Hannah Anne Bushnell

Elizabeth I was the last of Henry VIII's descendants, and James I was seen as her most likely heir through his great-grandmother Margaret Tudor, who was Henry VIII's oldest sister. From 1601, English politicians—notably her chief minister Sir Robert Cecil - maintained a secret correspondence with James to prepare in advance for a smooth succession. With the Queen clearly dying, Cecil sent James a draft proclamation of his accession to the English throne in March 1603. Elizabeth died in the early hours of 24 March, and James was proclaimed king in London later the same day.

On 5 April, James left Edinburgh for London, promising to return every three years (a promise that he did not keep), and progressed slowly southwards, arriving in the capital on 7 May, nine days after Elizabeth's funeral. His new subjects flocked to see him, relieved that the succession had triggered neither unrest nor invasion.

The Pilgrim Fathers set sail to the Americas on the Mayflower from Plymouth in Devon. Conventional wisdom is that the pilgrims fled England to escape religious persecution. The more realistic truth is that as a radical sect the pilgrims were unable to impose their views on the established church, and left voluntarily

Plymouth Rock is the traditional disembarkation site of the Mayflower Pilgrims. More recently the idea has been questioned. Journalist Bill Bryson wrote, "The one thing the Pilgrims did not do was step ashore on Plymouth Rock," because the boulder would have made an impractical landing spot. Others have said the Pilgrims first disembarked from the Mayflower at Provincetown, Massachusetts

Charles I was king of England, Scotland and Ireland, whose conflicts with parliament led to civil war and his eventual execution.

Charles's reign was plagued with tensions with parliament over money - made worse by the costs of war abroad. In addition, Charles favoured a High Anglican form of worship, and his wife was Catholic - both made many of his subjects suspicious, particularly the Puritans. In November 1641, tensions were raised even further with disagreements over who should command an army to suppress an uprising in Ireland. Charles attempted to have five members of parliament arrested and in August 1642, raised the royal standard at Nottingham. Civil war began.

The Royalists were defeated by the Scots and the formation of the New Model Army. Convinced that there would never be peace while the king lived, a rump of radical MPs, including Cromwell, put him on trial for treason. He was found guilty and executed on 30 January 1649 outside the Banqueting House on Whitehall, London.

Sir Christopher Wren is best known for the design of St Paul's Cathedral, London. After the 1666 Great Fire of London destroyed most of the city, the king appointed him as one of the architectural commissioners to oversee the rebuilding of the city. Over the next 46 years, Wren designed and supervised the rebuilding of 51 city churches including his masterpiece, St. Paul’s Cathedral

Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve founded Ville-Marie, which was destined to become the most important trading post in New France and the future city of Montréal. Maisonneuve served as governor until 1665.

Text and image © The Canadian Encyclopedia

The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of armed conflicts between Parliamentarians ("Roundheads") and Royalists ("Cavaliers") over the manner of England's governance. The first (1642–1646) and second (1648–1649) wars pitted the supporters of King Charles I against the supporters of the Long Parliament, while the third (1649–1651) saw fighting between supporters of King Charles II and supporters of the Rump Parliament. The war ended with the Parliamentarian victory at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651.

The outcome was threefold: the trial and execution of Charles I (1649); the exile of his son, Charles II (1651); and the replacement of English monarchy with the Commonwealth of England (1649–1653) and then the Protectorate under the personal rule of Oliver Cromwell (1653–1658) and his son Richard (1658–1659). Constitutionally, the wars established that an English monarch cannot govern without Parliament's consent.

Sir Isaac Newton FRS PRS (25 December 1642 – 20 March 1726/27 was an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian, and author (described in his own day as a "natural philosopher") who is widely recognised as one of the most influential scientists of all time, and a key figure in the scientific revolution. His book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica ("Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy"), first published in 1687, laid the foundations of classical mechanics. Newton also made seminal contributions to optics, and shares credit with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz for developing the infinitesimal calculus.