Directory

1692 CE

The siege of the Belgian city of Namur in the Spanish Netherlands ends as Dutch General Menno van Coehoorn capitulates to King Louis XIV of France after five weeks. The siege, a battle in the ongoing Nine Years War, had begun on May 24. The city of Ponce is founded in Puerto Rico. Giles Corey is pressed to death in an attempt to coerce a confession from him of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • August 12 – The city of Ponce is founded in Puerto Rico.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 24 –King William's War – Candlemas Massacre: At least 75 residents of what is now York, Maine are killed by French soldiers, led by missionary Louis-Pierre Thury, along with a larger force of Abenaki and Penobscot Indians, under the command of Penobscot Chief Madockawando.source
  • January 30 – English Army General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, a close adviser to King William III of England, is fired from all of his jobs by the English Secretary of State, the Earl of Nottingham, on orders of Queen Mary II.source
  • February 13 – Massacre of Glencoe: The forces of Robert Campbell slaughter around 30 members of the Clan MacDonald of Glencoe in Scotland (from whom they have previously accepted hospitality), for delaying to sign an oath of allegiance to King William III of England.source
  • May 29 (May 19 O.S.) – Nine Years' War: Battle of Barfleur – The Anglo-Dutch fleet breaks the French line off the Cotentin Peninsula, foiling the French plan to invade England.source
  • June 13–14 (June 3–4 O.S.) – Nine Years' War: Battle of La Hogue – The action begun at Barfleur ends with further destruction of the French fleet.source
  • July 1 – The siege of the Belgian city of Namur in the Spanish Netherlands ends as Dutch General Menno van Coehoorn capitulates to King Louis XIV of France after five weeks. The siege, a battle in the ongoing Nine Years War, had begun on May 24.source
  • October 21 – In Barbados, a slave revolt is crushed.source
  • November 5 – Mohamed bin Hajj Ali Thukkala becomes the new Sultan of the Maldives as Muhammad Ali IV.source
  • December 14 – Maratha Empire General Santaji Ghorpade defeats Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb's General Alimardan Khan, captures him and brings him back to fort Jinjee near Madras.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • September 14 – Diego de Vargas leads Spanish colonists in retaking the city of Santa Fe, after a 12-year exile, following the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.source
  • December 5 – John Goldsborough arrives in Madras as the new administrator of the British East India Company.source

Religion & Belief

  • March 22 – The Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty issues the Edict of Toleration, recognizing all the members of the Roman Catholic Church, not just the Jesuits, and legalizing missions and their conversion of Chinese people to the Christian Faith.source
  • June 10 – The Salem witch trials' first victim, Bridget Bishop, is hanged for witchcraft.source
  • June 22 – Pope Innocent XII issues the papal bull Romanum decet Pontificem, intended to prohibit the office of cardinal-nephew and restrict related sinecures within the Roman Catholic church.source
  • October 30 – The King of Spain donates the lands that become the municipalities of San Francisco and Mapulaca in Honduras.source
  • December 23 – Nahum Tate is named as the new Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom and serves for 22 years until his death.source

Science & Discovery

  • February 17 – An annular solar eclipse is visible across Russia, western Mongolia, Xinjiang, Iran, Afghanistan and Iran.source
  • August 12 – A total solar eclipse is visible in the South Atlantic Ocean.source
  • December 24 – The French ship Soleil Royal, a three-decker First Rank ship with 104 guns, is launched at Brest Dockyard.source

Crime & Justice

  • March 1 – The Salem witch trials begin in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony, with the charging of 3 women with witchcraft. Tituba, a slave owned by Samuel Parris, is the first to be arrested, and she implicates Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne, who are arrested later in the day.source
  • April 18 – Giles Corey, Mary Warren, Abigail Hobbs and Bridget Bishop, all residents of Salem, Massachusetts, are arrested and charged with the practice of witchcraft.source
  • July 5 – Wine shop owner Antoine Savetier and his wife are murdered by thieves in the French city of Lyon, and a peasant named Jacques Aymar-Vernay is called in as a detective to solve the case. Aymar finds one of the perpetrators, Joseph Arnoul, who confesses to the crime and implicates two accomplices who manage to escape. Arnoul is executed by being "broken on the wheel" on August 30.source
  • September 19 – Giles Corey is pressed to death in an attempt to coerce a confession from him of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials.source
  • September 22 – The last of those convicted of witchcraft in the Salem witch trials are hanged. By the end of September, 14 women and 5 men have been executed by hanging. The remainder of those convicted are all eventually released.source
  • September 27 – The trial for sorcery of Anne Palles of Denmark begins, and she gives a long confession of giving her body and soul to Satan. The court finds her guilty on November 2 and sentences her to death.source

Climate & Environment

  • June 7 – Jamaica earthquake: An earthquake and related tsunami destroy Port Royal, capital of Jamaica, and submerge a major part of it; an estimated 2,000 are immediately killed, 2,300 injured, and a probable additional 2,000 die from the diseases which ravage the island in the following months.source
  • June 8 – During a famine in Mexico City, an angry mob torches the Viceroy's palace and ignites the archives; most of the documents and some paintings are saved by royal geographer Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora.source
  • September 8 – An earthquake in Brabant of scale 5.8 is felt across the Low Countries, Germany and England.source

Culture & Society

  • May 2 – The first performance of the semi-opera The Fairy-Queen by Henry Purcell, based on William Shakespeare's comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream, takes place at the Queen's Theatre, Dorset Garden in London.source

Births

  • January 7 – Petrus Wesseling, German librarian, law librarian and writer (d. 1764)source
  • January 27 – Ivan Cherkasov, Russian statesman, privy councillor, and cabinet secretary (d. 1758)source
  • February 29 – John Byrom, poet, inventor of a shorthand system (d. 1763)source
  • April 8 – Giuseppe Tartini, Italian composer and violinist (d. 1770)source
  • May 16 – Dolly Pentreath, last known native speaker of the Cornish language prior to its revival in 1904 (d. 1777)source
  • May 18 – (O.S) Joseph Butler, English bishop and philosopher (d. 1752)source
  • June 28 – Louisa Maria Stuart, British princess (d. 1712)source
  • August 18 – Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon, French politician and prince (d. 1740)source
  • October 15 – Alessandro Albani, collector of antiquities, Roman Catholic cardinal (d. 1779)source
  • October 25 – Elisabeth Farnese, queen of Philip V of Spain (d. 1766)source
  • October 28 – Joseph Ferdinand of Bavaria, Electoral Prince of Bavaria (d. 1699)source
  • October 30 – Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer, Dutch noble, diplomat and composer (d. 1766)source
  • November 8 – Laurentius Blumentrost, Russian court physician and founder and first president of St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (d. 1755)source
  • November 11 – Muhammad Hashim Thattvi, Islamic scholar, author, philanthropist, and spiritual leader (d. 1761)source

Deaths

  • January 7 – Fernando de Valenzuela, 1st Marquis of Villasierra, Spanish noble (b. 1636)source
  • January 16 – William O'Brien, 2nd Earl of Inchiquin, Irish nobleman (b. 1640)source
  • January 23 – John Page, Virginian planter, merchant and politician (b. 1627)source
  • January 25 – Shubael Dummer, American Congregational church minister (b. 1636)source
  • May 14 – Robert Kirk, Scottish folklorist, Bible translator, Gaelic scholar (b. 1644)source
  • May 18 – Elias Ashmole, English antiquarian (b. 1617)source
  • June 10 – Bridget Bishop, woman executed for witchcraft during Salem witch trials (b. 1632)source
  • July 19 – Rebecca Nurse, convicted of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials (b. 1621)source
  • July 19 – Elizabeth Howe, one of the accused in the Salem witch trials (b. 1635)source
  • August 19 – John Proctor, convicted of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials (b. 1632)source
  • September 19 – Giles Corey, Massachusetts farmer and accused wizard (b. 1611)source
  • November 13 – Joseph de la Vega, Jewish Hispano-Dutch merchant, poet, and philanthropist (b. 1650)source
  • November 26 – Edmund Ludlow, English politician, soldier and regicide (1617–92) (b. 1617)source
  • December 24 – Maria Antonia of Austria, Archduchess of Austria (b. 1669)source