1641

November 4: Battle of Cape St. Vincent

1641 (MDCXLI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar, the 1641st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 641st year of the 2nd millennium, the 41st year of the 17th century, and the 2nd year of the 1640s decade. As of the start of 1641, the Gregorian calendar was 10 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.

1641 is the generally accepted year of the birth of the modern timepiece.

Events

January–June

• January 4 – The stratovolcano Mount Parker (Philippines) undergoes a major eruption.
• January 18 – Pau Claris proclaims the Catalan Republic.
• February 16 – King Charles I of England gives his assent to the Triennial Act, reluctantly committing himself to parliamentary sessions of at least fifty days, every three years.

July–December

• July 5
  • The Norwegian city of Kristiansand is founded by King Christian IV of Denmark.
  • In England, the Long Parliament abolishes the Court of Star Chamber.^[1]
• July 12 – Portugal and the Dutch Republic sign a Treaty of Offensive and Defensive Alliance at The Hague. The treaty is not respected by both parties, and as a consequence has no effect in the Portuguese colonies (Brazil and Angola) that are under Dutch rule.
• August 10
  • The Treaty of London between England and Scotland, ending the Bishops' Wars, is signed.^[2]
  • Charles I of England flees London for the north.
• October 23 – Irish Rebellion of 1641 breaks out: Irish Catholic gentry, chiefly in Ulster, revolt against the English administration and Scottish settlers in Ireland.
• October 24 – The Irish rebel Sir Felim O'Neill of Kinard issues the Proclamation of Dungannon.
• November 4 – Battle of Cape St Vincent: A Dutch fleet, with Michiel de Ruyter as third in command, beats back a Spanish-Dunkirker fleet off the coast of Portugal.
• November 22 – The Long Parliament of England passes the Grand Remonstrance, part of a series of legislation designed to contain Charles I's absolutist tendencies.

Date unknown

• The Dutch found a trading colony on Dejima, near Nagasaki, Japan.
• Portugal is ousted from Malacca by the Dutch.
• Moses Amyraut's De l'elevation de la foy et de l'abaissement de la raison en la creance des mysteres de la religion is published.
• René Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy is originally published.
• The town of Falun, Sweden is given city rights by Queen Kristina.
• English law makes witchcraft a capital crime.
• A massive epidemic breaks out in northern and central China, just three years before the fall of the Ming Dynasty. It races south down along the Grand Canal of China and the densely populated settlements there, from the northern terminus at Beijing, to the fertile Jiangnan region. In some local areas and towns it wipes out 90% of the local populace.

Births

Robert Sibbald

Regnier de Graaf

Henri Arnaud

Empress Xiaohuizhang

January–March

• January 6 – Wolfgang Dietrich of Castell-Remlingen, German nobleman (d. 1709)
• January 13 – Patrick Hume, 1st Earl of Marchmont, Scottish statesman (d. 1724)
• January 18 – François-Michel le Tellier, Marquis de Louvois, French war minister (d. 1691)
• February 2 – Claude de la Colombière, French Jesuit priest and saint (d. 1682)
• February 3 – Christian Albert, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp (1659–1695) (d. 1695)
• February 4 – Jerolim Kavanjin, Croatian poet (d. 1714)
• February 8
  • Richard Jones, 1st Earl of Ranelagh, Irish politician (d. 1712)
  • Robert Knox, English sea captain in the service of the British East India Company (d. 1720)
• February 24 – Gabriel Tammelin, Lutheran clergyman (d. 1695)
• March 14 – Hyeonjong of Joseon, 18th monarch of the Korean Joseon Dynasty (d. 1674)
• March 19 – Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulsi, Muslim scholar (d. 1731)
• March 29 – Johann Zahn, 17th-century German author of Oculus Artificialis Teledioptricus Sive Telescopium (d. 1707)

April–June

• April 4 – Sir James Oxenden, 2nd Baronet, English politician (d. 1708)
• April 8
  • Henry Sydney, 1st Earl of Romney, English politician and army officer (d. 1704)
  • (bapt.) – William Wycherley, English playwright (d. 1716)
• April 15 – Robert Sibbald, Scottish physician and antiquarian (d. 1722)
• May – Juan Núñez de la Peña, Spanish historian (d. 1721)
• May 8 – Nicolaes Witsen, Mayor of Amsterdam, Netherlands (d. 1717)
• May 16 – Dudley North, English economist, merchant and politician (d. 1691)
• May 17 – Pierre Monier, French painter (d. 1703)
• May 18 – Olimpia Giustiniani, Italian noblewoman (d. 1729)
• May 28 – Johann Weikhard von Valvasor, Slovenian polymath (d. 1693)
• May 31 – Patriarch Dositheos II of Jerusalem, Greek Orthodox Patriarch (d. 1707)
• June 15 – Bernard de la Monnoye, French lawyer (d. 1728)
• June 19 – Jan Claus, leading Quaker in Amsterdam (d. 1729)
• June 28 – Marie Casimire Louise de La Grange d'Arquien, French-born Polish consort to King John III Sobieski (d. 1716)
• June 29 – Pierre Cholonec, French Jesuit missionary and biographer in New France (d. 1723)
• June 30 – Meinhardt Schomberg, 3rd Duke of Schomberg, English general (d. 1719)

July–September

• July 9 – Jan Jansen Bleecker, Mayor of Albany, New York (d. 1732)
• July 13 – Juan de Santiago y León Garabito, Spanish Catholic prelate, Bishop of Guadalajara and Bishop of Puerto Rico (d. 1694)
• July 14 – William Boynton, English politician (d. 1689)
• July 29 – Sir William Thomas, 1st Baronet, English Member of Parliament (d. 1706)
• July 30 – Regnier de Graaf, Dutch physician and anatomist (d. 1673)
• August – John Hathorne, American magistrate (d. 1717)
• August 2 – Jacob Bobart the Younger, English botanist (d. 1719)
• August 3 – Hildebrand Alington, 5th Baron Alington, Irish peer (d. 1723)
• August 28 – Henry, Prince of Nassau-Dillenburg (1662–1701) (d. 1701)
• September 1 – Jean Barbier d'Aucour, French lawyer and satirist (d. 1694)
• September 5 – Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland, English diplomat (d. 1702)
• September 7 – Tokugawa Ietsuna, Japanese Tokugawa shōgun (d. 1680)
• September 16 – Julius Francis, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, Bohemian noble (d. 1689)
• September 20 – Henri Arnaud, pastor of the Waldensians in Piedmont (d. 1721)
• September 22 – Titus van Rijn, Dutch art dealer (d. 1668)
• September 26 – Nehemiah Grew, English plant anatomist and physiologist (d. 1712)

October–December

• October 1 – Hans Adam von Schöning, German general (d. 1696)
• October 5 – Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, mistress of Louis XIV of France (d. 1707)
• October 6 – Sir William Maynard, 1st Baronet, English politician (d. 1685)
• October 10 – Wolfgang Printz, German composer (d. 1717)
• October 14
  • Dorothea Maria of Saxe-Weimar, Duchess of Saxe-Zeitz, by marriage Duchess of Saxe-Zeitz (d. 1675)
  • Joachim Tielke, German musical instrument maker (d. 1719)
• October 28 – Philip Skippon, English naturalist and Member of Parliament (d. 1691)
• November 5 – Empress Xiaohuizhang, Qing Dynasty empress and consort of the Shunzhi Emperor of China (d. 1718)
• November 10 – Edward Lake, English churchman (d. 1704)
• November 14 – Albert Anton, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1662–1710) (d. 1710)
• November 17 – André, marquis de Nesmond, French naval commander (d. 1702)
• November 23 – Anthonie Heinsius, Dutch statesman (d. 1720)
• December 7 – Louis, Count of Armagnac, French noble (d. 1718)
• December 11 – Jean-Louis Bergeret, holder of the 8th seat of the Académie française (d. 1694)
• December 20 – Urban Hjärne, Swedish chemist (d. 1724)
• December 29 – Pier Simone Fanelli, Italian painter (d. 1703)
• date unknown
  • Pierre Allix, French Protestant clergyman (d. 1717)
  • Diego Ladrón de Guevara, viceroy of Peru (d. 1718)
  • Dodo von Knyphausen, German nobleman (d. 1698)

Deaths

Anthony van Dyck

Francis van Aarssens

• January 3 – Jeremiah Horrocks, English astronomer (b. c. 1618)
• January 9 – Gustavus Adolphus of the Palatinate, German noble (b. 1632)
• January 11
  • Juan de Jáuregui, Spanish poet and painter (b. 1583)
  • Franciscus Gomarus, Dutch theologian (b. 1563)
• February 15 – Sara Copia Sullam, Italian poet and writer (b. 1592)^[3]
• February 17 – Krisztina Nyáry, Hungarian noblewoman (b. 1604)
• February 24 – Francesco Usper, Italian composer (b. 1561)
• February 27 – Pau Claris i Casademunt, Catalan ecclesiastic (b. 1586)
• March 8 – Xu Xiake, Chinese adventurer and geographer (b. 1587)
• March 14 – Adam, Count of Schwarzenberg, German politician (b. 1583)
• April 6 – Domenico Zampieri (Domenichino), Italian painter (b. 1581)
• April 13 – Richard Montagu, English clergyman (b. 1577)
• March 23 – Claude Bernard, French priest (b. 1588)
• April 27 – Wilhelm von Rath, German soldier and scholar (b. 1585)
• May 10 – Johan Banér, Swedish soldier (b. 1596)
• May 12 – Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, English statesman (b. 1593)
• June 1 – Carlo Emanuele Pio di Savoia, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1585)
• July 4
  • István Esterházy Hungarian noble (b. 1616)
  • Pedro Teixeira, Portuguese explorer
• July 6
  • Livia della Rovere, Italian noble (b. 1585)
  • Louis, Count of Soissons (b. 1604)
• July 8 – Balthasar I Moretus, Flemish printer (b. 1574)
• July 13 – Nicolaes le Febure, Dutch Golden Age member of the Haarlem schutterij (b. 1589)
• July 21 – Thomas Mun, English writer on economics (b. 1571)
• July 24 – Giovanni Francesco Guidi di Bagno, Italian cardinal (b. 1578)
• August 4 – Otto III, Duke of Brunswick-Harburg (b. 1572)
• August 9 – Augustine Baker, Welsh Benedictine mystic (b. 1575)
• August 16 – Thomas Heywood, English playwright (b. c. 1573)
• August 26 – Jean-Jacques Bouchard, 17th-century French writer (b. 1606)
• September 10 – Ambrose Barlow, English Catholic martyr (b. 1585) (executed)
• September 12 – John Upton, English politician (b. 1590)
• October 3 – Étienne Martellange, French architect (b. 1569)
• October 31 – Cornelis Jol, Dutch naval commander and privateer (b. 1597)
• November 9
  • Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand of Austria, Governor of the Netherlands and Bishop of Toledo (b. c. 1609)
  • Maren Spliid, Danish alleged witch (b. c. 1600) (executed)
• November 11 – Christopher Clitherow, Lord Mayor of London and Member of Parliament (b. 1578)
• November 12 – Philipp Ludwig III, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg (1638–1641) (b. 1632)
• November 26 – Hedwig of Denmark, Danish princess (b. 1581)
• December 3 – John Percy, English priest (b. 1569)
• December 9 – Sir Anthony van Dyck, Flemish painter (b. 1599)
• December 22 – Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully, 2nd Prime Minister of France (b. 1560)
• December 27 – Francis van Aarssens, Dutch diplomat (b. 1572)

Date Unknown

• Estêvão de Brito, Portuguese composer (b. c. 1570)
• Arthur Johnston, Scottish physician and poet (b. c. 1579)
• Mukai Shogen Tadakatsu, Japanese admiral (b. 1582)
• Harjol, Chinese concubine of Hong Taiji (b. 1609)

References