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England's Charles II dies at London February 6 at age 54 saying, "Let not poor Nelly starve," a reference to actress Nell Gwyn, now 34, who made her last stage appearance in 1682, has borne the king two sons, but will die in 2 years. The "merry monarch" has made a profession of the Catholic faith on his deathbed with help from his wife, Catherine da Braganza (Bragança), now 46. Charles's Catholic brother James, 51, succeeds him to begin a brief reign as James II, but the new king's nephew James, duke of Monmouth, claims "legitimate and legal" right to the throne. Monmouth is the acknowledged son of Charles. He has taken the surname Scott of his wife, Anne, countess of Buccleuch, and his mistress Henrietta Maria Wentworth, 28, baroness Wentworth, has supplied funds. He has the support of Archibald Campbell, 56, earl of Argyll, and he lands at Lyme Regis, Dorsetshire, with 82 supporters. English troops loyal to James II capture Argyll and he is executed June 30. James sends 2,500 men (six infantry battalions, four cavalry squadrons, and 17 guns) to crush Monmouth's rebellion. Monmouth has 3,700 men (five infantry battalions, 800 cavalrymen, and four guns). Monmouth mounts a night attack, but the government troops easily defeat him in Somerset July 6 at the Battle of Sedgemoor, the last formal battle on English soil. The government army loses 300 killed and wounded; about 1,000 in the rebel army are killed and 500 taken prisoner; three of its four guns are captured; Monmouth himself is captured and beheaded; and savage vengeance is imposed on the West Country. Welsh-born Protestant judge George Jeffreys, 40, has been made 1st Baron Jeffreys (of Wem) and presides over the "Bloody Assizes" in which he vigorously prosecutes the rebels, has about 320 hanged, orders more than 800 to be transported to Barbados, and has hundreds more flogged, fined, or imprisoned.
Titus Oates of 1678 "Popish Plot" notoriety is found guilty of perjury in May and sentenced by George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys, to be flogged, pilloried, and imprisoned for life. Oates will be pardoned in 1689 and allowed a pension of £300 per year following the accession of England's new king. Informer Thomas Dangerfield is convicted of libel for his anti-Catholic tract of 1679; pilloried in public and whipped, he is assaulted and struck in the eye with a cane by barrister Robert Francis and dies of the blow soon afterward at age 35.
Former English secretary of state Henry Bennet, 1st earl of Arlington, dies at Euston, Suffolk, July 28 at age 67, still holding the lucrative position of lord chamberlain that he has enjoyed since September 1674.
Dahomey's king Wegbaja dies after a 40-year reign that has created the kingdom at Abomey in West Africa. Oral history has it that three brothers competed at the start of this century for the kingdom of Allada, which had grown rich in the slave trade, and when one of the brothers prevailed the other two fled, one going to the southeast, where he founded Porto Novo on the coast east of Ouidah, the other to the north, where he founded the kingdom of Abomey (now Dahomey), with all three paying tribute to the Yoruba kingdom of Oyo to the east. Wegbaja's son Akaba succeeds to the throne and will reign until 1708 (see 1698).
A Code Noir issued at Paris establishes humane relations with respect to treatment of slaves on French colonial plantations, but planters will generally disregard the code.
French entrepreneurs establish the Guinea Company to engage in the slave trade which has become increasingly popular with white people (see Senegal Company, 1673).
Barbados has 46,000 slaves, up from 6,000 in 1645. Blacks outnumber Europeans two to one.
British colonial authorities in Canada find themselves short of currency; to facilitate commerce, they assign monetary values to playing cards and permit their use as money.
Treatise on Algebra by mathematician John Wallis, now 68, applies the study of equations to the properties of cone-like objects (conoids).
Mathematician-clergyman John Pell dies at London December 12 at age 75; he is celebrated as the man who introduced the division sign into England.
Jesuit humanist-historian Daniello Bartoli dies at Rome January 12 at age 76, having written biographies of Ignatius Loyola, Francis Xavier, and Francis Borgia.
The revocation of France's 1598 Edict of Nantes October 18 forbids the practice of any religion except Catholicism after 87 years of religious toleration; it orders Huguenot clergymen to leave the country within 14 days, but Huguenot layman caught trying to emigrate may be condemned to the galleys for life.
Nonfiction: An edition of Pliny's Natural History (Secundi Historae Naturalis libri XXXVII) by Jean Hardouin is published at Paris.
Poetry: Of Divine Love by Edmund Waller, now 79.
Painting: Philip, Earl of Leicester by Godfrey Kneller. Adriaen van Ostade dies at Haarlem May 2 at age 74; Juan Carreño de Miranda at Madrid in September at age 71.
Playwright Thomas Otway dies penniless in a London alehouse April 10 at age 33.
Arcangelo Corelli's 12 Chamber Trio Sonatas for Two Violins, Violone, and Violoncello or Harpsichord, Opus 2 is published at Rome.
More London coffeehouses open following the death of King Charles, who tried to close down such places 10 years ago.
Upwards of 50,000 French Huguenot families begin emigrating in defiance of the ban imposed by the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Half a million people will leave for England (Spitalfields), Holland, Denmark, Sweden, the Protestant German states, South Africa, and North America. Many countries will attract the emigrants by offering tax exemptions and transportation subsidies. The emigrants will include so many seamen that French shipping will be hurt for generations to come, and the loss of so many craftsmen and intellectuals will leave France crippled.
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