1740

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1740
Maria Theresa becomes Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary . The female line of succession after Charles VI. triggers the Austrian War of Succession .
Frederick the Great becomes King of Prussia .	Benedict XIV is elected Pope .
1740 in other calendars
Armenian calendar	1188/89 (turn of the year July)
Ethiopian calendar	1732/33 (September 10-11)
Bengali solar calendar	1145/46 (beginning of April 14th or 15th)
Buddhist calendar	2283/84 (southern Buddhism); 2282/83 (alternative calculation according to Buddhas Parinirvana )
Chinese calendar	73rd (74th) cycle Year of the metal monkey庚申 ( at the beginning of the year Earth-Sheep 己未)
Chula Sakarat (Siam, Myanmar) / Dai calendar (Vietnam)	1102/03 (turn of the year April)
Dangun era (Korea)	4073/74 (October 2/3)
Iranian calendar	1118/19 (around March 21)
Islamic calendar	1152/53 (turn of the year March 28/29)
Jewish calendar	5500/01 (September 21-22)
Coptic calendar	1456/57 (September 10-11)
Malayalam calendar	915/916
Seleucid era	Babylon: 2050/51 (turn of the year April) Syria: 2051/52 (turn of the year October)
Vikram Sambat (Nepalese Calendar)	1796/97 (turn of the year April)

Events

Politics and world events

Holy Roman Empire

• May 31 : Friedrich the Great succeeds his late father Friedrich Wilhelm I as King of Prussia .
• June 3 : A few days after taking office, Prussia's ruler Frederick the Great has the " torture " abolished by cabinet order , except in the case of high treason, treason and "major" murders involving several perpetrators or victims.
• June 30 : Friedrich II appoints Count Kurt Christoph von Schwerin as Prussian field marshal.

Maria Theresa around 1740

• October 20 : Maria Theresia follows her late father, Emperor Karl VI. as Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Hungary . The death of the emperor triggers the War of the Austrian Succession . At the beginning of her reign, Maria Theresa relied on her father's advisory staff, which included the Obersthofkanzler Philipp Ludwig Wenzel von Sinzendorf , the Hofkammerpräsident Thomas Gundacker von Starhemberg and the secret state secretary Johann Christoph Bartenstein .
• December 16 : First Silesian War : Frederick the Great occupies Silesia , which belongs to Austria . As a result, the Silesian Wars begin .

Russia

• October 17th : After the death of the Russian Empress Anna , her great-nephew, who was only born in August, is named Ivan VI. appointed emperor under the reign. The death of the empress caused turmoil, which was only overcome in 1741 with the accession of the empress Elisabeth Petrovna to the throne .

Portrait of Anna Leopoldownas by Louis Caravaque , 1740

• November 18 : The regent Ernst Johann von Biron is overthrown by Burkhard Christoph von Münnich , brought to justice and sentenced to death. Before the sentence was carried out, he was pardoned and exiled to Pelym in the far north . The emperor's mother, Anna Leopoldowna, took over the reign .
• December 27 : In the Prussian-Russian alliance treaty , the two powers conclude a defensive alliance against Austria . It should keep Frederick II's back free in the event of a Swedish or Polish attack, and prevent Russia from taking action against Prussia.

Other events in Europe

Cardinal Alberoni

• February 5 : The papal legate Giulio Alberoni , who had invaded the Republic of San Marino with troops in October, must leave the country following an order from Pope Clement XII. vacate again.

Asia

Chinese prisoners are murdered

• 9. bis 22. October : In the Dutch East Indies it comes to the massacre of Batavia .

• The Persian ruler Nadir Shah conquers the Uzbek capital Bukhara .
• Kokand becomes the capital of the khanate of the same name .
• The Mon people in Pegu rebelled against the Taungu dynasty in Myanmar and gained independence.

America

• January 1 : The British begin attacking the Spanish colony of Florida in the War of Jenkins' Ear from Georgia . However , the siege of the Spanish St. Augustine , which began on May 31, had to be broken off when the Spanish received reinforcements from Havana in early July.

• In the wake of the Stono Rebellion , a new slave law is passed in South Carolina , the content of which is based on the slave law of Barbados and which is known as the Negro Act . The rights of the slaves are further restricted. The killing of a slave by a white man is now only considered an offenseclassified, which is only punished with a fine. Slaves who prepare a rebellion or a community escape can be punished with death. The law regulates the everyday life of slaves down to the last detail. B. what clothes they are allowed to wear. The slaves are also completely deprived of their freedom of assembly and the right to learn to read and write. Until the abolition of slavery in 1865 , the law remained largely unchanged.
• A Yaqui uprising begins in Mexico , which in the long term leads to the end of the Jesuit mission .

economy

• The printer and publisher Ambrosius Haude founds the Spenersche Zeitung in Berlin . The first issue will appear on June 30th . The new newspaper benefits from the partial abolition of censorship in Prussia after Frederick II came to power , making Prussia the first absolute monarchy with restricted freedom of the press .
• Henricus Oldenkott produces tobacco products for the first time in Weesp .

science and technology

• September 10th : Friedrich II. Calls the philosopher Christian Wolff back to the University of Halle and thereby reverses the expulsion by his father Friedrich Wilhelm I.

Title page of the Anti-Machiavel

• Voltaire gives the treatise Anti-Machiavel written by Friedrich II , or attempt at a criticism of Nic. Machiavel's government art of a prince out.

Culture

literature

• The epistle novel Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded by Samuel Richardson is published in England.

Music and theater

→ Main article : Music year 1740

• February 27 : The world premiere of the three-part oratorio L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato by Georg Friedrich Handel takes place at the theater in Lincoln's Inn Fields with great success. The libretto by Charles Jennens based on two poems by John Milton .
• August 1st : The song Rule, Britannia! by the English composer Thomas Augustine Arne and the lyricists James Thomson and David Mallet is performed for the first time at the country seat of the Prince of Wales , Friedrich Ludwig von Hannover .

Title page of the libretto from 1740

• Summer: L'Alidoro , an opera buffa by Leonardo Leo based on the libretto by Gennaro Antonio Federico, has its world premiere at the Teatro dei Fiorentini in Naples.

Title page of the Viennese libretto

• October 1st : The Serenata Il natal di Giove ( The Birth of Jupiter ) by Giuseppe Bonno on the libretto by Pietro Metastasio is published on the occasion of the birthday of Emperor Charles VI. First performed in the private apartments of the imperial residence of the Favorita in Vienna by the Archduchesses Maria Theresia and Maria Anna , Prince Charles de Lorraine and two members of the court.
• November 22nd : The Dramma per musica Imeneo by Georg Friedrich Handel has its world premiere in London. The reactions of the critics and the public are mixed.

society

Pour le Mérite

• June: Shortly after his accession to the throne, Frederick II transforms the Order De la Générosité, founded in 1667 , into the Order Pour le Mérite , with which mainly military services are to be rewarded.

• Berlin is the first German city to break the 100,000-inhabitant limit and thus become a major city .
• Jan Albert Sichterman , a merchant who works for the Dutch East India Company in Bengal , sells a tame rhinoceros to Captain Douwe Mout van der Meer , who takes it back to Europe.

religion

• February 19 : Two weeks after the death of Pope Clement XII. on February 6 , the conclave meets to elect his successor . At this point, only 32 of the 68 living cardinals are present; another 24 will arrive by April.
• August 17th : Prospero Lambertini, Archbishop of Bologna , is elected Pope after a difficult conclave lasting more than half a year and takes the name Benedict XIV .
• December 3 : Pope Benedict XIV establishes the tradition of encyclicals in the Roman Catholic Church . The first teaching letter , entitled Ubi primum, deals with the duties of the bishops and their administration.
• December 14th : Stephana Quinzani is beatified by Pope Benedict XIV .

• The Patriarchate of Cilicia of the Armenian Catholic Church is founded with the election and Roman confirmation of Archbishop Abraham Ardzivian of Aleppo as the Armenian Patriarch ( Catholicos ) of Sis in Cilicia .

Disasters

Over 30,000 people die in a plague epidemic in Messina .

nature and environment

The winter of 1740/41 is unusually severe. In Connecticut, America, rivers are frozen until mid-April. In Europe, the Seine and Lake Constance freeze over. In Ireland it comes in conjunction with a drought in the spring to a famine .

Historical maps and views

Duchy of Courland and Semgallia 1740

Map of Paris 1740

Born

First quarter

• 0January 4 : Ernestine Auguste Sophie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach , Duchess of Saxe-Hildburghausen († 1786 )
• January 12 : Samuel Gottfried Geyser , German educator and Protestant theologian († 1808 )
• January 12 : Maria Karolina of Austria , Austrian princess († 1741 )

• 0February 4 : Adam-Philippe de Custine , French general († 1793 )
• February 15 : Juan Andrés y Morell , Spanish Jesuit († 1817 )
• February 16 : Giambattista Bodoni , Italian type designer, printer and publisher († 1813 )
• February 17 : Horace-Bénédict de Saussure , Swiss naturalist († 1799 )
• February 17 : John Sullivan , American politician, general († 1795 )
• February 28 : Johanna Isabella Eleonore von Wallenrodt , German writer († 1819 )

• 0March 4 : Friedrich Wilhelm Dresde , German linguist and Lutheran theologian († 1805 )
• 0March 4 : August Christian Lebrecht von Krafft , royal Prussian major general († 1813 )
• 0March 6 (baptized): Joseph Keller , German painter († 1823 )
• March 16 (baptized): Jacob Schweppe , German watchmaker and silversmith, inventor and beverage manufacturer († 1821 )
• March 23 : Bonavita Blank , German naturalist and fossil collector († 1827 )
• March 26 : Jonathan Trumbull , American politician, Governor of Connecticut († 1809 )

Second quarter

• 0April 6th : Christoph Gottlieb Bogislav von Barnekow , Prussian forest master and landowner († 1829 )
• 0April 8 : Bernard-René Jordan de Launay , French nobleman, last commandant of the Bastille in Paris († 1789 )

• 0May 1 : Josaphat Bastašić , Bishop of the Greek Catholic Diocese of Križevci († 1793 )
• 0May 5 : Joseph Leonz Andermatt , Swiss military and politician, General of the Helvetic Republic († 1817 )
• 0May 9 : Giovanni Paisiello , Neapolitan composer († 1816 )
• May 19 : Joseph Franz Weigl , Austrian cellist († 1820 )
• May 24th : Edmund Angerer , Austrian Benedictine priest and church musician († 1794 )
• May 28 : Fedot Ivanovich Schubin , Russian sculptor († 1805 )

Portrait of the Marquis de Sade

• 0June 2 : Marquis de Sade , French nobleman and writer († 1814 )
• 0June 6 : Louis-Sébastien Mercier , French writer († 1814 )
• 0June 7 : Ferdinand Kobell , German painter, engraver and etcher († 1799 )
• 0June 8 : Johann Georg Krafft , German Protestant theologian and university lecturer († 1772 )
• June 22nd : Georg Ludwig von Edelsheim , Minister of Baden († 1814 )
• June 24 : Juan Ignacio Molina , Chilean priest and naturalist († 1829 )

Third quarter

• 0July 7 : John Williams , American politician and officer († 1804 )
• July 15 : Archibald Douglas-Hamilton, 9th Duke of Hamilton , Scottish nobleman († 1819 )
• July 15 : Johanna Cornelia von Oeyen , Abbess of the Gnadental Monastery in Neuss
• July 22nd : Jacques Bernard d'Anselme , French lieutenant general († 1814 )
• July 25th : Ignaz Cornova , Italian priest, historian, educator and poet in Bohemia († 1822 )
• July 27th : Jeanne Baret , French naturalist and circumnavigator († 1807 )

• August 10 : Samuel Arnold , English composer († 1802 )
• August 10 : Leopold III. Friedrich Franz , Duke of Anhalt-Dessau († 1817 )
• August 10 : Johann Peter Bucher , German legal scholar († 1820 )
• August 11 : Eleazer McComb , American politician († 1798 )
• August 15 : Matthias Claudius , German writer and journalist († 1815 )

Ivan VI with his mother

• August 23 : Ivan VI. , Emperor of Russia († 1764 )
• August 26 : Joseph Michel Montgolfier , French aviation pioneer († 1810 )
• August 31 : Johann Friedrich Oberlin , Alsatian Protestant pastor, educator and social pioneer († 1826 )

• 0September 2 : Johann Georg Jacobi , German poet and publicist († 1814 )
• 0September 8 : Johan Tobias Sergel , Swedish sculptor and draftsman († 1814 )
• 0September 9 : Caspar Steinlin , Mayor of St. Gallen (Switzerland) († 1814 )
• September 10 : Nicolau Tolentino de Almeida , Portuguese lawyer, poet and satirist († 1811 )
• September 12 : Johann Heinrich Jung called Jung-Stilling, German ophthalmologist, economist and writer († 1817 )
• September 13 : Marc-Antoine Berdolet , Bishop of Aachen († 1809 )
• September 21 : Ivan Ivanovich Lepjochin , Russian doctor, botanist, zoologist and explorer († 1802 )
• September 23 : Go-Sakuramachi , Empress of Japan († 1813 )
• September 23 : Jacques-André Mallet , Swiss mathematician and astronomer († 1790 )
• September 29 : Thomas Percival , English doctor and author († 1804 )

Fourth Quarter

• 0October 7th : Christoph Dionysius von Seeger , German teacher and main organizer of the Hohen Karlsschule († 1808 )
• October 20 : Carlo Francesco Maria Caselli , Italian cardinal († 1828 )
• October 20 : Isabelle de Charrière , Dutch-Swiss French-speaking writer († 1805 )
• October 21 : Robert Abercromby , British general and Commander in Chief in India († 1827 )
• October 29 : Friedrich August , Duke of Braunschweig and Lüneburg and Prussian General († 1805 )
• October 29 : James Boswell , Scottish writer and lawyer († 1795 )
• October 31 : Philipp Jakob Loutherbourg the Younger , British-French painter, etcher and aquatint engraver († 1812 )

• 0November 1 : Stephen Heard , American politician, Governor of Georgia († 1815 )
• 0November 4th : Augustus Montague Toplady , English clergyman and song poet († 1778 )
• November 10 : Maria Kunigunde of Saxony , canon and abbess of Essen († 1826 )
• November 14 : Johann van Beethoven , court musician from the Electorate of Cologne, father of Ludwig van Beethoven († 1792 )
• November 24th : John Bacon , British sculptor, porcelain painter and modeller († 1799 )
• November 24 : Samuel Allyne Otis , American politician († 1814 )

• 0December 6 : Nicola Spedalieri , Italian philosopher, priest and author († 1795 )
• December 12 : Akera Kankō , Japanese poet († 1800 )
• December 13 : Franz Xaver Schnizer , German composer and organist († 1785 )
• December 23 : Elisabeth Olin , Swedish opera singer († 1828 )

Exact date of birth unknown

• Catherine Éléonore Bénard , French court lady and mistress of Louis XV. († 1769 )
• Bazyli Bohdanowicz , Polish composer († 1817 )
• Friedrich Heinrich von Katte , Prussian Lieutenant General and Knight of the Red Eagle Order († 1813 )
• Charles O'Hara , British officer († 1802 )
• (baptized on May 21st :) Gaspare Pacchierotti , Italian opera singer and castrato († 1821 )
• William Smellie , Scottish encyclopedist and naturalist († 1795 )
• Isaac Smith , American politician († 1807 )
• Ienăchiță Văcărescu , Wallachian diplomat, poet, historian, Romanist and Romanist († 1797 )

Born around 1740

• Johann Friedrich Scheuchler , German civil servant († 1791 )

Died

First quarter

• 0January 5th : Antonio Lotti , Venetian composer (* 1665 )
• January 21 : Jacques Cassard , French captain and privateer (* 1679 )
• January 25th : Geminiano Giacomelli , Italian composer and singing teacher (* 1692 )
• January 27 : Louis IV. Henri de Bourbon , Prince of Condé (* 1692 )

• 0February 6 : Lorenzo Corsini, under the name Clemens XII. Pope (* 1652 )
• 0February 9 : Vincent Lübeck , Prussian composer (* 1654 )
• February 23 : Taco Hajo van den Honert , German Reformed theologian (* 1666 )

• March 12th : Gisela Agnes von Rath , Princess of Anhalt-Köthen (* 1669 )
• March 16 : Christoph Andreas Johann Szembek , Prince-Bishop of Warmia and Samland (* 1680 )
• March 25 : Gabriel von Bömeln , Mayor of Danzig (* 1658 )
• March 31 : Johann Christoph Meurer , General Superintendent (* 1668 )
• 000March: Georg Wilhelm Saxer , north German composer and organist

Second quarter

• April 15 : Abraham Frencel , Sorbian clergyman, historian and linguist (* 1656 )
• April 16 : José de Armendáriz , Spanish officer and colonial administrator, Viceroy of Peru (* 1670 )
• April 21 : Antonio Balestra , Italian painter, draftsman and engraver (* 1666 )
• April 25 : Simon Sasslaber , Austrian stonemason and sculptor (* 1673 )
• April 29 : Cristoforo Benedetti , Italian sculptor, stonemason and architect (* 1657 )

• May 17th : Jean Cavalier , chief leader of the Camisards in the Cevennes War and English governor of Jersey (* 1681 )
• 30 May : Wilhelmine Charlotte Nüssler , Princess of Anhalt-Bernburg and Countess of Ballenstedt (* 1683 )

Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia, around 1733

• May 31 : Friedrich Wilhelm I , King in Prussia and Margrave of Brandenburg, Elector of the Holy Roman Empire (* 1688 )

• 0June 1 : Samuel Werenfels , Swiss Reformed theologian (* 1657 )
• 0June 5 : Johann Georg Abicht , Thuringian theologian and linguist (* 1672 )
• 0June 7th : Maria Elisabeth of Austria , Habsburg princess (* 1737 )
• June 17th : William Wyndham, 3rd Baronet , English nobleman and politician (* 1688 )
• June 24th : Woldemar Freiherr von Löwendal , Danish-Norwegian nobleman and electoral Saxon court marshal (* 1660 )

Third quarter

• 0July 6 : Claudius Amyand , French surgeon (* 1680 )
• 0July 8 : Pyotr Michailowitsch Jeropkin , Russian architect and architectural theorist (* around 1698 )
• July 16 : Johann Kupetzky , Bohemian painter (* around 1667 )
• July 16 : Maria Anna of Pfalz-Neuburg , Queen of Spain, Naples, Sicily and Sardinia and Duchess of Milan (* 1667 )
• July 19 : Christian Christophersen Sehested , Chancellor of Denmark (* 1666 )
• July 21 : Johann Evangelist Holzer , German-Austrian painter of the Augsburg Baroque (* 1709 )

• 0August 4th : Wilhelm Heinrich von Thulemeyer , Royal Prussian Minister of Justice and Minister of State and War (* 1683 )
• August 14 : Johann Christian Lünig , German lawyer, historian and publicist (* 1662 )

• September 19 : Bartolomeu Bueno da Silva , Brazilian bandeirante (* 1672 )
• September 22nd : Johann Georg Kannhäuser , Bavarian builder and plasterer (* 1671 )
• September 25 : Charlotte Wilhelmine Amalie Alexandrina von Nassau-Hadamar , Countess of Merode-Westerloo (* 1703 )

Fourth Quarter

• 0October 5th : Jean-Philippe Baratier , German child prodigy and linguistic genius; Mathematician, historian and orientalist (* 1721 )
• 0October 5 : Friedrich Opfergeldt , German Lutheran theologian and clergyman (* 1668 )
• October 11 : Magdalena Augusta von Anhalt-Zerbst , Duchess of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (* 1679 )
• October 12th : Joachim Friedrich von Flemming , Electorate Chamberlain, General of the Cavalry and Governor of Leipzig (* 1665 )

Tomb of Charles VI in the Capuchin Crypt

• October 20 : Charles VI. , Roman-German Emperor, Archduke of Austria, King of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia, Naples, Sardinia and Sicily (* 1685 )
• October 28 : Anna , Empress of Russia (* 1693 )

• 0November 4 : Peter Friedrich Arpe , German lawyer (* 1682 )
• November 22nd : Georg Gsell , Swiss painter, art advisor and art dealer (* 1673 )
• November 28 : Günther XLIII. , Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (* 1678 )
• November 28 : Johann Adolf von Metsch , Vice Chancellor of the Holy Roman Empire (* 1672 )

• 0December 3 : Wilhelm Ludwig Bardili , Mayor of Heilbronn (* 1668 )
• December 11th : Sidonia Hedwig Zigarunemann , German poet (* 1711 )
• December 14th : Johann Amman , Swiss doctor and botanist (* 1707 )
• December 26 : Moritz Ludwig II of Nassau-LaLecq , Count of Nassau-LaLecq, Lord of Beverweerd and Lek (* 1670 )
• 000December: Andreas Steinböck , Austrian master stonemason and sculptor (* 1665 )

Exact date of death unknown

• Abbas III. , Shah of Persia from the Safavid dynasty (* 1731 )
• Hans Balthasar Burckhardt , Swiss entrepreneur and politician (* 1676 )
• Amalie Wilhelmine von Königsmarck , Swedish noblewoman (* 1663 )
• Granny Nanny , Jamaican Maroon (* 1700 ) from the Ashanti people
• Tahmasp II , Shah of Persia from the Safavid dynasty (* 1704 )

Web links

Commons : 1740  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

• Digitized newspapers from 1740 in the newspaper information system (ZEFYS) of the Berlin State Library

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Winter chills: 1947 and 1963. The coldest winter since 1740. In: www.metoffice.gov.uk. Met Office, archived from the original on May 16, 2008 ; accessed on July 3, 2013 . 
2. ↑ http://sharpgary.org/1739-1816.html