- Jan 5 Francesco Cavalli's opera "Giasone" premieres in Venice (the most popular opera of the 17th century)
- Jan 27 English High Court of Justice finds King Charles I "guilty of the crimes of which he had been accused, did judge him tyrant, traitor, murderer, and public enemy to the good people of the nation, to be put to death by the severing of his head from his body"
Charles II
Feb 5 Prince of Wales proclaimed King Charles II of Great Britain by Covenanter Parliament of Scotland
- Feb 8 Sobornoye Ulozheniye of 1649: Russia adopts new code of laws, consolidating serfdom (OS 29 Jan) [1]
- Mar 11 The Frondeurs (French rebels) and the French government sign the Peace of Rueil.
- Apr 21 Maryland Toleration Act passed in the American colony, allowing freedom of worship for Christians but sentencing to death anyone who rejected the divinity of Jesus
- May 19 England is declared a Commonwealth by an act of the Rump Parliament making England a republic for the next 11 years
- Jun 1 Russian Tsar Alexis throws English merchants out of Moscow
Wars of Castro
Sep 2 The Italian city of Castro is completely destroyed by the forces of Pope Innocent X, ending the Wars of Castro.
Massacre of Drogheda
Sep 11 Massacre of Drogheda, Ireland - Oliver Cromwell kills 3,000 royalists
- Sep 30 Last Swedish troops vacate Prague
John Wallis
Oct 31 Parliamentary cryptographer John Wallis gives his Inaugural lecture as newly appointed Savilian Professor of Geometry at Oxford University,
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