1641 - Political Events

Political Events

The Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud, 68, is sent to the Tower of London, where the king's chief minister Thomas Wentworth, earl of Strafford, is executed May 12 at age 48 (see 1640). Parliamentarian Sir Arthur Hesilrige, 30, has played a leading role in Strafford's impeachment; legal antiquarian John Selden has taken part in the House of Commons proceedings against the archbishop, who has sought absolutism in Church and state and used the Court of High Commission and Star Chamber to root out Calvinism and Presbyterianism.

Irish Parliament member Sir Phelim O'Neill, 37, seizes Charlemont Castle in Ulster October 22, claims that Charles I has authorized the action, and then allows his followers to massacre hundreds of English colonists in a major uprising against English rule (see 1642).

Louis XIII's brother Jean Baptiste d'Orléans exposes a conspiracy against France's Cardinal Richelieu. He reveals that Henri Coiffier de Ruze, 21, marquise de Cinq-Mars, has taken advantage of his position as protégé of Richelieu and king's favorite to make a secret treaty with Spain (Cinq-Mars will be executed in mid-September of next year).

Dutch forces take Malacca and begin their domination of the East Indies (see 1623).

Dutch forces in Africa take Luanda with help from Nzinga, queen of Ndongo and Matambma (see 1624). The Portuguese, who founded Luanda in 1576, have been using it as a base from which to export 10,000 slaves per year, most of them to Brazil (see 1643).