Crime & Justice in the 17th century

317 sourced entries, 1600 CE to 1699 CE, oldest first. Also see Crime & Justice across every century or everything else in the 17th century.

1600February 17 – On his way to be burned at the stake for heresy in Rome, Giordano Bruno has his tongue "imprisoned" after he refuses to stop talking.source
1600March 20 – Linköping Bloodbath: Five Swedish nobles are publicly executed by decapitation and Polish–Swedish King Sigismund III Vasa is de facto deposed as ruler of Sweden.source
1600June 5 – Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, the former Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and Chancellor of the University of Dublin, is put on trial in England before a commission of 18 men, after being charged with malfeasance. He is deprived of his main business, a monopoly on sweet wines, and stripped of his noble title. In revenge, he attempts to organize a coup d'etat to overthrow Queen Elizabeth and fails in his plot.source
1601January – Nine Years' War: John Óge Burke is captured, and later executed.Ireland source
1601October 4 – Claudine de Culam, a 16-year-old girl in the French village of Rognon, is hanged after being convicted of "carnal cohabitation with a dog". The dog is hanged along with her.source
1601Martin Möller is accused of Crypto-Calvinism.source
1602June 14: Charles de Gontaut-Biron is arrested for TreasonFrance source
1602Ben Jonson's satirical comedy Poetaster.source
1603July 17 – Sir Walter Raleigh is arrested in England on charges of treason and of conspiring with Lord Cobham in the "Main Plot" to overthrow King James for replacement by Lady Arbella Stuart.source
1603November 17 – Sir Walter Raleigh goes on trial for treason, in the converted Great Hall of Winchester Castle. He is found guilty, but his life is spared by King James I at this time, and he is returned to imprisonment in the Tower of London.source
1604According to legend, the vault of Christian Rosenkreuz is discovered.source
1605Hogenskild Bielke and his daughter Ebba Bielke is trialed and judged guilty of treason.Sweden source
1606January 24 – Gunpowder Plot: The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators, for plotting against Parliament and James I of England, begins in London. They are hanged, drawn and quartered on January 30–31.source
1606September 20 – The trial of alleged poisoners in the Frankenstein gravediggers scandal begins in the Bohemian town of Frankenstein.source
1607September – The Scrooby Congregation of Protestant English Separatists attempt to flee to the Dutch Republic from Boston, Lincolnshire, but are betrayed, arrested and imprisoned for a time.source
1607Lifford comes into the possession of Sir Richard Hansard.Ireland source
1608January 11 – John Smith is released by Powhatan after 15 days of captivity, and arrives back at Jamestown the next day. Upon his return, instead of being welcomed, he is charged with negligence for the deaths of the two men with him at the time of his capture, Jehu Robinson and Thomas Emery, but later exonerated.source
1608February 18 – Don Julius Caesar d'Austria, the illegitimate son of Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, brutally murders his girlfriend, Markéta Pichlerová, then dismembers her body. Emperor Rudolf imprisons Julius for the rest of his life.source
1608Rumors and accusations about sorcery began to spread in the town of Køge, starting what will eventually turn into the Køge Huskors witch trial.Denmark source
1609January 12 – The Basque witch trials are started in Spain as the court of the Inquisition at Logroño receives a letter from the commissioner of the village of Zugarramurdi, and orders the arrest of four women, including María de Jureteguía and María Chipía de Barrenetxea.source
160929 June – Action of 29 June 1609France source
1610November 8 – The Basque witch trials come to an end after almost two years. Out of about 7,000 persons accused of witchcraft, only six are condemned to be executed by the Spanish Inquisition as two men (Domingo de Subildegui and Petri de Joangorena) and four women (María de Echachute, Graciana Xarra, Maria Baztan de Borda, and Maria de Arburu) are burned at the stake at Logroño.source
161118 February – Sir Humphrey Winch, retiring Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, is sent to London with draft legislation.Ireland source
1612April 10 – In England, 12 persons who become known as the Pendle witches allegedly hold a coven at the Malkin Tower in Lancashire on Good Friday, after which 10 people die mysteriously. All but two of the accused witches are tried for causing harm by witchcraft on August 18.source
1612August 20 – Ten Pendle witches are hanged, having been found guilty of practising witchcraft in Lancashire in England.source
1612The Okamoto Daihachi incident in Japan.source
1612Johanne Thomes is accused of witchcraft as part of the Køge Huskors witch trials.Denmark source
1613April 13 – Samuel Argall captures Algonquian princess Pocahontas in Passapatanzy, Virginia, to ransom her for some English prisoners held by her father, Chief Powhatan. She is brought to Henricus as a hostage.source
161321 August - The Gjerpen Trial ends. Several priests and two students were found guilty of secretly support Catholicism. They were convicted to loss of benefice and inheritance, and were instructed to leave the country. One of the convicted was Christoffer Hjort.Norway source
1613October 21 – Gabriel Bathory, ruler of the Principality of Transylvania, is removed from office by vote of the nobles meeting at Gyulafehérvár (now Alba Iulia in Romania). Bathory refuses to vacate the palace at the Transylvanian capital at Várad, (now Oradea in Romania), and is murdered on October 27.source
1614September 1 – In England, lawyer Sir Julius Caesar becomes Master of the Rolls.source
1614October 17 – On the orders of Ahmed I, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Grand Vizier Nasuh Pasha is strangled to death by the chief of the Sultan's bodyguards.source
1614Squanto (also known as Tisquantum), a Native American of the Wampanoag Nation, is kidnapped and enslaved by Thomas Hunt, an English sea captain working with Captain John Smith. Freed in Spain, Squanto will travel for five years in Europe and North America, before returning to his home in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Twenty months later, he will be able to teach the Pilgrim Fathers the basics of farming and trade in the New World.source
1615Mary Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, is released from the Tower of London, in recognition of her role in helping to discover the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury.source
1616April 25 – Sir John Coke, in the Court of King's Bench (England), holds the King's actions in a case of In commendam to be illegal.source
1616May 25 – King James I of England's former favourite, the Earl of Somerset, and his wife Frances, are convicted of the murder of Thomas Overbury in 1613. They are spared death, and are sentenced to imprisonment in the Tower of London (until 1622). Although the King has ordered the investigation of the poet's murder and allowed his former court favorite to be arrested and tried, his court, now under the influence of George Villiers, gains the reputation of being corrupt and vile. The sale of peerages (beginning in July) and the royal visit of James's brother-in-law, Christian IV of Denmark, a notorious drunkard, add further scandal.source
1616The Swiss Guard is appointed part of the household guard of King Louis XIII of France.source
1616A second witch-hunt breaks out in Biscay, Spain. An Edict of Silence is issued by the Inquisition, but the king overturns the Edict, and 300 accused witches are burned alive.source
1616Italian natural philosopher Giulio Cesare Vanini publishes a radically heterodox book in France, after his English interlude, De admirandis naturae reginae deaeque mortalium arcanis, for which he is condemned and forced to flee Paris. For his opinion that the world is eternal and governed by immanent laws, as expressed in this book, he is executed in 1619.source
1616Elizabeth Rutter is hanged as a witch in Middlesex, England, Agnes Berrye in Enfield, and nine women in Leicester on the testimony of a raving 13-year-old named John Smith, under the Witchcraft Act 1603. In Orkney, Elspeth Reoch is tried. In France Leger (first name unknown) is condemned for witchcraft on May 6, Sylvanie de la Plaine is burned at Pays de Labourde as a witch, and in Orléans eighteen witches are killed.source
161712 October – The Witchcraft Act of 1617 (Danish: Trolddomsforordningen af 1617) is signed into law by Christian IV, leading to a surge in witch trials in Denmark from 1617 to 1625 referred to as The Great Witch Hunt.Denmark source
1617December 30 – Lord Clifton is imprisoned at the Tower of London for threatening Francis Bacon, Lord Chancellor. Clifton is prosecuted by the Star Chamber on March 17 and eventually commits suicide in Fleet Prison.source
1618August 29 – Johan van Oldenbarnevelt and Hugo Grotius are imprisoned by Maurice, Prince of Orange.source
1618and execution of two prostitutes on 7 June 1619.Sweden source
1619Reinhold Timm is engaged as drawing teacher at Aorø Academy.Denmark source
1620March 24 – English sailor Owen Fitzpen is captured by Turkish pirates while on a trading voyage in the Mediterranean Sea and sold into slavery. He remains a slave in North Africa for seven years until he and 10 other slaves are able to take over a Turkish ship and sail back to Europe.source
1620August 7 – The mother of astronomer Johannes Kepler is arrested for witchcraft.source
1620August 15 (probable date; August 5 OS) – Mayflower and Speedwell depart together from Southampton, but are forced to put back into Dartmouth, Devon, for repairs to a leak in the latter ship on August 22 or 23 (August 12 or 13 OS).source
1621January 24 – Twelve days after the murder of Prince Mehmed on orders of Sultan Osman II, Constantinople is hit by bitter winter weather, leading to rioting by persons who believe that the punishment of Osman is the will of Allah.source
1622A royal commission of inquiry into the Dublin Castle administration is sent from England, headed by Dudley Digges and including James Perrot.Ireland source
1623June 14 – The first breach-of-promise lawsuit: Rev. Gerville Pooley, in Virginia, files against Cicely Jordan, but loses.source
16242 January – Disgrace of Nicolas Brûlart de Sillery and Pierre Brûlart, marquis de Sillery.France source
1624August 5 – The King's Men perform Thomas Middleton's satire A Game at Chess at the Globe Theatre in London. The performances are suppressed on August 14 in view of the play's allusions to the Spanish Match.source
1624August 24 – Jasper Vinall becomes the first person to die while playing the sport of cricket, after being struck on the head with a bat during a game at Horsted Keynes in England.source
1624September 13 – Ketevan, former queen consort of Kakheti (located around Gremi in what is now the Republic of Georgia), is tortured and killed in the Persian city of Shiraz after refusing to renounce Christianity to convert to Islam.source
1625May 15–16 – Rebellious farmers are hanged in Vocklamarkt, Upper Austria.source
1625September 13 – A total of 16 rabbis (including Isaiah Horowitz) are imprisoned in Jerusalem.source
1626May-19 August: Chalais conspiracy: A group of illustrious nobles, including Marie de Rohan-Montbazon, Duchess of Chevreuse; Henri de Talleyrand-Périgord, comte de Chalais, First Gentleman of the Chamber and César de Bourbon, Duke of Vendôme, Governor of Brittany, with Gaston, Duke of Orléans and his governor Jean-Baptiste d'Ornano as the instigators, are plotting against the king and Cardinal Richelieu.France source
1626The Würzburg and Bamberg witch trials, which will lead to the mass executions of hundreds of people until 1630/31, begin.source
1627June 20 – Hinchingbrooke House in the east of England is sold by Sir Oliver Cromwell, to Sidney Montagu.source
1627July 16 – Turkish Abductions: the Barbary corsairs from Algiers raid the island of Heimaey off Iceland, take captives into slavery and kill others.source
1628November 29 – English Army Lieutenant John Felton, who stabbed the Duke of Buckingham to death on August 23, is hanged at Tyburn prison.source
1628Anthony van Dyck, Portrait of Nicolas LanierBelgium source
1629Christoffer Urne became Steward of Norway, serving until 1642.Norway source
1630January 13 – In China, General Yuan Chonghuan is invited to an audience with the Chongzhen Emperor and is arrested on charges of collusion with the enemy. Yuan is executed by the slow death on September 22.source
1630Portrait of Ferdinand de SpoelberchBelgium source
163130 March – The king at Dijon accuses accomplices of Gaston of Orléans of lèse-majesté.France source
163114 June – The king at Saint-Germain-en-Laye establishes an extraordinary Chambre de justice to try crimes of counterfeit money.France source
1631June 20 – Algerian pirates sack Baltimore, County Cork, in Ireland.source
163126 November – Antwerp city council issues by-laws against price-gouging in the transportation of firewood.Belgium source
1632Publication of William Prynne's Histriomastix, an attack on the English Renaissance theatre.England source
1633January 17–19 – Quarrel between Diogo de Oliviera, alias Sindicario, a member of the Portuguese marrano community of Rouen, and Diego de Cisneros, a Spanish priest of the Roman Catholic Diocese of León in Spain, over a request for a catholicity certificate. The case is brought before the courts and causes the dispersion of part of the Rouen marrano community, some finding refuge in Lille, Antwerp and London. The Spanish priests Cisneros and Juan Bautista de Villadiego, denounced as spies, as well as Oliviera, are arrested. The 36 marranos accused of crypto-Judaism are finally absolved on June 30 after an investigation by the King's Council and the promise to pay 250000 livres to the crown.France source
1633February 13 – Galileo Galilei arrives in Rome for his trial before the Inquisition.source
1633February 25 – Arrest of Charles de L'Aubespine, Keeper of the Seals of France; he is imprisoned at Angoulême. On the same day his friend François de Rochechouart, chevalier de Jars, is imprisoned in the Bastille.France source
1633April 12 – Galileo Galilei is convicted of heresy by the Roman Catholic Church.source
16348 February - The Fogd (bailiff) is transferred to the direct service of the king, and not under the jurisdiction of the local Lensmann (fief-holder).Norway source
1634February 18 – Nicholas Francis of Lorraine marries his cousin Claude Françoise at Lunéville against the advice of the king of France; on returning to Nancy, the ducal family is arrested by French troops and held in custody.France source
1634March 4 – Belgian scientist Jan Baptist van Helmont is interrogated by the Spanish Inquisition and put under house arrest for his experiments into plant growth.source
163415 April – Duke of Aarschot arrested in Madrid.Belgium source
163429 April – Marquis of Aytona decrees amnesty for 1632 conspirators.Belgium source
16347 May – William Prynne is sentenced by the Star Chamber to a £5,000 fine, life imprisonment, pillorying and the loss of part of his ears when his Histriomastix is viewed as an attack on King Charles I and Queen Henrietta MariaEngland source
1634August 18 – In France, Urbain Grandier, accused of wizardry, is burned alive in Loudun.source
1634September 5 – The Parlement of Paris declares the second marriage of Gaston, Duke of Orléans, with Marguerite of Lorraine, to be invalid; it condemns Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine for felony and kidnapping of Gaston and reunites the Duchy of Bar with the kingdom.France source
1634November 11 – The Irish House of Commons passes an Act for the Punishment of the Vice of Buggery.source
163411 November – the Irish House of Commons passes an Act for the Punishment of the Vice of Buggery.Ireland source
1634Landowner Sir Vincent Gookin publishes and circulates in Munster (under the form of a letter addressed to the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Thomas Wentworth) a bitter attack on everyone in Ireland and is forced to return in haste to England to escape prosecution.Ireland source
1635March 25 – Hailstones four inches (10 cm) in diameter fall at Castletown, south of Ballycumber.Ireland source
163511 April – Formal representations from Balthazar Gerbier, English resident in Brussels, about Dunkirkers interfering with English shipping.Belgium source
1636May 27–28 – cross-examination of a Galway jury on a charge of refusing to find the king's title to land, resulting in heavy fines and imprisonment until the jury submits in December.Ireland source
16369 October – John Hampden refuses to pay ship money after a third writ is issued.England source
163730 June – William Prynne is branded as a seditious libeller, and sentenced to pillorying and mutilation.England source
16377 August – Merchants of London formally protest seizure of English tobacco shipments to Holland.Belgium source
1637Anne of Austria is investigated and found guilty of secretly corresponding with her brother, Philip IV, despite France and Spain being at war.France source
1637The first regulation of the Romani, Placat om Tatrarnes fördrifvande av landet, declares all Romani expelled from Sweden: all adult men are sentenced to death while women and children are to be hunted over the borders.Sweden source
163812 June – trial of John Hampden for non-payment of ship money concludes: a narrow majority of judges find the tax to be legal.England source
1639February 12 – Polish prince John II Casimir Vasa, future king of Poland, accused of plotting with Spain against France, is imprisoned, by order of Cardinal Richelieu, in the dungeon of the citadel of Sisteron.France source
1639Peter Paul Rubens, Self-PortraitBelgium source
163916-17 September – Fight in the ChannelBelgium source
1639The Rosborg witch trials begin and continue until 1642.Denmark source
1639Case of Anna von Hintzen, a noble who flees Sweden to escape arrest of the murder of her servant.Sweden source
16406 May – the Earl of Warwick, Lord Brooke, Lord Saye, John Pym, John Hampden, and Sir Walter Earle arrested.England source
1640July 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
164025 November – the Earl of Strafford imprisoned in the Tower of London.England source
164011–12 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.England source
1641March–May – First Army Plot, an attempt to use the army to support the king against parliament. Playwright William Davenant is convicted of high treason for his part in it and flees to France.England source
1641Cootehall comes into the possession of the Englishman, Chidley Coote, nephew of the first Earl of Mountrath.Ireland source
1642April 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
1642Early witch trials occurred in Njurunda, Sweden. Two sisters, Elin and Sigrid, were suspected of witchcraft, and then prosecuted.Sweden source
1643Baden-Baden is pillaged by the French.source
1643Erasmus Quellinus the Younger, Achilles among the Daughters of Lycomedes (Groeningemuseum)Belgium source
1644March – Matthew Hopkins begins his career as a witch-hunter in the eastern counties.England source
164416 May - Action of 16 May 1644Sweden source
164527 August – eighteen suspected witches hanged following the Bury St. Edmunds witch trial.England source
1645Wallpaper begins to replace tapestries, as a wall decoration.source
1645Abraham Wuchters creates a full-length portrait of Ulrik Christian Gyldenløve.Denmark source
1646February 28 – Roger Scott is tried in Massachusetts for sleeping in church.source
164618 July - The Norwegian nobility is bestowed the neck and hand privilege. The privilege allowed nobels to catch, prosecute and pass judgment on criminals.Norway source
1646Anne of Austria with her children by the workshop of Philippe de ChampaigneFrance source
1646L’Art de régner ou le Sage gouverneur by Gillet de La TessonerieFrance source
1646Saint Bruno révèle en songe au comte Roger une conspiration contre ui by Eustache Le SueurFrance source
1646Port de mer, effet de brume by Claude LorrainFrance source
1648February 11 – England's parliament passes stricter laws against performance of stage plays, providing for demolition of seats in theatres, imprisonment for actors and fines for spectators. The vote comes six days after the King's Men Players are arrested at the Cockpit Theatre during an illegal performance of Rollo Duke of Normandy.source
16481 December – the King, under arrest, is moved from the Isle of Wight to Hurst Castle on the mainland.England source
1648The Dutch artist Rembrandt produces the works Rembrandt drawing at a window and Beggars at the Door.source
164819–22 December – the King, under arrest, is moved from Hurst Castle to Windsor.England source
1649January 20 – Charles I of England goes on trial, for treason and other "high crimes".source
1649January 27 – King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland is found guilty of high treason in a public session.source
164920 to 27 January – Trial and conviction of King Charles I by the High Court of Justice convened in Westminster Hall.England source
165010 May – Commonwealth (Adultery) Act (1650) imposes the death penalty for incest, and for adultery, that is defined as sexual intercourse between a married woman and a man other than her husband. Both partners would be liable for death sentence in such a case, although the courts are reluctant to impose the ultimate penalty. If a man (married or unmarried) has sex with an unmarried woman (including a widow), that would be fornication, punishable only by three months for first offenders, applicable to both partners. In the history of adultery in English law, this represents the only time since the twelfth century when adultery has been outlawed in secular statute law.England source
165025 June – Two Englishmen arrested as thieves escape from Het Steen in AntwerpBelgium source
165014 July – Decree against counterfeit coin imported into the Spanish Netherlands from the territory of LiègeBelgium source
1650December 14 – Anne Greene is hanged at Oxford Castle in England for infanticide, having concealed an illegitimate stillbirth. The following day she revives in the dissection room and, being pardoned, lives until 1659.source
165014 December – domestic servant Anne Greene is hanged at Oxford Castle for infanticide, having concealed an illegitimate stillbirth. The following day she revives in the dissection room and, being pardoned, lives until 1665.England source
1650Puritans chop down the original Glastonbury Thorn in England.source
1650Puritans chop down the original Glastonbury Thorn.England source
165122 February – Pierre de Bex, former mayor of Liège, executed in LiègeBelgium source
16511 December - The Vardø witch trials starts.Norway source
165122 December – Prohibition in Liège of the making, selling or carrying of pocket-sized firearms or daggersBelgium source
1651Jérôme Duquesnoy the Younger, Statue of St UrsulaBelgium source
165210 April – Prudence Lee becomes the last woman in England burned alive at the stake for mariticide, at Smithfield, London (subsequent recipients of the sentence being in practice strangled before burning).England source
16538 July – John Thurloe becomes Cromwell's head of intelligence.England source
1653David Teniers the Younger, Gallery of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in BrusselsBelgium source
1653Magnus Gabriel De la Gardie is removed from his office and exiled from court.Sweden source
165426 February – Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine, placed under arrest in Brussels.Belgium source
165428 September – Artist Jérôme Duquesnoy the Younger executed in Ghent under the sodomy laws for having sexually abused two childrenBelgium source
1654Michaelina Wautier, Portrait of Martino MartiniBelgium source
1654John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen presents Frederick III with a collection of works by Albert Eckhout from Brazil, comprising eight full-length portraits of local people of varying ethnicity, 12 still lifes of local produce and vegetation and three portraits.Denmark source
1655October 15 – The Jews of Lublin are massacred.source
1655Abel Schrøder completes an elaborately carved Cartilage Baroque-style altarpiece for Vester Egesborg Church in Næstved.Denmark source
165624 October – Quaker James Nayler re-enacts the arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem at Bristol, for which he is arrested for blasphemy.England source
1656December 16 – English Quaker James Nayler is convicted of blasphemy but spared the death penalty.source
1656Sebastiaen van den Eynde, Bust of Cornelis II Landschot (c. 1656)Belgium source
165714 August – The first execution at Nytorv in Copenhagen takes place.Denmark source
1657November 10 – Christina, former Queen regnant of Sweden, has Gian Rinaldo Monaldeschi killed in her presence, at the Palace of Fontainebleau.source
1657David Teniers the Younger, The Entry of Don Juan of Austria into BrusselsBelgium source
1658November 6 – The Mexican Inquisition carries out the execution, by public burning, of 14 men convicted of homosexuality, while another 109 arrested are either released or given less harsh sentences.source
1658Baroque Altar of Our Lady in the Church of Our Lady of the Chapel in Brussels.Belgium source
1658Sweden takes Mitau and captures the Duke of Courland.Sweden source
1658Thet Swenska Språketz Klagemål by Skogekär BergboSweden source
1658Swedish occupation of BornholmSweden source
1659January 31 – Giovanna De Grandis is arrested in Rome and charged with trafficking the lethal Aqua Tofana poison. On February 2, she implicates the mastermind of the poisoners, Gironima Spana, starting the case of the Spana Prosecution that eventually leads to the arrest and trial of 40 people.source
1659June 10 – Dara Shikoh, at one time the heir apparent for the Mughal Empire, is betrayed by an Afghan chieftain, Junaid Khan Barozai, who had initially given him refuge from pursuit from the new emperor, Aurangzeb. Turned over to Aurangzeb's men, Dara Shikoh is killed on August 30.source
1659June – A Danish attempt to recapture Kronborg Castle fails. Oluf van Steenwinckel, believed to be the son of the architect Hans van Steenwinckel the Younger, is one of the Danish participants in the attack and is afterwards executed by the Swedish.Denmark source
1660March 3 – General John Lambert, who had attempted to stop the Restoration, is arrested and imprisoned in the Tower of London. He escapes on April 9 but is recaptured on April 24. Though spared the death penalty for treason in 1662, he remains incarcerated on the island of Guernsey for the rest of his life until his death at age 64 on March 1, 1684.source
1660May 15 – John Thurloe is arrested for high treason, for his support of Oliver Cromwell's regime.source
166015 May – John Thurloe is arrested for high treason.England source
1660June 29 – John Thurloe is released from custody.source
166029 June – John Thurloe is released.England source
1660August 29 – The Indemnity and Oblivion Act, officially "An Act of Free and General Pardon, Indemnity, and Oblivion" is given royal assent. as a general pardon for everyone who had committed crimes during the English Civil War and Interregnum (with the exception of certain crimes such as murder, piracy, buggery, rape and witchcraft, and people named in the act such as those involved in the regicide of Charles I). It also said that no action was to be taken against those involved at any later time, and that the Interregnum was to be legally forgotten.source
166013 October – the first of ten regicides of Charles I to be executed this year is hanged, drawn and quartered.England source
166011 November – imprisonment of John Bunyan in Bedford Gaol for preaching without a licence.England source
1661January 30 – The body of Oliver Cromwell is exhumed and subjected to a posthumous execution in London, along with those of John Bradshaw and Henry Ireton.source
1661September 5 – Nicolas Fouquet, the Superintendent of Finances for France, is arrested in Nantes and charged with embezzlement of the state treasury. Spared the death penalty by a jury, Fouquet spends the rest of his life in prison until his death in 1680.source
1661The witch trial against Florence Newton.Ireland source
166217 March – two old women are hanged after being found guilty of witchcraft at the Bury St. Edmunds witch trial.England source
1662June 1 — Zhu Youlang, the Yongli Emperor of Southern Ming, is captured in killed by forces led by Wu Sangui, while in Toungoo dynasty-ruled Burma. The last of the Ming dynasty pretenders have been defeated.China source
1662October 27 – Charles II of England sells Dunkirk to France, for £400,000 (2.5 million French livres).source
166227 October – Charles II sells Dunkirk to France for £400 000 (2.5 million livres).England source
1662October 27 – Charles II of England sells Dunkirk to France for £400,000 (or 2.5 million livres).France source
1662November - December – Helen Guthrie is the last person accused during the Forfar witch trials to be executed.source
1663February 8 – English pirates led by Christopher Myngs and Edward Mansvelt carry out the sack of Campeche in Mexico, looting the town during a two week occupation that ends on February 23.source
1663October 12 – The Farnley Wood Plot, a conspiracy in the English county of West Yorkshire to overthrow the recently-restored monarchy and to return to the military rule that had been established by the late Oliver Cromwell, fails when only 26 men gather at Farnley. The group is arrested and 21 of the rebels are later executed for treason.source
1663Zhuang Tinglong case — a criminal case concerning an unauthorised history of the Ming dynasty and unflattering depiction of the Qing dynasty concludes. Thousands of people who were involved or implicated in the case were rounded up at a military camp in Hangzhou, where they were sentenced. Over 70 people were condemned to deathChina source
1663The pirate Gustav Skytte is exposed, trialed and executed.Sweden source
1665February 15 – Molière's comedy Dom Juan is first presented, at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal (rue Saint-Honoré) in Paris, in its original prose version with the playwright playing Sganarelle; it is withdrawn after 15 performances following attacks on its morality.France source
1665April 17 – Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy (elected this year to the Académie française), begins a year's imprisonment in the Bastille for besmirching the reputation of the ladies of the French Court in Histoire amoureuse des Gaules.France source
1665Claude Perrault begins work on the eastern wing of the Louvre.France source
16664 June – Molière's comedy The Misanthrope is premièred at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris, by the King's Players.France source
1666August 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
1666September 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
16669–10 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.England source
1667June 15 – The first human blood transfusion is administered by Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys. He transfuses the blood of a sheep to a 15-year-old boy. (Though this operation is a success, a later patient dies from the procedure and Denys is accused of murder).source
1667The imperial Deliberative Council investigates Suksaha after he retires as regent. Two days later on September 2, the Council ordered Suksaha and all his male kin arrested; on September 4, finding Suksaha guilty of twenty-four "grave crimes" and recommended that he and many of his male relatives be executed, along with many members of the imperial guard who had supposedly connived in Suksaha's schemes.China source
1668July 10 – Henry Morgan's raid on Porto Bello: Welsh privateer Henry Morgan and 450 men under his command plunder the city of Portobello on the Isthmus of Panama and spend 14-days in the attack before withdrawing.source
1668July – The Mora witch trial begins in Dalarna after accusations by a young shepherd girl, Gertrud Svensdotter. This marks the start of the "Great Noise" (Det stora oväsendet), a period of mass witch-hunt hysteria that lasted until 1676.Sweden source
1668George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, probably originates the field sport of organised fox hunting in England with The Bilsdale Hunt in Yorkshire.England source
1669August 25 – The day after the verdicts at the Mora witch trial in Sweden, 14 women and one man are publicly beheaded after having confessed to various crimes involving the use of "enchanted tools" on behalf of the Devil. Another 47 are convicted and taken away for a later execution.source
1669poet, essayist, and art historian Zhou Lianggong holds a party at his Pavilion for Viewing Paintings in Nanjing. Later he is again accused of corruptionChina source
1669Chahar ruler Abunai showed disaffection with Manchu Qing rule, and is placed under house arrested in 1669 in Shenyang and the Kangxi Emperor gave his title to his son BorniChina source
1669The Mora witch trial is conducted.Sweden source
1669The trial against the conversion of Christina Eleonora Drakenhielm.Sweden source
167014 August – Quakers William Penn and William Mead preach in Gracechurch Street in the City of London, in defiance of the new Conventicles Act, and are arrested and tried but on 5 September the jury refuses to convict.England source
1670September 5 – William Penn and William Mead are found not guilty of violating the Conventicles Act 1670, after a five day jury trial in London. The two had been arrested on August 14 in front of a meeting house Gracechurch Street after preaching a Quaker sermon outside following a ban on preaching indoors. The defiance by the jury leads to the landmark English decision in Bushel's Case.source
16709 November – Bushel's Case, following the trial of Penn, establishes that members of a jury may not be punished for delivering a verdict according to their conscience even if contrary to the view of the judge.England source
167021 December – John Coventry, MP is maimed for making a joke about the King, resulting in passing of the Maiming Act, making lying in wait to maim anyone a felony.England source
1670Rock salt is discovered near Northwich in Cheshire.England source
1670Six people decapitated for witchcraft in KungsälvSweden source
1671January 1 – The Criminal Ordinance of 1670, the first attempt at a uniform code of criminal procedure in France, goes into effect after having been passed on August 26, 1670.source
1671May 9 – Thomas Blood, disguised as a clergyman, attempts to steal the Crown Jewels of the United Kingdom from the Tower of London. He is immediately caught, because he is too drunk to run with the loot. He is later condemned to death, and then mysteriously pardoned and exiled by King Charles II.source
16719 May – "Colonel" Thomas Blood, disguised as a clergyman, attempts to steal the Crown Jewels from the Tower of London but is caught before he can get away with the loot. He is later condemned to death and then pardoned and exiled by King Charles II.England source
1671Abraham Wuchters is appointed Painter to the Danish Court.Denmark source
1671The Sami drums is forcibly collected and burned during the ongoing Christianization of the Sami people.Sweden source
167213 September – John Bunyan released after a 12-year imprisonment for preaching without a licence.England source
1672The office of Lord President of Munster is suppressed.Ireland source
1673January 22 – Impersonator Mary Carleton is hanged at Newgate Prison in London, for multiple thefts and returning from penal transportation.source
167322 January – impostor Mary Carleton is hanged in Newgate Prison in London for multiple thefts and returning from penal transportation.England source
1674October 15 – The Torsåker witch trials begin in the Torsåker Parish in Sweden, with over 100 men and women accused of witchcraft and the abduction of children. On June 1, 1675, the mass beheading of the 71 people convicted takes place at Häxberget, 65 of whom are women. The others are two men and four boys.source
1674Foundation of the eldest auction chamber in Stockholm: Stockholms Auctions- och Adresse Cammare.Sweden source
1675June 1 – The Torsåker witch trials is concluded in Sweden with the execution of 71 people (65 of them women) executed on the same day at the village of Häxberget. The condemned prisoners are beheaded and their bodies are then burned.source
1675Chahar prince Abunai and his brother Lubuzung revolt against the Qing in 1675 along with 3,000 Chahar Mongol followers. On April 20, 1675, Qing forces defeat the Chahar and kill Abunai and all his followers. Their title was abolished, all Chahar Mongol royal males were executed even if they were born to Manchu Qing princesses, and all Chahar Mongol royal females were sold into slavery except the Manchu Qing princesses. The Chahar Mongols were then put under the direct control of the Qing Emperor unlike the other Inner Mongol leagues which maintained their autonomy.China source
167611 March – Peder Griffenfeld is arrested at Copenhagen Castle and brought to Kastellet where he is imprisoned.Denmark source
1676April 2 – Chief Canonchet of the Narragansett people is captured by mercenaries of the Pequot, Mohegan and Niantic nations who have been hired by English settlers. He is offered a chance to live if he makes peace with the English, refuses, and is executed the next day in Stonington, Connecticut.source
1676April 12 – Richard Raynsford becomes the new Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales.source
167626 May – The show trial against Griffenfeld ends with his conviction of all charges against him for simony, bribery, oath-breaking, malversation and lèse-majestéand and treason. He is sentenced to loss of honour, life and estate.Denmark source
16766 June – Griffenfeld is pardoned on the scaffold, at the very moment when the axe was about to descend, and his sentence is commuted to lifelong imprisonment.Denmark source
1677February 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
167716 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.England source
1677February 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
167716 April – Statute of Frauds, requiring certain types of contract to be in writing.England source
1678October 17 – English magistrate Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey is found murdered in Primrose Hill, London. His death is seen as proof of the "Popish Plot" to the public.source
167817 October – magistrate Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey is found murdered in Primrose Hill, London. Titus Oates claims it as a proof of his allegations.England source
167825 October – five Catholic peers accused of involvement in the "Popish Plot" are arrested at the instance of the House of Commons and committed to the Tower of London. On 1 November, impeachment proceedings begin.England source
1678November 11 (November 1 O.S.) – England's House of Commons votes to begin impeachment proceedings against five Roman Catholic members of the House of Lords, Viscount Stafford, the Marquess of Powis, Baron Arundell, Baron Petre and Baron Belasyse accused by Protestant members as participating in a "Popish Plot". Viscount Stafford is convicted and executed, while the other four are imprisoned in the Tower of London for more than five years.source
1679March 12 – Catherine Deshayes Monvoisin, commonly called "La Voisin" and the suspected killer of over 1,000 people in France by poisoning, is arrested outside of the Church of Notre-Dame-de-Bonne-Nouvelle in Paris and imprisoned at Vincennes for the next 11 months. After her conviction, she is publicly burned at the stake on February 22, 1680.source
1680May - Peder Griffenfeld was imprisoned at Munkholmen, outside of Trondheim.Norway source
1680June 11 – Elizabeth Cellier, an English Catholic midwife, is tried and acquitted of treason for pamphleting against the government.source
168011 June – Elizabeth Cellier, a Catholic midwife, is tried and acquitted of treason for pamphleting against the government.England source
1680June 30 – During the Spanish Inquisition, an auto-da-fé takes place in the Plaza Mayor, Madrid.source
16807 December – William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford, is condemned to death by perjured evidence in the House of Lords for conspiracy in the supposed "Popish Plot".England source
1680December 17 (December 7 O.S.) – The trial for treason of William Howard, 1st Viscount Stafford before his fellow members of the House of Lords having concluded after seven days, the Lords vote on whether to convict him of the articles of impeachment. The Lords vote, 55 to 31 to convict him and to impose the death sentence and Lord Stafford is beheaded on 29 December (8 January 1681 N.S.)source
1681April –The pastor Jacob Worm who is a prisoner at Copenhagen Fortress, is sentenced to death for his satirical poems directed at the king, Thomas Kingo (his father-in-law) and others, but is pardoned and instead send to Tranquebar in exile.Denmark source
16812 July – Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Earl of Shaftesbury charged with treason, and imprisoned in the Tower of London, but subsequently acquitted.England source
1681August 31 – English perjurer Titus Oates is told to leave his state apartments in Whitehall; his fame begins to wane, and he is soon arrested and imprisoned for sedition.source
168131 August – Perjurer Titus Oates is told to leave his state apartments in Whitehall; his fame begins to wane, and he is soon arrested and imprisoned for sedition.England source
1681The bell Emmanuel in Notre-Dame de Paris is recast.source
1681Collections are made in England for needy French refugees.source
1681The Dragonnades are instituted to intimidate Huguenot families into either leaving France or converting to Catholicism. Collections are made in England for needy French refugees.France source
1681The Dutch portrait painter Ludowyk Smits is active in Dublin.Ireland source
1681The court of the Great Reversion begins its activity and starts its confiscations of the property of the nobility.Sweden source
1682August 25 – Following the Bideford witch trial, three women (probably) become the penultimate known to be hanged for witchcraft in England, at Exeter.source
168225 August – following the Bideford witch trial, three women become (probably) the penultimate known to be hanged for witchcraft in England, at Exeter.England source
168220 September – The Duke of Monmouth is arrested in Stafford for riotous behaviour.England source
1682Fyratijo små wijsor by Skogekär Bergbo.Sweden source
1684January 26 – Marcantonio Giustinian is elected Doge of Venice.source
168415 March – highwayman John Nevison hanged in York for murder.England source
168410 May – Titus Oates arrested for perjury.England source
1684November 19 – Richard Keigwin, who had arrested the East India Company's Governor of Bombay in 1683, Josiah Child and had taken over as the unauthorized administrator of Bombay, turns control back to the company and its envoy, Sir Thomas Grantham, receiving a general pardon.source
1684Gustav Wilhelm von Wedel received the title of Count of Wedel-Jarlsberg.Norway source
1685January 8 – Almost 200 people are arrested in Coventry by English authorities for gathering to hear readings of the sermons of the non-conformist Protestant minister Obadiah Grew .source
168519 May – Leonora Christina Ulfeldt is released after twenty-two years in confinement in Blåtårn.Denmark source
1685May – Titus Oates, found guilty of perjury for his part in the alleged "Popish Plot", is sentenced by Judge Jeffreys to be imprisoned, pilloried (at Temple Bar, London) and whipped.England source
168525 August to 23 September – Lord Chief Justice Jeffreys holds the Bloody Assizes to try Monmouth's supporters, beginning at Winchester and ending at Wells. Over a thousand receive sentences of hanging or transportation.England source
1685September – a woman named Mette is put on trial for witchcraft in Ebeltoft, beginning the Rugård witch trials.Denmark source
1685Alice Molland becomes the last known person in England to be sentenced to death for witchcraft, in Exeter.source
1686February 27 – Gabriel Milan, the controversial Governor of the Danish West Indies since 1684, is removed from office by order of King Frederick III and placed under arrest for treason. Three years later, after being found guilty in a trial after being brought back to Copenhagen, Milan is beheaded on March 26, 1689.source
1686December – Sir Richard Nagle is appointed Attorney-General for Ireland.Ireland source
1686Gabriel Milan is removed as Governor of the Danish West Indies and placed under arrest for treason.Denmark source
1686The first Chief of police is hired in Trondheim.Norway source
1686A reform law allows unmarried women to testify and represent themselves in court despite being legally minors, as the law banning them from doing so is not respected by the courts.Sweden source
1687January 27 – In one of the most sensational cases in England in the 17th century, midwife Mary Hobry murders her abusive husband, Denis Hobry, after he beats her up for the last time. Mary then dismembers his body and scatters the remains in a dunghill and in several outhouses (or privies) in the area. Despite a defense of justifiable homicide, Mary is convicted of murder and burned at the stake.source
168727 January – French-born Catholic midwife Mary Hobry murders her abusive husband, Denis, dismembers his body and conceals the remains in London. She will be convicted of murder and burned at the stake on 2 March.England source
1687Early – the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, Sir Charles Porter, is dismissed on a charge of taking bribes and replaced by Sir Alexander Fitton, a Protestant who converts to Catholicism.Ireland source
1688January 29 – Madame Jeanne Guyon, French mystic, is arrested in France and imprisoned for seven months.source
1688November 16 – exiled Irish Catholic widow "Goody" Ann Glover becomes the last person hanged in Boston, Massachusetts, as a witch.Ireland source
1689Ambrose Wall, Sheriff of Wicklow, oversees the re-erection of a 10th-century high cross at St. John's Church, Ballymore Eustace in County Kildare.Ireland source
1690January 13 – Captain Thomas Pound, after being captured with his crew the previous month, is tried in Boston and found guilty of piracy although he is later reprieved.source
1690January 27 – William Coward is hanged for acts of piracy, following his capture after seizing the ketch Elenor anchored in Boston Harbor the previous year.source
1690November 9 – Near South Mimms, England, several highwaymen stop a convoy carrying taxes from the Midlands to London and take £15,000.source
1691January 15 – King Louis XIV of France issues an order specifically prohibiting play of games of chance, specifically naming basset and similar games, on penalty of 1,000 livres for the first offence.source
1691March 14 – The Public Security Police Force of Macau is founded.source
1691May 6 – The Spanish Inquisition condemns and forcibly baptizes 219 Xuetas in Palma, Majorca. When 37 try to escape the island, they are burned alive at the stake.source
1691May 16 – Jacob Leisler is hanged for treason.source
1692February – The last of the Finmark witch trials takes place, Anders Poulsen, an old Sámi shaman is put on trial.Norway source
1692March 1 – The Salem witch trials begin in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony, with the charging of 3 women with witchcraft. Tituba, a slave owned by Samuel Parris, is the first to be arrested, and she implicates Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne, who are arrested later in the day.source
1692April 18 – Giles Corey, Mary Warren, Abigail Hobbs and Bridget Bishop, all residents of Salem, Massachusetts, are arrested and charged with the practice of witchcraft.source
1692September 19 – Giles Corey is pressed to death in an attempt to coerce a confession from him of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials.source
1692September 22 – The last of those convicted of witchcraft in the Salem witch trials are hanged. By the end of September, 14 women and 5 men have been executed by hanging. The remainder of those convicted are all eventually released.source
1692September 27 – The trial for sorcery of Anne Palles of Denmark begins, and she gives a long confession of giving her body and soul to Satan. The court finds her guilty on November 2 and sentences her to death.source
16922 November – Anne Palles is convicted of witchcraft and sentenced to death. The execution of her takes place on 4 April 1693. She becomes the last person executed for witchcraft in Denmark.Denmark source
1692An Act for encourageing the apprehending of Highway Men offers rewards for the apprehension of highwaymen.England source
1692The first Chief of police is hired in Bergen.Norway source
1692Livonian nobleman Johann Patkul protests to the king about the reduction of land to the Crown, then flees to escape arrest, and is later condemned to death.Sweden source
1693April – Tituba, a slave who had been convicted at the Salem witch trials of practicing witchcraft after making a confession, is released from jail in Boston after 13 months when an unknown purchaser pays her jail fees.source
1693The Anglo-Saxon Alfred Jewel is discovered at North Petherton in Somerset.England source
1693Aron Åsulsen was convicted of sodomy, in Kragerø. The only known person convicted for homosexuality in Norwegian history before 1842. He was sentenced to whipping, branding, and banishment from Kragerø.Norway source
1693The process against Lars Nilsson (shaman), who is sentenced to death for Paganism for being a follower of the Sami religion.Sweden source
1694The Great Jewel Fraud against the Swedish National Bank is exposed, in which five women, around their leader Greta Duréel, are discovered to have stolen money for years through a deposition fraud.Sweden source
1695March 7 – John Trevor, Speaker of the English House of Commons, is expelled from the House by vote of the members, after being found guilty of accepting a bribe of 1000 pounds sterling from the City of London Corporation.source
16957 March – Sir John Trevor, Speaker of the House of Commons, is found guilty of taking a bribe and expelled from the Commons.England source
1695March 26 – John Hungerford is expelled from the English House of Commons when members vote to find him guilty of accepting a bribe in return for using his committee chairmanship to promote the pending Orphans Bill.source
1695June – Robert Rochfort is appointed Attorney-General for Ireland.Ireland source
16957 September – English pirate Henry Every in the Fancy perpetrates one of the most profitable raids in history with the capture of the Grand Mughal ship Ganj-i-Sawai. In response, Emperor Aurangzeb threatens to put an end to all English trading in India.England source
169530 September–25 October – an attempt is made in the Irish House of Commons (largely at the instigation of Rochfort) to impeach Charles Porter (Lord Chancellor of Ireland) for his conduct in office. He is acquitted following a speech made in his own defence.Ireland source
1695December 31 – A window tax is imposed in England. Some windows are bricked up to avoid it.source
1695English manufacturers call for an embargo on Indian cloth, and silk weavers picket the House of Commons of England.source
1695Sir Nicholas Acheson is appointed High Sheriff of Armagh.Ireland source
1696March 18 – Robert Charnock, who had been arrested for the Jacobite plot to kill King William is hanged at the Tower of London.source
1696May 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.Ireland source
1696December 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
1696December 24 – The Inquisition in Portugal carries out the sentence of burning at the stake against several Marrano Jews in Évora.source
1696The Thisted witch trial, referred to as the last witch trials in Denmark, begins in Thisted.Denmark source
1696The Velthen Company perform in Stockholm.Sweden source
1697June 10 – The last mass execution for witchcraft in western Europe when the five Paisley witches are hanged and then burned in Scotland.source
1697October 16 – The Norwegian Code, promulgated by King Christian V of Denmark-Norway in 1687, is amended to provide for torture of condemned criminals in certain capital offenses in Norway, with permission for burning with hot irons, or cutting off the prisoner's right hand while the prisoner is being transported for decapitation.source
1698January 30 – William Kidd, who initially seized foreign ships under authority as a privateer for the British Empire before becoming a pirate, becomes an outlaw and uses his ship, the Adventure Galley, to capture an Indian ship, the valuable Quedagh Merchant, near India.source
1698Piracy Act ("An Act for the more effectuall Suppressions of Piracy") passed.England source
1699July 6 – Scottish-born pirate captain William Kidd is arrested and imprisoned in Boston, Province of Massachusetts Bay, after being tricked by his former patron New York Governor Richard Coote, 1st Earl of Bellomont.source