Deaths on March 12

Aubrey de Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford, English jurist and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Essex (b. 1627)

Aubrey de Vere, 20th Earl of Oxford KG PC (28 February 1627 – 12 March 1703) was a Royalist during the English Civil War.

4 Feb

Forty-seven Ronin
In Edo (now Tokyo), 46 of the Forty-seven Ronin commit seppuku (ritual suicide) as recompense for avenging their master's death.
27 May

Peter the Great
Tsar Peter the Great founds the city of Saint Petersburg.
27 Nov

Great Storm of 1703
The first Eddystone Lighthouse is destroyed in the Great Storm of 1703.