date: July 15

text: July 15 – The Battle of the Berlengas takes place off of the coast of Portugal as the Earl of Cumberland's five English privateers are surprised by five Spanish galleys commanded by General Francisco Coloma, commander of the Armada de Guarda Costa. Cumberland's ship, the Golden Noble, is captured.


date: July 18

section: Conflict & Security

text: July 18 (6 Shawal 999 AH) – In India, the four-day Battle of Bhuchar Mori ends in the Gujarat state, as General Mirza Aziz Koka leads the Mughal Empire gains a decisive victory over Nawanagar, led by the Sultan Muzaffar Shah III.

source_section: Events › July–September


date: July 25

text: July 25 – Siege of Knodsenburg: Dutch Republic stadtholder Maurice of Nassau and English General Francis Vere defeat the Duke of Parma outside Nijmegen after a four-day siege.


date: August 1

text: August 1 – Serdar Ferhad Pasha is appointed the new Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire by Sultan Murad III, replacing Koca Sinan Pasha following a revolt of the Janissaries.


date: August 9

text: August 9 – The Khan of the Crimean Tatara, Ğazı II Giray, is wounded by the defenders against his siege of Moscow. Gazi's brother, Fetih I Giray, continues the siege, which is finally settled with a peace agreement and payment of 10,000 rubles in 1594.


date: August 30

text: August 30 – The Battle of Flores begins off Flores Island (Azores). By September 1, the Spanish fleet is victorious over the English and captures the English ship Revenge, fatally wounding Richard Grenville.


date: September 4

text: September 4 – The Kunohe rebellion, which was started by Kunohe Masazane on March 13 on northern Honshu island in Japan's Mutsu Province (in the modern-day Iwate Prefecture), is suppressed by the samurai Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Chancellor of the Realm. The victory completes the unification of Japan.


date: September 14

text: September 14 – Siege of Hulst: Hulst is captured by Maurice of Orange, the staatholder of the Dutch Republic.


date: October 21

text: October 21 – The city of Nijmegen is captured from Spanish occupiers by Maurice of Orange, the staatholder of the Dutch Republic.

source_section: Events › October–December


date: October 26

text: October 26 – The Portuguese invasion of the Jaffna Kingdom begins on the north side of the island of Sri Lanka.


date: November 6

text: November 6 – Hundred Years' Croatian–Ottoman War: The Ottoman Empire successfully captures the Croatian rebel fort of Ripač.


date: November 11

text: November 11 – King Henry IV of France begins the siege of Rouen, the Spanish-held capital of Normandy. The Spanish Navy arrives after five months and King Henry abandons the siege on April 20.


date: December 27

text: December 27 – Francis Stewart, Earl of Bothwell leads the attack on the Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh. Having been alerted by a premature attack on the palace's prison, King James VI of Scotland and Queen Anne are able to take refuge within the castle, and the raid fails. Seven of Bothwell's men are subsequently captured and hanged.


text: The Siamese-Cambodian War begins.

source_section: Events › Date unknown


text: The defeated Askia dynasty move to the Dendi province in modern-day Niger.


date: April 10

section: Exploration & Expansion

text: April 10 – English merchant James Lancaster sets off on a voyage to the East Indies.

source_section: Events › April–June


date: May 30

text: May 30 – Timbuktu is captured by an expedition of Arma people sent by the Saadi ruler of Morocco and led by Judar Pasha.


date: February 7

section: Religion & Belief

text: February 7 – Pope Gregory XIV, who had succeeded Pope Urban VII in December, appoints Cardinal Marco Antonio Colonna and six other cardinals to a commission to revise the Sixtine Vulgate Latin translation of the Bible, published in 1590 under the editorship of Pope Sixtus V, to which the College of Cardinals has taken exception. The revision of the revision, dubbed the Sixto-Clementine Vulgate, will be completed in 1592 and be the official version used by the Catholic Church until 1979.

source_section: Events › January–March


date: February 25

text: February 25 – Poet Edmund Spenser is granted an annual pension of 50 pounds sterling by Queen Elizabeth I of England in recognition of his publication of The Faerie Queen. The pension is paid in quarterly installments of 12s. 10d. on March 25, June 24, September 29 and December 25.


date: March 1

text: March 1 – Pope Gregory XIV excommunicates King Henry IV of France and orders the clergy, nobles, judicial functionaries and the Third Estate of France to renounce the nation's king.


date: March 21

text: March 21 – Pope Gregory XIV issues the papal bull Cogit nos, prohibiting the placing of bets on the outcome of papal elections, the length of time that a pope will reign, or who will be appointed as a cardinal.


text: April 10 – The emancipation of Filipino slaves in the Spanish Philippines along with reparations to former slaves, with the threat of excommunication of any Spanish slaveholder who refuses to comply, is ordered by Pope Gregory XIV in the papal bull Cum Sicuti.


date: October 19

text: October 19 – The Islamic calendar year 1000 A.H. begins with the first day of the month of Muharram, with concerns that the new year will herald the end of the world. When the year ends on October 7, 1592, without an apocalypse, the official interpretation among Ottoman Muslims is that the Ottoman Empire "had come closer to perfection than any other Muslim state.


date: October 29

text: October 29 – Giovanni Antonio Facchinetti is elected on the third ballot to succeed the late Pope Gregory XIV, after Cardinal Ludovico Madruzzo withdraws his candidacy. and takes the name Pope Innocent IX.


date: November 4

text: November 4 – The coronation of Pope Innocent IX takes place in Rome as Cardinal Andreas von Österreich places the crown on the head of Giovanni Facchinetti.


date: December 10

text: December 10 – Four Roman Catholic priests and three laymen are executed in England in a campaign against the Roman Catholic Church.


date: July 22

section: Technology & Infrastructure

text: July 22 – The Durtnell (Dartnell) family of Brasted, Kent, England, begin to work as building contractors. The business continues under thirteen generations of the family until ceasing to trade in 2019.


text: The Rialto Bridge in Venice, designed by Antonio da Ponte, is completed.


date: October 8

section: Health & Medicine

text: October 8 – The Separation Edict, a law imposing an immobile social class structure in Japan, is promulgated by Toyotomi Hideyoshi.


date: January 27

section: Crime & Justice

text: January 27 – Scottish schoolmaster John Fian becomes the first person to be executed after the North Berwick witch trials, following his conviction for the crime of witchcraft. Fian is taken to the Castlehill outside of Edinburgh and strangled after which his body is burned. Agnes Sampson is garroted the next day at Castlehill and then burned.


date: May 15

text: May 15 – In Russia, Tsarevich Dimitri, son of Ivan the Terrible, is found dead in mysterious circumstances, at the palace in Uglich. The official explanation is that he has cut his own throat during an epileptic seizure. Many believe he has been murdered by his rival, Boris Godunov, who becomes tsar.


date: September 5

section: Climate & Environment

text: September 5 – A storm near the Azores in the North Atlantic begins, sinking a large number of the Spanish ships, including the recently-captured HMS Revenge. During August and September, at least eight intense hurricanes occur in the most severe of the pre-1600 seasons on record.


date: November 19

section: Culture & Society

text: November 19 – Queen Elizabeth I grants a royal charter founding Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield, a boys' school; the institution, now known as Queen Elizabeth's School, later develops into an independent day school.


date: November 27

text: November 27 – In Italy, Giovanni Giustiniani Campi is elected as the new Doge of the Republic of Genoa after a 12-day search for a successor to Battista Negrone.


text: The city of Hyderabad, India, is founded by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah.


text: The first of the Conimbricenses commentaries on Aristotle, by the Jesuits of the University of Coimbra, is published.


date: January 11

section: Births

text: January 11 – Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, English Civil War general (d. 1646)

source_section: Births › January–June


date: January 12

text: January 12 – Jusepe de Ribera, Spanish Tenebrist painter and printmaker (d. 1652)


date: January 29

text: January 29 – Franciscus Junius, pioneer of Germanic philology (d. 1677)


date: February 8

text: February 8 – Guercino, Italian painter (d. 1666)


date: March 15

text: March 15 or 1593 – Alexandre de Rhodes, French Jesuit missionary (d. 1660)


date: March 28

text: March 28 – William Cecil, 2nd Earl of Salisbury, English earl (d. 1668)


date: April 25

text: April 25 – Marcos de Torres y Rueda, interim viceroy of New Spain (d. 1649)


date: May 26

text: May 26 – Olimpia Maidalchini, Italian noblewoman (d. 1657)


date: June 16

text: June 16 – Joseph Solomon Delmedigo, Italian physician, mathematician, and music theorist (d. 1655)


date: July 20

text: July 20 – Anne Hutchinson, English Puritan preacher (d. 1643)

source_section: Births › July–December


date: August 12

text: August 12 – Louise de Marillac, French co-founder of the Daughters of Charity (d. 1660)


date: August 28

text: August 28 – John Christian of Brieg, Duke of Brzeg (1602–1639) (d. 1639)


date: September 8

text: September 8 – Marie Angélique Arnauld, French abbess of the Abbey of Port-Royal (d. 1661)


date: October 2

text: October 2 – Margherita Gonzaga, Duchess of Lorraine (1608–1624) (d. 1632)


date: February 26

section: Deaths

text: February 26 – Vespasiano I Gonzaga, Italian noble and diplomat (b. 1531)

source_section: Deaths


date: April 21

text: April 21 – Sen no Rikyū, Japanese exponent of the tea ceremony (b. 1522)


date: June 21

text: June 21 – Aloysius Gonzaga, Italian Jesuit and saint (b. 1568)


date: July 2

text: July 2 – Vincenzo Galilei, Italian composer (b. 1520)


date: August 23

text: August 23 – Luis Ponce de León, Spanish lyric poet (b. 1527)


date: September 10

text: September 10 – Richard Grenville, English soldier and explorer (b. 1542)


date: September 19

text: September 19 – Alonso de Orozco Mena, Spanish Catholic priest (b. 1500)


date: October 16

text: October 16 – Pope Gregory XIV (b. 1535)


text: October 16 – Pope Gregory XIV dies from an attack of gallstones and leaves the Papacy of the Roman Catholic Church vacant for the third time in 14 months. The Pope, formerly Cardinal Niccolò Sfondrati, had served for only 10 months after being elected on December 5, 1590.


date: November 20

text: November 20 – Christopher Hatton, English politician (b. 1540)


date: December 14

text: December 14 – Saint John of the Cross, Spanish Carmelite friar and poet (b. 1542)


date: December 18

text: December 18 – Marigje Arriens, Dutch woman executed for witchcraft (b. c. 1520)


date: December 30

text: December 30 – Pope Innocent IX (b. 1519)


text: December 30 – Pope Innocent IX dies only two months after having been elected as the Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, leaving the Papacy vacant for the 4th time in 16 months.


date: December 4

section: Geopolitics & Diplomacy

text: December 4 – Yu Sŏngnyong becomes the new Yeonguijeong (Chief State Councillor of the government of the Korean Empire, similar to Prime Minister) and serves until 1598.


text: The German Duchy Palatine Zweibrücken becomes the first territory in the world with compulsory education for girls and boys.


date: April 13

text: April 13 – The Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–98) begin with the Siege of Busanjin.


date: April 20

text: April 20 – King Henry IV of France ends the siege of Rouen, the Spanish-held capital of Normandy, five months after its November 11 commencement, as the Spanish Navy arrives to relieve the city.


date: April 24

text: April 24 – Battle of Sangju: The Japanese are victorious over the Koreans fighting for the Kingdom of Joseon.


date: April 28

text: April 28 – Battle of Ch'ungju: Japan inflicts a decisive defeat on Korea.


date: May 7

text: May 7 – Battle of Okpo: The Korean navy is victorious over Japan.


date: May 20

text: May 20 –August 19 – Battle of Flores (Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)), a series of naval engagements in the Azores in which the English are victorious, taking the great Portuguese carrack Madre de Deus on or about August 3.


date: May 29

text: May 29 – Battle of Sacheon: Korean admiral Yi Sun-sin destroys all 13 Japanese ships taking part, using his improved turtle ship for the first time in battle.


date: June 2

text: June 2 – Battle of Dangpo:The Korean navy is again victorious over Japan.


date: June 10

text: June 10 – The Siege of Bihać begins in the Kingdom of Croatia, by Telli Hasan Pasha (Hasan Predojević) of the Ottoman Empire. Bihać is captured on June 19 and is lost for Croatia forever.


date: July 20

text: July 20 – The Japanese capture the Korean capital Hanyang, causing Seonjo to request the assistance of Ming dynasty Chinese forces, who recapture the city a year later.


date: July 30

text: July 30 – Alonso de Sotomayor petitions the viceroy of Peru for more troops to help resist attacks by Indians and English pirates.


date: August 14

text: August 14 – Battle of Hansan Island: The Korean navy defeats the Japanese.


date: September 1

text: September 1 – Battle of Busan: The Korean fleet makes a surprise attack on the Japanese but fails to break their supply lines to Busan.


date: October 5

text: October 5 – Siege of Jinju: The Korean navy is victorious over the Japanese.


date: November 4

text: November 4 (2nd waxing of Natdaw, 954 ME) – In a war between what are now the nations of Myanmar and Thailand, the Army of Burma, led by King Nanda Bayin Burma (Toungoo) begins its invasion of the Ayutthaya Kingdom (Siam), defended by King Naresuan.


date: August 9

text: August 9 – English explorer John Davis, commander of the Desire, probably discovers the Falkland Islands.


date: April 4

text: April 4 – The future Henry IV of France, King designate of Henry III of France, announces in a declaration, so-called "Expedient," his intention to take instruction in, and convert to, the Catholic religion.


date: November 3

text: November 3 – The city of San Luis Potosí is founded.


date: November 9

text: November 9 – The Sixto-Clementine Vulgate, an updated edition of the Latin language translation of the Bible, is promulgated by the Roman Catholic Church.


date: November 12

text: November 12 – The Collegium Melitense is founded in Malta by Bishop Garagallo.


date: March 14

section: Science & Discovery

text: March 14 – Ultimate Pi Day: the largest correspondence between calendar dates and significant digits of pi since the introduction of the Julian calendar according to the American method of writing the number of the month prior to the day.


date: May 7

text: May 7 – The Malta plague epidemic begins when galleys from the Grand Duchy of Tuscany arrive on the island with 100 prisoners of war from Egypt, and 20 ill crewmembers; over the next 18 months, 3,000 people on Malta die of the bubonic plague.


date: August

text: August – 1592–1593 London plague breaks out in England.


date: December 21

text: December 21 – The city of London begins publishing the Bill of Mortality, the first regular data of deaths from an epidemic, as the government reports its weekly survey of the number of burials in the 113 parishes of London of deaths from bubonic plague. The death statistics continue to be published until December 18, 1595.


text: William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, chief adviser of Queen Elizabeth I of England, is taken seriously ill.


text: The Population Census Edict is promulgated in Japan by Toyotomi Hidetsugu.


date: February 7

text: February 7 – George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly, sets fire to Donibristle Castle in Scotland and murders James Stewart, 2nd Earl of Moray.


date: September 7

text: September 7 – The captured Madre de Deus enters Dartmouth harbour in England and is then subjected to mass theft.


section: Disasters & Accidents

text: The Confucian shrine of Munmyo in Korea is destroyed by fire.


date: March 3

text: March 3 – Trinity College Dublin, Ireland's oldest university, is founded.


text: Negotiations begin for the annulment of the childless marriage of Henry IV of France and Marguerite of Valois.


text: Henry Constable's Diana, one of the first sonnet sequences in English, is published in London.


date: January 22

text: January 22 – Pierre Gassendi, French philosopher and scientist (d. 1655)


date: March 28

text: March 28 – Comenius, Czech teacher and writer (d. 1670)


date: April 11

text: April 11 – John Eliot, Member of Parliament, Statesman, Vice-Admiral of Devon (d. 1632)


date: May 8

text: May 8 – Francis Quarles, English poet most famous for his Emblem book aptly entitled Emblems (d. 1644)


date: May 14

text: May 14 – Alice Barnham, wife of English scientific philosopher and statesman Francis Bacon (d. 1650)


date: August 13

text: August 13 – William, Count of Nassau-Siegen, German count (d. 1642)


date: September 1

text: September 1 – Maria Angela Astorch, Spanish mystic and saint (d. 1665)


date: September 15

text: September 15 – Giovanni Battista Rinuccini, archbishop of Fermo (d. 1653)


date: September 24

text: September 24 – Christopher Wandesford, English administrator and politician (d. 1640)


date: October 13

text: October 13 – Christian Gueintz, German teacher and writer-grammarian (d. 1650)


date: October 22

text: October 22 – Gustav Horn, Count of Pori, Swedish/Finnish soldier and politician (d. 1657)


date: November 5

text: November 5 – Charles Chauncy, English-born president of Harvard College (d. 1671)


date: December 6

text: December 6 – William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle (d. 1676)


date: December 29

text: December 29 – Johannes Matthiae Gothus, Swedish academic (d. 1670)


date: January 5

text: January 5 – William, Duke of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, German nobleman (b. 1516)


text: January 22 – Elisabeth of Austria, Queen of France (b. 1554)


date: January 27

text: January 27 – Gian Paolo Lomazzo, Italian painter (b. 1538)


date: January 29

text: January 29 – Cardinal Ippolito Aldobrandini of San Pancrazio is elected as the new Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church after Ludovico Madruzzo and Giulio Antonio Santori withdraw following 19 rounds of voting by the 54 cardinals present. Cardinal Santori had received 28 votes on the first ballot, eight short of the necessary two-thirds majority required, and fewer on the rounds that followed. Aldobrandini is crowned the next day as Pope Clement VIII, the 231st pope. Clement succeeds Pope Innocent IX, who died on December 30, 1591. He immediately recalls the Sixtine Vulgate.


date: February 2

text: February 2 – Ana de Mendoza y de Silva, Princess of Éboli, Spanish noble (b. 1540)


date: March 5

text: March 5 – Michiel Coxie, Flemish painter (b. 1499)


date: April 13

text: April 13 – Bartolomeo Ammannati, Italian architect and sculptor (b. 1511)


date: June 17

text: June 17 – Ernst Ludwig, Duke of Pomerania (b. 1545)


date: July 26

text: July 26 – Armand de Gontaut, Baron of Biron, French soldier (b. 1524)


date: August 25

text: August 25 – William IV, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) (b. 1532)


date: September 3

text: September 3 – Robert Greene, English writer (b. 1558)


date: September 13

text: September 13 – Michel de Montaigne, French essayist (b. 1533)


date: October 19

text: October 19 – Anthony Browne, 1st Viscount Montagu, English politician (b. 1528)


date: November 17

text: November 17 – Sigismund III Vasa becomes the new King of Sweden upon the death of his father, King John III.


date: November 27

text: November 27 – Antonio Grimaldi Cebà begins a two-year term as the new Doge of the Republic of Genoa, succeeding Giovanni Giustiniani Campi.


text: Mihai Viteazul becomes prince of Walachia.


date: January 25

text: 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.


text: February 2 – Battle of Piątek: Polish forces led by Janusz Ostrogski are victorious.


date: February 8

text: February 8 – Siege of Pyongyang (1593): A Japanese invasion is defeated in Pyongyang by a combined force of Korean and Ming troops.


date: February 12

text: February 12 – Battle of Haengju: Korea defeats Japan.


date: April 18

text: 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.


date: June 7

text: 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.


date: June 22

text: June 22 – Battle of Sisak in Croatia: The Habsburgs defeat the Ottoman Empire.


date: July 29

text: July 29 – The Long Turkish War breaks out in Hungary between the Habsburgs and the Ottomans.


date: August 24

text: 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.


date: September 10

text: 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)


date: October 11

text: 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.


date: October 24

text: October 24 – Supposed date of the event described in the 1593 transported soldier legend.


date: October 28

text: 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.


date: December 6

text: 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.


date: December 27

text: 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.


text: Khwaja Usman takes shelter in Goyghor Mosque after the Afghan rebellion against the Subahdar of Mughal Bengal, Man Singh I.


text: Irish pirate queen Grace O'Malley meets with Queen Elizabeth I of England at Greenwich.


date: March 7

text: March 7 (February 25 Old Style) – The Uppsala Synod discontinues; the Liturgical Struggle between the Swedish Reformation and Counter-Reformation ends in Sweden.


date: July 25

text: 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").


date: August 3

text: 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.


text: Robert Bellarmine's Disputationes de Controversiis Christianae Fidei adversus hujus temporis Haereticos concludes publication in Ingolstadt.


text: 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.


text: Henry Constable's Spirituall Sonnettes are written.


text: The parish of Laukaa was founded.


date: March 14

text: March 14 – The Pi Day, giving the most digits of pi when written in mm/dd/yyyy format, (i.e. 3.141593, 3/14/1593) occurs, as realized later. During 1593 Flemish mathematician Adriaan van Roomen is working on the most accurate calculation of pi up to that time and arrives at 16 decimal places of pi using the polygon approximation method), and publishes it in his treatise Ideae mathematicae pars prima (Antverpiae, 1593).


date: January 27

text: January 27 – The Roman Inquisition opens the seven-year trial of scholar Giordano Bruno.


date: May 12

text: 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.


date: May 18

text: May 18 – A warrant for the arrest of Christopher Marlowe is issued. On May 20 he presents himself to the Privy Council.


date: May 30

text: May 30 – Christopher Marlowe is stabbed to death in a dispute over a bill at a lodging house in Deptford.


date: May 5

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


text: 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.


date: January 10

text: January 10 – Prince Maurice of Savoy, Catholic cardinal and Prince of Savoy (d. 1657)


date: February 24

text: February 24 – Henry de Vere, 18th Earl of Oxford, English noble (d. 1625)


date: March 1

text: March 1 – Franz Wilhelm von Wartenberg, German Catholic cardinal (d. 1661)


date: March 25

text: March 25 – Jean de Brébeuf, French Jesuit missionary who travelled to Canada in 1625 (d. 1649)


date: April 3

text: April 3 – George Herbert, Welsh-born English poet (d. 1633)


date: April 13

text: April 13 – Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, English statesman (d. 1641)


date: May 2

text: May 2 – Catherine de' Medici, Governor of Siena, Italian princess (d. 1629)


date: May 19

text: May 19 – Jacob Jordaens, Flemish painter (d. 1678)


date: June 22

text: June 22 – Sir John Gell, 1st Baronet, Parliamentarian politician and military figure in the English Civil War (d. 1671)


date: July 8

text: July 8 – Artemisia Gentileschi, Italian painter (d. 1656)


text: July 8 – Peter Sainthill, English politician (d. 1648)


date: August 9

text: August 9 – Izaak Walton, English writer (d. 1683)


date: November 25

text: November 25 – Alain de Solminihac, French bishop and beatified person (d. 1659)


date: December 11

text: December 11 – Sir William Airmine, 1st Baronet, English politician (d. 1651)


date: January 8

text: January 8 – Mingyi Swa, Burmese crown prince (b. 1558)


date: January 11

text: January 11 – Scipione Gonzaga, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1542)


date: February 6

text: February 6 – Emperor Ōgimachi of Japan (b. 1517)


date: March 8

text: March 8 – Paul Luther, German scientist (b. 1533)


date: March 23

text: March 23 – Henry Barrowe, English Puritan and separatist (b. 1550)


date: April 6

text: April 6 – John Greenwood, English Puritan and separatist (hanged) (b. 1556)


date: April 24

text: April 24 – William Harrison, English clergyman (b. 1534)


date: May 30

text: May 30 – Christopher Marlowe, English poet and playwright (murdered) (b. 1564)


date: July 11

text: July 11 – Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Italian painter (b. 1526)


date: September 5

text: September 5 – Andreas von Auersperg, Carniolan noble and military commander in the battle of Sisak (b. 1556)


date: September 25

text: September 25 – Henry Stanley, 4th Earl of Derby, English nobleman, diplomat and politician (b. 1531)


date: October 25

text: October 25 – Gómez Pérez Dasmariñas, Spanish colonial administrator (murdered) (b. 1519)


date: November 11

text: November 11 – Albert, Count of Nassau-Weilburg (b. 1537)


date: November 20

text: November 20 – Hans Bol, Flemish artist (b. 1534)


date: January 3

text: 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. 227–231


date: January 25

text: 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.


date: March 18

text: 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.


date: April 27

text: 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.


date: May 6

text: May 6 – The siege of the Spanish-held city of Coevorden ends after six months as the city surrenders to the Dutch Republic.


date: May 19

text: 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.


date: July 1

text: 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).


date: July 3

text: July 3 – The Ayutthayan–Cambodian War (1591–1594) concludes when Naresuan, ruler of the Ayutthaya Kingdom, sacks Longvek, capital of Cambodia.


date: July 22

text: July 22 – After a two-month siege, the city of Groningen submits to Dutch troops, bringing the whole northern Netherlands under the Dutch Republic.


date: September 6

text: 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.


date: September 17

text: 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.


date: October 1

text: 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.


date: October 3

text: 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.


date: October 9

text: 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.


date: November 13

text: 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.


date: November 18

text: November 18 – The Spanish fortress at Château de Brest in France falls after a siege of five months.


date: November 19

text: 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.


date: December 15

text: 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.


date: December 27

text: 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.


date: February 2

text: February 2 – England's Admiral Richard Hawkins and the crew of the ship HMS Dainty become the first Europeans to see the Falkland Islands.


date: June 5

text: June 5 – Willem Barents makes his first voyage to the Arctic Ocean, in search of the Northeast Passage.


date: February 27

text: February 27 – The coronation of Henry IV as King of France takes place at Chartres Cathedral.


date: April 17

text: April 17 – Hyacinth of Poland is canonized by Pope Clement VIII.


date: December 2

text: 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.


section: Economy & Finance

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


date: January 17

text: 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.


date: May 14

text: 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.


date: August 28

text: 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.


date: June 23

text: 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.


text: The city of Pompeii is rediscovered more than 1,500 years after its burial by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.


date: January 24

text: 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.


date: February 19

text: February 19 – The coronation of Sigismund III Vasa as King of Sweden takes place at Uppsala.


date: June 11

text: 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.


date: August 25

text: August 25 – San Luis, in the Viceroyalty of Peru (now in Argentina), is founded by Luis Jufré de Loaysa y Meneses.


date: August 30

text: August 30 – Diplomats meet at Stirling Castle for the Masque at the baptism of Prince Henry, heir to the throne of Scotland.


date: December 28

text: 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.


text: St. Paul's College is founded in Macau by Jesuits, being the first western style university in the far east.


text: Tulip bulbs planted by Carolus Clusius in the Hortus Botanicus Leiden, Holland, flower for the first time.


date: January 7

text: January 7 – Vincenzo II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, Italian duke and Catholic cardinal (d. 1627)


text: February 19 – Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, elder son of King James I & VI and Anne of Denmark (d. 1612)


date: March 25

text: March 25 – Maria Tesselschade Visscher, Dutch poet and engraver (d. 1649)


date: May 1

text: May 1 – John Haynes, governor of Connecticut (d. 1653)


date: May 9

text: May 9 – Louis Henry, Prince of Nassau-Dillenburg, military leader in the Thirty Years' War (d. 1662)


date: May 29

text: May 29 – Gottfried Heinrich Graf zu Pappenheim, field marshal of the Holy Roman Empire in the Thirty Years' War (d. 1632)


text: June 11 – Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Ardglass, English nobleman (d. 1653)


date: June

text: June – Nicolas Poussin, French painter (d. 1665)


date: October 4

text: October 4 – Johan Schatter, Dutch Golden Age member of the Haarlem schutterij (d. 1673)


date: November 26

text: November 26 – James Ware, Irish genealogist (d. 1666)


date: November 30

text: November 30 – John Cosin, English churchman (d. 1672)


date: December 9

text: December 9 – King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, Swedish king and general (d. 1632)


date: December 24

text: December 24 – Otto, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, Prince of Hesse-Kassel, Administrator of Hersfeld Abbey (d. 1617)


date: December 27

text: December 27 – Ove Gjedde, Danish admiral, member of the interim government after the death of Christian IV (d. 1660)


date: February 2

text: February 2 – Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Italian composer (b. 1525)


date: February 8

text: February 8 – Countess Palatine Elisabeth of Simmern-Sponheim, Duchess of Saxony (b. 1540)


date: February

text: February – Barnabe Googe, English poet (b. 1540)


date: April 16

text: April 16 – Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby (b. 1559), second in line to the throne of England


date: April 29

text: April 29 – Thomas Cooper, English bishop, lexicographer, and writer (b. c. 1517)


date: May 31

text: May 31 – Tintoretto, Italian painter (b. 1518)


date: June 7

text: June 7 – Rodrigo Lopez, Queen Elizabeth's physician (executed for treason) (b. 1525)


date: June 14

text: June 14 – Orlande de Lassus, Flemish composer (b. 1532)


date: October 16

text: October 16 – William Allen, English cardinal (b. 1532)


date: November 15

text: November 15 – Sir Martin Frobisher, British explorer (b. 1535)


date: November 20

text: November 20 – Gaspar de Quiroga y Vela, General Inquisitor of Spain (b. 1512)


date: November 29

text: November 29 – Alonso de Ercilla y Zúñiga, Basque soldier and poet (b. 1533)


date: December 2

text: December 2 – Gerardus Mercator, Flemish-German cartographer (b. 1512)


date: December 16

text: December 16 – Allison Balfour, alleged Scottish witch


date: January 16

text: January 16 – Mehmed III succeeds Murad III, as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and begins a reign of almost nine years. Upon ascending the throne, Mehmed orders that all 19 of the other sons of Murad III are to be strangled to death.


date: January 28

text: January 28 – The Principality of Transylvania (now encompassing most of Romania) joins the Holy League alliance with the Holy Roman Empire in a war against the Ottoman Empire, as Stephen Bocskai signs a treaty at Prague on behalf of Prince Sigismund Báthory.


date: May 18

text: May 18 – The Treaty of Teusina brings to an end the Russo-Swedish War (1590–95).


date: January 17

text: January 17 – During the French Wars of Religion, King Henry IV of France declares war on Spain, ordering Henry, Duke of Bouillon to lead armies through Luxembourg for an attack on the Spanish Netherlands (now Belgium).


date: February 6

text: February 6 – Despite a string of military victories over the Serbian rebels, Koca Sinan Pasha is dismissed as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire by Sultan Mehmed III, and banished to Malkara. He is replaced by Serdar Ferhad Pasha, whom he replaces on July 7.


date: February 16

text: February 16 – In northern Ireland, Art MacBaron O'Neill successfully conducts the assault on the Blackwater Fort, an English military outpost located in County Armagh and captures it.


date: March 20

text: March 20 – After a siege of 13 days, the French town of Huy (now in Belgium) is captured by the army of the Spanish Netherlands, as the General Charles de Héraugière surrenders to the Baron de la Motte.


date: March 26

text: March 26 – Thado Dhamma Yaza III, who has served since 1589 for the Kingdom of Pegu as the Burmese Viceroy of Prome (now in the Bago Region of Myanmar), declares himself to be the King of Prome during the invasion by the Kingdom of Siam and breaks relations with his father King Nanda Bayin of Pegu.


date: April 8

text: April 8 (March 29 O.S.) – Combined Taungoo–Lan Na armies break the rebel Thado Dhamma Yaza's siege of Taungoo, in modern-day Myanmar.


date: June 9

text: June 9 – Battle of Fontaine-Française: Henry IV of France defeats the Spanish, but is nearly killed due to his rashness.


date: July 23

text: July 23 – The Spanish raid Cornwall, England.


date: August 23

text: August 23 – Battle of Calugareni: The Wallachians, led by Michael the Brave, accomplish a great tactical victory against a vast army of Turks, led by Sinan Pasha.


date: October 26

text: October 26 – Battle of Giurgiu: Michael the Brave, led by Transylvanian Prince Sigismund Báthory, again defeats the Turkish army led by Sinan Pasha, pushing them on the east side of the Danube.


date: November 8

text: November 8 – The Battle of Guadalupe Island is fought between nine English Navy warships (led by Sir Francis Drake) and eight Spanish frigates off in the North Atlantic Ocean. The Spanish force wins the battle, capturing one ship and killing 45 English sailors. Both sets of ships proceed toward Puerto Rico.


date: November 22

text: November 22 – The Battle of San Juan is fought off of the island of Puerto Rico as an English fleet of 27 ships and 2,500 men, led by Francis Drake, attempts to invade the Spanish colony. In a three-day battle, the English lose at least eight ships and 400 men, including Admiral John Hawkins. Drake's fleet withdraws and attempts to conquer Panama.


date: December 14

text: December 14 – Sultan Murad, 4th son of Emperor Akbar of the Mughal Empire invades Ahmednagar Sultanate which is defended by Chand Bibi.


text: Many sugar plantations in São Tomé are destroyed by a large slave uprising


text: The Austrians incite a rebellion against the Ottomans in Bulgaria.


text: February 6 – Sir Walter Raleigh of England departs from Plymouth to begin an expedition to South America


date: April 15

text: April 15 – Sir Walter Raleigh travels up the Orinoco River, in search of the fabled city of El Dorado.


date: May 29

text: May 29 – George Somers and Amyas Preston travel to aid Raleigh's El Dorado expedition but failing to meet him instead raid the Spanish Province of Venezuela


date: July 21

text: July 21 – A Spanish expedition of four ships, led by navigator and explorer Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira, makes the first European landing in Polynesia, on the Marquesas Islands. Despite an initially good reception with the natives, fighting begins and the Mendaña ships leave after two weeks. One of the ships, the Santa Ysabel, disappears during the voyage toward the Solomon Islands.


date: September 8

text: September 8 – The first European colony in the South Seas is established as Spanish explorer Álvaro de Mendaña claims Nendö Island (one of the Solomon Islands) and claims it for Spain as the colony of Santa Cruz. Malaria, a mutiny of some of the Spanish soldiers, and a fight with the indigenous people kills 47 of the settlers, including Mendaña on October 18.


date: October 30

text: October 30 – The surviving members of Spain's Mendaña expedition to Santa Cruz, including Mendaña's widow Isabel Barreto, decide to abandon the Santa Cruz colony in the South Pacific.


date: November 7

text: November 7 – Portuguese explorer Sebastião Rodrigues Soromenho, who had departed from the Philippines on the ship San Agustin on July 5 with cargo of Asian silk, porcelain, and almost 100 passengers and crew, drops anchor at Drakes Bay in what is now the U.S. state of California. He and some of his crew come ashore, where they are greeted by Native Americans. A gale in a few weeks later sinks the San Agustin, killing at least 7 people and ruining the ship's cargo. The crew salvages a launch that they had brought with them.


date: December 8

text: December 8 – A group of 80 people from the sunken ship San Agustin, are able to leave California on the launch which they had brought along, which they name the San Buenaventura. The group sails past San Francisco Bay and arrives at Chacala in Mexico on January 17.


date: November 17

text: November 17 – In the remodeling of the Church of Saint Sylvester in Rome, the ashes of Pope Anterus are discovered almost 1,360 years after his death. Anterus had served as Pope for six weeks before dying on January 3, 236.


date: August 28

text: August 28 – Sir Francis Drake and Sir John Hawkins depart from England, on their final voyage to the Spanish Main, which ends in both of their deaths.


date: February 25

text: February 25 – The Goa state archives are established at the city of Panaji in Portuguese India (now India's Goa state) by historian Diogo do Couto.


date: May 24

text: May 24 – The Nomenclator of Leiden University Library appears, the first printed catalog of an institutional library.


date: November 9

text: November 9 – In India, Prince Man Singh I, Maharaja of Amber within the Mughal Empire, becomes the Mughal Governor (subahdar) of Bengal in what is now Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal. He lays the foundations of a new capital of Bengal, Akbarnagar (now Rajmahal, Jharkhand state).


date: December 9

text: December 9 – What is probably the first performance of William Shakespeare's play, Richard II, takes place in London.


text: Probable first performance of William Shakespeare's plays Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night's Dream in London.


text: The Riksdag of the Estates at Söderköping in Sweden elects the Lutheran Duke Charles as the country's regent, in place of Sigismund III Vasa, King of Poland and Sweden.


date: January 15

text: January 15 – Henry Carey, 2nd Earl of Monmouth, English politician (d. 1661)


date: March 21

text: March 21 – Ferdinando Ughelli, Italian Cistercian monk and church historian (d. 1670)


date: March 23

text: March 23 – Bevil Grenville, English royalist soldier (d. 1643)


date: April 6

text: April 6 – Henri II d'Orléans, Duke of Longueville, Prince of France (d. 1663)


date: April 30

text: April 30 – Henri II de Montmorency, French nobleman and military commander (d. 1632)


date: June 9

text: June 9 – King Wladislaus IV of Poland (d. 1648)


date: June 13

text: June 13 – John Holles, 2nd Earl of Clare, English politician and Earl (d. 1666)


date: June 19

text: June 19 – Guru Har Gobind, the Sixth Sikh Guru (d. 1644)


date: August 29

text: August 29 – Joachim Ernest, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön (1622–1671) (d. 1671)


date: August 31

text: August 31 – Georges Fournier, French Jesuit mathematician and geographer (d. 1652)


date: December 1

text: December 1 – Robert Sidney, 2nd Earl of Leicester, English politician (d. 1677)


date: December 4

text: December 4 – Jean Chapelain, French poet and critic during the Grand Siècle (d. 1674)


date: December 11

text: December 11 – Hŏ Mok, Korean politician, poet and scholar (d. 1682)


date: December 27

text: December 27 – Bohdan Khmelnytsky, hetman of Ukraine (d. 1657)


date: January 24

text: January 24 – Matthias of Habsburg is appointed by his brother Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, to become the Archduke of die Vorlande, the possessions of the Austrian Habsburgs in Southern Germany outside of Austria, also called Further Austria (Vorderösterreich). The appointment follows the death of their uncle, Ferdinand II. Matthias will later become Archduke of Austria (in 1608) and the Emperor in 1612.


text: January 24 – Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria, regent of Tyrol and Further Austria (b. 1529)


date: February 20

text: February 20 – Archduke Ernest of Austria, Governor-General of the Habsburg Netherlands (now Belgium), dies at the age of 41 and is temporarily replaced by his Spanish assistant, Pedro Henriquez de Acevedo, Count of Fuentes.


date: February 21

text: February 21 – Robert Southwell, Jesuit priest and poet (b. 1561)


date: April 25

text: April 25 – Torquato Tasso, Italian poet (b. 1544)


date: May 4

text: May 4 – Hugues Loubenx de Verdalle, Cardinal and 52nd Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller (b. 1531)


date: May 25

text: May 25 – Philip Neri, Italian Roman Catholic priest and saint (b. 1515)


date: July 10

text: July 10 – Udai Singh of Marwar, Ruler of Marwar (b. 1538)


date: August 26

text: August 26 – Antonio, Prior of Crato, claimant to the throne of Portugal (b. 1531)


date: September 2

text: September 2 – Battle of the Lippe (Eighty Years' War): Spanish cavalry, led by Cristóbal de Mondragón (aged over 80), defeat combined forces of the Dutch Republic and England led by Philip of Nassau (who dies of wounds received), on the banks of the river Lippe in Germany.


date: October 18

text: October 18 – Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira, Spanish navigator and explorer (b. 1542)


date: October 19

text: October 19 – Philip Howard, 20th Earl of Arundel, English nobleman (b. 1537)


date: October 23

text: October 23 – Louis Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers, Italian-French dignitary and diplomat (b. 1539)


date: November 4

text: November 4 – Francesco Cattani da Diacceto, Bishop of Fiesole (b. 1531)


date: December 31

text: December 31 – King Henry IV of France (who was originally King Henry III of the Kingdom of Navarre) declares Navarre to be permanently separate of France.


date: January 6

text: January 6 – Drake's Assault on Panama: Sir Francis Drake, General Thomas Baskerville and an English force of 15 ships land at the Atlantic Ocean port of Nombre de Dios in an attempt to capture the Isthmus of Panama.


date: March 11

text: March 11 – The Battle of Pinos is fought between the English Navy (with 14 warships) and the Spanish Navy (with 13 galleons) off of the coast Cuba's Isla de Pinos, with 325 English Navy men killed or captured, while Spain drives Baskerville's ships to retreat and sustains 80 dead or wounded.


date: March 15

text: March 15 – During Spain's Brittany Campaign during the Anglo-Spanish War, a Spanish ship carrying 25 soldiers invades England after arriving at Cawsand Bay in Cornwall. After starting a fire, the Spanish retreat.


date: April 9

text: April 9 – Siege of Calais: Spanish troops capture Calais.


date: August 18

text: August 18 – The siege of the Dutch city of Hulst is completed after a month as Spanish forces under the command of Albert, son of the late Holy Roman Emperor Maxmimilan II, force the surrender of the city.


date: October 26

text: October 26 – Battle of Keresztes: The Ottoman Empire Turks defeat a combined Habsburg–Transylvanian army, after two days of fighting: .


date: November 25

text: November 25 – The Cudgel War begins in Finland (at the time part of Sweden), when poor peasants rise up against the troops, nobles and cavalry who have taxed them.


text: The Serb Uprising of 1596–97 begins.


date: May 18

text: May 18 – Willem Barents leaves Vlie, on his third and final Arctic voyage.


date: June 10

text: June 10 – Willem Barents and Jacob van Heemskerk discover Bear Island.


date: June 17

text: June 17 – Willem Barents discovers Spitsbergen.


date: June 24

text: June 24 – Cornelis de Houtman arrives in Banten, the first Dutch sailor to reach Indonesia.


date: July 5

text: July 5 – Capture of Cádiz: An English fleet, commanded by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and Lord Howard of Effingham, sacks Cádiz.


date: September 20

text: September 20 – Diego de Montemayor founds the city of Monterrey, Mexico.


date: June 5

text: June 5 – Pope Clement VIII appoints 16 new Cardinals.


date: August 29

text: August 29 – The coronation of Christian IV as King of Denmark and King of Norway takes place at the Vor Frue Kirke cathedral in Copenhagen. The Bishop of Zealand, Peder Virstrup, places the crown upon the head of King Christian IV, who had become the monarch in 1588 at the age of 11.


date: October 10

text: October 10 – The Union of Brest: The Ukrainian Church west of the Dnieper becomes known as the Ukrainian Rite of Catholicism, whereas the East officially renounces the authority of the Pope.


date: October 19

text: October 19 – The Spanish galleon San Felipe founders in Japan, leading to 26 Christians being martyred the next year.


date: December 5

text: December 5 – Damat Ibrahim Pasha is appointed the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire by Sultan Mehmed III for the second time in less than a year, replacing Cigalazade Yusuf Sinan Pasha, who succeeded him on October 27.


text: The first water closet, by Sir John Harington, is installed in a manor near Kelston in England.


date: August

text: August – David Fabricius discovers the variable nature of the star Mira.


date: February 14

text: February 14 – Archbishop John Whitgift begins building his hospital at Croydon.


text: The Black Death hits parts of Europe.


date: July 14

text: July 14 – King Dominicus Corea (Edirille Bandara) is beheaded by the Portuguese in Colombo, Ceylon.


date: January 20

text: January 20 – Francis Drake, unable to receive a ransom for the town of Nombre de Dios, orders the town and all Spanish ships in harbor to be burned. At the same time, General Baskerville leads 750 men on a mission to clear the Isthmus of Spanish parties.


date: October 18

text: October 18 – The Second Armada, a Spanish fleet sent to attack England in revenge for the raid on Cadiz, is wrecked in storms off Cape Finisterre; nearly 5,000 men and 44 ships are lost including five galleons


date: December 8

text: December 8 – In Japan, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Chancellor of the Realm, orders the arrest of the 26 Roman Catholic Christians who had the misfortune of being shipwrecked in Kyoto on October 19; each of the ones arrested has a part of the left ear cut off, then sent on a forced march to Nagasaki on January 4, then has them killed on February 5.


text: The fourth of a five year run of poor harvests, largely caused by the weather, a pattern typical of the last third of the century. This causes famine throughout Europe, which leads to food riots in Britain.


date: February 11

text: February 11 – Albert of Austria arrives in Brussels to begin his administration as Governor General of the Habsburg Netherlands.


text: Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, is founded.


text: King Sigismund III Vasa moves the capital of Poland from Kraków to Warsaw.


date: February 2

text: February 2 – Jacob van Campen, Dutch artist and architect of the Golden Age (d. 1657)


date: March 24

text: March 24 – Elizabeth of Hesse-Kassel, Duchess of Mecklenburg-Gütsrow (d. 1625)


date: June 27

text: June 27 – Maximilian, Prince of Dietrichstein, German prince (d. 1655)


date: July 12

text: July 12 – Michael I of Russia, Russian Tsar (d. 1645)


date: August 18

text: August 18 – Jean Bolland, Belgian Jesuit, Founder of the Bollandist (d. 1665)


date: August 19

text: August 19 – Elizabeth Stuart, later Queen of Bohemia (d. 1662)


date: September 3

text: September 3 – Nicola Amati, Italian luthier from Cremona (d. 1684)


date: September 4

text: September 4 – Constantijn Huygens, Dutch Golden Age poet and composer (d. 1687)


date: September 11

text: September 11 – Francis Eaton, Mayflower passenger and New World colonist (d. 1633)


text: October 18 – Edward Winslow, American Pilgrim leader (d. 1655)


date: October 26

text: October 26 – Robert Coe, American colonial (d. 1689)


date: November 1

text: November 1 – Pietro da Cortona, Italian painter (d. 1669)


date: December 21

text: December 21 – Thomas Francis, Prince of Carignano (d. 1656)


text: December 21 – Peter Mohyla, Moldavian Orthodox Metropolitan of Kiev and Galicia (d. 1646)


date: January 27

text: January 27 – With an epidemic of dysentery spreading through the English forces of Drake and Baskerville, Drake orders survivors to retreat to the English ships, anchored off of the island of Escudo de Veraguas. Drake dies of dystentery two days later on his flagship, Defiance.


date: February 19

text: February 19 – Blaise de Vigenère, French cryptographer, diplomat, scientist, and author (b. 1523)


date: May 5

text: May 5 – Catherine de Montpensier, politically active French duchess (b. 1552)


date: May 6

text: May 6 – Giaches de Wert, Flemish composer (b. 1535)


date: May 31

text: May 31 – John Lesley, Scottish bishop (b. 1527)


date: May

text: May – Janet Fockart, Scottish merchant and moneylender


date: July 23

text: July 23 – Henry Carey, 1st Baron Hunsdon (b. 1526)


date: August 11

text: August 11 – Hamnet Shakespeare, son of William Shakespeare (b. 1585)


date: September 9

text: September 9 – Anna Jagiellon, queen of Poland (b. 1523)


date: September 14

text: September 14 – Francisco de Toledo, Spanish Catholic cardinal (b. 1532)


date: September 15

text: September 15 – Leonhard Rauwolf, German physician and botanist (b. 1535)


date: November 10

text: November 10 – Peter Wentworth, English Puritan politician (b. 1530)


date: November 29

text: November 29 – Venerable William Knight, English Catholic martyr (b. 1572)


date: December 8

text: December 8 – Francisca Nuñez de Carabajal, Portuguese-born marrano, burned at the stake


date: December 6

text: 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.


date: December 7

text: 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.


date: December 23

text: 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.


text: Yaqob succeeds his father Sarsa Dengel, as Emperor of Ethiopia at the age of 7.


date: January 24

text: January 24 – Battle of Turnhout: Maurice of Nassau defeats a Spanish force under Jean de Rie of Varas, in the Netherlands.


date: February 24

text: February 24 – The last battle of the Cudgel War is fought on the Santavuori Hill in Ilmajoki, Ostrobothnia.


date: March 11

text: March 11 – Amiens is taken by Spanish forces.


date: April 10

text: April 10 – The Serb uprising of 1596–97 ends in defeat for the rebels, at the field of Gacko (Gatačko Polje).


date: April 19

text: 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)


date: May 13

text: 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.


date: August 13

text: August 13 – The Siege of Namwon begins in Korea.


date: August 19

text: August 19 – Rheinberg capitulates to forces led by Maurice of Naussau.


date: August 28

text: August 28 – Imjin War: Battle of Chilcheollyang – The Japanese fleet defeats the Koreans, in their only naval victory of the war.


date: September 25

text: September 25 – Amiens is retaken from the Spanish by Anglo-French forces, led by Henry IV of France, after a four-month siege.


date: October 18

text: 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.


date: October 21

text: 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.


date: October 25

text: 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.


date: October 26

text: October 26 – Battle of Myeongnyang: The Koreans, commanded by Yi Sunsin, are victorious over a Japanese invasion fleet.


date: November 10

text: 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.


date: November 12

text: November 12 – Lingen capitulates to forces led by Maurice of Nassau.


date: November 21

text: 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.


text: Abbas I ends the Uzbek raids on his lands.


date: February 8

text: February 8 – Sir Anthony Shirley, England's "best-educated pirate", raids Jamaica.


date: August 14

text: 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.


date: August 17

text: August 17 – Islands Voyage: Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and Sir Walter Raleigh set sail on an expedition to the Azores.


text: 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.


date: January 4

text: 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.


date: August 24

text: August 24 – Christian IV of Denmark-Norway refuses to let Tycho Brahe return to Denmark.


date: December 23

text: 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.


text: Tobias Hess corresponds with Simon Studion and agrees with him that the Papacy must fall in 1604.


text: Andreas Libavius publishes Alchemia, a pioneering chemistry textbook.


date: July 14

text: July 14 – Scottish poet Alexander Montgomerie is declared an outlaw, after the collapse of a Catholic plot.


date: July 28

text: 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.


date: February 5

text: 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.


date: April 23

text: April 23 – Probable first performance of William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor.


date: April 27

text: April 27 – Johannes Kepler marries Barbara Muhleck.


date: June 13

text: 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.


text: The first edition of Francis Bacon's Essays is published.


text: Jacopo Peri writes Dafne, now recognised as the first opera.


date: January 12

text: January 12 – François Duquesnoy, Flemish Baroque sculptor in Rome (d. 1643)

source_section: Births › January–March


date: January 25

text: January 25 – Johann Philipp, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg, German Duke (d. 1639)


date: January 31

text: January 31 – John Francis Regis, French Jesuit priest (d. 1640)


date: March 18

text: March 18 – Jérôme le Royer de la Dauversière, French nobleman, founder of Montreal and an order of nursing Sisters (d. 1659)


date: March 21

text: March 21 – Juan Alonso y Ocón, Spanish Catholic prelate, Archbishop of La Plata o Charcas (d. 1656)


date: April 9

text: April 9 – John Davenport, English Puritan clergyman, co-founder of the American colony of New Haven (d. 1670)

source_section: Births › April–June


date: May 13

text: May 13 – Cornelis Schut, Flemish painter, draughtsman and engraver (d. 1655)


date: July 2

text: July 2 – Theodoor Rombouts, Flemish painter (d. 1637)

source_section: Births › July–September


date: August 20

text: August 20 – Girolamo Grimaldi-Cavalleroni, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1685)


date: August 29

text: August 29 – Henry Gage, Royalist officer in the English Civil War (d. 1645)


date: September 23

text: September 23 – Francesco Barberini, Italian Catholic cardinal (d. 1679)


date: September 28

text: September 28 – Justus Sustermans, Flemish painter (d. 1681)


date: October 7

text: October 7 – Captain John Underhill, English settler and soldier (d. 1672)

source_section: Births › October–December


date: November 19

text: November 19 – Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, wife of George William, Elector of Brandenburg (d. 1660)


date: February 5

text: February 5 – Philip of Jesus, Mexican Roman Catholic priest, missionary, martyr and saint (b. 1572)


text: February 5 – Francisco Blanco, Spanish Franciscan and Roman Catholic priest, missionary, martyr and saint (b. 1570)


text: February 5 – Gonsalo Garcia, Portuguese Franciscan and Roman Catholic priest, missionary, martyr and saint (b. 1557)


text: February 5 – Paulo Miki, Japanese Roman Catholic priest, martyr and saint (b. c. 1562)


date: February 6

text: February 6 – Franciscus Patricius, Italian philosopher and scientist (b. 1529)


date: February 16

text: February 16 – Gilbert Génébrard, French Roman Catholic archbishop (b. 1535)


date: March 6

text: March 6 – William Brooke, 10th Baron Cobham, English noble and politician (b. 1527)


date: May 27

text: 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).


date: June 9

text: June 9 – José de Anchieta, Spanish Jesuit missionary (b. 1534)


date: June 20

text: June 20 – Willem Barents, Dutch navigator and explorer (b. c. 1550)


date: July 22

text: July 22 – Gabriele Paleotti, Italian Roman Catholic cardinal (b. 1522)


date: August 27

text: August 27 – Wŏn Kyun, Korean general and admiral during the Joseon Dynasty (b. 1540)


date: November 1

text: November 1 – Edward Kelley, English spirit medium (b. 1555)


date: December 21

text: December 21 – Petrus Canisius, Dutch Jesuit priest and saint (b. 1521)


date: January 26

text: January 26 – After receiving no support from the Russian nobles, the Tsaritsa Irina Godunova abandons her brief rule as autocrat of Russia, and abdicates in favor of her older brother, Boris Godunov.


date: February 21

text: February 21 – Boris Godunov is elected as the Tsar of Russia by unanimous vote of the parliament of nobles, the Zemsky Sobor.


date: March 23

text: March 23 – The abdication of Sigismund Báthory as Prince of Transylvania (now part of Romania) is accepted by the Transylvanian nobles. Sigismund's cousin, Andrew Báthory, is then elected as the new Prince.


date: April 30

text: April 30 – In Mexico, on the day of the Feast of the Ascension, Juan de Oñate, dispatched by the Viceroy of New Spain to expand the Spanish colony's territory, assembles his group on the south side of the Rio Grande and formally claims all territory north of the river (near what is now the U.S. city of El Paso, Texas) as a colony of the Spanish Empire.


date: May 2

text: May 2 – The Peace of Vervins, mediated by Cardinal Alessandro de Medici, ends the war between France and Spain.


text: June 9 – The Principality of Wallachia becomes a vassal state of the Austrian Habsburgs and the Holy Roman Empire, after Michael the Brave (Mihai Pătrașcu, with a regnal name of Michael II) signs an agreement at Prague with Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor to receive protection from the Ottoman Empire.


date: July 12

text: July 12 – After fording the Rio Grande near what are now the Mexican city of Juarez and the U.S. city of El Paso, Juan de Oñate proclaims the founding of the colony of Santa Fe de Nuevo Méjico (Santa Fe of New Mexico), with himself as the first Viceroy. Oñate establishes the first capital of the New Mexico viceroyalty at a new village, San Juan de los Caballeros, near the Pueblo Indian city of Ohkay Owingeh, now located in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico.


date: July 13

text: July 13 – A marriage contract is signed as part of the treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye between King Henry IV of France and Charles III, Duke of Lorraine, providing for King Henry's niece, Catherine of Bourbon, to marry Duke Charles's son, Henry of Lorraine.


date: December 4

text: December 4 – In what is now part of the U.S. state of New Mexico, a dispute breaks out between the Keres people of the Acoma Pueblo


text: The Parliament of England passes the Vagabonds Act, that allows transportation of convicts to colonies.


date: January 29

text: January 29 – In what is now South Korea, a force of 50,000 troops of the Korean kingdom of Joseon and Chinese Ming dynasty troops begins the siege of Ulsan, a Japanese-controlled castle located in the southwest port of Ulsan on the Sea of Japan.


date: March 19

text: March 19 – Count Adolf von Schwarzenberg of Austria captures the Turkish fortress at Győr, four years after Turkish forces had taken it over.


date: March 20

text: March 20 – The Duchy of Brittany in France is conquered by King Henry IV, who forces the surrender of Philippe Louis de Lorraine-Mercœur, Duke of Brittany. Merceur is then exiled to Hungary.


date: June 15

text: June 15 – England invades the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico with a force of 20 ships and 1,700 men led by the Earl of Cumberland.


date: July 23

text: July 23 – Sigismund III Vasa, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, departs from Danzig (now Gdańsk) with 80 transports, several warships and exiled members of the Swedish parliament to invade Sweden. The troops land at Kalmar on July 31, and secure its surrender.


date: July

text: July – Philosopher Tommaso Campanella moves from Naples to Calabria, where he will be involved in a revolt against the rule of the Spanish viceroy the following year.


date: August 14

text: August 14 – Battle of the Yellow Ford in Ireland: Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, gains victory over an English expeditionary force under Henry Bagenal, in the Nine Years' War against English rule.


date: September 10

text: September 10 – Prince Michael II of Wallachia begins the siege of Nicopolis (now Nikopol in Bulgaria).


date: September 25

text: September 25 – Battle of Stångebro at Linköping in Sweden: The Catholic King Sigismund of Sweden and Poland is defeated in his attempt to resume control of Sweden by the Protestant forces of his uncle, Charles. Sigismund is deposed shortly thereafter.


date: October 19

text: October 19 – The Siege of Suncheon, an attempt by Korean and Chinese troops to capture the Japanese-occupied Suncheon Castle. An attempt to lure Japanese General Konishi Yukinaga into an ambush fails when a Korean Army cannon is fired too early and gives away the Korean plan.


date: November 2

text: November 2 – Admiral Yi Sunsin of the Korean Navy attempts to bombard the Suncheon Castle, two days after the joint Chinese and Korean land assault is driven back. Korea and China lose 39 ships when a large number of the fleet gets stuck in the shallow waters at low tide and the vessels are attacked by the Japanese. Yi Sunsin calls off the siege the next day.


date: November 10

text: November 10 (11th waxing of Tazaungmon 960 ME) – In what is now the Rakhine State of Myanmar, King Min Razagyi of Arakan and the rebel leader Minye Thihathu begin their assault on Pegu, the remaining portion of the Toungoo Empire in southern Burma.


date: December 16

text: December 16 (Keichō 3, 19th day of the 11th month, lunar calendar) – Battle of Noryang: An allied Korean and Chinese fleet under Korean Admiral Yi Sun-sin and Chinese Admiral Chen Lin defeats the Japanese navy, ending the Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–98).


date: December 21

text: December 21 – Battle of Curalaba: The revolting Mapuche, led by cacique Pelantaro, inflict a major defeat on Spanish troops in southern Chile; all Spanish cities south of the Bío Bío River eventually fall victim to the Destruction of the Seven Cities by the Mapuches, and all conquest of Mapuche territories by Europeans practically ceases, until the later 19th century Occupation of Araucanía.


date: June 27

text: June 27 – The ill-fated Dutch expedition of Jacques Mahu begins as his ship Hoop, along with the ships Liefde, Geloof, Trouwe and Blijde Boodschap, departs from Rotterdam.


date: September 17

text: September 17 – Second Dutch Expedition to Indonesia: Jacob Corneliszoon van Neck and three ships commanded by him are separated from the Dutch Republic fleet of Admiral Wybrand van Warwyck, and land on a Portuguese-charted island, Ilha do Cisne. Van Neck names the island Mauritius, after Maurice, Prince of Orange. Although Diogo Fernandes Pereira and sailors from Portugal had, in 1507, become the first Europeans to find Mauritius, van Neck's men apparently are the first to sight the dodo, a now extinct bird.


text: The Spanish establish themselves in El Piñal, a trading port on the coast of China in the Pearl River Delta.


date: January 30

text: January 30 – In Italy Cesare d'Este moves the capital of the Duchy of Modena and Reggio to the city of Modena, after the Duchy of Ferrara is declared by Pope Clement VIII to be at an end.


date: April 13

text: April 13 – Edict of Nantes (promulgated April 30): Henry IV of France grants French Huguenots equal rights with Catholics; this is considered the end of the French Wars of Religion.


date: May 6

text: May 6 – King Philip II of Spain announces that his eldest daughter, Isabella Clara Eugenia, will marry Albert of Austria (at the time a Roman Catholic cardinal and Archbishop of Toledo), and that the two will jointly govern the Habsburg Netherlands (now Belgium).


date: September 5

text: September 5 (Keichō 3, 5th day of the 8th month) – With his own death imminent, General Toyotomi Hideyoshi of Japan issues an order directing the Council of Five Elders to bring their children to the Osaka Castle to join Hideyoshi's designated successor, his son Hideyori.


date: November 15

text: November 15 – Pope Clement VIII authorizes the marriage between Albert of Austria and Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain. The two will be married on April 18.


date: December 29

text: December 29 – Pope Clement VIII refuses to allow dispensation for Henry of Lorraine, who is Catholic, to marry Catherine of Bourbon, a Protestant Calvinist. King Henry IV of France then intimidates the Catholic Archbishop of Reims into authorizing the marriage.


date: May

text: May – Tycho Brahe's star catalogue Astronomiæ instauratæ mechanica, listing the positions of 1,004 stars, is published.


date: June 30

text: June 30 – England's forces capture the Castillo San Felipe del Morro, the Spanish fortress defending San Juan, after a 15-day battle. When an epidemic begins taking its toll on the English forces, the Earl of Cumberland decides to withdraw and departs in August.


date: July 10

text: July 10 – John Barrose, a Burgundian fencer who has challenged all comers and killed several, is hanged for murder. Barrose's story is dramatized by playwright Ben Jonson in Every Man in His Humour.


text: Illustrations of Ottoman Turkish and European riflemen, with detailed illustrations of their firearms, appear in Zhao Shizhen's book Shenqipu in this year, during the Ming Dynasty of China.


date: May 13

text: May 13 (Keichō 3, 8th day of the 4th month) – The Mount Asama volcano on the Japanese island of Honshu erupts.


date: July 22

text: July 22 – William Shakespeare registers the rights to his new play, The Merchant of Venice, in the Register of the Stationers Company, under the title The Marchaunt of Venyce or otherwise called The Jewe of Venyce.


text: Carnival – Jacopo Peri's Dafne, the earliest known modern opera, is premièred at the Palazzo Corsini, Florence.


text: Pentecost – Calvinist congregations in Zurich introduce music into their services.


date: March 15

text: March 15 – Redemptus of the Cross, Portuguese Carmelite lay brother and martyr (d. 1638)


date: April 9

text: April 9 – Johann Crüger, German composer of well-known hymns (d. 1662)


date: April 17

text: April 17 – Giovanni Battista Riccioli, Italian astronomer (d. 1671)


date: April 23

text: April 23 – Maarten Tromp, officer and later admiral in the Dutch navy (d. 1653)


date: April 28

text: April 28 – Francis Leigh, 1st Earl of Chichester, English politician (d. 1653)


date: June 19

text: June 19 – Gilbert Sheldon, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1663 until his death (d. 1677)


date: July 6

text: July 6 – Kirsten Munk, Danish noble, spouse of King Christian IV of Denmark (d. 1658)


date: July 31

text: July 31 – Alessandro Algardi, Italian high-Baroque sculptor active in Rome (d. 1654)


date: September 23

text: September 23 – Eleonora Gonzaga, Holy Roman Empress, married to Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1655)


date: September 24

text: September 24 – Giovanni Francesco Busenello, Italian librettist (d. 1659)


date: October 14

text: October 14 – Nicolas de Neufville de Villeroy, Marshal of France (d. 1685)


date: November 3

text: November 3 – Christian I, Count Palatine of Birkenfeld-Bischweiler (1600–1654) (d. 1654)


date: November 7

text: November 7 – Francisco de Zurbarán, Spanish painter (d. 1664)


date: December 7

text: December 7 – Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Italian sculptor (d. 1680)


date: January 8

text: January 8 – In Berlin, Joachim Frederich of the House of Hohenzollern becomes the new Elector of Brandenburg upon the death of his father, Johann Georg von Brandenburg.


text: January 8 – John George, Elector of Brandenburg, Margrave and Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia (b. 1525)


date: January 17

text: January 17 – The Tsar of the Russian Empire, Feodor I, dies of a sudden illness at the age of 40, leaving no children and bringing an end to the Rurik dynasty. His widow, Irina Godunova, takes action to secure the throne but her rule lasts for only nine days.


date: March 4

text: March 4 or March 5 – Lucas Maius, Lutheran Reformation pastor, theologian and playwright (b. 1522)


date: April 10

text: April 10 – Jacopo Mazzoni, Italian philosopher (b. 1548)


date: June

text: June – Emery Molyneux, English maker of globes and instruments (date of birth unknown)


date: August 4

text: August 4 – William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, English statesman (b. 1520)


date: August 9

text: August 9 – Andreas Angelus, German pastor, teacher, chronicler of the Mark of Brandenburg (b. 1561)


date: September 2

text: September 2 – The Mahu expedition from the Dutch Republic arrives at the Cape Verde Islands off of the coast of Africa, and many of the men become fatally ill, including Captain Jacques Mahu, who dies on September 23.


date: September 13

text: September 13 – Philip III becomes the new King of Spain upon the death of his father Philip II.


date: September 18

text: September 18 (Keichō 3, 18th day of the 8th month) – General Toyotomi Hideyoshi, who united Japan and became the Chancellor of the Realm, dies after ruling 12 years. He is nominally succeeded by his 5-year-old son, Toyotomi Hideyori, with the regency exercised by the Council of Five Elders.


date: October 11

text: October 11 – Joachim Camerarius the Younger, German scientist (b. 1534)


date: December 15

text: December 15 – Philips of Marnix, Lord of Saint-Aldegonde, Dutch writer and statesman (b. 1538)


date: December 16

text: December 16 – Yi Sun-sin, Korean naval leader (b. 1545)


date: November

text: November – Persian embassy to Europe (1599–1602): A diplomatic delegation from Safavid Persia, led by Hossein Ali Beg Bayat and his staff after being dispatched by the Shah Abbas the Great, arrives in Moscow as part of a mission to enlist European nations into an alliance against the Ottoman Empire. The Persians are accompanied by English adventurer Anthony Shirley, who had persuaded Shah Abbas to undertake the initiative.


date: January 22

text: January 22 – Acoma Massacre: Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico viceroy Juan de Oñate leads 70 armed Spanish soldiers against the indigenous Keres people at Aak'u (the Acoma Pueblo), near what is now Albuquerque, New Mexico. In three days, 500 Acoma men and 300 women and children are killed by the Spanish.


date: March 12

text: March 12 – Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, is appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, by Queen Elizabeth I of England.


date: April 23

text: April 23 – The Earl of Essex arrives in Dublin at the head of 16,000 troops, the largest army ever seen in Ireland.


date: May 15

text: May 15 – Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604): The Siege of Zaltbommel, located in the Dutch Republic, is begun by Spanish general Francisco López de Mendoza.


date: May 16

text: May 16 – The Kalmar Bloodbath takes place in Kalmar, Sweden.


date: May 29

text: May 29 – Essex takes Cahir Castle, supposedly the strongest in Ireland, after a short siege.


date: July 22

text: July 22 – The combined Dutch and English armies successfully defend Zaltbommel after a siege of two months.


date: August 15

text: August 15 – First Battle of Curlew Pass: Irish forces defeat the English.


date: September 28

text: September 28 – The Earl of Essex arrives back in England, disobeying the Queen's strict orders.


date: October 18

text: October 18 – Battle of Sellenberk: Michael the Brave, Prince of Wallachia, defeats the army of Andrew Báthory near Șelimbăr, leading to the first recorded unification of the Romanians.


date: November 10

text: November 10 – The Åbo Bloodbath takes place in Åbo (Turku), in modern-day Finland, which was part of Sweden at the time.


date: December 19

text: December 19 – The forces of Minye Thihathu II of Toungoo and his ally Min Razagyi of the Kingdom of Mrauk U end the First Toungoo Empire by capturing Pegu (modern-day Bago, Myanmar).


date: July 17

text: July 17 – Second Dutch Expedition to East Indies: A Dutch fleet returns to Amsterdam from what is now Indonesia, carrying 600,000 pounds of pepper and 250,000 pounds of cloves and nutmeg.


date: January 8

text: January 8 – The Jesuit educational plan, known as the Ratio Studiorum, is issued.


date: February 21

text: February 21 – Lorenzo Sauli becomes the new Doge of the Republic of Genoa, succeeding Lazzaro Grimaldi Cebà. Sauli will serve until 1601.


text: February 21 – At Southwark, near London on the south bank of the River Thames, the land upon which the Globe Theatre will be built is leased by Nicholas Brend to a team of investors led by William Shakespeare, Thomas Pope, actors Cuthbert and Richard Burbage, and three others.


date: June 1

text: June 1 – Bishops' Ban of 1599: The Archbishop of Canterbury, John Whitgift, and the Bishop of London, Richard Bancroft order a ban on a selection of literary works, including Microcynicon: Six Snarling Satires, by Thomas Middleton.


date: June 20

text: June 20 – The Synod of Diamper is convened.


text: The Toyokuni Shrine in Kyoto and Oyama Shrine, dedicated to Maeda Toshiie, were founded.


text: The first Capuchin friar is entombed in the Catacombe dei Cappuccini in Palermo (Sicily).


date: February 20

text: February 20 – On Shrove Tuesday, the earliest known performance of William Shakespeare's play As You Like It is given, presented at Richmond Park for Queen Elizabeth.


date: July 24

text: July 24 – Swedish King Sigismund III Vasa is dethroned by his uncle Duke Charles, who takes over as regent of the realm until 1604, when he becomes King Charles IX.


date: September 21

text: September 21 – The first reported performance at the Globe Theatre in London (erected over Spring/Summer), a presentation of Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (probably new to that year), is recorded by Swiss traveller Thomas Platter the Younger.


date: March 13

text: March 13 – John Berchmans, Belgian Jesuit scholastic and saint (d. 1621)


date: March 22

text: March 22 – Anthony van Dyck, Flemish painter (d. 1641)


date: March 28

text: March 28 – Witte de With, famous Dutch naval officer of the 17th century (d. 1658)


text: June 1 – Elizabeth Lucretia, Duchess of Cieszyn, Duchess suo jure of Cieszyn (d. 1653)


date: September 20

text: September 20 – Christian, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg-Wolfenbüttel, German Protestant military leader (d. 1626)


date: September 25

text: September 25 – Francesco Borromini, Swiss sculptor and architect (d. 1667)


date: October 15

text: October 15 – Cornelis de Graeff, Dutch mayor (d. 1664)


date: October 28

text: October 28 – Marie of the Incarnation, French foundress of the Ursuline Monastery in Quebec (d. 1672)


date: October 31

text: October 31 – Denzil Holles, 1st Baron Holles, English statesman and writer (d. 1680)


date: November 11

text: November 11 – Ottavio Piccolomini, Austrian-Italian field marshal (d. 1656)


text: November 11 – Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg, German princess and queen consort of Sweden (d. 1655)


date: November 29

text: November 29 – Peter Heylin, English ecclesiastic and author of many polemical works (d. 1662)


date: November 30

text: November 30 – Andrea Sacchi, Italian painter of High Baroque Classicism (d. 1661)


date: December 2

text: December 2 – Thomas Bruce, 1st Earl of Elgin, Scottish nobleman (d. 1663)


date: January 13

text: January 13 – Edmund Spenser, English poet (b. 1552)


date: February 8

text: February 8 – Robert Rollock, Scottish Presbyterian, first principal of the university of Edinburgh (b. 1555)


date: April 10

text: April 10 – Gabrielle d'Estrées, mistress of King Henry IV of France (b. 1573)


date: April 27

text: April 27 – Maeda Toshiie, Japanese samurai and warlord (b. 1538)


date: May 12

text: May 12 – Sultan Murad Mirza, Mughal prince (b. 1570)


date: June 2

text: June 2 – Philipp V, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg (b. 1541)


date: June 29

text: June 29 – Archduchess Catherine Renata of Austria, Austrian archduchess (b. 1576)


date: July 11

text: July 11 – Chōsokabe Motochika, Japanese Sengoku Period daimyō


date: July

text: July – Kwon Yul, Korean military commander (b. 1537)


date: August 22

text: August 22 – Luca Marenzio, Italian composer (b. 1553)


date: September 11

text: September 11 – Beatrice Cenci, Italian noblewoman (executed for patricide) (b. 1577)


date: November 3

text: November 3 – Andrew Báthory, deposed Prince of Transylvania (decapitated) (b. c. 1563)


date: December 13

text: December 13 – Enrico Caetani, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1550)


date: December 14

text: December 14 – Joan Boyle, English noble, first spouse of Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork (b. 1578)


year_label: 16 CE

text: Germanicus employs the North Sea fleet to avoid dangerous rivers, embarking an army in the Rhine Delta, aboard circa 1,000 ships. He defeats the Germans at the Amisius river estuary and the Weser, but during its return, the Roman fleet is partially destroyed by storms.

source_section: Events › 16 AD › Roman Empire


text: A Roman army of 50,000 men commanded by Germanicus gains a great victory at Idistaviso, defeating the German war chief Arminius, and recovering the lost eagles of Varus' legions.


text: Vonones, the beleaguered king of Armenia, is summoned to Syria, by Roman governor Creticus Silanus.


text: Ovid's "Epistulae ex Ponto" appears.


date: September 16

text: September 16 – Julia Drusilla, daughter of Germanicus and Agrippina the Elder (d. AD 38)

source_section: Births › 16 AD


text: Decimus Junius Silanus Torquatus, Roman consul (d. AD 64)


text: Claudius Drusus, son of Claudius and Plautia Urgulanilla (approximate date)


date: September 13

text: September 13 – Marcus Scribonius Libo, Roman senator (forced to commit suicide)

source_section: Deaths › 16 AD


text: Clemens, Roman slave and impostor (executed by Tiberius)


text: Scribonia, second wife of Caesar Augustus (approximate date)


text: In Jiuzhen (modern day Northern Vietnam) during the second Era of Northern Domination, a rebellion broke out but was swiftly quelled when the rebels surrendered to the newly appointed governor of Jiaozhi, who had previously governed the commandery in the 140s.

source_section: Events › By place


text: The first Buddhist monks arrive in China.

source_section: Events › By topic › Religion


text: Appian writes Ρωμαικα, known in English as the Roman History, in which he includes the history of each nation conquered up until the moment of its conquest.

source_section: Events › By topic › Art and Science


text: In Rome, the manufacturing of soap containing grease, lime and ashes begins.


text: In Roman Empire, the Antonine Wall in Britain is retaken by Roman legions.


text: Julia Domna, Roman empress consort (d. 217)

source_section: Births


text: Felician of Foligno, Roman bishop and martyr (d. 250)


text: Sextus Empiricus, Greek philosopher (d. 210)


text: Annia Cornificia Faustina Minor, daughter of Marcus Aurelius (d. 212)


text: Quintus Tineius Sacerdos, Roman politician


text: Marius Maximus, Roman biographer (d. 230)


text: Suetonius, Roman historian and writer (approximate date)


text: Marcion of Sinope, founder of Marcionism (approximate date)


date: May 27

text: May 27 – Michael the Brave becomes ruler of Wallachia, Transylvania and Moldavia, formally uniting the three Danubian Principalities under one Romanian ruler.


date: June 9

text: June 9 – Yi Hang-bok becomes the new Chief State Councillor of Korea (the Yeonguijeong), equivalent to a prime minister, after being appointed by King Seonjo to replace Yi San-hae.


date: October 8

text: October 8 – The basic legal system for the Republic of San Marino goes into effect during the service of captains regent Girolamo Gozi and Francesco Giannini.

source_section: Events › October–December


date: October 20

text: October 20 – Persian diplomats, led by Husayn 'Ali Beg of Persia, and Englishman Anthony Shirley (who serves as translator) arrive in Prague to meet with Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor.


date: November 7

text: November 7 – Emperor Rudolf II grants an audience in Prague to Persian diplomats Husayn 'Ali Beg and Anthony Shirley, and present the offer of Persia's King Abbas the Great to supply weapons to the Empire in their fight against the Ottomans.


date: January 20

text: January 20 – Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, renews the Nine Years' War (Ireland) against England with an invasion of Munster.


date: July 2

text: July 2 – Eighty Years' War (Dutch War of Independence) – Battle of Nieuwpoort: The Dutch Republic gains a tactical victory over the Spanish Empire.

source_section: Events › July–September


date: September 18

text: September 18 – The Battle of Mirăslău takes place within Transylvania as Hungarian troops, backed by the Holy Roman Empire, triumph over the Principality of Wallachia, backed by Poland. Hungarian General Giorgio Basta brings 30,000 men against the 22,000 commanded by Wallachia's ruler Michael the Brave. The Wallachians sustain more than 5,000 dead and wounded.


date: October 21

text: October 21 – The Battle of Sekigahara occurs in what is now present-day Gifu Prefecture, Japan, where the Eastern Army led by Tokugawa Ieyasu emerges victorious against the Western Army led by Ishida Mitsunari. The battle ends the Sengoku period and grants the Tokugawa clan nominal control over Japan, establishing the Tokugawa shogunate with Tokugawa Ieyasu as shogun.


date: November 15

text: November 15 – Thessaly rebellion: Greek farmers in Thessaly, incited by Bishop Dionysios Skylosophos, begin an uprising against the Ottoman Empire, with violence in an area bounded by Trikala and Karditsa and the surrounding mountains, but the rebellion is suppressed by the Ottomans in a few days. "Dionysios the Philosopher, Metropolitan of Larissa", by Georgios Ploumidis, in Ta Nea (Athens), August 17, 2000, archived by Archive.org


text: Caister Castle in England falls into ruin.

source_section: Events › Date unknown


date: January 24

text: January 24 – Sebald de Weert makes the first recorded sighting of the Falkland Islands.

source_section: Events › January–March


date: April 19

text: April 19 – The first Dutch ship ever to arrive in Japan, the Liefde ("Love"), anchors in Sashifu, in the Bungo Province (modern-day Usuki in Ōita Prefecture). The sailors present on this ship are William Adams, Jan Joosten van Lodensteijn, Jacob Quaeckernaeck and Melchior van Santvoort.

source_section: Events › April–June


date: December 31

text: December 31 – The East India Company is granted a Royal charter in the Kingdom of England for trade with Asia.


text: Approximate date – The Lutheran orthodox campaign intensifies, to reinforce the Book of Concord.


date: June 13

text: June 13 – Barrister Nicholas Fuller is granted the exclusive right in England to manufacture playing cards.


text: William Gilbert publishes in Latin De Magnete, one of the first significant scientific books published in England, describing the Earth's magnetic field, and the beginning of modern geomagnetism. The adjective electrus (meaning “amber-like“ from the Greek elektron) was crafted by him. That's the inception of the “modern“ theory of electricity (from that adjective).


date: February 17

text: February 17 – On his way to be burned at the stake for heresy in Rome, Giordano Bruno has his tongue "imprisoned" after he refuses to stop talking.


date: March 20

text: March 20 – Linköping Bloodbath: Five Swedish nobles are publicly executed by decapitation and Polish–Swedish King Sigismund III Vasa is de facto deposed as ruler of Sweden.


date: June 5

text: June 5 – Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, the former Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and Chancellor of the University of Dublin, is put on trial in England before a commission of 18 men, after being charged with malfeasance. He is deprived of his main business, a monopoly on sweet wines, and stripped of his noble title. In revenge, he attempts to organize a coup d'etat to overthrow Queen Elizabeth and fails in his plot.


date: August 5

text: August 5 – The brothers Alexander Ruthven and John Ruthven, 3rd Earl of Gowrie, are killed during a failed attempt to kidnap or murder King James VI of Scotland at their home.


date: June 25

text: June 25 – In England, a fire destroys much of the town of North Walsham, Norfolk, burning down 118 homes, 70 shops, and most of the stalls in the market square. The fire is traced to the home of one person who tries to flee town after the blaze begins. Many of the persons left homeless are given shelter at the St Nicholas Church.


date: September 24

text: September 24 – All 130 crew of the Dutch Republic ship Hoop die when the merchantman sinks in a storm while traveling in the Pacific Ocean between the Hawaiian Islands and Japan. The Liefde, a ship accompanying Hoop, is badly damaged but survives; all but 24 of its crew of more than 100 die from starvation and thirst after drifting more than six months before arriving in Japan on April 19, 1601.


date: February 19

text: February 19 – The Huaynaputina volcano in Peru erupts, in what is still the worst recorded volcanic eruption in South America.


date: January 1

text: January 1 – Scotland adopts January 1 as New Year's Day instead of March 25.


date: October 6

text: October 6 – The première of Jacopo Peri's Euridice, the earliest known fully surviving work of modern opera, takes place in Florence for the wedding of Henry IV of France and Marie de' Medici. Emilio de' Cavalieri stages the production.


text: William Shakespeare's plays Henry IV, Part 2, Henry V, The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Much Ado About Nothing are published in London.


text: Sumo wrestling becomes a professional sport in Japan.


text: Fabritio Caroso's dance manual Nobiltà de dame is published.


date: January 17

text: January 17 – Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Spanish playwright (d. 1681)


date: February 2

text: February 2 – Gabriel Naudé, French librarian and scholar (d. 1653)


date: February 6

text: February 6 – Matthew Brend, English landowner (d. 1659)