1580s

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	15th century – 16th century – 17th century
Decades:	1550s 1560s 1570s – 1580s – 1590s 1600s 1610s
Years:	1580 1581 1582 1583 1584 1585 1586 1587 1588 1589
1580s-related categories:	Births – Deaths – By country Establishments – Disestablishments

This is a list of events occurring in the 1580s, ordered by year.

January–June

• January 31 – Henry, King of Portugal dies with no direct heirs, precipitating a Succession crisis.
• March 1 – Michel de Montaigne signs the preface to his most significant work, Essays. They are published later the same year.
• March 25 – Iberian Union: King Philip II of Spain becomes King of Portugal under the name Philip I, following the death without heirs of King Henry of Portugal, in a personal union of the crowns, thus maintaining Portuguese independence (in Europe and throughout the Portuguese Empire). The Philippine Dynasty rule lasts until 1640.
• April 6 – Dover Straits earthquake.
• June – England signs a commercial treaty with the Ottoman Empire.
• June 11 – Juan de Garay founds Buenos Aires.
• June 25 – The Book of Concord, a collection of Lutheran confessional documents, is published.

July–December

• July 12 – The Ostrog Bible, the first complete printed Bible translation into a Slavic language (Old Church Slavonic), is first printed at Ostroh in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (modern-day Ukraine) by Ivan Fyodorov.
• August 25 – Battle of Alcântara: Spanish armies, led by Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, defending the claim of King Philip II of Spain to the Portuguese throne, defeat the armies of Portuguese claimant António, Prior of Crato.
• September 26 – Francis Drake returns to Plymouth in England from his voyage of circumnavigation (westabout) on the Golden Hind, the second completed in a continuous voyage and the first under its original commander.

Date unknown

• The Billy Mitchell volcano on the island of Bougainville undergoes a catastrophic eruption (VEI 6).
• The first session of the Jewish Vaad (Council of Four Lands) is held in Lublin, Poland; 70 delegates of Jewish local qahals meet to discuss taxation and other issues important to Jewish communities.
• Old City of Zamość established in Poland by Jan Zamoyski.
• Jesuit missionaries arrive at the court of Akbar, Ruler of the Mughal Empire.

January–June

• March – The Parliament of England's Act against Reconciliation to Rome imposes heavy fines for practising Roman Catholicism.
• March 25 – Iberian Union: Philip II of Spain crowned Philip I of Portugal.
• April 4 – Following his circumnavigation of the world, Francis Drake is knighted by Elizabeth I of England.

July–December

• July 26
  • The Northern Netherlands (Union of Utrecht) proclaim their independence from Spain in the Act of Abjuration, abjuring loyalty to Philip II of Spain as their sovereign and appointing Francois, Duke of Anjou, as the new sovereign of the Netherlands; public practise of Roman Catholicism is forbidden.
  • A meteorite makes landfall in Thuringia, Holy Roman Empire.
• August 28 – The army of king Stefan Batory of Poland begins its siege of the Russian garrison of Pskov
• Summer (probable) – Yermak begins the Russian conquest of the Khanate of Sibir with a band of 1,636 men.
• September – A mercenary army of Sweden under Pontus De la Gardie captures Narva from Russia.
• October 15 – Performance of Ballet Comique de la Reine, the first narrative ballet, devised by Louise of Lorraine, wife of Henry III of France, and choreographed by Balthasar de Beaujoyeulx, opens at the court of Catherine de' Medici in the Louvre Palace in Paris as part of the wedding celebrations for Marguerite of Lorraine.
• November 4 – Jean de la Cassière is restored as Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller by Pope Gregory XIII.
• December 1 – Execution in England of the Jesuit priest Edmund Campion for treason.

Date unknown

• The Knights Hospitaller depose Jean de la Cassière as Grandmaster and appoint Mathurin Romegas.
• The Ming Dynasty Chancellor of China, Chief Grand Secretary Zhang Juzheng, imposes the Single Whip Reform, by which taxes are assessed on properties recorded in the land census and paid in silver as the accepted medium of exchange.
• Oda Nobunaga invades the Iga Province.
• John Dee practices angel magic with Barnabas Saul but with no success.
• Guru Arjan Dev becomes the fifth Guru of Sikhs succeeding his father Guru Ram Das.

January–June

• January 15 – Russia cedes Livonia and Southern-Estonia to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
• February 10 – François, Duke of Anjou, arrives in the Netherlands, where he is personally welcomed by William the Silent.
• February 24 – Pope Gregory XIII implements the Gregorian Calendar.
• March 9 – Edward Kelley arrives at John Dee's house.
• April 14 – King James VI of Scotland signs a charter creating the Tounis College, now the University of Edinburgh.
• April 16 – Spanish conquistador Hernando de Lerma founds the settlement of Salta, Argentina.
• May–August – Robert Browne and his Brownist congregationalist companions are obliged to leave England and go to Middelburg in the Netherlands.
• June 21 – The Incident at Honnō-ji occurs in Kyoto, Japan.

July–December

• July 26 – Battle of Ponta Delgada (War of the Portuguese Succession): Spanish admiral Santa Cruz decisively defeats a larger mercenary fleet from France, England, supporters of the Portuguese claimant António, Prior of Crato, and the Dutch Republic, under Filippo di Piero Strozzi (who is killed) off the Azores, the first engagement between large fleets of galleons operating at any great distance from the mainland.
• August 22 – The Raid of Ruthven in Scotland: a political conspiracy of Presbyterian nobles abduct King James VI.
• October 4 of Julian calendar (Thursday) – Italy, Poland and Iberian Peninsula make the next day Friday, October 15 of the Gregorian Calendar, skipping over 10 days. Other countries follow at various later dates.
• October 4 – Saint Teresa of Ávila dies. She is buried the next day, October 15.
• November 29 – Marriage of future English playwright William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway.
• December 9 of Julian calendar (Sunday) – France makes the next day Monday, December 20 of the Gregorian Calendar.

Date unknown

• Kumbum is founded in Tibet.
• In Ming Dynasty China
  • Jesuit Matteo Ricci is allowed to enter the country.
  • The earliest reference to the publishing of private newspapers in Beijing.
• The sultanate of Morocco begins to press southward in search of a greater share of the trans-Saharan trade.
• Toyotomi Hideyoshi attacks a fortress at Takamatsu.
• The Douai-Rheims Bible New Testament is published.
• "On Embassies" published by Flavius Ursinus.
• John Dee practices angel magic with scryer Edward Kelley, including the Angelic Alphabet.

January–June

• January 18 – François, Duke of Anjou, attacks Antwerp.
• February 4 – Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg, newly converted to Calvinism, formally marries Agnes von Mansfeld-Eisleben, a former canoness of Gerresheim, while retaining his position as Archbishop-Elector of Cologne.
• March 10 – The Queen Elizabeth's Men troupe of actors is ordered to be founded in England.
• May – Battle of Shizugatake in Japan: Shibata Katsuie is defeated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who goes on to commence construction of Osaka Castle.
• May 22 – Ernest of Bavaria is elected as Roman Catholic Archbishop of Cologne in opposition to Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg. The opposition rapidly turns into armed struggle, the Cologne War within the Electorate of Cologne, beginning with the Destruction of the Oberstift.

July–December

• July 25 – Cuncolim Revolt: the first documented battle of India's independence against a European colonial ruler is fought by the Desais of Cuncolim in Goa, against the Portuguese.
• August 5 – Sir Humphrey Gilbert, on the site of the modern-day city of St John's, Newfoundland, claims the island of Newfoundland on behalf of England, marking the beginning of the British Empire.
• August 19 – Petru Cercel enters Bucharest, and becomes Prince of Wallachia.
• December 17 – Cologne War: The Siege of Godesberg (begun on November 18) concludes when Catholic forces under Prince-elector-archbishop Ernest of Bavaria capture the strategic position from defenders of the Calvinist convert Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg.

Date unknown

• The world's oldest, intact, still-surviving amusement park, Dyrehavsbakken, is founded north of Copenhagen.
• The Bunch Of Grapes pub is built on Narrow Street, London. Referred to by Charles Dickens in Our Mutual Friend as "The Six Jolly Fellowship Porters", it still stands in the 21st century, much rebuilt and renamed The Grapes.

January–June

• January–March – Archangelsk is founded as New Kholmogory in northern Russia by Ivan the Terrible.
• January 11 – Sir Walter Mildmay is given a royal licence to found Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
• March 18 (N.S. March 28) – Death of Ivan the Terrible, ruler of Russia since 1533. He is succeeded as Tsar by his son Feodor.
• May 17 – The conflict between Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu culminates in the Battle of Nagakute.
• June 1 – With the death of the Duc d'Anjou, the Huguenot Henry of Navarre becomes heir-presumptive to the throne of France.
• June 4 – Walter Ralegh sends Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe to explore the Outer Banks of Virginia (now North Carolina), with a view to establishing an English colony; they locate Roanoke Island.
• June 11 – Walk (modern-day Valka and Valga, towns in Latvia and Estonia respectively) receives city rights from Polish king Stefan Bathory.

July–December

• July 5 – The Maronite College is established in Rome.
• July 10 – William I of Orange is assassinated.
• September 17 – Ghent falls into the hands of Alexander Farnese, governor of the Spanish Netherlands.
• December – The Treaty of Joinville is signed secretly between the French Catholic League and Spain.

Date unknown

• Ratu Hijau becomes queen regnant of the once Malay Pattani Kingdom.
• The Belgian cartographer and geographer Abraham Ortelius features Ming Dynasty-era Chinese carriages with masts and sails in his atlas Theatrum Orbis Terrarum; concurrent and later Western writers also take note of this peculiar Chinese invention.
• This year, according to Italian heretic Jacopo Brocardo, is regarded as an apocalyptic inauguration of a major new cycle.

January–June

• January 12 – The Netherlands adopts the Gregorian calendar.
• February – The Spanish seize Brussels.
• April 24 – Pope Sixtus V succeeds Pope Gregory XIII as the 227th pope.
• May 19 – Spain seizes English ships in Spanish ports, precipitating the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604).

July–December

• July 7 – The Treaty of Nemours forces King Henry III of France to capitulate to the demands of the Catholic League, triggering the Eighth War of Religion (also known as the War of the Three Henrys) to begin in France.
• August 8 – English explorer John Davis enters Cumberland Sound in Baffin Island in his quest for the Northwest Passage.
• August 14 – Queen Elizabeth I of England agrees to establish a protectorate over the Netherlands.
• August 17
  • Antwerp is captured by Spanish forces under the Prince of Parma, who orders Protestants to leave the city. As a result, over half of the 100,000 inhabitants flee to the northern provinces. Furthermore, upon hearing of the capture of Antwerp, a relief fleet sent to raise the siege instead blockades the Schelde river, preventing any and all ships from reaching Antwerp for two centuries. This effectively destroys Antwerp's position as an important trade city and de facto capital of the Dutch provinces. Its position is taken over by various northern cities, most prominently Amsterdam.
  • A first group of colonists sent by Sir Walter Raleigh under the charge of Ralph Lane lands in the New World to create Roanoke Colony on Roanoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina. This group will depart the following June.
• August 20 – The Treaty of Nonsuch is signed, committing England to support the Dutch Revolt, thus entering the Eighty Years' War.

Date unknown

• Chocolate is introduced to Europe commercially.
• The Kingdom of Luba is founded.

1586

Millennium:	2nd millennium
Centuries:	15th century – 16th century – 17th century
Decades:	1550s  1560s  1570s  – 1580s –  1590s  1600s  1610s
Years:	1583 1584 1585 – 1586 – 1587 1588 1589

File:Battle of Zutphen.png

September 22: Battle of Zutphen

2024 in other calendars

Gregorian calendar	2024 MMXXIV
Ab urbe condita	2777
Armenian calendar	1473 ԹՎ ՌՆՀԳ
Assyrian calendar	6774
Bahá'í calendar	180–181
Bengali calendar	1431
Berber calendar	2974
British Regnal year	72 Eliz. 2 – 73 Eliz. 2
Buddhist calendar	2568
Burmese calendar	1386
Byzantine calendar	7532–7533
Chinese calendar	癸卯年 (Water Rabbit) 4720 or 4660     — to — 甲辰年 (Wood Dragon) 4721 or 4661
Coptic calendar	1740–1741
Discordian calendar	3190
Ethiopian calendar	2016–2017
Hebrew calendar	5784–5785
Hindu calendars
- Vikram Samvat	2080–2081
- Shaka Samvat	1946–1947
- Kali Yuga	5125–5126
Holocene calendar	12024
Igbo calendar	1024–1025
Iranian calendar	1402–1403
Islamic calendar	1445–1446
Japanese calendar	Heisei 36 (平成３６年)
Juche calendar	113
Julian calendar	Gregorian minus 13 days
Korean calendar	4357
Minguo calendar	ROC 113 民國113年
Thai solar calendar	2567
Unix time	1704067200–1735689599

1586 (MDLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (dominical letter E) of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Saturday (dominical letter B) of the Julian calendar, the 1586th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 586th year of the 2nd millennium, the 86th year of the 16th century, and the 7th year of the 1580s decade. Note that the Julian day for 1586 is 10 calendar days difference, which continued to be used from 1582 until the complete conversion of the Gregorian calendar was entirely done in 1929.

January – March

• January 3 – Augustus of Wettin, the Elector of Saxony, marries Agnes Hedwig of Anhalt, the 12-year-old daughter of Joachim Ernest, Prince of Anhalt. Augustus dies less than six weeks later.
• January 18 – The 7.9 magnitude Tenshō earthquake strikes the Chubu region of Japan, triggering a tsunami and causing at least 8,000 deaths.
• February 11
  • After a two-day battle, and English assault force led by Francis Drake captures the South American port of Cartagena de Indias, part of Spain's colony, the Viceroyalty of Peru (now Cartagena in Colombia.
  • In Dresden, Christian I becomes the new Elector of Saxony, after the death of his father Augustus.
• February 14 – In India, Yakub Shah Chak becomes the new Sultan of Kashmir after the death of his father, the Sultan Yousuf Shah.
• February 16 – In what is now Pakistan, Kalu Khan leads his Yusufzai Lashkar to defeat Raja Birbal's Mughal Army at the Karakar Pass in the Afghan-Mughal War, annihilating them by the 10s of thousands and inflicting one of the greatest defeats in Mughal History to Emperor Akbar The Great.
• February 23 – The Scottish crown jewels, recovered for King James VI by William Stewart of Caverston, are formally returned to the royal treasurer, Lord Melville. The jewels include a square gold pendant, inlaid with a large diamond and a ruby and several other diamonds, the "Great H of Scotland".
• March 3 – In Germany, the Battle of Werl begins in the Duchy of Westphalia as Claude de Berlaymont and a large force of 4,000 troops attempt to capture Maarten Schenck van Nydeggen, who had plundered the territory of Vest Recklinghausen within the Electorate of Cologne. Schenk and his men are able to escape after five days.
• March 12 – Greek-born Spanish artist Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos, known better as El Greco, is commissioned to paint his most famous work, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, which he finishes in early 1588.
• March 18 – The Black Assize of Exeter begins in England as infected prisoners go on trial and an epidemic of typhus spreads quickly through the courtrooms above Exeter Prison. The disease is quickly transmitted from body lice on inmates who had been incarcerated in unsanitary conditions. In addition to prisoners who died from the disease, typhus claims the life of eight judges and 11 of the 12 jurors. Author Alexander Jenkins writes later, "A noisome and pestilential smell came from the prisoners who were arraigned at the crown bar which so affected the people present that many were seized with a violent sickness which proved mortal to the greatest part of them."
• March 25 – Forty Martyrs of England and Wales: The most infamous case in England of a torture and execution by Peine forte et dure— slowly piling heavy stones upon a prisoner until they make a plea or die — is carried out against Margaret Clitherow of York after she refuses to enter a plea on charges of harboring Roman Catholic priests. She will be canonized as a Catholic saint in 1970 by Pope Paul VI.

April – June

• April 12 – Francis Drake and the English conquerors depart Cartagena after having looted the city and being paid a ransom of 250,000 Spanish pesos by the New Granadan Governor, Don Pedro Fernández.
• May 27 – English privateers, commanded by Sir Francis Drake, carry out a raid on the Spanish settlement of St. Augustine, Florida.
• June 7 – Anglo-Spanish War: The Siege of Grave in the Netherlands, by Spanish General Peter Ernst I von Mansfeld-Vorderort, ends with the surrender of the garrison after a siege of four months.

July – September

• July 6 – The Treaty of Berwick is signed between Queen Elizabeth I of England and King James VI of Scotland.
• July 17 – In England, the Babington Plot, a scheme to murder Queen Elizabeth and to replace her with Mary, Queen of Scots, is discovered. Mary is implicated when she sends a cryptogram letter to Anthony Babington giving the go-ahead for the assassination, and the correspondence is decrypted by Thomas Phelippes.
• July 21 – English explorer Thomas Cavendish begins the first deliberately planned circumnavigation of the globe.
• July 22 – Sir Francis Drake and his crew return to England, arriving at Portsmouth to heroes' welcome.
• August 4 – Conspirator John Ballard is the first person to be arrested by English security agents for the plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth. Under torture, he implicates Anthony Babington.
• August 13 – In Germany, near Köln, the siege of Rheinberg by Spanish Army commander Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma begins and is ultimately won by Spain, despite a defense by the Electorate of Cologne as well as Dutch and English troops.
• September 14 – In one of the most spectacular feats of engineering up to that time, devised by Domenico Fontana, the 82 feet (25 m) tall, 327-ton Vatican Obelisk is erected at St. Peter's Square in Rome after being transported between April 30 and May 17 from its previous location on orders of Pope Sixtus V.
• September 20 – The executions of the Babington Plot perpetrators begins. Over the two day period, the 14 men convicted of the a plot are hanged, drawn and quartered (the first seven being disembowelled before death) in St Giles Field, London.
• September 22 – Battle of Zutphen: Spanish troops defeat the Dutch rebels and their English allies. English poet and courtier Sir Philip Sidney is mortally wounded.

October – December

• October 15– Mary, Queen of Scots, goes on trial for treason at Fotheringhay Castle in England for complicity in the Babington Plot, in a proceeding that lasts for 10 days.
• October 19– Burmese–Siamese War (1584–1593): Nanda Bayin, King of Burma, launches a two-pronged invasion of the Ayutthaya Kingdom (now Thailand) with 25,000 troops, 1,200 horses and 220 elephants. The invasion will fail, as thousands of troops die from starvation and disease and the Burmese troops will withdraw in April.
• October 25– Mary, Queen of Scots, is convicted of treason and sentenced to death. She will be beheaded on February 8.
• November 19 – English Separatist Puritan Henry Barrowe is imprisoned.
• December 17 – (Tenshō 14, 7th day of the 11th month) The reign of Emperor Ōgimachi of Japan ends, and Emperor Go-Yōzei ascends to the throne.

Date unknown

• Flemish mathematician Simon Stevin publishes a study showing that two objects of different weight fall with the same speed.
• Jacobus Gallus composes his motet O magnum mysterium.
• English topographer William Harrison becomes canon of Windsor.
• António da Madalena from Portugal is the first westerner to visit Angkor Wat.
• English ship Vanguard, the first Royal Navy vessel to bear this name, is launched at Woolwich.
• The cities of Voronezh, Samara, and Tyumen in Russia are founded.</onlyinclude>

Births

File:Kurfürstin Magdalene Sibylle von Sachsen mit ihrem Sohn Christian von Sachsen-Merseburg.jpg

Duchess Magdalene Sibylle of Prussia

• January 1 – Pau Claris i Casademunt, Catalan ecclesiastic (d. 1641)
• January 20 – Johann Hermann Schein, German composer of the early Baroque era (d. 1630)
• January 29 – Louis Frederick, Duke of Württemberg-Montbéliard (1617–1631) (d. 1631)
• February 8 – Jacob Praetorius, German Baroque composer and organist (d. 1651)
• February 15 – Jacques de Bela, French writer (d. 1667)
• February 20 – Hachisuka Yoshishige, Japanese daimyō of the Edo period (d. 1620)
• February 24 – Matthias Faber, German Jesuit priest, writer (d. 1653)
• February 26 – Niccolò Cabeo, Italian Jesuit writer, theologian (d. 1657)
• March 12 – Jean Dolbeau, French missionary (d. 1652)
• March 28 – Domenico Massenzio, Italian baroque composer (d. 1657)
• March 29 – Ludwig Crocius, German Calvinist minister (d. 1653)
• April 2 – Pietro Della Valle, Italian composer (d. 1652)
• April 4 – Richard Saltonstall, English diplomat (d. 1661)
• April 5 – Christopher Levett, English explorer (d. 1630)
• April 9 – Julius Henry, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg (d. 1665)
• April 12 (bapt.) – John Ford, English dramatist and poet (d. c. 1639)
• April 20 – Saint Rose of Lima, Spanish colonist in Lima (d. 1617)
• April 23 – Martin Rinkart, German clergyman and hymnist (d. 1649)
• April 24 – Henry Hastings, 5th Earl of Huntingdon, English noble (d. 1643)
• May 2 – Étienne de Courcelles, French scholar (d. 1659)
• May 7 – Francesco IV Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat (d. 1612)
• May 9 – Tsugaru Nobuhira, Japanese daimyō (d. 1631)
• May 11 – Angelo Giori, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1662)
• May 23 – Paul Siefert, German composer and organist (d. 1666)
• June 24 – George John II, Count Palatine of Lützelstein-Guttenberg, German noble (d. 1654)
• July 1 – Claudio Saracini, Italian composer (d. 1630)
• July 5 – Thomas Hooker, prominent Puritan colonial leader (d. 1647)
• July 6 – Thomas Trevor, English politician and judge (d. 1656)
• July 7 – Thomas Howard, 21st Earl of Arundel, English courtier (d. 1646)
• July 26 – Diego de Colmenares, Spanish historian (d. 1651)
• August 14 – William Hutchinson, founder of Rhode Island (d. 1642)
• August 17 – Johann Valentin Andrea, German theologian (d. 1654)
• September 15 – Antoon Sanders, Dutch priest, historian (d. 1664)
• September 29 – William Lytton, English Member of Parliament (d. 1660)
• October 7 – Isaac Massa, Dutch diplomat (d. 1643)
• October 9 – Leopold V, Archduke of Austria, regent of Tyrol (d. 1632)
• October 20 – Luke Foxe, English explorer (d. 1635)
• October 28 – Francis West, Deputy Governor of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia (d. 1634)
• November 20 – Polykarp Leyser II, German theologian (d. 1633)
• November 22 – Walter Erle, English politician (d. 1665)
• November 23 – Juan Bautista de Lezana, Spanish theologian (d. 1659)
• November 27 – Sir John Wray, 2nd Baronet, English politician (d. 1655)
• November 28 – Sir Thomas Bowyer, 1st Baronet, English politician (d. 1650)
• December 6 – Niccolò Zucchi, Italian astronomer and physicist (d. 1670)
• December 14 – Georg Calixtus, German Lutheran theologian who looked to reconcile all Christendom (d. 1656)
• December 31 – Duchess Magdalene Sibylle of Prussia, Electress of Saxony (d. 1659)
• date unknown – John Mason, English explorer (d. 1635)
• date unknown – Kocc Barma Fall, Senegambian philosopher (d. 1655)
• probable
  • Giles Fletcher, English poet (d. 1623)
  • David HaLevi Segal, Polish Jewish rabbi (d. 1667)

Deaths

Saint Margaret Clitherow

File:Prince Sanehito.jpg

Prince Masahito

File:Portrait of Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle by Willem Key.jpg

Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle

File:Adolf, 1526-1586, hertig av Holstein-Gottorp - Nationalmuseum - 15979.tif

Adolf, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp

Philip Sidney

King Stefan Batory

• January 18 – Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands (b. 1522)
• January 25 – Lucas Cranach the Younger, German painter (b. 1515)
• February 11 – Augustus, Elector of Saxony (b. 1526)
• March 1 – Amalia of Cleves, German princess and writer (b. 1517)
• March 25 – Margaret Clitherow, English Roman Catholic nun, saint and martyr (b. 1556)
• March 30 – Anna of Veldenz, Margrave of Baden (b. 1540)
• April 8 – Martin Chemnitz, Lutheran reformer (b. 1522)
• May 5 – Henry Sidney, Lord Deputy of Ireland (b. 1529)
• May 7 – George II of Brieg, Duke of Brieg (1547–1586) (b. 1523)
• May 9 – Luis de Morales, Spanish religious painter (b. 1510)
• May 29 – Adam Lonicer, German botanist (b. 1528)
• June 1 – Martín de Azpilcueta, Spanish theologian and economist (b. 1491)
• June 5 – Matthew Wesenbeck, Belgian jurist (b. 1531)
• June 9 – Filippo Boncompagni, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1548)
• June 28 – Primož Trubar, Carniolan Protestant reformer (b. 1508)
• July 5 – Ludwig Lavater, Swiss Reformed theologian (b. 1527)
• July 12 – Edward Sutton, 4th Baron Dudley (b. 1525)
• August 1 – Richard Maitland, Scottish statesman and historian (b. 1496)
• September 7 – Prince Masahito, member of the Japanese imperial family (b. 1552)
• September 18 – Ottavio Farnese, Duke of Parma (b. 1521)
• September 20
  • Sir Anthony Babington, English Catholic conspirator (executed) (b. 1561)
  • Chidiock Tichborne, English conspirator and poet (executed) (b. 1558)
• September 21 – Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, French Roman Catholic cardinal (b. 1517)
• October 1 – Adolf, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp (b. 1526)
• October 15 – Elizabeth of Denmark, Duchess of Mecklenburg, Danish princess (b. 1524)
• October 17 – Philip Sidney, English poet, courtier and soldier (b. 1554)
• October 28 – John Günther I, Count of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (b. 1532)
• November 6 – Willem IV van den Bergh, Stadtholder of Guelders and Zutphen (b. 1537)
• December 6 – Joachim Ernest, Prince of Anhalt (b. 1536)
• December 12 – Stefan Batory, King of Poland (b. 1533)
• December 30 – Luigi d'Este, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1538

References

January–June

• February 1 – Queen Elizabeth I of England signs the death warrant of her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots, after Mary is implicated in a plot to murder Elizabeth. Seven days later, on the orders of Elizabeth's privy council, Mary is beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle.
• April 29 – "Singeing the King of Spain's Beard": On an expedition against Spain, English privateer Sir Francis Drake leads a raid in the Bay of Cádiz, sinking at least 23 ships of the Spanish fleet.

July–December

• July 22 – Roanoke Colony: A group of English settlers arrive on Roanoke Island off of North Carolina to re-establish the deserted colony.
• August 18 – According to legend, Saul Wahl is named king of Poland.
• August 19
  • According to legend, Saul Wahl is deposed.
  • Polish and Lithuanian nobles elect Sigismund III Vasa as their king.
• August 27 – Governor John White leaves the Roanoke Colony to get more supplies from England.
• October 1 – Shāh ‘Abbās I "The Great" succeeds as Shahanshah of Iran.
• October 20 – Battle of Coutras: Huguenot forces under Henry of Navarre defeat Royalist forces under Anne de Joyeuse, favorite of King Henry. Joyeuse is killed.
• October 31 – Leiden University Library opens its doors after its founding in 1575.

Date unknown

• Toyotomi Hideyoshi attacks Kyūshū.
• The first Filipinos in North America land in Morro Bay, near San Luis Obispo, California.
• A severe famine breaks out in China during the Ming dynasty.
• The Rose (theatre) is founded in London by Philip Henslowe.
• The chapbook Historia von D. Johann Fausten, printed by Johann Spies in Frankfurt, is the first published version of the Faust story.
• Establishment of St. Dominic's Church, Macau.

January–June

• February – The Sinhalese abandon the siege of Colombo, capital of Portuguese Ceylon.
• February 9 – The sudden death of Álvaro de Bazán, 1st Marquis of Santa Cruz, in the midst of preparations for the Spanish Armada, forces King Philip II of Spain to re-allocate the command of the fleet.
• April 4 – Christian IV becomes King of Denmark upon the death of his father Frederick II.
• May 12 – Day of the Barricades in Paris: Henry I, Duke of Guise seizes the city, forcing King Henry III to flee.
• May 28 – The Spanish Armada, with 130 ships and 30,000 men, begins to set sail from the Tagus estuary heading for the English Channel (it will take until May 30 for all of the ships to leave port).

July–December

• July – King Henry III of France capitulates to the Duke of Guise and returns to Paris.
• July 31 – The first engagement between the English and Spanish fleets, off Plymouth, results in a victory for the English under command of Lord Howard of Effingham and Sir Francis Drake.
• August 2 – The English fleet defeats the Spanish fleet, off the Isle of Portland.
• August 6 (July 29 Old Style) – Battle of Gravelines: The Spanish Armada is defeated by the English naval force off the coast of Gravelines in the Spanish Netherlands (in modern France).
• August 7 – The English fleet defeats the Spanish fleet off the coast of Flanders.
• August 8–August 9 – The Spanish are unable to reach the coast of Flanders to meet up with the army of the Duke of Parma. The Duke of Medina Sidonia decides to return to Spain.
• August 12 – The fleeing Spanish fleet sails past the Firth of Forth, and the English call off their pursuit. Much of the Spanish fleet is destroyed by storms as it sails for home around Scotland and Ireland.
• October 7 – The first biography of Nicolaus Copernicus (d.1543) is completed by Bernardino Baldi.
• December 5 – The Order of Augustinian Recollects is formally recognised as a separate province from the Order of Saint Augustine, an event later known as the "Día de la Recolección" or "Day of Recollection".
• December 23 – Henry III of France strikes his ultra-Catholic enemies, having the Duke of Guise and his brother, Cardinal Louis of Guise, killed, and holding the Cardinal de Bourbon a prisoner. As a result, large parts of France reject Henry III as their king, forcing him to side with Henry of Navarre

Date unknown

• William Morgan's Welsh translation of the Bible is published.
• The "Armada Portrait" of Elizabeth I of England is created to celebrate the English defeat of the Spanish Armada and to assert the strength of Elizabeth herself.

January–June

• War of the Three Henrys: In France, the Catholic League is in rebellion against King Henry III, in revenge for his murder of Henry I, Duke of Guise in December 1588. The King makes peace with his old rival, the Huguenot Henry of Navarre, his designated successor, and together they besiege Paris.
• January 26 – Job is elected as the first Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.
• February 26 – Valkendorfs Kollegium is founded in Copenhagen, Denmark.
• April 13 – An English Armada led by Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Norreys and largely financed by private investors sets sail to attack the Iberian Peninsula's Atlantic coast but fails to achieve any naval advantage.

July–December

• August 1 – King Henry III of France is stabbed by the fanatical Dominican friar Jacques Clément (who is immediately killed).
• August 2 – Henry III of France dies. His army is thrown into confusion and an intended attack to retake Paris is abandoned. Henry of Navarre succeeds to the throne as King Henry IV of France but is not recognized by the Catholic League who acclaim the imprisoned Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon, as the rightful King of France, Charles X.
• August 20 – King James VI of Scotland, the future James I of England, contracts a proxy marriage with the 14-year-old Anne of Denmark at Kronborg. The formal ceremony takes place on November 23 at the Old Bishop's Palace in Oslo.
• September 21 – Battle of Arques: King Henry IV of France's forces defeat those of the Catholic League under Charles of Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne (younger brother of Henry I, Duke of Guise).
• November 1 – Henry IV of France is repulsed in an attempt to capture Paris from the Catholic League.
• December 25 (Christmas Day) – The monks of the Pechenga Monastery, the northernmost in the world, are massacred by Swedes led by a Finnish peasant chief in the course of the Russo-Swedish War.

Date unknown

• San Luigi dei Francesi, Rome, is completed by Domenico Fontana.
• Hiroshima is founded by the Japanese warlord Mōri Terumoto.
• The Hofbräuhaus is founded by William V, Duke of Bavaria in Munich.