istoryworld
All Events
York Farm, now known as York House, is built for Andrew Pitcarne, Groom of the Bedchamber of Charles I.
Charles I establishes Britain's Royal Mail, employing Thomas Witherings to set it up
North America's first university is founded at Cambridge in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and soon receives a large bequest from John Harvard
Rhode Island is founded by Roger Williams as a colony based on the principle of religious tolerance
A painted ceiling by Rubens, celebrating the Stuart dynasty, is installed in the Banqueting House in Whitehall
John Hampden refuses to pay ship money to Charles I, beginning a campaign that gradually wins wide support
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
Charles I and his archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud, attempt to impose the full Anglican hierarchy on presbyterian Scotland
John Milton's Lycidas is published in memory of a Cambridge friend, Edward King
War between English colonists and Pequot Indians brings disaster to the Pequots but safeguards the settlement of Connecticut
Fermat writes in the margin of a book a mathematical theorem of which he says he has proof, which taunts mathematicians until finally proved in 1995
In La Géométrie René Descartes describes analytic geometry, the system used in geometry today, independently conceived at the same time by Pierre Fermat
The French build a trading station on the estuary of the Senegal river in west Africa
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
Riots erupt in Edinburgh, in response to the attempt by Charles I and Laud to impose a hierarchy of Anglican bishops
The Longford River is constructed to take water from the River Colne over Hounslow Heath to the Hampton Court Parks to supply water to the gardens.
Richard Fairbanks, given responsibility for delivering mail in Massachusetts, is allowed to charge a penny per letter
The finances of the English king, Charles I, are in crisis, with his agents able to collect each year only a fraction of his demands
Covenanters seize control of Edinburgh and other Scottish towns, launching the conflict with England known as the Bishops' War
The Dutch artist Gerrit Dou paints with exquisite precision and becomes leader of a group known as the 'fine painters'
In need of funds for the Bishops' War in Scotland, Charles I summons parliament to Westminster
Parliament denies Charles I's request for funds and is dismissed after three weeks (the Short Parliament)
The first book published in England's American colonies is Bay Psalm Book, a revised translation of the psalms
