Plymouth Colony
Feb 17 Myles Standish is elected as the first commander of the Plymouth Colony
Hugo Grotius Escapes
Mar 22 Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius escapes in a book chest from Loevestein Castle in the Netherlands
Mayflower Returns to England
Apr 5 Mayflower sails from Plymouth, Massachusetts on a return trip to England
- Apr 9 Spain & Netherlands 12 Year Resistant Pact ends
- Apr 15 Hugo Grotius arrives in France after escaping prison in a book chest
Francis Bacon Charged with Bribery
Apr 17 Lord Chancellor of England Francis Bacon is charged with 23 counts of bribery and corruption by a parliamentary committee on the administration of the law
- May 3 After confessing to corruption, Lord Chancellor of England Francis Bacon is sentenced to imprisonment in the Tower of London, a large £40,000 fine and banishment from court, Parliament and public office
- May 24 The Protestant Union is formally dissolved
- May 31 Former Lord Chancellor of England Francis Bacon is imprisoned for corruption in the Tower of London for 1 or 2 nights until released by King James I
- Jun 3 Dutch West India Company receives charter for The West Indies (The Americas, Caribbean and West Africa)
- Jun 25 French government army occupies Fort St Jean d'Angély at La Rochelle
- Jul 6 Dutch governor general John Pieterszoon Coen takes Banda islands, 15,000 die
- Sep 15 Swedish troops occupy Riga
Nova Scotia's Charter
Sep 21 King James I of England gives Sir William Alexander a royal charter for colonisation of Nova Scotia
Battle at Chocim Dniester
Sep 28 Battle at Chocim Dniester: King Sigismund III Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth defeats an invading Ottoman Imperial army
- Oct 9 Turkey & Poland signs Peace of Chotin
- Nov 19 Rabbi Isaiah ben Abraham aha-Levi Horowitz arrives in Israel
- Nov 22 English Poet and preacher John Donne is made Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in London aged 49
- Dec 13 Emperor Ferdinand II delegates 1st anti-Reformation decree
- Dec 18 English parliament accept unanimously, Protestation
Games Forbidden at Christmas
Dec 25 Governor William Bradford of Plymouth Colony (now in Massachusetts) forbids game playing on Christmas Day
- Dec 30 English king James I tears out Protestation of Parliament page from the records, objecting to parliament commenting on foreign marriage alliance
Treaty of Mikulov
Dec 31 Hungarian King Bethlen Gabor and Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II sign the Treaty of Mikulov, ending war between them
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