Directory

1705 CE

Queen Anne of England honours Isaac Newton with the title of Knight Bachelor at Trinity College, Cambridge. The Pact of Genoa is signed by representatives of England and the Spanish Principality of Catalonia as a military alliance providing for English troops to be stationed in Catalonia as part of the War of Spanish Succession. The Sophia Naturalization Act is passed by the Parliament of England, which naturalizes Sophia of Hanover (next in succession to the British throne) and the Protestant "issue of her body" as British subjects.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • March 14 – Queen Anne gives royal assent to the Parliament of England's Alien Act 1705, setting a deadline of December 25, 1705, for Scotland's parliament to authorize negotiations for a Treaty of Union with England to create the Kingdom of Great Britain and threatening that unless Scotland agrees to negotiate terms for union and accepts the Hanoverian succession by December 25, there would be a ban on the import of all Scottish staple products into England and Scots would also lose the privileges of Englishmen under English law – thus endangering rights to any property they held in England.source
  • April 5 – Anne, Queen of England dissolves the English House of Commons that had been elected in 1702, and orders new elections.source
  • May 7 – 1705 English general election: Voting begins for 110 constituencies of the 513-member House of Commons of England (including Wales)source
  • June 6 – Voting ends in the English general election, with the Tories retaining their majority in the House of Commons but losing 38 seats, while the Whigs gain 49 seats. The balance in the 513 seats is 260 for the Tories, 233 for the Whigs, 20 for other candidates.source
  • June 20 – The Pact of Genoa is signed by representatives of England and the Spanish Principality of Catalonia as a military alliance providing for English troops to be stationed in Catalonia as part of the War of Spanish Succession.source
  • July 11 – José de Grimaldo, the Marquis of Grimaldo, becomes the head of government of Spain after being appointed by King Philip V as the Secretary of the Universal Bureau.source
  • July 14 – The newly-elected 2nd Parliament of Queen Anne in England, last to serve before the union with Scotland that produces Great Britain, is opened by the Queen.source
  • September 17 – First Javanese War of Succession: On the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia), Pakubuwono I becomes the new Sultan of Martaram, capturing Kartosuro and deposing Sultan Amangkurat III.source
  • September 20 – Francis II Rákóczi is proclaimed as the ruler of Hungary by independence activists in Szécsény who are opposed to the rule of the Habsburg successor to Leopold I, the Holy Roman emperor Joseph I.source
  • November 28 – The Treaty of Warsaw is concluded between the Swedish Empire and the faction of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth loyal to Stanisław Leszczyński during the Great Northern War.source
  • November – In Williamsburg, capital of the Colony of Virginia in America, construction of the Capitol Building is completed.source
  • December 21 – The Sophia Naturalization Act is passed by the Parliament of England, which naturalizes Sophia of Hanover (next in succession to the British throne) and the Protestant "issue of her body" as British subjects.source

Conflict & Security

  • February 7 – Twelfth siege of Gibraltar: Marshal René de Froulay de Tessé of the French Army supplements the Spanish forces of the Marquis of Villadarias and seizes control of a strategic fortress, the Round Tower, but the forces retreat after a counterattack kills 200 of their number in the retaking of the Tower.source
  • February 26 – Twelfth siege of Gibraltar: A French Navy fleet of 18 warships, commanded by Admiral Desjean, the Baron de Pointis arrives in the Bay of Gibraltar to aid the French and Spanish attempt to retake Gibraltar from England.source
  • March 31 (March 20 O.S.) – The Twelfth siege of Gibraltar ends as a fleet of warships from the navies of England, Portugal and the Netherlands, commanded by English Admiral John Leake, arrives at the Bay of Gibraltar with 35 warships and English and Portuguese troops. In the battle that follows, five of the French Navy's ships are sunk and Admiral Desjean is seriously wounded, forcing the French and Spanish to retreat.source
  • July 18 – War of the Spanish Succession: The Battle of Elixheim is fought near the city of Tienen (in modern-day Belgium). A troop of soldiers under the command of England's Duke of Marlborough kills 3,000 French troops under the command of the Duc de Valleroy and forces the retreat of the others, breaking the "Lines of Brabant". Because his soldiers have marched all night and then fought the battle over a full day, Marlborough is unable to send them in pursuit of Villeroy's troops.source
  • July 26 – Great Northern War: At the Battle of Gemauerthof, fought in modern-day Latvia, Swedish forces under the command of General Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt overwhelm a much larger force of Russian troops commanded by Count Boris Sheremetev, killing 2,000 Russians and wounding as many as 3,000.source
  • July 31 – The Battle of Warsaw is fought near Warsaw, Poland, in the Great Northern War.source
  • August 31–September 5 – War of the Spanish Succession: The Siege of Zoutleeuw is carried out by the alliance of Dutch, English, Scottish and Holy Roman Empire troops against the French-held fortress of Zoutleeuw (in modern-day Belgium).source
  • November 15 – Battle of Zsibó: The Austrian-Danish forces defeat the Kurucs (Hungarians).source
  • December 13 – In the Battle of Saint Gotthard, the Hungarian army is victorious.source
  • December 25 – In Munich, capital of Bavaria, 1,100 militiamen from the Oberland are killed during the Sendlinger Mordweihnacht after a failed attempt to break through several gates and capture a depot to seize better weaponry; many men are slaughtered by German federal infantry and Hungarian Hussars, despite their capitulation to Austrian officers.source

Exploration & Expansion

  • January 31 – The Hester, a British 28-gun sailing ship with a crew of 70, is lost in Persia.source
  • With the interest paid from daimyō loans, the Konoike buy a tract of ponds and swampland, turn the land into rice paddies, and settle 480 households numbering perhaps 2,880 peasants on the land.source

Religion & Belief

  • May 5 – Joseph I succeeds his father Leopold I as Holy Roman Emperor.source
  • July 15 – Al-Husayn I ibn Ali becomes the first Bey of Tunis, founding the Husainid dynasty that rules Tunisia until the abolition of the monarchy in 1957.source
  • October 4 (N.S.) – Stanisław Leszczyński is crowned Stanisław I of Poland.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • Construction begins on Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire designed by John Vanbrugh for the Duke of Marlborough and partly funded by the Crown. It is completed in 1724.source
  • Taichung City, Taiwan is founded as the village of Dadun.source

Science & Discovery

  • July 20 – The planet Mercury transits Jupiter, as seen by astronomers from Earth. The event happens again on October 4, 1708, but will not be seen again from Earth until October 27, 2088source
  • November 16 – An annular solar eclipse is visible in the southern Atlantic Ocean.source
  • Edmond Halley publicly predicts the periodicity of Halley's Comet and computes its expected path of return in 1758.source

Crime & Justice

  • December 26 – Fateh Singh and Zorawar Singh, sons of Guru Gobind Singh, are murdered by Wazir Khan for refusing to convert to Islam, and become hallowed martyrs in Sikhism.source
  • The Shogunate confiscates the property of a merchant in Osaka "for conduct unbecoming a member of the commercial class". The government seizes 50 pairs of gold screens, 360 carpets, several mansions, 48 granaries and warehouses scattered around the country, and hundreds of thousands of gold pieces.source

Disasters & Accidents

  • c. October 3 – 31 people are killed in a colliery explosion at the Stony Flatt pit in Gateshead on Tyneside in England.source

Climate & Environment

  • August 16–18 – In an Atlantic tropical cyclone across Cuba and Florida, four ships are lost and there are many casualties.source
  • November 24 – An earthquake is recorded in Syria, northeast of Damascus.source

Culture & Society

  • January 8 – George Frideric Handel's first opera, Almira, is premiered in Hamburg.source
  • February 25 – George Frideric Handel's opera Nero premieres in Hamburg.source
  • March 8 – The Province of Carolina incorporates the town of Bath, making it the first incorporated town in modern-day North Carolina. The town becomes the political center and de facto capital of the northern portion of the Province of Carolina until Edenton is incorporated in 1722.source
  • April 9 – The Queen's Theatre is opened in London by John Vanbrugh and William Congreve, serving as an opera house, premiering with Gli amori di ergasto ("The Loves of Ergasto"), an Italian language opera by German composer Jakob "Giacomo" Greber. A theatre remains in operation on this site for more than 300 years, becoming Her Majesty's Theatre.source
  • April 16 – Queen Anne of England honours Isaac Newton with the title of Knight Bachelor at Trinity College, Cambridge.source
  • September 24 (O.S.) – Stanisław Leszczyński is crowned as King of Poland.source
  • November 5 – The Dublin Gazette in Ireland publishes its first edition.source
  • November 23 – The premiere of the play Ulysses by Nicholas Rowe takes place in London, starring Thomas Betterton.source
  • December 29 – The premiere of the play Idoménée by Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon takes place in Paris.source

Births

  • January 8 – Jacques-François Blondel, French architect and teacher (d. 1774)source
  • January 24 – Farinelli, Italian castrato (d. 1782)source
  • February 3 – John Robinson, politician, landowner in the British colony of Virginia (d. 1766)source
  • February 13 – Franciszka Urszula Radziwiłłowa, Polish writer and playwright (d. 1753)source
  • February 21 – Edward Hawke, 1st Baron Hawke, British Royal Navy admiral (d. 1781)source
  • March 2 – William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, Scottish judge and politician (d. 1793)source
  • March 9 – Tommaso Temanza, Italian architect and author of the Neoclassic period (d. 1789)source
  • April 21 – Jean-Pierre Aulneau, Jesuit missionary priest, briefly active in New France (d. 1736)source
  • May 5 – John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun, Scottish nobleman and army officer (d. 1782)source
  • August 15 – Joseph Wanton, merchant, governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (d. 1780)source
  • September 21 (bapt.) – Dick Turpin, English thief and highwayman (hanged 1739)source
  • September 28 – Henry Fox, 1st Baron Holland, English statesman (d. 1774)source
  • October 23 – Maximilian Ulysses Browne, Austrian military officer (d. 1757)source
  • November 30 – Jonathan Parsons, Christian New England clergyman during the late colonial period, supporter of the American Revolution (d. 1776)source

Deaths

  • January 12 – Luca Giordano, Italian artist (b. 1634)source
  • January 17 – John Ray, English naturalist (b. 1627)source
  • January 21 – Claude-François Ménestrier, French heraldist, Jesuit, courtier (b. 1631)source
  • February 1 – Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, first Queen consort in Prussia as wife of King Frederick I (b. 1668)source
  • February 5 – Philipp Spener, German Christian theologian known as the Father of Pietism (b. 1635)source
  • August 13 – Françoise-Marguerite de Sévigné, French aristocrat (b. 1646)source
  • August 16 – Jacob Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (b. 1654)source
  • September 13 – Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt, Field Marshal in the Austrian army (b. 1669)source
  • October 9 – Johann Christoph Wagenseil, German Christian Hebraist (b. 1633)source
  • October 11 – Guillaume Amontons, French physicist and instrument maker (b. 1663)source
  • November 10 – Justine Siegemund, German midwife (b. 1636)source
  • December 12 – John Easton, political leader in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (b. 1624)source
  • December 26 – Fateh Singh, fourth and youngest son of Guru Gobind Singh (b. 1697)source
  • December 31 – Catherine of Braganza, widowed queen consort of Charles II of England and regent of Portugal (b. 1638)source