1692

Events

January–March

January 24 –King William's War - Candlemas Massacre: At least 75 residents of what is now York, Maine are killed by French soldiers, led by missionary Louis-Pierre Thury, along with a larger force of Abenaki and Penobscot Indians, under the command of Penobscot Chief Madockawando.
January 30 – English Army General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, a close adviser to King William III of England, is fired from all of his jobs by the English Secretary of State, the Earl of Nottingham, on orders of Mary II of England.
February 13 – Massacre of Glencoe: The forces of Robert Campbell slaughter around 30 members of the Clan MacDonald of Glencoe in Scotland, for delaying to sign an oath of allegiance to King William III of England.
February 17 – An annular solar eclipse is visible across Russia, western Mongolia, Xinjiang, Iran, Afghanistan and Iran.
March 1 – The Salem witch trials begin in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony, with the charging of 3 women with witchcraft. Tituba, a slave owned by Samuel Parris, is the first to be arrested, and she implicates Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne, who are arrested later in the day.
March 22 – The Kangxi Emperor of the Qing dynasty issues the Edict of Toleration, recognizing all the members of the Roman Catholic Church, not just the Jesuits, and legalizing missions and their conversion of Chinese people to the Christian Faith.

April–June

April 18 – Giles Corey, Mary Warren, Abigail Hobbs and Bridget Bishop, all residents of Salem, Massachusetts, are arrested and charged with the practice of witchcraft.
May 2 – The first performance of the semi-opera The Fairy-Queen by Henry Purcell, based on William Shakespeare's comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream, takes place at the Queen's Theatre, Dorset Garden in London.
May 29 – Nine Years' War: Battle of Barfleur – The Anglo-Dutch fleet breaks the French line off the Cotentin Peninsula, foiling the French plan to invade England.
June 13–14 – Nine Years' War: Battle of La Hogue – The action begun at Barfleur ends with further destruction of the French fleet.
June 7 – Jamaica earthquake: An earthquake and related tsunami destroy Port Royal, capital of Jamaica, and submerge a major part of it; an estimated 2,000 are immediately killed, 2,300 injured, and a probable additional 2,000 die from the diseases which ravage the island in the following months.
June 8 – During a famine in Mexico City, an angry mob torches the Viceroy's palace and ignites the archives; most of the documents and some paintings are saved by royal geographer Carlos de Sigüenza y Góngora.
June 10 – The Salem witch trials' first victim, Bridget Bishop, is hanged for witchcraft.

July–September

July 1 – The siege of the Belgian city of Namur in the Spanish Netherlands ends as Dutch General Menno van Coehoorn capitulates to King Louis XIV of France after five weeks. The siege, a battle in the ongoing Nine Years War, had begun on May 24.
July 5 – Wine shop owner Antoine Savetier and his wife are murdered by thieves in the French city of Lyon, and a peasant named Jacques Aymar-Vernay is called in as a detective to solve the case. Aymar finds one of the perpetrators, Joseph Arnoul, who confesses to the crime and implicates two accomplices who manage to escape. Arnoul is executed by being "broken on the wheel" on August 30.
August 12
* The city of Ponce is founded in Puerto Rico.
* A total solar eclipse is visible in the South Atlantic Ocean.
September 8 – An earthquake in Brabant of scale 5.8 is felt across the Low Countries, Germany and England.
September 14 – Diego de Vargas leads Spanish colonists in retaking the city of Santa Fe, after a 12-year exile, following the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.
September 19 – Giles Corey is pressed to death in an attempt to coerce a confession from him of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials.
September 22 – The last of those convicted of witchcraft in the Salem witch trials are hanged. By the end of September, 14 women and 5 men have been executed by hanging. The remainder of those convicted are all eventually released.
September 27 – The trial for sorcery of Anne Palles of Denmark begins, and she gives a long confession of giving her body and soul to Satan. The court finds her guilty on November 2 and sentences her to death.

October–December

October 21 – In Barbados, a slave revolt is crushed.
October 30 – The King of Spain donates the lands that become the municipalities of San Francisco and Mapulaca in Honduras.
November 5 – Mohamed bin Hajj Ali Thukkala becomes the new Sultan of the Maldives as Muhammad Ali IV.
November 8 – William Mountfort's play Henry The Second, King Of England; With The Death Of Rosamond is given its first performance, premiering at the Drury Lane Theatre.
December 5 – John Goldsborough arrives in Madras as the new administrator of the British East India Company.
December 14 – Maratha Empire General Santaji Ghorpade defeats Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb's General Alimardan Khan, captures him and brings him back to fort Jinjee near Madras.
December 23 – Nahum Tate is named as the new Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom and serves for 22 years until his death.
December 24 – The French ship Soleil Royal, a three-decker First Rank ship with 104 guns, is launched at Brest Dockyard.

Births

Deaths

January–March

January 3 – Roelant Roghman, painter and engraver from the Northern Netherlands
January 4
* Paul Colomiès, French librarian
* Jean Crasset, French theologian
* Thomas Hog, parish minister
* Rombaut Pauwels, Flemish sculptor
January 7 – Fernando de Valenzuela, 1st Marquis of Villasierra, Spanish noble
January 8 – Robert Lichton, Swedish count, lieutenant-general and statesman
January 11 – Thomas Bilson, English Member of Parliament
January 16
* William O'Brien, 2nd Earl of Inchiquin, Irish nobleman
* Thomas Wynne, Welsh-American physician and politician
January 19 – Jan Commelin, Dutch botanist
January 22
* Sir James Long, 2nd Baronet, English politician;
* Lewis Owen, Welsh politician
January 23 – John Page, Virginian planter, merchant and politician
January 25 – Shubael Dummer, American Congregational church minister
January 27 – Thomas Grove, English politician
January 28 – Henry Bull, English lawyer and politician
February 3 – Jane Granville, Countess of Bath
February 4 – Francesco Niccolini, apostolic nuncio
February 5 – Joshua Brooksbank, Church of Ireland priest
February 6 – George Durant, attorney in the Province of Carolina
February 8 – Matthias Tanner, Czech baroque writer, religious writer and Roman Catholic priest
February 9 – Sir Coplestone Bampfylde, 2nd Baronet, English politician
February 11 – Anders Paulsen, Sami noaidi
February 12 – Hendrick Hamel, Dutch journalist
February 14 – Thomas Rosewell, English nonconformist minister convicted of treason
February 15 – Thomas Mun, English politician, Member of Parliament
February 16 – David Lloyd, Welsh biographer, born 1635
February 18 – Wang Fuzhi, Chinese essayist, historian and philosopher
February 23 – Bartholomeus Eggers, Flemish sculptor
February 24 – Antimo Liberati, Italian composer
March 1 – La Grange, French actor
March 3 – Countess Palatine Eleonora Catherine of Zweibrücken, sister of King Charles X of Sweden
March 7 – Henry Muddiman, English journalist
March 9 – Willem de Heusch, Dutch painter
March 13 – Augustine Reding, Swiss abbot and theologian

April–June

April 2 – Sir John Lauder, 1st Baronet, Scottish noble
April 5 – Tomás Carbonell, Roman Catholic bishop
April 6 – Emmanuel Schelstrate, Belgian theologian
April 14 – Carlos de Aragón de Gurrea, 9th Duke of Villahermosa, Spanish nobleman, viceroy and governor
April 17 – Abraham-César Lamoureux, French sculptor who worked mainly in Sweden and Denmark
April 22
* Tomás de la Cerda, 3rd Marquess of la Laguna de Camero Viejo, Spanish nobleman
* Jean Le Noir, theologian
April 23
* Giuseppe Eusanio, Roman Catholic prelate, Titular Bishop of Porphyreon
* Edward Howard, 2nd Earl of Carlisle, English politician
* Pieter Withoos, painter from the Northern Netherlands
* Johannes Zollikofer, Swiss vicar
April 30 – Kim Man-jung, Korean novelist and politician
May 3 – Edward Evelyn, British politician
May 4 – Charles III, Duke of Elbeuf, French noble
May 6 – Nathaniel Lee, English dramatist
May 9 – Albrecht of Saxe-Weissenfels, German prince
May 12 – Princess Luisa Cristina of Savoy, Princess of Savoy
May 14 – Robert Kirk, Scottish folklorist, Bible translator, Gaelic scholar
May 18 – Elias Ashmole, English antiquarian
May 21 – John Jones, English merchant and politician
May 31
* Anthony Aucher, English politician
* Nicholas Dennys, English politician
* Michele Foscarini, Italian historian
* Thomas Jones, English politician and judge
June 3 – Marie de Bourbon, Countess of Soissons, wife of Thomas Francis
June 7 – Pierre Bailloquet, Jesuit missionary to the Canadian Indians
June 8 – Henri Arnauld, French bishop
June 9 – Rebecca Rawson, Massachusetts heroine of the 1849 book Leaves from Margaret Smith's Journal
June 10 – Bridget Bishop, woman executed for witchcraft during Salem witch trials
June 18 – Michelangelo Falvetti, Italian composer
June 21 – Christian Louis I, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
June 23 – Gerard Langbaine, English dramatic biographer and critic

July–September

July 7 – Eusébio de Matos, Brazilian orator, religious and painter
July 10 – Heinrich Bach, German organist and composer
July 14 – Patrick Russell, Irish bishop
July 19
* Mercy Good, accused of witchcraft in the Salem witch trials
* Sarah Good, accused of witchcraft in the Salem witch trials
* Elizabeth Howe, one of the accused in the Salem witch trials
* Susannah Martin, woman executed for witchcraft
* Rebecca Nurse, convicted of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials
* Sarah Wildes, Salem "witch"
July 22 – Pietro del Pò, Italian painter
July 23 – Gilles Ménage, French scholar
July 31 – William Harbord, British politician
August 1 – Sir John Carew, 3rd Baronet, Member of Parliament of England
August 3
* James Douglas, Earl of Angus, Scottish nobleman and soldier
* Frederick, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, German nobleman
August 4 – Jean-Michel-d'Astorg Aubarède, Vicar Capitular of Pamiers
August 12 – Nathaniel Colburn, early settler and selectman in Dedham
August 14 – Nicolas Chorier, French historian, lawyer and writer
August 19
* George Burroughs, American pastor convicted of witchcraft
* Martha Carrier, executed for withcraft
* George Jacobs, English Colonist during the Salem Witch Trials
* John Proctor, convicted of witchcraft during the Salem Witch Trials
* John Willard, Salem Witch
August 23 – Randall Holden, colonial Rhode Island settler
August 24 – William Stewart, 1st Viscount Mountjoy, Anglo-Irish peer and soldier
August 25 – Aleijda Wolfsen, painter from the Northern Netherlands
September 3 – David Ancillon, French Huguenot pastor and author
September 4 – Claus Røyem, Dano-Norwegian civil servant and government official
September 6 – Hartvig Asche von Schack
September 15 – César Vichard de Saint-Réal, French polyglot
September 19 – Giles Corey, Massachusetts farmer and accused wizard
September 21 – Ermes di Colorêt, Italian poet, political figure
September 22
* Martha Corey, convicted of being a witch during the 1692 Salem witch trials
* Mary Eastey, woman executed in the Salem witch trials
* Mary Parker, Massachusetts colony member accused of witchcraft
* Margaret Scott, hanged as part of the Salem witch trials
* Samuel Wardwell, hanged as part of the Salem witch trials
September 28 – Cornelis Bloemaert, Dutch painter

October–December

October 1 – Diego de Aguilar, Spanish bishop
October 2 – Ann Pudeator, woman executed in the Salem witch trials
October 4 – Charles Fleetwood, English Parliamentarian soldier and politician, Lord Deputy of Ireland
October 5
* David Atwater, American colonist
* Alfonso Bernardo de los Ríos y Guzmán, archbishop of Granada
October 12 – Giovanni Battista Vitali, Italian composer
October 15 – Johannes Maximus Stainer von Pleinfelden, Roman Catholic prelate, Auxiliary Bishop of Passau
October 16 – Christian Albert, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach
October 23 – Alexander von Spaen, German general
October 25 – Jasper Schade van Westrum, Dutch representative to the States-General
October 27 – Anna Mikhailovna of Russia
October 29 – Melchisédech Thévenot, French scientist
October 30 – William Bentney, English priest
November 2 – Thomas Rudyard, American politician
November 10 – Gédéon Tallemant des Réaux, French writer
November 13
* Mary Browne, courtier
* Joseph de la Vega, Jewish Hispano-Dutch merchant, poet, and philanthropist
November 14 – Christoph Bernhard, German composer
November 16 – Theodore Poulakis, Greek artist
November 18
* Robert Holmes, British Royal Navy Admiral
* Christopher Nevile, English politician
November 19
* Thomas Shadwell, English poet and playwright
* Prince Georg Friedrich of Waldeck, Dutch general and German field marshal
November 21 – Henry Powle, English politician
November 22 – Giovanni Battista Centurione, politician
November 26
* Sir John Fowell, 3rd Baronet, English politician
* Edmund Ludlow, English politician, soldier and regicide
December 5
* Jacques Bizard, Canadian politician
* Aldegonde Desmoulins, Belgian nun
December 6 – John Tyrrell, Royal Navy officer
December 7 – Richard Meggot, English churchman, Canon of Windsor and Dean of Winchester
December 9 – William Mountfort, English actor and dramatist
December 10 – John Russell, Anglo-American clergyman
December 13
* Conyers Darcy, 2nd Earl of Holderness, English politician
* Henry Mildmay, English politician
December 15 – Georg Adam Struve, German judge
December 16 – Antonio Carneo, Italian painter
December 18 – Veit Ludwig von Seckendorff, German politician
December 24 – Maria Antonia of Austria, Archduchess of Austria