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Sweden's Karl (Charles) XII finds his way back to Stockholm and will lead another army into Norway. Hanover and Brandenburg both declare war on Sweden.
France's Louis XIV dies at Versailles September 1 at age 76 after a 72-year reign. His great-grandson, now 5, will reign until 1774 as Louis XV, initially with Philippe II Bourbon, 41, duc d'Orléans as regent. The king had legitimized his two illegitimate sons and made provision in his will that they should have effective power in order to keep the Orléans family from undoing his system of royal despotism, but Orléans induces the Parlement of Paris (high court of justice) to annul the will September 12 and institutes an experimental system of conciliar government (la polysynodie) with the intent of restoring political power to the high nobility (but see 1718). French prelate André Hercule de Fleury, 62, is named tutor to the new king and will have great influence over Louis until he dies in 1743 (see 1726). France's middle class, established during the Sun King's long reign, holds a solid position that will become even stronger during the next two reigns.
The death of the roi de soleil weakens the position of the Jacobite pretender James (Francis) Edward Stuart, now 27, who has challenged the House of Hanover's claim to the British throne (see 1708; 1714). The Scottish Jacobite John Erskine, 40, earl of Mar, raises a rebellion against Britain's George I, gaining support from Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat; Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke; James Butler, 50, duke of Ormonde; Robert Harley, 54, 1st earl of Oxford; and much of the English and Scottish public, but the Lowlands remain largely loyal to George I. English authorities imprison Oxford in the Tower of London and force Bolingbroke and Ormonde to flee, but Scottish authorities pardon Lord Lovat and grant him a liferent on the estates for which he married his grandfather's widow (see 1701). Now 48, Lovat will secure complete possession of the estates in 1733 (see Culloden, 1746).
The Battle of Sheriffmuir 6 miles east of Stirling September 13 halts the earl of Mar in his march on Edinburgh. Some 2,200 Royalist infantry and 960 dragoons under the command of John Campbell, 37, 2nd duke of Argyll, intercept Mar's Jacobite army of 6,290 infantry and 807 cavalry; the sons of Sir Ewen Cameron (of Lochiel), now 86, lead the Cameron clan into battle, but Argyll forces the Jacobites to retreat to Perth after losing 350 killed and wounded (the Jacobites lose 250 killed and wounded; outlaw Rob Roy plunders the dead of both sides). The Royalists defeat an uprising at Preston in the north of England November 13 and 14, killing 42 and taking 1,468 prisoners while losing 200 kllled and wounded. The change in French policy has prevented the pretender James Edward from joining his troops, but he lands near Peterhead December 22 and tries to rally support (see 1716).
A pamphlet entitled "A Defence of the New-England Charters" by Boston-born British colonial agent Jeremiah Dummer, 34, uses ideas propounded by John Locke to inveigh against any changes in existing charter rights, which have come under attack in Parliament. A 1699 Harvard graduate who received a doctorate from the University of Utrecht in 1703, Dummer voyaged to London in 1708 to defend Massachusetts's claim to Martha's Vineyard in 1708, was appointed colonial agency for the Massachusetts Bay colony late in 1710, and 3 years ago was given an additional appointment as the Connecticut colony's agent in Britain.
Former British colonial governor of New York Thomas Dongan, 2nd earl of Limerick, dies at London December 14 at age 81.
French forces in the Indian Ocean take Mauritius from the Dutch, who have held it since 1638.
Kandahar's Ghilzai chief Mir Vais dies after a 4-year reign. His eldest son, 18, succeeds as Mir Mahmoud, but Mahmoud's uncle Abdullah seizes power with every intention of making peace with Persia. Mahmoud gathers 40 supporters, assassinates Abdullah, is proclaimed ruler, and will reign until 1725.
Black slaves comprise 24 percent of the Virginia colony's population, up from less than 5 percent in 1671.
English colonial forces in America defeat Yamassee and allied tribes in the South Carolina colony and drive them across the Spanish border into Florida.
Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, dies at London February 21 at age 77. The Maryland colony is returned to the Calvert family, which lost it in 1692 (see 1729).
Explorer and privateer William Dampier dies in poverty at London in March at age 62 before receiving his share of the spoils from the expedition on which he sailed around the world 4 years ago as pilot for Captain Woodes Rogers.
British statesman Charles Montagu, 1st earl of Halifax, dies at London May 19 at age 54 just 7 months after taking office as first lord of the Treasury, a position he held from 1697 to 1699.
Japan becomes alarmed at the amount of copper that has been exported by Dutch and Chinese traders and reduces the amount that may be exported. The number of Dutch vessels permitted to call annually at Nagasaki will be cut to two (see 1641).
Methodus Incrementorum Directa et Inversa by English mathematician Brook Taylor, 30, establishes the calculus of finite differences and sets forth Taylor's theorem, a fundamental theorem concerning functions. It is the first treatise on finite differences. Taylor also publishes Linear Perspective.
Nonfiction: Advice to the Tories Who Have Taken the Oaths by philosopher George Berkeley.
Sculptor François Girardon dies at Paris September 1 at age 87.
Theater: The Tragedy of Lady Jane Gray by Nicholas Rowe 4/20 at London's Drury Lane Theatre; The Battles of Kokusenya (Kokusenya Kassen) by Monzaemon Chikamatsu 11/26 at Osaka's Tekemoto Puppet Theater.
Playwright and poet laureate Nahum Tate dies at London July 30 at age 63 (approximate).
First performances: Water Music Suite No. 1 in F major by George Frideric Handel 8/22 on the Thames at London.
French agriculture is in decline after the long reign of Louis XIV, much of the peasantry has become impoverished, and great areas of land have gone out of cultivation (see commerce [Boisguilbert], 1695).
French distiller Jean Martell arrives at Cognac, 113 kilometers northeast of Bordeaux on the Charente River, and begins distilling brandy (burnt wine, known to Dutch immigrants as brandewijn and to Germans as branndwein) from the harsh local wine. By 1728 J. & F. Martell and others will have exported 17,000 barrels of cognac brandy. The best are made from grapes grown in open country known as the grand champagne, the second-best from those grown in the petite champagne. The French government will develop rules requiring that cognacs labeled V. S. O. P. (Very Superior Old Pale) or Reservé must be aged in wood for at least 4 years and that those labeled V. V. O., V. V. S. O., V. V. S. O. P., X. O., Vielle Reserve, or Vieux must be aged in wood for at least 5 years. Most brands will have much older cognacs added to enhance their taste and bouquet (see Rémy Martin, 1724; Hennessy, 1765).
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