1642

Updated on Sep 28, 2024

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1642 (MDCXLII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (dominical letter E) of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Saturday (dominical letter B) of the Julian calendar, the 1642nd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 642nd year of the 2nd millennium, the 42nd year of the 17th century, and the 3rd year of the 1640s decade. As of the start of 1642, the Gregorian calendar was 10 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.

January–June

January 4 – First English Civil War: Charles I attempts to arrest 6 leading members of the Long Parliament, but they escape.

March 1 – Georgeana, Massachusetts (now known as York, Maine) becomes the first incorporated city in America.

March 19 – the citizens of Galway seize an English naval ship, close the town gates and declare support for Confederate Ireland.

April 8 – George Spencer is executed by the New Haven Colony for alleged bestiality.

May 1 – honours granted by Charles I from this date onward are retrospectively annulled by Parliament.

May 17 – foundation of Ville-Marie, later renamed Montreal, as a permanent settlement

July–December

July – First English Civil War: Charles I besieges Hull in an attempt to gain control of its arsenal.

August 4 – Lord Forbes relieves Forthill and besieges Galway.

August 21 – First Battle of Lostwithiel.

August 22 – King Charles I raises the royal battle standard over Nottingham Castle, so declaring war on his own Parliament.

September 2 – Parliament orders the theatres of London closed, effectively ending the era of English Renaissance theatre.

September 7 – Lord Forbes raises his unsuccessful siege of Galway.

September 8 – Thomas Granger is executed by hanging at Plymouth, Massachusetts for confessing to numerous acts of bestiality.

October 23 – First English Civil War – Battle of Edgehill: Royalists and Parliamentarians battle to a draw.

November 13 – First English Civil War – Battle of Turnham Green: The Royalist forces withdraw in face of the Parliamentarian army and fail to take London.

November 24 – Abel Tasman becomes the first European to discover the island Van Diemen's Land (later renamed Tasmania).

December 13 – Abel Tasman is the first recorded European to sight New Zealand.

Date unknown

The Dutch drive Spain from Taiwan.

The village of Bro (Broo) in Sweden is granted the city rights for the second time and takes the name Kristinehamn (literally "Christina's port") after the then Swedish monarch, Queen Christina.

Rembrandt finishes his painting "The Night Watch".

The Manchu under their leader Hong Taiji raid the Ming Chinese province of Shandong from their base in Manchuria. Two years later Beijing falls to rebels, the Chongzhen Emperor commits suicide, and the Shunzhi Emperor becomes the first Qing Emperor to rule over China proper.

1642 Yellow River flood: Some 300,000 people die when the Ming dynasty army in China intentionally breaks the dams and dykes of the Yellow River to break the siege by the large rebel force of Li Zicheng.

Isaac Aboab da Fonseca is appointed rabbi in Pernambuco, Brazil, thus becoming the first rabbi of the Americas.