69 after a reign of two and a half years. December 13 – Jean Racine's five-act tragic play Britannicus is performed for the first time, premiering at the Hôtel de Bourgogne in Paris. The play continues to be performed more than 350 years later, including a 2011 version translated by Dr. Howard Rubenstein. December 18 – The Battle of Cádiz begins off of the coast of the Spanish city as the English warship HMS Mary Rose encounters seven pirate ships from Algeria. Although none of the ships on either side are sunk, the Algerines are forced to retreat with an unknown number of casualties, and the Mary Rose loses 12 dead and 18 wounded. December 21 – A papal conclave that will last for four months begins in Rome to select a successor to Pope Clement IX, who had died 12 days earlier. At the opening, 54 of the 70 members of the College of Cardinals are present. At least 21 Cardinals are considered for the papacy before Emilio Altieri is selected on April 29 to become Pope Clement X. Date unknown Shakushain's revolt breaks out in Hokkaido, Japan. Ottoman units burn the eastern part of Kolárovo. The Chinese Kangxi Emperor allows coastal residents deported in the Great Clearance of 1662 to return home. Famine in Bengal kills 3 million people. Phosphorus is discovered by German alchemist Hennig Brand, the first chemical element to be discovered that was not known since ancient times. Antonio Stradivari makes his first violin in Cremona. Okaya & Co. is founded as Sasaya, a trading company in Nagoya, Japan. The Chinese herbal medicine company Tong Ren Tang (同仁堂) is established in Beijing. Blaise Pascal's Pensées is posthumously published in Paris. Jan Swammerdam publishes his Algemeene Verhandeling van de bloedeloose dierkens, a groundbreaking work in microscopy, as well as entomology. The Orange College of Breda is wound up. Jean Picard begins measurement of 1 degree of Earth's meridian arc in France. Births January 20 – Susanna Wesley, mother of the John and Charles Wesley, known as mother of Methodism (d. 1742) April 3 – Jean-Baptiste Forqueray, French musician (d. 1722) May 24 – Emerentia von Düben, Swedish royal favorite (d. 1743) May 26 – Sébastien Vaillant, French botanist (d. 1722) July 30 – Eudoxia Lopukhina, first wife of Peter I of Russia (d. 1731) August 27 – Anne Marie d'Orléans, Queen of Sicily and Sardinia (d.