| Event | Date | Extra Info |
| Descartes' Principia Philosophicae is published. | |
| The Great Plague. | |
| End of the reign of Charles I. Start of the Commonwealth of Britain. | |
| End of the reign of Mary I. Start of the reign of Elizabeth I. | |
| Start of the Reign of Henry VIII. | |
| William Shakespeare dies. | |
| Astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler dies. | |
| The Great Fire of London. | |
| End of the reign of Henry VIII. Start of the reign of Edward VI. | |
| Nicolaus Copernicus dies. This same year, his landmark book Concerning the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres is published. | |
| Oliver Cromwell dies, His son Richard succeeds him as Protector. | |
| Edmund Spenser's epic The Faerie Queene (Books 1-6) is published. | |
| Italian poet Ludovico Ariosto'ss epic Orlando Furioso is published. | |
| Second Civil War in Britain. | |
| Sir Walter Raleigh is executed. | |
| The Commonwealth is ended. Start of the reign of Charles II. | |
| The King James Bible is published. | |
| Start of First Civil War in Britain. | |
| John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress is published. | |
| Antonio Stradivari labels his first violin. | |
| The Royal Society is founded. | |