Though severe earthquakes in the north of France and southern England are rare,^[1] the Dover Straits earthquake of 6 April 1580 appears to have been the largest in the recorded history of England, Flanders or northern France. The earthquake, which occured about 6 o'clock in the evening, is well recorded in contemporary documents,^[2] including a well-known letter from Gabriel Harvey to Edmund Spenser, the "earthquake letter", mocking popular and academic methods of accounting for the tremors. It fell during Easter week, an omen-filled connection that was not lost on the servant-poet James Yates, who wrote ten stanzas on the topic: An earthquake is a phenomenon that results from and is powered by the sudden release of stress in rocks that radiates seismic waves. ... Royal motto (French): Dieu et mon droit (Translated: God and my right) Englands location (dark green) within the United Kingdom (light green), with the Republic of Ireland (blue) to its west Languages English Capital London Largest city London Area – Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population –mid-2004... Flanders (Dutch: Vlaanderen) has several main meanings: the social, political and cultural community of the Flemings, through its social and political organizations, its media, universities, ... ; some prefer to call this the Flemish community, other refers to this as the Flemish nation; a constituent governing institution of the federal Belgian... Gabriel Harvey (c. ... Edmund Spenser Edmund Spenser (c. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Holy Week procession. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... In poetry, a stanza is a unit within a larger poem. ...

Oh sudden motion, and shaking of the earth,

No blustering blastes, the weather calme and milde:

Good Lord the sudden rarenesse of the thing

A sudden feare did bring, to man and childe,

They verely thought, as well in field as Towne,

The earth should sinke, and the houses all fall downe.

Well let vs print this present in our heartes,

And call to God, for neuer neede we more:

Crauing of him mercy for our misdeedes,

Our sinfull liues from heart for to deplore,

For let vs thinke this token doth portend,

If scourge nere hand, if we do still offend.

Yates' poem was printed in 1582 in The Castell of Courtesy.^[3] Events January 15 - Russia cedes Livonia and Estonia to Poland February 24 - Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian Calendar. ...

Shakespeare scholars are familiar with the 1580 quake, as a reference to it in Romeo and Juliet would appear to date the play to 1591: Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... The Most Excellent and Lamentable Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, commonly referred to as Romeo and Juliet, is a play by William Shakespeare concerning the fate of two young lovers who would do anything to be together. ...

Nurse: "’T is since the earthquake now eleven years...” (Romeo and Juliet, I.iii, line 22)

Perhaps the most terrifying were the experiences of those sailing on the English Channel, where freak waves and swells sank more than two dozen English, French and Flemish vessels.^[4] A passenger on a boat from Dover reported that his vessel had grounded on the sea bed five times and that the seas had risen higher than the mast of his vessel. Satellite view of the English Channel Map of the English Channel The English Channel (French: La Manche (IPA: ) is the part of the Atlantic Ocean that separates the island of Great Britain from northern France and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. ... The Draupner wave, a single giant wave measured on New Years Day 1995, finally confirmed the existence of freak waves, which had previously been considered near-mythical Freak waves, also known as rogue waves or monster waves, are relatively large and spontaneous ocean surface waves which can sink even... Flemish (in Dutch, Vlaams) can either refer to Anything belonging to Flanders (the Flemish nation) or to its inhabitants, the Flemings. ... Map sources for Dover at grid reference TR315415 Arms of Dover Borough Council This article is about the English port town. ...

Calais bore the brunt of the tremors, which lasted a quarter of an hour and were followed by a "deluge"— a tsunami— that engulfed the town and surrounding countryside, drowning cattle and several people. Part of the town wall collapsed and several were killed and injured by collapsing walls. Boulogne-sur-Mer was flooded too. Location within France The Burghers of Calais, by Rodin, with Calais Hotel de Ville behind J.M.W. Turner: Calais Pier Calais (Dutch: Kales) is a town in northern France, located at 50°57N 1°52E. It is in the département of Pas-de-Calais, of which it is... The tsunami that struck Malé in the Maldives on December 26, 2004. ... Boulogne-sur-Mer is a city and commune in northern France, in the Pas-de-Calais département of which it is a sous-préfecture. ...

Further from the coast, furniture danced on the floors and wine casks rolled off their stands. The belfry of Notre Dame de Lorette and several buildings at Lille collapsed. Stones fell from buildings in Arras, Douai, Béthune and Rouen. Windows cracked in the the cathedral of Notre Dame at Pontoise, and blocks of stone dropped ominously from the vaulting. At Beauvais the bells rang as though sounding the tocsin. The term Belfry has a variety of uses: For the architectural term see:Belfry (architecture) For the U.S. town in Montana see Belfry, Montana For the English golf club see The De Vere Belfry There is also a German Epic Metal band called Belfry. ... Basilica Lighthouse // Location On a 165 meter high ridge where the French fought a long battle with the Germans during the 1st World War, lies one of the major French National Memorials and Cemetries with Basilica and Lighthouse. ... New city flag Traditional coat of arms Motto: – Coordinates : , Time Zone : CET (GMT +1) Administration Département Nord (59) Région Nord-Pas de Calais Mayor Martine Aubry (PS) (since 2001) Intercommunality Urban Community of Lille Métropole City (commune) Characteristics Land Area 39. ... Arras (Dutch: ) is a town and commune in northern France, préfecture (capital) of the Pas-de-Calais département. ... Douai is a city and commune in the north of France in the département of Nord, of which it is a sous-préfecture. ... Béthune is a city and commune of northern France, sous-préfecture of the Pas-de-Calais département. ... Location within France Rouen Cathedral The entrance to Rouen Cathedral Abbey church of Saint-Ouen, (chevet) in Rouen Rouen, medieval house Rouen (pronounced in French, sometimes also ) is the historical capital city of Normandy, in northwestern France, and presently the capital of the Haute-Normandie (Upper Normandy) région. ... Pontoise is a suburban commune of the Val-dOise département, in suburban Paris in France. ... Beauvais is a town and commune of northern France, préfecture (capital) of the Oise département. ...

In Flanders chimneys fell and cracks opened in the walls of Ghent and Oudenarde. Peasants in the fields reported a low rumble and saw the ground roll in waves. Gent at Night Ghent (Gent in Dutch, Gand in French, formerly Gaunt in English) is a city located in Flanders, Belgium. ... Oudenaarde is a municipality located in Flanders, one of the three regions of Belgium, and in the Flemish province of East Flanders. ...

On the English coast, sections of wall fell in Dover and a landslip opened a raw new piece of the White Cliffs. At Sandwich a loud noise emanated from the Channel, as church arches cracked and the gable end of a transept fell at St Peter's Church. In Hythe, Kent, Saltwood Castle — made famous as the site where the plot was hatched in December 1170 to assassinate Thomas Becket — was rendered uninhabitable until it was repaired in the nineteenth century. Map sources for Dover at grid reference TR315415 Arms of Dover Borough Council This article is about the English port town. ... The white cliffs of Dover The white cliffs of Dover, immortalized in popular song and verse (by Vera Lynn, Kate Smith, Matthew Arnold, Eric Johnson and others), are cliffs facing the Strait of Dover near the major English port town of Dover, in the county of Kent, and form part... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Saltwood Castle ca. ... St Thomas Becket (December 21, 1118 – December 29, 1170) was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 to 1170. ...

In London, half a dozen chimney stacks came down and a pinnacle on Westminster Abbey; two children were killed by stones falling from the roof of Christ's Church Hospital. There was damage far inland, in Cambridgeshire; stones fell from the Ely Cathedral. Part of Stratford Castle in Essex collapsed. The Abbeys western façade The Collegiate Church of St Peter, Westminster, which is almost always referred to as Westminster Abbey, is a mainly Gothic church, on the scale of a cathedral, in Westminster, London, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. ... Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs) is a county in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west. ... Front of Ely Cathedral Ely Cathedral (in full, The Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Ely) is the principal church of the diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Ely. ...

In Scotland, local report of the quake disturbed the adolescent James VI, who was informed that it was the work of the Devil.^[5] Motto: Nemo me impune lacessit (English: No one provokes me with impunity) Scotlands location within Europe Scotlands location within the United Kingdom Languages English, Gaelic, Scots Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow First Minister Jack McConnell Area - Total - % water Ranked 2nd UK 78,782 km² 1. ... James VI of Scotland/James I of England (Charles James Stuart) (June 19, 1566 – March 27, 1625) was King of England, King of Scotland and was the first to style himself King of Great Britain. ...

There were aftershocks. Before dawn the next morning, between 4 and 5 o'clock further houses collapsed near Dover, and a second tsunami was reported to have drowned 120 people. A spate of further aftershocks were noticed in east Kent on 1-2 May.

A study undertaken during the design of the Channel Tunnel^[6] showed that in the southeast of England the 1580 quake may have had a magnitude of 5.3 to 5.9 and located the epicentre beneath the Channel. The study estimated its focal depth at 20–25 km. The British terminal at Cheriton, from the Pilgrims Way. ... An earthquake is a phenomenon that results from and is powered by the sudden release of stress in rocks that radiates seismic waves. ...

Two later quakes in the Dover Strait, in 1776 and 1950, were noted in the 1984 compilation by R.M.W. Musson, G. Neilson and P.W. Burton,^[7] none in the study occuring before 1727, but the same team devoted an article to the 1580 earthquake that year,^[8] the classic study. Historical accounts of the earthquakes of 1380, 1776 and 1950 have led some scientists to suggest that all are caused by periodic tectonic activity that results in a tremor occurring in the Dover Straits approximately every 200 years.

Notes

Events September 8 - Battle of Kulikovo - Russian forces under Grand Prince Dmitrii Ivanovich defeat a mixed army of Tatars and Mongols (the Golden Horde), stopping their advance at Kulikovo. ... Mont-Saint-Michel: sheep graze on the reclaimed pré-salé or salt meadow (2004) Mont Saint Michel is a small rocky islet, roughly one kilometer from the north coast of France at the mouth of the Couesnon River, near Avranches in Normandy, close to the border of Brittany. ...

On-line references

• Shaksper: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List, 2002 archives Friday, 26 April 2002, and following messages, which, taken together, compile references used to write this article.
• Geology shop: UK Earthquakes. Source for much detail in this article.