Directory

1615 CE

John Ogilvie, a Jesuit priest, is hanged and drawn at Glasgow Cross in Scotland for refusing to pledge allegiance to King James VI of Scotland; he will be canonised in 1976, becoming the only post-Reformation Scottish saint. Japanese diplomat Hasekura Tsunenaga and his entourage become the first officials from Japan to visit Italy, and are received in Rome by Cardinal Burgecio. Japanese diplomat Hasekura Tsunenaga and his delegation are received by Pope Paul V in Rome, and present a request for trade between the Roman Catholic Church and the Japanese shogunate.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 30 – Japan's diplomatic mission to Europe, led by Hasekura Tsunenaga, meets with King Philip III of Spain at Madrid and presents an offer of a treaty.source
  • April 21 – The Wignacourt Aqueduct is inaugurated in Malta.source
  • May 6 – The Peace of Tyrnau is signed between Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor, and Gábor Bethlen.source
  • June 21 – The Peace of Asti is concluded between the Spanish Empire and Savoy.source
  • September 20 – Japanese diplomat Hasekura Tsunenaga and his entourage become the first officials from Japan to visit Italy, and are received in Rome by Cardinal Burgeciosource
  • December 18 – Francisco de Borja y Aragón becomes the new Viceroy of Peru, a colony of Spain encompassing all of Spanish language-speaking South America and what are now the nations of Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay, and Uruguay.source

Conflict & Security

  • June 3 – The Eastern Army of Tokugawa Ieyasu and the Osaka Army of Toyotomi Hideyori clash during the Battle of Dōmyōji and the Battle of Tennōji.source
  • June 4 – Forces under shōgun Tokugawa Ieyasu take Osaka Castle in Japan, beginning a period of peace which lasts nearly 250 years. Bands of Christian samurai support Ieyasu's enemies at the Battle of Osaka.source
  • July 7 – In Japan, the Buke shohatto, a 19-section law setting a standard of conduct for individual warlords (daimyo) and their responsibilities to the Tokugawa shogunate, is proclaimed by the shogun Tokugawa Hidetada before the assembled daimyo at Fushimi Castle in Kyoto.source
  • August 9 – Swedish troops led by King Gustavus Adolphus begin the siege of the Russian city of Pskov, but fail to take the fortress after 12 weeks. The siege ends on October 27.source
  • October 27 – In Russia, the siege of Pskov ends with the withdrawal of Swedish Army troops. The siege is the last battle of the Ingrian War.source
  • November – The Mughals under Jahangir launch the first offensive against Kajali, a border post of the Ahom kingdom.source
  • December 20 – The Uskok War begins after the ports of the Holy Roman Empire on the Adriatic Sea are blockaded by the Republic of Venice, which has hired English and Dutch mercenaries.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • January 1 – The New Netherland Company is granted a three-year monopoly in North American trade, between the 40th and 45th parallels.source
  • February 2 – Sir Thomas Roe sets out to become the first ambassador from the court of the King of England to the Mughal Emperor Jahangir, departing from Tilbury Hope on the ship Lyon under the command of captain Christopher Newport.source
  • June 2 – The first Récollet missionaries arrive at Quebec City, from Rouen, France.source
  • September 17 – Los Baños, Laguna, is founded by Spanish colonists on Luzon island in the Philippines.source
  • Austrian merchants receive economic privileges in the Ottoman Empire.source
  • Konoike Shinroku opens an office in Osaka, and begins shipping tax-rice from western Japan to Osaka.source

Religion & Belief

  • February 17 – Japan's envoy to Europe, Hasekura Tsunenaga, receives a Christian baptism by the royal chaplain, Diego de Guzmán, and receives the European name Felipe Francisco Hasekura.source
  • March 10 – John Ogilvie, a Jesuit priest, is hanged and drawn at Glasgow Cross in Scotland for refusing to pledge allegiance to King James VI of Scotland; he will be canonised in 1976, becoming the only post-Reformation Scottish saint.source
  • November 3 – Japanese diplomat Hasekura Tsunenaga and his delegation are received by Pope Paul V in Rome, and present a request for trade between the Roman Catholic Church and the Japanese shogunatesource
  • Easter – Persian Safavid hordes, led by Shah Abbas the Great, kill all the monks at the David Gareja monastery complex in Georgia, and set fire to its collection of manuscripts and works of art.source

Economy & Finance

  • The Somers Isles Company is founded to administer Bermuda.source
  • The Grolsch Brewery is founded in Groenlo, Netherlands.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • John Browne is created the first King's Gunfounder in England.source

Science & Discovery

  • Manuel Dias, a Portuguese Jesuit missionary, introduces the telescope for the first time in China, in his book Tian Wen Lüe (Explicatio Sphaerae Coelestis).source
  • Johannes Kepler publishes Dissertatio cum Nuncio Sidereo, in response to Galileo's discovery of Jupiter's moons.source

Crime & Justice

  • October 5 – The Spánverjavígin, the last massacre to be carried out in Iceland, begins as 14 Basque Whalers from Spain are murdered at Thingeyri while sleeping. Another 18 are killed on October 13, including Captain Martín de Villafranca. The 31 had been survivors of a shipwreck on Iceland in September.source
  • Mary Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury, is released from the Tower of London, in recognition of her role in helping to discover the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • August 30 – A Spanish treasure fleet of 41 ships is struck in the Gulf of Mexico by a powerful storm that sinks the ship San Miguelsource
  • November 7 – The Portuguese freighter Nossa Senhora da Luz, carrying 150 crew and a cargo of Chinese and Burmese goods, sinks in a storm near the Azores.source

Climate & Environment

  • September 12 – The San Leoncio Day hurricane strikes the islands of Puerto Rico and Hispaniola.source
  • September 16 – An estimated 7.5 magnitude earthquake strikes Aricasource

Culture & Society

  • November 22 – Alexandru Movilă is installed as Prince of Moldavia by Poland as Prince Ștefan IX Tomșa is driven from the throne.source
  • November 24 – King Louis XIII of France marries Princess Ana María Mauricia, the 14-year-old daughter of King Philip III of Spain. The two had been legally united in a marriage by proxy on October 18.source
  • December 6 – In England, John Winthrop, later governor of the future Massachusetts Bay Colony, marries his second wife (of four), Thomasine Clopton, daughter of William Clopton of Castleins, near Groton, Suffolk.source
  • The Perse School in Cambridge, England, is founded by Dr Stephen Perse.source
  • The second volume of Miguel de Cervantes's Don Quixote ("El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha") is published, and is as successful as the first. Don Quixote eventually becomes the only truly famous work its author ever writes.source
  • Wilson's School in Wallington, near London, is founded by Royal Charter.source

Births

  • January 6 – Richard Waldron, colonial settler, acting President of the Province of New Hampshire (d. 1689)source
  • January 20 – Karmabai, Indian Jat known as Bhakt Shiromani Karmabai (d. 1634)source
  • January 25 – Govert Flinck, Dutch painter of the Dutch Golden Age (d. 1660)source
  • January 30 – Thomas Rolfe, only child of Pocahontas and her English husband (d. 1675)source
  • March 10 – Hans Ulrik Gyldenløve, illegitimate son of King Christian IV of Denmark and his mistress (d. 1645)source
  • March 17 – Gregorio Carafa, Grandmaster of the Order of Saint John (d. 1690)source
  • March 20 – Dara Shikoh, Indian prince (d. 1659)source
  • March 22 – Katherine Jones, Viscountess Ranelagh, English female scientist (d. 1691)source
  • April 17 – Jacques Goulet, early pioneer in New France (now Québec) (d. 1688)source
  • June 20 (or July 31) – Salvator Rosa, Italian painter (d. 1673)source
  • October 1 – Hugh Bethell, English Member of Parliament and High Sheriff (d. 1679)source
  • November 5 – Ibrahim, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1648)source
  • November 12 – Richard Baxter, English Puritan church leader (d. 1691)source
  • December 21 – Benedict Arnold, Rhode Island colonial governor (d. 1678)source

Deaths

  • January 31 – Claudio Acquaviva, Italian Jesuit priest, elected (in 1581) the 5th Superior General of the Society of Jesus (b. 1543)source
  • February 3 or February 5 – Dom Justo Takayama, Japanese warlord (b. 1552)source
  • February 4 – Giambattista della Porta, Italian scholar, polymath, playwright (b. 1535)source
  • March 4 – Hans von Aachen, German painter (b. 1552)source
  • March 27 – Margaret of Valois, Queen of France (b. 1553)source
  • May 15 – Henry Bromley, English politician (b. 1560)source
  • June 3 – Sanada Yukimura, Japanese samurai (b. 1567)source
  • July 26 – Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia (b. 1550)source
  • September 1 – Étienne Pasquier, French lawyer and man of letters (b. 1529)source
  • September 25 – Arbella Stuart, English noblewoman and woman of letters (b. 1575)source
  • October 18 – Cherubino Alberti, Italian engraver and painter (b. 1553)source
  • November 20 – Gervase Helwys, English murderer (b. 1561)source
  • November – Edward Wright, English mathematician and cartographer (b. 1561)source
  • December 2 – In the Venetian Republic, Giovanni Bembo is elected chief executive as the new Doge of Venice after the October 31 death of Marcantonio Memmo.source