February 14 – The reign ofVictor Amadeus over the principality ofAnhalt-Bernburg (now within the state ofSaxony-Anhalt in northeastern Germany) ends after 61 years and 7 months. He had ascended the throne on September 22, 1656. He is succeeded by his sonKarl Frederick.
May 22 – Sailing theQueen Anne's Revenge Englishpirate Edward Teach ("Blackbeard") leads 400 sailors in four ships, and blockades the port ofCharleston, South Carolina for an entire week, plundering all arriving ships.[7] After their departure,Queen Anne's Revenge andAdventure are both lost at Beaufort Inlet,North Carolina; a week later. Blackbeard allowsStede Bonnet to command theRevenge (which is renamed theRoyal James) once again. Bonnet rescues 25 sailors abandoned by Blackbeard on a sandbar and continues his life of piracy.
June 3 – Pirates "Blackbeard" and Stede Bonnet accidentally run aground in the shipQueen Anne's Revenge after sailing intoTopsail Inlet in the British colony ofNorth Carolina. Learning of the royal pardon available to all pirates who surrender before September 5, Teach negotiates a settlement with Colonial GovernorCharles Eden for a pardon for himself, Bonnet and the rest of his crew in return for the Governor receiving some of the pirates' plunder.[8]
September 10 – In France,Armande Félice de La Porte Mazarin and the Vicomtesse de Polignac, both mistresses of theDuc de Richelieu, fight a duel with pistols at theBois de Boulogne near Paris. Lady Mazarin, who had initiated the duel, is wounded in the shoulder and both survive. Richelieu, though impressed by the willingness of the ladies to fight over his affections, commentsJe ne sacrifierai pas un de mes cheveux, ni à l’une, ni à l’autre ("I will not sacrifice anything, not to one, nor to the other.")[10]
October 3 –Stede Bonnet and his crew are captured near the mouth of theCape Fear River and taken to Charleston, South Carolina, where they are tried for piracy. All but four are found guilty and sentenced to death (with 22 hanged on November 8), but Bonnet escapes from prison on October 24.
October 31 – The Mughal Emperor of India,Farrukhsiyar, restores the titles and responsibilities of his chief adviser,Mir Jumla III, almost three years after dismissing him.
November 11 – Lightning strikes the powder magazine at theOld Fortress, Corfu, causing an explosion that kills a large number of people on the island.
November 22 – Citing violations of the amnesty agreement with Blackbeard,Virginia GovernorAlexander Spotswood sends aRoyal Navy contingent to North Carolina, where they battle Blackbeard and his crew inOcracoke Inlet. Blackbeard is killed in action, after receiving five musketball wounds and twenty sword lacerations.
December 4 – Fifty people are killed, and 150 houses burned, when a fire breaks out inWapping,London. The blaze comes two days after a fire at theSpring Gardens atSt. James's, London, which destroyed the French Chapel there and which was put out by several rescuers, including the future King George II.[11]
December 5 – Following the death of Charles XII onNovember 30, his sisterUlrika Eleonora proclaims herself Queen regnant ofSweden, as the news of her brother's death reaches Stockholm.
December 10 – Stede Bonnet is hanged at Charleston, after being recaptured.
^Robert Baldick,The Duel: A History of Dueling (Spring Books, 1970)
^"Fires, Great", inThe Insurance Cyclopeadia: Being an Historical Treasury of Events and Circumstances Connected with the Origin and Progress of Insurance, Cornelius Walford, ed. (C. and E. Layton, 1876) p48-49
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