Charles II lands at Dover and is given a warm welcome in London four days later

The Act of Indemnity, pardoning all offences since 1637 except those of the regicides, is given the royal assent

The body of Oliver Cromwell is hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn

A new Danish constitution (the Kongeloven or King's Law) makes the monarchy hereditary and grants the king absolute power

The duke of York, heir to the English and Scottish thrones, is secretly received into the Roman Catholic church

James II succeeds to the throne in Britain and immediately introduces pro-Catholic policies

The Hungarian diet grants the Habsburg dynasty in Austria a hereditary right to the crown of St Stephen

A son (the future 'Old Pretender') is born to James II, giving Britain a Catholic heir to the throne

English grandees invite William III of Orange and his wife Mary, daughter of James II, to claim the British throne

William III of Orange lands with an army at Torbay and marches to London with almost no opposition from supporters of James II

Parliament in Westminster makes the restrictive Bill of Rights the condition on which William III and Mary II are crowned

James II, landing in Ireland, is acclaimed as king in Dublin by enthusiastic Irish Catholics

The 17-year-old Peter the Great becomes co-tsar of Russia with his half-brother Ivan V

The Church of Scotland finally wins recognition as an independent Presbyterian body

The joint monarch of England, Mary II, dies - leaving her husband, William III, to reign alone

Charles II, the childless king of Spain. leaves all his territories to Philip of Anjou, a grandson of the French king, Louis XIV

Peter the Great sets up numerous schools and commercial enterprises to enable Russia to compete in Europe

The Act of Settlement declares that no Catholic may inherit the English crown

On the death of her brother-in-law, William III, Anne becomes queen of England and Scotland

Peter the Great falls for a Lithuanian serf, Catherine, who becomes his life-long companion

The death of Aurangzeb introduces the long period of decline of the Mughal empire

The tsar formally marries Catherine, his mistress for nearly ten years (though they may have married secretly five years earlier)

The emperor Charles VI issues a Pragmatic Sanction, declaring that the remaining Habsburg empire can be inherited through the female line

On the death of Queen Anne, the Act of Settlement delivers the British crown to the elector of Hanover, as George I

Louis XIV dies after seventy-two years on the throne