1590 CE

As part of the O'Donnell Succession dispute the Battle of Doire Leathan is fought in County Donegal. Sir Donnell O'Donnell, one of the leading claimants to the title, is defeated and killed by forces backing his half-brother and rival Hugh Roe O'Donnell. Saadian invasion of the Songhai Empire: An army of 20,000 troops, led by Judar Pasha is dispatched from Marrakesh in the Saadi Sultanate (now Morocco), on orders of Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur. The Saadi Army's objective is to conquer the Songhai Empire, led by the Emperor Askia Ishaq II, in North Africa, corresponding to what is now the Republic of Mali. North Berwick witch trials: Agnes Sampson is questioned by King James VI of Scotland, and confesses to practising witchcraft. She will be executed on January 28.

In the 1590s, the 16th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • 14 January - Sir William FitzWilliam, acting for the Lord Deputy, concludes his campaign against rebels in Connacht.Irelandsource
  • January 25 – Luis de Velasco y Castilla, Marquess of Salinas, becomes the new Viceroy of New Spain, a colony comprising most of Central America, Mexico and what is now a large part of the southwestern United States. Velasco will govern until 1595, and then again from 1607 to 1611.source
  • March 21 – The Treaty of Constantinople is signed between the Ottoman Empire (in modern-day Turkey) and the Safavid Empire (modern-day Iran), ending a 12-year war between the two nations.source
  • April 4 – The Cortes of Castile approves a new subsidy, the millones.source
  • July 21 – Japan's first diplomatic representatives to Europe, Itō Mancio, Michele Chijiwa, Giuliano Nakaura and Martino Hara, return to Japan after eight years, having departed on February 20, 1582.source
  • November 29 – A truce is signed between representatives of the Holy Roman Empire (ruled by Emperor Rudolf II) and the Ottoman Empire (ruled by Sultan Murad III).source

Conflict & Security

  • February 3 – Peter Ernst I von Mansfeld-Vorderort, the German-born commander of the Spanish Imperial Army captures the German fortress of Rheinberg after a four-year long siege during the Eighty Years' War.source
  • March 4 – Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange, takes Breda, by concealing 68 of his best men in a peat-boat, to get through the impregnable defenses.source
  • March 14 – Battle of Ivry: Henry IV of France again defeats the forces of the Catholic League, under Charles, Duke of Mayenne.source
  • April 24 – Ten armed English merchant vessels of the Levant Company are intercepted by 12 galleys of the Spanish Navy while attempting to pass through the Straits of Gibraltar after trading in the Mediterranean Sea. Levant Company's Benedict Barnham, on the flagship Salomon, leads the corporate fleet in a six-hour battle and heavily damages the Spanish ships, clearing the way for the company ships to return home.source
  • May 7 – King Henry of Navarre, claimant to the throne of France, begins an unsuccessful attempt to besiege Paris, at the time controlled by the Catholic League. By August 30, Henry is forced to raise the siege, when Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma comes to its rescue with a Spanish army.source
  • May to September – Siege of ParisFrancesource
  • June 23 – The Japanese samurai Toyotomi Hideyoshi sends an army of 15,000 men, led by generals Maeda Toshiie and Uesugi Kagekatsu, in an attack on the Hachiōji Castle in what is now Tokyo. The castle is lightly defended, by only 1,300 men, because the samurai Hōjō Ujiteru has most of his troops engaged in defending Hideyohsi's siege of Odawara. The castle is captured after one day, and later destroyed on orders of the shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu.source
  • July 1 (13th waning of 1st Ashadha, 952 CS) – Naresuan Maharat becomes the new ruler of Thailand as Sanphet II of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, upon the death of his father, Sanphet I.source
  • August 4 – In Japan, the siege of Odawara, part of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's campaign to eliminate the clan of samurais led by Hōjō Ujinao, ends with the surrender of Odawara, part of Toyotomi's unification of the country.source
  • 3 September - As part of the O'Donnell Succession dispute the Battle of Doire Leathan is fought in County Donegal. Sir Donnell O'Donnell, one of the leading claimants to the title, is defeated and killed by forces backing his half-brother and rival Hugh Roe O'Donnell.Irelandsource
  • September 5 – Alexander Farnese's army forces Henry IV of France to lift the siege of Paris.source
  • October 13 – (5th waxing of Tazaungmon 952 ME) – In what is now Myanmar, King Nanda Bayin of Burma sends a 10,000-man army, led by the Viceroy Thado Dhamma Yaza III of Prome, and General Natshinnaung to suppress a rebellion in the Shan state of Mogaung.source
  • October 16 – Saadian invasion of the Songhai Empire: An army of 20,000 troops, led by Judar Pasha is dispatched from Marrakesh in the Saadi Sultanate (now Morocco), on orders of Sultan Ahmad al-Mansur. The Saadi Army's objective is to conquer the Songhai Empire, led by the Emperor Askia Ishaq II, in North Africa, corresponding to what is now the Republic of Mali.source
  • October – Battle of Clynetradwell: the forces of Alexander Gordon, Earl of Sutherland (chief of Clan Sutherland) force those of George Sinclair, Earl of Caithness (chief of Clan Sinclair) to retreatScotlandsource
  • November 22 (12th waning of Tazaungmon 952 ME) – Burmese King Nanda Bayin sends a his son, the Crown Prince Mingyi Swa and 20,000 troops to what is now Thailand.source
  • The Spanish are pushed out of southern Gelderland by the Dutch forces.source
  • Spring - Sir Richard Bingham, President of Connacht, occupies West Bréifne and the hereditary lord, Brian O'Rourke, flees; later this year the adjacent territory of Monaghan is seized by the crown after the execution at law of the resident lord, Aodh Rua Mac Mathúna.Irelandsource

Exploration & Expansion

  • January 6 – García Hurtado de Mendoza becomes the new Viceroy of Peru (nominally including most of South America except for Brazil). He will serve until 1596.source
  • January 10 – Construction of the Fortezza Nuova around the city of Livorno begins in Italy in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany on the orders of Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and continues for more than 14 years.source
  • August 18 – John White, governor of the Colony of Roanoke, returns to Roanoke after having left the North American colony in 1587 to get supplies. Upon arrival at, the crew of the ships Hopewell and Moonlight find that the Roanoke Colony is deserted, with the only clues to where the colonist went being the word "CRO" carved into a tree, and the word CROATOAN (believed to be a reference to Hatteras Island, where the colonists formerly lived).source
  • October 24 – After an unsuccessful search of the "lost colony" of Roanoke, English officer John White and the surviving crew of the ships Hopewell and Moonlight return to England.source

Religion & Belief

  • May 17 – Anne of Denmark is crowned queen consort of Scotland, at Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh.source
  • 17 May – Anne of Denmark is crowned as queen consort of Scotland at Holyrood Abbey.Scotlandsource
  • September 15 – After the eight day conclave, Giovanni Battista Castagna, the Cardinal-Priest of San Marcello al Corso receives the necessary two-thirds majority despite support for Cardinal Marco Antonio Colonna. Castagna becomes Pope Urban VII but contracts malaria and dies 12 days later.source
  • October 6 – Two days before the scheduled papal conclave begins, Enrique de Guzmán, 2nd Count of Olivares, Spain's ambassador to the Papal States, presents the cardinals with the recommendations of King Philip II of Spain, a set of candidates whom the Spanish cardinals will support, and 30 whom they are instructed not to vote for.source
  • October 8 – The second papal conclave in less than four weeks opens at the Apostolic Palace in Rome, 23 days after the previous conclave had been concluded, and 53 cardinals arrive.source
  • December 5 – Niccolò Sfondrato, Cardinal-priest of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, is elected as the new pope and takes the name Pope Gregory XIV. Sfondrato is selected as a compromise candidate after Gabriele Paleotti falls 3 votes short of being elected.source
  • Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria Meletius I succeeds Silvester.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • Glenbuchat Castle built for John Gordon of CairnbarrowScotlandsource
  • The oldest known paper mill in Scotland, belonging to Mungo Russell, is recorded as operating at Dalry.Scotlandsource

Science & Discovery

  • October 13 – German astronomer Michael Maestlin becomes the first person to record an observation of the occultation of the planet Mars by the planet Venus.source

Crime & Justice

  • December 7 – North Berwick witch trials: Agnes Sampson is questioned by King James VI of Scotland, and confesses to practising witchcraft. She will be executed on January 28.source
  • Hugh Roe MacMahon, The MacMahon, resists the imposition of an English sheriff in County Monaghan; he is charged with treason, for which he will be executed, and his lordship divided.Irelandsource
  • North Berwick witch trials beginScotlandsource

Climate & Environment

  • September 15 – The estimated 6.0 magnitude Neulengbach earthquake causes significant damage and some loss of life, in Lower Austria and Vienna; the effects are felt as far as Bohemia and Silesia.source

Culture & Society

  • March – English printer Robert Waldegrave establishes himself in EdinburghScotlandsource
  • 1 May – King James VI and Anne of Denmark arrive at Leith.Scotlandsource
  • July 19 – The day after his 12th birthday, Ferdinand of Habsburg becomes the new Archduke of Inner Austria (Innerösterreich) upon the death, in Graz, of his father Charles II. A regency council rules in the place of Ferdinand until 1596.source
  • John Burrell writes The Description of the Queenis Maiesties most honourable entry into the town of Edinburgh.Scotlandsource
  • A new succession order, the 1590 års arvförening, is issued.Swedensource

Births

  • January 9 – Simon Vouet, French painter (died 1649)source
  • January 20 – Benedetta Carlini, Italian mystic (died 1661)source
  • January 30 – Lady Anne Clifford, 14th Baroness de Clifford (died 1676)source
  • March 10 – Dietrich Reinkingk, German lawyer and politician (died 1664)source
  • 22 March – George Gordon, 2nd Marquess of Huntly, nobleman (died 1649)Scotlandsource
  • March – Roger Ludlow, one of the founders of the colony (later the state) of Connecticut (died 1664)source
  • April 18 – Ahmed I, Ottoman Sultan (died 1617)source
  • May 31 – Frances Carr, Countess of Somerset (died 1632)source
  • June 19 – Philip Bell, British colonial governor (died 1678)source
  • July 13 – Pope Clement X (died 1676)source
  • August 9 – John Webster, colonial settler and governor of Connecticut (died 1661)source
  • August 19 – Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland, English soldier (died 1649)source
  • September 12 – María de Zayas, Spanish writer (died 1661)source
  • October 11 – William Pynchon, English colonist and fur trader in North America (died 1662)source
  • December 3 – Daniel Seghers, Flemish Jesuit brother and painter (died 1661)source
  • François Perrier, painter (died 1650)Francesource
  • Virji Vora, merchant (died around 1670)Indiasource
  • Johan Adler Salvius, a Swedish diplomat and baronSwedensource

Deaths

  • 3 January – Robert Boyd, 5th Lord Boyd (born c.1517)Scotlandsource
  • February 12 – Blanche Parry, personal attendant to Elizabeth I of England (born c. 1508)source
  • February 19 – Philipp IV, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (born 1514)source
  • February 21 – Ambrose Dudley, 3rd Earl of Warwick, English nobleman and general (born 1528)source
  • March - Elizabeth Clinton, Countess of Lincoln, noblewoman (born 1527)Irelandsource
  • April 6 – Francis Walsingham, English spymaster (born 1530)source
  • May 9 – Charles de Bourbon French cardinal and pretender to the throne (born 1523)source
  • June 30 – Maha Thammaracha (born 1509)source
  • July 10 – Charles II, Archduke of Austria, regent of Inner Austria (born 1540)source
  • August 27 – Pope Sixtus V (born 1521)source
  • August 27 – Pope Sixtus V dies after serving for five years, and a new papal conclave is organized, to start on September 7 at the Apostolic Palace in Rome.source
  • September 27 – Pope Urban VII (born 1521)source
  • October 16 – Archduchess Anna of Austria, Duchess of Bavaria (born 1528)source
  • October 23 – Bernardino de Sahagún, Franciscan missionary (born 1499)source
  • November 18 – George Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, English statesman (born 1528)source
  • December 20 – Ambroise Paré, French surgeon (born 1510)source
  • Charles de Bourbon, cardinal (born 1523)Francesource
  • Anna Hogenskild, court official (born 1513)Swedensource