1638 in France

Incumbents

• Monarch: Louis XIII

Events

• March 3 - Battle of Rheinfelden: A mercenary army under Bernard of Saxe-Weimar, fighting for France, defeats Imperial forces.
• March 5 - Thirty Years' War: The Treaty of Hamburg is signed between France and Sweden by Cardinal Richelieu of France and representatives of Queen Christina of Sweden.
• December 18 - Cardinal Mazarin becomes premier adviser to Cardinal Richelieu on the death of François Leclerc du Tremblay.

Births

• January 1 - Antoinette du Ligier de la Garde Deshoulières, poet
• May 11 - Guy-Crescent Fagon, physician and botanist
• June 8 - Pierre Magnol, botanist
• July 11 - Olympia Mancini, courtier
• August 6 - Nicolas Malebranche, philosopher
• September 5 - Louis XIV, son of the incumbent king

Deaths

• February 26 - Claude Gaspard Bachet de Méziriac, mathematician
• April 13 - Henri, Duke of Rohan, Huguenot leader
• December 17 - François Leclerc du Tremblay, friar and political adviser