1660

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political events

General George Monck marches down from Scotland with Highland chief Ewen Cameron in January, replaces Charles Fleetwood as head of the army, seizes power in the name of Parliament, and receives the thanks of the reassembled Rump Parliament (see 1659). England's Civil War ends May 8 after 11 years as the son of the late Charles I is proclaimed king, and Fleetwood is permanently barred from holding public office. Jurist Matthew Hale, 50, has tried to maintain neutrality during the Civil War but has played a prominent role in promoting the restoration of Charles II (he is soon appointed chief baron of the Exchequer and, later in the year, knighted). Edward Hyde, 1st earl of Clarendon, has helped to negotiate the restoration of the monarchy but has a falling-out with Charles after criticizing his immorality and flees to France. At the urging of General Monck, Charles issues the Declaration of Breda, calling for amnesty and liberty of conscience; now 29, he lands at Dover May 26, arrives at Whitehall May 29 amidst universal rejoicing, and will reign until 1685 as Charles II. Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Baron Fairfax (of Cameron), has been among those inviting Charles to return, but he will drop out of public life next year when Charles enrages him by desecrating Oliver Cromwell's remains. Randall MacDonnell, 2nd earl of Antrim, now 50, is imprisoned in the Tower of London on charges of having carried on treasonable correspondence with the Confederate Irish Catholics, but he will be pardoned in 1663 through the influence of the queen mother and have his estates restored to him in 1665. Sir Arthur Hesilrige is imprisoned in the Tower of London and will be less fortunate. Charles makes peace with his cousin Prince Rupert, now 40, appointing him a privy councillor, and will give him naval commands.

English pamphleteer Roger L'Estrange, 43, attacks the blind poet John Milton, who has been an apologist for the republican Commonwealth: L'Estrange was imprisoned for 4 years after being implicated in a failed attempt to recapture the Norfolk town of Lynn from anti-Royalist forces in 1644, and his pamphlet is entitled "No Blinde Guides."

Sweden's Karl (Charles) X Gustav dies at Göteborg the night of February 12 at age 37 and is succeeded by his 4-year-old son; Count Magnus Gabriel de la Gardie, 37, assumes power as regent, pursues bellicose policies, and will rule until 1682, when the son will take over from the corrupt regency and reign until his death in 1697 as Karl (Charles) XI (see 1672). The Treaty of Copenhagen brings peace between Sweden and Denmark, which gives up the southern part of the Scandinavian peninsula but retains Bornholm and Trondheim. The Treaty of Oliva May 3 ends the 5-year-old Northern War. Poland's Jan II Casimir abandons his claims to the Swedish throne, he cedes Livonia to Sweden, and Poland loses her last Baltic territories. A second Treaty of Stolbovo brings peace between Sweden and Russia, who have been fighting since 1656 (see Treaty of Cardis, 1661).

France's Louis XIV is married June 9 in the 13th-century Eglise Saint-Jean-Baptiste at Saint Jean de Luz to the Spanish infanta Marie Therese, now 22, daughter of Felipe IV, under terms of last year's Treaty of the Pyrenees.

Ottoman troops invade Transylvania, whose prince György Rákóczy II is mortally wounded at the Battle of Gyalu in May and dies at Nagyvárad June 7 at age 38 after a 12-year reign. The Turks annex the provinces of Jenö (Yanova) August 1 and Várad August 27, but their expansion will lead to hostilities with imperial Hapsburg forces (see 1664).

A 12-month South African guerrilla war ends April 6 as Dutch colonial officials open discussions with black Khoisan pastoralists, who have attacked outposts, burned crops, and stampeded cattle. The two sides agree to separate themselves with a hedge of bitter almond trees.

Africa's Bambara kingdoms of Segu and Kaarta on the upper Niger begin their rise against the Mandingo Empire, which they will replace in 1670.

commerce

A Second Navigation Act adopted by Parliament October 1 declares that certain "enumerated articles" from England's American colonies may be exported only to the British Isles. Included are tobacco, sugar, wool, indigo, and apples. The list will be amended to include rice, molasses, and other articles, and Virginia tobacco prices take a precipitous drop as transport bottlenecks delay shipments, producing widespread economic distress and political unrest in the colony.

technology

German woodcarvers in the Black Forest town of Fürtwangen create clockworks made entirely of wood. They have invented clocks from which wooden cuckoos appear periodically to sound the hours, half-hours, and quarter-hours.

science

"New Experiments Physics-Mechanical Touching the Spring of the Air and its Effects" by Irish-born Oxford chemist Robert Boyle, 33, is published (see 1661).

religion

Anglican priest William Juxon, now 78, is named Archbishop of Canterbury.

Sectarian preacher Praise-God Barebone (or Barbon) of 1653 "Barebones Parliament" fame presents a petition to Parliament in February deprecating any reconciliation with the royal Stuart family (see 1661).

Missionary Alexandre de Rhodes dies at Isfahan, Persia, March 5 at age 68; philanthropist Louise de Marillac at Paris March 15 at age 68. She will be canonized in 1934. Quaker Mary Dyer is publicly hanged on Boston Common June 1 (see 1659). She returned to Boston in May and has refused to comply with her banishment decree. Her death will help lead to an easing of anti-Quaker statutes in the colony. Clergyman Vincent de Paul dies at Paris September 27 at age 79. He will be canonized in 1737.

communications, media

London journalist Marchamont Needham flees to the Lowlands, having repeatedly been arrested for his writings, both by Royalists and Parliamentarians, and then released (see 1650). Now 40, he has put out a pamphlet containing anecdotes detailing the immorality of Charles II (who has 39 mistresses) but he will be pardoned, return to England, practice medicine, and then resume his career as pamphleteer.

literature

Fiction: Confession catholique du sieur de Sancy by the late Théodore-Agrippa d'Aubigné parodies the lame explanations offered by Protestants who followed the late Henri IV's abjuration in 1593.

Poetry: Satires by French poet Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux, 23, who antagonizes many bad writers by naming them (he ridicules the novels of Madeleine de Scudéry, which are immensely popular).

art

Painting: Maidservant Pouring Milk and View of Delft by Johannes Vermeer; The Morass by Dutch painter Jacob van Ruysdael, 32; St. Peter Denying Christ by Rembrandt van Rijn; A Sick Child by Dutch painter Gabriel Metsu, 31. Judith Leyster dies at Heemstede in February at age 50, having outlived three of her five children; Diego Velázquez dies at Madrid August 6 at age 61.

theater, film

Theater: The Golden Fleece (La toison d'or) by Pierre Corneille in January at the Théâtre du Marais, Paris.

architecture, real estate

Francesco Borromini completes Rome's Church of S. Ivo della Sapienza.

agriculture

French planters start cultivation of cacao on Martinique, replacing cotton fields with cacao plantations (see sugar, 1654); the first beans from the island will arrive at Paris in 1679.

food and drink

England's Charles II builds the nation's first ice house in St. James's Park, London.

Samuel Pepys at London notes in his secret diary that he has drunk a "cup of tee (a China drink) of which I never had drank before" (see 1658). Tea sells for about £6 per pound (see East India Company, 1664).

population

London's population rises to roughly 450,000, up from an estimated 350,000 to 400,000 in 1650 (see 1700).

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