Events
1640
January–March
- January 6 – The Siege of Salses in Catalonia ends almost six months after it had started on June 9, 1639, with the French defenders surrendering to the Spanish attackers.
- January 17 – Action of 12–17 January 1640: A naval battle, part of the Dutch invasions of Brazil, between ships of the Dutch Republic and those of the Kingdom of Portugal, ends after five days of fighting with the Dutch driving the Portuguese away from the port of Recife.
- February 9 – Ibrahim I succeeds his brother Murad IV (r. 1623–1640) as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire; he will rule until his death in 1648.
- March 8–13 – Siege of Galle: Dutch troops take the strategic fortress at Galle, Sri Lanka from the Portuguese.
April–June
- April 13 – The Short Parliament assembles, as King Charles I of England attempts to fund the second of the Bishops' Wars.
- May 5 – The Short Parliament is dissolved without agreeing to the King's demands.
- May 11/12 – Following the Short Parliament's dissolution, an angry and armed mob makes an attack on Lambeth Palace in London in the hope of killing the unpopular Archbishop William Laud.
- May 22 – The Reapers' War (Guerra dels Segadors or Catalan Revolt) breaks out in Catalonia.
- June 7 – Catalan rebels assassinate Dalmau de Queralt, Count of Santa Coloma, beginning the three-day Corpus de Sang riots.
- June 13 – The eruption of the Hokkaido Koma-ga-take (Mount Komagatake) volcano takes place in Japan. Although the eruption causes few direct injuries, the heavy ashfall poisons local crops and causes the Kan'ei Great Famine that causes more than 50,000 deaths from starvation.
July–September
- July 9 – John Punch, a servant of Virginia planter Hugh Gwyn, is sentenced to a life of servitude after attempting to escape, making him the "first official slave in the English colonies".
- July 15 – The first university of Finland, the Royal Academy of Turku, is inaugurated in Turku.
- August 9 – Forty-one Spanish delegates to Japan at Nagasaki are beheaded.
- August 20 – Second Bishops' War: A Scottish Covenanter army invades Northumberland in England.
- August 28 – Second Bishops' War: Battle of Newburn – The Scottish Covenanter army led by Alexander Leslie defeats the English army near Newburn in England.
- September 7 – Portuguese missionary Sebastien Manrique reaches Dhaka and stays for 27 days, leaving on October 4.
- September 20 – The Siege of Turin (began May 22) ends in Italy with the French and Piedmontese recapturing the city from Spain.
October–December
- October 26 – The Treaty of Ripon is signed, restoring peace between the Scottish Covenanters and Charles I of England.
- November 3 – The English Long Parliament is summoned; it will not be dissolved for 20 years.
- December 1
- The end of the Iberian Union of Spain and Portugal begins, as a revolution organized by the nobility and bourgeoisie causes John IV of Portugal to be acclaimed as king, thus ending 60 years of personal union of the crowns of Portugal and Spain, and the rule of the House of Habsburg (also called the Philippine Dynasty). The Spanish Habsburgs do not recognize Portugal's new dynasty, the House of Braganza, until the end of the Portuguese Restoration War in 1668.
- Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg begins to rule.
Date unknown
- The first book to be printed in North America (the Bay Psalm Book) is published.
- The first known European coffeehouse perhaps opens in Venice.
1641
January–March
- January 4 – The stratovolcano Mount Parker in the Philippines has a major eruption.
- January 14 – The Battle of Malacca concludes with the Dutch East India Company ending Portuguese control of Malacca.
- January 18 – The Junta de Braços (council of Estates) of the Principality of Catalonia, led by Pau Claris, accepts the proposal to establish the Catalan Republic under French protection.
- February 16 – King Charles I of England gives his assent to the Triennial Act 1640, reluctantly committing himself to parliamentary sessions of at least fifty days, every three years.
- March 7 – King Charles I of England decrees that all Roman Catholic priests must leave England by April 7 or face being arrested and treated as traitors.
- March 22 – The trial for high treason begins for Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, director of England's Council of the North.
- March 27
- The Battle of Pressnitz begins between the Holy Roman Empire and Sweden.
- The Siege of São Filipe begins in the Azores as the Portuguese Navy fights to drive the Spanish out. After almost 11 months, the Portuguese prevail on March 4, 1642.
April–June
- April 7 – The deadline for Catholic priests to leave England expires. Among those who refuse to leave, Ambrose Barlow and William Ward become martyrs. Barlow surrenders on Easter Sunday, April 25, and is hanged on September 10; he will be canonized as a saint in 1970. Ward is caught on July 15 and executed on July 26.
- April 15 – Aegidius Ursinus de Vivere is appointed by Pope Urban VIII to be the Roman Catholic Church's Patriarch of Jerusalem.
- April 21 – England's House of Commons votes 204 to 59 in favor of the conviction for treason and the execution of the Earl of Strafford, and the House of Lords acquiesces. King Charles refuses to give the necessary royal assent.
- April 25 – The Battle of Songjin begins in the modern-day North Korean city of Kimch'aek, at the time part of the Chinese Empire controlled by the Ming dynasty. The Ming, led by General Wu Sangui, defeat the Qing rebels.
- April 30 – In Morocco, rebel leader and secessionist Sidi al-Ayachi is assassinated.
- May 3 – The Protestation of 1641 is passed by England's Parliament, requiring all officeholders to swear an oath of allegiance to King Charles I and to the Church of England.
- May 7 – England's House of Lords votes, 51 to 9, in favor of the execution of the Earl of Strafford for treason. In fear for his own safety, King Charles I signs Strafford's death warrant on May 10.
- May 11 – The Long Parliament in England passes the "Act against Dissolving Parliament without its own Consent".
- May 12 – Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, former director of England's Council of the North, is publicly beheaded in London in front of a crowd of thousands of people.
- May 24 – Providence Island in the Caribbean, settled by English Puritans and a haven for English pirates off the coast of modern-day Colombia, is captured in a joint operation of the Spanish Navy in an attack led by Don Francisco Díaz Pimienta, and the Portuguese Navy led by the Count of Castel-Melhor Sousa. The expedition takes 770 prisoners, 380 slaves and a fortune in plundered gold and silver.
- June 1 – In Paris, representatives of Portugal and France sign a treaty of alliance.
- June 2 – Bavarian and Spanish troops capture the town of Bad Kreuznach during the Thirty Years' War, 17 months after it had been taken in a French and Saxon attack.
- June 12
- In India, in the modern-day Rajasthan state, the Mughal Grand Vizier Abu'l-Hasan Asaf Khan is killed in a battle in Bundi against the armies of Nurpur, commanded by the Raja Jagat Singh. The elaborate Tomb of Asif Khan is constructed at Lahore (modern Pakistan) on orders of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir.
- The Treaty of The Hague is signed between representatives of the Dutch Republic and the Kingdom of Portugal as a 10-year truce and alliance.
- June 29 – The Battle of Wolfenbüttel takes place between a combined Swedish and French force against the Holy Roman Empire, with the Swedish-French Army driving back an Imperial assault.
July–September
- July 5 – In England, the Long Parliament abolishes the Court of Star Chamber.
- July 12 – Portugal and the Dutch Republic sign a Treaty of Offensive and Defensive Alliance at The Hague. The treaty is not respected by both parties, and as a consequence has no effect in the Portuguese colonies (Brazil and Angola) that are under Dutch rule.
- August 10 – Charles I of England signs the Treaty of London ending the Bishops' Wars between England and Scotland.
- September 14 – The Treaty of Péronne is signed between Honoré II, Prince of Monaco and France's King Louis XIII, guaranteeing the Grimaldi family the right to rule Monaco in return for the principality becoming a French protectorate.
- September 18
- In Germany, the Siege of Dorsten by the Holy Roman Empire ends after nine weeks with the surrender of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel after the Hessians suffer 1,350 casualties.
- In France, the siege of Bapaume ends with the surrender of the fortress by its Spanish occupiers.
- September 23 – The English ship Merchant Royal sinks off Cornwall along with its cargo of 100,000 pounds (45,000 kg) of gold and 18 of its 58 crew. More than 380 years later, treasure seekers will still not have located the wreckage.
October–December
- October 2 – Scottish politician John Campbell takes office as Lord Chancellor of Scotland and is given the title of the Earl of Loudoun by Charles I in his capacity as King of Scotland.
- October 23 – Irish Rebellion of 1641 breaks out: Irish Catholic gentry, chiefly in Ulster, revolt against the English administration and Scottish settlers in Ireland.
- October 24 – The Irish rebel Sir Felim O'Neill of Kinard issues the Proclamation of Dungannon.
- November 4 – Battle of Cape St Vincent: A Dutch fleet, with Michiel de Ruyter as third in command, beats back a Spanish-Dunkirker fleet off the coast of Portugal.
- November 22 – By a vote of 159 to 148, the Long Parliament of England passes the Grand Remonstrance, with 204 specific objections to King Charles I's absolutist tendencies, and calling for the King to expel all Anglican bishops from the House of Lords.
- December 1 – The English Parliament presents the Grand Remonstrance to King Charles, who makes no response to it until Parliament has the document published and released to the general public.
- December 7 – The bill for the Militia Ordinance is introduced by Arthur Haselrig, an anti-monarchist member of the House of Commons, proposing for the first time to allow Parliament to appoint its own military commanders without royal approval. King Charles, concerned that the legislation would allow parliament to create its own army, orders Haselrig arrested for treason. Parliament passes the Militia Ordinance on March 15.
- December 10 ‐ The Massachusetts Bay Colony adopts the Body of Liberties which was the first legal code in New England. Among its provisions, it made witchcraft a capital crime and also banned animal cruelty.
- December 16 – Pope Urban VIII announces the creation of 12 new cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church.
- December 23 – King Charles replies to the Grand Remonstrance and refuses the demand for the removal of bishops from the House of Lords. Rioting breaks out in Westminster after the King's refusal is announced, and the 12 Anglican bishops stop attending meetings of the Lords.
- December 27 – According to a journalist who witnesses the events, John Rushworth, the term "roundhead" is first used to describe supporters of the English Parliament who have challenged the authority of the monarchy. Rushworth writes later that during a riot on the 27th, one of the rioters, David Hide, draws his sword and, describing the short haircuts of the anti-monarchists, says that he would "cut the throat of those round-headed dogs that bawled against bishops."
- December 30 – At the request of King Charles, John Williams, the Anglican Archbishop of York joins with 11 other bishops in disputing the legality of any legislation passed by the House of Lords during the time that the bishops were excluded. The House of Commons passes a resolution to have the 12 bishops arrested. King Charles, in turn, issues an order on January 3 to have five members of the House of Commons arrested for treason.
Date unknown
- The Norwegian city of Kristiansand is founded by King Christian IV of Denmark-Norway.
- The Dutch found a trading colony on Dejima, near Nagasaki, Japan.
- Moses Amyraut's De l'elevation de la foy et de l'abaissement de la raison en la creance des mysteres de la religion is published.
- René Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy is originally published.
- The town of Falun, Sweden is given city rights by Queen Kristina.
- A massive epidemic breaks out in northern and central China, just three years before the fall of the Ming dynasty. It races south down along the Grand Canal of China and the densely populated settlements there, from the northern terminus at Beijing, to the fertile Jiangnan region. In some local areas and towns it wipes out 90% of the local populace.
1642
January–March
- January 4 – King Charles I of England, accompanied by soldiers, arrives at a session of the Long Parliament and attempts to arrest his chief opponents, the Five Members, John Hampden, Arthur Haselrig, Denzil Holles, John Pym and William Strode, for what he regards as treason but they escape and are protected by the Lord Mayor of London. This is the last time any monarch enters the House of Commons.
- February 5 – The Bishops Exclusion Act is passed in England to prevent any member of the clergy from holding political office.
- February 15 – Royalist Endymion Porter is voted to be a "dangerous counsellor" by the English parliament.
- February 17 – The Treaty of Axim is signed between the Dutch West India Company and the chiefs of the Nzema people in the modern-day African nation of Ghana.
- February 18 – A group of Protestant English settlers in Ireland surrender to Irish authorities at Castlebar in County Mayo in hopes of having their lives spared, but are killed one week later at Shrule on orders of Edmond Bourke.
- February 20 – The Treaty of The Hague (1641), between the Dutch Republic and the Kingdom of Portugal, is ratified by the Republic's States-General.
- February 22 – The Italian opera Il palazzo incantato (The Enchanted Palace), by Luigi Rossi with libretto by Giulion Rospigliosi (the future Pope Clement IX), is given its first performance at the Teatro delle Quattro Fontane (Palazzo Barberini) in Rome.
- February 23–March 11 – Henrietta Maria, queen consort of England, and her eldest daughter Mary, newly created Princess Royal, leave Falmouth, Cornwall, to go into exile at the Dutch court in The Hague.
- March 1 – Georgeana, Massachusetts (later known as York, Maine) becomes the first incorporated city in the British colonies of North America.
- March 19 – Irish Rebellion of 1641: The citizens of Galway seize an English naval ship and close the town gates in support of the rebellion.
April–June
- April – Hannibal Sehested is appointed Governor-General of Norway.
- April 8 – Execution of George Spencer: the first hanging of a settler in the New Haven Colony takes place, on a wrongful conviction of bestiality.
- May 1 – Honours and titles granted by Charles I of England from this date onward will in 1646 be retrospectively annulled by Parliament.
- May 10 – In a Catholic synod at Kilkenny, bishops draft the Confederate Oath of Association, calling on Catholics to swear allegiance to King Charles I and to obey orders and decrees made by a "Supreme Council of the Confederate Catholics", hence the Irish rebels of 1641 become known as Confederate Ireland.
- May 17 – Ville-Marie (later Montreal) is founded as a permanent settlement.
- May 18 – The month-long Siege of Limerick in Ireland begins.
- June 1 – "Nineteen Propositions" are sent by the English House of Lords and House of Commons to Charles I, asking the King to consent to parliamentary approval for the members of his privy council, his chief officers, and new seats created for the House of Lords, as well as regulating the education and choice of marital partners of the King's children, and barring Roman Catholics from the Lords. The King's Answer, rejecting the Propositions, is read in Parliament on June 21.
- June 10 – Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, Archbishop of Mexico, dismisses the Viceroy of New Spain, Diego López Pacheco, allegedly on orders of King Philip IV, and takes office as the new Viceroy. Palafox is in office for only five months before being recalled to Spain.
- June 16 – Irish Confederate Wars: The Battle of Glenmaquin takes place in County Donegal, with the Protestant Laggan Army decisively defeating Confederate Ireland soldiers.
- June 23 – Siege of Limerick: the English Protestant garrison of King John's Castle (Limerick) is forced to surrender by the Confederate Ireland Munster army led by General Garret Barry.
- June 29 – The Battle of Barcelona begins at sea as a French Navy fleet of 75 ships, commanded by Admiral Jean Armand de Maillé-Brézé clashes off the coast of Spain with a Spanish fleet of 52 ships under the Duke of Ciudad Real.
July–September
- July 2 – Hundreds of sailors are killed when the French warship Galion de Guise and the Spanish galley Magdalena become entangled during the Battle of Barcelona. A French fireship attempts to burn the Magdalena and accidentally sets fire to the Galion de Guise, killing 500 of the 540 crew.
- July 3 – The French Navy wins the Battle of Barcelona.
- July 4 – The Committee of Safety is created by the English Parliament as a challenge to the authority of King Charles I. Five members of the House of Lords (Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland, Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland, Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke, and William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele) and ten members of the House of Commons (Nathaniel Fiennes, John Glynn, John Hampden, Denzil Holles, Henry Marten, John Merrick, William Pierrepoint, John Pym, Philip Stapleton and William Waller) are appointed to the Committee.
- July 10 – In a prelude to the First English Civil War, King Charles I of England besieges Hull in an attempt to gain control of its arsenal. The siege lasts until July 27, with Charles's Royalist Army failing to take the city from the Parliamentarians commanded by Governor John Hotham and General John Meldrum.
- July 12 – The English Parliament votes to raise its own Army, under the command of the Earl of Essex.
- August 3 – A Dutch Navy fleet of 14 warships, led by Hendric Harouse, begins a campaign to drive Spaniards from the island of Formosa (modern-day Taiwan) off of the coast of mainland China. After disembarking at Tamsui, the Dutch begin a siege of Fort Domingo, which falls on Saint Bartolomeo Day (August 24).
- August 4 – Irish Confederate Wars: Lord Forbes relieves Forthill, and besieges Galway.
- August 22 – First English Civil War begins when King Charles I raises the royal battle standard over Nottingham Castle, so declaring war on his own Parliament.
- September 2 – London theatre closure 1642: England's Long Parliament orders the theatres of London closed, effectively ending the era of English Renaissance theatre.
- September 7
- First English Civil War: The Siege of Portsmouth (begun on 10 August) ends with the Royalist garrison surrendering the port to Parliament.
- Irish Confederate Wars: Lord Forbes raises his unsuccessful siege of Galway.
- September 8 – Thomas Granger is executed by hanging in the Plymouth Colony (Massachusetts) following confessions to numerous acts of bestiality.
- September 23 – First English Civil War: Royalist victory at the Battle of Powick Bridge, a skirmish near Worcester which is the first engagement between elements of the principal field armies of the War.
October–December
- October 8 – 1642 Yellow River flood: Some 300,000 people die in the intentional breaking of the dams and dykes of the Yellow River, done by the Ming dynasty defenders of Kaifeng to break the siege by the large rebel force of Li Zicheng.
- October 23 – First English Civil War: Battle of Edgehill (Warwickshire) – Royalists and Parliamentarians battle to a draw in the first pitched battle of the War.
- October 24 – The first Confederate Assembly of Ireland is held in Kilkenny where it sets up a provisional government, largely Catholic Royalist; start of the Irish Confederate Wars.
- October 30 – King Charles I of England enters Oxford and establishes his court there.
- November 13 – First English Civil War: Battle of Turnham Green – The Royalist forces withdraw in face of the Parliamentarian army, and fail to take London.
- November 15 – First English Civil War: Sir Edward Ford, High Sheriff of Sussex, captures Chichester from the Parliamentarians without resistance. The Parliamentarians send Sir William Waller to recapture the city.
- November 24 – Abel Tasman and his crew become the first Europeans to discover "Van Diemen's Land", later the Australian island and state of Tasmania, and the island is claimed for the Netherlands on December 3 at what becomes Prince of Wales Bay.
- November 27 – Hong Taiji (known in the West as Abatai) begins a 60-day march of Manchu warriors southwards from the Great Wall through Ming Chinese provinces of Zhili and Shandong, before returning northward on January 27. (Two years later Beijing falls to rebels, the Chongzhen Emperor commits suicide, and the Shunzhi Emperor becomes the first Qing Emperor to rule over China proper.)
- December 13 – Abel Tasman and his crew become the first recorded Europeans to sight New Zealand, arriving at its South Island. In a battle between the Europeans and the Island's Maori inhabitants, four crew members are killed.
- December 21 – First English Civil War: After routing Edward Ford's royalist troops at the Battle of Muster Green, William Waller follows Ford's retreating force to Chichester as the Parliamentarians besiege the city, which falls on December 29 after eight days. The inhabitants of Chichester agree to pay the Parliamentarians an additional month's pay to prevent the town from being plundered.
Date unknown
- The village of Bro (Broo), Sweden is granted city rights for the second time and takes the name Kristinehamn (literally "Christina's port") after the Swedish monarch at this time, Queen Christina.
- Rembrandt finishes his painting The Night Watch (Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq) in Amsterdam.
- Isaac Aboab da Fonseca is appointed rabbi in Pernambuco, Brazil, thus becoming the first rabbi of the Americas.
1643
January–March
- January 21 – Abel Tasman sights the island of Tonga.
- February 6
- (17 Dhu al-Qadah 1052 AH) In India, the first ceremony at the nearly-complete Taj Mahal in Agra, the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan observes the 12th anniversary of the death of his wife, Mumtaz Mahal, and opens the structure to thousands of mourners.
- Abel Tasman sights the Fiji Islands.
- March 13 – First English Civil War: First Battle of Middlewich – Roundheads (Parliamentarians) rout the Cavaliers (Royalist supporters of King Charles I) at Middlewich in Cheshire.
- March 18 – Irish Confederate Wars: Battle of New Ross – English troops defeat those of Confederate Ireland.
April–June
- April 1 – Åmål, Sweden, is granted its city charter.
- April 28 – Francisco de Lucena, former Portuguese Secretary of State, is beheaded after being convicted of treason.
- May 14 – Louis XIV succeeds his father Louis XIII as King of France at age 4. His rule will last until his death at age 76 in 1715, a total of 72 years, which will be the longest reign of any European monarch in recorded history.
- May 19
- Thirty Years' War: Battle of Rocroi: The French defeat the Spanish at Rocroi in France.
- The New England Confederation is formed as a military alliance between Massachusetts Bay Colony, Plymouth Colony, Saybrook Colony (Connecticut), and New Haven Colony.
- May 20 – Dutch expedition to Valdivia: The Dutch fleet (led by Hendrik Brouwer) is spotted off Carelmapu in Chile, soon afterwards landing nearby and plundering the fort and village.
- June 30 – First English Civil War: Battle of Adwalton Moor – Royalists gain control of Yorkshire.
July–September
- July 1 – The Westminster Assembly of theologians ("divines") and parliamentarians is convened at Westminster Abbey with the aim of restructuring the Church of England.
- July 5 – First English Civil War: Battle of Lansdowne – Royalists gain a pyrrhic victory over the Parliamentarians near Bath, Somerset.
- July 13 – First English Civil War: Battle of Roundway Down – Henry Wilmot, newly created Baron Wilmot, commanding Royalist cavalry, wins a crushing victory over Parliamentarian Sir William Waller.
- August 24 – Dutch expedition to Valdivia: A Dutch fleet establishes a new colony in the ruins of Valdivia in southern Chile.
- September 6 – Battle of Mongiovino: The forces of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, led by Mattias de' Medici, defeated the Papal forces commanded by Taddeo Barberini.
- September 20 – First English Civil War: First Battle of Newbury – A strategic Parliamentarian victory is made over Royalist forces who are led personally by King Charles.
October–December
- October 8 – The Shunzhi Emperor of China is crowned at five years old, 17 days after the death of his father and the decision of the Deliberative Council of Princes and Ministers.
- October 28 – Dutch expedition to Valdivia: The Dutch end their occupation of Valdivia in Chile.
- November 14 – Empress Meishō abdicates and Emperor Go-Kōmyō accedes to the throne of Japan.
- November 24 – Thirty Years' War: Battle of Tuttlingen – France is defeated by forces of the Holy Roman Empire.
- December 12 – Swedish Field Marshal Lennart Torstensson's forces enter Danish territory in Holstein, beginning the Torstenson War.
- December 13 – First English Civil War: At the Battle of Alton in Hampshire, the Parliamentarians defeat the Royalists.
- December 25 – Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean is sighted and named by Captain William Mynors of the British East India Company ship Royal Mary.
- December 28 – Dutch expedition to Valdivia: The failed Dutch expedition arrives back at Recife in Dutch Brazil.
Date unknown
- Baden-Baden is pillaged by the French.
- An Calbhach mac Aedh Ó Conchobhair Donn, The Ó Conchubhair Donn, Chief of the Name of the Clan Ó Conchubhair, is popularly inaugurated as the last King of Connacht in Ireland.
- Evangelista Torricelli invents the mercury barometer.
- Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, places the first Mount Royal Cross atop Mount Royal above Montreal.
- Jean Bolland publishes the first two volumes of the Acta Sanctorum (in Antwerp). This is the beginning of the Bollandists' work.
- Miyamoto Musashi begins to dictate The Book of Five Rings (Go Rin No Sho) to his student; he will complete it in 1645, just before his death.
- Roger Williams, co-founder of Rhode Island, publishes A Key into the Language of America.
1644
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 army of the Crimean Khanate 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.
- May 25 – Ming general Wu Sangui forms an alliance with the invading Manchus and opens the gates of the Great Wall of China at Shanhaiguan Pass, letting the Manchus through towards the capital Beijing.
- May 26 – Battle of Montijo: The Kingdom of Portugal is victorious over Habsburg Spain, in the first major action between the two nations during the Portuguese Restoration War.
- May 27 – Battle of Shanhai Pass: The Manchu Qing dynasty and Wu Sangui gain a decisive victory over Li Zicheng's Shun dynasty.
- June 3 – Li Zicheng proclaims himself emperor of China.
- June 6 – The invading Qing army, with the help of Ming general Wu Sangui, captures Beijing in China, marking the beginning of Manchu rule over China proper, which will last until 1912.
- June 11 – During the English Civil War, Prince Rupert and his men take Liverpool Castle. 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.
1645
January–March
- January 3 – The Long Parliament adopts the Directory for Public Worship in England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland, replacing the Book of Common Prayer (1559). Holy Days (other than Sundays) are not to be observed.
- January 10 – Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud is executed for treason on Tower Hill, London.
- January 14 – English Civil War: Thomas Fairfax is appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Parliamentarians.
- January 29 – English Civil War: Armistice talks open at Uxbridge.
- February 2 – Battle of Inverlochy: The Scottish Covenanters are defeated by Montrose.
- February 15 – English Civil War: The New Model Army is officially founded.
- February 28 – English Civil War: The Uxbridge armistice talks fail.
- March 4 – English Civil War: Prince Rupert leaves Oxford for Bristol.
- March 5 – Thirty Years' War – Battle of Jankau: The armies of Sweden decisively defeat the forces of the Holy Roman Empire, in one of the bloodiest battles of the war, in southern Bohemia, some 50 kilometres (31 mi) southeast of Prague.
- March 31 – Fearing the spread of the Black Death (plague), Edinburgh Town Council prohibits all gatherings except weddings and funerals.
April–June
- April 3 – The House of Lords passes the Self-denying Ordinance, requiring members of the Parliament of England to resign commissions in the armed services.
- April 10 – Because of the plague, the Edinburgh town council orders that the college graduation ceremony should be moved forward, so that students can leave the city (on November 19, teaching resumes in Linlithgow).
- April 23 (St George's Day) – English Civil War: One hundred and fifty Irish soldiers bound for service with King Charles I of England are captured at sea by Parliamentarians and killed at Pembroke in Wales.
- May 2 – Thirty Years' War – Battle of Herbsthausen (or Mergentheim): The Bavarian army, led by Franz von Mercy, catches French forces led by Marshal Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne unawares, and heavily defeats them.
- May 9 – Battle of Auldearn: Scottish Covenanters are defeated by Montrose.
- June 1 – English Civil War: Prince Rupert's army sacks Leicester.
- June 10 – English Civil War: Oliver Cromwell is confirmed as the Lieutenant-General of the Cavalry.
- June 14 – English Civil War – Battle of Naseby: 12,000 Royalist forces are beaten by 15,000 Parliamentarian soldiers.
- June 28 – English Civil War: The Royalists lose Carlisle.
July–September
- July 2 – English Civil War: Battle of Alford – Alford, Aberdeenshire.
- July 10 – English Civil War: Battle of Langport – Cromwell wins in Somerset.
- July 21 – Qing dynasty regent Dorgon issues a queue order ordering all Han Chinese men to shave their forehead, and braid the rest of their hair into a queue, identical to those of the Manchus.
- July 23 – Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich of Russia comes to the throne.
- July 30 – English Civil War: Scottish Covenanters under Lord Leven begin the Siege of Hereford, a Royalist stronghold.
- August 23 (August 13 Old Style) – The Treaty of Brömsebro is signed between Sweden and Denmark–Norway, ending the Torstenson War and ceding Jemtland, Herjedalen, Gotland and Ösel (Saaremaa) to Sweden, which also holds the province of Halland for a period of 30 years, as a guarantee.
- September 1 – English Civil War: Scottish Covenanters abandon the Siege of Hereford and retreat northwards
- September 10 – English Civil War: Prince Rupert surrenders Bristol.
- September 13 – Scotland in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms: Battle of Philiphaugh – The Covenanters under Sir David Leslie defeat the Royalists under Montrose near Selkirk in the Scottish Borders, restoring the power of the Committee of Estates. After the battle, prisoners and 300 camp followers (many of them women and children) are slaughtered by Covenanters in cold blood.
- September 24 – English Civil War: Battle of Rowton Heath – Parliamentarians defeat the Royalist cavalry.
October–December
- October 8–14 – English Civil War: The Third siege of Basing House by Oliver Cromwell results in its destruction.
- October 8 – Jeanne Mance founds the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal, the first hospital in North America.
- October 11 – English Civil War: Re-fortification of Bourne Castle in Lincolnshire against a threatened Royalist attack begins.
- November 20 – The Colegio de Santo Tomas is elevated by Pope Innocent X into the University of Santo Tomas, in his brief In Supreminenti. It has the oldest extant University Charter in the Philippines, as well as the whole of Asia.
- December 18 – English Civil War: The Royalist stronghold of Hereford is seized in a swift attack by Parliamentary forces under John Birch.
Date unknown
- Bamana forces from Ségou invade the Mali heartland, destroying the Mali Empire after its 400 years as a unified state.
- The Stolberg-Wernigerode branch of the family of the counts of Stolberg and Wernigerode is founded in Germany.
- The Solar cycle enters the 70-year Maunder Minimum, during which sunspots will be rare.
- Wallpaper begins to replace tapestries, as a wall decoration.
- The Roxbury Latin School is founded.
1646
January–March
- January 5 – The English House of Commons approves a bill to provide for Ireland to be governed by a single Englishman.
- January 9 – Battle of Bovey Heath in Devonshire: Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army surprises and routs the Royalist camp of Lord Wentworth.
- January 19 – Sir Richard Grenville, 1st Baronet, a Royalist fighting for Prince Charles against Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth, is imprisoned for insubordination after proposing to make Cornwall self-governing in order to win Cornish support for the Royalists. After being incarcerated at the tidal island of St Michael's Mount off of the coast of Cornwall, he is allowed to escape in March to avoid capture by Cromwell's troops.
- January 20 – Francesco Molin is elected as the 99th Doge of Venice after 23 ballots, and governs the Venetian Republic for nine years until his death in 1655.
- January 21 – Philip Sidney, 3rd Earl of Leicester is approved by England's House of Commons as the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
- February 16 – First English Civil War – Battle of Torrington: A decisive Parliamentary victory is gained over the Royalists.
- February 28 – Roger Scott is tried in Massachusetts for sleeping in church.
- March 2 – The future Charles II of England escapes from Cornwall into exile across the English Channel.
- March 6 – Joseph Jenkes obtains the first colonial machine patent, in Massachusetts.
- March 15 – Start of the Battles of La Naval de Manila, a series of five naval battles fought between the Dutch Republic and Spain in the waters of the Philippines.
April–June
- April 24 – The Union of Uzhorod brings the Ruthenian Greek Orthodox Church into the fold of the Catholic Church while allowing it to retain its Eastern and Rusyn character.
- April 27 – King Charles I of England flees from Oxford (where he has been overwintering) in disguise and begins his journey to the Scottish army camp near Newark.
- May 5 – King Charles I of England surrenders his forces to a Scottish army at Southwell, Nottinghamshire.
- May 6 – American colonial poet Anne Bradstreet becomes a founding mother of Andover Parish (modern-day North Andover), Massachusetts.
- May 30 – Eighty Years' War: Habsburg Spain and the Dutch Republic sign a temporary cease-fire.
- June 20 – Third Siege of Oxford concludes with signing of the surrender of the Royalist garrison at Oxford to General Thomas Fairfax's Parliamentary New Model Army; on the 24th of June the main force marches out, ending the First English Civil War.
July–September
- July 7 – The populist political movement called the Levellers appears in England with the publication of the Levellers manifesto, A Remonstrance of Many Thousand Citizens by Richard Overton and William Walwyn.
- July 12 – Lightning strikes the gunpowder tower of the castle of Bredevoort in the Netherlands, causing an explosion that destroys parts of the castle and the town, killing Lord Haersolte of Bredevoort and his family, as well as others. Only one son, Anthonie, who is not home that day, survives.
- July 30 – Commissioners of the Parliament of England and Scottish Covenanters meeting in Newcastle upon Tyne set out the Heads of Proposals ("Newcastle Propositions") demanding that King Charles I gives up control of the army and place restrictions on Catholics, as the basis for a constitutional settlement.
- August 19
- The Westminster Assembly of Divines, meeting in London, approves a resolution to begin the drawing up of the Westminster Confession of Faith, declaring that "These heads of Faith, Repentance, and Good Works shall be referred to the three Committees in their order to prepare something upon them for the Confession of Faith."; the draft is printed and sent to the Parliament of England in December.
- First English Civil War: Raglan Castle in Wales surrenders to General Fairfax after a 2-month siege; it is later destroyed.
- September 16 – The new Orange College of Breda opens at Breda in the Dutch Republic.
October–December
- October 10 – France takes Dunkirk from the Spanish Netherlands for the first time.
- October 28 – The first Protestant church assembly for Native Americans (specifically, the Waban people) is held in Massachusetts.
- October 9 – The Anglican episcopacy is formally abolished by an act of England's Parliament.
- November 4 – Massachusetts Bay Colony enacts the death penalty as punishment for denying Biblical inspiration.
- November 16 – Following up on the abolition of the episcopacy, Parliament passes an act to sell the bishops' lands across the Commonwealth.
- December 7 – Countess Louise Henriette of Nassau marries Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, on her 19th birthday at The Hague.
- December 23 – The Covenanters hand over King Charles I of England to the Parliamentarians.
1647
January–March
- January 2 – Chinese bandit leader Zhang Xianzhong, who has ruled the Sichuan province since 1644, is killed at Xichong by a Qing archer, after having been betrayed by one of his officers, Liu Jinzhong.
- January 7 – The Westminster Assembly begins debating the biblical proof texts, to support the new Confession of Faith.
- January 16 – Citizens of Dublin declare their support for Rinuccini, and refuse to support the army of the Marquis of Ormond.
- January 17 – Posten Norge is founded as Postvesenet.
- January 20 – A small Qing force led by Li Chengdong captures Guangzhou and kills the Zhu Yuyue, the Shaowu Emperor of the Southern Ming dynasty in China.
- February 5 – The Yongli era is proclaimed as Zhu Youlang is declared the Yongli Emperor of the Southern Ming.
- February 24 – Thomas Bushell surrenders the Bristol Channel island of Lundy, the last remaining Royalist territory of England, to the Parliamentarians.
- March 14 – Thirty Years' War: Bavaria, Cologne, France and Sweden sign the Truce of Ulm.
- March – Following the Treaty of Ulm that removed Bavaria from the Thirty Years War, the Bavarian troops' commander, Holy Roman Imperial General Johann von Werth, defies Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria, and von Werth attempts to move the Bavarian troops out of Bavaria and into Austria to come under Imperial jurisdiction. The troops refuse, and von Werth flees to Austria.
April–June
- April 3 – In England, a letter from the Agitators of the New Model Army, protesting delay of pay, is read in the House of Commons.
- May 13 – The 1647 Santiago earthquake rattles Chile.
- May 24 – The Marquis of Argyll and David Leslie join forces to defeat Alasdair MacColla, at Rhunahoarine Point in Kintyre. MacColla flees to Ireland; his followers are massacred.
- June 6 – Michael Jones, named Governor of Dublin by England's Parliamentarians, lands with 2,000 troops and begins the expulsion of Catholics and the arrest of Protestant royalists.
- June 8 – The Puritan rulers of England's Long Parliament pass the "Ordinance for abolishing all Holidays, and appointing other Days for Sports and Recreations for Scholars, Apprentices, and Servants, in their Room", confirming abolition of the feasts of Christmas, Easter and Whitsun, though making the second Tuesday in each month a secular holiday. The Act declares "Forasmuch as the Feasts of the Nativity of Christ, Easter, and Whitsuntide, and other Festivals, commonly called Holidays, have heretofore been superstitiously used and observed; be it ordained, That the said Feasts and Festivals be no loner observed within England and Wales."
- June 10 – The Battle of Puerto de Cavite begins in the Spanish Philippines when an armada of 12 large warships from the Dutch Republic sails into Manila Bay, with cannon fire hitting many of the roofs of the city. The Spanish defending fleet drives off the Dutch after a two day battle.
- June 16 – Ferdinand IV, King of the Romans, is crowned as the King of Hungary and Croatia at Pressburg (now Bratislava, Slovakia)
- June 19 – The Duke of Ormond, the royalist governor of Dublin, concludes a treaty with the English Commonwealth's Earl of Anglesey, handing over control of Dublin to the Commonwealth in return for the English promise to protect the interests of royalists, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, who had not joined in the Irish Rebellion.
- June 25 – The "Remonstrance of The Army" is presented to the English parliament by former Royal Army supporters of King Charles I, pledging their loyalty to the new English Commonwealth.
July–September
- July 7 – Masaniello launches rebellion in Naples against Spanish rule.
- July 27 – A mob invades both Houses of the English Parliament at Westminster, and forces the Speakers of the House of Commons and the House of Lords to flee, along with other MPs and Peers.
- August 5 – The New Model Army marches into London, "fulfilling the worst nightmares of Presbyterian MPs," and restores the members of Parliament who were deposed on July 27.
- August 8 – Battle of Dungan's Hill: Irish forces are defeated by English Parliamentary forces.
- August 17 – Peter Stuyvesant is appointed Director of New Netherlands, the Dutch colony in what is later the U.S. state of New York, by the Dutch West India Company to replace Willem Kieft, who departs New Amsterdam on the ship Princess Amelia.
- August 22 – Battle of Triebl: Imperial forces defeat the Swedes in a surprise attack in Bohemia.
- September 27 – The Dutch merchant ship Princess Amelia runs aground off of the coast of Mumbles Point, Wales and sinks, killing 86 of the 107 people aboard, including former New Netherlands Governor Willem Kieft.
October–December
- October 28 – The Putney Debates, a series of discussions between officers of the New Model Army following Parliament's military defeat of the absolutist monarchy of King Charles, begin at the St. Mary's Church, Putney about what form of government would replace the monarchy in the new republican Commonwealth of England.
- November 13 – Battle of Knocknanuss: An Irish confederate force is destroyed by the army of Parliament; Alasdair MacColla is killed.
- November 15 – Henry of Guise lands in Naples, to become the leader of the Neapolitan Republic.
- December 28 – King Charles of England promises a church reform. This agreement leads to the Second English Civil War.
Date unknown
- Aberystwyth Castle in Wales, a former Royalist stronghold, is razed to the ground after "a battery of cannon erected on the top of Pendinas hill by Cromwell" and the Parliamentarian troops.
- The word Geysir is first used in Iceland, by Bishop Sveinsson.
- Dutch artist Salomon van Ruysdael completes the oil painting, The Crossing at Nijmegen.
1648
January–March
- January 15
- Manchu invaders of China's Fujian province capture Spanish Dominican priest Francisco Fernández de Capillas, torture him and then behead him. Capillas will be canonized more than 350 years later in 2000 in the Roman Catholic Church as one of the Martyr Saints of China.
- Alexis, Tsar of Russia, marries Maria Miloslavskaya, who later gives birth to two future tsars (Feodor III and Ivan V) as well as Princess Sophia Alekseyevna, the regent for Peter I.
- January 17 – By a vote of 141 to 91, England's Long Parliament passes the Vote of No Addresses, breaking off negotiations with King Charles I, and thereby setting the scene for the second phase of the English Civil War.
- January 20 – France's Royal Council votes to create the Académie royale after accepting the proposal of Martin de Charmois.
- January 26 – The Khmelnytsky Uprising in Ukraine, at the time part of the Republic of Both Nations (Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth), begins as Bohdan Khmelnytsky becomes Hetman of the Cossacks.
- January 30 – The Dutch and the Spanish sign the Peace of Münster, ending the Eighty Years' War. The Spanish Empire recognizes the Dutch Republic of United Netherlands as a sovereign state (governed by the House of Orange-Nassau and the States General), which was previously a province of the Spanish Empire. The treaty is ratified by the Netherlands on May 15.
- February 11 – England's parliament passes stricter laws against performance of stage plays, providing for demolition of seats in theatres, imprisonment for actors and fines for spectators. The vote comes six days after the King's Men Players are arrested at the Cockpit Theatre during an illegal performance of Rollo Duke of Normandy.
- February 28 – King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway dies after a reign of almost 60 years without having named a successor. The Rigsraadet (Royal Council) and the Estates of the Realm will debate the matter for more than four months before deciding on July 6 to select Christian's oldest surviving son to become King Frederick III.
- March 31 – A major earthquake strikes Van in Ottoman Armenia.
April–June
- April 19 – First Battle of Guararapes: The Portuguese army defeats the Dutch army, in the north of Brazil.
- May 12 – Construction of the Kaunghmudaw Pagoda is completed in the Kingdom of Burma on the 6th waning of Kason, 1010, near the end of the reign of King Thalun. Hmannan Yazawin
- May 15 – The Peace of Münster is ratified by both the United Netherlands and the Spanish Empire.
- May 16 – England's Commonwealth Army massacres 70 Cornish royalists at Penzance, leading to a rebellion against England's Parliamentarians.
- May 20 – Wladyslaw IV Vasa, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, dies after a reign of 15 years. The throne remains vacant for six months until Wladyslaw's younger half-brother, John II Casimir Vasa, is elected by Poland's Parliament.
- June 1 – The Roundheads defeat the Cavaliers at the Battle of Maidstone in the Second English Civil War.
- June 20 – Russian explorer Semyon Dezhnyov departs from Srednekolymsk to begin the first recorded voyage through the Bering Strait, between Asia and North America, and arrives in September.
July–September
- July 19 – The last major battle of the Thirty Years' War, the Battle of Prague ends in a Swedish victory after three days of fighting over the army of Bohemia. The troops loot the Prague Castle and steal many of Bohemia's most valuable artifacts.
- August 8 – Mehmed IV (1648–1687) succeeds Ibrahim I (1640–1648), as Ottoman Emperor.
- August 16 – The Imam of Oman, Nasir bin Murshid, dispatches an army to recapture Muscat from Portuguese occupiers, who eventually surrender the town on January 23, 1650.
- August 20 – The French Army, under the command of the Prince of Condé, defeats the Spaniards at the Battle of Lens. Upon learning of the victory, Cardinal Mazarin orders the arrest of the members of the Fronde Parlementaire, leading to an insurrection in Paris.
- August – The Cambridge Platform, a new, localized system of Christian church governance, is agreed upon and written down in New England.
- September 12 – At the Battle of Stirling in Scotland, the "Engagers" achieve victory over the Kirk Party.
October–December
- October 24 – Signing of the Treaties of Münster and Osnabrück concludes the Peace of Westphalia, ending the Thirty Years' War. Rulers of the Imperial States can personally convert to Protestant, Catholic or Calvinist. Ecclesiastical property is restored to the status of 1624, with the minorities of each of the three recognized faiths granted toleration of worship, and there is general recognition of exclusive sovereignty, including that of the Dutch Republic and Switzerland. France and Sweden gain territory, and the latter is granted an indemnity. However, France remains at war with Spain until 1659. Prisoners of war should be released and allowed to return to their homelands without ransom after hostilities end.
- October 31 – A treaty is signed between the Arabs and the Portuguese. The terms include a provision that the Portuguese should build fortresses at Kuriyat, Dibba Al-Hisn (Sharjah) and Muttrah (Oman).
- November 11 – France and the Netherlands agree to divide the Caribbean island of Saint Martin between them.
- December 6 – "Pride's Purge" in England: Elements of the New Model Army, under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell invade London and expel a majority of the Long Parliament, resulting in the creation of the Rump Parliament.
Date unknown
- In India, building of the Red Fort in Shahjahanabad is completed.
- The epic poem Padmavati is written by Alaol.
- Sabbatai Zevi declares himself the Messiah at Smyrna.
- George Fox founds the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in England.
- The Dutch artist Rembrandt produces the works Rembrandt drawing at a window and Beggars at the Door.
- Giacomo Carissimi composes Historia di Jephte, one of the first significant Latin oratorios.
1649
January–March
- January 4 – In England, the Rump Parliament passes an ordinance to set up a High Court of Justice, to try Charles I for high treason.
- January 17 – The Second Ormonde Peace concludes an alliance between the Irish Royalists and the Irish Confederates during the War of the Three Kingdoms. Later in the year the alliance is decisively defeated during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.
- January 20 – Charles I of England goes on trial, for treason and other "high crimes".
- January 27 – King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland is found guilty of high treason in a public session.
- January 29 – Serfdom in Russia begins legally as the Sobornoye Ulozheniye (Соборное уложение, "Code of Law") is signed by members of the Zemsky Sobor, the parliament of the estates of the realm in the Tsardom of Russia. Slaves and free peasants are consolidated by law into the new hereditary class of "serfs", and the Russian nobility are given the exclusive privilege of owning the serfs.
- January 30 – The deposed King Charles I is beheaded outside the Banquet Hall in the Palace of Whitehall, London. The Commonwealth of England, with a republican form of government, replaces the monarchy as the form of government of England and members of the Long Parliament serve as government. Charles, Prince of Wales declares himself as King of England, Scotland and Ireland pending restoration of the monarchy.
- February 5 – In Edinburgh, the Scottish Parliament declares Prince Charles, son of the recently executed King Charles I, as King Charles II of Scotland. Prince Charles, at the time, is at sea in charge of royalist forces fighting to drive Oliver Cromwell from the British Isles. Scotland is the first of the three Kingdoms to recognize his claim to the throne.
- February 7 – The English Parliament rejects a proposal to continue the English monarchy after Oliver Cromwell makes clear that he does not wish to be crowned as King of England.
- February 22 – The Mughal–Safavid War begins when Shah Abbas II of the Safavid Empire in Persia captures the Afghan city of Kandahar from the Mughal Empire of India after a six-week siege. The Mughals, led by Shah Jahan, fail to recapture Kandahar after three sieges in four years.
- March 4 – The first ever set of rules and regulations for England's Parliamentary Navy, Robert Blake's The Laws of War and Ordinances of the Sea, is adopted by the House of Commons, and Blake is promoted to the position of General at Sea of the English fleet.
- March 11 – The rebel Frondeurs and the French government sign the Peace of Rueil.
- March 15 – The city of Lappeenranta (Swedish: Villmanstrand) is founded by Queen Christina of Sweden.
- March 16 – An over 1,000 strong war party of Haudenosaunee Iroquois invade and burn the Huron mission villages of St. Ignace and St. Louis in present-day Simcoe County, Ontario, killing about 300 people.
- March 17
- The English Parliament, having voted February 7 against a proposal to continue the monarchy under Oliver Cromwell, passes the "Act Abolishing the Kingship" with the goal of creating a republic under a Lord Protector selected by an elected Parliament.
- French colonists from Martinique, led by former Martinique Governor Jacques Dyel du Parquet, land at St. Georges Harbour on the island of Grenada for the founding of Fort Annunciation. The fort is soon abandoned and the colonists cross the harbour for the founding of Fort Royal which eventually becomes the city of St. George's, Grenada
- March 19 – The House of Commons of England passes an act abolishing the House of Lords, which it describes in the act as "useless and dangerous to the people of England".
April–June
- April 21 – The Maryland Toleration Act is passed in the American colony, allowing all freedom of worship.
- May 1 – The Wendat people Indian tribe complete the burning of 15 of their own villages, to prevent their stores from being taken by the Haudenasaunee Iroquois. Almost all the remaining people (approximately 10,000) become refugees, on a path that eventually brings them to Wendake.
- May 17 – The Banbury mutiny in England ends – leaders of the Leveller mutineers in the New Model Army are hanged.
- May 19 – "An act declaring England to be a Commonwealth" is passed by the Rump Parliament.
- May 22–October – Robert Blake blockades Prince Rupert's fleet in Kinsale, Ireland.
- June 1
- Alexis, Tsar of the Russian Empire orders all English merchants to leave Moscow.
- The Sumuroy Revolt begins in Northern Samar as Agustin Sumuroy, a Waray, and some of his followers rebel against the polo y servicio (forced labor system).
July–September
- July 5 – After news reaches the Western Hemisphere that King Charles I has been deposed and executed, the English colonial government of the Somers Isles, now called Bermuda, proclaims its recognition of Charles II as the rightful ruler of the islands.
- July 27 – The Commonwealth of England Parliament passes the "Act for the promoting and propagating the Gospel of Jesus Christ in New England" to create the "Company for Propagation of the Gospel in New England and the parts adjacent in America" for Christian missionary ministries to Native American tribes. The New England Company will continue to operate more than three and a half centuries later.
- July 31 – Ukrainian Cossack troops under the command of Mykhailo Krychevsky and Stepan Pobodailo are overwhelmed in the Battle of Loyew (in what is now Belarus) by a smaller force of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth soldiers led by Lithuania's Janusz Radziwiłł, with the Cossacks losing more than 3,000 fighters. Krychevsky is mortally wounded and dies on August 3.
- August 8 – Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh completes Book VIII of Leabhar na nGenealach, in Galway, within days of an outbreak of the plague.
- August 17 – The Treaty of Zboriv is signed by representatives of King John II Casimir of Poland and the representatives of the Cossacks and Crimean Khanate to partially settle the Khmelnytsky Uprising.
- August 15 – Oliver Cromwell lands in Dublin, unopposed and with thousands of English troops, to begin the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.
- August 26 – After his "True Levellers", commonly called "The Diggers", abandon their last major colony at St. George's Hill at Weybridge in England, their leader, Gerrard Winstanley, publishes the pamphlet "A Watch-Word to The City of London, and the Armie", recounting the experience.
- September 2 – The Italian city of Castro is completely destroyed by the forces of Pope Innocent X, ending the Wars of Castro.
- September 3 – Oliver Cromwell leads England's New Model Army to start the Siege of Drogheda in Ireland, and breaks through on September 11, executing the last of the original 2,550 Irish Catholic defenders and their leader, the English Royalist Sir Arthur Aston.
- September 30 – The last of Sweden's troops vacate Prague.
October–December
- October 11 – The Sack of Wexford in Ireland ends after having started on October 2, with Cromwell's New Model Army breaking through, killing more than 1,500 Irish Catholic defenders and civilians, while losing only 20 of the English soldiers. The capture of Wexford ends the remaining chance that Charles II, heir to the English throne, can land troops in Ireland, and Charles and the royalist fleet flee to Portugal.
- November 24 – The first phase of the Siege of Waterford begins as Cromwell's New Model Army attempts to take on the strategically-located Irish city's defenders with his own exhausted army. Cromwell is forced to call off the siege after eight days and his army retreats to its winter quarters at Dungarvan on December 2.
- December 6 – The Scottish defenders of Ireland are defeated by Cromwell's forces in the Battle of Lisnagarvey in County Antrim, with 1,500 Scots killed or captured, and New Model Army battalion of Colonel Robert Venables suffering minimal losses. The battle ends the Scottish presence in Ireland and settlers are expelled from the island in the days that follow.
- December 20 – The Puritan law enforcers of the Commonwealth of England raid the Red Bull Theatre in London for violations of the laws against performance of plays and arrest the actors, as well as confiscating their property.
- December 30 – Chinese General Geng Zhongming, having reported to the Qing dynasty commanders to face charges of harboring runaway slaves during his fight against the Southern Ming dynasty troops, commits suicide while waiting for a verdict in his court-martial. (1943). His son, Geng Jimao, continues to fight against the Southern Ming.
Undated
- Qing armies reconquer Jiangxi province during the Manchu conquest of China.
- The town of Kristinestad, named after Queen Christina of Sweden, is founded in Ostrobothnia by Count Per Brahe the Younger.[unreliable source?] [dubious – discuss]
- Dutch artist Frans Hals paints a portrait of René Descartes.
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