Directory

1689 CE

(January 12, 1688 O.S.) – Glorious Revolution in England: The Convention Parliament is convened to determine if King James II of England, the last Roman Catholic British monarch, vacated the throne when he fled to France, at the end of 1688. The settlement of this is agreed on 8 February. (O.S.) – William III and Mary II are crowned in London as King and Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Ireland does not recognise them yet, while the Estates of Scotland declare King James VII deposed. The Act of Toleration, drawn up by the Convention Parliament of England to protect Protestants but with Roman Catholics intentionally excluded, is passed; this effectively concludes the Glorious Revolution.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 22 (January 12, 1688 O.S.) – Glorious Revolution in England: The Convention Parliament is convened to determine if King James II of England, the last Roman Catholic British monarch, vacated the throne when he fled to France, at the end of 1688. The settlement of this is agreed on 8 February.source
  • February 12 – John Locke returned to London from exile in Holland.source
  • May 24 – The Act of Toleration, drawn up by the Convention Parliament of England to protect Protestants but with Roman Catholics intentionally excluded, is passed; this effectively concludes the Glorious Revolution.source
  • June 5 – The Convention of Estates adjourns in Scotland after 11 weeks and its members form a new Scottish parliament.source
  • August 2 – Boston Revolt: Edmund Andros, former governor of the Dominion of New England, escapes from Boston to Connecticut, but is recaptured.source
  • August 27 – China and Russia sign the Treaty of Nerchinsk.source
  • December 16 – The Bill of Rights (An Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and Settling the Succession of the Crown), drawn up by the Convention Parliament of England to establish constitutional monarchy in England, but with Roman Catholics barred from the throne, receives royal assent; it will remain substantially in force into the 21st century.source
  • The latter realms entering the Nine Years War and its expansion to the American colonies in the King William's War.source
  • William and Mary accept the Scottish throne a month after the Scottish Parliament votes to depose King James VIIsource
  • The English East India Company expands its influence, and a Committee of the House of Commons is formed to deal with the concerns of the Company.source
  • The Bill of Rights becomes law in England.source

Conflict & Security

  • March 2 – Nine Years' War: As French forces leave, they set fire to Heidelberg Castle, and the nearby town of Heidelberg.source
  • March 22 (March 12 O.S.) – Start of the Williamite War in Ireland: The deposed James II of England lands with 6,000 French soldiers in Ireland, where there is a Catholic majority, hoping to use it as the base for a counter-coup. However, many Irish Catholics see him as an agent of Louis XIV, and refuse to support him.source
  • April 18 – The Siege of Derry begins in Ireland as former King James II arrives at the gates of Derry and asks for its surrender during the Williamite War in Ireland. The Protestant defenders refuse and the siege lasts until August 1 when it is abandoned. .source
  • April 18 – Boston revolt: Unpopular New England Governor Sir Edmund Andros and other officials are overthrown by a "mob" of Bostonians. Andros, an appointee of James II of England, is disliked for his support of the Church of England and revocation of various colonial charters.source
  • May 31 – Leisler's Rebellion: Calvinist Jacob Leisler deposes lieutenant governor Francis Nicholson and assumes control of the Province of New York.source
  • June 14 – The Duke of Gordon, a Scottish peer and Jacobite supporter, surrenders Edinburgh Castle to Protestant attackers after holding out for 20 days following the Glorious Revolution.source
  • July 27 – First Jacobite rising: Battle of Killiecrankie near Pitlochry in Perthshire – Scottish Covenanter supporters of William III and Mary II (under Hugh Mackay) are defeated by Jacobite supporters of James II, but the latter's leader, John Graham, Viscount Dundee, is killed. Hand grenades are used in action.source
  • July 28 – English sailors break through a floating boom across the River Foyle, to end the siege of Derry after 105 days.source
  • August 5 – Beaver Wars: Lachine massacre – A force of 1,500 Iroquois largely destroys the village of Lachine, New France.source
  • August 20 – A large Williamite force under Marshal Schomberg begins the siege of Carrickfergus in the north of Ireland, which surrenders on August 27.source
  • August 21 – First Jacobite rising: Battle of Dunkeld – Covenanters defeat the Jacobites in Scotland.source
  • September 8 – The Siege of Mainz (in the modern-day Rheinland-Pfalz state of Germany), which had started on June 1, ends after almost three months, as French General Nicolas Chalon du Blé surrenders the walled city to the armies of Austria and the Dutch Republic.source
  • September 9 – King William brings England into a military alliance with the Holy Roman Empire in a fight against France in the Nine Years War.source
  • September 24 – The Holy Roman Empire wins the Battle of Niš, fought against the Ottoman Empire during the Great Turkish War in modern-day Serbia.source
  • November 11 – The Siege of Larache in Morocco ends when the Spanish troops surrender to Mawlay Ismail and the Moroccan forces.source
  • Morocco wins in the Siege of Larache against Spain.source
  • The Holy Roman Empire wins the Battle of Niš, fought against the Ottoman Empire.source
  • The overthrow of Catholic king James of England, Ireland, and Scotland in the Glorious Revolution.source
  • Peter the Great plots to overthrow his half-sister Sophia as regent of Russia.source
  • Supporters of William of Orange seize Liverpool Castle in the north west of England.source
  • The Battle of Bantry Bay begins during the Williamite War in Ireland as the French fleet under the Marquis de Châteaurenault is able to protect its transports, unloading supplies for James II, from the English Royal Navy under the Earl of Torrington, and withdraws unpursued.source
  • Coup, war, and legislation in England and its territories.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • March 27 – Japanese haiku master Bashō sets out on his last great voyage, which will result in the prose and verse classic Oku no Hosomichi ("Narrow Road to the Interior").source
  • May 12 – Nine Years' War: With England and the Netherlands now both ruled by William III, they join the Grand Alliance (League of Augsburg), thus escalating the conflict, which continues until 1697. This is also the effective beginning of King William's War, the first of four North American Wars (until 1763) between English and French colonists, both sides allied to Native American tribes. The nature of the fighting is a series of raids on each other's settlements, across the Canadian and New England borders.source
  • November 22 – Peter the Great decrees the construction of the Great Siberian Road to China.source
  • Japanese writer Bashō goes on a voyage, resulting in the classic Narrow Road to the Interior.source
  • Peter the Great decrees the construction of the Great Siberian Road to China.source

Religion & Belief

  • July 25 – The Council of Wales and the Marches is abolished.source
  • August 23 – Roman Catholic cardinals convene in Rome for a papal conclave to elect a successor to Pope Innocent XI. The conclave lasts until October 6.source
  • September 3–12 – Messengers from over 100 Baptist churches assemble in the City of London to discuss and endorse the 1677 document that will become known as the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith.source
  • October 6 – The papal conclave in Rome unanimously elects Pietro Vito Ottoboni as the new Pope. Ottoboni takes the name Alexander VIII and succeeds Pope Innocent XI, to become the 241st pope, the first Venetian to hold the office in over 200 years.source
  • Valvasor's The Glory of the Duchy of Carniola is printed in Nuremberg.source

Science & Discovery

  • April 4 – A total lunar eclipse is visible in central Asia.source
  • September 28–29 – A total lunar eclipse is visible in eastern America, western Europe and west Africa.source
  • December 10 – A great comet is visible from Pekin and sightings continue until December 24th, including many from Dutch ships near the equator.source

Health & Medicine

  • Boston suffers a smallpox epidemic.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • April 19 - A fire in Amalienborg-palace in Copenhagen kills 180 people.source
  • October 26 – Skopje fire of 1689 occurs, lasting for two days and burning much of the city.source

Climate & Environment

  • December 22 – A serious earthquake strikes Innsbruck, Austria.source

Culture & Society

  • January 30 – The first performance of the opera Henrico Leone composed by Agostino Steffani takes place in Hannover to inaugurate the new royal theatre in the Leineschloss.source
  • February 23 (February 13, 1688 O.S.) – William III and Mary II are proclaimed co-rulers of England, Scotland and Ireland.source
  • April 11 (O.S.) – William III and Mary II are crowned in London as King and Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Ireland does not recognise them yet, while the Estates of Scotland declare King James VII deposed.source
  • May 25 – The last hearth tax is collected in England and Wales.source
  • The first documented performance of the opera Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell takes place at Josias Priest's girls' school in Chelsea, London, with a libretto based on Virgil's Aeneid.source

Births

  • January 15 – Giovanni Gaetano Bottari, Italian scholar and critic (d. 1775)source
  • January 18 – Montesquieu, French social commentator and political thinker (d. 1755)source
  • January 23 – Joseph Ames, English bibliographer and antiquary (d. 1759)source
  • February 3 – Blas de Lezo, admiral of the Spanish Empire (d. 1741)source
  • c. February 23 – Samuel Bellamy, English pirate captain (d. 1717)source
  • March 20 – Thomas Robie, Colonial American scientist and physician (d. 1729)source
  • April 2 – Arthur Dobbs, Irish politician, governor of the Province of North Carolina (d. 1765)source
  • April 14 – William Murray, Marquess of Tullibardine, Scottish army officer and Jacobite leader (d. 1746)source
  • May 15 – Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, writer and poet from England (d. 1762)source
  • May 24 – Daniel Finch, 8th Earl of Winchilsea, British politician (d. 1769)source
  • June 26 – Edward Holyoke, American academic administrator, 9th president of Harvard (d. 1769)source
  • June 26 – James Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater, English noble (d. 1716)source
  • July 24 – Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, son of Queen Anne (d. 1700)source
  • August 19 – Samuel Richardson, English writer and printer (d. 1761)source

Deaths

  • January 27 – Robert Aske, merchant & haberdasher in the City of London (b. 1619)source
  • January 29 – Maria van Cortlandt van Rensselaer, Dutch director of Rensselaerswyck (Albany, New York) (b. 1645)source
  • February 12 – Marie Louise d'Orléans, Queen of Spain as the wife of King Charles II (b. 1662)source
  • March 26 – Gabriel Milan, Governor of the Danish West Indies (b. 1631)source
  • April 16 – Aphra Behn, British playwright, poet and spy (b. 1640)source
  • April 18 – George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys, Welsh judge, aka the Hanging Judge (b. 1645)source
  • June 27 – Richard Waldron, colonial settler, acting President of the Province of New Hampshire (b. 1615)source
  • July 27 – John Graham, 1st Viscount Dundee, Scottish general (b. 1648)source
  • August 6 – Princess Dorothea Sophie of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, Electress of Brandenburg (b. 1636)source
  • August 23 – Gravely ill, the Empress Xiaoyiren is proclaimed empress by her husband, China's Kangxi Emperor, after having been Imperial Noble Consort since 1682. She dies the next day.source
  • September 10 – John Belasyse, 1st Baron Belasyse, English politician and noble (b. 1614)source
  • October 4 – Quirinus Kuhlmann, German Baroque poet and mystic (b. 1651)source
  • November 24 – Carey Dillon, 5th Earl of Roscommon, Irish nobleman and professional soldier (b. 1627)source
  • December 29 – Thomas Sydenham, English physician (b. 1624)source