Partial Chronology of "Recent Events", 1550 - 1650
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1564 - Mary Stuart marries Lord Darnley.
1567 - Mary abdicates.
1587 - Mary, Queen of Scots beheaded.
1588 - Spanish Armada.
1600 - First refracting telescope.
1601 - Hamlet written.
1603 - James VI of Scotland inherits Elizabeth's throne and becomes James I of England.
1605 - Gun Powder Plot to blow up parliament fails.
1610 - Tea drinking introduced to Europe.
1611 - King James version of Bible completed.
1615 - First Scots recruited to fight for Sweden. First microscope.
1616 - First German military academy. Shakespeare dies.
1618 - Bohemian Period of 30 Years War (1618-25) May 23rd Protestants throw 2 Catholic governors out of a window in Bohemia and form a revolutionary directory - starting the 30 Years war. Harvey discovers the circulation of blood.
1619 - Ferdinand II becomes Holy Roman Emperor.
1620 - Sweden fights with Poles in Riga, Poland continues to fight with Poland for control of Baltic Sea ports off and on until 1629. Pilgrims land in New World. Bohemian army destroyed in Battle of White Hill.
1622 - Imperial armies defeat enemy mercenary leaders.
1624 - Lull in war. Cardinal Richelieu Prime Minister of France. Founding of New Amsterdam (later, New York).
1625 - Danish Period of war (1625-29) Netherlands and England help finance invasion by Christian IV of Denmark. Charles I crowned king of England, Scotland and Ireland. Sweden invades Prussia, capture Dorpat, Poland.
1626 - Sweden defeats east and west Prussia and they become provinces of Sweden. Wallenstein & Tilly defeat Protestants at Desau Bridge and Lutter.
1627 - Imperial armies expel enemy forces from Pomerania, Holstein and Mecklenburg.
1628 - Gustavus signs treaty of alliance with Stralsund at bridgehead. Swedish ship "Vasa" sinks before leaving harbor on maiden voyage. French royalists take Huguenot fortress of La Rochelle.
1629 - Peace of Lubeck: Denmark withdraws from war. Gustavus warns Swedish Diet that if not stopped, the Holy Roman Empire could gain control of the Baltic Sea. Richelieu arranges peace between Poland & Sweden.
1630 - Swedish Period of war (1630-35) July, Gustavus enters the war by landing 13,000 troops in Pomerania. Reinforcements from Scotland, Sweden, Brandenberg and Poland increase number to 40,000 before advancing south. General Wallenstein dismissed, Imperial army under Tilly's command.
1631 - Tilly sacks Magdeburg. Swedes plunder art treasures of Rhine in the area known as "Priests Lane."
1632 - Wallenstein recalled. Swedes conquer Bavaria, win Battle of Lutzen in spite of Gustavus death.
1633 - Galileo recants before the Inquisition
1634 - Wallenstein assassinated. Battle of Nordlingen, most of Scots under Sweden killed. Swedes plunder and evacuate southern Germany.
1635 - Swedish-French period of war (1635-48).
1636 - Swedish victory at Wittstock. Imperial armies invade France.
1643 - Solemn League and Covenant makes Presbyterianism Compulsory in Scotland.
1645 - Battles of Inverlochy and Auldearn.
1648 - Peace of Westphalia ends Thirty Years War.
1649 - Climax of English Civil War. Execution of Charles I.
1650 - Cromwell defeats Scottish royalists at Dunbar. Execution of Montrose, Cromwell rules Scotland and England.