1666 Totally Explained

Everything about 1666 totally explained

Year 1666 (MDCLXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar).
Often called Annus Mirabilis, the year 1666 is mentioned in the poem Annus Mirabilis. This year also saw a great advance in mathematics and physics by Isaac Newton. The year is also known for having all the Roman numerals, used only once, in order from biggest to smallest value.

Events of 1666

January - June

June 11-June 14 - Four Days Battle between England and the Netherlands in the Second Anglo-Dutch War.

July - December

August 5 - In the St. James's Day Battle, an English fleet defeats the Dutch under Michiel de Ruyter.

August 9 - Rear Admiral Robert Holmes leads a raid on the Dutch island of Terschelling, destroying 150 merchant ships in the Vlie estuary, and pillaging the town of West-Terschelling, an act later referred to as "Holmes's Bonfire".

September 2 - Great Fire of London: A large fire breaks out in London in the house of Charles II's baker on Pudding Lane near London Bridge. The fire burns for three days destroying ten thousand buildings including St. Paul's Cathedral, but only sixteen people are known to have died. People claimed that it was the Devil's deed, for 1666 contains 666.

September 5 - The Great Fire of London ends.

Undated

Sir Isaac Newton uses a prism to split sunlight into its component colors, which helped us understand the nature of light more comprehensively. (See optical spectrum).

Lund University founded in Lund, Sweden.

Jean Talon completes a census of New France, the first census in North America.

Louis XIV founds the French Academy of Sciences.

The Russian Orthodox Church holds a sobor (church council) which deposes Patriarch Nikon, but accepts his liturgical reforms. Dissenters from his reforms, known as Old Believers, continue to this day.

Births

February 9 - George Hamilton, 1st Earl of Orkney, British soldier (d. 1737)

March 15 - George Bähr, German architect (d. 1738)

May 14 - Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia (d. 1732)

July 10 - John Ernest Grabe, German-born Anglican theologian (d. 1711)

August 13 - William Wotton, English scholar (d. 1727)

September 6 - Tsar Ivan V of Russia (d. 1696)

December 26 - Guru Gobind Singh (d. 1708)

date unknown

ť See also .

Deaths

January 20 - Anne of Austria, queen of Louis XIII of France and regent (born 1601)

January 22 - Shah Jahan, Mughal Emperor of India (born 1592)

January 24 - Johann Andreas Herbst, German composer (born 1588)

February 24 - Nicholas Lanier, English composer (born 1588)

June 14 - Tierck Hiddes de Vries, Frisan naval hero and commander (b. 1622)

June 16 - Sir Richard Fanshawe, British diplomat and translator (born 1608)

June 30 - Alexander Brome, English poet (born 1620)

July 5 - Albert VI of Bavaria (born 1584)

August 15 - Johann Adam Schall von Bell, German Jesuit missionary (born 1591)

August 26 - Frans Hals, Dutch painter (born 1580)

October 29 - Edmund Calamy the Elder, English Presbyterian leader (born 1600)

October 29 - James Shirley, English dramatist (born 1596)

December 9 - Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (Guercino), Italian painter (born 1591)

date unknown

Philip Fruytiers, Flemish painter (born 1627)
James Howell, British writer (born c.1594)
Song Yingxing, Chinese encyclopedist (born 1587) ť See also .

Further Information

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