Periods of History, Dates and Terminology

Introduction

The idea for this page began as I sat looking at a list of genealogical resources across the centuries – essentially, what databases and name rich material existed, prior to the the developments of the 19th Century.

In the 19th Century, there are resources that we use regularly for our research, such as the Census, parish records and civil registration, which began in September 1837.

Rather than start the list at the 14th Century, I added in earlier centuries, for completeness. Any material of relevance will be written about, and then linked to the page.

The purpose of this, is a timeline of what happened and when, and perhaps more importantly, how those things impacted on the communities of the time, our ancestors of the time and the people that existed in our surname and place studies.

  • Stone Age
    • Palaeolithic (Old Stone Age)
      • Lower Palaeolithic
      • Middle Palaeolithic
      • Upper Palaeolithic
    • Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age)
    • Neolithic (New Stone Age)
  • Bronze Age – (2500 – 700 BC)
  • Iron Age – (700 – 43 AD)
  • Ancient Egypt
  • Ancient Greece
  • Roman
    • Commencement of the building of Hadrian’s Wall – 122AD
  • Anglo Saxon
  • Vikings
  • 11th Century – (1001-1100)
    • Norman – 1066-1154
  • 12th Century – (1101-1200)
  • Plantagenets – 1154-1485
  • Medieval Period
    • 476AD-1450
  • Renaissance Period – Broadly 14th-17th Centuries
  • 13th Century – (1201-1300)
  • 14th Century – (1301-1400)
    • The era of the Plantagenets concluding with the death of Richard III on the battlefield in 1485
  • 15th Century – (1401-1500)
    • The Tudors period commences 1485-1603
  • 16th Century – (1501-1600)
    • Tudor period concludes with the death of King Henry VIII
      Elizabethan period commences – 1558-1603
  • 17th Century – (1601-1700)
    • The Elizabethan period ceases, following the death of Elizabeth I
    • Stuart period commences – 1603-1714
    • Oliver Cromwell – Commonwealth period (1648-1660)
    • Restoration of the Monarchy,(King Charles returns from exile in France, 1660)
      • Cavalier Parliament (8 May 1661 – 24 Jan 1679)
  • 18th Century – (1701-1800)
    • Union with Scotland 1701
    • Georgian (Hanoverian) period commenced 1714
  • 19th Century (1801-1900)
    • Establishment of the Census taken in the United Kingdom every decade from 1801
    • Following death of King George III, Victoria ascends the throne, 1837
    • Victorian period commenced 1837
  • 20th Century (1901-2000)
    • First World War 1914-1918
    • Second World War 1939-1945
    • Independence of India 1947
      • Partition, and formation of India and Pakistan
    • Polish Resettlement Act 1947
    • Following the death of King George VI, Elizabeth II ascends the throne, 1952
    • Cold War 1945-1991
    • Falkland Crisis 1982
    • Break up of the USSR 1991+
  • 21st Century (2001- )
    • Russia invades Ukraine February 2022
    • Following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles III (Proclaimed 10 September 2022) – Commencement of the third Carolean Age.

Further Reading and Information

 

Page updated 4 February 2023