1640s

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	16th century – 17th century – 18th century
Decades:	1610s 1620s 1630s – 1640s – 1650s 1660s 1670s
Years:	1640 1641 1642 1643 1644 1645 1646 1647 1648 1649
Categories:	Births – Deaths – Architecture Establishments – Disestablishments

1640s: events by year

Contents: 1640 1641 1642 1643 1644 1645 1646 1647 1648 1649

January–June

• February 9 – Ibrahim I (1640–1648) succeeds Murat IV (1623–1640) as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
• April 13 – King Charles I of England summons the Short Parliament in an attempt to fund the second of the Bishops' Wars.
• May 5 – The Short Parliament is dispersed.
• May 22 – The Guerra dels Segadors breaks out in Catalonia.

July–December

• August 9 – Forty-one Spanish delegates to Japan at Nagasaki are beheaded.
• October 26 – The Treaty of Ripon is signed, restoring peace between Scotland and Charles I of Scotland, England and Ireland.
• November 3 – The English Long Parliament is summoned.
• December 1
  • End of the Iberian Union: João IV of Portugal is 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 1668.
  • Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg starts to rule.

Date unknown

• The first university in Finland, the Academy of Åbo, is founded in Turku.
• The first book (the Bay Psalm Book) to be printed in North America is published.
• The first known European coffee house opens in Venice.

January–June

• January 4 – First English Civil War: Charles I attempts to arrest 6 leading members of the Long Parliament, but they escape.
• March 1 – Georgeana, Massachusetts (now known as York, Maine) becomes the first incorporated city in America.
• March 19 – The citizens of Galway seize an English naval ship, close the town gates and declare support for Confederate Ireland.
• May 17 – Sieur de Maisonneuve founds the Ville Marie de Montreal.
• May 30 – All honours granted by Charles I from this date onward are retrospectively annulled by Parliament.

July–December

• July – First English Civil War: Charles I besieges Hull in an attempt to gain control of its arsenal.
• August 4 – Lord Forbes relieves Forthill and besieges Galway.
• August 21 – First Battle of Lostwithiel.
• August 22 – King Charles I raises the royal battle standard over Nottingham Castle, so declaring war on his own Parliament.
• September 2 – Parliament orders the theatres of London closed, effectively ending the era of English Renaissance theatre.
• September 7 – Lord Forbes raises his unsuccessful siege of Galway.
• September 8 – Thomas Granger is executed by hanging at Plymouth, Massachusetts for confessing to numerous acts of bestiality.
• October 23 – First English Civil War – Battle of Edgehill: Royalists and Parliamentarians battle to a draw.
• 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 24 – Abel Tasman becomes the first European to discover the island Van Diemen's Land (later renamed Tasmania).
• December 13 – Abel Tasman is the first recorded European to sight New Zealand.

Date unknown

• The Dutch drive Spain from Taiwan.
• Ville Marie (Montreal) founded by the French.
• The village of Bro (Broo) in Sweden is granted the city rights for the second time and takes the name Kristinehamn (literally "Christina's port") after the present Swedish monarch, Queen Christina.
• Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn finishes his painting "The Night Watch".
• The Manchu under their leader Huang Taiji raid the Ming Chinese province of Shandong from their base in Manchuria. 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.
• Kaifeng flood of 1642: Some 300,000 people die when the Ming Dynasty army in China intentionally breaks the dams and dykes of the Yellow River to break the siege by the large rebel force of Li Zicheng.
• Isaac Aboab da Fonseca is appointed rabbi in Pernambuco, Brazil, thus becoming the first rabbi of the Americas.

January–June

• January 21 – Abel Tasman discovers the island of Tonga.
• February 6 – Abel Tasman discovers the Fiji islands.
• March 13 – First English Civil War – First Battle of Middlewich: The Roundheads rout the Cavaliers at Middlewich in Cheshire, England.
• April 1 – Åmål, Sweden is granted its city charter.
• April 28 – Francisco de Lucena, former Portuguese Secretary of State, is beheaded after being charged with treason.
• May 14 – Louis XIV succeeds Louis XIII as King of France at age five. His rule will last until his death at age 77 in 1715, a total of 72 years, which will be the longest reign of any European monarch in recorded history.
• May 19 – Battle of Rocroi: The French defeat the Spanish at Rocroi, France.
• June 30 – First English Civil War – Battle of Adwalton Moor: Cavaliers (supporters of Charles I) gain control of Yorkshire.

July–December

• July 5 – First English Civil War – Battle of Lansdowne: Royalists and Parliamentarians battle to a draw.
• July 13 – First English Civil War – Battle of Roundway Down: In England, Lord Henry Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, commanding the Royalist forces, wins a crushing victory over the Parliamentarian Sir William Waller.
• September 20 – First English Civil War – First Battle of Newbury: Royalists withdraw to end further bloodshed.
• October 28 – The Dutch corsairs end their occupation of Valdivia in what is now Chile.
• November 14 – Empress Meishō abdicates and Emperor Go-Kōmyō accedes to the throne of Japan.
• November 24 – Battle of Tuttlingen: France is defeated by forces of the Holy Roman Empire.
• December 25 – Christmas Island is first sighted, by Captain William Mynors of the British East India Company.

Date unknown

• An Calbhach mac Aodha O Conchobhair Donn is inaugurated as the last king of Connacht.
• Evangelista Torricelli invents the mercury barometer.
• The New England Confederation is formed.
• Baden-Baden is pillaged by the French.
• Jean Bolland publishes the first two volumes of the Acta Sanctorum (in Antwerp). This is the beginning of the Bollandists' work.
• Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve places the first cross atop Mount Royal.
• Miyamoto Musashi dictates The Book of Five Rings (Go Rin No Sho) to his student, completing it in 1654 just before his death.
• Claudio Monteverdi's opera l'Incoronazione di Poppea is first performed.
• Hong Taiji, Emperor of the Qing Dynasty of the Manchu dies and is succeeded by his 5-year-old son, the later Shunzhi Emperor of China.
• Roger Williams, a co-founder of Rhode Island, publishes A Key into the Language of America.

January–June

• January 26 – First English Civil War – Battle of Nantwich: The Parliamentarians defeat the Royalists, allowing them to end the 6-week Siege of Nantwich in Cheshire, England.
• February–August – Explorer Abel Tasman's second expedition for the Dutch East India Company maps the north coast of Australia.
• March 24 – In England, Roger Williams is granted an official charter for his Rhode Island Colony, allowing the establishment of a general assembly.
• April 19–April 22 – Battle of Shanhai Pass: The Manchu Qing Dynasty and Wu Sangui gain a decisive victory over Li Zicheng's Shun Dynasty .
• April 25 – A popular Chinese rebellion led by Li Zicheng sacks Beijing, prompting Chongzhen, the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, to commit suicide.
• June 3 – Li Zicheng claims himself as the emperor of China.
• June 6 – The invading Manchu army, with the help of Ming general Wu Sangui, captures Beijing, China. This marks the beginning of the Qing Dynasty (also known as the Manchu Dynasty), the last imperial dynasty of China.

July–December

• July 2 – English Civil War – Battle of Marston Moor: The Parliamentarians crush the Royalists, ending Charles I's hold on the north of England.
• September 1 – English Civil War – Battle of Tippermuir: Montrose defeats Elcho's Covenanters, reviving the Royalist cause in Scotland.
• September 2 – English Civil War – Second Battle of Lostwithiel: Charles I and the Royalists gain their last major victory.
• September 15 – Pope Innocent X succeeds Pope Urban VIII as the 236th pope.
• November – Battle of Jüterbog: Sweden's forces defeat those of the Holy Roman Empire.
• November 23 – Areopagitica by John Milton is published.
• December 9 – As Christina comes of age, she is made ruling queen of Sweden.
• December – Plague breaks out in Edinburgh.

Date unknown

• The opera Ormindo is first performed in Venice: music by Francesco Cavalli and libretto by Giovanni Faustini.
• Kolumna Zygmunta (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).
• During the English Civil War, Prince Rupert and his men take Liverpool Castle, which is later reclaimed by Sir John Moore.
• Opechancanough leads the Powhatan Indians in an unsuccessful uprising against the English at Jamestown. This is the last such Indian rebellion of the region.

January–June

• January 10 – Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud is executed for treason on Tower Hill, London.
• January 14 – English Civil War: Fairfax is appointed Commander-in-Chief.
• January 29 – English Civil War: Armistice talks open at Uxbridge.
• February 2 – Battle of Inverlochy: The Covenanters are defeated by Montrose.
• February 15 – English Civil War: The New Model Army is officially founded.
• February 28 – English Civil War: Uxbridge armistice talks fail.
• March 4 – English Civil War: Prince Rupert leaves Oxford for Bristol.
• March 31 – Fearing the spread of the Black Death (plague), Edinburgh Town Council bans all gatherings except weddings and funerals.
• April 3 – The House of Lords passes the Self-Denying Ordinance.
• April 10 – Because of the plague, the Edinburgh town council orders that the college graduation ceremony should be brought forward so that students can leave the city (in November 19, teaching continues in Linlithgow).
• April 23 – English Civil War: One hundred fifty Irish soldiers bound for service with King Charles are captured at sea by Parliamentarians, who celebrate St George's Day by joyfully^{[citation needed]} killing them all at Pembroke.
• May 9 – Battle of Auldearn: The 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–December

• July 2 – Fight at Alford, Aberdeenshire.
• July 10 – English Civil War – Battle of Langport: Cromwell wins at Somerset.
• July 23 – Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich of Russia comes to the throne.
• August 13 – 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 10 – English Civil War: Prince Rupert surrenders Bristol.
• September 13 – Battle of Philiphaugh: Covenanters defeat Montrose at Selkirk.
• September 24 – English Civil War – Battle of Rowton Heath: Parliamentarians defeat the Royalist cavalry.
• October 8
  • English Civil War: The third and final siege of Basing House begins.
  • Jeanne Mance founds the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal, the first hospital in North America.
• October 11 – English Civil War: The re-fortification of Bourne, Lincolnshire Castle begins against a threatened Royalist attack.

Date unknown

• The Siege of Raglan Castle occurs during the English Civil War.
• The Long Parliament outlaws the 1559 version of the Book of Common Prayer.
• Beginning of the Maunder Minimum, a time period when sunspots became exceedingly rare.
• The Stolberg-Wernigerode branch of the family of counts of Stolberg and Wernigerode is founded in Germany.
• Wallpaper begins to replace tapestries as a wall decoration.
• Bamana forces from Ségou invade the Mali heartland, destroying the Mali Empire after its 400 years as a unified state.
• In the Mughal Empire, Shah Jahan builds the Pearl Mosque at Lahore Fort.

January–June

• February 16 – First English Civil War – The Battle of Great Torrington, Devon, the last major battle of the conflict, is fought.
• February 28 – Roger Scott is tried in Massachusetts for sleeping in church.
• March 6 – Joseph Jenkes, in Massachusetts, receives the first colonial machine patent.
• April 27 – King Charles I flees from Oxford.
• May 5 – King Charles I surrenders his forces at Scotland.
• May 6 – Poet Anne Bradstreet becomes a founding mother of Andover Parish (now North Andover) Massachusetts.
• May 30 – Spain and the Netherlands sign a temporary cease fire in the war.
• June 25 – The New Model Army of Thomas Fairfax occupies Oxford.

July–December

• July 12 – Lightning strikes the gunpowder tower of the castle of Bredevoort, 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 – The English Parliament sets the Newcastle Propositions for King Charles I.
• August 19 – English Civil War – Raglan Castle surrenders to General Fairfax after a 3 month siege. The castle is later destroyed.
• October 28 – The first Protestant church assembly for natives is held in Massachusetts (see Waban).
• November 4 – Massachusetts enacts the death penalty for having a rebellious child.
• December 7 – Princess Louise Henriette (19) marries Frederick William of Brandenburg.
• December 21 – Global temperatures begin to decline as part of the Little Ice Age

Date unknown

• The Westminster Confession of Faith is published.

January–June

• March 14 – Thirty Years' War: Bavaria, Cologne, France and Sweden sign the Truce of Ulm.
• 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 – 1647 Santiago earthquake rattles Chile.
• May 29 – The Rhode Island General Assembly drafts a constitution that separates church and state, and permits public referendums and initiatives on legislation.^{[citation needed]}

July–December

• August
  • The New Model Army marches to London.
  • Peter Stuyvesant is appointed Director of New Amsterdam by the Dutch West India Company.
• August 8 – Battle of Dungan's Hill: Irish forces are defeated by English Parliamentary forces.
• November – Battle of Knocknanauss: An Irish confederate force is destroyed by the army of Parliament; Alasdair MacColla is killed.
• December 28 – King Charles of England promises a church reform. This agreement leads to the Second English Civil War.

Date unknown

• England's Puritan rulers ban Christmas.
• Johann von Werth tries to take his troops over the Austrian border, but they refuse.
• Aberystwyth Castle is razed to the ground by Parliamentarian troops.

January–June

• January – The beginning of the Khmelnytsky Uprising in Ukraine, at this time in the Republic of Both Nations (Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth), which continues until 1654, and results, among other things, in the massacre of an estimated 20,000 Jews.
• January 17 – 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 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 Estates General) which was previously a province of the Spanish Empire. (Ratified May 15.)
• March 31 – A major earthquake strikes Van in Ottoman Armenia.
• April 19 – The Portuguese army defeats the Dutch army in the north of Brazil.
• June–September – Semyon Dezhnyov makes the first recorded voyage through the Bering Strait between Asia and North America.

July–December

• August
  • Arabs besiege Portuguese in Muscat.
  • The First Fronde, the Fronde Parlementaire, an insurrection, begins in France.
• August 12 – Mehmed IV (1648–1687) succeeds Ibrahim I (1640–1648) as Ottoman Emperor.
• September 12 – Battle of Stirling takes place in Scotland: "Engagers" achieve victory over the Kirk Party.
• October 24 – Signing of the Treaties of Münster and Osnabrück conclude the Peace of Westphalia, ending the Thirty Years' War. Rulers of the Imperial States have powers to decide their state religion, Protestant, Catholic or Calvinist, with the minorities of each of those 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.
• 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 11 – "Pride's Purge" in England, with elements of the New Model Army, under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell invading London and expelling a majority of the Long Parliament, resulting in the creation of the Rump Parliament.

Date unknown

• The Battle of Prague takes place in the Thirty Years' War. The west bank of Prague (including Prague Castle) is occupied and looted by Swedish armies.
• In India, building of the Red Fort in Shahjahanabad is completed.
• Sabbatai Zevi declares himself the Messiah at Smyrna.
• George Fox founds the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) in England.

January–June

• January 30
  • King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland is beheaded for treason outside the Banqueting Hall in the Palace of Whitehall, London. Start of the Interregnum in England.
  • The Commonwealth of England, a republican form of government, replaces the monarchy as the form of government of England and later of Scotland and Ireland. Members of the Long Parliament serve as government.
  • Prince Charles Stuart declares himself King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland. At the time, none of the three kingdoms recognize him as ruler.
• February 5 – In Edinburgh, Scotland claimant King Charles II of England is declared King in his absence. Scotland is the first of the three Kingdoms to recognize his claim to the throne.
• March 11 – The rebel Frondeurs and the French government sign the Peace of Rueil.
• March 19 – The House of Commons of England passes an act abolishing the House of Lords, declaring that it is "useless and dangerous to the people of England".
• March – Robert Blake is promoted to become a "General at Sea" of the English fleet.
• 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.

July–December

• August – The Diggers abandon their last major colony at St. George's Hill, Weybridge, England.
• August 8 – Dubhaltach MacFhirbhisigh completes Book VIII of Leabhar na nGenealach, in Galway, within days of an outbreak of the plague.
• August 15 – Oliver Cromwell lands in Dublin to begin the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.
• September 2 – The Italian city of Castro is completely destroyed by the forces of Pope Innocent X, ending the Wars of Castro.
• September 3–11 – Siege of Drogheda in Ireland: New Model Army massacre the Irish Catholic Confederation garrison.
• October 2–11 – Sack of Wexford in Ireland: New Model Army massacre the Irish Catholic Confederation garrison.

Date unknown

• Urga is founded (now Mongolia's capital).^{[citation needed]}

Deaths

• 1642 –Galileo Galilei