1612
| Years: 1609 1610 1611 – 1612 – 1613 1614 1615 | |
| Decades: 1580s 1590s 1600s – 1610s – 1620s 1630s 1640s | |
| Centuries: 16th century – 17th century – 18th century 1612 in topic: | |
Events
- January 20 – Mathias becomes Holy Roman Emperor.
- Antonius Magirus's Koock-boeck ofte Familieren kevken-boeck is published.
- Popular uprising in Moscow expels Polish troops.
- Trial of the witches in Pendle, Lancashire is held.
- December 28 – Galileo Galilei was the first astronomer to observe the planet Neptune when it was in conjunction with Jupiter, yet he mistakenly catalogued it as a fixed star because of its extremely slow motion along the ecliptic. Neptune was not truly discovered until 1846, about 234 years after Galileo first sighted it with his telescope.
Births
- January 17 – Thomas Fairfax, English general, commander in chief of the Parliamentary army in the English Civil War (d. 1671)
- December 4 – Samuel Butler, English satirist (d. 1680)
- Antoine Arnauld, French theologian (d. 1694)
- Anne Bradstreet, English-born American poet (d. 1672)
- Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, French colonial missionary and first governor of Montréal (d. 1676)
- James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, Scottish soldier (d. 1650)
- Saskia van Uylenburg, wife of Rembrandt van Rijn (d. 1642)
Deaths
- January 20 – Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1552)
- May 24 – Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury, English statesman and minister (b. 1563)
- August 12 – Giovanni Gabrieli, Italian composer
- October 7 – Giovanni Battista Guarini, Italian poet (b. 1538)
- November 6 – Henry, Prince of Wales (b. 1594)
Categories: 1612