1653

January–June

• January-June - The Swiss Peasant War is fought.
• January 3 - By the Coonan Cross Oath, the Eastern Church in India cuts itself off from colonial Portuguese tutelage.
• February 2 - New Amsterdam is incorporated.
• February 3 - Cardinal Mazarin returns to Paris from exile.
• March 14 - A Dutch fleet defeats the English in the Battle of Leghorn; the Dutch commander, Johan van Galen, later dies of his wounds.
• April 20 - Oliver Cromwell expels the Rump Parliament in England.
• April 28 - The Great Fire of Marlborough destroys 224 houses and much of the textile businesses in the Wiltshire town which, "at that date was one of considerable importance, and had merchants of affluence and repute.".
• May 31 - Ferdinand IV is elected King of the Romans.
• June 12-13 - First Anglo-Dutch War: The English navy defeats the Dutch fleet in the Battle of the Gabbard.

  July–December

• July 4-December 12 - Barebone's Parliament meets in London, England.
• July 8 - John Thurloe becomes Cromwell's head of intelligence.
• August 8-10 - The Battle of Scheveningen, the final naval battle of the First Anglo-Dutch War is fought off the Texel; the English navy gains a tactical victory over the Dutch fleet.
• November - John Casor leaves Anthony Johnson's farm, after claiming his contract of indenture had expired.
• December 16 - The Instrument of Government in England becomes Britain's first written constitution, under which Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland, being advised by a remodelled English Council of State. This is the start of The First Protectorate, bringing an end to the first period of republican government in the country, the Commonwealth of England.

  Date unknown

• Marcello Malpighi becomes a doctor of medicine.
• Stephen Bachiler returns to England.
• The Morning Star Rebellion breaks out in Sweden, against Queen Christina.
• The Taj Mahal mausoleum is completed at Agra.
• Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg reconfirms the nobility's freedom from taxation, and its unlimited control over the peasants.
• Petite post, a system of postage using prepaid labels and post boxes, is introduced in Paris by Jean-Jacques Renouard de Villayer.

  Births

• January 6 - Christian, Duke of Saxe-Eisenberg
• January 10 - Caspar Herman Hausmann, Danish-Norwegian general
• January 11 - Anthony Günther, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, German prince
• January 11 - Paolo Alessandro Maffei, Italian antiquarian, humanist
• January 14 - Robert Price, British judge and politician
• January 16 - Johann Conrad Brunner, Swiss anatomist
• January 24 - Dom Jacques Alexandre, French Benedictine
• January 31 - William Tempest, English Member of Parliament
• January 31 - Anna Catherine of Nassau-Ottweiler, Wild and Rhinegravine of Salm-Dhaun by marriage
• February 12 - Giovanni Francesco Grossi, Italian opera singer
• February 17 - Arcangelo Corelli, Italian composer
• February 22 - Martín de Ursúa, Spanish conquistador
• February 22 - Elisabeth Johanna of Veldenz, Wild and Rhinegravine of Salm-Kyrburg
• February 22 - Vidal Marín del Campo, Spanish Grand Inquisitor
• March 1 - Jean-Baptiste-Henri de Valincour, French classical scholar
• March 1 - Pacificus of San Severino, Italian saint
• March 8 - Goodwin Wharton, British politician
• March 10 - John Kettlewell, English clergyman
• March 10 - John Benbow, English Royal Navy Admiral
• March 21 - John Hampden, English politician
• March 24 - Joseph Sauveur, French mathematician
• April 2 - Prince George of Denmark, consort of Anne, Queen of Great Britain
• April 2 - Egidio Quinto, Serbian Catholic bishop
• April 6 - Frederick Louis, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck
• April 19 - William Sewel, Dutch historian
• April 25 - Benedetto Pamphili, Italian cardinal, patron of the arts, composer and librettist
• April 25 - Sir John Bowyer, 2nd Baronet, English politician
• May 3 - Archibald Douglas, 1st Earl of Forfar, Scottish peer
• May 8 - Claude Louis Hector de Villars, Marshal of France
• May 21 - Eleanor of Austria, Queen of Poland
• May 21 - Christopher Vane, 1st Baron Barnard, English politician and peer
• May 22 - Peter Gott, English politician
• May 30 - Claudia Felicitas of Austria, Holy Roman Empress
• June 1 - Georg Muffat, German composer and organist
• June 11 - Gaspar de la Cerda, 8th Count of Galve
• June 12 - Maria Amalia of Courland, Landgravine of Hesse-Kassel
• June 16 - James Bertie, 1st Earl of Abingdon, English nobleman
• June 20 - Richard Maitland, 4th Earl of Lauderdale, Scottish politician
• June 26 - Cardinal André-Hercule de Fleury, Bishop of Fréjus, chief minister of France under Louis XV of France
• June 28 - Muhammad Azam Shah, Mughal emperor
• July 4 - Sir Walter Clarges, 1st Baronet, English politician
• July 5 - Thomas Pitt, British Governor of Madras
• July 11 - Sarah Good, accused Massachusetts witch
• August 9 - John Oldham, English poet
• August 10 - Louis-Guillaume Pécour, French dancer and choreographer
• August 14 - Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle, English statesman
• August 15 - Johann Friedrich Gleditsch, German book publisher
• August 18 - Julius Siegmund, Duke of Württemberg-Juliusburg
• August 28 - Jesper Swedberg, Swedish hymnwriter
• September 1 - Johann Pachelbel, German organist and composer
• September 3 - Roger North, English lawyer and biographer
• September 4 - Henry Wise, English gardener
• September 8 - Sir Walter Yonge, 3rd Baronet, English politician
• September 8 - Fuquan, Chinese Qing Dynasty prince
• September 17 - Sir Henry Monson, 3rd Baronet, English politician
• October 1 - Sir George Speke, 2nd Baronet, English politician
• October 8 - Michel Baron, French actor
• October 10 - Anton Günther II, Count of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen-Arnstadt
• October 18 - Abraham van Riebeeck, Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies
• November 11 - Carlo Ruzzini, Doge of Venice
• November 14 - Jean-Baptiste de La Croix de Chevrières de Saint-Vallier, Catholic bishop of Quebec
• November 19 - Christian II, Duke of Saxe-Merseburg
• November 26 - Empress Xiaochengren, Chinese Qing Dynasty empress
• November 29 - Thomas Cromwell, 3rd Earl of Ardglass, English nobleman
• December 3 - Giovanni Battista Tolomei, Italian Jesuit priest, theologian and cardinal
• December 26 - Johann Conrad Peyer, Swiss anatomist
• December 28 - Mary Howard, of the Holy Cross, English nun of the Poor Clares
• date unknown
• * Chikamatsu Monzaemon, Japanese playwright
• * Rahman Baba, legendary Afghan Pashto Sufi poet
• * Johann Pachelbel, German composer

  Deaths

• King Charles I of England,
• January 14 - George Rudolf of Liegnitz, Polish noble
• January 21 - John Digby, 1st Earl of Bristol, English diplomat
• February 13 - Georg Rudolf Weckherlin, German poet
• February 16 - Johannes Schultz, German composer
• February 20 - Luigi Rossi, Italian composer
• February 21 - Adriaan Pauw, Grand Pensionary of Holland
• February 27 - Diego López Pacheco, 7th Duke of Escalona, Spanish noble
• March 6 - Juan de Dicastillo, Spanish theologian
• March 23 - Johan van Galen, Dutch naval officer
• May 13 - Teodósio, Prince of Brazil, Portuguese prince
• May 26 - Robert Filmer, English writer
• March 10 - Count John Louis of Nassau-Hadamar
• March 25 - Nicholas Martyn, English politician
• March 30 - Mikołaj Łęczycki, Polish Jesuit
• April 20 - Celestyn Myślenta, Polish theologian
• April 26 - Matthias Faber, German Jesuit priest and writer
• May 11 - Petronio Veroni, Roman Catholic prelate, Bishop of Boiano
• May 19 - Elizabeth Lucretia, Duchess of Cieszyn, Duchess suo jure of Cieszyn
• June 5 - Federico Baldissera Bartolomeo Cornaro, Italian Catholic cardinal
• June 26 - Juliana Morell, Spanish-French scholar
• July 10 - Gabriel Naudé, French librarian and scholar
• July 31 - Thomas Dudley, Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony
• August 10 - Maarten Tromp, Dutch admiral
• August 22 - Augustus, Prince of Anhalt-Plötzkau, German prince
• September 3 - Claudius Salmasius, French classical scholar
• September 14 - Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg, Duke of Jülich and Berg
• September 26 - Charles de l'Aubespine, marquis de Châteauneuf, French diplomat and government official
• October 3 - Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn, Dutch scholar
• October 7 - Fausto Poli, Italian Catholic prelate and cardinal
• October 22 - Thomas de Critz, British artist
• October 25 - Gustav, Count of Vasaborg, illegitimate son of King Gustavus Adolphus and his mistress Margareta Slots
• November 17 - Joana, Princess of Beira, Portuguese infanta
• December 7 - Ludwig Crocius, German Calvinist minister
• December 21 - Elisabeth of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg, Duchess consort of Pomerania
• December 28 - Giovanni Battista Rinuccini, archbishop of Fermo
• date unknown
• * Lucrezia Marinella, Italian poet and author
• * Jusepa Vaca, Spanish stage actress
• * Constantia Zierenberg, German-Polish singer