1696 CE
Colley Cibber's play Love's Last Shift is first performed in London. China's Kangxi Emperor leads troops in the Battle of Jao Modo, about 37 mi from the modern Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator, and defeats 5,000 Mongolian troops of the Dzungar Khanate under the command of Galdan Boshugtu Khan. The Inquisition in Portugal carries out the sentence of burning at the stake against several Marrano Jews in Évora.
Geopolitics & Diplomacy
- January 21 – The Recoinage Act, passed by the Parliament of England to pull counterfeit silver coins out of circulation, becomes law.source
- August 29 – King Louis XIV of France and Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy, sign the Treaty of Turin, ending Savoy's involvement in the Nine Years' War.source
- September 8 – The Parliament of Scotland passes the Education Act 1696, providing for locally funded, Church-supervised schools to be established in every parish in Scotland.source
- October 20 – The Imperial Russian Navy is founded on the recommendation of Tsar Peter the Great and approval by the Russian Duma.source
- William Penn offers an elaborate plan for intercolonial cooperation largely in trade, defense, and criminal matters.source
- Polish replaces Ruthenian as an official language of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.source
Conflict & Security
- February 15 – A plot to ambush and assassinate King William III of England in order to restore King James and the House of Stuart to the throne is foiled when the king cancels his usual plan to return from a hunting trip by way of the road between Turnham Green and Brentford. The king's guard is alerted by the Earl of Portland, William Bentinck, who had been approached on February 13 by Sir Thomas Prendergast.source
- February 23 – A royal proclamation is issued to arrest suspected Jacobite conspirators who had plotted the assassination of King William III, including gunman Robert Charnock and organizers George Barclay, and Sir John Fenwick. Barclay eludes capture, but Charnock and Fenwick are executed.source
- March 7 – King William III of England departs from the Netherlands.source
- March 9 – Spanish missionaries in the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México in North America first learn of plans for a revolt among the Pueblo Indians and send warnings to the governor, asking for Spanish troops. The uprising begins on June 4.source
- March 16 – The Dutch bombard Givet during the Nine Years' War.source
- April 23 – Russo-Turkish War (1686–1700): Russia begins the second of the Azov campaigns (1695–96).source
- June 4 – A second Pueblo Revolt occurs in Santa Fe de Nuevo México. The Tiwas of Taos and Picuris, the Tewas of San Ildefonso and Nambe, the Tanos of Jemez and San Cristobal, and the Keres of Santo Domingo and Cochiti attack during the full moon and kill 21 Spanish civilians and five priests.source
- June 12 – China's Kangxi Emperor leads troops in the Battle of Jao Modo, about 37 mi from the modern Mongolian capital, Ulan Bator, and defeats 5,000 Mongolian troops of the Dzungar Khanate under the command of Galdan Boshugtu Khan.source
- June 17 – Seven French ships attack five Dutch ships escorting a convoy of 112 merchant ships in the Battle of Dogger Bank.source
- July 18 – Azov campaign: The Russian fleet occupies Azov at the mouth of the river Don.source
- August 22 – Forces of the Republic of Venice and the Ottoman Empire clash near Andros.source
- October 7 – The Convention of Vigevano is signed, bringing a general ceasefire in Italy and an end to the Nine Years' War between France and the remaining members of the Grand Alliance.source
- November 25 – In England, the House of Commons approves the bill of attainder to convict Sir John Fenwick of high treason for plotting to lead the assassination of and coup d'état against King William III, on its third and final reading, voting 187 to 161 in favor of conviction. The measure then moves to the House of Lords.source
- November 30 – Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville captures and destroys St. John's, Newfoundland after a three-day siege.source
Exploration & Expansion
- December 7 – Connecticut Route 108, one of Connecticut's oldest highways is laid-out to Trumbull.source
Religion & Belief
- May 31 – John Salomonsz is elected chief of Sint Eustatius in the Caribbean Netherlands.source
Economy & Finance
Technology & Infrastructure
Science & Discovery
Crime & Justice
- March 18 – Robert Charnock, who had been arrested for the Jacobite plot to kill King William is hanged at the Tower of London.source
- December 23 – By a vote of 66 to 60, the English House of Lords approves the bill of attainder for the conviction of Sir John Fenwick for high treason. Fenwick is beheaded on January 28, 1697.source
- December 24 – The Inquisition in Portugal carries out the sentence of burning at the stake against several Marrano Jews in Évora.source
Disasters & Accidents
- January 27 – In England, the ship (formerly Sovereign of the Seas) catches fire and burns at Chatham, after 57 years of service.source
- April – A fire destroys the Gra Bet (Left Quarter) of Gondar, the capital of Ethiopia. The fire starts "in the house of a prostitute" and destroys many buildings, including the churches of St. George, Takla Haymanot and Iyasu.source
- September 11 – England's Royal Navy scuttles and deliberately sinks its 32-gun battleship HMS Sapphire in Bay Bulls Harbour in Newfoundland, rather than let it be captured by the French Navy following a disastrous battle.source
Climate & Environment
- The Great Famine of 1695–1697 wipes out almost a third of the population of Finland, while the Great Famine of Estonia (1695–97) takes out a fifth of the population of Estonia; and the "seven ill years" of famine in Scotland are ongoing.source
Culture & Society
- January 31 – In the Netherlands, undertakers revolt after funeral reforms in Amsterdam.source
- January – Colley Cibber's play Love's Last Shift is first performed in London.source
- August 13 – The Dutch state of Drenthe makes William III of Orange its Stadtholder.source
- November 21 – John Vanbrugh's play The Relapse is first performed in London.source
- December 19 – Jean-François Regnard's verse comedy Le Joueur ("The Gamester") premieres in Paris.source
- A New Theory of the Earth, a book by William Whiston, is published and is well received by intellectuals of the day.source
- Edward Lloyd probably begins publication of Lloyd's News, a predecessor of Lloyd's List, in London.source
Births
- March 5 – Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Italian painter (d. 1770)source
- May 16 – Countess Palatine Franziska Christine of Sulzbach, Abess of Thorn and Abbess of Essen (d. 1776)source
- June 11 – James Francis Edward Keith, Scottish soldier and Prussian field marshal (d. 1758)source
- July 27 – Samuel Whittemore, American farmer and oldest known colonial combatant of the American Revolution (d. 1793)source
- July 31 – Dumont de Montigny, French colonial officer, farmer, and author (d. 1760)source
- August 9 – Joseph Wenzel I, Prince of Liechtenstein, Austrian marshall (d. 1772)source
- September 17 – Eunice Kanenstenhawi Williams, Native American captive (d. 1785)source
- September 27 – Alphonsus Liguori, Italian founder of the Redemptorist Order (d. 1787)source
- October 2 – Ann Smith Franklin, American colonial newspaper printer and publisher (d. 1763)source
- October 13 – John Hervey, 2nd Baron Hervey, English courtier, political writer and memoirist (d. 1743)source
- October 14 – Samuel Johnson, President of Columbia University (d. 1772)source
- October 28 – Maurice de Saxe, Marshal General of France (d. 1750)source
- October 31 – Giulia Crostarosa, Italian catholic nun and foundress (d. 1755)source
- November 2 – Conrad Weiser, Pennsylvania's interpreter and emissary to the Native Americans (d. 1760)source
Deaths
- February 19 – Giovanni Pietro Bellori, Italian painter and biographer (b. 1613)source
- February – Ahom King Supaatphaa or Gadadhar Singhasource
- April 10 – Springett Penn, Member of the Penn family (b. 1674)source
- April 17 – Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné, French writer (b. 1626)source
- May 16 – Mariana of Austria, Queen consort of Spain (b. 1634)source
- June 2 – William Herbert, 1st Marquess of Powis, English marquess (b. 1626)source
- June 10 – Charles de Courbon de Blénac, French colonial administrator (b. 1622)source
- June 17 – The throne of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth becomes vacant with the death of Jan Sobieski, prompting a competition between Friedrich Augustus, Elector of Saxony and Prince François Louis of France to compete under the commonwealth's "Golden Liberty" system for an elective monarchy of the new king by the nobility. Jerzy Albrecht Denhoff, the Grand Chancellor, remains the head of the Polish-Lithuanian government during the vacancy of the ceremonial throne.source
- June 24 – Philip Henry, English Nonconformist clergyman and diarist (b. 1631)source
- July 11 – William Godolphin, English diplomat for Charles II and Member of Parliament (b. 1635)source
- September 9 – Princess Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach, Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Electress of Saxony (b. 1662)source
- September 21 – Charles de Montsaulnin, Comte de Montal, 17th century French military officer and noble (b. 1619)source
- October 22 – James Ramsay, Minister of the Church of Scotland, Bishop of Dunblane, Bishop of Ross (b. 1624)source
- December 28 – Miguel de Molinos, Spanish priest, apostle of Quietism (b. 1628)source