Reader, near this Tomb don't stand
Without some Essence in thy Hand;
For here Kidd's stinking Corpse does lie,
The Scent of which may thee infect. . . .
Born in 1701:
Died in 1701:
Events of 1701:
- William Penn outlines the rights of Pennsylvania colonists with
the Charter of Privileges.
- Louisiana is in dire straits, due to a yellow fever epidemic,
as well as the fact that most colonists are off hunting gold and pearls
instead of growing food. When Governor Iberville returns to Biloxi,
MS, he finds only 150 survivors.
- Antoine de La Mothe Cadillac builds Fort Ponchartrain on the future
site of Detroit with 200 French colonists and Indians.
- Liu Chow leads an insurrection against Qing rule on Formosa.
- Spanish King Charles II (a Hapsburg) died childless the previous
year, and left his throne to 17-year-old Philip, Duke of Anjou, who also happened to be a Bourbon grandson of Louis XIV. Louis could
nor resist the opportunity unite France and Spain under one king, and
Philip V assumed the throne. However, everyone knows this will mean
war. In particular, Leopold
I, the Hapsburg ruler of Austria and Holy Roman Emperor,
finds Philip's accession intolerable. Also, William,
stadtholder of The Netherlands (who also happens to be King of England),
does not want France to possess the Spanish Netherlands. The parties spend
the year maneuvering and making alliances to prepare for the upcoming war.
-
German princes in the Holy Roman Empire are forbidden to style themselves
as kings. However, Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg, can get
around this, since part of his domain, East Prussia, lies outside the
Empire. In exchange for military support in the upcoming war, and 150,000
guilders, Emperor Leopold I allows Frederick to declare his domain
the "Kingdom of Prussia".
(January 18), Frederick crowns himself King Frederick I in Königsberg
(East Prussia) .
-
(February) French occupy border fortresses between the Spanish Netherlands
and the Dutch republic.
-
(March 9) A treaty of alliance between France, Cologne, and Bavaria
-
(Spring) The Dutch offer Swedish King Charles XII 300000 rijksdalers
for Swedish troops, but Charles demurs, having other fish to fry.
-
Portugal signs a treaty of alliance with Spain and a nonaggression pact
with France.
-
(June 12) The English Parliament passes the "Act
of Settlement" forbidding any Roman Catholic to possess the Crown of
England (or Scotland, Wales or Ireland for that matter).
-
As Charles Stewart cannot speak for himself, his niece, the Duchess of
Savoy protests the act to the House of Lords, but it passes nonetheless.
-
As all of William III's children are dead, however, the act makes Charles'
Protestant cousin Anne.
-
As Anne is also childless, Sophia, the Electress of Hanover, is next
in line.
-
Most importantly, the act erases the concept of divine right and confirms
England as a constitutional monarchy.
-
(August) Prince Eugene of Savoy, an Austrian general, moves his troops
into Lombardy.
-
(September 1) The Duc de Villeroi, a French marshal, attacks Eugene at
Chiari but is repulsed. He eventually has to retreat back to Cremona.
Eugene lays siege to Mantua.
-
(September) England, Prussia, the Empire, and the Netherlands form a "Grand
Alliance" against the Bourbons. Although John Churchill was once suspected
of being a Jacobite, he is made commander-in-chief of English forces.
-
(November 3) Prince Eugene may be fighting for the Hapsburgs, but Savoy
is on the side of the Bourbons. Philip and 13-year-old Princess
Maria Luisa of Savoy are married in Madrid.
-
Swedish King Charles XII is fighting the Great Northern War
against Russian Tsar Peter the Great and Augustus, Elector of Saxony
and King of Poland. This year sees a Russian attack on Livland and
a Swedish invasion of Poland.
-
(January 14) Peter founds a nautical school in Moscow. This will eventually
grow into the Russian Naval Academy.
-
(June 6) Three Swedish ships sail into the Northern Dvina estuary (on the
White Sea) with the intention of attacking Archangelsk, Russia's only
seaport. However, the Swedes employ captured Russians as river pilots.
The pilots manage to run two of the ships aground at Novodvinsk.
-
(July 19) Charles crosses the Western Dvina River in Courland (now Latvia)
and smashes a combined Russian-Saxon army near Riga. The Saxon
army has to evacuate, and Charles controls Courland.
-
(September 5) The Swedish army defending Livonia, under general von Schlippenbach
defeats a Russian army attacking them at Rauge.
-
(December 30) Swedish general von Schlippenbach's army is decimated by
the Russian army at Erestfer, but they remain strong enough to cause
Russian general Boris Sheremetjev to withdraw. In reality, however, Livland
is practically defenseless, and the Russians will have more success the
following year.
1700 - 1701 - 1702
How they Were Made - 18th Century