Editing 1703 (section)

=== January&ndash;March ===
* [[January 9]] &ndash; The [[Jamaica]]n town of [[Port Royal]], a center of trade in the [[Western Hemisphere]] and at this time the largest city in the [[Caribbean]], is destroyed by a fire. British ships in the harbor are able to rescue much of the merchandise that has been unloaded on the docks, but the inventory in market-places in town is destroyed.<ref name=Fires>"Fires, Great", in ''The Insurance Cyclopeadia: Being an Historical Treasury of Events and Circumstances Connected with the Origin and Progress of Insurance'', Cornelius Walford, ed. (C. and E. Layton, 1876) p47</ref>
* [[January 14]] &ndash; [[1703 Apennine earthquakes]]: The magnitude 6.7 Norcia earthquake affects [[Central Italy]] with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (''Extreme''). With a death toll of 6,240–9,761, it is the first in a sequence of three destructive events.
* [[January 16]] &ndash; [[1703 Apennine earthquakes]]: The magnitude 6.2 Montereale earthquake causes damage at Accumoli, Armatrice, Cittareale and Montereale, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (''Severe'').
* [[January 30]] ([[December 14]] of previous year in the [[Chinese calendar]]) &ndash; Akō incident: In Japan, [[forty-seven rōnin|forty-seven ''rōnin'']] (independent [[samurai]]) assassinate ''[[daimyō]]'' [[Kira Yoshinaka]], the enemy of their former lord [[Asano Naganori]], at his own mansion as a vengeance; for which they are compelled to commit suicide on March 20.
* [[February 2]] &ndash; [[1703 Apennine earthquakes]]: The magnitude 6.7 L'Aquila earthquake affects Central Italy, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). In the final large event (an example of [[Coulomb stress transfer]]), damage occurs as far distant as Rome, with landslides, liquefaction, slope failures and at least 2,500 deaths.
* [[February 20]]–[[March 10]] &ndash; [[War of the Spanish Succession]]: [[Siege of Kehl (1703)|Siege of Kehl]] &ndash; French forces under the command of the [[Claude Louis Hector de Villars|Duc de Villars]] capture the fortress of the [[Holy Roman Empire]] at [[Kehl]], opposite [[Strasbourg]] on the [[Rhine]].
* [[February]] &ndash; Soldiers at [[Fort Louis de la Mobile]] celebrate [[Mardi Gras in Mobile]], starting the tradition for [[Mobile, Alabama]].
* [[March 1]] &ndash; The [[Recruiting Act 1703]] goes into effect in England, providing for the forcible enlistment of able-bodied but unemployed men into the English Army and Royal Navy in order to fight in [[Queen Anne's War]] in [[North America]]. The Act expires at the end of February 1704. 
* [[March 15]] &ndash; The landmark English court case of ''[[Rose v Royal College of Physicians]]'' is decided by the [[Court of Queen's Bench (England)|Court of Queen's Bench]], beginning the end of the monopoly that the [[Royal College of Physicians]] has over the practice of medicine.
* [[March 19]] &ndash; The [[Siege of Guadeloupe]] begins as an English expeditionary force, led by [[Christopher Codrington]] and [[Hovenden Walker]], lands at [[Basse-Terre]] and attempts to take over the French-held island. The English fleet departs on May 15 after being unable to capture Guadeloupe.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=High Tide of Empire (1700-1777)|title=Wars of the Americas: A Chronology of Armed Conflict in the New World, 1492 to the Present|first=David|last=Marley|publisher=ABC-CLIO|year=1998|page=225}}</ref>
* [[March 20]] ([[February 4]] in the Chinese calendar) &ndash; 46 of the [[forty-seven rōnin|forty-seven ''rōnin'']] of Japan carry out an order of ''[[seppuku]]'' (ritual suicide) for the killing they committed on January 30. The punishment is given by the [[Tokugawa shogunate|shogun]] [[Tokugawa Tsunayoshi]]. The story continues to be dramatized more than 300 years later in ''[[Chūshingura]]'' theater, novels and film. 
* [[March 21]] &ndash; [[Jeanne Guyon]] is freed from the [[Bastille]] in [[Paris]] after more than seven years imprisonment for heresy.