Category Archives: 17th Century

Historical Facts from 1601 to 1700 CE

May 7, 1697

Posted on May 7, 2019 by Joel Byers

On May 7, 1697, the royal castle in Stockholm, Sweden was destroyed by fire. Inside that castle’s large library resided the Codex Gigas, which was at that time and still is the world’s largest medieval illuminated manuscript. The Codex Gigas is also known as the “Devil’s Bible’. This hand written and hand illustrated book weighs … Continue reading →

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March 24, 1629

Posted on March 24, 2019 by Joel Byers

On March 24, 1629, Virginia passed the first game laws in the American colonies. It was determined that landing on “Free Parking” and collecting $200 quid plus all fines collected was a ‘house rule’ and should be stated before play commenced. Also, all grandmothers cheat at rummy and it is to be expected, so complaints … Continue reading →

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March 22, 1621

Posted on March 22, 2019 by Joel Byers

On March 22, 1621, Hugo Grotius (Also known as Hugo de Groot) was being held in prison in the Lowevenstein castle in the Netherlands. In 1618, he had been sentenced to life imprisonment for his heretical religious beliefs. On March 22, 1621, a plan was hatched with the help of his wife, Maria van Reigersbergen, … Continue reading →

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March 6, 1665

Posted on March 6, 2019 by Joel Byers

On March 6, 1665, Henry Oldenburg, the first Secretary of the Royal Society, published the first issue of ‘Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society’, the world’s longest-running scientific journal. Young Mary Billington was the first centerfold and her turn-offs consisted of The Plague, beer with arsenic in it, and Tad Thaddeus, the baker’s son, who … Continue reading →

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March 5, 1616

Posted on March 5, 2019 by Joel Byers

On March 5, 1616, the Catholic Church added another book of science to the Index of Forbidden Books. Nicolaus Copernicus’s book, ‘On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres’ was added 73 years after it was first published. The Index of Forbidden Books was a real thing and it wasn’t abolished until June 14, 1966 by … Continue reading →

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February 28, 1646

Posted on February 28, 2019 by Joel Byers

On February 28, 1646, Roger Scott, of Lynn, Massachusetts, was tried and found guilty of sleeping in church. After a long day at work in the field on Saturday, and in 1646 they were all long days at work in the field, Roger Scott fell asleep during Sunday service. He was rudely awakened by one … Continue reading →

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February 26, 1616

Posted on February 26, 2019 by Joel Byers

On February 26, 1616 CE, esteemed Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, Galileo Galilei was delivered an injunction from the Roman Inquisition that demanded that he abandoned his belief in heliocentrism. Heliocentrism is the scientific theory that the Earth and other planets revolve around the Sun. He was not expecting this as he felt that the … Continue reading →

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February 19, 1700

Posted on February 19, 2019 by Joel Byers

February 19, 1700, was the last day of usage in Denmark of the Julian Calendar, as it was adapting to the cool, new Gregorian calendar that all the rich kid nations, like England, Spain and France were using. Why did the nations change from the stodgy, it-ain’t-broken Julian Calendar to the New Math Gregorian calendar? … Continue reading →

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January 30, 1661

Posted on January 30, 2019 by Joel Byers

On January 30, 1661, England executed Oliver Cromwell, former Lord Protector and Ruler of the Commonwealth of England for regicide. The common people of England didn’t really care that he had Charles I executed on January 30, 1649, twelve years earlier, it was because he had been a Puritan and when he took over the … Continue reading →

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January 26, 1697

Posted on January 26, 2019 by Joel Byers

On January 26, 1697, Sir Isaac Newton received Leibniz’s and Bernoulli’s six month time-limit problem. At that time, mathematicians were like rappers today, and were constantly challenging each other with math problems, trying to prove who had the biggest sets of postulates on the block. At the time, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and his student John … Continue reading →

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