istoryworld
Events relating to europe
Charles II issues a Declaration of Indulgence, suspending the restrictions on Catholics and Nonconformists
Isaac Newton's experiments with the prism demonstrate the link between wavelength and colour in light
Molière falls fatally ill when acting in his own play Le Malade Imaginaire
Sébastien de Vauban's new technique for conducting the siege of a town shows its effectiveness at Maastricht
Parliament in England passes a Test Act excluding Catholics and Nonconformists from public office
The Dutch scientist Anton van Leeuwenhoek builds a microscope powerful enough for him to observe and describe the red corpuscles in blood
Dutch traders purchase Kakiemon wares in Japan for import to the Netherlands
Christiaan Huygens, inventor of the pendulum clock, now develops the hairspring - of great future importance in watches
The double-hung sash window is introduced in England and soon spreads to Holland
A sudden uprising by the Wampanoag Indians against the new England settlements begins the conflict known as King Philip's War
Ole Roemer, a Danish astronomer working with Cassini in Paris, calculates the speed of light with an error of only 25%
With his powerful new microscope Leeuwenhoek observes spermatozoa in the semen of a dog
Baruch Spinoza's Ethics, dealing with God, the mind and the emotions, is published shortly after his death
The Popish Plot, an invented Jesuit conspiracy to kill Charles II, results in the execution of about thirty-five Roman Catholics
Part I of The Pilgrim's Progress, written during John Bunyan's two spells in Bedford Gaol, is published and is immediately popular
Christiaan Huygens expounds the theory that light consists of a vibration forming a ripple of waves
The rival political parties in Britain find abusive names for each other - Whigs and Tories
19-year-old Alessandro Scarlatti has a great success in Rome with Gli Equivoci nel Sembiante, the first of his 115 operas
Louis XIV persecutes the Huguenots by means of dragonnades - the billetting of unruly dragoons in the homes of villagers
John Bunyan publishes The Life and Death of Mr Badman, an allegory of a misspent life that is akin to a novel
Ireland becomes the first European region in which the potato is an important food crop
A comet intrigues Edmund Halley, who works out that it has been around before
The Canal du Midi is completed in France, including at one point a 160-metre tunnel through high ground
A professional ballet company in Paris introduces female dancers and the world's first prima ballerina, Mlle de Lafontaine
