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Year '1703' ('MDCCIII') was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). 1703 of the Swedish calendar was a common year starting on Wednesday, one day ahead of the Julian calendar.

Contents

Events of 1703

January - June

July - December

Undated

Births

Deaths

Events of 1703

January - June

★ February 2 - An earthquake hits the town of L'Aquila, Italy.

★ February 4 - In Japan, the 47 samurai (47 Ronin) commit seppuku, a ritual suicide.

★ February 14 - An earthquake hits Norcia, Italy.

★ February - Soldiers at ''Fort Louis de la Mobile'' celebrate Mardi Gras in Mobile, starting the tradition for Mobile, Alabama.

★ April 21 - ''Company of Quenching of Fire'' (i.e., a fire brigade) founded in Edinburgh, Scotland.

★ May 27 - Founding of St Petersburg in Russia.

★ May 26 - Portugal joins the Grand Alliance.

July - December

★ 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 mid-November).

★ September 12 - War of the Spanish Succession – Habsburg Archduke Charles proclaimed King of Spain.

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

★ November 19 - Unknown masked prisoner dies in Bastille.

★ November 24 to December 2 - the Great Storm of 1703, an Atlantic hurricane, ravages southern England and the English Channel, killing nearly 8000, mostly at sea.

★ December 27 - Portugal and England sign the Methuen Treaty which gives preference to Portuguese imported wines into England.

Undated

★ A Tale of a Tub, first major satire by Jonathan Swift, is published.

★ George Psalmanazar arrives in London.

★ Isaac Newton becomes the chairman of the Royal Society.

★ Ahmed III (1703-1730) succeeds Mustafa II (1695-1703) as emperor of the Ottoman Empire.

Births

★ February 5 - Gilbert Tennent, Irish-born religious leader (died 1764)

★ March 5 (N. S.) - Vasily Kirillovich Trediakovsky, Russian poet (died 1768)

★ May 14 - David Brearly, delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention (died 1785)

★ June 17 - John Wesley, English founder of Methodism (died 1791)

★ June 26 - Thomas Clap, first president of Yale University (died 1767)

★ August 2 - Lorenzo Ricci, Italian Jesuit leader (died 1775)

★ September 29 - François Boucher, French painter (died 1770)

★ October 5 - Jonathan Edwards, American preacher (died 1758)

★ October 28 - Antoine Deparcieux, French mathematician (died 1768)

★ November 25 - Jean-François Séguier, French astronomer and botanist (died 1784)

★ November 26 - Theophilus Cibber, English actor and writer (died 1758)

★ December 2 - Ferdinand Konščak, Croatian explorer (died 1759)
: ''See also .''

Deaths

★ January 11 - Johann Georg Graevius, German classical scholar and critic (born 1632)

★ March 3 - Robert Hooke, English scientist (born 1635)

★ March 31 - Johann Christoph Bach, German composer (born 1642)

★ April 20 - Lancelot Addison, English royal chaplain (born 1632)

★ May 16 - Charles Perrault, French author (born 1628)

★ May 26 - Samuel Pepys, English civil servant and diarist (born 1633)

★ June 14 - Jean Herauld Gourville, French adventurer (born 1625)

★ September 22 - Vincenzo Viviani, Italian mathematician and scientist (born 1622)

★ September 25 - Archibald Campbell, 1st Duke of Argyll, Scottish privy councillor (born 1658)

★ September 29 - Charles de Saint-Évremond, French soldier (born 1610)

★ October 28 - John Wallis, English mathematician (born 1616)

★ November 19 - The Man in the Iron Mask

★ November 30 - Nicolas de Grigny, French organist and composer (born 1672)

★ December 28 - Mustafa II, Ottoman Sultan (born 1664)

★ ''date unknown'' - Phetracha, king of Ayutthaya (born 1632)
: ''See also .''