1593 CE

"Dutch church libel" bills posted in London threaten Protestant refugees from France and the Netherlands, alluding to Christopher Marlowe's plays. In a skirmish at Skeanavart in County Roscommon as part of Hugh Maguire (Lord of Fermanagh)'s raid into Connacht, Edmund MacGauran (Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh) is among those killed. Spanish Jesuit priest Gregorio Céspedes becomes the first Christian missionary to Korea, arriving at Busan to begin his ministry in the Buddhist kingdom of Joseon. Céspedes is able to enter Korea by coming with the Japanese invasion force of General Toyotomi Hideyoshi.

In the 1590s, the 16th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

April 10 – The English Parliament enacts a law for the first military disability pension in British history, titled "An Acte for relief of Soudiours". The Act states that "forasmuch as it is agreeable with Christian Charity Policy and the Honour of our Nation, that such as have since the 25th day of March 1588, adventured their lives and lost their limbs or disabled their bodies, or shall hereafter adventure the lives, lose their limbs or disable their bodies, in defence and service of Her Majesty and the State, should at their return be relieved and rewarded to the end that they may reap the fruit of their good deservings, and others may be encouraged to perform like endeavors..."source
June 28 – Lemaistre, president of the Parlement of Paris, decides that the Salic law and the Catholic rule of the kings of France under the fundamental laws of the kingdom are to be judged equally.France source
November 27 – Antonio Grimaldi Cebà begins a two-year term as the new Doge of the Republic of Genoa, succeeding Giovanni Giustiniani Campi.source
Mihai Viteazul becomes prince of Walachia.source
The Banffshire constituency is first represented in the Parliament of Scotland (by Sir Walter Ogilvie).Scotland source
The new King arrives in Sweden from Poland.Sweden source

Conflict & Security

January 25 – Siamese King Naresuan, in combat on elephant back, kills Burmese Crown Prince Mingyi Swa on Monday, Moon 2 Waning day 2, Year of the Dragon, Chulasakarat 954, reckoned as corresponding to January 25, 1593, of the Gregorian calendar, and commemorated as Royal Thai Armed Forces Day.source
February 2 – Battle of Piątek: Polish forces led by Janusz Ostrogski are victorious.source
February 8 – Siege of Pyongyang (1593): A Japanese invasion is defeated in Pyongyang by a combined force of Korean and Ming troops.source
February 12 – Battle of Haengju: Korea defeats Japan.source
April 18 – Anglo-Spanish War: Naval Battle of Blaye in the Gironde estuary sees a Spanish victory over the blockading English fleet, allowing the Spanish to relieve the French Catholic garrison of Blaye.source
April 18 – Anglo-Spanish War: The Naval Battle of Blaye in the Gironde estuary sees a Spanish victory over the blockading English fleet, allowing the Spanish to relieve the French Catholic garrison of Blaye.France source
May 2 – Wars of Religion: Battle of Port-Ringeard – Royal army is victorious over the League.France source
June 7 – Battle of Salbertrand in Piedmont: Victory of François de Bonne, Duke of Lesdiguières, over the Spanish of Rodrigue Alvarez of Toledo, allies of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy.source
June 22 – Battle of Sisak in Croatia: The Habsburgs defeat the Ottoman Empire.source
July 8 – The king takes Dreux, entrepôt for the Paris food supply.France source
24 July – Raid of Holyrood, the rebel Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell infiltrates Holyrood Palace.Scotland source
July 29 – The Long Turkish War breaks out in Hungary between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans.source
July 31 – Three-month truce was signed at la Villette between the king and the League. One by one, towns rally to the king.France source
August 24 – After losing the Battle of Sisak two months earlier, the Ottoman Empire attacks the Austrian fortress guarding the city and breaks through its walls with cannon fire, forcing its surrender on August 30.source
August 27 – Pierre Barrière attempts to assassinate the king at Melun; he is denounced by Séraphin Banchi, the Dominican priest to whom he confesses, arrested and on August 31 executed on the breaking wheel and suffers dismemberment.France source
September 10 – With no fortress or troops to defend Croatia, Ottoman General Mehmed Pasha captures the city of Sisak. Selânikî Mustafa Efendi, Tarih-i Selânikî (Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1999)source
October 11 – The Battle of Belleek takes place at County Fermanagh in Ireland as an English expeditionary force led by Henry Bagenal defeats Irish troops commanded by the Lord of Fermanagh.source
October 24 – Supposed date of the event described in the 1593 transported soldier legend.source
October 28 – The Siege of Coevorden begins as the Spanish Army attempts to retake a fortress captured a year earlier by the Dutch Republic and the Kingdom of England.source
December 6 – The Battle of Dryfe Sands takes place in Scotland at Annandale, between rival clans as John Maxwell leads Clan Maxwell, aided by Clan Grierson and Clan Pollock, in an invasion of the lands of Clan Johnstone, led by Sir James Johnstone. With their defense aided by Clan Scott and Clan Graham, the Johnstone clan wins the battle, but only 160 of the 600 defenders survive the fight.source
December 12 – The marquis of Vitry, gouvernor of Meaux, rallies to the king.France source
December 27 – Spanish Jesuit priest Gregorio Céspedes becomes the first Christian missionary to Korea, arriving at Busan to begin his ministry in the Buddhist kingdom of Joseon. Céspedes is able to enter Korea by coming with the Japanese invasion force of General Toyotomi Hideyoshi.source
Khwaja Usman takes shelter in Goyghor Mosque after the Afghan rebellion against the Subahdar of Mughal Bengal, Man Singh I.source

Exploration & Expansion

14 June – English explorer John Davis in the Desire makes landfall at Berehaven at the conclusion of the second Cavendish expedition.Ireland source
Irish pirate queen Grace O'Malley meets with Queen Elizabeth I of England at Greenwich.source
Exactions of Anne de Sanzay, Count of la Magnane, captain of Philippe Emmanuel, Duke of Mercœur, in Cornouaille.France source
Origin of wine producer Château d'YquemFrance source
Hugh Roe O'Donnell drives the English sheriff out of Tyrconnell and leads two expeditions against Turlough Luineach O'Neill.Ireland source
Pirate queen Grace O'Malley meets with Queen Elizabeth I of England at Greenwich.Ireland source

Religion & Belief

January 26 – The Conseil of the Catholic League convenes the Estates General in Paris to receive the decisions of the Council of Trent and to consider the election of a Catholic sovereign, even if it means calling into question the Salic law. Isabella Clara Eugenia, Sovereign of the Habsburg Netherlands, Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy, Charles III, Duke of Lorraine, and two Catholic Bourbons are candidates. However, Henry IV of France takes the court of deputies by surprise in announcing his intention to return to the Catholic faith on May 17.France source
March 7 (February 25 Old Style) – The Uppsala Synod discontinues; the Liturgical Struggle between the Swedish Reformation and Counter-Reformation ends in Sweden.source
March - The Uppsala Synod introduce the confession of faith and ends the Liturgical Battle.Sweden source
23 June – in a skirmish at Skeanavart in County Roscommon as part of Hugh Maguire (Lord of Fermanagh)'s raid into Connacht, Edmund MacGauran (Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh) is among those killed.Ireland source
July 25 – As he promised in January, Henry IV of France abjures Protestantism at the Basilica of Saint-Denis. Legend attributes to him the saying Paris vaut bien une messe ("Paris is well worth a mass").source
July 25 – The king abjures Protestantism at the Basilica of Saint-Denis. Legend attributes to him the saying Paris vaut bien une messe ("Paris is well worth a mass").France source
August 3 – Poland's council of nobles, the Sejm, grants permission to King Sigismund III Vasa and his wife, Queen consort Anne, to travel to Sweden to claim the Swedish crown.source
November 8 – Assembly of Protestants of the kingdom at Mantes (ends 23 January 1594).France source
December 8 – Henri I de Montmorency, one of the 'Malcontents', becomes Grand Constable of France.France source
Robert Bellarmine's Disputationes de Controversiis Christianae Fidei adversus hujus temporis Haereticos concludes publication in Ingolstadt.source
c. 1593–1604 – According to John Warwick Montgomery, the Rosicrucian manifestos are initially composed by Tobias Hess, in anticipation of the opening of the vault in 1604, according to Simon Studion's apocalyptic timetable.source
Henry Constable's Spirituall Sonnettes are written.source
The parish of Laukaa was founded.source
In Lisbon, John Houling, SJ, and Fr. Peter Fonseca establish the College of St. Patrick for the education of young Irish Roman Catholics.Ireland source
Emergence of the Presbytery of Glasgow within the developing Presbyterian polity.Scotland source

Technology & Infrastructure

December 8 – Royal letters patent for the creation of the Jardin des plantes de Montpellier conferred on Pierre Richer de Belleval.France source

Crime & Justice

January 27 – The Roman Inquisition opens the seven-year trial of scholar Giordano Bruno.source
May 12 – English dramatist Thomas Kyd is arrested over the "Dutch church libel". "Atheist" literature found in his home is claimed to be Marlowe's.source
May 18 – A warrant for the arrest of Christopher Marlowe is issued. On May 20 he presents himself to the Privy Council.source
May 30 – Christopher Marlowe is stabbed to death in a dispute over a bill at a lodging house in Deptford.source

Disasters & Accidents

May 5 – "Dutch church libel" bills posted in London threaten Protestant refugees from France and the Netherlands, alluding to Christopher Marlowe's plays.source

Culture & Society

March 17 – Henri IV, visiting Saumur to see his sister Catherine de Bourbon, grants the inhabitants local tax privileges.France source
April 29 – Opening of conferences at Suresnes between the king and the deputies of the League.France source
After April – William Shakespeare's poem Venus and Adonis probably becomes his first published work, printed in London from his own manuscript. In his lifetime it will be his most frequently reprinted work: at least nine times.source
The Academy of Saumur is founded as a Huguenot university at Saumur by Philippe de Mornay.France source
Marischal College is founded in Aberdeen by George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal.Scotland source
A decision to re-open the Uppsala University is taken.Sweden source

Births

January 10 – Prince Maurice of Savoy, Catholic cardinal and Prince of Savoy (died 1657)source
March 13 – Georges de La Tour, French Baroque painter (died 1652)source
March 25 – Jean de Brébeuf, French Jesuit missionary who travelled to Canada in 1625 (died 1649)source
March 25 – Jean de Brébeuf, Jesuit missionary to New France (martyred 1649 in New France)France source
April 3 – George Herbert, Welsh-born English poet (died 1633)source
6 April – Mumtaz Mahal, chief consort of Shah Jahan, (died 1631).India source
April 13 – Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, English statesman (died 1641)source
13 April – Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, English politician (executed 1641)Scotland source
April – Mumtaz Mahal, Queen of India (died 1631)source
May 19 – Jacob Jordaens, Flemish painter (died 1678)source
June 8 – George I Rákóczi, Hungarian prince of Transylvania (died 1648)source
June 22 – Sir John Gell, 1st Baronet, Parliamentarian politician and military figure in the English Civil War (died 1671)source
July 8 – Artemisia Gentileschi, Italian painter (died 1656)source
July 8 – Peter Sainthill, English politician (died 1648)source
August 9 – Izaak Walton, English writer (died 1683)source
September 8 – Toyotomi Hideyori, Japanese nobleman (died 1615)source
October 9 – Nicolaes Tulp, Dutch anatomist and politician (died 1674)source
Thomas Fleming, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin (died 1665)Ireland source

Deaths

January 8 – Mingyi Swa, Burmese crown prince (born 1558)source
January 11 – Scipione Gonzaga, Italian Catholic cardinal (born 1542)source
February 6 – Emperor Ōgimachi of Japan (born 1517)source
February 6 – Jacques Amyot, French writer (born 1513)source
February 6 – Death of Jacques Amyot, following which historian and politician Jacques Auguste de Thou succeed him as director of the Bibliothèque Nationale, an office he and his son will hold until 1642.France source
March 8 – Paul Luther, German scientist (born 1533)source
March 23 – Henry Barrowe, English Puritan and separatist (born 1550)source
April 24 – William Harrison, English clergyman (born 1534)source
May 30 – Christopher Marlowe, English poet and playwright (murdered) (born 1564)source
3 June - Katarina Bengtsdotter Gylta, abbess (born 1520)Sweden source
July 4 – Min Phalaung, Burmese monarch (born 1535)source
July 11 – Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Italian painter (born 1526)source
September 25 – Henry Stanley, 4th Earl of Derby, English nobleman, diplomat and politician (born 1531)source
October 25 – Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas, Spanish colonial administrator (murdered) (born 1519)source
November 11 – Albert, Count of Nassau-Weilburg (born 1537)source
November 20 – Hans Bol, Flemish artist (born 1534)source
7 December – Battle of Dryfe Sands: the Clan Johnstone defeat the Clan Maxwell at Skipmyre, just west of Lockerbie, and Lord Maxwell is killed.Scotland source
Appayya Dikshitar, performer of yajñas dies (born 1520)India source