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.[1]
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.
March 12 – At Daulambapur, near
Kamalganj in what is now the Indian state of
Uttar Pradesh, 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.
April–June
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.[3] All but two of the accused witches are tried for causing harm by witchcraft on August 18.
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.
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.
September 22 – Retreating Polish and Lithuanian troops burn the Russian city of
Vologda in reprisal for their defeat at Moscow.
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.[6]
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.
^"The Lancashire Witches in Historical Context", by James Sharpe, in The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories, ed. by Robert Poole, (Manchester University Press, 2002) p.2
^Chester Dunning, A Short History of Russia's First Civil War: The Time of Troubles and the Founding of the Romanov Dynasty (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2004) pp. 296–297
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.[1]
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.
March 12 – At Daulambapur, near
Kamalganj in what is now the Indian state of
Uttar Pradesh, 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.
April–June
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.[3] All but two of the accused witches are tried for causing harm by witchcraft on August 18.
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.
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.
September 22 – Retreating Polish and Lithuanian troops burn the Russian city of
Vologda in reprisal for their defeat at Moscow.
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.[6]
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.
^"The Lancashire Witches in Historical Context", by James Sharpe, in The Lancashire Witches: Histories and Stories, ed. by Robert Poole, (Manchester University Press, 2002) p.2
^Chester Dunning, A Short History of Russia's First Civil War: The Time of Troubles and the Founding of the Romanov Dynasty (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2004) pp. 296–297