1690-1709 Bank of England, Salem Witches, Queen Anne

This 20 year period started a year after the 'glorious revolution' which had brought Mary II and her Dutch Orange husband William III to the English throne in 1689.

William III died in 1702 and was succeeded by his daughter Queen Anne. The longest period of relative world peace and safety was from the end of the wars in Ireland and Scotland in 1691 to the start of the 1696 Chinese-Mongolian War - 5 years.

Also in this twenty year period was King William's War in North America (1689–1697), the Williamite war in Ireland (1689–1691) and the Jacobite Rising in Scotland (1689–1691).

Then came 5 years of peace before the 1696 Chinese-Mongolian War, the 1700–1721 Great Northern War, the 1701–1714 War of Spanish Succession, the 1702–1713 Queen Anne's War in North American (part of the War of Spanish Succession), the 1703–1711 Hungarian Revolt and the 1707–1709 Astrakhan Rebellion.

In 1694 the Bank of England was established and in 1698 the steam engine invented by Thomas Savery, but it was the 1692 Salem witchcraft trials that dominated the period. These were times when it was dangerous to be a woman with any sort of 'difference' or 'gift' or even a 'sharp tongue'.

1670-1689 Ottoman Siege of Vienna, Two Williams

This twenty year period covers the reign of Charles II who died in 1685 and was succeeded by his brother James II who was deposed in 1688 and replaced in 1689 by his daughter Mary II and her Dutch Orange husband William III in what was known as the 'glorious revolution'. In this period there was constant warfare in the world, and Europe risked becoming Muslim when the Ottoman Turks lay siege to Vienna in 1683.

There was the Polish-Turkish War in 1671–1676, followed by the 1672–1678 Franco-Dutch War, the 1672–1674 Third Anglo-Dutch War, the 1672–1679 War between Brandenburg and Sweden, the 1675–1677 King Philip's War, the 1676–1681 Russo-Turkish War, the 1682–1699 War of the Holy League, the 1683 Siege of Vienna by the Ottoman Turks, Monmouth's Rebellion in 1685, the 1685-1689 Sino-Russian War, the 1686–1700 Russo-Turkish War, the 1687–1689 Crimean campaigns, the 1689–1697 King William's War in North America (part of the War of the Grand Alliance), the 1689–1691 Williamite war in Ireland and the 1689–1691 Jacobite Rising in Scotland.

The Siege of Vienna by the Ottoman Turks in 1683 was of particular concern because if the Holy League had not joined together to fight the Turks it is likely that the whole of Europe would have become Islamic.

The deposing of the Catholic James II by the Protestant William of Orange in 1688 and a sad event in our history. It started the Jacobite movement in Scotland and Europe and James II never abandoned hopes for a Stuart restoration. His son, Charles Edward Stuart, born in Rome in 1720, carried on the struggle as Bonnie Prince Charlie.

Because of constant warfare there were no great inventions or discoveries during this twenty year period, but William Penn did stand out for presenting a vision of harmony in the new world. He was granted the Charter of Pennsylvania in 1681 and founded Philadelphia in 1682 with migrants he had previously attracted during his travels through war-ravaged Europe.