictionary

1746

1352  John Collier, A View of the Lancashire Dialect

1747

1351  Josiah Relph, A Miscellany of Poems

1752

1382  David Hume, Scotticisms

1755

1345  Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary of the English Language

1378  Mary Johnson, Madam Johnson’s Present

1346  Joseph Nicol Scott, A New Universal Etymological English Dictionary

Ed. Ian Lancashire and Isabel Zhu, with contributions from Julia DaSilva, Paramita Dutta, Xueqi Fan, Sky Li, Kristie Lui, Annika Sparrell, Timothy Aberdingk Thijm, and Shirley Wang
© 2023 Ian Lancashire