1655

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March 25: Titan discovered (image false color).

1655 (MDCLV) was a common year starting on Friday (dominical letter C) of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Monday (dominical letter G) of the Julian calendar, the 1655th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 655th year of the 2nd millennium, the 55th year of the 17th century, and the 6th year of the 1650s decade. As of the start of 1655, the Gregorian calendar was 10 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1918.

Events

January–June

• January 5 – Emperor Go-Sai ascends the throne of Japan.
• February 16 – Dutch Grand Pensionary advisor Johan de Witt marries Wendela Bicker.
• March 8 – John Casor became the first legally recognized slave as a result of a civil case in what was to be the United States.
• March 25 – Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is discovered by Christiaan Huygens.
• April 4 – Battle of Porto Farina, Tunis: English admiral Robert Blake's fleet defeats the Barbary pirates.
• April 7 – Pope Alexander VII, born Fabio Chigi, succeeds Pope Innocent X as the 237th pope.
• April 24 – The Easter Massacre of the Waldensians by Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy slaughters 1,500 men, women, and children, as memorialized in a poem; Pope Francis apologizes in 2015.
• April 26 – The Dutch West India Company denies Peter Stuyvesant's request to exclude Jews from New Amsterdam (Manhattan).
• April 28 – Admiral Blake severely damages the arsenal of the Bey of Tunis.
• May 10 – English troops land on Jamaica.
• June 13 – Adriana Nooseman-van de Bergh becomes the first actress in Amsterdam theater.

July–December

• July 20 – The Amsterdam Town Hall (now the Royal Palace) is inaugurated.
• July 27
  • The Jews in New Amsterdam petition for a separate Jewish cemetery.
  • The Netherlands and Brandenburg sign a military treaty.
• July 30 – Dutch troops capture Fort Assahudi Seram.
• July 31 – Russo-Polish War (1654–67): The Russian army enters the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilnius, which it holds for 6 years.
• August 9 – Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell divides England into 11 districts under major-generals.
• August 28 – New Amsterdam and Peter Stuyvesant bar colonial Jews from military service.
• August – The governor of New Netherland, Peter Stuyvesant, attacks the New Sweden (Delaware) colony.
• September 8 – Swedish King Karl X Gustav occupies Warsaw (Poland).
• September 26 – Peter Stuyvesant recaptures Dutch Ft. Casimir and defeats the New Sweden (Delaware) colony.
• October 15 – The Jews of Lublin are massacred.
• October 19 – Swedish King Karl X Gustav occupies Kraków (Poland).
• November 3 – England and France sign military and economic treaties.
• November 24 – English Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell bans Anglicans.
• December 4 – Middelburg, the Netherlands forbids the building of a synagogue.
• December 27 – Second Northern War/the Deluge: Monks at the Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa are successful in fending off a month-long siege.

Date unknown

• The Bibliotheca Thysiana is erected, the only surviving 17th century example in the Netherlands of a building designed as a library.

Births

• January 1 – Christian Thomasius, German jurist (d. 1728)
• January 5 – John Coney (silversmith), early American silversmith/goldsmith (d. 1722)
• January 6
  • Niccolò Comneno Papadopoli, Italian jurist of religious law and historian (d. 1740)
  • Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg, Holy Roman Empress (d. 1720)
  • Antonio Molinari, Italian painter (d. 1704)
• January 11
  • Charles Sergison, English politician (d. 1732)
  • Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk (d. 1701)
• January 13 – Bernard de Montfaucon, French Benedictine monk (d. 1741)
• January 19 – Nalan Xingde, poet (d. 1685)
• January 25 – Cornelius Anckarstjerna, admiral (d. 1714)
• January 27 – Henri de Nesmond, French churchman (d. 1727)
• February 2 – William "Tangier" Smith, Moroccan mayor (d. 1705)
• February 7 – Jean-François Regnard (d. 1709)
• February 14 – Jacques-Nicolas Colbert, French churchman (d. 1707)
• February 15 – August, Duke of Saxe-Merseburg-Zörbig, German prince (d. 1715)
• February 16 – Charles, Electoral Prince of Brandenburg, German prince (d. 1674)
• February 25 – Carel de Moor, Dutch painter (d. 1738)
• February 28 – Johann Beer, Austrian composer (d. 1700)
• March 4 – Fra Galgario, Italian painter (d. 1743)
• March 6 – Frederik Krag, Danish nobleman and senior civil servant (d. 1728)
• March 23
  • Richard Hill of Hawkstone (d. 1727)
  • Sir Richard Myddelton, 3rd Baronet, English politician (d. 1716)
• April 8 – Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden (d. 1707)
• April 19 – George St Lo, Royal Navy officer and administrator (d. 1718)
• April 25 – John Lowther, 1st Viscount Lonsdale, English politician (d. 1700)
• April 26
  • Rinaldo d'Este (1655–1737), Duke of Modena (d. 1737)
  • Ofspring Blackall, Bishop of Exeter (d. 1716)
• May 4 – Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian maker of musical instruments (d. 1731)
• May 13 – Pope Innocent XIII (d. 1724)
• May 31 – Jacques Eléonor Rouxel de Grancey, Marshal of France (d. 1725)
• June 4 – Thomas of Cori, Italian Friar Minor and preacher (d. 1729)
• June 11 – Antonio Cifrondi, Italian painter (d. 1730)
• June 12 – Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen (d. 1715)
• July 7 – Christoph Dientzenhofer, Architect (d. 1722)
• July 20 – Ford Grey, 1st Earl of Tankerville, British Earl (d. 1701)
• August 2 – Sir John Hotham, 3rd Baronet, English politician (d. 1691)
• August 13 – Johann Christoph Denner (d. 1707)
• August 16 – Frederick Christian, Count of Schaumburg-Lippe (d. 1728)
• August 18 – James Collett, English-born merchant who settled in Norway (d. 1727)
• August 22 – Joseph Robineau de Villebon (d. 1700)
• September 2 – Andries Pels, Dutch banker (d. 1731)
• September 9 – James Johnston (Secretary of State), diplomat, Secretary of State for Scotland (d. 1737)
• September 12 – Sébastien de Brossard, French composer and music theorist (d. 1730)
• September 14 – Éléonor Marie du Maine du Bourg, French nobleman and general (d. 1739)
• September 21 – Roger Cave, English politician (d. 1703)
• September 29 – Johann Ferdinand of Auersperg, Duke of Münsterberg (d. 1705)
• September 30 – Charles III, Prince of Guéméné, French nobleman (d. 1727)
• October 4 – Lothar Franz von Schönborn, Archbishop of Mainz (d. 1729)
• October 12 – Richard Neville (the younger), English politician (d. 1717)
• October 25 – Fabio Brulart de Sillery, French churchman (d. 1714)
• November 1 – Ferdinand Kettler (d. 1737)
• November 6 – Daniel Lascelles (1655–1734), Member of the Parliament of England (d. 1734)
• November 12
  • Eustache Restout, French painter (d. 1743)
  • Francis Nicholson, British Army general, colonial administrator (d. 1727)
• November 16 – Alessandro Gherardini, Italian painter (d. 1726)
• November 18 – Walter Norborne (died 1684), English politician (d. 1684)
• November 19 – Sir William Robinson, 1st Baronet, British politician (d. 1736)
• November 20 – Sir Thomas Grosvenor, 3rd Baronet, English politician (d. 1700)
• November 24 – King Charles XI of Sweden (d. 1697)
• December 9 – Isaac van Hoornbeek, Grand Pensionary of Holland (d. 1727)
• December 10 – Sir William Forester, British politician (d. 1718)
• December 13 – John Evelyn the Younger, English translator (d. 1699)
• December 14 – Philip, Landgrave of Hesse-Philippsthal, son of William VI (d. 1721)
• December 27 – Abstrupus Danby, English politician (d. 1727)
• December 28 – Charles Cornwallis, 3rd Baron Cornwallis, First Lord of the British Admiralty (d. 1698)
• December 29 – Lewis Watson, 1st Earl of Rockingham, English politician (d. 1724)
• date unknown – Zumbi, runaway slave in Brazil (d. 1695)

Deaths

• January 5 – Pope Innocent X (b. 1574)
• January 12 – Pierre de Fermat, French mathematician and lawyer (b. 1601)
• February 25 – Daniel Heinsius, Flemish scholar (b. 1580)
• April 6 – David Blondel, French Protestant clergyman (b. 1591)
• April 30 – Eustache Le Sueur, French painter (b. 1617)
• June 27 – Eleonora Gonzaga, wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1598)
• July 15 – Girolamo Rainaldi, Italian architect (b. 1570)
• July 28
  • Cyrano de Bergerac, French soldier and writer (b. 1619)
  • Suzuki Shōsan, Japanese Samurai (b. 1579)
• August 10 – Alfonso de la Cueva, 1st Marquis of Bedmar, Spanish cardinal and diplomat (b. 1572)
• September 7 – François Tristan l'Hermite, French dramatist (b. 1601)
• October 16 – Joseph Solomon Delmedigo, Italian physician, mathematician, and music theorist (b. 1591)
• October 24 – Pierre Gassendi, French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist (b. 1592)
• December 17 – Ukita Hideie, Japanese daimyo (b. 1573)

References