erected.
January–March •
January 22 – The Royalist
Oxford Parliament is first assembled by King
Charles I of England. •
January 26 –
First English Civil War:
Battle of Nantwich – The
Parliamentarians defeat the
Royalists, allowing them to end the 6-week siege of the
Cheshire town. •
January 30 • Dutch explorer
Abel Tasman departs from
Batavia in the
Dutch East Indies (modern-day Jakarta in Indonesia) on his second major expedition for the
Dutch East India Company, to map the north coast of
Australia. Tasman commands three ships,
Limmen,
Zeemeeuw and
Braek, and returns to Batavia at the beginning of August with no major discoveries. •
Battle of Ochmatów:
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth forces under
hetman Stanisław Koniecpolski secure a substantial victory over the
horde of
Crimean Tatars under
Tugay Bey. •
February 2 – Prince of
Transylvania George I Rákóczi invades
Hungary to aid Sweden against the Habsburgs. •
February 5 – The first
livestock branding law in America is passed in Connecticut. •
February 8 –
Li Zicheng declares the founding of the
Shun dynasty in China, with himself as emperor. •
March 24 –
Roger Williams is granted an official grant for his
Rhode Island Colony from the Parliament of England, allowing the establishment of a general assembly.
April–June •
April 18 –
Opchanacanough leads the
Powhatan Indians in an unsuccessful uprising against the English at
Jamestown. Although 300 of the English colonists are slain, the settlers pursue Opchanacanough, who is imprisoned in Jamestown for the rest of his life. This is the last such Indian rebellion in the region. •
April 25 – A popular Chinese rebellion led by
Li Zicheng sacks Beijing, prompting
Chongzhen, the last emperor of the
Ming dynasty, to commit
suicide. •
May 6 –
Johan Mauritius resigns as Governor of Brazil. Liverpool is later reclaimed by Sir John Moore.
July–September •
July 1 –
Torstenson War:
Battle of Colberger Heide – The
Dano-Norwegian and
Swedish fleets fight a naval battle off the coast of
Schleswig-
Holstein. The battle is indecisive but represents a minor success for the Dano-Norwegian fleet. •
July 2 –
English Civil War:
Battle of Marston Moor – The
Parliamentarians crush the
Royalists in
Yorkshire, ending
Charles I's hold on the north of England. •
September 1 –
English Civil War:
Battle of Tippermuir –
Montrose defeats
Lord Elcho's
Covenanters, reviving the Royalist cause in Scotland. •
September 2 – English Civil War: Second
Battle of Lostwithiel (in
Cornwall) –
Charles I and the
Royalists gain their last major victory. •
September 15 –
Pope Innocent X succeeds
Pope Urban VIII, becoming the 236th
pope.
October–December •
October 1 – The Jews of
Mogilev, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, are attacked during
Tashlikh. •
November 8 – The
Shunzhi Emperor, the second emperor of the
Qing dynasty, is enthroned in Beijing after the collapse of the
Ming dynasty as the first Qing emperor to rule over
China proper. •
November 23 •
Battle of Jüterbog (December 3
New Style):
Sweden's forces defeat those of the
Holy Roman Empire. •
Areopagitica, an appeal for freedom of speech written by
John Milton, is published in London. •
November – The
Castle of Elvas in Portugal resists a 9-day siege by the Spanish during the
Portuguese Restoration War. •
December 8 (December 18
New Style) – As
Christina comes of age, she is made ruling queen of Sweden. •
December –
Bubonic plague breaks out in
Edinburgh (Scotland).
Date unknown • A Spanish officer is murdered in
St. Dominic's Church, Macau during
mass by colonists loyal to
Portugal during the
Portuguese Restoration War. •
Sigismund's Column is erected in
Warsaw to commemorate King
Sigismund III Vasa, who moved the capital of Poland from
Kraków to Warsaw in
1596. • Philosopher
René Descartes publishes
Principia Philosophiae (
Principles of Philosophy) in Amsterdam. • The
opera Ormindo is first performed in Venice (music by
Francesco Cavalli, and libretto by
Giovanni Faustini). • The Dutch West India Company displays greater interest in profit than in colonization. == Births ==