April 23 – OnSaint Christopher Island more commonly calledSt Kitts, a Caribbean Sea island divided between colonies of England and France, a battle nearSandy Point Town over control of the territory ends with a victory by the French over a numerically-superior English force two days after English Deputy GovernorWilliam Watts of Anguilla had sent an expedition to capture the neighbouring island ofSaint Martin. Governor Watts and the French Governor of Saint-Christophe,Charles de Sales, are both killed in the battle.[4]
May 12 – InIndia, GeneralShivaji Bhonsale of theMaratha Empire arrives at theAgra Fort for a meeting with EmperorAurangzeb of theMughal Empire, as part of the terms of peace under the 1665Treaty of Purandar. After taking offence at the disrespect shown to him, he gets angry and attempts to leave; he and his son Sambhaji are immediately placed under arrest and imprisoned at the fort.[5]
May 13 – French theologianLouis-Isaac Lemaistre de Sacy is imprisoned in theBastille after his conviction forheresy in connection with theJansenist movement. Sacy uses his two and one-half years of incarceration (which lasts until November 14, 1668), to create theBible du Port-Royal, a firstFrench language rendition of the Bible, finishing a translation of theOld Testament from theVulgate, written inLatin, that had been started by his brother Antoine, and then beginning work on theNew Testament.
June 14 (June 4Julian calendar) – TheFour Days' Battle between theDutch Republic fleet (84 ships under the command of AdmiralMichiel de Ruyter) and the English Royal Navy (79 ships led by theDuke of Albemarle) in theNorth Sea, one of the longest naval engagements in history, ends with a retreat by the English after having started on June 11.[8] A part of theSecond Anglo-Dutch War, the battle ends with a Dutch victory, but heavy losses are sustained on both sides: the English lose 1,000 men and 10 ships are sunk, while the Dutch lose four ships and 1,550 men. Damaged, but not destroyed, the English fleet sets about repairs and refitting, and meets the Dutch fleet again on July 25 in theSt. James's Day Battle.
July 31 – TheAgreement of Legonice is signed, with Poland restoring the titles of Jerzy Sebastian Lubomirski and Lubomirski's officers, granting amnesty to all the rebels, and King Jan II Kazimierz abandoning further reform plans.
August 2 (July 23Julian calendar) – A hurricane sweeps through the Caribbean Sea nearGuadeloupe five days after Barbados colonial GovernorFrancis Willoughby led a force of two Royal Navy frigates, 12 commandeered vessels and over 1,000 men in a battle against French colonies during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Willoughby and most of his crew die in the sinking of his flagship, HMSHope
September 2 – TheGreat Fire of London begins as a blaze in a bakery owned byThomas Farriner onPudding Lane, nearLondon Bridge. Over a period of four days, the fire destroys more than 13,000 buildings (includingOld St Paul's Cathedral), but only six people are known to have died,[9] while at least 80,000[10] are left destitute and homeless. The events are recorded bySamuel Pepys in his diary. The resurveying of property is credited with advancing both cartography and the practices of surveying, as well as resulting in the modern definition byJohn Ogilby of thestatute mile, as 1,760 yards.[11]
October 17 – In North America,a French Army regiment led byAlexandre de Prouville de Tracy erects crosses in theMohawk lands of the easternIroquois Confederacy territory along theMohawk River as part of an invasion that started on September 29.[13] During the expedition, Prouville's forces find four abandoned Mohawk villages in the area, located in the modern U.S. state of New York near the village ofSchenectady but never confront any Mohawk defenders, and the French never attempt to enforce their claim.
October 23 – The most intense tornado on record in English history, an F4 storm on theFujita scale or T8 on theTORRO scale, strikes the county ofLincolnshire with a path of destruction through the villages of Welbourn, Wellingore, Navenby and Boothby Graffoe, with winds of more than 213 miles per hour (343 km/h).[14]
October 26 –Abbas II, theShah of Iran, dies at the age of 34 after a reign of 24 years, without designating a successor.[15] His 18-year old son Sam Mirza is crowned as the new Safavid dynasty emperor six days later.[16]
October 27 –Robert Hubert, a Frenchman who has made a false confession to having started the Great Fire of London (despite not arriving in England until two days after the blaze started), is executed based on his statements.
Isaac Newton uses a prism to split sunlight, as referenced in his alchemical works asLux Dei, into the component colours of theoptical spectrum, assisting the understanding of the scientific nature oflight. He also develops differentialcalculus simultaneously with Leibniz. His discoveries this year lead to it being referred to as hisAnnus mirabilis or Newton's "Year of the Morning Star".
^W. Earle Lockerby, "Le serment d'allégeance, le service militaire, les déportations et les Acadiens: opinions de France et de Québec aux 17e et 18e siècles",Acadiensis (March 2008)
^Stewart Gordon,The Marathas, 1600–1818 (Cambridge University Press, 1993) p. 78
^Gregory Mole,Privileging Commerce: The Compagnie des Indes and the politics of trade in old Regime France (doctoral dissertation, Carolina Digital Repository, 2016) p. 35
^Jack Verney,The Good Regiment (McGill-Queen's University Press, 1991)
^Clericuzio, Antonio (2000).Elements, principles, and corpuscles: a study of atomism and chemistry in the seventeenth century. Dordrecht; Boston: Kluwer Academic. p. 179.ISBN9780792367826.
^Gressor, Megan (2005).All for love: great love affairs, great stories. Millers Point, NSW: Pier 9. p. 31.ISBN9781740455961.
^Krämer, Gode (1991).Mythos und bürgerliche Welt: Gemälde und Zeichnungen der Haberstock-Stiftung (in German). München: Klinkhardt & Biermann. p. 82.ISBN9783781403161.
^Guercino, FirstName (1991).Drawings by Guercino from British collections: with an appendix describing the drawings by Guercino, his school and his followers in the British Museum. London, Rome: British Museum Press in association with Leonardo-De Luca Editori. p. 14.ISBN9788878133440.
