The British Seventeenth Century: important Milton things
1625 Accession of Charles I (Stuart)
1642 War breaks out between Charles and Parliament; his enemies cite his entanglements and alliances with Catholic powers on the continent, and arbitrary rule at home
1649 The captured Charles is executed
1649-1660 ("Interregnum") Rule variously by the Army under Oliver Cromwell and others, and by Parliament; Milton serves as Cromwell's Latin secretary (and Marvell as his assistant)
1660 Charles II restored; Milton briefly imprisoned (freed through the efforts of Marvell, among others)
1667 Paradise Lost published in ten books
1674 Paradise Lost published in twelve books (as with our edition)
(adapted from The Western Heritage, v. 2, 5th ed., Donald Kagan et al., eds. [Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1995], 493)