1623 CE

A Dutch East India Company party, led by explorer Jan Carstenszoon, fights a skirmish with 200 indigenous Australian Wik peoples. Murat IV, age 11, succeeds his deposed uncle Mustafa I as Ottoman Emperor. Because Murat is a minor, his mother, Kösem Sultan, serves as regent until 1632. The Battle of Anjar is fought in modern-day Lebanon as the Druze emir Fakhr al-Din II defeats an invasion by Mustafa Pasha al-Hannaq, the Ottoman Governor of Damascus, and takes him prisoner.

In the 1620s, the 17th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • February 7 – France, Savoy and Venice sign the Treaty of Paris, agreeing to cooperate in removing Spanish forces from the strategic Alpine pass of Valtelline.source
  • February – France, Savoy, and Venice sign the Treaty of Paris, agreeing to cooperate in removing Spanish forces from the strategic Alpine pass of Valtelline.Francesource
  • May 2 – the Stewart Baronetcy, of Ramelton in the County of Donegal, is created in the Baronetage of Ireland for the soldier William Stewart.Irelandsource
  • August 5 – The English ship Little James arrives at Plymouth Colony, 26 days after the Anne.source
  • September 10 – Murat IV, age 11, succeeds his deposed uncle Mustafa I as Ottoman Emperor. Because Murat is a minor, his mother, Kösem Sultan, serves as regent until 1632.source
  • December 30 – the Newcomen Baronetcy, of Kenagh in the County of Longford, is created in the Baronetage of Ireland for Robert Newcomen.Irelandsource
  • Ladegården is established by Christian IV.Denmarksource
  • The Dungan Baronetcy, of Castletown in the County of Kildare, is created in the Baronetage of Ireland for Walter Dungan.Irelandsource
  • Treaty of Paris - A treaty signed in France by the Savoys and the Venetians.Italysource
  • Åbo (Turku) hovrätt is created as the court of appeal in the Swedish province of Finland.Swedensource

Conflict & Security

  • January – Battle of Mbanda Kasi: Forces from the Kingdom of Kongo defeat the Portuguese.source
  • February 25 – Thirty Years' War: Duke Maximilian I of Bavaria becomes Elector of the Electorate of the Palatinate.source
  • April 11 – King Gwanghaegun of Joseon (in Korea) is deposed in the Injo coup and succeeded by King Injo.source
  • May 5 – Raja Gaj Singh of Marwar, along with Mahabat Khan and Parviz Mirza, is deputized by the Mughal Emperor Jahangir in India to hunt down Jahangir's rebel son, Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram. The search fails, and Khurram will become the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan after Jahangir's death in 1627.source
  • May 22 – After negotiations for the release of English women taken from Jamestown in the British North American colony of Virginia, conducted between Captain William Tucker of the English settlers and Chief Opchanacanough of the Powhatan Confederacy (Tsenacommacah), the English arrange a banquet with the Powhatan, and the drinking of wine. The wine is poisoned and many of the Powhatan Indians die, while 50 more are killed while ill. This follows the massacre of 347 English colonists of March 22, 1622, in the Powhatan uprising. Opchanacanough escapes, and the 20 women never return home.source
  • July 15 – Trịnh Tùng is deposed as ruler of the kingdom of Đại Việt in northern Vietnam after more than 50 years. His son, Trịnh Xuan, burns the palace. Trinh Tung is carried away by his servants in a sedan chair and abandoned in the road to die. Another son, Trịnh Tráng, succeeds to the throne of Đại Việt.source
  • August 6 – Thirty Years' War: Pursued by the army of the Catholic League (German) led by Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, the army of the Protestant Electoral Palatinate led by Christian the Younger of Brunswick attempts to flee to the Dutch Republic. Tilly's army catches Brunswick five miles from the border. In the resulting Battle of Stadtlohn, Christian's army is destroyed. This brings the Palatinate campaign to an end.source
  • November 1 – The Battle of Anjar is fought in modern-day Lebanon as the Druze emir Fakhr al-Din II defeats an invasion by Mustafa Pasha al-Hannaq, the Ottoman Governor of Damascus, and takes him prisoner.source
  • Sweden places a blockade on Danzig in fear of it being used for a Polish attack on Sweden.Swedensource

Exploration & Expansion

  • January 21 – Voyage of the Pera and Arnhem to Australia: Captains Jan Carstenszoon of the Arnhem and Willem Joosten van Coolsteerdt of the Pera depart on an expedition for the Dutch East India Company from Ambon, Maluku (Amboyna) to explore the Australian coast.source
  • April 29 – A fleet of 11 Dutch ships depart for the coast of Peru, seeking to seize Spanish treasure.source
  • May 8 – A Dutch East India Company party, led by explorer Jan Carstenszoon, fights a skirmish with 200 indigenous Australian Wik peoples.source
  • July 10 – The English ship Anne becomes the third vessel to bring settlers to Plymouth Colony, the Puritan settlement in modern-day Massachusetts, carrying more settlers, after the Mayflower on November 21, 1620, and the Fortune on November 9, 1621.source
  • Zildjian begins the commercial manufacture of cymbals in Turkey. The company will still be operating, from Massachusetts, in the 21st century.source
  • Gabriel Bethlen, Prince of Transylvania, issues an order, dated at Kolozsvár/Klausenburg/Cluj, that allows Jews to settle, trade freely and practice religion in Transylvania, and exempts them from wearing the usual Jewish sign.source
  • On the coast of Massachusetts Bay, the settlement that will become the City of Gloucester, Massachusetts, is first inhabited by men from Dorchester, Dorset, England.source
  • On the coast of New Hampshire, the settlement of Hilton's Point, which will become Dover, New Hampshire, is established by men from London, England, the first European settlers in the state.source
  • The city street trade outside the guilds, Månglare, is regulated by permit which are only to be issued to people in need of support and by regulations set to protect the monopoly of the guilds.Swedensource

Religion & Belief

  • January 21 – Viscount Falkland, England's Lord Deputy of Ireland, issues a proclamation ordering all Roman Catholic priests to leave Ireland, affecting negotiations over the "Spanish match" (which resume in March).source
  • June 20 – order issued requiring civic officials to take the Oath of Supremacy and enforcing excommunication against those who have relapsed.Irelandsource
  • June 29 – Malcolm Hamilton is consecrated Church of Ireland Archbishop of Cashel.Irelandsource
  • August 6 – 1623 papal conclave: Pope Urban VIII (Maffeo Barberini) succeeds Pope Gregory XV, as the 235th pope.source
  • October 9 – Kara Mustafa Pasha is replaced as the Ottoman Governor of Egypt on orders of Sultan Murad IV.source
  • October 20 – Cardinal Antonio Marcello Barberini informs Galileo Galilei that his brother, the newly-enthroned Pope Urban VIII, wishes to receive a visit from Galileo.source
  • Procopius' long-lost Secret History is rediscovered, in the Vatican Library.source
  • Frederick III, then Prince Frederick, becomes administrator of the Prince-Bishopric of Verden, a title which he held until being expelled by the Catholic League in 1629, and then regained from 1635 to 1645.Denmarksource
  • The title of Viscount Magennis of Iveagh is created for the chief of the clan Magennis.Irelandsource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • March 20 – Richard Frethorne begins writing a letter to his parents from Jamestown, Virginia.source
  • Wilhelm Schickard devizes a Calculating Clock, an early mechanical calculator.source

Science & Discovery

  • July 16 – A great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, with the planets only 5 arc minutes apart, the closest between 1226 and 2874. This conjunction likely goes unobserved, as it occurs near the Sun and the telescope has been invented only recently.source

Health & Medicine

  • March 5 – The first American temperance law is enacted, in Virginia.source
  • Erotomania, a delusional disorder, is first mentioned, in a psychiatric treatise.source
  • The 1623 Malta plague outbreak is contained after killing around 40 people on the island of Malta.source
  • Stockholm is tormented by the plague.Swedensource

Crime & Justice

  • June 14 – The first breach-of-promise lawsuit: Rev. Gerville Pooley, in Virginia, files against Cicely Jordan, but loses.source

Disasters & Accidents

Culture & Society

  • February 4 – the Talbot Baronetcy, of Carton in the County of Kildare, is created in the Baronetage of Ireland for the lawyer and politician William Talbot.Irelandsource
  • February 21 – the Barnewall Baronetcy, of Crickstown Castle in the County of Meath, is created in the Baronetage of Ireland for Patrick Barnewall.Irelandsource
  • March 7 – Charles, Prince of Wales, the future King Charles I of England, travelling incognito with royal favourite George Villiers, arrives in Madrid to pursue negotiations over the "Spanish match", the Protestant Charles's proposed marriage with the Catholic Habsburg Infanta Maria Anna of Spain.source
  • June 29 – Première of Pedro Calderón de la Barca's first play, Amor, honor y poder (Love, Honor and Power), at the Court of Habsburg Spain.source
  • July 30 (probable date) – The second Thanksgiving is celebrated in Plymouth Colony.source
  • July - Discovery of silver in Buskerud. Led to the founding of Kongsberg and the Kongsberg Silver Mines in 1624.Norwaysource
  • August 30 – Negotiations, resumed in March, of the planned "Spanish match" break down. On October 5, Prince Charles returns to England from Spain without a bride.source
  • November 8–December 5 – Publication between these dates in London of the "First Folio" (Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies), a collection of 36 of the plays of Shakespeare, half of which have not previously been printed.source
  • Johannes Rudbeck founds Rudbeckianska gymnasiet, the first gymnasium in Sweden.source
  • Imprisoned Italian Dominican philosopher Tommaso Campanella's utopian The City of the Sun is published in Latin (as Civitas Solis) in Frankfurt.source
  • Italian poet Giambattista Marini's epic L'Adone is published in Paris.source

Births

  • January 15 – Algernon Sidney, British philosopher (died 1683)source
  • March 23 – Deane Winthrop, English-born colonist of British America, 6th son of Governor John Winthrop (died 1704)source
  • April 28 – Wilhelmus Beekman, Dutch politician (died 1707)source
  • April 30 – François de Laval, French-born priest, first Catholic bishop of Quebec (died 1708)source
  • 30 April – François de Laval, first bishop of New France (died 1708)Francesource
  • May 26 – William Petty, English scientist, philosopher and economist (died 1687)source
  • June 8 – Paluzzo Paluzzi Altieri degli Albertoni, Italian Catholic cardinal (died 1698)source
  • June 19 – Blaise Pascal, French mathematician, physicist and philosopher (died 1662)source
  • July 12 – Elizabeth Walker, English pharmacist (died 1690)source
  • 16 July – Bengt Gabrielsson Oxenstierna, diplomat (died 1702)Swedensource
  • August 4 – Friedrich Casimir, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (1641–1680) and Hanau-Münzenberg (1642–1680) (died 1685)source
  • August 5 (baptism) – Antonio Cesti, Italian composer (died 1669)source
  • October 9 – Ferdinand Verbiest, Flemish Jesuit missionary in China during the Qing dynasty (died 1688)source
  • October 17 – Francis Turretin, Swiss-Italian Reformed scholastic theologian (died 1687)source
  • October 28 – Johann Grueber, Austrian Jesuit missionary and astronomer in China (died 1680)source
  • November 1 – Zhu Youlang, Prince of Gui, the Yongli Emperor, the 4th and last emperor of the Southern Ming dynasty of China (died 1662)source
  • 28 December – Elisabeth Augusta Lindenov, daughter of king Christian IV of Denmark and Kirsten Munk (died 1677)Denmarksource
  • Francesco di Maria, painter (died 1690)Italysource

Deaths

  • 2 January – Sivert Beck, landowner and treasurer (born 1566)Denmarksource
  • January 15 – Paolo Sarpi, Italian theologian (born 1552)source
  • February – Malcolm Macfie, last chief of the Scottish clan Clan Macfiesource
  • March 9 – Amboyna massacre: Ten English merchants in the service of the British East India Company, together with nine Japanese and one Portuguese, are executed by agents of the Dutch East India Company in Ambon, Maluku (Amboyna).source
  • March 14 – In the Korean kingdom of Joseon, Crown Prince Yi Ji is deposed and exiled to Ganghwa Island, where he dies soon after.source
  • 25 March – Henri de La Tour d'Auvergne, vicomte de Turenne, duc de Bouillon (born 1555)Francesource
  • May 19 – Mariam-uz-Zamani, Empress of the Mughal Empire (born 1542)source
  • July 4 – William Byrd, English composer (born 1543)source
  • July 8 – Pope Gregory XV (born 1554)source
  • July 12 – William Bourchier, 3rd Earl of Bath (born 1557)source
  • August 6 – Anne Hathaway, wife of English dramatist William Shakespeare (born 1555)source
  • September 27 – John VII, Count of Nassau-Siegen (born 1561)source
  • October 26 – "Fatal Vespers": 95 people are killed when an upper floor of the French ambassador's house in London collapses under the weight of a congregation attending a mass.source
  • November 9 – William Camden, English antiquarian (born 1551)source
  • November 12 – Josaphat Kuncevyc, Lithuanian archbishop (born c. 1582)source
  • December 4 – 50 Christians are executed in Edo, Japan, during the Great Martyrdom of Edo.source
  • Peder Munk, ambassador and navigator (born 1534)Denmarksource
  • Henry Piers, landowner and politician (born 1568)Irelandsource