1594 CE

Philip II of Spain recognizes the rights and privileges of the local nobles and chieftains in the Philippines, which paves the way for the stabilization of the rule of the Principalía. King Udai Singh of Marwar (now the Rajasthan and Punjab states of India and the Punjab province of Pakistan) returns to Lahore after having captured the Siwana fort. The earliest known performance of William Shakespeare's play The Comedy of Errors takes place at Gray's Inn in London, and is played by the Lord Chamberlain's Men acting company. The production is held before members of the English court on Innocents' Day as part of the Gray's Inn Christmas festivities.

In the 1590s, the 16th century.

Conflict & Security

  • January 3 – Longvek, the capital of the Kingdom of Cambodia, is conquered by the army of the Ayutthaya Kingdom (now Thailand), commanded by King Naresuan, after more than two years of war. King Chey Chettha I of Cambodia is able to flee to Laos, along with the former King Satha I, but the rest of the royal family is taken hostage, along with Prince Srei Soriyopear. "King Tilokarat (1441–1485)", in Popular History of Thailand, by Manich Jumsai (Claremint, 1976) pp. 227–231source
  • January 25 – The siege of Enniskillen Castle in Ireland (at County Fermanagh) is started by English commander John Dowdall, but is abandoned after one month.source
  • March 18 – Two warships of the English Navy, commanded by Captain James Langton, complete a three-day raid on the Spanish city of Puerto de Caballos (now Puerto Cortés in Guatemala) and pillage the city.source
  • April 27 – After suppressing the Serbian uprising in Banat, the Ottoman Empire rulers carry out the public burning of the bones of Saint Sava in Belgrade.source
  • May 6 – The siege of the Spanish-held city of Coevorden ends after six months as the city surrenders to the Dutch Republic.source
  • May 19 – The Siege of Groningen by the Dutch Republic begins with an attack of 10,000 soldiers against the Spanish-held city. The Spanish commander surrenders after two months on July 22.source
  • 27 May – States General of the Dutch Republic reject Archduke Ernest's peace overturesBelgiumsource
  • July 1 – Anglo-Spanish War: Action of Atacames Bay – English privateer Richard Hawkins in the Dainty is attacked and captured by a Spanish squadron off Esmeraldas (now in Ecuador).source
  • July 3 – The Ayutthayan–Cambodian War (1591–1594) concludes when Naresuan, ruler of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, sacks Longvek, capital of Cambodia.source
  • July 22 – After a two-month siege, the city of Groningen submits to Dutch troops, bringing the whole northern Netherlands under the Dutch Republic.source
  • 22 July – Army of Flanders fails to relieve Siege of Groningen, leading to the city's surrenderBelgiumsource
  • July – Beginning of a two-year mutiny of Italian troops in the Army of Flanders at Zichem in the Duchy of BrabantBelgiumsource
  • September 6 – In France, Morlaix, a walled city in Brittany controlled by the Spanish Army and the Ligue catholique, is besieged by the French Royal Army led by Marshal Jean VI d'Aumont. The French Army is supplemented by 2,000 troops commanded by John Norreys.source
  • September 17 – A fleet of six ships, commanded by the privateer Martin Frobisher, arrives at Morlaix and prepares to bombard the city, under siege by the French Army. The Spanish Army commander of the Morlaix garrison surrenders, rather than facing the city's destruction.source
  • October 1 – The siege of Fort Crozon begins as an English and French army attacks the Spanish held fortress at the Pointe des Espagnols in France.source
  • October 3 – The Battle of Glenlivet in Scotland: The Protestant forces loyal to King James VI, assisted by the armies of 8 clans and led by the Earl of Argyll, oppose Roman Catholic rebels supported by Clan Gordon (led by the Earl of Huntley), Clan Hay (led by the Earl of Errol), Clan Comyn and Clan Cameron. Despite being outnumbered 5 to 1, the Catholic clans win the battle, killing 500 of the Protestant forces.source
  • 3 October – Battle of Glenlivet: Catholic clansmen of George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly and Francis Hay, 9th Earl of Erroll, are victorious over the Protestant forces of Archibald Campbell, 7th Earl of ArgyllScotlandsource
  • October 9 – Sinhalese–Portuguese War – Campaign of Danture: Forces of the Kingdom of Kandy gain a decisive victory over the Portuguese Empire, reversing near-total control of Sri Lanka by Portugal. Pedro Lopes de Sousa, the Governor of Portuguese Ceylon, is killed in the battle, and replaced on December 24 by Jerónimo de Azevedo.source
  • 30 October – City of Antwerp tightens prohibition on children's street-fightingBelgiumsource
  • November 13 – After the Principality of Wallachia (now in Romania) joins other Eastern European nations in a Holy League, a rebellion breaks out in Bucharest as Christian residents massacre the soldiers of the Ottoman Muslim garrison, entering Wallachia into the ongoing Thirteen Years' War.source
  • November 18 – The Spanish fortress at Château de Brest in France falls after a siege of five months.source
  • November 19 – The siege of Fort Crozon by English and French soldiers ends with a massacre of all but 13 of the nearly 400 Spaniards living there, including women and children.source
  • December 15 – King Udai Singh of Marwar (now the Rajasthan and Punjab states of India and the Punjab province of Pakistan) returns to Lahore after having captured the Siwana fort.source
  • December 27 – French university student Jean Châtel attempts to assassinate King Henry IV of France, after gaining entrance into the King's office. Châtel attacks the monarch with a knife and causes a minor injury. After court jester Mathurine de Vallois intervenes, she detains Châtel until the King's bodyguard can carry out the arrest. Two days later, Chatel is executed by dismemberment. The Collège de Clermont, the Jesuit institution, where Châtel was a student, is closed, and the order of the Jesuits is temporarily banned.source
  • 1 to 19 November – Siege of Fort CrozonFrancesource
  • 6 to 17 September – Siege of MorlaixFrancesource
  • Korlai Fort, Maharashtra largely destroyed by the PortugueseIndiasource

Exploration & Expansion

  • February 2 – England's Admiral Richard Hawkins and the crew of the ship HMS Dainty become the first Europeans to see the Falkland Islands.source
  • June 5 – Willem Barents makes his first voyage to the Arctic Ocean, in search of the Northeast Passage.source

Religion & Belief

  • February 27 – The coronation of Henry IV as King of France takes place at Chartres Cathedral.source
  • April 17 – Hyacinth of Poland is canonized by Pope Clement VIII.source
  • 18 August – the monks of the abbey on Innisfallen Island are dispossessed by the Crown.Irelandsource
  • December 2 – The proposal for the Union of Brest (moving the Metropolitan of Kiev, Galicia and all Rus from the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Eastern Orthodox Church to the Roman Catholic Church) is made in a petition by the Metropolitan Michael Rohoza in a petition to Sigismund, monarch of Poland, Lithuania, Sweden and Finland. After a similar petition to Pope Clement VIII on June 12, 1595, the Union will be proclaimed on October 8, 1596.source

Economy & Finance

  • In Amsterdam, the Compagnie van Verre is created, with the goal of breaking the Portuguese monopoly on spice trade.source

Technology & Infrastructure

  • January 17 – Construction of the Junagarh Fort in the Mughal Empire's principality of Bikaner (now in India's Rajasthan state) is completed after almost five years.source

Health & Medicine

  • 4 February – City of Antwerp prohibits pigs foraging in the streetsBelgiumsource
  • May 14 – After almost two years of being closed because of bubonic plague, theaters in England are allowed to reopen, as the Admiral's Men stage a performance of The Jew of Malta.source
  • 23 August – City of Antwerp prohibits the keeping of brothels outside the LepelstraatBelgiumsource

Crime & Justice

  • August 28 – Farkas Kovacsóczy, who has served as Chancellor of Transylvania for 16 years, is arrested on orders of Prince Sigismund Báthory, and István Jósika is appointed in his place. Kovacsóczy is imprisoned at Szamosújvár (now Gherla in Romania) and executed by strangulation on September 11.source
  • Maerten de Vos, The Tribunal of the Brabant Mint in Antwerp (Snijders&Rockox House)Belgiumsource
  • Enniskillen Castle is besieged and captured by the English under Captain John Dowdall. It is subsequently retaken by Rory Maguire and recaptured by William Russell (Lord Deputy of Ireland).Irelandsource

Disasters & Accidents

  • June 23 – A cargo ship explosion kills over 700 people the day after three English Navy ships— the Mayflower, Sampson and Royal Exchange— set fire to the Portuguese carrack Cinco Chagas off of the coast of Faial Island during the Anglo-Spanish War. The treasure inside, gathered from the East Indies, sinks in the north Atlantic Ocean. Only 13 people on the Cinco Chagas survive, and the cargo is lost.source

Climate & Environment

  • 12 December – To combat dearth, the City of Antwerp prohibits forestalling on the grain marketBelgiumsource
  • The city of Pompeii is rediscovered more than 1,500 years after its burial by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.source

Culture & Society

  • January 24 – William Shakespeare's play Titus Andronicus, is given its first performance, presented by the Admiral's Men company of players at The Rose in London.source
  • 30 January – Joyous Entry into Brussels and Antwerp of Archduke Ernest of AustriaBelgiumsource
  • February 19 – The coronation of Sigismund III Vasa as King of Sweden takes place at Uppsala.source
  • June 11 – Philip II of Spain recognizes the rights and privileges of the local nobles and chieftains in the Philippines, which paves the way for the stabilization of the rule of the Principalía.source
  • August 25 – San Luis, in the Viceroyalty of Peru (now in Argentina), is founded by Luis Jufré de Loaysa y Meneses.source
  • August 30 – Diplomats meet at Stirling Castle for the Masque at the baptism of Prince Henry, heir to the throne of Scotland.source
  • 30 August - Baptism of Prince Henry at Stirling Castle.Scotlandsource
  • December 28 – The earliest known performance of William Shakespeare's play The Comedy of Errors takes place at Gray's Inn in London, and is played by the Lord Chamberlain's Men acting company. The production is held before members of the English court on Innocents' Day as part of the Gray's Inn Christmas festivities.source
  • St. Paul's College is founded in Macau by Jesuits, being the first western style university in the far east.source
  • Tulip bulbs planted by Carolus Clusius in the Hortus Botanicus Leiden, Holland, flower for the first time.source
  • Hendrick de Clerck appointed court painter to Archduke ErnestBelgiumsource
  • Maerten de Vos, The Temptation of St Anthony (Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp)Belgiumsource

Births

  • February 19 – Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, elder son of King James I & VI and Anne of Denmark (died 1612)source
  • 19 February – Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales (died 1612 in England)Scotlandsource
  • April 21 – Bernardino Spada, Italian Catholic cardinal (died 1661)source
  • May 1 – John Haynes, governor of Connecticut (died 1653)source
  • May 9 – Louis Henry, Prince of Nassau-Dillenburg, military leader in the Thirty Years' War (died 1662)source
  • May 29 – Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim, field marshal of the Holy Roman Empire in the Thirty Years' War (died 1632)source
  • June 3 – César, Duke of Vendôme, French nobleman (died 1665)source
  • June – Nicolas Poussin, French painter (died 1665)source
  • June – Nicolas Poussin, painter (died 1665)Francesource
  • July 6 – Frederick V, Margrave of Baden-Durlach (1622–1659) (died 1659)source
  • August 5 – Stefano Durazzo, Italian cardinal (died 1667)source
  • October 27 – Johann Rudolf Wettstein, Swiss diplomat (died 1666)source
  • November 26 – James Ware, Irish genealogist (died 1666)source
  • November 30 – John Cosin, English churchman (died 1672)source
  • December 9 – King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, Swedish king and general (died 1632)source
  • 9 December - Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, monarch (died 1632)Swedensource
  • December 27 – Ove Gjedde, Danish admiral, member of the interim government after the death of Christian IV (died 1660)source
  • Antoon Sallaert, painter (died 1650)Belgiumsource

Deaths

  • February 2 – Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Italian composer (born 1525)source
  • February – Barnabe Googe, English poet (born 1540)source
  • April 16 – Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby (born 1559), second in line to the throne of Englandsource
  • May 31 – Tintoretto, Italian painter (born 1518)source
  • June 3 – John Aylmer, English divine (born 1521)source
  • June 7 – Rodrigo Lopez, Queen Elizabeth's physician (executed for treason) (born 1525)source
  • June 14 – Orlande de Lassus, Flemish composer (born 1532)source
  • October 8 – Ishikawa Goemon, Japanese ninja and thief (born 1558)source
  • October 16 – William Allen, English cardinal (born 1532)source
  • November 15 – Sir Martin Frobisher, British explorer (born 1535)source
  • November 20 – Gaspar de Quiroga y Vela, General Inquisitor of Spain (born 1512)source
  • November 29 – Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga, Basque soldier and poet (born 1533)source
  • December 2 – Gerardus Mercator, Flemish-German cartographer (born 1512)source
  • 2 December – Gerardus Mercator (born 1512), cartographerBelgiumsource
  • December 16 – Allison Balfour, alleged Scottish witchsource
  • 29 December – Jean Châtel (born 1575)Francesource
  • Sir William Weston, Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas (born c.1546)Irelandsource
  • Alexander Hay (died 1594), lawyer and administratorScotlandsource