Calendar year
January 11 :Jamestown 's John Smith released from imprisonment by Chief PowhatanJuly 3 :Samuel de Champlain foundsQuebec City .1608 (MDCVIII ) was aleap year starting on Tuesday of theGregorian calendar and aleap year starting on Friday of theJulian calendar , the 1608th year of theCommon Era (CE) andAnno Domini 2nd millennium , the 8th year of the17th century , and the 9th year of the1600s decade. As of the start of 1608, the Gregorian calendar was 10 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.
Calendar year
January 2 – The first of theJamestown supply missions returns to the Colony of Virginia withChristopher Newport commanding theJohn and Francis and thePhoenix bringing about 100 new settlers to supplement the 38 survivors he finds at Jamestown.January 7 – AtJamestown, Virginia , fire destroys "all the houses in the fort"; the fort is repaired in March.January 11 –John Smith is released byPowhatan after 15 days of captivity, and arrives back atJamestown the next day.[ 1] January 17 – EmperorSusenyos I ofEthiopia defeats anOromo army atEbenat ; 12,000 Oromo are reportedly killed at a cost of 400Amhara .January 23 – Treaty of The Hague, a defensive alliance between France and theUnited Provinces of the Netherlands , is signed.[ 2] February 6 –Gabriel Báthory makes an agreement with Hungarian mercenary soldiers, theHajduk February 7 – A peace conference opens at theBinnenhof atThe Hague , in the Netherlands, to end a war between theDutch Republic and theSpanish Netherlands (nowBelgium ).February 14 – The brutal winter of 1607-1608 in England ends after 10 weeks of sub-freezing temperatures.February 18 –Don Julius Caesar d'Austria , the illegitimate son ofRudolf II ,Holy Roman Emperor , brutally murders his girlfriend, Markéta Pichlerová, then dismembers her body. Emperor Rudolf imprisons Julius for the rest of his life.[ 3] February 26 – After being held captive inMorocco for more than 13 years, popular professor MalianAhmad Baba is able to return toTimbuktu on 10 Dhu 'l-Qa'da 1016 A.H.March 5 –Sigismund Rákóczi , Prince of Transylvania, abdicates in favor ofGabriel Báthory in order to avoid a civil war.March 16 –Gwanghaegun becomes the new King of Korea upon the death of his father,King Seonjo , who had reigned for more than 40 years.March 18 –Susenyos is formally crownedEmperor of Ethiopia , at the ancient city ofAxum .[ 4] October 1 – The second of theJamestown supply missions , which set out in July fromEngland , arrives atJamestown, Virginia , withChristopher Newport commanding theMary and Margaret carrying 70 settlers, bringing the population back up to 120; the passengers include two women and some skilled artisans, mostly from continental Europe, to develop industries.[ 8] October 2 –Dutch lens makerHans Lippershey demonstrates the firsttelescope in theDutch Parliament .November 19 – InBudapest , thecoronation ceremonies take place forMatthias to be crowned asKing Mátyás II of Hungary .November 20 –Sir Thomas Gates , Governor of theLondon Company 's colony atJamestown, Virginia , is ordered by the Board of Directors to forcibly convert thenative Indians in the area to Christianity asAnglicans .November 30 – At the colony ofPortuguese Macau , a port on the Chinese mainland leased from the Chinese Empire,a group of 100 Japanese samurai, wielding katana and muskets engage in a fight with musket-armed Portuguese soldiers commanded by Governor André Pessoa.[ 9] Tokugawa Ieyasu , the principal shogun ofJapan , subsequently ends the "red seal ships " program of authorizing Japanese nationals to visit Macau. The incident eventually leads to much larger naval battle in 1610, theNossa Senhora da Graça incident .December 13 – At theMorača monastery inKolašin , in what is now the nation ofMontenegro , PatriarchJovan Kantul assembles therebel leaders of Montenegro and Herzegovina . The group agrees with a representative of theDuchy of Savoy to deliverDuke Charles Emmanuel a monarchy within the Balkans, in return for special privileges to the Serbian Orthodox Church.December 20 –Karl of the House of Liechtenstein founds thePrincipality of Liechtenstein within the Holy Roman Empire, an independent nation that will continue more than 400 years later betweenAustria andSwitzerland .December – Jamestown supply missions:Christopher Newport returns to England fromJamestown carrying cargo with "tryals of Pitch, Tarre, Glasse, Frankincense, Sope Ashes ..."John Tradescant the Younger born4 August John Milton born9 December January 10 –Henry Winthrop , governor of the Massachusetts Bay Company (d.1630 )January 14 –Francis Hawley, 1st Baron Hawley , English politician (d.1684 )January 21 –Theaurau John Tany , English Christian mystic (d.1659 )January 26 –Johannes Heinrich Ursinus , German Lutheran scholar (d.1667 )January 28 –Giovanni Alfonso Borelli , Italian physiologist and physicist (d.1679 )January 30 –John Oxenbridge , English Nonconformist divine (d.1674 )February 5 –Gaspar Schott , German Jesuit scholar (d.1666 )February 6 –António Vieira , Portuguese writer (d.1697 )February 12 –Daniello Bartoli , Italian Jesuit priest (d.1685 )February 20 –Arthur Capell, 1st Baron Capell of Hadham (d.1649 )February 21 –Elizabeth Barnard , Granddaughter of William Shakespeare (d.1670 )March 18 –Paul Ragueneau , French Jesuit missionary (d.1680 )March 27 –Thomas Rouse , English politician (d.1676 )March 28 –Léon Bouthillier, comte de Chavigny , French politician (d.1652 )April 13 –Cornelis Schrevel , Dutch scholar (d.1664 )April 14 –Illiam Dhone , Manx politician (d.1663 )April 15 April 20 –Edward Rainbowe , English clergyman and preacher (d.1684 )April 23 –Thomas Minor , American city founder (d.1690 )April 24 –Gaston, Duke of Orléans , third son of King Henry IV of France (d.1660 )[ 10] May 1 –Pieter Post , Dutch architect, painter and printmaker (d.1669 )May 15 –René Goupil , French Jesuit lay missionary (d.1642 )June –Richard Fanshawe , English diplomat (d.1666 )June 19 (bapt.) –Thomas Fuller , English churchman and historian (d.1661 )July 13 –Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (d.1657 )July 14 –George Goring, Lord Goring , English Royalist soldier (d.1657 )July 24 –Sir Philip Wodehouse, 3rd Baronet , English baronet (d.1681 )August 4 –John Tradescant the Younger , British botanist (d.1662 )August 15 –Henry Howard, 22nd Earl of Arundel , English politician (d.1652 )August 16 –Jean-Louis Raduit de Souches , German Imperial field marshal (d.1682 )August 20 –Ludovicus a S. Carolo , French monk (d.1670 )August 30 –Alonso Perez de Leon , Spanish conquistador, explorer, man of letters (d.1661 )September 1 –Giacomo Torelli , Italian stage designer, engineer, and architect (d.1678 )September 15 –Niccolò Albergati-Ludovisi , Italian Catholic cardinal (d.1687 )September 17 –Cesare Facchinetti , Italian Catholic cardinal (d.1683 )September 19 –Alfonso Litta , Cardinal, Archbishop of Milan (d.1679 )September 20 October 3 –Nicole, Duchess of Lorraine , French noble (d.1657 )October 15 –Evangelista Torricelli , Italian physicist and mathematician (d.1647 )[ 11] October 18 –John Conant , English theologian, clergyman, and academic administrator (d.1694 )November 5 –Margareta Huitfeldt , Norwegian-Swedish noble (d.1683 )November 9 –Tiberio Fiorilli , Italian actor (d.1694 )November 10 –Eleanor of Anhalt-Zerbst , duchess by marriage of Schleswig-Holstein-Sønderburg-Norburg (d.1681 )November 13 (bapt.) –John Desborough , English soldier and politician (d.1680 )November 16 –Johann Freinsheim , German classical scholar, critic (d.1660 )November 23 –Francisco Manuel de Mello , Portuguese writer (d.1666 )December 6 –George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle , English soldier (d.1670 )[ 12] December 8 –Vendela Skytte , Swedish noble (d.1629 )December 9 –John Milton , English poet (d.1674 )[ 13] December 15 Tsugaru Tamenobu died29 March Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg died29 January Francis Caracciolo died4 June Joachim III Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg died18 July Maria Pypelinckx died19 October January 4 –Peter Edgcumbe , English politician (b.1536 )January 18 –Jacques Couet , French pastor (b.1546 )January 19 –Bernard Maciejowski , Polish Catholic archbishop (b.1548 )January 28 –Enrique Henríquez , Portuguese theologian (b.1536 )January 29 –Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg , son of George of Mömpelgard and his wife Barbara of Hesse (b.1557 )February 13 –Konstanty Wasyl Ostrogski , Lithuanian prince (b.1526 )February 13 –Bess of Hardwick , Countess of Shrewsbury (b.1527 )February 26 –John Still , English Bishop of Bath and Wells, famed as a preacher (b. c.1543 )February 27 –Henri, Duke of Montpensier , French noble (b.1573 )March 12 –Kōriki Kiyonaga , Japanese warlord (b.1530 )March 16 –Seonjo of Joseon , King of Joseon (b.1552 )March 29 April 8 –Magdalen Dacre , English noble (b.1538 )April 9 –Pomponio Torelli , Italian writer (b.1539 )April 18 –Jakob Christoph Blarer von Wartensee , Roman Catholic bishop (b.1542 )April 19 –Thomas Sackville, 1st Earl of Dorset , English statesman and poet (b.1536 )April 29 –Maria Anna of Bavaria (b.1551 )May 11 –Giovanni Luca Conforti , Italian composer and singer (b.1560 )May 14 –Charles III, Duke of Lorraine (b.1542 )May 15 –Archibald Napier , Scottish landowner (b.1534 )May 22 –Juan Bautista Villalpando , Spanish architect and mathematician (b.1552 )June 1 –Marie Eleonore of Cleves , Duchess consort of Prussia (1573–1608) (b.1550 )June 4 –Francis Caracciolo , Italian Catholic priest (b.1563 )June 5 –Ippolito Andreasi , Italian painter (b.1548 )June 19 July 3 –William Barclay , Scottish academic lawyer (b.1546 )July 18 –Joachim Friedrich , Elector of Brandenburg (b.1546 )July 25 –Pomponio Nenna , Italian composer (b.1556 )July 30 –Rory O'Donnell, 1st Earl of Tyrconnell (b.1575 )August 13 –Giambologna , Italian sculptor (b.1529 )September 4 –Juan de Zúñiga y Avellaneda , Spanish nobleman (b.1551 )September 8 –Jerónimo Xavierre , Spanish cardinal (b.1546 )September 14 –Christoph Schissler , German scientific instrument maker (b.1531 )September 20 –Kanamori Nagachika , Japanese samurai (b.1524 )September 28 –Henri, Duke of Joyeuse , French general (b.1563 )^ Alexander Brown,The First Republic in America: An Account of the Origin of this Nation, Written from the Records Then (1624) Concealed by the Council, Rather Than from the Histories Then Licensed by the Crown (Houghton, 1898) p.55 ^ de Raxis de Flassan, Gaëtan (1811).Histoire générale et raisonnée de la diplomatie française ou de la politique de la France depuis la fondation de la monarchie jusqu'à la fin du règne de Louis XVI ^ "Don Julius D'Austria and His Fate" , Český Krumlov website^ Philip Caraman (1985).The Lost Empire: The Story of the Jesuits in Ethiopia, 1555-1634 ISBN 978-0-283-99254-4 ^ Samuel Lythe,The Economy of Scotland in Its European Setting, 1550-1625 (Edinburgh, 1960), pp. 55-6. ^ Francis L. Hawks,The Adventures of Henry Hudson (D. Appleton & Company, 1842) p.37 ^ Arthur M. Woodford (1991).Charting the Inland Seas: A History of the U.S. Lake Survey ISBN 978-0-8143-2499-8 ^ Grass, Gary C. (2000)."First Germans at Jamestown" .German Corner . Davitt Publications. Archived fromthe original on January 25, 2017. Retrieved2019-06-22 . ^ C. R. Boxer,Fidalgos in the Far East, 1550–1770 (Martinus Nijhoff, 1948) p. 53 ^ Academic American Encyclopedia ISBN 9780933880443 ^ Raymond Renard Butler (1947).Scientific Discovery ^ East Riding Antiquarian Society (Yorkshire) (1904).The Transactions of the East Riding Antiquarian Society ^ Joseph Milton French (1966).The Life Records of John Milton: 1608-1639 ^ Günther, Hans-Jürgen,Der Humanist Johannes Pistorius – Gründer des „Gymnasium Illustre“ zu Durlach, Markgrafen-Gymnasium Karlsruhe Durlach , Jahresbericht 1993/94, Durlach 1994. 
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