1688

Year 1688 (MDCLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1688

January - June

* March - William Dampier makes the first recorded visit to Christmas Island.
* April 18 (Julian calendar) - The Germantown Quaker Protest Against Slavery is drafted by 4 Germantown Quakers.
* April 29 - Frederick I of Prussia becomes Kurfürst (Elector) of Brandenburg.
* June 30 - A high-powered conspiracy of notables (the "Immortal Seven") invite William and Mary to depose James II of England.

July - December

* July - Phetracha stages a coup d'état and becomes king of Ayutthaya.
* October 27 - King James II of England fires minister Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland.
* November 5 - The Glorious Revolution begins: William of Orange lands at Brixham, but James II of England is prevented from meeting him in battle because many of his officers and men desert to the other side.
* November 9 - William of Orange captures Exeter after the magistrates flee the city.
* November 23 - A group of 1,500 Old Believers immolate themselves to avoid capture when troops of the tsar lay siege to their monastery on Lake Onega.
* November 26 - Hearing that William of Orange has landed in England, Louis XIV declares war on the Netherlands. Perhaps revealingly, he does not attack the Netherlands but instead strikes at the heart of the Holy Roman Empire with about 100,000 soldiers. The Nine Years' War begins in Europe and America.
* December 11 - After a series of defeats King James II of England flees England for France.

Undated

* Austria occupies Belgrade.
* Francesco Morosini becomes Doge of Venice.
* Fire destroys Bungay in England.
* The Ottoman Turks besiege Vienna.
* Neuruppin becomes a Prussian garrison town.
* Antonio Verrio begins work on the Heaven Room at Burghley House.
* Janez Vajkard Valvasor becomes a member of the Royal Society.
* The Austrians incite a rebellion against the Ottomans in Bulgaria.

Births

* January 18 - Lionel Cranfield Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1765)
* January 29 - Emanuel Swedenborg Swedish scientist, philosopher, and theologian (d. 1772)
* February 2 - Queen Ulrike Eleonora of Sweden (d. 1741)
* February 4 - Pierre de Marivaux, French playwright (d. 1763)
* March - William Burnet, British colonial administrator (d. 1729)
* April 4 - Joseph-Nicolas Delisle, French astronomer (d. 1768)
* April 15 - Johann Friedrich Fasch, German composer (d. 1758)
* May 22 - Alexander Pope, English poet (d. 1744)
* June 10 - James Francis Edward Stuart, "The Old Pretender" (d. 1766)
* July 19 - Giuseppe Castiglione, Italian missionary to China (d. 1766)
* August 14 - King Frederick William I of Prussia (d. 1740)
* September 12 - Ferdinand Brokoff, Czech sculptor (d. 1731)
* October 17 - Domenico Zipoli, Italian composer (d. 1726)
* October 22 - Nadir Shah of Persia (d. 1747)
*"Date Unknown" - Charles Rivington, English publisher (d. 1742)

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Deaths

* January 7 - James Howard, 3rd Earl of Suffolk
* February 2 - Abraham Duquesne, French naval officer (b. 1610)
* April 29 - Friedrich Wilhelm I of Brandenburg (b. 1620)
* May 14 - Antoine Furetière, French writer (b. 1619)
* June 5 - Constantine Phaulkon, Greek adventurer (b. 1667)
* June 26 - Ralph Cudworth, English philosopher (b. 1617)
* July 11 - Narai of Thailand (b. 1639
* July 21 - James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, Irish statesman (b. 1610)
* August 25 - Henry Morgan, Welsh privateer and Governor of Jamaica (b. c. 1635)
* August 31 - John Bunyan, English writer (b. 1628)
* September 2 - Robert Viner, Lord Mayor of London (b. 1631)
* October 6 - Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle, English statesman (b. 1653)
* October 23 - Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange, French philologist (b. 1610)
* November 26 - Philippe Quinault, French dramatist (b. 1635)
* December 15 - Gaspar Fagel, Dutch statesman (b. 1634)

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