July 27, 1694: English Parliament Charters the Bank of England

(source)

1694 Bank of England chartered by Parliament

The Royal Charter was granted on 27 July through the passage of the Tonnage Act 1694.

"England's crushing defeat by France, the dominant naval power, in naval engagements culminating in the 1690 Battle of Beachy Head, became the catalyst for England's rebuilding itself as a global power. England had no choice but to build a powerful navy. No public funds were available, and the credit of William III's government was so low in London that it was impossible for it to borrow the £1,200,000 (at 8% p.a.) that the government wanted.

To induce subscription to the loan, the subscribers were to be incorporated by the name of the Governor and Company of the Bank of England. The Bank was given exclusive possession of the government's balances, and was the only limited-liability corporation allowed to issue bank notes. The lenders would give the government cash (bullion) and issue notes against the government bonds, which can be lent again. The £1.2m was raised in 12 days; half of this was used to rebuild the navy.

The establishment of the bank was devised by Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, in 1694, to the plan which had been proposed by William Paterson three years before, but not acted upon H


1693 King William's War in North America: New England frigates attack Port Royal, Acadia "burning almost a dozen houses and three barns full of grain."

1692-1693 Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts Bay Colony

1691 William Paterson plan to finance an English navy. He proposes a loan of £1.2m to the government; in return the subscribers would be incorporated as The Governor and Company of the Bank of England with long-term banking privileges including the issue of notes.

1690 Massachusetts Bay issues paper currency

1690  Battle of Beachy Head.(La bataille du cap Béveziers) "a naval engagement fought on 10 July 1690 during the Nine Years' War (known as King William's War in the Americas). The battle was the greatest French tactical naval victory over their English and Dutch opponents during the war. The Dutch lost six ships of the line in total (sources vary), as well as three fireships, and their English allies also lost one ship of the line, whereas the French did not lose a single vessel. Although control of the English Channel temporarily fell into French hands, Admiral Tourville failed to pursue the Allied fleet with sufficient ardour, allowing it to escape to the river Thames.Tourville was heavily criticised for not following up his victory and was relieved of his command. English admiral Torrington – who had advised against engaging the superior French fleet but had been overruled by Queen Mary and her ministers – was court-martialled for his performance during the battle. Although he was acquitted, King William dismissed him from the service." Took place while James II was in Ireland campaigning to seek his restoration. William had diverted much of his resources there at the time.






1688 The Glorious Revolution. William of Orange invades England with a a Dutch fleet and army. House of Stuart deposed.  Parliament passes Bill of Rights, confirming accession of William as king.(1689).


1687 Principia, Isaac Newton published.


1675  The Haarlem Painter's Guild, by Jan de Bray,

 Jan de Bray,self-portrait is the second from the left (source)

1672-78 The Franco-Dutch War. Ends with Louis XIV as the most powerful monarch in Europe.

1672 The Franco-Dutch War. begins "full invasion of English, French and German forces took much of the Dutch Republic by surprise, is often referred to as het Rampjaar ("the Disaster Year") in Dutch."

1670 Hudson's Bay Company granted royal charter.

1667 Paradise Lost, John Milton. First Edition.

1666 Colbert issues royal edict for commencement of construction on the Canal du Midi linking the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean in southern France.

1666 Le Misanthrope ou l'Atrabilaire amoureux by Molière first produced at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal, Paris by the King's Players.


1666 Great Fire of London

1665-1666 Plague hits London.

Map of London by Wenceslas Hollar, c.1665 (source)

1658 Peter Stuyvesant purchases land on west side of Hudson River. Settlement of Bergen as oldest in present-day New Jersey.

1648 Treaty of Münster. Dutch independence recognized by Spain.

Banquet of the Amsterdam Civic Guard in Celebration of the Peace of Münster, 1648.

Bartholomeus van der Helst, 

(source)

1642-1651 English Civil War.

1640 Rubens dies in Antwerp.

1628 Massachusetts Bay Company granted royal charter for settlement in the New World.

1624 Founding of Fort Amsterdam on Manhattan as a factorij (trading post) of beaver pelts with the Lenape Indians.

1619 VOC establishes capital at Jakarta.

1616 Shakespeare dies.

1612 East India Company achieves major military victory over the Portuguese at the Battle of Swally.

1607-1610 Third voyage of the East India Company

1605 Volpone, or the Fox, Ben Jonson

1604 Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), The Fall of Phaeton

(source) in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.

1604 Second voyage by the East India Company under Sir Henry Middleton.

1603 Return of James Lancaster voyage for the East India Company after two years.

1603 Queen Elizabeth dies. James I (Stuart), king.

1602 The Dutch East India Company (VOC)  founded in Amsterdam.

1601 First voyage of the East India Company leaves England under Sir James Lancaster.

1600 English East India Company founded. "Queen grants a Royal Charter to "George, Earl of Cumberland, and 215 Knights, Aldermen, and Burgesses" under the name, Governor and Company of Merchants of London trading with the East Indies. For a period of fifteen years the charter awarded the newly formed company a monopoly on trade with all countries east of the Cape of Good Hope and west of the Straits of Magellan. Sir James Lancaster commanded the first East India Company voyage in 1601 and returned in 1603.  and in March 1604 Sir Henry Middleton commanded the second voyage. General William Keeling, a captain during the second voyage, led the third voyage from 1607 to 1610. Initially, the company struggled in the spice trade because of the competition from the already well-established Dutch East India Company.

1599 English investors gather to form company to reach the Indies. "Three years [after the disaster of 1596], on 22 September 1599, another group of merchants met and stated their intention "to venture in the pretended voyage to the East Indies (the which it may please the Lord to prosper), and the sums that they will adventure", committing £30,133. Two days later, on 24 September, "the Adventurers" reconvened and resolved to apply to the Queen for support of the project."

1596 Three English ships lost at sea in attempt to reach India.

1591 The English begin sending overseas expeditions to India. "Soon after the defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588, London merchants presented a petition to Queen Elizabeth I for permission to sail to the Indian Ocean. The permission was granted, and despite the defeat of the English Armada in 1589, on 10 April 1591 three ships sailed from Torbay around the Cape of Good Hope to the Arabian Sea on one of the earliest English overseas Indian expeditions. One of them, Edward Bonventure, then sailed around Cape Comorin and on to the Malay Peninsula and subsequently returned to England in 1594."

1588 The Spanish Armada defeated in attempt to invade England.

1580 Francis Drake returns from three-year circumnavigation of the globe, having explored the West Coast of North America.