York Mystery Plays: Timeline

John 1199 - 1216
 1210 Clergy banned from acting onstage (under Innocent III)
1212 York granted self governance by King John
1215 Magna Carter; Fourth Lateran Council

Henry III 1216 - 1272

Edward I 1272 - 1307
1298 Edward I moves government to York (until 1304; Parliament continued to gather there until 1335)

Edward II 1307 - 1327
1318 Feast of Corpus Christi arrives in England
1319 Scottish attack
1323 Truce with Robert the Bruce

Edward III 1327 - 1377
1330 Black Death
1337-1453 Hundred Years' War
1349 Black Death recurs
1376 Early mention of plays
1381 Peasants' Revolt (uprising in York)
1376 Early mention of plays

Richard II 1377 - 1399
1396 Chapter of Richard II (he promotes York to a county in its own right; visits York)

Henry IV 1399 - 1413
1412 Nicholas Blackburn is Lord Mayor of York

Henry V 1413 - 1422

Henry VI 1422 - 1461, 1470 - 1471

Edward IV 1461 - 1470, 1471 - 1483 
1463-77 Compilation of York Register
1472 York Minster is (finally) completed and consecrated
1455-85 Wars of the Roses
1476 Plays separated from Corpus Christi feast

Richard III 1483 - 1485

Henry VII 1485 - 1509
1486 & 87 Henry VII visits York

Henry VIII 1509 - 1547
1533 Henry VII marries Anne Boleyn 
1536 Pilgrimage of Grace
1539 York's Abbey dissolved
1545 Council of Trent
1547 Religious guilds/chantries dissolved

Edward VI 1547 - 1553
1548 Corpus Christi abolished
1549 Book of Common Prayer 

Mary 1553 - 1558

Elizabeth I 1558 - 1603
1564 Shakespeare born
1569 Mystery plays finally suppressed
1586 Margaret Clitherow ('the pearl of York') executed