1683 -- The Execution of Jean Le Vacher

Augustin Burdet, Duquesne liberating the captives after the bombardment of Algiers in 1683, engraving after François-Auguste Biard.

511 -- Conversion of the Franks. Baptism of Clovis I, (=Louis I,Ludwig I), King of the Franks, at Reims
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987 -- Formation of the Kingdom of France. House of Capet begins rule (Hugh Capet). Beginning of the continuous line of French kings to 1792.

1163 -- Construction begins on Notre-Dame de Paris

1431 -- Death of Joan of Arc

1529 -- Capture of Algiers by the Ottomans. Emergence of the city as a major slave trading port.

1534 -- First voyage of Cartier to the New World, sent by Francis I of France.

1556 -- Death of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. The House of Habsburg splits into Spanish and Austrian branch. Separation of Crown of Spain from the German Imperial line (Archduke of Austria). Rivalry between France and Spain for control of the Mediterranean and the continent until 1659.

1571 -- Battle of Lepanto. The combined fleet of the Catholic League defeats the Ottoman Navy near Patras, Greece, providing the turning point against Turkish expansion in the Mediterranean.

1608  -- Quebec City is founded

1638 -- Birth of Louis XIV, son of Louis XIII and Anne of Austria.

1636 -- Premiere of Le Cid by Corneille in Paris.


1654 -- 16 y.o. Louis XIV crowned King of France at Reims Cathedral,
1661 -- 23 y.o. Louis XIV begins personal rule after the death of his adviser Cardinal Mazarin.

1659 Nov 7 -- The Peace of the Pyrenees. The French and Spanish kings make peace, allowing the two Catholic powers to fight piracy in the Mediterranean.

Negotiations were conducted on Pheasant Island, situated in the middle of the Bidasoa river on the border between the two countries, which has remained a French-Spanish condominium ever since. It was signed by Louis XIV of France and Philip IV of Spain, as well as their chief ministers, Cardinal Mazarin and Don Luis Méndez de Haro

1682  Jul -- The Regency of Algeria declares war on France. To force a treaty, Louis XIV orders bombardment of Algiers by a French fleet under Abraham Duquesne. The fleet withdraws due to bad weather  before a treaty can be signed.

Duquesne sailed to Algiers in July 1682, but bad weather delayed his attack. After several bombardments in August, the city suffered serious damage, but bad weather prevented the signing of a conclusive peace agreement, forcing Duquesne to return to France.

1682 Sept --- The Ottoman Empire declares War on the Holy Roman Empire.

1683 Mar -- The Ottomans begin assembling an army to send against Vienna.

On 31 March 1683, another declaration—sent by Grand Vizier Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha on behalf of Mehmet IV—arrived at the Imperial Court in Vienna. The next day the forward march of Ottoman army elements began from Edirne in Rumelia. Ottoman troops reached Belgrade by early May. They were joined by a Transylvanian army under Prince Mihaly Apafi and a Hungarian force under Imre Thököly; they laid siege to Győr and the remaining army of 150,000 moved toward the city of Vienna.  

1683 May 23 -- Duquesne makes second attempt to sail for Algiers

In the Spring of 1683, Duquesne set to sea once again with a fleet of 17 ships of the line, 3 frigates, 16 galleys, 7 bomb galiots, 48 longboats, 18 fluyts and 8 tartanes. This was a larger force than had been sent to Algiers the previous year. As well as being more numerous, the galiots were better equipped and manned by a special corps of bombardiers. The fleet set sail from Toulon on 23 May.

1683 Jun 26-27 -- The Second French Bombardment of Algiers (successful). The Algerian Dey sues for peace. Duquesne demands the release of all Christian prisoners.

The bombardment began on the night of 26-27 June, and two hundred and twenty two bombs, launched in less than twenty four hours, started fires in Algiers and prompted general disorder as well as killing around 300 Algerians. Hassan Dey intended to resist nonetheless, but the population urged him to sue for peace. Duquesne agreed to a truce on condition that all Christian slaves were delivered to him. When the truce expired, Hassan Dey asked for, and received, an extension. Duquesne meanwhile set out his terms for agreeing a peace:

• freeing all Christian slaves
• an indemnity equal to the value of all the goods seized from France by pirates
• a solemn embassy to be sent to Louis XIV to ask his forgiveness for the hostile acts committed against his navy.

These terms resolved the Dey to continue resistance.

1683 Jul 7 -- The Turkish Army arrives at Vienna

About 40,000 Crimean Tatar troops arrived 40 kilometres (25 mi) east of Vienna on 7 July, twice as many as the Imperial troops in the area. Emperor Leopold fled Vienna for Passau with his court and 60,000 Viennese, while Charles V, Duke of Lorraine, withdrew his force of 20,000 towards Linz. The main Ottoman army arrived at Vienna on 14 July; the city's only defense force was now that of Count Ernst Rüdiger von Starhemberg's 15,000 men

1683 Jul 28 -- Hardliners in Algiers, having deposed the Dey, execute the French consul.

One of the Algerian commanders, Mezzo Morto Hüseyin Pasha, then seized command and denounced the cowardice of the Dey, who had agreed to treat with the French. He had him put to death and was acclaimed as his successor by the janissaries. Before long a red flag, raised from the heights of the Casbah, announced to Duquesne that combat was resumed.The Algerians replied to the bombs hurled at their city by tying the French consul, Jean Le Vacher to the mouth of a cannon. On 28 July pieces of his shattered limbs fell on the decks of the French vessels, along with those of other French prisoners blown to pieces

1683 Jul 29 -- Algiers burns under all-out French Bombardment. Algerians beg for peace and agree to negotiate release of Christian prisoners.

Despite the fierce resistance of the Algerians, the city was engulfed by an enormous fire which consumed palaces, mosques, and many other buildings across the city; the wounded could not find any refuge; and ammunition ran low. Algiers would have been reduced to ruins had not Duquesne himself run out of missiles. The bombardment ended on 29 July.

The pride of the Algerian pirates was crushed, and as the French fleet returned to France, Algiers sent an embassy under Djiafar-Aga-Effendi to ask forgiveness of Louis XIV, for the injuries and cruelty that the corsairs had inflicted on France

The new Dey Mezzo Morto Hüseyin Pasha agreed to free another 546 captives, but refused to sign a peace agreement with Duquesne, who was then 79 years of age, so Louis XIV sent another envoy, Tourville, to treat with him. A hundred year peace was agreed, including a provision to leave the coasts of France unmolested. 

1683 Sept 12 -- The Battle of Vienna. Beginning of the rollback of Ottoman power in the Baklans.

The battle was fought by the Holy Roman Empire led by the Habsburg Monarchy and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, both under the command of King John III Sobieski, against the Ottomans and their vassal and tributary states. The battle marked the first time the Commonwealth and the Holy Roman Empire had cooperated militarily against the Ottomans, and it is often seen as a turning point in history, after which "the Ottoman Turks ceased to be a menace to the Christian world". In the ensuing war that lasted until 1699, the Ottomans lost almost all of Hungary to the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I.

1715 -- Death of Louis XIV