1619. James Arminius, founder of the Arminians, died. He was professor of divinity at Leyden; his writings are all on controversial and theological subjects.
1630. First general court of the Massachusetts colony held at Boston. Many of the first planters attended and were made free of the colony. The number of freemen this year was 110.
1640. Albertus Miræus, a learned German writer, died.
1645. Newcastle in England, a fortress of considerable strength, taken by the Scots under Leven. The place had been
besieged ten weeks when the Scottish general directed a furious cannonade against the walls; at nightfall the besiegers advanced to the onset, and after two hours' hard fighting at the breaches, forced their entry.
1655. The kirk of Scotland refused to observe the fast day ordered by the protector, on the ground that the church should receive no directions from civil magistrates when to keep fasts.
1660. Colonels Axtel and Hacker executed for the murder of Charles I of England. Axtel commanded the guard that attended the king to the scaffold.
1675. Attack on Hadley, Mass., by the Indians to the number of seven or eight hundred. Nearly all the towns on that river had been either totally destroyed or greatly injured during this season by the savages. They attacked this place in all quarters, but were so warmly received at all points, that after burning a few barns and outhouses, they hastened away as fast as they had come on. The town happened to be garrisoned, and the companies stationed at the neighboring towns hastened to their relief. This was the last attempt upon these settlements this season, the Indians retiring to their general rendezvous at Narragansett. Great numbers of them had been killed, and a greater number had perished by other means.
1682. Thomas Brown, an eminent English physician and writer, died.
1690. Isaac Benserade, a French poet, died.