Directory

1626 CE

Battle of Ningyuan: In Xingcheng in China, after an 8-day battle, Ming dynasty commander Yuan Chonghuan defeats the much larger force of Manchu leader Nurhaci, who dies soon after and is succeeded by Huang Taiji. Emperor Susenyos of Ethiopia and Patriarch Afonso Mendes declare the primacy of the Roman See over the Ethiopian Church, and Roman Catholicism the state religion of Ethiopia. Nurhaci, chief of the Jurchens and founder of the Qing dynasty, dies and is succeeded by his son Hong Taiji.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • February 5 – The Huguenot rebels and the French government sign the Treaty of Paris, ending the second Huguenot rebellion.source
  • March 5 – The Treaty of Monzón is signed between France and Spain to end the Valtellina War and the First Genoese-Savoyard War.source
  • March 7 – Ambrósio I Nimi a Nkanga becomes the new monarch of Kongo (in what is now Angola) after the overthrow of Garcia I Mvemba a Nkanga, restoring the Kwilu dynasty to power.source
  • June 15 – King Charles I of England dissolves the English Parliament.source
  • November 6 (O.S.) – The ship Arms of Amsterdam arrives in Europe from New Netherland (left September 23) with the news: "They have purchased the Island Manhattes [Manhattan] from the Indians for the value of 60 guilders."source
  • December 20 – Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor and Transylvanian monarch Bethlen Gabor sign the Peace of Pressburg.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 7 – Polish-Swedish War: Battle of Wallhof in Latvia – Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, defeats a Polish army.source
  • March 15 – Portugal declares war on Queen Nzinga of the Kingdom of Ndongo, located in what is now Angola.source
  • April 25 – Thirty Years' War: Battle of Dessau Bridge – Albrecht von Wallenstein defeats Ernst von Mansfelds army.source
  • June 20 – Nine Jesuit Christian missionaries, six of them Japanese and three from Spain, are executed in Japan, followed by eight Japanese converts to Christianity on July 12.source
  • July 4 – The Ottoman Army halts its attempt to retake Baghdad from the Persians, after having lost it in 1624.source
  • August 1 – Eighty Years' War: Ernst Casimir of Nassau-Dietz retakes Oldenzaal, forcing the Army of Flanders to withdraw from Overijssel.source
  • August 27 – Thirty Years' War: Battle of Lutter – Tilly defeats King Christian IV of Denmark's army.source
  • December 1 – Pasha Muhammad ibn Farukh, tyrannical Governor of Jerusalem, is forced out.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • January 9 – Peter Minuit sails from Texel Island for America's New Netherland colony, with two ships of Dutch emigrants.source
  • Establishment of the coastal settlement of Salem, Massachusetts.source

Religion & Belief

  • February 11 – Emperor Susenyos of Ethiopia and Patriarch Afonso Mendes declare the primacy of the Roman See over the Ethiopian Church, and Roman Catholicism the state religion of Ethiopia.source
  • November 18 – The new St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican is consecrated, on the 1,300th anniversary of the previous church in 326.source

Economy & Finance

  • May 4 – Peter Minuit becomes director-general of New Netherland, for the Dutch West India Company.source
  • May 24 – Peter Minuit buys Manhattan from a Native American tribe (Lenape or Shinnecock) for trade goods, valued at 60 guilders ($1,143 U.S. dollars as of 2020).source

Health & Medicine

  • 1626 influenza pandemic begins in Asia, then spreads into Europe, Africa, North America, and South America.source

Crime & Justice

  • The Würzburg and Bamberg witch trials, which will lead to the mass executions of hundreds of people until 1630/31, begin.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • May 30 – Wanggongchang Explosion in Beijing, China: a gunpowder factory explosion destroys part of the city and kills 20,000 people.source

Climate & Environment

  • June 28 – A 7.0 magnitude earthquake strikes Lingqiu County, in China, killing 5,200 residents.source
  • Samuel de Champlain decides to build Cap tourmente (Kap toor-mont) Farm to raise livestock to provide food for settlers in Quebec, rather than depending on supplies sent from France.source

Culture & Society

  • February 2 – King Charles I of England is crowned, but without his wife, Henrietta Maria, who declines to participate in a non-Catholic ceremony.source

Births

  • January 9 – Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé, French founder of the Trappist Order (d. 1700)source
  • February 5 – Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné, French aristocrat and writer (d. 1696)source
  • February 18 – Francesco Redi, Italian physician (d. 1697)source
  • March 12 – John Aubrey, English antiquary and writer (d. 1697)source
  • March 21 – Peter of Saint Joseph Betancur, Spanish Catholic saint, missionary to Guatemala (d. 1667)source
  • April 10 – Franz Egon of Fürstenberg, German count in the Holy Roman Empire (d. 1682)source
  • May 10 – Jan Jacobszoon Hinlopen, Dutch art collector and merchant (d. 1666)source
  • May 12 – Louis Hennepin, Roman Catholic priest, missionary of the Franciscan Recollet Order (French (d. 1704)source
  • May 17 – Countess Palatine Eleonora Catherine of Zweibrücken, sister of King Charles X of Sweden (d. 1692)source
  • June 8 – William Wentworth, 2nd Earl of Strafford, member of England's House of Lords (d. 1695)source
  • July 15 – Christiane Sehested, daughter of King Christian IV of Denmark, and his morganatic spouse Kirsten Munk (d. 1670)source
  • August 5 – Richard Ottley, English politician (d. 1670)source
  • September 28 – Elizabeth Maitland, Duchess of Lauderdale, influential British noblewoman (d. 1698)source
  • December 8 – Queen Christina of Sweden (d. 1689)source

Deaths

  • January 24 – Samuel Argall, English adventurer and naval officer (b. 1580)source
  • February 10 – Battle of Ningyuan: In Xingcheng in China, after an 8-day battle, Ming dynasty commander Yuan Chonghuan defeats the much larger force of Manchu leader Nurhaci, who dies soon after and is succeeded by Huang Taiji.source
  • February 20 – John Dowland, English composer and lutenist (b. 1563)source
  • May 28 – Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk (b. 1561)source
  • June 7 – Anne of Saint Bartholomew, Spanish Discalced Carmelite nun (b. 1550)source
  • June 16 – Christian, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg-Wolfenbüttel, German Protestant military leader (b. 1599)source
  • July 13 – Robert Sidney, 1st Earl of Leicester, English statesman (b. 1563)source
  • July 27 – George II becomes the new Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt upon the death of his father, Louis V.source
  • September 21 – François de Bonne, Duke of Lesdiguières, Constable of France (b. 1543)source
  • September 22 – Aodh Mac Cathmhaoil, Irish Franciscan theologian and Archbishop of Armagh (b. 1571)source
  • September 25 – Lancelot Andrewes, English scholar (b. 1555)source
  • September 30 – Nurhaci, chief of the Jurchens and founder of the Qing dynasty, dies and is succeeded by his son Hong Taiji.source
  • October 2 – Diego Sarmiento de Acuña, 1st Count of Gondomar, Spanish diplomat (b. 1567)source
  • October 30 – Willebrord Snell, Dutch astronomer and mathematician (b. 1580)source