1655

Events

January–March

January 5 - Emperor Go-Sai ascends to the throne of Japan.
January 7 - Pope Innocent X, leader of the Roman Catholic Church and the Papal States, dies after more than 10 years of rule.
February 14 - The Mapuches launch coordinated attacks against the Spanish in Chile, beginning the Mapuche uprising of 1655.
February 16 - Dutch Grand Pensionary advisor Johan de Witt marries Wendela Bicker.
March 8 - John Casor becomes the first legally recognized slave in what will become the United States, as a court in Northampton County in the Colony of Virginia issues its decision in the Casor lawsuit, the first instance of a judicial determination in the Thirteen Colonies holding that a person who has committed no crime could be held in servitude for life.
March 25 - Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is discovered by Christiaan Huygens.

April–June

April 4 - Battle of Porto Farina, Tunis: English admiral Robert Blake's fleet defeats the Barbary pirates.
April 7 - Pope Alexander VII succeeds Pope Innocent X, as the 237th pope.
April 24 - The Piedmontese Easter Massacre of the Waldensians: Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy slaughters 1,500 men, women and children; this is memorialized in John Milton's sonnet "On the Late Massacre in Piedmont" and apologized for by Pope Francis in 2015.
April 26 - The Dutch West India Company denies Peter Stuyvesant's request to exclude Jews from New Amsterdam.
April 28 - Admiral Blake severely damages the arsenal of the Bey of Tunis.
May 10-27 - Anglo-Spanish War: Invasion of Jamaica - Forces of the English Protectorate led by William Penn and Robert Venables capture the island of Jamaica from Spain.
June 13 - Adriana Nooseman-van de Bergh becomes the first actress, in Amsterdam theater.

July–September

July 20 - The Amsterdam Town Hall is inaugurated.
July 27
* The Jews in New Amsterdam petition for a separate Jewish cemetery.
* The Netherlands and Brandenburg sign a military treaty.
July 30 - Dutch troops capture Fort Assahudi Seram.
July 31 - Russo-Polish War (1654–67): The Russian army enters the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilnius, which it holds for 6 years.
August 9 - Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell divides England into 11 districts, under major-generals.
August 28 - New Amsterdam and Peter Stuyvesant bar colonial Jews from military service.
August - The governor of New Netherland, Peter Stuyvesant, attacks the New Sweden colony.
September 8 - Swedish King Karl X Gustav occupies Warsaw.
September 26 - Peter Stuyvesant recaptures the Dutch Fory Casimir, and defeats the New Sweden colony.

October –December

October 15 - The Jews of Lublin are massacred.
October 19 - Swedish King Karl X Gustav occupies Kraków.
November 3 - England and France sign military and economic treaties.
November 24 - English Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell announces measures against the Laudian party, which are enforced starting on January 1.
December 4 - Middelburg, the Netherlands forbids the building of a synagogue.
December 18 - The Whitehall Conference ends with the determination that there is no law preventing Jews from re-entering England after the Edict of Expulsion of 1290.
December 27 - Second Northern War/the Deluge: Monks at the Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa are successful in fending off a month-long siege.

Date unknown

Stephan Farffler, a 22-year-old paraplegic watchmaker, builds the world's first self-propelling chair on a three-wheel chassis using a system of cranks and cogwheels. However, the device has the appearance of a hand bike more than a wheelchair since the design includes hand cranks mounted at the front wheel.
The Bibliotheca Thysiana is erected, the only surviving 17th century example in the Netherlands, of a building designed as a library.
1655 Malta plague outbreak kills 20 people.
Frederick III of Denmark-Norway gives control of the Faroe Islands to Christoffer Gabel and his son, which will last until 1709.

Births

January 1 - Christian Thomasius, German jurist
January 5 - John Coney (silversmith), early American silversmith/goldsmith
January 6
* Niccolò Comneno Papadopoli, Italian jurist of religious law and historian
* Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg, Holy Roman Empress
January 11
* Charles Sergison, English politician
* Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk, England
January 13 - Bernard de Montfaucon, French Benedictine monk
January 19 - Nalan Xingde, Chinese poet
January 21 - Antonio Molinari, Italian painter
January 25 - Cornelius Anckarstjerna, Dutch-born Swedish admiral
January 27 - Henri de Nesmond, French churchman
February 2 - William "Tangier" Smith, Moroccan mayor
February 7 - Jean-François Regnard, French comic poet
February 14 - Jacques-Nicolas Colbert, French churchman
February 15 - August, Duke of Saxe-Merseburg-Zörbig, German prince
February 16 - Charles, Electoral Prince of Brandenburg, German prince
February 25 - Carel de Moor, Dutch painter
February 28 - Johann Beer, Austrian composer
March 4 - Fra Galgario, Italian painter
March 6 - Frederik Krag, Danish nobleman and senior civil servant
March 23
* Richard Hill of Hawkstone, English statesman
* Sir Richard Myddelton, 3rd Baronet, English politician
April 8 - Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden, Germany
April 19 - George St Lo, Royal Navy officer and administrator
April 25 - John Lowther, 1st Viscount Lonsdale, English politician
April 26
* Rinaldo d'Este (1655–1737), Duke of Modena
* Ofspring Blackall, Bishop of Exeter
May 4 - Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian maker of musical instruments, invented the piano
May 13 - Pope Innocent XIII
May 31 - Jacques Eléonor Rouxel de Grancey, Marshal of France
June 4 - Thomas of Cori, Italian Friar Minor and preacher
June 11 - Antonio Cifrondi, Italian painter
June 12 - Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen
July 7 - Christoph Dientzenhofer, German architect
July 20 - Ford Grey, 1st Earl of Tankerville, England
August 2 - Sir John Hotham, 3rd Baronet, English politician
August 13 - Johann Christoph Denner, German musical instrument maker, invented the clarinet
August 16 - Frederick Christian, Count of Schaumburg-Lippe
August 18 - James Collett, English-born merchant who settled in Norway
August 22 - Joseph Robineau de Villebon, governor of Acadia
September 2 - Andries Pels, Dutch banker
September 9 - James Johnston (Secretary of State), diplomat, Secretary of State for Scotland
September 12 - Sébastien de Brossard, French composer and music theorist
September 14 - Éléonor Marie du Maine du Bourg, French nobleman and general
September 21 - Roger Cave, English politician
September 29 - Johann Ferdinand of Auersperg, Duke of Münsterberg
September 30 - Charles III, Prince of Guéméné, French nobleman
October 4 - Lothar Franz von Schönborn, Archbishop of Mainz
October 12 - Richard Neville (the younger), English politician
October 25 - Fabio Brulart de Sillery, French churchman
November 1 - Ferdinand Kettler, Duke of Courland and Semigallia
November 6 - Daniel Lascelles (1655–1734), English Member of Parliament
November 12
* Eustache Restout, French painter
* Francis Nicholson, British Army general, colonial administrator
November 16 - Alessandro Gherardini, Italian painter
November 18 - Walter Norborne, English politician
November 19 - Sir William Robinson, 1st Baronet, British politician
November 20 - Sir Thomas Grosvenor, 3rd Baronet, English politician
November 24 - King Charles XI of Sweden
December 9 - Isaac van Hoornbeek, Grand Pensionary of Holland
December 10 - Sir William Forester, British politician
December 13 - John Evelyn the Younger, English translator
December 14 - Philip, Landgrave of Hesse-Philippsthal, son of William VI
December 27 - Abstrupus Danby, English politician
December 28 - Charles Cornwallis, 3rd Baron Cornwallis, First Lord of the British Admiralty
December 29 - Lewis Watson, 1st Earl of Rockingham, English politician date unknown - Zumbi, runaway slave in Brazil

Deaths

January 6 - Louis Philip, Count Palatine of Simmern-Kaiserslautern, Prince of Paltinate
January 7 - Pope Innocent X
February 15 - Pier Luigi Carafa, Italian Catholic cardinal
February 21 - John X of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, Prince-Bishop of Lübeck
February 25 - Daniel Heinsius, Flemish scholar
February 27 - Francesco Molin, Doge of Venice
March 28 - Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, German princess and queen consort of Sweden
March 30 - James Stewart, 1st Duke of Richmond
April 6 - David Blondel, French Protestant clergyman
April 14 - Johann Erasmus Kindermann, German composer and organist
April 29 - Cornelis Schut, Flemish painter, draughtsman and engraver
April 30 - Eustache Le Sueur, French painter
May 5 - Richard Harrison, English politician
May 8 - Edward Winslow, American Pilgrim leader
May 30 - Christian, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth
June 26 - Margaret of Savoy, Vicereine of Portugal
June 27 - Eleonora Gonzaga, Holy Roman Empress, married to Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor
June 30 - Jacobus Boonen, Dutch Catholic archbishop
July 15 - Girolamo Rainaldi, Italian architect
July 28
* Cyrano de Bergerac, French soldier and writer
* Suzuki Shōsan, Japanese samurai
July 30 - Sigmund Theophil Staden, important early German composer
August 10 - Alfonso de la Cueva, 1st Marquis of Bedmar, Spanish cardinal and diplomat
September 7 - François Tristan l'Hermite, French dramatist
September 24 - Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse-Eschwege
October 13 - Tobie Matthew, English Member of Parliament
October 14 - Arnold Möller, German calligrapher
October 16 - Joseph Solomon Delmedigo, Italian physician, mathematician and music theorist
October 18 - Joachim Lütkemann, German theologian
October 24 - Pierre Gassendi, French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist
November 3 - Paulus Aertsz van Ravesteyn, Dutch printer
November 6 - Maximilian, Prince of Dietrichstein, German prince
November 16 - Giuseppe Marcinò, Italian priest, member of the Order of Friars Minor
November 23 - Elizabeth Wriothesley, Countess of Southampton
November 28 - John Oglander, English politicians
December 17 - Ukita Hideie, Japanese daimyō
December 20 - Gregers Krabbe, Danish noble
December 22 - Tsugaru Nobuyoshi, Japanese daimyō
December 31 - Sir John Wray, 2nd Baronet, English politician date unknown - Kocc Barma Fall, Senegambian philosopher