During the period of the Iberian Union ( 1580 – 1640 ), Portugal lost influence and power and made new enemies.

* 1584 – Theophilus Howard, 2nd Earl of Suffolk, English politician ( d. 1640 )

* 1640 – Amalia Catharina, German poet and composer ( d. 1697 )

Ahmed II was born at Topkapı Palace, Constantinople, the son of Sultan Ibrahim I ( 1640 – 48 ) by Valide Sultan Khadija Muazzez, and succeeded his brother Suleiman II ( 1687 – 91 ) in 1691.

In 1635 – 38, Pietro Boncompagni commissioned from Algardi a colossal statue of Philip Neri with kneeling angels for Santa Maria in Vallicella, completed in 1640.

* 1640 – Second Bishop's War: King Charles I's English army loses to a Scottish Covenanter force at the Battle of Newburn.

* 1695 – John Trenchard, English statesman ( b. 1640 )

* 1719 – Philippe de la Hire, French mathematician and historian ( b. 1640 )

* Yoel Sirkis ( 1561 – 1640 ), Polish posek and halakhist, known as " the Bach "

Barcelona had always been the stronghold of Catalan separatism and was the center of the Catalan Revolt ( 1640 – 52 ) against Philip IV of Spain.

** João IV ( 1640 – 1656 )

* Federico Colonna y Tomacelli, Prince of Butera, ( 1601-1641 ) Viceroy of Valencia, in Spain, 1640 – 1641, Viceroy of Catalonia, 1641.

* 1721 – Richard Lumley, 1st Earl of Scarbrough, English statesman ( b. 1640 )

* 1640 – Claude Fleury, French historian ( d. 1723 )

* 1578 – Agostino Agazzari, Italian composer and music theorist ( d. 1640 )

* 1640 – End of the Iberian Union: Portugal acclaims as King João IV of Portugal, ending 60 years of personal union of the crowns of Portugal and Spain and the end of the rule of the House of Habsburg ( also called the Philippine Dynasty ).

* 1640 – Miguel de Vasconcelos, last Secretary of State of the Kingdom of Portugal, during the Iberian Union ( b. c. 1590 )

The city had a population of 21, 000 in 1640 before a plague in 1649 – 51 wiped out almost half of the city's inhabitants.

* 1640 – John Francis Regis, French saint ( b. 1597 )

* 1640 – ( baptism date ) – Aphra Behn, English playwright and novelist ( d. 1689 )

* 1716 – Charles de La Fosse, French painter ( b. 1640 )

* 1595 – Maciej Kazimierz Sarbiewski, Polish author and Latin Poet ( d. 1640 )

* Robert Burton of England ( 1577 – 1640 ), scholar

* February 8 – Robert Burton, English scholar ( d. 1640 )

* September 28 – Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland, English statesman ( b. 1640 )

* April 30 – Robert Plot, British naturalist ( b. 1640 )

Pliny does not name the prostitute ; however, the Restoration playwright Nathaniel Richards calls her Scylla in The Tragedy of Messalina, Empress of Rome, published in 1640, and Robert Graves in his novel Claudius the God also identified the prostitute as Scylla.

* Robert Burton ( 1577 – 1640 ), writer of ' The Anatomy of Melancholy '

* Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland ( 1640 – 1702 ), politician

Robert Burton ( 8 February 1577 – 25 January 1640 ) was an English scholar at Oxford University, best known for the classic The Anatomy of Melancholy.

* Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland ( 1640 – 1702 )

His father, Robert Hudson founded the " Maison Dieu " almshouses opposite the Church in 1640, which complement the stone built " Anne of Cleves House " opposite.

* Sir Robert Hesilrige, 5th Baronet ( c. 1640 – 1713 )

In 1640 it was occupied by the Scottish Covenantor army under Major-General Robert Monro ( d. 1680 ).

* Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland ( 1640 – 1702 )

He was knighted, and was elected member for Kent in the Long Parliament, when he took the popular side, speaking against monopolies on 9 November 1640, being entrusted with the impeachment of Sir Robert Berkeley on 12 February 1641, supporting Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford's attainder, and being appointed to the committee of defence on 12 August 1641.

He was chaplain to Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick, and preached before the House of Commons in 1640.

* Robert Burton ( scholar ) ( 1577 – 1640 ), English scholar and vicar

* Robert Boyd, 8th Lord Boyd ( c. 1618 – 1640 )

Robert Plot ( 13 December 1640 – April 30, 1696 ) was an English naturalist, first Professor of Chemistry at the University of Oxford, and the first keeper of the Ashmolean Museum.

* Robert Hamilton, born 14 May 1614 and killed in the explosion at Dunglass Castle on 30 August 1640, unmarried.

Bells cast in Compton Dundon can be found in nearby villages: Somerton ( a 1661 bell ) and Aller ( bells cast in 1638, 1640, and 1663 by Robert Austen ), for example.