1642 CE

Honours and titles granted by Charles I of England from this date onward will in 1646 be retrospectively annulled by Parliament. The first Confederate Assembly of Ireland is held in Kilkenny where it sets up a provisional government, largely Catholic Royalist; start of the Irish Confederate Wars. The first Confederate Assembly is held in Kilkenny where it sets up a provisional government, largely Catholic Royalist; start of the Irish Confederate Wars.

In the 1640s, the 17th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

January 4 – King Charles I of England, accompanied by soldiers, arrives at a session of the Long Parliament and attempts to arrest his chief opponents, the Five Members, John Hampden, Arthur Haselrig, Denzil Holles, John Pym and William Strode, for what he regards as treason but they escape and are protected by the Lord Mayor of London. This is the last time any monarch enters the House of Commons.source
4 January – Charles I attempts to arrest five leading members of the Long Parliament, but they escape. This is the last time any monarch enters the House of Commons.England source
January – Charles I agrees to parliament's request to order that the last Wednesday in each month should be kept as a fast day.England source
February 15 – Royalist Endymion Porter is voted to be a "dangerous counsellor" by the English parliament.source
February 17 – The Treaty of Axim is signed between the Dutch West India Company and the chiefs of the Nzema people in the modern-day African nation of Ghana.source
February 20 – The Treaty of The Hague (1641), between the Dutch Republic and the Kingdom of Portugal, is ratified by the Republic's States-General.source
March 1 – Georgeana, Massachusetts (later known as York, Maine) becomes the first incorporated city in the British colonies of North America.source
May 1 – Honours and titles granted by Charles I of England from this date onward will in 1646 be retrospectively annulled by Parliament.source
June 1 – "Nineteen Propositions" are sent by the English House of Lords and House of Commons to Charles I, asking the King to consent to parliamentary approval for the members of his privy council, his chief officers, and new seats created for the House of Lords, as well as regulating the education and choice of marital partners of the King's children, and barring Roman Catholics from the Lords. The King's Answer, rejecting the Propositions, is read in Parliament on June 21.source
1 June – Parliament approves the Nineteen Propositions to be sent to the King, demanding parliamentary control of the civil government of the kingdom.England source
21 June – The King's Answer, rejecting the Nineteen Propositions, is read in Parliament.England source
July 4 – The Committee of Safety is created by the English Parliament as a challenge to the authority of King Charles I. Five members of the House of Lords (Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland, Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland, Philip Herbert, 4th Earl of Pembroke, and William Fiennes, 1st Viscount Saye and Sele) and ten members of the House of Commons (Nathaniel Fiennes, John Glynn, John Hampden, Denzil Holles, Henry Marten, John Merrick, William Pierrepoint, John Pym, Philip Stapleton and William Waller) are appointed to the Committee.source
July 12 – The English Parliament votes to raise its own Army, under the command of the Earl of Essex.source
29 October – King Charles enters Oxford and establishes his court there.England source
October 30 – King Charles I of England enters Oxford and establishes his court there.source
1 December – Storming of Farnham Castle: Parliamentarian forces easily take the Surrey stronghold from Royalist defenders.England source
The village of Bro (Broo), Sweden is granted city rights for the second time and takes the name Kristinehamn (literally "Christina's port") after the Swedish monarch at this time, Queen Christina.source
c. 14 November – the Confederate Assembly elects a Supreme Council.Ireland source
The village Bro, in Sweden, gains city rights for the second time.Sweden source

Conflict & Security

March 19 – Irish Rebellion of 1641: The citizens of Galway seize an English naval ship and close the town gates in support of the rebellion.source
19 March – the citizens of Galway seize an English naval ship and close the town gates in support of the Irish Rebellion of 1641.Ireland source
May 18 – The month-long Siege of Limerick in Ireland begins.source
June 16 – Irish Confederate Wars: The Battle of Glenmaquin takes place in County Donegal, with the Protestant Laggan Army decisively defeating Confederate Ireland soldiers.source
June 23 – Siege of Limerick: the English Protestant garrison of King John's Castle (Limerick) is forced to surrender by the Confederate Ireland Munster army led by General Garret Barry.source
June 29 – The Battle of Barcelona begins at sea as a French Navy fleet of 75 ships, commanded by Admiral Jean Armand de Maillé-Brézé clashes off the coast of Spain with a Spanish fleet of 52 ships under the Duke of Ciudad Real.source
July 3 – The French Navy wins the Battle of Barcelona.source
July 10 – In a prelude to the First English Civil War, King Charles I of England besieges Hull in an attempt to gain control of its arsenal. The siege lasts until July 27, with Charles's Royalist Army failing to take the city from the Parliamentarians commanded by Governor John Hotham and General John Meldrum.source
10 July–30 July – Charles besieges Hull in an attempt to gain control of its arsenal.England source
July – Battle of Liscarroll: Murrough O'Brien, 1st Earl of Inchiquin, leading an English force, routs an Irish rebel army under Garret Barry advancing on Cork.Ireland source
August 3 – A Dutch Navy fleet of 14 warships, led by Hendric Harouse, begins a campaign to drive Spaniards from the island of Formosa (modern-day Taiwan) off of the coast of mainland China. After disembarking at Tamsui, the Dutch begin a siege of Fort Domingo, which falls on Saint Bartolomeo Day (August 24).source
August 4 – Irish Confederate Wars: Lord Forbes relieves Forthill, and besieges Galway.source
August 22 – First English Civil War begins when King Charles I raises the royal battle standard over Nottingham Castle, so declaring war on his own Parliament.source
September 7 – Irish Confederate Wars: Lord Forbes raises his unsuccessful siege of Galway.source
September 7 – First English Civil War: The Siege of Portsmouth (begun on 10 August) ends with the Royalist garrison surrendering the port to Parliament.source
9 September: Reapers' War: Siege of Perpignan: Perpignan is conquered by Franco-Catalan forces led by Charles de La Porte after a 10-month siege.France source
September 23 – First English Civil War: Royalist victory at the Battle of Powick Bridge, a skirmish near Worcester which is the first engagement between elements of the principal field armies of the War.source
October 23 – First English Civil War: Battle of Edgehill (Warwickshire) – Royalists and Parliamentarians battle to a draw in the first pitched battle of the War.source
23 October – First English Civil War: Royalist victory at the Battle of Edgehill, the first pitched battle of the War.England source
23 October - Battle of Breitenfeld (1642), the Second Battle of Breitenfeld, also known as the First Battle of Leipzig, was a decisive victory for the Swedish army under the command of Field Marshal Lennart Torstenson over an Imperial Army under the command of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria and his deputy Ottavio Piccolomini, Duke of Amalfi.Sweden source
October 24 – The first Confederate Assembly of Ireland is held in Kilkenny where it sets up a provisional government, largely Catholic Royalist; start of the Irish Confederate Wars.source
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.source
13 November – Battle of Turnham Green: Royalist forces withdraw in face of the Parliamentarian army and fail to take London.England source
November 15 – First English Civil War: Sir Edward Ford, High Sheriff of Sussex, captures Chichester from the Parliamentarians without resistance. The Parliamentarians send Sir William Waller to recapture the city.source
November 27 – Hong Taiji (known in the West as Abatai) begins a 60-day march of Manchu warriors southwards from the Great Wall through Ming Chinese provinces of Zhili and Shandong, before returning northward on January 27. (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.)source
December 21 – First English Civil War: After routing Edward Ford's royalist troops at the Battle of Muster Green, William Waller follows Ford's retreating force to Chichester as the Parliamentarians besiege the city, which falls on December 29 after eight days. The inhabitants of Chichester agree to pay the Parliamentarians an additional month's pay to prevent the town from being plundered.source
Rembrandt finishes his painting The Night Watch (Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq) in Amsterdam.source
11-12 June: Cinq-Mars conspiracy: Henri Coiffier de Ruzé, Marquis of Cinq-Mars, personal favourite of the king, and Gaston, Duke of Orléans, the king's brother, plot against Cardinal Richelieu, the prime minister. Cinq-Mars attempts to get support for the rebellion from Philip IV of Spain but Richelieu's spy service catches him doing so and he is imprisoned and beheaded in the Place des Terreaux in Lyon for high treason along with another conspirator, François Auguste de Thou.France source

Exploration & Expansion

November 24 – Abel Tasman and his crew become the first Europeans to discover "Van Diemen's Land", later the Australian island and state of Tasmania, and the island is claimed for the Netherlands on December 3 at what becomes Prince of Wales Bay.source
December 13 – Abel Tasman and his crew become the first recorded Europeans to sight New Zealand, arriving at its South Island. In a battle between the Europeans and the Island's Maori inhabitants, four crew members are killed.source
New Sweden became the sole property of the Swedish government, who appointed Johan Printz as the colony's Governor. Printz set sail for New Sweden from Gothenburg the same year.Sweden source
Though the Dutch protested Swedish claims to the land on the Delaware river, they collaborated in early 1642 on evicting a group of sixty English citizens who had come to establish England's claim to the region.Sweden source

Religion & Belief

February 5 – The Bishops Exclusion Act is passed in England to prevent any member of the clergy from holding political office.source
13 February – Charles assents to the Bishops Exclusion Act thereby removing all bishops from the House of Lords.England source
17 March – a group of nobles sign the "Catholic Remonstrance" at Trim, County Meath addressed to King Charles I.Ireland source
22 March – in a Catholic synod at Kells chaired by Hugh O'Reilly (Archbishop of Armagh), a majority of bishops proclaim that the rebellion is a just war.Ireland source
May 10 – In a Catholic synod at Kilkenny, bishops draft the Confederate Oath of Association, calling on Catholics to swear allegiance to King Charles I and to obey orders and decrees made by a "Supreme Council of the Confederate Catholics", hence the Irish rebels of 1641 become known as Confederate Ireland.source
10 May – in a Catholic synod at Kilkenny, bishops draft the Confederate Oath of Association, calling on Catholics to swear allegiance to Charles I and to obey orders and decrees made by a "Supreme Council of the Confederate Catholics", hence the rebels become known as Confederate Ireland.Ireland source
May 17 – Ville-Marie (later Montreal) is founded as a permanent settlement.source
June 10 – Juan de Palafox y Mendoza, Archbishop of Mexico, dismisses the Viceroy of New Spain, Diego López Pacheco, allegedly on orders of King Philip IV, and takes office as the new Viceroy. Palafox is in office for only five months before being recalled to Spain.source
24 October – the first Confederate Assembly is held in Kilkenny where it sets up a provisional government, largely Catholic Royalist; start of the Irish Confederate Wars.Ireland source
Isaac Aboab da Fonseca is appointed rabbi in Pernambuco, Brazil, thus becoming the first rabbi of the Americas.source
The Presbytery of Ulster, a predecessor of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, is created by chaplains of the Presbyterian Scottish army in Ulster.Ireland source
As part of the Thirty Years' War, Lennart Torstensson, Count of Ortala, led the Swedish army in capturing Olomouc, in the Czech Republic, in June 1642. They destroyed many monuments, including the Hradisko Monastery, and rebuilt the city into a military fortress. Olomouc became the most important stronghold of Sweden during the Habsburg Monarchy.Sweden source

Technology & Infrastructure

Briare Canal opens throughout, the first summit level canal in Europe built using pound locks.France source

Health & Medicine

April – Hannibal Sehested is appointed Governor-General of Norway.source
April – the governor of Kingston upon Hull twice refuses access to the King.England source
April - Hannibal Sehested was appointed Governor-General of Norway.Norway source
The Beggar regulation of 1642 regulates the Swedish poor relief until the Poor Care Law of 1847.Sweden source

Crime & Justice

April 8 – Execution of George Spencer: the first hanging of a settler in the New Haven Colony takes place, on a wrongful conviction of bestiality.source
Early witch trials occurred in Njurunda, Sweden. Two sisters, Elin and Sigrid, were suspected of witchcraft, and then prosecuted.Sweden source

Disasters & Accidents

September 2 – London theatre closure 1642: England's Long Parliament orders the theatres of London closed, effectively ending the era of English Renaissance theatre.source
2 September – Parliament orders the theatres of London to be closed, effectively ending the era of English Renaissance theatre.England source

Climate & Environment

October 8 – 1642 Yellow River flood: Some 300,000 people die in the intentional breaking of the dams and dykes of the Yellow River, done by the Ming dynasty defenders of Kaifeng to break the siege by the large rebel force of Li Zicheng.source

Culture & Society

February 22 – The Italian opera Il palazzo incantato (The Enchanted Palace), by Luigi Rossi with libretto by Giulion Rospigliosi (the future Pope Clement IX), is given its first performance at the Teatro delle Quattro Fontane (Palazzo Barberini) in Rome.source
February 23–March 11 – Henrietta Maria, queen consort of England, and her eldest daughter Mary, newly created Princess Royal, leave Falmouth, Cornwall, to go into exile at the Dutch court in The Hague.source
23 February–11 March – Queen Henrietta Maria and her eldest daughter Mary leave Falmouth, Cornwall, to go into exile at the Dutch court in The Hague. Just before she leaves, Mary becomes the first child of an English Sovereign to be granted the title Princess Royal.England source
The Rundetaarn in Copenhagen was completed.Denmark source
The angel is last minted this year.England source

Births

January 2 – Mehmed IV, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1648-1687) (died 1693)source
15 March (bapt.) – Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester (died 1711)England source
April 15 – Suleiman II, Ottoman Sultan (died 1691)source
June 13 – Queen Myeongseong, Korean royal consort (died 1684)source
June 28 – Jacob de Graeff, member of the De Graeff-family from the Dutch Golden Age (died 1690)source
August 14 – Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (died 1723)source
September 1 – Angelo Paoli, Italian beatified (died 1720)source
November 4 – Zheng Jing, Chinese pirate (died 1681)source
5 November - Nils Gyldenstolpe (1642–1709), count, official and diplomat (died 1709)Sweden source
November 11 – André Charles Boulle, French cabinet-maker (died 1732)source
11 November: André Charles Boulle, cabinetmaker (died 1732)France source
November 16 – Cornelis Evertsen the Youngest, Dutch admiral (died 1706)source
November 30 – Andrea Pozzo, Jesuit Brother, architect and painter (died 1709)source
December 8 – Nicolas Roland, French priest and founder (died 1678)source
December 17 – Francisco Castillo Fajardo, Marquis of Villadarias, Spanish general (died 1716)source
December 23 (O.S.) – John Holt, English lawyer (died 1710)source
December 25 (O.S.) – Sir Isaac Newton, English scientist (died 1727)source
25 December – Isaac Newton, mathematician and physicist (died 1727)England source

Deaths

January 8 – Galileo Galilei, Italian astronomer and physicist (born 1564)source
8 January – Niels Toller, merchant (born c. 1592).Norway source
February 18 – A group of Protestant English settlers in Ireland surrender to Irish authorities at Castlebar in County Mayo in hopes of having their lives spared, but are killed one week later at Shrule on orders of Edmond Bourke.source
April 30 – Dmitry Pozharsky, Russian prince (born 1578)source
July 2 – Hundreds of sailors are killed when the French warship Galion de Guise and the Spanish galley Magdalena become entangled during the Battle of Barcelona. A French fireship attempts to burn the Magdalena and accidentally sets fire to the Galion de Guise, killing 500 of the 540 crew.source
July 3 – Marie de' Medici, French queen consort and regent (born 1573)source
July 17 – William, Count of Nassau-Siegen, German count (born 1592)source
August 18 – Guido Reni, Italian painter (born 1575)source
September 8 – Thomas Granger is executed by hanging in the Plymouth Colony (Massachusetts) following confessions to numerous acts of bestiality.source
October 23 – George Stewart, 9th Seigneur d'Aubigny, Scottish nobleman and military commander (born 1618)source
October 24 – Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey, English Fen drainage adventurer and soldier (born 1583)source
24 October – Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey, Fen drainage adventurer and soldier (born 1583)England source
27 October – Holger Rosenkrantz, nobleman (born 1574)Denmark source
November 1 – Jean Nicolet, French explorer (born 1598)source
November 24 – Walatta Petros, saint in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (born 1592)source
December 4 – Armand Jean du Plessis, Cardinal Richelieu, French statesman (born 1585)source
December 27 – Herman op den Graeff, Dutch bishop (born 1585)source
Christina Natt och Dag, court official (born 1580)Sweden source