Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford, 1990.
Events Timeline
Orlando includes short event entries, freestanding and embedded in author profiles, about moments and processes relevant to literary history and organized into four categories: Women writers, Writing Climate, Political Climate, and Social Climate. Explore the timelines by searching for date(s) and/or words or phrases associated with them.
1 - 25 of 43197
Sappho: Early 6th century BC
Writing climate item
Sappho: Early 6th century BC
Writing climate item
Author event in Sappho
Early 6th century BC
Around this time
composed nine books of verse amounting to probably around 12,000 lines; the surviving fragments have made her a major figure of identification in British women's writing.
Sappho: About 612 BC
Writing climate item
Author event in Sappho
About 612 BC
was probably born in the late seventh century BC (Archaic period), possibly at Eresus if not at Mytilene, in either case on the Greek island of Lesbos, close to the coast of Asia...
Later 8th century BC: This time probably saw the genesis of Homer's...
Writing climate item
Later 8th century BC
This time probably saw the genesis of 's Iliad, though few dates are more hotly argued over, and the very existence of Homer as a person who created (traditional, formulaic, oral) epic poems...
776 BC: Historical records trace the first Olympic...
National or international item
776 BC
Historical records trace the first
to this year. The ancient Games continued until 393 AD; the first modern Games were held in 1896.
7 March 203: In the reign of the Emperor Septimius Severus,...
Writing climate item
7 March 203
In the reign of the Emperor
,
, author of the earliest surviving text in Latin by a woman, was martyred at Carthage in North Africa.
411: St Augustine of Hippo established the orthodox...
411
established the orthodox Christian doctrine of original sin (the inescapable rottenness of all human beings from the instant of birth) in his work De Peccatum Meritis et Remissione.
452: St Brigid, daughter of an Ulster chieftan,...
452
, daughter of an Ulster chieftan, was born.
597: St Augustine of Canterbury landed at the...
National or international item
597
landed at the Isle of Thanet, Kent, as the first Christian missionary to the English (and the first to mainland Britain whose mission outlived him).
630: Saint Eanswida founded a convent for women...
630
founded a convent for women at Folkestone in Kent.
657: Saint Hilda became the first abbess of the...
657
became the first abbess of the double monastery of Whitby in Yorkshire.
664: The Synod of Whitby confirmed the connection...
National or international item
664
The Synod of Whitby confirmed the connection of the English church with the Roman, as opposed to the Celtic, church.
670: St Ebba the Elder founded a convent at Ebchester...
670
founded a convent at Ebchester (on the River Derwent, near Newcastle upon Tyne) and a settlement at Coldingham (on the Northumberland coast).
17 November 680: Saint Hilda, Abbess of Whitby, died after...
17 November 680
, Abbess of Whitby, died after a lifetime of religious leadership whose high points included establishing a double monastery at Whitby in 657 and hosting the Synod of Whitby in 664.
713: St Cuthburga founded the double monastery...
713
founded the double monastery of Wimborne in Dorset.
Double monasteries were not uncommon: they included one institution for women and one for men.
Between 719 and 722: A nun and future abbess called Bugga, with...
Women writers item
Between 719 and 722
A nun and future abbess called
, with her mother,
(who was then abbess of the Kentish monastery to which Bugga succeeded), wrote the letter to
for which she is principally known.
About 730: The exquisite Kentish Vespasian Psalter was...
Writing climate item
About 730
The exquisite Kentish Vespasian Psalter was transcribed and decorated, perhaps by nuns at Minster-in-Thanet. The abbess there,
, later known as
, remains somewhat obscure.
731: A monk at Jarrow named Bede (often called...
Writing climate item
731
A monk at Jarrow named
(often called the Venerable Bede) finished his Ecclesiastical History of the English People.
732: Benedictine nun Leoba (Leofgyth) from Kent, later abbess of Tauberbischofsheim, wrote a letter to Archbishop Boniface
Women writers item
732
Benedictine nun
(
) from Kent, later abbess of Tauberbischofsheim, wrote a letter to Archbishop
, patron saint of Germany. The letter recalls Boniface's friendship with Leoba’s parents and...
Between 776 and 786: A nun named Hugeburc, hailing from what is...
Women writers item
Between 776 and 786
A nun named
, hailing from what is now England but living in the double monastery at Hildenheim in Bavaria, composed Latin biographies or hagiographies of Saints
and
.
789: The Anglo-Saxon chronicle records the first...
National or international item
789
The Anglo-Saxon chronicle records the first landing of Viking ships in England.
813: At the Council of Tours, Charlemagne, in...
National or international item
813
At the
,
, in the last year before he died, ordered sermons to be preached in local tongues instead of Latin.
865: A Danish or Viking Great Army landed in East...
National or international item
865
A Danish or Viking Great Army landed in East Anglia and began the process of subjugating the various kingdoms of England.
11 May 868: The earliest printed book extant which bears...
Writing climate item
11 May 868
The earliest printed book extant which bears a date, a classic Buddhist text entitled The Diamond Sutra, was printed in China on this day, as a tribute to both his parents from a man...
876: The first known inscription of the symbol...
876
The first known inscription of the symbol zero was made.