1659 (MDCLIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar, the 1659th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 659th year of the 2nd millennium, the 59th year of the 17th century, and the 10th and last year of the 1650s decade. As of the start of 1659, the Gregorian calendar was 10 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.

Millennium: 2nd millennium
Centuries:
Decades:
Years:
February 11: The Army of Denmark defeats the Assault on Copenhagen from an invasion by Sweden
1659 in various calendars
Gregorian calendar1659
MDCLIX
Ab urbe condita2412
Armenian calendar1108
ԹՎ ՌՃԸ
Assyrian calendar6409
Balinese saka calendar1580–1581
Bengali calendar1066
Berber calendar2609
English Regnal year10 Cha. 2 – 11 Cha. 2
(Interregnum)
Buddhist calendar2203
Burmese calendar1021
Byzantine calendar7167–7168
Chinese calendar戊戌年 (Earth Dog)
4356 or 4149
    — to —
己亥年 (Earth Pig)
4357 or 4150
Coptic calendar1375–1376
Discordian calendar2825
Ethiopian calendar1651–1652
Hebrew calendar5419–5420
Hindu calendars
 - Vikram Samvat1715–1716
 - Shaka Samvat1580–1581
 - Kali Yuga4759–4760
Holocene calendar11659
Igbo calendar659–660
Iranian calendar1037–1038
Islamic calendar1069–1070
Japanese calendarManji 2
(万治2年)
Javanese calendar1581–1582
Julian calendarGregorian minus 10 days
Korean calendar3992
Minguo calendar253 before ROC
民前253年
Nanakshahi calendar191
Thai solar calendar2201–2202
Tibetan calendar阳土狗年
(male Earth-Dog)
1785 or 1404 or 632
    — to —
阴土猪年
(female Earth-Pig)
1786 or 1405 or 633

Events

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January–March

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April–June

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  • April 22 – Under pressure from the English Army in London, which has assembled troops outside of Westminster, Richard Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland, dissolves the Third Protectorate Parliament, the last for the Commonwealth.[4]
  • May 6 – English Army General Hezekiah Haynes, joined by officers Charles Fleetwood, John Lambert, James Berry, Robert Lilburne, Thomas Kelsey, William Goffe and William Packer, presents the manifesto A Declaration of the Officers of the Army, advocating that Lord Protector Cromwell step down after restoring the "Rump Parliament" to administer England. Cromwell restores the parliament rule the next day and decides to step down.[5]
  • May 21 – The Kingdom of France, the Commonwealth of England and the Dutch Republic sign the Concert of The Hague, agreeing a common stance on the Second Northern War.
  • May 25Richard Cromwell resigns as English Lord Protector, submitting "a letter that may have been dictated to him."[6] In the letter, signed by Cromwell in front of Sir Gilbert Pickering and Lord Chief-Justice St. John, "I have perused the Resolve and Declaration, which you were pleased to deliver to me the other Night," and after listing his personal debts to be paid in return for stepping down, "As to that Part of the Resolve, whereby the Committee are to inform themselves, How far I do acquiesce in the Government of this Commonwealth, as it is declared by this Parliament; I trust, my past Carriage hitherto hath manifested my Acquiescence in the Will and Disposition of God; and that I love and value the Peace of this Commonwealth much above my own Concernments: And I desire, that by this, a Measure of my future Deportment may be taken; which, thro' the Assistance of God, shall be such as shall bear the same Witness; having, I hope, in some degree, learned rather to reverence and submit to the Hand of God, than to be unquiet under it: And, as to the late Providences that have fallen out amongst us, however, in respect of the particular Engagements that lay upon me, I could not be active in making a Change in the Government of these Nations, yet through the Goodness of God, I can freely acquiesce in it, being made; and do hold myself obliged."[7] The executive government is replaced by the restored Council of State, dominated by Generals John Lambert, Charles Fleetwood and John Desborough. The Council of State is dismissed by the Rump Parliament on October 13 and replaced by the "Committee of Safety" on October 25.[8]
  • June 10Dara Shikoh, at one time the heir apparent for the Mughal Empire, is betrayed by an Afghan chieftain, Junaid Khan Barozai, who had initially given him refuge from pursuit from the new emperor, Aurangzeb. Turned over to Aurangzeb's men, Dara Shikoh is killed on August 30.
  • June 29 – In the Battle of Konotop, fought near the Ukrainian city of Konotop during the Russo-Polish War, Polish Cossack hetman Ivan Vyhovsky and his allies defeat the armies of the Tsardom of Russia, led by Aleksey Trubetskoy.

July–September

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October–December

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Date unknown

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  • First British colonists arrive on Saint Helena.
  • Spanish Infanta Maria Theresa brings cocoa to Paris.
  • Diego Velázquez's portrait of Infanta Maria Theresa is first exhibited.
  • Thomas Hobbes publishes De Homine.
  • Parisian police raid a monastery, sending monks to prison for eating meat and drinking wine during Lent.
  • Drought occurs in India.[11]
  • Peter Swink, the first known non-white settler to own land in Massachusetts, and first known African to live in Springfield, Massachusetts, arrives. He holds a seat in the town meetings.

Births

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Adriaen van der Werff
 
Henry Every
 
Henry Purcell

Deaths

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Willem Drost
 
Abel Tasman

References

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  1. ^ Luis de Menezes, Historia de Portugal Restaurado, Volume III (Joseph Filippe Publishing, 1759) p. 229
  2. ^ a b Craig A. Monson, The Black Widows of the Eternal City: The True Story of Rome’s Most Infamous Poisoners (University of Michigan Press, 2020)
  3. ^ On display at Westminster Abbey.
  4. ^ Henry Reece, The Army in Cromwellian England, 1649-1660 (Oxford University Press, 2013) p. 174
  5. ^ David Farr, Major-General Hezekiah Haynes and the Failure of Oliver Cromwell’s Godly Revolution, 1594–1704 (Taylor & Francis, 2020)
  6. ^ "Richard Cromwell Resigns as Lord Protector: The Lord Protector stood down on May 25th, 1659", by Richard Cavendish, History Today, May 5, 2009
  7. ^ "Richard Cromwell's Renunciation", House of Commons Journal (25 May 1659), pp. 664-665, British History Online
  8. ^ Timothy Venning, Compendium of British Office Holders (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005) p. 77
  9. ^ Robert D. Huerta (2003). Giants of Delft: Johannes Vermeer and the Natural Philosophers : the Parallel Search for Knowledge During the Age of Discovery. Bucknell University Press. p. 107. ISBN 978-0-8387-5538-9.
  10. ^ James Atkinson, Tracts Relating to the Civil War in Cheshire, 1641–1659; including Sir George Booth's rising in that county (The Chetham Society, 1909) pp. 167-172
  11. ^ Khadg Singh Valdiya (2004). Coping with Natural Hazards: Indian Context. Orient Blackswan. p. 219. ISBN 978-81-250-2735-5.