| 1642 | Outbreak of English Civil War between parliamentary and royalist forces. |
| 1644 | 14 October, Penn born in London. |
| 1648 | Peace of Westphalia ends Thirty Years’ War in Europe. |
| 1649 | Execution of King Charles I in England. Proclamation of English Commonwealth. |
| 1653 | Oliver Cromwell inaugurates Protectorate. |
| 1658 | Cromwell dies. |
| 1660 | Restoration of Stuart monarchy in England (accession of Charles II). Penn enters Christ Church College, Oxford. |
| 1662 | Penn expelled from Oxford for religious nonconformity. |
| 1663 | Penn studies at the Protestant Academy in Saumur, France. |
| 1665 | Penn enters Lincoln’s Inn, London, to study law. |
| 1667 | Penn converts to Quakerism in Ireland; is arrested for the first time. |
| 1670 | September: Penn-Mead trial, commemorated in Penn’s People’s Ancient and Just Liberties Asserted. Death of Penn’s father, Admiral Sir William Penn. |
| 1672 | Penn marries Gulielma Springett. Charles II issues Declaration of Indulgence tolerating religious nonconformists. Forced to withdraw Declaration after parliamentary objections. |
| 1673 | Parliament enacts Test Act, requiring English officeholders to swear oaths of allegiance and to abjure papal supremacy and Catholic doctrine. |
| 1675 | Penn’s first involvement in colonization. Arbitrates dispute between Quakers in West Jersey. Becomes trustee of West New Jersey. |
| 1677 | Travels to Holland and Germany defending Quakers and promoting liberty of conscience. |
| 1679–81 | Popish Plot in England, with turmoil over rumors to bring Catholicism to England under guise of toleration. |
| 1681 | March: Penn receives charter for Pennsylvania. |
| 1682 | Death of Penn’s mother, Lady Margaret Penn. August: Penn arrives in Pennsylvania. |
| 1684 | Returns to England to pursue boundary disputes with Lord Baltimore. |
| 1685 | Charles II dies. James II, a Catholic, crowned King of England. Louis XIV revokes the Edict of Nantes, basis for toleration of French Protestants. |
| 1687 | James II issues Declaration of Indulgence, tolerating religious nonconformists. Penn supports James’s cause. |
| 1688 | Glorious Revolution: William of Orange invades England. James ejected from the throne. William and Mary crowned King and Queen of England. |
| 1689 | Toleration Act passed. Penn arrested, accused of treason. |
| 1691–93 | Penn in hiding. |
| 1694 | Gulielma Springett Penn dies. |
| 1696 | Penn marries Hannah Callowhill. |
| 1699 | December: Penn arrives in Pennsylvania. |
| 1701 | Returns to England. |
| 1702 | William III dies. Queen Anne crowned. |
| 1708 | Legal troubles, Penn in debtor’s prison for a time. |
| 1712 | Penn suffers strokes, is incapacitated for rest of life. |
| 1714 | Death of Queen Anne. George I of Hanover crowned King of England. |
| 1715 | Death of Louis XIV. |
| 1718 | 30 July, Penn dies. |
Titles (by Subject) 
