Editing 1605 (section)

=== January–March ===
* [[January 1]] – [[William Shakespeare]]'s play ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'', copyrighted 1600, is given its earliest recorded performance, and witnessed by the [[Dudley Carleton, 1st Viscount Dorchester|Viscount Dorchester]].<ref> ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', ed. by R. A. Foakes (Cambridge University Press, 1984) p. 12</ref>
* [[January 7]] – Shakespeare's play ''[[Henry V (play)|Henry V]]'', copyrighted 1600, is given its earliest recorded performance, presented by the Lord Chamberlain's Men for [[James VI and I|King James I of England]].<ref>''Henry V'', ''The Oxford Shakespeare'', ed. by Gary Taylor (Oxford University Press, 1982) p. 9</ref> 
* [[January 15]] –  Shakespeare's play ''[[Love's Labour's Lost]]'', copyrighted 1598, is given its second recorded performance, probably presented at the home of the [[Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton|Earl of Southampton]] for [[Anne of Denmark|Queen Anne]], wife of King James I of England.<ref> ''Love's Labour's Lost'', in ''The New Cambridge Shakespeare'', ed. by William C. Carroll (Cambridge University Press, 2009) pp. 37–38</ref>
* [[January 16]] – The first part of [[Miguel de Cervantes]]' satire on the theme of [[chivalry]], ''[[Don Quixote]]'' (''El ingenioso hidalgo don Quixote de la Mancha'', "The Ingenious [[Hidalgo (nobility)|Hidalgo]] Don Quixote of [[La Mancha]]"), is published in [[Madrid]]. One of the first significant [[novel]]s in the western literary tradition, it becomes a global bestseller almost at once.<ref>{{cite book|author=R. M. Flores|title=Sancho Panza Through Three Hundred Seventy-five Years of Continuations, Imitations, and Criticism, 1605-1980|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AIZRAQAAIAAJ|year=1982|publisher=Juan de la Cuesta|isbn=978-0-936388-06-9|page=1|language=en}}</ref>
* [[February 3]] – The [[1605 Keichō earthquake]], of estimated 7.9 magnitude, strikes [[Japan]] south of the island of [[Honshu]], and triggers a [[tsunami]] that washes away hundreds of houses and kills thousands of people.
* [[February 10]] – Shakespeare's play ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]'' is given its earliest recorded performance, presented by the King's Men players at the [[Palace of Whitehall]] for King James I of England. A second performance is given on February 12, Shrove Tuesday, at the King's request.<ref>The ''Merchant of Venice'' in ''The Arden Shakespeare, Third Series'', ed. by John Drakakis  (Bloomsbury, 2010) p. 113</ref>
* [[February 21]] – [[Stephen Bocskai]] is elected [[Prince of Transylvania]] at the capital, [[Alba Iulia|Belugrad]] (modern-day Alba Iulia in [[Romania]].)
* [[February 25]] – Admiral [[Steven van der Hagen]] leads a fleet of ships for the [[Dutch East India Company]] and makes the first capture of land for the Netherlands in what will become the Dutch East Indies, and later Indonesia. Hagen's men capture the Portuguese citadel of [[Fort Victoria (Ambon)|Forte Amboino]] and the rest of [[Ambon Island]], and make it the capital of the Dutch possessions in Asia.
* [[March 11]] – A proclamation declares all people of Ireland to be the direct subjects of the [[British Crown]] and not of any local lord or chief.<ref name=CIH>{{cite book|editor=Moody, T. W.|title=A New History of Ireland. '''8''': A Chronology of Irish History|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1989|isbn=978-0-19-821744-2|display-editors=etal}}</ref> 
* [[March 3]] – [[Pope Clement VIII]] dies at the age of 69 after a reign of 13 years.
* [[March 14]] – The [[March–April 1605 papal conclave|March–April 1605 papal conclave]] of Roman Catholic cardinals to elect a successor to Pope Clement VIII opens at the Vatican in [[Rome]], 11 days after Clement's death. Sixty-one of the 69 [[Cardinal electors for the March–April 1605 papal conclave|cardinals]] meet behind closed doors for the rest of the month. Discussion becomes heated, with shouting and jostling.