March 1– In exile in the Netherlands while plotting the restoration of the monarchy to England, Scotland and Ireland,Charles, son of the late King Charles Iappoints seven royalists (including six from the "Sealed Knot"group) to a" Great Trust and Commission "to make plans for a post-restoration government. The Great Trust is led by Charles's trusted advisor,Edward Hyde.
March 11– PrinceDara Shikoh,who had been the heir apparent to the throne of theMughal EmpireinIndiauntil the overthrow of his father,Shah Jahan,makes a stand nearAjmerto fight the armies sent by Mughal EmperorAurangzeb,but loses and is forced to flee.
May 25–Richard Cromwellresigns as EnglishLord Protector,submitting "a letter that may have been dictated to him."[6]In the letter, signed by Cromwell in front of Sir Gilbert Pickering and Lord Chief-Justice St. John, "I have perused the Resolve and Declaration, which you were pleased to deliver to me the other Night," and after listing his personal debts to be paid in return for stepping down, "As to that Part of the Resolve, whereby the Committee are to inform themselves, How far I do acquiesce in the Government of this Commonwealth, as it is declared by this Parliament; I trust, my past Carriage hitherto hath manifested my Acquiescence in the Will and Disposition of God; and that I love and value the Peace of this Commonwealth much above my own Concernments: And I desire, that by this, a Measure of my future Deportment may be taken; which, thro' the Assistance of God, shall be such as shall bear the same Witness; having, I hope, in some degree, learned rather to reverence and submit to the Hand of God, than to be unquiet under it: And, as to the late Providences that have fallen out amongst us, however, in respect of the particular Engagements that lay upon me, I could not be active in making a Change in the Government of these Nations, yet through the Goodness of God, I can freely acquiesce in it, being made; and do hold myself obliged."[7]The executive government is replaced by the restored Council of State, dominated by Generals John Lambert, Charles Fleetwood andJohn Desborough.The Council of State is dismissed by the Rump Parliament on October 13 and replaced by the "Committee of Safety" on October 25.[8]
June 10–Dara Shikoh,at one time the heir apparent for theMughal Empire,is betrayed by an Afghan chieftain, Junaid Khan Barozai, who had initially given him refuge from pursuit from the new emperor, Aurangzeb. Turned over to Aurangzeb's men, Dara Shikoh is killed on August 30.
July –Christiaan Huygens's important work on astronomy,Systema Saturnium,is published.[9]
August 3–Booth's Uprising,led byGeorge Booth,begins in the city ofChesteras 3,000 royalists attempt a revolt against the military government of England. English Army troops begin marching on August 5 to suppress the rebellion.
August 15– Two English warships block the entrance to theRiver Deeto prevent supplies from reaching Booth's rebels in Chester, while Major GeneralJohn Lambertof the English Army advances intoCheshireatNantwich.
August 19– At theBattle of Winnington Bridge,theProtectorate Armyof 5,000 troops, dispatched by Parliament and under the command of Major General Lambert, routs the 4,000anti-government rebelscommanded by George Booth of England andEdward Broughtonof Wales. Lambert and his forces, exhausted from their rapid march and the battle, elect not to pursue the fleeing rebels and less than 30 rebels are killed.[10]
September 20– War betweenDutch settlersand the nativeLenapeIndians, of theEsopustribe, in modern-dayUlster County, New York,in the U.S., as a group of Dutch settlers from the village ofWiltwijck,New Netherlandfires their guns at a group of Esopus men who have been sitting around a campfire. For the next ten months, the Esopus warriors, commanded by Chief Papequanaehen, fight a war with the Dutch that is finally settled with a peace treaty on July 15, 1660.
September 22– The Ottoman-ruled island ofKizilhisar(called Castelrosso by Italy and in modern times the island of Kastellorizo in Greece) is captured from the Ottoman Empire by the navy of the Republic of Venice after nearly 150 years of Ottoman rule that had started in 1512.
September 30–Peter Stuyvesantof New Netherland forbids tennis playing during religious services, marking the first mention of tennis in what will become the United States.
November 25– Dutch forces underMichiel de Ruyterfree the Danish city ofNyborgfrom Swedish conquest that had taken place earlier in the year.
December 16– GeneralGeorge Monckdemands free parliamentary elections in Scotland and resolves to overthrow the military government that has ruled the British Isles since 1648.
Peter Swink, the first known non-white settler to own land in Massachusetts, and first known African to live in Springfield, Massachusetts, arrives. He holds a seat in the town meetings.
^James Atkinson,Tracts Relating to the Civil War in Cheshire, 1641–1659; including Sir George Booth's rising in that county(The Chetham Society, 1909) pp. 167-172
