place after midnight, in the early morning of December 12, but commemorations/celebrations on Fête de l'Escalade are usually held on December 11 or the closest weekend). Ongoing Russian famine of 1601–03 Long Turkish War (1591/1593-1606) Jelali revolts Date unknown The Portuguese are expelled from Bahrain. The Safavid Empire of Persia and the Spanish Empire conclude a defensive alliance and declare war on the Ottoman Empire. A private trading company is established in Copenhagen with a monopoly on the trade with Iceland. Ben Jonson's satirical comedy Poetaster is first performed, in London. William Shakespeare's comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor is published. The play A Larum for London, or the Siedge of Antwerp is published in London. Copies are printed of the geographical map of East Asia created by Matteo Ricci, an Italian Jesuit stationed in Ming dynasty Beijing, China, with Chinese-written labeling and map symbols. The iconoclast and Confucian scholar Li Zhi commits suicide while in a Chinese prison, during the late Ming dynasty; he had taught that women were the intellectual equals of men and should be given equal opportunity in education; he was charged with spreading "dangerous ideas". Births January–March January 2 Rodrigo Ponce de León, 4th Duke of Arcos, Spanish noble (d. 1658) Sir Thomas Twisden, 1st Baronet, English politician (d. 1683) January 14 – Sir Henry Slingsby, 1st Baronet, English baronet (d. 1658) January 18 – Robert Stuart, Duke of Kintyre and Lorne, fifth child of James VI of Scots and Anne of Denmark (d. 1602) January 19 – Anna Maria Antigó, Spanish Catholic nun (d. 1676) January 24 – Mildmay Fane, 2nd Earl of Westmorland, English politician (d. 1666) January 29 – Countess Amalie Elisabeth of Hanau-Münzenberg, Regent of Hesse-Kassel (1637–1650) (d. 1651) January 31 – Adam Billaut, French poet, carpenter (d. 1662) February 2 – Jeanne des Anges, French Ursuline nun in Loudun (d. 1665) February 12 – Michelangelo Cerquozzi, Italian painter (d. 1660) February 13 – William V, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (d. 1637) February 14 – Francesco Cavalli, Italian composer of the early Baroque period (d. 1676) February 16 – Eleonore Dorothea of Anhalt-Dessau, Duchess of Saxe-Weimar by marriage (d. 1664) February 18 Pieter Meulener, Flemish Baroque painter (d. 1654) Per Brahe the Younger, Swedish soldier and statesman (d. 1680) March 12 – Juan Velez, Spanish Catholic prelate who was appointed Bishop of Cebu (d. 1661) March 18 – Jacques de Billy, French