1696

January 21 – The Recoinage Act, passed by the Parliament of England to pull counterfeit silver coins out of circulation, becomes law. January 27 – In England, the ship HMS Royal Sovereign (formerly HMS Sovereign of the Seas, 1638) catches fire and burns at Chatham, after 57 years of service. January 31 – In the Netherlands, undertakers revolt after funeral reforms in Amsterdam. January – Colley Cibber's play Love's Last Shift is first performed in London. February 8 (January 29 old style) – Peter the Great who had jointly reigned since 1682 with his mentally-ill older half-brother, Tsar Ivan V, becomes the sole Tsar of Russia when Ivan dies at the age of 29. February 15 – A plot to ambush and assassinate King William III of England in order to restore King James and the House of Stuart to the throne is foiled when the King cancels his usual plan to return from a hunting trip by way of the road between Turnham Green and Brentford. The King's guard is alerted by the Earl of Portland, William Bentinck, who had been approached on February 13 by Sir Thomas Prendergast. February 23 – A royal proclamation is issued to arrest suspected Jacobite conspirators who had plotted the assassination of King William III, including gunman Robert Charnock and organizers George Barclay, and Sir John Fenwick. Barclay eludes capture, but Charnock and Fenwick are executed. March 7 – King William III of England departs from the Netherlands. March 9 – Spanish missionaries in the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo México in North America first learn of plans for a revolt among the Pueblo Indians and send warnings to the Governor, asking for Spanish troops. The uprising begins on June 4. March 18 – Robert Charnock, who had been arrested for the Jacobite plot to kill King William is hanged at the Tower of London. April 23 – Russo-Turkish War (1686–1700): Russia begins the second of the Azov campaigns (1695–96). April – A fire destroys the Gra Bet (Left Quarter) of Gondar, the capital of Ethiopia.