• 6 January (probably) – the
Banqueting House, Whitehall, is opened with a performance of
Ben Jonson's
The Masque of Augurs designed by the building's architect,
Inigo Jones. • 7 January –
John Pym arrested for criticizing the King in Parliament. • 8 February – King James I disbands Parliament. • 22 February – a
patent is granted for
Dud Dudley's process for
smelting iron ore with
coke. • 22 March – in the
Jamestown massacre,
Algonquian Indians kill 347 English settlers around
Jamestown, Virginia (33% of the colony's population) and destroy the
Henricus settlement. • 22 April –
Capture of Ormuz from the Portuguese by an Anglo-Persian force. • 23 May –
Nathaniel Butter begins publication in London of
Newes from Most Parts of Christendom or
Weekly News from Italy, Germany, Hungaria, Bohemia, the Palatinate, France and the Low Countries, one of the first regular
English language newspapers. • 25 May – the
East India Company ship
Tryall sinks when it hits the
Tryal Rocks reef off Australia. 94 out of the 143 crew die. •
William Oughtred invents the
slide rule. •
Boston Manor House is built in London by Dame Mary Reade. • First record of bottled spring water in England at
Holy Well, Malvern. • Vicariate Apostolic of England (and Wales) is established. ==Literature==