Directory

1634 CE

Belgian scientist Jan Baptist van Helmont is interrogated by the Spanish Inquisition and put under house arrest for his experiments into plant growth. The city of Trois-Rivières is founded in New France, in what is the modern-day Canadian province of Quebec. (prob.) – Jean Nicolet becomes the first European to set foot in what becomes the U.S. state of Wisconsin. He is in search of a water-route to the Pacific, when he lands at Green Bay of Lake Michigan.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 19 – Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine abdicates in favor of his brother Nicholas II, who is only able to hold the duchy for 75 days.source
  • April 1 – Nicholas II, Duke of Lorraine, who assumed rule of the duchy on January 19 upon the abdication of his older brother Charles IV abdicates in favor of Charles.source
  • May 5 – King Charles I of England and Scotland first refers to the banner of the British Isles as the "Union Flag" in a proclamation that the flag shall not be used on any ships other than those "in our immediate Service and Pay, and none other." The term evolves into the description of the British flag as the "Union Jack".source
  • June 14 – The Treaty of Polyanovka is signed between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Tsardom of Russia, concluding the Smolensk War.source
  • July 4 – The city of Trois-Rivières is founded in New France, in what is the modern-day Canadian province of Quebec.source

Conflict & Security

  • February 25 – Rebel Scots and Irish soldiers assassinate Bohemian military leader Albrecht von Wallenstein at Cheb.source
  • March 1 – The Russians vacate their camp, ending the Siege of Smolensk.source
  • April 14 – The Battle of Amritsar begins in India when Mughal Empire troops attempt to eliminate the Sikh religious leader, Guru Hargobind, by attacking Amritsar. The Sikh defenders hand the Mughal invaders an unprecedented defeat.source
  • May 2 – With Albrecht Wallenstein having been eliminated, the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II personally takes command of the Imperial Army.source
  • July 29 – Curaçao is captured by the Dutch.source
  • September 6 – The Battle of Nördlingen ends after two days with a decisive victory for the Imperial Army and Habsburg Spain over the Army of Sweden and Protestant German troops.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • January 14 – France's Compagnie normande obtains a one-year monopoly on trade with the African kingdoms in Guinea.source
  • August (prob.) – Jean Nicolet becomes the first European to set foot in what becomes the U.S. state of Wisconsin. He is in search of a water-route to the Pacific, when he lands at Green Bay of Lake Michigan.source
  • The English establish a settlement at Cochin (modern-day Kochi) on the Malabar Coast.source

Religion & Belief

  • January 12 – After suspecting that he will be dismissed, Albrecht von Wallenstein, supreme commander of the Holy Roman Empire's Army, demands that his colonels sign a declaration of personal loyalty.source
  • January 24 – Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, signs a classified order dismissing Albrecht von Wallenstein, the supreme commander of the Imperial Army.source
  • February 18 – Emperor Ferdinand II's dismissal of Commander Wallenstein for high treason, and the order for his capture, dead or alive, is made public.source
  • December 8 – Francesco Niccolini obtains an audience with Pope Urban VIII and pleads him to reconsider the Church's punishment of astronomer Galileo Galilei. The Pope replies that although he esteems Galileo highly, nothing will change.source
  • December 16 – Gregorio Panzani, an emissary of Pope Urban VIII, is welcomed in England by King Charles I, marking the first time since England's break with the Roman Catholic Church that a monarch has received an agent of the Vatican.source
  • Suspecting that Patriarch Afonso Mendes played a part in the Portuguese assault on Mombasa, Emperor Fasilides expels him and several Jesuit missionaries from Ethiopia.source

Crime & Justice

  • March 4 – Belgian scientist Jan Baptist van Helmont is interrogated by the Spanish Inquisition and put under house arrest for his experiments into plant growth.source
  • August 18 – In France, Urbain Grandier, accused of wizardry, is burned alive in Loudun.source
  • November 11 – The Irish House of Commons passes an Act for the Punishment of the Vice of Buggery.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • September 12 – A gunpowder factory explodes in Valletta, Malta, killing 22 people and damaging several buildings.source

Climate & Environment

  • October 11 – The Burchardi flood (also known as the second Grote Mandrenke) strikes the North Sea coast of Germany and Denmark, causing at least 8,000 deaths and perhaps as many as 12,000.source

Culture & Society

  • February 24 – By this date, the Paulaner Brewery is established in Munich, by Minim friars.source
  • March 25 – Leonard Calvert arrives in Maryland, with Jesuit missionaries Andrew White, John Altham Gravenor, and Thomas Gervase, establishing St. Mary's as the fourth permanent settlement in British North America. In this year they also establish an institution of higher learning here, which later becomes Georgetown University, the United States's oldest university.source
  • April – The first performance of the Oberammergau Passion Play is held in Bavaria.source
  • Moses Amyraut's Traité de la predestination is published.source
  • Cardinal Richelieu gathers members for the Académie Française which will be formally established in 1635).source

Births

  • January 16 – Dorothe Engelbretsdotter, Norway's first professional female author (d. 1716)source
  • March 4 – Kazimierz Łyszczyński, Polish philosopher (d. 1689)source
  • March 11 – Nicholas Gassaway, Colonel, Maryland Provincial Forces (d. 1691)source
  • March 25 – George Bull, English theologian and Bishop of St David's (d. 1710)source
  • April 8 – Joseph Alleine, English Nonconformist pastor, author (d. 1668)source
  • April 25 – Robert Montagu, 3rd Earl of Manchester, English politician (d. 1683)source
  • May 4 – Lady Katherine Ferrers, English aristocrat and heiress (d. 1660)source
  • May 8 – Alexander Stuart, 5th Earl of Moray, Scottish nobleman (d. 1701)source
  • June 1 – Roeloff Swartwout, American city founder in New York (d. 1715)source
  • July 8 – Thomas Butler, 6th Earl of Ossory (d. 1680)source
  • September 4 – Robert South, English churchman known for his combative preaching (d. 1716)source
  • October 18 – Luca Giordano, Italian late Baroque painter and printmaker in etching (d. 1705)source
  • November 28 – Marie Luise von Degenfeld, morganatic second wife of Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine of Germany (d. 1677)source
  • December 24 – Mariana of Austria (d. 1696)source

Deaths

  • January 17 – Albert Szenczi Molnár, Hungarian translator (b. 1574)source
  • March 23 – Elizabeth Finch, 1st Countess of Winchilsea, English countess (b. 1556)source
  • April 2 – Maria Celeste, Italian nun, daughter of Galileo Galilei (b. 1600)source
  • May 12 – George Chapman, English author (b. c.1559)source
  • June 25 – John Marston, English dramatist (b. 1576)source
  • August 18 – Urbain Grandier, French priest (b. 1590)source
  • September 3 – Edward Coke, English colonial entrepreneur and jurist (b. 1552)source
  • November 11 - Saint Marina of Omura, Japanese Dominican tertiary and one of the 16 Martyrs of Japansource
  • November 14 – Sophia of Holstein-Gottorp, Regent of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1603–1608) (b. 1569)source
  • November 19 – Alexander Charles Vasa, 5th son of King Sigismund III Vasa (b. 1614)source
  • December 7 - Đào Duy Từ, Vietnamese scholar, poet, military adviser, and mandarin under Nguyễn lord Nguyễn Phúc Nguyênsource
  • December 11 – Fadrique de Toledo, 1st Marquis of Villanueva de Valdueza, Spanish noble and admiral (b. 1580)source
  • December 25 – Lettice Knollys, English noblewoman (b. 1543)source
  • December 25 – Count Walter Butler, Irish immigrant living in Germany (b. 1600s)source