Repugnare ut detur vacuum sive in quo nulla plane sit res.
-Rene Descartes, 1644.
Born in 1644:
Died in 1644:
Events of 1644:
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John Milton's Areopagitica appears.
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Pietro Francesco Cavalli and Giovanni Faustini's opera Ormindo
appears.
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Jean-Baptiste Poquelin helps set up and acting company, L’Illustre
Théâtre. He adopts Molière as his nom de plume.
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Sakaida Kakiemon introduces an eponymous style of glazed porcelain to
Japan.
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A white-on-blue cameo glass funerary urn appears in Italy. This
will later make its way to England and become known as the Portland Vase.
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Evangelista Toricelli builds the first barometer.
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Abel Tasman explores the Timor Sea and is the first European to enter
the Gulf of Carpentaria. He also shows that the land behind
the Great Barrier Reef is a continent.
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Marin Mersenne makes claims regarding prime numbers arising
from a particular formula.
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Dutch forces under Antonie van Diemen capture part of Ceylon.
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Rene Descartes' mammoth work Principia Philosophia appears.
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Charles de Batz-Castlemore (later Comte d'Artagnan) is admitted to
the King's Musketeers).
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London's Globe Theatre is demolished and will not be rebuilt for
350 years.
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Christina Vasa turns 18 and becomes Queen of Sweden. She
immediately begins clashing with chancellor Axel Oxenstierna.
- Polish king Wladyslaw IV Vasa has the Kolumna Zygmunta erected to his father's memory in Warsaw.
- Islam Giray III ousts Muhammad Giray IV as Khan of the Crimea.
- Shah Jahan begins construction of a Delhi mosque that is named after him today.
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English Civil War
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(January 25) Royalist general George Monck is captured at the Battle
of Nantwich.
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(March 21) Prince Rupert leads a force from Shrewsbury and breaks the
siege of Newark.
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(April 20) A Scottish Covenanter army under the Earl of Leven joins forces
with Sir Thomas Fairfax's army
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(June 11) Prince Rupert takes Liverpool and control of Lancashire.
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(July 5) Prince Rupert nearly defeats the Parliamentary army at Marston
Moor but pursues fleeing cavalry too far. This gives Roundhead
cavalry commander Oliver Cromwell the chance to turn the tide of battle,
and the Cavaliers are crushed. Charles loses control of the entire
north of England, and the war is probably lost at this point. Prince
Rupert gives Cromwell the nickname 'Ironside', which is later applied
to his cavalry regiment.
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(September 1) An Irish-Scotch Royalist force under the Marquis of Montrose
begins its campaign in Scotland by routing a Covenanter force at Tippermuir,
and Perth surrenders soon afterward.
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(September 2) Charles personally leads the army that surrounds Lord Essex's
infantry at Lostwithiel in Cornwall. Essex and hius cavalry
escape to ships, abandoning hte army, which surrenders. Charles's
position in the West Country is strenghtened to the point where he can
consider an attack on London.
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(September 13) The garrison commander of Aberdeen kills the Marquis
of Montrose's drummer boy. After a pitched battle, including a (successful!)
charge of Highlanders armed with dirks and claymores against Covenanter
riflemen, Montrose enters and sacks the town.
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(October 27) Three Roundhead armies fail to capture a lightly-guarded Charles
near Newbury. Parliament is so dismayed at this that they decide
to reorganize their forces into a New Model Army.
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Queen Henrietta Maria flees to France.
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Thirty Years' War:
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Fall of the Ming Dynasty. .China has been in chaos since 1628; a
rebel army led by Li Zicheng has taken control of most of the Empire.
In April, Li Zicheng captures Beijing; the Emperor commits suicide.
Li Zicheng orders the remaining military commanders to join him, but in
the meantime steals the concubine of one Wu Sangui. This
is not smart, since Wu Sangui commands the force in Shanhai Pass, with
the Manchu state of Jin on the other side. Jin is ruled by four-year-old
Tong Zhi, with his uncle Dorgon as regent. And so, rather than
capitulate, Wu Sangui sends for help to Shenyang, opening the pass to
Dorgon's armies. Dorgon is happy to 'assist'. The combined
Chinese-Manchu army defeats Li Zicheng at Tongguan Pass; Li runs
back to Beijing and has himself declared Emperor, but has to flee again
the next day. Dorgon takes Beijing and puts Tong Zhi on the throne,
with himself as regent.
1643 - 1644 - 1645
How They Were Made - 17th Century