1677 CE

Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Act, placing the power to judge heresy and similar offences with the ecclesiastical courts, whose power of punishment is limited to excommunication, thus abolishing capital punishment (burning at the stake) in such cases. The Treaty of Middle Plantation establishes peace between the Virginia colonists and the local Indians. William of Orange, the leader of the Dutch Republic, is forced to end the siege of the Spanish Netherlands (modern-day Belgium) city of Charleroi after six days.

In the 1670s, the 17th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • April 16 – The Statute of Frauds is passed into English law.source
  • May 29 – The Treaty of Middle Plantation establishes peace between the Virginia colonists and the local Indians.source
  • October 29 – Michel le Tellier becomes Chancellor of France.source
  • November - Sweden retakes Jemtland.Norwaysource
  • The Revolt of the Three Feudatories continuesChinasource
  • Laurence Parsons is created Sir Laurence Parsons, 1st Baronet, of Birr Castle in the King's County, in the Baronetage of Ireland.Irelandsource
  • Richard Jones, Viscount Ranelagh, is created 1st (and only) Earl of Ranelagh in the Peerage of Ireland.Irelandsource

Conflict & Security

  • February 26 – On the Indonesian island of Java, Amangkurat II of the Mataram Sultanate agrees to bring his kingdom under the protection of the Dutch East India Company to drive out rebels.source
  • February 28 – During the Franco-Dutch War, the Siege of Valenciennes by the French Army begins in the Spanish Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). The city surrenders on March 17.source
  • March 17 – Franco-Dutch War: Siege of Valenciennes (1676–77) in the Spanish Netherlands ends with surrender of the town to the French.source
  • April 11 – Franco-Dutch War: Battle of Cassel – A French force under Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, defeats a combined Dutch-Spanish force under William of Orange in French Flanders.source
  • May 31 – Scanian War: Battle of Møn – Danish ships clash with a Swedish fleet under Niels Juel, between Fehmarn and Warnemünde; the Danish defeat the Swedish and capture a number of ships.source
  • 31 May–1 June – the naval Battle of Møn results in Danish-Norwegian victory.Denmarksource
  • May 31 – June 1 - Battle of Møn.Swedensource
  • June 25–26 – Scanian War: Siege of Malmö – Danish attackers fail to take the town from the Swedish.source
  • July 1 – July 2 - Battle of Køge Bay.Swedensource
  • July 14 – Battle of Landskrona: Sweden and its 13,000 troops, under the command of King Charles XI, successfully repel a 12,000-man invasion force from Denmark, commanded by King Christian V.source
  • 1–2 July – the Battle of Køge Bay results in a decisive Danish victory which helps to establish Niels Juel's reputation.Denmarksource
  • August 14 – William of Orange, the leader of the Dutch Republic, is forced to end the siege of the Spanish Netherlands (modern-day Belgium) city of Charleroi after six days.source
  • August 28 – During war between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire, Russian troops led by Grigory Romodanovsky and Ukrainian Cossacks led by Ivan Samoylovych arrive at the besieged Ukrainian city of Chigirin (modern-day Chyhyryn) and inflict heavy casualties on the encamped Turkish and Tatar troops. Ibrahim Pasha, leader of the 45,000 member Ottoman force, retreats the next day and, by the time of the relief of Chigirin on September 5, the Ottoman Army has lost 20,000 men. Ottoman Sultan Mehmed IV, outraged by the defeat, sends 200,000 troops the following year and destroys the city.source
  • 28 August - Battle of Uddevalla.Norwaysource
  • August - Norwegian forces of 2,000 men, led by General Reinhold von Hoven and General Christian Shultz occupies Jemtland.Norwaysource
  • September 17 – Troops from Denmark invade and capture the Swedish island of Rügen and drive out the local population. Five months later, on January 18, 1678, Sweden recaptures the island. Nine months later, troops from Denmark and Brandenburg invade for a third time and capture the island again on October 22, 1678. Eight months later, Denmark is given the island back under a treaty ending the Swedish-Brandenburg War on June 29, but by then, the island of Rügen is in ruins. In modern times, the island becomes a vacation resort in Germany.source
  • November 16 – French troops occupy Freiburg.source
  • December 9 – The French Navy, led by Charles de Courbon de Blénac with a land force of 950 men, lands at the Caribbean island of Tobago, lays siege to the Dutch fort defending the territory during the Franco-Dutch War, and destroys the structure when it fires a cannon overlooking the fort, striking the gunpowder arsenal. The explosion kills 250 of the defenders, including Dutch Admiral Jacob Binckes and 16 officers. Combined with the sinking of four ships of the Netherlands Navy, the victory at Tobago ends Dutch military power in the Antilles.source
  • December 15 – The Siege of Stettin (the modern-day Polish city of Szczecin but, at this time, a possession of Sweden) ends after almost five months with Sweden's surrender of the city to Prussia's Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg. The siege, part of the Scanian War, had begun on June 25.source
  • Yusuf Bey is replaced as sanjak-bey of Lajjun Sanjak by an Ottoman officer, ending the power of the Turabay dynasty.source
  • The Qing writes to the Emperor of the Le dynasty in Dai Viet for help in putting down the rebellionChinasource
  • 6–23 July - Battle of Marstrand.Norwaysource

Exploration & Expansion

  • December 7 – Father Louis Hennepin of Belgium, exploring North America, becomes the earliest known European person to discover Niagara Falls, and the first to report its existence. In his book A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America, published in 1698, Hennepin writes "Betwixt the lakes Ontario and Eire there is a vast prodigious Cadence of water which falls down after a surprising and astonishing manner, inasmuch that the Universe does not afford its parallel."source

Religion & Belief

  • 6 January - Larvik Church was consecrated.Norwaysource
  • 16 April – Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction Act, placing the power to judge heresy and similar offences with the ecclesiastical courts, whose power of punishment is limited to excommunication, thus abolishing capital punishment (burning at the stake) in such cases.Englandsource
  • August – The guild of the Maitresses bouquetieres is founded in Paris.Francesource
  • 30 December – William Sancroft nominated by the King as Archbishop of Canterbury.Englandsource
  • The Second London Baptist Confession of Faith is written (published in 1689).source
  • Francis Aungier, 3rd Baron Aungier of Longford, is created 1st Earl of Longford in the Peerage of Ireland.source
  • Thomas Hansen Kingo is appointed Bishop of Funen.Denmarksource
  • Chapel of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, designed by Wren.Englandsource
  • The Baptist Confession of Faith is first published in London.Englandsource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • Ice cream becomes popular in Paris.source
  • The first Copenhagen Stocks House, a military prison, is completed at a site just south of the Nyboder barracks.Denmarksource
  • The construction of Staverns Fortress was finished.Norwaysource

Science & Discovery

  • Antonie van Leeuwenhoek observes spermatozoa under the microscope.source
  • Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz gives a complete solution to the tangent problem.source
  • Robert Plot publishes The Natural History of Oxford-shire, Being an Essay Toward the Natural History of England, in which he describes the fossilised femur of a human giant, now known to be from the dinosaur Megalosaurus.source
  • Peder Hansen Resen publishes a fragment of his otherwise unpublished Atlas Danicus.Denmarksource
  • Fabian Stedman publishes Tintinnalogia, or, the Art of Ringing.Englandsource

Health & Medicine

  • January 21 – The first medical publication in America (a pamphlet on smallpox) is produced in Boston.source
  • The population of Paris first exceeds 500,000.source

Crime & Justice

  • February 15 – Four members of the English House of Lords embarrass King Charles II at the opening of the latest session of the "Cavalier Parliament" by proclaiming that the session is not legitimate because it had not met in more than a year. The Duke of Buckingham, backed by Lord Shaftesbury, Lord Salisbury and Baron Wharton, makes an unsuccessful motion to end the session. When the four Lords refuse to apologize, they are arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London.source
  • 16 February – politicians the Earl of Shaftesbury, Duke of Buckingham, Lord Wharton and the Earl of Salisbury are arrested and sent to the Tower of London for challenging the legitimacy of the new session of Parliament.Englandsource
  • February 26 – The first arrests are made in the case that will develop into the "Affair of the Poisons" in France, as Magdelaine de La Grange and her accused accomplice, Father Nail, are detained on suspicion of poisoning her lover, a Messr. Faurie. While in prison in the Bastille and awaiting trial Mademoiselle La Grange writes letters accusing other persons of carrying out murders by poison as well.source
  • 16 April – Statute of Frauds, requiring certain types of contract to be in writing.Englandsource

Culture & Society

  • January 1 – Jean Racine's tragedy Phèdre is first performed, in Paris.source
  • January 1 – Jean Racine's tragedy Phèdre is first performed.Francesource
  • April 6 – Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor visits the University of Innsbruck.source
  • 24 August – James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, is again sworn in as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.Irelandsource
  • August – The French guild of the Maitresses bouquetieres is founded in Paris.source
  • September 10 – Henry Purcell is appointed a musician to the court of Charles II of England.source
  • September 18 – the Kangxi Emperor of China grants titles and ranks to all of his wives, and names Empress Xiaozhaoren as his consort.source
  • November 4 – The future Mary II of England marries William of Orange in London.source
  • 4 November – William of Orange marries Princess Mary of York at St James's Palace.Englandsource
  • 31 December – Christian V establishes the County of Samsø for mistress Sophie Amalie Moth from the manors of Brattingsborg and Bisgård.Denmarksource
  • Spinoza's Ethics (Ethica, ordine geometrico demonstrata) is published as part of his Opera Posthuma in Amsterdam.source
  • The use of male impotence is ended as a factor in French divorce proceedings.source
  • The John Roan School is established in Greenwich, London.source
  • Jules Hardouin Mansart begins la place Vendôme in Paris (it is completed in 1698).source
  • Elias Ashmole gifts the collection that begins the Ashmolean Museum to the University of Oxford in England.source
  • Ulrik Frederik Gyldenløve's mansion which will later become known as Charlottenborg Palace is completed as the first building at Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen.Denmarksource
  • Elias Ashmole gifts the collection that begins the Ashmolean Museum to the University of Oxford.Englandsource
  • Jules Hardouin Mansart begins la place Vendôme in Paris (completed in 1698).Francesource
  • Tornedalens epos by Antti Keksi is published.Swedensource

Births

  • February 3 – Jan Santini Aichel, Czech architect (died 1723)source
  • February 4 – Johann Ludwig Bach, German composer (died 1731)source
  • February 8 – Jacques Cassini, French astronomer (died 1756)source
  • May 4 – Françoise Marie de Bourbon, youngest daughter of Louis XIV (died 1749)source
  • May 4 – Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, youngest daughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan, wife of Philippe d'Orléans, le Régent (d.1749)Francesource
  • August 27 – Otto Ferdinand von Abensperg und Traun, Austrian field marshal (died 1748)source
  • 3 September - Jöran Nordberg, historian (died 1744)Swedensource
  • September 17 – Stephen Hales, English physiologist, chemist, and inventor (died 1761)source
  • 17 September – Stephen Hales, physiologist, chemist and inventor (died 1761)Englandsource
  • 4 October – Ulrich Kaas, naval officer (died 1746)Denmarksource
  • October 20 – Stanisław Leszczyński, King of Poland (died 1766)source
  • William Dummer, acting Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (died 1761)source

Deaths

  • January 18 – Jan van Riebeeck, Dutch founder of Cape Town (born 1619)source
  • February 21 – Baruch Spinoza, Dutch philosopher (born 1632)source
  • March 18 – Marie Luise von Degenfeld, morganatic second wife of Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine of Germany (born 1634)source
  • March 28 – Václav Hollar, Czech-born actor (born 1607)source
  • May 4 – Isaac Barrow, English mathematician (born 1630)source
  • May 20 – George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, English statesman (born 1612)source
  • May 23 – John, Count of Nassau-Idstein (1629–1677) (born 1603)source
  • June 26 – Francesco Buonamici, Italian architect, painter and engraver (born 1596)source
  • 9 August – Elisabeth Augusta Lindenov, Countess of Schleswig-Holstein (born 1623)Denmarksource
  • August 28 – Wallerant Vaillant, painter of the Dutch Golden Age (born 1623)source
  • September 11 – James Harrington, English political philosopher (born 1611)source
  • 12 September – Tønne Huitfeldt, landowner and military officer (born 1625).Norwaysource
  • November 2 – Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester, English politician (born 1595)source
  • November 9 – Aernout van der Neer, Dutch painter (born 1603)source
  • November 11 – Barbara Strozzi, Italian singer and composer (born 1619)source
  • December 13 – Thomas Howard, 5th Duke of Norfolk, English noble (born 1627)source
  • 26 December - Bernhard Gustav of Baden-Durlach, general, Prince-abbot and cardinal (born 1631)Swedensource
  • Kelden Gyatso (Kalden Gyatso, Kelden Repa, Tibetan: སྐལ་ལྡན་རྒྱ་མཚོ, Wylie: Skal ldan rgya mtsho) (1607-1677) was a 17th-century Tibetan poet, scholar, and siddhaChinasource