1712 CE

Sweden finally made the switch from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar in 1753. This year had 367 days.

In the 1710s, the 18th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • 1 January – Thomas Mansel, 5th Baronet, becomes 1st Baron Mansel.Walessource
  • 2 January – In the British House of Lords, twelve new Tory peers known as Harley's Dozen take their seats.United Kingdomsource
  • May 19 – Peter the Great moves the capital of Russia from Moscow to Saint Petersburg.source
  • August 1 – The Stamp Act 1712 is passed in the United Kingdom, imposing a tax on publishers, particularly of newspapers.source
  • August 11 – The Peace of Aarau is signed by Catholics and Protestants, ending the Toggenburg War and establishing Protestant dominance in Switzerland, while preserving the rights of Catholics.source
  • September – Composer George Frideric Handel re-locates to London.United Kingdomsource
  • After many years of settlement, the Town on Queen Anne's Creek is established as a courthouse for Chowan County, North Carolina. The town is renamed Edenton in 1720, and incorporated in 1722.source
  • John Arbuthnot creates the character of "John Bull" to represent Britain.United Kingdomsource

Conflict & Security

  • 1 January – War of the Spanish Succession: Peace congress opens at Utrecht.United Kingdomsource
  • February 10 – Huilliche uprising of 1712: Huilliche people in Chile's Chiloé Archipelago rise up against Spanish encomenderos as vengeance for perceived injustices.source
  • April 6–7 – New York Slave Revolt of 1712: An insurrection in New York City results in nine whites being killed, and 21 slaves and other blacks being convicted and executed.source
  • April 11 – Great Northern War: the Battle of Fladstrand takes place at sea near Fladstrand, Jylland, between Swedish and Danish forces.source
  • April - Caspar Herman Hausmann was appointed commander-in-chief of the Norwegian army.Norwaysource
  • May – British Army in Flanders under the Duke of Ormonde receives "restraining orders" that prevents them taking part in any offensive against France due to ongoing peace talks.United Kingdomsource
  • July 24 – Battle of Denain: The French defeat a combined Dutch-Austrian force.source
  • July 24 – Battle of Villmergen: The Reformed cantons of Switzerland defeat the Catholic cantons.source
  • 4 August - Claus Henrik Vieregg was appointed Vice Steward of Norway.Norwaysource
  • 12 November – A riot takes place in Dublin during a performance of Nicholas Rowe's Tamerlane a play which supports the Whig view of William III as a justified conqueror of Britain and Ireland. A prologue written by the Whiggish Samuel Garth is read, which inflames Tory and Jacobite opinion.Irelandsource
  • December 9 – Battle of Gadebusch: Sweden defeats Denmark and Saxony.Swedensource
  • December 20 – Great Northern War: the Battle of Gadebusch is Sweden's final great victory in the war, preventing the loss of the city of Stralsund to Danish and Saxon forces.source
  • 20 December – The Battle of Gadebusch.Denmarksource
  • 1712-34 - Fox resistance against the French in the Great Lakes area. Fox Wars begin.Canadasource

Exploration & Expansion

  • March – Cassard expedition sets outFrancesource
  • May 15 – Curuguaty in Paraguay is founded by Juan Gregorio de Bazán y Pedraza on the banks of the Curuguaty River.source
  • October - Erasmus Lewis is appointed "provost-marshall-general in the Barbadoes".Walessource
  • The VOC Zuytdorp is wrecked off the coast of Western Australia.source
  • Early March – Start of the Cassard expedition, a sea voyage by French Navy captain Jacques Cassard during which he ransacks Santiago in the Cape Verde Islands and pillages Montserrat, Antigua, Surinam, Berbice, Essequibo, St. Eustatius and Curaçao, returning to France with loot worth over nine million francs.source

Religion & Belief

  • 1 January – Thomas Trevor is raised to the peerage as 1st Baron Trevor of Bromham.Walessource
  • January 26 – The Old Pummerin, a 18,161 kg bell newly installed in the Stephansdom, St. Stephen's Cathedral, in Vienna, is rung for the first time to mark the entry of Charles VI to Vienna from Frankfurt after his coronation as Emperor. It takes a quarter-hour for 16 men pulling on the bell rope to swing the heavy bell back-and-forth enough for the clapper to strike; the resulting forces endanger the tower so the architect orders that in future the bell be rung only by pulling its clapper.source
  • March 3 – Scottish Episcopalians Act 1711 comes into effect, leading to incorporation of the Scottish Episcopal Church.source
  • 3 March – Scottish Episcopalians Act 1711 comes into effect, leading to incorporation of the Scottish Episcopal Church.Scotlandsource
  • 1 May – the Church Patronage (Scotland) Act 1711 comes into effect.Scotlandsource
  • May 22 – Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor is crowned King of Hungary.source
  • June 17 – The newly built St Ann's Church, Manchester, England, is consecrated by the Bishop of Chester.source
  • August - Jonathan Edwards is replaced as Principal of Jesus by John Wynne, who has the support of the college Visitor, the Earl of Pembroke.Walessource
  • December 7 – The charter of Buchach Monastery in Ukraine, founded by Stefan Aleksander Potocki and his wife Joanna née Sieniawska, is signed in Lublin.source
  • Building begins of St. Paul's, Deptford, a church designed by Thomas Archer.United Kingdomsource

Economy & Finance

  • June 11 – Chatham, Barnstable County, Massachusetts is incorporated as a town.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • 1 July – The children of the theologian and landowner Hector Gottfried Masius are ennobled by letters patent with the name von der Maase.Denmarksource
  • July 8 – The British Royal Navy 50-gun ship HMS Advice is launched at Deptford Dockyard.source
  • The first known working Newcomen steam engine is built by Thomas Newcomen with John Calley, to pump water out of mines in the Black Country of England, the first device to make practical use of the power of steam to produce mechanical work.source
  • Bridge built over the River Bann at Banbridge.Irelandsource
  • Castle Howard in North Yorkshire, designed by Sir John Vanbrugh, is completed.United Kingdomsource
  • The first known working Newcomen steam engine is built by Thomas Newcomen with John Calley to pump water out of mines in the Black Country, the first practical device to harness the power of steam to produce mechanical work.United Kingdomsource

Science & Discovery

  • 8 July – The Royal Navy 50-gun ship HMS Advice is launched at Deptford Dockyard.United Kingdomsource
  • August 23 – The British Royal Navy 60-gun ship HMS Rippon is launched at Deptford Dockyard.source
  • 23 August – The Royal Navy 60-gun ship HMS Rippon is launched at Deptford Dockyard.United Kingdomsource
  • The series of Welsh Almanacks printed by Thomas Jones is completed. (Jones dies the following year.)Walessource

Health & Medicine

  • March 30 – Anne, Queen of Great Britain administers the Royal touch (a ritual with the intent to cure illness) for the last time; 300 scrofulous people are touched, the last of whom is Samuel Johnson.source
  • 30 March – Queen Anne administers the Royal touch, a ritual with the intent to cure illness, for the last time; 300 scrofulous people are touched, the last of whom is Samuel Johnson.United Kingdomsource
  • Royal Hospital School established for seafarers' orphans by charter at the site of Greenwich Hospital, London.United Kingdomsource

Crime & Justice

  • 17 January – Robert Walpole imprisoned in the Tower of London following charges of corruption.United Kingdomsource
  • June 10 – Kurtkulağı Caravanserai in Adana Province, Turkey, is restored and 50 soldiers are appointed to guard it.source
  • October 3 – In Scotland a warrant is issued for the arrest of outlaw Rob Roy MacGregor by Advocate Sir James Stewart.source
  • 3 October – warrant issued for the arrest of outlaw Rob Roy MacGregor by Sir James Stewart (Lord Advocate) at the instigation of James Graham, 1st Duke of Montrose.Scotlandsource
  • 3 October – In Scotland a warrant is issued for the arrest of outlaw Rob Roy MacGregor by Sir James Stewart (Lord Advocate).United Kingdomsource
  • November 4 – The Bandbox Plot aims to kill British Lord Treasurer Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford but is foiled by Jonathan Swift (author of Gulliver’s Travels).source
  • 4 November – Bandbox Plot: Jonathan Swift foils an attempted murder of Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer.United Kingdomsource
  • The queen dowager's favorite Anna Catharina von Bärfelt is arrested and tried.Swedensource

Disasters & Accidents

  • March 15 – HMS Dragon, a 38-gun fourth rate frigate of the British Royal Navy, is wrecked on Les Casquets rocks to the west of Alderney.source
  • 15 March – HMS Dragon, a 38-gun fourth rate frigate of the Royal Navy, is wrecked on Les Casquets rocks to the west of Alderney.United Kingdomsource
  • 8 April – The Danish frigate Heyeren sinks in Præstø Ghord after being shot upon by the Swedish frigate Hvita Örn.Denmarksource

Climate & Environment

  • September 8 – A severe hurricane buffets Bermuda for eight hours, destroying most of the churches.source

Culture & Society

  • 1 January – Thomas Windsor, son of the Earl of Plymouth, is created Baron Mountjoy. Windsor, the second husband of Charlotte Jeffreys, daughter of Philip Herbert, 7th Earl of Pembroke, would sell much of his family's Welsh property, but their Glamorgan estates would pass through the marriage of a descendant, Charlotte Hickman-Windsor, to John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute.Walessource
  • January 12 – The premiere of the opera Idoménée by André Campra takes place at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris.source
  • 12 January – The première of the opera Idoménée by André Campra takes place at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in ParisFrancesource
  • January 16 – A military engineering school is established in Moscow which is to become the A.F. Mozhaysky Military-Space Academy.source
  • 30 February 1712 – Sweden temporarily adopts February 30 as a day to adjust the Swedish calendar back to the Julian calendar.Swedensource
  • March 11 (February 30 Swedish Style, February 29 on the Julian calendar) – Sweden temporarily adopts the rare February 30, as a day to adjust the Swedish Calendar back to the Julian calendar.source
  • June 5 – Reus in Catalonia, Spain is given the title of imperial city by Elisabeth Christine, wife of Archduke Charles.source
  • July 20 – Jesus College, Oxford, England, inherits the extensive library of its Principal Jonathan Edwards on his death.source
  • July - On the death of its Principal Jonathan Edwards, Jesus College, Oxford, inherits his extensive library. Edwards is buried in the college chapel, whose restoration is funded by another bequest in his will.Walessource
  • 1 August – The Stamp Act 1712 is passed, imposing a tax on publishers, particularly of newspapers.United Kingdomsource
  • September – Composer George Frideric Handel re-locates to London with the permission of his patron, the future King George I of Great Britain.source
  • October 31 – King Philip V of Spain establishes the Biblioteca Nacional de España as the Palace Public Library (Biblioteca Pública de Palacio) in Madrid.source
  • November 22 – The first performance of George Frideric Handel's opera Il pastor fido takes place at the Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket, London.source
  • 22 November – The first performance of George Frideric Handel's opera Il pastor fido takes place at the Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket, London.United Kingdomsource
  • December 27 – The premiere of the opera Callirhoé by André Cardinal Destouches takes place at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in Paris.source
  • 27 December – The première of the opera Callirhoé by André Cardinal Destouches takes place at the Théâtre du Palais-Royal in ParisFrancesource
  • A translation of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer into Irish, made by John Richardson (1664–1747), is published.source
  • Robert Nelson - Cydymaith i Ddyddiau Gwylion ac Ymprydiau Eglwys Loegr (translation by Thomas Williams of A Companion for the Festivals and Fasts of the Church of England)Walessource

Births

  • January 24 – Frederick the Great, King of Prussia (1740–1786) (died 1786)source
  • January 28 - Tokugawa Ieshige (died 1761), shōgunJapansource
  • January - David Owen, harpist (died 1741)Walessource
  • February 19 – Arthur Devis, English painter (died 1787)source
  • February 28 – Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, French general (died 1759)source
  • April 23 – Devasahayam Pillai, beatified Indian Catholic (died 1752)source
  • June 11 – Benjamin Ingham, American missionary (died 1772)source
  • 22 June – Michael Heltzen, mining engineer (died in 1770).Norwaysource
  • June 28 – Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Genevan philosopher (died 1778)source
  • July 12 – Sir Francis Bernard, 1st Baronet, British Colonial governor of New Jersey and Massachusetts Bay (died 1779)source
  • October 14 – George Grenville, Prime Minister of Great Britain (1763–1765) (died 1770)source
  • 14 October – George Grenville, Prime Minister of Great Britain (died 1770)United Kingdomsource
  • October 21 – James Steuart, Scottish economist (died 1780)source
  • October 24 – Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp, German duchess (died 1760)source
  • October 30 – Giovanni Pietro Francesco Agius de Soldanis, Maltese linguist, historian and cleric (died 1770)source
  • November 24 – Charles-Michel de l'Épée, French priest and educator of the deaf (died 1789)source
  • December 11 – Francesco Algarotti, Venetian philosopher (died 1764)source
  • December 12 – Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, Lorraine-born Austrian general and soldier (died 1780)source

Deaths

  • February 12 – Marie Adélaïde of Savoy, wife of Louis, Duke of Burgundy (born 1685)source
  • February 18 – Louis, duc de Bourgogne, heir to the throne of France (born 1682)source
  • February 27 – Bahadur Shah I, Mughal Emperor of India (born 1643)source
  • March 2 – Lorenzo Magalotti, Italian philosopher (born 1637)source
  • March 28 – Jan van der Heyden, Dutch painter (born 1637)source
  • March 30 – Johann Friedrich Mayer, German Lutheran theologian (born 1650)source
  • April 11 – Richard Simon, French Biblical critic (born 1638)source
  • 18 April – Louisa Maria Stuart, considered by Jacobites to be Princess Royal and heir to the throne of her brother James, dies of smallpox in French exile. Her brother also falls ill but recovers.United Kingdomsource
  • June 11 – Louis Joseph, Duke of Vendôme, French military commander (born 1654)source
  • 24 June – Hans Munch, theologian and priest, bishop of Christianssand and of Christiania (born 1654).Norwaysource
  • July 12 – Richard Cromwell, Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland (born 1626)source
  • July 26 – Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds, English statesman (born 1631)source
  • 12 September - Sir Thomas Williams, 1st Baronet, about 90Walessource
  • September 14 – Giovanni Domenico Cassini, Italian-French astronomer and engineer (born 1625)source
  • September 15 – Sidney Godolphin, 1st Earl of Godolphin, English politician (born c.1645)source
  • November 12 – Tokugawa Ienobu, Japanese Edo shōgun (born 1662)source
  • November 15 – James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton, Scottish peer (born 1658)source
  • Ekaterina Alekseyevna DolgorukovaRussiasource