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Year '1644' ('MDCXLIV') was a leap year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Monday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar).

Contents

Events of 1644

January - June

July - December

Undated

Ongoing events

Births

Deaths

Events of 1644

January - June

★ January 26 - At English Civil War Battle of Nantwich the Parliamentarians defeated the Royalists, allowing them to end the six week Siege of Nantwich in Cheshire, England.

★ February to August - Explorer Abel Tasman's second expedition for the Dutch East India Company maps the north coast of Australia.

★ March 24 - In England, Roger Williams is granted an official charter for his Rhode Island Colony, allowing the establishment of a general assembly.

★ April 25 - A popular Chinese rebellion led by Li Zicheng sacks Beijing, prompting Chongzhen, the last emperor of the Ming Dynasty, to commit suicide.

★ June 3 - Li Zicheng claimed himself as the emperor of China.

★ June 6 - The invading Manchu army, with the help of Ming general Wu Sangui, captures Beijing, China. This marks the beginning of the Qing Dynasty (also known as the Manchu Dynasty), the last imperial dynasty of China.

July - December

★ July 2 - The Battle of Marston Moor, the largest battle of the English Civil War, produces a crushing victory for the Parliamentary side, ending Charles I's hold on the north of England.

★ September 1 - Battle of Tippermuir, Montrose defeats Elcho's Covenanters, reviving Royalist cause in Scotland.

★ September 2 - Second Battle of Lostwithiel, the last major victory for Charles I and the Royalist side in the English Civil War.

★ September 15 - Pope Innocent X succeeds Pope Urban VIII as the 236th pope.

★ November - At the Battle of Jüterbog, Sweden's forces defeat those of the Holy Roman Empire.

★ November 23 - ''Areopagitica'' by John Milton is published.


★ December 9 - As Christina comes of age, she is made ruling queen of Sweden.

★ December - Plague breaks out in Edinburgh.

Undated

★ The opera ''Ormindo'' is first performed in Venice: music by Francesco Cavalli and libretto by Giovanni Faustini.

★ Kolumna Zygmunta (Sigismund's Column) is erected in Warsaw to commemorate King Sigismund III Vasa, who moved the capital of Poland from Kraków to Warsaw in 1596.

★ Philosopher René Descartes publishes ''Principia Philosophiae'' (''Principles of Philosophy'').

★ During the English Civil War Prince Rupert and his men took Liverpool Castle which was later reclaimed by Sir John Moore.

Ongoing events

★ English Civil War (1642-1649).

Births

★ January 10 - Louis François, duc de Boufflers, French marshal (d. 1711)

★ January 18 - John Partridge, English astrologer (d. 1708)

★ April 7 - François de Neufville, duc de Villeroi, French soldier (d. 1730)

★ June 16 - Henrietta Anne Stuart, Princess of Scotland, England and Ireland (d. 1670)

★ August 6 - Louise de la Vallière, French mistress of Louis XIV of France (d. 1710)

★ August 12 - Heinrich Ignaz Biber, Bohemian composer and violinist (d. 1704)

★ September 25 - Ole Rømer, Danish astronomer (d. 1710)

★ October 1 - Alessandro Stradella, Italian composer (d. 1682)

★ October 2 - François-Timoléon de Choisy, French writer (d. 1724)

★ October 14 - William Penn, English Quaker and founder of Pennsylvania (d. 1718)

★ ''date unknown''

★
★ Antonio Stradivari, Italian violin maker (d. 1737)

★
★ Matsuo Bashō, Japanese poet (d. 1694)
: ''See also .''

Deaths

★ March 15 - Louise Juliana of Nassau, Regent of Bohemia (born 1576)

★ April 10 - Reverend William Brewster, Pilgrim leader (born 1567)

★ April 25 - Chongzhen, last Ming Emperor of China (suicide) (born 1611)

★ July 29 - Pope Urban VIII (born 1568)

★ September 7 - Guido Bentivoglio, Italian statesman and historian (born 1579)

★ September 8 - John Coke, English politician (born 1563)

★ September 8 - Francis Quarles, English poet (born 1592)

★ October 6 - Elisabeth of Bourbon, queen of Philip IV of Spain (born 1602)

★ November 6 - Thomas Roe, English diplomat (born c.1581)

★ November 10 - Luís Vélez de Guevara, Spanish writer (born 1579)

★ December 30 - Jan Baptist van Helmont, Flemish chemist (born 1577)
: ''See also .''