Events January–March January 5 – Emperor Go-Sai ascends to the throne of Japan. January 7 – Pope Innocent X, leader of the Roman Catholic Church and the Papal States, dies after more than 10 years of rule. February 14 – The Mapuches launch coordinated attacks against the Spanish in Chile, beginning the Mapuche uprising of 1655. February 16 – Dutch Grand Pensionary advisor Johan de Witt marries Wendela Bicker. March 8 – John Casor becomes the first legally recognized slave in what will become the United States, as a court in Northampton County in the Colony of Virginia issues its decision in the Casor lawsuit, the first instance of a judicial determination in the Thirteen Colonies holding that a person who had committed no crime could be held in servitude for life. March 25 – Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is discovered by Christiaan Huygens. April–June April 4 – Battle of Porto Farina, Tunis: English admiral Robert Blake's fleet defeats the Barbary pirates. April 7 – Pope Alexander VII (born Fabio Chigi) succeeds Pope Innocent X, as the 237th pope. April 24 – The Easter Massacre of the Waldensians: Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy slaughters 1,500 men, women and children; this is memorialized in John Milton's sonnet "On the Late Massacre in Piedmont" and apologized for by Pope Francis in 2015. April 26 – The Dutch West India Company denies Peter Stuyvesant's request to exclude Jews from New Amsterdam (Manhattan). April 28 – Admiral Blake severely damages the arsenal of the Bey of Tunis. May 10–27 – Anglo-Spanish War: Invasion of Jamaica – Forces of the English Protectorate led by William Penn and Robert Venables capture the island of Jamaica from Spain. June 13 – Adriana Nooseman-van de Bergh becomes the first actress, in Amsterdam theater. July–September July 20 – The Amsterdam Town Hall (now the Royal Palace) is inaugurated. July 27 The Jews in New Amsterdam petition for a separate Jewish cemetery. The Netherlands and Brandenburg sign a military treaty. July 30 – Dutch troops capture Fort Assahudi Seram. July 31 – Russo-Polish War (1654–67): The Russian army enters the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilnius, which it holds for 6 years. August 9 – Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell divides England into 11 districts, under major-generals. August 28 – New Amsterdam and Peter Stuyvesant bar colonial Jews from military service. August – The governor of New Netherland,