1603 (MDCIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar).

[edit] Events

King James I of England/VI of Scotland, the first monarch to rule the Kingdoms of England and Scotland at the same time

[edit] January–June

• February 25 – Portuguese ship Santa Catarina was seized by Dutch East India Company ships off Singapore.
• March – Samuel de Champlain, French explorer, sails to Canada.
• March 24 – Elizabeth I of England dies at Richmond Palace and is succeeded by her cousin's grandson, King James VI of Scotland, uniting the crowns of Scotland and England.
• April 28 – The funeral of Elizabeth I of England is held in Westminster Abbey.

[edit] July–December

• July 17 or July 19 – Sir Walter Raleigh is arrested for treason.
• July 25 – James I of England is crowned.
• August – Samuel de Champlain returns to France.
• November 17 – Sir Walter Raleigh goes on trial for treason in the converted Great Hall of Winchester Castle.
• December 22 – Sultan Mehmed III of the Ottoman Empire dies, and is succeeded by his son Ahmed I.

[edit] Undated

• Johann Bayer's Uranometria, an atlas of the southern sky, is published.
• Tokugawa Ieyasu is granted the title of shogun from Emperor Go-Yozei of Japan, and establishes the Edo or Tokugawa Shogunate in Edo, Japan. This ends the Azuchi-Momoyama period and begins the Edo period.
• The Accademia dei Lincei is founded.
• Huguenot Pierre de Gua is granted royal permission to settle in North America.
• A rebellion breaks out in Transylvania.
• The Black Death breaks out in England.
• The English crush the Irish rebellion; Hugh O'Neill, 2nd Earl of Tyrone surrenders.
• Famine in Russia
• Yaqob is deposed as Emperor of Ethiopia by Za Sellase, who appoints his cousin Za Dengel to replace him.
• The earliest of eight companies that would eventually merge to form the Kikkoman Corporation, the ubiquitous producers of soy sauce, is founded in Japan.

[edit] Births

• January – Shackerley Marmion, English dramatist (d. 1639)
• January 27 – Harbottle Grimston, English politician (d. 1685)
• March 18
  • Simon Bradstreet, English colonial magistrate (d. 1697)
  • King John IV of Portugal (d. 1656)
• April 10 – Christian, Prince Elect of Denmark, Danish prince (d. 1647)
• April 19 – Michel le Tellier, French statesman (d. 1685)
• June 17 – Joseph of Cupertino, Italian saint (d. 1663)
• July 11 – Kenelm Digby, English privateer and alchemist (d. 1665)
• July 23 – Axel Lillie, Swedish soldier and politician (d. 1662)
• August 16 – Adam Olearius, German scholar (d. 1671)
• August 17 – Lennart Torstenson,Dutch solidier and military engineer (d. 1651)
• September 15 – Tokugawa Yorifusa, Japanese nobleman (d. 1661)
• October 10 – Abel Janszoon Tasman, Dutch seafarer and explorer (d. 1659)
• November 16 – Augustyn Kordecki, Polish prior of the Jasna Góra Monastery (d. 1673)
• December 21 – Roger Williams, English theologian and colonist (d. 1684)
• date unknown
  • Louis Abelly, French monk and priest (d. 1691)
  • John Ashburnham, English Member of Parliament (d. 1671)
  • Daniel Blagrave, English Member of Parliament (d. 1668)
  • Johannes Cocceius, Dutch theologian (d. 1669)
  • Valentin Conrart, one of the founders of the Académie Française (d. 1675)
  • Denis Gaultier, French lutenist and composer (d. 1672)
• probable
  • Aernout van der Neer, Dutch painter (d. 1677)
  • Alexandre de Prouville, French statesman and soldier (d. 1670)

See also Category:1603 births.

[edit] Deaths

• February 23 – Andrea Cesalpino, Italian philosopher, physician, and botanist (b. 1519)
• March 24 – Queen Elizabeth I of England (b. 1533)
• March 25 – Ikoma Chikamasa, Japanese warlord (b. 1526)
• April 25 – George Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (b. 1539)
• June – Baldassare Donato, Italian composer and singer (b. 1525)
• June 27 – Jan Dymitr Solikowski, Polish archbishop, writer, and diplomat (b. 1539)
• July 4 – Philippe de Monte, Flemish composer (b. 1521)
• September 8 – George Carey, 2nd Baron Hunsdon, English politician (b. 1547)
• November 16 – Pierre Charron, French philosopher (b. 1541)
• November 20 – Krzysztof Mikołaj "the Lightning" Radziwiłł, Polish nobleman (b. 1547)
• December 9 – William Watson, English conspirator (b. 1559)
• December 10 – William Gilbert, English scientist (plague) (b. 1544)
• December 13 – Franciscus Vieta, French mathematician (b. 1540)
• December 22 – Mehmed III, Ottoman Emperor (b. 1566)
• December 27 – Thomas Cartwright, English Puritan clergyman
• date unknown
  • Edward Fenton, English navigator
  • Ralph Lane, English explorer (b. 1530)
  • Aleksander Ostrogski, Polish nobleman (b. 1571)
  • Ikeda Tomomasa, Japanese military commander (b. 1544)
  • Chen Lin, general of Ming Dynasty
• probable
  • Grace O'Malley, Irish noblewoman and pirate (b. 1530)
  • King Idris Alooma of the Kanem-Bornu Empire

See also Category:1603 deaths.