1602

Year 1602 (MDCII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 10-day slower Julian calendar).

Events of 1602

January - June

* January 3 - Battle of Kinsale: The battle happened on Thursday, 3 January 1602 according to the Gregorian Calendar used by the Irish and Spanish forces in the battle, although, for the English who were still using the old Julian Calendar, the date of the battle was Thursday, 24 December 1601.
* February 14 - William Shakespeare: The first performance of "Twelfth Night" occurs on Candlemas.
* March 20 - The United East India Company is established by the United Provinces States-General in Amsterdam, with the stated intention of capturing the spice trade from the Portuguese.
* May 15 - Bartolomew Gosnold becomes the first European to discover Cape Cod.
* June - James Lancaster's East India Company fleet arrives at Achin (now Aceh), Sumatra to deal with the local ruler. Having defeated Portugal's ally, the ruler is happy to do business, and Lancaster seizes a large Portuguese galleon and loots it.

July - December

* November 8 - The Bodleian Library at Oxford University is opened to the public.
* December 11 - A surprise attack by forces under the command of the Duke of Savoy and his brother-in-law, Philip III of Spain, is repelled by the citizens of Geneva (This actually took place after midnight, in the early morning of December 12, but commemorations/celebrations on Fête de l'Escalade are usually held on December 11 or the closest weekend).

Undated

* Ben Jonson writes "Poetaster".
* William Shakespeare writes "The Merry Wives of Windsor".
* Persia and Spain conclude a defensive alliance and declare war on the Ottoman Empire.
* A private trading company is established in Copenhagen, with a monopoly on the trade with Iceland.
* The iconoclast and Confucian scholar Li Zhi commits suicide while in a Chinese prison during the late Ming Dynasty; he had taught that women were the intellectual equals of men and should be given equal opportunity in education; he was charged with spreading "dangerous ideas".
* Matteo Ricci, an Italian Jesuit stationed in Beijing, Ming Dynasty, China, creates with Chinese-written labeling and map symbols.

Births

* February 14 - Francesco Cavalli, Italian composer (d. 1676)
* February 18 - Per Brahe (the younger), Swedish soldier and statesman (d. 1680)
* March 29 - John Lightfoot, English churchman and rabbinical scholar (d. 1675)
* April - William Lawes, English composer and musician (d. 1645)
* April 28 - Tokugawa Yorinobu, Japanese nobleman (d. 1671)
* May 1 - William Lilly, English astrologer (d. 1681)
* May 26 - Philippe de Champaigne, French painter (d. 1674)
* July 14 - Jules Cardinal Mazarin, French statesman (d. 1661)
* August 8 - Gilles de Roberval, French mathematician (d. 1675)
* August 31 - Amalia von Solms, countess of Solms-Braunfels (d. 1675)
* October 12 - William Chillingworth, English churchman (d. 1644)
* October 13 - Algernon Percy, 10th Earl of Northumberland, English military leader (d. 1668)
* November 20 - Otto von Guericke, German inventor and Mayor of Magdeburg (d. 1686)
* November 22 - Elisabeth of Bourbon, queen of Philip IV of Spain (d. 1644)
* December 7 - Delano family, Plymouth Colony settler (d. 1681)
* December 18 - Simonds d'Ewes, English antiquarian and politician (d. 1650)
*"date unknown"
**Robert Baillie, Scottish divine and historical writer (d. 1662)
**John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton (d. 1678)
**John Bradshaw, English judge and regicide (d. 1659)
**Caesar, duc de Choiseul, French marshal and diplomat (d. 1675)
**John Greaves, English mathematician and antiquary (d. 1652)
**Jean-Baptiste Budes, Comte de Guébriant, marshal of France (d. 1643)
**Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester (d. 1671)
**Henry Marten, English regicide (d. 1680)
**Théodore Moret, Belgian mathematician (d. 1667)
**Dudley North, 4th Baron North (d. 1677)
**Katarzyna Ostrogska, Polish noblewoman (d. 1642)
**Antoine de l'Age, duc de Puylaurens, French courtier (d. 1635)
*"probable"
**Owen Feltham, English religious writer (d. 1668)
**Richard Martin fitz Oliver, Irish politician (d. 1648)
**Salomon van Ruysdael, Dutch painter (d. 1670)

: "See also ."

Deaths

* February 13 - Alexander Nowell, English clergyman (b. 1507)
* February 19 - Philippe Emmanuel, Duke of Mercoeur, French soldier (b. 1558)
* March 11 - Emilio de' Cavalieri, Italian composer (b. c. 1550)
* March 22 - Agostino Carracci, Italian painter and graphical artist (b. 1557)
* May 27 – Robert Stuart, Duke of Kintyre, infant son of King James I/VI
* August 23 - Bastianino, painter (b. c. 1536)
* September 25 - Caspar Peucer, German reformer (b. 1525)
* October - Thomas Morley, English composer (b. 1557)
* October 28 - John, Prince of Schleswig-Holstein (b. 1583)
* October 30 - Jean-Jacques Boissard, French antiquary and Latin poet (b. 1528)
* November 29 - Anthony Holborne, English composer (b. c. 1545)
* December 1 - Kobayakawa Hideaki, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1582)
* December 29 - Jacopo Corsi, Italian composer (b. 1561)
*"date unknown"
**Maeda Gen'i, Buddhist priest
**Kim Myeong-won, Korean politician
**Jean Pithou, French lawyer and author (b. 1524)
**Oda Ujiharu, Japanese warlord

: "See also ."