1669

"And so I betake myself to that course, which is almost as much as to see myself go into my grave - for which, and all the discomforts that will accompany my being blind, the good God prepare me!"

-Samuel Pepys, the final entry in his diary, may 31

"No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown."

-William Penn

• French nobleman Pierre Lemoyne, Sieur d'Iberville et d'Ardillieres, founder of Louisiana.
• Russian mathematician Leonty Filippovich Magnitsky.
• Swedish admiral Gustaf Psilander.
• French composer Louis Marchand.
• English playwright Susannah Centlivre.
• French composer Jean-Baptiste Prin.
• English poet Frances Seymour, later Countess of Hertford.
• Venetian composer and mathematician Alessandro Marcello.
• Chinese painter and calligrapher Jiang Tingxi.
• Japanese Go master Honinbo Doteki.

• Dutch painter Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn.
• Dutch painter Paulus Bor.
• Flemish philosopher Arnold Geulincx.
• Flemish painter Theodor van Thulden.
• Florentine composer Marc' Antonio Cesti.
• French composer François Anguier.
• English clergyman and poet Henry King.
• English composer Edward Coleman.
• English composer and musical theorist Christopher Sympson.
• English poet Sir John Denham.
• Italian painter and architect Pietro da Cortona.
• English poet Sir John Denham.
• Sri Karan Singh, Maharaja of Bikaner. His Son Sri Anup Singhji Bahadur succeeds him.
• Former English queen Henrietta Maria, widow of Charles I.
• Manchu lord Oboi, former Regent of China, put to death by Qing Emperor Kangxi (now fifteen).
• Pope Clement IX.

• An eruption of Etna destroys part of the Sicilian town of Catania.  It emits more than a cubic mile of lava over a period of two months.
• John Dryden's play Tyrannick Love, or, the Royal Martyr appears.
• Jean Racine's play Britannicus appears.
• Moliere's comedy-ballet Le Tartuffe, ou L'Imposteur is finally perfomed in its original form.
• Zhu Shun-Suei, in exile in Japan, writes Roaming in the Koorakuen Fu, the only Fu work about a non-Chinese garden.
• Huang Zongxi's Epitaph for Wang Zhengnan reveals discontent about Manchu rule among the Shaolin.
• The Sheldonian Theatre, designed by Christopher Wren, opens in Oxford.
• Samuel Pepys discontinues his diary after the death of his wife, and amid (unrealized) fears of going blind.
• The Jesuit Academy in Zagreb is turned into a University.
• Isaac Barrow resigns as Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University to become Charles II's chaplain, and sees to it that Isaac Newton fills it.   He also publishes his Lectiones opticae, as well as converting to Catholicism.
• Long Tien Pagoda is built on Mt. Tu Tram in Annam.
• The long since meaningless Hanseatic League is officially dissolved.
• German alchemist Hennig Brandt boils down his own urine and discovers phosphorus, the first chemical element discovered since ancient times.
• Louis XIV:
• allows Pierre Perrin to found the Academie Royale des Operas.
• entices Giovanni Domenico Cassini away from designing fortifications for the Pope.
• Rene Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle sets off from Montreal on an expedition to the Ohio country.  He becomes the first European to see Niagara Falls.
• Cecilus Calvert, Lord Baltimore, erects several counties on Maryland's Eastern Shore to bolster his claim to it.  However, James, Duke Of York, governs the settlements on the western shore of Delaware Bay as if they were part of his personal domain, New York.
• William Penn (the Younger) is released from the Tower of London.
• Michael Wisniowiecki is elected and crowned King of Poland.
• The Ottoman Empire's 21-year-long siege of Crete ends when its Venetian governor finally surrenders.
• Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb:
• levies a tax on non-Muslims
• discontinues the annual darshan ceremony
• bans the construction of Hindu temples in Benares
• actually has some temples destroyed (Vishvanath in Benares and Keshava Deva in Mathura).


The Maathiri Alamgiri reads:

"Orders respecting Islamic affairs were issued to the governors of all the provinces that the schools and places of worship of the irreligious be subject to demolition and that with the utmost urgency the manner of teaching and the public practices of the sects of these misbelievers be suppressed."

Some sources claim the above can be interpreted as suppressing only actively rebellious cults, others interpret it as a general order for the destruction of Hindu temples and schools. Certainly, no rebellious generals' mosques were destroyed. I despair at finding where the truth lies.

1668 - 1669 - 1670

How They Were Made - 17th Century