Events of 1703

January–June

47 Ronin.

• January 14 – An earthquake hits Norcia, Italy.

• January 30(December 14 of previous year in Chinese calendar) – In Japan, the revenge of the Forty-seven Ronin occurs, assassinating Daimyo Kira Yoshinaka, the enemy of their former lord Asano Naganori, at his own mansion as a vengeance. All 47 samurais commit seppuku, a ritual suicide on March 20(February 4 in Chinese calendar).

• February 2 – An earthquake hits the town of L'Aquila, Italy.

• February – Soldiers at Fort Louis de la Mobile celebrate Mardi Gras in Mobile, starting the tradition for Mobile, Alabama.

• April 21 – The Company of Quenching of Fire (i.e., a fire brigade) is founded in Edinburgh, Scotland.

• May 27 – The city of Saint Petersburg is founded in Russia.

• May 26 – Portugal joins the Grand Alliance.

July–December

July 29: Defoe.

November 24: Great Storm of 1703.

• July 29–31 – Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory, then imprisoned 4 months for the crime of seditious libel, after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet (his release is granted in mid-November).

• September 12 – War of the Spanish Succession – Habsburg Archduke Charles is proclaimed King of Spain.

• October – A whirlwind blows down the tower of the Gan Takal in Gondar, capital of Ethiopia, killing 30.

• November 19 – The The Man in the Iron Mask dies in the Bastille.

• November 24 to December 2 – The Great Storm of 1703, an Atlantic hurricane, ravages southern England and the English Channel, killing nearly 8,000, mostly at sea.

• December 27 – Portugal and England sign the Methuen Treaty, which gives preference to Portuguese wines imported into England.

Undated

• George Psalmanazar arrives in London.

• Isaac Newton becomes the chairman of the Royal Society.

• Ahmed III (1703–1730) succeeds Mustafa II (1695–1703) as Ottoman Emperor.

• The Hungarians rebel under Prince Francis II Rákóczi.

Births

• February 5 – Gilbert Tennent, Irish-born religious leader (d. 1764)

• March 5 (N. S.) – Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky, Russian poet (d. 1768)

• May 14 – David Brearly, delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention (d. 1785)

• June 17 – John Wesley, English founder of Methodism (d. 1791)

• June 26 – Thomas Clap, first president of Yale University (d. 1767)

• August 2 – Lorenzo Ricci, Italian Jesuit leader (d. 1775)

• September 29 – François Boucher, French painter (d. 1770)

• October 5 – Jonathan Edwards, American preacher (d. 1758)

• October 28 – Antoine Deparcieux, French mathematician (d. 1768)

• November 25 – Jean-François Séguier, French astronomer and botanist (d. 1784)

• November 26 – Theophilus Cibber, English actor and writer (d. 1758)

• December 2 – Ferdinand Konščak, Croatian explorer (d. 1759)

• date unknown – Jack Broughton, English bare-knuckle fighter who produced the earliest known rules of boxing (d. 1789)

Deaths

• January 11 – Johann Georg Graevius, German classical scholar and critic (b. 1632)

• March 3 – Robert Hooke, English scientist (b. 1635)

• March 31 – Johann Christoph Bach, German composer (b. 1642)

• April 20 – Lancelot Addison, English royal chaplain (b. 1632)

• May 16 – Charles Perrault, French author (b. 1628)

• May 26 – Samuel Pepys, English civil servant and diarist (b. 1633)

• June 14 – Jean Herauld Gourville, French adventurer (b. 1625)

• July 17 – Roemer Vlacq I, Dutch naval captain (b. 1637)

• September 22 – Vincenzo Viviani, Italian mathematician and scientist (b. 1622)

• September 25 – Archibald Campbell, 1st Duke of Argyll, Scottish privy councillor (b. 1658)

• September 29 – Charles de Saint-Évremond, French soldier (b. 1610)

• October 28 – John Wallis, English mathematician (b. 1616)

• November 19 – The Man in the Iron Mask

• November 30 – Nicolas de Grigny, French organist and composer (b. 1672)

• December 28 – Mustafa II, Ottoman Sultan (b. 1664)

• date unknown – Phetracha, king of Ayutthaya (b. 1632)