1666 in England

1666 in England:
Other years
1664 \| 1665 \| 1666 \| 1667 \| 1668

Events from the year 1666 in England. This is the first year to be designated as an Annus mirabilis, in John Dryden's 1667 poem so titled, celebrating England's failure to be beaten either by fire or by the Dutch.

1 Incumbents
2 Events
- 2.1 Undated
3 Publications
4 Births
5 Deaths
6 References
7 See also

Incumbents

Monarch - King Charles II

Events

1 February - Royal court returns to London after the Great Plague of London.^[1]
1 June–4 June Second Anglo-Dutch War : Inconclusive Four Days Battle, one of the longest naval engagements in history.^[1]
25 July - Second Anglo-Dutch War: English fleet beats Dutch under Michiel de Ruyter at St. James's Day Battle.^[1]
2 September - Great Fire of London:^[2] 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 10,000 buildings including St. Paul's Cathedral, but only 16 people are known to have died.
5 September - Great Fire of London ends.^[2] Destruction of overcrowded houses ends Great Plague of London.

Undated

Isaac Newton develops differential calculus.
Newton uses a prism to split sunlight into its spectrum of colours, which leads to a greater understanding of the nature of light.
First Burying in Woollen Act.^[3]

Publications

Thomas Hobbes' work De principiis et ratiocinatione geometrarum.

Births

13 August - William Wotton, scholar (died 1727)
December - Stephen Gray (died 1736)
Mary Astell, writer (died 1731)
Josiah Burchett, Secretary of the Admiralty (died 1746)
John Harris, writer and encyclopaedist (died 1719)
John Quelch, English pirate (died 1704)

Deaths

16 January - Dudley North, 3rd Baron North, nobleman (born 1581)
24 February - Nicholas Lanier, composer (born 1588)
30 June - Alexander Brome, poet (born 1620)
10 July - John Fell, churchman (born 1625)
25 July - Montagu Bertie, 2nd Earl of Lindsey, noble (born 1608)
29 October
- Edmund Calamy the Elder, Presbyterian leader (born 1600)
- James Shirley, dramatist (born 1596)
Sir William Clarke, politician
Sir Richard Fanshawe, diplomat and translator (born 1608)
John Holles, 2nd Earl of Clare, noble (born 1595)
James Howell, writer (born 1594)
Christopher Myngs, admiral and pirate (born 1625)

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Palmer, Alan; Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 190–191. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
^ ^a ^b Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
^ "Charles II, 1666: An Act for Burying in Woollen onely". British History Online. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=47386. Retrieved 2011-08-18.

Years in the Kingdom of England (927–1706)

Centuries	10th century

Decades	1000s 1010s 1020s 1030s 1040s 1050s 1060s 1070s 1080s 1090s 1100s 1110s 1120s 1130s 1140s 1150s 1160s 1170s 1180s 1190s 1200s 1210s 1220s 1230s 1240s 1250s 1260s 1270s 1280s 1290s 1300s 1310s 1320s 1330s 1340s 1350s 1360s 1370s 1380s 1390s 1400s 1410s 1420s 1430s 1440s 1450s 1460s 1470s 1480s 1490s 1500s 1510s 1520s 1530s 1540s 1550s 1560s 1570s 1580s 1590s 1600s 1610s 1620s 1630s

Years	1640 1641 1642 1643 1644 1645 1646 1647 1648 1649 1650 1651 1652 1653 1654 1655 1656 1657 1658 1659 1660 1661 1662 1663 1664 1665 1666 1667 1668 1669 1670 1671 1672 1673 1674 1675 1676 1677 1678 1679 1680 1681 1682 1683 1684 1685 1686 1687 1688 1689 1690 1691 1692 1693 1694 1695 1696 1697 1698 1699 1700 1701 1702 1703 1704 1705 1706