August - James I ends the war with Spain
The long war with Spain had continued intermittently for 20 years. England and Spain were now at peace for the next 50 years.

5 November - Gunpowder Plot to assassinate James I is discovered
Guy Fawkes is thwarted when he tried to blow up Parliament.

14 February - James I's daughter Elizabeth marries Frederick V, Elector Palatine. It was through Elizabeth's descendants that the House of Hanover came to inherit the English throne after the Stuarts.

27 March - James I dies and his son Charles I accedes to the throne

14 May - Barbados comes under British control
Captain John Powell landed in Barbados in 1625 and claimed the island as a British Caribbean colony.

13 April - 'Short Parliament' opens at Westminster
Desperate for money to fight the Scots, Charles I was forced to summon a new parliament. Only open a month before Charles dissolved it.

28 August - Scots defeat the English at Newburn on the River Tyne

3 November -'Long Parliament' opens at Westminster
With the Scottish army firmly established in Northern England and refusing to leave until its expenses had been paid, Charles I was again forced to summon a parliament. Many of the members of parliament voiced angry complaints against his policies.

October - Rebellion breaks out in Ireland
Several thousand English and Scottish Protestant settlers were killed and many more were forced to flee.

4 January - Charles I tries to arrest five leading members of parliament
Fearing that his opponents in parliament were not only determined to seize political control, but also to impeach his Catholic wife, Henrietta Maria, Charles I marched into the House of Commons and attempted to arrest five leading members of parliament. Forewarned, they slipped away and Charles was forced to leave empty-handed.

22 August- Civil War begins as Charles I raises his standard at Nottingham

5 May - Charles I surrenders to the Scots

No monarch

England became a Republic for eleven years from 1649 - 1660

1 January 1651 Charles II is crowned king of Scotland

3 September Oliver Cromwell defeats Charles II at the Battle of Worcester

June - Dutch ships attack the English fleet in the River Medway

4 November - Mary Stuart marries William of Orange, Charles I's grandson
Mary Stuart was the elder daughter of Charles II's brother, James, Duke of York (James II). Her marriage in 1677 to the Dutch Protestant Prince William of Orange, himself the grandson of Charles I, strengthened William's claim to the English throne.

6 February 1685 Charles II dies and his brother James II accedes to the throne

1 July - William III defeats James II at the Battle of the Boyne, Ireland

Bank of England is established to manage mounting debts

December 1694 Mary dies, leaving William III to rule alone
William III's wife Mary died at the age of 32 leaving no children.

8 March - William III dies and his sister-in-law Anne accedes to the throne
William III died two weeks after being thrown from his horse when it tripped over a molehill in Hyde Park, London.

England and Scotland officially became one country - Great Britain
The Scottish parliament was dissolved and England and Scotland became one country - Great Britain

Act of Union between Scotland and England - part of the Union flag story

1 August - Anne dies and George I accedes to the throne
Anne, the last Stuart monarch, died at Kensington Palace in London aged 49. None of her children survived her, so under the terms of the Act of Succession of 1701 she was succeeded by George, Elector of Hanover, who was proclaimed as George I. He was the first of the Hanoverian monarchs.