1641

1641

Events of 1641

July 12 - Portugal and the Dutch Republic sign a Treaty of Offensive and Defensive Alliance. The treaty is not respected by both parties and as a consequence it has no effect in the Portuguese colonies (Brazil and Angola) that are under Dutch rule.
August 10 - Charles I of England flees London for the north.
October - Irish Rebellion of 1641: The Gaelic Irish in Ulster revolt against the English settlers.
November 4 - A Dutch fleet, with Michiel de Ruyter as third in command, beats back a Spanish-Dunkirker fleet in an action at Cape St Vincent.
November 22 - The Long Parliament passes the Grand Remonstrance, part of a series of legislation designed to contain Charles I's absolutist tendencies.

The English House of Commons pass the Triennial Act, which compels the king to summon Parliament every three years in England.
The Dutch found a trading colony on Dejima, near Nagasaki, Japan.
Portugal is ousted from Malacca by the Dutch.
Claudio Monteverdi's opera Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria is first performed.
Moses Amyraut's De l'elevation de la foy et de l'abaissement de la raison en la creance des mysteres de la religion is published.
René Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy is originally published.
The Norwegian city of Kristiansand is founded by King Christian IV.
The Swedish town of Falun is given city rights by Queen Kristina.
English law makes witchcraft a capital crime.
A massive epidemic breaks out in northern and central China, just 3 years before the fall of the Ming Dynasty. It races south down along the Grand Canal of China and the densely-populated settlements there, from the northern terminus at Beijing, to the fertile Jiangnan region. In some local areas and towns it wipes out 90% of the local populace.

January 3 - Jeremiah Horrocks, English astronomer (b. c. 1618)
January 11 - Juan Martínez de Jáuregui y Aguilar, Spanish poet (b. 1583)
March 8 - Xu Xiake, Chinese adventurer and geographer (b. 1587)
April 13 - Richard Montagu, English clergyman (b. 1577)
April 15 - Domenico Zampieri, Italian painter (b. 1581)
April 27 - Wilhelm von Rath, German soldier and scholar (b. 1585)
May 10 - Johan Banér, Swedish soldier (b. 1596)
May 12 - Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, English statesman (b. 1593)
August 9 - Augustine Baker, Welsh Benedictine mystic (b. 1575)
September 10 - Ambrose Barlow, English Catholic martyr (b. 1585) (executed)
October 31 - Cornelis Jol, Dutch naval commander and privateer (b. 1597)
November 9
- Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand, Governor of the Netherlands and Bishop of Toledo (b. c.1609)
- Maren Spliid, Danish alleged witch (b. c. 1600) (executed)
December 9 - Sir Anthony van Dyck, Flemish painter (b. 1599)
date unknown
- Estêvão de Brito, Portuguese composer (b. c. 1570)
- Mukai Shogen Tadakatsu, Japanese admiral (b. 1582)