1640 CE

13 – Siege of Galle: Dutch troops take the strategic fortress at Galle, Sri Lanka from the Portuguese. (Saint Patrick's Day) – Henry Burnell's play Landgartha premieres at the Werburgh Street Theatre in Dublin. It is one of the earliest dramatic works from a native Irish playwright. A crowd of 1,500 Londoners presents the Root and Branch petition to the Long Parliament, calling for the abolition of episcopacy in the Church of England.

In the 1640s, the 17th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • 5 January – Parliament fixes a quorum of 40 for its proceedings to be transacted.Englandsource
  • 17 April – John Pym makes a speech attacking the King in Parliament.Englandsource
  • May 5 – The Short Parliament is dissolved without agreeing to the King's demands.source
  • 5 May – the King dismisses the Short Parliament and prepares to attack Scotland.Englandsource
  • July 15 – The first university of Finland, the Royal Academy of Turku, is inaugurated in Turku.source
  • October 26 – The Treaty of Ripon is signed, restoring peace between the Scottish Covenanters and Charles I of England.source
  • 26 October – Treaty of Ripon signed between the King and the Covenanters.Englandsource
  • November 3 – The English Long Parliament is summoned; it will not be dissolved for 20 years.source
  • 3 November – the Long Parliament is summoned; it will not be dissolved for 20 years.Englandsource
  • 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.source
  • December 1 – Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg begins to rule.source
  • undated – Habeas Corpus Act ("An Act for the Regulating the Privie Councell and for taking away the Court commonly called the Star Chamber") passed, abolishing the Star Chamber.Englandsource

Conflict & Security

  • 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.source
  • 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.source
  • March 8–13 – Siege of Galle: Dutch troops take the strategic fortress at Galle, Sri Lanka from the Portuguese.source
  • May 22 – The Reapers' War (Guerra dels Segadors or Catalan Revolt) breaks out in Catalonia.source
  • June 7 – Catalan rebels assassinate Dalmau de Queralt, Count of Santa Coloma, beginning the three-day Corpus de Sang riots.source
  • August 20 – Second Bishops' War: A Scottish Covenanter army invades Northumberland in England.source
  • 20 August – a Scottish Covenanter army invades Northumberland.Englandsource
  • August 28 – Second Bishops' War: Battle of Newburn – The Scottish Covenanter army led by Alexander Leslie defeats the English army near Newburn in England.source
  • 28 August – Battle of Newburn: the Covenanter army defeats the English army.Englandsource
  • September 20 – The Siege of Turin (began May 22) ends in Italy with the French and Piedmontese recapturing the city from Spain.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • September 7 – Portuguese missionary Sebastien Manrique reaches Dhaka and stays for 27 days, leaving on October 4.source
  • Swedish soldiers and civilians land in new Sweden to trade and improve the city.Swedensource

Religion & Belief

  • 12 January – Thomas Wentworth becomes Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland and Earl of Strafford.Englandsource
  • 17 January – John Finch becomes Lord Keeper of the Great Seal.Englandsource
  • 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.source
  • April 13 – The Short Parliament assembles, as King Charles I of England attempts to fund the second of the Bishops' Wars.source
  • 13 April – King Charles I summons the Short Parliament in an attempt to fund the Second Bishops' War against the Scottish Covenanters.Englandsource
  • 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.source
  • 18 December – Archbishop Laud impeached for treason.Englandsource
  • Approximate date – Dubhaltach Mac Fhirbhisigh transcribes the only surviving copy of the Chronicon Scotorum.Irelandsource

Economy & Finance

  • 4 May – Oliver St John calls on Parliament to outlaw ship money.Englandsource
  • Børsen (the stock exchange in Copenhagen) was finished. It is considered to be an example of Dutch Renaissance style in Denmark. It’s located in Slotsholmen next to The Parliament of Denmark’s building: The Christiansborg Palace. Børsen is a popular tourist attraction and is known for its distinctive spire, which is shaped like the tails of four dragons twined together.Denmarksource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • The first known European coffeehouse perhaps opens in Venice.source

Health & Medicine

  • 11 December – a crowd of 1,500 Londoners presents the Root and Branch petition to the Long Parliament, calling for the abolition of episcopacy in the Church of England.Englandsource

Crime & Justice

  • 6 May – the Earl of Warwick, Lord Brooke, Lord Saye, John Pym, John Hampden, and Sir Walter Earle arrested.Englandsource
  • 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".source
  • 25 November – the Earl of Strafford imprisoned in the Tower of London.Englandsource
  • 11–12 May – attack on Lambeth Palace by a London mob; Archbishop Laud has fled. A young drummer, Benstead, is convicted of treason for encouraging the crowd, hanged, drawn and quartered, and has his head set above London Bridge; and a glover, John Archer, supposed by the authorities to be a leader, becomes the last person in England to be tortured on the rack (in the Tower of London), but does not reveal any other names.Englandsource

Climate & Environment

  • 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.source

Culture & Society

  • 17 March (Saint Patrick's Day) – Henry Burnell's play Landgartha premieres at the Werburgh Street Theatre in Dublin. It is one of the earliest dramatic works from a native Irish playwright.Irelandsource
  • The first book to be printed in North America (the Bay Psalm Book) is published.source
  • Introduction of the Louis d'orFrancesource
  • James Shirley's play Saint Patrick for Ireland is published. The author returns to England around 16 April.Irelandsource
  • Foundation of the University of Helsinki in the Swedish province of Finland.Swedensource
  • The first theater in Stockholm, Björngårdsteatern, is opened by Christian Thum.Swedensource

Births

  • January 25 – William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire, English soldier and statesman (died 1707)source
  • March 6 – Marcantonio Barbarigo, Italian Catholic cardinal (died 1706)source
  • 9 March – Jacques d'Agar, portrait painter (died 1715)Francesource
  • April 4 – Gaspar Sanz, Spanish composer, musician, priest (died 1710)source
  • May 31 – Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki, King of Poland (died 1673)source
  • June 9 – Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1705)source
  • June 15 – Bernard Lamy, French Oratorian mathematician and theologian (died 1715)source
  • June 21 – Abraham Mignon, Dutch golden age painter (died 1679)source
  • June 29 – Elizabeth Stanhope, Countess of Chesterfield, second wife of Philip Stanhope (died 1665)source
  • July 8 – Henry Stuart, Duke of Gloucester, son of Charles I (died 1660)source
  • September 21 – Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, younger son of Louis XIII of France and his wife (died 1701)source
  • 6 October – Christian Ulrik Gyldenløve, military officer and diplomat (born 1611).Denmarksource
  • November 18 – George Hooper, Bishop of St Asaph Bishop of Bath and Wells (died 1727)source
  • November 27 – Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland (died 1709)source
  • December 13 – Robert Plot, English naturalist (died 1696)source
  • December 14 (probable date) – Aphra Behn, English author (died 1689)source
  • 14 December – Aphra Behn, née Amis, Johnson or Cooper?, author (died 1689)Englandsource
  • Politician Anders Bengtsson was born in 1640.Swedensource

Deaths