Editing 1717 (section)

=== January–March ===
* [[January 1]] &ndash; Count [[Carl Gyllenborg]], the [[Sweden|Swedish]] ambassador to the [[Kingdom of Great Britain]], is arrested in [[London]] over a plot to assist the [[Pretender]] to the British throne, [[James Francis Edward Stuart]].<ref name="Cassell's Chronology295296">{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Hywel|title=Cassell's Chronology of World History|url=https://archive.org/details/cassellschronolo0000will/page/295|url-access=registration|location=London|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|year=2005|isbn=0-304-35730-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cassellschronolo0000will/page/295 295–296]}}</ref>
* [[January 4]] (December 24, [[1716]] [[Old Style]]) &ndash; The kingdoms of [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]], [[Kingdom of France|France]] and the [[Dutch Republic]] sign the [[Triple Alliance (1717)|Triple Alliance]],<ref name="Cassell's Chronology295296" /> in an attempt to maintain the [[Treaty of Utrecht]] ([[1713]]), Britain having signed a preliminary alliance with France on November 28 (November 17) 1716.
* [[February 1]] &ndash; The [[Silent Sejm]], in the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], marks the beginning of the [[Russian Empire]]'s increasing influence and control over the Commonwealth.  
* [[February 6]] &ndash; Following the treaty between France and Britain, the Pretender James Stuart leaves France, and seeks refuge with [[Pope Clement XI]].<ref>Walter Prichard, ''The Negotiations of the Old Pretender Looking Forward to His Succession to the English Throne, 1713-1720'' (Indiana University, 1915) p. 107, quoting James Breck Perkins, ''France Under the Regency, with a Review of the Administration of Louis XIV'' (Houghton Mifflin, 1892) p. 390</ref><ref name="Cassell's Chronology295296" />
* [[February 26]]&ndash;[[March 6]] &ndash; What becomes the northeastern United States is paralyzed by a [[The Great Snow of 1717|series of blizzards]] that bury the region.
* [[March 2]] &ndash; Dancer [[John Weaver (dancer)|John Weaver]] performs in the first [[ballet]] in Britain, shown at the [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane]], ''[[The Loves of Mars and Venus]]''.
* [[March 31]] &ndash; [[Benjamin Hoadly]], [[Bishop of Bangor]], brings the [[Bangorian Controversy]] within the [[Church of England]] into the open by delivering a sermon to, and supposedly at the request of, King [[George I of Great Britain]], on ''The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ'' with the text "My kingdom is not of this world" ([[Book of John|John]] 18:36), concluding there is no [[Bible|Biblical]] justification for church government.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Church of England and the Bangorian controversy, 1716–1721|first=Andrew|last=Starkie|year=2007|location=Woodbridge|publisher=Boydell Press|isbn=978-1-84383-288-1}}</ref>