1702 - Definition and Overview

Events

• March 8 - William III died; Princess Anne Stuart becomes Queen Anne of England, Scotland and Ireland.
• March 11 - The first regular English language newspaper, The Daily Courant. is published for the first time.
• May 4/14 - The War of the Spanish Succession widens, as war is declared on France by the Grand Alliance.
• June - Queen Anne's Captain-General John Churchill forces the surrender of Kaiserswerth on the Rhine
• September - Churchill forces the surrender of Venlo on the River Meuse
• October - Sir George Rooke fails to take Cádiz, but captures a Spanish treasure fleet and destroys French and Spanish warships. Churchill forces the surrender of Liège
• December 14 - John Churchill is created Duke of Marlborough
• December 15 - Forty-Seven Ronin, formerly in the service of Asano Naganori, assault the household of Kira Yoshinaka, and kill him in vengeance for their lord. Their display of the ideals of bushido becomes a national legend.

Births

• Thomas Bayes - British mathematician and Presbyterian minister, noted for Bayes' theorem (died 1761)
• Emperor Nakamikado of Japan

Deaths

• March 8 - William III of Orange, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland and Utrecht, King William III of England, Scotland and Ireland (born 1650)
• John Benbow, English admiral (born 1653)