CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE
| EVENTS IN SPENSER'S LIFE | A.D. | CONTEMPORARY EVENTS |
| Birth of Edmund Spenser (about) | 1552 | Birth of Sir Walter Raleigh |
| 1553 | Death of Edward VI; Mary crowned. | |
| 1554 | Mary marries Philip of Spain. | |
| 1558 | Death of Mary; Elizabeth crowned. | |
| 1560 | Charles IX, king of France. | |
| 1568 | Council of Trent. | |
| Visions of Bellay, published, | 1569 | |
| Sonnets of Petrarch, published, | 1569 | |
| Enters Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, | 1569 | |
| 1572 | Gregory XIII, Pope of Rome. | |
| 1572 | Massacre of St. Batholomew. | |
| 1574 | Henry III, king of France. | |
| Received M.A., leaves Cambridge, | 1576 | Rudolph II, emperor. |
| Leaves Lancashire, | 1578 | Elizabeth aids the Netherlands. |
| Visits Lord Leicester, | 1579 | |
| The Shepheards Calender, | 1579 | |
| Goes to Ireland, | 1580 | Massacre of Smerwick. |
| 1581 | Tasso's Jersalem Delivered. | |
| Lord Grey's return to England, | 1582 | |
| 1584 | Assassination of William the Silent. | |
| 1585 | Sixtus V, Pope. Drake's voyage. | |
| 1585 | Leicester goes to the Netherlands. | |
| 1586 | Death of Sir Philip Sidney. | |
| First marriage (before) | 1587 | Execution of Mary Queen of Scots. |
| Clerk to the Council of Munster, | 1588 | Defeat of Spanish Armada. Death of Leicester. |
| Visits England with Raleigh, | 1589 | Assassination of Henry III; Henry IV crowned. |
| The Faerie Queene,, Books I, II, III, | 1590 | Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost. |
| Mother Hubberds Tale, Tears of the Muses, Ruines of Time, Daphnaida, The Visions, | 1591 | Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors, Henry VI. |
| 1591 | Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, trans. | |
| 1593 | Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. | |
| 1593 | Richard III. | |
| Second marriage, | 1594 | Shakespeare's Richard II |
| Colin Clout's Come Home Again, | 1595 | Shakespeare's King John. |
| Amoretti, Epithalamion, Hymns, | 1595 | Johnston's Seven Champions of Christendom. |
| Astrophel, Prothalamion, | 1596 | Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. |
| The Faerie Queene, Books I-VI, | 1596 | Ben Jonson's Every Man in his Humour. |
| Vision of the Present State of Ireland, | 1598 | Edict of Nantes, Philip III crowned. |
| Death of Spenser, | 1599 | Revolt of Irish. Expedition of Essex to Ireland. |
THE FAERIE QUEENE
LETTER TO SIR WALTER RALEIGH
A LETTER of the Authors expounding his whole intention in the course of this worke;[1] which, for that it giveth great light to the reader, for the better understanding is hereunto annexed.