Directory

1695 CE

Russo-Turkish War (1686–1700): Russia begins the Azov campaigns (1695–96) against the Ottoman Empire, with 31,000 troops departing to the Ottoman fortress at Azov on the Don River. 15 – Nine Years' War: Brussels is bombarded by French troops. All but eight of the remaining 305 crew of the Royal Navy ship are killed when the ship founders in the Florida Keys. According to the ship's logbook, an epidemic of yellow fever began on August 1 and had killed 45 people before the hurricane struck, and left all but seven crew members too ill to walk.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • March 14 – Paul Foley is elected as the new Speaker of the House after the expulsion of John Trevor.source
  • April 17 – The House of Commons of England decides not to renew the Licensing Order of 1643, and states its reasoning, beginning with "Because it revives, and re-enacts, a Law which in no-wise answered the End for which it was made". The lifting of censorship creates a more open society, and an explosion of print results. Within 30 years, the number of printing houses in England increases from 20 to 103.source
  • October 11 – King William III of England dissolves Parliament in the wake of a scandal involving former Speaker of the House of Commons John Trevor and other Tory MPs.source
  • November 22 – The new Parliament, with 513 members of the House of Commons is opened by King William III. Commons is composed of 257 Whigs (who hold a majority of one), 203 Tories and 53 members of other parties or independents.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 14 (January 4 O.S.) – The Royal Navy warship HMS Nonsuch is captured near England's Isles of Scilly by the 48-gun French privateer Le Francois. Nonsuch is then sold to the French Navy and renamed Le Sans Pareil.source
  • January 27 – A flotilla of six Royal Navy warships under the command of Commodore James Killegrew aboard HMS Plymouth captures two French warships, the Content and the Trident, the day after the French ships had mistaken the English fleet to be a group of merchant ships to attack.source
  • March 10 – Almost all French Army soldiers in a column of 1,300 troops, commanded by Brigadier General Urbain Le Clerc de Juigné, are killed or captured in the Battle of Sant Esteve d'en Bas against a smaller Spanish Empire force led by Ramon de Sala i Saçala during the War of the Grand Alliance.source
  • April 27 – Russo-Turkish War (1686–1700): Russia begins the Azov campaigns (1695–96) against the Ottoman Empire, with 31,000 troops departing to the Ottoman fortress at Azov on the Don River.source
  • June 24 – The Commission of Enquiry into the Massacre of Glencoe in Scotland in 1692 reports to the Parliament of England, blaming Sir John Dalrymple, Secretary of State over Scotland, and declares that a soldier should refuse to obey a "command against the law of nature".source
  • July 12 – The Siege of Namur begins in the Spanish Netherlands (now Belgium).source
  • July 15 – The siege of the Ottoman fortress at Azaq by the Russian Army begins, but is unsuccessful and is discontinued after October 2 (September 22 O.S.).source
  • August 10 – A naval skirmish occurs between English and Swedish ships in the Strait of Doversource
  • August 13–15 – Nine Years' War: Brussels is bombarded by French troops.source
  • September 1 – Nine Years' War: France surrenders Namur, Spanish Netherlands to forces of the Grand Alliance, led by King William III of England, Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, following the 2-month Siege of Namur.source
  • September 7 – English pirate Henry Every perpetrates one of the most profitable raids in history, with the capture of the Grand Mughal ship Ganj-i-Sawai. In response, Emperor Aurangzeb threatens to put an end to all English trading in India.source
  • October 25 – The 48-gun English Navy ship HMS Berkeley Castle is captured by the French Navy.source
  • December 6 – A total eclipse of the sun is visible across the Middle East and western Asia.source
  • After 23 years of construction, Spain completes Castillo de San Marcos to protect St. Augustine, Florida, from foreign threats.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • A naval skirmish occurs between English and Swedish ships en-route to Portugal.source

Religion & Belief

  • February 6 – Mustafa II (1664 – 1703) succeeds his uncle, Ahmed II as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.source
  • April 22 – Sürmeli Ali Pasha is fired from his position as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire, after coming into a disagreement with the new Sultan, Mustafa II. Sürmeli is initially sent into exile, but executed on the Sultan's orders on May 29.source

Economy & Finance

  • July 17 – The Bank of Scotland is founded.source
  • In Amsterdam, the bank Wed. Jean Deutz & Sn. floats the first sovereign bonds on the local market. The scheme is designed to fund a 1.5 million guilder loan to the Holy Roman Emperor. From this date on, European leaders commonly take advantage of the low interest rates available in the Dutch Republic, and borrow several hundred millions on the Dutch capital market.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • August 8 – The Wren Building is started in Williamsburg, Virginia (completed in 1700).source
  • After many years of construction, the Potala Palace in Lhasa is completed.source

Science & Discovery

  • June 11 – An annular eclipse of the sun is visible across South America.source

Health & Medicine

  • September 24 – All but eight of the remaining 305 crew of the Royal Navy ship are killed when the ship founders in the Florida Keys. According to the ship's logbook, an epidemic of yellow fever began on August 1 and had killed 45 people before the hurricane struck, and left all but seven crew members too ill to walk.source
  • A £2 fine is imposed for swearing in England.source

Crime & Justice

  • March 7 – John Trevor, Speaker of the English House of Commons, is expelled from the House by vote of the members, after being found guilty of accepting a bribe of 1000 pounds sterling from the City of London Corporation.source
  • March 26 – John Hungerford is expelled from the English House of Commons when members vote to find him guilty of accepting a bribe in return for using his committee chairmanship to promote the pending Orphans Bill.source
  • December 31 – A window tax is imposed in England. Some windows are bricked up to avoid it.source
  • English manufacturers call for an embargo on Indian cloth, and silk weavers picket the House of Commons of England.source
  • Johanne Nielsdatter is executed for witchcraft, the last such confirmed execution in Norway.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • January 24 – Milan's Court Theater is destroyed in a fire.source

Climate & Environment

  • May 18 – The 7.8 magnitude Linfen earthquake in Shanxi Province, Qing Dynasty kills over 50,000 people.source
  • A large unidentified tropical volcanic eruption causes colder temperatures, crop failure, food shortage and mortality in north-western Europe.source
  • The Great Famine of 1695–1697 begins as the Great Famine of Estonia (1695–97) in Swedish Estonia and spreads across Finland, Latvia, Norway and Sweden, while the "seven ill years" of famine in Scotland are ongoing.source

Culture & Society

  • March 5 – The funeral of Queen Mary II of England takes place, accompanied by music written for the occasion by Henry Purcell.source

Births

  • January 6 – Giuseppe Sammartini, Italian composer and oboist (d. 1750)source
  • February 2 – Christoph Sauer, German-American printer and publisher (d. 1757)source
  • February 2 – William Borlase, English antiquarian, geologist and naturalist (d. 1772)source
  • February 11 – Françoise de Graffigny, French writer (d. 1758)source
  • March 10 – Adrien Manglard, French painter and engraver (d. 1760)source
  • March 16 – William Greene, Governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (d. 1758)source
  • June 6 – Adriaan Valckenier, Dutch Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (1737-1741) (d. 1751)source
  • July 17 – Alexander Moncrieff, Scottish minister of the Secession church (d. 1761)source
  • August 10 – Samuel Sandys, 1st Baron Sandys, British politician (d. 1770)source
  • August 20 – Marie Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans, French princess (d. 1719)source
  • September 3 – Pietro Locatelli, Italian Baroque composer and violinist (d. 1764)source
  • September 5 – Carl Gustaf Tessin, Swedish count, politician and art collector (d. 1770)source
  • September 15 – Michel Lullin de Chateauvieux, Genevan agronomist (d. 1781)source
  • December 22 – Rebecca Kellogg Ashley, captive of Native Americans (d. 1757)source

Deaths

  • January 4 – François-Henri de Montmorency, duc de Luxembourg, Marshal of France (b. 1628)source
  • January 7 (December 28, 1694 O.S.) – The United Kingdom's last joint monarchy, the reign of husband-and-wife King William III and Queen Mary II comes to an end with the death of Queen Mary, at the age of 32. Princess Mary had been installed as the monarch along with her husband and cousin, Willem Hendrik von Oranje, Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, in 1689 after King James II was deposed by Willem during the "Glorious Revolution".source
  • February 18 – Sir William Phips, First royal governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay (b. 1651)source
  • April 5 – George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax, English writer and statesman (b. 1633)source
  • April 13 – Jean de La Fontaine, French poet, fabulist and writer (b. 1621)source
  • April 17 – Juana Inés de la Cruz, Mexican nun, writer, philosopher, composer and poet (b. 1648)source
  • April 23 – Henry Vaughan, Welsh author, physician and metaphysical poet (b. 1621)source
  • June 11 – André Félibien, French architect (b. 1619)source
  • August 20 – Giuseppe Francesco Borri, Italian alchemist, prophet and doctor (b. 1627)source
  • November 20 – Zumbi, Brazilian leader of a runaway slave colony (b. 1655)source
  • November 22 – Francis Nurse, husband of Rebecca Nurse, (accused during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692), (b. 1618)source
  • November 28 – Anthony Wood, English antiquarian (b. 1632)source
  • November 29 – James Dalrymple, 1st Viscount Stair, Scottish lawyer and statesman (b. 1619)source
  • December 8 – Barthélemy d'Herbelot de Molainville, French orientalist (b. 1625)source