Events of 1688

January–June

• March – William Dampier makes the first recorded visit to Christmas Island.

• Spring – James VII & II orders his Declaration of Indulgence, suspending penal laws against Catholics, to be read from every Anglican pulpit in England. The Church of England and its staunchest supporters, the peers and gentry, are outraged.

• 18 April (Julian calendar) – The Germantown Quaker Protest Against Slavery is drafted by 4 Germantown Quakers.

• 29 April – Death of Friedrich Wilhelm, the "Great Elector" of Brandenburg-Prussia. Friedrich III becomes Elector of Brandenburg-Prussia until 1701, when he becomes the first King of Prussia as Friedrich I.

• 10 June – The birth of King James' heir, James Francis Edward Stuart (1688–1766; later to become known as the "Old Pretender") increases public disquiet about a Catholic dynasty. The fears are confirmed when the baby is baptised into the Catholic faith.

• 30 June – A high-powered conspiracy of notables (the Immortal Seven) invite Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange and Princess Mary to "defend the liberties of England" and depose King James VII and II.

July–December

• July – Phetracha stages a coup d'état and becomes king of Ayutthaya.

• October 27 – King James II of England fires minister Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland.

• 5 November – The Glorious Revolution begins: William of Orange lands at Torbay with a multinational force of 15,000 mercenaries. He makes no claim to the English Crown, saying only that he has come to save Protestantism, and begins a march on London.

• 9 November – William of Orange captures Exeter after the magistrates flee the city.

• 23 November – A group of 1,500 Old Believers immolate themselves to avoid capture when troops of the tsar lay siege to their monastery on Lake Onega.

• 26 November – Hearing that William of Orange has landed in England, Louis XIV declares war on the Netherlands. Perhaps revealingly, he does not attack the Netherlands but instead strikes at the heart of the Holy Roman Empire with about 100,000 soldiers. The Nine Years' War begins in Europe and America.

• 11 December – Having led his army to Salisbury and been deserted by his troops, James VII and II is forced to flee to France. The so-called "Glorious Revolution" is a bloodless success.

Undated

• Edward Lloyd opens the London coffee house that soon becomes a popular meeting place for shipowners, merchants, insurance brokers and underwriters. In time the business association they form will outgrow the coffee house premises and become Lloyd's of London.

• Fall of Belgrade to the Austrians as the Ottoman Empire continues to lose ground in Europe.

• Francesco Morosini becomes Doge of Venice.

• Fire destroys Bungay in England.

• The Ottoman Turks besiege Vienna.

• Neuruppin becomes a Prussian garrison town.

• Antonio Verrio begins work on the Heaven Room at Burghley House.

• Janez Vajkard Valvasor becomes a member of the Royal Society.

• The Austrians incite a rebellion against the Ottomans in Bulgaria.

Births

• January 18 – Lionel Cranfield Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1765)

• February 2 – Queen Ulrike Eleonora of Sweden (d. 1741)

• February 4 – Pierre de Marivaux, French playwright (d. 1763)

• February 8 – Emanuel Swedenborg Swedish scientist, philosopher, and theologian (d. 1772)

• March – William Burnet, British colonial administrator (d. 1729)

• April 4 – Joseph-Nicolas Delisle, French astronomer (d. 1768)

• April 15 – Johann Friedrich Fasch, German composer (d. 1758)

• May 22 – Alexander Pope, English poet (d. 1744)

• June 10 – James Francis Edward Stuart, The Old Pretender (d. 1766)

• July 19 – Giuseppe Castiglione, Italian missionary to China (d. 1766)

• August 14 – King Frederick William I of Prussia (d. 1740)

• September 12 – Ferdinand Brokoff, Czech sculptor (d. 1731)

• October 17 – Domenico Zipoli, Italian composer (d. 1726)

• October 22 – Nadir Shah of Persia (d. 1747)

• date unknown – Charles Rivington, English publisher (d. 1742)

Deaths

• January 7 – James Howard, 3rd Earl of Suffolk

• February 2 – Abraham Duquesne, French naval officer (b. 1610)

• April 29 – Friedrich Wilhelm I of Brandenburg (b. 1620)

• May 14 – Antoine Furetière, French writer (b. 1619)

• June 5 – Constantine Phaulkon, Greek adventurer (b. 1667)

• June 26 – Ralph Cudworth, English philosopher (b. 1617)

• July 11 – Narai of Thailand (b. 1639)

• July 21 – James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, Irish statesman (b. 1610)

• August 25 – Henry Morgan, Welsh privateer and Governor of Jamaica (b. c. 1635)

• August 31 – John Bunyan, English writer (b. 1628)

• September 2 – Robert Viner, Lord Mayor of London (b. 1631)

• October 6 – Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle, English statesman (b. 1653)

• October 23 – Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange, French philologist (b. 1610)

• November 26 – Philippe Quinault, French dramatist (b. 1635)

• December 15 – Gaspar Fagel, Dutch statesman (b. 1634)