Henry waged war against Charles V, the Holy Roman Emporer and captured the three bishoprics of Metz, Toul and Verdun.

Explorers Hugh Willougby and Richard Chanellor took several ships and sailed in a north-easterly direction via Scandinavia in an attempt to find a route to China. The attempt failed and Willougby's frozen remains were found the next year by Russian fishermen. ¹

Edward VI signed a change to his earlier will or 'devise' and nominated Lady Jane Grey as heir to the English throne. The change was orchestrated by the John Dudley, duke of Northumberland and Sir John Gates. Lady Jane Grey had married the Duke's son Guilford Dudley a few months earlier and the will initially stated that Jane's male heirs would be next in line in inherit the Crown of England. This was altered when it was seen that Edward would die before Jane had any children so that Jane herself would become Queen.

Mary Tudor called for support against the Duke of Northumberland and Lady Jane Grey. Large numbers of supporters gathered around her at Kenninghall Manor in Norfolk with supplies and weapons.

King Edward VI died at Greenwich Palace as the age of 15.

The Duke of Northumberland proclaimed that his daughter-in-law Lady Jane Grey was the next monarch of England. Jane was moved to the Tower of London. Although Northumberland controlled London many of the town's people supported Mary Tudor's claim to the throne.

The Duke of Northumberland and an army of some 3,000 men travelled to Cambridge in an attempt to stop Mary Tudor. Moving on to Bury St. Edmunds the Duke came up against a much larger army supporting Mary. Accepting defeat, Northumberland was arrested and taken back to London to be held in the Tower of London. ¹

Mary Tudor arrived at London to a huge welcome. Entering through Aldgate she was met by Elizabeth, Anne of Cleves and many others. Mary quickly ordered the release of her supporters that had been locked up at the Tower of London. The Duke of Northumberland and his supporters were placed in the Tower of London to await trial and execution.

The funeral service for the late King took place at Westminster Abbey.

John Dudley was executed along with others accused of treason.

Elizabeth agreed to attend a mass but when the day came she pretended to be ill and only took part under protest. Elizabeth had refused to attend any Catholic ceremony including the one that Mary had arranged after the death of Edward. Mary and Elizabeth disagreed strongly over religion. ¹

The coronation of Mary Tudor took place at Westminster Abbey. Mary became the first true Queen of England. In the past, Matilda and Lady Jane Grey had come close but neither had ever been crowned.

The archbishop of York was arrested on charges of treason and sent to the Tower. His homes were raided and his riches were stolen.

Archbishop Cranmer, Lady Jane Grey and her husband were all found guilty of treason.

Issues over religion and succession to the throne became too much for Elizabeth and she requested that she could leave court and return to Hertfordshire and to Hatfield (or Ashridge). Queen Mary granted her request against the advice of her ministers who suspected Elizabeth was preparing to remove Mary from the throne.

Several groups around the country were unhappy with the proposal of marriage between Mary and Philip of Spain. In Wales a group was led by Sir James Croft. In Devon another group was led by Sir Peter Carew. The Duke of Suffolk was in Leicestershire, but it was only Sir Thomas Wyatt from Kent who managed to get a force together. ¹

A Spanish embassy arrived at the Court of Queen Mary of England with a formal offer of marriage to Philip of Spain. ¹

Queen Mary sent a letter to Elizabeth asking her to come to London. This was, Mary said, for her own protection because to the rebels threatening to prevent the marriage of Mary to Philip of Spain. Mary could have been unsure of Elizabeth's involvement in the plots against her and it was best to keep Elizabeth close where she could be watched. ¹

Sir Thomas Wyatt and this followers reached London but he was to learn that the other groups of rebels around the country had been defeated and their leaders arrested. The entrance into London was blocked by the Londoners whose support for Mary was higher than the rebels. After a short fight the rebels were defeated leaving many dead and Wyatt was captured. on 11th of April 1554. Elizabeth was also held in the Tower for a while as it was suspected she was involved in the plots because she would have benefited if they had succeeded. ¹

Lady Jane Grey was executed on Tower Hill in London. ¹

The Queen gave orders that married bishops were to be deprived of their sees.

Parliament agreed to the marriage between Mary and Philip of Spain under certain conditions. These stated that Philip could not interfere with the workings of the realm and could not put any foreigners in positions of importance. Philip must not make moves to start a war between England and France. It also stated that Philip's son from his marriage to his first wife had no claim to the English throne and that only offspring from Philip and Mary could go on to rule England. If Mary died without an heir, Philip could not himself claim the Englsih throne. Philip could not alter any laws or remove any wealth from the country.

Sir Thomas Wyatt was executed at Tower Hill for leading the rebellion against Queen Mary. Wyatt denied that Elizabeth had been involved in any part of rebellion. ¹

Princess Elizabeth was imprisoned in the Tower of London. ¹

Elizabeth was removed from the Tower of London and taken to Woodstock. She was held under house arrest by Henry bedingfield, a Privy Councillor to Queen Mary. ¹

With marriage arrangements well under way Philip II of Spain landed at Southampton. He then travelled to Winchester where the marriage was to take place. ¹

The marriage of Queen Mary of England and Philip of Spain took place. The marriage was conducted at Winchester Cathedral.

Queen Mary travelled to Hampton Court Palace in preparation for the birth of the child that she was thought to be carrying.

Reports reached London that the Queen was in labour and the birth was imminent. But the rumours turned out to be false and the celebrations that the news resulted in stopped.

The hope that Queen Mary was expecting a child faded at the end of July and at the start of August the Court left Hampton Court Palace and travelled back to London via Oatlands Palace.

Philip II of Spain left England and travelled back to Brussels to see his father Charles. Charles was suffering from premature aging due to his excessive lifestytle and was preparing to abdicate from his duties as King of Spain and retire. ¹

Philip of Spain became King of Spain upon the abdication of his father Charles.

This treaty signed by Henry II brought peace with Charles V. France came out well in the deal as the three bishoprics, Metz, Toul and Verdun remained in their possession.

A bright comet was seen and reported by many countries in Europe. As usual, the siting of such an unusual object in the skies was seen as inauspicious and spread fear. This comet has been linked to a similar siting in 1264 but no evidence links the two.

In the first week of January the French attacked the town of Douai on the Flemish border. This broke the Treaty of Vaucelles and war between France and Spain was formally declared.

Philip returned to England and Mary's side. During his stay he attempted to persuade the Queen to declare war on France.

Thomas Stafford, a Protestant, and a small number of followers who had fled from Mary's persecution captured Scarborough Castle on the Yorkshire coast. They did so by entering the castle on market day disguised as peasants. When enough of his men had entered the castle they took control of the gates and let in the rest of the small army. Their hope was to start an uprising against the Queen and this endevour may have been aranged by Henry II, the French King. But within three days Thomas Stafford had been captured. He was taken to London and executed.

Mary's requests for her Council to agree to declare war on France were turned down. Their concern was that the country could not afford such an expensive endevour and risk losing such an important trading partner.

Ignoring the wishes of her Council, Mary proclaimed that England was at war with France.

With the help of Mary, Philip now had extra support for his war with France and he departed England from Dover. This would be the last time they would see each other.

Anne of Cleves died. Since the divorce from King Henry VIII Anne had been given a good annual income and use of several homes.

A French army attempting to raise the siege at St Quentin was defeated by the Spanish. The capture of the town by the Spanish was assisted by an English army led by the Earl of Pembroke.

A group of Scottish Lords signed a covenant promising to support the advancement 'the most blessed Word of God' and to push forward the Reformation in Scotland. This was a move against what they saw as the threat from France which came from the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots to the French Dauphin. They called themselves the Lords of the Congregation. ¹

Henry II of France drew up some extra conditions for the marriage of his son to Mary Stuart. The princess was too young to understand the implications of them and signed in good faith. The secret conditions gave Henry II and his heirs a claim to the Scottish throne and England as well through Mary's claim. They also secured a payment from the Scottish revenue and a clause prevented Mary from trying to reverse the agreement in future. ¹

The defences of Calais had not been maintained as Queen Mary had been spending the country's wealth elsewhere and when the French laid siege to the city it did not take long for it to fall. The shock of losing Calais was felt all over England.

An agreement was reached between the Scottish commissioners and the French king Henry II for the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots and Francis, the Dauphin of France. The terms of the agreement allowed the Scots to maintain their traditional rights and would become united with France when Francis became King of France. It was also agreed that if Mary died without having children the Scottish throne would go to the Earl of Arran. ¹

Mary, Queen of Scots married Francis, the Dauphin of France. A secret marriage agreement was signed by Mary giving control of Scotland to France if she died without having children.  ¹

Queen Mary of England died at the age of forty two. She was buried at Westminster Abbey. Elizabeth became the new Queen of England.

Several days after the death of her sister Mary, Elizabeth entered London. She made her way through the crowds of loyal Londoners to the Tower where she stayed for a few days while she sorted out her affairs and selected her advisres.

King Gustav, the ruler of Sweden, proposed a marriage between Elizabeth and his son, Prince Eric. A proposal was sent but was refused. Gustav was undeterred by the refusal and sent his younger son, John, to see to if he could persuade the Queen otherwise. ¹

The River Thames was so constricted as it flowed each way between the piers of London Bridge that is was decided to place water mills under the arches to provide power for machinery. A pump was installed by a German or Dutch engineer called Peter Maurice (Morice) that pumped clean water to the higher points of the city. ¹

Soon after Elizabeth became Queen of England an act was passed called the Act of Supremacy. This act required all persons holding positions of power in the Government or in the Church to take an oath acknowledging Elizabeth as the supreme governor of the realm and to reject the right of any foreign power to interfere with English affairs.

On the eve of her coronation, traditional pageants were held for Elizabeth. She viewed them all as she made her way from the Tower of London to Westminster Abbey. They were of a political nature showing the problems of the past and hopes for the future.

The coronation of Elizabeth I took place at Westminster Abbey. She was crowned by Bishop Oglethorpe of Carlisle as the other more senior bishops refused to crown her due to their reluctance to accept the new Protestant religion.

A peace treaty signed by both Henry II of France and Philip II of Spain bringing an end to the conflicts between their countries. Part of the treaty was the agreed future marriage of Philip and Elizabeth of Valois, the French kings daughter, who had originally been promised to Philip's son Carlos.

Henry II, the French king, was accidentally injured during a tournament celebrating a wedding. He was taking part in a joust and the tip of a lance went into his eye. Infection set it and he died a short time afterwards. Henry was succeeded by his son Francis II, the husband of Mary Stuart. ¹

Francis II was crowned King of France at Reims Cathedral. The ceremony was subdued because of the untimely death of his father. ¹

Robert Dudley's wife, Amy, was found dead at home with a broken neck at the bottom of some stairs. Robert Dudley was accused of her murder because it was thought he planned to marry Queen Elizabeth. Dudley was banished from Court while an inquiry was conducted, but he was found innocent. Although Dudley returned to Court rumours still spread about his involvement in the death. ¹

Edmund Colthurst gave the ruinous church of Bath Abbey to the people of the City as a gift.

In Scotland, the regent, Mary of Guise had designs to place put her daughter Mary on the throne of England. There were many Protestants in Scotland and Queen Elizabeth had been secretly helping them in their opposition of the regent and her daughter. There were fears in Scotland that Mary of Guise, a devote Catholic, would secure French assistance and make Scotland a French territory, The Lords of the Congregation, who by now now were a powerful force in Scotland, pushed for an agreement with England that English help would be provided against a French invasion. Queen Elizabeth agreed to this and the treaty was signed at Berwick by the Scots and the Queen's representative, Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk.

Mary Stuart's mother, Mary of Guise, died in Scotland leaving the country in a state of civil war. ¹

This treaty, signed by Scotland, England and France saw the French leave Scotland and the port of Leith near Edinburgh. Mary of Guise had been trying to make Scotland a French territory, but after her death and some limited fighting between English troops and French troops the French agreed to leave peacefully.

Francis II, King of France died at the age of sixteen from an abscess in his brain. He had suffered from poor health throughout his life. He was succeeded by his ten-year-old younger brother Charles IX. His mother, Catherine de Medici, took the role of Regent. ¹

Mary Queen of Scots spent her time visiting the many castles and houses of her country.

Lightning again struck the spire of St. Paul's Cathedral. The roof and much of the cathedral were damaged by the resulting fire requiring extensive repairs. ¹

Philip II of Spain moved his court to Madrid. The town then became the capital of the country.The King set about building a new palace a few miles from Madrid called El Escorial and was designed in the form of a gridiron.

Eric left Sweden bound for England with a fleet of ships and gifts and a further proposal of marriage but bad weather ended his plans and he returned to Sweden. ¹

After the death of Francis II, Mary Stuart was approached by Spain with a marriage proposal to Don Carlos of Spain. Both being Catholic, the marriage was a prefect choice but it fell through. Mary turned her attention to a return to Scotland. ¹

Mary Stuart hoped that she could return to Scotland through England but Queen Elizabeth denied her request. Instead Mary and her entourage left France from Calais in a small flotilla of ships and set sail for Scotland. The voyage was hazardous as the English fleet were looking for her. But thick fog aided her escape and five days later the ships arrived at the port of Leith, now part of Edinburgh. Mary was met by her half-brother James Stewart ¹

John Hawkins sailed from England to West Africa where captured Africans were loaded aboard his ships and transported to the Caribbean to be used as slaves. With money raised from the sale, Hawkins bought goods to be sold back in England.

The Treaty of Richmond was signed in secret by Queen Elizabeth and Louis Bourbon prince of Condé, the leader of the Huguenots. The Huguenots were French Protestants or French Calvanists. In return for Elizabeth's military assistance in France the prince promised the return of Calais to the English. ¹

Elizabeth came down with smallpox and was seriously ill. Her council feared that she would die and were concerned about who would succeed her. Lady Catherine Grey, who had been mentioned in Henry VIII's will, was a strong candidate to become Queen of England if Elizabeth died. The Earl of Huntingdon (?) was also considered. The problem was avoided as Elizabeth recovered several days later. ¹

George Gordon, the 4th Earl of Huntley rebelled against Queen Mary and at the battle of Corrichie his supporters were defeated by the Earl of Moray. Huntley died at the battle but not from a wound but because he was overweight and the strain of the events was too much for him. ¹

As part of the secret treaty of Richmond, an English garrison was allowed to station itself at Le Havre and would swap the town for Calais once Calais was recaptured. The garrison of around 3,000 men was lead by the Earl of Warwick. ¹

The relationship between the English Queen and Mary Queen of Scots became more friendly and Elizabeth proposed a marriage between Mary and Robert Dudley, the 1st Earl of Leicester. In return for marrying an English noble Elizabeth promised to accept Mary's claim to the English throne. Not only did Mary reject the proposal but Robert did as well.

The Huguenots abandoned their treaty with Elizabeth and abandoned the English garrison at Le Harve. An outbreak of the plague struck the garrison leaving many dead or dying. Although reinforcements were sent to assist, the Earl of Warwick had little choice but to leave the town and return to England. The returning men bringing the plague back to England with them. ¹

Mary, Queen of Scots, married Henry Lord Darnley in the chapel at Holyrood House. Henry then became King of Scotland but in title only as Mary still held all the power of the monarch.

The Royal Exchange in London was founded by Sir Thomas Gresham. The exchange and dealing in foreign currency had become very important and this put London at the heart of the process.

Shortly after Queen Mary's marriage to Darnley, the true nature of the Lord's character became apparent. He showed disrespect to the Queen and was jealous of anyone who the Queen was close to. This included an Italian adviser called David Rizzio who Mary confided in and rumors said was the father of her unborn child. Darnley had Rizzio murdered in the presence of the Queen. He started plans to be given the right to rule Scotland as an equal to the Queen under the law known as Crown Matrimonial.

James the son of Mary Queen of Scots and Henry Stuart Lord Darnley was born at Edinburgh Castle.

Henry, Lord Darnley, was murdered as he tried to escape from his attackers as they laid gunpowder in his house. His house was destroyed in the explosion. The culprit was thought to be the Earl of Bothwell who was then very close to Queen Mary and it may have been the Queen herself who ordered the killing. ¹

The Earl of Bothwell was acquitted of the murder of Lord Darnley due to lack of evidence.

The Earl of Bothwell abducted Mary as she returned from Stirling. She was taken to Dunbar. It is unclear if Mary herself arranged the abduction.

Mary married James Hepburn the 4th Earl of Bothwell, the man accused of murdering her former husband Lord Darnley. ¹

Many Scottish nobles rallied against the Queen and Bothwell. The armies of both sides met at Carberry, a few miles to the east of Edinburgh. Mary gave herself up in return for Bothwell's safe exile and no bloodshed occurred. Mary was first taken to Edinburgh and then on to Lochleven where she was forced to abdicate.

The infant son of Mary, Queen of Scots, was crowned in Stirling in an ordinary church called the Holy Rude. This wasn't the traditional location for the coronations of Scottish kings. The ceremony was led by the Bishop of Orkney and John Knox. ¹

James Stewart, the illegitimate son of King James V of Scotland, and half-brother of Mary Stewart, was escorted from France through England to Edinburgh where he was declared Regent of Scotland to the young King James VI.

In Plymouth harbour John Hawkins prepared his fleet of six ships, two supplied by Queen Elizabeth and four of his own for a voyage to the west coast of Africa. The two ships supplied by the Queen were the Jesus of Lubeck and the Minion. The Jesus had been purchased by King Henry VIII in 1545 from the Hanseatic League in Lubeck (Northern Germany) for the English Royal Navy and was 700 tons. It was at this point an old ship and showing signs of its age.

John Hawkins in command of the Jesus of Lubeck with the Minion and four smaller ships set sail from Plymouth. Their first destination was Tenerife. The fleet was scattered by a storm but managed to meet up as agreed at the island. Francis Drake was the captain of the Judith.

Initially Hawkins was not able to find and capture many slaves. Several of his men were killed by poisoned arrows. But Hawkins was able to capture a town when a local king asked him for help defeating a rival. It was agreed that any persons captured by Hawkins could be taken as slaves in return for his help. Although the town was well defended, Hawkins' men were able to enter and put the inabitants to flight. In all Hawkins was able to take at least 500 prisoners.

With as many as 500 Africans, Hawkins set sail from the west African coast of Guinea. Several of his own crew perished during the actions Hawkins took detaining so many slaves.

Queen Mary managed to escape from Lochleven Castle and found support from the Hamiltons. A large army was raised.

At the battle of Langside, the Hamiltons' army was defeated and three days later Queen Mary had fled to England. By the 18th of May Mary was at Carlisle Castle.

After reaching the Caribbean and the Spanish Main, Hawkins set about trading with the islands. In June he reached Rio de la Hacha but was refused to sell his goods by the Spanish King's Treasurer who lived there. In response, Hawkins, assisted by Drake landed his men ashore and took the town by force. The Treasurer changed his mind and paid Hawkins for the slaves and other goods brought from England.

As a captive, Mary, Queen of Scots, was taken along with her many servants to Bolton Castle where she was held for six months. ¹

Aware of the stormy weather that occurs in the Caribbean in late summer, Hawkins made plans for his return to England, but his fleet was hit by a hurricane near Florida. The Jesus , his flag ship, was unable to withstand the winds and was damaged leaving it unable to complete the journey home. He decided to make repairs and sailed to San Juan de Ulua, modern day Veracruz, in Mexico.

Hawkins' fleet had managed to reach San Juan de Ulua after being damaged by a storm. The port was small and was protected by a difficult to navigate channel and a sand-bar. Once inside Hawkins moved some of the cannons from his ships onto the sand-bar to increase its defense. He was concerned that Spanish ships might find him. His fears were realised when a Spanish fleet with the Viceroy, Don Martin Enriquez found him. An agreement was reached whereby both fleets would share the port to escape the storms and hostages were exchanged. But the Viceroy has no intention of sticking to the deal and early in the morning the Spanish attacked, capturing the English cannons on the shore and using them against Hawkins' fleet. The Jesus was badly damaged but was able to offload most its precious cargo to the Minion which, along with the Judith, was able to escape.

Gerardus Mercator, a Flemish cartographer published a map of the World using a new projection such that navigation at sea was made easier. The map projected the globular map of the world onto a flat map by stretching the latitude scale based on that of the longitude.

Drake, aboard the Judith, sailed into Plymouth harbour a few days before Hawkins aboard the Minion. When Hawkins left the Caribbean half of his crew, possibly 100 men, voted to be disembarked, rather than face certain starvation on the trip home. The rest of the crew had no provisons and when they limped into Plymouth harbour just over a dozen had survived. Although he had managed to return with enough gold and silver, rescued from the Jesus at the end of the Battle of San Juan de Ulua, to keep his backers happy, Hawkins' ill-fated third voyage had ended in the loss of hundreds of lives and with the loss of one the Queen's ships.

After spending six months at Bolton in Yorkshire, Mary, Queen of Scots, was moved to Tutbury Castle in Staffordshire. ¹

Led by the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland and with support of the Spanish, a rebelion was started with the aim of freeing Mary Stuart from captivity and restablishing Catholicism. The rebels attacked and took the city of Durham but their plans failed when Royal forces advanced against them. The rebels fled north and Northumberland and Westmoreland took refuge in Scotland. Northumberland was handed over to the English while hundreds of suspected rebels were arrested and killed.

James Stewart, acting as regent to the young King, was assassinated by a member of the Hamilton family. It would be several months before a new regent was appointed.

Pope Pius V drew up a Bull of Excommunication on Queen Elizabeth. His hope was that the Catholic states of France and Spain would come together to remove the English Queen. The Bull was not issued immediately as both Philip of Spain and Charles of France were against it.

The Royal Exchange in London, built by Sir Thomas Gresham at Bishopsgate, was officially opened when the Queen visited the building and dined with Sir Thomas. The building was the first purpose-built centre for trading stocks. It is modelled on the Bourse in Antwerp, the world's oldest financial exchange, where Gresham had been based as a royal agent. It also had 100 small shops and the rent from which was to be used to reimburse the building costs.

The regency of Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox was ended when he was assassinated during a raid by forces loyal to Mary, Queen of Scots, in Stirling. The raid was part of the ongoing civil war in Scotland between the factions supporting Mary and those supporting her son James VI. His death was a blow to the pro-English faction and marked the continuation of political instability in Scotland.

The Earl of Northumberland had been held prisoner at Lochleven Castle after his arrest. He was moved to York where, accused of treason, he was executed.

Upon the order of the French king Charles IX, a large number of Huguenots (Protestants) were murdered across France. It is thought that the order actually originated from the king's mother Catherine de Medici. Starting first in Paris, the massacre spread out from the city and when it was over as many as possibly 30,000 people were killed. Many Huguenots fled to the port city of La Rochelle.

A supernova visible to the naked eye in the constellation Cassiopeia was seen during this year. Starting in November, its brightness, greater than Jupiter's, diminished over several months.

La Rochelle, the city on the west coast of France, was a well fortified port and the home to many Huguenots. After refusing to accept a royal governor the Duke of Anjou laid siege to the city. ¹

The Duke of Anjou raised the long-running siege that had left up to 22,000 of his men dead. ¹

The Duke of Anjou reached an agreement with the Huguenots within la Rochelle. The Huguenots were allowed to practice their beliefs within the three locations of La Rochelle, Nismes and Montauban. ¹

Shortly after the massacre of St Bartholomew, at the age of just 24, the king of France died of an illness, or possibe poisoning. Before his death the terrible acts that had occurred may have contributed to his death. Charles was succeeded by his younger brother, Henry duke of Anjou.

Queen Elizabeth was offered sovereignty of the Netherlands but she declined. ¹