Explore 238 historical events from 1640–1649.
Louis Jolliet was a French-Canadian explorer known for his discoveries in North America. In 1673, Jolliet and Jacques Marquette, a Jesuit Catholic priest and missionary, were the f…
Louis Jolliet, Canadian explorer (died 1700)
Tobias Hume was a Scottish composer, viol player and soldier.
Tobias Hume, Scottish soldier, viol player, and composer (born 1569)
Miyamoto Musashi was a Japanese swordsman, strategist, artist, and writer who became renowned through stories of his unique double-bladed swordsmanship and undefeated record in hi…
Miyamoto Musashi, Japanese samurai (born 1584)
The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldie…
Thirty Years' War: The Second Battle of Nördlingen sees French forces defeating those of the Holy Roman Empire.
The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Royalists and Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. P…
English Civil War. Scottish Covenanter forces abandon their month-long Siege of Hereford, a Cavalier stronghold, on…
The Wars of the Three Kingdoms is the collective term for a series of conflicts fought between 1639 and 1653 in England, Scotland, and Ireland, then separate entities in a personal…
Wars of the Three Kingdoms: Scottish Royalists are defeated by Covenanters at the Battle of Philiphaugh.
Jeanne Mance was a French nurse and settler of New France. She arrived in New France two years after the Ursuline nuns came to Quebec. Among the founders of Montreal in 1642, she e…
Jeanne Mance opens the first lay hospital of North America in Montreal.
Shi Kefa, courtesy names Xianzhi and Daolin, was a government official and calligrapher who lived in the late Ming dynasty. He was born in Xiangfu and claimed ancestry from Daxing …
Shi Kefa, Chinese general and calligrapher (born 1601)
Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset, was a politician, and favourite of King James VI and I.
Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, English-Scottish politician, Lord Chamberlain of the United Kingdom (born 1587)
Michael I was Tsar of all Russia from 1613 after being elected by the Zemsky Sobor of 1613 until his death in 1645. He was the first tsar of the House of Romanov, which succeeded t…
Michael I, Russian tsar (born 1596)
Lionel Cranfield, 1st Earl of Middlesex was an English merchant and politician. He sat in the House of Commons between 1614 and 1622 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Cran…
Lionel Cranfield, 1st Earl of Middlesex, English merchant and politician (born 1575)
Francesco Bracciolini was an Italian Late Renaissance poet.
Francesco Bracciolini, Italian poet (born 1566)
Francisco Gómez de Quevedo y Santibáñez Villegas, Knight of the Order of Santiago, was a Spanish nobleman, politician and writer of the Baroque era. Along with his lifelong rival L…
Francisco de Quevedo, Spanish poet and politician (born 1580)
Gaspar de Guzmán y Pimentel, 1st Duke of Sanlúcar, 3rd Count of Olivares,, known as the Count-Duke of Olivares, was a Spanish royal favourite of Philip IV and minister. He was appo…
Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares, Spanish statesman (born 1587)
Hugo Grotius, also known as Hugo de Groot or Huig de Groot, was a Dutch humanist, diplomat, lawyer, theologian, jurist, statesman, poet and playwright. A teenage prodigy, he was bo…
Hugo Grotius, Dutch playwright, philosopher, and jurist (born 1583)
The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Royalists and Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. P…
English Civil War: The Parliamentarians destroyed the last Royalist field army at the Battle of Langport, ultimately…
The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Royalists and Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. P…
English Civil War: Royalists commanded by King Charles I suffered a significant defeat at the Battle of Rowton Heath.
Charles I was King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649.
Charles I of England defeats a Parliamentarian detachment at the Battle of Cropredy Bridge
The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Royalists and Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. P…
English Civil War: Battle of Marston Moor.
The navy of the Order of Saint John, also known as the Maltese Navy, was the navy of the Knights Hospitaller. Established in the Middle Ages during the 12th century, it moved to Ho…
A Hospitaller galley squadron defeats an Ottoman convoy in the action of 28 September 1644.
The Second Battle of Newbury was a battle of the First English Civil War fought on 27 October 1644, in Speen, adjoining Newbury in Berkshire. The battle was fought close to the sit…
Second Battle of Newbury in the English Civil War.
Gabriël Grupello was a Flemish Baroque sculptor who produced religious and mythological sculptures, portraits and public sculptures. He worked in Flanders, France and Germany. He w…
Gabriël Grupello, Flemish Baroque sculptor (died 1730)
William Salmon was an English empiric doctor and a writer of medical texts. He advertised himself as a "Professor of Physick". Salmon held an equivocal place in the medical communi…
William Salmon, English medical writer (died 1713)
Henrietta of England was the youngest child of King Charles I of England and Henrietta Maria of France. She was Duchess of Orléans through her marriage to Philippe I, Duke of Orléa…
Henrietta Anne Stuart, Princess of Scotland, England and Ireland (died 1670)