1602 CE
(Candlemas night) – In London, the first known production of William Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night takes place. William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet, recently premiered by the Lord Chamberlain's Men, is licensed for publishing in London but not in fact printed at this time. Rory O'Donnell (Rudhraighe Ó Domhnaill) becomes the last Irish King of Tyrconnell upon the death of his brother, Hugh Roe O'Donnell (Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill). After less than a year, Rory allows Tyrconnell (modern-day County Donegal in Northern Ireland) to come under Irish control in return for being created the Earl of Tyrconnell.
In the 1600s, the 17th century.
Geopolitics & Diplomacy
- July 7 – The German duchy of Saxe-Altenburg, with a capital at Altenburg, is created as a separate duchy as a gift to Johann Philipp, the eldest son of his father Johann II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar.source
- September 10 – Rory O'Donnell (Rudhraighe Ó Domhnaill) becomes the last Irish King of Tyrconnell upon the death of his brother, Hugh Roe O'Donnell (Aodh Ruadh Ó Domhnaill). After less than a year, Rory allows Tyrconnell (modern-day County Donegal in Northern Ireland) to come under Irish control in return for being created the Earl of Tyrconnell.source
Conflict & Security
- January 3 – Battle of Kinsale: The English defeat Irish rebels and their Spanish allies. (The battle happens on this date according to the Gregorian calendar used by the Irish and Spanish but on Thursday, 24 December, 1601 according to the old Julian calendar used by the English.)source
- 3 January – Nine Years' War: The English defeat Irish rebels and their Spanish allies at the siege of Kinsale. (The battle happens on this date according to the Gregorian calendar used by the Irish and Spanish but on Thursday, 24 December, 1601 according to the old Julian calendar used by the English.)Irelandsource
- 12 January – Juan del Águila surrenders the Spanish troops in Ireland.Irelandsource
- June 3 – Anglo-Spanish War (1585) – Battle of Sesimbra Bay off of the coast of Portugal: Five galleons of the English Royal Navy defeat a larger force of Spanish Navy ships.source
- June 18 – Nine Years' War (Ireland): Dunboy Castle in Ireland is taken by the English after 143 Irish defenders had withstood an 11-day siege by more than 4,000 English soldiers under the command of Sir George Carew. Of the 143 soldiers, who had been loyal to Donal Cam O'Sullivan Beare, 85 are killed in the siege, and the 58 survivors are hanged after the English victory.source
- September 1 – The Mutiny of Hoogstraten, a rebellion by soldiers of the Army of Flanders, begins with the seizure by 3,000 disgruntled mercenaries of the town of Hoogstraten (now in Belgium). The mutineers hold the town for almost two years before surrendering on 18 May 1604.source
- September 20 – The siege of the Spanish Netherlands town of De Graaf ends after two months as a Dutch and English army forces the surrender of the Spanish defenders.source
- September 30 – The siege of Weissenstein, a Swedish town that is now Paide in Estonia, ends after four months with a victory of 2,000 Polish and Lithuanian troops commanded by Jan Zamoyski, the Great Crown Hetman of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.source
- October 3 – Battle of the Narrow Seas: An English fleet, joined by the Dutch, begins a pursuit of six Spanish galleys through the Strait of Dover, and defeats them the next day.source
- December 11 – A surprise attack by forces under the command of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy, and his brother-in-law, Philip III of Spain, is repelled by the citizens of Geneva (this actually takes place after midnight, in the early morning of December 12, but commemorations/celebrations on Fête de l'Escalade are usually held on December 11 or the closest weekend).source
- The Safavid Empire of Persia and the Spanish Empire conclude a defensive alliance and declare war on the Ottoman Empire.source
- The Portuguese are expelled from Bahrain.source
- The play A Larum for London, or the Siedge of Antwerp.source
- Long Turkish War (1591/1593-1606)source
- 5–18 June – Nine Years' War: The English defeat Irish rebels at the siege of Dunboy. The Jesuit chaplain Dominic Collins is arrested, tortured and hanged by the English at Youghal.Irelandsource
Exploration & Expansion
- May 25 (May 15 Old Style) – English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold, sailing in the Concord, becomes the first European at Cape Cod.source
- June 2 – Dutch explorer Joris van Spilbergen lands on the eastern side of the island of Sri Lanka, at Santhamuruthu, and begins the process of attempting to establish a relationship with the rulers of the Kingdom of Kandy.source
- June 5 – James Lancaster's East India Company fleet arrives at Achin (modern-day Aceh), Sumatra to deal with the local ruler. Having defeated Portugal's ally, the ruler is happy to do business, and Lancaster seizes a large Portuguese galleon and loots it.source
- June 17 – An expedition of 14 Dutch Republic ships, commanded by Admiral Wybrand van Warwijck, departs from Texel on its expedition to the East Indies.source
Religion & Belief
- July 29 – Juan de Zúñiga Flores, Bishop of Cartagena, becomes the Grand Inquisitor of Spain but serves for only five months before his death at the age of 55.source
- Copies are printed of the geographical map of East Asia created by Matteo Ricci, an Italian Jesuit stationed in Ming dynasty Beijing, China, with Chinese-written labeling and map symbols.source
- Hamar Cathedral School merged with Oslo Cathedral School.Norwaysource
Economy & Finance
- March 20 – The United East India Company is established by the United Provinces States-General in Amsterdam, with the stated intention of capturing the spice trade from the Portuguese.source
- April 20 – The Danish–Icelandic Trade Monopoly is established.source
- The Danish–Icelandic Trade Monopoly is enacted.Denmarksource
Crime & Justice
Disasters & Accidents
Culture & Society
- January 26: Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully becomes the governor of the Bastille.Francesource
- February 2 (Candlemas night) – In London, the first known production of William Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night takes place.source
- July 15: Claude de La Trémoille sells the Château de Sully-sur-Loire to Maximilien de BéthuneFrancesource
- July 26 – William Shakespeare's tragedy Hamlet, recently premiered by the Lord Chamberlain's Men, is licensed for publishing in London but not in fact printed at this time.source
- September 12 – King Sigismund III Vasa of Poland receives the delivery of eight specially woven Persian carpets displaying Poland's royal coat of arms, after having dispatched agent Sefer Muratowicz to Kashan.source
- November 8 – The Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford in England is opened.source
- William Shakespeare's comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor.source
- Hedevig, the king's older sister, marries Elector Christian II of Saxony.Denmarksource
- Prestepina, a quiz book, is published for the first time. The book was a translation from German by Hallvard Gunnarssøn, and was later reissued numerous times, the last time in 1870.Norwaysource
Births
- January 14 – Sir Henry Slingsby, 1st Baronet, English baronet (died 1658)source
- January 29 – Countess Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg, Regent of Hesse-Kassel (1637–1650) (died 1651)source
- February 12 – Michelangelo Cerquozzi, Italian painter (died 1660)source
- February 14 – Francesco Cavalli, Italian composer of the early Baroque period (died 1676)source
- 18 February - Per Brahe the Younger, Privy Councillor (born 1680)Swedensource
- 22 March – Iver Krabbe, nobleman and military officer (died 1666)Denmarksource
- April 2 – Mary of Jesus of Ágreda, Franciscan abbess and spiritual writer (died 1665)source
- 12 April - Daniel Knudsen Bildt, military officer (d.1651)Norwaysource
- April 30 – Robert Baillie, Scottish divine and historical writer (died 1662)source
- April – William Lawes, English composer and musician (died 1645)source
- May 1 – William Lilly, English astrologer (died 1681)source
- May 2 – Athanasius Kircher, German scholar (died 1680)source
- July 14 – Cardinal Mazarin, French statesman (died 1661)source
- July 15 – John Bradshaw, English judge and regicide (died 1659)source
- September 29 – Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland, English military leader (died 1668)source
- November 20 – Otto von Guericke, German inventor and Mayor of Magdeburg (died 1686)source
- November 22 – Elisabeth of France, queen of Philip IV of Spain (died 1644)source
- Rudolf Christian, Count of East FrisiaGermanysource
Deaths
- January – Claude Fauchet, French historiansource
- February 13 – Alexander Nowell, English clergyman (born 1507)source
- March 11 – Emilio de' Cavalieri, Italian composer (born c. 1550)source
- March 24 – Ii Naomasa, Japanese general (born 1561)source
- 8 April - Ludvig Munk, Stadtholder of Norway (b.1537)Norwaysource
- May 9 – Giulio Antonio Santorio, Italian Catholic cardinal (born 1532)source
- 14 May – Niels Krag, academic and diplomat (born 1550)Denmarksource
- July 31 – Charles de Gontaut, 1st Duke of Biron, French noble and military commander (born 1562)source
- July 31 – Charles de Gontaut, duc de Biron, soldier (born 1562)Francesource
- August 12 – Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, Mughal vizier and historian (born 1551)source
- August 22 – Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, the prime minister for India's Mughal Emperor Akbar, is assassinated at Narwar as part of a plot by Emperor Akbar's son, Prince Salim, who will later succeed Akbar as Emperor Jahangir. Abu'l-Fazl's killer, Vir Singh Bundela, sends the victim's severed head to Prince Salim as proof of the plot's success.source
- 10 September – Hugh Roe O'Donnell, Prince of Tyrconnell, leader in the Nine Years War (born 1572)Irelandsource
- September 25 – Caspar Peucer, German reformer (born 1525)source
- October 13 – Franciscus Junius, French theologian (born 1545)source
- October 20 – Walter Leveson, English Elizabethan Member of Parliament, Shropshire landowner (born 1550)source
- October 31 – Dominic Collins, Irish Jesuit lay brother and martyr (born 1566)source
- October – Thomas Morley, English composer (born 1557)source
- The iconoclast and Confucian scholar Li Zhi commits suicide while in a Chinese prison, during the late Ming dynasty; he had taught that women were the intellectual equals of men and should be given equal opportunity in education; he was charged with spreading "dangerous ideas".source