1668 in England
Incumbents
Events
- 17 January – George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, fights a duel with Francis Talbot, 11th Earl of Shrewsbury (with whose wife he was having an affair) in which the latter is fatally wounded{{cite web|url=http://www.thebookofdays.com/months/jan/17.htm|title=January 17th|work=Chambers' Book of Days|access-date=2007-12-16|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071217192953/http://www.thebookofdays.com/months/jan/17.htm|archive-date=17 December 2007}} and a second is killed.
- 23 January – England signs the Triple Alliance with the Dutch Republic and Sweden.{{cite book|last1=Palmer|first1=Alan|last2=Palmer|first2=Veronica|year=1992|title=The Chronology of British History|publisher=Century Ltd|location=London|pages=190–191|isbn=0-7126-5616-2}}
- 13 February – Charles II mediates a peace treaty between Spain and Portugal.
- 13 April – John Dryden becomes Poet Laureate.{{cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-14-102715-0|year=2006}}
- April (traditional date) – Actress Nell Gwyn becomes the King's mistress.{{cite book|last=Beauclerk|year=2005|first=Charles|author-link=Charles Beauclerk (author)|title=Nell Gwyn: Mistress to a King|publisher=Atlantic Monthly Press|isbn=0-87113-926-X|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/nellgwynmistress0000beau|page=128}}
- 7 May – Queen Catherine miscarries.{{cite book|authorlink=Jenny Uglow|first=Jenny|last=Uglow|title=A Gambling Man|location=London|publisher=Faber|year=2010|orig-year=2009|isbn=978-0-571-21734-2|page=458}}
- May – The King's former mistress, Barbara Castlemaine, leaves the Court and is pensioned.
- 21 September – The British East India Company takes over Bombay under a Royal Charter of 27 March.
- December – William Penn imprisoned for nearly 8 months in the Tower of London for writing a pamphlet attacking Trinitarian doctrine.
=Undated=
- The Forest of Dean is re-established as a royal forest.
- Isaac Newton builds the first reflecting telescope (Newton's reflector){{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7R8LsvMcUioC&pg=PA67|title=Isaac Newton: adventurer in thought|author-link=Alfred Rupert Hall|first=Rupert|last=Hall|date=11 April 1996|page=67|isbn=9780521566698}}
- Richard Duckworth's Tintinnalogia, or, the Art of Ringing, the first work on change ringing, is compiled and published complete by Fabian Stedman in London.{{cite ODNB|first=John C.|last=Eisel|title=Stedman, Fabian (bap. 1640, d. 1713)|date=September 2014|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/68907|access-date=2015-04-23|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/68907|isbn=9780198614111}}
- George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, probably originates the field sport of organised fox hunting in England with The Bilsdale Hunt in Yorkshire.
- 1668 or 1669 – James, Duke of York, the heir to the throne, secretly takes Eucharist in the Roman Catholic Church.
Births
- November (baptised) – Thomas Woolston, deist (died 1733)
- December (baptised) – Sarah Fyge Egerton, poet (died 1723)
- John Eccles, composer (died 1735)
- Approximate date
- Thomas Archer, baroque architect (died 1743)
- John Poulett, 1st Earl Poulett (died 1743)
Deaths
- 21 February – John Thurloe, Puritan spy (born 1616)
- 16 March – Francis Talbot, 11th Earl of Shrewsbury (born 1623)
- 7 April – Sir William Davenant, poet (born 1606)
- 19 September – Sir William Waller, English Civil War general (born c. 1635)
- 17 November – Joseph Alleine, English non–conformist preacher (born 1634)
- probable date – Daniel Blagrave, Member of Parliament (born 1603)
References
{{Reflist}}
{{England year nav}}
{{Year in Europe|1668}}