1640

Events of 1640

January-June

• May 5 - King Charles I of England disperses the Short Parliament.
• May 22 - The Guerra dels Segadors breaks out in Catalonia.

July-December

• October 26 - The Treaty of Ripon is signed, restoring peace between Scotland and Charles I of England.
• November - The English Long Parliament is summoned.
• December 1 - End of the Iberian Union: João IV of Portugal is acclaimed as king, thus ending 60 years of personal union of the crowns of Portugal and Spain, and the rule of the House of Habsburg (also called the Philippine Dynasty). The Spanish Habsburgs do not recognize Portugal's new dynasty, the House of Braganza, until 1668.

Undated

• Charles I summons the Short Parliament in an attempt to fund the second of the Bishops' Wars.
• The first university in Finland, the Academy of Åbo, is founded in Turku.
• Ibrahim I (1640-1648) succeeds Murat IV (1623-1640) as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
• The first book (the Bay Psalm Book) is printed in North America.
• The first known European coffee house opens in Venice.
• Henry Glapthorne flourishes.
• Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg starts to rule.

Births

• January 25 - William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Devonshire, English soldier and statesman (d. 1707)
• March 18 - Philippe de la Hire, French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1719)
• March 30 - John Trenchard, English statesman (d. 1695)
• April 1 - Georg Mohr, Danish mathematician (d. 1697)
• May 31 - Michał Wiśniowiecki, King of Poland (d. 1673)
• June 9 - Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1705)
• July 10 - Aphra Behn, English author (d. 1689)
• September 29 - Antoine Coysevox, French sculptor (d. 1720)
• November 28 - Willem de Vlamingh, Flemish sea captain
• December 6 - Claude Fleury, French historian (d. 1723)
• December 13 - Robert Plot, British naturalist (d. 1696)

See also 1640 births.

Deaths

• January 14 - Thomas Coventry, 1st Baron Coventry, English lawyer and judge (b. 1578)
• January 25 - Robert Burton, English scholar (b. 1577)
• February 9 - Murad IV, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1612)
• March 17 - Philip Massinger, English dramatist (b. 1583)
• April - Uriel da Costa, Portuguese philosopher (suicide) (b. 1585)
• April 10 - Agostino Agazzari, Italian composer (b. 1578)
• May 30 - Peter Paul Rubens, German painter (b. 1577)
• June 3 - John Aylmer, English political theorist (b. 1521)
• June 3 - Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk, English politician (b. 1584)
• September 30 - Charles, Duke of Guise (b. 1571)
• October 20 - John Ball, English Puritan clergyman (b. 1585)
• December 30 - John Francis Regis, French saint (b. 1597)
• date unknown - Pedro Teixeira, explorer
• probable - John Ford, dramatist (b. 1586)

See also 1640 deaths.

Fiction

• The play Cyrano by Edmond Rostand takes place in the year 1640.