1681

Events

January–June

• January 3 - The Treaty of Bakhchisarai is signed, between the Ottoman vassal Crimean Khanate and the Russian Empire.
• March 4 - Charles II of England grants a land charter to William Penn, for the area that will later become Pennsylvania.
• April - Following the death of its last count, the Palatinate-Landsberg passes to the King of Sweden.
• May 15 - The Canal du Midi in France is opened officially, as the Canal Royal de Languedoc.

  July–December

• July 1 - Oliver Plunkett, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, falsely convicted in June of treason, is hanged, drawn and quartered at Tyburn, London, the last Catholic martyr to die in England; he is canonised in 1975.
• August - English sea captain Robert Knox of the East India Company escapes prison in Ceylon, and details his adventures across Kandy, and life in the kingdoms of the Tamil country Vanni, in his book An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon.
• August 12 - Ahom King Gadadhar Singha, who takes the Tai name Supaatphaa, ascends the throne.
• August 31 - English perjurer Titus Oates is told to leave his state apartments in Whitehall; his fame begins to wane, and he is soon arrested and imprisoned for sedition.
• September 30 - France annexes the city of Strasbourg, previously a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire.
• October 28 - A London woman is publicly flogged, for the crime of "involving herself in politics."
• December - Wu Shifan, grandson of Chinese general Wu Sangui, commits suicide in Yunnan province, ending the 8-year Revolt of the Three Feudatories against Qing dynasty authority in China, at this time led by the Kangxi Emperor.
• December 22 - King Charles II of England signs a warrant for the building of the Royal Hospital Chelsea in London for wounded and retired soldiers.

  Date unknown

• Collections are made in England for needy French refugees.
• Havertown and Bryn Mawr are founded in Pennsylvania by Welsh Quakers.
• The bell Emmanuel in Notre-Dame de Paris is recast.
• The Port of Honfleur, France, is re-modelled by Abraham Duquesne.
• The basilica of Santa Maria della Salute in Venice, designed by Baldassare Longhena in 1631, is dedicated.

  Births

• March 14 - Georg Philipp Telemann, German composer
• June 26 - Hedvig Sophia of Sweden, Swedish princess
• August 5 - Vitus Bering, Danish-born Russian explorer
• September 11 - Johann Gottlieb Heineccius, German jurist
• September 28 - Johann Mattheson, German composer
• November 17 - Pierre François le Courayer, French theologian
• November 28 - Jean Cavalier, French Protestant rebel leader

  Deaths

• January 5 - Pietro Vidoni, Italian Catholic cardinal
• January 7 - Magdalena Sibylla of Saxe-Weissenfels, German noblewoman
• January 27 - Edmund Bowyer, English politician
• January 28 - Richard Allestree, English royalist churchman
• March 6 - Michel de Marolles, French translator and churchman
• March 12 - Frans van Mieris the Elder, Dutch painter
• March 17 - Zheng Jing, Chinese pirate
• April 3 - Lucas Franchoys the Younger, Flemish painter
• April 8 - Gabriel Druillettes, French missionary
• April 10 - Philip I, Count of Schaumburg-Lippe
• April 11 - Frederick Louis, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken
• April 12 - Pietro Paolini, Italian painter
• April 22
• * Jeffrey Daniel, English politician
• * Marie Fouquet, French medical writer and philanthropist
• April 23 - Justus Sustermans, Flemish painter
• April 26 - Charles Howard, 3rd Earl of Nottingham, son of Charles Howard
• May 4 - Johannes Musaeus, German theologian
• May 6 - Catherine Trianon, French fortune teller and poisoner
• May 6 - Sir Philip Wodehouse, 3rd Baronet, English baronet
• May 24 - Nicodemus Tessin the Elder, Swedish architect
• May 25 - Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Spanish dramatist and poet
• June 9 - William Lilly, English astrologer
• June 12 - Sigmund von Birken, German Baroque poet
• July 1 - Oliver Plunkett, Irish saint
• July 8 - Georg Neumark, German poet and composer of hymns
• July 10 - Christian Lupus, Flemish historian
• July 20 - Louis Günther II, Count of Schwarzburg-Ebeleben
• July 25 - Urian Oakes, English-born president of Harvard University
• July 31 - Sir Baynham Throckmorton, 3rd Baronet, English Member of Parliament
• August 12 - Sir George Wharton, 1st Baronet, English baronet
• August 17 - Patriarch Nikon of Moscow, Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church
• August 18 - Thomas Allen, English politician
• August 22 - Philippe Delano, Dutch Plymouth Colony settler
• August 27 - William Christoph, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg
• September 11
• * Dirk van Bleiswijk, Dutch politician, writer
• * Godfrey Henschen, Jesuit hagiographer
• September 16 - Jahanara Begum, Mughal princess
• September 27 - Jacob Masen, German poet
• October 7 - Nicolaas Heinsius the Elder, Dutch scholar
• October 15 - Johann Ludwig Schönleben, Carniolan priest
• November 2 - Eleanor of Anhalt-Zerbst, duchess consort of Schleswig-Holstein-Sønderburg-Norburg
• November 13 - Arnold Braemes, English politician
• November 17 - Tito Livio Burattini, Italian inventor, Egyptologist and instrument-maker
• November 23 - Hedwig of the Palatinate-Sulzbach, Archduchess of Austria, Duchess of Saxe-Lauenburg
• November 26
• * Jean Garnier, French historian
• * Giovanni Paolo Oliva, Italian Jesuit
• December 4 - Maurice, Duke of Saxe-Zeitz
• December 5 - Agatha Christine of Hanau-Lichtenberg, German noblewoman
• December 8 - Gerard ter Borch, Dutch painter
• December 12 - Hermann Conring, German philosopher
• December 15 - James Compton, 3rd Earl of Northampton, English politician
• December 16 - François Vavasseur, French writer
• December 18 - Olimpia Aldobrandini, Italian Aldobrandini family member, heiress
• December 21 - Lacuzon, Franche-Comté military leader
• December 22 - Richard Alleine, English Puritan clergyman
• c. December - John Pordage, Anglican vicar
• date unknown - Fatima Soltan, sovereign queen of the Qasim Khanate