1597 CE

After the performance of the satirical play The Isle of Dogs, written by Thomas Nashe and Ben Jonson, at the Swan Theatre, the Privy Council of England concludes that the "lewd play" is full of seditious and slanderous matter. Jonson is arrested, along with two actors, Gabriel Spenser and Robert Shaa, and the three are sent to Marshalsea Prison. A raid on the home of Thomas Nashe seizes his papers, but Nashe is not found. The three prisoners are released later in the year and return to the stage. All copies of The Isle of Dogs script are destroyed. Imjin War: Battle of Chilcheollyang – The Japanese fleet defeats the Koreans, in their only naval victory of the war. The 3rd Spanish Armada, a fleet of 140 ships, departs from the port of La Coruña with 12,634 soldiers and sailors and a plan to invade the British Isles with a landing at Falmouth in Cornwall.

In the 1590s, the 16th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • December 6 – Queen Elizabeth of England appoints George Nicholson as the English Resident in Scotland, the London's chief diplomatic official to Edinburgh, with a letter of accreditation for Nicholson to present to King James VI of Scotland.source
  • December 7 – Lazzaro Grimaldi Cebà is elected as the new Doge of the Republic of Genoa, as the previous chief executive, Matteo Senarega completes his two-year term. Senarega is given the post of procuratore perpetuo.source
  • December 23 – Prince Sigismund Báthory signs an agreement with Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor to abdicate the throne of Transylvania in return for the Silesian duchies of Racibórz and Opole and an annual subsidy of 50,000 thalers.source
  • Yaqob succeeds his father Sarsa Dengel, as Emperor of Ethiopia at the age of 7.source
  • Amar Singh I becomes Maharana of Mewar, Udaipur and rules until his death in 1620.Indiasource
  • Lands of the Clan MacLeod are forfeit to the Crown.Scotlandsource
  • The Riksdag of Arboga confirm Duke Charles as regent, and the loyalists of the King flees to Poland.Swedensource

Conflict & Security

  • January 24 – Battle of Turnhout: Maurice of Nassau defeats a Spanish force under Jean de Rie of Varas, in the Netherlands.source
  • 4 February – Battle of Logiebride, a skirmish between men of the Clan Mackenzie against those of the Clan Munro and the Bain family of Tulloch Castle.Scotlandsource
  • February 24 – The last battle of the Cudgel War is fought on the Santavuori Hill in Ilmajoki, Ostrobothnia.source
  • February 24 - End of the Cudgel War.Swedensource
  • March 11 – Amiens is taken by Spanish forces.source
  • March 11 - The French city of Amiens falls to Spanish tropes in a surprise attack by a small force disguised as peasants. This event is in the context of the French Wars of Religion and the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604).Francesource
  • 11 March – Dublin Gunpowder Disaster: Huge explosion on the Dublin quays as barrels of gunpowder are unloaded; 126 killed, many more injured, and as many as forty houses demolished.Irelandsource
  • April 10 – The Serb uprising of 1596–97 ends in defeat for the rebels, at the field of Gacko (Gatačko Polje).source
  • April 19 – Prince Nyaungyan Min ignores the orders of King Nanda Bayin of Burma and seizes control of the Kingdom of Ava (now in Upper Myanmar)source
  • May 13 – King Henry IV of France and England's General Thomas Baskerville begin the siege of the city of Amiens in France, which had been captured on March 11 by the Spanish Army. The city is recaptured by September 25.source
  • August 13 – The Siege of Namwon begins in Korea.source
  • August 19 – Rheinberg capitulates to forces led by Maurice of Naussau.source
  • August 28 – Imjin War: Battle of Chilcheollyang – The Japanese fleet defeats the Koreans, in their only naval victory of the war.source
  • September 25 – Amiens is retaken from the Spanish by Anglo-French forces, led by Henry IV of France, after a four-month siege.source
  • September 25 - The city of Amiens is liberated after a three months of siege by king Henry IV and his army.Francesource
  • October 18 – The 3rd Spanish Armada, a fleet of 140 ships, departs from the port of La Coruña with 12,634 soldiers and sailors and a plan to invade the British Isles with a landing at Falmouth in Cornwall.source
  • October 21 – The Spanish Armada reaches the English Channel without opposition. An English ship sees the invading force's approach, but is intercepted and sunk, with the survivors being taken prisoner. The Armada encounters a storm the next day.source
  • October 25 – Following the loss of an artillery ship and the galleon San Bartolome, Spanish Admiral Diego Brochero orders the remaining ships in the attacking Armada to disperse until the weather improves.source
  • October 26 – Battle of Myeongnyang: The Koreans, commanded by Yi Sunsin, are victorious over a Japanese invasion fleet.source
  • November 10 – In the last major action during the war of the 3rd Spanish Armada, the galleon Bear of Amsterdam is captured as it approaches Falmouth, where an English squadron intercepts it and leads it into Dartmouth.source
  • November 12 – Lingen capitulates to forces led by Maurice of Nassau.source
  • November 21 – The remainder of the 3rd Spanish Armada is assembled at La Coruña. Only 108 of the original fleet of 140 ships is left, and many of the vessels require food and supplies. King Philip elects not to attempt another invasion of the British Isles.source
  • November – Battle of Carrickfergus: The clan MacDonnell of Antrim led by Sorley Boy MacDonnell defeat the English.Irelandsource
  • Abbas I ends the Uzbek raids on his lands.source
  • Beginning of the War Against Sigismund.Swedensource

Exploration & Expansion

  • February 8 – Sir Anthony Shirley, England's "best-educated pirate", raids Jamaica.source
  • May 27 – The Kingdom of Kotte, on most of the western side of the island of Sri Lanka, upon the death of King Dharmapala. With no heirs, Dharmapala had made a will bequeathing the entire kingdom to the European nation of Portugal, creating the territory of Portuguese Ceylon (Puruthugisi Lankawa or Porthueka Ilankai).source
  • August 14 – First Dutch Expedition to Indonesia: A Dutch expedition commanded by Cornelis de Houtman returns to Amsterdam, after having successfully reached Java. This achievement opens the Spice trade, which had until then been monopolised by the Portuguese, to the Dutch, who in the next years launch several more expeditions to the Indies.source
  • August 17 – Islands Voyage: Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and Sir Walter Raleigh set sail on an expedition to the Azores.source
  • 12 million pesos of silver cross the Pacific. Although it is unknown just how much silver flowed from the Spanish base of Manila in the Philippines to the Ming Dynasty of China, it is known that the main port for the Mexican silver trade—Acapulco—shipped out 150,000 to 345,000 kg (4 to 9 million taels) of silver annually from this year to 1602.source

Religion & Belief

  • January 4 – Japan's Chancellor of the Realm, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, sends 26 European Christians, arrested on December 8, 1596, on a forced march from Kyoto to Nagasaki.source
  • August 24 – Christian IV of Denmark-Norway refuses to let Tycho Brahe return to Denmark.source
  • December 23 – The Roman Catholic order of the Congregatio Patrum Doctrinae Christianae, which will later be more commonly known as the Christian Doctrine Fathers, is approved by Pope Clement VIII. Founded on September 29, 1592, the order continues to operate more than four centuries later and is headquartered in Rome.source
  • Tobias Hess corresponds with Simon Studion and agrees with him that the Papacy must fall in 1604.source
  • Dom Francisco de Gama becomes viceroy of India (until 1600)Indiasource
  • Scottish Poor Laws make parishes rather than the church responsible for the administration of poor relief.Scotlandsource

Science & Discovery

  • Andreas Libavius publishes Alchemia, a pioneering chemistry textbook.source

Crime & Justice

  • March–October – The Great Scottish Witch Hunt of 1597.Scotlandsource
  • July 14 – Scottish poet Alexander Montgomerie is declared an outlaw, after the collapse of a Catholic plot.source
  • 14 July – poet Alexander Montgomerie is declared an outlaw after the collapse of a Catholic plot.Scotlandsource
  • July 28 – After the performance of the satirical play The Isle of Dogs, written by Thomas Nashe and Ben Jonson, at the Swan Theatre, the Privy Council of England concludes that the "lewd play" is full of seditious and slanderous matter. Jonson is arrested, along with two actors, Gabriel Spenser and Robert Shaa, and the three are sent to Marshalsea Prison. A raid on the home of Thomas Nashe seizes his papers, but Nashe is not found. The three prisoners are released later in the year and return to the stage. All copies of The Isle of Dogs script are destroyed.source

Climate & Environment

Culture & Society

  • April 23 – Probable first performance of William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor.source
  • April 27 – Johannes Kepler marries Barbara Muhleck.source
  • June 13 – The Staten-Generaal of the Dutch Republic approves a proposal for the Generaliteitscollege, a common board for the Republic's five separate navies, the Admiralty of Amsterdam, the Admiralty of Rotterdam, the Admiralty of Zeeland, the Admiralty of the Noorderkwartier and the Admiralty of Friesland.source
  • 17 July – George Heriot is appointed as goldsmith to the queen consort Anne of Denmark.Scotlandsource
  • The first edition of Francis Bacon's Essays is published.source
  • Jacopo Peri writes Dafne, now recognised as the first opera.source
  • King James VI's Daemonologie is published.Scotlandsource

Births

  • January 12 – François Duquesnoy, Flemish Baroque sculptor in Rome (died 1643)source
  • January 31 – John Francis Regis, French Jesuit priest (died 1640)source
  • January 31 – John Francis Regis, French saint (died 1640)Francesource
  • March 18 – Jérôme le Royer de la Dauversière, French nobleman, founder of Montreal and an order of nursing Sisters (died 1659)source
  • April 9 – John Davenport, English Puritan clergyman, co-founder of the American colony of New Haven (died 1670)source
  • May 13 – Cornelis Schut, Flemish painter, draughtsman and engraver (died 1655)source
  • May 31 – Jean-Louis Guez de Balzac, French writer and essayist (d.1654)Francesource
  • July 2 – Theodoor Rombouts, Flemish painter (died 1637)source
  • July 13 – Sebastian Stoskopff, French painter (died 1657)source
  • August 21 – Roger Twysden, English antiquarian and royalist (died 1672)source
  • August 29 – Henry Gage, Royalist officer in the English Civil War (died 1645)source
  • September 23 – Francesco Barberini, Italian Catholic cardinal (died 1679)source
  • September 28 – Justus Sustermans, Flemish painter (died 1681)source
  • October 7 – Captain John Underhill, English settler and soldier (died 1672)source
  • December 22 – Frederick III, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp (died 1659)source
  • December 24 – Honoré II, Prince of Monaco (died 1662)source
  • Sir Duncan Campbell of Auchinbreck, soldier (murdered 1645)Scotlandsource
  • Andrew Murray, 1st Lord Balvaird, minister (died 1644)Scotlandsource

Deaths

  • 19 January – Maharana Pratap, Hindu Rajput ruler of Mewar (born 1540)Indiasource
  • January 29 – Maharana Pratap, Indian statesman (born 1540)source
  • February 5 – In Japan, 26 European Catholic Christians are executed in Nagasaki by crucifixion. They had the misfortune of being shipwrecked on the Japanese coast on October 19, 1596.source
  • February 5 – Gonsalo Garcia, Portuguese Franciscan and Roman Catholic priest, missionary, martyr and saint (born 1557)source
  • February 6 – Franciscus Patricius, Italian philosopher and scientist (born 1529)source
  • March 6 – William Brooke, 10th Baron Cobham, English noble and politician (born 1527)source
  • 27 May – James Tyrie, Jesuit theologian (born 1543)Scotlandsource
  • June 9 – José de Anchieta, Spanish Jesuit missionary (born 1534)source
  • June 20 – Willem Barents, Dutch navigator and explorer (born c. 1550)source
  • July 19 – Gunilla Bielke, Queen of Sweden (born 1568)source
  • July 22 – Gabriele Paleotti, Italian Roman Catholic cardinal (born 1522)source
  • August 27 – Wŏn Kyun, Korean general and admiral during the Joseon Dynasty (born 1540)source
  • October 4 – Sarsa Dengel, Emperor of Ethiopia (born 1550)source
  • 14 October – Thomas Burgh, 3rd Baron Burgh, Lord Deputy of Ireland since 18 April (born c.1558)Irelandsource
  • October 19 – Ashikaga Yoshiaki, Japanese shōgun (born 1537)source
  • November 1 – Edward Kelley, English spirit medium (born 1555)source
  • 20 November - Princess Elizabeth of Sweden, princess (born 1549)Swedensource
  • December 21 – Petrus Canisius, Dutch Jesuit priest and saint (born 1521)source