- Jan 22 Lord Halifax becomes Speaker of English House of Lords
Convention Parliament Summoned
Jan 22 Prince William of Orange (future King William III of Britain), summons Convention Parliament to discuss ruling jointly with his wife Mary (daughter of exiled King James II)
Esther
Jan 26 Jean Racine's play "Esther" premieres, performed by pupils of the Maison royale de Saint-Louis, in Saint-Cyr
- Jan 28 English parliament resolves that the throne is vacant
- Feb 13 Parliament of England adopts the Bill of Rights which establishes the rights of parliament and places limits on the crown
- Feb 14 English parliament places Mary Stuart and Prince William III on the throne
- Feb 23 Dutch prince William III proclaimed King of England
2nd English Poet Laureate
Mar 9 Thomas Shadwell appointed second English Poet Laureate by William and Mary after John Dryden refuses to swear oaths of allegiance to the new monarchs
- Mar 14 Convention of the Estates of Scotland opens to decide on offering Scottish Crown to William III and Mary Stuart or to James II of England
- Mar 16 The 23rd Regiment of Foot or Royal Welch Fusiliers is founded. In 2004 it merged with the Royal Regiment of Wales to form the Royal Welsh Regiment.
- Apr 11 King William III and Queen Mary II crowned as joint rulers of England, Scotland and Ireland
- Apr 20 The former King James II of England, now deposed, lays siege to Derry
- May 11 Battle of Bantry Bay, French & English naval battle
- May 12 England & Netherlands form League of Augsburg
- May 16 Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō leaves Edo on his epic 150-day journey to Honshū Island in Japan which he writes about in the literary masterpiece “Oku no Hosomichi” (The Narrow Road to the Deep North).
- May 17 English King William III declares war on France in support of the Dutch Republic (Nine Years' War)
- May 24 English Parliament guarantees freedom of religion for Protestants
- May 27 Anthonie Heinsius succeeds G. Fagel as Grand Pensionary of Holland
- Jul 27 Battle of Killicrankie: Jacobite Scottish Highlanders under Viscount Dundee defeat royalist force under General MacKay
- Aug 5 1,500 Iroquois attack the village of Lachine, in New France
- Aug 21 Battle of Dunkeld fought in Scotland between supporters of King James VII of Scotland and troops of William of Orange
- Aug 25 Battle at Charleroi: Spanish & English armies chase French
- Aug 25 Montreal taken by Iroquois
- Aug 27 The Treaty of Nerchinsk is signed by Russia and the Qing empire
- Sep 8 China & Russia sign Treaty of Nertsjinsk (Nierchul), checked Russian expansion but opened trade further between the two countries
- Oct 6 Pietro Ottoboni replaces Pope Innocent XI as Alexander VIII
- Dec 3 First recorded successful separation of conjoined twins Elisabet and Catherina Meijerin, completed by Swiss surgeon Johannes Fatio in Basel [1]
- Dec 16 English Parliament passes Bill of Rights establishing limits on crown powers and requirement for regular elections
- Dec 22 Heavy earthquake strikes Innsbruck, Austria
- Dec 30 Henry Purcell & Nahum Tate's opera "Dido & Aeneas" premieres at Josias Priest's girls' school in Chelsea, London
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