1606 CE

The first version of the Union Flag is created, to be worn as a national flag by English and Scottish ships. King Christian IV of Denmark, as the guest of his brother-in-law, King James of England, Scotland and Ireland, is welcomed at London, and the two monarchs are driven by coaches to a banquet at Theobalds House at Cheshunt, Hertfordshire. They are entertained by playwright Ben Jonson's play, The Entertainment of the Kings of Great Britain and Denmark. William Shakespeare's play King Lear is given its first recorded performance, staged at the Palace of Whitehall.

In the 1600s, the 17th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • February 24 – Commercial treaty between France and England signed in Paris.Francesource
  • April 2 – Treaty for the protection of the Principality of Sedan.Francesource
  • June 23 – A treaty is signed in Vienna between the Archduchy of Austria and the semi-independent Principality of Transylvania. Archduke Rudolf agrees to recognize Stephen Bocskai as Prince of Transylvania in return for Bocksay's guarantee of constitutional and religious rights to the ethnic Hungarians within Transylvania's borders.source
  • November 11 – The Peace of Zsitvatorok is signed between the Ottoman and Holy Roman Empires. The independence of Transylvania is recognized by both sides, and Austria's annual tribute to the Ottomans is abolished.source
  • County Wicklow becomes the last of the traditional counties of Ireland to be shired, from land previously part of counties Dublin and Carlow.Irelandsource

Conflict & Security

  • March 15 – The king leaves Paris to besiege Sedan and end the revolt of the Duke of Bouillon, who submits on April 2. On April 6 the king enters the town and on April 28 returns to Paris.Francesource
  • June or October – Battle of Cape St. Vincent: An improvised Spanish fleet under Luis Fajardo defeats the Dutch fleet under Willem Haultain.source
  • August 16 – Battle of Cape Rachado: A Dutch fleet is defeated by the Portuguese.source
  • Christian IV embarks on a comprehensive upgrade of Copenhagen's fortifications which will last 20 years.Denmarksource
  • Donal of the Pipes, 13th Prince of Carbery, chooses to surrender and regrant his barony to the Crown of England.Irelandsource

Exploration & Expansion

  • January 29 – Explorer Pedro Fernandes de Queirós of Portugal, accompanied by a party of 160 men on the ships San Pedro, San Pablo and Los Tres Reyes, leads the first Europeans to discover the Pitcairn Islands.source
  • February 9 – Queirós and his crew discover Mehetia, followed three days later by the Tauere atoll.source
  • February 26 – Sailing on the Dutch ship Duyfken, Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon and the crew make the first confirmed sighting of Australia by a European, reaching the Cape York Peninsula, at the Pennefather River near what becomes Weipa, Queensland. The Duyfken follows by exploring the western coast.source
  • May 1 – Pedro Fernandes de Queirós discovers the islands of Vanuatu (also known as the New Hebrides). Believing them to be Australia, he names them La Austrialia del Espiritu Santo.source
  • October 2 – King Charles IX of Sweden founds the city of Vaasa, in the parish of Korsholm in Coastal Ostrobothnia.source
  • October – Luís Vaz de Torres is the first European to sail through the Torres Strait.source
  • December 19 – The Susan Constant sets out from the River Thames in England leading the Virginia Company's fleet for the foundation of Jamestown, Virginia.source
  • Christian IV's 2nd Greenland Expedition is sent to Greenland under the command of Godske Lindenov.Denmarksource
  • Plantation of Ulster: substantial lowland Scots settlement on disinhibited land in north Down, led by Hugh Montgomery and James Hamilton.Irelandsource

Religion & Belief

  • January 9 – The Black Nazarene, a statue, arrives in Manila from Mexico.source
  • March 19 – Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, in the Fortezza Vecchia Chapel of Saint Francesco, elevates Livorno to the rank of city.source
  • April 17 – Venetian Interdict: Pope Paul V places the Republic of Venice under an interdict, as well as excommunicating Leonardo Donato, the Doge of Venice, and members of the Venetian Senate.source
  • June 22 – By Act of Parliament in England, all Roman Catholics in England become required to swear an oath of allegiance to King James I, a Protestant raised in the Presbyterian Church in Scotland.source
  • July 1 – Scottish minister Patrick Simson and 44 other ministers of the Church of Scotland sign Simson's Protest to the Scottish Parliament against the introduction to Scotland of a hierarchy of bishops.source
  • July 3 – The Russian Orthodox bishop Hermogenes is installed as the new Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, replacing Ignatius.source
  • July 10 – England deports 47 Roman Catholic priests, including Thomas Garnet, putting them on board a ship bound for Flanders in modern-day Belgium. A royal proclamation is read to the group, warning them that they will be put to death if they ever return to the British Isles.source
  • December 18 – Richelieu is nominated Bishop of Luçon.Francesource
  • December – Edict on reform of the Catholic clergy.Francesource
  • A sixth suffragan See to Goa was established at San Thome, Mylapore, near the modern Madras, and the site of the National Shrine of St. Thomas Basilica, advancing the Christianization of GoaIndiasource
  • Anglican churchman William Bedell translates the Book of Common Prayer into Irish.Irelandsource

Economy & Finance

  • April 10 – Charter of 1606: The First Charter of Virginia is adopted, by which King James I of England grants rights to the Virginia Company (comprising the London Company and Plymouth Company) to settle parts of the east coast of North America.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • April 12 – The first version of the Union Flag is created, to be worn as a national flag by English and Scottish ships.source
  • June 9 – Accident at the Neuilly-sur-Seine ferry: the king and queen with others of the court, returning from Saint-Germain to Paris, nearly drown. The king orders construction of the first, wooden, Pont de Neuilly, built between 1609 and 1611.Francesource
  • The first part of Rosenborg Castle is constructed.Denmarksource
  • The main building of Trods Katholm is constructed.Denmarksource

Health & Medicine

  • 20 March – Sorø Pharmacy is established in Sorø.Denmarksource
  • July 10 – Simion Movilă becomes the new Prince of Moldavia upon the death of his older brother, Ieremia Movilă. Simion will reign for only 14 months before being poisoned on September 14, 1607.source

Crime & Justice

  • January 24 – Gunpowder Plot: The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators, for plotting against Parliament and James I of England, begins in London. They are hanged, drawn and quartered on January 30–31.source
  • September 20 – The trial of alleged poisoners in the Frankenstein gravediggers scandal begins in the Bohemian town of Frankenstein.source

Culture & Society

  • February 12 – Maximilien de Béthune becomes 1st Duke of Sully in the Peerage of France.Francesource
  • March - The Riksdag of the Estates is summoned to Örebro. The main topic is the claim to the Swedish throne from the Polish monarch Sigismund III Vasa and the Counter-Reformation which his accession is feared to signify.Swedensource
  • May 19 – Vasili Ivanovich Shuisky becomes the new Tsar of Russia as Vasili IV.source
  • June 3 – The Duke of Sully is named captain lieutenant in the Queen’s company.Francesource
  • July 24 – King Christian IV of Denmark, as the guest of his brother-in-law, King James of England, Scotland and Ireland, is welcomed at London, and the two monarchs are driven by coaches to a banquet at Theobalds House at Cheshunt, Hertfordshire. They are entertained by playwright Ben Jonson's play, The Entertainment of the Kings of Great Britain and Denmark.source
  • July 31 – Playwright John Marston presents his own original play to King James and King Christian during the Danish monarch's visit to London.source
  • August (approx.) – Possible first performance of William Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth in London.source
  • December 26 – William Shakespeare's play King Lear is given its first recorded performance, staged at the Palace of Whitehall.source

Births

  • February 10 – Christine of France, Duchess of Savoy (died 1663)source
  • February 23 – George Frederick of Nassau-Siegen, officer in the Dutch Army (died 1674)source
  • March 3 – Edmund Waller, English poet (died 1687)source
  • 27 March – Hans Svane, statesman (died 1668)Denmarksource
  • March – Henry Pierrepont, 1st Marquess of Dorchester (died 1680)source
  • May 16 (bapt.) – John Bulwer, British doctor (died 1656)source
  • May 23 – Juan Caramuel y Lobkowitz, Spanish writer (died 1682)source
  • June 6 – Pierre Corneille, French dramatist (died 1684)source
  • June 6 – Pierre Corneille, dramatist (died 1684)Francesource
  • June 19 – James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton, Scottish politician and noble (died 1649)source
  • 10 July Corfitz Ulfeldt, statesman, and one of the most notorious traitors in Danish history (died 1664)Denmarksource
  • July 15 – Rembrandt (van Rijn), Dutch painter (died 1669)source
  • August 18 – Maria Anna of Spain (died 1646)source
  • September 1 – Nicholas Slanning, English politician (died 1643)source
  • September 18 – Zhang Xianzhong, Chinese rebel (died 1647)source
  • September 22 – Li Zicheng, Chinese rebel (died 1645)source
  • October – Hugh O'Donnell, 2nd Earl of Tyrconnell, soldier (died 1642)Irelandsource
  • November 12 – Jeanne Mance, French nurse and settler of New France (died 1673)source

Deaths

  • January 30 – Robert Wintour, English conspirator (executed) (born 1568)source
  • January 30 – Everard Digby, English conspirator (executed) (born 1578)source
  • January 31 – Thomas Wintour, English conspirator (executed) (born 1571)source
  • January 31 – Ambrose Rokewood, English conspirator (executed)source
  • January 31 – Guy Fawkes, English conspirator (executed) (born 1570)source
  • February 21 – Richard Field, superior of the Irish Jesuit mission (born c.1554)Irelandsource
  • March 23 – Turibius of Mogrovejo, Spanish missionary Archbishop of Lima (born 1538)source
  • April 3 – Charles Blount, 1st Earl of Devon, English politician (born 1563)source
  • May 3 – Henry Garnet, English Jesuit (executed) (born 1555)source
  • May 17 – False Dmitriy I, pretender to the Russian throne (born 1582)source
  • May 17 – Time of Troubles in Russia: The imposter Tsar Dmitry I is assassinated in the Kremlin by supporters of Vasili Shuisky.source
  • May 30 – Guru Arjan Dev, fifth of the Sikh gurus (executed) (born 1563)source
  • June 21 – Derviş Mehmed Pasha is appointed the new Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire by Sultan Ahmed I after Sokolluzade Lala Mehmed Pasha dies of a stroke. Derviş Mehmed serves less than six months before Ahmed suddenly has him executed.source
  • November 20 – (burial date) John Lyly, English writer (born 1553)source
  • December 29 – Stephen Bocskay, Prince of Transylvania (born 1557)source
  • Guru Arjan, first martyr of Sikh faith and the fifth of the ten Sikh Gurus, died on 30 May in LahoreIndiasource
  • Eknath, Marathi sant, in PaithanaIndiasource
  • Sir Edmund Pelham, judge (born c.1533)Irelandsource