1637 CE

Letters patent authorise 'Laudian statutes' for Trinity College Dublin. The first English venture to China is attempted by Captain John Weddell, who sails into port in Macau and Canton during the late Ming dynasty with six ships. The voyages are for trade, which is dominated here by the Portuguese (at this time combined with the power of Spain). He brings 38,421 pairs of eyeglasses, perhaps the first recorded European-made eyeglasses to enter China. Introduction of a new Scottish Prayer Book is met with widespread demonstrations, notably that of Jenny Geddes at St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh, who is said to have thrown a stool at the Dean's head.

In the 1630s, the 17th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 23 – John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen arrives from the Netherlands to become the Governor of Dutch Brazil, and extends the range of the colony over the next six years.source
  • 8 February – Louis XIII and his brother Gaston d’Orléans publicly reconcile their relationship, aided by Charles de Condren.Francesource
  • April 30 – King Charles I of England issues a proclamation, attempting to stem emigration to the North American colonies.source
  • 30 April – King Charles issues a proclamation attempting to stem emigration to the North American colonies.Englandsource
  • July 23 – After a court battle, King Charles I of England hands over title to the North American colony of Massachusetts to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, one of the founders of Plymouth Council for New England.source
  • Corfitz Ulfeldt is appointed as Governor of Copenhagen.Denmarksource
  • Member of Parliament John Hampden continues to refuse to pay ship money although a 7-5 majority verdict among a group of judges supports its legality.Englandsource

Conflict & Security

  • January 16 – The siege of Nagpur ends in the modern-day Maharashtra state of India, as Kok Shah, the King of Deogarh, surrenders his kingdom to the Mughal Empire.source
  • January 28 – Qing invasion of Joseon: The Manchu armies of China complete their invasion of northern Korea with the surrender of King Injo of the Joseon Kingdom.source
  • February 18 – Eighty Years' War: Battle off Lizard Point – Off the coast of Cornwall, England, a Spanish fleet intercepts an Anglo-Dutch merchant convoy of 44 vessels escorted by six warships, destroying or capturing 20 of them.source
  • 18 February – Eighty Years' War: Battle off Lizard Point: off the coast of Cornwall, a Spanish fleet intercepts an Anglo-Dutch merchant convoy of 44 vessels escorted by 6 warships, destroying or capturing 20 of them.Englandsource
  • 16 April – Assassination of Sébastien de La Ruelle, former mayor of Liège, triggers anti-Spanish rioting.Belgiumsource
  • 22 April – The Croquants' revolt begins in Périgord, resulting in the deaths of two sergeants.Francesource
  • May 26 – Pequot War: Mystic massacre – A band of English settlers under Captain John Mason, and their Narragansett and Mohegan allies, set fire to a fortified village of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe near the Mystic River. Between 400 and 700 people, mostly women, children and old men, are killed.source
  • 1 June – Royal troops, commanded by the Duke of Valette suppresses the Croquant revolt, resulting in over 1,000 deaths.Francesource
  • 21 July – Dutch forces besiege Breda.Belgiumsource
  • 26 July – French forces commanded by Cardinal de La Valette take Landrecies.Belgiumsource
  • August 25 – Eighty Years' War: A force of 17,000 Spanish troops, led by the Spanish Netherlands Governor-General, Don Fernando de Austria, recaptures the city of Venlo from the Dutch Republic after a five-day siege.source
  • August 29 – Fighting in the modern-day West African nation of Ghana, troops of the Dutch West India Company capture the Portuguese territory of the Gold Coast after the five-day Battle of Elmina.source
  • December 17 – The Shimabara Rebellion erupts in Japan, when 30,000 peasants in the heavily Catholic area of northern Kyūshū revolt.source
  • 8–9 February – Battle of Savigny.Francesource
  • Johan Banér's host is forced to abandon their siege of Leipzig as an Imperial relief force nears the city, they pull back to Torgau before once more being forced to retreat to Pomerania due to fears of an encirclementSwedensource

Exploration & Expansion

  • April 10 – Plymouth Colony grants the "tenn menn of Saugust" a new settlement on Cape Cod, later named Sandwich, Massachusetts.source
  • June 27 – The first English venture to China is attempted by Captain John Weddell, who sails into port in Macau and Canton during the late Ming dynasty with six ships. The voyages are for trade, which is dominated here by the Portuguese (at this time combined with the power of Spain). He brings 38,421 pairs of eyeglasses, perhaps the first recorded European-made eyeglasses to enter China.source
  • 27 June – English merchants led by captain John Weddell establish the first trading settlement at Canton.Englandsource
  • August 16 – Adam Olearius, sent along with Philipp Crusius and Otto Bruggemann by the German Duke of Holstein-Gottorp to establish a trade deal with Persia, is welcomed by the Safavid ruler, the Shah Safi at the Persian capital, Isfahan.source
  • October 13 – English Royal Navy first-rate ship of the line English ship Sovereign of the Seas is launched at Woolwich Dockyard at a cost of £65,586, adorned from stern to bow with gilded carvings, after a design by Anthony van Dyck.source
  • Scottish army officer Robert Monro publishes Monro, His Expedition With the Worthy Scots Regiment Called Mac-Keys in London, the first military history in English.source
  • Elizabeth Poole becomes the first female founder of a town (Taunton, Massachusetts) in the Americas.source
  • France places a few missionaries in the Ivory Coast, a country it will rule more than 200 years later.source
  • Peter Minuit from Holland sails with Kalmar Nyckel and Fogel Grip to Delaware in order to create a settlement called New Sweden.Swedensource

Religion & Belief

  • February 15 – Ferdinand III becomes Holy Roman Emperor upon the death of his father, Ferdinand II, although his formal coronation does not take place until later in the year.source
  • February – Mícheál Ó Cléirigh seeks approbation for the text of the Annals of the Four Masters from Thomas Fleming, Archbishop of Dublin (Roman Catholic), before carrying the manuscript to Leuven.Irelandsource
  • March 25 – The Blessed Virgin is proclaimed Queen of Genoa.source
  • 13 May – Cardinal Richelieu invents the table knife by ordering his staff to round the edges off all his knives.Francesource
  • July 23 – Introduction of a new Scottish Prayer Book is met with widespread demonstrations, notably that of Jenny Geddes at St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh, who is said to have thrown a stool at the Dean's head.source
  • Laurentius Paulinus Gothus is made Archbishop of Uppsala and Primate of SwedenSwedensource

Economy & Finance

  • The New Sweden Company is endorsed by the Swedish Government.Swedensource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • February – A contract was signed with a Henrik van Dingklage in Emden for the supply of bricks for the construction of Rundetårn in Copenhagen. The first three shiploads are to be delivered in May, the next three loads the following month and the remainder on demand.Denmarksource
  • May 25 – letters patent authorise 'Laudian statutes' for Trinity College Dublin.Irelandsource
  • 13 October – First-rate ship of the line English ship Sovereign of the Seas is launched at Woolwich Dockyard at a cost of £65,586, adorned from stern to bow with gilded carvings.Englandsource
  • Building commences on the Theatres of the Palais-Royal.Francesource
  • Building commences on the Malouinière de la Verderie.Francesource
  • Gese Wechel becomes the first female manager of the Swedish Post Office.Swedensource

Science & Discovery

  • Pierre de Fermat makes a notation, in a document margin, claiming to have proof of what will become known as Fermat's Last Theorem.source
  • René Descartes promotes intellectual rigour in his Discourse on the Method, and introduces the Cartesian coordinate system in its appendix La Géométrie (published in Leiden).source
  • René Descartes (1596–1650), Discourse on the Method.Francesource

Health & Medicine

  • August 10 – Edward King is drowned in the Irish Sea en route to visiting his family in Ireland, an event which inspires fellow poet Milton's elegy Lycidas.Irelandsource

Crime & Justice

  • 30 June – William Prynne is branded as a seditious libeller, and sentenced to pillorying and mutilation.Englandsource
  • 7 August – Merchants of London formally protest seizure of English tobacco shipments to Holland.Belgiumsource
  • Anne of Austria is investigated and found guilty of secretly corresponding with her brother, Philip IV, despite France and Spain being at war.Francesource
  • The first regulation of the Romani, Placat om Tatrarnes fördrifvande av landet, declares all Romani expelled from Sweden: all adult men are sentenced to death while women and children are to be hunted over the borders.Swedensource

Climate & Environment

Culture & Society

  • January 5 – Pierre Corneille's tragicomedy Le Cid is first performed, in Paris, France.source
  • March 6 – The world's first opera house, Teatro San Cassiano, opens in Venice with the premiere of L'Andromeda, with music by Francesco Manelli and libretto by Benedetto Ferrari.source
  • 9 April – Charles IV and Béatrix de Cusance marry, just nine days after the death of her first husband. On 23 August the couple have their first child, Francis de Lorraine, who dies in infancy.Francesource
  • May – Chinese encyclopedist Song Yingxing publishes his Tiangong Kaiwu ("Exploitation of the Works of Nature"), considered one of the most valuable encyclopedias of classical China.source
  • July 25 – Christopher Wandesford acquires an estate at Castlecomer, County Kilkenny.Irelandsource
  • November 18 – The coronation as the new Holy Roman Emperor of Ferdinand III, Archduke of Austria, King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia, takes place in Vienna.source
  • December 22 – a charter incorporates the guild of goldsmiths in Dublin and the Dublin Assay Office is established.Irelandsource
  • Richard Norwood's book The Seaman's Practice is published for the first time.source

Births

  • February 10 – Countess Henriette Catherine of Nassau, daughter of Frederick Henry (died 1708)source
  • February 12 – Jan Swammerdam, Dutch biologist and microscopist (died 1680)source
  • March 5 – Jan van der Heyden, Dutch Baroque-era painter (died 1712)source
  • May 13 – Giacinto Cestoni, Italian naturalist (died 1718)source
  • June 1 – Jacques Marquette, French Jesuit missionary and explorer (died 1675)source
  • August 23 – Francis Turner, British bishop (died 1700)source
  • August 27 – Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, Colonial governor of Maryland (died 1715)source
  • 14 September – Renier Meganck, painter (died 1690)Belgiumsource
  • October 3 – George Gordon, 1st Earl of Aberdeen, Lord Chancellor of Scotland (died 1720)source
  • October 22 – Francis North, 1st Baron Guilford (died 1685)source
  • October 24 – Lorenzo Magalotti, Italian philosopher (died 1712)source
  • December 6 – Edmund Andros, English colonial administrator in North America (died 1714)source
  • 6 December – Edmund Andros, colonial administrator (died 1714)Englandsource
  • December 7 – Bernardo Pasquini, Italian composer of operas (died 1710)source
  • December 10 – Jacques-René de Brisay de Denonville, Marquis de Denonville (died 1710)source
  • December 30 – William Cave, English divine (died 1713)source
  • Dieterich Buxtehude, composer (died 1707)Denmarksource
  • Petrus Aurivillius, theologian, philosopher and Rector at Uppsala University (died 1677)Swedensource

Deaths

  • February 15 – Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (born 1578)source
  • 18 March – Dorothea Elisabeth Christiansdatter, daughter of Christian IV (born 1629)Denmarksource
  • March 19 – Péter Pázmány, Hungarian cardinal and statesman (born 1570)source
  • May 19 – Isaac Beeckman, Dutch scientist and philosopher (born 1588)source
  • June 24 – Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc, French astronomer (born 1580)source
  • August 6 – Ben Jonson, English writer (born 1572)source
  • 6 August – Ben Jonson, writer (born 1572)Englandsource
  • August 17 – Johann Gerhard, German Lutheran leader (born 1582)source
  • September 8 – Robert Fludd, English mystic (born 1574)source
  • September 14 – Theodoor Rombouts, Flemish painter (born 1597)source
  • 14 September – Theodoor Rombouts (born 1597), painterBelgiumsource
  • September 22 – Charles Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat (born 1580)source
  • September 27 – Lorenzo Ruiz, Filipino saint (born c.1600)source
  • September 29 – The last five of the "16 Martyrs of Japan" are executed for illegally attempting to spread Christianity in Japan. Lorenzo Ruiz, Guillaume Courtet, Michael de Aozaraza, Vincent Shiwozuka and Lazarus of Kyoto are all put to death by the slow hanging torture of ana-tsurushi. They will be canonized 350 years later as saints of the Roman Catholic Church, on October 18, 1987.source
  • December 4 – Nicholas Ferrar, English trader (born 1592)source
  • December 19 – Christina of Lorraine, Tuscan regent (born 1565)source
  • December 31 – Christian, Count of Waldeck-Wildungen (1588–1637) (born 1585)source
  • Hans Matthiæ, personal priest to the then Duke Charles IX of SwedenSwedensource