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'.