1655

Events

January–March

• January 5 – Emperor Go-Sai ascends to the throne of Japan.
• January 7 – Pope Innocent X, leader of the Roman Catholic Church and the Papal States, dies after more than 10 years of rule.
• February 14 – The Mapuches launch coordinated attacks against the Spanish in Chile, beginning the Mapuche uprising of 1655.
• February 16 – Dutch Grand Pensionary advisor Johan de Witt marries Wendela Bicker.
• March 8 – John Casor becomes the first legally recognized slave in what will become the United States, as a court in Northampton County in the Colony of Virginia issues its decision in the Casor lawsuit, the first instance of a judicial determination in the Thirteen Colonies holding that a person who has committed no crime could be held in servitude for life.
• March 25 – Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is discovered by Christiaan Huygens.

April–June

• April 4 – Battle of Porto Farina, Tunis: English admiral Robert Blake's fleet defeats the Barbary pirates.
• April 7 – Pope Alexander VII (born Fabio Chigi) succeeds Pope Innocent X, as the 237th pope.
• April 24 – The Piedmontese Easter Massacre of the Waldensians: Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy slaughters 1,500 men, women and children; this is memorialized in John Milton's sonnet "On the Late Massacre in Piedmont" and apologized for by Pope Francis in 2015.
• April 26 – The Dutch West India Company denies Peter Stuyvesant's request to exclude Jews from New Amsterdam (Manhattan).
• April 28 – Admiral Blake severely damages the arsenal of the Bey of Tunis.
• May 10–27 – Anglo-Spanish War: Invasion of Jamaica – Forces of the English Protectorate led by William Penn and Robert Venables capture the island of Jamaica from Spain.
• June 13 – Adriana Nooseman-van de Bergh becomes the first actress, in Amsterdam theater.

July–September

• July 20 – The Amsterdam Town Hall (the modern-day Royal Palace) is inaugurated.
• July 27
  • The Jews in New Amsterdam petition for a separate Jewish cemetery.
  • The Netherlands and Brandenburg sign a military treaty.
• July 30 – Dutch troops capture Fort Assahudi Seram.
• July 31 – Russo-Polish War (1654–67): The Russian army enters the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilnius, which it holds for 6 years.
• August 9 – Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell divides England into 11 districts, under major-generals.
• August 28 – New Amsterdam and Peter Stuyvesant bar colonial Jews from military service.
• August – The governor of New Netherland, Peter Stuyvesant, attacks the New Sweden (Delaware) colony.
• September 8 – Swedish King Karl X Gustav occupies Warsaw (Poland).
• September 26 – Peter Stuyvesant recaptures the Dutch Fory Casimir, and defeats the New Sweden (Delaware) colony.

October –December

• October 15 – The Jews of Lublin are massacred.
• October 19 – Swedish King Karl X Gustav occupies Kraków (Poland).
• November 3 – England and France sign military and economic treaties.
• November 24 – English Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell announces measures against the Laudian party, which are enforced starting on January 1.
• December 4 – Middelburg, the Netherlands forbids the building of a synagogue.
• December 18 – The Whitehall Conference ends with the determination that there is no law preventing Jews from re-entering England after the Edict of Expulsion of 1290.
• December 27 – Second Northern War/the Deluge: Monks at the Jasna Góra Monastery in Częstochowa are successful in fending off a month-long siege.

Date unknown

• Stephan Farffler, a 22-year-old paraplegic watchmaker, builds the world's first self-propelling chair on a three-wheel chassis using a system of cranks and cogwheels. However, the device has the appearance of a hand bike more than a wheelchair since the design includes hand cranks mounted at the front wheel.
• The Bibliotheca Thysiana is erected,{{cite thesis |last=Mourtis |first=E.V.M. |date=December 14, 2016 |title=Een kamer gevuld met de mooiste boeken : de bibliotheek van Johannes Thysius (1622-1653) |type=PhD |chapter=Introduction |publisher=Vantilt |chapter-url=https://scholarlypublications.universiteitleiden.nl/handle/1887/45015|page=11|language=nl|access-date=22 March 2022}} the only surviving 17th century example in the Netherlands, of a building designed as a library.
• 1655 Malta plague outbreak kills 20 people.
• Frederick III of Denmark-Norway gives control of the Faroe Islands to Christoffer Gabel and his son, which will last until 1709.

Births

• January 1 – Christian Thomasius, German jurist (d. 1728)
• January 5 – John Coney (silversmith), early American silversmith/goldsmith (d. 1722)
• January 6
  • Niccolò Comneno Papadopoli, Italian jurist of religious law and historian (d. 1740)
  • Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg, Holy Roman Empress (d. 1720)
• January 11
  • Charles Sergison, English politician (d. 1732)
  • Henry Howard, 7th Duke of Norfolk, England (d. 1701)
• January 13 – Bernard de Montfaucon, French Benedictine monk (d. 1741)
• January 19 – Nalan Xingde, Chinese poet (d. 1685)
• January 21 – Antonio Molinari, Italian painter (d. 1704)
• January 25 – Cornelius Anckarstjerna, Dutch-born Swedish admiral (d. 1714)
• January 27 – Henri de Nesmond, French churchman (d. 1727)
• February 2 – William "Tangier" Smith, Moroccan mayor (d. 1705)
• February 7 – Jean-François Regnard, French comic poet (d. 1709){{cite book |last1=Lancaster |first1=Henry Carrington |title=A history of French dramatic literature in the seventeenth century. -- |date=1966 |publisher=Gordian Press |location=New York, United States|page=731
• February 14 – Jacques-Nicolas Colbert, French churchman (d. 1707)
• February 15 – August, Duke of Saxe-Merseburg-Zörbig, German prince (d. 1715)
• February 16 – Charles, Electoral Prince of Brandenburg, German prince (d. 1674)
• February 25 – Carel de Moor, Dutch painter (d. 1738)
• February 28 – Johann Beer, Austrian composer (d. 1700)
• March 4 – Fra Galgario, Italian painter (d. 1743)
• March 6 – Frederik Krag, Danish nobleman and senior civil servant (d. 1728)
• March 23
  • Richard Hill of Hawkstone, English statesman (d. 1727)
  • Sir Richard Myddelton, 3rd Baronet, English politician (d. 1716)
• April 8 – Louis William, Margrave of Baden-Baden, Germany (d. 1707)
• April 19 – George St Lo, Royal Navy officer and administrator (d. 1718)
• April 25 – John Lowther, 1st Viscount Lonsdale, English politician (d. 1700)
• April 26
  • Rinaldo d'Este (1655–1737), Duke of Modena (d. 1737)
  • Ofspring Blackall, Bishop of Exeter (d. 1716)
• May 4 – Bartolomeo Cristofori, Italian maker of musical instruments, invented the piano (d. 1731)
• May 13 – Pope Innocent XIII (d. 1724)
• May 31 – Jacques Eléonor Rouxel de Grancey, Marshal of France (d. 1725)
• June 4 – Thomas of Cori, Italian Friar Minor and preacher (d. 1729)
• June 11 – Antonio Cifrondi, Italian painter (d. 1730)
• June 12 – Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen (d. 1715)
• July 7 – Christoph Dientzenhofer, German architect (d. 1722)
• July 20 – Ford Grey, 1st Earl of Tankerville, England (d. 1701)
• August 2 – Sir John Hotham, 3rd Baronet, English politician (d. 1691)
• August 13 – Johann Christoph Denner, German musical instrument maker, invented the clarinet (d. 1707)
• August 16 – Frederick Christian, Count of Schaumburg-Lippe (d. 1728)
• August 18 – James Collett, English-born merchant who settled in Norway (d. 1727)
• August 22 – Joseph Robineau de Villebon, governor of Acadia (d. 1700)
• September 2 – Andries Pels, Dutch banker (d. 1731)
• September 9 – James Johnston (Secretary of State), diplomat, Secretary of State for Scotland (d. 1737)
• September 12 – Sébastien de Brossard, French composer and music theorist (d. 1730)
• September 14 – Éléonor Marie du Maine du Bourg, French nobleman and general (d. 1739)
• September 21 – Roger Cave, English politician (d. 1703)
• September 29 – Johann Ferdinand of Auersperg, Duke of Münsterberg (d. 1705)
• September 30 – Charles III, Prince of Guéméné, French nobleman (d. 1727)
• October 4 – Lothar Franz von Schönborn, Archbishop of Mainz (d. 1729)
• October 12 – Richard Neville (the younger), English politician (d. 1717)
• October 25 – Fabio Brulart de Sillery, French churchman (d. 1714)
• November 1 – Ferdinand Kettler, Duke of Courland and Semigallia (d. 1737)
• November 6 – Daniel Lascelles (1655–1734), English Member of Parliament (d. 1734)
• November 12
  • Eustache Restout, French painter (d. 1743)
  • Francis Nicholson, British Army general, colonial administrator (d. 1727)
• November 16 – Alessandro Gherardini, Italian painter (d. 1726)
• November 18 – Walter Norborne, English politician (d. 1684)
• November 19 – Sir William Robinson, 1st Baronet, British politician (d. 1736)
• November 20 – Sir Thomas Grosvenor, 3rd Baronet, English politician (d. 1700)
• November 24 – King Charles XI of Sweden (d. 1697)
• December 9 – Isaac van Hoornbeek, Grand Pensionary of Holland (d. 1727)
• December 10 – Sir William Forester, British politician (d. 1718)
• December 13 – John Evelyn the Younger, English translator (d. 1699)
• December 14 – Philip, Landgrave of Hesse-Philippsthal, son of William VI (d. 1721)
• December 27 – Abstrupus Danby, English politician (d. 1727)
• December 28 – Charles Cornwallis, 3rd Baron Cornwallis, First Lord of the British Admiralty (d. 1698)
• December 29 – Lewis Watson, 1st Earl of Rockingham, English politician (d. 1724)
• date unknown – Zumbi, runaway slave in Brazil (d. 1695)

Deaths

• January 6 – Louis Philip, Count Palatine of Simmern-Kaiserslautern, Prince of Paltinate (b. 1602)
• January 7 – Pope Innocent X (b. 1574)
• February 15 – Pier Luigi Carafa, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1581)
• February 21 – John X of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, Prince-Bishop of Lübeck (1634–1655) (b. 1606)
• February 25 – Daniel Heinsius, Flemish scholar (b. 1580)
• February 27 – Francesco Molin, Doge of Venice (b. 1575)
• March 28 – Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, German princess and queen consort of Sweden (b. 1599)
• March 30 – James Stewart, 1st Duke of Richmond (b. 1612)
• April 6 – David Blondel, French Protestant clergyman (b. 1591)
• April 14 – Johann Erasmus Kindermann, German composer and organist (b. 1616)
• April 29 – Cornelis Schut, Flemish painter, draughtsman and engraver (b. 1597)
• April 30 – Eustache Le Sueur, French painter (b. 1617)
• May 5 – Richard Harrison, English politician (b. 1583)
• May 8 – Edward Winslow, American Pilgrim leader (b. 1596)
• May 30 – Christian, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (b. 1581)
• June 26 – Margaret of Savoy, Vicereine of Portugal (b. 1589)
• June 27 – Eleonora Gonzaga, Holy Roman Empress, married to Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1598)
• June 30 – Jacobus Boonen, Dutch Catholic archbishop (b. 1573)
• July 15 – Girolamo Rainaldi, Italian architect (b. 1570)
• July 28
  • Cyrano de Bergerac, French soldier and writer (b. 1619)
  • Suzuki Shōsan, Japanese samurai (b. 1579)
• July 30 – Sigmund Theophil Staden, important early German composer (b. 1607)
• August 10 – Alfonso de la Cueva, 1st Marquis of Bedmar, Spanish cardinal and diplomat (b. 1572)
• September 7 – François Tristan l'Hermite, French dramatist (b. 1601)
• September 24 – Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse-Eschwege (b. 1617)
• October 13 – Tobie Matthew, English Member of Parliament (b. 1577)
• October 14 – Arnold Möller, German calligrapher (b. 1581)
• October 16 – Joseph Solomon Delmedigo, Italian physician, mathematician and music theorist (b. 1591)
• October 18 – Joachim Lütkemann, German theologian (b. 1608)
• October 24 – Pierre Gassendi, French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist (b. 1592)
• November 3 – Paulus Aertsz van Ravesteyn, Dutch printer (born c. 1586)
• November 6 – Maximilian, Prince of Dietrichstein, German prince (b. 1596)
• November 16 – Giuseppe Marcinò, Italian priest, member of the Order of Friars Minor (b. 1589)
• November 23 – Elizabeth Wriothesley, Countess of Southampton (b. 1572)
• November 28 – John Oglander, English politicians (b. 1585)
• December 17 – Ukita Hideie, Japanese daimyō (b. 1573)
• December 20 – Gregers Krabbe, Danish noble (b. 1594)
• December 22 – Tsugaru Nobuyoshi, Japanese daimyō (b. 1619)
• December 31 – Sir John Wray, 2nd Baronet, English politician (b. 1586)
• date unknown – Kocc Barma Fall, Senegambian philosopher (b. 1586)

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