1656
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Year 1656 (MDCLVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1656

January - June

• April 1 - King Jan Kazimierz crowns Our Lady of Częstochowa (the Black Madonna) as Queen and Protector of Poland in the cathedral of Lwów after the miraculous saving of the monastery of Jasna Góra during The Deluge, an event which actually changed the course of the war.
• April 28 - The ship Vergulde Draeck is wrecked off Ledge Point, Western Australia after it departed the Cape of Good Hope: rescue missions failed to find the survivors.

July - December

• July - In an attempt to rescue survivors of the Vergulde Draeck, a search party was sent ashore, in Goede Hoop's boat, which smashed against rocks and sank: 8 sailors drowned; 3 more disappeared ashore.
• December - The pendulum clock is invented by Christiaan Huygens.

Undated

• Mehmed Köprülü becomes Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
• Jews are readmitted to England by Oliver Cromwell.
• The Stockholm Banco, the first bank to issue banknotes, is founded.
• The only Fifty Shilling British coin is minted.
• Adams' Grammar School in Shropshire, England is founded by William Adams.
• The Dutch capture city of Colombo in Sri Lanka.

Ongoing Events

• The Deluge (1648-1667)

Births

• May 31 - Marin Marais, French composer and viol player (died 1728)
• June 5 - Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, French botanist (died 1708)
• July 7 - Guru Har Krishan, Eighth Guru of Sikhism (died 1664)
• August 6 - Claude de Forbin, French naval commander (died 1733)
• September 6 - Guillaume Dubois, French cardinal and statesman (died 1723)
• September 14 - Thomas Baker, English antiquarian (died 1746)
• October 20 - Nicolas de Largillière, French painter (died 1746)
• October 29 - Edmond Halley, English scientist (died 1742)
• date unknown
  • Patrick Abercromby, Scottish physician and antiquarian (died c.1716)
  • Maria Oriana Galli-Bibiena, Italian painter (died 1749)
  • Kateri Tekakwitha, a Native American beatified in the Roman Catholic Church (died April 17 1680)

See also Category:1656 births.

Deaths

• January 3 - Mathieu Molé, French statesman (born 1584)
• March 21 - James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland (born 1581)
• April 24 - Thomas Fincke, Danish mathematician and physicist (born 1561)
• April 27 - Jan van Goyen, Dutch painter (born 1596)
• June 9 - Thomas Tomkins, Welsh composer (born 1572)
• July 2 - François-Marie, comte de Broglie, Italian-born French commander (born 1611)
• August 11 - Prince Octavio Piccolomini, Duke of Amalfi, Austrian field marshal (born 1599)
• September 8 - Joseph Hall (English Bishop and satyrist), English bishop and writer (born 1574)
• October - Stephen Bachiler, English clergyman (born c.1561)
• October 3 - Myles Standish, Mayflower colonist (born c.1584)
• October 8 - John George I, Elector of Saxony (born 1585)
• November 6 - King John IV of Portugal (born 1603)
• December 27 - Andrew White, Apostle of Maryland (born 1579)

See also Category:1656 deaths.