?1552 Born at East Smithfield, London.
1558 (Queen Elizabeth accedes to the throne.)
1561 [Aged about 9] Spenser enters the newly-founded Merchant Taylors' School, headmaster Richard Mulcaster.
1569 [17] Anonymously contributes verse translations of Visions of Petrarch and Visions of Bellay to Van der Noodt's Theatre of Worldlings; enters Pembroke Hall (College), Cambridge.
1570 [18] Made a Fellow of Pembroke Hall.
1573 [21] Bachelor of Arts.
1574 [22] Plague in Cambridge. Spenser temporarily departs.
1576 [24] Master of Arts; leaves Cambridge for the north of England.
?1577 [25] Visits Ireland. Returns to London.
1578 [26] Appointed secretary to John Young, Bishop of Rochester, former Master of Pembroke Hall.