Editing 1696 (section)

=== January&ndash;March ===
* [[January 21]] &ndash; The [[Great Recoinage of 1696|Recoinage Act]], passed by the [[Parliament of England]] to pull counterfeit silver coins out of circulation, becomes law.<ref name=JetRogers>James E. Thorold Rogers, ''The First Nine Years of the Bank of England'' (Clarendon Press, 1887 p. 41</ref>
* [[January 27]] &ndash; In England, the ship {{HMS|Royal Sovereign|1660|6}} (formerly ''Sovereign of the Seas'') catches fire and burns at [[Chatham Dockyard|Chatham]], after 57 years of service.
* [[January 31]] &ndash; In the [[Netherlands]], [[undertaker]]s revolt after funeral reforms in [[Amsterdam]].
* [[January]] &ndash; [[Colley Cibber]]'s play ''[[Love's Last Shift]]'' is first performed in [[London]].<ref>"The Sentimental Movement", by Dudley Miles, ''The Mid-West Quarterly'' (July 1917) p. 355</ref>
* [[February 8]] (January 29 old style) &ndash; [[Peter the Great]], who had jointly reigned since [[1682]] with his mentally ill older half-brother Tsar [[Ivan V of Russia|Ivan V]], becomes the sole [[Tsardom of Russia|Tsar of Russia]] when Ivan dies at the age of 29.
* [[February 15]] &ndash; A [[Jacobite assassination plot 1696|plot to ambush and assassinate]] King [[William III of England]] in order to restore [[James II of England|King James]] and the House of Stuart to the throne is foiled when the king cancels his usual plan to return from a hunting trip by way of the road between [[Turnham Green]] and [[Brentford]]. The king's guard is alerted by [[William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland|the Earl of Portland]], William Bentinck, who had been approached on February 13 by [[Sir Thomas Prendergast, 1st Baronet|Sir Thomas Prendergast]].<ref name=Moody>{{cite book|editor=Moody, T. W.|title=A New History of Ireland. '''8''': A Chronology of Irish History|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1989|isbn=978-0-19-821744-2|display-editors=etal}}</ref>
* [[February 23]] &ndash; A royal proclamation is issued to arrest suspected [[James II of England|Jacobite conspirators]] who had plotted the assassination of King William III, including gunman [[Robert Charnock]] and organizers [[George Barclay (Jacobite)|George Barclay]], and [[Sir John Fenwick, 3rd Baronet|Sir John Fenwick]]. Barclay eludes capture, but Charnock and Fenwick are executed.<ref name=Moody/>
* [[March 7]] &ndash; King [[William III of England]] departs from the [[Netherlands]].
* [[March 9]] &ndash; Spanish missionaries in the province of [[Santa Fe de Nuevo México]] in North America first learn of plans for [[Pueblo Revolt|a revolt among the Pueblo Indians]] and send warnings to the governor, asking for Spanish troops. The uprising begins on June 4.<ref name=Espinosa>{{cite book|first=José |last=Manuel Espinosa|title=The Pueblo Indian Revolt of 1696 and the Franciscan Missions in New Mexico: Letters of the Missionaries and Related Documents|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PS-y_9q9gCsC&pg=PA181|year=1988|publisher=University of Oklahoma Press|isbn=978-0-8061-2365-3|pages=181}} p. 163</ref>
* [[March 16]] &ndash; The Dutch [[Bombardment of Givet|bombard Givet]] during the [[Nine Years' War]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Childs|first=John|title=The Nine Years' War and the British Army |publisher= Manchester University Press |year= 1991|isbn= 0-71903461-2}}</ref>
* [[March 18]] &ndash; [[Robert Charnock]], who had been arrested for the [[Jacobite assassination plot 1696|Jacobite plot to kill King William]] is hanged at the [[Tower of London]].