| |
Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1649 | - 1649: Charles I is tried and executed; The Commonwealth, in which ; England is governed as a republic, is established and lasts until 1660; Cromwell harshly suppresses Catholic rebellions in Ireland
|
| 2 | 1650 | - 1650: Charles II lands in Scotland; is proclaimed king
|
| 3 | 1651 | - 1651: Thomas Hobbes, in 'Leviathan', argued from a mechanistic theory that man is a selfishly individualistic animal at constant war with others. In the state of nature, life is "nasty, brutish, and short."
- 1651: Charles II invades England and is defeated at Battle of Worcester; Charles escapes to France; First Navigation Act, England gains virtual monopoly of foreign trade
|
| 4 | 1653 | - 1653: Cromwell dissolves the "Rump" and becomes Lord Protector
|
| 5 | 1654 | - 1654: James Ussher, Protestant archbishop of Armagh, determined by a close reading of scriptural genealogies that the events described on the first page of the Book of Genesis occurred in 4004 B.C.
- 1654: Treaty of Westminster between England and Dutch Republic
|
| 6 | 1655 | - 1655: Christiaan Huygens discovered 'Titan,' Saturn's largest moon, and that what Galileo had thought were moons were actually rings. He was the first to note markings on Mars.
- 1655: England divided into 12 military districts by Cromwell; seizes Jamaica from Spain
|
| 7 | 1656 | - 1656: Huygens built the first pendulum-regulated clock. Two years later, Huygens, in Horologium, claimed that his clock could establish longitude at sea which was not then possible and had led to many maritime disasters.
- 1656: War with Spain (until 1659)
|
| 8 | 1658 | - 1658: Oliver Cromwell dies; succeeded as Lord Protector by son Richard; Battle of the Dunes, England and France defeat Spain; England gains Dunkirk
|
| 9 | 1659 | - 1659: Richard Cromwell forced to resign by the army; "Rump" Parliament restored
- 1659: First cheque drawn in London
|
| 10 | 1660 | - 1660: Convention Parliament restores Charles II to throne
|
| 11 | 1661 | - 1661: Clarendon Code; "Cavalier" Parliament of Charles II passes series of repressive laws against Nonconformists; English acquire Bombay
|
| 12 | 1662 | - 1662: Boyle, using a vacuum pump of his own invention, determined that the volume and pressure of a gas are inversely proportional
- 1662: John Graunt, in 'Observations upon the Bills of Mortality', using London population data, noted that life expectancy is 27 years, with nearly two/thirds dying before 16 years.
- 1662: Act of Uniformity passed in England
|
| 13 | 1664 | - 1664: England siezes New Amsterdam from the Dutch, change name to New York
|
| 14 | 1665 | - 1665: Great Plague in London
|
| 15 | 1666 | - 1666: Great Fire of London
- 1666: First European printed paper banknote issued
|
| 16 | 1667 | - 1667: Dutch fleet defeats the English in Medway river; treaties of Breda among Netherlands, England, France, and Denmark
|
| 17 | 1668 | - 1668: Triple Alliance of England, Netherlands, and Sweden against France
|
| 18 | 1669 | - 1669: Isaac Newton circulated a manuscript, 'De analysi per aequationes numero terminorum infinitas', the first notice of his calculus.
|
| 19 | 1670 | - 1670: Secret Treaty of Dover between Charles II of England and Louis XIV of France to restore Roman Catholicism to England; Hudson's Bay Company founded
|
| 20 | 1672 | - 1672: Third Anglo-Dutch war (until 1674); William III (of Orange) becomes ruler of Netherlands
|
| 21 | 1673 | - 1673: Test Act aims to deprive English Roman Catholics and Nonconformists of public office
|
| 22 | 1674 | - 1674: Hennig Brand discovered phosphorus in a distillation of human urine
- 1674: Anton van Leeuwenhoek reported his discovery of protozoa, using his newly-devised microscope
- 1674: Treaty of Westminster between England and the Netherlands
|
| 23 | 1677 | - 1677: William III, ruler of the Netherlands, marries Mary, daughter of James, Duke of York, heir to the English throne
|
| 24 | 1678 | - 1678: Popish Plot' in England; Titus Oates falsely alleges a Catholic plot to murder Charles II
|
| 25 | 1679 | - 1679: Act of Habeas Corpus passed, forbidding imprisonment without trial; Parliament's Bill of Exclusion against the Roman Catholic Duke of York blocked by Charles II; Parliament dismissed; Charles II rejects petitions calling for a new Parliament; petitioners become known as Whigs; their opponents (royalists) known as Tories
|
| 26 | 1681 | - 1681: Whigs reintroduce Exclusion Bill; Charles II dissolves Parliament
|
| 27 | 1685 | - 1685: James II of England and VII of Scotland (to 1688); rebellion by Charles II's illegitimate son, the Duke of Monmouth, against James II is put down
|
| 28 | 1686 | - 1686: James II disregards Test Act; Roman Catholics appointed to public office
|
| 29 | 1687 | - 1687: James II issues Declaration of Liberty of Conscience, extends toleration to all religions
|
| 30 | 1688 | - 1688: Edward Lloyd's coffee house opens in England
- 1688: England's 'Glorious Revolution'; William III of Orange is invited to save England from Roman Catholicism, lands in England, James II flees to France
|
| 31 | 1689 | - 1689: Convention Parliament issues Bill of Rights; establishes a constitutional monarchy in Britain; bars Roman Catholics from the throne; William III and Mary II become joint monarchs of England and Scotland (to1694), Toleration Act grants freedom of worship to dissenters in England; Grand Alliance of the League of Augsburg, England, and the Netherlands
- 1689: Parliament draws up the Declaration of Right detailing the unconstitutional acts of King James II. James' daughter and her husband, his nephew, become joint sovereigns of Britain as King William III and Queen Mary II. Parliament passes the Bill of Rights. Toleration Act grants rights to Trinitarian Protestant dissenters. Catholic forces loyal to James II land in Ireland from France and lay siege to Londonderry
|
| 32 | 1690 | - 1690: King William defeats the Irish and French armies of his father-in-law at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland
|
| 33 | 1691 | - 1691: The Treaty of Limerick allows Cathloics in Ireland to exercise their religion freely, but severe penal laws soon follow. The French War begins
|
| 34 | 1692 | - 1692: The Glencoe Massacre occurs
|
| 35 | 1694 | - 1694: Death of Queen Mary; King William now rules alone. Foundation of the Bank of England. Triennial Act sets the maximum duration of a parliament to three years
|
| 36 | 1695 | - 1695: Lapse of the Licensing Act
|
| 37 | 1697 | - 1697: Peace of Ryswick between the allied powers of the League of Augsburg and France ends the French War. Civil List Act votes funds for the maintenance of the Royal Household
- 1697: Blasphemy Act in England
|
| 38 | 1698 | - 1698: Thomas Savery patented an engine which produced a vacuum by condensing steam. It was employed for raising water from a mine and supplying water to several country houses.
|
| 39 | 1701 | - 1701: The Act of Settlement settles the Royal Succession on the Protestant descendants of Sophia of Hanover. Death of the former King James II in exile in France. The French king recognizes James II's son as "King James III". King William forms a grand alliance between England, Holland and Austria to prevent the union of the Spanish and French crowns. The War of the Spanish Succession breaks out in Europe over the vacant throne
|
Abt 1649 - 1701 (52 years)