1681 - Political Events

Political Events

Hungarian noblemen regain their constitution under terms of the Treaty of Sopron with the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold.

France's Louis XIV annexes Strasbourg and lays claim to 10 Alsatian cities, posing a threat to the Holy Roman Empire and to the peace of Europe (see League of The Hague, 1683).

Russia confiscates Tatar territories on the Volga, forcing the people to convert to Christianity.

China's Qing (Ch'ing) dynasty emperor Kangxi (K'ang-hsi) ends the 8-year-old Revolt of the Three Feudatories in the south and establishes Qing rule over all of mainland China (see Taiwan, 1683).

Pennsylvania has its beginnings in a land grant of 48,000 square miles in the New World given by Charles II to religious nonconformist William Penn, 37, whose late father has bequeathed him an immense claim of £15,000 against the king (see 1643; Jamaica, 1655). Penn has been the first person of means to join the Society of Friends founded by George Fox in 1647. He has served time in prison for writing and distributing pamphlets espousing the Quaker cause, and the king's generosity is motivated in part by a desire to rid England of nonconformists, but Charles honors the late admiral by prefixing "Penn" to the name "Sylvania" that William Penn gives to the new territory (see 1682).

England begins a period of prosperity that will be shared by the New England Confederation formed in 1643. Merchants become rich as the demand for ships and shipping increases.