1681

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1681 (MDCLXXXI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Saturday (dominical letter B) of the Julian calendar, the 1681st year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 681st year of the 2nd millennium, the 81st year of the 17th century, and the 2nd year of the 1680s decade. As of the start of 1681, the Gregorian calendar was 10 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.

Events

January–June

• January 3 – Treaty of Bakhchisarai between the Ottoman vassal Crimean Khanate and the Russian Empire.
• March 4 – Charles II of England grants a land charter to William Penn for the area that will later become Pennsylvania.
• April – Following the death of its last count, the Palatinate-Landsberg passes to the King of Sweden.
• May 15 – The Canal du Midi in France is opened officially as the Canal Royal de Languedoc.^[1]

July–December

• July 1 – Oliver Plunkett, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, falsely convicted in June of treason, is hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn, London, the last Catholic martyr to die in England;^[2] he is canonised in 1975.
• August – English sea captain Robert Knox of the East India Company escapes prison in Ceylon, and details his adventures across Kandy and life in the kingdoms of the Tamil country Vanni in his book An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon.
• August 12 – The Ahom King Gadadhar Singha or Gadapani, who takes the Tai name Supaatphaa, ascends the throne.
• August 31 – English perjurer Titus Oates is told to leave his state apartments in Whitehall; his fame begins to wane and he is soon arrested and imprisoned for sedition.
• September 30 – France annexes the city of Strasbourg (German: Strassburg), previously a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire.
• October 28 – A London woman is publicly flogged for the crime of "involving herself in politics."
• December – Wu Shifan, grandson of Chinese general Wu Sangui, commits suicide in Yunnan province, ending the 8-year conflict of the Revolt of the Three Feudatories against Qing dynasty authority in China, at this time led by the Kangxi Emperor.
• December 22 – King Charles II of England signs a warrant for the building of the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London for wounded and retired soldiers.

Date unknown

• Collections are made in England for needy French refugees.
• The bell "Emmanuel" in Notre Dame de Paris is recast.
• The Port of Honfleur in France is re-modelled by Abraham Duquesne.
• The basilica of Santa Maria della Salute in Venice, designed by Baldassarre Longhena in 1631, is dedicated.
• Possible date – The last dodo bird is killed.

Births

• March 14 – Georg Philipp Telemann, German composer (d. 1767)
• June 26 – Hedvig Sophia of Sweden, Swedish princess (d. 1708)
• August 5 – Vitus Bering, Danish explorer (d. 1741)
• September 11 – Johann Gottlieb Heineccius, German jurist (d. 1741)
• September 28 – Johann Mattheson, German composer (d. 1764)
• November 17 – Pierre François le Courayer, French theologian (d. 1776)
• November 28 – Jean Cavalier, French Protestant rebel leader (d. 1740)

Deaths

• January 28 – Richard Allestree, English royalist churchman (b. c. 1621)
• March 12 – Frans van Mieris the Elder, Dutch painter (b. 1635)
• May 25 – Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Spanish dramatist and poet (b. 1600)
• July 1 – Oliver Plunkett, Irish saint (b. 1629)
• July 25 – Urian Oakes, English-born President of Harvard University (b. 1631)
• August 22 – Philippe Delano, Dutch Plymouth Colony settler (b. 1602)
• December 22 – Richard Alleine, English Puritan clergyman (b. 1611)
• date unknown
  • Gerard ter Borch, Dutch painter (b. 1617)
  • John Pordage, Anglican vicar.
  • Marie Fouquet, French medical writer and philanthropist (b. 1590)
  • Fatima Soltan, sovereign queen of the Qasim Khanate.

References