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Greek Theatre, 475 - 400 BCE |
| ? |
(?) Dance dramas in Egypt and the Hittite Empire
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(?) Dance dramas introduced at agricultural festivals in
Greece |
| 510 BCE |
Cleisthenes introduces democratic government to Athens
Thespis active at City Dionysia |
| 484-441 |
First prize at City Dionysia awarded to Aeschylus(484), Sophocles(464),
and to Euripides(441) |
| c.460 |
Lenaea established in Athens |
| 423-411 |
Production of Aristophanes’ The Clouds (423), Lysistrata
(411) |
| 431-404 |
Athens defeated by Sparta in Peloponnesian War |
| 338 |
Philip of Macedon conquers Greece |
| c.330 |
Aristotle writes the Poetics |
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Roman Theatre and Spectacle, 340 BCE - 549 CE |
| c.310 |
Menander introduces New Comedy |
| c.250 |
Atellan farce reaches Rome |
| c.210-184 |
Plautus writes his plays |
| c.170-159 |
Terence writes his plays |
| c.80 |
Pompey builds first public theatre in Rome |
| c.10 |
Horace writes his Art of Poetry |
| 14 CE |
Death of Augustus, first Emperor, in Rome |
| c.25-65 |
Seneca writes his plays |
| c.70 |
Vitruvius writes his ten books on architecture |
| c.195 |
Tertullian writes De spectaculis |
| 313 |
Conversion of Emperor Constantine to Christianity |
| 409 |
Roman legions quit Britain |
| 410 |
Alaric the Visigoth sacks Rome ; theatres closed |
| c.420 |
St Augustine writes The City of God |
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Medieval Performance 900 - 1550 |
| 975 |
Concordia Regularis of St Ethelwold, Bishop of Winchester,
prescribed for use in all Benedictine monasteries (975) |
| c.975 |
First liturgical music drama presented as Introit at Mass
on Easter Sunday (c.975) at St Gall, Switzerland |
| c.975-80 |
Visitatio Sepulchri performed at St Gall, Switzerland
; Fleury, France; and Winchester, England St Ethelwold of Winchester writes
his Concordia Regularis |
| 1066 |
Norman Conquest of England |
| c.1150 |
Officium Stellae at Benoit-sur-Loire includes King
Herod and soldiers Hilarius in Paris writes Latin plays about Daniel, Lazarus
and St Nicholas |
| 1164 |
Chartres Cathedral completed |
| 1167 |
Founding of University of Oxford |
| 1188-92 |
Third Crusade |
| 1180-1200 |
Anglo-Norman Jeu d'Adam
Play of Antichrist performed at Tegernsee, Bavaria
Play of Daniel performed at Beauvais, France |
| 1208 |
University of Paris accorded formal recognition by Pope Innocent
III |
| 1209 |
Foundation of Franciscan Order |
| 1215 |
Foundation of Dominican Order |
| 1200-20 |
Founding of Trade Guilds in large manufacturing towns |
| 1238 |
Grosseteste, Bishop of Lincoln, bans celebration of the Feast
of Fools |
| 1264 |
Pope Urban IV promulgates the Feast of Corpus Christi |
| 1298 |
Passion play performed in Latin at Cividale, North Italy
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| c.1300 |
Farcical Interlude of the Student and his Girl Friend
written in Middle English |
| 1319-21 |
Dante completes the Divine Comedy in Ravenna |
| 1325 |
Adam de la Halle’s farces performed in Arras |
| 1352 |
Bishop Grandisson bans performance of satirical play in Exeter |
| 1364 |
The Plague (the Black Death) assumes epidemic proportions
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| c.1375 |
William Langland writes Piers Plowman |
| 1377 |
Guild Plays performed on Corpus Christi Day at Beverley,
Yorkshire |
| 1377/8 |
The Conquest of Jerusalem performed at a banquet in
Paris |
| 1380-90 |
Chaucer writes The Canterbury Tales |
| c.1380 |
Wycliffe writes his ‘Treatise against Miracles’ |
| 1388/9 |
The Fall of Troy performed at a banquet in Paris |
| 1390 |
Richard II builds Westminster Hall |
| 1409 |
Mystery of the Three Saints written and performed
at Romans in Southern Frante |
| 1418 |
Mummings banned in London |
| 1425-30 |
Lydgate’s Disguisings for Henry VI and the Livery Companies
of London |
| c.1450 |
The Castle of Perseverance written and performed in
East Anglia
The play of The Lives of the Apostles performed at Bourges in Frante
|
| 1453 |
Constantinople falls to the Ottoman Turks |
| 1450-60 |
Invention of gunpowder ; invention of printing |
| 1485 |
Accession of Henry VII |
| 1470 |
Maitre Pierre Pathelin written in Frante |
| 1485 |
Accession of Henry VII |
| 1486 |
Plautus’ Menaechmi performed in Ferrara |
| c.1490 |
Mankind and Eueryman written and performed
in England |
| 1497 |
Henry Medwall’s Fulgens und Lucres performed at Lambeth
Palace, London |
| 1504 |
Dom Hadton writes the Cornish Ordinalia and the play
of St Meriasek |
| 1509 |
Accession of Henry VIII |
| c.1515-20 |
John Skelton writes Magnyfycence |
| 1517 |
Martin Luther posts his 95 ‘Theses of Protest’ on Wittenberg
church door
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| 1519 |
A play by Plautus performed at court |
| 1531 |
Henry VIII divorces Catherine of Aragon and abjures the authority
of the Pope in England |
| 1536 |
John Bale’s King Johan performed |
| 1543 |
Parliament bans 'interpretations of Scripture' on public stages
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| 1547 |
Accession of Edward VI; Lutheran and Calvinist exiles return
to England |
| 1548 |
Abolition of the Feast of Corpus Christi |
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Italian Renaissance Theatre 1550 - 1700 |
| 1560-70 |
Formation of the first Commedia dell’Arte companies Scaliger’s
and Castelvetro’s commentaries on Aristotle’s Poetics |
| 1562 |
Trissino’s Sophonisba produced in Vicenza by the Olympic
Academy |
| 1580 |
Palladio starts to build the Teatro Olimpico at Vicenza |
| 1585 |
The Teatro Olimpico at Vicenza (completed by Scamozzi) opens
with a production of Giustiniani’s Oedipo Tiranno (translated from
Sophocles’ Oedipus the King) with music by Andrea Gabrielli
Scamozzi builds the Teatro Olimpico at Sabbioneta,near Mantua |
| 1597 |
Ottari Rinuccini's opera seria, Daphne, with
music by Jacopo Peri, produced in Florence |
| 1607 |
Monteverdi’s opera Orfeo produced in Mantua |
| 1618 |
Aleotti completes the Teatro Farnese in Parma |
| 1637 |
The first opera house (Teatro San Cassiano) opens in Venice
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| 1638 |
Nicola Sabbattini publishes his Pratica di fabricar scene
e machine ne’teatri |
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Spanish Renaisance Theatre, 1580 - 1680 |
| 1580 |
Philip annexes Portugal, Brazil and possessions in Africa
and East Indies |
| 1588 |
Defeat of Spanish Armada |
| 1598 |
Philip II succeeded by his son, Philip III |
| 1621 |
Philip III succeeded by his son, Philip IV |
| 1626 |
Cosme Lotti moves from Florence to Madrid |
| 1635 |
Death of Lope de Vega |
| 1640 |
Catalonia revolts and seeks French protection |
| 1640-68 |
Spain at war with Portugal |
| 1681 |
Death of Calderon |
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English Renaissance Theatre, 1550 - 1662 |
| 1552 |
Sir David Lmdsay’s Ane Satyre of the Three Estaitis
performed at Cupar, Fife, Scotland |
| 1553 |
Accession of Mary I restores Roman Catholicism |
| 1556 |
Cranmer, Ridley and Latimer burnt as heretics at Oxford |
| 1558 |
Accession of Elizabeth I |
| 1570 |
Excommunication of Elizabeth I |
| 1574 |
Earl of Leicester's players licensed to perform in London
on weekdays |
| 1574 |
James Burbage burlds The Theatre ; Richard Farrant opens The
Blackfriars |
| 1587 |
Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots |
| 1558 |
Defeat of the Spanish Armada |
| 1598 |
Building of the first Globe Playhouse |
| 1603 |
James VI of Scotland accedes as James I of England |
| 1604 |
Peace Treaty with Spain
Ben Jonson and Inigo Jones present The Masque of Blackness at court
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| 1616 |
Shakespeare dies; Ben Jonson publishes his Works |
| 1623 |
Publication of Shakespeare’s First Folio |
| 1625 |
Accession of Charles I and Henrietta Maria |
| 1640 |
D'Avenant and Inigo Jones present Salmacida Spolia,
last court masque |
| 1642 |
Charles I leaves London for Oxford; Parliament closes the
theatres |
| 1648 |
Execution of Charles I |
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English Restoration Theatre, 1660 - 1700 |
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French Baroque Theatre, 1625 - 1700 |
| 1625 |
Cardinal Richelieu becomes prime minister |
| 1635 |
Founding of the French Academy |
| 1636-/7 |
Corneille’s Le Cid produced in Paris |
| 1642 |
Cardinal Mazarin succeeds Cardinal Richelieu as prime minister
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| 1643 |
Louis XIV becomes King of France |
| 1645 |
Torelli arrives in Paris from Venice |
| 1653 |
Louis XIV appears as the Sun King in the Ballet de Nuit |
| 1658 |
Molière returns from the provinces to Paris |
| 1660 |
Corneille publishes his Discours and Examens
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| c.1670 |
Founding of the Royal Academy of Dancing |
| 1671 |
Founding of the Royal Academy of Opera |
| 1674 |
Boileau publishes his Art Poetique |
| 1677 |
First performance of Racine's Phèdre |
| 1680 |
The Theatre Francais established in Paris |