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Did you know ...

• the 17th century Puritan physician Alexander Leighton incurred the wrath of King Charles I for publishing a pamphlet denouncing bishops, and was sentenced by his Star Chamber to public whipping, branding, and having his ears cut off?
• in the late 17th century, the staveless runes (rune stone pictured) of Scandinavia were purported to be the origin of stenography?
• in the 17th century Jean Gery, a French deserter, later served as a guide and translator for the Spanish in North America?
• before the 17th century, penetrating trauma was treated by pouring hot oil into wounds to cauterize damaged blood vessels?
• the 17th century Biaroza monastery in Biaroza, Belarus, has in its time been adapted into military barracks and a prison, and currently its ruins are an important baroque relic in the town?
• the 17th century Field Cathedral of the Polish Army was one of many buildings destroyed by the Luftwaffe during the Warsaw Uprising, and was restored to its former glory between 1946 and 1960?
• when William Williams died collecting the fern Alpine Woodsia (pictured) in 1861, his body was found at the foot of the cliff where the species was first found in the 17th century?
• the astronomer Tycho Brahe calculated products quickly using Prosthaphaeresis, a 17th century algorithm exploiting trigonometric identities?
• the Cotswold Games were organized by Robert Dover as a protest against Puritanism in the early 17th century?
• all of the publications of 17th century Milanese historian Gregorio Leti were listed on the Index Librorum Prohibitorum?
• a 17th century Polish politician Mikołaj Sienicki held the office of marshal of the Sejm nine times and was called a 'Polish Demosthenes' for his oratory skills?
• Anglo-Turkish piracy in the 17th century led to the enslavement of Catholic captives in North Africa, who could sometimes be liberated through a ransom?
• aiguillettes (pictured) are decorative tags or tips for cord or ribbon, usually of gold and sometimes set with gemstones or enameled, used to decorate 16th and 17th century clothing and hats?
• 17th century Russian diplomat Pyotr Ivanovich Potemkin (pictured) is reputed to have insisted on lying in bed during an audience with the King of Denmark, who was himself confined to his bed, to demonstrate equality between Russia and Denmark?
• Bhima Devi Temple Complex (pictured) in Haryana, India, includes the restored ruins of a Hindu temple dated from the 8th to 11th century AD and Pinjore Gardens from the 17th century?
• Joost van Dyk, a 17th century Dutch privateer and occasional pirate and slaver, established the first permanent European settlements in the British Virgin Islands?
• Yamada Nagamasa was a Japanese adventurer who played a key military role in 17th century Thailand?
• Sigismondo d'India, a 17th century Italian composer, produced music in nearly all the forms of the day, including monody, madrigal and motet?
• Joseph Haines was a well-known London song-and-dance man, comedian, and eccentric in the 17th century?
  
• 17th century London printer Nicholas Okes printed the first quartos of Shakespeare's King Lear and Othello?