1618
*
March 8 -
Johannes Kepler discovers the
third law of planetary motion (he soon rejects the idea after some initial calculations were made but on
May 15 confirms the discovery).
*
May 23 - The
Second Defenestration of Prague - protestant noblemen throw three representatives of
Ferdinand II out of a window. The event precipitates the
Thirty Years' War.
*
July 20 -
Pluto reached, according to sophisticated
mathematical calculations, its second most recent
aphelion. The next one occurred in
1866, and the following one will occur in
2113.
*
August 29 -
Johan van Oldenbarnevelt and
Hugo Grotius are imprisoned by
Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange*
October 29 -
English adventurer, writer, and
courtier Sir
Walter Raleigh is beheaded for allegedly conspiring against
James I of England.
* The margraves of
Brandenburg is granted
Polish approval to inherit
Ducal Prussia.
*
November 13, the
Synod of Dordrecht has its first meeting.
* Change of
emperor of the
Ottoman Empire from
Mustafa I (
1617-
1623) to
Osman II (1618-
1622).
* The 3000 seat Teatro Farnese, the first permanent proscenium theatre, was built into the Great Hall of the Palazzo della Pilotta in Parma, Italy in 1618.
*
January 1 -
Bartolomé Estéban Murillo, Spanish painter (d.
1682)
*
April 2 -
Francesco Maria Grimaldi, Italian mathematician and physicist (d.
1663)
*
April 13 -
Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy, French writer (d.
1693)
*
November 3 -
Aurangzeb,
Mughal Emperor of India (d.
1707)
* November -
Simon Arnauld de Pomponne, French diplomat and minister of
Louis XIV (d.
1699).
*
Richard Lovelace, English poet
*
February 20 -
Philip William, Prince of Orange (b.
1554)
*
March 23 -
James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Abercorn, Scottish politician
*
June 7 -
Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr, English Governor of Virginia (b.
1577)
*
August 23 -
Gerbrand Adriaensz Bredero, Dutch writer (b.
1585)
*
September 28 -
Joshua Sylvester, English poet (b.
1563)
*
October 29 -
Sir Walter Raleigh, English courtier and settler of Virginia (executed) (b.
1554)
*
November 2 - Archduke
Maximilian III of Austria (b.
1558)
*
December 6 -
Jacques-Davy Duperron, French cardinal (b.
1556)
*
December 10 -
Giulio Caccini, Italian composer
