1612 CE

At Daulambapur, near Kamalganj in what is now the Sylhet Division in Bangladesh, a battle takes place between 4,500 troops led by General Islam Khan I of India's Mughal Empire, and 12,000 defenders led by the Afghan warlord Khwaja Usman. The Mughals are almost defeated until Usman is struck in the eye by an arrow fired from a crossbow. In Lichfield, Edward Wightman, a radical Anabaptist, becomes the last person to be burned at the stake in England as punishment for heresy. Forces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which had been occupying Moscow for more than two years, surrender unconditionally to Russian militia forces and are allowed to leave after the Kremlin is liberated by Prince Dmitry Pozharsky and Prince Kuzma Minin.

In the 1610s, the 17th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 6 – Axel Oxenstierna becomes Lord High Chancellor of Sweden. He persuades the Riksdag of the Estates to grant the Swedish nobility the right and privilege to hold all higher offices of government.source
  • 6 January – Axel Oxenstierna becomes the Lord High Chancellor of the Privy Council.Swedensource
  • January 10 – Gustavus Adolphus replies to Metropolitan Isidor, Odoevskij and the estates of Novgorod, stating that he himself wishes to assume responsibility for the government of Novgorod and also of all Russians. A number of land grants signed the same day show that the Swedish king has assumed the title of Tsar.source
  • 10 April – a royal charter of King James VI and I creates the City and County of Londonderry, and The Honourable The Irish Society to run the new plantation.Irelandsource
  • July 4 – (8th waxing of Waso 974 ME) In what is now Myanmar, Min Khamaung becomes the new King of Arakan upon the death of his father, King Min Razagyi.source
  • November 20 – The Treaty of Nasuh Pasha is signed, between the Ottoman Empire (Turkey) and the Safavid Empire (Iran), with the Ottomans ceding back land they had captured from the Safavids after 1555, in return for Safavid payment of 200 loads of silk.source

Conflict & Security

  • January 20 – An uprising led by Dmitry Pozharsky begins in Moscow against occupying Polish troops.source
  • February 11 – Battle of Vittsjö: King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden and 3,000 of his troops are forced to retreat from Denmark. The 17-year old king almost drowns while attempting to ride his horse across a frozen lake, but is rescued by two other members of his cavalry. The horse is lost.source
  • 21 February – The Battle of Skillingehed takes place in Halland between the Swedish army and forces led by Christian IV. Christian Barnekow famously sacrifices his life to save King Christian IV's.Denmarksource
  • 26 February – Massacre in Nya Lödös, 300 Norwegian soldiers are massacred inside a church in Nya Lödöse, Sweden.Norwaysource
  • 26 February – Massacre in Nya Lödöse, 300 Norwegian soldiers are massacred inside a church in Nya Lödöse.Swedensource
  • March 12 – At Daulambapur, near Kamalganj in what is now the Sylhet Division in Bangladesh, a battle takes place between 4,500 troops led by General Islam Khan I of India's Mughal Empire, and 12,000 defenders led by the Afghan warlord Khwaja Usman. The Mughals are almost defeated until Usman is struck in the eye by an arrow fired from a crossbow.source
  • May 25 – A Sicilian–Spanish galley fleet defeats the Tunisians at La Goulette after a battle.source
  • August 26 – Battle of Kringen: A Scottish mercenary force is destroyed in Norway.source
  • 26 August – A Norwegian peasant militia is ambushed by Scottish mercenaries at the Battle of Kringen as part of the Kalmar War.Denmarksource
  • September 1 – Battle of Moscow (1612): Led by General Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, a relief force from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, whose troops had been occupying Moscow for two years, make an unsuccessful attempt to break the Russian siege of the Kremlin, where General Mikolaj Strus and his troops are trapped. Both the Russians (led by Dmitry Pozharsky) and the Commonwealth troops suffer at least 1,000 deaths, but the Russians prevail. General Chodkiewicz tries a second attack the next day and fails.source
  • October 27 – Forces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which had been occupying Moscow for more than two years, surrender unconditionally to Russian militia forces and are allowed to leave after the Kremlin is liberated by Prince Dmitry Pozharsky and Prince Kuzma Minin.source
  • November 30 – Battle of Swally: Forces of the British East India Company and Portugal engage off the coast of India, resulting in an English victory.source
  • The Battle of Swally took place.Indiasource
  • The town of Konghelle was burned down by Swedish troops, then moved closer to Bohus Fortress, and renamed Kongelf.Norwaysource
  • Fall – Swedish forces under Baltzar Bäck leaves Jemtland and Herjedalen, after being occupied since 1611.Norwaysource
  • 10–11 February – Battle of Vittsjö.Swedensource

Exploration & Expansion

  • Starting of Equinoctial France, French colonization efforts around Equator in South AmericaFrancesource

Religion & Belief

  • June 13 – Archduke Matthias of Austria is formally elected as the new Holy Roman Emperor.source
  • June 26 – The coronation of Matthias as Holy Roman Emperor takes place at the Frankfurt Cathedral.source

Economy & Finance

Technology & Infrastructure

  • September 5 – England's East India Company gets its first warships and establishes the "'Honourable East India Company's Marine'" to protect its freighters. The force develops over the centuries into the Royal Indian Navy and, after India's independence in 1947, the Indian Navy.source

Science & Discovery

  • December 15 – Simon Marius becomes the first person on Earth to observe the Andromeda Galaxy through a telescope.source
  • December 28 – Galileo Galilei becomes the first astronomer to observe the planet Neptune when in conjunction with Jupiter. He mistakenly catalogues it as a fixed star, because of its extremely slow motion along the ecliptic. Neptune will not be truly recognized as a planet until 1846, about 234 years later, when Johann Gottfried Galle first sights it in the Berlin Observatory.source

Health & Medicine

  • April 11 – In Lichfield, Edward Wightman, a radical Anabaptist, becomes the last person to be burned at the stake in England as punishment for heresy.source

Crime & Justice

  • April 10 – In England, 12 persons who become known as the Pendle witches allegedly hold a coven at the Malkin Tower in Lancashire on Good Friday, after which 10 people die mysteriously. All but two of the accused witches are tried for causing harm by witchcraft on August 18.source
  • August 20 – Ten Pendle witches are hanged, having been found guilty of practising witchcraft in Lancashire in England.source
  • The Okamoto Daihachi incident in Japan.source
  • Johanne Thomes is accused of witchcraft as part of the Køge Huskors witch trials.Denmarksource

Disasters & Accidents

  • September 22 – Retreating Polish and Lithuanian troops burn the Russian city of Vologda in reprisal for their defeat at Moscow.source

Culture & Society

  • March 2 – The False Dmitry III, one of three pretenders to the Russian throne who all claim to be sons of Ivan the Terrible, is recognized as Tsar of Russia by the Cossacks.source
  • May 10 – Prince Khurram, the 20-year-old son of the Mughal Emperor Jahangir, marries 19-year-old Arjumand Banu Begum at a ceremony in Delhi. In 1628, Khurram becomes the Emperor Shah Jahan with Arjumand Begum as his chief consort Mumtaz Mahal. Arjumand dies in 1631 and Khurram later commissions and builds the Taj Mahal in her memory.source
  • July 22 – Four women and one man are hanged following the Northamptonshire witch trials in England.source
  • July 24 – Marcantonio Memmo is elected as the Doge of the Republic of Venice on the first ballot of the Venetian council, winning 38 of the 41 votes. Memmo succeeds the late Doge Leonardo Donato, who died on July 16.source
  • September 2 (August 23 O.S.) – The Lutheran Duchy of Prussia, a fiefdom within Poland, becomes the first Protestant government to follow the Roman Catholic nations in adopting the Gregorian calendar.source
  • Thomas Shelton's English translation of the first half of Don Quixote is published. It is the first translation of the Spanish novel into any language.source
  • The Nagoya Castle is completed in Japan.source

Births

  • January 17 – Thomas Fairfax, English Civil War general (died 1671)source
  • February 6 – Antoine Arnauld, French theologian (died 1694)source
  • 6 February – Antoine Arnauld, Roman Catholic theologian, philosopher, and mathematician (died 1694)Francesource
  • February 7 – Thomas Killigrew, English dramatist and theatre manager (died 1683)source
  • February 9 – Pier Francesco Mola, Italian painter of the High Baroque (died 1666)source
  • February 15 – Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, French military officer, founder of Montreal in New France (died 1676)source
  • February 22 (bapt.) – George Digby, 2nd Earl of Bristol, English statesman (died 1677)source
  • March 20 – Anne Bradstreet, née Dudley, English-born American Puritan poet (died 1672)source
  • April 12 – Simone Cantarini, Italian painter and engraver (died 1648)source
  • July 27 – Murad IV, Ottoman Sultan (died 1640)source
  • August 17 – Jeremi Wiśniowiecki, Polish nobleman (died 1651)source
  • August 28 – Marcus Zuerius van Boxhorn, Dutch scholar (died 1653)source
  • 20 October – Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Burlington, cavalier and Lord High Treasurer of Ireland (died 1698)Irelandsource
  • October 25 – James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, Scottish soldier (died 1650)source
  • October 26 – Henry Wilmot, 1st Earl of Rochester (died 1658)source
  • 11 November – August Philipp, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck, (died 1675 in the Holy Roman Empire)Denmarksource
  • November 17 – Dorgon, Chinese Manchu prince (died 1650)source
  • Approximate date – Per Stålhammar, officer (died 1701)Swedensource

Deaths

  • January 20 – Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, Austrian Habsburg ruler (born 1552)source
  • February 6 – Christopher Clavius, German mathematician and astronomer (born 1538)source
  • February 12 – Jodocus Hondius, Flemish cartographer (born 1563)source
  • April 5 – Diana Scultori, Italian engraversource
  • 8 April – Anne Catherine of Brandenburg, Queen consort of Denmark and Norway (Born 1575 in the Holy Roman Empire)Denmarksource
  • April 11 – Edward Wightman, English Baptist preacher (burned at the stake) (born 1580)source
  • May 24 – Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, English statesman and spymaster (born 1563)source
  • June 8 – Hans Leo Hassler, German composer (born 1562)source
  • August 12 – Giovanni Gabrieli, Italian composer (born c. 1554)source
  • 26 August – George Sinclair, mercenary (born c. 1580).Norwaysource
  • September 12 – Tsar Vasili IV of Russia (born 1552)source
  • September 13 – Karin Månsdotter, Queen of Sweden (born 1550)source
  • 13 September – Karin Månsdotter, royal mistress and queen (born 1550)Swedensource
  • September 27 – Piotr Skarga, Polish Jesuit and polemicist (born 1536)source
  • October 7 – Giovanni Battista Guarini, Italian poet (born 1538)source
  • 1 November – Charles, Count of Soissons, prince du sang and military commander (born 1566)Francesource
  • November 6 – Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, elder son of King James I & VI and Anne of Denmark (born 1594)source
  • November 20 – John Harington, English courtier, writer and inventor of a flush toilet (born 1561)source