| February 2 | M Rossi's opera "Erminia sul Giordano," premieres in Rome |
| February 13 | Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei arrived in Rome for trial before Inquisition for professing belief that earth revolves around the Sun |
| March 7 | Prince Frederik Henry appoints himself viceroy of Limburg |
| April 23 | Sweden and Protestant German monarchy form Union of Heilbronn |
| June 2 | Prince Frederik Henry conquerors fort Rhine at Cologne |
| June 13 | Charter for Maryland is given to Lord Cecil Baltimore |
| June 21 | Galileo Galilei is forced by Inquisition to "abjure, curse, and detest" his Copernican heliocentric views |
| June 22 | Galileo Galilei forced to recant Earth orbits Sun by Pope (but on Oct 31, 1992, Vatican admits it was wrong) |
| October 8 | Massachusetts Bay Colony forms its 1st government |
