1647 CE

Citizens of Dublin declare their support for Rinuccini, and refuse to support the army of the Marquis of Ormond. A small Qing force led by Li Chengdong captures Guangzhou and kills the Zhu Yuyue, the Shaowu Emperor of the Southern Ming dynasty in China. Peter Stuyvesant is appointed Director of New Netherlands, the Dutch colony in what is later the U.S. state of New York, by the Dutch West India Company to replace Willem Kieft, who departs New Amsterdam on the ship Princess Amelia.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

February 5 – The Yongli era is proclaimed as Zhu Youlang is declared the Yongli Emperor of the Southern Ming.source
March – Following the Treaty of Ulm that removed Bavaria from the Thirty Years War, the Bavarian troops' commander, Holy Roman Imperial General Johann von Werth, defies Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria, and von Werth attempts to move the Bavarian troops out of Bavaria and into Austria to come under Imperial jurisdiction. The troops refuse, and von Werth flees to Austria.source
June 25 – The "Remonstrance of The Army" is presented to the English parliament by former Royal Army supporters of King Charles I, pledging their loyalty to the new English Commonwealth.source
August 5 – The New Model Army marches into London, "fulfilling the worst nightmares of Presbyterian MPs," and restores the members of Parliament who were deposed on July 27.source
August 17 – Peter Stuyvesant is appointed Director of New Netherlands, the Dutch colony in what is later the U.S. state of New York, by the Dutch West India Company to replace Willem Kieft, who departs New Amsterdam on the ship Princess Amelia.source
October 28 – The Putney Debates, a series of discussions between officers of the New Model Army following Parliament's military defeat of the absolutist monarchy of King Charles, begin at the St. Mary's Church, Putney about what form of government would replace the monarchy in the new republican Commonwealth of England.source
November 15 – Henry of Guise lands in Naples, to become the leader of the Neapolitan Republic.source

Conflict & Security

January 16 – Citizens of Dublin declare their support for Rinuccini, and refuse to support the army of the Marquis of Ormond.source
January 20 – A small Qing force led by Li Chengdong captures Guangzhou and kills the Zhu Yuyue, the Shaowu Emperor of the Southern Ming dynasty in China.source
February 24 – Thomas Bushell surrenders the Bristol Channel island of Lundy, the last remaining Royalist territory of England, to the Parliamentarians.source
March 14 – Thirty Years' War: Bavaria, Cologne, France and Sweden sign the Truce of Ulm.source
April 3 – In England, a letter from the Agitators of the New Model Army, protesting delay of pay, is read in the House of Commons.source
May 24 – The Marquis of Argyll and David Leslie join forces to defeat Alasdair MacColla, at Rhunahoarine Point in Kintyre. MacColla flees to Ireland; his followers are massacred.source
June 6 – Michael Jones, named Governor of Dublin by England's Parliamentarians, lands with 2,000 troops and begins the expulsion of Catholics and the arrest of Protestant royalists.source
June 10 – The Battle of Puerto de Cavite begins in the Spanish Philippines when an armada of 12 large warships from the Dutch Republic sails into Manila Bay, with cannon fire hitting many of the roofs of the city. The Spanish defending fleet drives off the Dutch after a two day battle.source
June 19 – The Duke of Ormond, the royalist governor of Dublin, concludes a treaty with the English Commonwealth's Earl of Anglesey, handing over control of Dublin to the Commonwealth in return for the English promise to protect the interests of royalists, both Protestant and Roman Catholic, who had not joined in the Irish Rebellion.source
July 7 – Masaniello launches rebellion in Naples against Spanish rule.source
July 27 – A mob invades both Houses of the English Parliament at Westminster, and forces the Speakers of the House of Commons and the House of Lords to flee, along with other MPs and Peers.source
August 8 – Battle of Dungan's Hill: Irish forces are defeated by English Parliamentary forces.source
August 22 – Battle of Triebl: Imperial forces defeat the Swedes in a surprise attack in Bohemia.source
November 13 – Battle of Knocknanuss: An Irish confederate force is destroyed by the army of Parliament; Alasdair MacColla is killed.source
Aberystwyth Castle in Wales, a former Royalist stronghold, is razed to the ground after "a battery of cannon erected on the top of Pendinas hill by Cromwell" and the Parliamentarian troops.source

Exploration & Expansion

Dutch artist Salomon van Ruysdael completes the oil painting, The Crossing at Nijmegen.source

Religion & Belief

January 7 – The Westminster Assembly begins debating the biblical proof texts, to support the new Confession of Faith.source
December 28 – King Charles of England promises a church reform. This agreement leads to the Second English Civil War.source
The word Geysir is first used in Iceland, by Bishop Sveinsson.source

Crime & Justice

January 2 – Chinese bandit leader Zhang Xianzhong, who has ruled the Sichuan province since 1644, is killed at Xichong by a Qing archer, after having been betrayed by one of his officers, Liu Jinzhong.source

Disasters & Accidents

September 27 – The Dutch merchant ship Princess Amelia runs aground off of the coast of Mumbles Point, Wales and sinks, killing 86 of the 107 people aboard, including former New Netherlands Governor Willem Kieft.source

Climate & Environment

May 13 – The 1647 Santiago earthquake rattles Chile.source

Culture & Society

January 17 – Posten Norge is founded as Postvesenet.source
June 16 – Ferdinand IV, King of the Romans, is crowned as the King of Hungary and Croatia at Pressburg, now the Slovakian capital of Bratislavasource

Births

January 2 – Nathaniel Bacon, Virginia colonist, rebel (d. 1676)source
March 1 – John de Brito, Portuguese Jesuit missionary and martyr (d. 1693)source
April 1 – John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, English poet and courtier of King Charles II's Restoration court (d. 1680)source
April 2 – Maria Sibylla Merian, German-born naturalist and scientific illustrator (d. 1717)source
April 3 – Sir Thomas Littleton, 3rd Baronet, English statesman (d. 1709)source
April 26 – William Ashhurst, Lord Mayor of London (1693–1694) (d. 1720)source
July 2 – Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham, English privy councillor (d. 1730)source
July 8 – Frances Stewart, Duchess of Richmond, member of the Court of the Restoration, famous for refusing to become a mistress of Charles II of England (d. 1702)source
July 22 – Margaret Mary Alacoque, French Catholic nun, mystic and saint (d. 1690)source
September 1 – Princess Anna Sophie of Denmark, daughter of King Frederick III of Denmark (d. 1717)source
September 23 – Frederick VII, Margrave of Baden-Durlach from 1677 until his death (d. 1709)source
September 23 – Joseph Dudley, colonial Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1720)source
November 18 – Pierre Bayle, French philosopher (d. 1706)source
December 7 – Francesco del Giudice, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1725)source

Deaths

January 2 – Zhang Xianzhong, Chinese rebel (b. 1606)source
March 29 – Charles Butler, English beekeeper and philologist (b. 1560)source
May 21 – Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, Dutch poet and historian (b. 1581)source
June 9 – Leonard Calvert, Colonial governor of Maryland (b. 1606)source
July 7 – Thomas Hooker, Connecticut colonist (b. 1586)source
July 16 – Masaniello, Italian rebel (b. 1622)source
August 24 – Nicholas Stone, English sculptor and architect (b. 1586)source
September 9 – Sir Edward Osborne, 1st Baronet, English politician (b. 1596)source
October 8 – Christian Sørensen Longomontanus, Danish astronomer (b. 1562)source
October 9 – Anselm Casimir Wambold von Umstadt, Archbishop of Mainz (b. 1582)source
October 25 – Evangelista Torricelli, Italian mathematician and physicist (b. 1608)source
November 5 – Vincentio Reinieri, Italian mathematician and astronomer (b. 1606)source
November 30 – Giovanni Lanfranco, Italian painter (b. 1582)source
November 30 – Bonaventura Cavalieri, Italian mathematician (b. 1598)source