The Inquisition convicts Galileo of heresy and he denies the truth of Copernicus - on being shown the instruments of torture

The Swedish army wins another convincing victory at Lützen, but Gustavus II dies leading a cavalry charge

Van Dyck moves to London and becomes portrait painter to the British court and aristocracy

The four years of tulip mania in Holland provide the first example of speculative frenzy in a capitalist market

George Herbert's only volume of poems, The Temple, is published posthumously

A Passion play is performed for the first time at Oberammergau, in the spirit of the Counter-Reformation

Charles I demands ship money to increase his revenue, albeit in the absence of its conventional justification - a crisis of national defence

Rembrandt marries Saskia van Uylenburgh, who will feature in many of his paintings

The first public opera house, the Teatro San Cassiano, opens in Venice

Pierre Corneille's play Le Cid, popular with Paris audiences, hinges on the conflict between duty and love

John Milton's Lycidas is published in memory of a Cambridge friend, Edward King

A National Covenant, first signed in an Edinburgh churchyard, commits the Covenanters to oppose Charles I's reforms of the Church of Scotland

Galileo's Discorsi, published in Leiden, lays the groundwork for mathematical physics

The Dutch artist Gerrit Dou paints with exquisite precision and becomes leader of a group known as the 'fine painters'

Charles I's financial crisis causes him to summon another parliament to Westminster (the Long Parliament, not dissolved until 1660)

Under pressure from parliament, Charles I signs the death warrant of his most powerful supporter, the earl of Strafford

The profusion of paintings on sale in Holland astonishes an English visitor, John Evelyn

Charles I comes in person to the House of Commons, but fails in his attempt to arrest the Five Members whom he accuses of treason

The Briare canal, joining the Seine to the Loire, has a staircase of six consecutive locks

Charles I leads his army into action at Edgehill - the first, but inconclusive, battle in the English Civil War

Louis XIV inherits the throne of France at the age of four

Mazarin becomes principal minister in France, selected by the queen regent on the death of Louis XIII

Evangelista Torricelli, observing variations in a column of mercury, discovers the principle of the barometer

The Prince de Condé and the Vicomte de Turenne emerge as brilliant generals in France's wars

In his Principles of Philosophy Descartes gives priority to reason, summed up in his famous phrase cogito ergo sum