1603

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).

Events

January - June

* March - Samuel de Champlain, French explorer, sails to Canada.
* March 24 - Elizabeth I of England dies 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.

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.

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.
* 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.

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 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 ."

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 - François Viète, 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 ."