1666 CE

This is the first year to be designated as an Annus mirabilis, in John Dryden's 1667 poem so titled, celebrating England's failure to be beaten either by the Dutch or by fire.

In the 1660s, the 17th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • April 20 – In colonial British North America, "Articles of Peace and Amity" are signed between the governments of the Province of Maryland and 12 Eastern Algonquian tribes — the Piscataways, Anacostancks, Doegs, Mattawomans, Portobackes, Chopticos, Mikikiwomans, Manasquesends, Chingwawateicks, Hangemaicks, Sacayos, and Panyayos.source
  • May 12 – In India, General Shivaji Bhonsale of the Maratha Empire arrives at the Agra Fort for a meeting with Emperor Aurangzeb of the Mughal Empire, as part of the terms of peace under the 1665 Treaty of Purandar. After taking offence at the disrespect shown to him, he gets angry and attempts to leave; he and his son Sambhaji are immediately placed under arrest and imprisoned at the fort.source
  • May 21 – The Holy Roman Empire, ruled by Leopold I, repurchases the territory of the Duchy of Opole and Racibórz (Oppeln und Ratibor), which it had ceded to Poland in 1645, for the sum of 120,000 guldens and consolidates it with Upper Silesia. The territory will be ceded from Germany to Poland in 1945 at the end of World War II.source
  • May 21 – Iliaș Alexandru becomes the ruler of Moldavia, part of modern-day Romania.source
  • July 31 – The Agreement of Legonice is signed, with Poland restoring the titles of Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski and Lubomirski's officers, granting amnesty to all the rebels, and King Jan II Kazimierz abandoning further reform plans.source
  • 6 September – Cestui que Vie Act passed by Parliament to provide for disposal of the property of missing persons.Englandsource
  • Jean Talon completes a census of New France, the first census in North America.source
  • Lord Maurice Roche of Castletownroche in County Cork loses his entire estate to Lieutenant Colonel John Widenham who receives the Castle as a reward for his loyalty to the Crown. The Castle of the Roches is thus renamed "Castle Widenham".Irelandsource
  • The Parliament of Ireland meets for the last time until 1692 (apart from the Patriot Parliament of 1689).Irelandsource

Conflict & Security

  • January 27 – Mughal conquest of Chittagong: Mughal forces of Emperor Aurangzeb, in alliance with the Portuguese, under Shaista Khan and his son Buzurg Umed Khan, expel the Maghs from the Bengal port city of Chittagong, renaming the city as Islamabad.source
  • February – William Penn moves from London to Ireland to manage his father's estates. In May, he is involved in suppressing a mutiny in the English garrison at Carrickfergus.Irelandsource
  • June 14 (June 4 Julian calendar) – The Four Days' Battle between the Dutch Republic fleet (84 ships under the command of Admiral Michiel de Ruyter) and the English Royal Navy (79 ships led by the Duke of Albemarle) in the North Sea, one of the longest naval engagements in history, ends with a retreat by the English after having started on June 11. A part of the Second Anglo-Dutch War, the battle ends with a Dutch victory, but heavy losses are sustained on both sides: the English lose 1,000 men and 10 ships are sunk, while the Dutch lose four ships and 1,550 men. Damaged, but not destroyed, the English fleet sets about repairs and refitting, and meets the Dutch fleet again on July 25 in the St. James's Day Battle.source
  • July 1 – During the Portuguese Restoration War between Portugal and Spain, the Battle of the Berlengas ends after four days as a fleet of 15 Spanish warships obtains the surrender of Fort of São João Baptista.source
  • July 13 – The Battle of Matwy, the bloodiest engagement of Lubomirski's rebellion, takes place in Poland at the village of Matwy. Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski, who has led the revolt against Poland's King Jan II Kazimierz, defeats a larger number of troops led by John III Sobieski of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Poland and Lithuania sustain 4,000 deaths compared to 200 rebel casualties.source
  • 25 July (4 August New Style) – Second Anglo-Dutch War : St. James's Day Battle: The English fleet under Prince Rupert of the Rhine and George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, defeats the Dutch off the North Foreland.Englandsource
  • August 4 (July 25 Julian calendar) – In the St. James's Day Battle of the Second Anglo-Dutch War, the English Royal Navy, under the command of Prince Rupert of the Rhine and George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, defeats the Dutch Republic navy off the North Foreland of England. The victory comes 6 weeks after the British fleet had sustained a heavy loss in the Four Days' Battle. The Dutch ships Sneek and Tholen are sunk, with the loss of 800 men, while 300 Englishmen die in the sinking of HMS Resolution.source
  • August 17 – In India, General Shivaji Bhonsale, future ruler of the Maratha Empire, and his son Sambhaji escape from house arrest at the Agra Fort, where they have been held prisoner since May 12.source
  • September 16 – The Apostasy of Sabbatai Zevi begins in Istanbul.source
  • October 17 – In North America, a French Army regiment led by Alexandre de Prouville de Tracy erects crosses in the Mohawk lands of the eastern Iroquois Confederacy territory along the Mohawk River as part of an invasion that started on September 29. During the expedition, Prouville's forces find four abandoned Mohawk villages in the area, located in the modern U.S. state of New York near the village of Schenectady but never confront any Mohawk defenders, and the French never attempt to enforce their claim.source
  • November 28 – The Battle of Rullion Green takes place in the Pentland Hills near Midlothian in Scotland as the culmination of the brief 'Pentland Rising' which began on November 15 as a rebellion by the Covenanters who oppose changes in the Church of Scotland. At least 2,000 men of the Scottish Royal Army, led by General Thomas Dalyell, defeat more than 750 Covenanter rebels who have been under the command of James Wallace of Auchens.source
  • Zheng Jing's forces attack the Dutch at Keelung but are repulsedChinasource
  • 1–4 June (11–14 June New Style) – Second Anglo-Dutch War: Four Days' Battle – The Dutch Republic fleet under Michiel de Ruyter defeats the English in the North Sea in one of the longest naval engagements in history.Englandsource
  • Ulrik Fredrik Gyldenløve was appointed commander-in-chief of the Norwegian army.Norwaysource

Exploration & Expansion

  • 13 January – French traveller Jean-Baptiste Tavernier arrives in Dhaka, and meets Shaista Khan.Francesource
  • March – The Tavernier Blue, precursor to the Hope Diamond, is first recorded, when French gem merchant Jean-Baptiste Tavernier purchases it from the Kollur Mine in the Mughal Empire in uncut form.source
  • April 23 – On Saint Christopher Island more commonly called St Kitts, a Caribbean Sea island divided between colonies of England and France, a battle near Sandy Point Town over control of the territory ends with a victory by the French over a numerically-superior English force two days after English Deputy Governor William Watts of Anguilla had sent an expedition to capture the neighbouring island of Saint Martin. Governor Watts and the French Governor of Saint-Christophe, Charles de Sales, are both killed in the battle.source
  • September 4 – Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb grants the French East India Company a royal mandate to trade at the port of Surat.source
  • October – Philosopher John Locke meets his future patron, the statesman Anthony Ashley Cooper, in Oxford and forms an enduring and important friendship.Englandsource
  • The town of Kragerø was founded.Norwaysource

Religion & Belief

  • January 17 – The Chair of Saint Peter (Cathedra Petri, designed by Bernini) is set above the altar in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.source
  • May 13 – French theologian Louis-Isaac Lemaistre de Sacy is imprisoned in the Bastille after his conviction for heresy in connection with the Jansenist movement. Sacy uses his two and one-half years of incarceration (which lasts until November 14, 1668), to create the Bible du Port-Royal, a first French language rendition of the Bible, finishing a translation of the Old Testament from the Vulgate, written in Latin, that had been started by his brother Antoine, and then beginning work on the New Testament.source
  • June 6 – Moulai al-Rashid is let into Fes by the city's Jews, establishing the power of Morocco's Alawi dynasty, which will continue into the 21st century.source
  • July 6 – On 3 Muharram 1077 AH on the Muslim calendar, Sa'd ibn Zayd, a descendant of Hasan ibn Ali and of Muhammad (founder of Islam) becomes the new Sharif of Mecca, in modern-day Saudi Arabia. His ascension to the post follows the death of his father, Zayd ibn Muhsin, who had been the Sharif since 1631.source
  • October 10 – A "day of humiliation and fasting" is held in London churches a month after the Great Fire of London.source
  • December 12 – A sobor (church council) of the Russian Orthodox Church deposes Patriarch Nikon of Moscow, but accepts his liturgical reforms. Dissenters from these, known as Old Believers, continue into the 21st century.source
  • The first completed printed Bible translation into Armenian, Astuacašunč hnoc' ew noroc' ktakaranac (Oskanean Bible), is published in Amsterdam, edited by Bishop Oskan Yerevantsi.source
  • The Institution libre du Sacré-Cœur at Tourcoing is founded.Francesource

Science & Discovery

  • Isaac Newton uses a prism to split sunlight, as referenced in his alchemical works as Lux Dei, into the component colours of the optical spectrum, assisting the understanding of the scientific nature of light. He also develops differential calculus simultaneously with Leibniz. 1666 is consequently referred to as his Annus mirabilis or Newton's "Year of the Morning Star".source
  • Isaac Newton uses a prism to split sunlight (Deus phos) into the component colours of the optical spectrum, assisting understanding of the scientific nature of light. He also develops differential calculus. His discoveries this year lead to it being referred to as his Annus mirabilis or Newton's "Year of the Morning Star".Englandsource
  • Publication of the Upsalia antiqua by Johannes Schefferus.Swedensource

Health & Medicine

  • February 1 – The joint English and Scottish royal court returns to London as the Great Plague of London subsides.source
  • 1 February – royal court returns to London as the Great Plague of London subsides.Englandsource
  • First Burying in Woollen Act requires the dead, except plague victims and the destitute, to be buried in pure English woollen shrouds for the benefit of the home textile industry.Englandsource

Crime & Justice

  • 4 June – Molière's comedy The Misanthrope is premièred at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris, by the King's Players.Francesource
  • August 19 (August 9 Julian calendar) – Rear Admiral Robert Holmes leads an English Royal Navy raid on the Dutch island of Terschelling, destroying 150 merchant ships in the Vlie estuary over a period of two days, and pillaging the town of West-Terschelling. The action becomes known as "Holmes's Bonfire".source
  • September 6 – The Cestui Que Vie Act 1666 is passed by the Parliament of England, to provide for the disposal of the property of missing persons.source
  • 9–10 August (19–20 August New Style) – 'Holmes's Bonfire': Rear Admiral Robert Holmes leads an English raid on the Dutch island of Terschelling, destroying 150 merchant ships in the Vlie estuary, and pillaging the town of West-Terschelling.Englandsource

Disasters & Accidents

  • March 11 – The tower of St. Peter's Church, Riga, collapses, burying eight people in the rubble.source
  • September 2 – The Great Fire of London begins as a blaze in a bakery owned by Thomas Farriner on Pudding Lane, near London Bridge. Over a period of four days, the fire destroys more than 13,000 buildings (including Old St Paul's Cathedral), but only six people are known to have died, while at least 80,000 are left destitute and homeless. The events are recorded by Samuel Pepys in his diary. The resurveying of property is credited with advancing both cartography and the practices of surveying, as well as resulting in the modern definition by John Ogilby of the statute mile, as 1,760 yards.source
  • 2–5 September – Great Fire of London: A large fire breaks out in the City of London in the house of baker Thomas Farriner on Pudding Lane near London Bridge. The fire destroys more than 13,000 buildings including Old St Paul's Cathedral but only 6 people are known to have died.Englandsource

Climate & Environment

  • August 2 (July 23 Julian calendar) – A hurricane sweeps through the Caribbean Sea near Guadeloupe five days after Barbados colonial Governor Francis Willoughby led a force of two Royal Navy frigates, 12 commandeered vessels and over 1,000 men in a battle against French colonies during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Willoughby and most of his crew die in the sinking of his flagship, HMS Hopesource
  • 10 October – a "day of humiliation and fasting" is held a month after the Great Fire of London.Englandsource
  • October 23 – The most intense tornado on record in English history, an F4 storm on the Fujita scale or T8 on the TORRO scale, strikes the county of Lincolnshire with a path of destruction through the villages of Welbourn, Wellingore, Navenby and Boothby Graffoe, with winds of more than 213 mph.source
  • 23 October – the most intense tornado on record in English history, an F4 storm on the Fujita scale or T8 on the TORRO scale, strikes Lincolnshire with a path of destruction through the villages of Welbourn, Wellingore, Navenby and Boothby Graffoe, with winds of more than 213 mph.Englandsource

Culture & Society

  • 12 January - All the crown estates in Helgeland, Salten, Lofoten, Vesterålen, Andenes, Senja and Troms were given to Joachim Irgens von Westervick.Norwaysource
  • June 4 – Molière's comedy of manners The Misanthrope is premièred at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris by the King's Players with himself in the title role.source
  • July - Prince Christian was hailed as heir to the throne of Norway in Christiania.Norwaysource
  • 1 August – Anders Bording's Den Danske Mercurius, Denmark's first newspaper, is published for the first time.Denmarksource
  • December 19 – Lund University is founded in Lund, Sweden.source
  • December 22 – The French Academy of Sciences, founded by Louis XIV, first meets.source
  • 22 December – The French Academy of Sciences, founded by the king, first meets.Francesource
  • Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer paints The Art of Painting, his largest and most complex work.source
  • Holmen Cemetery, the oldest cemetery in Denmark still in use, relocates to its current location in ØsterbroDenmarksource
  • The enactment of the Royal Placat of 1666.Swedensource
  • Second return to Sweden of Christina, Queen of Sweden.Swedensource
  • The Lund University is founded.Swedensource

Births

  • February 1 – Marie Thérèse de Bourbon, Princess of Conti and titular queen of Poland (died 1732)source
  • February 9 – George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, British soldier (died 1737)source
  • March 15 – George Bähr, German architect (died 1738)source
  • May 14 – Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia (died 1732)source
  • 16 June – Johan Conrad Ernst, architect (died 1750)Denmarksource
  • July 10 – John Ernest Grabe, German-born Anglican theologian (died 1711)source
  • July 23 – Thomas Parker, 1st Earl of Macclesfield (died 1732)source
  • August 4 – Maria Sophia of Neuburg, Queen consort of Portugal (died 1699)source
  • August 13 – William Wotton, English scholar (died 1727)source
  • September 5 – Gottfried Arnold, German church historian (died 1714)source
  • September 6 – Tsar Ivan V of Russia (died 1696)source
  • 9 November - Carl Gustaf Armfeldt, officer (died 1736)Swedensource
  • November 12 – Mary Astell, English writer (died 1731)source
  • 12 November – Mary Astell, feminist writer (died 1731)Englandsource
  • 28 November – Magnus Berg, woodcarver, sculptor, painter (died 1739).Norwaysource
  • December 22 – Guru Gobind Singh, 10th Guru of Sikhism, social reformist, poet, and revolutionary (died 1708)source
  • Arthur Chichester, 3rd Earl of Donegall (died 1706)source
  • Mary Pix, English author (died 1709)source

Deaths

  • January 20 – Anne of Austria, queen of Louis XIII and regent of France (born 1601)source
  • January 22 – Shah Jahan, Mughal Emperor of India (born 1592)source
  • February 12 – Mildmay Fane, 2nd Earl of Westmorland, English politician (born 1602)source
  • February 26 – Armand de Bourbon, Prince of Conti, Frondeur (born 1629)source
  • February 27 – Luisa de Guzmán, Duchess of Braganza and Queen consort of Portugal (born 1613)source
  • 27 February - Gustav Evertsson Horn, military and politician (born 1614)Swedensource
  • March 1 – Ecaterina Cercheza, Princess consort of Moldavia (born 1620)source
  • May 13 – Pier Francesco Mola, Italian painter of the High Baroque (born 1612)source
  • August 26 – Frans Hals, Dutch painter (born 1580)source
  • 23 September – Hannibal Sehested, diplomat (born 1609)Denmarksource
  • October 11 – The Sieur de Buat, Captain Henri de Fleury de Coulan of the Army of the Dutch Republic, is beheaded in public at The Hague after being convicted of attempting to overthrow Dutch leader Johan de Witt.source
  • October 26 – Abbas II, the Shah of Iran, dies at the age of 34 after a reign of 24 years, without designating a successor. His 18-year old son Sam Mirza is crowned as the new Safavid dynasty emperor six days later.source
  • October 27 – Robert Hubert, a Frenchman who has made a false confession to having started the Great Fire of London (despite not arriving in England until two days after the blaze started), is executed based on his statements.source
  • 27 October – Robert Hubert, a Frenchman who had made a false confession to having started the Great Fire of London, is executed. A royal proclamation banishes Catholic priests.Englandsource
  • October 29 – James Shirley, English dramatist (born 1596)source
  • December 1 – James Ware, Irish genealogist (born 1594)source
  • December 22 – Guercino, Italian painter (born 1591)source
  • Jesuit missionary and astronomer Adam Schall von Bell dies in exile in Macau after release from prison. He was accused by Yang Guangxian of rebellion and miscalculating the funeral of Consort DonggoChinasource