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| Years |
|---|
| Millennium |
| 2nd millennium |
| Centuries |
| Decades |
| Years |
| 1657 by topic |
|---|
| Arts and science |
| Leaders |
| Birth and death categories |
| Births – Deaths |
| Establishments and disestablishments categories |
| Establishments – Disestablishments |
| Works category |
| Gregorian calendar | 1657 MDCLVII |
| Ab urbe condita | 2410 |
| Armenian calendar | 1106 ԹՎ ՌՃԶ |
| Assyrian calendar | 6407 |
| Balinese saka calendar | 1578–1579 |
| Bengali calendar | 1063–1064 |
| Berber calendar | 2607 |
| English Regnal year | 8 Cha. 2 – 9 Cha. 2 (Interregnum) |
| Buddhist calendar | 2201 |
| Burmese calendar | 1019 |
| Byzantine calendar | 7165–7166 |
| Chinese calendar | 丙申年 (Fire Monkey) 4354 or 4147 — to — 丁酉年 (Fire Rooster) 4355 or 4148 |
| Coptic calendar | 1373–1374 |
| Discordian calendar | 2823 |
| Ethiopian calendar | 1649–1650 |
| Hebrew calendar | 5417–5418 |
| Hindu calendars | |
| - Vikram Samvat | 1713–1714 |
| - Shaka Samvat | 1578–1579 |
| - Kali Yuga | 4757–4758 |
| Holocene calendar | 11657 |
| Igbo calendar | 657–658 |
| Iranian calendar | 1035–1036 |
| Islamic calendar | 1067–1068 |
| Japanese calendar | Meireki 3 (明暦３年) |
| Javanese calendar | 1579–1580 |
| Julian calendar | Gregorian minus 10 days |
| Korean calendar | 3990 |
| Minguo calendar | 255 before ROC 民前255年 |
| Nanakshahi calendar | 189 |
| Thai solar calendar | 2199–2200 |
| Tibetan calendar | མེ་ཕོ་སྤྲེ་ལོ་ (male Fire-Monkey) 1783 or 1402 or 630 — to — མེ་མོ་བྱ་ལོ་ (female Fire-Bird) 1784 or 1403 or 631 |
1657 (MDCLVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar, the 1657th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 657th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 17th century, and the 8th year of the 1650s decade. As of the start of 1657, the Gregorian calendar was 10 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.
Events
[edit]January–March
[edit]- January 8 – Miles Sindercombe and his group of disaffected Levellers are betrayed in their attempt to assassinate Oliver Cromwell by blowing up the Palace of Whitehall in London and are arrested.[1]
- January 29 – Rule of the Major-Generals (regional military government) in England is abolished.[2]
- February 4 – Resettlement of the Jews in England: Oliver Cromwell gives Antonio Fernandez Carvajal the assurance of the right of Jews to remain in England.
- February 23 – In England, the Humble Petition and Advice offers Lord Protector Cromwell the crown.[3]
- March 2 – The Great Fire of Meireki in Edo, Japan, destroys most of the city and damages Edo Castle, killing an estimated 100,000 people.[4]
- March 23 – Anglo-Spanish War (1654–60): By the Treaty of Paris, France and England form an alliance against Spain;[5] England will receive Dunkirk.
April–June
[edit]- April 20
- Anglo-Spanish War – Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife: English Admiral Robert Blake attempts to seize a Spanish treasure fleet.
- The Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City) are granted freedom of religion, as full citizens.[6]
- May 8 – Lord Protector Cromwell confirms his refusal of the crown of England, preferring the title "Lord Protector".[1]
- June 1
- King Frederick III of Denmark signs a manifesto, de facto declaring war on Sweden.
- The first eleven Quaker settlers arrive in New Amsterdam (later New York City), and are allowed to practice their faith.
July–September
[edit]- July 13 – Following his refusal to take the oath of allegiance to Oliver Cromwell, English army leader John Lambert is ordered to resign his commissions.[1]
- August 20 – The ship Les Armes d'Amsterdam arrives at Quebec, New France. Among the passengers is Michel Mathieu Brunet dit Lestang (1638–1708), colonist, explorer and co-discoverer of modern-day Green Bay, Wisconsin, and ancestor of the Brunet, Lestang and Carisse families of North America.
- September 19 – Brandenburg and Poland sign the Treaty of Wehlau.
- September 24 – The first autopsy and coroner's jury verdict in the Colony of Maryland are recorded.
- September – Shah Jahan becomes ill, allowing his son to take control of the Mughal Empire.
October–December
[edit]- October 1 – Treaty of Raalte: William III, Prince of Orange is no longer stadtholder of Overijssel.
- October 3 – French troops occupy Mardyck.
- November 6 – Brandenburg and Poland sign the Treaty of Bromberg.
- November 10 – Christina, former Queen regnant of Sweden, has Gian Rinaldo Monaldeschi killed in her presence, at the Palace of Fontainebleau.
- December 27 – The Flushing Remonstrance is signed in New Amsterdam, at the site of the future (1862) Flushing Town Hall in New York City.
Date unknown
[edit]- The Accademia del Cimento is founded in Florence, Italy.
- England's first chocolate house is opened in London[7] and introduction of tea in England[8][9] while coffee is introduced to France.
- Christiaan Huygens writes the first book to be published on probability theory, De ratiociniis in ludo aleae ("On Reasoning in Games of Chance").
- Andreas Gryphius' drama Katharina von Georgien is published in Breslau.
- Thomas Middleton's tragedy Women Beware Women (c. 1623–24) is published posthumously in London.[5]
Births
[edit].jpg)
- January 1 – Charles FitzCharles, 1st Earl of Plymouth, illegitimate son of King Charles II of England (d. 1680)
- January 4 – Sébastien Rale, French missionary (d. 1724)
- January 6 – William Bowes, English politician (d. 1707)
- January 11 – Elizabeth van der Woude, Dutch writer (d. 1694)
- January 17 – Pieter van Bloemen, Flemish painter (d. 1720)
- January 18 – Henry Casimir II, Prince of Nassau-Dietz, Stadholder of Friesland and Groningen (d. 1696)
- January 21 – Francesco Cupani, Italian naturalist (d. 1710)
- January 26 – William Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1737)
- January 29 – Francis Moore, English physician and astrologer (d. 1715)[10]
- February 10 – George Carpenter, 1st Baron Carpenter, English Army general (d. 1731)
- February 11 – Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle, French scientist and man of letters (d. 1757)
- February 21 – Blaise Gisbert, French Jesuit rhetorician and critic (d. 1731)
- February 24 – Clopton Havers, English physician (d. 1702)
- February 25 – Agathe de Saint-Père, French-Canadian business entrepreneur and inventor (d. 1748)
- March 1 – Samuel Werenfels, Swiss theologian (d. 1740)
- March 6 – Auguste Magdalene of Hessen-Darmstadt, German noblewoman and poet (d. 1674)
- March 18 – Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni, Italian composer (d. 1743)
- March 19 – Jean Leclerc, Swiss theologian and biblical scholar (d. 1736)
- March 20 – Luigi Omodei (1607–1685), Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1706)
- March 24 – Arai Hakuseki, Japanese politician and writer (d. 1725)
- April 16
- Thomas Fairfax, 5th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, English politician (d. 1710)
- Otto Friedrich von der Groeben, Prussian traveller, soldier and author (d. 1728)
- May 8 – Martino Altomonte, Italian painter (d. 1745)
- May 14 – Sambhaji, Maratha ruler (d. 1689)
- May 25 – Henri-Pons de Thiard de Bissy, French Catholic priest, bishop and cardinal (d. 1737)
- June 10 – James Craggs the Elder, English politician (d. 1721)
- June 14 – Sir William Blackett, 1st Baronet, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, English politician (d. 1705)
- June 17 – Louis Ellies Dupin, French ecclesiastical historian (d. 1719)
- July 8 – Abraham de Peyster, New Amsterdam/New York politician (d. 1728)
- July 11 – King Frederick I of Prussia (d. 1713)
- July 12 – Friedrich Wilhelm III, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg (d. 1672)
- July 14 – William Cheyne, 2nd Viscount Newhaven, English politician (d. 1728)
- July 18 – Simon Digby, 4th Baron Digby, English politician (d. 1686)
- July 24
- Theodorus Janssonius van Almeloveen, Dutch classical scholar (d. 1712)
- Jean Mathieu de Chazelles, French hydrographer (d. 1710)
- July 25 – Philipp Heinrich Erlebach, German composer (d. 1714)
- August 7 – Henri Basnage de Beauval, French historian and lexicographer (d. 1710)
- August 9 – Pierre-Étienne Monnot, French sculptor (d. 1733)
- August 18
- Ferdinando Galli-Bibiena, Italian architect and painter (d. 1743)
- Antonio Margil, Spanish Franciscan missionary in North and Central America (d. 1726)
- September 14 – Sir Charles Blois, 1st Baronet, English politician (d. 1738)
- September 17
- Dudley Cullum, English politician and baronet (d. 1720)
- Pieter Schuyler, acting governor of the province of New York and army colonel (d. 1724)
- September 21 – Sultan Muhammad Akbar, Mughal prince (d. 1706)
- September 27 – Sofia Alekseyevna of Russia, Russian regent (d. 1704)
- September 29 – Heinrich of Saxe-Weissenfels, Count of Barby, German prince (d. 1728)
- October 2 – Guillaume Baudry, gunsmith and gold and silversmith in Lower Canada (d. 1732)
- October 4 – Francesco Solimena, Italian painter (d. 1747)
- October 8 – Wigerus Vitringa, Dutch painter (d. 1725)
- October 26 – Philipp, Duke of Saxe-Merseburg-Lauchstädt, German nobleman (d. 1690)
- November 6 – Joseph Denis, Canadian Rėcollet priest (d. 1736)
- November 12 – Anna Dorothea, Abbess of Quedlinburg (d. 1704)
- November 16 – Juliane Louise of East Frisia, Princess of East Frisia (d. 1715)
- November 26
- William Derham, English clergyman and natural philosopher (d. 1735)
- Michael Bernhard Valentini, German naturalist (d. 1729)
- November 28 – Philip Prospero, Prince of Asturias, heir apparent to the Spanish throne (d. 1661)
- December 2 – Franz Anton, Count of Hohenzollern-Haigerloch (d. 1702)
- December 8 – Changning, prince of the Qing dynasty (d. 1703)
- December 14 – Edmund Dunch, English Whig politician (d. 1719)
- December 15
- Michel Richard Delalande, French composer (d. 1726)
- Louis Thomas, Count of Soissons, Count of Soissons and Prince of Savoy (d. 1702)
- December 23
- Hannah Duston, Massachusetts Puritan mother of 8, taken captive during King William's War (d. 1736)
- Josiah Franklin, English-born American businessman, father of Benjamin Franklin (d. 1745)
- December 28 – Domenico Rossi, Swiss-Italian architect (d. 1737)
Deaths
[edit]
- January 24 – Claude, Duke of Chevreuse (b. 1578)
- February 2 – Nicole, Duchess of Lorraine, French noble (b. 1608)
- February 7 – Cesare Dandini, Italian painter (b. 1596)
- February 8 – Laura Mancini, French court beauty (b. 1636)
- February 10 – Sebastian Stoskopff, French painter (b. 1597)
- February 19 – Jean Riolan the Younger, French anatomist (b. 1577)
- March – Edward Hopkins, colonial Connecticut politician (b. 1600)
- March 7 – Hayashi Razan, Japanese neo-Confucianist scholar (b. 1583)
- March 10 – Barthold Nihus, Roman Catholic priest (b. 1590)
- April ? – Richard Lovelace, English Cavalier poet (b. 1617)[11]
- April 2
- Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1608)
- Jean-Jacques Olier, French Catholic priest (b. 1608)
- April 29 – Sophie Elisabeth Pentz, daughter of Christian IV of Denmark (b. 1619)
- May 7 – Nabeshima Katsushige, Japanese daimyō (b. 1580)
- May 9 – William Bradford, Governor of Plymouth Colony (b. 1590)
- May 10 – Gustav Horn, Count of Pori, Swedish soldier and politician (b. 1592)
- May 16 – Andrzej Bobola, Polish Jesuit missionary (b. 1591)
- June 3 – William Harvey, English physician (b. 1578)[12]
- June 26 – Tobias Michael, German composer and cantor (b. 1592)
- July 17 – Eleonore Marie of Anhalt-Bernburg, Duchess consort of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (b. 1600)
- August 6 – Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Ukrainian Cossack Hetman (b. c. 1595)
- August 14 – Giovanni Paolo Lascaris, Italian 57th Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller (b. 1560)
- August 19 – Frans Snyders, Flemish painter (b. 1579)
- August 7 – Robert Blake, British admiral (b. 1599)
- August 29 – John Lilburne, English dissenter (b. c. 1614)
- September 1 – Arnold Vinnius, Dutch lawyer (b. 1588)
- September 7 – Arvid Wittenberg, Swedish field marshal and statesman (b. 1606)
- September 13 – Jacob van Campen, Dutch artist (b. 1596)
- September 23 – Joachim Jungius, German mathematician and philosopher (b. 1587)
- September 27 – Olimpia Maidalchini, politically active Roman noble (b. 1591)
- October 4 – Prince Maurice of Savoy, Catholic cardinal and Prince of Savoy (b. 1593)
- October 23 – Domenico Massenzio, Italian baroque composer (b. 1586)
- November 5 – Charles II, Duke of Elbeuf, French noble (b. 1596)
- November 10 – Anders Bille, Danish general (b. 1600)
- November 18 – Luke Wadding, Irish Franciscan friar and historian (b. 1588)
- November 20 – Sir Hugh Cholmeley, 1st Baronet, English politician (b. 1600)
- December 5 – Johan Oxenstierna, Swedish count and statesman (b. 1611)
- December 24 – Philippe Le Sueur de Petiville, French poet (b. 1607)
- date unknown – Willem Bontekoe, Dutch sea captain (b. 1587)
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "1657". British Civil Wars. Commonwealth and Protectorate 1638-60. June 7, 2010. Archived from the original on May 9, 2008. Retrieved February 17, 2012.
- ^ Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 187–188. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
- ^ Morrill, John (2004). "Cromwell, Oliver (1599–1658)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/6765. Retrieved February 17, 2012. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ Blusse, Leonard; Vaillé, Cynthia (2005). The Deshima Dagregisters, Volume XII 1650-1660. Leiden.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ a b Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 267–268. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
- ^ Urofsky, Melvin I. (2022). "American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust". The SHAFR Guide Online. Brill. doi:10.1163/2468-1733_shafr_sim110060068.
- ^ "Chocolate Arrives in England". Cadbury. Archived from the original on February 2, 2012. Retrieved February 17, 2012.
- ^ Ukers, William H. (1935). All About Tea. Vol. I. New York: The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal. p. 38.
- ^ Mair, Victor H.; Hoh, Erling (2009). The True History of Tea. London; New York: Thames & Hudson. p. 169. ISBN 978-0-500-25146-1.
- ^ Shipley, John (March 2, 2015). The Little Book of Shropshire. History Press. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-7509-6342-8.
- ^ Anselment, Raymond (2004). "Lovelace, Richard (1617–1657)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/17056. Retrieved July 30, 2021. (Subscription, Wikipedia Library access or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ "BBC - History - William Harvey". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved October 26, 2020.
from Grokipedia
1657 marked significant naval, diplomatic, and domestic developments amid ongoing European conflicts and natural disasters elsewhere. On April 20, English forces under Admiral Robert Blake conducted a bold assault on the heavily fortified harbor of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, destroying or capturing several Spanish vessels from a treasure fleet despite intense shore battery fire and minimal English losses.[1] In September, the Treaty of Wehlau-Bromberg concluded negotiations in the Second Northern War, whereby Poland-Lithuania ceded suzerainty over the Duchy of Prussia to Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg in exchange for military alliance against Sweden, laying foundational sovereignty for future Prussian statehood.[2] Concurrently, in England, Parliament presented the Humble Petition and Advice to Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell on March 31, proposing a constitutional framework with a second chamber and offering him the crown, which he declined on May 8, thereby preserving the republican structure while enhancing executive powers.[3] Beyond Europe, the Great Fire of Meireki ravaged Edo (modern Tokyo) from January 18 to 20, consuming over 60% of the city, including much of Edo Castle, and claiming tens of thousands of lives amid gale-force winds.[4] These events underscored the era's interplay of military ambition, territorial realignment, and vulnerability to catastrophe, with Blake's raid exemplifying innovative tactics in naval warfare and the Prussian treaty exemplifying opportunistic diplomacy amid the Thirty Years' War's aftermath.
Events
January–March
On January 8, Miles Sindercombe, a former Leveller soldier, was implicated in a failed plot to assassinate Oliver Cromwell using an explosive device planted along the Lord Protector's route to Parliament, reflecting ongoing radical opposition to the Protectorate's centralized authority amid economic strains and ideological divides.[5] Sindercombe, who had collaborated with exiled plotter Edward Sexby using funds from royalist sources in Flanders, confessed under interrogation by spymaster John Thurloe but later attempted suicide in the Tower of London to avoid execution, underscoring the fragility of Cromwell's regime against internal dissenters who viewed military rule as betraying republican ideals.[5] The Rule of the Major-Generals, Cromwell's system of regional military governance imposed in 1655 to suppress royalist threats and enforce moral reforms, was effectively dissolved on January 29 when Parliament rejected the supporting Militia Bill by a vote of 124 to 88, driven by widespread civilian resentment over arbitrary enforcement, heavy taxation, and interference in local affairs that alienated even Puritan supporters.[6] This shift marked a pragmatic retreat from direct army control toward parliamentary oversight, as the Major-Generals' unpopularity—exacerbated by failures to secure royalist lands for redistribution—threatened broader instability without yielding sustained security gains.[7] On February 4, Cromwell extended informal permission for Sephardic Jews, previously expelled since 1290, to resettle in England, motivated primarily by mercantile arguments from figures like Menasseh ben Israel that Jewish networks would boost trade with Dutch and Levantine ports, countering economic isolation rather than advancing religious toleration.[8] This de facto policy, emerging from 1655 Whitehall conferences where commercial benefits outweighed clerical opposition, allowed a small Amsterdam-based community led by Antonio Fernandez Carvajal to operate openly in London, prioritizing fiscal pragmatism over theological prejudices in a era of naval and colonial expansion.[9] The Great Fire of Meireki erupted in Edo (modern Tokyo) on March 2, ignited in a kimono shop amid dry winds and wooden architecture, rapidly consuming over 60% of the city—including parts of Edo Castle—and claiming approximately 100,000 lives through flames, suffocation, and a subsequent blizzard that hindered escape in the densely packed urban sprawl.[10] The disaster exposed systemic risks in Tokugawa-era planning, where narrow streets, flammable thatched roofs, and inadequate firefighting exacerbated spread from an initial temple blaze, prompting shogun Tokugawa Ietsuna to mandate brick construction and wider avenues in reconstruction to mitigate future conflagrations.[11] England and France formalized their alliance against Spain via the Treaty of Paris on March 23, with Cromwell committing 6,000 troops and naval support in exchange for Dunkirk's cession as a strategic Channel foothold, reflecting calculated realpolitik to secure continental leverage and disrupt Spanish trade routes amid ongoing Anglo-Dutch tensions.[12] Negotiated under Cardinal Mazarin, the pact targeted Flemish ports like Dunkirk and Gravelines, prioritizing military gains over ideological alignment and enabling England's later capture of the city in 1658 despite domestic parliamentary qualms about subsidizing French absolutism.[13]April–June
![Charles Edward Dixon's depiction of the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife][float-right] On April 20, Blake commanded a fleet of 23 English warships in a bold assault on the heavily fortified harbor of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, targeting a Spanish convoy of approximately 16 vessels carrying treasure from the Americas.[14] Despite fierce resistance from shore batteries and the anchored ships, Blake's forces destroyed or captured up to 10 Spanish vessels, demonstrating tactical audacity and naval prowess under the Commonwealth.[1] However, the bulk of the silver cargo—estimated in millions of pieces of eight—had been unloaded ashore prior to the attack, evading capture and limiting the economic gain to salvage from wrecks and minor prizes.[14] Blake himself sustained severe wounds during the engagement, while the English lost one ship sunk and suffered extensive damage to others, underscoring the high costs of the raid despite its propagandized success in England.[14] On May 25, the Second Protectorate Parliament presented the Humble Petition and Advice to Oliver Cromwell, proposing a constitutional framework that included offering him the crown as hereditary king, establishing a bicameral parliament, and creating a privy council to advise the executive.[15] Cromwell rejected the kingship to avoid alienating republican allies but accepted a modified version on June 25, which affirmed his role as Lord Protector with enhanced powers, including veto over legislation and nomination of successors, reflecting a pragmatic consolidation of authority amid political instability.[15] This instrument aimed to stabilize governance by balancing parliamentary oversight with executive strength, though it failed to resolve underlying tensions between Cromwell's military regime and civilian institutions.[16] On June 3, English physician William Harvey died in Roehampton at age 79 from a cerebral hemorrhage.[17] His seminal 1628 treatise De Motu Cordis established the circulatory system through rigorous dissections and quantitative observations, empirically refuting ancient authorities like Galen by proving blood's unidirectional flow via the heart rather than mystical permeation.[17] This work exemplified the era's shift toward mechanistic, evidence-based inquiry in anatomy, influencing subsequent scientific methodologies despite initial resistance from established medical traditions.[17]July–September
During July and August 1657, Danish forces escalated their invasion of Swedish-held territories on the North German coast, capturing the Duchy of Bremen-Verden shortly after Denmark's declaration of war on June 1, while the invasion of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth by Transylvanian Prince George II Rákóczi ended in failure, prompting Swedish King Charles X Gustav to redirect resources from the Polish theater.[18][19] Concurrently, in southern Poland, Polish-Lithuanian and Austrian allied forces under Hetman Stefan Czarniecki and General Jean-Louis Raduit de Souches laid siege to Kraków, which had been occupied by Swedish troops since 1655; the defenders, numbering around 2,000 under Arvid Wittenberg, withstood assaults but faced supply shortages exacerbated by scorched-earth tactics and summer heat that strained logistics across devastated countrysides.[18] Favorable dry weather in late summer facilitated the rapid northward relocation of Swedish armies from interior Poland to Royal Prussia, enabling an improbable concentration of over 10,000 troops near the Baltic coast despite ongoing guerrilla resistance and stretched supply lines.[18] On September 19, the Treaty of Wehlau was signed between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Electorate of Brandenburg-Prussia, whereby King John II Casimir renounced Polish suzerainty over the Duchy of Prussia, granting Elector Frederick William full sovereignty in exchange for Brandenburg's commitment of 8,000 troops against Sweden.[20] This agreement, later supplemented by the Treaty of Bromberg on November 6, marked Brandenburg's defection from its prior alliance with Sweden—established under the 1656 Treaty of Königsberg—and reflected opportunistic realignments amid Sweden's divided fronts, as Frederick William leveraged Polish desperation to secure hereditary rule over Prussian lands long held in fief.[20] The treaty shifted Baltic power dynamics by elevating Brandenburg-Prussia as an autonomous actor, free from Polish overlordship, thereby complicating Swedish dominance and bolstering anti-Swedish coalitions through formalized military aid provisions.[20]October–December
In October 1657, Sweden, having secured a truce with Poland-Lithuania via the Treaty of Wehlau signed on September 19, redirected its military focus toward Denmark amid the ongoing Dano-Swedish War.[20] This agreement renounced Polish suzerainty over Ducal Prussia, freeing Swedish King Charles X Gustav to withdraw forces from the eastern fronts and consolidate against Danish incursions that had begun in June.[20] Charles arrived in Helsingborg, Sweden, around early October, initiating preparations for a counteroffensive into Danish territories.[21] By late autumn, Swedish armies maneuvered into Jutland, positioning for invasion of the Danish islands, while in England, the Protectorate under Oliver Cromwell advanced economic stabilization through royal charters. On October 19, Cromwell granted the English East India Company an unlimited charter, averting its dissolution and bolstering trade revenues critical to the regime's finances following the constitutional adjustments of the Humble Petition and Advice earlier that year.[22] This measure reflected ongoing efforts to consolidate power without monarchy, amid subdued royalist activity after mid-1657 parliamentary reforms that enhanced Cromwell's authority and introduced a second chamber.[22] The pivotal development emerged in December with the onset of an extraordinarily severe winter, marking the transition to one of the harshest European cold spells of the 17th century during the Little Ice Age. Mid-December saw temperatures plummet, initiating widespread freezing across the Baltic straits; the Great Belt, a 20-kilometer-wide tidal waterway separating Funen from Zealand, began to solidify despite its strong currents and saline waters, which typically prevent full icing.[21] This geophysical rarity—driven by sustained sub-zero conditions overcoming dynamic sea factors—created a temporary land bridge, enabling Swedish forces of approximately 7,000–10,000 men, including artillery, to contemplate a crossing otherwise impossible by sea due to Danish naval superiority.[21] The freeze's causal mechanism involved prolonged atmospheric blocking patterns yielding extreme low temperatures (below -15°C regionally), thickening ice to bear heavy loads and altering the war's logistics from naval dependence to overland maneuver, ultimately pressuring Denmark toward concessions in early 1658.[21] In England, this period saw no major disruptions, underscoring the Protectorate's relative stability post-Humble Petition, with alliances against Spain (formalized in March) holding firm absent new plots.[23]Date unknown
The English East India Company received a charter from Oliver Cromwell in 1657 authorizing it to govern Saint Helena, a remote South Atlantic island, as a fortified resupply station for vessels trading with Asia.[24] This grant expanded the company's administrative reach, enabling future settlement and defense infrastructure to secure English maritime interests against Dutch and Portuguese rivals.[25] London's first chocolate house opened in 1657 under French management in Queen's Head Alley near Bishopsgate, serving spiced cocoa beverages that initially functioned as medicinal imports before gaining popularity as social drinks.[26] The establishment's promotion in contemporary advertisements highlighted chocolate's exotic appeal, fostering a nascent culture of public houses for elite discourse akin to emerging coffee venues.[27] Quaker mariner Robert Fowler completed construction of the Woodhouse in 1657 for a transatlantic voyage carrying missionaries to the American colonies, despite anticipated hostility from Puritan authorities.[28] The vessel's purpose underscored early nonconformist efforts to establish communities beyond England's religious enforcement, contributing to patterns of colonial dissent.[29]Individuals
Births
- February 11 – Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle, French author and philosopher whose works, including Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes (1686), popularized scientific concepts among the educated public and facilitated the acceptance of Newtonian mechanics in France during the early Enlightenment.[30]
- March 24 – Arai Hakuseki, Japanese Neo-Confucian scholar and advisor to Shogun Tokugawa Ietsugu, who implemented fiscal reforms restricting samurai stipends and promoted currency standardization, strengthening Tokugawa shogunate finances amid economic pressures from rice price fluctuations.[31]
- May 14 – Sambhaji Bhosale, second Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire, who expanded Maratha territories through guerrilla warfare against Mughal forces, maintaining resistance that preserved Maratha autonomy until his execution in 1689.[32]
- July 11 – Frederick I, Elector of Brandenburg and first King in Prussia, whose 1701 royal elevation enhanced Prussian prestige and administrative centralization, establishing a militarized bureaucracy that underpinned subsequent Hohenzollern expansions.[33]
- September 25 – Imre Thököly, Hungarian noble and leader of the Kuruc uprising against Habsburg rule, whose alliances with the Ottomans prolonged anti-Habsburg resistance in Upper Hungary, contributing to the instability that facilitated the 1683 Ottoman defeat at Vienna.
- September 27 – Sophia Alekseyevna, Russian regent (1682–1689) who co-ruled with her brothers and modernized the Russian army by adopting Western infantry tactics and firearms, enabling early successes in the Crimean campaigns against the Ottomans.[34]
Deaths
On June 3, William Harvey died in London at the age of 79 from complications including gout and a stroke.[17] As an English physician, Harvey advanced medical understanding through empirical experimentation, quantitatively demonstrating via vivisections on animals and cadavers that blood circulates continuously in a closed system from the heart through arteries and veins, directly refuting Galen's ancient, unverified assertions of blood generation in the liver and one-way portal flow.[17][35] His 1628 treatise Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus relied on precise measurements of blood volume and valve functions to establish causal mechanisms in physiology, prioritizing observable data over scholastic tradition.[36] In May, William Bradford, who had served as governor of Plymouth Colony for over 30 years, died at age 67 following a prolonged illness. As a key Separatist leader who arrived on the Mayflower, Bradford's governance provided continuity amid early colonial hardships, including disease and conflicts with indigenous groups, through documented decisions in his history Of Plymouth Plantation.[37] His death underscored ongoing leadership transitions in the fragile New England settlements. | ← 1656 | 1657 | 1658 → |References
- https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Humble_Petition_and_Advice