1652

1651 1652 1653 1654 1655 1656 1657 1658 1659 1660

political events

The Battle of Bleneau April 7 brings victory to the Great Condé over Marshal Turenne, who has switched back to the side of Cardinal Mazarin and the regent Anne of Austria (see 1651). Turenne forces the new Fronde army to break off, and both armies march to Paris to negotiate. The Archduke Leopold takes more fortresses in Flanders, the duc de Lorraine marches to join Condé (his mercenaries plunder Champagne en route), Turenne intercepts Lorraine, buys him off, and hems in the Frondeurs July 2 in the Faubourg St. Antoine outside Paris. Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, 25, duchesse de Montpensier, persuades Parisians to open the city gates to the Fronde army that her father supports and turns the guns of the Bastille on Turenne's royal forces; an insurrectionist government is proclaimed, Cardinal Mazarin flees France, but the Parisian bourgeoisie quarrels with the Fronde. The Great Condé leaves town October 13 (he will wind up in the Spanish Netherlands), and Parisians permit Louis XIV to enter the city October 21 (see 1653).

An Anglo-Dutch War precipitated by last year's Navigation Act is proclaimed July 8 after the English have gained an initial victory in May off the Downs, where the Dutch admiral Maarten Tromp has skirmished with Admiral Robert Blake, Royal Navy, who has been given command of the fleet in the English Channel. Prince Rupert has been driven from the Mediterranean and has resumed his depredations in the Azores and West Indies (see 1648; crime, 1653).

England's Rump Parliament antagonizes the army with an Act of Indemnity and Oblivion (see 1651). The army charges members of Parliament with having received bribes from Royalists whose estates were confiscated (see 1653).

The rebellion that began in Ulster in 1641 is finally quelled as the last Irish insurgents surrender. Sir Phelim O'Neill, now 48, will be tried for treason next year and executed by the English.

Barbados and other English Caribbean colonies surrender to a fleet commanded by officers loyal to the new Commonwealth government of Oliver Cromwell. Barbados governor Francis Willoughby, 5th Baron Willoughby, leaves the island.

Former Royalist Army commander Ralph Hopton, Baron Hopton (of Stratton), dies at Bruges in September at age 56.

Rebellious Catalonians at Barcelona surrender in October under terms negotiated by Juan José de Austria (see 1651).

The new Japanese shōgun Ietsuna Tokugawa survives the second of two attempted coups at Edo in the last challenge to its sovereignty that the Tokugawa family will face until the 19th century.

human rights, social justice

Demand for slave labor begins to increase as Londoners get their first taste of coffee and cocoa; the growing popularity of these drinks (and, soon, of tea) will increase demand for sugar, and—since sugar is grown almost entirely with slave labor—their popularity will produce a rise in the slave trade.

exploration, colonization

Cape Town, South Africa, is founded by Dutch ship's surgeon Jan van Riebeeck, 32, who goes ashore at Table Bay April 6 with 70 men carrying seeds, agricultural implements, and building materials (see 1648). Van Riebeeck joined the Dutch East India Company 13 years ago, sailed to Batavia and thence to Japan, took charge of the company's trading station at Tonkin in 1645, was dismissed for trading on his own behalf in violation of the company's ban on such practice, but has been reinstated to command the expedition to the Cape of Good Hope, where the company wants a provisioning station for the ships that it sends to the East Indies (see 1655).

commerce

The General Court of the Massachusetts Bay colony makes a 35-year contract with Boston silversmith John Hull to produce silver coins with silver to be supplied by him. Hull is appointed mint master of the colony and with Robert Sanderson strikes the Pine Tree shilling, receiving 15 pence for every 20 shillings he coins. The mint will date its coins 1652 for all of its 30 years in order to hide its continued existence from the authorities at London.

religion

Religious leader-author John Cotton dies at Boston December 23 at age 67.

literature

Nonfiction: The Mount of Olives, or Solitary Devotions by Henry Vaughan.

Poetry: Deo Nostro Te Decet Hymnus by the late English poet Richard Crashaw includes his hymn to St. Theresa "The Flaming Heart" and is illustrated with 12 engravings by the baroque poet.

art

Painting: Portrait of Hendrickje by Rembrandt van Rijn; A View of Delft and A Musical Instrument Seller's Stall by Carel Fabritius, now 30. Georges de La Tour dies at Lunéville January 30 at age 58; Jusepe de Ribera at Naples September 2 at age 61.

theater, film

Theater: Regents of the Japanese shōgun Ietsuna Tokugawa prohibit young boys from taking roles in the Kabuki theater. Mature men will hereafter play all roles (see 1629; 1673).

architecture, real estate

Beijing's (Peking's) Great White Dagoba is completed in the shape of a Buddhist reliquary. The structure's base, spire, crown, and gilded ball represent the five elements: earth, water, fire, air, and ether.

Architect Inigo Jones dies in Somerset House at his native London June 21 at age 78.

marine resources

Massachusetts colonist Joseph Russell starts an offshore whaling enterprise. Russell has founded New Bedford (see 1775; Nantucket, 1690).

restaurants

London's first coffeehouse opens at the Sign of Pasqua Rosee's Head in St. Michael's Alley, Cornhill. One Daniel Edwards has obtained several bags of coffee from Constantinople and set his servant, Pasqua Rosee, up in business. Rosee distributes handbills stating that his coffee is "a very good help to digestion, quickens the spirits, and is good against sore eyes, dropsy, gout, King's-evil, &c." Within 10 years there will be 3,000 coffeehouses in London and neighboring cities. (The Sign of Pasqua Rosee's Head will become the Jamaica Wine House.)

population

The population of the Virginia colony reaches 20,000, including white settlers and black slaves.

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