1685

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1685 (MDCLXXXV) was a common year starting on Monday (dominical letter G) of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Thursday (dominical letter D) of the Julian calendar, the 1685th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 685th year of the 2nd millennium, the 85th year of the 17th century, and the 6th year of the 1680s decade. Note that the Julian day for 1685 is 10 calendar days difference, which continued to be used from 1582 until the complete conversion of the Gregorian calendar was entirely done in 1929.

Events

January–June

• February 6 – James Stuart, Duke of York becomes James II of England and Ireland and King James VII of Scotland in succession to his brother Charles II (1630–1685), King of England, Scotland, and Ireland since 1660. James II and VII reigns to 1688.
• February 20 – René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, intending to establish a colony near the mouth of the Mississippi River, lands with 200 surviving colonists at Matagorda Bay on the Texas coast, believing the Mississippi near. He establishes Fort St. Louis. ^[1]
• March – Louis XIV of France passes the Code Noir, allowing the full use of slaves in the French colonies.
• May 11 – The Killing Time: Five Covenanters in Wigtown, Scotland, notably Margaret Wilson, are executed for refusing to swear an oath declaring King James of England, Scotland and Ireland as head of the church, becoming the 'Wigtown martyrs'.^[2]
• June 11 – Monmouth Rebellion: James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, illegitimate son of King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland, lands at Lyme Regis with an invasion force brought from the Netherlands to challenge his uncle, James II, for the Crown of England.^[3]
• June 20 – Monmouth Rebellion: James, Duke of Monmouth declares himself at Taunton to be King and heir to his father's Kingdoms as James II of England and Ireland and James VII of Scotland.^[3]

July–December

• July 6 – Monmouth Rebellion – Battle of Sedgemoor: the armies of King James II of England defeat rebel forces under James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth and capture the Duke himself, shortly after the battle.
• July 15 – James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth is executed at Tower Hill, London.
• August 25 – The Bloody Assizes begin in Winchester; over 1000 of Monmouth's rebels tried and condemned to death or transportation.
• September – The first organised street lighting was introduced in London with oil lamps to be lit outside every tenth house on moonless winter nights.
• October 18–October 19 – Louis XIV issues the Edict of Fontainebleau, which revokes the Edict of Nantes and declares Protestantism illegal, thereby depriving Huguenots of civil rights.

Date unknown

• The Chinese army of the Qing dynasty attacks a Russian post at Albazin, during the reigns of the Kangxi Emperor and the dual Russian rulers Ivan V of Russia and Peter I of Russia. The events lead to the Treaty of Nerchinsk.^[4]
• Adam Baldridge finds a pirate base at Île Sainte-Marie in Madagascar.

• Louis XIV is married to Madame de Maintenon in a secret ceremony.
• The Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow in the State of New York in the United States was constructed by the original Dutch settlers of New York, later to become famous as the site of the rampage of the "Headless Horseman" spirit in the early American author Washington Irving's novel The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Births

Johann Sebastian Bach

George Frideric Handel

• January 7 – Jonas Alströmer, Swedish industrialist (d. 1761)
• January 9 – Tiberius Hemsterhuis, Dutch philologist (d. 1766)
• February 8 – Charles-Jean-François Hénault, French historian (d. 1770)
• February 10 – Aaron Hill, English writer (d. 1750)
• February 23 – George Frideric Handel, German composer (d. 1759)
• March 12 – George Berkeley, English philosopher (d. 1753)
• March 18 – Ralph Erskine, Scottish minister (d. 1752)
• March 31 – Johann Sebastian Bach, German composer (d. 1750)
• June 30 – John Gay, English writer (d. 1732)
• July 3 – Sir Robert Rich, 4th Baronet, British cavalry officer (d. 1768)
• August 18 – Brook Taylor, English mathematician (d. 1731)
• October 1 – Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1740)
• October 26 – Domenico Scarlatti, Italian composer (d. 1757)
• October 28 – Hans Gram (historian), Danish historian and professor (d. 1748)
• November 17 – Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye, French-Canadian trader and explorer (d. 1749)
• December 17 – Thomas Tickell, English writer (d. 1740)

Deaths

• January 2 – Harbottle Grimston, English politician (b. 1603)
• February 6 – King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland (b. 1630)
• February 11 – David Teniers III, Flemish painter (b. 1638)
• February 24 – Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Carlisle, English politician and military leader (b. 1629)
• March 22 – Emperor Go-Sai of Japan (b. 1638)
• April – Adriaen van Ostade, Dutch painter and engraver whose subject matter included tavern scenes, peasants drinking and smoking, itinerant musicians, village festivities and quaint village characters (b. 1610)
• May 11 – Margaret Wilson and Margaret McLachlan, the Wigtown martyrs
• May 26 – Karl II, Elector Palatine (b. 1651)
• July 15 – James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, illegitimate son of Charles II of England (beheaded) (b. 1649)
• July 28 – Henry Bennet, 1st Earl of Arlington, English statesman (b. 1618)
• September 1 – Leoline Jenkins, Welsh lawyer and diplomat (b. 1625)
• October 12 – Christoph Ignaz Abele, Austrian jurist (b. 1628)
• October 30 – Michel Le Tellier, French statesman (b. 1603)
• December 12 – John Pell, English mathematician (b. 1610)
• date unknown – Nalan Xingde, Chinese poet who became a scholar and officer in the Imperial Bodyguard (b. 1655)

References