1696 CE

Colley Cibber's play Love's Last Shift is first performed in London. An act of the Parliament of England for encouraging linen manufacture in Ireland allows plain linen to be exported to England without an import tariff being applied. China's Kangxi Emperor leads troops in the Battle of Jao Modo, about 37 mi from the modern Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator, and defeats 5,000 Mongolian troops of the Dzungar Khanate under the command of Galdan Boshugtu Khan.

In the 1690s, the 17th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 21 – The Recoinage Act, passed by the Parliament of England to pull counterfeit silver coins out of circulation, becomes law.source
  • 19 April – Church of Our Saviour on Christianshavn in Copenhagen is inaugurated.Denmarksource
  • August 29 – King Louis XIV of France and Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy, sign the Treaty of Turin, ending Savoy's involvement in the Nine Years' War.source
  • September 8 – The Parliament of Scotland passes the Education Act 1696, providing for locally funded, Church-supervised schools to be established in every parish in Scotland.source
  • October 20 – The Imperial Russian Navy is founded on the recommendation of Tsar Peter the Great and approval by the Russian Duma.source
  • William Penn offers an elaborate plan for intercolonial cooperation largely in trade, defense, and criminal matters.source
  • Polish replaces Ruthenian as an official language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.source
  • Great Recoinage of 1696: The Parliament of England passes the Recoinage Act.Englandsource

Conflict & Security

  • February 15 – A plot to ambush and assassinate King William III of England in order to restore King James and the House of Stuart to the throne is foiled when the king cancels his usual plan to return from a hunting trip by way of the road between Turnham Green and Brentford. The king's guard is alerted by the Earl of Portland, William Bentinck, who had been approached on February 13 by Sir Thomas Prendergast.source
  • 15 February – a Jacobite assassination attempt against King William III is foiled.Englandsource
  • February 23 – A royal proclamation is issued to arrest suspected Jacobite conspirators who had plotted the assassination of King William III, including gunman Robert Charnock and organizers George Barclay, and Sir John Fenwick. Barclay eludes capture, but Charnock and Fenwick are executed.source
  • March 7 – King William III of England departs from the Netherlands.source
  • March 9 – Spanish missionaries in the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México in North America first learn of plans for a revolt among the Pueblo Indians and send warnings to the governor, asking for Spanish troops. The uprising begins on June 4.source
  • March 16 – The Dutch bombard Givet during the Nine Years' War.source
  • March – Habeas Corpus suspended during a Jacobite invasion scare.Englandsource
  • April 23 – Russo-Turkish War (1686–1700): Russia begins the second of the Azov campaigns (1695–96).source
  • June 4 – A second Pueblo Revolt occurs in Santa Fe de Nuevo México. The Tiwas of Taos and Picuris, the Tewas of San Ildefonso and Nambe, the Tanos of Jemez and San Cristobal, and the Keres of Santo Domingo and Cochiti attack during the full moon and kill 21 Spanish civilians and five priests.source
  • June 12 – China's Kangxi Emperor leads troops in the Battle of Jao Modo, about 37 mi from the modern Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator, and defeats 5,000 Mongolian troops of the Dzungar Khanate under the command of Galdan Boshugtu Khan.source
  • June 17 – Seven French ships attack five Dutch ships escorting a convoy of 112 merchant ships in the Battle of Dogger Bank.source
  • July 18 – Azov campaign: The Russian fleet occupies Azov at the mouth of the river Don.source
  • August 22 – Forces of the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire clash near Andros.source
  • October 7 – The Convention of Vigevano is signed, bringing a general ceasefire in Italy and an end to the Nine Years' War between France and the remaining members of the Grand Alliance.source
  • November 25 – In England, the House of Commons approves the bill of attainder to convict Sir John Fenwick of high treason for plotting to lead the assassination of and coup d'état against King William III, on its third and final reading, voting 187 to 161 in favor of conviction. The measure then moves to the House of Lords.source
  • November 30 – Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville captures and destroys St. John's, Newfoundland after a three-day siege.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • December 7 – Connecticut Route 108, one of Connecticut's oldest highways is laid-out to Trumbull.source
  • Board of Trade and Plantations established.Englandsource
  • Andreas Rudman and Erik Björck set sail in August of 1696 for America, with the intention of becoming ministers to congregations within the former colony of New Sweden and they arrived in early 1897. They brought with them translated copies of numerous religious texts.Swedensource

Religion & Belief

  • May 31 – John Salomonsz is elected chief of Sint Eustatius in the Caribbean Netherlands.source

Economy & Finance

  • April 27 – an act of the Parliament of England for encouraging linen manufacture in Ireland allows plain linen to be exported to England without an import tariff being applied.Irelandsource
  • April – window tax introduced.Englandsource
  • May – Great Recoinage of 1696: Shortage of silver coinage results in the guinea being officially revalued at 21 shillings, instead of 30.Englandsource
  • November 12 – Hand in Hand Fire & Life Insurance Society, as predecessor to Aviva, is founded in England.source
  • Window tax was introduced in England and Wales and remained in force until 1851.source
  • The Bank of Scotland becomes the first bank in Europe to successfully issue paper currency.source
  • National income - ₹7,877 millionIndiasource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • September 17 – On Canada's Hudson Bay, the English Navy recaptures the York Factory from France, three years after the French had captured it, and renamed the site "Fort Bourbon".source
  • Abington, Pennsylvania, is settled.source
  • Building of the fort of Calcutta.Indiasource
  • The first Store Færder Lighthouse is established (from the start the light was simply an iron pot placed on the ground).Norwaysource

Science & Discovery

  • May 1 – A partial solar eclipse is visible in western Canada and Greenland.source
  • May 16 – A total lunar eclipse is visible in western Europe and Africa.source
  • November 9 – A total lunar eclipse is visible in North and South America.source

Crime & Justice

  • March 18 – Robert Charnock, who had been arrested for the Jacobite plot to kill King William is hanged at the Tower of London.source
  • May 2 – The Irish Admiralty’s prize commissioners lodged embezzlement charges related to captured French goods, mainly wines, valued at over £7,279. The suit targeted naval officers such as: Captains Bing, Shovell, and Fitz-Patrick.Irelandsource
  • December 23 – By a vote of 66 to 60, the English House of Lords approves the bill of attainder for the conviction of Sir John Fenwick for high treason. Fenwick is beheaded on January 28, 1697.source
  • December 24 – The Inquisition in Portugal carries out the sentence of burning at the stake against several Marrano Jews in Évora.source
  • The Thisted witch trial, referred to as the last witch trials in Denmark, begins in Thisted.Denmarksource
  • The Velthen Company perform in Stockholm.Swedensource

Disasters & Accidents

  • January 27 – In England, the ship HMS Royal Sovereign (formerly Sovereign of the Seas) catches fire and burns at Chatham, after 57 years of service.source
  • 27 January – the ship HMS Royal Sovereign (formerly Sovereign of the Seas) catches fire and burns at Chatham, after 57 years of service.Englandsource
  • April – A fire destroys the Gra Bet (Left Quarter) of Gondar, the capital of Ethiopia. The fire starts "in the house of a prostitute" and destroys many buildings, including the churches of St. George, Takla Haymanot and Iyasu.source
  • September 11 – England's Royal Navy scuttles and deliberately sinks its 32-gun battleship HMS Sapphire in Bay Bulls Harbour in Newfoundland, rather than let it be captured by the French Navy following a disastrous battle.source

Climate & Environment

  • The Great Famine of 1695–1697 wipes out almost a third of the population of Finland, while the Great Famine of Estonia (1695–97) takes out a fifth of the population of Estonia; and the "seven ill years" of famine in Scotland are ongoing.source
  • Famine in the Scottish Borders leads to a new wave of Scottish Presbyterian migration from Scotland to Ulster.Irelandsource
  • The Great Famine of 1696 hit major parts of Norway in the winter and spring.Norwaysource
  • A repeated failed harvest results in the culmination and continuation of the Great Famine.Swedensource

Culture & Society

  • January 31 – In the Netherlands, undertakers revolt after funeral reforms in Amsterdam.source
  • January – Colley Cibber's play Love's Last Shift is first performed in London.source
  • June 17 – The throne of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth becomes vacant with the death of Jan Sobieski, prompting a competition between Friedrich Augustus, Elector of Saxony and Prince François Louis of France to compete under the commonwealth's "Golden Liberty" system for an elective monarchy of the new king by the nobility. Jerzy Albrecht Denhoff, the Grand Chancellor, remains the head of the Polish-Lithuanian government during the vacancy of the ceremonial throne.source
  • August 13 – The Dutch state of Drenthe makes William III of Orange its Stadtholder.source
  • November 21 – John Vanbrugh's play The Relapse is first performed in London.source
  • 21 November – John Vanbrugh's play The Relapse, or Virtue in Danger first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.Englandsource
  • December 19 – Jean-François Regnard's verse comedy Le Joueur ("The Gamester") premieres in Paris.source
  • A New Theory of the Earth, a book by William Whiston, is published and is well received by intellectuals of the day.source
  • Edward Lloyd probably begins publication of Lloyd's News, a predecessor of Lloyd's List, in London.source
  • Colley Cibber's play Love's Last Shift is first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London.Englandsource
  • Main façades of Chatsworth House in Derbyshire completed in a pioneering English Baroque style.Englandsource
  • Bentse Brug is established, the first paper mill in Norway.Norwaysource
  • Kalmar Nation at Lund University is first mentioned.Swedensource

Births

  • March 5 – Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Italian painter (died 1770)source
  • April 10 – Esther Wheelwright, Ursuline nun (died 1780)source
  • 6 June – Peter Spaak, Swedish Protestant reformer (died 1769)Swedensource
  • June 11 – James Francis Edward Keith, Scottish soldier and Prussian field marshal (died 1758)source
  • 22 June – Joost van Hemert, merchant and ship-owner (died 1775)Denmarksource
  • June 27 – William Pepperrell, English colonial soldier (died 1759)source
  • July 24 – Benning Wentworth, Colonial governor of New Hampshire (died 1770)source
  • 31 July – Dumont de Montigny, colonial officer (died 1760)Francesource
  • August 2 – Mahmud I, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1730 to 1754 (died 1754)source
  • September 27 – Alphonsus Liguori, Italian founder of the Redemptorist Order (died 1787)source
  • October 13 – John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey, English courtier, political writer and memoirist (died 1743)source
  • October 14 – Samuel Johnson, President of Columbia University (died 1772)source
  • October 17 – Augustus III of Poland, King of Poland, Elector of Saxony (died 1763)source
  • October 28 – Maurice de Saxe, Marshal General of France (died 1750)source
  • November 2 – Conrad Weiser, Pennsylvania's interpreter and emissary to the Native Americans (died 1760)source
  • December 22 – James Oglethorpe, English general and founder of the state of Georgia as a colony (died 1785)source
  • 22 December – James Oglethorpe, general and founder of the state of Georgia as a colony (died 1785)Englandsource
  • December 25 – Prince Johann Ernst of Saxe-Weimar, composer (died 1715)source

Deaths

  • February 8 – Tsar Ivan V of Russia, Tsar of Russia from 1682 to 1696 (born 1666)source
  • February 19 – Giovanni Pietro Bellori, Italian painter and biographer (born 1613)source
  • February – Ahom King Supaatphaa or Gadadhar Singhasource
  • April 10 – Springett Penn, Member of the Penn family (born 1674)source
  • 15 April – Johan Makeléer, 2nd Baronet, Swedish justice and member of the Gothenburg Court of Justice (born 1636)Swedensource
  • April 30 – Robert Plot, British naturalist (born 1640)source
  • May 11 – Jean de La Bruyère, French writer and philosopher (born 1645)source
  • May 16 – Mariana of Austria, Queen consort of Spain (born 1634)source
  • June 10 – Charles de Courbon de Blénac, French colonial administrator (born 1622)source
  • June 17 – John III Sobieski, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (born 1629)source
  • 17 June – Jørgen Bjelke, military officer (born 1721 in Norway)Denmarksource
  • June 24 – Philip Henry, English Nonconformist clergyman and diarist (born 1631)source
  • June – Greta Duréel, Swedish noblewoman and bank fraudsource
  • December 4 – Empress Meishō, empress of Japan (born 1624)source
  • December 8 – Charles Porter, Irish politician (born 1631)source
  • 8 December – Charles Porter, English-born judge (born 1631)Englandsource
  • 12 December – Johan Caspar von Cicignon, military officer (born c.1625).Norwaysource
  • December 28 – Miguel de Molinos, Spanish priest, apostle of Quietism (born 1628)source