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(Feature Photo: Galileo presenting his ideas before his peers; Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
1600
RULERS & ROYALTY: Elizabeth I is queen of England – Phillip III "The Pious" (Habsburg line) is king of Spain, Margaret of Austria is queen consort – Henry IV "The Good King" (Bourbon line) is king of France – Boris (Godunovs line) is tsar of Russia – Rudolf II (Habsburg line) is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire – Clement VIII is the 231st pope/bishop of Rome
Albert Fredrick of the House of Hohenzollern is the 2nd Duke of Prussia, which is in Poland; Hohenzollern castle in the Swabian Alps, is fully built and inhabited by the Hohenzollern family
Phillip William is the Prince of Orange, which is located in southern France (with the emergence of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the title is now traditionally borne by the heir apparent of the Dutch monarch)
February 15, The Polish astronomer, Galileo Galilei, turns 36
April 25, The English playwright, William Shakespeare, turns 36
Tokugawa leyasu wins the Battle of Sekigehara to complete the reunification of Japan
December 31, The English East India Company is founded by John Watts
It is in the Baroque era (roughly between 1600-1750) that the notion of the orchestra really comes into its own, and composers are starting to layer instruments up in complex polyphony—different musical parts—and harmony; Opera also kicks off in a big way with Handel (1685-1759) and Purcell (1659-1695) (classicfm.com)
1601
RULERS & ROYALTY: Elizabeth I is queen of England – Phillip III "The Pious" (Habsburg line) is king of Spain, Margaret of Austria is queen consort – Henry IV ("The Good King" (Bourbon line) is king of France – Boris (Godunovs line) is tsar of Russia – Rudolf II (Habsburg line) is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire – Clement VIII is the 231st pope/bishop of Rome
Albert Fredrick of the House of Hohenzollern is the 2nd Duke of Prussia, which is in Poland; Hohenzollern castle in the Swabian Alps, is fully built and inhabited by the Hohenzollern family
Phillip William is the Prince of Orange, which is located in southern France
February 15, The Polish astronomer, Galileo Galilei, turns 37
April 25, The English playwright, William Shakespeare, turns 37
1602
RULERS & ROYALTY: Elizabeth I is queen of England – Phillip III "The Pious" (Habsburg line) is king of Spain – Henry IV ("The Good King" (Bourbon line) is king of France, Margaret of Austria is queen consort – Boris (Godunovs line) is tsar of Russia – Rudolf II (Habsburg line) is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire – Clement VIII is the 231st pope/bishop of Rome
Albert Fredrick of the House of Hohenzollern is the 2nd Duke of Prussia, which is in Poland; Hohenzollern castle in the Swabian Alps, is fully built and inhabited by the Hohenzollern family
Phillip William is the Prince of Orange, which is located in southern France
February 15, Galileo Galilei, the Polish astronomer, turns 38
March 20, the Dutch East India Company is founded
April 25, William Shakespeare, the English playwright, turns 38
April 25, William Harvey (1578-1657), the English physician, earns his doctorate at the University of Padua, the most prominent medical school in Europe (he will go on to discover that blood circulates to and from the heart)
1603
RULERS & ROYALTY: Elizabeth I (House of Tudor), queen of England, dies and James I (House of Stuart) ascends the English throne (Elizabeth had no children), Anne of Denmark (James’ wife) becomes queen consort – Phillip III "The Pious" (Habsburg line) is king of Spain, Margaret of Austria is queen consort – Henry IV ("The Good King" (Bourbon line) is king of France – Boris (Godunovs line) is tsar of Russia – Rudolf II (Habsburg line) is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire – Clement VIII is the 231st pope/bishop of Rome
Albert Fredrick of the House of Hohenzollern is the 2nd Duke of Prussia, which is in Poland; Hohenzollern castle in the Swabian Alps, is fully built and inhabited by the Hohenzollern family
Phillip William is the Prince of Orange, which is located in southern France
February 15, Galileo Galilei, the Polish astronomer, turns 39
March 24, Elizabeth I, queen of England, dies at Richmond Palace in Surrey, she is buried in Westminster Abbey
April 25, William Shakespeare, the English playwright, turns 39
July 29, James VI, king of Scotland and Ireland, is crowned as James I of England and his wife, Anne of Denmark, becomes queen consort of England, Ireland and Scotland; James is unpopular with the English people, they aren’t too happy with having the king of Scotland ruling them
1604
RULERS & ROYALTY: James I (House of Stuart) is king of England and (as James IV) of Scotland, Anne of Denmark is queen consort – Phillip III "The Pious" (Habsburg line) is king of Spain, Margaret of Austria is queen consort – Henry IV ("The Good King" (Bourbon line) is king of France – Boris (Godunovs line) is tsar of Russia – Rudolf II (Habsburg line) is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire – Clement VIII is the 231st pope/bishop of Rome
Albert Fredrick of the House of Hohenzollern is the 2nd Duke of Prussia, which is in Poland; Hohenzollern castle in the Swabian Alps, is fully built and inhabited by the Hohenzollern family
Phillip William is the Prince of Orange, which is located in southern France
February 15, Galileo Galilei, the Polish astronomer, turns 40
April 25, William Shakespeare, the English playwright, turns 40
August 19, The Treaty of London is signed at Somerset House; This treaty brings peace between Spain and England (Photo: Painting of the Somerset House Conference, Spanish delegation on the left, English delegation on the right, Credit: Wikimedia Commons)
William Harvey (1578-1657), the English physician, marries Elizabeth Browne, daughter of Launcelot Browne, a London physician who is serving as physician to James I, King of England and Scotland
1605
RULERS & ROYALTY: James I (House of Stuart) is king of England and (as James IV) of Scotland, Anne of Denmark is queen – Phillip III "The Pious" (Habsburg line) is king of Spain, Margaret of Austria is queen consort – Henry IV ("The Good King" (Bourbon line) is king of France – Boris (Godunovs line), tsar of Russia, dies and Feodor becomes tsar, but then dies, and "False Dimitri" succeeds him – Rudolf II (Habsburg line) is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire – Clement VIII, the 231st pope/bishop of Rome, dies, is briefly succeeded by Leo XI, who also dies, and is finally succeeded by Paul V, who becomes the 233rd pope/bishop of Rome
Albert Fredrick of the House of Hohenzollern is the 2nd Duke of Prussia, which is in Poland; Hohenzollern castle in the Swabian Alps, is fully built and inhabited by the Hohenzollern family
Phillip William is the Prince of Orange, which is located in southern France
February 15, Galileo Galilei, the Polish astronomer, turns 41
March 5, Pope Clement VIII dies, aged 69, in Rome, Papal States
April 1, Leo XI becomes pope/bishop of Rome
April 8, Margaret of Austria, queen consort of Spain, has a son, Philip IV, who will become king in 1621
April 23, Boris (Godunov line), tsar of Russia, dies, aged 52, and his 15 year-old son, Feodor II, succeeds him
April 25, William Shakespeare, the English playwright, turns 41
April 27, Pope Leo XI dies, aged 69, in Rome, Papal States
May 16, Paul V becomes pope/bishop of Rome
June 10/20, Feodor II (Godunov line), tsar of Russia dies, aged 15, and a pretender to the throne, "False" Dimitri I (Rurik line, claimed), succeeds him
November 5, The Gunpowder Plot (a Catholic conspiracy against the new King James I and Parliament) is foiled
Robert Fludd (1574-1637), an English physician, earns a medical degree at Oxford, Robert’s writings “represent the culmination of the occult, as distinct from the scientific tendencies of the 17th century. Deriving ideas from such diverse sources as the Old Testament, the Jewish Kabbala, alchemy, astrology, sympathetic magic, and chiromancy, Fludd was primarily interested in establishing parallelisms between man and the world, both of which he viewed as images of God…In his view, medicine’s role is to understand the functioning and malfunctioning of the human body by clues provided, for example, by parallelisms between the mind of man and the light of the Sun.” (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Robert-Fludd)
1606
RULERS & ROYALTY: James I (House of Stuart) is king of England and (as James IV) of Scotland, Anne of Denmark is queen – Phillip III "The Pious" (Habsburg line) is king of Spain, Margaret of Austria is queen consort – Henry IV ("The Good King" (Bourbon line) is king of France – "False" Dimitri I (Rurik line, claimed), tsar of Russia, dies and Vasili IV (Rurik line) succeeds him – Rudolf II (Habsburg line) is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire – Paul V is the 233rd pope/bishop of Rome
Albert Fredrick of the House of Hohenzollern is the 2nd Duke of Prussia, which is in Poland; Hohenzollern castle in the Swabian Alps, is fully built and inhabited by the Hohenzollern family
Phillip William is the Prince of Orange, which is located in southern France
February 15, Galileo Galilei, the Polish astronomer, turns 42
April 25, William Shakespeare, the English playwright, turns 42
May 17, "False" Dimitri I (Rurik line, claimed), tsar of Russia, dies, aged 23
May 19, Vasili IV (Rurik line) becomes tsar of Russia
Rembrandt, the Dutch Baroque painter and printmaker is born in Leiden, Holland
1607
RULERS & ROYALTY: James I (House of Stuart) is king of England and (as James IV) of Scotland, Anne of Denmark is queen – Phillip III "The Pious" (Habsburg line) is king of Spain, Margaret of Austria is queen consort – Henry IV ("The Good King" (Bourbon line) is king of France – Vasili IV (Rurik line) is tsar of Russia – Rudolf II (Habsburg line) is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire – Paul V is the 233rd pope/bishop of Rome
Albert Fredrick of the House of Hohenzollern is the 2nd Duke of Prussia, which is in Poland; Hohenzollern castle in the Swabian Alps, is fully built and inhabited by the Hohenzollern family
Phillip William is the Prince of Orange, which is located in southern France
February 15, Galileo Galilei, the Polish astronomer, turns 43
April 25, William Shakespeare, the English playwright, turns 43
Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas, is founded
William Harvey (1578-1657) becomes a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, and remains active there until the end of his life
1608
RULERS & ROYALTY: James I (House of Stuart) is king of England and (as James IV) of Scotland, Anne of Denmark is queen consort – Phillip III "The Pious" (Habsburg line) is king of Spain, Margaret of Austria is queen consort – Henry IV ("The Good King" (Bourbon line) is king of France – Vasili IV (Rurik line) is tsar of Russia – Rudolf II (Habsburg line) is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire – Paul V is the 233rd pope/bishop of Rome
Albert Fredrick of the House of Hohenzollern is the 2nd Duke of Prussia, which is in Poland; Hohenzollern castle in the Swabian Alps, is fully built and inhabited by the Hohenzollern family
Phillip William is the Prince of Orange, which is located in southern France
February 15, Galileo Galilei, the Polish astronomer, turns 44
April 25, William Shakespeare, the English playwright, turns 44
1609
RULERS & ROYALTY: James I (House of Stuart) is king of England and (as James IV) of Scotland, Anne of Denmark is queen – Phillip III "The Pious" (Habsburg line) is king of Spain, Margaret of Austria is queen consort – Henry IV ("The Good King" (Bourbon line) is king of France – Vasili IV (Rurik line) is tsar of Russia – Rudolf II (Habsburg line) is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire – Paul V is the 233rd pope/bishop of Rome
Albert Fredrick of the House of Hohenzollern is the 2nd Duke of Prussia, which is in Poland; Hohenzollern castle in the Swabian Alps, is fully built and inhabited by the Hohenzollern family
Phillip William is the Prince of Orange, which is located in southern France
February 15, Galileo Galilei, the Polish astronomer, turns 45; Galileo’s career takes a dramatic turn when in the spring he hears that in the Netherlands an instrument has been invented that shows distant things as though they are nearby, by trial and error, he quickly figures out the secret of the invention and makes his own three-powered spyglass from lenses for sale in spectacle makers’ shops, others have done the same, but what sets Galileo’s spyglass apart is that he quickly figures out how to improve the instrument; He teaches himself the art of lens grinding, and produces increasingly powerful telescopes, in August, he presents an eight-powered instrument to the Venetian Senate (Padua is in the Venetian Republic), and is rewarded with life tenure and a doubling of his salary, he is now one of the highest paid professors at the University of Padua (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Galileo-Galilei)
April 25, William Shakespeare, the English playwright, turns 45
The Bible is not in English yet, but it is in German and Italian (since 1471), it will be published in English by King James I in a couple years
William Harvey (1578-1657), is appointed physician at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, a post he will keep until 1643
1610
RULERS & ROYALTY: James I (House of Stuart) is king of England and (as James IV) of Scotland, Anne of Denmark is queen – Phillip III "The Pious" (Habsburg line) is king of Spain, Margaret of Austria is queen consort – Henry IV "The Good King" (Bourbon line), king of France, dies, and his son Louis XIII succeeds him – Vasili IV (Rurik line), tsar of Russia, is deposed, and Fedor Mstislavsky, a Russian Boyar, rules Russia as the head of the Zemsky government during Russia’s “Time of Troubles” as the Tsardom is in crisis – Rudolf II (Habsburg line) is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire – Paul V is the 233rd pope/bishop of Rome
Albert Fredrick of the House of Hohenzollern is the 2nd Duke of Prussia, which is in Poland; Hohenzollern castle in the Swabian Alps, is fully built and inhabited by the Hohenzollern family
Phillip William is the Prince of Orange, which is located in southern France
February 15, Galileo Galilei, the Polish astronomer, turns 46
April 25, William Shakespeare, the English playwright, turns 46
May 14, Henry IV "The Good King" (Bourbon line) dies, aged 56, in Paris, France, and his son Louis XIII "The Just" succeeds him
1611
RULERS & ROYALTY: James I (House of Stuart) is king of England and (as James IV) of Scotland, Anne of Denmark is queen consort – Phillip III "The Pious" (Habsburg line) is king of Spain, Margaret of Austria, queen consort, dies – Louis XIII "The Just" (Bourbon line) is king of France – Fedor Mstislavsky, a Russian Boyar, rules Russia as the head of the Zemsky government during Russia’s “Time of Troubles” as the Tsardom is in crisis – Rudolf II (Habsburg line) is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire – Paul V is the 233rd pope/bishop of Rome
Albert Fredrick of the House of Hohenzollern is the 2nd Duke of Prussia, which is in Poland; Hohenzollern castle in the Swabian Alps, is fully built and inhabited by the Hohenzollern family
Phillip William is the Prince of Orange; Orange is located in southern France
February 15, Galileo Galilei, the Polish astronomer, turns 47
April 25, William Shakespeare, the English playwright, turns 47
October 3, Margaret of Austria, queen consort of Spain, dies, aged 26
The King James Bible is printed and released for the first time, it is the first Bible to be translated into English, it is authorized by King James I of England
1612
RULERS & ROYALTY: James I (House of Stuart) is king of England and (as James IV) of Scotland / Anne of Denmark is queen – Phillip III "The Pious" (Habsburg line) is emperor of the Spanish Empire – Louis XIII "The Just" (Bourbon line) is king of France – Fedor Mstislavsky, a Russian Boyar, rules Russia as the head of the Zemsky government during Russia’s “Time of Troubles” as the Tsardom is in crisis – Rudolf II (Habsburg line), emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, dies, and his brother Matthias succeeds him – Paul V is the 233rd pope/bishop of Rome
Albert Fredrick of the House of Hohenzollern is the 2nd Duke of Prussia, which is in Poland; Hohenzollern castle in the Swabian Alps, is fully built and inhabited by the Hohenzollern family
Phillip William is the Prince of Orange, which is located in southern France
January 12, Rudolf II (Habsburg line), the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, dies, aged 59, in Prague, Bohemia
February 15, Galileo Galilei, the Polish astronomer, turns 48
April 25, William Shakespeare, the English playwright, turns 48
June 13, Matthias (Habsburg line), becomes the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire; He is Rudolf's brother, and the son of Maximillian II Holy Roman emperor (r. 1564-1576)
1613
RULERS & ROYALTY: James I (House of Stuart) is king of England and (as James IV) of Scotland / Anne of Denmark is queen – Phillip III "The Pious" (Habsburg line) is emperor of the Spanish Empire – Louis XIII "The Just" (Bourbon line) is king of France – Michael I (Romanov line) becomes the tsar of Russia – Matthias (Habsburg line) is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire – Paul V is the 233rd pope/bishop of Rome
Albert Fredrick of the House of Hohenzollern is the 2nd Duke of Prussia, which is in Poland; Hohenzollern castle in the Swabian Alps, is fully built and inhabited by the Hohenzollern family
Phillip William is the Prince of Orange, which is located in southern France
February 21, Michael I (Romanov line) becomes the tsar of Russia
February 15, Galileo Galilei, the Polish astronomer, turns 49
April 25, William Shakespeare, the English playwright, turns 49
1614
RULERS & ROYALTY: James I (House of Stuart) is king of England and (as James IV) of Scotland / Anne of Denmark is queen – Phillip III "The Pious" (Habsburg line) is emperor of the Spanish Empire – Louis XIII "The Just" (Bourbon line) is king of France – Michael I (Romanov line) becomes the tsar of Russia – Matthias (Habsburg line) is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire – Paul V is the 233rd pope/bishop of Rome
Albert Fredrick of the House of Hohenzollern is the 2nd Duke of Prussia, which is in Poland; Hohenzollern castle in the Swabian Alps, is fully built and inhabited by the Hohenzollern family
Phillip William is the Prince of Orange, which is located in southern France
Thomas Bodley dies
February 15, Galileo Galilei, the Polish astronomer, turns 50
April 25, William Shakespeare, the English playwright, turns 50
1615
RULERS & ROYALTY: James I (House of Stuart) is king of England and (as James IV) of Scotland / Anne of Denmark is queen – Phillip III "The Pious" (Habsburg line) is emperor of the Spanish Empire – Louis XIII "The Just" (Bourbon line) is king of France – Michael I (Romanov line) becomes the tsar of Russia – Matthias (Habsburg line) is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire – Paul V is the 233rd pope/bishop of Rome
Albert Fredrick of the House of Hohenzollern is the 2nd Duke of Prussia, which is in Poland; Hohenzollern castle in the Swabian Alps, is fully built and inhabited by the Hohenzollern family
Phillip William is the Prince of Orange, which is located in southern France
February 15, Galileo Galilei, the Polish astronomer, turns 51
April 25, William Shakespeare, the English playwright, turns 51
1616
RULERS & ROYALTY: James I (House of Stuart) is king of England and (as James IV) of Scotland / Anne of Denmark is queen – Phillip III "The Pious" (Habsburg line) is emperor of the Spanish Empire – Louis XIII "The Just" (Bourbon line) is king of France – Michael I (Romanov line) becomes the tsar of Russia – Matthias (Habsburg line) is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire – Paul V is the 233rd pope/bishop of Rome
Albert Fredrick of the House of Hohenzollern is the 2nd Duke of Prussia, which is in Poland; Hohenzollern castle in the Swabian Alps, is fully built and inhabited by the Hohenzollern family
Phillip William is the Prince of Orange, which is located in southern France
Sir Walter Raleigh, while imprisoned in the Tower of London, makes the curious assertion that part of the Book of Enoch, “Which contained the course of the stars, their names and motions” had been discovered in Saba (Sheba) in the first century and was thus available to Origen and Tertullian, he says this information came from Origen, but no such statement has been found anywhere in extant versions of Origen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Enoch
February 15, Galileo Galilei, the Polish astronomer, turns 52
April 23, Shakespeare dies, just a few days before his 52nd birthday, in Stratford-upon-Avon
1617
RULERS & ROYALTY: James I (House of Stuart) is king of England and (as James IV) of Scotland / Anne of Denmark is queen – Phillip III "The Pious" (Habsburg line) is emperor of the Spanish Empire – Louis XIII "The Just" (Bourbon line) is king of France – Michael I (Romanov line) becomes the tsar of Russia – Matthias (Habsburg line) is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire – Paul V is the 233rd pope/bishop of Rome
Albert Fredrick of the House of Hohenzollern is the 2nd Duke of Prussia, which is in Poland; Hohenzollern castle in the Swabian Alps, is fully built and inhabited by the Hohenzollern family
Phillip William is the Prince of Orange, which is located in southern France
January, Sir Francis Bacon, the English statesman and philosopher, attends a masque at Grey's Inn in London, he "'dined at Grey's Inn to give countenance to their Lord and Prince of Purpoole (purple), and to see their revels.' At this time, according to a letter from Buckingham to the king, a masque was performed; but we know not what it was." (Francis Bacon and His Secret Society, pg. 149, published in 1891, referencing a letter from a letter from Chamberlain to Carleton)
February 15, Galileo Galilei, the Polish astronomer, turns 53
1618
RULERS & ROYALTY: James I (House of Stuart) is king of England and (as James IV) of Scotland / Anne of Denmark is queen – Phillip III "The Pious" (Habsburg line) is emperor of the Spanish Empire – Louis XIII "The Just" (Bourbon line) is king of France – Michael I (Romanov line) becomes the tsar of Russia – Matthias (Habsburg line) is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire – Paul V is the 233rd pope/bishop of Rome
Albert Fredrick of the House of Hohenzollern, the 2nd Duke of Prussia, dies, aged 65, on August 27, in Fischhausen and John Sigismund of the House of Hohenzollern becomes the 3rd Duke of Prussia; Hohenzollern castle in the Swabian Alps, is fully built and inhabited by the Hohenzollern family
Phillip William is the Prince of Orange, which is located in southern France
February 15, Galileo Galilei, the Polish astronomer, turns 54
Sir Walter Raleigh is beheaded by King James I, aged about 65 (b. 1552 or 1554)
William Harvey (1578-1657) becomes physician to King James I (and will continue on in this position upon Charles I’s accession in 1625)
The Thirty Years’ War begins (1618-1648) and is waged mainly within the Holy Roman Empire
1619
RULERS & ROYALTY: James I (House of Stuart) is king of England and (as James IV) of Scotland / Anne of Denmark is queen – Phillip III "The Pious" (Habsburg line) is emperor of the Spanish Empire – Louis XIII "The Just" (Bourbon line) is king of France – Michael I (Romanov line) becomes the tsar of Russia – Matthias (Habsburg line) is emperor of the Holy Roman Empire – Paul V is the 233rd pope/bishop of Rome
John Sigismund of the House of Hohenzollern the 3rd Duke of Prussia dies, aged 47, on December 23, and he is succeeded by George William, who becomes the 4th Duke of Prussia; Hohenzollern castle in the Swabian Alps, is fully built and inhabited by the Hohenzollern family
Phillip William is the Prince of Orange, which is located in southern France
February 15, Galileo Galilei, the Polish astronomer, turns 55
The Thirty Years’ War continues (1618-1648) and is waged mainly within the Holy Roman Empire