1685
Revocation of Edict of Nantes
Louis XIV revoked the nearly ninety-year-old toleration granted by Henry IV and ordered all Protestant worship in France suppressed. Churches were demolished; pastors were exiled; other Huguenots were forbidden to leave but fled anyway. Perhaps two hundred thousand skilled workers carried their trades to London, Berlin, and Amsterdam, enriching France's rivals with the talent and capital it had expelled.
Siamese Embassy to Versailles
King Narai of Ayutthaya sent an embassy of three mandarins to Versailles in elaborate Siamese silks. They presented Louis XIV with jade, lacquer, and a request for trade, and toured Paris while the court gawked. A few years later, a coup would reverse Narai's cosmopolitan policy. The brief Siamese opening to Europe had closed.
Bach, Handel, and Scarlatti Born
Three composers who would define high Baroque music were all born within weeks of each other in different parts of Europe: Johann Sebastian Bach in Eisenach, George Frideric Handel in Halle, and Domenico Scarlatti in Naples. Music history does not often cluster its masters so obligingly, and the coincidence would produce a generation of genius that reshaped Western music entirely.
James II Takes the English Throne
The openly Catholic James, Duke of York, succeeded his brother Charles II without initial protest. Parliament granted him generous revenues, anti-Catholic feeling remained quiet, and a rebellion in the west was easily crushed. Within three years, James would squander every advantage by pushing for Catholic restoration too openly, provoking the revolution that would cost him his crown.
Huguenots Flee to Brandenburg
Frederick William, the Great Elector of Brandenburg, issued the Edict of Potsdam inviting French Protestants driven out by Louis XIV to settle in his underpopulated lands. Twenty thousand Huguenots arrived, bringing skills, capital, and Calvinist piety. Berlin's population tripled. The origins of modern Prussian prosperity owed something to French intolerance.
Monmouth Rebellion
Charles II's illegitimate Protestant son James, Duke of Monmouth, landed at Lyme Regis and led a ragged army of West Country peasants against the new Catholic king James II. He was routed at Sedgemoor, the last battle on English soil, and beheaded. Judge Jeffreys' Bloody Assizes hanged hundreds more in reprisal.
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Frequently asked
What happened in the year 1685?
Saeculum lists 6 curated events from 1685. The most significant is Revocation of Edict of Nantes: Louis XIV revoked the nearly ninety-year-old toleration granted by Henry IV and ordered all Protestant worship in France suppressed.
What era was 1685 part of?
1685 falls within the Enlightenment (1651-1800). Reason, revolution, and the first global wars.
Which regions saw notable events in 1685?
The curated events from 1685 span Europe and Southeast Asia.