| 1626 AD Battle of Dessau -One of the major battes of the Thirty Years War took place at the Battle of Dessau, in present day Germany. Catholic forces led by Albrecht Wenzel Eusebius Von Waldstien defeated the Count Mansfield and the Protestant forces. Mansfield retreated to Hungary. |
| 1627 AD Manchus Invade Korea - The Manchus invaded and captured Korea. They establish it as a vassal state. |
| 1628 AD Petition of Rights - In 1628 the English Parliament passed the Petition of Rights. Under its terms the King could not levy any new taxes without the consent of Parliament. Furthermore soldiers could not be billeted in private homes. Martial law could not be imposed in time of peace. Finally, the petition of Rights forbid the imprisonment of individuals without cause. |
| 1630 AD Fictional Character Don Juan Appears - The character of Don Juan appeared for the first time in a literary work by Tirso de Molina. The first work it appeared in was El Burlador de Sevilla. |
| 1630 AD Massachusetts Bay Colony -On June 12, 1630, the flagship of the Massachusetts Bay Company arrived in Salem to officially found the new colony. The company was founded by English Puritans, most of whom were educated and wealthy. A fleet of eleven ships brought hundreds of settlers to Salem. John Winthrop became the first governor of the colony. |
| 1631 AD Battle of Breitenfeld Catholic forces under the command of Count Von Tilly captured the fortress of Magdeburg in present day Germany on May 20, 1613. There followed a Catholic massacre of the Protestant population of the city and surrounding areas. This caused the populations of Bradenburg and Saxony to join the Protestant coalition. After the imperial forces captured Leipzig, Protestant forces led by Gustav II Adophus moved south to engage the Catholics. On September 18th just north of Leipzig the two armies met in battle, The outcome of the battle was the first Protestant victory in the 30 years war. |
| 1632 AD Battle of Lutzen - In 1632 Protestant forces led by Sweden’s Gustavus II Adolphus defeat the Catholic forces in two battles. The first took place where the Danube and Lenz rivers meet. At that battle the Catholic Commander Tilly was killed. At the next battle, the Battle of Lutzen which took place on November 16, 1632 , Adolphus was killed. |
| 1634 AD Catholics Found Maryland- One Hundred and Twenty Eight Catholic settlers arrived on the island of Saint Clements. Their settlement became called Maryliand |
1634 AD Peace of Prague In September 1634 Protestant forces under the command of Bernahard of Saxe-Weimer were defeated at the battle of Nordligen in Bavaria. The majority of the German princes then abandoned the Protestant coalition leading to the Peace of Prague. This agreement took place between the elector of Saxony and the Holy Roman Emperor. The agreement voided the Edict of Restitutions. That edict had stated that there was only one religion in a country, that of the ruler.
This did not bring about an end to a war, rather the opposite took place. Catholic France, now fearing the increased power of the Habsburgs, allied itself with the Protestants. It invaded Spanish controlled Netherlands and the Thiry Years War was transformed from a religious war to one about power and land. |
| 1635 AD Roger Williams Founds Rhode Island-Roger Williams was a Puritan clergyman in Massachusetts. Williams made some threatening proposals to his fellow settlers: Williams was found guilty of disseminating "new and dangerous opinions." As a result, he was to be banished from the colony. Before the Massachusetts settlers could banish him back to England, Williams escaped and fled to Rhode Island, where he established his own colony. This colony provided complete religious freedom for all people, including Catholics and Jews. |
| 1637 AD Descartes Publishes Discours de la Methode - In 1637 Rene Descartes published Discours de la methode . This was a philosophical introduction to his scientific works in dioptrics, meteorology and geometry. |
| 1637- Settlers Kill 500 Indians-On June 5th, 500 Indians (men, women, and children) were killed, thus ending the Pequot War. The Indians were attacked by combined forces from the Massachusetts and Connecticut Militia. |
| 1638 AD Galileo Explains Principles of Falling Bodies In 1638 Galileo published Discorsi e Demonstrazione Matematiche Intorno a Due Nuove Scienze. This worked presented the mathematical principals of falling bodies and projectile motion. |
| 1638 AD Uprising in Japan The Shimabara uprising comes to an end when the 30,000 peasants occupying Nara Castle surrender for lack of food. The 120,000 man army of the Japanese shogun Iemistsu kills most of them. The shogun then orders all Portuguese traders from Japan and bans the construction of any ship large enough to sail the oceans. |
| 1640 AD Triennal Act -In April 1640 the English Parliament met for the first time in 11 years. The King had called the Parliament into session to request financial support. The Parliament refused and instead presented King Charles I a list of grievances. His reaction was to disband the Parliament. During the summer of 1640 a brief war known as the Bishops War broke out with Scotts who invaded northern England. It ended with the Treat of Ripon. In November Charles was persuaded by his advisors to once again call the Parliament into session. This meeting which lasted four years became known as the Long Parliament. In the course of the meeting the Triennial Act was passed. It required a meeting of the Parliament once every three years. In addition the prerogative courts were abolished and the king was prevented from dissolving the Parliament without its agreement |
| 1642 AD New Zealand Discovered by Dutch On December 13, 1642 Abel Janszoon Taman discovered New Zealand. He had sailed on commission of the Dutch East Indies Company. |
| 1642 AD English Civil War Begins -Charles I continued his disagreements with Parliament. In addition he attempted to increase the amount of ritual in the Church of England; something opposed by many Protestants who felt that it was a return to the more ritualistic Catholic practices. In 1642 the disputes led to civil war between Parliament and the King. Parliament won the battle with Oliver Cromwell leading the Roundheads against the Royalist. Cromwell, whose force was also known as the New Model Army, had the best trained army and that, combined with the religious fervor of it soldiers, led to their victory. Once Cromwell was victorious he ousted all those in the Parliament who did not support him, creating what became known as the rump Parliament. It approved the beheading of Charles I which took place in January 1869. Cromwell declared England a republic, but when Parliament failed to go along with all Cromwell wanted he disbanded the Parliament and ruled until his death as dictator. |
| 1648 AD Treaty of Westphalia The Treaty of Westphalia was signed at Munster on October 24, 1648 bringing to an end the Thirty Years War. The war, which was mostly fought in Germany, resulted in the destruction of 18,000 villages, 1,500 towns and 2,000 castles. Under the terms of the treaty the religious freedom of the Protestant Northern Germany as well as Saxony and Bavaria. Both Sweden and France were granted land. The German states independence was guaranteed, thus weakening the power of the Holy Roman Empire. The treaty also explicitly recognized the independence of the Swiss Cantons. |
| 1649 AD Oliver Cromwell Army in Ireland -After Cromwell’s victory over Charles I he took his New Model army to Dublin to subdue the Irish who had supported the royalist. During Cromwells sojourn in Ireland which lasted for one year, he engaged in a general massacre of Royalist. In October 1651, the last Royalist stronghold- Limerick was captured by Cromwell's supporters. To pay his officers Cromwell passed an Act of Settlement which gave his supporters large tracts of land in Ireland, spurring Protestant settlement in Northern Ireland. |
