Events January–March January 6 – Axel Oxenstierna becomes Lord High Chancellor of Sweden. He persuades the Riksdag of the Estates to grant the Swedish nobility the right and privilege to hold all higher offices of government. January 20 – Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, dies and several candidates vie to succeed him, with Archduke Matthias eventually being elected. An uprising led by Dmitry Pozharsky begins in Moscow against occupying Polish troops. February 11 – King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden and 3,000 of his troops are forced to retreat from Denmark troops in the Battle of Vittsjö. The 17-year old king almost drowns while attempting to ride his horse across a frozen lake, but is rescued by two other members of his cavalry. The horse is lost. March 2 – The False Dmitry III, one of three pretenders to the Russian throne who all claim to be sons of Ivan the Terrible, is recognized as Tsar of Russia by the Cossacks. March 12 – At Daulambapur, near Kamalganj in what is now the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, a battle takes place between 4,500 troops led by General Islam Khan I of India's Mughal Empire, and 12,000 defenders led by the Afghan warlord Khwaja Usman. The Mughals are almost defeated until Usman is struck in the eye by an arrow fired from a crossbow. April–June April 11 – Edward Wightman, a radical Anabaptist, becomes the last person to be executed for heresy in England, by burning at the stake in Lichfield. May 10 – Shah Jahan marries Mumtaz Mahal. May 25– A Sicilian–Neapolitan galley fleet defeats the Tunisians at La Goulette after a battle of two days. June 13 – Archduke Matthias of Austria is formally elected as the new Holy Roman Emperor. July–September July 22 – Four women and one man are hanged following the Northamptonshire witch trials in England. August 20 – Ten Pendle witches are hanged, having been found guilty of practising witchcraft in Lancashire in England. August 26 – Battle of Kringen: A Scottish mercenary force is destroyed in Norway. September 1 – Battle of Moscow (1612): Led by General Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, a relief force from the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, whose troops had been occupying Moscow for two years, make an unsuccessful attempt to break the Russian siege of the Kremlin, where General Mikolaj Strus and his troops are trapped. Both the Russians (led by Dmitry Pozharsky)