1702

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)