Events January–March January 6 – The Siege of Salses ends almost six months after it had started on June 9, 1639, with the French defenders surrendering to the Spanish attackers. January 17 – A naval battle over control of what is now Brazil, between ships of the Dutch Republic and those of the Kingdom of Portugal, ends after five days of fighting with the Dutch driving the Portuguese away from the port of Recife. February 9 – Ibrahim I (1640–1648) succeeds Murad IV (1623–1640) as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. March 8–13 – Siege of Galle: Dutch troops take the strategic fortress at Galle, Sri Lanka from the Portuguese. April–June April 13 – The Short Parliament assembles, as King Charles I of England attempts to fund the second of the Bishops' Wars. May 5 – The Short Parliament is dissolved. May 22 – The Catalan Revolt (Guerra dels Segadors) breaks out in Catalonia. June 7 – Catalan rebels assassinate Dalmau de Queralt, Count of Santa Coloma, beginning the three-day Corpus de Sang riots. June 13 – The eruption of the Mount Komagatake volcano takes place in Japan. Although the eruption causes few direct injuries, the heavy ashfall poisons local crops and causes the Kan'ei Great Famine that causes more than 50,000 deaths from starvation. July–September July 9 – John Punch, a servant of Virginia planter Hugh Gwyn, is sentenced to a life of servitude after attempting to escape, making him the "first official slave in the English colonies" July 15 – The first university of Finland, the Royal Academy of Turku, was inaugurated in Turku.Kuninkaallinen Turun akatemia – Arppeanum (in Finnish) August 9 – Forty-one Spanish delegates to Japan at Nagasaki are beheaded. August 20 – Second Bishops' War: A Scottish Covenanter army invades Northumberland in England. August 28 – Second Bishops' War – Battle of Newburn: The Scottish Covenanter army led by Alexander Leslie defeats the English army near Newburn in England. September 7 – Portuguese missionary Sebastien Manrique reaches Dhaka and stays for 27 days, leaving on October 4. September 20 – The Siege of Turin ends in Italy after almost four months with a victory by French and Piedmontese after having started on May 22, and the city is recpatured from Spain. October–December October 26 – The Treaty of Ripon is signed, restoring peace between the Scottish Covenanters and Charles I of England. November 3 – The