1644
Ming Dynasty Falls
Rebel armies under Li Zicheng broke into Beijing; the last Ming emperor, Chongzhen, hanged himself on a tree in the palace garden with a scrap of paper pinned to his robe blaming ministers. Within weeks, the Manchu-led Qing swept down through the Great Wall passes and occupied the capital, ending nearly three centuries of Ming rule over China.
Battle of Marston Moor
On a wet moor in Yorkshire, Parliamentarian and Scottish forces crushed the royalist army of Prince Rupert. Oliver Cromwell's disciplined cavalry broke the cavaliers with a charge that he compared, afterward, to a harvest by sickles. The north of England fell to parliament, and Cromwell's reputation as a military commander of rare ability was established beyond dispute.
Qing Dynasty Takes Beijing
Manchu cavalry under Prince Dorgon, invited through the Shanhai Pass by the Ming general Wu Sangui, rode into Beijing and installed the five-year-old Shunzhi Emperor on the Dragon Throne. The Qing dynasty, which would rule China for two hundred and sixty-eight years, had arrived. Decades of bloody conquest in the south remained, but the mandate of heaven had shifted.
Milton Publishes Areopagitica
The Puritan poet John Milton published a pamphlet addressed to parliament attacking prepublication censorship, arguing that truth prevails in open contest with falsehood. Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, he wrote. Press freedom had a founding document, and its arguments would be invoked by every subsequent generation fighting for the right to publish.
Dutch Whaling Peaks off Spitsbergen
Dutch whaling fleets processing bowhead whales on the icy shores of Spitsbergen reached a peak of two hundred ships and eighteen thousand men. Whale oil lit European cities, lubricated wool combs, and softened leather. The industrialized hunting of marine mammals had its first boom, and its first signs of overexploitation.
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Frequently asked
What happened in the year 1644?
Saeculum lists 5 curated events from 1644. The most significant is Ming Dynasty Falls: Rebel armies under Li Zicheng broke into Beijing; the last Ming emperor, Chongzhen, hanged himself on a tree in the palace garden with a scrap of paper pinned…
What era was 1644 part of?
1644 falls within the Renaissance (1501-1650). Reformation, conquest, and the world drawn whole.
Which regions saw notable events in 1644?
The curated events from 1644 span East Asia and Europe.