Directory

1610 CE

Some have suggested that 1610 may mark the beginning of the Anthropocene, or the 'Age of Man', marking a fundamental change in the relationship between humans and the Earth system, but earlier starting dates (ca. 1000 C.E.) have received broader consensus, based on high resolution pollution records that show the massive impact of human activity on the atmosphere.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • April 10 – The Treaty of Brussol is signed between Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy, and a representative of King Henry IV of France, at a meeting at Bruzolo near Turin. The agreement for France and Savoy to remove Spanish occupiers from Italy, is never carried out because King Henry is assassinated one month later.source
  • July 27 (July 17 O.S.) – Vasili Ivanovich Shuisky, who proclaimed himself Tsar of Russia on May 19, 1606, is deposed as the Seven Boyars remove him from office to select a new ruler.source
  • November 6 – After the Parliament of England gives King James only £ 100,000 of an agreed to £ 600,000 of debt relief promised in February under the Great Contract, the King demands the rest of the funds. Parliament is outraged and declares the Contract abandoned on November 9.source
  • December 19 – Pieter Both becomes the first Governor-general of the Dutch East Indies (now the Republic of Indonesia), serving until 1614.source
  • Dr. Bonham's Case, a landmark decision, is decided by Edward Coke, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas of England. Coke affirms the supremacy of the common law, which limits the power of Parliament as well as the king.source
  • Santa Fe, New Mexico, capital of New Mexico, is founded as capital of Kingdom of Nuevo México.source

Conflict & Security

  • March 22 (March 12 O.S.) – Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky, nephew of the Tsar Vasili, liberates Moscow from rebels.source
  • May 14 – King Henry IV of France is assassinated in Paris by François Ravaillac, a French Catholic activist who resents the Protestant monarch's decision to launch a war against the Catholic Spanish Netherlands. Ravaillac rushes up to a horse-drawn carriage and stabs King Henry in the chest. Henry's 8-year-old son becomes King Louis XIII, with Henry's widow, Marie de' Medici, governing France as queen regent.source
  • May 23 – Jamestown, Virginia: Acting as temporary Governor, Thomas Gates, along with John Rolfe, Captain Ralph Hamor, Sir George Somers, and other survivors from the Sea Venture (wrecked at Bermuda) arrive at Jamestown; they find that 60 have survived the "starving time" (winter), the fort palisades and gates have been torn down, and empty houses have been used for firewood, in fear of attacks by natives outside the fort area.source
  • May 24 – Jamestown, Virginia: The temporary Governor, Thomas Gates, issues The Divine, Moral, and Martial Laws.source
  • May 27 – Regicide François Ravaillac is executed by being pulled apart by horses in the Place de Grève, Paris.source
  • June 7 – Jamestown: Temporary Governor Gates decides to abandon Jamestown.source
  • June 10 – Jamestown: The convoy of temporary Governor Gates, and the ships of Governor Lord De La Warr, land at Jamestown.source
  • July 4 – (June 24 O.S.); Polish–Russian War – Battle of Klushino: The outnumbered forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth defeat the combined Russian and Swedish armies; Polish troops go on to occupy Moscow.source
  • July 28 – War of the Jülich Succession: The Siege of Jülich, a walled city within the Holy Roman Empire (now in Germany), is started by a combined force of troops from the Dutch Republic, the Kingdom of France and the Margraviate of Brandenburg.source
  • August 9 – Anglo-Powhatan Wars: The English launch a major attack on the Paspahegh village, capturing and executing the native queen and her children, burning houses and chopping down the corn fields; the subsequent use of the term "Paspahegh" in documents refers to their former territory.source
  • September 2 – The Siege of Jülich ends as the Holy Roman Imperial city surrenders to Maurice of Nassau, commander of the Dutch Republic troops.source
  • September 4 – The Kingdom of Toungoo (now Myanmar) is retaken by King Anaukpetlun of Burma, as rebel leader Natshinnaung surrenders the city of Taungoo.source
  • September 6 – (August 27 O.S.); The Seven Boyars, the group of seven Russian nobles seeking stability in the troubled nation, vote to have King Wladyslaw IV of Poland as Tsar Vladislav of Russia, and invite the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth to take over the city.source
  • September 21 (September 11 O.S.) – Forces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth capture Moscow and begin occupation of the Kremlin for the next two years.source
  • October 9 – Poland, under the command of Hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski, takes control of the Kremlin during the Polish–Russian War.source
  • October 24 – The War of the Jülich Succession ends as the Protestant Union (including Margraviate of Brandenburg Brandenburg and Electoral Palatinate) and the Catholic League (led by the Duchy of Bavaria) agree to withdraw their forces from Germany and to disband them by year's end.source
  • November 20 – The cession of Larache, a port in Morocco, takes place as Mohammed esh Sheikh el Mamun, Sultan of Morocco, transfers control of the city to Spain in return for. The Marquis de la Hinojosa accepts on behalf of King Felipe III of Spain in return for Spain's aid to the Sultan's fight against the Sultan's brother, Zidan Abu Maali. Larache remains under Spanish control for the next 79 years until another sultan retakes it.source
  • December 21 – (December 11 O.S.) The second False Dmitry is assassinated by a Kasim Tatar prince, Peter Urusov. After both Dmitry and Urosov have been drinking, Urusov shoots the Tsar Dmitry, then decapitates him.source
  • The Manchu tribal leader Nurhaci breaks his relations with the Ming dynasty of China, at this time under the aloof and growingly negligent Wanli Emperor; Nurhaci's line later becomes the emperors of the Qing dynasty, which overthrows the short-lived Shun dynasty in 1644, and the remnants of the Ming throne in 1662.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • February 24 – English courtier Thomas Roe sets out on an expedition to The Guianas and Amazon River.source
  • June 8 – Jamestown: Temporary Governor Gates' convoy meets the ships of Governor Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr (Delaware) at Mulberry Island.source
  • July 5 – John Guy sets sail from Bristol, with 39 other colonists, for Newfoundland.source
  • August 2 – Henry Hudson sails into what is now known as Hudson Bay, thinking he has made it through the Northwest Passage and reached the Pacific Ocean.source

Religion & Belief

  • June 24 – Henri Membertou, Grand Chief of Mi'kmaq nation, becomes the first North American aboriginal person to accept baptism into the Christian faith and signs the Concordat of 1610, an agreement with the Roman Catholic Church recognizing the Mi'kmaq as an independent nation.source
  • September 1 – Claudio Monteverdi's musical work Vespro della Beata Vergine (Vespers for the Blessed Virgin) is first published, printed in Venice and dedicated to Pope Paul V.source
  • December 20 – (December 10 O.S.), John Roberts, a Benedictine monk in Wales, is executed five days after being convicted of high treason for violating a law against Catholic ministry. He is hanged, drawn and quartered. Roberts will be canonized as a Roman Catholic saint almost 360 years later, on October 25, 1970.source
  • Publication is completed of the Douay–Rheims Bible (The Holie Bible Faithfully Translated into English), a translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English made by members of the English College, Douai, in the service of the Catholic Church.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • Work starts on the Wignacourt Aqueduct, in Malta.source

Science & Discovery

  • January 7 – Galileo Galilei first observes the four Galilean moons of Jupiter: Ganymede, Callisto, Europa and Io, but is unable to distinguish the latter two until the following day.source
  • March 13 – Galileo Galilei's treatise on astronomy, Sidereus Nuncius, the first printed scientific record of observations through a telescope, is first published.source
  • November 26 – French astronomers Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc and Joseph Gaultier make the first detailed observations of the Orion Nebula.source
  • December 18 – (December 8 O.S.) English astronomer Thomas Harriot becomes the first person on Earth to observe sunspots through a telescope.source
  • Jakob Böhme experiences another inner vision, in which he believes that he further understands the unity of the cosmos, and that he has received a special vocation from God.source

Crime & Justice

  • November 8 – The Basque witch trials come to an end after almost two years. Out of about 7,000 persons accused of witchcraft, only six are condemned to be executed by the Spanish Inquisition as two men (Domingo de Subildegui and Petri de Joangorena) and four women (María de Echachute, Graciana Xarra, Maria Baztan de Borda, and Maria de Arburu) are burned at the stake at Logroño.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • January 6 – Nossa Senhora da Graça incident: A Portuguese carrack sinks near Nagasaki, after fighting Japanese samurai for four nights.source

Culture & Society

  • April 20 – William Shakespeare's play, The Tragedie of Macbeth, is given its first performance, staged at the Globe Theatre in London.source
  • May 13 – A formal coronation is held for Marie de' Medici, wife of King Henry IV, as Queen Consort of France. King Henry is preparing to depart to Germany to participate in the War of the Jülich Succession.source
  • June 5 – The masque Tethys' Festival is performed at Whitehall Palace to celebrate the investiture of Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales.source
  • July 9 – Lady Arbella Stuart, a claimant to the throne of England, is imprisoned for clandestinely marrying William Seymour, 2nd Duke of Somerset, another claimant, without royal permission on June 22.source
  • October 17 – The coronation of Louis XIII of France takes place.source

Births

  • January 13 – Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria, Electress of Bavaria (d. 1665)source
  • February 2 – Francisco Ignacio Alcina, Jesuit missionary and historian (d. 1674)source
  • March 4 (bapt.) – William Dobson, English portraitist and painter (d. 1646)source
  • June 17 – Birgitte Thott, Danish scholar, writer and translator (b. 1662)source
  • September 6 – Francesco I d'Este, Duke of Modena, Italian noble (d. 1658)source
  • September 10 – Sir Edward Seymour, 3rd Baronet, Member of Parliament (d. 1688)source
  • September 24 – Huang Zongxi, Chinese political theorist, philosopher, naturalist, writer and soldier (d. 1695)source
  • September 28 – Henry Hastings, 1st Baron Loughborough, English Royalist army commander in the English Civil War (d. 1666)source
  • October 3 – Gabriel Lalemant, Jesuit missionary in New France, beginning in 1646 (d. 1649)source
  • October 6 – Charles de Sainte-Maure, duc de Montausier, French soldier, the governor of the Louis (d. 1690)source
  • October 19 – James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, Anglo-Irish statesman and soldier (d. 1688)source
  • November 28 – Augustine Warner, Virginia planter, politician (d. 1674)source
  • December 15 – David Teniers the Younger, Flemish artist born in Antwerp (d. 1690)source
  • December 28 – Basil of Ostrog, Serbian Orthodox bishop venerated as Saint Vasilije (d. 1671)source

Deaths

  • January 1 – Cinzio Passeri Aldobrandini, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1551)source
  • February 22 – Polykarp Leyser the Elder, German theologian (b. 1552)source
  • March 28 – Wolfgang, Count of Hohenlohe-Weikersheim, German count (b. 1546)source
  • April 15 – Robert Parsons, English Jesuit priest (b. 1546)source
  • May 11 – Matteo Ricci, Italian Jesuit priest and servant of God (b. 1552)source
  • May 27 – François Ravaillac, French assassin of Henry IV of France (executed) (b. 1578)source
  • June 4 – David Hilchen, Baltic German humanist and politician (b. 1561)source
  • July 14 – Francis Solanus, Spanish friar and missionary in South America (b. 1549)source
  • July 18 – Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Italian painter active in Rome (b. 1571)source
  • September 19 – Frederick V, age 14, becomes the new Prince-Elector of the Rhineland Palatinate, two days after the death of his father, Frederick IV.source
  • December 3 – Honda Tadakatsu, Japanese soldier (b. 1548)source
  • December 10 – John Roberts, Welsh Benedictine monk and priest (b. 1577)source
  • December 11 – Adam Elsheimer, German artist working in Rome who died at only thirty-two (b. 1578)source
  • December 21 – Catherine Vasa, Swedish princess (b. 1539)source