1626

• The Thirty Years War rages in Germany. Forces of the Catholic League, led by the Count of Tilly, defeat Danish King Christian IV, at Lutter, effectively ending Danish intervention in the conflict. In another setback for the protestants, forces led by Ernst von Mansfeld are defeated by Wallenstein at the Dessau bridgehead.
• Dutch explorer Peter Minuit purchases Manhattan island from local natives for 60 guilders (about $350) worth of cloth and buttons.
• Saint Peter's Cathedral in Rome is completed.
• Salem, Massachusetts, future site of a famous witch hunt, is founded by 20 settlers led by Roger Conant.
• In England, the Parliament of 1626 impeaches the Duke of Buckingham, angering King Charles I and causing him to dissolve the parliament.
• Spanish satirist Francisco de Quevedo y Villegas publishes his great picaresque novel, La Vida del Buscón.
• Croatian poet Ivan Gundulic publishes his greatest work, the epic poem Osman, on the Polish wars against the Turks.

These people were born in 1626:

• Christina, future queen of Sweden
• Chinese painter Chu Ta, founder of the Ch'ing school (approximate).
• French letter-writer Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné.
• Italian physician Francesco Redi, who famously proved that maggots in rotting meat do not arise through spontaneous generation (approximate).
• French religious reformer Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé, founder of the Trappist order of Cistercian monks.
• Jewish mystic and self-proclaimed messiah Shabbetai Zevi, founder of the Sabbatean sect of Judaism.
• French military leader François de Bonne, duc de Lesdiguières.
• Dutch painter Jan Steen.
• Dutch nobleman William II of Orange, the father of King William III of England.

These people died in 1626:

• Nurhachi, founder of the Manchu nation that would later conquer China.
• English philosopher Francis Bacon.
• Anglican bishop Lancelot Andrewes, one of the principal authors of the King James Bible.
• Icelandic poet Einar Sigurdsson.
• Flemish painter Paul Brill.
• Christian of Brunswick, protestant general in the Thirty Years War.
• Peter Ernst von Mansfeld, imperial and later protestant military leader during the Thirty Years War.
• French engineer Salomon de Caus, the first person to conceive of the steam engine.
• English poet Sir John Davies.
• Dutch mathematician Willebrord Snell, credited with the discovery of the law of refraction.
• English mathematician and astronomer Edmund Gunter.
• English dramatist Cyril Tourneur.
• English composer John Dowland.

1625 | 1627