Editing 1612 (section)

== Events ==
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=== January&ndash;March ===
* [[January 6]] &ndash; [[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.
* [[January 10]] – [[Gustavus Adolphus]] replies to Metropolitan Isidor, Odoevskij and the estates of [[Veliky Novgorod|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]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Löfstrand |first=Elisabeth |url=https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:353792/FULLTEXT01.pdf |title=Accounts of an occupied city : catalogue of the Novgorod Occupation Archives 1611-1617 |last2=Nordquist |first2=Laila |publisher=[[National Archives of Sweden]] |year=2005 |isbn=9188366677 |edition=1st |location=Stockholm |pages=41 |language=English}}</ref>
* [[January 20]]
**[[Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor|Rudolf II]], [[Holy Roman Emperor]], dies and several candidates vie to succeed him, with [[Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor|Archduke Matthias]] eventually being elected. <ref name="Cassell's Chronology">{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Hywel|title=Cassell's Chronology of World History|url=https://archive.org/details/cassellschronolo0000will/page/244|url-access=registration|location=London|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|year=2005|isbn=0-304-35730-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cassellschronolo0000will/page/244 244]}}</ref>
**[[Dmitry Pozharsky#Battle for Moscow|An uprising led by Dmitry Pozharsky]] begins in Moscow against occupying [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth|Polish]] troops.  
* [[February 11]] &ndash; [[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 2]] &ndash; 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]].  
* [[March 12]] &ndash; At Daulambapur, near [[Kamalganj Upazila|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.

=== April&ndash;June ===
* [[April 10]] &ndash; 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.<ref>"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</ref> All but two of the accused witches are tried for causing harm by witchcraft on August 18.
* [[April 11]] &ndash; In [[Lichfield]], [[Edward Wightman]], a [[Radical Reformation|radical Anabaptist]], becomes the last person to be [[Execution by burning|burned at the stake]] in England as punishment for [[heresy]].<ref name="Cassell's Chronology"/>
* [[May 10]] &ndash; [[Shah Jahan|Prince Khurram]], the 20-year-old son of the Mughal Emperor [[Jahangir]], marries 19-year-old [[Mumtaz Mahal|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.<ref>{{cite book|author=Soma Mukherjee|title=Royal Mughal Ladies and Their Contributions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v-2TyjzZhZEC&pg=PA52|year=2001|publisher=Gyan Books|isbn=978-81-212-0760-7|pages=52|language=en}}</ref>
* [[May 25]] &ndash; A [[Kingdom of Sicily|Sicilian]]–[[Spanish Empire|Spanish]] galley fleet [[Raid on La Goulette (1612)|defeats]] the [[Ottoman Tunisia|Tunisian]]s at La Goulette after a battle.
* [[June 13]] &ndash; [[Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor|Archduke Matthias of Austria]] is formally elected as the new [[Holy Roman Emperor]].<ref name="Cassell's Chronology"/>
* [[June 26]] &ndash; The coronation of Matthias as Holy Roman Emperor takes place at the [[Frankfurt Cathedral]].

=== July&ndash;September ===
* [[July 4]] &ndash; (8th waxing of [[Waso]] 974 [[Burmese calendar|ME]]) In what is now [[Myanmar]], [[Min Khamaung]] becomes the new [[List of Burmese monarchs#Mrauk-U (1429–1785)|King of Arakan]] upon the death of his father, King [[Min Razagyi]].  
* [[July 22]] &ndash; Four women and one man are hanged following the [[Northamptonshire witch trials]] in England.
* [[July 24]] &ndash; [[Marcantonio Memmo]] is elected as the [[Doge of Venice|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.
* [[August 20]] &ndash; Ten ''[[Pendle witches]]'' are hanged, having been found guilty of practising witchcraft in [[Lancashire]] in England.
* [[August 26]] &ndash; [[Battle of Kringen]]: A Scottish mercenary force is destroyed in Norway.
* [[September 1]] &ndash; [[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 2]] (August 23 O.S.) &ndash; The [[Duchy of Prussia|Lutheran Duchy of Prussia]], a fiefdom within Poland, becomes the first [[Protestantism|Protestant]] government to follow the Roman Catholic nations in [[adoption of the Gregorian calendar|adopting the Gregorian calendar]].
* [[September 5]] &ndash; 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]] &ndash; Retreating Polish and Lithuanian troops burn the Russian city of [[Vologda]] in reprisal for their defeat at Moscow.

=== October&ndash;December ===
* [[October 27]] &ndash; 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]]. <ref>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</ref>
* [[November 20]] &ndash; 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.<ref>[https://cdn2.islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/dosya/2/C02000576.pdf "Ahmed I"], ''Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire''</ref>
* [[November 30]] &ndash; [[Battle of Swally]]: Forces of the [[East India Company|British East India Company]] and [[Portuguese Empire|Portugal]] engage off the coast of India, resulting in an English victory.<ref>{{cite book|author=Manekshah Sorabshah Commissariat|title=A History of Gujarat: Including a Survey of Its Chief Architectural Monuments and Inscriptions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KURuAAAAMAAJ|year=1980|publisher=Longmans, Green & Company, Limited|page=192|language=en}}</ref>
* [[December 15]] &ndash; [[Simon Marius]] becomes the first person on Earth to observe the [[Andromeda Galaxy]] through a telescope.
* [[December 28]] &ndash; [[Galileo Galilei]] becomes the first astronomer to observe the planet [[Neptune]] when in [[conjunction (astronomy)|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]].

=== Date unknown ===
* The [[Nagoya Castle]] is completed in [[Japan]].
* The [[Okamoto Daihachi incident]] in Japan.
* [[Thomas Shelton (translator)|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.
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