Explore 130 historical events from 1650–1659.
Rabbi Gershon Shaul Yom-Tov Lipmann ben Nathan ha-Levi Heller, was a Bohemian rabbi and Talmudist, best known for writing a commentary on the Mishnah called the Tosefet Yom-Tov (16…
Yom-Tov Lipmann Heller, Bohemian rabbi (born 1579)
Axel Gustafsson Oxenstierna was a Swedish statesman and Count of Södermöre. He became a member of the Swedish Privy Council in 1609 and served as Lord High Chancellor of Sweden fro…
Axel Oxenstierna, Swedish lawyer and politician, Lord High Chancellor of Sweden (born 1583)
Cromwell's Act of Grace, or more formally the Act of Pardon and Grace to the People of Scotland, was an Act of the Parliament of England that declared that the people of Scotland w…
Cromwell's Act of Grace, which pardoned the people of Scotland for any crimes committed during the Wars of the Three Kin
Oliver Cromwell was an English statesman, farmer and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the …
Oliver Cromwell dissolves England's Rump Parliament
The First Anglo-Dutch War, or First Dutch War, was a naval conflict between the Commonwealth of England and the Dutch Republic. Largely caused by disputes over trade, it began with…
First Anglo-Dutch War: The Battle of the Gabbard begins, lasting until the following day
Claude Louis Hector de Villars, Prince of Martigues, Marquis then (1st) Duke of Villars, Viscount of Melun was a French military commander and an illustrious general of Louis XIV. …
Claude Louis Hector de Villars, French general and politician, French Minister of Defence (died 1734)
Eleonore Maria Josefa of Austria was Queen of Poland and Grand Duchess of Lithuania by marriage to King Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki, and subsequently Duchess of Lorraine by her sec…
Eleonore of Austria, Queen of Poland (died 1697)
Georg Muffat was a Baroque composer and organist. He is best known for the remarkably articulate and informative performance directions printed along with his collections of string…
Georg Muffat, French organist and composer (died 1704)
Princess Maria Amalia of Courland was a Landgravine of Hesse-Kassel by her marriage to Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel. She was a daughter of Jacob Kettler, Duke of Courland a…
Maria Amalia of Courland, Landgravine of Hesse-Kassel (died 1711)
James Bertie, 1st Earl of Abingdon, styled Hon. James Bertie until 1657 and known as the 5th Baron Norreys from 1657 until 1682, was an English nobleman.
James Bertie, 1st Earl of Abingdon, English nobleman (died 1699)
Mirza Abu al-Fayaz Qutb al-Din Muhammad Aazam, commonly known as Azam Shah, was briefly the seventh Mughal emperor from 14 March to 20 June 1707. He was the third son of the sixth …
Muhammad Azam Shah, Mughal emperor (died 1707)
Thomas Pitt was a British merchant, colonial administrator and politician who served as the president of Fort St. George from 1698 to 1709. Born in Blandford Forum, Dorset, he even…
Thomas Pitt, English businessman and politician (died 1726)
Sarah Good was one of the first three women to be accused of witchcraft in the Salem witch trials, which occurred in 1692 in colonial Massachusetts.
Sarah Good, American woman accused of witchcraft (died 1692)
John Oldham was an English satirical poet and translator. John Dryden, England's first Poet Laureate, was one of his admirers and upon his death wrote an elegy "To the Memory of Mr…
John Oldham, English poet and translator (died 1683)
Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle was an English Army officer, politician and colonial administrator who sat in the House of Commons from 1667 to 1670 when he inherited his …
Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle, English colonel and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica (died 1688)
Sir Robert Filmer was an English political theorist who defended the divine right of kings. His best known work, Patriarcha, published posthumously in 1680, was the target of numer…
Robert Filmer, English theorist and author (born 1588)
Gabriel Naudé was a French librarian and scholar. He was a prolific writer who produced works on many subjects including politics, religion, history and the supernatural. In 1627, …
Gabriel Naudé, French librarian and scholar (born 1600)
Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp, also known as Maarten van Tromp, was an army general and admiral in the Dutch navy during much of the Eighty Years' War and throughout the First Anglo-D…
Maarten Tromp, Dutch admiral (born 1598)
Thomas Dudley was a New England colonial magistrate who served several terms as governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Dudley was the chief founder of Newtowne, later Cambridge,…
Thomas Dudley, English soldier and politician, 3rd Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony (born 1576)
The history of Rhode Island is an overview of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations and the state of Rhode Island from pre-colonial times to the present.
Slavery in Rhode Island is abolished, although the law is not rigorously enforced
Tarhoncu Ahmed Pasha was an Ottoman Albanian statesman and Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire from 20 June 1652 to 21 March 1653, when he was executed because of the economic refor…
Tarhoncu Ahmed Pasha is appointed Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire
Michel Rolle was a French mathematician. He is best known for Rolle's theorem (1691). He is also the co-inventor in Europe of Gaussian elimination (1690).
Michel Rolle, French mathematician and academic (died 1719)
Johann Philipp Förtsch was a German baroque composer, statesman and medical doctor.
Johann Philipp Förtsch, German composer (died 1732)
John Grubb (1652–1708) was a two-term member of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly and was one of the original settlers in a portion of Brandywine Hundred that became Claymont,…
John Grubb, American politician (died 1708)