Directory

1655 CE

Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is discovered by Christiaan Huygens. 27 – Anglo-Spanish War: Invasion of Jamaica – Forces of the English Protectorate led by William Penn and Robert Venables capture the island of Jamaica from Spain. Second Northern War/the Deluge: Monks at the Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa are successful in fending off a month-long siege.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 5 – Emperor Go-Sai ascends to the throne of Japan.source
  • March 8 – John Casor becomes the first legally recognized slave in what will become the United States, as a court in Northampton County in the Colony of Virginia issues its decision in the Casor lawsuit, the first instance of a judicial determination in the Thirteen Colonies holding that a person who has committed no crime could be held in servitude for life.source
  • July 20 – The Amsterdam Town Hall (the modern-day Royal Palace) is inaugurated.source
  • July 27 – The Jews in New Amsterdam petition for a separate Jewish cemetery.source
  • July 27 – The Netherlands and Brandenburg sign a military treaty.source
  • August 9 – Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell divides England into 11 districts, under major-generals.source
  • August 28 – New Amsterdam and Peter Stuyvesant bar colonial Jews from military service.source
  • September 26 – Peter Stuyvesant recaptures the Dutch Fory Casimir, and defeats the New Sweden (Delaware) colony.source
  • November 3 – England and France sign military and economic treaties.source
  • December 18 – The Whitehall Conference ends with the determination that there is no law preventing Jews from re-entering England after the Edict of Expulsion of 1290.source
  • Frederick III of Denmark-Norway gives control of the Faroe Islands to Christoffer Gabel and his son, which will last until 1709.source

Conflict & Security

  • February 14 – The Mapuches launch coordinated attacks against the Spanish in Chile, beginning the Mapuche uprising of 1655.source
  • April 4 – Battle of Porto Farina, Tunis: English admiral Robert Blake's fleet defeats the Barbary pirates.source
  • April 24 – The Piedmontese Easter Massacre of the Waldensians: Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy slaughters 1,500 men, women and children; this is memorialized in John Milton's sonnet "On the Late Massacre in Piedmont" and apologized for by Pope Francis in 2015.source
  • April 28 – Admiral Blake severely damages the arsenal of the Bey of Tunis.source
  • May 10–27 – Anglo-Spanish War: Invasion of Jamaica – Forces of the English Protectorate led by William Penn and Robert Venables capture the island of Jamaica from Spain.source
  • July 30 – Dutch troops capture Fort Assahudi Seram.source
  • July 31 – Russo-Polish War (1654–67): The Russian army enters the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilnius, which it holds for 6 years.source
  • August – The governor of New Netherland, Peter Stuyvesant, attacks the New Sweden (Delaware) colony.source
  • September 8 – Swedish King Karl X Gustav occupies Warsaw (Poland).source
  • October 19 – Swedish King Karl X Gustav occupies Kraków (Poland).source

Religion & Belief

  • April 7 – Pope Alexander VII (born Fabio Chigi) succeeds Pope Innocent X, as the 237th pope.source
  • December 4 – Middelburg, the Netherlands forbids the building of a synagogue.source
  • December 27 – Second Northern War/the Deluge: Monks at the Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa are successful in fending off a month-long siege.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • April 26 – The Dutch West India Company denies Peter Stuyvesant's request to exclude Jews from New Amsterdam (Manhattan).source
  • Stephan Farffler, a 22-year-old paraplegic watchmaker, builds the world's first self-propelling chair on a three-wheel chassis using a system of cranks and cogwheels. However, the device has the appearance of a hand bike more than a wheelchair since the design includes hand cranks mounted at the front wheel.source

Science & Discovery

  • March 25 – Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is discovered by Christiaan Huygens.source

Health & Medicine

  • 1655 Malta plague outbreak kills 20 people.source

Crime & Justice

  • October 15 – The Jews of Lublin are massacred.source

Culture & Society

  • February 16 – Dutch Grand Pensionary advisor Johan de Witt marries Wendela Bicker.source
  • June 13 – Adriana Nooseman-van de Bergh becomes the first actress, in Amsterdam theater.source
  • November 24 – English Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell announces measures against the Laudian party, which are enforced starting on January 1.source
  • The Bibliotheca Thysiana is erected, the only surviving 17th century example in the Netherlands, of a building designed as a library.source

Births

  • January 6 – Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg, Holy Roman Empress (d. 1720)source
  • January 6 – Niccolò Comneno Papadopoli, Italian jurist of religious law and historian (d. 1740)source
  • April 19 – George St Lo, Royal Navy officer and administrator (d. 1718)source
  • April 25 – John Lowther, 1st Viscount Lonsdale, English politician (d. 1700)source
  • April 26 – Ofspring Blackall, Bishop of Exeter (d. 1716)source
  • May 4 – Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian maker of musical instruments, invented the piano (d. 1731)source
  • September 9 – James Johnston (secretary of state), diplomat, Secretary of State for Scotland (d. 1737)source
  • September 12 – Sébastien de Brossard, French composer and music theorist (d. 1730)source
  • November 1 – Ferdinand Kettler, Duke of Courland and Semigallia (d. 1737)source
  • November 12 – Francis Nicholson, British Army general, colonial administrator (d. 1727)source
  • November 19 – Sir William Robinson, 1st Baronet, British politician (d. 1736)source
  • November 20 – Sir Thomas Grosvenor, 3rd Baronet, English politician (d. 1700)source
  • December 28 – Charles Cornwallis, 3rd Baron Cornwallis, First Lord of the British Admiralty (d. 1698)source
  • December 29 – Lewis Watson, 1st Earl of Rockingham, English politician (d. 1724)source

Deaths

  • January 7 – Pope Innocent X, leader of the Roman Catholic Church and the Papal States, dies after more than 10 years of rule.source
  • March 28 – Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, German princess and queen consort of Sweden (b. 1599)source
  • April 14 – Johann Erasmus Kindermann, German composer and organist (b. 1616)source
  • April 29 – Cornelis Schut, Flemish painter, draughtsman and engraver (b. 1597)source
  • May 8 – Edward Winslow, American Pilgrim leader (b. 1596)source
  • June 27 – Eleonora Gonzaga, Holy Roman Empress, married to Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1598)source
  • July 28 – Cyrano de Bergerac, French soldier and writer (b. 1619)source
  • August 10 – Alfonso de la Cueva, 1st Marquis of Bedmar, Spanish cardinal and diplomat (b. 1572)source
  • October 16 – Joseph Solomon Delmedigo, Italian physician, mathematician and music theorist (b. 1591)source
  • October 24 – Pierre Gassendi, French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist (b. 1592)source
  • November 6 – Maximilian, Prince of Dietrichstein, German prince (b. 1596)source
  • November 23 – Elizabeth Wriothesley, Countess of Southampton (b. 1572)source
  • December 17 – Ukita Hideie, Japanese daimyō (b. 1573)source
  • December 31 – Sir John Wray, 2nd Baronet, English politician (b. 1586)source