In the year AD
- In Russia, the Time of Troubles lurches into its final phase as marauding Cossacks hail False Dmitri III as Tsar and set him up in the city of Pskov. The Pskovans soon rebel however and turn him over to the Muscovites, who execute him. Meanwhile, Prince Dmitri Pozharsky raises an all-volunteer army and marches on Moscow, driving out the occupying Poles and paving the way for the election of Michael Romanov as Tsar the following February.
- In a legendary duel, wandering swordsman Miyamoto Musashi defeats and kills his arch-rival Sasaki Kojirō on the island now known as Ganryūjima in the Kanmon Straits off of northern Kyushu.
- The Mughal Empire annexes Kamrup.
- Following the most famous witch trial in English history, the 10 "Pendle Witches" are hanged to death.
- Axel Oxenstierna is named Lord High Chancellor of Sweden, a post from which he will guide the Swedish state for more than four decades, until his death in 1654.
- Honinbo Sansa founds the Honinbo school of go.
- English playwright John Webster writes his play The White Devil, a tale of treachery, revenge, sexual corruption, and murder most foul.
These people were born in 1612:
These people died in 1612:
1611 - 1612 - 1613
How They Were Made