1635 - Political Events

Political Events

The Peace of Prague May 30 resolves differences between the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II and Johann George I, elector of Saxony. France's Cardinal Richelieu makes an alliance with Sweden's Count Axel Gustafsson Oxenstierna. Hans von Arnim, now 53, resigns from the Saxon army to protest the settlement (see religion, 1629). He will be arrested by the Swedes in 1637, but he will escape and be reinstated in the Saxon army in 1638. The Thirty Years' War becomes a conflict between the Franco-Swedish alliance and the Hapsburgs. France agrees to regular subsidization of Bernhard, duke of Saxe-Weimar.

Murad IV leads an Ottoman army against Persia. Erivan capitulates after a siege, Tabriz surrenders without resistance but is deliberately destroyed (the Blue Mosque is spared when the mufti observes that it was built by a Sunni, not a Shiite).

The former Lebanese ruler Fakhr ad-Din II is executed at Constantinople at age 63 (approximate), having been held captive since last year (see 1633). His territories are broken up, but the Druse and Maronite districts will remain united.

The Japanese shōgun Iemitsu Tokugawa acts to prevent any feudal lord from becoming too rich and powerful. He orders that each daimyo must visit Edo every other year, leave his wife and children at Edo for the year he is absent, and pay all the expenses of maintaining two places of residence.

Dutch forces invade and occupy northern Brazil, where Dutch planters will enter the lucrative sugar industry (see 1623; 1654).

Dutch forces capture St. Eustatius in the Caribbean, ending Spain's monopoly in cacao beans (see 1779; exploration, colonization [Curaçao], 1634).